Syd58

You can't judge the entire Silversea line by a ship that needs updating. Your opinion would likely be quite different if you had sailed on Nova or Ray.

^ We did this.

Not a fan of Viking's food or stateroom decor/furnishings.

An issue with Crystal is their ships are old and cabins small.

Not a fan of their food or the design/furnishings of their staterooms.

Not a fan of Viking at all.

We are booked in a Superior Veranda cabin on the Dawn but are unable to reserve a specific cabin. I can upgrade to a Deluxe Veranda (still unable to reserve a specific cabin) for a $1,000. The Deluxe Veranda cabins are more toward the center of the ship. If we stick with a Superior Veranda cabin, my concern is we may be placed in a very forward cabin, which could be rougher. Do you think it's worth the extra $ to upgrade to be insured a center cabin. Thanks.

Regent tends to be more formal and ‘stuffy’ than Oceania.

SM is in line with Silverseas and Regent that include shore excursions in the price.

Strongly disagree that accessible cabins should not be available until final payment. Then you would be penalizing those with handicaps. The way you resolve this is to require documentation, like Seabourn does.

I have found generally the earlier you book, the lower the price, possibly with the exception of last minute discounts. We have 2 2025 cruises that we booked in 2023 that have gone up significantly in price.

We did this one night. I ordered from the MDR, but ate in Luminae. I agree the food was better than most of what we had in Luminae.

We did this cruise several weeks ago. We tried a lot of food on the buffet; yes there is a wide variety, but it is just ok.

I don't recall what it was. Once I saw Emilio was on the list, I didn't look any further. I just know there was a NZ one since the sommelier said there was one

You can eat in the MDR and Blu (if space is available). The menus are available in advance on the app so this helps in deciding. Our butler was very good in making our reservations.