alithecat

I didn't realize this wasn't allowed.

If you are on facebook, check out the Silversea Passengers group. The moderator has collected an extensive list of advice files, including ones for Antarctica. Make sure you go to shiptoshore to order your free parka and rent your boots right away. Some people buy boots but since they are heavy, and the charter flight has luggage weight limits, I think it's better to rent and have them waiting for you on the ship along with your parka.

I think I understand how this happened. Our TA replied to my email and said she had asked her Silversea contact if we had any SBC. He/she decided instead of giving us this, to upgrade us to a Veranda suite (at the front of the ship). Our TA said stop. I suspect that the SS agent mangled re-assigning us to our original suite, as there was only a 1 digit difference in the suite number between the two. So, the good news is that this shouldn't keep happening. I told our TA not to contact SS again about our reservation, and I will keep checking MySilversea every day.

I checked MySilversea this morning, and am very glad I did. We are on the Holiday cruise and booked a specific mid-ship Vista suite last year, to be low and in the center for the Drake passage. Our reservation details have shown us having this suite since we booked. But today, when I checked our reservation, we had been moved to a Vista suite at the very front of the ship. No idea why. I panicked and called Silversea. The reservation agent moved us back to our original suite, which fortunately no one else had booked yet. She could not explain what happened, but said our record showed that our room had been changed 3 times. I asked her to put a note in our reservation saying do not move us, and email'd our TA to call and find out how this happened. Have any of you ever had this issue?

The Hilton Garden Inn is probably a nicer hotel than the Holiday Inn. But you need to take their shuttle or a taxi to get from it to the airport. You walk across the airport parking lot from the terminal to get to the Holiday Inn. That's why we booked it.

We booked our own air and booked a regular room at the Holiday Inn Santiago Airport for Jan. 4th. This hotel doesn't have day rooms. Silversea could have taken us back to the MO to their day room, for $140 because we didn't use their air, plus the cost of a taxi to get back to the airport. Our flight is at 10:45pm. I researched airport lounges and the only one we can get into has a 2 hour time limit. We decided it would be easier for ourselves and our luggage to stay in the Holiday Inn. Also that way, should our flight get cancelled, we have a place to stay for the night.

@cruiseejI just went to MySilversea and our hotel now shows as the Mandarin Oriental too. Thanks for that. We booked our own air, after declining Silversea's bad routing, but did book both the transfer and 2 nights in the hotel thru Silversea. I recall there was someone else who booked the extra night on their own, but can't find them now. Yes, hopefully 3rd time lucky for us too.

@cruiseejTo answer your jacket question, we are on the Cloud Holiday cruise and my husband is taking his blazer. I would expect Christmas and New Years to be informal (jacket required) evenings. He has some nice, thick long sleeved shirts, not as thick as flannel but warmer than cotton. He will wear these as his outer layer under the parka during the day, and for dinner at night. Plus a couple (also probably two) of sweaters. He has decent pants for dinner that look nicer than his jeans. I haven't decided what to pack for myself yet. I have options, but it depends on how heavy my suitcase gets with all the expedition wear. We rented boots. We bought light, collapsible walking poles, and all the suggested socks, hats, gloves, waterproof pants, long underwear etc. Plus very lightweight slip-on water sandals for the boot room and whirlpools, waterproof bags for the camera,... Sure hope we get to go on this trip after buying all this gear! We have one lightweight nylon carry-on, and one regular carry-on with wheels, so we can attach the lightweight one to the regular one. Counting down the days now and starting to get excited.

@caradaraWhere does this show up in My Silversea? Is it under Details? I still see a Simply Hotel, but our cruise is in December.

@FauxNomand @CruzinFeraBruzinThis quote came from Barbara Muckermann on the facebook Silversea group a few weeks ago, in reply to a question about changes to the ship after the purchase: "the only changes we made at this point is logo and paint, the major changes will come about spring 2023 if we get the capex approved". So, that implies the big gap is there for a drydock. [no idea what capex is???]

Check your Silversea itinerary. On our excursion cruise, which starts & ends in Kang., Silversea has included a charter flight to/from Reykjavik. That's also where their pre-cruise hotel is.

@bobolzhow are conditions on the Silver Whisper? I hope the Whisper found a place to hide out from the hurricane.

The first formal night is usually on the 2nd night of the cruise. It's the Captain's welcome. The last formal night is usually the second last night of the cruise. It's the farewell, since the last night when everyone is packing is always casual. Hard to predict when the 3rd formal night will be.

If you use Facebook, I recommend joining the Silversea Passengers Facebook Group. The moderator has compiled files of useful information. Click on the FAQ index near the top. There is one file called How Many Formal Nights. The answer for an 18 day cruise is: 3 formal, 10 informal, 5 casual. I will warn you that this can vary, especially informal vs casual. It is announced in the first day's newsletter you receive on board. In my experience women dress the same on both informal and casual nights, except for the last night when casual really is casual, because the rest of the clothes are already packed.

If you are on Silver Cloud, that is an expedition ship. You don't sign up for excursions the same way you do on the classic ships. On the first day, they divide the passengers into zodiac groups. You always stay with your group. Every day, late afternoon, the expedition leader holds a lecture describing the expeditions for the next day. Other than limited person ones like kayaking, which you must sign up for, everyone gets to do all expeditions. The groups rotate earliest to latest start times, so it's fair.

