Silver Wind

I am thinking of Baltic cruise this summer with Silver Wind, but ship review at cruise critics makes me worried. It is our first cruise on small ship and my wife easily gets sea sick. We sailed Crystal Serenity once and enjoyed entertainment as well food. Is SW will be comparable to CS?

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I did a trip on the Winds sister ship the Cloud last year on the baltic and I have to admit the sea was like glass. She would have no problems with this trip.

I just got back home yesterday from a Med trip on the Wind. It was all good apart from 2 days. It was a little bumpy from Amalfi to Messina, but I expect she would have been ok with that. However the next leg from Messina to Agostoli we had gale force 7 winds and it was rocky. She would probably have struggled with that.

All down to a little luck and the weather but smaller ships definitely will suffer more.

Food wise, I can't compare. I do love the food, though do think the standard slipped a little on the Wind than we had on the cloud last year.

Probably doesn't help you too much, I guess! But I'd have no problem going again and would swap in a heartbeat swapping the 296 pass Wind for the 4000 Vista next trip.

I guess it's all the luck of the draw but we've spent some 60 days (5 cruises) on the Wind the past four years in the Med and Caribbean and not had any really bad or rough days/nights. We came to Silversea after 16 years on Holland America and much larger ships and while neither of us is prone to seasickness it certainly didn't escape us that the Wind was considerably smaller. The roughest cruise we're ever had was on one of larger HAL ships so stuff happens.

Thank you so much for your inputs. Do you have any comments on entertainment on board?

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Thank you so much for your inputs. Do you have any comments on entertainment on board?

There were shows going on in the evenings (one location) and musicians playing in the bar. To be honest, I never saw a show on either trip and evenings were spent enjoying fine foods and alcohol!

I am considering my first Silversea cruise in 2017 aboard The Wind with an itinerary very similar (Rome-Venice). When looking online I have not been able to figure out which of these ports utilize tenders? Most companies show you this up front but I am not seeing it on the SS site?

Can you help? I think Amalfi is? What about Sorrento? Messina? Corfu? Venice?, etc? Did you utilize any onboard excursions or did you mostly DIY?

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

I am considering my first Silversea cruise in 2017 aboard The Wind with an itinerary very similar (Rome-Venice). When looking online I have not been able to figure out which of these ports utilize tenders? Most companies show you this up front but I am not seeing it on the SS site?

 

Can you help? I think Amalfi is? What about Sorrento? Messina? Corfu? Venice?, etc? Did you utilize any onboard excursions or did you mostly DIY?

Which trip number is it and I will see if I can answer.

Sorrento and Amalfi are both tender ports. Messina and Venice you would dock. Don't know about Corfu.

The trip we just had, we missed out Amalfi. After departing from Sorrento, the ship arrived 3 hours later. They got ready to tender by with the heavy swells and news that we were expecting high winds later in the day, the Captain Arma rightly decided the safety implications were too great to risk not getting us back. A shame, but it happens.

We DIY everything apart from one trip which we only did because we had onboard spend to use up. (Its difficult to spend on an all inclusive ship! lol)

Livorno was a doddle to get from the dock to the train station. Much easier probably than from larger ships. Same for Civitavecchia - though I'd recommend you prepay for entry tickets. We arrived without and although we did OK getting a 3 hour Coliseum and Forum tour inc tickets for 50 euros each. In reality, the guide wasn't good - if anything a hindrance. Nattered for a while then wanted to move on. People wanted more time to take photos. When I go on my next trip in August we will get fast pass tickets and no guide. Sorrento was very easy. Tender to port, courtesy bus into town and a ten minute walk to the station. A 2.20 Euro ticket to Pompeii (which is bout 40 minutes away) and right outside the station. We bought multi-site tickets for 22 Euros and were inside the Pompeii within a few minutes from getting off the train. Getting to Herculaneum was just as easy, along with getting back. Crazy to pay for a trip from Sorrento. Messina we walked to the station and caught a train to Taormina, we got a shared taxi to the station for 15 euros (you can get a bus but with 4 people its only a few euros more)

The trip we paid for with our spend ($100 each) to Delphi wasn't worth it. It included the 12 Euro entrance ticket, but with a guide who was even worse than the one in Rome. I'm sure they said the taxi fare would have been 70 euros (I assume each way), so I'd definitely do that as a shared taxi trip if I did it again.

Athens, a friend who used to live in Athens recommended a driver for us. Great value and got to see loads including the changing of the guards (all about right place at right time.) Taxi from the port to his house so we knew it was safe (as we couldn't store our luggage in his taxi with the boot closed! lol) Drove into Athens, had a 90 minute drive around tour, then left to our own devices on foot for 6 hours... then picked up and taken to the airport - for 110 Euros. Great value.

Happy to assist with details if you need any.

Sorrento and Amalfi are both tender ports. Messina and Venice you would dock. Don't know about Corfu.

At Corfu you dock. Silversea provides a shuttle into town as the dock is quite a ways from the center of town.

Thanks to both of you for your quick responses. Les, I thought your itinerary was a closer match to mine as I saw some of your posts re: excursion ideas in your planning stages.

Although the entire itinerary looks amazing (voyage 2712)? I am very interested in the Amalfi coast. I'm sorry you missed Amalfi town. Since the day is so short there, I am planning to hire a private driver in Sorrento to go on an Amalfi Coast tour (Ravello, Positano, etc). Does anyone have suggestions for tour companies? APTours and Rome in Limo get good reviews on the Italy Ports boards, but I'd love first hand knowledge.

For you SS vets, is there a way to tell from the website which ports are tenders vs docked? Am I not looking at the itinerary correctly or do you just have to KNOW your destinations better?

We read Rick Steve's books. He recommended a driver in Sorrento and Amalfi. We used both and they were excellent. I unfortunely cannot remember the names but get his books wealth of information.

Thanks to both of you for your quick responses. Les, I thought your itinerary was a closer match to mine as I saw some of your posts re: excursion ideas in your planning stages.

 

Although the entire itinerary looks amazing (voyage 2712)? I am very interested in the Amalfi coast. I'm sorry you missed Amalfi town. Since the day is so short there, I am planning to hire a private driver in Sorrento to go on an Amalfi Coast tour (Ravello, Positano, etc). Does anyone have suggestions for tour companies? APTours and Rome in Limo get good reviews on the Italy Ports boards, but I'd love first hand knowledge.

 

For you SS vets, is there a way to tell from the website which ports are tenders vs docked? Am I not looking at the itinerary correctly or do you just have to KNOW your destinations better?

We have used AP Tours twice, once out of Naples to visit Pompeii and then on a later cruise out of Sorrento to do the Amalfi Coast, and highly highly recommend them. I can't imagine how we could have had better tours and would not hesitate a second to book with them again.