Mahogany

1 hour ago, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

For those who want to limit the number of single use plastic bottles that get discarded (and end up floating in the ocean gyres...), you can buy refillable plastic water bottles that pack flat, and sort of fold open as you fill them, and have nice secure screw tops.  They weigh nothing and - empty - take up no space.  I have one I've used for years.  They can be found at outdoor stores such as REI, or other places selling backpacking supplies.  I believe mine holds half a liter. 

 

I take it along on day outings from the ship, and have reliable, safe water when I need it.  When we get back to the bus, or close to the ship, I dump the water, fold it up and put in a pocket - so hands are free.  Unlike a rigid stainless steel or aluminum bottle, this packs flat and saves critical volume when packing, or should I say, cramming stuff in your carry on.  

Do you fill it from the bottles in your suite or from the tap?

15 hours ago, raphael360 said:

Oh Mahonay. hyperbole is such a big word I had to look it up...lol...

I work with a national non-profit working to bring safe drinking water to everyone in the USA.  A better word would be my comments are malapropos to this SB forum discussion.  Thank you for pointing that out 🙂

But while it's still in this SB forum, let me commend you for your work, a truly noble and let's hope, not too lofty, a goal. And, true, hyperbole is such a BIG word,  I ought to restrict my use of it.🙂

1 hour ago, orchestrapal said:

 

Pre and post ship inclusions are mostly rip-offs and do not include hotel mini fridge contents.

you may enjoy but also have big extra hotel bill......

I was referring to the liquor nips provided in  my Viking suite.

On 6/22/2019 at 12:13 PM, Rawmac said:

The Viking "Single Supplement" is another full fare.  Yes, 100%.  Double!  On the cruise and on pre- and post-extensions.  And you pay for two air fares but only get one economy seat and one baggage allowance.  Apart from having a cabin to yourself, there are no other "benefits" from paying twice.  I don't know whether the "auto-gratuities" is doubled up, or whether the singleton is expected to do so, despite (presumably) only one bed to make up!  To claw back some money's-worth entails serious eating each and every day (six meals a day to break even), and trying convince the excursions team that you have paid to join all included tours twice.  Your ghostly cabin companion should also contribute to the ship's bar revenues, but may have the "free" drinks at lunch(es) and dinner(s).   So, going singleton requires a visit to the Bank Manager first.

 

Doubling the extensions prices is totally unjustifiable, as these prices include tours (for two persons,  not just one), hotels (which will be room rate, not per person) and meals (can you eat two breakfasts?).  This must be a nice little earner for Viking.  The only justifications for not organising the extensions yourself would be a fear for self-transfers, . . . . or a lottery win.  Bear in mind that extension days include transfers to/from airport/ship.  A three day extension will have only one full day of tours; the first and last will be governed by your travel times and so may not have much value, at double cost.

 

So, going singleton means you pay for lots and lots that you don't get.  Better to find a friend!

Well, Rawmac, based on your comments, I have cancelled the second half of a B2B. I travel solo all the time, and rather than share, suck up the single supplement, often 100%. Yes, I only eat for one, but I am taking up the space that they could fill with 2 people, so until the cruise lines get smart and start building single cabins, this is the reality. I am not using Viking Air, so can't comment on their policy, but I have been quoted gratuities and beverage package for one person only. And I did compare doing independently the pre-cruise package and chose Viking's offer. Maybe I can drink for two the nips supplied in the suite 😁.  

I agree. Raphael, to state the whole country's water is a disgrace is hyperbole at its worst.

On a different note, perhaps Seabourn should have new stainless steel water bottles in every stateroom.

2 hours ago, Accessor said:

We sailed on the Encore March 2019 in Australia/NZ (our 1st SB cruise 14nts) and just completed Norway on Silver Spirit June 2019 (our 1st SS cruise 14nts).

 

For us, in our opinion, we loved SS over SB. Granted we have only cruised once on each line, but we have also cruised Oceania, Regent, Celebrity, and all the other cruiselines (except Crystal) with 60+ cruises under our belt.

 

1. Dining room service on SB was chaotic. Not enough servers, scrambling, forgetting what you're drinking, taking an hour btw courses, and even running out of TK featured dishes! No dedicate wine service, just reg servers doing double duty. SS they were calm, cool, professional, and friendly. Never felt rushed or overwhelmed like we experienced on the Encore.

 

2.  Food. We have heard people complaining menus never changed on SS. This is simply NOT true. They changed every 4 days or so. With 7 places to dine (2 add charge), we never got bored of the food like we did on SB. On SB, we were offered lobster ONCE in main DR in 14nts. On SS it was on the menu every day. Things like King crab, Chilean Sea Bass were never found on SB.We did enjoy SB's Patio over SS hot rocks (our least fav rest). Colonnade was carb overload, and also hard to find seating at peak hours.

