cotto22

Our butler last fall was very sweet, and did anything and everything we asked him to do, which was not much. We had a ventilation issue that we mentioned to him, and he had someone come and fix it. And toward the end of the cruise, I developed laryngitis, so he brought me his Mother's concoction of hot water and fresh ginger to make a kind of ginger tea. I am not sure it helped, but it tasted good and it was very thoughtful of him!

I have only been on Seabourn once, and found it to be very casual and energetic. Silversea is a bit more formal, and unless you are on an Expedition cruise, is a bit more laid back. This is just my opinion, so others could have had different experiences. I throughly enjoyed our Seabourn cruise, but it seems that the itineraries I like are always way too long for us.

Maybe his luggage was lost?

We hadn't sailed on SS until September, when we were on an Expedition ship for a non Expedition cruise. We very much enjoyed the bar pianist and guitarists, and the small group that played at various times, but I can't say that we even went to any of the shows. We have been mostly on Regent and Oceania, and although many enjoyed their shows, I usually regret going to them! 

  Our next SS cruise is in less than 2 weeks, and we will probably try one or two of the shows, but with not so high expectations!

12 hours ago, les37b said:

All floors have a laundry room.if you find your room is being used, the top floors are suites with free laundry (so don’t use) and you will find they tend to be unoccupied.

 

No changes to use them (including detergent.

 

in the past, I tended to have enough clothes with me to not need to laundry, (first cruise aside). Now I make use of our included free laundry and bag nearly every day.  Washing left out before 8am will be returned to you by 6pm. It’s great going home with all your clothing washed!

We were on an Expedition ship, so there was not a laundry on our floor,

I wish they did have free laundry, as my husband is able to fill a laundry bad overnight. Regent graciously offers this perq, and it is one that I appreciate, although I still wash my own since I use a delicate cycle and don't dry most of my clothes. But for they the dirty clothes maker, free laundry would be a great benefit. And having a facility on every floor is also nice. On our last cruise, I got my steps in schlepping up and down the stairs waiting for free machines and for ours to finish.

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thanks for this (as I'm boarding Whisper in Auckland in about a month), but it leaves me slightly confused.  Are you saying they only enforce the 'casual' dress code even on formal nights?

 

PS – please post more about your cruise.  It will also be my first cruise on Silversea, and first visit to New Zealand and Australia – so everything you experience will be helpful to me!

We will be boarding the Muse at the end of February starting in Auckland, and I finally noticed 3 bowties. My husband's suits were all too big for him (poor baby!) and I found one at Macy's that he agreed to wear. I have no problem dressing up as long as the dress is not long-too easy to trip. I guess what bothers me is being TOLD to be "formal". However, I do agree about jeans, sneakers, shorts, bb caps etc being on the naughty list. But that isn't the point of this thread, so I won't go there.

We received our return flight info for a cruise at the end of February a while ago, and there were 2 plane changes. The timing also was not great, so we asked our TA to see what alternatives they might have, and the next flights were much better. There was no charge to us. 

We were on the Halifax to Fort Lauderdale leg of this cruise, but not in a Silver Suite, and did not suffer from the odors described above. We did have A/C and ventilation issues that were corrected in about 6-8 hours after reporting them to various officials. This was our first SS cruise in 10 years, and we were happy enough, but would probably not book on that ship again unless it was an actual expedition voyage. 

  I was surprised that the Captain on the Cloud communicated with the passengers rarely, and left that mostly up to the Head of the Expedition Team. Most of his team were friendly, but a few were kind of standoffish, at least to me. We did really enjoy the Social Director, who should have been the Cruise Director, but he did not have the title for some reason. 

  Our next SS cruise will be on the Muse, which I am told will have more things to do and more places to eat, which will be nice since there are quite a few sea days involved.

48 minutes ago, zqtchas said:

Try Signature, I hear they give a better deal.

Our last SS and upcoming cruise on SS are Signature and they are giving us OBC that was almost a chore to use! We had a lot of fun with others trying to find ways to use it, since we are not normally spa users. My husband did get the best haircut he has ever had and it was quite a bargain. Others enjoyed specialty wine and we did some Christmas shopping. Not really complaining, lol! 

52 minutes ago, zqtchas said:

If you have the equipment, what does it matter when it happens?

Specialty restaurant reservations? 

To update my original post, the excursions I booked for Portland that was a replacement for the canceled excursion has now been changed. The lobster lunch has been removed! Everyday there is a change!

We have almost always tipped our tour guides, and in local currency whenever possible. I do remember one time when the guide was very poor and actually offensive that we did not.

