jollyjones

I just want to get there and get back without having to piss around switching planes. I have no interest in spending extra nights either.

Hmmm ... you may have no interest but you may find a night in a hotel is in your future if you intend to fly to your embarkation city as close to embarkation time as you think is convenient for you.

Many of us seasoned cruisers know that you'll probably get away with it but any delay in your flight could mean you'll miss the ship and, for Alaska, that will usually mean missing the whole cruise because of the PVSA. That's why we fly in ahead of time.

I so wish one was given the choice to opt out of the Silver Box at booking (I presume they'd need a long lead time) - I absolutely hate getting mine. I know perfectly well when my next cruise is, I don't need the box to remind me, and I also know that the cost of sending the box to Bermuda (excluding the printing cost) is at least $35. Then all I do with it is throw it away; breaks my heart to generate such unnecessary trash. I have sailed with plenty of lines where I print my own bag tags as well as the ticket, I'd have no problem doing this if offered.

If we had the choice, them as wants 'em can have 'em, and I don't have to.

It's not negativity, I just hate waste ... don't get me started on all the ridiculous paperwork that appears in ones cabin every evening ...

AA only operate one flight a day JFK-LHR in the morning; if you miss it, you will be waiting around all day for one of the night flights which usually start about 6.30pm. That's a long, tiring wait in JFK before a long, tiring overnight flight - that'll be tough on your jet lag, you'll be so tired when you arrive in the early morning in London that the day will be difficult.

Even if you sleep well on planes (does anyone?), you'll still probably get only three to four hours sleep and you'll land in LHR at about 1am, Nashville body time.

I give you this information so that you can make your own decision according to, as stated above - "The greater the consequences of a missed connect the longer time I plan for the connection. It's a risk/reward analysis."

All Silversea cruise ships (I haven't been on the expedition ships so I don't know about them) have shower glass not curtains, and a handheld shower. The newer ones (Spirit, Muse) have a reasonable size shower cubicle with a rain shower head and a handheld shower, plus a separate bathtub.

Once you price out all the add on fees of mainstream cruise lines, you might be surprised to see that Silversea as an almost all-inclusive offers pretty good value for money.

Just completed Barbados to Lauderdale, 2 children. They were always around the pool - well-behaved and well controlled by their mother - never saw any hint of them in the children's area, not that I spent much time looking.

Sniping about reservations is not helpful, particularly for those of us who used to enjoy the freedom on SS of being confident of getting dinner without signing our lives away months in advance.

And no, the menus for Atlantide and Indochine are not interchangeable, although Indochine does offer a separate simple menu that changes daily, ostensibly to offset the monotony of the regular menu but actually for 'people who don't like Asian stuff'.

I pretty much agree with e'w'boy for a general feel as the voyage is ending.

I did get to Atlantide to dine one evening but that was with Chef David so you can guess that we got wonderful service - dunno how I would fare on my own as a regular pleb. The food was fine altho' the portion sizes were odd - my starter barely fitted on the table and his was a tiny mound in the middle of a huge plate. Then my salad was served displayed around the rim of an otherwise empty plate - 'negative space' according to David, apparently the new trend ... sigh ... tasted OK tho'.

All four invitations I received to dine with officers were for Terrazza, plus I saw plenty of other officer tables in there, seems to reinforce the lack of seating in Atlantide. Sergiou, the Restaurant Manager, confirmed that the seats will be removed and replaced with slightly smaller ones in Fort Lauderdale but he says he doesn't see how that will help much, the tables will remain the same in number and size.

Another observation that won't bother many people - the Muse is a poor sunbathing ship. Deck 11 seems much narrower than the upper decks on the rest of the fleet so only has one row of loungers overlooking the pool, and they are at an odd angle to avoid impinging totally on the jogging track. The track itself is hideously ugly with quite unnecessarily large red and white stripes - looks like a slash of ketchup across a white shirt - with the orange fake teak and the grey, sharp-corned loungers, the effect is very discordant. There are some double wide loungers, which are comfortable but can't be re-angled to catch the sun. Then deck 10 has crowded double rows of loungers by the pool - beginning to look like a mainstream cruise ship. It was not easy some days to find a well shaded table for lunch because deck 11 is narrow; Hot Rocks will have a problem if it rains, they use far more tables than can fit under cover.

I will be back on the Muse - I have two cruises booked chosen specifically for the itineraries - but I am looking forward to getting back to the, I would have said familiar, Spirit but it'll be after she's been stretched so who knows what she'll be like. Apparently, not only is she being stretched but they are splitting the MDR into an Atlantide and Indochine ...

Learning from experience, the more I travel, the less I take.

I guess I vaguely knew it would be complex but ... WOW!!

Doing the same old, same old itineraries every year starts to make more sense.

