Review of Silver Dawn - Norway. August 02-12, 2024

[jeffbenton561]

On 8/26/2024 at 12:26 PM, spinnaker2 said:

Is that the same Lake Dunmore with Camp Keewaydin????

Yes it is one and the same Lake Dunmore. I married into it so only been going for 45 years but my wife has gone her whole life. If you know the area we hiked to Lana Falls yesterday

 

Our house is a sand wedge across the north bay from the camp.

Edited August 28 by jeffbenton561
added to it

[jeffbenton561]

Yes it is one and the same Lake Dunmore. I married into it so only been going for 45 years but my wife has gone her whole life

 

Our house is a sand wedge across the north bay from the camp. 

[spinnaker2]

15 hours ago, jeffbenton561 said:

Yes it is one and the same Lake Dunmore. I married into it so only been going for 45 years but my wife has gone her whole life

 

Our house is a sand wedge across the north bay from the camp. 

Thanks Keewaydin is amazing. 

[tvl4life]

Thanks so much for the great review!  We are doing this trip next summer and look forward to it.  Quick question about the excursions, if you have time.  Did you find much of a selection.  In looking at choices for next year there are few options, in some cases only two per port included, and not that much more for the extras.  Did you find that more options became available later?  Also, it seems very odd that every single excursion, both included and paid, list the exact same time as the ship's arrival at port.  We hope this in an error!  

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, tvl4life said:

Thanks so much for the great review!  We are doing this trip next summer and look forward to it.  Quick question about the excursions, if you have time.  Did you find much of a selection.  In looking at choices for next year there are few options, in some cases only two per port included, and not that much more for the extras.  Did you find that more options became available later?  Also, it seems very odd that every single excursion, both included and paid, list the exact same time as the ship's arrival at port.  We hope this in an error!  

The times will change closer to the departure date. For popular tours there will be a number of different departure times. However, for my cruise I don't think there were really any new excursions added later, just more departures of the same excursions. The only exception was, of course, where they changed the port.

[goldengatecruisers]

tvl4life we found plenty of choice from the selections offered.   We had some included excursions and some paid excursions in our final booked set of excursions.   I would not be surprised if you see more being added so keep checking back on the website.   It is possible the excursions for your particular voyage are still in negotiation, ie with local vendors, timing, numbers etc.   I am sure you will be pleased with what is offered to you and will provide enough choice for you to select something worthwhile.   We are doing a similar Norway cruise next year on Silversea and we plan to do different excursions for the ports we will repeat (not all the ports are identical to the cruise we recently completed).

[gnome12]

Just book any excursions right away. Then, if they change from included to select you will be grandfathered in (unless there is a major change to the itinerary - at SS's discretion of course). You can always adjust them later. You don't pay for any extra cost excursions until just before the excursion departs.

[jeffbenton561]

On 8/29/2024 at 9:22 AM, spinnaker2 said:

Thanks Keewaydin is amazing. 

Keewaydin truly is. Given we spent summers on lake my son never wanted to go. But it is a very special place

[tvl4life]

Thanks for the responses!  We'll keep an eye on the excursions, appreciate the input!

 

 

[christraveller]

One of the joys of Silversea is that longer cruises are such a good option. The slower gentler pace, the sea days where Trivia comes into its own, the ability to overlook last night’s (enter an iffy entree) in favour of tonight’s (enter different entree), and getting to know staff and fellow guests….

 

It’s more of a village than a ride to be steeped in at another port for a few hours. Given a daily choice between admiring  another  cathedral, city hall, flower market, Roman ruin, hopeless cheap trinkets made for that market an ocean or two away, on one hand, or the glacier view, salmon run, fir tree 34,826, and hopeless cheap trinkets made for that market an ocean or two away, on the other, being in a village is actually more fun. 

[RDAJ23]

Thank you for your review!  We leave on the Oct 3 sailing and we are hoping to see the Northern Lights.  Did you see them and if so where?

 

Thank you again!

[goldengatecruisers]

RDSJ23; my understanding is for a Norway cruise you would only see Northern Lights in the winter months of the year.   We did not see them on our Norway cruise in August as the sun barely sets.   However, I have seen them in Norway while enjoying their famous coastal cruise on Hurtigruten in the dead of winter and they were spectacular.  I am not sure if your October sailing provides optimum opportunity to experience them.  Perhaps you will have some luck and can report back to all of us here.   

[Dolcevita Diva]

On 8/15/2024 at 10:45 AM, goldengatecruisers said:

There are some features that I absolutely love on Nova such as the pool deck, open deck space with various seating areas, the Dusk bar and the Marquee restaurant. But there are also areas that are not so appealing to me.  Personally, I do not care for the position of the Arts Cafe on Nova and as a result I only went a handful of times, whereas I visited every day on Dawn as I really enjoy a coffee sitting out on the back deck enjoying the fresh air. I loved the newness of Nova and the accommodations were really top notch. I stayed in a Silver suite on Nova.  

@goldengatecruisers Ashley, Great review of the Dawn in Norway. I recently returned from the August 16-Sept. 5th voyage and was thinking about what I liked on the Dawn vs. the Nova.  Your points noted above are exactly the same as my thoughts.  Ultimately, I really like both ships and think the itinerary would have a big influence on which I would choose for a specific voyage  - the Nova does not seem as well-suited for colder climate itineraries due to the Marquee. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bobreg]

On 9/8/2024 at 9:52 PM, RDAJ23 said:

Thank you for your review!  We leave on the Oct 3 sailing and we are hoping to see the Northern Lights.  Did you see them and if so where?

 

Thank you again!

Hi.

We did the fjord cruise back in 2014 in June which means it is almost always sunshine. But we went to Yellowknife Northwest Territories, Canada (62 degrees latitude north which is between Norway cities of Bergen and Stavenger) in mid September and saw amazing aurora borealis. The point is that it is after sunset when it is dark. Since the equinox of fall is September 21 (equal sunshine and darkness) the sun should set at about the same time it rises in the morning beginning of October (even earlier). Given the sun activities lately that gave Northern lights farther south this summer, my 2 cent's prediction is that you should see them a few hours after sunset.

I whish you see a lot of them and enjoy the scenery, because it is amazing.

Have fun.