canderson

Dedicated restaurant and lounge, yes. Separate deck area as well on many of their ships. But there aren't nearly 596 guests (e.g., Muse class) in Celebrity's Retreat suites, either. We come from the same cruising background as @NanaChar although in Royal vs. Sky and will be equally interested in how our first SS experience will feel in comparison.

Not to mention passenger to crew ratio. Something like 1.4:1 on Silversea vs. 2.5:1 on Carnival. *Should* provide for much better service.

Also, when the X plan was overhauled to the current points system, there was a reasonably equitable retroactive conversion of nights to points made based upon all prior sailings with them.

That would be in line with the way RCG deals with it on their other brands using number of nights sailed and cabin class. On X, they split it at suite/non-suite. More points earned for the former. Wouldn't surprise me that, if SS goes that route, they make the split at ~Silver Suite and up. I'd note that Seabourn has a similarly stepped program based upon cabin class booked.

Good if reservations are often available 'day before', otherwise... I was able to get the 14 day rotations from the concierge in Michael's on Celebrity. Handed him a thumb drive, and voila!

580 of 596 is a really good benchmark for what to expect. Thanks for that. We've been a bit spoiled in that we have rarely had to wait for dinner in any venue when sailing with Celebrity provided we gave an hour or two of notice, max, but that's partly been a function of which cabins we've picked. They always seem to hold back a couple of tables in each venue. We'd thought it would be fun to spend a few nights in Silver Note to do the 'sorta tapas' thing, but if we're going to have long waits or closed out evenings, that'd be a non-starter. How far in advance can restaurant reservations be made? Do all venues, including Atlantide, take reservations? Does SS produce, on request, the menus for a voyage once onboard, or at least provide what will be available the next night to assist in decision making? We often wander a good bit based upon the night's offerings. Can you tell we're new at this?

Noting the smiley face... "NTS" (Not To Scale") comes to mind! So far, so good with air in Colorado.

We will be taking our first SS cruise on Dawn, and you bring up an interesting question. What is the seating capacity in Atlantide vs. the 596 pax double occupancy? Got the feeling that Atlantide was, more or less, the "main dining room" for Muse class ships. More specifically, if it's available, is there a capacity chart for all of the various dining venues?

Part love, part frustration here. It'll be our first experience with SS's air group. Love: If they deliver on it without changing it again (without notice to me or my TA), the itinerary they have finally chosen for us couldn't be improved upon at all. Would have been my own first choice. 787-9 in Polaris class from DEN to LHR. Sweet way to fly. Then with a decent time to turn around in LHR, a short first class TAP flight from LHR to Lisbon. Leaves late in the day DEN time which allows for dinner and then possibly some real sleep during the flight, and arrives late afternoon Lisbon time, so no need to figure out how to stay awake for an extra few hours after arrival. Unpack, have dinner, and crash. As I say, couldn't possibly have asked for better. Frustration: No direct phone connection unless it's a day-of emergency. We're accustomed to more direct contact than that. Going back and forth on hold while the folks answering the main number bounce questions back and forth to the air group is not only inefficient, it also leads to errors (remember the old kid's game "Telephone"?) No record locators available for flights 6 months out, ostensibly because "the flights might change". Locators don't change for changed flights, just changed airlines, and you can't get an itinerary like the one above - or anything even remotely resembling it - from any other airline out of DEN than UA. Previous itinerary 'discovered' on the my.SS website was just OK, but we'd take it. The frustration on this note comes from the fact that the itinerary changed (for the better, I'll grant) without any notification to either me or my TA. This could continue to happen right up until the day of departure for all I know. They need to up their communications practices in that regard. Because we're going in 4 days ahead instead of 3, they insist on a $150 pp 'deviation charge'. They knew from the beginning that we were going in 4 early, but their entire hotel/air system is geared to no more than 3 days early without other charges and complications starting to kick in. Not SS Air's fault, but it seems SS is unable to reserve their hotel for more than 3 nights at any price.

Looks like Silver Suites aren't too much more next year than this year. Looked at a few cruises, and the differences aren't huge for that cabin class, just everything above it. Our 16nt Lisbon to FLL this year in a Silver is only $100 less than the 14nt Lisbon to FLL next year. Yes, 2 nights shorter, but not a massive difference in price. OTOH: For those same two cruises in a Grand, the price is about $15,000 higher (for 2 pax) next year for the 2 nt shorter cruise!

I don't, but just like the bad rep that company Christmas parties have achieved over the years (and most of them are totally tame), the group cruise suffers similarly for the same reasons. All it takes is a few weird ones to make it a meme.

Ah, so the "Laundry/pressing inclusion -2" was commentary on not having it included with your cabin class on SS vs. Regent, not the quality of the laundry/pressing service?

@Lonedaddy The -2 on laundry and pressing because... ?? We will be leaning heavily upon that on Dawn in November, so any caveats you can supply are welcome.

Viking also plies the Duoro with four ships.

And for a couple of recent years, there weren't even any of those as a reason to get dressed up. The only up side from COVID-19 is that we saved a ton of money on tailoring and dry cleaning bills.

Again, is there a non-emergency non-day-of-travel direct # for SS's air department? Calling the main number and having them play 'relay' with air while I'm on hold multiple times didn't produce sensible answers.

That's when a quick call to the Hotel Manager would be in order.

I see that they say the benefit now applies to SS cruises, but their online form as yet has none of the SS ships listed, so you can't use that to apply for the benefit. Perhaps that will change later. Meanwhile, I guess the old email approach would have to suffice.

Hmmm... one of our reasons for sailing Celebrity was the lack of PA use. Noon position announcement, notification of customs clearance for disembarkation at ports, occasional crew fire drills, and that was about it. REALLY hope the microphone isn't abused on our first SS sailing. It changes the whole tenor of the cruise.

I don't know if other companies do this, but it's definitely "a thing" on the two other RCG lines as well, especially in the Spring season.

Picked up the requisite 100 shares back in 2009 for something just shy of$15, and have used it a couple of dozen times, so I'm not complaining.

Yes I'm questioning the entire conversation. Is there a separate 'non-emergency' number for their air division? I used the main # and that person contacted air for the info, all of which is suspect after the record locator comment.

Called Silversea and was advised that record locators won't be made available until 60 days pre-departure because "if the flights change, the record locator will change". That's a new one. That said, I am advised that on legs with two class aircraft, the SS business upgrade provides first class seating, not economy.

No, because outdoor dining at 50 degrees is something you do around a campfire, if ever!