chrism23 Posted July 22 #1 Share Posted July 22 (edited) Hi, This group has already saved me from doing something stupid (Greece in August, which was greatly appreciated). I turn to your collective experience to perhaps prevent me from doing something stupid again. I have a place holder in on a 4/22/25 to 5/13/ cruise on the Wind with a 5 day pre-program safari. It is an expedition sailing This was another trip I booked without really thinking. I was excited by itinerary. I have to stop doing this. My first question is whether anyone has done this cruise before.? It is brand new to me and I haven't seen it before. So any advice or input on that itinerary would be important for me. The trip starts on Accra Ghana 0n 2/22 and ends in Lisbon on 5/13. It visits Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bassau, Cape Verde and a couple of Spanish Islands. In reality I haven't heard of nearly any of these places. So, fellow travelers, what the hell have I signed up for? I do prefer expedition cruises,(I do not really like the new ships-too big, even though they are gorgeous) and have been on the Wind before, last year,-a 3 week expedition cruise around Iceland and Scotland which I loved. I have nearly 200 SS sea days. I have done the minimum, checked the State Department warnings site and general media. Although this isn't idiot proof. Last year I landed in Lima, to start the Grand Cruise from there, and they were in a shooting insurrection, which confined existing pax to the ship and made getting from the hotel to the airport a little dicey. None of the countries have warnings, not going to Rwanda for example. So, if this is a new itinerary I don't expect much in the way of feedback. But if you have journeyed to these places please let me know. Thank you. cheers chris (who is not going to Greece this summer, thank God) Edited July 22 by chrism23 structure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jpalbny Posted July 22 #2 Share Posted July 22 Fletcher visited many of these African port stops on a Silversea expedition cruise earlier this year; suggest you read his blog which includes detailed descriptions. The Canary Islands are on our list to visit and I don't think you need to worry about that part of the journey. PS Rwanda is perfectly safe, clean, and an absolutely lovely place to visit. It was a highlight of our Africa trip in 2015. Gorilla trekking in Virunga National Park is a memory that sticks with me to this day. Don't knock Rwanda until you've been there. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemorvan Posted July 22 #3 Share Posted July 22 What’s wrong with visiting Greece in the summer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrasett Posted July 22 #4 Share Posted July 22 1 minute ago, Lemorvan said: What’s wrong with visiting Greece in the summer? Heat, quite simply heat plus of course millions of tourists all suffering from the heat. The temperatures this summer have been unbelievably high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Port Power Posted July 22 #5 Share Posted July 22 I visited the Canary Islands last year on Silver Dawn, Lisbon to Fort Lauderdale. The tours were very good to excellent. Unfortunately some those great tours are now select, or don’t exist. I agree you should read @Fletcher’s trip report from earlier this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxNom Posted July 22 #6 Share Posted July 22 This sounds like a great cruise! I was sorely tempted because Apex Expeditions is sending a group of their clients and several really great naturalists on this trip: https://www.apex-expeditions.com/expeditions/west-africa-cruise/#wca-apr-25 They are sold out but I sent the link because it will give you more info about what Apex emphasizes; their brochure describes the trip far better than Silversea does! The nice thing about having an Apex group onboard is that you can benefit from all their guides as well as the normal expedition staff. It was a real enhancement on our recent Cape to Cape trip (though you must have a high tolerance for birders with large cameras). 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CinciCruise Posted July 23 #7 Share Posted July 23 We are also on this cruise after a similar one we had booked was cancelled in 2021. In 2019, I talked to guest on a previous Silverseas Expedition cruise who did this itinerary (very similar) 2 times and had booked it for a 3rd in 2020. Of course, 2020 was cancelled. They obviously loved it to keep repeating. They said it was more of a cultural type cruise. This is the first time this cruise has gone since 2019 due to the pandemic. We are very excited and are doing the cruise with another couple who also had booked the cruise but did not go due to the pandemic. Do not worry if you are not a birder. Silversea typically has separate groups for the birder. This will be our 4th expedition cruise with Silversea and they have all been outstanding. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Fletcher Posted July 23 #8 Share Posted July 23 I've just read the Apex blurb for this cruise. It's total rubbish. