Randyk47

On 9/5/2024 at 11:34 AM, jollyjones said:

No designated terminal, I have boarded at various piers in the 19 to 25 location. 
Never at any of the lower number piers for SS though. 
 

Agree.  We’ve only cruised two times out and in of Port Everglades on Silversea and it has been either 19 or 25.  Terminal 25 is Celebrity’s therefore one of RCL major terminals and pretty nice as cruise terminals go.  Terminal 19 works because all we are interested in doing once we get to the cruise terminal is getting onboard.  Not quite as nice but it works.  

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We really like the Spirit.  After the Wind the Spirit is our second most cruise on ship of the fleet.  Would book her again without hesitation.  

Silversea does have nightly entertainment and the shows can be really good and sometimes not so much.  Supposedly RCL is now using their larger corporate contract(s) and that hopefully has helped.  There are daily trivia contest.  I think I’ve only seen one dancing class of any kind and assume that is dependent on the talents of the relatively small show members.   Other contests may or may not include ping pong, putting, and blackjack tournaments but I can’t say each and every cruise has those.  Longer cruises with more sea days have the most variety.  Truth is Silversea cruises are more relaxing and quiet versus mass market large ship cruises. 

In 12+ years and 15+ cruises I have never seen service animals on a Silversea ship.  I have seen them on Holland America and Celebrity cruises.  The two most unusual were a service cat and a service bird.  I did talk to the service cat owner and, if they are to be believed, the cat was a very large Maine Coon cat, like 45 pounds, who was especially trained to monitor her breathing at night.  Didn’t talk to the service bird owner so not sure exactly what support they got from the bird.  It was very popular with other passengers.  

Generally speaking the restaurants are not noisy.  For the most part kitchens are below the restaurants so very little prep is done in the service areas connected to the restaurants.  Years ago there were dance floors in the main restaurant and occasionally Silversea would have a dinner dance but I haven’t seen one of those in years and I think maybe the dance floors are gone from the few smaller ships that had them.  Other than that I don’t recall any or much music in any restaurant except for Silver Note.  

Our last cruise was on the Dawn shortly after she came into service.  They were still trying to round out the crew and were actually short 20+ folks in the wait and service departments.  We saw quite a few instances where more experienced crew had a “shadow” new crew with them and actually overheard one say “this is how we do this” to their partner.   From what I have heard and read most cruise lines are still working to attract new staff and crew post-Covid.  New builds only add to the demand.

Wish we were on this cruise, would mean a whole different world and set of circumstances than what has transpired.  We were booked on the Nova along with our best friends and cruise partners.  Had to cancel, actually move to a cruise next year, as both of the other couple required surgery so the thought was to  kick the can down the road and cruise when they had recovered.  Unfortunately, as it turns out, the husband suddenly and unexpectedly passed after four weeks after his surgery most probably from a blood clot.  His widow still wants to take the upcoming cruise but we’ll discuss that more when she spends some time with us here in a few weeks.   

Sometimes but not always.  

I doubt Silversea would sell their passenger information to basically a competing company.  I suspect the information was “mined” from a different source like a TA.  Of course the pervious owner may have made off with a list of passengers though I would have thought that would not be looked at kindly.   

3 hours ago, drron29 said:

You are right. since 2018 we have only cruised Muse class and they don't have Medallions.

Great!  I think they brought the Medallion level suites back in the Nova class….in fact a couple of Medallion levels.   For us the our opinion of Nova class ships is on hold.  We were booked on the Nova for this coming April but work and a couple of major/significant surgeries have caused us to move to the Moon next year. 

20 hours ago, seaver said:

If your TA can get you VIP status, you will get free laundry. 

Anybody know what VIP status costs a TA? Several people here have mentioned getting it but I can’t find any mention of it on the Silversea site.  I assume that a TA can “bestow” for a price.  

On 1/30/2024 at 10:56 PM, drron29 said:

There is a lot of reference to laundry. Silver suites or above get free laundry.

then if you look at their loyalty program you will see that after 100 days you get free laundry. No where in the inclusions listed do you see free laundry so why would it be included?

I thought it was Medallion and above.  Did they drop the Medallion suites out?  We cruised a couple of times in the Medallions on the Wind and got “free” laundry and that was before we got our hundred days status.   

I think once in our one and only Silver suite have we gotten any kind of extra swag.  Certainly nothing in a Medallion or below.  

49 minutes ago, QueSeraSera said:

I've always felt as a VIP on our Silversea cruises, but had never heard of this.  

