Varvara

Thank you for the advice. It will be our third Silverseas expedition cruise on August 25, but it still helps to remind me what to bring while I am in the process of packing.

I assume the men wore long khakis to dinner? My husband would wear shorts 24/7 if he could, :D.

We look forward to experiencing Sea Dream as you have and to meeting you as well.

South Seas.... I am not too crazy about the limited shore excursions. But I suppose they can't please everyone. We will probably take one in the Andaman Islands but otherwise we are planning on going ashore by ourselves in most ports. I wish we had more time some ports like Cochin and Sri Lanka in order that we could do more independently, as time is always a factor, especially in Sri Lanka with an early 6 pm departure time. So we may be forced to take a tour there in order to make sure we are on the ship. What is your opinion on the tours offered?

As for Mumbai, it will definitely be a cultural shock to you. My husband and I agree that going to the markets may be a little ambitious if you haven't been in the scenario of a very hot, crowded, dirty market with pushy vendors, but if you are adventurous and have a good guide, it may be alright. But since you brought up terrorism in your post, keep in mind that markets are areas that are targets as well as train stations and synagogues or any area that is extremely crowded.

As for Singapore, it is one the places we feel the safest in. The city is clean, the hotels are top notch and we enjoy the shopping on Orchard Road. We haven't been there for at least 3 years so we look forward to seeing the new Marina Bay Complex and going to Sentosa Island, which was practically untouched when we were first there a over a decade ago. We also enjoyed the Singapore Zoo and the Jurong Bird Park.

My husband and I will be travelling with you on the Mumbai - Singapore cruise.

It will be our first time on Sea Dream but we have been on many other cruise lines and we have been to Asia several times including India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.