onetravelbug

Welcome to another live thread from Silversea Muse Southampton to Montreal. We are on our second day of the cruise, and are docked at Falmouth, UK. I want to add to other posts that you may be reading. I'll try not to duplicate information that has been posted. First, I wanted to update about the Silversea luggage service I had posted on another thread. We sent two luggage bags ahead to Southampton using the Silversea's services. For those new to Silversea or maybe those that hadn't thought about using a luggage service this is a hidden jewel. With just a phone call to Silversea we reserved our dates for our cruise luggage service pickup that went without a hitch. We have used other services with no real issues, but with the included $2,000 loss insurance and the very easy to ship paperwork made this process well worth considering as an excellent alternative to other services. Silversea does not advertise this service widely. You have to hunt for the contact information which presently is found under "how to pack your luggage". I am not for sure why it is not more widely advertised, but I would certainly rate it as an excellent service. Both suitcases were in our cabin waiting for us on our arrival at Southampton. Fed Ex was the carrier that Silversea uses, and they did an excellent job. Silversea also gives you direct contact information to Silversea if you have any questions or issues. The fact that we were dealing directly with Silversea gave us some additional comfort that we would not have any major difficulties. I would give Silversea an A+ on this service.

Now to a few points about our first two days. We used the Silversea transfers from our London hotel to Southampton. This was over a two hour bus trip to get us to the Muse. Yes, I know many of you despise a bus transfer especially a two hour transfer, but it did go fairly smooth. The check in was one of the easiest I have ever experienced. The total process couldn't have taken more than ten minutes (including our walking time to get on the ship). Since our arrival was at 2 PM, we were able to go directly to our cabin. Most of our luggage (including the above mentioned shipped luggage) beat us to our room. Several messages were waiting for us in our suite, including the Meet & Mingle Cruise Critic for 6:30 that evening (more later on the M&G). Our dinning reservations (as requested) and our shore excursions tickets were also available. A quick visit to the La Terrazza for a bite to eat, and then off to unpack our luggage with the normal Life Boat drill a short time later.

First impressions of the Muse: I am not going to bore you with what other threads have said, but needless to say we were impressed with the ship. If anyone has a specific question I would be happy to reply. My DW told me she really likes the ship, so I guess that is another A+ for Silversea.

A quick trip to the Observation lounge at 6:30 for a conversation with our cruise director, hotel director, and guess relations director and several CC travelers. James our CD told us there were 17 CC on board, but we only had 5 present at our M&G. If anyone doubts the influence CC has on Silversea, you would be wrong. It was mentioned twice the first two days that everyone in corporate reads our posts.

Lastly we ended up a busy first day with a trip to Atlantide for dinner. Excellent food which we had a hard time finishing due to a late lunch. More on the very subjective food thoughts as we try each restaurant. I am working hard not to gain weight, so I have gone light (at least for my normal eating) for the first day.

Thanks Focused1, we can't wait to join you in Southampton. My DW has a question about the Spa. Do they have foam rolling clases or at least the foam rollers? This is not a high priority for me, but it is for my DW. In your travels around the ship maybe you could ask someone that works in the Spa? Maybe someone else that has been on the Muse would know? Looking forward to your posts as we count down the days before flying to the UK.

"Are you dealing directly with FedEx when you use the Silversea service? Or is there an agency specializing in delivering to cruise ships, hotels, etc., which you can contact with questions, issues, etc."

I delt directly with Silversea. My TA was not involved directly, although I'm not saying she wouldn't or couldn't. I emailed Silversea Silver Shore Baggage Valet directly to get quotes. Silversea doesn't advertise this service very well. I'm not for sure why, but if you look under "How to pack your luggage", you will find the link to email your request for a quote. Silversea follows up with a letter enclosed with the initial Fed Ex paperwork which includes names and phone numbers to contact at Silversea if you have any questions. Hope this helps.

Onetravelbug - If you don't mind me asking, which company are you using for your luggage service? Also, I would be interested in hearing your review of the company after the fact. Many thanks.

We are using Silversea's program. So far so good, but the proof will be in the safe arrival of our luggage on the Muse. I have used Luggage Forward before, but decided to try Silversea's this time. Not that I had any issues with Luggage Forward, but Silversea had an included $2,000 luggage policy and they do not charge you upfront. Your on board account is charged for the service. Cost was about the same.

Fed Ex sends a packet in a plastic pouch, with paperwork included, a week in advance of the luggage pickup. You just attach the packet(s) to each piece of luggage after including a copy of your passport and signing three copies of the manifest that was included. Much simpler that the other service I had used.

Normally we don't use this type of service unless we are planning on spending a few days at the port before embarking. For this trip we are arriving four days early and didn't want to deal with moving four large suitcases and our carry ons with us for this many days. I'll up date when we board the Muse with the final evaluation.

