turtlemichael

Darwin is a real "frontier" town. Hope you enjoyed it.

This thread started advising of staff terminations in Australia. Our TA, a very experienced one operating solely in the luxury market, has now got experience of the new arrangements. 

We are having to change an upcoming cruise (final payment is due in a couple of weeks) for personal reasons. We know exactly what we want to do and the TA knows too. The agent now has to contact the call centre in the Philippines rather than the Sydney Office.

The problem our TA has had is twofold:  understanding what the call centre agent is actually saying because of strong accents and secondly, getting on to an agent who has even a basic understanding of how Silversea works.

In the end the agent abandoned the call and tried again. Same issues. It was eventually resolved when the agent got onto a personal contact elsewhere in the Silversea system.

If this is the future, we will all have a problem when our queries go beyond the most basic of issues.

21 minutes ago, Emdee said:

Except if you are looking to take kids and grandkids on a family cruise during the holidays.

Once when we were on Paul Gauguin, which was then part of Regent, well heeled grandparents brought their entire clan of 40 plus kids and grandkids. This is quite common in rccl and celebrity to celebrity milestone birthdays etc. 

I'd think that if I had the desire and the finances to take 40+kids and grandkids on a cruise I wouldn't be too worried whether a free bag of laundry was part of the deal. I agree with drron29, this will largely be one way traffic.

6 hours ago, alainciao said:

 Never met anyone who wasn’t loving the cruise.  Little nitpicks?  Of course.

We have an upcoming Nova cruise. In this day and age, it is always good to see an experienced cruiser who is happy with their vacation.

11 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Crystal? 

Crystal has two ships. Even if they expand there should still be plenty of opportunities in the market if Silversea, Seabourn and Regent vacate the field. 

4 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Not as luxury.  They will all be starved down to premium level.

Yes, sorry, I was assuming that is what you meant. If you are correct and if the market is as strong as we tend to believe on these boards, there might be some good opportunities for an enterprising business out there.

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Read the industry news articles about NCL:  their CEO is crowing about all the ways they are finding to cut costs and boost passenger revenue.  [I don't care about Norwegian, but they own Oceania and Regent.]  No luxury line can survive if owned by a mega-cruise conglomerate.

So, of the three that most people would have regarded as luxury, Seabourn, Regent and Silversea, none will survive in your view? 

So was Barbara, who has pulled off a gig as CEO of Kempinski, actually retrenched and replaced by someone cheaper from within the organization? Hmmm.

13 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Today we have mice

 

Shhh. Keep it to yourself or everyone will want some.

7 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Tonight I found myself looking for the best version on Youtube that I could find of “Summertime” which is of course sublime and goes well with smoke salmon sandwiches and cold wine.

 

Out of interest does anyone else have musicality associations?

 

Jeff

Funny you should say that. An amazing coincidence. Last night partner and I saw the final of five Australian concerts by Broadway superstar Audra McDonald at Hamer Hall in Melbourne. Audra McDonald, I am sure many of the erudite people who hang out here will know, has won more performance Tonys than any other person. She is simply an amazing performer and entertainer with the near perfect soprano voice. Our conclusion was that it was the best concert we had ever seen. Audra starred in the 2012 Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess (and got the Tony for Best Actress of course!). So, inevitably and thankfully, last night she sang Summertime, but with no microphone or amplification to a packed hall of 2500+ people. I will remember it for a long time. Here is a link to another performance. I'm thrilled you mentioned it as 24 hours later we are still on a high. 

Everyone knows there is no "l" in the pronunciation. But the is a double yy,  Ostrayya. Best said without moving your lips. This also protects you from moisture seeking bush flies.

3 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

I need to understand Eurovision

 

When you are bored and have a spare few minutes, have a look at the Wiki on the voting system. Voting at the Eurovision Song Contest - Wikipedia .  Be aware though that they will be a few minutes you never get back again. 😂

3 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

May 11 Chronicles 

 

Day 12 - 11 May Day at sea_print.pdf 1.57 MB · 1 download
 

 

Once again apologies for no detailed posts recently - please don’t take that as 

 

a) a sign of dissatisfaction

b) poor internet service

c) anything else negative 

 

Nothing could be further from the truth as we grind our way across the North Pacific en route to Dutch Harbor. The seas have quite a swell but I wouldn’t describe them as particularly rough although many are feeling the impact - we’re very lucky not to feel the impacts of the seas motion except needing to be careful when moving about the ship. I do think it’s fair to say the Muse does creak and groan a little more than other ships we’ve experienced but again it doesn’t bother me as I sleep like a log 

 

We’re enjoying the sea day activities and dining options and the entertainment where we have welcomed a new female lead vocalists, Sona Varpetyan, who is very very good and has bought life to the two shows we’ve seen with her over the last couple of days 

 

Roy Perez as cruise director is a lot of fun and his energy and enthusiasm are infectious 

 

The crew are great - good service and a lot of fun to interact with 

 

No complaints here and looking forward to the next couple of weeks onboard 

Your posts are a breath of fresh air.

4 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

 Both @spinnaker2 and @Silver Spectre have reported recent experiences with several varietals of wine running out onboard.  

Apparently, Shadow was not provisioned in Japan as scheduled causing, of course, a number of shortages. I have no idea why.

10 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

This map reminds me of my complete and entirely uncharacteristic lack of getting my bearings in my first few days in Oz. I Was furious. My sense of direction beats anything out of any SatNav but my first few days down there I hadn’t a clue what was where. It felt like I’d lost my superpower and had to ask people where my Hotel was. So much shame.

I've been told that I never know which way is up at the best of times!

On 5/9/2024 at 9:04 AM, jpalbny said:

Mysty, you need a Pacific-centered map for this voyage! No crossing from one side to the other.

 

Accurate map. Australia and New Zealand are in the right place. Centre of the world. Or at least in the place where we think they should be!😍😁

1 hour ago, Tothesunset said:

Now here's an interesting thing: I'm in Poland just now and when I click your link I'm denied access to the site, a message saying something to the effect that "my" country has been blocked. So I changed to my UK VPN and, guess what, the site opened. 

 

How odd. 

I can see the site in Australia. I just ordered home delivery from the nearest store (Honolulu) for Aussieflyer.

On 5/3/2024 at 10:25 AM, jpalbny said:

Brr! Sounds like it's time to reinstitute the late morning boullioun service...one thing that we look forward to while cruising in Polar climes. Stay well and stay warm!

It was certainly there this time last year on Shadow. It was morning sustenance for many in the knitting circle in the Panorama Lounge as well as many around the pool.

1 hour ago, julmops said:

Good morning all,

 

We are on the Muse from Seward to Vancouver on June 6 and have are on a GTY Vista Suite.

 

We are still waiting for the stateroom assignment at 38 days before embarkation.

 

In your experience, when can we expect to get the stateroom number ?

 

Many thanks in advance for your help !

 

Any time from now until you get to the ship.  It varies but a week or so in advance is not unusual.

Great pics Mysty. Thank you. We loved South Korea. What did you think of your tour?