sea bright

Pre- covid we used the same procedure as Jolly Jones pre-cruise to arrange to have our cousins (parents and 3 school age children) on board (mid- cruise)in Donegal for lunch and drinks. Then once onboard guest relations contacted us to arrange a table in the Restaurant, any special requests, etc. We had a lovely day. I think it was $60 pp.

Thanks for your report! Very interesting as we're getting on the Nova in January in Lima.

This is why good insurance is necessary. If the worst case happens, the cruiseline's obligations are limited. Insurance may help with your out of pocket expenses (depending on your policy, which you will obviously read well).

Does the abbreviated La T menu change every few days?

Silversea says that on the Nova La Dame has higher end ingredients and better included wines. Reviews so far haven't consistently backed that up. We're on the Nova in January and plan to give it a try. We haven't been to La Dame on the other ships in years (unless a complimentary dinner was included in our suite category) as we felt the ingredients and wine were no better than those available in Atlantide.

There is a fee for La Dame, 60 pp. No fee for LaTerraza or The Grill.

Bowties just showed up for our Jan Nova cruise - 2 in 20 days. We were expecting at least one more. Although it's not really a big deal on the Nova with its relaxed dress code However, in our 9 cruises since the re-start (on Moon, Dawn and Muse), the bowties in My Silversea have been missing entirely, failed to mark all of the formal nights, or marked the dates incorrectly almost half the time.

Tully (and I suspect others) give a rebate- much better than OBC on Silversea.

I had no problem getting into My Silversea with Google Chrome just now. However, the booking system has been down since at least Saturday.

There is no charge for Salt Kitchen on any of the ships. The Nova has a Salt Chef's Table, which has a hefty up charge. I think the OP was referring to the Salt Kitchen as there is no Salt Chef's Table on the Moon or Dawn.

Getting off the Dawn tomorrow, Copenhagen rt. Enjoyed the cruise, but very disappointed in the included excursions and the excursions overall. The included excursions were much bigger groups than prior Dawn/Moon cruises. Buses were full or almost full. Did one hike - 30+ people with 2 guides. No fast and slow group. Had to wait for everyone (10 minutes +) multiple times in the pouring rain. Paid excursions were often not much better. A full day paid tour in Flam - Complete Sognefjord Experience - was much, much too crowded - around 40 people. Initial Flam train was full to capacity so many seats with poor view. Train to Voss was better after we spread out, despite guide's initial insistence to pack us into 1 car. Bus was just about 100% full and lunch, at a beautiful spot, was a ridiculous buffet that squeezed us all into one long table with only one entrance/exit, despite an otherwise empty dining room. That said, 2 other paid excursions - to a salmon farm and crab fishing were good, especially the latter. The crab fishing excursion was a small group (8 guests) and was excellent - great host, great concept and a small group. Made me miss the old days when excursions were not included!

How late does breakfast go? If you are not doing an early tour can you sleep.in a bit and still have breakfast?

I just checked. The only actual SALT tour on my cruise is in Bergen - Island Fjord taste for $909. I think it was canceled, but I can't find the email. In any event, it's no longer an option in My Silversea. I thought the salmon farming ($129) and crab fishing ($299) tours I booked were also SALT tours, but they are not. We were booked on a similar itinerary last year, but couldn't travel because we got Covid. I'm fairly certain we had the SALT tour in Bergen booked for a lower price (I want to say about $700?). The price increase made me hesitate to book it this year.

I did two SALT paid excursions on the Moon inaugural in Greece. The one in Crete was really a magical day. I think it was $500 a person. A cooking class, tour and incredible lunch at a spectacular organic farm up in the hills. It was conducted in an outdoor kitchen on a terrace over looking the sea by a local chef committed to preserving old Cretan ingredients and recipes. It was attended by the Silver Sea executive chef and some of the SALT staff as well as a camera crew (making SALT promotional videos). There were only 4 guests (and two of them turned out to be plants selected by the camera crew for interviews). Silversea wound up comping me and the other paying guest, saying they were worried the film crew might have been intrusive. Food and wine were fabulous, as was the hands on cooking class. I would have been content to pay $500. However, I went without my DH as he (who doesn't love to cook) couldn't see spending $500 on a cooking class. The second was a wine tasting and winery tour. I think it was $300. Again attended by many involved with SALT from the ship as well as the camera crew. It was well done and the wines were good, but I thought it was overpriced. On Silversea cruises prior to included excursions, we did similar excursions to much better wineries (in Australia, Europe and Chile) for about $150 to $200 per person. Subsequently, on 3 other Moon/Dawn cruises (including the Dawn inaugural) all of the SALT excursions I booked that cost more than about $200 were canceled for lack of interest. Thus, I'm surprised to hear that they are raising prices. I've booked a couple of SALT tours on a Dawn cruise in Norway later this month. I'll let you know if they are canceled and, if not, how they are.