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxNom Posted July 23 #9 Share Posted July 23 22 minutes ago, Fletcher said: I've just read the Apex blurb for this cruise. It's total rubbish. Do tell! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare highplanesdrifters Posted July 23 #10 Share Posted July 23 13 hours ago, FauxNom said: This sounds like a great cruise! I was sorely tempted because Apex Expeditions is sending a group of their clients and several really great naturalists on this trip: https://www.apex-expeditions.com/expeditions/west-africa-cruise/#wca-apr-25 They are sold out but I sent the link because it will give you more info about what Apex emphasizes; their brochure describes the trip far better than Silversea does! The nice thing about having an Apex group onboard is that you can benefit from all their guides as well as the normal expedition staff. It was a real enhancement on our recent Cape to Cape trip (though you must have a high tolerance for birders with large cameras). Completely agree, I'd go on an Apex trip in a heartbeat. Some friends on the C2C said they didn't want to go on another trip with Apex because of all the aggressive birders. A small trade off IMHO. Also agree that the Apex team added with respect to their lectures and knowledge. Having much more experience in the area I got the sense that they really pushed exploration. There was no phoning it in. Yes, we had amazing weather. What counts is what the team does with the amazing weather. How many people go to Shag Rocks in South Georgia and hit 4 islands in Tristan? We were spoiled. The other Apex bonus is they are so much fun and socialize quite a bit. I'm still cracking up over the two truths and a lie dinner.🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrasett Posted July 23 #11 Share Posted July 23 I would add a small word of caution I dont think West Africa is for the faint hearted. Read up on other peoples experiences in the area before committing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemorvan Posted July 23 #12 Share Posted July 23 On 7/22/2024 at 12:21 PM, labrasett said: Heat, quite simply heat plus of course millions of tourists all suffering from the heat. The temperatures this summer have been unbelievably high. Personally having lived in the Greek isles for six years as a youngster I loved the heat, the blue seas, the salads and great life. Even now I return, still love the heat, the blue seas, the salads, grilled meat and of course the ouzo. can’t quite understand why it would be a surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labrasett Posted July 23 #13 Share Posted July 23 1 minute ago, Lemorvan said: Personally having lived in the Greek isles for six years as a youngster I loved the heat, the blue seas, the salads and great life. Even now I return, still love the heat, the blue seas, the salads, grilled meat and of course the ouzo. can’t quite understand why it would be a surprise. Totally understand what you are saying I too love Greece, the scenery, the islands and the food but the temperatures are really extreme at the moment to say nothing of the huge numbers of people now flooding in. It was really wonderful a few years back to rent a small apartment or even stay in a b&b and wander through the villages and small towns, eating at tavernas, listening to local music, enjoying the uncrowded beaches and beautiful sea, I only posted what I did in response to someone enquiring why Greece might be such a good idea at the moment. Personally I would delay any planned breaks there until late September or even October to avoid the crowds and let the day time temperatures fall a little but still be able to enjoy warm evenings and relative peace but each to their own. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemorvan Posted July 23 #14 Share Posted July 23 @labrasett I understand exactly what you are saying and so happy you enjoy the islands. Yes, the heat is a bit of a difficult thing at times, always has been. I’ll never forget my childhood there and I apologise if I seemed a little defensive in my original post. A spoonful of olive oil each morning was administered at breakfast, difficult at first for a young kid. 🤣 I also lived in a hotel in Manchester as a child, breakfast was bacon and eggs with lots of toast and butter. I love olive oil and bacon with eggs even now at a slightly more “mature” age. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxNom Posted July 23 #15 Share Posted July 23 2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said: The other Apex bonus is they are so much fun and socialize quite a bit. I'm still cracking up over the two truths and a lie dinner.🤣 Couldn't agree more! It was clear that the Apex group of 50 raised the activity and engagement level a lot. It seemed like a younger crowd, too, but I don't want to generalize. They could have been old as dirt but were uniformly very energetic! