Dublin to Reykjavik - May 29, 2020

[Lirio]

We are on this cruise on Silver Cloud.

 

Anyone else?  Any recomendation?

[milepig]

We did a similar itin on Windstar last August - be prepared for high seas (or not) and the possibility of missing a port, one never knows

 

Many of those ports are quite small and they seemed a bit repetitive after awhile:

 

Portree - this isn't a bad place if you just want to poke around, if you head toward the right there's a fairly nice area of shops to walk around in, if you turn more left there's a nice shoreline walking path.

 

Kirkwall - We had a very nice private day tour booked that I highly recommend - Marlene Thomson marathomson@btinternet.com.  Very local, very personable, and know a lot about the area. She pretty much asked what we were interested in and then planned the day. Make sure you include a stop in town - the cathedral is wonderful and there are a couple very nice shops right across the street. Met us right at the head of the pier spot on time and off we went. Be sure to not miss the "hairy cows". Our itinerary was Reykjavik to Edinburgh and then Edinburgh to Dubin (B2B). And Kirkwall was twice - we missed it on the first leg and Marlene was most accommodating to move our tour to the second stop.

 

Lerwick - We have no recollection of this port. I think we got right on a ship's tour that was fairly boring and then went back to the ship. There may have been a castle? Truly, zero recollection.

 

Torshavn - Very nice but small, port. From where we docked you took a shuttle bus into a sort of tourist office and from there it was a short walk through a parking lot to the town. Cute, a few shops, there's a pedestrian only street that parallels the main road closer to the port side with some shops and restaurants. We had a short time in town before our tour, which unfortunately was mostly in the fog, but it was still interesting. I'd like to go back and spend a few days in the area. If you are hikers this is where I'd do it.

 

Iona - Missed it - our tour drive miles and miles to get there and the the Ferry wasn't running due to high seas - they made up for it with a stop at a castle, which was fine but Iona remains on our bucket list.

 

Reykjavik speaks for itself. A good place to buy cheap things to bring home (Chocolate, salt, etc.) is at the Bonus supermarket with several locations - look for the Pink Pig. For a splash out meal we recommend Fiskmarkadourin - never had a bad meal there - go for the tasting with the wine pairings. Right dead in the middle of townl

[chrism23]

Hi,  I am on this voyage too, I was going to start a thread but you beat me to it.  I have several questions I need some help with.  First this is billed as an expedition cruise.  I did the Silver Galapagos a few years ago which was a real expedition (and the best Silversea cruise out of the 9 I have taken).  Nearly all excursions were by zodiac with wet landings.  Every zodiac had 10 passengers and a guide.  This seems like a regular Silversea cruise with ports and probably tenders.  With no guides.  And no lectures every night before dinner on the flora and fauna of the next days port.  Am I right about this?

 

The Galapagos voyage had a very relaxed dress code with no required sport coats for men at dinner in the restaurant.  Is this the case? 

 

I was on the Silverwind last year and half of the refurbishment was completed.  The public areas and staterooms were done and it was well was very well done,  The Wind was going in again for an ice class hull among other things.  I think the Cloud has completed the redo.  For Silversea regulars what kind of job did they do?.  

 

Aboard the Wind they only changed the menu in La Terrazza once a week but offered a limited number of specials each night.  This caused some grumbling.  Other than that the food was excellent.  They had a great restaurant manager (refer to my Wind revue for more about her, she's the best in the fleet)

 

Lastly do they do the 5 pm trivia game on the cloud.  This is near and dear to me,  I say, totally immodestly, bragging, all other objectionable things, that I am the second best trivia player among Silversea regulars,  The estimable Jolly Jones is the best, she is amazing and would win a fortune on Jepordy.  Last time out I put a team together in advance.  Thats how neurotic I am.  We went 19 out of 20 a few times but never got all 20 questions.  Look for me I will wear a tan, fancy Silversea hat the first game if they do it.  Related to this does anyone know who the cruise director will be.  If it is Colin be prepared to answer his phobias and groups of every game so be prepared.  For example what is a group of crows.  Answer a murder.  A couple of players on my team got this and nearly all of the others.  They knew Colin  If they are reading this they were from Australia and I hope they are okay. 

 

Thats all of my questions.  Thank you for bearing with me.

 

A comment for Lirio who started this thread.  Part of the cruise will be in the North Atlantic. I am expecting a lot of rocking and rolling and excursion cancellations which are getting to be too common in small ship sailing.  So bring dramamine or what ever you use. The candy gingered they have outside the restaurant works well. Cheers all.  

[Lirio]

Chris, there are tour included in the cruise fare as far as I know. I have already booke some, but I am looking for options. Go t My Silversea and take a look.

 

I did Galapagos in 2018 (it was great!). In total I had 4 Silversea cruises and in 2019 I did a Seabourn and it will be difficult to Silversea to bit it. Lets see.

 

Milepig,  thank you! We are hiking people. I will take a look.

 

 

[RachelG]

I have been to most of these ports, some on the Silver Cloud and the rest on Regent.  Lots of good hiking opportunities on the Cloud trip.  They do have naturalists and historians aboard and have a full schedule of lecturers, but they also use local guides.  Excursions are all included.  No wet landings.  It is a great itinerary.

 

trivia is a go but timings vary depending on the days schedule, so you have to pay attention and look at the chronicles every day.

[chrism23]

thank you for the reply.  you answered a lot of my questions.

[Lirio]

6 hours ago, RachelG said:

I have been to most of these ports, some on the Silver Cloud and the rest on Regent.  Lots of good hiking opportunities on the Cloud trip.  They do have naturalists and historians aboard and have a full schedule of lecturers, but they also use local guides.  Excursions are all included.  No wet landings.  It is a great itinerary.

 

trivia is a go but timings vary depending on the days schedule, so you have to pay attention and look at the chronicles every day.

 

Thank you. We will contact SS shore excursions representative to get an understanig of the options in each port. 

[Lirio]

Is it possible that this cruise is fully booked? It is no longer available on the SIlversea website.

 

[turtlemichael]

It is now listed as "waitlisted" with the earlier cruises in May.  Most likely it is full but I'd get my TA to ask SS.

[Lirio]

On 1/25/2020 at 12:03 AM, turtlemichael said:

It is now listed as "waitlisted" with the earlier cruises in May.  Most likely it is full but I'd get my TA to ask SS.

It is full according to SS.