xmarksx

75 % of San Juan is back with power , lots of mess but progressing well. I am sure in month Port and hotels will be open. lots of money involved ,they not gonna loose it.

I have a January Seaside cruise that I will be attending regardless of the Puerto Rico stop. Because of this I have taken keen interest in the media reports. Please provide the media source that stated 75% of San Juan is back-up because I have not been able to validate your assertion. In fact, I just read a tweet from the PR governor, from San Juan, stating this is a humanitarian crisis. Other reports state almost all of the 1.6 million residents are without power and no power is in-sight for some time.

This was not a land based storm where crews from neighboring States can stream in to restore power. Instead it will take significant time, technical expertise and material. Especially problematic, shipping that material in. It has to be shipped, unloaded, transported and installed. PR had, according to reports, a brittle energy grid and this shattered it.

I am sailing Seaside in January and bought the three specialty meal package for us, by phone. The MSC assistant asked me for the prospective dates for each dinner, there was a specific question for it.

Toxic,

As you are running prices for Miami, run a check for the Southwest flights to West Palm Beach. It does pose logistical challenges but sometimes it's cheaper To make it work you have to be renting a car anyway. Otherwise it's not worth the time to check.

Great pictures, thank you for sharing!

A few photos received while we were away on Preziosa this last week.

 

The filling of the dock before the Second Sea trials.

 

 

 

 

Notice the Bottom all painted and the Props all nice and Polished up.

 

Out at Sea

 

You avoid the 15% service charge when you buy in advance.

 

 

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I have cruised Celebrity and Silversea but not MSC. What is the 15% service charge?

We do the same thing, late afternoon flights and a rental car is really nice. You can walk South Beach or shop and don't have to worry about disembarkation, catching a flight.

Not sure if anyone is interested but these were recently posted. Nice update on construction:

Kelly, we have done the post cruise rental with Hertz at Miami and my suggestion would be to forgo the shuttle unless it's right there and plenty of space is available. Disembarkation is always a madhouse and taking a cab or Uber/Lyft is just so much easier. That is what we did.

Granted, you pay for it. Also, the Miami Hertz port location was packed and I would not recommend it unless you have a great discount.

Thank you Kate and Dex! I will buy them in advance.

Does anyone know if they offer onboard internet or laundry specials? We are sailing Yacht Club and I am wondering if that might also help? Thanks for any input!

MAFIG, we booked a January cruise in 16041 and chose it for the following reasons over 16043.

1, Chose deck 16 over 18 because of the worry over early morning deck chair movement as they do the cleaning. Also prefer to be a couple decks below people looking below from the public deck.

2, We thought it would afford more sun vs. the 16001 - 16037 cabins that are recessed back. Opposite is true if you prefer less sun on your veranda.

3, Could be wrong but thought it would be a little less guaranteed noise because 16037 is set back, less common wall.

I based this solely on the computer generated views and the construction photos. Goodness knows if I will be correct. This is our first cruise with MSC. We booked our 20-something daughters into 16043 so will have a good comparison.

Terry, I have been really looking forward to this report. Thank you for sharing it with us all.

Unfortunately they turned it into a photography studio - superfantastic (said in a sarcastic tone)

I have found information about them and the early morning joggers that might not be there now. Furthermore...they are located on portside and the TA is traveling east; would the balcony get much sun? I am on starboard, corner S1 and thought the sunshine would be better...

We stayed in one for our August sailing and I don't remember there being more/less sun than a regular veranda. I too was worried about the joggers but they were not a problem, never heard them.

We were in the suite nearest Aqua Spa Caf? and the hallway door (sorry, cannot remember the suite #) and you sometimes heard the entry door slam. However,that was only during the daytime and I never heard it from the bedroom. The sliding doors to the caf?, when open, would cause a vacuum with the hallway door.

. Now I just have to get through the summer:D

I know EXACTLY how you feel!

I am sort of a gym rat and am curious about the gym on Solstice class, specifically Silhouette. Is there enough open space for doing your own bootcamp or cardio routine? We have sailed RCI for years, and last year when I sailed Serenade, I was very unhappy with how small that gym is! Can anyone compare to RCI's Freedom or Voyager class gyms, please?

Agree with others on the quality of the S Class gyms, Silhouette's is quite nice. However, if you are looking for enough room to do a boot-camp style workout with plyos, it's going to be difficult. They have a single rower that gets lots of use and the other open areas within the gym are designed more for relaxing than movement. I tried doing something similar on Reflection last summer and gave up after the second day. Just too hard to work around the crowds. Bottom line, you cannot set up stations to move from one set to another set because people will want to use the space you are leaving.

