Port Power

On Silver Wind around Antarctica, more than half the ship wore jeans to dinner along with sneakers. In fact, 90% of passengers wore sneakers most nights. Jumpers/pullovers rather than jackets. In the tropics, no one wore shorts to the MDR at night, but they’re wore short sleeve button through shirts or polo tops. Expedition ships are casual. Some of us wore nicer slacks and tops, and even some dresses on occasion, for the very few dressier nights like the captain’s gala. The talks were always before dinner, with cocktails on arrival.

It has already been shown in the previous several posts that fares have increased significantly. That detracts greatly from the better structured format.

My Singaporean friends usually don’t use air conditioning in the living areas of the house, only bedrooms at night. They are used to the heat. Mind you, June is the month they come to stay with relatives in Australia! I certainly understand why @mysty will want to stay on the ship sometimes. 17C at home, Lirio? That’s freezing! I set my home aircon at 24*C, or 25*C if outside is over 38*C.

On this SYD-AKL cruise in January next year, the solo fare is exactly the same as that if two people. The fare includes two return business class flights, so not even a reduction of the second return flight SS won’t even be booking or paying for! You can see why P2P is much better for us solo cruisers.

Not sure if I like the sound of that. “Integration into the Group”? It does give the impression that the cutbacks we all feared, and are already experiencing, are only the tip of the iceberg. Why buy a luxury brand only to strip it back to that which already exists?

That will be a major part of the change, the ability for SS to hopefully sell more shore excursions. You will certainly be able to buy excursions, transfers and hotels. But why buy accommodation through SS when you can probably purchase at a lower price elsewhere? Transfer will still not be included.

I have a few photos from August last year when on Silver Muse. No cloud at all, but then a little white “cloud” formed from the steam from the volcano vents. @drron29 saw them in my trip report at the time, following on from his own voyage, so I won’t attach them here. Obviously I was very lucky. Timing is everything. I hope he does achieve his dream photo.

I’m sure that is a mistake with the x placements on page 3. Meals, drinks, butlers would have to be included or else there is going to be so much work for bar waiters checking every passenger’s cruise card. And who would deliver room service? However, many current SS passengers will love to book without shore excursions, so that is a positive move for some. (Caveat: depending on the fare price.) Anyway, this category is well suited to last minute bookings where many excursions are already booked out. Which also means that the cancellation fee is also irrelevant.

Yes, I think it is just a sloppy error. The first page states meals, drinks, butler. Almost impossible to exclude, actually, as butlers deliver room service. The main exclusion is removal of shore excursions, which will suit some people perfectly! And as this category will particularly suit last minute bookings, the cancellation policy is irrelevant anyway.

It is only something like $25-$30 for the whole cruise to add a second device. I found that useful for photos taken on the iPhone to sync with my iPad for posting on CC. I was on two B2B cruises, booked together as one trip, and was only charged once.

I agree with @drron29. I did a trip report and loaded plenty of photos only using the included WiFi. One fellow had premium so he could do all sorts of technical things with photos. No need to book in advance, anyway. See how you go once onboard, and then decide.

Suggested attire, but it is clearly written for the MDR for dinner, “no ripped jeans, no shorts, no thongs/flip flops”. Long jeans with a button through shirt, and jacket if appropriate, is neat and nice.

When I was on Silver Explorer last year, full face masks were not allowed for scuba diving for the reason you state, but it wasn’t mentioned in relation to snorkelling. I’m sure I saw at least one passenger using one. You probably need to discuss with your expedition leader.

My apologies that my post suddenly stopped short. For some unknown reason, my iPad froze and the keyboard would not come up for me to use.

