World Cruises 2024 and 2025

[chrism23]

Hi, I have a cruise coming up and have a bunch of questions, I will try to limit them to save myself from becoming a pain in the butt.  I have 2 questions today.  First, is I have a place holder in for the 2024 World Cruise.  This version focuses primarily to far east-Japan, Vietnam, Singpore etc.  This is the itinerary I was looking for.  It solves my total aversion to 18 hour plane rides.  The question is this.  This particular world cruise is slated to happen on the Silver Shadow.  The next year, 2025, focuses on Europe and the Mediterranean which I have done to death.  That sailing is on the Silver Moon.  SS took out a full, really fancy, 6 page insert in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago promoting the 2025 cruise and the Moon.  When SS is launching all these higher end new ships, why use the Shadow which has got to be as tired as any ship in the Silver Sea fleet.  Now I am assuming, and correct me if I am wrong, the reason they are using the smaller ship is they want top go places that won't accommodate the new larger ships.  Am I missing something? TIA.  

[mysty]

I think you will need to decide for yourself whether the itinerary or the ship is going to be the determining factor.  We chose the 2024 because of the number of new ports available on that itinerary.  Of the 65 ports on that itinerary 35 would be new for us.  We do not need multiple restaurant choices and we prefer the smaller older ships.  The 2025 did not offer very many new ports for us.  Everyone has different priorities when booking a cruise.  You just need to determine yours. 😊

Edited November 5, 2022 by mysty

[DCCruiser57]

Slight correction - WC 2025 is on the Dawn, not the Moon, which is a slightly newer ship.  The Shadow went through an extensive drydock a few years ago (2019) and is much different than the Whisper, which has been the WC ship for years.  SS completely revamped deck 5 and opened this area up and added an Arts Cafe, relocated the casino and connoiseur corner to deck 8, eliminated the library and  computer center.  The Whisper was supposed to undergo the same update, but Covid, I believe killed that plan.  Since the Whisper did not get the update, I believe that is why they switched to the Shadow - you are correct in that it can access ports, such as Ho Chi Minh city that the larger ships cannot.

 

Much like Mysty, WC 2024 offers a number of new ports - we will see you there Mysty.  

[Silver Spectre]

Nothing wrong with WC23 and the Shadow is in top top condition.

[drron29]

I see that WC 2024 is calling in at Mooloolaba on the beautiful Sunshine coast of Queensland. Will make sure we are there to give everyone a wave.

[turtlemichael]

13 minutes ago, drron29 said:

I see that WC 2024 is calling in at Mooloolaba on the beautiful Sunshine coast of Queensland. Will make sure we are there to give everyone a wave.

At the very least I'd expect a Selected Tour, at reasonable cost of course, that includes a champagne afternoon tea and a swim in your pool!

Edited November 7, 2022 by turtlemichael

[mysty]

14 minutes ago, turtlemichael said:

At the very least I'd expect a Selected Tour, at reasonable cost of course, that includes a champagne afternoon tea and a swim in your pool!

 

@drron29 and @rojaan19 have so many fans that the Selected Excursion would be waitlisted in minutes! 😁

[turtlemichael]

6 minutes ago, mysty said:

 

@drron29 and @rojaan19 have so many fans that the Selected Excursion would be waitlisted in minutes! 😁

I'm prepared to act as the agent for a very reasonable commission.

 

[chrism23]

On 11/5/2022 at 8:12 AM, DCCruiser57 said:

 eliminated the library

Oh no.  Now I will have to pack books (I only use paper and not Kindles etc) and i won't have enough space as is.  I always, when boarding, make a beeline for the library to grab books to get my through the cruise.  This irks me.  

[Silver Spectre]

8 minutes ago, chrism23 said:

Oh no.  Now I will have to pack books (I only use paper and not Kindles etc) and i won't have enough space as is.  I always, when boarding, make a beeline for the library to grab books to get my through the cruise.  This irks me.  

On the Moon there is a smaller library in the Observation 

lounge on deck 11, I assume there is something similar on the Dawn.

[jollyjones]

There is a very small library in the Observation lounge on the Dawn. When I was on board four months ago I complained loudly, lengthily, bitterly, repeatedly and in writing about the lack of real books.
I have kindle books for emergencies but detest them, I like paper and ink, REAL books. 
Notice was taken. 
I was assured there will be more books. 
I board her again in two days. 
I’m not totally optimistic  but I have a small, tiny hope for improvement. 
 

And I’d happily sit on the Silver Sewage next to a platoon of cigar smokers if it would get SS to bring back proper libraries. Or look at jeans at dinner from a never changing menu with only two buck chuck pouring. 
Once upon a time, there was a whole room for the library. Now, there’s just a shelf. 
Sigh …
 

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by jollyjones

[Silver Spectre]

24 minutes ago, jollyjones said:

Or look at jeans at dinner from a never changing menu with only two buck chuck pouring. 

 

 

That’s a wee bit brutal for a Monday afternoon.

[dawntrdr]

I believe that they have books on the shelves in the Arts Cafe too. 

