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Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Four


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Every time someone says that they have read what we have said and have learned from yours, mine and the other peoples’ experience it cheers me a little.

 

Take heart. I have certainly learned from DaveyW's and your experiences. So much so, I may have even been inclined to cancel my booked Silver Cloud 'Cape to Cape' (Ushuaia to Cape Town) cruise and 'eat' the $200 cancellation fee (Ponant has an almost identical cruise, at almost the same time, at an almost identical price)... except:

- the ship (Cloud) will not be coming out of dry dock; and,

- I think it very unlikely there will be any group booking booze cruisers on a expedition cruise with such an 'open jaw' itinerary.

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Addendum to the above post -

 

My Silver Cloud 'Cape to Cape' (booked last Sept. and paid in full) cruise is just one part - the 'core' - of what has morphed into a more than two month, 'round the world odyssey... that started with my desire to see South Georgia.

 

Since booking the Silver Cloud cruise (that 'starts' with an included hotel night in Santiago before a charter flight to Ushuaia), I have booked:

- 1 night hotel in Saigon;

- flights Saigon to San Diego;

- 2 nights hotel in San Diego;

- 15-day cruise on HAL's Volendam (San Diego to Lima);

- 3 nights hotel in Lima;

- flight, Lima to Cusco;

- 5 nights hotel in Cusco;

- round-trip train ticket, Cuzco to Aguas Calientes and back;

- 2 nights hotel in Aguas Calientes;

- entrance tickets to Machu Picchu;

- 3 (more) nights, hotel in Cusco;

- flight, Cusco to La Paz;

- 3 nights hotel in La Paz;

- flight, La Paz to Santiago;

- 1 night hotel in Santiago;

- 4 nights hotel in Cape Town;

- flights, Cape Town to Saigon.

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Thanks Jeff,

I did try to be as fair as possible but people need to know how they will be treated, I certainly wish I knew before I handed my money to them.

I Always treat people fairly in life, whether that be guests, suppliers, employees etc and it sticks in my clacker when I feel like i’ve Been cheated. That’s the reason I won’t be able to move on until this is resolved which we both now know will only be through one route. As you rightly say, if you’ve been treated fairly then it would be a dilemma. Tbh it wouldn’t even be an issue as I would never consider such a route if I felt I had been treated fairly. SS explanation that offering anything different would be unfair to other passengers shows that they don’t mind treating me unfairly as am not an individual that had endured a particularly bad experience, so onward, upward and off we go.

 

Bill, I’m really sorry that you have felt the need to change your plans. I hope you have a fantastic time on Ponant. I Feel so sorry for all of the SS crew members that work so hard only to be let down repeatedly by such poor management. Can you imagine how amazing a SS cruise would be if the managements ability and passion matched that of the crew? They could have something truly special to offer if only they ran it as an ultra luxury company instead of a bargain bucket, couldn’t give a damm, short sighted, let’s grab every penny while we can and not care how dishonestly we get it.

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AS long as the weather gods are kind, South Georgia will be worth all the effort Bill , enjoy….

 

Thanks - (yn)... as well as for the: Falklands, Tristan da Cuna, Nightingale Is. and Gough Is.

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Bill, I’m really sorry that you have felt the need to change your plans. I hope you have a fantastic time on Ponant. I Feel so sorry for all of the SS crew members that work so hard only to be let down repeatedly by such poor management. Can you imagine how amazing a SS cruise would be if the managements ability and passion matched that of the crew? They could have something truly special to offer if only they ran it as an ultra luxury company instead of a bargain bucket, couldn’t give a damm, short sighted, let’s grab every penny while we can and not care how dishonestly we get it.

 

I guess I wan't clear, but I'm NOT changing my plans - I still have my Silver Cloud booking. The ship is not coming out of dry dock, and I think it's unlikely there will be a group of booze cruisers on an expedition cruise from Ushuaia to Cape Town.

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Bill,

 

That trip certainly sounds adventurous, and I’d like to say I’m envious .... but we are all different.

