Balian65

Today the concert event in Ephesus was cancelled due to three days of national mourning celebrations because of the situation in Gaza. Sorry no reports about that event on this cruise.

That is definitely fake news. We are docked at Kusadasi

Silversea cruise, but this time it is different,

Hasd a great evening in Silver Note and Panorama Lounge and looking forward to the rest of the cruise.

I suppose there was always a Plan B to substitute the israelian ports. Not for the reasons we have encountered now but for the general risk. 

Recognized the blue anoraks as well but at least some of the party do speak English as good as we do. There is also a big group from the Philippines. I was surprised at the demographics of the passengers. Usually we (end fifties) are amongst the youngest on. silver

Greetings from a similar hotel in Piraeus. Did a similar trip yesterday and I can assure you the taxi was only 66 Euros and took about 45 Minutes. Found a nice taverna in a side street for dinner and paid less than for the beer and wine in the hotel bar.

Hope we will have the right spirit to board in a few hours. The weather perspective looks great for the next days.

38 minutes ago, Hezu said:

Oulu is not north enough for proper midnight sun, but there is no proper darkness either: for today (Friday, June 9th) in Oulu, sunrise is at 02:35 and sunset at 00:03.

 

My guesses for reasons to start an excursion very early morning are that either the excursion includes a long drive further away from the coast or the excursion involves going to listen the night active song birds singing in the early morning, one potential location for birding in Oulu area would be Liminganlahti.

This will be an owl watching excursion. We did it around 11 p.m.

Nice to see the island we were five days ago. Your weather conditions are much more comfortable. We had no sun , heavy winds and 8 degrees Celsius. The long ride back on the Zodiac was horrible.

But the salmon soup was extremely delicious and even way better than the one on Ulko. Enjoy the cruise, we love to see the pictures of the places we have already seen. And believe me the best is yet to come..

Just to give you some impressions from the running cruise from Hamburg to Helsinki. Weather has been mostly nice all of the wind, although it could have been a little former and less windy the last days. The ship and the hotel crew are performing quite well. No big issues with food or service.

Most of the places we visited so far were interesting natural hotspots although there are only quite a few wow experiences . The expedition team is experienced and knows how to run operations.
 

As this is Silversea‘s first attempt on a Scandinavian expedition cruise there a quite a few lessons to learn. Whilst experienced the expedition crew has a lack of experience in the Baltic region, the Scandinavian culture and the local climate. They do have local guides in many harbors but these have often a small to none existing experience in dealing with the audience of a international cruise ship and the problem is not the language.

So excursions were a mixture between hits and misses. Sometimes the groups were much too big sometimes they was nobody taking the lead. And sometimes the title of the excursion was completely inadequate.

Hopefully many of the lessons are learnt for the next cruise and your experience will be even better. If you have any questions concerning special items and excursions feel free to ask.

We have been on both ships in 2022. Both cannot deny their age but they still work pretty well. We did not notice any rattles and vibrates on Voyager and the food was completely ok. Silver Spirit had some issues in Seishin and La Dame which were technical matters. Nevertheless we would sail on both ships again.

It is a little bit disappointing that every discussion about comparing Silversea to other lines tends to be reduced on the dress code. My personal male experience is despite different rules there is no real big difference in dressing up between Regent and Silversea except for the tie on formal nights. At least my packing list is about the same for both lines. 
 

Apart from the lelak’s list I would say the most obvious difference is that Regent tends to be more traditional American style whereas Silversea has a more international approach. Dining venues, wines and spirits, entertainment and decors are much more European style on Silversea.
 

And there is usually a higher percentage of European guests from different countries. On Regent we were often one of the very few couples not being native English speakers. 

Nevertheless we love both products and will probably keep on sailing both lines depending on itenary and price. 

We have done nearly the same cruise last summer on the Moon and two other in the Baltics before.

Expect to see three modern capitals (Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen) with almost the highest living standard worldwide. They all have different but very relaxed flair. The most fun thing is to have an overnight stay in July during the white nights with summer temperatures.

Riga, Tallinn, Klaipeda and Gdańsk are all Eastern Europe towns that have developed a lot in the recent years and they all have a medieval history which you can see and feel and which ware heavily influenced by German culture of that time. If this is interesting fo you each city is worth a visit. 
 

Ronne and Mariehamn are old towns based on strategic important islands in the Baltic Sea. Not that interesting as the bigger towns mentioned before but they do have a certain flair. Same applies to Karlskrona which the exception that it is based on the mainland.

The least interesting stops in my eyes will be Fredericia and Warnemünde. No really interesting historical sites and the towns do not offer a special feeling. Berlin is a long way and not worth to do it in one day and there are no other real interesting things nearby. But maybe this judgement is influenced by the fact that we are living in Northern Germany and know the region too well.

Although this cruise offers a.lot of interesting places to see for Americans it has one major disadvantage. It takes place in September when the summer days are over there. And believe me it really does make a difference up there. 
 

