Sailing Sillhoette 16 August Baltic—have questions? Just ask

[cruisestitch]

I forgot to do one of these Q&A on the previous cruise, which was Iceland Scotland, but now I am continuing onto the Baltic ? Any questions, just ask.

[Texed]

3 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I forgot to do one of these Q&A on the previous cruise, which was Iceland Scotland, but now I am continuing onto the Baltic ? Any questions, just ask.

 

Have a wonderful cruise. 😊

[cruisestitch]

Enjoying the waffles!🧇🧇🧇

[cruisestitch]

I’m going to post this in a couple of places because I think the information is worth sharing. On this Baltic itinerary because we never leave the EU, all purchases in the gift shops are subject to VAT. And also the liquor store and cigarette outlet are closed for the entire cruise. 

[hcat]

any info abt specialty  venues would be appreciated.. we are booked for Dec and have res at  a few.. thanks

enjoy!

 

VAT situation not ideal!  

[barneyboy]

17 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I’m going to post this in a couple of places because I think the information is worth sharing. On this Baltic itinerary because we never leave the EU, all purchases in the gift shops are subject to VAT. And also the liquor store and cigarette outlet are closed for the entire cruise. 

Does your cruise not visit Norway as that’s not in the EU?

[jwlane]

Lennusadam in Tallinn.

[jwlane]

2 minutes ago, barneyboy said:

Does your cruise not visit Norway as that’s not in the EU?

Don't think Norway is considered the Baltic.

[barneyboy]

1 minute ago, jwlane said:

Don't think Norway is considered the Baltic.

You’re right!  I thought our cruise on Silhouette last year which visited Oslo was a Baltic cruise but I just checked and it was called Best of Scandinavia - although it also visited Tallinn!

[jwlane]

31 minutes ago, barneyboy said:

 it also visited Tallinn!

Which I kinda think is the Best of the Baltic.

[cruisestitch]

6 hours ago, barneyboy said:

Does your cruise not visit Norway as that’s not in the EU?

It does not visit Norway.

[cruisestitch]

10 hours ago, hcat said:

any info abt specialty  venues would be appreciated.. we are booked for Dec and have res at  a few.. thanks

enjoy!

 

VAT situation not ideal!  

I have eaten recently in Tuscan and Lawn Club and enjoyed them both

 

haven’t been to Murano in many years

 

never been to Petite Chef, Porch or Sushi on 5

 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I have eaten recently in Tuscan and Lawn Club and enjoyed them both

 

haven’t been to Murano in many years

 

never been to Petite Chef, Porch or Sushi on 5

 

 Thanks. Glad you enjoyed Tuscan and Lawn Grill.

 

I think we have Tuscan , Lawn Club and Murano booked... and will try Sushi on 5 for lunch (limited nenu esp with my husb's  lobster allergy).

 

We liked the porch when it first opened..  had a fresh made brunch menu..but now it is  pricey and offers  completely diff menu.  Sometimes there was too much sun put there..But have not been on Silhouette in yrs!

 

No interest in LPC.. we much preferred Q sine.

Enjoy!

[alfiemom]

Are you in Retreat or where us normal folks reside?  Are there footstools on balconies?  We’re on a hump for the TA.

[cruisestitch]

No balcony for me….i will ask around about footstools

[SSAtlantic]

We have not been on a fully revolutionized S class ship. Do the non suite cabins have the over the bed storage area?

[cruisestitch]

The handicap access rooms do not, but as far as I know the others all do.  Friends are sailing in concierge, state rooms, and in regular veranda and they have the bed-over storage in their rooms

[whitbob]

We are also on Silhouette now.  In an AQ room and the compartment is still over the bed for storage with 2 flip up doors.  All of the fixed furniture is about the same as pre-revolution so no change in storage that I can see.   The room looks fresh, with new carpet, curtains and leatherette finish on the bench/couch.
 

 

[Milhouse]

On 8/16/2024 at 2:01 AM, cruisestitch said:

I forgot to do one of these Q&A on the previous cruise, which was Iceland Scotland, but now I am continuing onto the Baltic ? Any questions, just ask.