 

Arts Cafe on SS had excellent small bites, flavored waters, superior quality teas, sandwiches, truffles, and sweets. Seabourn square lacked the quality and variety of what is offered in the Arts Cafe.

 

3. Service superior with our Butler making a big diff for us over SB with no butler.

 

4. Bar service, quality of champagne, and wines we found SS superior. Find the bar menu on each line and compare the two. We hated the NF champs on SB, but found the Monopole very drinkable on SS. The bar servers in Observation lounge would ask us 3 times what we ordered, and then bring us the wrong drinks on SB. The lite bites on SS far superior (canapes) in the evening vs baloney, chips & salsa, and other low quality bites in Observation lounge at nite on SB. Were usually offered nuts/chips on SS, which didn't happen on SB.

 

5. Entertainment would be equal. Hit and misses on both lines.

 

6. Cabins are equal on both lines. Both have high quality bedding/furnishings

 

Overall, you can feel the Carnival Corp bean counting, penny pinching, race to the bottom mentality on Seabourn. It was quite the opposite on Silversea with Royal buying a majority ownership now offering free caviar at anytime. Bottomless high quality champagne. Higher quality meats & fish. Better variety of food.

 

We would hands down choose Silversea over Seabourn as our go to luxury cruiseline. We will try Crystal sooner or later. We also love Oceania's food quality, but the service is more 4 star and lately pricing has been very 5 star.

 

Hopefully our very recent cruises on both lines add some value; things change and memories of how we perceived a cruise 2-3 years ago aren't always accurate (along with cuts, adds, and changes over time). If you haven't cruised SS recently maybe it's time to give them another try. No cruise is perfect, we had quibbles on both, but in the end after adding up our scorecards, SS was the best of the two.

Interesting comparison. I will be going on Pacific repositioning on Muse in September, first SS since right before Spirit was split in half. I've taken 3 Seabourn since then. I travel solo, and though there is some attention at Silversea, I like the invitations to dine with staff and visiting lecturers that I receive on Seabourn. BTW, you can have complimentary caviar any time on Seabourn. I just returned from an 8-day on Crystal, my first, and was disappointed with the MDR there, with staff constantly rushing around. I never found that on Encore. I agree the wine service is unprofessional, relying on servers. But I do love the TK Grill bar.

Thanks all. On Explorer last year, Chartreuse was one of my favorite restaurants, and especially Jeanne the maitre'd.

On 6/29/2019 at 11:25 AM, Heidi13 said:

You should also be aware that Viking limits the OBC that TA's can provide. For cruises of 15 days or longer it is limited to $500 per person. Even World Cruises of 100+ days still only get $500 pp. Shorter cruises get even less.

 

If your TA is prepared to provide you OBC in excess of the Viking policy, you should be aware that it might be reduced when the TA sends it to Viking.

 

For our World Cruise, our TA provided the max $500 pp, but because we paid in Canadian $, we were limited to $500 in Canadian funds, or about US $400 pp.

 

https://www.vikingcruisescanada.com/terms-conditions/advertising-and-commissions-policy.html

Do you know why Viking (and no other line I travel on) has this restrictive policy? I would think Viking would welcome more spending in the shops, purchase of high-end wines, and more excursions.

On 6/24/2019 at 11:24 AM, CCWineLover said:

Thank you all for your very good inputs!   We'll see if we can find out from Viking what the wine/drink lists are for our Dec. South American cruise coming up - and can then research whether it makes sense for us.   Our good friends are on a Viking cruise now and let us know that they ordered the SSP the day after boarding-first full day (so the boarding day didn't count).  So if you have a 15 day/14 night cruise, you really would be paying for 13 days, since the first day is embarkationg and the  final day is disembarkation early.

Don't forget to take advantage of visiting some very good wine-producing countries in SA (Argentina and Chile), and stocking up in port at wine outlets, often supermarkets.

3 minutes ago, Hambagahle said:

Mariner always had Signatures and that was replaced by Chartreuse some time ago.  Look at the Regent website for menus etc.

That's what the website says, "debut in April 2019"

I'm scheduled on Mariner in October and read that the restaurant Chartreuse was expected to debut on Mariner in April. Anyone know if it's there yet?

I am booked on the March 2020 voyage on Quest from Buenos Aires-Manaus-Miami, and my documents note "Vaccination Required" for French Guiana only. Nothing for Brazil and no specification which vaccination for French Guiana. I expect closer to final payment there will be more info.

Add my thanks SLSD for such an informative description. I am traveling on Silversea Muse in September from Seward to Tokyo. I've always wanted to visit Kamchatka peninsula, and this cruise originating in Seward is perfect since I've been to Alaska 4 times and didn't want to repeat the inland passage run. I will be going west, so hopefully the frequent time changes will work better that direction. Of course, we lose a day - don't ask me to figure out those time changes!

