Port Power

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We finally boarded the ship a little after 2 pm, over 3.5 hours after checking in with the ship transfer POC at the airport. The first part of the adventure took over 90 minutes to go 12 km from the Vancouver airport to the cruise terminal, mostly caused by some serious downtown traffic jams due to ongoing construction along with 3 cruise ships in port today!

 

 
But after creeping along or standing still for over 90 minutes, we finally saw the ship! 
 

 

Then it took another 90 minutes to go through the checkin process. The main cause for this horrendous delay was that the embarking passengers associated with all 3 ships were being processed through the same cruise terminal, where normally there is only 1-2 ships in port on any given day! 😱

 

 

  

Now I know why I stay at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel!  Just walk across the road.

My goodness, there are a lot of CCers cruising around and to and from Japan at the moment!

I really like this itinerary, going up to Seward and then visiting much more of Alaska.

10 hours ago, DavyWavey70 said:

Thank you mauimary, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Life's too short for arguing with the warriors and I certainly didn't want to waste my precious holiday time on them. And for the record, I Don't like moustaches on men or women! I'm sure you'll have a great time on the Edge.

I finally looked up your Celebrity Edge live report.  It was enjoyable: lovely photos and pertinent comments. I also like your writing style. Obviously all the nasty stuff had been deleted.

The ship looks fabulous!  I am going to book a solo cabin on that next season to see it for myself.  Or maybe a last minute special?  At least I can avoid the crowds and have breakfast in Tuscan. I haven't been on Celebrity for at least 8 years.

1 hour ago, LoisRJax said:

Lirio, great story😀 sounds like a fascinating Mom and daughter!

 

Jazz, thanks for the help and for everyone else......it is me, I set up a new account. Something happened and I could not log in and could not figure out why..........wrong email? wrong password?

Could not figure it out so I thought the easiest the thing to do would be to start fresh.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  🤣🤣🤣 

(Now you have to work your way back up to an established contributor again.)

If boarding time is 2:00pm, buses will start loading around 11:30am.  How “short” is the short tour?

What information are you after?  Usually the boarding time is provided in your electronic documents.  It could vary by port, but is usually from midday onwards.  Often advertised as 2:00pm though. The departure time of the ship is noted, and all aboard will be an hour before that.
 

You need to watch the emergency procedures video on the television in your cabin and press “okay” or similar to show you have done so.  You can watch as you unpack.  The time of muster in the lounge will be shown in the daily newsletter in your cabin, and will be before the ship departs its berth.

11 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Lunch at sea 

Someone was posting very recently complaining about SS cutbacks.  One particular gripe was the elimination of flowers on tables in the dining room.  It appears from this photo that you have not experienced that calamity. 🥀

On 4/25/2024 at 9:33 PM, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Was it knowing that "salties" now referred to both crocks and hippos? 😃

It was more the “friendly locals” and world class surfing conditions! 🏴‍☠️

1 minute ago, Sketty1616 said:

So the teams stay together for the entire trip?

Yes, usually.  Sometimes if people are absent due to a delayed shore excursion, there will be temporary members.  Like @drron29, my trivia group usually had a farewell lunch or dinner together because we all got on so well.

51 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

We will be there next year.  Was the skywalk a bust because of the weather, or did that even matter? 😃Thanks.  Temple looks awesome.

We did that same tour last year on Muse.  The temple was wonderful, as were the coastal views.  You seem to have a lovely day for your visit.  Ours was on a holy day and was extremely crowded with local families.
 

The “sky walk” is simply a thick glass platform jutting out over the water. Five minutes looking at the view.  A few people walked the stairs down to the rocks.  The rest of us stood around chatting in the shade of the building across the road for half an hour!  Or was it longer than that?

13 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

I’m following along a bit perplexed. I Love to use Emirates BCChauffeur service which has never let me down. When not available, I’ve booked a car service through Emirates and have had always an impeccable service too. Can’t Silversea even be bothered ensuring that their contractual partners are even going to turn up? 

Absolutely agree.  They contracted with a good, reliable company in Australia. Why can’t they do that in the USA?

