Any Silver Cloud reviews in Med.inc.Barcelona

other ports are Ibiza,Monaco,Corsica,Portifino,Rome.Booked for next June 27 2016 and will be a first time Silversea cruiser.

Read a few negative Cloud reviews and little concerned.

 

Do they have referral credits for first timers ,,like some lines?

 

Any recent cruisers please give your opinions.Thanks in advance.How was your cabin,dining,shore excursions,etc??:confused:

Edited February 10, 2015 by alexandra cruiser

other ports are Ibiza,Monaco,Corsica,Portifino,Rome.Booked for next June 27 2016 and will be a first time Silversea cruiser.

Read a few negative Cloud reviews and little concerned.

 

Do they have referral credits for first timers ,,like some lines?

 

Any recent cruisers please give your opinions.Thanks in advance.How was your cabin,dining,shore excursions,etc??:confused:

 

In response to your three questions:

 

Don't worry about it. The Cloud isn't perfect. But you should have a very good time if not an excellent time.

 

I don't know.

 

Cabin and dining - quite nice. We almost never take shore excursions in the Med but the one we did in Kusadasi was excellent. When we have taken excursions on other cruises they are generally good to very good.

 

I have two pictorial reviews from the Cloud from August and October - though admittedly, they are much more about the ports of call than the ship itself. But there might be enough information in them to give you an idea about what to expect on board.

 

Above all, please don't spend the next 16 months worrying.

We're booked on the Cloud for 24 days from Fort Lauderdale to Athens in March and looking forward to it. We have been sailing with Silverseas since the mid 1990's and there have been many changes, some positive and some negative. Still a great cruise line and all the negatives are similar to those you'll find on other lines. Unfortunately, for a line to stay in business and be competitive, they need to cut costs, especially one that started with two ships and now has 8. Enjoy your cruise.

Don't worry about it. The Cloud isn't perfect. But you should have a very good time if not an excellent time. please don't spend the next 16 months worrying.

 

Excellent summary above by JP. We are on board the Silver Cloud now. Yes, there are a few "things" to pick at, but overall, it has been a very, very good experience. The crew, fellow passengers and sights have been wonderful. I have been surprised, after reading earlier complaints on these CC boards, that the food has been as good and varied as what we have so enjoyed. There have been a few times when we either made a bad choice and/or there was a slip-up. BUT, no suffering and/or dire conditions. Many more details and visuals are being shared via my live/blog.

 

We had been a little "worried" based on what we read earlier, but we have booked an early Feb. 2016 South Africa/Cape Town, 10-day cruise on the Silver Cloud. The deck areas and some other "things" will be fixed this fall when this ship has an 18-day dry dock.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo back-to-back sailing over 26 days on the Silversea Silver Cloud, here is the link below to that series of posts on my live/blog. Lots of great visuals from the first three Caribbean Islands, along the Amazon River, plus many food pictures, etc. Much more to come. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Already at nearly 9,000 views, so far for these postings.

have gone thru them and really learned a lot.

Terry, did ask some questions on yours.

Will continue to follow them.

 

I booked the air package(first for me) and hope that works out.Didnt want to have to spend extra pre and post nites,so figure cruiseline could get me there in time.Upgraded to Business.Anyone have opinions,complaints,etc.about this service?

 

Any suggestions for these ports?Will look under CC for info too.

Corsica,Sardinina,Ibiza,Palma Majorica,??

I booked the air package(first for me) and hope that works out.Didnt want to have to spend extra pre and post nites,so figure cruiseline could get me there in time.Upgraded to Business.Anyone have opinions,complaints,etc.about this service?

 

Any suggestions for these ports?Will look under CC for info too.

Corsica,Sardinina,Ibiza,Palma Majorica,??

 

No experience with SS air; by the time we were able to afford Silversea, we were experienced with booking our own air and we usually prefer this. Sometimes I check their prices but have never used them. IME business class for Europe is worth it; getting the chance to relax and possibly sleep on the flight over adds extra day(s) to your vacation because you're not completely exhausted for the first few days. Plus, the lounge access, priority lanes at (some) airports for passport control and for security - makes for a much more pleasant experience. So enjoy it.

 

We visited Ajaccio years ago and it was OK; their big tourist attraction is Napoleon stuff (the person, not the pastry) which didn't excite us that much. I think we just wandered the town for a few hours and bought some souvenirs for gifts.

 

Palma - we stopped there years ago on our first Europe cruise with Oceania. There was an excursion to a "pearl" factory which was blah, but the second part of the excursion, which visited a country home and a castle/fortress outside of town that had great views. The countryside is pretty.