IIRC, I think your sailing was fairly full.  We're jumping on Silhouette next week.  

Wondering how busy/crowded you're finding the public areas and theatre?

 

12 hours ago, whitbob said:

We are also on Silhouette now.  In an AQ room

IIRC, you'll be staying on for the next sailing too which we'll be on.

If you've been eating in Blu, I'd enjoy hearing about any dishes you thought were particularly good as it'll be our first time in AQ/Blu.  And a similar question to the above:  How are you finding wait times for a table in Blu?

[cruisestitch]

We had cloudy and cool weather all of the last cruise and so everyone was forced inside and places like café Al Bacio felt crowded most of the day

 

with sunny and pleasant weather yesterday people spread out further, and the improvement was noticeable.

 

As to the theater, you can always get a seat

 

there have been a couple of pop-up shows in the atrium. Stephen Berry packed the house and people were standing on the overlooks as high as deck seven. A couple of nights ago we had a German Oompa band and they were fabulous. Again, people were crowding all of the overlooks to enjoy them. 

 

[cruisestitch]

I nearly forgot to mention that in addition to the cool weather, a primary cause of crowding on the last cruise, and to a lesser extent this one, was that park west, for FIVE Cruises in a row, has taken over the sky lounge every sea day.  For the whole day.  They even had their breakfast and lunches there for their list of invited guests. You can tell that we aren’t on US soil because they were able to set up a buffet carpet surface wouldn’t be allowed by US public health.  Activities like trivia had to be moved to ensemble, and it meant that there was a distinct lack of places for people to go to read, play cards, or just hang out.  So that definitely contributes to the feeling of being more crowded elsewhere.

[whitbob]

2 hours ago, Milhouse said:

IIRC, I think your sailing was fairly full.  We're jumping on Silhouette next week.  

Wondering how busy/crowded you're finding the public areas and theatre?

 

IIRC, you'll be staying on for the next sailing too which we'll be on.

If you've been eating in Blu, I'd enjoy hearing about any dishes you thought were particularly good as it'll be our first time in AQ/Blu.  And a similar question to the above:  How are you finding wait times for a table in Blu?

We have eaten in Blu 3 nights so far and never had to wait.  We have been arriving in the 6:45 to 7ish range.  Table for 2 and have been seated in the window section.  Actually none of the evenings have been close to full at that time, so there is either a large number dining at 5:30 and they have reset the tables,  or very late.  Hoping this doesn’t change for next cruise.  
 

We like the starters in Blu and have enjoyed the scallop, red pepper soup, beet and a spinach salad.  The dips with the bread basket are usually tasty and varied. The filet was good, but DH eats his well done, so they butterfly and it is a bit of a hockey puck.  He loves it, but if you order it less cooked it comes out taller and looking like a real petit filet.  The chicken dishes have been good.  The service seems to be running faster than we remember.  It could be why it isn’t crowded.  You could easily get in and out in under an hour or less. 
 

Hope to see you in Blu, safe travels.

[Cruiscs]

2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

I nearly forgot to mention that in addition to the cool weather, a primary cause of crowding on the last cruise, and to a lesser extent this one, was that park west, for FIVE Cruises in a row, has taken over the sky lounge every sea day.  For the whole day.  They even had their breakfast and lunches there for their list of invited guests. You can tell that we aren’t on US soil because they were able to set up a buffet carpet surface wouldn’t be allowed by US public health.  Activities like trivia had to be moved to ensemble, and it meant that there was a distinct lack of places for people to go to read, play cards, or just hang out.  So that definitely contributes to the feeling of being more crowded elsewhere.

This is horrible. This place should be used by all paying guests 

[cruisestitch]

Parkwest paid a large sum of money 💰💰💰for the exclusive use of that room, but it is a pain and I wish they hadn’t.

[Cruiscs]

4 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Parkwest paid a large sum of money 💰💰💰for the exclusive use of that room, but it is a pain and I wish they hadn’t.

I hope this is not the case on september 20th. We have 3 sea days on that cruise