drron29

That plane doesn't look too much different to June 2009.

Indeed. On our Moon cruise there were odds and ends of South American wines left over from it's Grand voyage around South America. Often just 1 or 2 bottles so couldn't be offered in normal service. So I got to taste some very interesting wines from Chile, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay.

It is always offered. There is included complimentary wifi. On the sign on page for that is a big ad for the premium package which comes with a substantial charge. The upsell has always been there.

It does depend on the package you get. I just used the complimentary package and that was fine for simple tasks such as uploading photos. If you want things such as YouTube it’s hit and miss but more miss. I also had problems with my iPhone as I couldn’t access the App Store. The Paid package would be better but I couldn’t justify the cost for what I wanted to do. Would use instead in the port for the couple of things I needed to do.

Yes and it is operating and has been for about 3 months. We were on for 54 days and i was able to do a cruise report with an extreme amount of photos. Had no problem at all and completed the report on the day we got off.

Well we nearly made it home with out a problem but stumbled at the last hurdle. Our limo driver of 30 years retired while we were away. He had passed it on to the company he was working for. He had confirmed that the company had the booking and some one would be there to meet us. They weren’t. Rang them and got a message saying this service is unavailable please email us. So rang our old driver who rang the owner and they had the date wrong. Arranged for someone from Brisbane to take us home. Now looking for a new limo company. But the good news is that we board the Muse in 19 weeks. Only a short cruise of 44 days.

The problem with Silver Note on the Moon and Dawn is getting a reservation. You can go later and sit at the bar and drink. If you ask the manager for Silver Note you can get booking to eat after 9.30 pm but that’s too late for us. But easier to get last minute bookings at La Dame and Kaiseki as they are larger than on the Muse. Many nights they weren’t full.

The last I heard was he was retired in Florida. Never captained another ship. He was an Irish man and did have a common addiction that some Irish men have so may not be still in this world.

We did a Kimberley cruise on the Orion in 2006. We did a helicopter ride to the top of the falls when anchored in the King George river. We were back reasonably early so Captain Mike got the tender lowered and took us to the falls but on the way back got stuck on a sand bank. # zodiacs pulled us off. It should have been a warning as several years later he ran a cruise ship onto a coral reef in Irian Jaya. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/indonesia-seeks-justice-after-cruise-ship-irreparably-damages-worlds-richest-coral-reef/bjolqcb06

Unfortunately the included wines keep changing. Obviously as all are purchased via head office. It will depend on availability (ie quantity) and cost. I talked about this a lot with the sommelier on the Moon on our recently completed 54 day cruise. In particular I asked why a list of the included wines isn't available. Short answer because the wines are continually changing and the Sommelier is busy enough as it is. However at your first meal or dinner if you don't find the offered wine to your liking first talk to the wine waiter (often now called a sommelier but there is only one who is in charge.). Ask what else they have but it will help if you know what you like. For example if you are a red drinker and don't like the Carminere ask what they have in the way of shiraz,merlot or whatever you prefer. However if you say things like this wine is undrinkable or I find the wines on SS abysmal don't tink you you will get a truly honest response. As an example there was a couple on one of the segments of our cruise. Crystal refugees who obviously didn't want to like SS. I had noticed them in Atlantide talking very little with the ordinary staff but talking every night with the Sommelier or restaurant manager. Then one night they sat next to us. The Offered white wine was from Portugal and was quite reasonable but of course they wouldn't drink Portugese wines. The wine waiter then brought back a Tasmanian Sauvignon blanc that he described as being very similiar to the wines of the Loire. The fellow responded with the white wines from the Loire are made with Chardonnay grapes and we don't drink Chardonnay so asked for the Sommelier to come. She listened patiently to his story and then said I have a very nice white burgundy would you like to try that. Of course and they loved it. The Sommelier left the bottle on the table. As she said later she hoped they read the label and found it was made from chardonnay grapes.

The discussion on dress codes always amuses me. This week I went to a well known UK outdoor event. Events such as this in Australia are known to be very casual in a dress sense. So I didn't quite expect the things I saw. Lets just say the average show attendee was better dressed than a La Terraza diner on an informal night. Many gentlemen wore jackets. Most women were in long dresses. There were more women wearing stilettos than Tevas. Sandals were quite rare. Though as it is in La Terraza the white tennis shoe was the most popular footwear. As for the men many wore ties,even a few bow ties. But the prize went to the fellow in a dark suit,tie,bowler hat and red spats. I actually saw 3 men with spats and only 2 in shorts. But I wasn't allowed to get this shirt. Passed a tailor on the way backn to the apartment and thought this would look god on the Muse. Rojaan said don't be stupid hat's a morning jacket. I said but the Aussies and Americans wouldn't know that. I guess the vests aren't going to be allowed.

Australia loved Tina Turner. Even devised a dance in her honour -The Nutbush. But hat wasn't all. She became the voice of Rugby League one of Australia's football code. A fantastic story. After the early years she credited her later success to her Australian agent. The boss of our NRL had as an administrative assistant the wife of an Australian singer who was good friends with that agent. So he arranged the deal Fantastic success the first year and Tina's agent started a conversation to keep the partnership going. It did until Covid hit. So this weekend every Australian NRL match will begin with this song. Probably this version.

