mtlycrew1

Chenega, After Un-Cruise I can't imagine an Alaskan cruise on the big ships. We'd be anchored in beautiful bays and watch the big ships just cruise by in the distance. In my opinion they really missed a lot. Having said that, the small ship experience isn't for everyone. Some like all the amenities of the larger ships and that's fine. They just won't have an up close and personal experience like ours. When the crew would spot whales or bears the Captain would slow down, and at times, just drift up close so we could watch. They're not tied as tightly to their schedule like the big ships. Sea of Cortez in on our list with Un-Cruise.

Shazzah, Some of their trips include the boots and other equipment (eg. wet suits). Ours didn't.

Aussiemandy, you'll have a great time. Everyone wore thick wool socks with their rubber boots. In Juneau we just walked around town. We passed up on the tram and going to Mendenhall Glacier due to the costs of each. The tram is $33 per person and the shuttle to the Glacier is $20 per person. You can save money and pay $2 for the city bus but it's a 1 1/2 hour ride and it stops about 1/2 mile from the glacier. We had already been to Dawes Glacier and would be in Glacier Bay in a couple of days. If you wander around town I'd recommend getting away from the tourist "strip" of jewelry stores and really see the town. One couple did a 5 mile hike of a popular trail that starts just in town that takes you up to the top of the tram mountain. They said it was nice.

We just returned from the two week Ultimate Coves and Passages cruise with Un-Cruise on the Wilderness Explorer. I wanted to post this in an effort to help others considering sailing with Un-Cruise.

Bottom line: The trip was fantastic and far exceeded our expectations. We are definitely going to sail again with them. Now I must state this up front. We had rain on day one and day 14. In between we had the most gorgeous weather. The Captain said in all his years of sailing in Alaska ours had to be in the top 2 or 3 based on the weather. I say this so you know the perspective my comments are based upon.

The Ship – Wilderness Explorer. We were in 309. The room had two twin beds. I’m 6’2” tall and I had to untuck the bedding on one corner for my feet to stick out. Personally it was no big deal for me and kind of comical. The shower is a typical square shower with which I had no problems. They have a removable European style shower head which makes rinsing easier. They provided a liquid shampoo and body gel dispenser in the shower. The bow area is large and many passengers were out there enjoying the weather. The lounge is nice as is the dining room. One issue we had every night every night was that both became very warm. The crew was willing to open windows but sometimes people complained so they were closed. The engine noise was negligible as we were so high and mid ship so it wasn’t an issue at night. We brought ear plugs but didn’t need them.

The Crew – Nothing but glowing cudos for everyone. They work so hard with multiple responsibilities. The five Adventure Guides were VERY knowledgeable with every aspect of Alaska. Each evening they would give a presentation on Alaska history, geology or wildlife.

Meals – This is one area I think could use some improvement. They weren’t bad but they weren’t great either. I’d give them a 5 on a 10 scale. Breakfast and lunch were served buffet style and were by far the best meals of the day. Dinner was plated and served to you. You were given a choice of a meat, seafood or vegetable entrée. If you’re expecting the French Laundry you’re going to be very disappointed. However, if you’re expecting Denney’s or IHOP you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Every morning from 6:30-7:30 there was a great continental breakfast in the lounge (regular breakfast starts at 7:30.) The continental breakfast was wonderful with fruit, fresh baked pastries and oatmeal.

Adventures – Lot of fun. Most days you were able to do a morning and an afternoon activity. Each evening the Expedition Leader held “Six O’Clock News” to let use know what was happening the next day and listed the available activities which included a guided kayak trip, free paddle kayak (go on your own), paddle boarding, zodiac (inflatable boat) tour, hiking or the infamous “buskwacking”. Bushwacking is a hike in the Alaskan forest where there is no trail. You’re breaking your own trail through the brush and trees. You need to be in good shape for these and they are fun. We’ve never kayaked before and it was a breeze. These are “sea” kayaks and are virtually impossible to turn over.

