TheRampantSnail

Thank you. That will be very useful.

A simple answer ..no

Thank you, and mj holiday. That is great news.

We have just booked on Voyager Istanbul to Barcelona 27th October 2024. This will be our first cruise back on Voyager since 2013 and we loved the ship then. (more recently ie last year we were on the Splendor and also Silversea Silver Moon - Silver Moon won that comparison easily, but that is another story). We would be interested to hear of any recent Voyager experiences - how is the old girl bearing up?

Having sailed on both lines (including two cruises on Silver Moon and one on Regent Splendor last year) I can say that we much prefer Silversea. I understand that some people have issue with the dress code on Silversea (but is it really such a big deal?) and that two of the restaurants have a supplement. However, there is still a good variety of dining options on Silversea, including the SALT restaurant. We think the Italian restaurant on Silversea is the better of the two by far. The Asian restaurant on Splendor was dire. Our experience is that the included wines on Silversea are better and alternatives are found much more readily. Service on Silversea was overall and consistently much better (on the Splendor it ranged from excellent to poor). Standard cabins (excluding the few Vista suites) are bigger on Silver Moon than on Splendor. There is not much entertainment on Silversea and what there is is same old, same old i.e. Broadway shows and Queen. Much the same on Regent regarding shows, but the Regent Orchestra are brilliant and on our cruise there did a number of sets on a very wide range of musical styles.

Many thanks for the replies. I was concerned about hand baggage being forbidden, but if it is simply a question of storage then there is no problem. We store our hand luggage in suitcases on ocean cruises, so that's fine

Although we have done many ocean cruises we will shortly be embarking on our first river cruise - Scenic "Romantic Rhine and Moselle". We have just received our final documentation and journey information. The baggage allowance noted as one suitcase and also a "small backpack or similar". We would like to take, in addition to our suitcases, a small case each - basically an airline permitted carry on bag.. Is this covered by the definition of being similar to a small backpack? With regard to dress code (always a touchy subject) the information states that there is a recommendation of a jacket or tie for the evening meal. What do seasoned Scenic travellers wear?

we will be on Scenic in April for a Basel to Amsterdam cruise. This will be our first Scenic cruise and, indeed our first river cruise, although we have done many ocean cruises. We have just received our cruise documents and something puzzled me. There is a line which says "continuing our sustainability journey, guests will now receive a 50 per person onboard currency credit in lieu of luggage". I wonder if this might explain the issue you raised.

Don't forget that mentioning particular staff on feedback forms is also a good way of rewarding exceptional service. It helps their career development. Also, you don't need to wait for feedback forms. On out last cruise on the Moon one of the wine waiters excelled in getting certain (included) wines for us and had them ready next time we ate in SALT. I wrote a note to the Bar Manager about this. The Bar Manager sought me out and thanked me and then the waiter in question came over and he was totally delighted.

We had two cruises on the Moon (and one on Regent Splendor) last year. The quality of food was excellent throughout, as was service. It was on Regent I felt service and quality (with notable exceptions) were below par.

I don't think you need to bother getting US$. The least amount of currency exchange you do is better. Firstly, your cruise is in Europe and Euros will be accepted anywhere. As for donating to the crew fund - a very good idea - just go to the Reception desk and hand in a note saying how much, in dollars, you want to contribute and it will be registered against your shipboard account. We have never had a problem doing this.

Full of sound and fury--signifying nothing." Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5

I'm sorry but I can't help with officers' names - it is not anything we really take any note of. I do know the Captain was Italian. We only knew the Cruise Director's name because of trivia. Our September cruise on the Moon was excellent too.