I am going on a long Quest voyage after she leaves Antarctica in March. I have been on Encore twice and Ovation once, so I enjoyed your comparisons of the different ship classes.   I am going to miss the TK bar, my go-to bar for a pre-dinner cocktail, especially if Diogo is bartending.

8 hours ago, LunaSeaRetreat said:

Sorry I've been gone so long.  I got a weird virus that they first thought was measles but blood test ruled that out.  Feeling better and the spots are slowly fading. 

On to the USA.

Dutch Harbour

For some reason Viking offered no tours in Dutch Harbour.  There was a shuttle bus.  Not much to see in town, but I talked to a few people that arranged their our tours ahead of time and enjoyed their day.

 

Maybe one reason there were no tours was immigration.  We went through immigration on the ship starting at 6:30 am!  They started calling on deck three first but I think everyone could hear it.  For the US and Canada there was only one pleasant officer and a helper. 

I wouldn't blame Viking or immigration. In September I'm going on Silversea west from Seward , so no immigration in Dutch Harbor, and the only shore excursion offered is the complimentary shuttle bus (probably school bus). There are so many reasons you can't expect each port to be the same: unavailable transportation (usually provided by the town), a powerful taxi lobby, etc. Glad that there were private tour options.

I'm confused. Aren't we talking about Cuba, not New York?  Not sure which VO ship VJMAZZ is on in 
December. I'm on Sky, and Santiago de Cuba stop was originally Jan. 8 2020 but revised schedule shows Dec. 30 2019. A moot point since there will be no stop I guess. Too bad, I was in Cuba for a week in 2011 and liked it so much but only in the Havana area. I was looking forward to seeing another part of the island, but alas...Another sea day will be a disappointment.

Do you think Nicaragua is off-limits also to cruise lines, since it's part of John Bolton's "troika of tyranny"? Nicaragua is often a cruise stop for Panama Canal voyages.

13 hours ago, cruiseej said:

@machotspur We have cruised on Regent and Seabourn, but never on Silversea until last summer, when we explored Greenland on Silver Cloud, the smaller ship which was refurbished to be an expedition ship. We had a fantastic cruise, thanks especially to some outstanding weather and the excellent expedition staff.

 

For reasons that are hard to put my hand on, we slightly preferred Seabourn to Silversea; it's hard to say if some of the differences were due to the difference in size between the Silver Cloud and the Odyssey-class Seabourn ships. I don't think I'd attribute it to the age of the Silver Cloud; although she's about 25 years old, the refurbishments made her feel quite similar to the Seabourn ships. But the slight difference we felt between Seabourn and Silversea (an A to an A-, perhaps?) wouldn't dissuade us from traveling with Silversea again on the Silver Cloud, or the Silver Wind once it receives the similar refurbishment. (A Galapagos trip is also high on our wish list, and the renderings of the new Silversea Silver Origin coming next year look awfully enticing!)

 

@Mahogany Thanks for mentioning Abercrombie & Kent. I was planning to take a look into Ponant; I didn't realize A&K chartered their ship. I know it's hard to compare expedition and non-expedition cruises, but how would you say the Ponant ship and experience compared with Seabourn?

 

I've been on several Seabourn cruises with their Ventures team. I jokingly told Joe the ornithologist that he was almost as passionate about birds as the A&K woman in Antarctica. I also went to the Arctic with A&K.  Their expedition team is excellent and the ship as good as Silversea I think.  English is the first language with A&K, not so with sailing Ponant through them, I believe. I went to Galapagos with Silversea and am traveling with them on Muse this fall. Seabourn has become my favorite line but only by a whisker. Itinerary drives my choices. 

Another option for Antarctica is to look at land-based companies. I went with Abercrombie & Kent who charter the whole Ponant ship. Excellent. 2 days in BA, then a chartered flight to Ushaia, and included South Georgia, a must-see island group.

4 hours ago, Pushka said:

 

And that’s exactly what we did. Most are private. But some prefer to book only with the cruise line for perceived security. 

"Perceived security"? You mean, the ship would still sail without you if you were late returning on a Viking excursion?

On 5/27/2019 at 2:32 PM, Unibok said:

Anchorage tip: Snow City Cafe for a hearty breakfast. Reservations essential if you don’t want a lonnnnnngggg wait. We had rezzies and were seated immediately. Their Alaskan Benedicts are especially good: a tangy hollandaise, perfectly poached egg, and either salmon cakes or king crab cakes (or one of each!). Good coffee, and a shelf of hot sauces.

I'll be in Anchorage 3 nights early September and will definitely make a rez for Snow City Café for breakfast.

Maybe for 3 mornings? Looked at the menu, and too many choices for one morning! Thanks for the recommendation. Also plan on dinner at Marx Brothers Café which my husband and I dined at two different stays in Anchorage many years ago.

