When is an expedition cruise not an expedition?

[FauxNom]

I've been looking at a couple segments of the Silver Cloud's Grand Voyage -- Tropical edition, 2022. It looks like every port day is devoted to shore excursions that sound like the classic cruise variety. Neither cruise description (Singapore to Cochin; Cochin to Athens) mentions activities on Zodiacs, such as animal-spotting or bird-watching, despite being in the lush jungle territory of Indonesia on the first voyage. I've done expedition cruises that did include plenty of shore excursions, but also plenty of Zodiac exploration. I love that part of expedition cruising! Any theories about whether these descriptions don't include this more casual activity because it's just assumed and more ad hoc? Or will there be literally no Zodiac fun? The itineraries are fascinating, but I would hate to have my exploring limited to organized bus tours!

 

Any comments on the itineraries are welcome, too. Suez Canal or Luxor, anyone?

[Silver Spectre]

Stay clear of deck 4 in warm/hot waters. The ice class hull sucks in heat and the air con just cannot cope. We went from Ft Lauderdale to Lima on the Cloud after it was expeditionised and in the tropics, both Caribbean and Pacific, we could never get the suite anything better than tepid. Deck 5 was better but still warmish.

[carefreecruise]

25 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

Stay clear of deck 4 in warm/hot waters. The ice class hull sucks in heat and the air con just cannot cope. We went from Ft Lauderdale to Lima on the Cloud after it was expeditionised and in the tropics, both Caribbean and Pacific, we could never get the suite anything better than tepid. Deck 5 was better but still warmish.

I second that. The butler brought in two fans to help out but it never got below 25-26 degrees in the cabin. Will only go on the Wind and Cloud in cooler voyages. I made a big fuss and they told me they are using sea water instead of glycol. 

[FauxNom]

38 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

Stay clear of deck 4 in warm/hot waters. The ice class hull sucks in heat and the air con just cannot cope. We went from Ft Lauderdale to Lima on the Cloud after it was expeditionised and in the tropics, both Caribbean and Pacific, we could never get the suite anything better than tepid. Deck 5 was better but still warmish.

Well this is news I can use! Thanks for mentioning it. Carefreecruise, were you also on Deck 4? Or was it 5?

[Stumblefoot]

3 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

The ice class hull sucks in heat and the air con just cannot cope.

Mr. Silver, do you think the new Expedition fleet livery will make a change to the temps now that it is a light color instead of dark?

[carefreecruise]

3 hours ago, FauxNom said:

Well this is news I can use! Thanks for mentioning it. Carefreecruise, were you also on Deck 4? Or was it 5?

It was deck 7 and even after its dry Dock it is no better. I now bring a heat gun with me now so I can show them the temperature at the registers so they can't give me a lot of BS. 

 

Just FYI: bringing a heat gun gets my luggage opened up evey time. 

[Silver Spectre]

On 5/9/2021 at 12:16 AM, Stumblefoot said:

Mr. Silver, do you think the new Expedition fleet livery will make a change to the temps now that it is a light color instead of dark?

Sorry Stumblefoot I missed your question. IMHO changing back to all white would be the only thing that would help in warmer/hot waters, and that's not going to happen.