CruzinFeraBruzin

We are currently onboard the Silver Cloud for 30 days Port Elizabeth- Mahe. There are a very small handful of guests in their 30’s to mid 50’s but the vast majority are post retirement age 65+ with some aged 80+ also onboard. Age does not define physical fitness though. I am in my late 50’s and see many who are 20 years older with higher endurance levels than me. Those with a keen sense of adventure participate in all activities ashore while those with mobility challenges stay onboard to enjoy the lectures and relax by the pool.

This happened to us last year on a Norwegian fjords Venetian Society Reunion voyage on the Dawn for late September 2023. It seemed like every few days we were getting another email informing us that the more interesting, mostly full day excursions we signed up for were being cancelled, and this was well before the final payment was due. We gave up, cancelled the voyage and took our FCC. On our upcoming 30 day voyage aboard the Cloud next month in South Africa, there were next to no cancelled excursions and all the ones we signed up for are set to go.

Thank you for taking the time to respond back to my concern regarding potential noise. We prefer deck 6 midship but after our time in suite 639 aboard the Dawn, we always look to see where the suite is located in relation to the entertainment area in Dolce Vita before booking on deck 6.

TakingFlight, your suite 6052 is directly above the stage area with the piano in the Dolce Vita lounge on deck 5. Have you experienced any noise coming from this area? We were on the Dawn last year and were on deck 6 directly above the stage area where there were audio speakers in the ceiling. All of the suites on deck 6 above this area complained about the noise and vibration from the speakers, especially during afternoon trivia and in the evening during special events. We enjoy being on deck 6, but wonder if there are certain areas that are affected by the music or other events in the Dolce Vita lounge on the Nova.

I noticed Seabourn is taking their time releasing the late 2025 and early 2026 sailings for Australia & New Zealand. While Silversea and Regent have had theirs out for a few months, we are still waiting on what Seabourn has to offer.

Does anyone on this forum know when Seabourn will be releasing the cruises for late 2025 early 2026 for Australia and New Zealand? We sail with Silversea and their sailings for this timeframe have been out for some time now. I noticed Seabourn's website finally has a teaser for the new sailings, but the "Find Your Voyage" button isn't working for me.

We too are considering Australia and New Zealand and are looking at doing the 2025 Grand Australia, then going back to to the New Zealand circumnavigation in Jan 2026, both aboard the Nova. Most of the luxury land based trips we reviewed didn't include Tasmania and spend quite a bit of time flying from point A to point B. We do have a concern about rough seas around New Zealand, not from a seasickness standpoint, but from a missed port standpoint. It would be a shame to travel all that way only to see New Zealand's shoreline. I think with the cancelled cruises in and around the middle east, it will put more of a demand on cruising in Asia and Oceania and these voyages are likely to sell out faster now.

Communication on the affected excursion was sent to us in Jan 2023 for an excursion in March 2024

Sadly this wasn't the case for us. I posted our experience so that others will be aware not to be surprised when they get the dreaded email from Shore Concierge...

Booking early does not guarantee that your included excursions will remain included, nor will you not get charged if they decide to change the pricing. Silversea posts excursion offerings well in advance of negotiating contracts with the tour operators and I am no longer surprised when tours are cancelled, modified or the pricing is changed with an unfavorable outcome on my part. I had posted about this topic some time ago on another thread regarding an unfortunate experience we had. We were booked on the Grand Africa/Arabia and one of the "included" excursions we reserved was a dinner event in Dubai. Below is the an email communication from Shore Concierge we received on the "included excursion" several months after reserving it: Dear Silversea Guest, Thank you for your interest in the excursion DXB-E Al Sahara Dinner Experience, operating in Dubai, UAE on March 13th, 2024. We regret to inform you that, due to operational reasons, this shore excursion is not included anymore but is sold as selected, at the price of $209 per person. The booking has already been modified to reflect this change. In case you would like to cancel this booking we invite you to log-in into your MySilversea account and choose another shore excursion among our tour program. Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to welcoming you onboard Silversea Cruises! We received this communication in January 2023, 14 months before the actual date of the excursion. There was no offer to grandfather those such as ourselves who had signed up for the excursion when it was classified as included. I voiced my concern to our then Silversea Cruise Consultant who's response was "we reserve the right to change or cancel for any reason"... We subsequently cancelled this Grand Voyage which is now sailing with guests who are sadly wondering whether they will even see Dubai.

We took the Lisbon to Southampton sailing aboard the Dawn in May 2023 and did not experience any unusual rough seas anywhere along the route. We did miss the port at La Coruna due to political unrest (transportation protests). This port was not substituted and we had an extra day at sea. As david63 indicated, there is no way to predict what the conditions will be on any given day.

We were initially booked on the 2024 Grand Africa/Arabia, then cancelled when the Grand Indian Ocean voyage came out aboard the Cloud. We then scaled back to 30 days and will now sail with Wes for 30 days Port Elizabeth-Mahe and are waitlisted for several excursions which we hope will come available once onboard. Regarding the availability of excursions on the Spirit, while we were booked for the Grand Voyage, we experienced a few cancellations of very interesting excursions as far back as March 2023. Most were on the Mahe-Dubai segment, and were given the generic "due to operational reasons" excuse for the cancellations. One included excursion, a dinner experience in Dubai, was cancelled and then subsequently added again as a selected excursion. We were not given special treatment for being Grand Voyage guests and were expected to pay for the selected excursion if we wished to sign up for it again. On our previous Grand Voyage in 2022, all the excursions we attended were a mix of 1 or 2 segment guests with full Grand Voyage guests. There were a handful of special events exclusive to Grand Voyage guests but they were not considered excursions.

We used a Silversea Consultant up until this past September, when we decided to switch to a TA who was recommended to us. Just before we switched, our Consultant told us the air department was in the process of switching over to the RCL platform and he had just completed training to be able to use this new platform which he called the ACE system.. He indicated that once it was scheduled to go live (sometime in 2024) he would no longer have to go thru the air department to book flights for his guests but could do it himself. It was still in the test phase, so there were still issues and anything outside the box such as upgrading to first class on the domestic portion of an international business class ticket was something he couldn't handle himself. Now, three months later, the process has shifted again, taking Consultants out of booking flights entirely. It will be interesting to see feedback from others who use this new process to hear if they have the same successful outcome by working with the air team directly.

The Whisper is currently scheduled for a complete refurbishment in April 2024. Its my understanding it will closely mirror the updates done to the Shadow when it went thru its refurbishment. There will be no new restaurants but there will be a more dedicated area for the Arts Cafe. There are no sailings from April 7 - May 9, so it will be completed then.

Thanks JSR, this is helpful as it appears the timing can vary. Did you also receive an email communication from Silversea announcing the overland options or did you just happen to see them posted on my.silversea? I assume the overland programs will also be listed somewhere on my.silversea with a description of the program and specific instructions to contact your travel professional in the same way their pre and post land programs are listed.