Mexican Riviera December 14-21 Part I

From 1998, when Silversea announced that it was building a couple of new ships of extraordinary, luxurious design, we were curious of what they were going to be. We followed through their construction on the Silversea website, hoping that one of these days, we could give them a try. After the vessels were launched in 2000/1, we found them to be a bit expensive for us ordinary cats with limited resources, even though we had cruised on several mass market ships before, and had toured through most of Europe, a good deal of Asia and Australasia on land and by air. Finally, last Summer, seeing this Silversea Voyage 3435 discounted by 50% to roughly $500 per couple per day (our usual preference), and close to home (minimal air fare), we grabbed the chance and booked a "vista suite".

EMBARKATION

On Tuesday, 14th December, after a short flight into San Diego, we took a taxi (available right at the airport door, and we did not have to walk over the "skybridge" to the other side of the road), and for $11, we arrived at the Cruise Ship Terminal right on 2 p.m. to "check in", as advised by Silversea. We saw a couple of hundred people sitting, wandering, lining up in this terminal building. We were given a couple of coloured plastic cards and told to wait to be called. After half an hour, our colour was called and we had to line up to get the silver coloured plastic boarding card with a magnetic strip on the back (just like a credit card), and they took our passports. After another line up, we were ushered up the gangway, and a crew member helped with our "carry on" luggage. As we boarded the ship, we were offered drinks (one of us took a glass of champagne and the other a glass of juice), and told to line up yet again, this time to have our pictures taken for identification. This "commotion" took roughly another half hour, and by the time a stewardess led us to our cabin to show us how things would work, it was already past 3:30 p.m. Our luggage arrived around 4:30 p.m., with a lock missing (we did not discover who, the airline or the cruise line took it), but fortunately, all contents were intact. The ship was scheduled to set sail at 4 p.m., but it did not leave until 5:30 p.m., when we were all on a side deck attending the lifeboat drill.

We thought that a plausible reason for this rather messy embarkation was due to this particular voyage's unusual embarkation time, at 4 p.m., instead of the usual 6 p.m., and the consequential prescribed boarding time, at 2-3 p.m. instead of the usual 3-5 p.m. There were 13 wickets in the terminal building, and only 4 were open. The ship probably was not ready to receive new passengers until the usual 3 p.m. anyway, and hence the wait, and when the usual two-hour window of boarding was compressed into one hour, with a full ship, line ups became inevitable. Moreover, we didn't know why the security photos could not be taken concurrently with the issuing of the boarding card (as Oceania did on our Mediterranean cruise last April, for example), which would have saved the final line up, when passengers had become tired and somewhat restless.

We could see that the staff members worked hard under the circumstances, but we thought the planning and co-ordination of such "odd hour embarkations" could be improved. First, since the ship did not leave until 5:30 p.m. anyway, could it have been scheduled at the usual 6 p.m., and thereby avoided this problem? We understood that Puerto Vallarta was a long way off, but the ship was only cruising at an average of 18.5 knots while its statutory speed was 21 knots, so any lost time could easily be made up for. Secondly, could more (unused) wickets at the terminal be opened and the security pictures taken simultaneously with check-in?

THE SHIP

While the ship was four years old, it was clean and well kept. The design was high quality simple comfortable elegance (like Scandinavian furniture) without baroque complexion. Due to the ship's small size, going from one part of the ship to another was easy even for those who were "tired of walking", though it would have been nicer to have a second elevator towards the front of the ship. (There were four elevators towards the stern each carrying six passengers from deck 3 to deck 8, and only one elevator towards the bow carrying ten passengers from deck 4 to deck 10.)

The deck as well as the various functional rooms (from bar to lounge to casino to theatre) were more than adequate, and there were no line-ups anywhere. The library was nice, it, together with the adjacent computer room, had some ten computers tucked into various (deliberately) cornered spaces to enhance the privacy of the users (which was a nice feature not found in most mass market ships). However, nearly half the times we tried, the e-mail system was not working, and there was no staff member close by to help. With 295 crew members, we believed that one computer savvy staff person should be posted in this area to maintain the system as well as to help passengers who needed it.

On Thursday (a sea day), we were invited in a group to visit the "bridge". The captain and the (youthful looking) navigation officer gave us a full hour talk on how the ship worked and the historical significance of maritime development. This was the first time we had been on the "bridge" of any cruise ship and really enjoyed it. On Monday (the last sea day) around noon, we had our "galley brunch", when we were invited to walk through the kitchen, and saw the clean, modern equipment as well as how the staff prepared our food. This again, was the first time we had been in a cruise ship kitchen and it was impressive. Such were the special "treats" only available on a boutique ship (mass market ships would have too many passengers to conduct such tours).

As the weather had been nice, and the sea quite calm, with only 2 to 4 feet swells (maximum 7 ft) and not many "whiteheads", it had been a nice ride, no worse than on a jet plane, and we believed nobody actually got seasick. However, somehow from time to time, there was this waddling, wiggling motion, coupled with squeaking sound in the cabin which some sensitive people could find a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps it had something to do with the type and direction of the waves.

From a deck 4 vista suite, one had to go up one floor, walk across the shops and the reception area, and back down one floor to the main Restaurant. Also, as the window could not be opened, we missed the fresh sea breeze and the rhythm of the waves, but this was a fair price for the 20% lower fare than a verandah suite. After having "surveyed" all the decks, we actually found deck 5 to be the most convenient and desirable in location, regardless of cabin type. So for those who had the shared balcony vistas on deck 5 (and "midship" at that), consider themselves lucky!

... to be continued

Meow-What terminal was your arrival at the airport? At terminal one we have always been required (including this time) to use the passenger overpass so am curious if there is another option. We were on the bridge tour with you on Thursday-got a bit warm in there for us, but it was an informative visit. Thanks for your review.

Gary

I don't know which terminal it was. When we arrived, we claimed our luggage, walked out the door, and there just happened to be a man in charge of taxis. We told him we wanted a taxi, and he used some mobile phone/intercom to call one for us, the taxi came and that was it!

Sounds like your embarkation was similar to ours. I definitely agree that pictures should have been taken as we were handed our room cards. It sure would have speeded things up. Just curious but was the missing lock from your luggage locked? If so was it a TSA approved lock?

We checked out the shared deck rooms on deck 5 as we might book them for a cruise in the future and found that the actual doorways are more narrow than a standard verandah suite and not quite as good a view as a vista suite. We were also told that due to fire & safety concerns no chairs were allowed out there. I'm pretty sure that rule gets bent from time to time.

I was very impressed during the galley brunch as to the cleanliness of the kitchen. That says a lot right there. Although I do remember on a couple of mass market cruises that I've been on they offer tours of the kitchen. It's just that very few people take them.

This was a very easy ship to get around in. Pretty much due to the fact that it has very few public rooms.

We had a shared verandah Vista suite on Deck 5. It was great and Deck 5 is very convenient to the restaurant, bar, shops, etc.

Gary

Our luggage lock was TSA approved (digital but with that overriding key hole), and we believe it had been locked. We couldn't imagine how it just disappeared. Fortunately, all content in that suitcase was intact!