Has anyone stayed in a Medallion Suite on the Shadow since the re-fit? How did you like it? In particular, how was the shower and how was the balcony? Was the shower bigger than a regular Veranda shower? How does it compare to a Silver Suite shower? Does the balcony fit a lounge chair? We love Silver Suites on the Muse class ships, but have only been in Verandas on the Shadow. We are considering a Medallion or a Silver Suite for a cruise on the Shadow from LA to Tahiti. Thoughts of those who have been in a Medallion and/or a Silver Suite on the Shadow are appreciated!

Sounds like you're having a blast! Loving your posts. We're not onboard til January. Is there a walking/jogging loop on the Nova deck? Hard to tell from the deck plans. Enjoy the rest of your voyage.

Our late September Dawn and January Nova itineraries don't appear to have been changed.

Clearly the roll out by Silversea has not been good and provided little to no description of the new concept. I really hope it is similar to the $120 pp pairing dinners they had in Le Champagne circa 2007: multiple menus from different wine regions in which premium wines were thoughtfully paired with each course. We loved those wine dinners and often went more than once per cruise (always on nights we could sleep in the next day...) As we have found La Dame underwhelming since before the pandemic, we've been on a comment card campaign (since at least 2019) suggesting they return to the Le Champagne wine pairing dinner model. If the new $160 offering is a similar experience we would go. However, even with OBC we won't go to La Dame as it is now whether it's $60 or $160.

On classic cruises a back pack and white tote were provided with an Owners Suite, but were never provided with our Silver Suites. We got a slightly different back pack in a Verandah on an expedition cruise on the Cloud.

We've stopped going to La Dame even to use OBC for the reasons in the posts above. In fact, in every comment card since the re-start we have asked them to return to the format in place when we first started sailing Silversea (2007). The upcharge was higher - about 120 per person- but it was a real wine pairing dinner with premium wines. There were several (maybe 5) different menus that rotated throughout the cruise, each based on premium wines and paired foods from a particular wine region. We went at least once per cruise. We learned quickly to only go on nights we could sleep in the next day as it was a lovely, leisurely, wine soaked dinner!

Travelogue has been excellent. Thanks! We have done TAs on the Cloud (pre-expedition), the Shadow/Whisper and the Muse class ships, as well as QM2 and Crystal Symohony. Worst motion so far was the Symphony (on a spring Southern crossing starting in FL to Lisbon). 2nd worse was the Dawn this fall, Lisbon to FL, with an April crossing from NY to Southampton on QM2 almost as bad. Best by far were spring crossings from FL/ Caribbean on the Cloud and NY on the Shadow/Whisper. This has convinced me that weather, not ship size, is the most important factor.

Canderson - thank you for a great explanation of the system and its challenges!

I posted pics of the Muse La Dame and Silver Note menus on 2/13 in a thread entitled something like Dawn- Silver Note and LaDame.

Once you get onboard each reservation that was confirmed will be assigned a specific time. On recent cruises we had reserved the early seating for La Terrazza and La Dame ahead and were assigned 7:30 often and occasionally 8:00 onboard. Having booked the early seating at Silver Note ahead we were assigned 9 pm on multiple cruises and found an earlier reservation difficult to get. This is why many people feel it is merely a request, not a reservation.

We got off the Muse on 2/28. In addition to the Scottish mentioned above, there were quite a few bourbons including Woodford. Also several ryes, including Michter's. The only Irish were Jamesons and Bushmills. The list of premium whiskeys you pay for was heavy on Scottish, especially single malts.