No longer "live from" but "reflections on". Overall, it was a great cruise. Service was excellent throughout, both attentive and intuitive. I have mentioned one aspect of this in an earlier post. As another example, as we were in the Caribbean we wanted to sit outside at breakfast and lunch. Staff facilitated this for us every time - not queue jumping I hasten to add. Having dinner outside at La Terazza was excellent. Food in all areas and restaurants (we ate everywhere except Kaiseki and Spaccanapoli) was very good, but S.A.L.T. was excellent. I did wonder beforehand how they would deal with Caribbean cuisine, but they did it brilliantly. There was a good selection of perfectly acceptable wines available and alternatives always available and willingly found and delivered. We felt very well looked after. Excellent cruise director, Rico As far as I am aware, there were no Covid cases on the cruise. There were a few areas where things could have been better. Our pre-cruise hotel, Barbados Hilton Resort, was not up to Silversea standard. It was shabby and run-down. Although the food and service in La Dame were both very good, they were not a huge improvement on other restaurants (because they were so good). The $60 pp surcharge did not therefore feel like good value for money. Although good, we felt the Atlantide menu needs updating. The US immigration issue I mentioned above was a problem but the Finance Officer did tell me that they were looking into ways of avoiding this issue in future - they are listening and learning. Entertainment is never, in our opinion, a strong point on Silversea. Some local Caribbean entertainment would have been welcome, but I suspect the Covid risk precluded that. The entertainment offered was repetitive and tired - Broadway, Queen and a bit of opera, again - and certainly needs updating and broadening. The pianist, guitarist and trio were all good and much better entertainment than the shows. But, as I said at the beginning, overall a really enjoyable cruise.

Last evening and SALT delivers again. It has been a great cruise I will reflect and comment further in a couple of days after we get home.

Yes, definitely there is

Dinner in SALT again last night. Same wine waiter as in my previous post who immediately brought the two wines we requested previously. Excellent service, which is typical of this whole cruise Everything continues to be very good. SALT has been excellent. Their take of local Caribbean food has been really good.

Apart from the above, we think that everything is to Silversea standards. Service is excellent and food very good. SALT kitchen's interpretation of local foods is outstanding. Wine is good. You can't expect fine wine but we are having very good wines and can easily order and get wines that are other than the day's offer. Today at lunch we had a very good Muscat from Alsace. We asked for it at dinner tonight and it was provided with no problem. I also asked for a Minervois from the included list and it was brought and the bottle left on the table. In general I have no problem in asking for and getting a particular Type of wine.

Everything on board continues to be very good. However, this morning we docked at San Juan. We then lost practically the whole morning getting through US immigration. First, waiting to be called and the almost 2 hours queueing to be processed. Rather took the gloss off the day

Dinner in la Dame last night was excellent. Everything was well prepared and presented. Service and the pacing of courses was spot on. If only the football yesterday had been as good! I forgot to mention that masking is no longer mandatory for staff.

Joined the Moon in Barbados yesterday. Boarding was very slow but once on board all good. There are a few staff still on from our September cruise who it is good to see again Ate in SALT last night. Caribbean menu is very interesting and was well executed. Service good in the restaurant and the bars. After dinner everywhere was sparsely populated. We had drinks in Dolce Vita and there were only four other couples in there. We are in Martinique today docked right next to a Royal Caribbean ship - the noise from their public address system and "music" is very intrusive. Tonight is formal night and we are booked into La Dame. I won't post every day as we will be too busy enjoying ourselves.. I'm off to Panorama to watch the England game.

Why on earth would I do that? Once was enough for me!

Well, if you really like sub-standard Asian food and poor service, Pacific Rim is all yours

I will be very interested to see how our forthcoming cruise on the Moon (24th November, Barbados to Barbados) compares to our September Southampton to Lisbon Moon cruise. We are much looking forward to it. We felt that service and standards overall were very good in September and we had a really enjoyable time. There was no embarkation prosecco and towels, but I was not expecting these, but plates were carried in La Terazza and all the buffet items were served by staff. I did notice that there seemed to be a large number of staff leaving in Lisbon including the barman in the S.A.L.T. bar and Jaypee, a really good waiter in Observation.

Just adding our experience on Splendor in May this year. This was the first time we have had the opportunity of trying Pacific Rim and we were looking forward to it. First, the service was awful. After being shown to our table for two we then had a long wait before anything - water, drinks etc - was offered. Then, after we had finished our starters, the main courses were brought immediately. For starters we had the soft shell crab - which was good - and the the dim sum, which were tasteless. For mains my wife had the cod - dry and overcooked. I had the duck, which was so overcooked it was inedible. I can safely say it was the worst meal we have ever had on Regent or, indeed, on any cruise line. It was so bad we just got up and left and never went back. When food in all the other venues was so good it was a stark contrast. And no sake was offered or brought when requested.