Southampton-Montreal Sept 12??

Did anyone review this cruise this year? I saw there was a thread on the Roll Call board. There was a review for the cruise immediately after this one that hammered food and entertainment. We're thinking of doing this itinerary in Sept 14, so if anyone wants to share their experience (including weather, seas, Ports-o-Call, etc) I would be most grateful.:)

Greg

Hi, Gregg. We got on in Montreal. The folks who came across with the Whisper had lousy weather and lots of sea.

good morning Gregg. We had friends on board who were Silversea first timers. They said they enjoyed the Cruise but were critical of the Food choice. The weather was dreadful with very heavy Seas which resulted in a couple of missed Ports. They felt the ship was unable to cope with so many Guests being confined indoors for long periods ( this could be said for most Ships ). They are however used to larger Ships and this may have been a factor.

This particular Cruise is subject to very changeable weather at the time of the year on this routing so be prepared. Hope this helps in your decision.

Au contrarie! IMHO the food on the Whisper has improved greatly!

We had some friends who were on for a month starting in Southampton. We got together with them when they were docked in Boston. As Mayflower1 mentioned, a few ports were skipped due to high seas. They did mention it was exceptionally rough (20' swells) and for about 3 days most passengers stayed in their cabins. Keep in mind this cruise went to Ireland, Scotland, across to Iceland, on to Greenland etc. Not exactly calm seas from Scotland to Greenland...it was definitely a tough crossing.

Good morning Duct tape - Comments on food are of course very personal and seldom objective. In the case I was submitting, our Friends had no experience of Silversea cuisine and therefore they would not have known if their particular Cruise was better or worse than the norm.

In my opinion, knowing your own take on quality, I would suggest that your comments indicate that all was very satisfactory on your Segment.

I infer from remarks on a previous Post that you are confined to shore for the next few months - we wish you well and hope to catch up with you again before too long.

Thanx. Our first winter at home in years! I fear frostbite. Keep cruising.

Well, we have booked this cruise. We just completed a WONDERFUL cruise Vancouver to Tokyo (through the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea) in September on Silver Shadow. There were several days of rough seas but still a great cruise (and good weather in all the ports, though it did drizzle in Skagway). Our food and entertainment experience on Shadow was fabulous; though, I would never do La Champagne again on any SS ship. It was OK but not worth the money IMHO. I just hope the weather is good enough to hit the Iceland and Greenland ports.

Greg

Greg,

We nearly booked this cruise before getting off the Shadow, but the cruise consultant never bothered to get back to us... Also found this cruise quite pricey for a crossing. We may be looking at Seabourn for a change in 2014. Regards from snowy Salzburg!

Good morning Gregg - So pleased to hear that you have decided to Book the Crossing - at least you have had some views on the possible Sea/Weather conditions - it may also be very calm & sunny. We in the UK are so used to changeable weather !!!. In any event we wish you a fabulous time.

My wife and I were first-time Silversea cruisers on the Southampton to Montreal cruise this year. We loved it, and certainly will consider more Silversea cruises. This will be a fairly short critique. Embarkation went very smoothly despite some confusion about the time to board. Service at dinner was a tad slow for the first two nights (some veteran Silversea cruisers weren't happy), but then the service was as sparkling as I expected. The food started off very good, and then consistently improved. It was certainly the best cruise food we've had. We enjoyed the Italian restaurant as well as the outdoor grill.

The weather presented a few challenges. We waited most of an extra day in Belfast to wait out a storm the captain described as the equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane. We had to skip a stop in Scotland and slogging in the wake of the storm took an extra day before we got to Iceland. The shore excursion desk was terrific in helping us schedule a backup trip in case our private tour operator couldn't accommodate us a day later than planned. (Thank you, Col. Wes for the Great Circle Tour link for Iceland.) When we found the private operator could take us, the Shore desk canceled our "backup" tour so we didn't have to pay twice. This was typical of the service throughout the ship.

Our day in the Prince Christian Sund in Greenland may have been the best day of the trip. The sun finally came out and we spent about 7 or 8 hours slowly traveling through icebergs and next to some beautiful glaciers. There's nothing quite as decadent as sipping hot chocolate in our room while taking pictures on our balcony.