I am wondering if the changes and cancellations in the shore excursions for our upcoming cruise (9/20) are normal for SS. Out of the 7 excursions that I chose, 2 have been totally canceled, and 3 have been very much modified. This is our first SS cruise in 10 years, our most recent cruises have been on Regent, where luckily we have never had an excursion canceled or seriously modified. Maybe this is just an unlucky itinerary! And no, none of these have anything to do with the hurricane.

31 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

Lots of water of all types available for drinking. All expedition cruises give you reusable water bottles; we have quite a collection at home though some clumsy oaf has managed to break the plastic tops of a few so far (not saying who, but one hint, it isn't Chris).

 

On the non-expedition cruises we've taken they have not always given out the refillable bottles but there is always plenty of bottled water available at the gangway. We try to be good environmental stewards and if they're giving out single-use plastic bottles, we keep them and refill them ourselves. I've not heard of anyone going thirsty on a Silversea cruise so no need to worry.

 

On every Silversea cruise I've taken, they have refillable bottles in the stateroom fridge. I prefer the non-refillable (but replaceable) glass ones that are corked, contain about 85% water, with the rest alcohol and tannins, but the choice is yours.

 

One other thought - you could always ask your butler to bring water for you in preparation for your tours, if you aren't able to secure a reliable supply on your own...

 

@gnome12, I changed the font when I quoted the post, for your reading pleasure. 

Thanks for all the great information. We have been on 4 SS cruises, but it has been 10 years since our last. We have mostly been on Regent and a few Oceania, and have gotten used to their procedures. We are really looking forward to returning to SS. We have this one booked in 10 days, and another at the end of February. And I apologize for the font issue. The comic sans was bigger, and it was easier for me to see.

37 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Can I politely request that you not use Comic Sans font. On my iphone it is almost unreadable. Please stick to the default font so that everyone can read your posts. Thank you. 

Sorry.

I have not seen this discussed and since we are sailing in 10 days, am very interested in this topic. Does Silversea offer reusable water containers and refillable dispensers for shore excursions? We were on Regent in April, and this was the process they used. They also had still water in the room (or sparkling) in refillable containers as well as in restaurants. Of course, you could request brand name sparkling if that is what you wanted. I haven't seen any mention of this, but of course, I could have missed it.

Thanks!

We are on the next leg of this voyage. Hope you have a great cruise!

I will admit that I stopped reading this thread when it went awry, off topic, etc. We booked La Dame on our September cruise on the Cloud because we were give SBC and were told it was $60 pp. Is the price increase just for the new ship? Does it affect prior bookings? And do I have to wait until we are on board to check the price? Sorry if these have been answered in the midst of other posts.

We have not been on a SS ship for 10 years, sailing primarily on Regent and Oceania during that period. But next month we are booked on a Halifax to Ft. Lauderdale cruise on the Silver Cloud. Although it says "Expedition", the excursions are quite normal. Since this is a coffee thread, is there any coffee bar on this ship at all? We have been used to coffee bars of various names and configurations on our last cruises and gotten pretty spoiled. I don't see anything on the deck plans. Can coffees be ordered from bars? And would they be available in the morning? Or are we just out of luck? Not a deal breaker obviously.

Our Auckland to Bali cruise would save us a whopping $200 and then give us the SBC, but the cost of BA would increase significantly from what we were offered, so it makes so sense to take advantage of the latest promo. On our fall cruise, SS would not budge since we were paid in full. We would have really benefited from that price decrease. Our TA said he tried on many fronts, and I do believe him. He did wonders with Regent on their price decreases and promos.

We haven't sailed on SS in 10 years, although this fall we will hopefully be on the Halifax to Ft. Lauderdale cruise. It will be our 4th voyage with SS. In the past 10 years, we sailed on Regent and Oceania. But this one had some interesting stops, and it fit our time table. I will be curious to see how things have changed, and especially since the Cloud is an Expedition ship. I am excited!

3 minutes ago, alithecat said:

@cotto22There are no formal nights on expedition ships. It will be mostly casual, with a few informal nights. 

I figured there would not be any on a true expedition cruise, but this cruise is on an expedition ship but with no expeditions, if that makes any sense. The excursions are all "normal", no kayaks, or snorkeling, or 5 mile hikes!

PS I love your name!

We are booked on the Halifax to Fort Lauderdale Silver Cloud "Expeditions" cruise in September. It really isn't an expeditions cruise, although the Silver Cloud is deemed an expeditions ship. Will there be formal nights on this cruise on an expeditions ship? I don't see any bowties on any of the days on the itinerary. 

Oh my. My husband I were joking about bringing our cats, thinking about how years ago there were probably cats on pirate ships and other vessels who were there to keep the rat population down. We had a good laugh picturing out fat tabbies in life jackets.

  I see those little dogs everywhere now! But hopefully not at a cruise dinner. 🤯