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Bear season (for viewing, not hunting!) depends on the timing of the salmon run.  Can start early July, but usually mid-July and carries on until mid-September.  

Can comment on a few!

Ketchikan is rather touristy and can get very overcrowded with other big ships.  Misty Fjords is very scenic, and the flightseeing trip would be worthwhile. You can just take the local bus (about every 30 minutes) down to Totem Bight Park, which is worth seeing

I have been to Juneau twice, and both times the heli trip and dog sledding were cancelled because of the weather.  I gather the trip is more often cancelled than not, but that should not stop you from booking it - just be prepared to be disappointed and have a plan B that can be enjoyed in the wet.

We really enjoyed Sitka both times we visited.  The historical park and museum are good and the Russian Cathedral well worth a 15 minute visit.  The people who took the Sea Otter cruise had good wildlife viewing - we did see otters elsewhere, but that was further north than you are going.  Don't bother with the Raptor Centre or the Fortress of the Bears - you are so aware  that these are captive animals when you can see others in the wild

In Prince Rupert, we spotted two days before that the weather was going to be excellent, and so we booked the floatplane trip, which was wonderful. Up over the glacier, landing on a lake under a waterfall, and flying back over the logging rivers.  We missed the single bear that the plane ahead of us spotted, but, like you, we were travelling in late June ahead of the bear season. However, those who did the trip to the Khutzeymateen Valley to see the bears were very pleased with the trip, and saw a lot of the grizzlies. 

Before I went to Alaska, I was advised that it was good to take a tour in each port, as the ports themselves either have very little to offer, or what they do have is spread out and can be difficult to access.  I tend to agree with this.  Also, there is limited value in booking private tours, as the prices seem to be the same as ship tours (or more, if there are only two of you)

In total, depending on where you are heading and where you count the end of the Thames, I would say 4-6 hours....

You will start moving from HMS Belfast about 25-30 minutes before the lift time, as the tugs need to get positioned, and they need to find the moment to stop,the traffic.

it is about 20-30 minutes from the bridge to the point in Rotherhithe where you do the turn to face forwards. That is a great experience, and the pubs in Wapping will all be open to watch you. 

Yiu ou will get to Greenwich and the Meridian an hour after the bridge. It is well illuminated even in the small hours  of the morning.

at about 1.5 hours from the Bridge, you will squeeze through the Thames Barrier.  It is worth staying up for that, but then I suspect it will be time for bed.

My experience in CPT was not as positive - very slow immigration on disembarkation. There may have only been 200 or so guests (plus quite a few departing staff), but we had to wait for almost 40 minutes before we could get through to the luggage hall. After that it was straightforward. So do give yourselves time, and try to be relatively early off the ship.

It was the scheduled LATAM flight to Guayaquil and then on to San Cristobal. An early start, but the flight was fine. The 45 minute flight to Guayaquil was packed, but it emptied after that, so we could stretch out a bit. 90+ Silversea guests and a few others. Food and drink only available for purchase, but the Marriott in Quito laid out a good spread of food at 4.30 am, so we didn’t need any more. Planned to get a beer at the port, but the wildlife on the shore was so interesting that we didn’t get around to it. And then the zodiacs turned up. 

On on the way back all but a handful of guests got off the plane at Guayaquil to travel home. Just a few carried on to Quito. Again the scheduled LATAM flight, although I saw that a handful were on another carrier - did not find out if that had been their choice. Baltra airport felt a lot busier. Full plane, which refilled with passengers at Guayaquil.

You get a metal water bottle which attaches to your Silversea backpack.  It is up to you to fill it in the morning and/or at lunch - there is a tap in the restaurant and the wait staff are happy to do it for you.  No plastics allowed on the islands.  No snacks are provided (except at the giant tortoise reserve in the mountains, where the ranch provides a spread).  The risk of bringing seeds etc on to the islands is high, and there are no litter facilities. But most of the trips are only 1-2 hours at a time, and are intensive, so you can catch up with drinks and snacks when you return, as they try to give you an hour or two between activities.

Fruit plates don’t have to be formally ordered. They are provided to any suite that is interested. If you have a switched on suite attendant they will ask if you would like fruit to be provided every day. If for some reason, you are not asked at the very first meeting on embarkation, just ask for it subsequently.

When I started cruising, the fruit plates were always in the room automatically, but I do understand that there was considerable wastage with that approach.

However, you don’t need to make any formal order, just indicate that fresh fruit would be welcomed.

