WesW

Fair Winds and Following Seas Jim & Clair!

Absolutely concur, have used Steve Dasseos (owner of the trip insurance store) for a decade+ when purchasing travel insurance.  He/his TIS (Deanna/Kim) team are personable, exceptionally knowledgeable, and drill down to your personal travel insurance needs for most optimum travel insurance policy. 

Suggest two options; the Observation Lounge on Deck 9 has a self-service machine for Expresso, Capuchino, Latte, et. al., or you can fill out room service card the night prior and ask for a pot of of coffee or coffee of your choice delivered to your suite at 4, 5, 6 a.m. or later.  Enjoy your voyage.

JP, the cloud had a huge turnover of crew on May 24 while we were in Singapore.  

However, now service should be seamless and timely.  Suggest speaking to Frederick the Restaurant Manager, or Rafa while dining in La Terraza.  Also, recommend letting Aditya the Head Sommelier know drink service is spotty.

Have enjoyed y'alls posts and snaps, safe travels home.

Fair Winds and Following seas, sincere wishes that Dr. Larry and you have a terrific crossing.

Hi Alan, hope you are doing well.

Yes Silversea overs tours for in transit guests.  We have five segments on the Grand Indian Ocean Cloud voyage embarking April 4th.  Here is what my.silversea says for guests on the Grand voyage or a b2b when docked in Singapore:

• MACRITCHIE RESERVOIR TREETOP WALK (FOR IN-TRANSIT GUESTS ONLY)
• Singapore, Singapore

Thanks for sharing your Stanley and Wendy's backstory with us; loved visiting Stanley and other Falkland Islands last March.

And thanks for sharing snaps of your Expedition Team. Know Schalk Botha arrives as EL from Walvis Bay to Male, then Marieka Egan is EL (JP, believe she will be the EL for Chris and your Kimberley voyage).  Hillman Perman will also arrive in Walvis Bay as senior Expedition Program Manager--did sail with Leslin and Miguel on last year's C2C. 

Hope Matt and Wei (enjoyed them on last year's C2C and on to the Seychelles) are staying on once you arrive in WB.  See now you have Captain Freddie; is your Hotel Director Michelle Roberts?

Freddie, Schalk, and Michelle as well as Conrad (hosting WB to Port Elizabeth) are all from South Africa--so we should have first hand look at the ports we are visiting on WB to PE and then the Grand Indian Ocean voyage.

Enjoy your Cape-to-Cape voyage and please have an extra shot of Whisky at Shackelton's grave if y'all land in Grytviken for me.

Of the Expedition team shown in your group shot (thanks for sharing) recognize Matt and Wei. Do  u know if they are continuing on with us in Walvis Bay (they both were with us on last year's C2C).  Do know the EL changes for Schalk Botha and the Expedition Program Manager changes for Hillman Permana.

Have you enjoyed service by Melisa server (her husband is the Carpenter on board) and Eduardo (bartender) in Dolce Vita?

We also enjoyed Matt on our the Cloud last year Cape to Cape to Male.  Please see his special Expedition skillset below:

Recommend Leki collapsable trekking poles.  Outstanding quality; we have used them for years in the Italian Dolomites, on Silversea in Antarctica, South Georgia (Twice) and will take them for the Indian Ocean Grand voyage next month for hiking throughout South Africa, Madgascar, et. al.

Our South Atlantic crossing both in March 2020 and in March 2023 were generally fair winds and following seas--if I recall we had one day, last year, did we have seas that were 8-10 feet swells.

Loved the hiking in TDC and recommend this excursion vs Expedition activities. Pls remember weather/sea conditions have a vote on whether you get to land or not.  We were fortunate and had two days of landings at TDC. Alas, on our second landing day, on the Garden excursion-- that had a ladder up-- a guest fell and suffered a very bad shoulder dislocation that needed immediate surgery.  Captain & EL recalled everyone from TDC and we steamed straight to Cape town missing Nightingale and Gough islands.  Noted on your cruise this garden excursion is no longer offered.

Suggest review the TDC website (pls see link below) and there is a gift ship on the island, but islanders will be set up in a separate room where they will offer hand crafts, et. al.  I did correspond with Jim Glass (Chief Islander) last year.  We had arranged a brief visit, but he got called away to Cape town and I missed him.

Tristan da Cunha Website (tristandc.com)

You have two gem Silversea Silver Cloud itineraries to enjoy; Antarctica and then Cape to Cape; wishing you wonderful voyages.

Terry; enjoying your posts and outstanding snaps.  Hope you get to enjoy Jonathan's show too, he does a wonderful Sinatra medley, especially; "New York, New York."

Fair Winds and Following seas, enjoy the magnificent South Georgia wildlife and serene beauty of Tristan Da Cunha. And enjoy a Polar Plunge in Antarctica and or South Georgia--u may do a twofer 🙂

Will miss you at Walvis Bay, as I board the Cloud at Walvis Bay going to Darwin (Kimberley's).  

Years before Covid, when our TA arranged VIP status in conjunction with the then Managing Director of Silversea in the US, we also received early boarding (about 11am), along with the amenities that Neilio posted above.

Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas to Feature Chief Dog Officer - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News

The new Icon of the Seas will feature a Chief Dog Officer when it enters service later this month.

According to Royal Caribbean International’s social media profiles, the golden retriever will live onboard while serving as “family dog” of Icon’s crew.