8 hours ago, BBGrace273 said:

True... but "should" and "will be" are often not the same.  😊  A lot of the threads on here are how different ships seem to be having way different prorocols/standards. Just trying to be proactive, to see if I need to lug a case of soda water on board for myself.  😆

Ships will always have soda water. It is required for mixing with whiskey!  It might be post soda water, but still acceptable.  Soda water is quite different to sparkling water or sparkling mineral water, though.

Anyway, let’s stop hijacking @flyers trip report.

5 hours ago, Travel2Learn said:

Blacklane does not operate in our area, and we are only 40 miles from the airport.  It would be nice to be able to use Blacklane between a hotel and the ship or ship and airport.  Has anyone been able to do this?  

Yes, previous posters have done this.  After all, it is up to you to supply two addresses of your choice.

Lea was on Wind when I did the Antarctic cruise in December / January just gone.  I first met her on Coral Expeditions in the Kimberley.  She is a marine biologist, but so knowledgeable over a wide area of nature.  Competent but also very engaging.

And I’ll now cross Sierra Leone off my bucket list. 😆 🦛

Why not use it at the spa?  A relaxing back massage after a long day out never goes astray, @mklions.  You can also buy overpriced but lovely lotions there, too.

8 hours ago, ropomo said:

I have a D2D cruise coming up and have my own air and therefore do not get the airport to hotel transfer included. My flight gets in at a time Silversea will be greeting passengers with included transfers. Will it be possible to purchase the transfer at the airport on arrival? I have a "boatload" of OBC and this would be an ideal way to use some of it. The flight is into KEF and private transfers to the city can be pricey.

I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to purchase the transfer at the airport, but could be wrong.  You should be able to book it in advance though. However, being pre-cruise, I doubt OBC can be applied.  A good idea is to ask the shore concierge as recommended above.

I agree that views of a first time cruiser will be very interesting.  Please do post.

I really enjoyed my Alaskan ports on Muse last year.  Look at the excursions to see what you might enjoy. There was a very good tour in Sitka to the Eagle sanctuary followed by the bear sanctuary.  We did a fantastic included tour in Ketchikan out to a fishing lodge, including a lovely but short temperate rainforest walk on a boarded walkway. Highly recommend if it is still included. (I usually never get my hands messy, but I dig into this delicious lunch!)

@Fletcher, you need to go higher up the food chain for some recompense.  Usually guest services can email reservations with a request for future OBC if they agree your cabin or cruise has been impacted.  Better yet, have your TA write to SS.  

11 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

Yikes! I better watch out, when we ever manage to sail together. You know I can't fit too many formal clothes in that carryon...

 

 

We've done seven expedition sailings on Silversea from 2009 to last year, and there has never been a "formal" night in the same sense as there is on board the classic fleet. Some passengers dress up more for the Captain's welcome and farewell (I usually bring a jacket and tie). Some don't. Take your choice, or take your chances (as per highplanesdrifter's post above) I guess?

 

We're sailing the Kimberley in June and we're not planning to dress up in formal attire. Our goal is to avoid being thrown overboard to the salties! I have to look at my lighter jackets to see what will work in that climate.

In the heat of the tropics, no one on Silver Explorer ever wore a jacket. Zilch!  Too hot.  Wear slacks/cargo pants and a cotton collared shirt on Captain’s night rather than a polo top, and polos the rest of the time.  For ladies, a simple cotton dress is fine, or pants and a cool top. My sleeveless cotton dresses were so cool, although not my usual restaurant standard. Passengers dressed for the weather.

10 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

If I recall correctly, SS has a shuttle bus to town in many ports.  We didn't utilize it on our last cruise.  Do you need to reserve a spot on it and how often do they run.  Particularly in Valancia as they have an old town walking tour, but we may just prefer to do old town it on our own.  Does anyone know if they run a shuttle to old town area.  

