Gourmet Gal

Where are Aon and Leon? True, bag check fees are a minor detail. How long are the flights? Is it overnight at least one way? I would never fly econ overnight anywhere but that’s what most people do.

Be careful…you’re so close to the edge! 😱

To hell in a cruise ship would be so much better.

If guilt is the only thing giving you pause and not your budget then I say go for it. I have sailed Celebrity, though years ago, but SS is nicer in so many ways. Service, food, beverages, staterooms, staff to pax ratio. The all-inclusiveness is a big factor as well - gratuities, beverages, excursions. You will sense the difference in comfort and luxury as soon as you board the ship though your very first impression may be surprise at how small the ship is. You will not be thrilled with the casino or the entertainment but as you say, you’ll be in the Med. and the cruise is port-intensive. You won’t be bored.

Well I know business class is worth the upgrade on an international, overnight flight. It’s my understanding the premium economy seats are bigger, more comfortable and have more incline than standard seats though they are not lie-flat. Honestly, any improvement over standard seating is probably worth it for such a long flight.

Jazz, how are you finding the condition of the ship? Whisper is one of the older ones and was our first SS cruise.

After reading your comment about included tours switched to extra-cost I checked my upcoming cruise and noticed that 2 of my booked included tours now carry an extra charge. A line is drawn through the price on my booking so I’m assuming there’ll be no charge. So it pays to book excursions ASAP apparently.

Thanks. Perhaps I was reading too fast but I couldn’t tell from the original post.

Thanks for posting. Which ship are you on?

You can find private guides and drivers for far less than what is offered on SS. But there are some interesting non-included tour options with special access that range from $200 to $5000 or more. For example, we booked the Monaco Grand Prix apartment viewing for almost $5000 PP and a cooking class in Sicily for several hundred PP and those prices actually are in line with what you can book on your own. But their prices for just a car and driver are quite high.

That deck 6 cabin is too far forward if you’re concerned about seasickness. And so true about anchor chain noise as well as when there are high seas there will be noise from the pounding waves on the bow.

Just wondering, how full is the ship on these long sea segments?

We took this cruise in September 2022 in the opposite direction in Silver Moon and it was quite rough. Had to wear a patch for seasickness. We did miss the port that is near Biarritz due to rough seas so our San Sebastián excursion was cancelled.

Apparently there is the replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall on display in Hilo. It’s been on tour nationwide and just arrived this week.

Surf has been incredibly high this week. Enjoy Hilo.

Nice photos. What was your original port if not Hilo?

Aren’t the 7-day Med cruises without formal nights? Not sure how being European translates to formal attire.

Glad you enjoyed your stay. We’re staying in an apartment at a small boutique hotel in the Gothic Quarter. SS is refunding the hotel charge.

That’s probably the weather that will hit us tomorrow. Apparently this atmospheric river spanned the Pacific all the way to Japan. 4 days of rain on the way here but Hawaii should be nice. How many overnights in Hawaii?

Yes, service is very gracious on SS and there’s plenty of staff to keep you comfortable. But, I don’t really agree that formal night on SS looks like a gala opening or gala event. I’ve never been to an actual gala that was such a mixed bag look. Sorry. What I have observed on formal night is some people do dress to the nines, more people make an attempt with cocktail attire and many others also make an attempt but they look like they’re attending a business function. All these levels of dress comply with the suggested attire but please don’t feel you have to dress for a gala event.

Uh oh, here we go again. Which ship are you considering, Right now the attire suggestions vary. And BTW, there are plenty of threads on this topic if you use the search function.

Nice place to be stuck. My favorite island on the planet after Bora Bora.

Thanks for the reply. I’m understanding this better now. We’re planning to cancel the final hotel and do our own thing in Barcelona.which will include Virtuoso benefits. What I really don’t like is how SS waited until final payment was made to change to an inferior hotel.

This just happened on the May Spirit F1 cruise. I’m hoping I can unwind the hotel and transfers at least on the backend. It was sneaky how they did it. Once I made final payment yesterday a different Barcelona hotel popped up on the documents . Last week there was no listing for a Barcelona Hotel and before that a perfectly acceptable hotel was listed. The new one is unacceptable and a much lower caliber property.

It actually is a functioning city hall.