spny84

Just home from the Dawn, in the Caribbean-first timers on Silversea.  DH wore slacks, polo, and sports jacket for all informal nights -formal night we went to Terrazzo which you can dress informal.  Casual was slacks and polo.  People definitely dress up on this ship and they were sort of strict about the jacket BUT many only carried the jacket on their arm, a lot more took them off the minute they sat down, we saw one person had a sweater as his jacket.

We thought it was interesting how "strict" everyone is with the man's dress but we saw many women in what I would say didn't follow dress code. For example, We saw short shorts (casual night) and yoga pants with a pullover fleece shirt (informal night).

22 hours ago, Rothko1 said:

 

Just for clarification, are you saying you don't want to dress up for the formal night?  Because on formal night I believe that there is always one restaurant that is still available on the ship for those who don't want to put on the dinner jacket.  So you can still have dinner out. 

We dress neat but there will be no tie or jacket involved therefor I think we are more limited in where we can dine. And I'm concerned we may not get reservations in those more casual places.  We actually like eating on the balcony so was expecting to at least be able to order from the main dining room (which it seems we should be able to).  Historically we have done this on other lines.

FauxNom I was getting seriously depressed from all the prior responses.  Since we will not be dressing up I was expecting to be able to order from at least some of the other restaurants versus only from the room service (all-around menu?).  Since HAL allows you to order from the main menu during dinner service to your room (and before they stopped Princess, NCL, and Celebrity), I was expecting it on this higher end line.  I'm glad you at least had the ability to order from the main dining room menu.

I know Silversea staff probably doesn't read these post but ...  If I chose to eat in our suite why wouldn't items from any restaurant serving be available?  Not asking for anything special just what's on the menu. (Rant over :-)).

Hi,  I have tried to find out through search and google but have been unsuccessful.  When eating dinner in your room/suite can you choose from any menu on board or do you have to choose from a special in room one?  Also, if anyone has images of the actual menus I would love to see them.  We are sailing on the Silver Dawn.  Thank you!

Depends on when you are going but 27 falls haven’t been available to do because of water shortage.  

We did this similar excursion with Princess in Tracy Arm.  Everything I had read said don’t miss this excursion. So we booked it even though expensive.   One of the best excursion that we have done.   There were actually 2 groups/boats on our trip.  If they run it the same you get to go fairly close to glacier and you stay a fairly long time allowing you the chance to see calving.  We saw maybe 6-7. Heard a few more. 

Thanks everyone.  It’s what I assumed but was hoping it wasn’t 😀.   I’ll see if I can pack 2 full weeks if not I’ll send stuff out

Yes, I'm only a peon 😀 .  It seems that Elite/Suite get it for free and supposedly because of that they don't usually offer the bag deal to us peons.  I'm just hoping.  Thanks

Hi,

I did a search and it looks like Princess doesn't do a bag of laundry anymore but mostly people were discussing short cruises and Royal.  So my question is on this port intensive cruise will Princess offer the bag deal?  In theory we only have 3 sea days (out of 12) and I don't like doing laundry on vacation but may have to this trip.

Thanks!

Thanks to all.  I've now spoken to 3 AA reps, 2 Princess reps and reviewed the Tripadvisor Forum.  Seems it is a really common issue and supposedly it should work out as long as the names are all there spelled correctly.  I'm not quite as panicky but I will not be happy until I'm sitting on the flight.

35 minutes ago, TracieABD said:

I had the same thing happen- and it took several calls to get it straightened out. I did ask to have my call transferred to someone in the US vs. a call center out of country.

Once I did that, we were able to fix the problem.

2nd call to American, and they say they can't change it because it's a third party.  It is correct on Princess it has to do with the parsing (computer people :-)) to American.  Did they actually change your name?

16 hours ago, skynight said:

Since you are ticketed American Airlines should be able to handle this issue. I know you already called them, but call again.

I will call today and ask for it to be changed. I didn’t pressure/request this from the first agent once she said she’s seen it before.  And to AF1. I can access my flight fine, our names are wrong and this is not a field I can correct.  Plus it is my understanding once I pay for the ezair ticket it is now non refundable, plus the price is much higher now.  