Have done both those SB tours in Greece. Both were very good. Small groups (25-30, bus half full). I don’t think you could do any better than the Mycenae tour with SB. Olympia tour was also good, but does mean going through the (excellent) museum in a group, and did include a shopping stop in the village, which was not really needed. If you have a good understanding of Greek archaeology then you could do it yourself with a taxi. But well worth pre-booking, as you could find yourself in Katokolon with some behemoths.

I am not sure if hiking up to Ravello is a good idea. Unless you are really fit. It is an almost sheer slope, with hairpin turns all the way if you follow the road. Am sure there is a footpath, but it will be extremely demanding. Once you are there, you need to go into Villa Ruffalo, which is what the SB tour will include, if you want to see the iconic views over the Med. You cannot get that view from the town itself, which just has a few bars and cafes.

Have a look on the Silversea Facebook page. Fantastic pictures off Isabela last night. Clearly no perceived risk to the ship offshore.

From what I can see, Cumbre is in the far south west of Fernandina, a long way from Punta Espinosa in the north east. And it looks as though the eruption is already dying down.

Perhaps of more concern is that Sierra Negra on Isabela started erupting last night. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/rockyplanet/2018/06/27/second-galapagos-eruption-in-june-this-time-at-sierra-negra/#.WzT-2dJKiM8 and https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/sierra-negra/news/69547/Sierra-Negra-volcano-Galapagos-strong-earthquakes-precede-the-start-of-a-first-fissure-eruption-sinc.html. It looks as though the main threat is to the south east of Isabela as Puerto Villamil is where the evacuation alerts are. So that might impact Bahia Elizabeth calls, and mean a wider detour en route to Floreana. Only the western itinerary goes anywhere near these two volcanoes.

The prevailing winds are from the south east, so given the location of the airports, it's unlikely there will be any impact on flights (looks as though Cumbre was mainly steam, not ash in any case).

Hope that is some reassurance.

About seven years ago we were flying on the same day as the cruise from London to Rome FCO. Cannot think why we did so, we always fly at least one day before. And, of course, there was a transport workers' strike in Italy. The 8.00 am flight was cancelled. After a long time on the phone, we were rebooked on a flight that left around 12.30 (packed full as you would expect) and landed around 3.30. The only thing that kept us going was the knowledge that the ship was only sailing as far as Livorno that night, so we would be able to catch up the following day by road. As we struggled out of baggage reclaim, the Silversea agent exclaimed 'You don't know how glad I am to see you', and we were hurried to a limo that sped off to Civitavecchia. I remember the tyres squealing as we came down the last few turns to the port.

We made it - indeed muster had only just started. We learned that several other passengers had not been able to be put on the flight we took, but would arrive later that evening. However, the Sojourn was also in Civitavecchia and not sailing until later that evening (although also heading to Livorno), so all the other delayed passengers were accommodated overnight on Sojourn, and transferred to their own ship the following morning.

We too saw a humpback just mooching around a few yards off shore at ISP. They are trying to encourage bigger ships to call, so do check whether other bigger ships will be in port that day. Otherwise it is a very nice quiet and scenic port. We also went out to the Inian Islands earlier that morning en route to ISP - 3 or 4 great rocks in the ocean - and the Captain cut the engines. In a few minutes the resident Orca pods came out and did their stuff for us. Sojourn has time available to wait to see the Orcas, unlike other ships that have long distances to cover between ports.

I know that Seabourn cancelled roughly every other planned stop at ISP last year, but that was because the permits for Glacier Bay did not come through until about April, and they had booked ISP in case the permits were not issued. So I can imagine there were disappointed locals at ISP as a result.

Mystras contains a range of very ancient and beautifully decorated orthodox monasteries. Getting up to the two at the higher level is definitely strenuous. However, it would be possible for someone who is not so agile and fit to visit the ones that are at the lower level, where the coaches park. When I did the trip, there was one man who walked with a stick and he stayed behind. The only thing I can;t remember was whether there were seats/cafe/toilet facilities at the lower level, for anyone who stays behind. Monemvasia has a tiny museum, but the real enjoyment is the secret town itself. Again, if you choose to walk up to the church and fortifications at the top it is pretty strenuous.

Not sure about that recommendation. If you are of even a slightly nervous disposition, you are better not looking over the sheer drops! If nervous, sit on the aisle seat on the LH side of the bus going up and the RH side going down.

