Gourmet Gal

First please, it is Silversea not Silverseas. And yes, it’s true that SS is the most formal with suit and tie required on formal nights in most venues however many people can make it work just fine with sport coat, tie and dark pants. La Terrazza and The Grill are informal attire required on formal nights. The excellent room service is also not a bad option on those few formal nights. Expedition cruises do not have a formal requirement nor do the Med cruises of 7 days or fewer. Seems like SS is beginning to relax the dress code a bit. Is the cruise you are considering an expedition cruise? Outstanding service is evident on SS ships and you can avail yourself of as much pampering as you can tolerate but be assured that you will never get a chance to pour your water yourself!

As I recall your nightly rate on the cruise was only $330 per night. Yes, flights are expensive now but with that nightly rate it isn’t hard to exceed that with air fare. Not sure how many nights you had planned but sorry to hear it isn’t working out for you. It would have been easy otherwise to justify the possible negatives for such a great cruise price. I think the dress code issue gets overblown, and there is always good food to be found somewhere on the ship. Service is usually excellent and the ship is beautiful.

I sure understand. Crystal claimed to be a luxury line yet subjected pax to those tiny cabins…not a luxury experience. I sailed Crystal exactly once and was underwhelmed but will concede the entertainment was pretty great and really the best aspect of the line.

It never hurts to request the exact flights you want and then go from there. Glad it worked out for you.

Interesting. The cap in the US is much higher.

Not a world cruiser but I’ve had to insure around-the-world jet trips and found Travel Guard to be reasonable although we had to self-insure a portion due to maxing out on their limit. It was worth it to take the risk on a small portion rather than pay for a second policy. Is Travel Guard available in Canada?

Can I just say, it’s amazing how excited people are about “free” laundry! You earned it!

I didn’t say I had mega-yacht owning friends but I’m not slumming on CC at all. Most of my travel is land-based so I don’t cruise very often. When I do I have questions and enjoy the research and I find plenty of helpful people willing to share their experiences here on CC. This thread is a good example.

I thought the Otium benefits extend to in-suite perks as well?

So funny.

Depends on your definition of significant. But the answer is yes, I do know some yacht owners. Don’t hold it against me. 😉

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review. Can you share with us anything about the Otium concept and if you were able to enjoy any of the benefits? Also, I quoted this remark because I find it puzzling as one who is a bit tired of the demonization of the wealthy. Do yacht-owners have a monopoly on “telling other people how to live”? I’ve certainly not encountered that and I also do not know any yacht-owners who seem to be major contributors to the world’s ills.

Yes. Be sure to confirm with Tauck your flight info and non-Tauck hotel. I believe there is a place for that on your account page but I think I also called Tauck just to be sure. Back in April I arrived a week before my cruise and stayed at a non-Tauck hotel and the transportation was flawless. We happened to be staying at The Peninsula in Paris and they were kind enough to transport us in their RR Phantom to the Tauck hotel but an Uber would have been very easy as well.

No personalized stationery on my Sept. cruise on Silver Moon. Cincicruise, the keychain houses the small bottle of sanitizer.

It appeared about 30 days in advance for my cruise on the Moon last month.

That’s odd. On my sailing reservations were not required for SALT. We were able to book Silver Note, La Terrazza, La Dame, Hot Rocks and Kaiseki in advance online. Both SALT and Atlantide did not require reservations.

Even premium WiFi was slowwww last month on Silver Moon. Let’s hope the new satellite system works better.

Post Covid?

I have friends on the inaugural sailing and they are quite pleased. There are a few technical, mechanical glitches but it seems the consensus among the passengers that it was a success. I’ll try to glean more details. They are not CC’ers.

Still a push button machine. On my previous cruises there was someone serving coffee. But now on the Moon there is The Arts Cafe which starts serving just as early.

You have a great attitude despite your terrible loss. Good luck and have fun.

I do know you’ll never see a separate bill for alcohol on Tauck or Uniworld. Assume that applies to Scenic as well. On my recent Tauck cruise I saw Bloody Mary’s at breakfast and lunch while under way.

There’s a coffee/tea machine in the morning beginning at least by 6:00 AM. It’s my favorite spot when coming into port early morning. The evening bar service is nice but quite often the space can be commandeered by charter groups and can become quite crowded and noisy.

FWIW the boarding process on my recent Moon cruise was stellar, except for the elimination of the welcome champagne. The process was super efficient.

CA Cruise Lovers, which staff are you referring to? I felt the staff was the highlight of my recent Moon cruise. I never encountered anything but courtesy, friendliness and warm hospitality from every single staff member.