I did a tour out of the Valencia last November.  There were people walking out, but the shuttles were at the port. I agree that they were probably every 30 mins.  I have a photo of the beautiful warehouses by the port where oranges used to be stored prior to shipping, but nothing else. Crew walked out to find food shops.  I don't think the old town was within walking distance, but am not certain.  

I have just received an email from SS prior to the Silver Wind Arctic cruise late next month.  The dress code states no sports shoes after 6pm.  When I was on Wind in the Antarctic, that was all that most passengers wore most of the time!  With nice jeans or slacks, with polo shirts or button through shirts.  The occasional leather lace-up or slip on was seen, or me in open sandals nearly all the time. 

Many of us wore smart casual pants and tops at dinner, but on the Captain's night and one other some ladies wore a dress they would wear to a nice restaurant, or slacks and a pretty top.  Many still wore slacks and a jumper (pullover) though.   Expedition cruises are casual (but not daggy).

I have sailed both Silversea and Azamara, and like them both.  As a solo cruiser, I found that on Silversea it was easy to meet new people in the lounges as well as making up tables for dinner.  As a solo, I also like that shore excursions are included.  However, Silversea has now priced itself well outside my budget.

I went to SS because I enjoyed the size of Azamara ships.  Azamara still remains my favourite, even with smaller cabins and fewer lounge areas.  I’ll just budget in shore excursions in future, although many private excursions are booked with the CC roll call group.  I’ve always met people around the ship and at trivia, and enjoy the AZ ambience.  I do like to dress up sometimes, and feel quite comfortable wearing a cocktail dress some evenings on AZ.  I’m never the only one, either!

I compared my Silver Ray 2026 bookings with the current promotion.  I had booked under a suite upgrade promo in any case.  The price hikes from March were massive!  The 10 day Caribbean cruise is now $4,000 dearer and the 14 day transatlantic is $5,350 more expensive for the same cabin category.  I won't be changing or cancelling my cruises.

2 hours ago, commodoredave said:

There were no viable options.

At dinner, we asked our waiter about our order several times and he kept saying the kitchen was busy but our order would arrive soon. We also spoke with someone more senior 10 minutes before we left, and spoke with the Maître d on exit. Somehow our order got misplaced and staff didn’t figure it out on time. The couple sitting next to us couldn’t believe it and said so. They were more apologetic than our waiter. The Maître d did call our cabin 30 minutes later to apologize again, and offered to send anything from the menu to our cabin, which we appreciated but declined as we had picked up sweets from the Arts Cafe.

As for bath towels, they hang on a rack  at the end of the bath tub, and cannot easily be seen when the bathroom door is open. Had we noticed they were missing before we went to bed, we would have certainly called our butler and asked for then. But we didn’t notice they were missing until I got out of the shower soaking wet the next morning, at which time is was too late to call for them. 
So making excuses for very poor service by blaming the victim and saying there were other options is completely ridiculous.

Having said that, it was one night and morning out of 14 of them, and while we’d like to avoid a repeat, it did not ruin what was otherwise a very enjoyable cruise with a wonderful itinerary. 

 

Oh, dear!  My apologies for giving the wrong impression.  I was not blaming the victim, but wondering why these issues could not be addressed earlier.  

19 hours ago, commodoredave said:

Just got off the Muse in Yokohama. The best word to describe our cruise experience is “inconsistent.” Some days in some restaurants the food was really good, and other times it missed the mark. The same for service and entertainment.

The low points were our last night dinner in Atlantide, which never arrived (we left after 85 minutes). That was followed this morning by having to dry ourselves with hand towels after showering because the room steward forgot to leave us bath towels. 
In contrast, we had our best lunch today in 2 weeks at a local noodle shop in Tokyo for US$6!! Talk about good value proposition!!

 

Did you speak to the Maitre d' about the missed meal?  I would not have wait near so long before heading over to the desk to ask where the meal is!

When you arrived back to your cabin that last evening and presumably brushed your teeth, didn't you notice bath towels were missing?  It has happened to me a couple of times, so I just ring reception or housekeeping and towels are delivered immediately.  Even on the last morning you could have called for towels.

I am really sorry that you ended on sour notes, but there were options.