We are joining at Southampton, so interested to hear your views.

Have fun.

We will also be joining up at Southampton and looking forward to your comments as we are preparing to travel to London. Today some of our luggage is heading out to the U.K. a few days before we fly out next week from Phoenix. Hope to see you at the Meet & Greet for the CC members sometime after Sept. 12th.

My favorite Seabourn story is when we were on our 30+ day I had asked for a can of tomato juice in our refrigerator. Each day I found a glass of covered tomato juice waiting for me. At first I was confused that they would open a can and pour it into a glass rather than letting me open the can when I was ready to have a drink. Several days later our stewardess apologized to me that there was no tomato juice in the refrigerator that morning. She told me they were late squeezing the tomatoes that day. No cans on Seabourn just the best fresh ingredients they can provide. While my next cruise is on a Silverseas I am looking forward to another cruise with Seabourn.

I just heard back from my TA, and the delay in the cruise ticket being issued has something to do with changing the dress code for our 6718 voyage. It looks like the dress code changes everyone is discussing that will take place in October will now take place on September 12th. Silverseas says they expect the cruise ticket to go out sometime this week. Formal nights will no longer be tied to where you are eating but rather on set nights. I am sure most CC will be happy about this change coming earlier than first announced. More to come after I see the Cruise Ticket.

:confused:GI all green. Emailed my TA, so waiting for a reply.

Strange, the only thing listed under my Document tab is "Guest information" form and "Travel journal". Guest information shows our transfers to/from ship, hotel and airport, but nothing else. I paid for the entire cruise over a year ago. It says this under Travel journal document: PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT YOUR CRUISE TICKET. YOUR FINAL CRUISE DOCUMENTS INCLUDINGYOUR CRUISE TICKET WILL BE EMAILED APPROXIMATELY 6 WEEKS PRIOR TO SAILING PROVIDEDPAYMENT HAS BEEN RECEIVED IN FULL AND YOUR GUEST INFORMATION FORM HAS BEENCOMPLETED.

We are on the 6718 cruise in September, so we we are following along intently with everyone's posts. On My Silversea web site it says that we should get an email containing our cruise ticket approximately 60 days or less prior to the cruise. Haven't received anything yet. Has anyone on this cruise received their cruise ticket yet? I was told by our TA that there were several cabins still available which might explain the two cabin upgrade offer for new cruisers. I am thinking they are holding off emailing the cruise ticket as they will try to upsale some of the empty cabins.

We are on the 6718 cruise, so it will be interesting to see if and when some of the changes take place. I'll post our cruise information with a emphasis on any changes taking place. I am sure the ship's officers will have more information as it will be the last "full" cruise in September ending on September 28th.

I'm sorry you had these issues on your cruise. No one would happy with what you described. Saying that we also had a poor experience on the Silverseas Galagos cruise a few years back. However, I did write a letter to Silverseas explaining our disappointment and came out with a different ending. I won't go into the cruise issues (it was one of the first after Silverseas took over a new ship), so there were several issues.

After two months Silverseas finally replied to my letter and offered a very nice partial voucher for another Silverseas cruise. If we had not received this voucher, we would have never tried Silverseas again. That would have been a shame, because the next Silverseas cruise on the Whisper in 2016 was one of our best ever cruises. Now we are looking forward to the Muse in September 2017. So my suggestion to you would be to continue to follow up with a written explanation of your disappointment sent to their corporate offices. Also have your TA support you in this effort. I think all of us forget that any cruise line has thousands of clients each month, and there are various issues that need corporates attention. Unfortunately the squeaky wheel gets the grease (as we say in America), so squeak nicely but be persistent. You should get no less than an apology, but hopefully more. I am guessing you were not the only travelers on this cruise that complained. Good luck, and let us know how things turn out.

"I've sailed to Alaska on the Navigator so am already familiar with its pros and cons."

We have also been on the Navigator cruising from Alaska to China in some rough seas. We like the ship, and were not concerned about booking this cruise. As for the humidity, there seems to be two times during the year that most ships make this trip. One in late Fall, and some go in the late Spring. I'm not for sure which one is considered best, so maybe a CC that has taken this before will enlighten us.

My DW and I have booked this cruise. Considering You are from Arizona like us, it should be a walk in the park dealing with the heat. ;)

By the way, we cannot see the list of restaurants we booked after booking them, can our travel agent print out the list of restaurants we have booked and e-mail it to us?

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If you look at the web page where you made your dinning reservations, you will notice that there is a "print" icon in the upper right corner. Click on this and you will get a 2 page copy of all your dinning, spa. & tours that were made. If you only want a list of your dinning "reservations" then print them off between 120 days & 90 days which is before you can book the tours. It is a little more use of paper than just printing a one line per day list of your reservations, but you will have a copy as a reminder after leaving on your trip.

