jmmiva

Anybody have experience with the “FreeNow” cab app in Belfast?  Looking to go to the Balmoral Farm Show about 16 miles from the port

6 hours ago, Ovener said:

Thanks Port Power, that’s correct. Sorry for any confusion jmmiva. We dropped Blacklane in the UK but took Silversea’s airport bus transfers to and from the ship. Quite a few guests were on our later flight back to the UK. I was therefore rather annoyed that Silversea hadn’t arranged a later bus for us all. 

3 hours ago, Invited On-board said:

What would you wish  Silversea to have done for you and the other guests while waiting for a ' later bus ' between disembarkation and airport arrival for the return flight?

You previously mentioned the Debark Tour for Rome was unsuitable and also that Seabourn, Viking and Hapag Lloyd have  altered  how they facilitate disembarkation.

 

3 hours ago, Invited On-board said:

What would you wish  Silversea to have done for you and the other guests while waiting for a ' later bus ' between disembarkation and airport arrival for the return flight?

You previously mentioned the Debark Tour for Rome was unsuitable and also that Seabourn, Viking and Hapag Lloyd have  altered  how they facilitate disembarkation.

 

I get it.  Tough after a cruise to sit in airport for 5 hours!

On 4/14/2024 at 6:15 AM, Ovener said:

 

 

Just got off a seven day cruise on the Silver Dawn, Barcelona to Civitavecchia. We’re normally on Seabourn (though have tried Crystal and Viking and love Hapag Lloyd). The Dawn is a beautiful ship, spotless and classily decorated. 

 

We thought the Silver Suite was an excellent space, with a great butler and room steward keeping everything perfect and surprising me with a birthday cake and balloons, which was charming. Tours were better quality than we expected, and the premium truffle hunting tour with Savini in Tuscany was the most memorable excursion we’ve ever done on a cruise, with a sublime truffle lunch. Highly recommended. 

 

We had to skip Marseille to keep ahead of storms, but this meant a lovely day at Villefranche-sur-Mer instead. A good decision by the captain. 

 

Fellow passengers were very international and mostly friendly. 

 

There were four main areas that let the cruise down. 

 

Door-to-door

 

We’re about 70 miles from Heathrow, so using Blacklane would have cost more anyway. Quite how much we’ll never know as the website didn’t recognise our address (it’s an easy one). So after an hour struggling with it we gave up, having read disaster stories and Silversea’s bizarre refusal to accept responsibility in the Ts & Cs should the drive not turn up. We took the £150 credit instead. Now we’re at Fiumincino, dropped here 5 hours before our flight leaves and twiddling our thumbs. We brought the timing of the transfer up with Reception but they couldn’t care less. Incidentally Reception was generally unhelpful about everything. Door-to-door is anything but seamless. 

 

Food / Hospitality

 

Whilst included wines were quite nice, food quality was often very mediocre. La Dame was pretty good with excellent service, but food was not stunning. Kaiseki was awful at lunchtime. The quality of the sushi was appalling - either dry tuna or flabby salmon. It was better in the evening and we enjoyed the surf and turf and black cod, though probably not worth the upcharge. Luckily we had a lot of OBC. S.A.L.T. was the most disappointing restaurant with dry and unrecognisable attempts at Niçoise street food and flavourless sous vide lamb. Fish at the Pool Grill was good (but tiny) at lunchtimes. Breakfast everywhere was rather dull with poor quality croissants and pastries, though I enjoyed the congee. Breakfast at Atlantis is quiet and civilised, but choice the same as room service. La Terrazza was really poor on our first day for buffet lunch; everything had hung around (except the staff who had disappeared), pies were missing pastry and the sushi looked ready to walk out. We heard someone got ill from it.  In the evenings the food there was actually pretty good. But it feels like there’s a lot of cost cutting going on with ingredients. 

 

The bars were all pretty good, though they can’t make a martini cocktail at the pool bar (remember to add gin!). We liked the Arts Cafe particularly, which was well run. 

