Lauranne

Thank you for your comments. Hoping that standards of cleanliness are greater in April when we board.

The wines priced $7 and under are really not worth drinking. I'm not a wine snob but I could barely finish the glass. I did try all 4 (2 red, 2 white) just in case one was acceptable. :eek:

Thank you Carefreecruiser. In your first post you mentioned requests that needed attention. Would you mind sharing.

Thanks.

My comment is not about a cruise director but someone on his staff. The fellow who ran name that toon, bingo, line dancing as well as other activities on the Amsterdam was hard to take. His attitude was rude and condescending and at times bordered on bullying. An example of this is; four from our group got up to learn to line dance. After a couple of songs we wanted to sit, watch and sip a drink. He actually took my arm and pulled me and others back while making comments that I found upsetting. I did stay dancing but left the crow's nest soon after as I felt that this was the only way out of this situation. The group of us discussed this after and felt that he was completely inappropriate. I commented on this in my survey to HAL. :mad:

Enjoy your cruise. Let's hope Oceania provides you with double pillow chocolate!

I would stay on the ship too if there were so many ships in port. I can get sun, shade, a pool, a deck chair and food on the ship. Beats dealing with all the crowds.

I think getting off or staying may on depends on your cruise history. As a newish cruiser who perhaps has not been to the particular country/port before I would be getting off ship. If I had been to that country/port many times I may stay aboard. It would be awfully funny to reply when asked back home how I like Grand Cayman, not being there before, and I replied that it looked lovely from the ship. :p

I can attach from the cruise critic app but I can't seem to enlarge to view.

Let's see how this picture uploads from the app.

Wonderful to have you reporting from the Silver Galapagos. Keep us posted about the good, the great and the not so great! Enjoy your cruise.

I have IOS7 on both my Iphone and IPad and have the cruise critic app. I have not experienced any issues at all.

I believe the flight cost is Quito to Baltra, perhaps stopping in Guayaquil to pick up passengers on the way and kind of the opposite on the way back but the passengers departing in Guayaquil. So those continuing on to Quito pay slightly more. Leaving from Guayaquil and returning to Guayaquil should be slightly less. Until we actually get reports from those actually taking this cruise it's tough to say what is true. :rolleyes:

I called HAL directly but they were already aware that we had sailed with Carnival Corporation and we had a one star status. Perhaps make the call.

Thanks for the information. We decide to fly to Quito for an additional small fee. I wonder if the flight we are on is the same one and continues on?

My invoice shows a hotel/transfer package that includes a night in Quito, transfers and a day room in Guayaquil. A separate item is the return flights to Baltra.They have never been presented to me as a single package but as two separate packages.

We were able to arrange to fly back to Quito rather than Guayaquil for an additional cost of $25.00 per person. Someone else mentioned this option on another thread. I hope to arrange a day room in Quito as our flight back home isn't until 11:55.

Hi Lori

Not sure if you are still reading this thread but if you are I would love to read your blog. We are hoping to do the Christmas Markets in 2014.

laurieannenixon@gmail.com

Thanks.

Very interesting! I would happily pay $50.00 more to fly to Quito from Baltra. If we fly from Guayaquil we fly first to Quito as flying from Guayaquil through Panama City adds 6 hours to the trip. I will look into this tomorrow.

Hi Carefreecruise,

We hope to leave Guayaquil at around 7:30 pm to fly to Quito and then catch a flight to Calgary at 11:55 pm. This will get us home at 10:30 the next morning. My only concern is that the agent at Silversea told me not to book a flight out of Guayaquil until after 8:00 pm as they couldn't guarantee that we would arrive from Baltra. I think that this has more to do with when Silversea has booked the group transfer from the dayrooms at the hotel. I am convinced that our timing is just fine.

We too are using miles so I need to book soon. I'm sure that we can make the flight as all we have to do is stay at the airport and not go to the hotel. It certainly will be nice if someone would post a review but it really won't make a difference to me as we are going! Bucket list trip. :)

Thank you 5Waldos for your information. I think I will go ahead with the flights.

Anxious for your report, sounds like you are #1 cruiser out of the posters here. (March 1st for us) We are doing 3 nights pre cruise @ the Marriott but only 1 night after in Guayaquil & no add ons. We hired a private guide for 2 days in Quito.

Could you please share the name of your private guide with me. We are looking for someone for one day In Quito.

Also I am trying to book flights for our April cruise and want to get back home asap. The Silversea rep tells me that flight should be later than 8pm out of Guayaquil. I find it hard to believe that we don't arrive from Baltra until then as the hotel/transfer package includes a dayroom at the hotel and what would be the purpose of a dayroom if we arrive that late. I really would like to ask someone who has taken this cruise what time they did arrive in Guayaquil.I can get a flight from Guayaquilto to Quito at around 7:30 pm and then catch a 11:55 pm flight home but I am afraid to book this until I hear more. :rolleyes:

I sure wish we could hear some feedback from folks on this cruise. It may be a number of weeks until a CC takes this cruise and posts a report but as I don't sail until the 19th of April I am confident that we will have ample information. Someone mentioned, a few posts back, about friends who were on last week. Please come back with details!

Thanks for the information and I look forward to reading the early reviews. We are looking at the April 19th cruise. We are relatively new to cruising as we normally prefer land vacations but we are excited at the prospect of seeing this amazing piece of our planet. Our three past cruises have all been on mass market lines so this will be out first "luxury" cruise. I plan to learn all I can about Silversea and in particular the Silver Galapagos. :)

Hi Dave,

Thanks for this wonderful blog. This is the first thing I read when I get home from work each day. When I retire in 2015 this will be my retirement cruise.

Could you share please? Not all of us go there. :)

See post 868 and 870.