machotspur

Our time on 21st August is 12:30 !

Nice one - thanks for the tip. Yes, we too have booked Sakura & Marble & Co. Hopefully in the future their system will get sorted so we can manage stuff like this online !

You're right - it's a nonsense. I contact my TA, who contacts Explora office, who then contacts the people who handle restaurant reservations. A few days later I receive confirmation !!

We were fortunate in being able to benefit from a 'third option'. We will be on Explora at the end of next week. Our TA made us aware a while back that there was a 3 night itinerary operating from Hamburg to Southampton - ideal for us, and UK cruisers in general, to check out Explora with a small time and financial commitment. A short time onboard admittedly, but already we are 'experiencing' the company before we even get on the ship (Not particularly favourable in some aspects). We are planning to try all the restaurants across lunch and dinner (bookings made where needed), and as our TA is also onboard for this trip we are hopeful we will get to see a few suites in addition to the one we are in.

Absolutely agree with the points you make. We are on Explora 1 at the end of next week for a 'quickie trial cruise' of just 3 nights. We've gone with one of the Penthouse suites. We would have tried one of the Residence suites, but for two reasons :- - the small bathrooms are as you say - a poor size, but particularly for a high end suite. - that a jacuzzi takes up a lot of the veranda space. If 'bubbly outdoor baths' are not your thing (us !) then this is such a waste. Our benchmark suite is a Silver Suite on the most recent Silversea ships (Moon/Dawn). Remains to be seen how the Explora suites compare for us.

Speaking with my TA yesterday they advise that their Explora contacts know little more than the party line i.e. that the Explora 1 itineraries will commence on 1st August - just over 2 weeks away !!! We are due to be on a short itinerary from 21st August and are anticipating not good news.

The FT article appears to be suggesting that there are 45 'boats' in operation with the faulty panels. (The article is not particularly well written though).

Hey - that’s a good idea - I hadn’t thought of that ! And it saves packing anything !

Mmm.. 🙄 Again I sincerely thank those with experience of expedition cruising for the very helpful, constructive and detailed sharing of their experiences. Despite us having some previous experiences of expedition cruising it has certainly helped us to prepare for our next adventure - the 'final continent'. I'm already psyched up for one of the most anticipated sections of our trip - on South Georgia - the whisky toast at Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave (not forgetting Frank Wild of course !). Thank you !

Then plenty of time to get those Crocs organised 😄. I've never owned a pair in my life but have seen many many guests use them on Expedition ships, hence my 'taking the plunge'. You will see i'm sure !

Whilst the attempt at humour v serious comment has passed me by in some recent posts I would - as requested in the original post - be most interested in hearing of your experiences on Silversea expedition ships and indeed the footwear that meets your needs between Cabin & Mud Room. Thank you so much !

Amazon have just delivered a new pair of Crocs to our house. The advice given on the website was spot on i.e. they come up large. So the size i've ordered is perfect with thick expedition socks and liners. I've never been this organised - assisted by the very helpful comments on here I have everything I need delivered/ordered 3 months before departure - incredible !😀 BTW - where we are here - in the Cotswolds, England - we have a place named Croc World, just a couple of miles from where we live (a Crocodile 'reserve'). Maybe I should have gone there instead of Amazon for my expedition footwear ? 😄

Hi Heather My bad - I posted in the forum for the incorrect ship (Explorer) Doh !! All OK now I hope - showing under Silver Endeavour Keith

Hi Heather & Fred I've just set up this cruise on the Roll Call section. Post on there and we can meet a little more.

Firstly thank you so much to everyone who has shared their experiences of 'Polar Parka's'. The big draw I have from these regarding what to wear under the 'puffa lined' Parka is - 'it depends' !! As several have said the secret is to pack items that are multi purpose - and are suitable for layering. Yes labrasett - we are renting the boots from Silversea (at a high cost IMHO). We have also decided to take Crocs with us for the walks between Cabin & Mud Room (or maybe Muck Boots) - anyone have any views on this please ? The point you make about being on a zodiac for several hours v walking on land is a very good one. Several points on our itinerary are wholly zodiac based (e.g. Elephant Island) as where walking around Port Stanley is a different situation completely. You are clearly a master at 'multi purpose garments' and have given me food for thought as to what to bring/pack. I remember some years ago in the Arctic on Silver Explorer that a combination of packing restrictions, size of cabins, and timings for evening briefings resulted at times in little discernible difference between day time 'expedition clothing' and dinner wear. This was particularly the case in Svalbard where many were on standby to drop their knives and forks and rush out on deck if they see a Polar Bear. We are very fortunate in being in a Silver Suite, plus we are well over the 100 days mark, so it is fair to say that on this cruise we will be utilising the 'free' laundry in a very programmed way 😉 Yes bitob - I remember on an exploration cruise in the Arctic - we purchased all the gear we thought was needed - much of which is still sitting at the back of our wardrobe today - little used ! On this particular cruise the temperature at times was not much colder than in a UK early winter ! number one eagles fan - I think you could be correct. Silver Endeavour, departing Puerto Williams on 31st October ? If yes then maybe we need to set up a roll call ? Yes RachelG - it's all very unpredictable - and sometimes counter intuitive - just a T shirt under the Parka in Antarctica - who'd have thought it ??? My memory may not be delivering accurate recollections but I think we may have been on the same cruise in June 2012. Silver Explorer ... Reykjavik to Longyearbyen ? Mrs M and I packed all the gear that was recommended for that cruise and didn't wear half of it - and that was with the Mk.1 Parka ie without the Puffa liner !