I had my TA contact Silversea about the train rez I had. After reading that the train left at 6:45 AM, I had second thoughts. She told me that SS has chartered a train that leaves Anchorage at 1:00 PM, arriving at 5:00 PM; sailing is at 7:00 PM, so no need to worry about making the sailing since the transfer is a SS one. There is a motorcoach option as well, but I like trains, so this is my choice. I'm not sure whether each voyage leaving from Seward is chartering a train; as I said previously, I'm on the September Seward-Tokyo trip.

8 hours ago, SLSD said:

Day One--May 16

 

Our driver came to our hotel early, so we left Kyoto for Kobe ahead of schedule, arriving at the pier around 11:20 am.  Check-in had not yet opened so we waited for a few minutes.  When we were checking in, I had to remind the young woman checking us in to take our photos.  She was Japanese and struggling a bit with language.  All was well though and we set foot on Sojourn at exactly 12 noon.  

 

We made our way to the Colonnade and there were a number a crew members and a couple of officers to greet us.  We chose a table for two out on the deck area of the Colonnade and ordered from the "Specials" menu.  We both ordered pan seared salmon with fresh vegetables (trying to get a very healthy start to this cruise.)  We enjoyed meeting a couple from Sydney at the next table.  Since the suites were not yet ready, we made our way to the Pool Bar, met Brenden the bartender there who is quite personable.  He told us that he would be remembering our drink orders  next time we come, but to be sure to let him know if we want to change.  

 

We popped our heads into the TK Grill, met the maitre d', confirming our reservation for this evening.  Since we have yet to meet anyone (whose name AND suite number we know) we told her that we would welcome another couple seated with us at our table for four.  Hopefully that will happen. 

 

We also stopped in at Seabourn Square and got our very expensive (and quite slow) WIFI sorted out.  The crew that work there could not have been nicer and more patient.  As I am on my laptop now, the connection appears to be working.  

 

The suites were not ready until almost 2:30pm and we heard various passengers grumbling a bit at the delay.  It may have been due to an Asian Moth inspection of the ship.  Our bags arrived in our room about 15 minutes after we did.  We've met our charming stewardess (Tracey) and chose our soaps, gave her laundry, dry cleaning and pressing to organize. Who knows how we have a bag of laundry already! 

 

We are pleased with our suite as it is quite similar to our suit on both the Encore and Ovation.  The closet IS smaller, bu other than that, it is much the same.  Wen we were on Encore and Ovation, several passengers said that their suites were narrower than on the small ships.  We cannot see a difference there.

 

I have to tell you some of my husband's comments.  He is a bit taken aback at the condition of the ship---pointing out rust here and there as well as other deferred maintenance.  He also pointed to a "tort waiting to happen"---a rubber mat with curled up edges just waiting for someone rather klutzy (could that be me?) to trip over.  He was rather disappointed by the ship, on first impression, after Ovation and Encore. 

 

The biggest disappointment is a letter we found in our suite.  It says in part that from May 21st to May 29th the pool on Deck 8 will be empty as it is worked upon.  It will take 6 days and after that, the pool on deck 5 aft will be worked on.  They anticipate some noise.  In addition, certain areas of the teak deck on Deck 8 will be repaired from May 29th until June 7th.  This sounds similar to what I read happened last year on this itinerary.  Of course parts of our cruise are very cool weather, so perhaps it will not matter?  Stay tuned for our assessment.  

 

We are happy to be onboard and are waiting now for the emergency drill.  Our muster station is The Restaurant.  

 

 

Wonder if Brenden the bartender at the Pool Bar is the same Brendan that was on the waitstaff in MDR on Encore who left for holiday last month. Or don't they normally change ships after their vacay?

Don't you miss the Bar, though? I'll be on Quest next spring, and though I'm curious about sailing on the small ships for the first time, I just love the TK bar.

I am on the Muse from Seward to Tokyo in September, spending a few days in Anchorage at the Captain Cook with my own arrangements. I have paid $189 for a transfer from the Captain Cook, the hotel SS uses for pre-voyage stays, to the train station and from the train station to the pier. I drove that route years ago and am looking forward to being able to enjoy the lovely scenery without concentrating on driving (and schlepping my luggage!).  Maybe September is a "low tourism" month, and there is more space on the train for cruise passengers than mid-summer?

5 hours ago, DavidTheWonderer said:

Often overlooked is that after a few locks, being aft and looking at where you've been instead of where you're going can be excellent.  We were fortunate to have had Terry Breen on board for our one transit, and she pointed this out. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have thought of it. Also, the transit will take almost all day, so you will have lots of time to view it all from different places.

My husband and I were so fortunate to have Terry Breen on a Mariner Lima-Manaus cruise about 15 years ago. Does anyone know if she'll be onboard when I sail thru the Canal this October, again on Mariner? She is a wonderful conversationalist.