 

Having travelled a fair bit of the world always packing and taking with me my Siberian down pillows, if there was an entrepreneurial baggage company that delivered beds around the world then I might be a bit more adventurous again. I hate sleeping in beds that have been slept in by thousands of strangers. I draw the line at pillows that have been dribbled on by thousands ......

 

I also like adventure but only with an escape route when things go wrong.

 

What Silversea did was say to me “Look, we know that we messed this cruise up, but we’ve got your cash and we’re not giving you a penny of it back. By the way,we’d love you to spend more with us to give us another chance”.

 

The great thing about hotels is that yo can basically shrug and leave. That makes a difference in how they treat you. Take my last visit to Singapore for example. I woke up one morning and the broadband was slow. Not the normal 150mbps. So I picked up then phone and hit the single key on the keyboard for any issue and asked when it might be back on. There was an apology and they said someone would look into it. Five minutes later it was back. That evening we were sitting in our little garden when a bottle of champagne and some canapés was delivered with a handwritten note from the manager apologising. Ten minutes later a bottle of wine came with an apology from the director of rooms. We started drinking the champagne and eating the canapés, and the Club Lounge Manager turned up with another bottle of wine and some hot satay, because she had noticed that we hadn’t come down to the lounge and she didn’t want us to miss our evening favourite sauvignon so she decided to bring it up to us and said “Sorry to hear the wifi let you down this morning ......”

 

Booze is very expensive in Singapore so this wasn’t trivial. To them, with their levels of service, wifi being slow for a few minutes is a serious service failure. To Silversea putting us on a boozecrooze with 220 for seven days and marooning us in our suite wasn’t considered a service failure.

 

You have no idea how much business I have recommended to that hotel.

 

That is service that has made me spend upto 60 nights ... now down to a sad 25 or so nights at that particular hotel. Feeling valued and being treated well has it’s positive repercussions.

 

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.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited by UKCruiseJeff
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It sounds an amazing holiday you’ve got planned there. I’m sure you’ll have an amazing time.

 

Thanks... I hope so. :D Now, I have just over six months left to figure out how to pack (for two months) for going from the 'tropics' (Vietnam) to 'Antarctica' (South Georgia), and everything in between with just:

- one, 20 kg. checked bag;

- one, 5 kg. carry-on; and,

- my laptop.

:confused:

 

I've, come to DETEST airlines, airports and the whole friggin' flying experience! :mad:

 

Because after I get to Africa, I'm flying back to Vietnam on Emirates (allowed two, 23 kg. checked bags) I can/will buy another suitcase and fill it with 23 kg. of 'stuff' I may want to bring home. Any suggestions on what 'stuff' to get?

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Bill,

 

Having travelled a fair bit of the world always packing and taking with me my Siberian down pillows, if there was an entrepreneurial baggage company that delivered beds around the world then I might be a bit more adventurous again. I hate sleeping in beds that have been slept in by thousands of strangers. I draw the line at pillows that have been dribbled on by thousands ......

 

LOL... I have a goose down pillow that has traveled (around the world) with me for almost thirteen years. When I moved to China, one of the first things I did (as well as buy an oven) was order a custom-made, 'pillow top', box spring mattress. ;) I was not exactly enamored of the 2"-thick, coconut husk-filled, 'mattess' the university supplied with my apartment. :rolleyes:

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Wow, Bill. What a great trip! I'd love to do one like that some day...

 

Machu Picchu is one of the top sites we've ever seen. Simply amazing. Hope you have the time and energy to hike Huayna Picchu while you're there.

 

Another day in Albany, another summer scorcher with temps well over 90 and bright sunshine. No energy for cooking anything that takes too long so seared tuna fillet, over a bulgur salad (loosely based on tabbouleh) and some green beans. Finished with lots of EVOO. Good light meal for a hot day!

 

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Most of the cherry tomatoes, and all of the fresh mint, came from the garden.

 

While I was grilling the tuna it got cloudy. Then while we were eating, a thunderstorm came through. It was brief and it was not enough to cool things down very much, and soon after it stopped the humidity was beastly and the ground was steaming. Made for an interesting swim after dinner.