Mrs Machotspur & I are getting serious about our preparations for our long awaited Falklands/S.Georgia/Antarctica expedition cruise in October 23. We have a quite basic question that I’d really value some insight from previous Antarctica/Arctic explorers please. We note that the Parka that is now provided by Silversea includes an inner Puffa jacket. Does this mean that we don’t need to worry about bringing an insulation layer (e.g. fleece or puffa) and only need to combine the Silversea provided Parka/Puffa with a thin base layer ? The lowest temperature is likely to be around minus 6. As some will know the baggage weight limit on the Santiago – Puerto Williams charter flight is only 23kg so we need to be careful with what we pack ! Thank you so much for any info you can give me.

I'm unsure where you are geographically but you will find every Silversea sales executive - worldwide - at this link. Maybe this will help your TA partner. https://www.silversea.com/other-resources/travel-professional-center/sales-team.html I can clearly see the person I refer to within this page.

Rare to whom ? I'm curious as to the experiences you have had that have led to you forming that opinion. I'm sure the agent I use would most vehemently disagree, although I do understand that it's a bit of a lucky dip in the TA being allocated a 'go getter'. FWIW I've used two agencies in the past couple of years who both think that the same individual Account Manager is excellent - as do I as a beneficiary of their actions.

One other aspect to this. As you would expect Silversea carve up the UK into 'territories' and have 5-6 Account Managers assigned to the Cruise Agents in their territory. If the Agency one uses is fortunate in having a 'go getting' Account Manager then the two of them together can be very useful in sorting/unblocking significant issues, particularly those that need a resolution from the US. As an individual dealing with Silversea direct one is unlikely to have access to this kind of thing.

Likewise - I have dealt with an excellent agency that specialises in top end cruising for many years. A superb personal relationship, excellent service and a discount. I let them worry about how to contact Silversea.

You may be spot on here 👍 Having read this thread this morning I was playing around with Google maps, looking at distances to each terminal. The first time I checked T5 the return route given was the usual one, hopping onto the M25 at Jct.14. 30 minutes later the route was heading east towards Hatton Cross, then round the perimeter road to Bath Road then along to the M25 at Jct 15. The latter Journey was 4-5 miles longer and it was caused by a blocked road near Jct. 14. When checking distances & routes on Google maps I always set the date to 7 or 14 days in the future, to avoid real time road works, accidents etc.

Just 10 days ago we booked a LA - Miami b2b itinerary for August 24 that was cancelled this week as a result of the decision to transfer from Alaska to the Med. Suffice to say we are very happy with the compensation terms given by EJ and have rebooked on an East Africa itinerary at a really advantageous price. Full credit to Explora for the very fair actions taken - IMHO of course !

Hey there eagles fan - Mrs machotspur and I will be joining you on Endeavour in October. We have been trying to do this itinerary for 5 years now. For one thing or another there has been 3-4 cancellations ! The ship certainly looks interesting - glad they've got rid of the 'toys' - helicopters etc. We were previously booked on Cloud but decided to switch to Endeavour, purely as it looked so 'new'. Looking forward to my glass of scotch toasting Ernest Shackleton on South Georgia 😋

Thank you to the OP for a wonderful photo. Only this week we have switched our Cloud Antarctica/Falklands/S.Georgia cruise to Endeavour in November this year. We're looking forward to seeing reviews of the latter in the next few months to see if we have made the correct decision. On Silver Wind some year ago in the Arctic and they had a 'professional' photographer onboard producing the memento movie - for sale at the end. The movie wasn't very good at all hence he got very few takers IIRC. Good news they have switched to a free of charge USB drive, presumably produced by one of the expedition team.

I'm of the same opinion as you Les. I - as do you i'm sure - get it that when it comes to something like this it will land differently with a wide range of recipients. Me ? it was a bit like Tottenham over the past x number of years - promised a lot but failed to deliver ! 😉