DCCruiser57

7 hours ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

Yes it is, and same for the 2023 World Cruise of Regent Seven Seas.

 

Guests who have already booked 2022 world cruise can also have the priority to reserve 2023 world cruise.

 

Priority as announced at the presentation today is as follows:

1.  Guests who were booked on WC 2021.

2.  Guests currently booked on WC 2022.

3.  Guests who were on WC 2020.

4.  Guests booked on Expedition WC 2022.

Fernando posted this on the SS passengers facebook page.  Pretty funny.

It appears that SS has deleted the Whisper's Canada/New England cruises in September from its website.  

I suspect RCL will keep the SS loyalty program separate and distinct like Carnival has done with its Seabourn brand.

Seriously doubt that RCL is going to hand out a free one week SS cruise to someone who has 350 days with RCL/Celebrity, a free 2 week cruise at 500 days and a free 1 week cruise for every 150 days after 500.

SS posted an update today delaying the start for 4 ships - (1) Shadow from 4/28 to 5/15, (2) Spirit from 4/20 to 5/5, (3) Moon from 4/1 to 5/4, and (4) Origin from 4/3 to 5/1.  

I would also suspect that the shipyard that was scheduled/will be performing the Wind refit is backlogged and that contributed to the delay.

Silver Dawn floated out today - see link below.

https://cruisereport.com/cruise-industry-news/silver-dawn-floats-out?fbclid=IwAR1Lr-6-6zmOjKZ11Z9EHEZdroq_gX0zHoAMlCfrsWPS1u64XUY5HSlgBQo

4 hours ago, taxatty said:

Per USA Today. SS just cancelled all cruises through April 1st.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2021/01/06/carnival-cruise-line-extends-us-sailing-suspension-cancels-cruises/6561583002/?utm_source=usatoday-Travel&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=baseline&utm_term=list_article_thumb

The article appears to be misleading as the SS 12/15/20 resumption of itineraries posted on the website showed that the first 2021 cruise would not be until 4/1/21.

On the SS website, today's update shows the Wind restart date being moved from 6/14 to 11/20.  Looks like the drydock will happen late summer/early fall and that SS is setting the Wind up for the 21-22 Antarctica season.

Mysty - thanks.  Not surprising.  I suspect that many of the April cruises, especially those in Europe, will also go by the wayside.  Our next plan is the Spirit B2B2B in September.  We are also awaiting the itinerary for WC 2023 - looks like it will start in Sydney and will be on the Shadow instead of the Whisper.

Just got the e-mail from Roberto Martinoli that SS has cancelled the planned Whisper Grand Med scheduled to depart 3/31/21. Not surprised.

Also, they cancelled these cruises so that they can be flexible in scheduling cruises once cruising restarts based on port availability/

Thanks - learned something new!

Mysty - got a notification that you posted a reply, but it never appeared.  Not the first time this has happened and I have had the same problem with other posters.  Wonder what is going on with Cruise Critic?

Couple of other thoughts/suggestion:

1.  Bring a US extension cord or two - the Whisper has a limited number of 110V outlets.  The extension cord comes in handy.

2.  Bring a nightlight to plug into the 110V shaver outlet in the bathroom.  Suites are pitch black with the curtains closed and the nightlight provides just the right amount of light.

3.  As Mysty indicated, bring a pair of good binoculars.

4.  Bring two cameras - on one trip, one of our cameras broke so the extra was very beneficial.

5.  Consider a waterproof camera, especially if you plan to snorkel.

6.  Consider bringing a multi plug for the desk outlet.  Be sure it does not have a surge protector as they are not allowed.  Ours has a five foot cord with 3 USB ports and 3 110V outlets.  Amazon has these for a very inexpensive price.

7.  The walls in the suite are metallic, so we bring lots of heavy duty magnets to hamg items up, such as hats, DW's purses,  etc.  

8.  We bring and hang up a large grid calendar to record, events, tours, social events, etc.

9.  Although the Whisper has a good collection of TV shows and movies on demand, we bring some DVDs with us and a HDMI cable to attach the laptop to the TV to use the built in DVD player.

I sure there all lots of other suggestions that I have missed.   Hopefully others can add their suggestions.

The Whisper does have 2 USB ports on each side of the bed.

We are booked and it will be 5th WC on the Whisper.  And when SS opens the booking for WC 2023, first open to 2022 WCers, we will be there to sign up.  It appears that WC 2023 will depart from Sydney.

Thanks - 2008 was before my SS time as we our first cruise wasn't until 2010.  