Photography – I’m an avid photographer and came loaded for bear (pun intened). I brought way too much. Leave the tripod at home. The ship is always moving, even when anchored. When the engine is off they still have a large generator running for power and I could feel it on my tripod legs. Do bring a monopod if you’re using a large lens to relieve your arms. 90% of my shooting was done with my 70-200 lens. While on hikes or the kayak I used my Olympus mirrorless DSLR but many had their large cameras on the kayaks. The other lens I used was my 24-105 during hikes. Bring lens cloths and cleaner. You’ll definitely need a dry bag for kayaking and riding on the zodiacs and some form of cover for shooting in drizzle and rain.

Clothing: We WAY over packed here. We took clothes for one week. When the ship docks in Juno mid trip, Un-Cruise provides you a laundry bag and they have a laundry service on shore do all your laundry at no charge. There is a commercial dryer on the top deck for passenger use. We packed a lot of cold weather layers we never used. If you have rubber boots definitely take them. If not, you can rent a pair for $25 for the trip. If you have very small or large feet consider bringing your own. We brought hiking boots and shoes. Should have left the boots at home. Bring a comfortable pair of sandals or tennis shoes to wear on the boat. Bring quick dry clothing as it will get wet. We had all Columbia pants and shirts and they worked fine. Definitely bring rain gear (jacket and pants). Bring wool socks. Bring warm gloves. There were times early in the morning or on the zodiacs where warm gloves were a blessing. Bring water booties/shoes for in the kayaks. You’re feet for the most part stay dry but you don’t want you’re regular shoes getting wet by chance. I had a warm vest I wore under my rain jacket and that was fine. Bring t-shirts as it was warm.

Misc: Leave your hiking sticks at home. They have plenty on the ship for you to use. Bring snacks (trail mix etc). There is NO internet on this cruise so be prepared. Every so often if the ship sailed near civilization you might pick up a weak signal but that rarely happened. There is a very nice library containing books on every aspect of Alaskan life and history. Great reading. Each room was provided a set of binoculars so no need to bring your own unless you really like yours.

Well I hope this helps someone.

I'd like to make a second post of the flooding problem and our experience with Viking. This is our fourth cruise with Viking but the first in which we experienced a cruise interruption due to flooding.

Personally I feel Viking handled the situation as best they could. Viking has absolutely no control over whether they can continue the cruise. I've seen some comments on this string that I heard on our ship. Some people want a definite answer/status and any moment about what is going on. It just doesn't work that way and to expect otherwise is unrealistic. I'm quite confident some will complain that the sun rose in the East again. The Viking staff on the ship NEVER misled us in any way. They went out of their way to say that when they know something definite they will tell us. They even made it perfectly clear to do otherwise would be misleading and contribute to the frustration. Several passengers tried to get them to make specific committments but they weren't going to do that. Each evening we were briefed personally by the ship's Captain.

What compounded our specific situation is that when we were in Lyon on Friday, May 1st and as everyone knows all of Europe is shut down. We ended up stuck in Vienne on Saturday. Then you have the weekend which adds to the difficulty. Again, for some, they didn't care. I had become friends with the Cruise Director as we shared an enjoyment of photography and he assured me, and everyone else, that everyone at Viking Corporate was aware of this situation and they were working on several contingencies based on river situation.

On Saturday and Sunday we had our normal scheduled excursions. On Monday they coordinated busses to take us South to Avignon so we could at least do our scheduled excursion had we been there. Yes, it involved a four hour round trip bus ride but they made it happen. They also created a second, unplanned, excursion in Vienne for those who didn't want to take the long bus ride. Monday evening the staff briefed the entire ship that Viking HQ had arranged for hotel rooms for all of us in Avignon where there cruise was scheduled to end anyway. We ended up having to pack our bags one night early. We bussed down to Avignon Tuesday morning and they arranged for nice lunch in town and our final scheduled Avignon excursion that afternoon. In the evening they took us to our hotels (nice ones) where they arranged dinne. There were Viking staff on every bus and staying at every hotel. It was incredibly coordinated.

Trust me; I'm not saying I wasn't disappointed we couldn't have completed the cruise as scheduled. We were very disappointed, but Viking, and all River cruise firms, are VERY clear that they are subject to the whims of Mother Nature.