The new crew member, Rover, boarded the ship in Puerto Rico, along with its Chief of Staff Alison Hubble.

“As a crew member on the Icon, Rover’s job is to bring joy and happiness to her fellow crew and guests onboard,” Royal Caribbean said in a social media video.

Among its activities onboard, the Chief Dog Officer is poised to hang out on the bridge with the captain, and also perform daily walks across the ship, the company added.

The five-month-old golden retriever will also be able to “explore the Caribbean shores and beautiful ports,” Royal Caribbean said.

The Icon of the Seas is currently undergoing final preparations ahead of its maiden voyage. Starting on Jan. 27, the vessel is set to offer a series of week-long cruises to the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

During its inaugural season, the Icon of the Seas will visit several destinations in the region, including Costa Maya and Cozumel in Mexico; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Basseterre, St. Kitts, and Roatan, Honduras.

Delivered to Royal Caribbean International in late November, the LNG-powered cruise ship recently arrived at its homeport in Miami for the first time.

Taking over the title from its fleet mate Wonder of the Seas, the Icon will serve as the world’s largest cruise ship.

At 250,800 tons, the 365-meter-long ship was built by the Meyer Turku in Finland, and can accommodate over 5,610 guests at double occupancy, in addition to 2,350 crew members.

A sister ship, the Star of the Seas, is currently under construction at the same shipyard. Set to debut in 2025, the vessel will offer cruises departing from Port Canaveral.

Believe Marieke takes over from Schalk in Male and she will be with us on the remaining Grand Voyage--includes the Kimberley's--we disembark in Darwin.

Here are the Silver Cloud Expedition leaders planned from February thru June 2024, plsnote things may change prior to us boarding but these are the key Expedition team leaders planned as of today (January 11, 2024).  Have enjoyed Expedition voyages with Schalk, Marieke, Tania, Ben, and Hilman in the last five years.

From February to June the Expedition Leaders will be:

-        Michael Callaghan

-        Schalk Botha

-        Marieke Egan

The Assistant Expedition Leaders:

-        Alan Dominguez

-        Tania Jeken

-        Ben Luckx

The Expedition Program Coordinators:

-        Marc Dols Mut

-        Leslin Jones

-        Miguel Da Silva

-        Hilman Permana

Schalk Botha will be our Silver Cloud Expedition Leader from Walvis Bay Namibia to the Seychelles in March.  If I learn who else will be on the Expedition team in next month+ will post here.

HI Paula: yes, for Classic cruises, Silversea does offer complimentary shuttles in almost every port.

Here is what my friends posted two hours ago as a brief summary of his Silver Spirt Holiday Capetown r/t :

We have been on Spirit since December 28 Cape Town rt. As of now, the ship and crew are the same high quality as when we were on it for 33 days in March-April. Service in restaurants is good, food is fine but some adjustments in recipes in Indochine and Atlantide, butler and suite attendant are perfection, the ship is perfectly maintained. The busy Atlantide NYE dinner went perfectly, everybody was served quickly. The crew was working very hard with many hours spent to decorate, serve, clean up and remove beautiful decorations. There are none of the issues some posted weeks ago. We ignore complainers. Someone ranted about the 1-1.5 hours to get off the ship in Walvis Bay, but it was due to immigration and not ssea. It beat the 3 hours in Chennai, India and St Petersburg. No complaints!!

Hi Paula; first Happy New Year!

We visited both Madagascar and Mahe this past April on the Silver Cloud Expedition ship. We thoroughly enjoyed our included excursions in Madagascar (via Zodiac visited the fishing village of Belo sur Mer and seeing Lemurs--docile and the guides place them for willing guests on their heads), and we visited Praslin and La Digue (we had a small bus ride to Anzo Lasio Beach--yes one of the most beautiful beaches we have been too and swam in) in the Seychelles.  

Paula; we loved expedition cruising in this area so much, this March we are returning on the Cloud from Walvis Bay Namibia visiting ports on West and East coast of South Africa, continuing to Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Aldabra (Giant Tortoises) on to Mahe, then Male for another 32 days (including the Kimberley Region of West Australia) to Darwin.

As you know, we too enjoyed many classic voyages on the other line you mentioned, but for that past five years we have only done Expedition voyages (Artic, Antarctica, South Georgia, Africa) on Silversea since excursions are included and often some excursions are only accessible by Zodiac.

Hope you enjoy the Silver Spirit, we have friends now on board the Cape town to Cape town r/t.

Your Welcome Mocamps, enjoy your South Africa voyage on the Cloud.

Dan'lB, we Absolutely loved our visit to Cape town on the Cloud earlier this year, so much, we are going back.  Here are just a very few photo highlights from our visit in late March/early April

Silversea has us staying at the Capital 15 on Orange in Cape town on March 22 like sswansen notes above. 

The next morning, we will board our Charter flight in Cape town enroute to Walvis Bay on March 23.  We will board the Silver Cloud for Conrad Combrink's (Silversea's SVP for Destinations) hosted Expedition voyage from Walvis Bay to Port Elizabeth. We then continue on board until we arrive in Darwin, in June.  We will have Schalk Botha as our Expedition leader from WB until the Seychelles, believe he will also by on board as your EL.

Very sad face.  Thanks for sharing machotspur.

Thanks for posting Callie.