Hi,  I booked EZ Air for the first time.  I recently paid for the tickets so that we could use our status on American Airlines to get better seats.  The problem is if I go to the AA website and look at our names for this flight they are firstmiddle Mrs as my first name (husband is same pattern).  So our names are "firstmiddle Mrs middle last".  I have called our travel agent and he conferenced me in with Princess.  On the Princess side our names are correct on the cruise and on the air side.  I called American and they have seen this before supposedly the only hitch is we can't check in online, must check in with a human.  Now my question :-),  Has anyone else been through this?  My biggest fear is getting to the airport and being denied boarding which means we miss everything.  TIA

I'm sorry but since I can't get search to work, I'm not sure if this has already been asked and answered.  I don't remember the amount but I use to only see 1 page of post for most topics, sometimes 2 pages.  I had something like 100 post per page.  I have checked everywhere I could think of so wondering if it still exist.

Thanks!

Replied in Princess Forum.

http://www.bayeuxshuttle.com/summer-service/7.htm

We are on the same trip with you.  I booked through http://www.bayeuxshuttle.com/summer-service/7.htm   Smaller group.  And can cancel with refund a week before.  I will have trip insurance in for worse case scenario of us not stopping in Le Havre.

Be sure to visit our roll call.

I thought I had read and prepared myself but I booked EZAir yesterday on American for next May. We are gold on American which allows us to get slightly better seats. I knew we would need to wait a few hours to see it on American so I could change the seats. On American our tickets are pending, our names (first and middle) have no space between them which makes our names wrong (they are correct on both the princess site and the AA site), we can't click on anything through the American website. I have NOT called yet because I want to confirm that I should be able to change the seats without paying for them at this time. We are flexible so I can always cancel them.

Perfect about the fridge! Celebrities never did get cold and like you we would bring snacks from the buffet or things saved from room service for when we were on our balcony (sail away etc) to nosh on.

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For future reference (I found the trick on this forum), If the fridge is in a cabinet, crack the cabinet door open with something (shoe in my case) and with air circulating around the fridge now, it will cool better. I don't understand it but keeping the fridge locked in the cabinet makes it not cool off properly. It worked wonders on our Carnival Cruise though the Steward kept removing the shoe.

I've enjoyed ur review and was just curious (as I have only done 1 other cruise on celebrity)......which line did u enjoy the most? I'm looking to book another trip that will include DH, our grown children and their spouses.

 

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Tough one for me because we feel they are all basically the same. All have pros and cons in our opinion. Other than the first few we took which was to get warm in winter, therefor the Caribbean; we mainly chose for ports. Our favorite was the Galapagos Celebrity Xpedition (about 10 years ago), it was the most we have ever paid for a vacation (we had a life event and bit the bullet money wise and did it). This was/is an extremely unique trip so tough to compare with others.

So for us, Celebrity is a bit more formal, love the laid backness of NCL but 2nd big ship with them and not impress with the big ships, loved our 2 on smaller ships (2500 passengers). We like Princess a lot because even though they say formal we get away with khakis and long sleeve collared shirt for DH and work type dress for me (no flaming please). We actually really enjoyed our Carnival Cruise even thought the food was good. Princess really does have better lectures than Royal Caribbean in Alaska (have done both). All have decent entertainment. I have to actually give kudos to Epic on this last trip with their entertainment staff which were some of the best we have seen. We did the Breakaway's first trip to Bermuda and Burn the Floor was not very good (being polite here :-)), so wasn't planning on seeing the Epic's version until after we saw Priscilla. Burn the Floor was a really good show, it's plot has been modified greatly.

Our kids only traveled with us after college (for them :-)) and both times was with NCL. The Studios are a major factor for that. They probably enjoyed the bigger ship more, but on the big ship it's tough on bad weather days to find a place to sit with everyone and on sunny days not enough space to sit outside. But the big ships have a lot more to do, water slides, climbing/ropes courses, etc.

So I didn't really answer your question :-).

Great review thank you for sharing!

