World Cruise 2020

[turtlemichael]

I know mysty is planning to keep her feet dry, as far as WC20 is concerned, and we are too but are booked for 2021.  However, if there is anybody out there who is doing it and has the inclination to do a running report, a la mysty's superb piece, I am sure it would be appreciated. It is not a task you enter lightly as I well know as I did a blog for WC19 on another travel forum. At a minimum you have to deal with the connectivity issues which can on occasions drive you to drink!  Also it is a bit presumptuous of me to suggest someone else does the work. Anyway, if there is anyone willing to undertake the job there will be a very keen audience.

[mysty]

Thanks for your kind words Turtle!  A group blog does make it easier and offers more variety of input and expeiences.  Here's hoping someone picks up the gauntlet!  🙂 

[DCCruiser57]

Although no one can take Mysty's place, I hope to post periodic updates.  Of course the WC will not be the same without Mysty & Myster, Turtlemichael and Turtle2 and Lifesgreat and his wife amng many others.  We look forward to seeing Turtlemichael and Turtle2 in 2021.  Although there will be many familiar faces among the repeat WCs, there's going to be plenty of new faces as my understanding is that there maybe nearly 300 WCs (we see once final payment is due as some currently booked may drop out).  If anyone is on the WC, please feel free to chip in.  Only 176 days to go.

[mysty]

34 minutes ago, DCCruiser57 said:

Although no one can take Mysty's place, I hope to post periodic updates.  Of course the WC will not be the same without Mysty & Myster, Turtlemichael and Turtle2 and Lifesgreat and his wife amng many others.  We look forward to seeing Turtlemichael and Turtle2 in 2021.  Although there will be many familiar faces among the repeat WCs, there's going to be plenty of new faces as my understanding is that there maybe nearly 300 WCs (we see once final payment is due as some currently booked may drop out).  If anyone is on the WC, please feel free to chip in.  Only 176 days to go.

 

Thanks DCC!  Great job picking up the gauntlet!  🙂  And thanks so much for your kind words!  We do miss you and your lovely wife!  Hopefully our sea paths will cross again!

[turtlemichael]

44 minutes ago, DCCruiser57 said:

Although no one can take Mysty's place, I hope to post periodic updates.  Of course the WC will not be the same without Mysty & Myster, Turtlemichael and Turtle2 and Lifesgreat and his wife amng many others.  We look forward to seeing Turtlemichael and Turtle2 in 2021.  Although there will be many familiar faces among the repeat WCs, there's going to be plenty of new faces as my understanding is that there may be nearly 300 WCs (we see once final payment is due as some currently booked may drop out).  If anyone is on the WC, please feel free to chip in.  Only 176 days to go.

You'd be a perfect replacement for mysty as blog leader!  176 days is a blink of the eyelids! 🙂 🙂   Let's hope for a big number of WCers in 2020 as a WC is an unequalled experience.  I see that the expedition cruise in 2021 has currently stopped bookings for the full cruise but is still selling segments. The Whisper cruise still looks like it has plenty of room. Hope you both are well, DCC57, as we are.

Edited July 14, 2019 by turtlemichael

[DCCruiser57]

It will be interesting to see how the WC events compare to the 2019 ones.  Gonna be pretty tough to top the number and quality of events that we had.

[DCCruiser57]

Well, we made our outgoing flight arrangements with SS and are now looking at specific flights for our return home.

[DCCruiser57]

Received an e-mail from Norman announcing the publication of a WC e-newsletter.  A great idea, especially with so many WC'ers.  Here's part of the message.

 

As many of you appreciate, one of the things that makes our World Cruises so special is the sense of camaraderie and friendship that builds up over many months of travelling the world together, as fellow cruisers become firm friends. To keep this familial atmosphere going during the course of the year, we will be publishing a regular e-newsletter that will keep you up-to-date on the Silver Whisper, the ports, the onboard events, your favourite officers and crew, and most importantly - your fellow friends. For the first-time World Cruiser, the newsletter will introduce you to the World Cruise family and prepare you for our upcoming adventure.   We have asked our World Cruise Destination Consultant, Jon Fleming, and his wife Tracy Fleming, Photography and iPhone Lecturer, to help us coordinate this. We have been exceptionally fortunate to have them sail with us on the past eight World Cruises. But, we'd love you to get involved too.   We invite you to send us any news you'd like to share with your fellow World Cruisers. Momentous events, significant birthdays or anniversaries, reunions, recent travels (especially with photographs) would be appreciated. If you'd just like to share some travel tips, that would be great too. Even if you're not going to be travelling on next year's World Cruise, we'd still like to hear from you. We'll endeavour to include as much of your input as we possibly can. Also, please let us know what you'd like to hear about - travel tips, tours, crew news.

