Dochawk

What tour did you do?  I'll be in Agadir next year and am doing port excursions now.

I'm on the Silver Nova - Morocco was cancelled for us - we were told for security reasons (but we went to Tunisia?).  There may have been demonstrations and a strike in Casablanca scheduled for the day we were to port there.  Really wish we had made Tangiers though.

On the Silver Nova we were just in La Goulette.  The ship seemed to have a military escort as we came into harbor.  I went to Carthage with the ship's tour (included in the cruise fare), which was interesting especially since Carthage is such a big part of my education in high school.  But, the ruins have all been scavenged and except for the roman villas, not a lot is left.  But some of our passengers went to a place called Dougga (2 hour drive from port).  They did have a military escort, but the reviews were amazing "best roman ruins we have seen" (from a very experienced traveler, another person called them spectacular.  You might want to research this place before deciding on Carthage.

10 hours ago, Mocamps said:

We’ve only been on SS expeditions and, as stated above, it works differently. There are occasionally more traditional excursions offered (and I imagine there are more of these on some itineraries) and you can sign up for them in advance on the website but mostly you decide what you want to do the night before you do it! The exception is kayaking where you need to sign up at the beginning of the cruise. You then have to attend the kayak safety briefing. You then have to indicate which kayak excursions you’re interested in and they sort out a rota as spaces are limited. We didn’t actually get to kayak at all in the Antarctic (as the weather closed in) but, in the Arctic we got to go 3 times and could have done more than that but there were other excursions we wanted to do. On that cruise we did a mix of kayaking, hiking and zodiac cruises with an extra couple of more traditional coach-type excursions where there was a choice but I think most people got to do whichever they chose. 
We love the expeditions but they are very different from a traditional cruise experience. Much more casual and relaxed. And fewer people. But with SS you still have the luxury element. It’s a great experience. We’re off to Greenland at the weekend!! Can’t wait!!

This expedition cruise is the Middle East, a very different type than arctic or antarctic - it ha traditional shore excursions, but not enough for the number of passengers and the type of cruise it is

I'm a veteran cruiser with over 30, mostly on midrange lines.  But I have the resources to go high end so I signed up for the silver cloud explorer cruise from Oman to Athens (its really two cruises 25 days).  Its a really different itinerary.  Signed up in February, among my documents it said that shore excursions are available 180 days before sailing.  I went through them and made a list of those I wanted and went on other travels.  Last week my TA emails me and tells me that the shore excursions were open for booking, but most of them were waitlisted.  I tried to get on and got an error message for 3 straight days, then got on yesterday afternoon and found all but 8 shore excursions (of the 50 or so that were planned) were waitlisted.  None of the ones I want are available.  So is this common with Silversea that they open shore excursions randomly and don't tell you?  And on an excursion ship they really have ports (most) where they don't have enough spaces for all 240 passengers (and since there are still cabins available , the total is less than that).  This is not a cruise you go on to not have guided tours, so if they really are fully booked it would end my dalliance with Silversea for life.  

 

 

 

 

Top tips -

 

Wear LOTS of high factor suncreem, even on a cloudy day, we are directly under the hole in the ozone layer and you will burn very quickly. Even though it was hot today I made my kids wear long sleeve tops and full leg trousers.

 

Take motion sickness meds before you leave Stanley so they have kicked in by the time you start going off road.

 

Bring at least a litre bottle of water with you, there is nowhere to buy drinks/snacks

 

Wear a bright coloured jacket if you have one, the penguins seem to be attracted to red and yellow colours and will come very close to you.

 

Pick a spot close by a group of penguins and just sit down quietly and wait, they are curious and will edge closer and closer and you will get much better photos than trying to run all over the beach after them!

 

And finally, have fun and enjoy seeing nature at its best!

Thanks for all your wonderful information. This quote concerns me a little. Motion sickness pills? How rough is the ride? We'll have just come off a ship that is gogoing around the Cape which is pretty rough. And I don't plan on taking pills for that.

Thanks again,

DH