Masonic Phantom

Exactly! And in a democracy we get to wear what we want!

That,s the spirit....free for all. Wonderful!!

We have booked it for the 12 day sailing on August 8 from Venice to Monte Carlo.

We have taken the plunge.. Nice to Athens 3rd of May....Here,s hoping all,s well??

I don't agree at all. I like it this way.

We beg to differ.... Democracy at work.

It doesn't matter what they put in the brochures. On my last Silversea cruise in April I barely saw any tuxedos and certainly no long gowns. It was mostly dark suites, blazers, cocktail dresses etc. Many women even wore simple dresses with a splashy accessory or two.

What a pity !!

Unless you are happy deciding months in advance where, when and with whom you want to dine and make reservations accordingly then Silversea will decide all that for you according to availability. This is a deal breaker for me as one of the things I love about open seating is being able to make those decisions at the last minute myself.

I concur, we have often met many new friends and dined in MDR at a moments notice, that was part of the charm of Silversea, sadly another tick for mediocre IMHO.

You might be able to work out where but with whom, how many and at what time may not be so easy. That flexibility is a major draw for me and the chief reason I don't sail on Crystal.

My point exactly.. I fully agree.

This promise applies only to The Restaurant (MDR), not to the speciality restaurants.

On formal nights one generally went to the MDR ,which we love doing, what happens now.. at this stage it is a bit disappointing .. could be back to the Spirit for us.

Gary.

Can anyone suggest a private car company for Venice to Lake Como / Milan... July 2017??

Regards The Masonic Phantom.

Thank you to fellow cruise critic members, we were able to find some companies that offered transfer service for June 9, 2016. However, both RomeCab and Rome Chauffeurs were fully booked that day already :(

 

Also contacted Civitavecchia Cab service for shared shuttle, waiting for their response.

 

Have considered Rome In Limo, not too comfortable to provide credit card and deposit and not sure if they have availability either.

 

Oceania, our cruise, indicated that the transfers were sold out.

 

Would anyone have any other suggestions for us to try? We are getting desperate :confused:

Try http://www.Blacklane.com, we have used them often, very good service.

I have friends who have just returned from a Shadow trip to Myanmar and they were very happy with the state of the ship. They also enjoyed all the food offerings apart from Christmas Day dinner in the MDR, which was a bit flat.

Now that's what I want to hear...Thanks.

The Shadow is in pretty poor condition as well.

Ah!!! don't tell me that...we are on her in April. :eek:

We are in Japan for the month of April - cherry blossoming :D - you will just miss it !

You will have to take a photo for us!! Cheers.

The airport bus is the best way to get to Narita Airport if you have luggage. But make sure you allow plenty of time - it can take up to 2 hours. And don't be late they are VERY punctual, oh an no queue jumping :D

 

We have been going to Japan every year for over 30 years now, so if you have any other questions we might be able to help.

Thank you both, rojaan19 & silver spectre for the info, we disembark for the Shadow on the 7th May and are only staying in Tokyo 3 nights, then fly back to Aus from HND, but if I have any questions I'll be back rojaan19..Thanks.

I am afraid we haven't used a car service in Japan. But maybe if you email your hotel they might have one they use. Taxis are very reliable, but you must have the hotel name written in Japanese as most taxi drivers do not speak English. You can see how much a taxi will cost here

 

http://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Tokyo-Japan

Thank you rojaan for the site,considering the Grand Hyatt quoted 30,000 yen for car pick-up:eek:... 4035-8162 looks good:).

Regards Gary.

Any advice on car pick-up to hotel :confused:

Thanks Gary.

Beautifuly put, and to be honest I never heard a word of complaint on our recent, full, Whisper cruise. It appears to be only those who wish to feel upset will complain!

Sad but true... I concur.

I see you are in Oz and hopefully made your booking whilst in Oz.

 

Entirely up to you. Oz consumer laws and protections are based on UK laws and protections, and you are almost certainly entitled to be refunded and losses with respect to your rebooking of flights and hotels and to receive compensation for the inconvenience and loss of the holiday you actually booked. Oz laws prevent these practices. The reasons for the changes that SS made are not reasons outside of their control but are purely commercial reasons to make more money and in so doing breached your contract with them. You had a contract and Oz laws provide considerable protection that most Ozzers seem unaware of. It is a fast track small claims process, which I believe you would clearly win .... if it ever got to it but it won't.

