Lookingtocruise42

That’s actually the cruise we are joining! It hits SF tomorrow and we are hopping on for the 3 days to Vancouver and then from Vancouver to Anchorage. the butler will move our stuff from one room to another right? We have a base ish room on the first chunk and then move to an Otium suite.

Thanks, This makes sense to me. I really don’t get the point of formal night, to me it is a chore and downside of the line :(.

The ship has a tailor?! Any idea of rough cost to tailor a jacket and/or pants?

I leave on the boat tomorrow and I’m 5’6” and 125lb, I typically need things tailored or to buy from the kids section, so last minute is a it difficult. Yes I know, my fault.

What are “jeans” though? in all honesty, I have one pair of dress pants that belong to a suit, and the rest are things like this: https://www.paige.com/p/lennox--m653f91-7882?scroll=true Where I live, pretty much any place that requires formal would accept pants like that or like this: https://www.paige.com/p/lennox--m653901-6657 with a jacket (or without a jacket if no jacket is needed). Will I be turned away at the restaurants with this?

Hi! we are currently packing for an upcoming Alaska cruise on Nova and had questions about dress code: - Do no jeans literally mean no jeans? Or are nicer jeans and/or beige/black jeans ok? - How is the dress code different at La Dane? As far as I can tell, the only difference is that both my husband and I will require jackets?

We are going to be on an Alaska cruise on the Nova that ends in Seward. My understanding is that we will have a train ride to Anchorage and then a (private) transfer to the airport. How does this work? Do they bus us to the train station? Is the train station walking distance from the port? What time should I plan for my departure flight? I was told 3:30pm, but that seems early, given that it is a 4.5 hour journey between Seward and Anchorage, no? Is 3:30pm a safe time for my flight?

Thanks! That is really helpful! How were the activities for someone that is not a huge swimmer? (I hate getting my head underwater unless I’m using a good snorkel. My husband goes diving though) Anything else fun about it to share?

This is a really informative review, thanks!

Thanks for everyone's feedback. We are doing LCC in December of 2025, will post a live blog then to help pay back the forum for helping with my answers 🙂

Hi! We are looking at either doing a "Gastronomy and wine" cruise on Ponant and are a bit confused as to what that actually means. All of the marketing material is pretty vague, as is what I have gotten by chatting with them on the phone. Both trips we are considering are based in the Caribbean, one is an "exploration" trip with "Gastronomy and wine". The other is just "expedition". It seems from what I can tell to mean that excursions are more pre-planned vs expedition. However, I would like to make sure that in even the exploration cruises that Ponant goes to more "off the beaten path" activities vs the major cruise tourist traps? So my questions: - Anyone here do one of their "Gastronomy and wine" "Relais and Chateuax" cruises? How is it different from a regular one for them? This one has a Michelin chef on it. - Anyone do both exploration and expedition with Ponant and able to talk a bit about the differences between them? These are both in the Caribbean, the expedition we are considering is in Belize, and the gastronomy and wine is around Fort-de-france (which does look like it might be a bit of a pain to get to) - If you have done one where they overnight you in Cancun before the cruise: which hotel did they put you up in?

We have decided on Ponant and dropped our deposit yesterday. Oddly we leave from Santiago instead of Bruno’s Aires for the flight to Ushuaia. The question of upgrading to biz class on the flight came up. So my question: how full is the transfer plane they use? Ie: will every row have an empty middle seat, or do we need to upgrade to business (which is the boring Euro style business with just a blocked seat and extra legroom) to ensure the full row without being squished? Are seats pre assigned? Does room category play into this?

Thanks! the post I put on Reddit very clearly told me to stay away from Scenic due to stabilizer issues. so we are booking Ponant today! super excited

Hi! we are looking at booking a 2 week cruise to Antarctica for winter 2025 and trying to determine between these two lines. we would be booking a Deluxe Suite for Ponant on the Le Commandant and the Penthouse suite for Scenic on their Eclipse. Pro for Ponant: - Lots of great reviews - Furnishings are high quality looking - Food is supposed to be good - Longer trip - Two story room! Cons for Ponant: - Slightly pricier (after Grand Admiral discount) - Food may be too heavily French influenced? - No fancy toys on boat - Few dining Venues? Pro for Scenic: - Massive deck for viewing the Antarctic - Larger hot tub (I think) - Multiple dining locations - Helicopter and Sub (might be just gimmicky though?) - Slightly Cheaper Con for scenic: - Furnishings look lower quality in videos - Many fewer reviews - Agent says the food is good, but I’m not seeing a ton on that either Have any of you been on both lines and have an opinion?

