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Congratulations on free laundry. That is the best milestone!

We did the Halong Bay kayak shore excursion last year from the Whisper. We took the ship's tender to shore and boarded a junky junk there which then took us down the bay to the kayak place. The kayak part of the tour was wonderful. We also visited a floating pearl farm (and store) and the cave. A really "interesting" lunch was served on board, but I am happy to report, no one got sick. There was only one life jacket on the junk and the boat looked like it was held together with rope and duct tape. One of the wc's went out of order and a crew member was not polite about it. Halong Bay is not to be missed, and the junky experience was just that -- an experience!

Heat sounds like a good thing since we have snow and ice here!

Totally agree.

We did that same tour in Brisbane. Our tasting at Sirromet was not good since they did not provide any food, not even crackers! We were told we could buy pizza from their restaurant if we wanted to eat anything. We complained to Silversea, and I guess it helped.

Cruising Pashmina - Last year there were a number of singles doing the whole world cruise and not all of them were women. I think the youngest was a very adventurous woman in her 50's who was always doing independent shore excursions. There were several other single women probably in their 60's and then many women "d'un certain age". I think you would love doing the whole world cruise especially if you could have friends join you for portions of the trip. There was one lady well over 90 who had a red walker. Her family joined her for a segment and she did the remainder of the trip solo.

Sorry to hear about the suitcase problem. Hope the remainder of your trip is "smooth sailing". I love the itinerary and the number of overnights in port. Please say hello to Charles & Elaine from Bob and Victoria.

Great news!

That is a wonderful itinerary. Have a great trip.

I vote for removing most of the shops. You could shoot off a canon in them most of the time and not hit a customer. The merchandise is overpriced and not particularly useful. I wonder whether they make any money. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the space is leased by Silversea, so they have less incentive to remove them.

So glad to hear that you enjoyed the evening in La Terrazza and also that the decibel level was lower. Do you know if they had any seating outside?

Clodia, Do not worry about how to dress during the day. You will see people in shorts, jeans, slacks, dresses and athletic gear. Some men even show up at the pool buffet shirtless.

Mysty is correct about Sunday family night in La Terrazza. After the antipasti, dinner is served family style with not a lot of choices. I enjoy the meal, but I HATE the performance by the Voices of Silversea because they haven't learned to turn the volume down on their amplifiers. It ruins what should be an enjoyable evening. The room is small enough that if they are trained singers, they ought to know how to sing loudly enough so that their voices carry properly. I have found the decibel level to be absolutely painful and despite saying something to Donato and Norman, the volume remains too high. Does anyone else have the same complaint?

Your choice of restaurants would be greatly limited on formal and informal evenings if he didn't have a jacket.

Great advice. Thanks.