Well it is written on the SS website as such so all ships definitely should be following it. "Shipboard attire ranges from casual to formal. Casual wear is appropriate for daytime aboard ship or ashore and consists of standard sports outfits as worn at five-star resorts. Shoes should be flat or low heeled for deck activities. Evening attire falls into three categories: casual, informal and formal. On casual evenings, pants, blouses, skirts and casual dresses for ladies; open-neck shirts and slacks for gentlemen are appropriate. On informal evenings, ladies usually wear dresses or pantsuits; gentlemen wear jackets (tie optional). Appropriate formal evening wear for ladies is an evening gown or cocktail dress; gentlemen wear tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits. Tie is required. On formal nights, guests may dine in La Terrazza and choose to dress informal; dresses or pantsuits for ladies, jackets for gentlemen (tie optional). This option also applies to Seishin on board Silver Spirit, Kaiseki on board Muse, Moon and Dawn. Dining at The Grill and Spaccanapoli is optional casual all nights. Following dinner, all guests are free to take advantage of any or all public spaces, however, jacket is required. Sailings of 9 days or less typically feature 1 formal night, while longer voyages usually have 2-3 formal nights. Details will be provided in your final cruise documents, but the chart below provides a basic guideline to assist in packing the proper attire." https://www.silversea.com/travel-informations/general-information.html

Totally opposite to our Atlantide experience on our just completed Moon cruise. Basically Page 4 doesn't change. Though we were on for 54 days and there was a different prawn dish for a few days and a few days also it had Mediterranean sea bass as well as the Chilean. On page 3 the soups changed every 3-4 days the salads every 5-6 days as did the vegetarian Mains. On page 2 the starters changed every 5-6 days. Page 1 the day's menu changed every day but dishes would reappear every 1-2 weeks. Noticeable when you are on for 54 days. Then there is the everyday menu which you can access on your TV. And chicken is included. As the title suggests you can order at Atlantide from that menu every day. And on the Moon cruise the food was good to excellent. The fillet steak, the prime rib when it appeared and the fish were all excellent. At lunch in Atlantide the chicken wings were lso excellent. We only went to lunch 3 times and they were on twice though done differently.

With our annual travel insurance if we include the USA it doubles in cost. Looked at the 2025 world cruise for 2025. If we debark in the last Canadian port we save several thousand dollars in insurance premium. Checked on board so if you begin the last segment even if you don't complete it you get all the World cruise benefits but if you delete a segment you forfeit those. The cruise is from Tokyo to New York.

Though my search revealed these complaints. https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/saint-petersburg/profile/travel-agency/airbusinessclass-llc-0653-90357117/complaints As well as this saying it is legit but be careful. https://www.scam-detector.com/validator/airbusinessclass-com-review/ As they say if it sounds too good to be true it often isn't.

Sorry DW but CC won't let me like your posts. Personally I became a teenager in the 50s so I liked the first one but both are good.

Well we do love Miss Vicki. So much so that on the Dawn last August when officers were being advised not to mix too closely with guests in Covid's hopefully last gasp I was incorporated into her show as the fall guy for one of her jokes. But on the last night she had dinner with us which put a few noses out of joint. We have though met quite a few that really don't like her. The same goes for Roy Perez. A bit hard to take at first but he does grow on you. At Trivia after the first segment at trivia we were referred to as my mama and papa from Australia. But if he didn't like my very witty comments then we were the Australian mafia. In the end I did get to like him a lot. But a lot don't. Just the way of the world. I am so glad we are all different as if we weren't it would be a very boring world.

In Barcelona last year we boarded at 1pm and In Lisbon in March it was noon and at 2pm they announced all suites were available. Though I don’t doubt that the English would do things differently.

Being Aussies we too are cheapskates . It was $5 also for us when Rojaan needed it but that’s 10 years ago so would have doubled easily.

The part I highlighted suggests to me you are not certain about Silversea so you possibly should just stick to Regent. There are numerous threads post covid reporting on Silversea cruises. I myself did 1 in August 2022 of 18 days on the Dawn in the Mediterranean when covid rules were about to finish. I have just done one on 54 days on the Moon in the Mediterranean. Both include menus plus pictures of the complimentary wines on Silversea plus a few pages of the Conoisseurs wine list. There have been many others with a few that are on current cruises. And for what it is worth I have made the comment that our just completed 54 days cruise on the Moon is probably the best Silversea cruise we have done Around about 18 all up and have another 3 booked.

Actually it is fully set out on the Silversea site under the Packing for your voyage page . It is just that it is not easy to find by doing a simple search for dress code. Although many are under the impression that the formal dress code is only for Atlantide and La Dame on the larger ships it does also apply to Silver Note and SALT as well. The exceptions are La Terraza and Kaiseki but in those on formal nights the code is informal which means jackets for men.

We all have different tastes so replies to a topic like this are really of little use. If we believed some of the things said about Silversea we would not have cruised with them which would have been quite sad as we love Silversea so we feel no pressure to try something different. The only way for anyone to really know which line is best for them is to try both.