Barwick Cruiser

Happy upcoming 10th anniversary! As Penguins stated they’ll do a cake for you but unless you’re in a suite (which you stated you’re not) don’t expect decorations or anything. We’ve been onboard previously for special birthdays, anniversaries or whatever and the cake is pretty much it. And beware, oftentimes you’ll get the cake on a different day than you entered in your documents lol. We’ve always just thought of it as “it’s the thought that counts”. Our Baltics cruise coming up in May we’ll be celebrating our 40th…we’ve reserved a speciality dining venue for dinner that night but I’m not holding my breath for a cake on that specific date. We never book suites so haven’t receive the streamers etc that others enjoyed from their butlers and suite team members. If my cabin is clean when I return from dinner and there’s chocolates on the pillows I’ll be happy! Enjoy your B2B, I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful holiday!

We don’t travel until January so still time, and yes, we can use the expired cards for now but hopefully the new cards arrive for all of us soon!

@MamatoJack just curious if you’ve received your new cards yet? We received notification of renewal around the same time as you and still no cards… Cathy

Hi David, will you be doing a “live from” on your cruise? 🤞 Cathy

Hope you enjoy a wonderful cruise and thanks for taking us along! 🛳️🥂

Be sure to keep checking. Yesterday morning my cruise planner was showing a generous 5% off 🙄 but checked again later in the afternoon and it was 53% off! I quickly booked! Good luck!

Sorry that you’ll be missing Kotor but agree that safety should always be a determining factor. Must say, really wish they’d come up with more appropriate language in their tender letters…telling a select group of passengers that they are “valued” and thus don’t need tickets really is demeaning to the remaining passengers who apparently aren’t “valued”. Couldn’t they just use the phrasing “as a suite passenger” (or elite, elite plus, whatever)? Anyway, hope the weather and seas calm down for you and no further ports are missed! Thank you also for continuing to keep us all entertained, such a pleasure to follow!

Thanks for posting this, so much great information. I’m eager to do this itinerary it’s just a matter of deciding which ship to do it on. Are you given life vests for the snorkeling? The advanced snorkeling excursion, is it advanced because of rough water or what specifically? If you went snorkeling was there a lot of marine life to see?

Thanks for posting, what is your itinerary? Hope you enjoy a wonderful sailing and I look forward to more posts!

Say what?? That’s the only decent SB on the ships…always my go to. Did they say why it’s not going to be available by the glass? And is it perhaps just the Apex? Hope they replace it then with another NZ SB…so many to choose from and they really do it the best 🥂 🇳🇿

I will also be looking forward to your posts and pics. Have fun! 🍻🥂🛳️ As to the elite/elite plus dilemma think of what you’d have to spend on that short cruise just to get those extra points…that money would more than cover the expense of many bags of laundry as well as a premium wifi package lol.

Too funny, we renewed in June as well and just this week received notice that we’d been approved. Also waiting for the new cards to arrive in the mail! My sister applied earlier in the year, new application, and was told could be up to 18 months to hear anything. Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.

What are the bugs like mid-May? We’ve done Alaska twice in September, very little rain (just lucky? 🤷‍♀️), no bugs, few kids but of course little snow on the mountains. Wanting to try again earlier in the season to see the same scenery with a topping of white but concerned about having to take bug spray and/or wear head nets.

Honestly, just limit passengers to what they’re allowed and there’d be no need to check carryons. It’s not just the larger than allowed carryons it’s all the extra personal items that people carry on…shopping bags bursting with stuff, along with a purse and backpack and garment bag…whatever happened to ONE carryon for the overhead and ONE personal item? Start measuring and counting at the gate and in no time word would spread on social media and problem solved! No extra charge for those who follow the rules and limitations and planes load quickly and efficiently. Ok, rant over 🤦🏼‍♀️🤫

Looking forward to following along on this exciting journey! Just love all your reviews. 🛳️ Happy birthday to Jeremy, hope you both have a wonderful cruise and land experience. 🥂 🍻 Cathy

Just a suggestion however since they make the turkey club to order ask the staff when you’re ordering for some mozzarella to be added to your sandwich. They’re very accommodating and it’ll save you taking a salad apart for ingredients.

Looking forward to more of your posts. Silhouette is my favourite S class ship, booked in May ‘24 for the Baltics. Hope you and DH enjoy a wonderful holiday and congrats on your 15th! What a great way to celebrate 🥂

They are included, up to the $ limit of the package. That said, smoothies are not included unless you have Premium or the Zero packages.

Yeah, probably.

Curious, what is Select Dining Plus? We’ve only seen Fixed or Select..this Plus they’re advertising is new, or just to me? 🤷‍♀️

I’ll be following as well! We’re on the Silhouette in May for our 40th! Congratulations on your 15th…seems so long ago now for us 😂. Your itinerary sounds really nice and I’m sure you’ll get a few lovely relaxing days between the touring. Thanks for posting!

Sooo, you didn’t actually eat in the MDR? which is where most of the complaints are coming from. I imagine Blu is at a higher level and hasn’t experienced the cuts and lowered quality that seems predominantly occurring in the MDR. Is there a charge for room service for AQ passengers? Thanks for posting your experience tho, and glad you enjoyed your holiday!

I will enjoy following along as well. They’ve given you nice long port times which will be helpful for any excursions you’ve got planned. If you’ve been on Eclipse or Equinox the Solstice has a similar layout. Do you plan to do any glass blowing? So much fun! Have a wonderful time and I hope the skies are clear and the seas are calm! 🥂🛳️ Cathy

Read post #39…they’re quite valuable on the black market.

It’s too bad you didn’t receive good service on your cruises. While the food quality/selection mentioned by some recent cruisers leaves a lot to be desired we’ve personally only ever had wonderful service from the hard working crew. So many went out of their way to please us and that’s what we truly remember from our holidays. Hopefully this never changes for us as that would be the proverbial straw.