Only here.  Nothing I’ve read, experienced, or seen in 12 years of only Silversea cruises have we experienced anything but “VIP” treatment.  

So as I understand the “VIP status” thing is this is an arrangement between the cruise line and the TA where the TA pays for a client to be given “VIP status”.  Truth is in the Silversea realm this is nothing but a form of OBC.  

57 minutes ago, 81Zoomie said:

Could anyone who has sailed Nova tell us what the large square white boxes showing on the port side of the passenger decks are?  There is an irregularly shaped white area aft on the starboard side as well.  Just wondering if there is anything to be concerned about (noise or corridor traffic). 

I haven’t been on the Nova so can’t directly say what is specifically in those areas but typically they are service, storage, or crew quarters.  We have had such spaces on other Silversea ships and quite frankly prefer being next to one rather than an occupied passenger cabin.  No loud conversations, no banging of doors, no noisy television or music, etc.  The crew and staff are typically extremely quiet in those areas and it has never been a problem or issue.  

5 hours ago, exlandlubber said:

Could anyone tell me if there are any video poker machines? Specifically on Silver Moon? It’s one of our guilty pleasures on a cruise.  Thank you.

I have never seen a video poker machine on any Silversea ship.  Granted the casino is subcontracted so things can change.  Silversea casinos are very small and pretty basic.  

14 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Same here.  Seems a little shady.

Something like 10 +/- years ago there was quite a stink when what had been a well thought of and trusted Internet based cruise centered travel agency literally folded overnight defrauding hundreds of clients.  As I remember the agency got bought out after years of great service and the new owners came up with the idea they could float deposits and final payments to support their personal lifestyle.   Rather than just pass the deposits/payments for processing to the cruise lines they would wash the funds through their own accounts.  Worked for a while but finally caught up with them and they owed more to the cruise lines and clients than they could garner from new deposits and payments.  I know most of the clients never got any money back and while the cruise lines sympathetic they couldn’t and didn’t honor the bookings.  I don’t remember the name of the agency and as I recall the previous owner tried to resurrect the agency but I don’t know if he successes or not.  The whole mess impacted the whole travel agency business and the few agencies that honestly handled the deposits and payments changed to passing the credit card information to the cruise lines and let them process the funds.  

5 hours ago, canderson said:

We've heard that about some UK TAs on other line boards as well.  When you get your credit card statement, is it the TA or Silversea that shows up?  With my TA in the US, it's Silversea and at 120 days.  Seems some UK TAs bank the float for 30 days?

Ugh.  I won’t do business with a TA who banks my deposit or final payment before sending it on to the cruise line.  Luckily I’m in the US and don’t have to deal with sometimes strange and different rules or practices.   

2 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

I’m not sure but doesn’t the suite you have play a part in this?

No

5 hours ago, applefan75 said:

Where are you seeing this in "My Silversea"?  I see places for food allergies, pillow preferences, and bed configuration; nothing about drinks.

I think they removed that option awhile back.  We now just tell our butler what we’d like when we board.  It usually is done by that evening.   

Really not sure what you are referring to.   There is another blog on a site we’re shouldn’t mention but it seems to be alive.  

On 11/7/2023 at 9:03 PM, drron29 said:

Though there may be some places where the coverage isn't great.

I had reported before that the internet when using wifi was very patchy. I needed to do a back up of my iPhone. Couldn't really do it onboard when it suggested it would take an hour. On shore hooked up to wifi and done in 2 minutes. related this to the IT person on board who said there is a known problem with IOS devices and Starlink.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255053665

 

So if you want to do things such as do stuff for your business take a tablet not an iPad.

I have no problems on my windows lap top.

Good point about availability.  While there are literally thousands of Starlink satellites up and operational coverage is better in some parts of the world than others.   It literally changes almost weekly as Starlink regularly launches dozens of satellites at a time.   I have heard but don’t know for sure that coverage over the Atlantic has improved substantially from just a few months ago.  

Starlink is fully implemented across the whole Silversea fleet.

3 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Disembarking in Fort Lauderdale in April .Flights at 11:52 would work . Is that too early to schedule a flight ? The next nonstop flight is at 3:35 pm . Can one ask the desk to be the first to disembark ? ( To make the flight ) I have TSA pre check so that process helps me get through security . Any thoughts are greatly appreciated ! Thank You 

I think that is fine.  You will fill out a disembarkation questionnaire and your departure from the ship will be adjusted accordingly.  It’s not like thousands are getting off.