 

Your extra nights of cruise is nothing to do with the flights and hotels but merely replaces your previous cruise. Just because it is longer is in no way set against the other issues I outlined.

 

If more simply pursued their rights (outside the US where there is virtually no consumer protection) and made SS paid what they should the commercial attractiveness of messing customers around would reduce.

 

Good luck.

 

Jeff

Very interesting Jeff, Thanks..... been changing flights & hotels this morning & all done.... cost was $ 225 usd, 10,000 points in cancelations, & a long time on computer & phone, so I will put I to SS & see what they come back with...if anything? & I will know which way to jump then. Oh! all our cancelled cruises 1 & 2 were on the Shadow .

I was booked on a March 29 9 day Singapore/Hong Kong cruise and got a call from SS last week that they're reconfiguring all the Asia cruises for that period. They told me what they are doing and what cruise I had been changed to (it is now a 15 day cruise including Thailand which was not previously in the itinerary.) I had to change flights and hotels so I hope they make no further changes.

 

I'm sure you or your TA will be contacted soon. I would check with your TA immediately.

We have been offered 16 nt Hong Kong/ Tokyo in April for the same price as the 9nt Hong Kong/Singapore or 10% off any other cruise except a World cruise, no comp for re-booking flights & Hotels, but I think we will take the 16 nt offer...which is a fair deal... but annoying ... such is life!!

Cheers M.P.

Just been informed by Amex that our Hong Kong/Singapore April 2016 has been cancelled, this is the second one, the other was Singapore/Singapore April 2016...at the moment we are waiting for Silversea to get back to us to tell us which way we jump next:... not sure if the Marx Brothers are doing the rosters .

M.P.

Yes it was. Sad isn't it! While the passengers were able to take a step back and see it for what it was (boorish behavior), the crew was forced to take care that these people's table wasn't tampered with nor were their monogramed placemat/towels thrown overboard!

 

Frankly, I just don't get it!

Is this code for something or someone?? [That would be M & L] ??

Looking on the Seabourn site today the only cruise I see totally "Call For Availability" is the actual 10-day one dubbed the 'Inaugural', the two before and those after are still available in Veranda category at least.

 

What's odd however is that the 28-day cruise starting 20th December which ends with that 10-day 'inaugural' segment, plus the 28-day cruise starting 7th Jan which starts with that 10-day 'inaugural' segment, also both have availability, so clearly there's still room on that ship if anyone wants to go .. just need to go as part of a slightly longer leg (with a rather better itinerary).

I rang Seabourn today & was put on wait list for the 10-day 'inaugural' segment..... they said it was fully booked....$1000 deposit.

Boorishness is not restricted to any particular nationality.

 

Seems to me, and maybe I'm being a bit simple here, but if one goes on a cruise that asks for a certain level of dress code respect then the onus lies on the customer to select another line if they have such an antipathy to the dress code. Mind you, some people are such egoistic attention-seekers that they will use such occasions to have their little self-indulgent tantrums.

 

The formal dress code applies maybe once a week-ish. How hard is it to either conform or to use one of the many non-formal areas on these nights? It's only a problem if one chooses to make it so.

Thank You.. My point exactly.

People are dressing a little more casual on Seabourn. On our last cruise an Australian man refused to wear a jacket even though his friends were both wearing them and the wives were in cocktail dresses. The Maitre D asked him to go and get a jacket, he refused again so a spare jacket was offered to the guest, who refused it. He was gently escorted out of the dining room and reminded that a jacket was necessary so he went to his stateroom, returned with his jacket, threw it down, and said a few very rude things to the Maitre D. and continued the night in just a shirt.

If this continues to happen, how Is Seabourn going to maintain standards? We always dress accordingly and we think other guests should too.

 

 

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I apologise on that man’s behaviour…we are not all like that.

In a word...... YES!!!

Typical of what I excepted from this area!!!!

Our Silversea experience is limited to European itineraries so I don't know if it's different in say the Caribbean or Asia but on our cruises people have dressed accordingly for formal nights. I have seen the staff quietly and politely enforce the dress code de jour.

And I hope they continue to do so, is it so much trouble to pack a tuxedo… I don’t think so.