We booked next to a ship, in San Juan, that was actually condos. You bought your own suite. I don't remember it's name though. Owners could rent their suites which had its own kitchen as well as a dining room if you didn't want to cook. . If you burned your toast the kitchen doors automatically closed. The suit owners decided on where in the world they would cruise to!

 

Anyone else know about this ship?

I suspect you mean The World, Residensea.

Anyone who boards late just does a make up drill as soon as they can fit it in so I wouldn't worry about that.

However, there won't be any services open if you board while a drill is actually happening, altho' they obviously don't leave the gangplank unstaffed, so it might be better to try and avoid that time (it's often 5pm) but at worst I suppose you would just have to wait until the drill is over before the reception staff can check you in - reception on the Muse is in La Dolce Vita which is a muster point.

Interesting to read e'w'boy's continuing unease with Atlantide. I still haven't made it there for dinner, maybe tomorrow, I would like to see how it works ... or doesn't ...

I haven't been back to Indochine either, after the tasteless mush I was offered last time I'm in no rush to risk it again.

I have dined four times in Terrazza, three of those being at officer's tables which might say something about Atlantide - on other ships, tables hosted by officers were usually, tho' not invariably, in the MDR so this is a change. Maybe just a coincidence, I dunno.

Twice at Spaccanapoli, one of which was with my trivia team so much hilarity ensued. The pizzas are good, and with the addition of a salad brought up from the Grill it's not too awful a dietary disaster so it could become my go-to diner for times I'm feeling casual.

One evening I was at the Grill which was an almost complete disaster but it was the food, not the place. I like the Grill and will be there again tonight and I like the expanded menu (but RIP apple pie, I wish they'd resurrect you) however I will not be ordering the black bean veggie burger, that's one item that just shouldn't be there, it's a travesty even of a veggie burger and is not hot rock happy.

Sure there is! It's just out the side door, up a single flight of stairs, and covers the entirety of the library.

Of course I looked out there, but since deck 12 is not shown on deck plans aimed at passengers and the door is marked Emergency Exit, it seems perfectly clear that pax are not supposed to go up there.

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As I start to take a closer look at the upper decks, I come upon the first shock as I return a book to what is laughingly referred to as the library - there is no outside forward observation deck. We are condemned to only seeing where we have been, never where we are going. What a shame.

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He was a handsome, debonair fellow that looked like he owned the ship. Just thought it was you...

Handsome and debonair maybe I'd like ... fellow, glad I'm not.

Pash,

Sorry, I can't really answer you.

I find enough invitations come my way for dinner to satisfy my need for company, the other evenings I prefer to dine solo.

The solos gathering does still happen in Panorama and I think they go to dinner together if they want but I don't go to it.

I don't think much has been done to Dolce Vita but I don't mind it how it is. Possibly because trivia is being kind, we won again today.

Carefree,

No that isn't me, dunno who it is.

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Definitely agree with Eastwoodboy that the ship is quiet, ditto I can hear slight noise through TV from next cabin but nothing to worry about.

I'm starting to feel quite happy about decks 5 through 9 - all areas light, bright, and welcoming. Panorama, Arts, Connoiseurs Corner, La Terrazza, Venetian Lounge all good, I also like the slightly whimsical spiral stairs between decks 8 and 9. I actually even like Dolce Vita although I can't understand why they squandered so much valuable real estate on just one lounge; it's never very full and if it were to be I don't know how the bar staff would cope. And it feels odd to have Reception in a bar rather than a lobby area.

But ... the Dungeon Dimensions down on deck 4 still confound me. The approach and the entryways are dark and forbidding and the metal grilles on the doors seem like security bars. Making it into Indochine there is black, black and more black decor and bench seats - oh dear. Eileen makes it tolerable but the menu is unappealing, I'm not keen on hot spicy food and I found little that I felt safe ordering. I tried the osso buco and received a serving of tender but tasteless veal drowned in a pile of orange sludge of quite indiscernible flavour - hot and spicy was definitely not an issue. To be fair, my starter of foie gras and my rice pudding were delicious but the fact that I was also offered a menu of 'ordinary food, some people don't like asian stuff' implies that Indochine is not 100% successful.

I lunched in Atlantide; it feels uncomfortable walking in and finding the Maitre d' desk behind you in that odd dark corridor space that has a sofa in it (a sofa? why?) and the long room stretching into the distance feels wrongly proportioned. However, the lunch was OK - in fact, the blueberry pie was spectacular - I'll try dinner some evening, see how it goes.

We're at sea this morning on our way to Bonaire so I think I'll wait to comment on decks 10 and 11 until after I've spent a little more time up there, if I can fit it in, Jimmy does run a full programme.

PS a particularly beautiful orchid has appeared in my cabin - it makes such a difference - I have thanked my butler but refrained from asking whence it came ...