 

When I finish a book that I have brought with me, I usually sneak it onto one of the shelves in the library or Observation Lounge so I don't have to take it back.  Perhaps they could reserve a shelf labelled "Passengers Recommend...." for these orphaned reads.

[Lois R]

2 minutes ago, dawntrdr said:

I believe that they have books on the shelves in the Arts Cafe too. 

 

When I finish a book that I have brought with me, I usually sneak it onto one of the shelves in the library or Observation Lounge so I don't have to take it back.  Perhaps they could reserve a shelf labelled "Passengers Recommend...." for these orphaned reads.

Hi dawntrdr, you are correct. There are books in the Arts Cafe but they are not "novels" if you just want an easy read. I have looked through various books in there and always noticed that......seems most of the books in there are of the non-fiction variety. Nothing wrong with those of course but sometimes all I want is an "easy peasy" summertime read.

[eastwoodboy]

I have got it all wrong.

I thought the books were provided to reserve loungers.

[jollyjones]

The books in the Arts Cafe are arty books, not your usual fiction reading, and sadly not for borrowing either because they'd make perfect lounger reservers, big and pretentious ...

 

The only reason I survived my last Dawn cruise bookwise was because all those of us who did bring proper books, after reading them dropped them into the quarantine box in the Observation lounge and after 72 hours they were put out on the library shelf with the SS books, in fact they outnumbered the SS books. There's always been a 'passenger book exchange' shelf in the library, usually labelled as such, glad pax are happy to continue with it even as SS ignores what we want.

 

I hope they've stopped the silly quarantine box since Covid is spread by aerosol not fomites; but on second thoughts, maybe not ... it was quite useful in that the drop slot was big enough to get your hand in and I popped into the Observation lounge quite frequently to see if there was anything interesting in it (the box was clear perspex) - if there was, I ... well, you can guess ...

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by jollyjones

[Silver Spectre]

2 hours ago, jollyjones said:

The books in the Arts Cafe are arty books, not your usual fiction reading, and sadly not for borrowing either because they'd make perfect lounger reservers, big and pretentious ...

 

The only reason I survived my last Dawn cruise bookwise was because all those of us who did bring proper books, after reading them dropped them into the quarantine box in the Observation lounge and after 72 hours they were put out on the library shelf with the SS books, in fact they outnumbered the SS books. There's always been a 'passenger book exchange' shelf in the library, usually labelled as such, glad pax are happy to continue with it even as SS ignores what we want.

 

I hope they've stopped the silly quarantine box since Covid is spread by aerosol not fomites; but on second thoughts, maybe not ... it was quite useful in that the drop slot was big enough to get your hand in and I popped into the Observation lounge quite frequently to see if there was anything interesting in it (the box was clear perspex) - if there was, I ... well, you can guess ...

 

It has been consigned to history.

[SWFLAOK]

On 11/5/2022 at 6:40 AM, chrism23 said:

Hi, I have a cruise coming up and have a bunch of questions, I will try to limit them to save myself from becoming a pain in the butt.  I have 2 questions today.  First, is I have a place holder in for the 2024 World Cruise.  This version focuses primarily to far east-Japan, Vietnam, Singpore etc.  This is the itinerary I was looking for.  It solves my total aversion to 18 hour plane rides.  The question is this.  This particular world cruise is slated to happen on the Silver Shadow.  The next year, 2025, focuses on Europe and the Mediterranean which I have done to death.  That sailing is on the Silver Moon.  SS took out a full, really fancy, 6 page insert in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago promoting the 2025 cruise and the Moon.  When SS is launching all these higher end new ships, why use the Shadow which has got to be as tired as any ship in the Silver Sea fleet.  Now I am assuming, and correct me if I am wrong, the reason they are using the smaller ship is they want top go places that won't accommodate the new larger ships.  Am I missing something? TIA.  

 The 2024 cruise is really just a cruise around the Pacific, with the most port intensive areas being Alaska, Australia, and New Zealand. Having already cruised to Alaska and Australia, and taken more port intensive cruises in the South Pacific (3 times) and 2 cruises out of Singapore to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and been to Hawaii by air, so the only part of the 2024 cruise we were interested in was Japan.

That's why we're booked on the 2025 World Cruise, which is on Silver Dawn. It has many stops in Japan, which will be a long flight from Florida. It has really nice stops in Vietnam and Singapore, with great special events. It then heads to the East coast of Malaysia, and on to India, and Egypt and the Suez canal (with a special event to the pyramids and the Cairo Egyptian museum after hours). It then goes to Turkey and Greece, and Naples and Sicily. It then heads to 2 ports in Spain that we haven't been to before. There's only a few ports in Europe that we've been to before (Lisbon, Bordeaux, Southampton and Amsterdam), but we don't mind visiting them again. We've never been to Paris, and there's a special event with an evening party at Versailles. We've never been to Scandinavia, Iceland or Greenland. This cruise covers most of the places we haven't cruised to. We're really looking forward to the 2025 WC. We've sailed on Silver Whisper to the Amazon in the past, and loved that ship, and expect Silver Dawn to be even better.