Thanks for all the help. Yes, we will be using a MB vehicle which is reserved by our hotel and cost added to our hotel bill. It sounds like maybe a £5 or £10 tip depending on service would be appropriate.

Thanks Travelcat for the link. While it did not specifically give guidelines for a reserved limo, it does give some guidelines of about 10% for a reserved taxi for the airport to London ride. Just to clarify we are using a hotel limo service and he/she will be at the custom exit waiting for us. Am I still on track with the 10%?

Can anyone tell me what would be a proper tip for a limo driver In the U.K. Based on a 100 # total cost? I looked at the web site above, which showed taxi driver information, but guessing this is not even close to what a limo driver would expect. Thanks in advance for any help.

Here is a recent quote from Silverseas that was posted on Seatrade web site today.

"For boomers, Generation X and millennials, the most consumed content on social media is blogs, followed by images and comments. But, unlike the younger groups, boomers also avidly consume reviews, so sites like Cruise Critic have gained importance for Silversea's target market, Muckermann said."

It looks like Silverseas is listening to our comments that we are posting. Muckermann was saying earlier in her comments that Silverseas was concentrating on the Boomer generation and not as much on the Millennials.

Here is a You Tube video of the Muse walk though posted April 3, 2017. While the pictures are not as good as those posted above, it is a 24 minute video that shows many of the rooms and furnishings. Workers are busy finishing up the final touches. Helps if you understand Italian.

Here is the update from Silverseas and my TA. As long as Silverseas offers a hotel package for the same number of days prior to sailing you can book and pay Silverseas for the airport to hotel transfer (Their hotels only). In our case, we will have to do our own transfers from the airport to the hotel because we are arriving four days prior to sailing and Silverseas does not offer a four day pre-cruise hotel package. This is all based on you doing your own air and hotel reservations. So as long as Silverseas offers a one or two or three day pre-cruise package at their hotel and that matches the same number of nights you will arrive early you can take advantage of their transfers.

We did purchase a Silverseas transfer from the hotel to the ship for $59/person. Considering the distance from London to SouthHampton that is probably a fair price, and it makes sure we arrive at a reasonable time before sailing. Sorry, I don't know the airport to hotel transfer prices in London.

The only trick here is you must reserve your transfers from Silverseas prior to sailing. You just can't show up and expect to buy a transfer. I would also urge anyone thinking about doing Silverseas's transfers to reserve them early. They will take care of their air/hotel guest first, and only sell left over space as it is available.

Hope this helps clarify Silverseas's policy on transfers for their non air/hotel guest.

You can pay Silverseas for the transportation to the ship from the hotel. At least that is what my TA says. Still much cheaper than booking the hotel through Silverseas. I will double check with my TA, but have done this on many cruise lines without any issues.

We booked our own hotel in London this coming September, which is the same hotel that Silverseas uses. We just asked our TA to add the transportation from the airport and from the hotel to the ship as a separate item. Wripo is correct the saving is substantial and you still have the option to add the transportation with Silverseas, or go it alone. The saving we will have from doing it ourselves is going to pay for our tours of the London area four days prior to joining the ship in SouthHampton.

We were in a terrace veranda on the Whisper last June. There were no chairs or tables on the terrace. It is used by some crew members to travel from one end to the other. You certainly could put one of the suite's chairs out when you wanted to sit outdoors. While I didn't ask, your butler might come up with a solution for a spare deck chair that you could use. My gut instinct is that there is no permanent deck furniture because the deck has to stay open for the safety of the crew and fellow passengers who might be walking past other suites. The furniture, if left out when not used, could be a trip hazard since more than the individual suite users use the same space. Maybe someone on the board that made a request for deck furniture could shed light on what Silverseas would allow or not allow.

I have been on both the Navigator and Whisper, and I feel the Whisper is a better choice.

Saying that we have booked the Navigator in 2018 for 25 days. Suites on both are comparable, but service in my opinion on the Whisper is a notch above the Navigator. One of the major downfalls of the Navigator is that it doesn't have a forward opservation lounge. I always liked going there early in the morning for coffee on the Whisper. When we booked the Navigator I had to think twice before giving up that forward lounge.

Food (while subjective) is (in my mind) close in quality, but the Whisper has more options to dine than the Navigator. The ship vibration on the Navigator is real, but wasn't a deal breaker for us especially since we booked a mid deck suite. However, for others it could be. On the plus side the Navigator is more dress informal, and for many that means less packing. Now I know that some would not consider that a "plus", but that is why we have different cruise lines.

Now saying all of this one might question why we booked the Navigator. It came down to the itinerary and when we wanted to travel. I looked at Silverseas, Seabourn and Crystal (all of which we have cruised on), but couldn't find a comparable cruise during our time frame.

Bottom line: given the same itinerary I would definitely vote for the Whisper.