Silver Whisper, 2 questions

1.As far as I can ascertain, The WC/ Silver Whisper continues to sail into Mombasa. Does anyone have different information?

2.Would recent Whisper sailors comment on the entertainment venues.

Any other notes on enrichment, etc would also be appreciated.

With thanks in advance, Paula

As far as I can ascertain, The WC/ Silver Whisper continues to sail into Mombasa. Does anyone have different information?

While I cannot speak to Paula's question about the entertainment on the Silver Whisper, I can offer some insights for her interests regarding this Silversea ship sailing into Mombasa in and around March 22-23, 2015.

Why, what and how? I have several key sources of information.

First, we had booked and was looking forward to doing this March 23-April 5, 2015, Silver Whisper sailing from Mombasa to Cape Town cruise. As my skilled travel agent probed and pushed, the direct and indirect information from Silversea regarding Mombasa was that "everything is still on and scheduled". True! But for Crystal on their 2015 World Cruise, they are skipping a stop at Mombasa. They sail pretty much straight (with a couple of exotic island stops) to Madagascar from Perth, Australia. No stops in Kenya or Tanzania for Crystal!!?? That does not make Crystal right and Silversea wrong. Just two different approaches. If, there are any serious issues as we get closer to the sailing date in March, Silversea is ready to make needed schedule adjustment to insure safety. But, however, it is not clear how any potential logistical changes would be done, the logistics solved and at whose costs or inconvenience. Yes, we have insurance, but this coverage gets a little fuzzy for what is covered under certain circumstances.

Second, I have a very good expert with many decades of experience in Kenya who has a son and family now based there in a high-ranking position in Nairobi. Her summary is that there are "issues" and questions in Mombasa, but these are more about local economics/politics. It is not as much about the bigger battles of Somalia and these neighboring/area terrorist threats. Our plan would have been to do a safari time south of Nairobi at Masai Mara, then fly directly on March 23 from the Kenya capital to Mombasa. We wanted to minimize our time in Mombasa to lessen any safety risks there.

NOW??

We have shifted from doing this Mombasa to Cape Town sailing in 2015 to a Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Silver Cloud Amazon River-Caribbean combo back-to-back sailing over 26 days. The main reason was NOT the questions over Mombasa and getting on the Silver Whisper at this Kenya port. I believe that it is 97% likely to happen for SS at this location. It was more my wife's concerns about the bigger picture of Ebola and other health questions in Africa, plus a little on other safety questions for certain parts of Kenya. We hope to do some type of similar plan in Africa in 2016 once the health/safety issues might be more settled down. Hopefully!!

Look forward to seeing what Silversea and other cruise lines will offer in 2016 for these types of cruise experiences. Good luck on your 2015 Mombasa to Cape Town sailing. Look forward to hearing more details for how things work out in 2015.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Back from doing a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 76,804 views for this fun posting.

2.Would recent Whisper sailors comment on the entertainment venues.

Any other notes on enrichment, etc would also be appreciated.

 

With thanks in advance, Paula

If you mean the actual venues, then there is a theatre on deck 6 with is used for shows and lectures. There is usually a piano and singer duo in the main bar, and a piano in the panorama bar.

With regard to the entertainment itself, the Artists of Silversea will have finished their contract towards the end of the year and will be replaced by as yet unannounced new shows. There are usually one or two solo artists onboard depending on the length of a voyage.