Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[Lois R]

11 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

Missing my Dad tremendously today - he was an amazing man and instilled travel in my DNA. Our first cruise in the Greek isles (1975). 

 

Love the picture🙂....do you remember what ship you were sailing?

[zqtchas]

[TrulyBlonde]

2 hours ago, zqtchas said:

So funny, because I warned my youngest daughter when she snuck and got one right above the crack in her you know what, would happen later in life. LOL!

 

She is 40 now and hates it. Just wait!! Karma 

[Dolcevita Diva]

4 hours ago, Lois R said:

Love the picture🙂....do you remember what ship you were sailing?

Alas, I do not.  It was a Greek cruise ship; very basic by today's modern ship standards. 

[Lois R]

37 minutes ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

Alas, I do not.  It was a Greek cruise ship; very basic by today's modern ship standards. 

But you had fun, that is what matters🙂.  My dad loved to travel as well. 

[zqtchas]

3 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

Alas, I do not.  It was a Greek cruise ship; very basic by today's modern ship standards. 

We took one of those cruises many moons ago around the islands. It was my 

wife’s first venture out of the USA. They always left on time but we’re always  late arriving.  

[Dolcevita Diva]

2 hours ago, Lois R said:

But you had fun, that is what matters🙂.  My dad loved to travel as well. 

We absolutely had fun! I also seem to recall tasting my first martini at the Captain's reception.

My dad was a commercial airline pilot (back in the "glamour days") so we traveled often.   This was the first time (but definitely not the last!) we took a cruise on a cruise ship though.  

[zqtchas]

[jpalbny]

2 hours ago, zqtchas said:

 

I bet the RS5 could outrun this car. But they would undoubtedly call for backup.

[lincslady]

News is that Manfredi Lefebvre, original founder of Silversea ( I believe) has bought the two Crystal ocean going ships.  It will be interesting, if this is true, to see what happens.  As we all know, they are fairly old and with small cabins, though considered to be a luxury line (especially by their devoted fans).  I have sailed the other similar lines, Silversea, Regent, Seadream  and Seabourn, but never got round to Crystal.  

 

Lola

[Mr Luxury]

Yes,that's right.

We don't know what will happen with these two old ships with small rooms.

I'm not sure where they fit in as they might not be considered luxury by many these days.

[Lirio]

@ Auckland.

Skytower last night, from my hotel room.

[frantic36]

5 hours ago, lincslady said:

As we all know, they are fairly old and with small cabins, though considered to be a luxury line (especially by their devoted fans).  I have sailed the other similar lines, Silversea, Regent, Seadream  and Seabourn, but never got round to Crystal.  

 

No loss Lola. I sailed with them in normal cabin, I wouldn't call it a suite like on Silversea or Seabourn, 2012 and after that sailing I chose never to return. I found it interesting that yesterday on the Crystal board someone was claiming that only on Crystal had they experienced the true meaning of "my pleasure" from the crew. My experience was the opposite with lots of hiccups from stewardess to guest services to maitre d'. Though I did note that Mr L who was in a Penthouse did get better service because of his butler.

 

On sailing Silversea and Seabourn I found the crew and service much better.

[frantic36]

2 minutes ago, Lirio said:

@ Auckland.

Skytower last night, from my hotel room.

 

Gorgeous photo but I hope you have brought lots of warm clothes 🙂. It is cold here in Perth so it is likely a lot colder in Auckland.

 

If you get a chance to go over to Wahaike Island, about a 20 minute ferry, and do a wine tour, there are many great wineries there.

[Lirio]

5 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

 

Gorgeous photo but I hope you have brought lots of warm clothes 🙂. It is cold here in Perth so it is likely a lot colder in Auckland.

 

If you get a chance to go over to Wahaike Island, about a 20 minute ferry, and do a wine tour, there are many great wineries there.

Yes it is cold here. Wahaike is on the list. 

[lincslady]

Re Crystal - I looked at their forum on here a couple of years ago, and it actually rather put me off the idea of trying them, as some of their aficionados seemed  bit obsessive and defensive in their attitude. Somehow the CCers on Silversea and Seabourn appear more relaxed and friendly, and this atmosphere seems to reflect what it is like on board. 

 

Lola

[spinnaker2]

[Daveywavey70]

6 hours ago, lincslady said:

Re Crystal - I looked at their forum on here a couple of years ago, and it actually rather put me off the idea of trying them, as some of their aficionados seemed  bit obsessive and defensive in their attitude. Somehow the CCers on Silversea and Seabourn appear more relaxed and friendly, and this atmosphere seems to reflect what it is like on board. 

 

Lola

 

My first Crystal Cruise was also my last Lola but not for the reasons you might think, purely because I was on the Symphony when the arrest warrant was issued. I Cant vouch for the basic cabins but as a solo on that trip I greatly appreciated the zero single supplement and the free upgrade to a Seabreeze penthouse. The food surpassed all of my expectations and was overall better than SS. The Crew were just a little ahead of SS and my shipmates were the friendliest, nicest bunch you could ever wish to meet. I'm not sure if I just struck gold on that one cruise or if it was always that standard but within 1/2 an hour of boarding I felt like I'd found my new home at sea. 

[lincslady]

Seems like you may have the chance to cruise Crystal again, Dw.  Just looked on their board, and there is lots of ecstatic reporting of the phoenix rising from the ashes.   It will be  interesting to find out if it resembles the old Crystal for them all.  A  bit sad of course that quite a few people have lost a fair amount  of money invested in cruises which did not happen.

 

And it may be more like Silversea, with Manfredi so involved.  That could be good or bad, depending on what your last cruise with SS was like, of course.

 

Lola

[TrulyBlonde]

8 hours ago, lincslady said:

Re Crystal - I looked at their forum on here a couple of years ago, and it actually rather put me off the idea of trying them, as some of their aficionados seemed  bit obsessive and defensive in their attitude. Somehow the CCers on Silversea and Seabourn appear more relaxed and friendly, and this atmosphere seems to reflect what it is like on board. 

 

Lola

Obsessive?? LOL! . I agree and I head over there just for the entertainment, but after reading those lengthy novels (or just half of it) I skip to the next poster.

[zqtchas]

[frantic36]

9 hours ago, TrulyBlonde said:

Obsessive?? LOL! . I agree and I head over there just for the entertainment, but after reading those lengthy novels (or just half of it) I skip to the next poster.

Agreed. I just checked the latest and lengthy is a good word.

[spinnaker2]

[zqtchas]

[Mr Luxury]

17 hours ago, frantic36 said:

Agreed. I just checked the latest and lengthy is a good word.

War and Peace I call the Crystal boards.

I did indeed get good service from the butler on Serenity but only because I shared him with Jeffrey Archer and Mary who were in the next suite