wineasmusic

Saw two young kids but only once. Probably at Ritz Kids all day, never seen at dinner. I'm guessing could be more when school is out.

I guess I did not realize how big a number that was. They must have been running a bonus promotion or something.

I got 127k Bonvoy points for an 11 day cruise.

You can do a back to back. Several folks were doing that.

I think they just chose 1 chair to make the room feel bigger without realizing all the implications.

There is a nice padded bench for use when working at the desk. If the weather is good, it would be great on the balcony. They need 2 chairs though, plain and simple. It would fit.

Excursions just like Seabourn. We had a famous pickpocket on board who did 3 shows. One was just for fun and really showed how exposed we are as tourists. The other two showed us things we could do to protect ourselves better. He was great, really entertaining and you learned valuable lessons. They had events and activities, but was more laid back than Seabourn. We were busy enough I never found time to crack my book somehow...

No sofa in the rooms. Room service was like in the hotel, all at once. Not sure if everything can be ordered as we never used it. Ship excursions were good, but similar to Seabourn and Silversea. Not sure they were any more pricey. One tour was divided into 2 groups of 16, but we each had a full size bus.

I did not do a direct compare for price, but it feels like it was more expensive than Seabourn. That said, the food was way better, the pouring wines way better, the room a little more comfortable. Lots of open decks and you have 2 decks you can walk all the way around the ship for exercise. I enjoy listening to musicians more than the shows so I preferred this setup (personal preference item). They do have trivia. They have a concierge desk in the living room so it is like Seabourn Square. This is a differentiated product so there are lots of things that are personal preference. Chatted with the Hotel Manager a number of times in passing. A very enthusiastic responsive guy and very available to the guests.

There were a couple of kids on board, but I only saw them a time or two. They seemed to spend most of their time at Ritz Kids program. School was not out for kids yet so I suspect our cruise had fewer than a summer Caribbean itinerary.

Just got back from an April 15-26 Lisbon to Barcelona Cruise on the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection Evrima. First, who are we? Long time Seabourn cruisers. I identify as a foodie with lots of really good wine experience. TL:DR The Ritz has done a good job of creating a differentiated product. This means some will like it better and some less so. We loved it and it is now our first choice if there is an itinerary that interests us. The Ship, er sorry, yacht. A really lovely space. They have done a lot to make it look less like a ship and more like a resort. The observation lounge is huge and provides a space for nightly dancing and higher energy partying. An unfortunate design compromise does not allow a view straight forward however. The living room has lots of couches and chairs allowing you to park close to the musicians to just listen or completely across the large room to hear them but still be able to converse comfortably with folks. We had 5 great musicians on board who rotated around the venues (even in the main dining room one night). 3 areas on rear decks and 2 in front allow sunning on loungers. Not much shaded lounging though. At 300 people it is intimate, yet still has 4 restaurants, and sometimes 5. 3 of the restaurants have outdoor seating. The main dining room menu changes every 3 days, so make sure you rotate around the different restaurants to prevent menu fatigue. Food is definitely a standout. I spoke to a lot of repeat cruisers who said the food did not used to be this good. Ritz seems to have improved a lot over time. With so few passengers they run food service like land-based restaurants. The food is made "a la minute" and reservations are required for dinner. Your cabin steward can make reservations, but I found it easier to do it myself on the app. You can only use the app when on the ships wifi though. There was a huge selection of included wines listed on the menu. They would offer a different white and red each night, but occasionally what I was eating needed a different choice to properly pair and they were always willing to open my request. They had a great Som and assistant who were very knowledgeable and helpful. The crew seem really happy working on the ship. They had enough time to visit and they and the passengers seemed to really enjoy that. We had only 170 on this cruise, can't tell what it would be like on a full cruise. Our room was a standard room, very nicely appointed and looking less like a ship room with cool indirect lighting around an attractive ceiling. The balcony was large with good furniture. One comfy high back chair in the room. Why only one? The bathroom had 2 sinks and the largest shower I've ever seen on a cruise ship. The toilet was in a roomy privacy stall. Included hair dryer. Fridge with mixers and our choice of wine or liquor. A new 400 pax yacht launches in Sep and another in 2025. I hope they then start covering more of the world than just Caribbean and the Med so we can cruise them more. We really enjoyed it! D2