Because of the storm, we had to skip our stop in L'Anse Aux Meadows in Canada in order to catch up with the other Canadian tours. Overall, we thought the tours sponsored through the ship were first class. The tour operators were considerate, and always aware of time constraints to get us back to the ship on time.

We had at least 5 Cruise Critic members on board, but we didn't meet them, as we know of. I really wish we could have had a Meet and Mingle, but we were one short of the requirement.

Overall, this was a spectacular experience that we would recommend wholeheartedly.

Emerilprm, thank you for an outstanding Southampton to Montreal voyage summary.

Your very welcome re:Great Circle tour--we loved/love Iceland--what stunning geographical beauty--such diversity.

We have been on this cruise this year. Despite of the weather it was a fantastic cruise and we have been never disappointed by Silverseas. We like crossings and know that weather can be an issue, but on this cruise we were not affected personally at all. Food was great, although I admit, that Food is more of personal taste.

Thanks everyone for your observations. Was the Grand Circle Tour a ship's tour in Iceland? or privately arranged? If private, Wes or Emerilprm, could you please share POC?

The itinerary this September is a bit different; no Scottish stop and three stops in Ireland (Cork was added to Dublin and Belfast). Did the ship run a tour to "The Giant's Causeway" out of Belfast or is that too far?

We're going a couple of weeks early; flying directly into Edinburgh to see the Royal Tattoo and then touring Scotland and England as we motor to Southampton. Friends of ours said there is a GREAT Titanic Museum in Southampton; so, I think that is on our list.

MJN1, wanted to let you know we had a great time in Japan. Caught the Festival of the Portable Shrines and Takio Drum shows the day we disembarked and our day in Hakone was great, even though it drizzled all day.

Again, thanks for everyone's comments. Would love to hear more about what sights/excursions you favored in the various ports.

Greg

We used this link http://www.igtours.is/eng/catalog/tour76.html because, at the time, Silversea was not offering a grand tour of Iceland. When we boarded, we found the ship did offer such a tour. I think it filled up quickly. All the passengers on the private and ship's version seemed to love that Grand Circle Tour. (I think both tours offered the same basic stops, with some slight variations.) the private tour was great, and the tour operator changed things slightly to make sure the 6 Whisper passengers arrived with time to spare.

The Giant's Causeway was offered as a tour from Belfast. Passengers who took it seemed very happy. In Belfast, we toured the Titanic Museum, which we enjoyed thoroughly. Before we boarded in Southampton, we had a private tour of the area and saw several monuments and sites related to the Titanic, but we didn't know about a Titanic museum there.

Possibly our favorite tour was a private home tour (arranged through the ship) in Qaqortoq, Greenland. The hostess was quite charming and very willing to talk about everyday life there. She served coffee, tea, and cakes while showing off many of the costumes and boots used in ceremonies such as her own wedding.

Our favorite city was Quebec City. It was delightful, and I wish we had had another day there. We took a city tour that included Montmorency Falls, which is well worth the effort, in our opinion. Make sure you're on deck if you sail out at sunset. Going under a bridge with a real history was a lot of fun, and made for some great photos. That city is even more beautiful at sunset than during a sunny day.

We hope this helps. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

We are booked on the Sept 2014 Southampton to Montreal to Boston back to back, and it should be terrific! The seas are always unpredictable, but I predict that they will be just great! Emerilprm, your description of watching the icebergs while sipping the hot chocolate has me dreaming happily!

We did the Iceland Great Circle tour in 2011 on the Cloud, on a tour then offered by SS, and it was terrific! I hope that they offer it again, otherwise use a private tour as my friend Wes did this year. Those sights are not to be missed.

Folks,

I've misspoke. The "Titanic Experience" I was talking about is in Cobh Ireland not Southampton. Mea Culpa:o. The Titanic Experience is fairly new and includes the last photos of the interior of the Titanic (some of the passengers who sailed from Southampton got off in Cobh), and mock ups of Steerage, 2nd Class and 1st Class cabins. When you enter you get a ticket like a passenger ticket that includes the name of a real Titanic passenger. At the end of the tour you get to see if you survived or not.:eek: The museum in Belfast is also wonderful (as stated E.merilprm).

Dieter look forward to sailing with you. Again, my apologies for my error.

Greg