 

Hospitality / Entertainment

 

Staff are not nearly as engaged as on Seabourn, some grumpy, many are clearly being trained, though some (e.g. Joel at the Arts Cafe and S.A.L.T Bar) were very friendly and good at their jobs. The crew and entertainment director are hardly present, whereas they are everywhere on Seabourn. In short it feels far less of a ‘family’ experience and far less fun, with fewer events. Musicians were good but the singing/dance group was amateur. Sight lines in the Venetian Lounge are woeful for what is otherwise a beautiful space. We missed the daily port talks other lines offer and helpful things like port maps. 

 

Dress Code

 

Despite the dress code changing a few weeks back (and changing again on 21 April) no-one on board had got the message, so there was still a truly formal night. Frankly the dress code at the moment is a complete muddle requiring a PhD. Hopefully the new code will iron things out eventually. 

 

Would we go back on Silversea? Probably not, particularly given their massive price hikes. And never door to door. As someone has written on another board post, it feels more Business Class than First Class. Whether Seabourn and Hapag Lloyd are experiencing the same problems with cost cutting and staff we’ll find out in a few months! I would have given Silversea this feedback, but the in room screen was so clunky I gave up. 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Invited On-board said:

Yes,it was the OP  who was referencing a follow up e-mail. I have completed mine, initially on paper and latterly  online via  'My Cruise' Web page on 'My Silversea' prior to disembarkation 

Don’t understand if you took the blacklane credit and booked your own trans, why is that on SS?

On 4/11/2024 at 2:04 PM, tinaincc said:

Are you sure you were on Apex?  We were on last Summer as well and ate at Fine cut 2x, Eden 2x and Raw on 5 for 4 lunches. Le Grande bistro was only available for lunch and we did it once. I agree that Lumine became boring but I would say the food and ambiance on Apex was great.  What is MCRIDE?

 

It is bad typing - Magic Carpet Ride

Last year I sailed SS Spirit in Greece and X Apex in the Caribbean; veranda suite and retreat sky suite.  Will admit the cost on SS was higher but the experience was higher as well.  There were several things that turned be off to X.  Dining was a hassle.  Very crowded and very difficult to get in a restaurant.  We tried not long after dining was available and could not get in many of the restaurants - never were able to on the boat as well.  Luminae got boring after a while.  And, usually a line and wait there as well.  Never got into Fine Cut, Raw on 5, Le Grand or the MCRide.  Tried to walk into Le Grand for lunch one day - restaurant practically empty but were turned away.  Dining is one of the best parts of a cruise - on SS I did not have any problem getting into all restaurants.  The other issue for me was crowds.  Getting on and off the boat was taxing.  Running track, gym, casino all shoulder to shoulder.  

Compare upgraded space such as celebrity haven and SS is still a good deal.

I have no complaints.  I really enjoy SS and think the food is great.  Excursions, not so much.  I tend to arrange my own.  Bus rides are not my thing.

2 minutes ago, jmmiva said:

The problem I have with D2D is that flights are not booked until pretty close to the cruise.  I did it once and instead of a direct flight from CLT I get a connection from CLT to JFK and then Europe.  And since the flights are booked late, you really have few options.  That is enough to push me to P2P.  

SORRY meant push me to D2D w/o flights

The problem I have with D2D is that flights are not booked until pretty close to the cruise.  I did it once and instead of a direct flight from CLT I get a connection from CLT to JFK and then Europe.  And since the flights are booked late, you really have few options.  That is enough to push me to P2P.  

Yes 25% would be a lot to loose..... if it were the case which I’m pleased to say it isn’t!

 

I sounds like your cancellation details is the same for the U.K. (only 200 £ not $) so yes a slight advantage to a US resident over UK should you choose to cancel and not rebook. Not quite the same as 25%.... and I’d certainly trade that minor detail to have our consumer laws in place that do look after the consumer and not protect the corporations.

 

And having to travel to Miami (as was suggested) to sue SS is very much protecting the corporation!