 

We had much more fun a few years ago in Menorca, where we rented a car and struck out on our own. Never visited Ibiza or Sardinia but they look nice.

we have used the air package once and SS got us a great price for biz class on iberia from mia.

we also used SS for our trip to alaska to board the discoverer. that was not a good experience, there were way too many connections and too many different airlines. we booked economy and then ended up upgrading on our own once i saw the length of the flights. i do not recommend ever doing that. we ended up with a nightmare of lost bookings, etc.

i have asked for quotes with SS for other SS cruises, but the quotes have been higher than what i could do on my own, or too weird in terms of connections. i have learned that anything thru CDG requires additional time to get from point a to point b, and that the gates close 15 minutes before departure. even if you make it to the gate and the plane is there, you won't get on it and will need another connection. i do try and avoid CDG if i can due to that experience and a wealth of others including being marooned there overnight.

i still ask SS, but usually just go with my own arrangements. i try to use miles whenever i can or some combo of money and miles.

i agree with JP, if you can afford the upgrade, its a better experience in terms of arriving refreshed. as my husband is well over 6 feet 4 inches tall, he cannot travel long distances with little legroom. even the flatbed seats are too short for him. try traveling with a grumpy giant, it is not fun.

lets face it, air travel can be a challenge for everyone. we now try and arrive a day before the cruise ship departs so we can recuperate from the flights and connections, accommodate for delays, and sleep, acclimate and wash the plane germs off. after all it is a vacation, and you have just survived a travel marathon!

i haven't been to the islands you are going to, but it sounds wonderful. please share your experiences with the CC members.

but most of all enjoy it!

but booked this over a yr.in advance and prefer not to PAY for air so far in advance,this way can put it off.

Also, flying home from Rome on same day we disembark and prefer no hassle to get there from port.

With Business I HOPE flights not too bad.Checked on own and these from SS where cheaper.

 

Also, need to look at shore exc.offered,but having a hard time on SS website.Find ports but not able to see excursions ,will have to check again(know its far in advance,but have similar port exc.for this yr.).Any ideas what I m doing wrong,or will have to call.

At the top of their home page, "Going Ashore & Flights" then "Excursions"

 

Once you're at that page, go near the bottom, "Click here to find a port" and that will take you to a list of every port they visit. Search by first letter, find your port of interest, and click it. That will take you to an overview of the port; there will be a tab for "Excursions" which will show you a list of available excursions.

 

As your cruise gets closer, you can access this information directly from the page with your itinerary. But not yet for June 2016.

We have found that SS air is cheaper on one way flights than anything we can get ourselves even with non-refundable fares. We also like the fact that if we have to cancel the trip, we can cancel the flights with no big penalty.

 

There is also some security in knowing that should there be any delay on the flight inbound, Silversea will get us to the ship wherever it is and on the return, they will get us on a flight home.

We were looking at a one way fare from Athens to Phoenix of over $3000. Silversea came through with a $1200 fare including the trip from Phoenix to Ft Lauderdale. We also found that when we didn't like the connections, they changed them for us with no problems.

Emtbsam brings up some important points to consider about the SS air service. The transfers to the ship, the guarantee they will get you to the ship if there are travel problems, and the fact that the fare may be lower than a pax could get on their own.

There is also some security in knowing that should there be any delay on the flight inbound, Silversea will get us to the ship wherever it is and on the return, they will get us on a flight home.

 

Emtbsam brings up some important points to consider about the SS air service. The transfers to the ship, the guarantee they will get you to the ship if there are travel problems, and the fact that the fare may be lower than a pax could get on their own.

I seriously beg to differ.

 

In fact, I would like for someone to show me where these "guarantees" are explicitly stated. A starting point might be the actual terms and conditions that SS has, which can be found HERE.

 

Perhaps this paragraph may be illuminating:

Silversea makes arrangements for transportation, other than ocean passage, only as a booking agent. Silversea’s responsibility does not extend beyond the vessel. In arranging for the transportation of guests to and from the ship, Silversea does so with independent contractors. Silversea is not responsible for incidents such as airline cancellations, re-routings or any disruption of scheduled services or accommodation, or lost luggage.

In addition, they specifically state:

Airfares negotiated by Silversea limit your ability to exchange, endorse or make changes to air tickets. Silversea reserves the right to select the air carrier, routing and layover city if necessary and reserves the right to substitute charter flights for scheduled service and scheduled service for charter flights..... In providing air arrangements, Silversea acts only as an agent on the guest’s behalf and does not operate, control or supervise any airline and will not be held responsible for carriers failing to meet schedules whether or not air schedules/tickets were issued by Silversea.

You are buying bulk/negotiated/consolidator tickets, which are extremely restricted. You have no "guarantee". Perhaps SS will work to help get you rebooked, but the fact that you have heavily restricted tickets may make it difficult or impossible for you to reach the ship in time.

 

Yes, you can get transfers. Yes, it simplifies travel planning. But please note that you are NOT buying what you would get from the airline directly, but are buying a much different product.

 

For some reason the "Cruiseline will get me to the ship and take care of me" myth lives on and on, even when no one can show evidence in writing of its existence. Cruising's version of the Loch Ness Monster or Yeti.

At the top of their home page, "Going Ashore & Flights" then "Excursions"

 

Once you're at that page, go near the bottom, "Click here to find a port" and that will take you to a list of every port they visit. Search by first letter, find your port of interest, and click it. That will take you to an overview of the port; there will be a tab for "Excursions" which will show you a list of available excursions.

 

As your cruise gets closer, you can access this information directly from the page with your itinerary. But not yet for June 2016.

 

that really helped now I can get an idea of what shore exc.are available.Love to get guidebooks, look at tourist info online,etc.even a yr. in advance to get some idea of what to look forward to.On many stops we do it on own, others we use cruise exc.Do they offer any deals if you book a certain number of them?

 

Flyer talker,thanks for reminding us of the fine print for cruise air.Trying it this time and will see how it goes(just for financial reasons,hate to tie up money so far in advance).Have had few times when booked on own and STILL had major [problems .Better than walking,but always some risk involved.You gave me good tips in past for flights to Vietnam.