Your observations are completely right. Pricing in different markets can vary quite a bit.

On one hand there are reasons for that like different costs for included air. It makes a difference if you have an intercontinental flight or just a short trip within Europe.
 

On the other hand I realized Silverseas keeps the price level in its core markets US, UK and Australia high whereas special offers are often marketed in other places. We come from Germany and so far we did six European cruises with Silverseas. We often find offers that are port to port on a 500 € price level per day for veranda. There are other door to door offers for a similar itenary with a price tag of 800 - 900 € per day.

What I have learnt: you won‘t find these special offers while staying in the UK. And if you google these offers in Poland they are even less expensive.

Done it several times and it is the easiest and most comfortable way to get to the city. You will find a lot of signs in the airport to Arlanda Express. There are ticket machines in the terminal as well as on the platforms that will work with your credit card. 
 

once you arrived at T-Centralen (main station of Stockholm) you took a taxi to the Hilton which will be a 7-10 minutes ride.

We were definitely on the same cruise and although I can confirm each and every of you observations is true we had a total different feeling about the atmosphere on this cruise.

Being Europeans in our fifties we found it very comfortable not to be the youngest and not being a small minority. I am with you if you say this was not the typical Silverseas audience and a lot of the  typical events like trivia or the evenings in the Panorama lounge had a very special atmosphere.

But all in all the younger crowd behaved pretty well - only very different from what you would expect from typical Silverseas cruise. Nevertheless we enjoyed that cruise a 100%.

Mask requirements will end in Greece June 1st and in Italy probably June 15th. 

For anybody interested: Spain has dropped mask obligations yesterday. Now only necessary in public transportation and places like hospitals. Italy is about to do the same beginning May 1st.

At this time I am not on board but we will be on the same cruise as you. And so we did some research. 
 

Being EU citizens we have learnt that the decisive factor for masking regulations on board are the rules of the country in which waters you are sailing. As we will see four different countries it is four different set of rules which at his moment are as follows:

Spain: medical mask in all public indoor places and on any transportation, no masks outside

France: masks only obligatory in public transportation 

Italy: kn95 mask in any indoor places or public transportation or outside if you do not have the necessary distance 

Malta: more or less like Spain

These rules may change but for Italy and Spain they are valid at least.until April 30th. If there are changes expect the rules getting less strict as the numbers of infected people are going down everywhere.

i have no idea if Regent changes the rules day by day or simply enforce the strictest version - which would be the Italian one - for the whole cruise. Hope this will help you.
 

But I also,would like to hear what are the actual rules and how they are enforced.from somebody on board right now.

10 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

From a comfort standpoint I prefer KF94 masks. I wonder if they will be acceptable in Northern Europe. 

In most of the Northern Europe Countries you do not need any mask anywhere anymore.
 

Italy is one of the few places that still requires ffp2/kn95 standard but I doubt anybody will realize the difference to a Kf94.

At this time and at least until April 30th you have to do the passenger locator form. That is obligatory for everybody entering the country no matter if you are Italian, EU citizen or from America.

I do think those who believe HLC is willing to get rid of their international guests and stop bilingual cruises are completely wrong. Keep in mind that HLC is part of Royal Caribbean Group (50% shareholder) who would consequently follow a strategy of becoming more international - if there would be no Covid regulation.

And that's where it starts to get difficult. Covid regulation in Germany is done mainly on the level of the 16 federal states. Only the access for foreigners coming to Germany is under control of the national authorities. That means rules differ widely and are constantly changing.

In this crazy world HLC (and the mother company TUI cruises) have managed to keep their business running since July 2020 without any major breaks. Both had two ships running either on cruises to nowhere or in special places like the Canary Islands most of the times. This would not have been possible without the strict limitation to German guests and a maximum of flexibility concerning the itenaries. So spontaneous changes of the port of departure happened a few days before the cruise starts like a month ago when passengers were informed three days in advance that their cruise will start in Kiel instead of Hamburg due to the closure of Hamburg's cruise port. Other cruises were cancelled 10 days in advance.

To avoid any trouble with international guests whose flights might be cancelled or which were denied to enter Germany (or the country where the port of departure was located) it was a wise decision to concentrate on German guests. Many of the international guests would have been deeply disappointed or completely overwhelmed by short-term cancellations or changes. Not to speak about all the discussions about refunds and compensation.

I am pretty sure by the time international travelling will get back to normal HLC will welcome its international guests on board. At this moment in time it would probably be a little too early....

Interesting to hear all the predictions of how and when cruising will restart. Might be interesting to hear for you that Hapag Lloyd and Mein Schiff (two Germain cruise companies) have restarted their operations in August 2020 with four ships and have carried them on until now.