Milford Sound is a round trip, so both sides will be seen. Otherwise, I tend to choose the side of the ship that faces land throughout most of the itinerary. Doubtful Sound is just gorgeous! I think the scenery is better than Milford Sound. The land trip entails transferring to a boat at the land end of Milford Sound and doing the same round trip on the local small vessel. You don’t see anything better or different just being in another boat. Then the land tour including overnight accommodation usually at Queenstown, then drive to the port where you reboard the Silversea ship. (Or in reverse.) I’ve been on cruises where passengers did this overland excursion, and all loved it. However, it was not thought good value, and they did miss out on Dunedin. I have cruised across the Tasman Sea numerous times, both north and south ends. So times as smooth as a millpond, sometimes

I’m confused? You mentioned included shore excursions in your first post. Or do you mean that the SS consultant didn’t realise that the page you showed was confirmation of your inclusions? Pretty poor if so. Any way, you will be collected from the airport and looked after. Hopefully there will be hotel use for a few hours. Not a private day room of your own, but a lounge area with coffee and cakes, etc, (usually a conference room) and use of the hotel’s facilities.

Can’t you just pour the body wash or shampoo in for the same result? Bath crystals are also provided.

Surely announcements wouldn’t be made into the cabins? That would be really bad form! Although I certainly agree you should be able to remain in your cabins until well after 9:00am (11:00am seems appropriate), it is the cabin stewards who are going to suffer. They still have to prepare all the suites for incoming guests no matter the reason. Such a wrong decision on many fronts!

That’s what @drron29just described in post #3.

That not your itinerary, but rather your invoice. It shows that shore excursions are included, and transfer from airport to the pier is included.

I agree, you need to check your travel insurance. They may well reimburse the fare of one person. The cruise company will not reimburse you, not just because it is inside the cancellation period, but cruising solo would be the same price as two people at that stage. I travel solo these days and thoroughly enjoy myself on Silversea ships, so don’t think you have to bring another person. I booked my flights independently, so travel insurance paid out when the airline wouldn’t. Other airlines will refund in certain circumstances. If you booked flights through SS, it depends on how hard they negotiate with the airline, or your TA with SS, so probably you will need to claim on insurance. Look up the terms and conditions for changing the passenger on your airline. Can it be done? If so, what is the fee? Edit: I wasn’t thinking about your relationship to the 2nd passenger and whether you have separate travel insurance or joint. If separate, the other person needs to claim for reimbursement for missing out on the cruise and flight. I was travelling with my husband, so the single policy covered us both. Sometimes the policy covers you and who your are travelling with, no matter if related not. Then the purchaser of the insurance lodges the claim.

There was an extended family on my Dawn cruise who wanted the divider opened, but they were refused. I heard on another family who were also refused. “Safety” issues, but it seems a shame not allowing the double verandah to be shared by all

I didn’t have to do anything for arriving by ship. I definitely did not obtain an e-visa myself. The Japanese officials came aboard and set up in the Panorama Lounge. We were called by deck to go in with our passports and have a face to face check. It is all coming back now! It was a bit of a shambles because the computers kept crashing! I remember us talking about it, saying that surely the Japanese should be IT experts! So that’s one less item on your to-do list! Good luck with the rest. I am doing a world cruise next year, January from FLL. I am not looking forward to getting all the visas sorted. At least I know Vietnam is done as a group entry by the ship. I have to do Chile again, but I am definitely not going to use the Melbourne consulate! Indonesia changed the rules again, so I might pick your brain. China I think will be fine using the 72-hour free transit rule. Such a headache, isn’t it?

I think extra care still needs to taken. The virus isn’t necessarily everywhere. Also, the scout zodiac will assess situation ashore. They won’t take passengers if there are a lot of bodies lying about. That is a quote expedition leader on a Silver Wind. We were told that nature will resolve the influenza situation after about two year in the normal life cycle.

However, ships are taking excessive care that there is no transmission from site to site, island to island. I think @bohaiboyis slightly incorrect t about landings as usual. We did some landings in Dec/Jan, but some areas were off limits. There were a few more zodiac cruises instead, which were still great for viewing birds and seals on beaches, ice floes and in the water. The current expedition on Cloud are having a whale of a time!