Just for the record, I'm not an employee of Viking but I'm still a dedicated fan of Viking especially seeing how they handled this very unfortunate situation.

We just returned from Viking's "France's Finest". First half of cruise was on the Neptune and the second half on the Delling. We had no problems on the first half of the cruise going North and South on the Seine. However last Friday the rains started and we were on the Rhone going South to Avignon. We ended up getting stuck in Vienne on Saturday May 2nd for the remainder of the cruise. While the water levels are high most ships are still able to navigate the bridges. The MAIN problem as explained by our Captain is the French authorities closed all the locks due to the high rate of river flow. As such no one was going anywhere. Viking did everthing they could including bussing us to several sites for off ship excursions. We drove by several locks and I can fully understand why they were closed. Alongside each lock is a dam and the water rushing over that dam was creating the most unbelievable turbulent rapids. Any ship exiting a lock would have immediatley been slammed by this water. The potential damage to the ship and the lock was clearly evident and none of us, regardless of our disappointment about the cruise, would want to enter that water.

To reach the local bus from Fira to Oia you must get up to Fira by cable car, donkey or walk. Once up there it's an easy 10 min walk to the bus station. If you're not sure, just ask for "bus station" and everyone is helpful in directing you. The bus departs every 20 min. You don't buy tickets in advance. Once you're on and the bus leaves the station a ticket person comes through and you pay him/her. It's 1.6E. Based on my experience having been to Santorini twice in the past two weeks, if I were to go back I would just forget about the boat transfer and take the bus. Just my thoughts.

Hello all,

It's us again. We just left Santorini yesterday. I finally met the elusive Luca who was my Santorini point of contact. In talking to the lady at the desk and Luca, there are only two "scheduled" boats from Fira to Oia, one at 8:45 and one at 9:45. After that the boats are redirected to tender duties for the cruise ships. We had a voucher for the 9:45 boat but due to unfortunate delays out of our control we didn't get to the dock till 10:00 and missed the boat. Luca said he would give me a refund. While standing there with him two other men were still soliciting people to buy tickets to Oia which confused me so I asked Luca. He said if they can get enough people to fill one of the boats they would make a special run but there was no guarantee. He said to check back in about 45-60 min. I didn't want to waste the time so I just took the local bus to Oia. This entire process seems to operate on the fly. By this time I was pretty frustrated and forgot to ask other questions so I'm not sure how much help this has been. So sorry to all. I guess the bottom line is if you want to get to Oia by boat then be there 15-30 min before 8:45 and 9:45. As a side note. Taking the local bus is not a bad option. Buses leave every 20 min and cost 1.6 Euro and the ride is about 20 min.

This is posted in the Chronicles provided on the first day of each cruise:

"Dress Code after 6:00 onboard Silver Spirit. To accommodate all lifestyles, Silver Sea had introduced casually elegant dining for those guests choosing a slightly more relaxed ambiance on formal evenings. Following dinner, all guests are free to take advantage of any or all of the pubic spaces for both entertainment or cocktails, and after dinner drinks.

Informal dining in La Terrazza- Guests who do not wish to dine formally in the Restaurant may dine in informal attire in La Terraza (which defines dresses or pantsuits for the Ladies, jackets for the Gentlemen (tie optional).

Casual dining at The Grill - Guests wishing to enjoy dinner without following a more formal dress code may op to dine pool side at The Grill. The dress code for The Grill is set as casual for every evening (dresses or blouses and pants for ladies; sport shirts and slacks for the Gentlemen)."

Hope this helps.

We are on our first cruise with Silver Seas and I thought I'd post an update regarding our "first timer" dress code concerns/confusion. I do this in an effort to help first timers like us who had so many questions prior to our cruise. We are in Istanbul this morning on the Silver Spirit ending the first leg of three back to back cruise on the ship.

My comments/observations on the dress code are not intended to add to the endless conversation the right or wrong nature of the SS dress code, only to give everyone a current report on what they put out as their dress code.