Kick em Jenny must be one of the best volcano names anywhere. However, it is likely only to inconvenience ships heading for St George's Grenada from St Vincent. And as the volcano has been active since 1939, all navigation avoids the area as a matter of course (there is a permanent 1.5km exclusion zone, which has just been extended to 5km). It erupted in April 2017, and in July 2015 before that, so this is nothing unusual. I see that the current seismic alert specifically says that, because of the depth and type of activity there is no risk of a tsunami, which is the only thing that might be a concern for those visiting the wider Caribbean. And given that Kick em Jenny is a long way underwater, there is, sadly, nothing to be seen even if she does erupt!

I don’t know how big the whole town is, but the old town, where you dock, is small, charming and walkable.

Klaipeda is a small town. Some pretty medieval buildings. Nothing that is a ‘must see’, but pleasant to walk around. A little craft market. But the best thing is that they have established a sculpture trail through the town, so you can have a wander and find the sculptures - the favourites are the ghoul on the dockside, the dragon and the little mouse.

I think all cruise lines (or maybe individual cruise ships have a quota for Glacier Bay visits each year) and the US Parks Service issues them a little while before the cruise seasons starts. Seabourn seemed to quite well with Glacier Bay allocations last year, but our cruise (Vancouver to Seward) intially had Inian Islands/Icy Strait Point as the port, which was changed to Glacier Bay in February.

It was a grey day when we sailed Glacier Bay. Atmospheric, of course, but low visitbility. And as it was early in the season, we were not able to visit all of the glaciers (seal pups on the ice were too young to be disturbed in some of the bays). The Park Rangers who came on board were very pleasant, but slightly surprised that all the passengers already understood complex issues like glacier retreat (thanks to the Ventures TEam lectures).

Taxis - as long as they are identified using the official taxi dispatcher - are almost all good in Barbados.

Immigration can be a pain, especially if you arrive mid afternoon. Be prepared for a long wait. An AA, a Canadian, a large BA and a Virgin all arrive within a short time of each other and the staffing level is not enough to cope.

One tip. If you hire one of the porters in the baggage hall, they know how to get around the lines that can grow at Customs, so can save you time and hassle. When we passed through in November, our porter also made sure the despatcher linked us to a really good driver.

It was about 15 years ago, but we were on the first tender in Rovinji in Croatia. It was bouncy going ashore, and as we arrived the heavens opened. We decided to stay on the tender and go back to the ship. Three or four people got off. By the time we returned, the Captain had suspended tender operations. The problem was, the CD was one of those stranded on shore. They did finally manage to rescue them just before the late afternoon sail away. But when we asked the Captain later, he said that he would have rather left them all there (helped by the port agent to get to the following day’s destination, of course) than take risks to retrieve them. He commented that the ship could manage without a CD for a couple of days, but it could not do without the tender...

I would also have recommended the Test Kitchen. We had a great lunch there after a cruise at the end of 2015. The food is wonderful. However, I think it is too late to get any bookings for February. The online booking tool shows no vacancies for February.

For me, the issue is when venues are taken away from other customers for a organised trip of this nature. It looks as though there were special dinners/receptions, auctions etc as well as the cluttering of space. ]

I recall being very inconvenienced a few years ago in the Mediterranean, by a group of about 40 people travelling with a Californian winery. They took over Terrazza some nights, and Le Champagne for others, as well as closing bars for 'ordinary' passengers, while they did their 'exclusive' wine tastings. The sommeliers were so busy helping with these tastings, they had no time to do any for passengers not in the 'wine group', as is usual on sea days, for example. I felt that, even at dinner, the sommeliers were focusing all their time on the 4 or so big tables that the wine group were always seated at, and not on other passengers. Although the winery team did a session in the Lounge that was billed as a wine tasting, it was purely marketing for their winery, and the wine, in any case, was not that great. I did pass a comment about our disappointement to Head Office, but didn't get a response.

I can only help a bit on Dominica, as I lived there for a few months. The whales that live in Dominica are Sperm Whales, and they are permanent all-year round residents (with the vertical cliffs straight up from the sea, fertile volanic soils and masses of rain, the seas just off Dominca are very rich for feeding. But the whales are definitely skittish - not like curious humpbacks. And they are capable of staying down 20 minutes or more once they dive. If you take a trip, you will almost certainly see flying fish, and see some whale tails at a distance. You may be lucky and see them closer up, but it is maybe a little more hit and miss than it is with the humpbacks in Alaska, Hawaii and Cabo San Lucas

No idea why the Wind has not sailed, but the tugs apparently sailed up the Thames on time, but then sailed back to their Woolwich den just after 8pm alone. Have checked the Port of London Authroity website, and they have the Wind sialing at 6 am tomorrow.

And the Wind has just sailed past my brother's living room, so all is well there.