LAexNY

8 hours ago, taxatty said:

Taking the advantage of a plus 13 hour time difference over EST, a Happy July 4th to everyone, live from the Silver Explorer on Australia's northwest coast. As highplanesdrifters recently posted an extensive review of the SS Kimberley cruise stops and the ship is going bye-bye from SS soon anyway,  I won't attempt to duplicate it, but our cruise has been great so far. We left Darwin on time (getting advance negative RAT tests is still needed) and have had good excursions to the Ord River, the King George Falls and Ashmore Reef, the latter being a bird nerd's dream. Note--the Explorer's forward elevator is still broken--my guess is for its duration with SS.

 

Unfortunately, very unusual for the season bad weather bungled our scheduled Bungle Bungles flight (2/3 of the pax onboard had signed up for it), but the Ord River Cruise was a reasonable substitute. The King George River falls were a bit more active and spectacular than usual due to the recent local rains.

 

As before on SS, the food and service have been excellent. The ship put out special "American cuisine" for July 4th lunch today--hamburger sliders along with hot dogs and buffalo wings, even though the only US pax onboard are me, DW and a nice young lady from Boston.

Thanks for this report.  Please keep it up.  We are on this cruise next month on the Explorer, Perth to Darwin.

1 hour ago, bitob said:

Dave:  for my ss Alaska cruise I am doing my own air because ss is not offering first class. I am able to purchase transfer and hotel separately as package. 

We will check all the options when it’s time. 17 months away. 

16 hours ago, bitob said:

We, too, always booked our own business class air with miles.  As you all know mileage flights have gotten more expensive (thinking Delta skypesos in particular) and good routes harder to find.  Easy to find multiple stops with multiple classes or 40 minute connections which we do not want.

 

SS gave us such an amazing deal from Heathrow to Tucson in business class that I asked my TA to get it in writing as it seemed too good to be true.

 

London to Denver - Delta One

Denver to Tucson - Delta First

$599 per person

 

Doesn't get better than that.

 

My advice:  check it out -- might be a good option.

We are on the Wind now and did an onboard booking to Australia and New Zealand.  The future cruise rep told me that SS is able to get very attractive business fares to Europe.  However, Australia is a different story.  The business upgrade for us is $6998 p.p.!  Also, if we do our own air and take the $2500 air credit, we lose transfers and hotel.

Tuesday evening, Isle of May Scotland.  Puffins galore.

Tuesday 20 June

St. Abbs, Scotland

Monday 19 June

Holy Island of Lindisarne, England, near the Scottish border.

Yes, we have a day in Exmouth. 
no plans yet for Perth. We did spend 2 days in Perth & Fremantle a few years ago when we did a circumnavigation of Australia. 
we enjoyed Fremantle and the great park in Perth. 

Hello, AusMum,

We are doing the Kimberley on Silversea this August and will be staying in Perth 3 nights before boarding the Explorer.  Looking forward to it.

Prawns.

We also did a Sanctuary Lodge tour in Botswana and Zambia.  Four different lodges.  Excellent.

I like mine medium well.  The filet is so thick that after it cooks a while, I slice it down the middle and cook each half separately.

We had to reconstitute our trivia team after losing Jpalbny and Rachel G.  We went for more international diversity this time adding a Canadian and an Aussie to us Americans.

We made second place yesterday and tied for first today.

We are on the Wind now.  I have had filet mignon several times in the Grill and it is excellent.

Of course I cooked it myself and it was done just right.

Sunday, Newcastle England

Several tours were offered:  Alnwick Castle & Garden where Harry Potter and Downton Abbey were filmed, Hadrian’s Wall and Durham City & Cathederal.

We chose to do Newcastle on our own.  Charming city with great architecture.

Oceania Marina was in port near us.  About five times the size of the Wind.

Food and service onboard remain excellent.

Changeover day.

We are in Hamburg and all but about 35 passengers disembarked today. We are staying onboard for the next leg. JPAlbny and Rachel G are gone so our undefeated trivia team is gone as well.  We will miss them and have to regroup with a new team.

Although this topic title ends in Hamburg, I will post with highlights of the next leg, although not as frequently as our fearless OPs.

We did a culture tour of Hamburg today.  Went to the Kunsthall - art museum.  Very nice with a comprehensive collection including Impressionism, cubism and art deco.  Then we went to the Arts and Crafts Museum.

2 hours ago, bitob said:

Is Laura in bird heaven???

Absolutely.  And frog heaven too!

Chris and JP on Christianso.

Christianso Island today.  Very scenic little island.  Lots of birds, frogs and seals.

Lauranne,

Enjoy your time in Hamburg.  We are staying on for the next leg.  Should be great.  The ship and staff are wonderful.

Yes, to the observation lounge.

Will have to check on the other question or someone else will answer

Bird watching today in Rauma, Finland

1 hour ago, Mr Luxury said:

Service should be excellent then.

I can’t imagine it being any better.

The ship’s capacity is 274 and it is about half full - somewhere around 140.  Lots more crew and staff than passengers.  Lots of room to spread out.

Yes, we are safely arrived after a grueling 10 hour red eye from Portland to Amsterdam, then a grueling 5 hour connection and an easy 2 hour hop to Helsinki.

Things were easy and well-organized at the airport. Met by Silversea rep, half hour drive to hotel and easy check-in.  Hotel Kamp is lovely, room very nice.  Breakfast included, buffet or a la carte.  There is a Silversea rep in the lobby from 9-6 daily with luggage tags and transfer info.  Only negative is that they want luggage out by 6:30 A.M. Sunday even though transfer is at noon!

Weather is clear, 45 degrees now at 10 A.M.

Safe travels everyone.  Looking forward to meeting you all.

David & Laura

That’s funny because we will be on Explorer this August in Australia, Perth to Darwin. How’s the ship?