Hypercafe , I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time, there's a lot to love about this ship. And you're right, it's those of us with certain expectations that are having some adjustment issues.

The cabins are beautiful although I do miss an orchid on the coffee table - I mentioned this in passing to my butler who said there weren't enough to go around but he'd find me one 'from somewhere ' - I do hope someone else isn't suddenly missing one!!

I also miss a full length mirror - there is the vast one on the wall at the end of the bed but you can't stand back from it to get a good view of your appearance, plus it's dark glass so it's not true colour.

One thing that has impressed me is that so far as I've seen, the lighting throughout the ship is very well designed and I've done quite a bit of theatre lighting so I know how difficult it can be to get it just right.

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Hi Spins,

I am determined to give it my best try, but I haven't had a good time yet, diningwise.

Have found a great trivia team, first yesterday, second today, so all is not lost.

Chef David on board, market visit tomorrow, so as I said, days OK, evenings are the problem.

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Not wishing to highjack this thread, but I am on board too. I am trying hard to feel at home on the Muse but, so far, it isn't working.

There are hits - I like the new Terrazza with the sinks, although I haven't seen anyone but me using them yet, and I like the new Panorama lounge.

But I've just had a disastrous evening in Hot Rocks, and a pretty poor evening last night in Indochine. The days are OK, but there is the constant underlying worry of where will I get an enjoyable dinner tonight - and I made a number of reservations before I boarded.

I have decided that I will make this ship work for me, but it's currently a struggle - not exactly what luxury cruising is meant to be.

My head says deal with it, but my heart keeps saying take me back to the Spirit.

PS When I heard that the Restaurant Manager was called Sergio, my heart leaped, but he's not our beloved Sergio DeMoura, he's Eastern European. Eileen, in charge of Indochine is delightful and efficient but she can't sort out structural and menu shortcomings, sadly.

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Jolly,

Bon voyage...

Can't wait to hear your impressions of the muse.

Sorry to hijack the thread for a moment.

Hi Spins,

Yes, I'm getting very excited!! It'll be a bit weird at the port tho' - the Whisper is also in and I only disembarked from her three weeks ago, I'm going to feel rather schizophrenic.

Have a look at the dining solo thread ...

Well technically, from her CC posts, the OP has been cruising for more than one decade - 1.1 to be precise, she has posts from 2006 - so she's not in the strictest sense wrong.

To the OP - I see you have come up through a number of the mainstream lines - Canival, NCL, RCI, P'cess - I did much the same and was very happy when I finally reached Silversea. The level of quality and comfort, and the size of the ships, and the friendliness of the officers and crew, feels just right after the big ships. And now that the mainstreams are upping the grats and the booze packages and all the rest, Silversea is actually pretty good value for money.

I'm just about to board the Muse today - can't wait to not only be back aboard again but also to get my first look at the new ship!

PS - almost forgot - yes, you'll love cruising round French Polynesia - go for it! Even if you are the youngest pax on board, which I doubt, it won't matter in the slightest as many SS pax remain young in mind and outlook long after their more solid bits might disagree.

If you're talking the Spirit and thinking of either the Sep 10th TA crossing or the Nov 5th repo NYC - Barbados, I will be sailing both of those (solo) and I can assure you there will be trivia ... taken very seriously trivia ... almost a blood sport trivia .... sharpened swizzle sticks at dawn trivia ...

No but really, the trivia is serious in the sense that it's not mucking around but it is meant to be fun, you should have no problem joining a team. There are usually loads of solos on Silversea cruises that have the 25% supplement, there will be a cocktail gathering each evening at 7pm for any solos who care to attend, and often solos dine together if they wish, frequently on a hosted table. You'll have no difficulty meeting people.

Silversea treats solos very well, give it a try.

Go to seat guru and check the descriptions of the seats - even in biz class they can vary a lot. Look at the actual flights you are contemplating, planes can also vary a lot within the same airline.

For instance - AA are wider than BA seats by quite enough to make a difference. All aisle access can be helpful on a long flight if others are sleeping. Fully flat is usually better than angle flat. 'Back and forward' paired seats can be awkward. Etc. etc. only you know what's important to you.

We got a day room at the Rodeway Inn

It is a dumpy blue motel. We were the only white people there. Every employee is black & people checking in too. Everyone was pleasant. They gave us a room near the office which was a handicap room & newly remodeled. It looked very clean to me. My husband wanted to nap a few hrs before our 7:30 pm flight. The king bed was comfortable & looked new. Nice big screen TV & good air. They do have a shuttle to the airport (free). It was about $70 for the room. Wouldn’t want to stay there overnight but it served its purpose.

 

 

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It's appalling enough that you mention the race of the other guests and the staff as if that has any importance, but to then follow with the comment that 'everyone was pleasant' with the implication that you were surprised, is even worse.