[mysty]

49 minutes ago, DCCruiser57 said:

Received an e-mail from Norman announcing the publication of a WC e-newsletter.  A great idea, especially with so many WC'ers.  

 

Thanks so much for posting this DCC!  I'm sure this newsletter will be very helpful for new and for seasoned WC'ers!

[Emtbsam]

DCCruiser57 - Thanks for posting that information.  I think it is a great idea and hope that we will be able to access it even though we're not on the 2020 WC.

[Jon Fleming]

Hi All

 

Jon Fleming here – Tracy and I will be co-ordinating much of the content for the World Cruise Newsletter. The idea is to give people information on the World Cruise, on the Crew, the Ports etc, and generally build excitement towards the World Cruise, particularly by giving updates on news from our fellow World Cruisers.

 

The email distribution list should be – Past World Cruisers, people who have signed up for 2020 or 2021, and people who have done longer segments on the World Cruise in the past – unfortunately, people who have opted out of marketing communications won’t receive the email newsletters.

 

So, if you fall into those categories but haven’t received the launch email, you can email us at worldcruisenews@silversea.com, and we will pass your details onto the Silversea marketing department to get you added on.

 

Also, if you have any suggestions on what you’d like to see in the Newsletter, please send them to us at that email address.

Cheers

Jon

[mysty]

41 minutes ago, Jon Fleming said:

Hi All

 

Jon Fleming here – Tracy and I will be co-ordinating much of the content for the World Cruise Newsletter. The idea is to give people information on the World Cruise, on the Crew, the Ports etc, and generally build excitement towards the World Cruise, particularly by giving updates on news from our fellow World Cruisers.

 

 

Cheers

Jon

 

Excellent Jon!  Thanks for posting!  You and Tracy are the perfect creative team for this project!  Have fun working on it!

[Emtbsam]

Jon - Thanks for posting.  It's great to see you on cc.com.  We truly enjoyed your  and Tracey's lectures throughout our time on the past three world cruises.  Although we are not booked on the 2020 cruise, we would love to be included.  I will email you as you suggest.

[DCCruiser57]

We have met the minimum for the meet and mingle on leg 1.

[DCCruiser57]

An excellent article about Fernando's 25 years with SS in a recent press release.  Good to know he plans to do the 2021 WC.

 

https://www.silversea.com/other-resources/press-releases/2019/July/fernando-de-oliveira-25-years-at-the-heart-of-silversea-cruises.html

[DCCruiser57]

Only 149 days to go.  For a number of years, I have been scanning most of the documents that SS provides such as Chronicles, Menus, Tours, Port Information, Port Maps, Guest Speakers bios, etc.   If anyone would like this type of information, I can provide a copy to assist in their planning. 

[mysty]

1 hour ago, DCCruiser57 said:

Only 149 days to go.  For a number of years, I have been scanning most of the documents that SS provides such as Chronicles, Menus, Tours, Port Information, Port Maps, Guest Speakers bios, etc.   If anyone would like this type of information, I can provide a copy to assist in their planning. 

Very cool DCC!  And very generous!  You are an excellent World Cruise thread leader!  Hope you and your lovely wife are enjoying your summer!

[DCCruiser57]

Finally got a break from the brutally hot and humid weather.  Summer has been a bit of a challenge as I had total knee replacement surgery on 6/13.  Still have some swelling and stiffness, but great range of motion.  I should graduate from PT next week.  Hope all is well up north with you and Myster.

[mysty]

3 minutes ago, DCCruiser57 said:

Finally got a break from the brutally hot and humid weather.  Summer has been a bit of a challenge as I had total knee replacement surgery on 6/13.  Still have some swelling and stiffness, but great range of motion.  I should graduate from PT next week.  Hope all is well up north with you and Myster.