The following is printed on our daily information document called the "Chronicles":

CASUAL: Ladies: Dresses or Blouses and Pants. Gentlemen: Sport shirts and slacks

INFORMAL: Ladies: Dresses or pantsuits. Gentlemen: Jackets (tie optional)

FORMAL: Ladies: Cocktail dresses or dress pantsuits. Gentlemen: Dinner Jackets or Suits (Tie Optional)

During the day on the ship just about anything goes including in the restaurants that serve breakfast or lunch. The only restriction is no swimsuits. Other than that, virtually everyone wore shorts, short sleeve shirts, t-shirts, shoes, flip flops, sandals etc…the same relaxed atmosphere you have on any cruise.

The general guidance I received was that starting at 1800 hrs each day, the dress code of the day went into effect for all public areas (restaurants and bars) on the ship. On several days we returned to the ship after 1800 hrs from our sightseeing so we just walked straight to our room. Even though we were still in shorts, no one gave us notice.

I was really surprised to see the "tie optional" for formal evenings as other posters seemed to make a big deal on the formality of formal night. On formal evenings about half the men wore tuxes and half wore suits with tie. There were a smattering of men wearing sports coats with no tie. You saw just about everything from the ladies to long formal gowns to nice cocktail dresses. I have to admit I was a little concerned about how to dress prior to starting the cruise just based on all the comments I read on CC as I am one who would prefer not to wear or suit or tux on a cruise. I had this vision of a very conservative, Titanic style First Class type atmosphere but it was nothing like that at all.

The crew did not appear to enforce the dress code in the restaurants. On informal nights, we saw a couple of men wearing slacks and long/short sleeve shirts with no jacket. On one formal night last night in Le Champagne there were two men who weren't even wearing jackets. Go figure. Ladies seemed not to have a problem with dressing…it's always us men :rolleyes:

We definitely overpacked for this trip. The fact we're on three back to back cruises may have contributed to our more is better mentality. Each floor has a nice, but small laundry room. Very nice Maytag washer and dryers with an ironing board and iron. They provide soap but not dryer anti-static sheets (Bounce). This is a great service and we were fortunate to have the one on our floor just two doors down. Wash cycle takes 36 min and Dry about 45 min. There's a timer on each machine so you know how long your cycle has left.

Hope this helps.

All,

We will start the second leg of our journey today and will be back in Santorini on June 24th. We have our second set of vouchers from the Santorini Planet Facebook page that we're going to try to use, hopefully with the same positive results. While we're there I will try to get as much information as possible based on everyone's questions and report back.

Cheers.

People were walking up to the desk while we were standing there and just buying a ticket. The bus back is included but there were only three times, 11, 12 and 1:00. We just decided to take the local bus back and it ran till the evening and it only cost 1.6 Euros per person.

Hi everyone,

We are in Santorini and I wanted to give you an update on the boat. We printed the original voucher we were able to get off the Santorini Planet website (the ones they said were not valid). We just walked up to the ticket desk on the dock and presented our printed voucher and they didn't blink an eye. They just gave us our tickets and we got on the boat. There is no sign reading "Santorini Planet". There are just two offices with big signs that say "speedboat to Oia". It's not a true speedboat but they are the ones you want to use. I'm really convinced they just aren't organized. They didn't even ask for identification. We were scheduled for 9:45 am and we were there by 9:15 and there was a boat waiting so we got on. We were in Oia in about 20 min. They directed us to a bus and up the hill we went. It was very smooth and easy. When we were done we took the local city bus back to Fira. You get on the bus and once they start an attendant walks down the aisle and collects the money for the trip. There was only one other ship in port that we could see (Celebrity). They were there before us yet as we were leaving Oia there were about 20 bus loads of people coming in so perhaps they docked where we couldn't see their ship. We walked through Fira for a while then headed to the Cable cars. It was about 2:30 and we waited less than 10 min. Go figure. I think later in the day the wait will be longer. Anyway, if you have a voucher of any type from Santorini Planet you're good to go.

Oh, but I'll be wearing a jacket. :D

We are in Rome now. Join our cruise in a couple of days. Thanks to all for you great information.

