mumcat

We are booked on the recently cancelled cruise from Singapore to Mumbai on Whisper. Obviously it's very annoying , especially as the reason given was 'safety and security of guests and crew' when we weren't going anywhere near the Red Sea / Suez. I believe the real reason is to give enough time to sail around Africa to get to dry dock in the Med. Why couldn't they just say that. We will receive a full refund of the cruise fare plus Euro450pp for air travel fees. That will cover barely 50% of our air costs. Then we can have 20% reduction in a future cruise but we must book by February 29. IMO we should be given longer to decide especially given the state of travel these days. For instance, Silver Dawn and Whisper are both doing the Mumbai to Singapore itinerary departing Mumbai on December 4 2024. I would be happy to book either but, both ships will be coming to Mumbai from the Med. If sailing through the canal and Red Seas still continues to be impossible there is a very real possibility that these cruises will also be cancelled unless they cancel several cruises in the Med at the end of that season. Obviously I have way too much time on my hands to think about this but as I am no longer getting ready to sail in a few weeks, I will no doubt continue until I calm down!

Me either!

Thank you for this information - I don't think I would have found it where it was posted.

Thank you all for your responses. I am aware of the booking requirements for the speciality restaurants on Regent but you are only able to book each one once prior to boarding. I'm struggling to decide today what I may want to eat in 2 months time. As someone has suggested, I may have to just book randomly and cancel when on board rather than not get a reservation at all. In any event, I hope that someone will be able to clarify the dress code - specifically on formal nights. Is it formal in all restaurants? I apologise for asking these basic questions but the information doesn't seem to be available on the website - unless I'm just not seeing it!

Hello, we have recently booked to be on Silversea Whisper, Singapore to Mumbai March 3 - 23. This is our first SS cruise and I'm trying to get to grips with a few things. We have previously sailed on Regent, Oceania and Azamara. I can see that the subject of SS's dress code can cause some controversy - I am used to the idea of no shorts, jeans. t-shirts at night . Also what Regent calls Country Club Casual which some people took very liberally indeed! I'm interested in where formal attire is appropriate. I can see which nights are formal but does this apply to every restaurant - even the Grill? FWIW I like the idea of formal but would prefer to know more about it. Also, I see that other than the main dining room, we have to make reservations, which is a bit disappointing as I prefer to just turn up. I can understand reserving at the special d-room where we have to pay $60 but not the Grill or the Italian resto. This isn't a complaint - just a slight whine 😉. Are reservations essential or just advised and can it wait until we are on board? Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing from you seasoned SS sailors.☺️

Oceania's visa department don't seem to know much. They have told people on another cruise that they must have a visa for Indonesia otherwise they will have to leave the ship before it reaches port! This is so untrue as its possible to get a visa on arrival at the port or, just stay on the ship.

India is still not issuing tourist visas. They have begun issuing visas to Indian nationals in Canada who need to visit India.

Indian citizens in Canada often take Canadian citizenship but India does not recognise dual citizenship so they effectively lose Indian citizenship and need to have an entry visa to travel to India.

Unfortunately this does not include tourist visas. Entry visas are only for Indian citizens in Canada.

No, we applied for his visa on line and it makes no difference where you are geographically. Canadians worldwide are not being given visas.

We are booked on a cruise which calls in to India mid December. My husband has a Cansdian passport so his chances of getting a visa are slim to none. We are already into penalty phase. Looking at the language between Canada and India, I suspect this is more than just a spat.

I had read that the Indian formalities can be time consuming but nothing like you described. Thank you for posting as it's better to be well prepared.

Thank you. I am speaking to a tour company in Mumbai to organise something. I'm not such a free spirit as you are and like to have things sorted in advance 😊. But I'm sure we will have a great time.

We are on this cruise and earlier this week, we received emails from O detailing which places require visas and how to get them. I assume that you will have received these emails by now.

May I ask if you were on a cruise and if so, did you take the ship's tours or did you go onshore independently? I'm currently trying to decide what to do on our December O cruise from Dubai to S'pore. The ship's tours are quite expensive especially in Mumbai.

I like Kerry Gold. I'm sure that you'll find decent butter here. My taste buds have been dumbed down over the last 16 years or so as I find French food quite bland, but that's just me.

That's really interesting. When we first moved to France 17 years ago we though the potatoes tasted fabulous. Now we wonder why we ever thought that lol.

The salted one is ok. Best try various varieties whilst there. I'm curious why you'd bring butter back home from France. What's wrong with American butter?

I live in France and IMO, French butter is bland.

Thank you for your replies. As much as I would like to see Myanmar I am probably going to book the cruise anyway as I like the rest of the itinerary.

The reason I asked here was because I thought that perhaps Regent had already contacted people booked on this cruise to tell them what was happening. My bad!

We are considering booking the December 2023 Dubai to Singapore cruise which has 3 nights in Myanmar. I'm aware that at the moment Myanmar is not 'doable' and, although it's disappointing, I can live with that. However, I'd like to know what Regent intends to substitute - 3 days is a long time to just be floating around aimlessly! I read on the Oceania website that O seemed very reluctant to admit that they had to cancel Myanmar and I'm not sure what they eventually substituted. So , do any of you have any insight or knowledge what Regent intend? Thank you.

We have sailed with Azamara 5 times and with Regent just twice. Our first Regent cruise was on Explorer just after she was launched. We were blown away by the luxury onboard and the royal treatment. Unfortunately we had 4 cruises with Regent cancelled because of the pandemic. Our other Regent cruise was last year on the Navigator. Frankly I was disappointed . The ship was no better than the Azamara ships we have sailed on. The food and service were certainly not up to expectations. I like Azamara because it treats its guests like family and does not pretend to be luxury. Because we have sailed with them several times we are given enough free WiFi time for our needs. My main complaint is the size of the bathrooms and the shower curtain as has been mentioned by others. Unfortunately we can no longer afford Regent prices so we are sticking with Azamara and, we may try Celebrity.

We are considering that itinerary next year. During your cruise did you see much marine life - specifically whales ?

Thank you for your replies. I appreciate that the scenery in the Antarctic Sound will be wonderful but I'm a little concerned that 3 days sailing may be a bit boring? Last year we sailed from Northern Ireland to Greenland which was a 3 day sail and saw absolutely nothing at all so by the end of the 3rd day we were ready to get off the ship. Unfortunately thanks to fog and icebergs we could not get into port and had another sea day. - with nothing to see!