crusinbanjo

I just went looking for our Jan 24 cruises, did not see them so I filled out the form, we’ll see how long it takes for a response.

3 hours ago, canderson said:

If I understand correctly (1st timer with SS here), I shouldn't expect to know what flights they've selected until 60 days or less prior to our Nov '23 cruise.  That's a bit late to be looking at alternatives, much later than we're accustomed to on other lines, and the business air credit is only about $1,500 pp.  How/when do you discover what's "on offer"?  I will say that the pre-cruise hotel they've chosen is first rate, though our TA is struggling to get them to commit to 4 nights vs. 3 for some reason.

I usually ask my SS person, and I have flight my preferred flights ready to compare.  I don’t think I have ever waited until 60 days out to find out what flights are offered.  For Mrs Banjo and I we have taken the SS air sometimes, other times we get a deviation, (extra cost), and still other times just book air ourselves.

 Our upcoming cruise, Copenhagen to Copenhagen we are booking our own hotel for a pre stay, and our own air, because I can get direct flights, (not offered by SS this time).  When we went Hong Kong to Singapore, (pre Covid), we convinced SS to book some direct flights to Boston that I found that they were not offering.  My attitude is simple, if you don’t ask, the answer is always no….  So I always ask for what I want.

10 hours ago, drron29 said:

We have never used SS hotels or flights. We much prefer choosing our own.

We have used SS flights and sometimes they are quite good, but I always make the comparison and book what is in our best interest.  As far as hotels, we have used SS for a pre or post, same reasoning applies. And always, I am not hesitant to book our own hotels and / or flights if what’s on offer from any cruise line is not best for us.  Like you, I prefer to know what to expect.  The day use room show in this thread I would totally avoid, even if we had to pay extra.

On 4/12/2023 at 4:33 AM, david63 said:

The more I am seeing and reading about D2D the less appealing it is. Not only is it expensive compared to P2P but as a passenger you are totally out of control.

 

I have just changed a D2D cruise to another cruise doing it as P2P and making all the other arrangements myself meaning that I know exactly what we will be doing and at the same time saved over £3k each.

And that is why Mrs Banjo and I book P to P and make other arrangements independently.  The D 2 D model has not worked very well since inception.  If I were in charge, it would either improve or get dumped.  SS is loosing customers over all this, I hope they are paying attention.

We have experienced similar horror shows in the past on different lines, so now whenever there is a long layover we always book a day room so we can sleep, shower and be fresh to continue the journey.

Hi Rudi and welcome to Cruise Critic.  Mrs Banjo and I are recently off the AMA Dahlia in Egypt.  First let me say that the on shore accommodations were the best we have ever experienced, thank you.  Also, we loved that you broke up the passengers into small groups.  Our tour guides and drivers were all top quality.  The AMA Dahlia was nice, quite comfortable and the crew were, as expected, fantastic!  There was considerable grumbling with regards to the food and management of the buffet.  We were told that the buffet 3 times everyday was an experiment, so I’m hoping thins can be looked into at some depth.

thank you.

9 minutes ago, lincslady said:

For a few years now I have needed some assistance at airports - I can walk, but fairly slowly and not long distances, but worse cannot stand for very long.  As we all know, that tends to happen at a gate, often for quite a time.  So in spite of feeling a bit of a fraud, I have used the assistance - and been told by staff that they get quite a few people who definitely do not need it, but have no option but to provide it even though it annoys them.  If I could show everyone my X-ray with all the metal in my leg it might help!

Don’t feel bad about that.  Prior to my knee replacement, 5 year ago now, I could not walk 100 yards and used the wheel chair service and my trusty crutches to get around in airports as well as on the ships and on excursions.  But, I know how you feel.  Sometimes you do need the help, even if you feel guilty asking for it.

19 hours ago, mysty said:

My joy for today...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1GU1qQ1zQ

 

Playing for Change.......Weight

Wow, that was fabulous!  Thanks for sharing.

Thanks all.  Mrs Banjo is doing just fine and is moving a little tentative, but not in need of any special treatment.

in any case, our trip through CGD went without a hitch.  Our Air France plane landed on time, transport to and from the Hyatt hotel went as planned and the flight to Amman Jordan left on schedule and best of all, our luggage arrived with us, so all went well.

I won’t post anymore about this trip in this forum, (because it is not a SS cruise), but will post some details in the river cruise section for anyone interested.  
 

thanks all for the info and insights!