DW & I have taken 3.5 WCs on the Whisper (2020 was cut short by about half).  We love the Whisper, especially the crew & staff, food, and service.  We are not big show/entertainment fans, but do go to an occasion show, especially when it is an early show.  As you noted, the Whisper does not have some of the features that the Spirit & Muse (Arts Cafe, Silver Note, etc).  The Whisper was supposed to undergo another major drydock to make it like the revamped Shadow, however, that appears to be up in the air.

For WCs, the Whisper has a pretty solid number of regulars (those who go every year) of about 125 or so.  However, in 2019 and 2020, the number of WCers swelled to about 220 to 240.  In 2019 primarily due to Africa along with the Maldives and Seychelles, and in 2020, primarily due to Antarctica. According to SS folks, the cruise is selling very well and I expect there to be over 200 WCers.

SS does an excellent job with their included WC events - in the past they have flown us to the Taj Mahal, taken us on the bullet train and visited Nara/Kyoto, had dinner on the river in Bangkok, attended a mask ball & dinner in Venice, had dinner in Repulse Bay in Hong Kong, had a night at the Opera in Sydney, had dinner at the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, etc.  For 2022, they have an event to fly us up to see Victoria Falls.

For 2020, SS brought on about 8 or so experienced expedition team members.  In Antarctica, they did an excellent job with the zodiacs and the landings.  In Wilhelmina Bay we met up with and were side by side with the Cloud.  A very nice touch.

The 2022 WC itinerary is pretty spectacular.  For 2022, SS is including a selection of complimentary tours in almost every port.  The selection is really good.  We love the west coast of South America, especially Patagonia.  And we are excited about going back to Antarctica and especially South Georgia Island and Trista da Cunha.

One down side of the 2022 WC is it travels mostly from west to east, thus you are setting the clocks ahead and losing time, although you do gain time heading to the Med and Iceland.  

WC 2022 makes an overnight stop in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a first for SS I believe.  In addition there are some great port in the Med to include Istanbul, Athens, Kusadasi, along with some great ports in Israel, Spain, Portugal, France, the UK and Iceland.

For 2022, we had a veranda suite - it was a little forward of midships and it was perfectly fine.  One big plus was having the veranda in Antarctica.  It's pretty special to be on the veranda when a mother whale and her calf swim right along side the ship.  

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.  I'm sure I have missed some other key points that other WCers may want to add.

Posted on another thread.

20 hours ago, mspjerry said:

She is again  moored in France.

 

This was just copied from Silversea's website:

 

Break new waters with Silver Wind.

A major upgrade in December 2018 will saw Silver Wind looking better than ever. A second refurbishment in summer 2021 will see her benefitting from a strengthened to ice-class hull and will make her one of the most adaptable ships in our fleet. Still timelessly elegant, still luxuriously relaxed, her improved cruising versatility means she is able to whizz from the Polar Regions at the ends of the earth to the iconic ports of the Mediterranean with fluid ease. So whether you want to get up close and personal to penguins in Antarctica or laze on the golden sands of the Caribbean, get ready for a wealth of diverse destination experiences, in traditional Silversea comfort.

 

• Guests capacity: 274
• Crew capacity: 239
• Built: 1995
• Last refurbishment: 2020
• Tonnage: 17,400 Tons

Where on the website is this announcement posted?

On 11/20/2020 at 7:25 PM, turtlemichael said:

Very interesting and I'm looking forward to the detail.  As someone interested in the World Cruise 2023 I'm trying to work out how that fits in. At the webinar yesterday, discussed in another thread, it was said WC2023 would be announced in January.  A few months ago many of us were asked for our views on options which included the possibility of WC2023 starting in Sydney rather than Fort Lauderdale. Applying my very unrenowned detective skills could it be that WC2023 will be on Shadow and embark from Sydney? That would set the cat amongst the pigeons.

TM - we got the brochure from SS today.  In looking at them, it is obvious that WC 2023 will be on the Shadow instead of the Whisper.  The Whisper Jan-March 2023 cruises as do not appear to be WC segments.  All the other ships have 2023 itineraries and none of these appear to be WC segments On the other hand, the last cruise listed for the Shadow is 18 days leaving Dec 21st from Bali to Sydney.  The Shadow has no cruises listed for Jan 2023 and beyond which tells me it will be the WC 2023 ship.  Good detective work early on TM.

We are excited about leaving from Sydney and spending some pre cruise time there.  We will be interested in the itinerary and the pricing.

It is supposed to be an update about the planned Whisper GV Med voyage scheduled to leave 31 March for 81 days as the replacement for the cancelled 2021 WC.

Looks like you will get the news before we do.

TM - SS is doing an update zoom call this Friday.