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The great thing about hotels is that yo can basically shrug and leave. That makes a difference in how they treat you. Take my last visit to Singapore for example.

 

UKCruiseJeff - What Singapore hotel was this? It sounds like the epitome of customer service!

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Greetings Coolers!

 

Meal looks yummy JP! We were desperate for rain. I think we got a dribble. Thunderstorm would have been good.

 

Today's funny....the dilemma with summer nights....

 

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Have a great day all!

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The Intercontinental. The one at Bugis not the newer one on the river.

 

That hotel's been a quiet oasis in the middle of bustling Bugis for years. Pretty much everything in and around Bugis has changed (IMO for the better) but the Intercontinental stays quietly there just doing a good job. It's a remarkably nice hotel.

 

You've reminded me that it's years since we went there, time to pay them a visit.

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That hotel's been a quiet oasis in the middle of bustling Bugis for years. Pretty much everything in and around Bugis has changed (IMO for the better) but the Intercontinental stays quietly there just doing a good job. It's a remarkably nice hotel.

 

You've reminded me that it's years since we went there, time to pay them a visit.

 

Many of the staff have been there since our first visit. We have the same suite every visit. They set the furniture out exactly as we like it and put tables and chairs out in our small garden. Fill the minibar with our favourites and we get free minibar. There is our preferred bottled water in every room. They ensure wifey always has her favourite fruit, and always does our laundry same day for free. Wifey goes and fetches me midnight Big Macs if I am good ..... life gets no better!

 

They know what Sauvignon I like and have it ready in an ice bucket by our favourite table in the lounge for our arrival. What is their possibly “not to like”. So glad you appreciate their charm as well.

 

Lovely Funny M

Edited by UKCruiseJeff
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M, have you tried belting out a couple of show tunes? That would probably work.

Jeff, that’s how fish should be enjoyed. Must be a good fishmonger down there. The Intercontinental sounds like they truly understand luxury! Service like that is hard to find. We do things like that for many of our regulars. Their favourite drinks laid out on their favourite table 5 mins before we know they will be coming down, particular off list wine brought in and laid out without anything being said, favourite armchair at the table with particular cushions etc. Quite easy to do on our scale but a lot trickier on that scale.

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Thanks M ..... sometimes the greatest gift we have ie the space for spontaneity is often overlooked. So I was pleased that when I said to wifey how about a few more days of fish on the balcony she said “yes”.

 

Dave, it sounds like you get a real joy out of providing that personalised touch and what you do is a vocation.

 

The Intercontinental group is often overlooked by people and we have been so fortunate with them. Even during our regular years at the Carlton in Cannes when we went during film week we were always guaranteed one of their best suites as upgrades and we always received very highly personalised treatment. We also receive the same extremely lovely welcome and treatment at Vienna. We have the same suite with the mini bar as we like it.

 

Singapore is special and important to us because it does effectively become a home away from home because of the length of stays. It seems weird to many that one of the main reasons for our trips is to explore the food. So a suite in a five star hotel to explore cheap street food. Bourdain would have understood.

 

I have just found that the Waitrose down here have Bredon at third off ..and as Helga has no boot to speak of I have ordered a stash to be delivered.

 

Glad you approved of the way I do fish. If it is fresh, let it speak for itself is my method. And if it isn’t fresh then eat something else. But when very fresh then don’t mess around with it. If it is big it is always en cocotte. If it is small then floured and shallow fried in butter and unfiltered olive oil. Always with a lemon butter. Aren’t I boring.

 

All gone!

 

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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Awww J...I was hoping for a care package with some of the leftovers! :)

 

DW...in your honour I will attempt a song from Les Miserables....Master of the House.....

 

"Master of the house, doling out the charm

Ready with a handshake and an open palm

Tells a saucy tale, makes a little stir

Customers appreciate a bon-viveur

Glad to do a friend a favor

Doesn't cost me to be nice

But nothing gets you nothing

Everything has got a little price!"

 

 

That ought to do it! :)

 

 

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