Hi! my husband and I (both m37) are looking at doing an Antarctica cruise in 25 or 26 and trying to determine the line to go with. We typically travel with luxury and stay at Luxury properties (Four Seasons, Rosewood, Aman, etc) and have done Disney cruises and booked a trip on the Silversea Nova for a couple of months for now. My gut reaction would be to go straight to the highest luxury lines I can find for Antarctica, however, my research has been showing that may not be the best option typically. So we are trying to find a nice balance of line and wanted opinions: What we want to do: - Go on land - Do some sort of “camping” - Hiking - Kayaking maybe - See animals - Sail the drake passage (I really love bumpy rides 😁) Quark. - I’m seeing a decent number of reviews stating that the Ultramarine is a nice balance of luxury and Expedition experience. I’m also seeing some feedback that they have a bunch of upcharges. Price seems to be pretty good when they run their 50 off sales. I think this is in the lead(Do they have exclusions in those sales? Or are literally all cruises in the region of sale on sale?) Lindblad - I’m seeing a ton of reviews talking about the quality of their expeditions, but not really much about the boat or food. I’m also unable to tell if their primary focus is on photos given the natgeo connection. Silversea - This would have been one of our first inclination. However: I’m not really seeing much talking about their expedition quality? Seabourn - The expedition ships seem to be quite nice, but when I looked they were 300+ passengers? So that seems to not be great for Antarctica, no? Pontant - The boats looked quite a bit older? Not sure if I was looking correctly, however. What other lines am I missing? Should I look at? Budget is going to be 30-40k. Probably somewhere between 7-12 days.

Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks so much for everything in the review. Made us excited for our trip. Only a few months to go! Only thing we are worried about now is that we are in our 30s and from everything we have heard, may be amongst the youngest passengers on board :).

This has been a great thread and so helpful :). Mind posting a picture of one of the daily plans? I’m curious what the daily activities look like.

They are allowing you to look at the other ships?

That brings up a question: you mentioned you added a short jaunt ahead on yours in a silver suite. Was it a regular bookable leg, or did you need your agent to price it out? With our Alaska cruise, we realized that the ship hits San Francisco 3 days before we start, and since we live in SF we are asking them to price out adding that leg. (oddly that leg seems to only exist on a 21 day cruise and a 30 day cruise…)

I beg to differ. The argument I’m making is simply: “I will meet the minimum required of dress code, as written.” The counter argument is a pearl-clutching: “You offend me by being comfortable!”. This whole thread is neither here nor there. All that Matters is the official policy.

As long as the definition is a “Collared shirt” with “jacket”: a polo plus blazer or jacket would 100% meet the terms of a policy. If it is “button down shirt”, no, it would not match. However, shirts such as what UNTUCKit sell would. How does the uniform the staff is wearing impact what the guests wear? Treating the staff with respect means being polite to them, not holding them accountable for things out of their control, and treating them as you would like to be treated. The formal wear they have on is just a uniform. I have two graceful “Hawaiian” style shirts I’ve worn to “formal” dinners on cruise ships. Honestly, they often look better than some quite terrible suits I’ve seen. O crap! I just realized: for several in this thread, a sports coat is not a jacket, since it has sports in the name. (This is the official policy: Evening attire falls into three categories: casual, informal and formal. On casual evenings, pants, blouses, skirts and casual dresses for ladies; open-neck shirts and slacks for gentlemen are appropriate. On informal evenings, ladies usually wear dresses or pantsuits; gentlemen wear jackets (tie optional). On formal nights, appropriate formal evening wear for ladies is an evening gown or cocktail dress, gentlemen wear tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits. Tie is required. On formal nights, guests may dine in La Terrezza and choose to dress informally; dresses or pantsuits for ladies, jackets for gentlemen (tie optional). This option also applies to Seishin and Stars on board Silver Spirit. Dining at The Grill is optional casual all nights. )

That is an opinion; not a fact. Who says that a polo or Hawaiian shirt can’t be Stylish?

What makes suits, tuxes, and dresses “elegance”? Elegant is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, to me, I view them as old fashioned and stuffy.

By definition a polo is a collared shirt. according to ChatGPT: “The collar is one of the distinguishing features that separates a polo shirt from other types of shirts.” It may have started as a “sports” shirt, but it really isn’t.