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Rocchi

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    Explorer Cancellation 7820 and 7821

    in Silversea

    Posted

    "Following the insourcing of technical operation from an external manager our technical manager has run different analysis on our whole fleet."

     

     

    Thanks Judith for the 'clarification' from Silversea.

     

     

    Could this new management be something to do with the new management? Hmmm.

    Explorer Cancellation 7820 and 7821

    in Silversea

    Posted

    Sorry to hear that all these wonderful plans have been dashed as any one of those two cruises would be fantastic.

     

    The ship was in dry dock for an extended period only last year and some major engineering work was done as well as the update refurbishment. Surely the ship should not need to be back in dry dock again already.

    Live - SIlver Explorer October 25 2017, Guayaquil to Valparaiso

    in Silversea

    Posted

    Hi JP.

     

    Ford Falcon Futura. It caught my attention when we saw it but I didn't realise why at the time. About fifty odd years ago when I was a boy I was car nut and this car was one of the favourites then. It also reminded me of the the Ford Cortina Mk1 we had here in the UK at about the same time in the early 60's

     

    I am enjoying your rerun of the cruise as it is still so fresh in the mind.

     

    Rocchi

    Swimming pool- heated?

    in Silversea

    Posted

    2014 around South America on the Shadow. Between SA and Falkland Islands. Air temp. 5C, sea temp. 7C, pool temp. warm. I don't understand why they did not heat the pool water as it is waste heat that is used for that. I see the sea temp. is about 8C with the Shadow in Alaskan waters. That is way to cold for any enjoyment in the pool.

    Early booking on Silversea

    in Silversea

    Posted

    Have just had a quick check on our upcoming cruise in October. We booked it in December 2015 and only paid the deposit, not in full. Since that time it has increased in price by 31%. There are quite a few suites that are waitlisted so that could account for the rise in price as it appears to be quite a full ship.

    On our previous Silversea cruises, maybe about the last five, we we have watched the prices as the cruise came closer and found that we were on the right side of the cost and didn't need to take any action.

    Maybe we just hit it lucky and everything for us has been straight forward and simple.

    Where is the Expolrer

    in Silversea

    Posted

    I live in the UK and a while back I received an individual leaflet from Silversea for a cruise to Cuba. Can't remember how long ago or any details as Cuba is not on my must do list, yet.

    As jpalbany said the US has restrictions whereas There are no such restrictions from the UK.

    I suppose that since it does not depart or arrive at a US port people from the US can do this cruise and not let the US government know about it.(?)

     

    This a link to the cruise here on Cruise Critic. http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/cruiseto/cruiseitineraries.cfm?port=174&cl=231&shipID=497

    Where is the Expolrer

    in Silversea

    Posted

    I can only find info for-

    23 Sep. - 6 Oct. Portland to Nassau. Cruise is with Noble Caledonia.

    and

    6 Oct - 17 Oct. Nassau to Colon, this is a cruise to Cuba.

    http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/cruiseto/cruiseitineraries.cfm?port=174&cl=231&shipID=497

    Nassau -> Cruising -> La Habana -> La Habana -> Punta Frances -> Cienfuegos -> Cruising -> Santiago de Cuba -> Cruising -> Cartagena (Spain) -> San Blas Islands -> Colon (Cristobal).

     

    Silversea does not actively advertise cruises in the US that go to Cuba.

    Hope this helps.

    How to dress for a formal evening.....Men & Women

    in Silversea

    Posted

    On our last formal night dinner while waiting to be seated, a gentleman in front of us was informally dressed with no neck tie was handed a tie by the restaurant manager, but the gentleman couldn’t or did not know how to tie it, so a waiter took the gentleman to one side and tied it for him. During dinner I noticed the same gentleman seated near us had removed his jacket and was wearing what looked like a casual shirt, but he still had the tie on. Maybe some people don't read the instruction manual prior to going on a cruise.

    I however have never had a dinner suit. On formal night I wear a dark suit, wing collar shirt and self tie black bow tie. Many other gentlemen are dressed in business suites or a blazer and slacks and always with a tie and are smartly dressed. Which is acceptable to the instruction manual, the restaurant manager and the rest of the passengers.

    Just a little on afternoon tea in the Terrazza. I turned up still in swimming trunks and a throw over type shirt and the magic blue crocks and asked if it was OK to go in to tea dressed like this. This was answered by a long hesitation followed by an instruction from Mrs. R to go and change. When I returned more appropriately dressed I had to apologised to the room manager for putting him in that unfair position.

     

    On the cravat or ascot question. I don't think they would be appropriate for formal night but I would never object to them. Just a personal opinion.

    Report on recent cruise on the Silver Cloud

    in Silversea

    Posted

    Thanks for posting about one of our favorite ships! We've found that Hot Rocks is a love it or hate it kind of offering. We happen to love it, but we don't think less of those who don't share that view. It's nice to have all of these great options.

     

    Where are you going on Silver Explorer? We're on the late October-early November sailing down the West Coast of SA.

     

     

    jpalbany

     

    Yes, that is the cruise we are doing.