2 hours ago, Desperate to Sail said:

Update:  Flight to CDG was 1 hour late departing DFW and 20 min late arriving. Left with 1 hour to connect. AF crew told us don’t goof off and move as quickly as we could. 
 

Lisbon flight was already boarding when we got to gate. But it was 30 min late departing because of delays in bussing passengers out to the plane on the tarmac. We and our baggage made the flight but it was very stressful.

 

Lisbon is a wonderful city and the weather fantastic. The Tivoli is a very nice hotel. Easily the best SS hotel we’ve experienced. Heading to Fatima today. Board the Silver Moon tomorrow.

 

Wishing everyone pleasant travels.

Our flight from Boston, (which had been previously canceled and rebooked to an earlier flight), departed on time and arrived on time, 6:05 am Paris time.  We spent the next 6 hours in a day use hotel and are now waiting to board our next leg to Jordan.  Mrs Banjo made it through security lines without incident and actually, the lines were surprisingly short.  Only worry now is that our luggage has been at CDG for about 10 hours, we hope it didn’t get lost!😳

On 3/25/2023 at 10:44 AM, zqtchas said:

For a faster connection go the wheelchair way!

Haha, pretty good idea.  Mrs Banjo will be donning her sling to protect here recently broken arm through the airports.  She is healing nicely, but still has very limited range of motion.  Maybe that will get us a bit of priority…….  Anyway, we are off in just a few hours…. Very excited!

On 3/22/2023 at 10:30 AM, Desperate to Sail said:

We're connecting in CDG on Air France Saturday morning on our way to Lisbon and the Silver Moon. 85 minute connection. I'm not too worried about us making the connection. But I am worried that any protest or slowdown by the baggage folks may affect our baggage. There are 3 flights to Lisbon later in the day. So even if there are problems, hopefully they get sorted out fairly quickly. Not anything I can do about it now. 

“Nothing I can do about it now” a great tune from Willy Nelson.  Mrs Banjo and I are in the same state of mind, as we prepare to leave Sunday on Air France as well.

Mrs Banjo and I sailed on both the Wind and the Cloud when they were brand new, of course we felll deeply in love with both.  The experience back then is not matched on any ship today.  But, having said that, being converted to expedition ships makes them less desirable for a luxury cruise, IMHO.  Not that changing them was a bad move on SS's part, I think both will serve their new markets quite well.  So, if it were me, I would go with the Dawn, unless you want the "Expedition Experience"  as was described in previous posts.

2 hours ago, caripoo said:

Doing this trip on the Dawn in July....

Mrs Banjo and I will be on a similar trip, on the Dawn, in October!  Enjoy!

1 hour ago, mysty said:

 

Obviously there are ways to confound locks.  Hopefully an inventory of contents would help should nefarious intruders decide to ply their trade.   The example in the video is rather odd.   The metal piece to the right of the screen shot just slightly below the zipper seems designed to allow the two zipper heads to fit into the two slots on the metal bar.  

I have tried this and it is quite simple.  So, our strategy is to never place anything we absolutely cannot do without in checked luggage

46 minutes ago, mysty said:

 

We always use TSA approved locks on our ship ahead luggage.   The instructions for ship ahead say not to lock the luggage.   We have ignored that instruction and have not had any issues with the TSA locks on our bags.  In fact,  when I asked Reception prior to dealing with our ship ahead luggage home from the Moon in June of last year they told me that the TSA approved locks were fine. 

Locks are fine, but if your suitcase closes by a zipper, it can be opened with the point of a pen, then zipped closed after.  You would not know if it was opened or not, unless they leave a note or something is missing that you can document.   
 
this video shows how easy it is. 

1 hour ago, poolcat said:

Norway holds a special place on our hearts.  20+ Silversea voyages and the one in July 2010 on Silver Cloud is by far our favorite.  Every evening we said the scenery and experiences could not get any better, but they did the next day and the next...  We were fortunate with weather.  Cool, but no heavy rain or rough seas. We used our veranda more on this voyage than on any others.   If you are limited with the number of days you can be away from home, then definitely go with the 2nd itinerary you posted above.  Silver Dawn is much larger than the Cloud so you will not be able to go into the smaller fjords such as Trollfjord. You should be able to have a spectacular experience.  

Enjoy your voyage and Norway!  