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsCrystalina Posted July 23 #16 Share Posted July 23 Several years ago sailed from Cape Town to London on Crystal and all the stops were very interesting and people were welcoming. Recommend you start reading about the ports and history. Would do it again! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kej1 Posted July 23 #17 Share Posted July 23 January of 2020 we did a West Africa cruise on Seabourn. We had done many (13) trips to Southern and East Africa by land. These were mostly planned around safaris with a few other activities attached. I had always wanted to explore West Africa - something that didn’t interest my husband much. When I presented the opportunity to do it by cruise ship he changed his mind. We started in Miami, did a few stops in the Caribbean, then crossed the Atlantic to the Cape Verde islands, followed by Senegal and headed south ending in Capetown. We visited many of the ports you mention. We had been numerous times to Capetown and a Couple of times to Namibia by land and we both love them so I won’t mention them in my highlights as they are a given ( although there is much to see and I highly recommend spending some serious time in both places - more than you can do, see or access via a cruise). So my personal highlights leaving those aside were: Cape Verde Islands , Senegal ( not sure if you are going), and Ghana. The reason I liked these places so much is we had outstanding guides. This was not an “ expedition” cruise, but I found great guides on the internet who were reliable and showed us key sites, how people lived ( our Senegal guide took us to his home), visited schools, markets, had some local meals , etc. I found it a fascinating area and really enjoyed the entire trip. These countries are the kinds of places one has to be careful so in choosing the guides I did loads of research. In fact one of the only places we had a poor experience was in Côte D’Ivoire where I was unable to find a good guide on my own so had Seabourn organize a private. It was a disaster - old broken down car, poor English ( luckily my husband pretty good with French - mine passable but barely). The car needed gas and they tried ( the guide and driver) to get us to pay but had to be in local currency which we didn’t have, side swiped a car on the way back to the ship ( luckily in bumper to bumper traffic so nobody was hurt), and it was just an all around poor experience. So based on my experience I’d recommend a ship tour in this country, but since you are on an expedition cruise you will likely have small, educational tours included. I loved visiting the various ports. My husband wasn’t that keen on it to be honest. He couldn’t wait to get to Capetown where we would be spending another two weeks in Southern Africa. He liked Cape Verde and Angola ( the latter not a favorite of mine but it was interesting and we had a very good guide). I would like to go to some of the ports we visited again and other countries we did not visit on that trip. I also highly recommend you read @Fletcher’s trip report as he was on a Silversea Expedition cruise and it will give you some great insight. It was an excellent read! If you love adventure and love visiting and learning about different countries and how people live I think you will really enjoy this trip. I can’t say our trip wasn’t without snags in these developing countries, but I loved it! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrism23 Posted July 24 Author #18 Share Posted July 24 On 7/22/2024 at 7:18 AM, Lemorvan said: What’s wrong with visiting Greece in the summer? When I started to research this in earnest, my first check was Athens weather. It was 107 degrees when I looked. Last year Greece had temps approaching 120 degrees. Too damn hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdnycruiser Posted July 24 #19 Share Posted July 24 We did our first cruise on Silversea in 2013. It was the final segment of the WC from Capetown to Ft. Lauderdale. We enjoyed meeting people from unbelievable different cultures. I can’t begin to tell you how nice the people were. You’ll gain a whole new perspective. Next year we’re doing 2 segments on the WC from Capetown to Southampton 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare drron29 Posted July 25 #20 Share Posted July 25 (edited) We did a West African cruise on the Explorer in 2013.We got off in accra though. But We thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful people. And a great moment in Accra. We had a late flight out so organised a van and driver to take 6 of us on a tour of accra and then on to the airport. On entering I realised I had left my computer bag in the van. I went back outside thinking I had seen the last of that computer. But there was the driver with my computer bag waiting to give it back. As I said beautiful people. Edited July 25 by drron29 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Fletcher Posted August 9 #21 Share Posted August 9 For those wondering about a West Africa cruise with Silversea I've just put my photos into a dedicated album on Flickr: 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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