Part of the problem with the US legal system is that people can sue at will and have no skin in the game. If you didn't consolidate litigation in one venue, it could be extremely costly for SS to have to defend in multiple venues. I believe in the UK if you sue someone and lose, you pay their costs. this is a great deterrent and makes one think twice before filing a frivolous claim.

JUST OFF SPIRIT

I too was an inaugural guest on the refurbished Spirit.

The bad - several days to get the TV and phone working in our suite. Door lock stopped working one day. Internet is quirky - need to sign in on one web page and leave it open, open another page to surf. A bit complicated and every time I walked through reception there was someone getting assistance with logging in.

the good - these were signs from God to disengage. Didn't watch TV or look at email for most of the trip. A blessing. The 25% credit for a future cruise came with no inconvenience from my prospective.

the real story - my perception.

Crew was magnificent - Chirstopher and Evelyn (Butler and Attendant) were attentive and responsive. Cabin always clean - seems the first time we left the cabin we would come back and its done. Chris brought breakfast every day and dinner one night. All in all a great experience.

I missed a lot on the ship as we were always off doing something.

Restaurants - favorite I think was La Terreza. Also enjoyed Atlantide and Indochine, La Dame was on par but I'm not one for needing constant attention from several wait staff. Liked the ambience in the other restaurants better. All food was good.

Dolce Vita a great place to relax as was the Panorama Lounge.

Gym - I should have spent more than one time there. Plenty of space.

Casino - luckiest dealers I have ever seen. Gets pretty crowded in there - should be a bit larger. Nevertheless, due to daily port, it was not open very much.

First night hotel through SS - very well done and very coordinated. 4 couples each met by a MB car with drive to take us to the Majestic. Transfer to the ship very smooth.

On Shore - since we had a group, we arranged most of our own tours.

Fellow passengers - a good group. Met many people from many places. 30s to 80s, mostly 60s.

Cabin - standard verandah suite 609 - no complaints at all. Shower very nice.

special treatment - one night I wanted to present a slide show of pictures of the 10 friends in our group. Our butler went out of his way to reserve the conference room and serve drinks and snacks for us - a nice touch. Had a problem getting the slideshow on the TV and had a bevy of IT experts helping, including the CD Moss and Assistant CD Sarah (I think), who actually let me use her personal computer to get it done.

Complaints - none, accept the anchor is really loud when lowered early -

Value - this is a very good value/excellent value when air is included.

Booking - didn't use a TA but went through SS - John Gualtieri was great to deal with and put up with all my questions and requests.

don't forget to consider transfers - I believe on my Rome-Barcelona flights next month, air was comparable but through SS we get transfers from FCO to port and from port to BCN included

We are booked on the first cruise on 6th May and certainly weren’t told about the refit before we booked. I Would have seriously thought twice.

I Hope they use plenty of glue.

One thing i’m Not sure about is that we can’t a reserve a table for la dame on any night at all during the cruise. Every night it shows as not available Is this usual or is it maybe not going to be open.

If anyone else is on this cruise please say hi.

Hi Davey

Think the small venues means it's full for the duration

Martini bar though should be open. See u there

delphine segret will take care of you - we booked for 9 - awesome trip

Silver Spirit docks in Portofino - says 8am. There is a ferry day tour to cinque terre from santa magherita that leaves at 9. A cab is about 10 minutes. If we were docked I would be less worried but it's a tender port. Do any of you that have sailed previously know:

When it says in port at 8, does that mean we can get on the tender to dock at 8?

Can we make it to the ferry?

Wow

Such negativity

Stop complaining and thank the lord you have the financial strength to get these boxes

I'm trying to plan ahead of a may 6 Rome to Barcelona cruise and wondered if anyone can tell me what excursions are free. For example, in Livorno we plan to go to Florence for the day. If the included excursion is a bus ride to Florence 10 of us will do that. If not we will book an excursion on our own. Really don't want to do a guided tour on a bus with 50 people.

Also, has anybody been in Cannes during the film festival? We are there Thursday during the festival.