poinsettiaplate

Laura, thanks for adding the link for my review. Here's the whole thing: This was a 21-day b2b from Jan 5 to Jan 26 with a quite unusual itinerary. I chose it because it included some ports to which I had not been and many which are not visited by many cruise lines. We were the only ship in most places. The ship – The Silver Dawn is a new ship which had just come out in 2022. It was in beautiful shape with no rust and no worn places. It has an unusual layout – all the cabins are mid-ship and forward; the food and theater were aft. I presume the older ships do not have this layout; and the Nova class may be different still. It was a small ship, easy to get around, did not feel crowded anywhere. The artwork was beautiful. The ports and shore excursions – This was a very interesting itinerary. We went to sixteen ports, three of which were duplicates; there were four sea days. SilverSea includes shore excursions as a part of the cruise price. I was very impressed with the number and quality of these excursions; they were not just bus rides around each island. I took nine of them and only one was not satisfactory. There were a few excursions at additional cost. Most of the half-day excursions had morning and afternoon departure times. In nine ports, we did not depart until 11 P.M. The cabins – This was undoubtedly the biggest standard verandah cabin I have ever had; it must have been three to four feet longer than any other ship’s. (SS’s older ships may not be this big.) The lighting was very good and the AC was excellent. There was a walk-in closet with a chest of drawers; a large bathroom with separate tub and shower large enough not to bang one’s arms on the walls, long counter and six shelves; a desk big enough to land a small aircraft carrier and a giant TV; plenty of drawers and shelves everywhere. This is the first cruise that I would say the cabin was adequate for more than one person. My cabin was on deck 5 about five cabins from the front. I would not want this location again. When the ship was moving, the noise of the ship going through the water was substantial. My balcony had salt spray on it all the time, either wet or dry. The entertainment and activities – The wifi was complimentary but extremely complicated to access and use; in addition, to use wifi calling, one also needed WhatsApp. There were no desktop computers available; a laptop could be borrowed. The inhouse singers and dancers were excellent, as was the house band; there was one show every night, most at 9:45. There was a hosted Solo Traveler’s Group every night; two of the cruise director’s staff were always there. The interactive TV was fairly easy to use for information. A hard-copy two to three page chronicle of events and activities was delivered to each stateroom every night for the next day. In addition, one could request a hard-copy news digest be delivered each day. There was a library with a small collection. There was a very small casino, which was not used much. The restaurants and food – There was no “main dining room”. There was a buffet and one table service restaurant for breakfast. There was a buffet and two table service restaurants for lunch, including on port days – a real plus not often found on most ships. There were eight specialty restaurants for dinner, three with open seating, two with hefty upcharges. There was no buffet at dinner. Dinner service began at 7:00 and the last seating was at 9:30. Except for the Japanese restaurant, the menus changed every three days, but were mostly repeated every ten days. The Japanese restaurant probably should be eliminated unless it can be revised. The menus never changed. There were not a lot of choices. It was definitely not authentic Japanese, nor even what is currently considered Japanese American. Many dishes did not match the menu descriptions. The raw fish was not acceptable from the first day. The quality of the rolls deteriorated considerably from the first part of the cruise to the end. At lunch, the sushi chef made the rolls and sliced the sashimi in advance and let it sit on an open counter with no refrigeration for the entirety of lunch. I am hoping this is ship-specific and I will not find the same situation on other SS ships. For the most part, the food was very good to excellent. Some restaurant concepts were very innovative. I particularly enjoyed SALT, Atlantide and La Dame. Good lamb was provided frequently, as were good curry dishes. The bread and butter, ice cream, vegetarian dishes, cheese, fruit were excellent. The wines were very good to excellent. On most cruise lines, nuts cannot be found; they were everywhere on this ship, including five kinds on the breakfast buffet. During the first cruise, caviar was available, but it disappeared from the menu on the second cruise. Some dishes were not prepared as described on the menu. The coffee was bad; the yogurt was poor quality; the wagyu would not have passed muster in Japan. Just after the COVID break, I could understand the supply chain issues; now there should be none. For a ten or eleven day cruise, there were two formal nights; the rest were informal except for the first and last nights of each segment which were casual. Some restaurants had more upscale dress codes. The service was exceptional everywhere. Intangibles – Although all charges were made in US dollars, charge cards were processed through the U.K. resulting in foreign transaction fees for some passengers. No luggage tags were provided; I made my own. All passengers had to be out of their cabins by 8 AM on disembarkation day; however, cabins were not available to new arrivals until 2 PM. This is six hours and is far longer than any other cruise line on which I have been. There was no table service restaurant for lunch on embarkation day. There was a big communication gap between what the landside operation said the ship had and what the ship provided; and, of course, my chemical and scent instruction never made it to the ship. Laundry was done and returned the same day. All-inclusive is the way to go.

Thanks,Agape01. I was going to do this tonight. The only thing missing are the dates: March 15-April 16, 2024.

I just completed a 32-day b2b on the Nova and have submitted a review in that section of CruiseCritic. It will be a few days before they actually 'print' it. Based on the others I read, I think mine is quite balanced and helpful.

I consider this to be one of the weaknesses of SS. I make my own.

And I have another unusual question (There are no stupid questions, Sweetpea): How dark were the restaurants? I like to read my book at dinner and need to know how many flashlights I might need to bring.

I have gotten on as early as 12:30, eaten lunch in La T, and been in my cabin by 2. Won't happen this time. Too many people and bags coming off after 11. Keep us posted if things change again.

I am boarding this ship on the 15th; we were notified yesterday that we would not be able to board until 2 pm. Most likely you will have to be out of your cabin at the usual 8 am for it to be ready by 2. What a nightmare at the port and at the airport! Sure hope you get a special copy of this special photo.

In addition, you may order anything from the MDR menu while in Blu. So escargot any night.

Thanks, JSR. Guess I will save a lot of money on my next trip. Or go to LaDame more!

Hello JSR: Now that you have been on the Nova for a while, can you tell if the casino is very active? What tables do they have? I will be boarding on March 15 and would really like to play poker every night when it is possible.

I have been reading the reviews on CC about Eclipse. They are not good for condition of ship and quality of food. Has anyone been on her recently and can give their insights? Is it likely she will have a drydock and refurbishment before January 2025?

posted review today. CC will review and approve before posting. Sorry I jumped the gun on this

FYI: I have written a review of the Silver Dawn, Jan 5-26, 2024, Southern Caribbean. It is lengthy so I will not repeat here. This was my second SS cruise, the first being in 2018 on the Shadow; there was no way to really compare the two experiences. Edited to add review: https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=711532

Regatta was supposed to go to dry dock around the second quarter of 2022. Did it? What did they do?

Thanks for this. The comments end about March 2023 and didn't contain much info about the things in which I was interested: cabin refurbishment, smells, food. Hope someone will chime in.