 

No by paying for better bar service do you mean there were people tipping or actually paying for drinks when they had the package?

 

Also you mentioned the room service how was that? Did the fridge in your room keep things cool? I ask because the ones in celebrity never really were cold lol

 

 

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It's really tipping extra, they stand at the bar with cash in their hand and the bartender will choose them over the other people standing there. Or I saw one man give a roving bartender a cash tip and that roving bartender visited him over and over and ignored most everyone else on the deck. I had read about this on the Board but wasn't sure if it really worked and obviously it does :-). I never did and had trouble at really busy bars but I always have trouble at busy bars because I'm a short female :-). We found the bars that worked for us and rarely had issues.

The refrigerator actually gets pretty cold. Not quickly though. I removed the bottom half of items in the frig and put in one of the cabinets and returned them the last night (also left a note on the counter just in case to inform the Steward). We put a bladder filled with ship water (and charcoal - takes out the chlorine taste) to keep our water bottles filled. It would be nice and cold by morning but if only wait a few hours not really cold.

Room Service ($7.95) was fairly quick 45 minutes. We ordered pizza, 2 salads, and the cheese plate for cocktail hour. The pizza was good, the salad had way too much dressing (very acidic) Be sure to ask for the dressing on the side. Cheese plate was good, we taped the plastic cloche to the plate and put it in the frig kind of tipped on it's side. Came out fine a few hours later. Breakfast room service was fine, got exactly what we requested. For us (location maybe) we got them at the end of the shift we chose, for example 7-7:30 we would get at 7:30. So they always made the time slot, just caused me to panic the first time because we had a long day ahead and had to meet our excursion and I was worried about not getting it and trying to run up to the cafeteria.

great idea! will 2 loungers fit on the balcony or did you end up with 2 chairs a little table plus 1 lounger?

2 Loungers will fit but our Steward only gave us one. So had two chairs, really small table and Lounger. I just used the 2 chairs so didn't request a 2nd Lounger so not sure if Steward will bring or not.

Thanks for the review! We'll be on the Epic in about a week and in a large balcony. I was hoping to find some information about what to expect in the room, so your review was just great for us, and timely!

If you don’t have a lounge chair ask for one, asked in my note and had one a few hours later.

Thanks! Do you remember if they offered a tour of the ship on embark day? I always look for those to help me get around! :-)

Yes multiple ones about 2hours apart. Think there were 3 of them but definitely 2.

Hello

Can you confirm if seafood night is night 2?

I’m sorry I didn’t pay attention and didn’t bring home the dailies.

Below: is a review I just posted, hopefully it's not to chaotic. I am willing to answer questions if anyone has any.

History: 3 cruises with NCL, 3 cruises with Princess, 3 cruises with Royal Caribbean, 3 cruises with Celebrity, 1 with Carnival all over the last 17 years.

We usually travel to Puerto Rico in the winter but this year the place we rent had to cancel us in November after Maria so I booked this late for DH and myself. We already knew the itinerary changes because of the Hurricanes so no surprises about that. We were GSC, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. Stayed in a B6 9024; excellent large balcony cabin, we had a very good steward even though we basically never saw him. Left him a note on the first day for my request and received all of them (even got Spa bathrobes instead of the thin ones :-)).

Florida was cold (for Florida) on arrival so didn't get warm weather until the first full day of the cruise but had it all the way back since Florida had warmed up. Embarkation was fairly smooth. We arrived close to our scheduled time of 10:30. A little confusion of where to drop off our bags (we were dropped by Avis Shuttle); even had security/staff yelling at people bringing their luggage up the escalator because they had missed the drop off area. Once in the building, they use the chairs you sit in as lanes so was messy walking between people to figure out your lines. We are just plain cruises (no special privileges) so got in line, took maybe 20 minutes and we were done. Finding a seat was a little difficult and then we waited till about noon to Board (#15). Only thing that upset me was we had to dump our water (I knew this) and I didn't see anywhere to get more while we sat.