What has changed ? Quite a lot due to restricted international flight operations and closed borders and harbours. All ships sail with max. of 60% capacity and access is limited to German people. The itenaries are limited mostly to one country, so they sail either the North and Baltic Sea (starting from Hamburg/Germany) or the Canary Islands (Spain). All cruises start and end usually at the same place. The only places completely closed are the sauna and buffets. They look at keeping distance in places like restaurants, bars and theatre, but you have to wear masks only when moving in public places. You have to present a negative PCR Covid test before boarding and there will be another round of tests on board the first or second day. Excursions are mostly possible but you have to stay within the group and the regional rules have to followed. All this has worked quite good for the last six months, there have been only two or three minor Covid incidents which were handled very professional. No major outbreaks so far.

On the other hand vaccination in Europe is going slow, much slower than in the US or the UK. This will not be finished before end of autumn. The decisive factor if there will be an international cruise season in Europe and especially in the Mediterrean will be the question if intercontinental flights will be available. I do not see that before the end of 2021.

Based on these experiences as an example what might happen when cruising will restart, I would make the following predictions:

1. Cruising will restart regional. There will be no international cruise season this summer or this autumn. Neither Silversea nor the other lines who depend on American cruisers will send their ships to Europe. Instead of that they might start the Caribbean season earlier. So Americans will stay in America and Europeans in Europe.

2. There will be the usual restrictions similar to what the German lines do already now. I do not think restrictions will be that hard like Fletcher pointed it out.

3. There will be only a few ships and they will not be full.

4. As long as vaccination is not completed there will be a complicated mixture of tests and vaccination pass as condition to come aboard.

5. Any regions outside North America and Europe might be affected even in 2022.

On 10/17/2020 at 9:43 PM, Randyk47 said:

I definitely and unfortunately will have to say “right” with four countries of what I call the Big Six reporting significantly increased cases it makes me very nervous.    France, Spain, and the United Kingdom have all taken a step back to more restrictions and I think Germany is on the verge with Merkel urging better adherence to present restrictions.   Not sure about what is happening in Italy or Greece my other two Big Six countries.   Italy suffered greatly during the first wave and as one of our favorite countries I’m holding my mental breath for them right now.  Greece somehow relatively dodged the first wave and I hope that continues.   I’m really hoping and praying for some positive news but there isn’t much of that right now.   

Although the number of infected people rising everywhere all over Europe the situation in the single countries is quite different. Spain, France and UK are heavily struck once again and reacted with restrictions. Italy and Germany yet have much lower figures but have imposed similar restrictions.

No idea why you regard Greece with 10 millions people as one of the Big Six countries in Europe (all the others are in the range between 45 and 80 millions) but for some strange reasons they are one of the few spots in Europe which at the moment are still more or less corona-free.

Comparing the situation to the one in March/April there is one big difference all over Europe, the percentage of people hospitalized and fatalities is way lower. Nevertheless it is going to be a hard and long winter......

43 minutes ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

pappy1022 - we aren't exactly in the younger crowd, either - mid-60's for both of us. But we can't live our lives in total fear because some germ or other is out there in public.  There's always going to be a flu of one kind or another, or the common cold, or something one might ingest that causes digestive illness....but even a vaccine such as they have now for the flu or shingles (or a multitude of others) is not 100% efffective.  Seems as though some people are so paralyzed by the fear of catching this virus that they let it take over their lives - and I DO feel sorry for them.  These folks should definitely stay in their own homes and not venture out if that makes them uncomfortable - no judgement there.  Others, such as ourselves, feel that the best way (for US) to fight this thing is to continue a healthy lifestyle which includes physical activity/exercise (fortunately we are still able), proper diet, and keeping our immune systems a bit challenged by being out and about. Sure, we're going to take what we consider reasonable precautions including frequent handwashing and staying away from others (if we are not feeling up to snuff) but this whole episode just makes me feel that people avoid each other ass though they have the plague.  How much longer will this go on?  I MISS my Regent family.....

Very true words. Even though I come from a country ( Germany) which has never been affected that hard you can feel the fear everywhere. It is completely paralyzing the whole society in a way that there is no more space for reasonable discussions. 
 

No matter if you talk about traveling or returning to the schools you will be immediately accused of endangering others. No idea how long this will last but even when the virus might disappear It still will be a long way back to normalcy. And an even longer way to cruising like it used to be....

At least for Germany that is not true. Last week more than 494.000 people have been tested resulting in the highest number ever. There were less than 3.000 positive tests.

https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1107749/umfrage/labortest-fuer-das-coronavirus-covid-19-in-deutschland/

And from all I heard the situation in France and Italy is quite similar..

We will be on the same cruise and from all what I know about the weather conditions your assumptions are pretty correct. It might be a little bit better but there is only slight hope. The Faroer Islands are known for having rain on more than 300 days a year. Temperatures should be in the 50‘s.  I come from Northern Germany so I do know that climate fairly well. Anyway no one chooses this itenary because of the good weather.
 

For dinner I usually wear a sports coat with some colored slacks which generally works fine on any Silversea cruise. If I have to wear a tie on formal nights it‘s ok but the days of tuxedos and dark suits are over - even on Silversea.

See you onboard and for trivia.