    Report on recent cruise on the Silver Cloud

    in Silversea

    Posted

    Thank you SJS-TX

    It?s not that I dislike the volcanic rock cooking thing as we have done it several time in land based restaurants, but for some reason we only like it at lunch time, not dinner time. Don?t know why. It?s not even the outside thing either.

    On a recent cruise crossing the Bering Sea two days out of Kodiak Island when it was cold and the sea was bumping us about we had our late morning exercise walk around the ship all dressed up against the weather, we decided to have lunch out at the pool grill. Wind howling, ship rocking. The fish and chips got cold fast and I can?t remember if it was a two blanket or a three blanket lunch, mean while the crew were working away with their usual enthusiasm and charm. Several other pool grill lunches have been counted by the number of blankets.

    I have not been on the Spirit and are unlikely cruise with her as I feel she is too large, so will not experience the supper club. We think the Shadow and the Whisper is as large a ship as we would like to go on. But who knows, maybe some day. We never thought we would be on an expedition ship and later this year we will be on the Explorer.

    Yes Colin Brown is on the Cloud just now. He arrived about three weeks ago at short notice as the previous CD had to leave due to a family emergency. He may well still be on board in June.

     

    Enjoy your cruise in June

    Report on recent cruise on the Silver Cloud

    in Silversea

    Posted

    This is not an extensive Silver Cloud review. Just a report on what I observed while on board.

    During our cruise we were in a vista suite on deck 4 and visited two other suites, one on deck 4 and one one deck 7 and all three suites were in a fresh and clean condition.

    The public areas around the lifts, stairs, corridors, reception and shops were clean and tidy with the brass all shiny and the carpets in clean condition.

    The pool area decking looked newish with the wood just fading to grey as noted due to as small newly repaired area. The sun loungers looked new. The tables and chairs were fine. the and cook station and the bar area were in good condition and the varnished wood around the pool looked fantastic.

    Upstairs from the pool deck the walking track green deck covering was in good condition .

    The restaurant looked beautiful and opulent with the tables set with the usual high quality table ware. The dinner knives are still the ones that flip upside easily but I have become used to them.

    The bar is in good condition, I was in it during the day and saw it in good light.

    The Venetian lounge is in good condition and saw it when it was well lit during a lecture.

    The Terrazza is in good condition, tables, chairs, food stations and outside. The only problem was that the starboard sliding door to the outside area was inoperative. However one door was enough.

    The Panorama lounge is in generally good condition. Some of the chairs are upholstered in red and they were in good condition, some of the ones upholstered in cream appear a little grubby around where they a handled. There has been a water ingress problem where the the ceiling panels and mouldings have a little cosmetic damage in a line across the room but this is only noticeable when one is seated near the back of the room and look across from one side to the other.

    Hot rocks. Not used. Decline to spend that amount then cook my own dinner.

    Other rooms, the shops, The Champagne Restaurant, card room, smoking room were not used. The gym went unvisited, unused and unloved as we liked it as an observation lounge.

    The external condition of the ship at this time is unfortunate but is only cosmetic. Her past few cruises in South Africa and Maputo where she docks against old to ancient rubber tyres has left black marks on her sides. The area affected is quite large and cannot reasonably be painted over every time. These ports have not got around to using the pneumatic floating roller type fender that does not mark the ship.

    All other external areas not affected by the fenders looks fine.

    As I have said elsewhere, the wee man with the bucket of white paint goes around the ship keeping everything he can reach touched up.

    Just a little bit on ships services.

    Food consistently good to excellent.

    Wine. Complementary wine of a good quality and consistently improving from our previous several cruises.

    Fellow passengers. All passenger we came in to contact with were nice and easy to get on with. Even the the gentleman I had an initial spat with over Brexit. So much for going on board with the resolution of not discussing politics or religion.

    Crew. All crew we came in to contact with were great, new our name quickly and always very attentive. Except for one restaurant waiter, tall, fair headed European fellow. He was working on his superior, surly waiter act. Fortunately we are experienced enough to not bother with that sort of thing.

    Staff. all very nice and customer focused.

    Officers. Dined with three. All easy going interesting and entertaining.

    All these things are subjective and vary greatly from person to person and others on the same cruise may think this is a load of rubbish. I overheard one person state that ?the ship was in such bad condition that she should be decommissioned?. If you have read this far you will see I disagree.

    An other passenger said he was unhappy at dinner as they did not do the vegetables properly or in sufficient quantity. I enquired if he had spoken to the restaurant manager, he hadn?t, I advised him to do so to have his desires resolved.

    Yet another Silversea first timer said it?s the worst cruise line he had been on and would not come back, but could not give much in the way of specifics.

    And yet another Silversea first timer said it was brilliant and couldn?t wait to get back on.

    While dining with one of the officers the question of ?You must have heard some extremely trivial complaints over the years?. This was answered with a roll of the eyes, a wave of the hand and a shake of the head followed by more head shaking?. Moving on.

    As I say, subjective. My report, take it or leave it.

    Rocchi

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