We had a B6 balcony 9024 which we loved. Wave rooms have some irritants, main one for us was how tight it was to walk through the room (Bed near bathroom). The Bathroom didn't bother us but is noisy going to bathroom in the middle of the night. The phone in the room is a great nightlight btw. Sink in the room is a little weird but okay, could have used a towel holder close to the sink. Coffee Maker in the room, worked fine. Outlets are in a cabinet near the stool-vanity table (it took me a bit to find them). The balcony was deep and great but they have the drainage channel near the slider (not at the end of the balcony); this caused the balcony to almost always be wet. We placed a towel inside the door and the steward left it the whole time so this must be very common. Our shower had plenty of hot water and pressure; and the room a/c worked fine.

We had SDP, so we ate in Taste, Wasabi (paid), La Cucina, Cagney's and Le Bistro. We also ordered room service one day for lunch; since we had to pay the $8 we also ordered the cheese plate for snack later (stuck it in the frig). Taste was okay to very good, service was always excellent, food ranged from lukewarm to the best meal we had, we never waited but I had booked reservations prior to the cruise. All the specialty restaurants had service issues; things like not clearing dirty dishes, not filling water glasses, no silverware, etc. I did write a note but I didn't report anything at the time because I didn't want anything from them. I let them know that paying 20% tip in the States is for very good service and that I felt at La Cucina the service was extremely subpar and I wouldn't have tip if I had been home. Also, wouldn't have given more than 5-10% for the other 3. As far as food goes, the only one that surpassed the regular dining room was Wasabi. La Cucina is an okay Italian place but I can get a lot better on land, Cagney's food was good, Le Bistro's not so much which was a big disappointment to me. We also at at O'Sheehan's for breakfast and lunch once, service really is poor here (I had read the reviews prior to our trip); we had room service breakfast twice both times fine but delivered a little late so be careful on busy morning. Used Buffet for breakfast and snacks, one lunch; it was fine, we just aren't big brunch people. Finding the cookies is tough and the crepes are excellent.

The ship is too big with no where to walk; there is no promenade deck, the walking track has no view and both directions are on the same side. The best walk is inside the ship down the hallways but no views :-). The gym is good but missed just being able to walk around. Lounges have very limited seating which is common on these big ships. Since we had our balcony we don't sit inside much unless the weather is bad. This ship is very chopped up and it is confusing to get from Point A to B a lot of the time. The casino was a little smokey but not that bad. We always found a lounger on the pool deck when we wanted one.

They didn't have a lot of activities that interested us on sea days and a lot of the shows were either very early or very late which limited what we could see (we are early to bed, early to rise). Their main show venues are the Atrium (extremely limited seating-no tickets), Headliners (need tickets, they make the stools taller in the back but still hard to see), Theatre (good seating, need tickets). Spice and the Pool Deck at night had entertainment by the Irish Group on board and we enjoyed their music multiple nights because it was better than the ship's. It can be hard to get tickets, especially since you can book multiple ones on the same night. We discovered that many just do not show so always consider being standby. We got reservations for Burn the Floor one night (only about 20 seats left when I got them). We show up and only about 2/3 of the Theatre was full when the show started. We went to Priscilla by showing up about 5 minutes before start time and walking in. Anything in the Theatre I would think you can do this with, not so sure about Headliners. Shows were very good with great staff; Magician not that good, couldn't get into Comedy show.

We did Shore Excursions with NCL because we had the $50 Credit. Enjoyed all of them but the Cooking Class in Cozumel Playa Mia is Excellent; others were snorkeling, kayaking, tubing. Ports were all fine, and no issues in any port with feeling unsafe. Tendering went smoothly for us, never had to wait but we did have excursions.

Just a note on the UBP and service. I'm pretty sure there has always been 2 bartenders at most bars. The big difference is how many people have the packages these days so yes it can be a wait to get drinks. There were people who paid (tipped) to get better service and it worked for them because we would be ignored while they were served. Best advice is to try and avoid the really busy bars if you can (walk a little further). Didn't get our money's worth out of the beverage package so in future would probably not get it but that's because I just don't drink enough (a few sodas and cocktails). We saw many do their best to get their money's worth.

Still like NCL, still not a fan of big ships, and would skip most of the specialty dining.