Completely agree.  Our experience was quite similar, and yes, go with the second itinerary!

I agree completely.  Mrs Banjo and I did a fiords cruise a few years ago, it was great.  The scenery from the ship was spectacular, the ships tours were good and we did take a non ship’s tour by small boat to see more of the fiords.  It was spectacular!  Glad we given special overcoats and hats to wear, because it was cold, even though temps on land were warm & sunny.  All in all we did get the experience we were looking for.  It was amazing, and we will be doing it again later this year on SS.  Can’t wait!

2 hours ago, mysty said:

 I have started the packing lists for clothing, accessories, electronics, medications, items for the suite and other necessities.  The various lists will be reviewed and edited over the next 270 days or so.

 

I definitely brought too many clothes on our first adventure.  There were also items we brought that saw little to no use (such as our ancient iPod and the camera tripod).  I have used the lists from the last time and have pared them down to something more manageable.  Or at least that is my hope.

 

We sent 4 large suitcases ahead of us in 2019 via FedEx.  We brought 1 checked bag and 4 carry on bags with us on the flight to San Francisco.  We will probably do the same thing for this adventure.  

 

The ship ahead luggage will probably be packed in the last week of November for pick up prior to our mid-December cruise.  I pack an assortment of casual, informal and formal wear for each of us into each bag.  While I pack I keep track of the contents of each luggage piece on a spreadsheet.  I put copies of our itinerary, passports and contact information inside each bag.  An example of the inventory spreadsheet is presented below.

 

The spreadsheet comes with us so that, in the event of a lost bag, we will have a list of the contents.

Wow, that’s organization!  Personally, I just put my entire wardrobe in one suitcase and then I’m good to go.  Takes about 15 minutes to organize. 😄

I have been reading about the protests in France over the retirement age.  Looks like things will heat up even more.  So has anybody experienced difficulties at Charles de Gaulle airport? Specifically, with baggage moving to connecting flights, and / or schedules?  Mrs Banjo and I will be flying into and out of Paris in a few days, so we are concerned.

5 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Could be. Some people see Cruise “Critic” and think that implies that the group criticizes the brand, when for the most part, we are its biggest supporters. There is lots of complaining on the FB page, lol

I certainly hope they don’t all move to FB, as Mrs Banjo and I do not use it, and won’t be signing up anytime soon.

5 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

21 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Gold’s move has been impressive in light of the dollar’s strength.  Just goes to show “real” rates matter to gold.

 

Now, about that Bitcoin… 😆

I think the move in gold is in direct relation to people's worries about inflation and a large world wide banking crisis.  Personally, I don't own gold, (coins or metal), much to risky for me, but I do trade gold in the markets, SPDR, symbol GLD.

3 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

Nursing home residents in 2050.

 

funny, but mostly true!

9 minutes ago, drron29 said:

So now in Porto. Within 20 minutes of being in our hotel I had already had a Portuguese tart and a glass of port.

 

But it was a total of 25.5 hours on 4 planes to get here.

25.5 hours?  Were you coming from the Moon?

3 hours ago, gcornell said:

If I recall correctly, you can disembark between 8am - 9:30am. 

And then the trip from Seward to Anchorage. If memory serves, the trip is about 2 hours, (but I could be wrong).

16 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

Actually the only firm booking we have is the 19-day Shadow trans-Panama Canal cruise.  It starts in Ft Lauderdale and ends in San Francisco.  Leaves Ft Lauderdale December 27 and ends in San Francisco January 15, 2024.  A full transit of the Panama Canal and New Years on a cruise ship have always been in our bucket list.  Will be our longest cruise by one day.   

Mrs Banjo and I have 4 bookings currently.  This is the most we have ever had in any 12 month period.  First is an Egypt tour and Nile River cruise on AMA, then on a SS cruise in Norway, October, (hoping to spot Northern lights), on Azamara in January Ft Lauderdale to Lima, (our 3rd full transit through the Panama Canal), and finally Lima to Papeete, a B to B.
 

This final B to B itinerary, oddly enough, was the trip we had booked on SS for Jan of 2021, canceled because of Covid.  We are booked on Azamara only because SS has not reproduced this IT.  I had been looking for a similar IT ever since and came across this quite by accident.  This cruise will be our first on Azamara and is a bucket list cruise for us as it includes a 2 day stop at Easter Island and a long overdue return to the islands of French Polynesia.