Lauranne

I’m really not surprised. 
https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/all-carnival-brands-reinstate-mask-policy-amid-covid-mayhem/

Love your pictures. For future reference: If you download the Westjet app, you can connect to loads of entertainment. Movies, tv shows, podcasts, music etc. of course you use your own device. 
 

Thank you for your update. Glad to hear that The Wind is no longer smelly 😆 We look forward to our two expeditions on her next year. 

5 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Give NZ another chance, it's not the country,  it's the type of traveler that comes from everywhere. 

I agree. We spent a month in NZ early in 2020. It is a truly amazing country with some of the friendliest people that we have meet traveling. I think it’s so unfair when someone makes assumptions of a whole country based on one or two citizens. 

My question for the SS agent would be, good to go on the ship or good to enter the countries in which the ship visits?

With the omicron variant, a fever isn’t a given. No one I know who has had COVID recently has had a fever including my 94 year old father in law. It seems that the most prevalent symptom is a cough. Taking everyone’s temperature is a huge waste of time in my opinion. Hope that’s not happening but hope people are self monitoring/testing to keep others healthy. 

Sometimes I don’t think smokers have any idea how offensive the smell of cigarette/cigar smoke is to many others. In my younger days when DH smoked, I became desensitized to it. Smokers were everywhere, restaurants, bars, shops. It really didn’t bother me. In recent years, with DH a non smoker and the many laws pertaining to where smoking is allowed, I rarely smell smoke. Now when I do I find I truly find it offensive. It is not an emotional response, it is a physical one. It probably doesn’t help that I now have allergies and occasional asthma. If I were on this cruise would I complain? Probably not. I would avoid the area if possible. I will be on the Wind for two cruises next year. I am assuming cigar guy will be long gone. 😜 Now here’s hoping they get the sewage situation in hand. 

We haven’t sailed with HAL for over five years. In the meantime prior to COVID we did a crossing from New York to Hamburg with Cunard and The Galapagos with Silversea. We are driven by itineraries and experiences. We have two upcoming expedition cruises with Silversea. While the first in February to Antarctica was pricey, the second in June from Hamburg to Reykjavik (exploring the northern British Isles, small islands) was not. I looked at a similar cruise on the HAL website same number of days, some of the same ports but Amsterdam to Amsterdam so fewer ports. Similar room class etc. I added on HIA as Silversea is all inclusive. While HAL was less expensive, I started adding on the extras I get with Silversea. Transfer from home to airport, transfer to hotel, pre and post hotel and transfers home. No tipping, butler service etc. The HAL cruise would cost me more. I certainly agree that these luxury cruise lines are generally more expensive but not always. It pays to shop around. I know that expedition cruises are not for everyone. This was just an example from my recent searches. I love reading this board and seeing so many long time posters. 
Lauranne

17 hours ago, les37b said:

 

Yes. In my.silversea.

 

Click on the red “activities” button. The close the annoying poppup. At the top menu bar, you will see 3 small lines on the top right. Click that. That reveals the entire program.

 

You can also just print the activities you’ve booked.

 

But….. it seems its not working properly.

 

On my android phone, the tour program is downloaded as a pdf. On IOS, (iPhone and iPad) it thinks about it but doesnt appear to do anything. I suspect a PC web browser would be fine.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the tip. It worked just fine on my iPad. I really like that you can also see your booked activities as well. 

121 trick or treaters. It was crazy. No nutrigrain bars here. A mini chocolate bar, a small bag of potato chips and a small bag of candy. Unfortunately I ran out of chips at number 108. We’ve been in this house for four Halloweens and this is the biggest number yet.  

The credit card I used to book has cancellation insurance that more than covers the deposit so that’s a non issue for me. In the end I booked port to port with the room category that I wanted and saved a substantial amount. Strangely when I looked at my Silversea the booking was already there even though the deposit won’t be paid until tomorrow. It showed home to airport transfers, one night hotel before and after and hotel to ship transfers included. Later the booking was gone. It will be interesting to see what shows up tomorrow. 

daddyo I wanted to do my own air, so I chose D to D no air. No worries. I will join the roll call. Thanks

I just booked this expedition cruise for next June. Prices are really wonky. We thought we’d do door to door without flights but it was $8800 more than port to port. Both include the exact same things. Am I missing something here?

38 minutes ago, markham said:

Lauranne,

 

Please tell me if you were obliged to use Facebook to reach Barbara Muckermann?

And if not how did you reach her.

 

Thank you.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

I emailed her. I did get the email address through the Facebook group. Not sure I should put the email address here but easy to figure out. First name, last initial and of course at silversea. 😄 Hope this helps. 

21 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

We have tried but she only listens to multi WCers and guests with at least 1000 days.

We have only seven days on SS. I contacted Ms Muckermann regarding an ongoing situation. I calmly wrote my concerns with facts not emotion. I received a reply within the hour. The situation was rectified by the end of the day. I call this fabulous service and it certainly has me looking at future bookings. 
 