Thanks Cynbar. That's very reassuring. We depart today for our trip and still no word back from Luca. We don't get to Santorini till June 15th so we still have some time. At this point I agree with your comments. They seem to be so disorganized that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. I fully anticipate…hope, that like you, we'll just able to walk up, give them the vouchers we purchased on their Facebook page and get on the boat. I'm going to act normal, not say anything about all this and act as if none of this happened. They are official vouchers and the guy on the dock likely doesn't know or care about the on line booking problems. I've printed every email from Luca and my PayPal receipts in the event there's a problem. I don't think there will be but I'll be prepared. I wish everyone best of luck and a great trip. If I can get internet service on the 15th I'll let everyone know how it went.

Oh well...

Well, the charges for our reservations we made on their Facebook page posted to my account last night. Hmmm. I emailed Luca again this morning indicating I needed verification from him soon as we depart for our trip this Friday. I asked that he either refund my money before Friday or honor the reservations I made on his Facebook page. Hopefully he responds today.

Thank you all. Very helpful. Having never sailed SS, I was just wondering about the daytime dress as so many on other forums were so focused on the evening wear. Nice to know it's relaxed cruise wear during the day…and I can wear my orange and blue striped Speedo. :eek:

I agree. Well Luca said he was going to check this today. Late last week he said reservations should be possible in a few days. If I don't see any change or hear from him I'll email him tomorrow.

That's interesting.

I hope it's not inappropriate to expand on my original question. Think of them as seeking additional information as we've cruised a lot but never on SS. Please understand this is not questioning the SS dress code…I've read quite a bit on that, and opinions are quite strong from all perspectives, however all the discussions seem to focus on evening wear.

During the day is it much more casual on board? For instance are shorts, sandals, t-shirts acceptable. I'd like to think I can walk to the pool or hot tub wearing my swim suit and flip flops or just wear a pair of nice shorts and a pullover shirt to sit out on deck.

Finally, there is the following statement in our Silver Book : "The Grill is optional casual all nights. Following dinner, all guests may take advantage of public spaces, however jacket is required." Do I interpret this to mean that if my wife and I want to stroll on deck on any evening I have to be wearing a jacket or is the jacket just required on informal and formal nights?

I sent an E-mail to info@aegeantraveller.gr

I see that you have two transfers. Can you please advise what times these two different transfers operate?

Answer:The transfers starts from 8.30 to 11.30 and we do several transfers up to the cruises and the traffic.

Sent from my iPhone

Ewoodspark, Any other indication from them regarding making reservations for the transfers? There's still nothing on their website.

Thank you both for the insight. On our trip we have six nights where the ship doesn't depart till 2300 so we'll have plenty of time to eat on shore. The rest of the nights it's mostly 1800 or 1900 hrs so as you mentioned we'll be eating on the ship.

I just received an email from Gianluca. (He and Luca are the same person).

They cancelled my reservations I made on the Santorini Planet Facebook page. Here is what he wrote:

Santoriniplanet is not providing anymore the booking service and online no one can, the official page for all Santorini's shore excursions is http://www.aegeantraveller.gr at the moment it doesn't provide booking system. it's not allowed anymore. The system is off so I don't know how could you make it, I'll check it on Monday./B]

Anyone who recently made reservations on the Santorini Planet Facebook page should contact them immediately. You may not have a valid reservation. I'm waiting for a response on how my PayPay account is going to be reimbursed.

The email from Luca had the following address info@aegeantraveller.gr

The email from Gianluca Chimenti had santoriniplanet@gmail.com

I'm slightly irritated right now.

Is there anyway to find out in advance which days on a particular cruise will be designated as formal, informal or casual? We plan on eating on shore as many evenings as possible to experience the local cuisine and it would help to know the schedule in advance for packing purposes. Thanks in advance.

Just out of curiosity I went to the Santorini Planet Facebook page link Wdavid1019 provided (thank you). I was under the impression one had to have a Facebook account to use this website but you don't.

The reservation process is very easy and quick. They provide the schedule for each departure and the number of seats remaining for each departure time. You can pay with credit card or Paypal.

Something interesting. The confirmation email for the Facebook reservation came from Gianiuca Chimenti who was the same person who told me we could no longer make reservations on the Santorini Planet website. I wonder why he didn't let me know you make them on their Facebook page. Oh well, I have my receipt and am now a very happy camper. :D