@CruzinFeraBruzinwe had a different issue. We are flying from San Francisco to Santiago for an Antarctica cruise. SS routed us through NY going (with a 4.5 hour connection) and Toronto returning. It made no sense for us to risk flying into winter storms.

@hsheffieldI went through a similar experience. When I expected to use SS Air but didn't have flights yet, I asked to go a day early and booked the SS hotel. I was not charged either a deviation fee or anything extra for the transfer from the airport. But then later, when I received and rejected their awful flights and asked for the ones I wanted, I was told it would cost an extra $2280pp plus a $150pp deviation fee -- you got a bargain at $1750pp! I cancelled SS air and booked myself. I know some people on this Board have had good luck with SS Air, and we have in the past, but I am increasingly seeing more people who are not happy with their assigned flights. I know that air travel is much harder these days, with all the cancellations, delays and increased costs. SS is probably doing the best they can with the contracts they have now.

Yes the dress code on Expedition ships is more casual. One step down from Classic ships. No formal. Most nights are casual. There will be at least one Informal night, usually the second night for the Captain's welcome dinner. Informal means that men should wear a jacket and dress shirt (and pants obviously), but do not need a tie. If you are on facebook join the Silversea Passengers group and look at the files. There is one for dress codes.

@AndieSF 1. yes. You can book a transfer thru SS to their hotel, or find you own way in a taxi. 2. yes. SS won't tell you the hotel until much closer to the cruise. If you are ok with the cost, book the extra night thru SS. Otherwise, you can wait until you know which hotel, book it yourself, and ask the hotel to keep you in the same room, as others have done. 3. yes. The Holiday Inn Santiago Airport Terminal is the only hotel right at the airport. I read that you can walk across the parking lot to it from the terminal. They don't have day rooms, just regular rooms. Check-in is 3pm. Or you book the day room and transfers thru SS. Or you sit at the airport for what could be a long time, depending on your flight. I'm not that experienced, I just started my research first, as soon as we decided to reject SS Air and their crazy routing home via Toronto in January. Our TA was good about contacting SS to find out what was included and what the additional costs would be.

One more piece of advice for those going to Antarctica. Most of the return flights from Santiago to the US leave late in the evening. If you book with SS Air, they will take you from the charter airport to a hotel day room, and then back to the airport later for your flight. If you don't use SS Air, they will drop you off at the main airport. Right now due to Covid-19 restrictions there is a max. 2 hour stay in airport lounges, but no idea if that will change by winter. So staying at the airport would not be pleasant. Without SS Air, the day room and transfer are extra cost. We decided to skip the back & forth. We booked a fully refundable, regular room at the Holiday Inn Santiago airport. Not fancy, but at the airport right across the parking lot from the terminal building. The cost was similar to what SS wanted to charge us for the day room plus transfer. Also, if for some reason our flight gets cancelled, we'll have a place to sleep for the night.

@RiverroadThe hotel room in Santiago for the night before the cruise is included in the SS fare, and the next morning they take you and your luggage from that hotel to the private airport for the charter flight to Puerto Williams. You could certainly forgo the SS hotel room and book on your own. If in a different hotel, you would need to get to SS's hotel in time for the airport transfer. We didn't think it was worth the bother to save at most a couple of hundred dollars when we were spending $50K+ on the cruise.

@AndieSF be sure to give yourself an extra night in Santiago. You don't want to miss the boat! SS includes 1 night in the Santiago hotel. Ask SS to book the 2nd night. They charged us $210pp, which is quite high, but it's not worth the hassle of changing hotels/changing rooms for 1 night to save the money. Don't let the SS Air experience sour you on the trip. We have been on several SS expeditions and they were wonderful. I hope we all get to Antarctica this winter. 3rd time lucky for us?

@AndieSFWe booked the same United flights you found, Houston to/from Santiago. This is our 3rd try to get to Antarctica, thanks to Covid-19 cancellations. We had enough United miles in our accounts from the 2020 attempt to book business class using miles. We know we are taking a chance flying independently, with all the delays & cancellations happening now. We took an earlier flight from SFO to HOU to give us a 3 hour layover, and we are going 2 nights early. Hope it works. To be fair to SS, there is a lot of chaos in the airline industry right now. Many flights have been/will be cancelled, and prices have increased. SS doesn't have contracts with all airlines, and has a limited number of seats.

@AndieSF We live in San Francisco and are on an Antarctica cruise this December. SS Air routed us to Santiago through New York outgoing and Toronto returning. Not acceptable, we refuse to fly into winter storms. We gave them the flights we wanted via Houston and they said it would cost an extra $2300pp. So, we cancelled SS Air and booked ourselves. You don't get the transfer to the Santiago hotel if you fly independently, but can ask for it. It costs $70pp. High price but worth it for the convenience. We are arriving 2 nights early just in case.

@crusinban besides looking young, you both look very hot (in temperature, that is). To be clear for the original poster, our tours took us first to the House of the Virgin Mary (which I would have preferred to skip), then Ephesus, then lunch, then to a carpet shop (which I also would have preferred to skip). We tolerated the carpet shop only because it was air conditioned, and we were hot. So, it was a very long tour.