Taylor,

I cannot speak for your specific flight, especially since you booked Delta. However, I did exactly as you described and ran a dummy booking via British Air and my return flight (mixed carrier BA and American). Both flights done in anonymous fashion returned with my seats blocked. Almost none of the other seats are blocked so that raises my level of confidence. Furthermore, I was able to choose my seats via my BA and AA login information, as described in my earlier post.

I know you paid the deviation fee but did you also decide to do the business class upgrade as well? That may make a difference.

To be clear. Silversea booked our original seats and I logged on using both my British Air and American frequent flyer accounts. Once signed on I changed my seats (used Seatguru for the best location available). BA allowed me to do this without an upcharge, same for American. I have no status with either, just the base flyer level.

Saw the same thing and laughed about the crazy amount of vitriol generously applied by a few regular posters, regarding X. How they chastise the "cheerleaders" yet it appears the consensus is with the "cheerleaders."

How can that be???

I had the exact same concern prior to sailing in a Reflection Suite last August, the same thing happens when you are viewing Reflection Suite perks and I was especially concerned over unlimited dining.

Happy to say, no problem. Unlimited dining was included and I have no idea why they have not updated it to reflect that.

Also, that location is fantastic. You hear zero noise from the club next door and its really nice being that close to the pool/pool bar/spa café.

To be fair I have nothing wrong with Biggie being spread around. His music was revolutionary.

 

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Now that was funny!

Hopefully my answers are somewhat coherent.

1. I heard on one of the threads that there really is no "free" (or in my case, heavily discounted) airfare - there's always a catch. That made me wonder if the catch is that when they go to actually ticket the flights (just 2 months in advance), that the ones "reserved" now (6 months in advance) will be all gone, and a much less desirable itinerary will have to be chosen instead (like in a plane without lie-flat seats in business class, an essential element of the flight for both of us due to spine problems). Or, Silversea could just randomly change the flight itinerary for no reason - it states this in their Terms & Conditions. My question is whether an itinerary change (different flight times, routes or airlines) is likely to happen, in the experience of anyone who has used Silversea (or any other cruise line) for flights?

Taylor, I can only provide my experience and I will be a first time Silversea cruiser this summer, Spirit Med sailing from Venice. Did the upgrade and paid extra for the deviation. I checked flights from Chicago to Venice using the major carriers before booking with Silversea and noted those with the best lie-flat options combined with the better online reputations for business class. My agent provided a couple of options I was interested in, one using Lufthansa and the other British Air/American. Silversea explained they could accommodate my open-jaw trip (I am doing a two night in London) with no additional fees if I flew the British Air/American option. My other choice being Lufthansa staying in Germany for two nights pre-cruise but that would have cost us additional upcharges of several hundred per person. We chose London.

 

2. Second question: I wonder if the seat selection is also restricted to 60 days prior to the cruise (i.e., if that's when the ticket is issued, I'm guessing I can't pick seats until then, and of course, all the good ones will be gone). Anyone know how early I can pick seats after I give Silversea the go-ahead to "book" my flights (i.e., after I accept the itinerary they presented, which I have done).

We were able to obtain seat assignments for both the British Air and American flights in advance, and our sailing is in August. I seem to recall the window for booking opens at 270 days

A shameless pitch for the roll call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=896

or here:

http://cruisecritic.com/rollcalls?cruise_line_id=35&ship_id=542

Thanks Jeff, I am also on this sailing but have not been keeping track of the-cooler. Will do so now!

We were in 1214, aft Sky, last January and loved it. No obstructions for either the round window or from your deck. Also, the wraparound deck gives you both an aft view and a side view as you are sailing.

Everyone worries about the pole next to the bed, bumping into it, and everyone always comments after the cruise that it wasn't a problem. Same here.

You are far enough below Oceanview that you never really hear or see them unless you turn around. The only negative for some is that when you are laying out on the deck others can look down upon you. Meh, same as at the pool.

Also, those corner aft's have a secondary entryway that makes noise from the hallway pretty much non-existent. Essentially a door from the hallway opens to a carpeted area between your suite door and a the adjacent room door(assume this is a setup if people want to book both rooms.) If you search there are some photos that show it better than I can describe it.

Make sure you add in Oceania's deviation fee as you mentioned you wanted to stay a few days. I think it's still $175 pp but haven't checked lately.

Agreed and good point Cruise Junky but also positively factor the $99 premium economy upgrade that I think is offered for that sailing. We were leaning heavily toward an Oceania vs. Celebrity sailing to the med this summer but eventually shifted to Silversea. I ran the cost benefit and Oceania would require that we purchase a beverage package vs. none for Celebrity or Silversea (included). What ultimately tipped the scale for Silversea was the ability to upgrade to business class for $500 per each way (additional $1000 per). It's a complicated mess and took me a while to factor in everything, including the intangibles.