We are in Antarctica in February. I plan on bringing my hiking poles. It’s the downhills that put stress on my knees and I find poles help immensely. 
Lauranne

One of my favourite memories. 
 

While I rarely post, I look forward to the humour and banter around the water cooler. Mysty, I can always count on you for a great joke each day. As a fellow Canadian, I get your funnies unlike the dry British humour that sometimes eludes me, I enjoy the back and forth of those actively participating on this thread. UKCruiseJeff, during the past few years my husband has made it his mission to perfect many dishes of numerous cultures. His char siu and bao buns are a thing of joy and beauty. I am truly a lucky gal. Keep up this positive, inclusive thread as I’m sure that there are many who read daily with a smile on their face. 
Lauranne

AliceJ,

You will love it. We talk about the wonders of the Galapagos regularly. As Bill said, there was room for everyone that wanted to do a particular excursion. The deep water snorkelling is not to be missed. Swimming surrounded by fish of every colour as well as sea turtles and sea lions is an experience of a lifetime. If you are really lucky a penguin will dart by.
Enjoy. 
Lauranne

3 hours ago, Rothko1 said:

I'm booked on a February 2023 Antarctica trip and it specifically says the Ritz Carlton in Santiago.  

Hi Rothco1,

Did you find this information on My Silversea or through a TA? We are also booked on a Feb. 2023 Antarctica Cruise and it still says Silversea Simply Hotel on our My Silversea details tab. 
Lauranne

Thanks for the information taxatty! I will read through the information when I can. 
Laurie

Sorry for my lack of clarity. Yes on SS. Too bad, it might have paid for a nice bottle of wine. 😉 

Laurie

19 hours ago, TLCOhio said:

 

Normally, I wait till Friday to post on the cruise stocks.  BUT, however, today was a brutal day for the overall stock market and even worse for the cruise stocks.  See the three charts below.  Is this pretty, just bad or even worse?

 

From the Wall Street Journal this evening, they had this headline: “Stocks Fall as Dow Drops More Than 800 Points” with these highlights: “U.S. stocks fell, extending their April losses, as investors digested earnings reports from leading companies and weighed concerns about inflation and the spread of Covid-19 in China.  All three indexes are on track to lose at least 4% this month, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq—which on Tuesday posted its largest one-day percentage decline since September 2020—down more than 12% in April.  Fears about a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China, and strict lockdowns imposed to fight the outbreak there, have heightened investors’ concerns about the global economy and prompted choppy trading in recent sessions. Inflation is weighing on companies and consumers, while the Federal Reserve’s indications that it will quickly tighten monetary policy threaten to drag on growth.”

 

Full story at:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-markets-dow-update-04-26-2022-11650958530?mod=hp_lead_pos2

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio 

 

Sydney to NZ/Auckland Adventure, live/blog 2014 sampling/details with many exciting visuals and key highlights.  On page 23, post #571, see a complete index for all of the pictures, postings.  Now at 237,184 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

 

 

From the Wall Street Journal late today, below are the charts for the three major cruise lines. Clearly, sadly, a continued downward trend!  Harder to sell more stock as a way to gather up quick cash to sustain loses?  Carnival get hit really hard today!  Carnival is near a 52-week low.:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these visuals larger/better!)

 

 

Thanks for the heads up! I purchased some stock this morning. Do you receive OBC as a stock holder? 
Laurie

Thank you to all that responded for the kind welcome. 

RetiredandTravel

The videos were excellent. This was exactly what we need to see. Not sure how we can wait for nine more months. 
 

QueSeraSera

I have been reading the forums on Cruise Critic since our first cruise in 2013. As I said we have done numerous grand land adventures. This is only our seventh cruise and second on Silversea, both will be expedition cruises. We certainly love to travel and unfortunately this pandemic came just eleven months after our retirement. Thankfully we were able to have two major trips before the lockdown. We have a couple of land based trips planned and of course the expedition of a lifetime. 
Cheers!

Laurie

Greetings, 

I am Laurie and I hale from Canada. Although I have been a member of Cruise Critic for a number of years. My DH and I are infrequent cruisers. We tend to prefer land travel but Silversea Expeditions caught our eye in 2014 when we explored the Galapagos. We have cruised with extended family a number of times on other lines and in the fall of 2019 we did a crossing with Cunard from New York to Hamburg. This was a retirement trip. Recently we have booked an Antarctic Expedition for February, 2023 and given the wonderful experience that we had in the Galapagos we didn’t look at any other lines. While we have not sailed on a “regular” sailing with SS I am interested in the information and insights from the members of this forum. We have been slow to get back to travel but have taken two road trips so far this year. We ventured to Palm Springs/Napa Valley in January and to the Willamette Valley in Oregon in March. Yes we like good wine 🍷. We plan on flying to Mendoza after our Antarctic Expedition to sample some Malbec’s. If you have read this far, thanks for your time. Any and all information on Antarctica and the Silver Wind would be much appreciated. 
Laurie