We are both well.  Glad that you are on the way to full recovery DCC!  Our current challenge involves a decision to sell the home we have lived in for almost 40 years.  This is being complicated by my pack rat inclinations and the availability of oodles of storage.  ;(  

Edited August 10, 2019 by mysty

[Capt.F]

Happy 25th Anniversary!!

As a serial World Cruiser I have just learned what I consider to be a real slap in the face perhaps to many of us! 

Silversea has announced a new "Family Cruise Savings" and have listed every segment of WC 2020 as part of the over 300 cruises to which it applies. Full fare guests can now avail themselves of the following:

50% SAVINGS FOR GUESTS BETWEEN 2-17 YEARS OLD/ 75% SAVINGS FOR GUESTS UNDER 2 YEARS OLD.

 

Unlike other ships in the fleet with multiple restaurants, the Silver Whisper has basically only one main restaurant. This promotion was applied to each and every segment of the World Cruise was thoughtless.  Although Silversea has never had a policy forbidding children this is a change in branding for sure.

 

Although I'm sure we all love children, particularly our own, many of us have experience first-hand the problems on prior World Cruises where only a few children of various ages were onboard.

 

Some first-hand examples: Children in the dining room banging utensils on the table; crying kids whose parents were unwilling to leave the dining room until the child calmed down because they wanted to continue their dinner; kids on the pool deck bouncing balls that could be heard in the suites directly below; kids jumping or throwing things into the pool, toddler that wasn't diaper trained taken into the hot tub; wild ping pong tournaments on deck; etc., etc. 

 

For Silversea to remain the untarnished luxury cruise line it has always been, perhaps somebody in management and marketing who actually understands the 25-year reputation of the brand needs to step forward. I hope that person(s) will.

 

I'm sure the onboard staff and management who always enjoys being on the World Cruise will be bitting their lips wondering if they will now be on the voyage(s) from hell once they find out about this promotion.

 

If this was a mistake, or worse, done with some purpose, I think those of us that care about "our" brand need to speak out loudly.

If we don't then it is what it is! 

 

Another scary thought is this: they mention the condition that there needs to be two accompanying full-fare guests.

Many of us receive Venetian Society Savings, etc. and if this is a sleazy way of marketing showing a large list and then telling the guest it doesn't apply to them as they needed to read the fine print that's even worse as all they have done is tarnished the brand.

 

I certainly did not or do not want to offend anyone who wants to travel with children; but the World Cruise is special and in particular the Silver Whisper is the wrong ship in any case. If they insist, then for the sake of all if us who want complete transparency, just like each voyage shows a "badge" for gentlemen hosts; Venetian Savings; etc., they'll need to come up with a "badge" for "Family Savings" so those who want to avoid such a voyage can chose to do so.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Capt.F
typo

[Miss Merry]

28 minutes ago, Capt.F said:

Happy 25th Anniversary!!

As a serial World Cruiser I have just learned what I consider to be a real slap in the face perhaps to many of us! 

Silversea has announced a new "Family Cruise Savings" and have listed every segment of WC 2020 as part of the over 300 cruises to which it applies. Full fare guests can now avail themselves of the following:

50% SAVINGS FOR GUESTS BETWEEN 2-17 YEARS OLD/ 75% SAVINGS FOR GUESTS UNDER 2 YEARS OLD.

 

Unlike other ships in the fleet with multiple restaurants, the Silver Whisper has basically only one main restaurant. This promotion was applied to each and every segment of the World Cruise was thoughtless.  Although Silversea has never had a policy forbidding children this is a change in branding for sure.

 

Although I'm sure we all love children, particularly our own, many of us have experience first-hand the problems on prior World Cruises where only a few children of various ages were onboard.

 

Some first-hand examples: Children in the dining room banging utensils on the table; crying kids whose parents were unwilling to leave the dining room until the child calmed down because they wanted to continue their dinner; kids on the pool deck bouncing balls that could be heard in the suites directly below; kids jumping or throwing things into the pool, toddler that wasn't diaper trained taken into the hot tub; wild ping pong tournaments on deck; etc., etc. 

 

For Silversea to remain the untarnished luxury cruise line it has always been, perhaps somebody in management and marketing who actually understands the 25-year reputation of the brand needs to step forward. I hope that person(s) will.

 

I'm sure the onboard staff and management who always enjoys being on the World Cruise will be bitting their lips wondering if they will now be on the voyage(s) from hell once they find out about this promotion.

 

If this was a mistake, or worse, done with some purpose, I think those of us that care about "our" brand need to speak out loudly.

If we don't then it is what it is! 

 

Another scary thought is this: they mention the condition that there needs to be two accompanying full-fare guests.

Many of us receive Venetian Society Savings, etc. and if this is a sleazy way of marketing showing a large list and then telling the guest it doesn't apply to them as they needed to read the fine print that's even worse as all they have done is tarnished the brand.

 

I certainly did not or do not want to offend anyone who wants to travel with children; but the World Cruise is special and in particular the Silver Whisper is the wrong ship in any case. If they insist, then for the sake of all if us who want complete transparency, just like each voyage shows a "badge" for gentlemen hosts; Venetian Savings; etc., they'll need to come up with a "badge" for "Family Savings" so those who want to avoid such a voyage can chose to do so.

 

 

We are in the same boat Capt.F literally.  I've been following the thread from yesterday on the Silversea Board actively encouraging children so did the research and saw every segment of the World is promoting discounts for families.  I have noticed in the last couple of years more and more children on our voyages which without doubt has always had a negative influence on our hard earned trip.  Not too long  ago someone at Silversea office said "well at least there'll be no children on the World", this was in response from my comment that we'd been deluged by over 50 under sixteens this July.  We have committed to the full 2020 World so are now not only disappointed with SS but extremely worried what to now expect.  I have had correspondence with SS today and got the usual platitudes and corporate response,  not helpful.

MM

 

[Observer]

58 minutes ago, Capt.F said:

Another scary thought is this: they mention the condition that there needs to be two accompanying full-fare guests.

Many of us receive Venetian Society Savings, etc. and if this is a sleazy way of marketing showing a large list and then telling the guest it doesn't apply to them as they needed to read the fine print that's even worse as all they have done is tarnished the brand.

 

 

I very much doubt this implies that Venetian and related savings cannot be applied.  I assume that it means guests booking the full advertised fare (e.g., not some deeply discounted TA fam trip fare or a reduced fare offered by an organization that booked 25 suites at some reduced price) understanding that various discounts (10% early, 100 days, etc.) will be applied.

[Capt.F]

The Captain feels that for those of us who have booked the WC,  although children have never been prohibited, the fact that they just launched a promotion to encourage children on the WC represents an unacceptable change in their terms and conditions. They'd do a lot better with a Senior Citizen discount which wouldn't disturb anyone. 

 

I think that if they don't withdraw the World Cruise from this promotion it is time to ask them to either refund our money or apply it to a future cruise of our choice. This promotion smells of inexperienced marketing people who have no idea how special the WC is. This is a sad day. We have a right to know how many children have already booked!

[Observer]

1 hour ago, Capt.F said:

I certainly did not or do not want to offend anyone who wants to travel with children; but the World Cruise is special and in particular the Silver Whisper is the wrong ship in any case. If they insist, then for the sake of all if us who want complete transparency, just like each voyage shows a "badge" for gentlemen hosts; Venetian Savings; etc., they'll need to come up with a "badge" for "Family Savings" so those who want to avoid such a voyage can chose to do so.

 

 

 

I agree with much you have said.  

 

I understand that the World Cruise is very special.  So too are Grand Voyages (~ 70 days in some cases).  In fact, I believe all Silversea cruises should be "special" and that guests should not have to endure, night after night, the acting out of infants and toddlers who (for reasons we all understand) cannot control themselves or be effectively controlled by their parents as, a child of ten, say, could be expected to.

 

If Silversea is to continue offering inducements (75% discount) for bringing sub-2 year olds aboard, other passengers deserve to be warned.   I would hope that any such offer would be limited to cruises around school holidays (summer and the Christmas/New Years holidays) and would be clearly identified.  The "badge" idea is interesting.  

[Capt.F]

Attention News Flash!!! I have been in touch with management on and off today and I can confirm that I was informed in the last hour that all segments of the World Cruise will be removed from the Silversea website's list of voyages that the Family Savings will apply to.