Just got back from an April 15-26 Lisbon to Barcelona Cruise. First, who are we? Long time Seabourn cruisers. I identify as a foodie with lots of really good wine experience. TL:DR The Ritz has done a good job of creating a differentiated product. This means some will like it better and some less so. We loved it and it is now our first choice if there is an itinerary that interests us. The Ship, er sorry, yacht. A really lovely space. They have done a lot to make it look less like a ship and more like a resort. The observation lounge is huge and provides a space for nightly dancing and higher energy partying. An unfortunate design compromise does not allow a view straight forward however. The living room has lots of couches and chairs allowing you to park close to the musicians to just listen or completely across the room to hear them but still be able to converse comfortably with folks. We had 5 great musicians on board who rotated around the venues (even in the main dining room one night). 3 areas on rear decks and 2 in front allow sunning on loungers. Not much shaded lounging though. At 300 people it is intimate, yet still has 4 restaurants, and sometimes 5. 3 of the restaurants have outdoor seating. The main dining room menu changes every 3 days, so make sure you rotate around the different restaurants to prevent menu fatigue. Food is definitely a standout. I spoke to a lot of repeat cruisers who said the food did not used to be this good. Ritz seems to have improved a lot over time. With so few passengers they run food service like land-based restaurants. The food is made "a la minute" and reservations are required for dinner. Your cabin steward can make reservations, but I found it easier to do it myself on the app. You can only use the app when on the ships WIFI though. WIFI was great! There was a huge selection of included wines listed on the menu. They would offer a different white and red each night, but occasionally what I was eating needed a different choice to properly pair and they were always willing to open my request. They had a great Som and assistant who were very knowledgeable and helpful. The crew seem really happy working on the ship. They had enough time to visit and they and the passengers seemed to really enjoy that. We had only 170 on this cruise, can't tell what it would be like on a full cruise. Our room was a standard room, very nicely appointed and looking less like a ship room with cool indirect lighting around an attractive ceiling. The balcony was large with good furniture. One comfy high back chair in the room. Why only one? The bathroom had 2 sinks and the largest shower I've ever seen on a cruise ship. The toilet was in a roomy privacy stall. Included hair dryer. A new 400 pax yacht launches in Sep and another in 2025. I hope they then start covering more of the world than just Caribbean and the Med so we can cruise them more. We really enjoyed it!

We had great service. I did a daily posting to this board of our adventure. D2

Turns out the Silversea cruise included Latam flight from the Galapagos to Guayaquil continued on to Quito. It would have been better for us to continue to Quito and catch our Delta flight there, but we did not know. Can't guarantee that Latam schedule would not change though. The default Silversea flight was to Guayaquil, so we just planned accordingly. We did our own flights to Ecuador.

I would not call Ecuador a cesspool. We were just there in May for our Galapagos cruise. We did a day trip in Quito to the old town area and it was great. Unfortunately, fuel and food costs are going to cause uprisings in many developing countries this summer, a bit like back in the Arab Spring. Some of these will bring down governments and be very violent. With any luck they can get you in and out avoiding the problem areas. We did a Greek cruise from Athens during one of the times Athens exploded with violence. We stayed in a part of the city away from the riots (they trashed the hotel we stayed at the time we visited before). We did not tour the city pre cruise, but we did a day trip to Corinth and it was great. Sometimes the violence is too great to do that and sometimes it is not. I have a group of 6 friends on that cruise. Good luck… D2

Just got back from the Galapagos on Silver Origin. Our cruise docs suggested we get a PCR on Wed so the test would still be current for boarding the ship on Sat. We paid $300 for our PCR tests. We flew to Ecuador Thursday and SS included 2 nights in a hotel before flying us to the Galapagos to board the ship on Sat. When we got to Quito, ALL passengers had to do an antigen test SS paid for. So our PCR tests they told us to get were wasted. Can’t be sure all SS ships require a test administered by SS before boarding like Silver Origin did. D2

When we booked last year, SS included a flight to the ship from Quito and flew you to Guayaquil after the cruise where they gave you a day room. We flew Delta into Quito before the cruise and our return Delta flight had a leg on Latam from Guayaquil back to Quito to pick up the Delta flight to Atlanta. D2

We had to show vaccination plus one booster cards to the airline, Ecuador and to SS before boarding the ship. We had to test Friday morning at the hotel between 8 and 9am (cost included) before boarding the ship. SS docs said to get a PCR test Wed and it would be good for Ecuador entry and boarding the ship. Ecuador did not ask for test result and SS made us do the Friday test anyway, so $300 for PCR tests wasted. SS tests you again after the cruise at the day room hotel (cost included) so you can get back in the U.S. D2

Disembarkation went well. Blue group left first on the zodiacs and then green group. When your zodiac gets to the dock, you board the bus for a short trip to the airport. You pick out your check luggage (they brought it to the airport) and check in for the flight to guayaquil. When you arrive you claim your luggage and get on a bus to the Oro Verde hotel where you get a meal and a day room. Then at your appointed time you get on a shuttle to the airport. Most flights to the US leave between 10pm and 1:45am. This all went quite well except for the half of the cruise that was connecting through Miami. The storm cancelled their flight. That was no fun for those folks. We really enjoyed this cruise. D2

This morning we did the Darwin center. Boatloads of giant turtles. Some of them were really massive. Can't believe something like this actually exists. The last supper was really good. I had prawns with an artichoke sauce. The Galapagos prawns are excellent!. Lunch was an excellent suckling pig. Seems pigs had overrun one of the islands and were only eradicated about a decade ago. Maybe the locals have a taste for pig since there was probably free pig for everyone due to the eradication effort? We leave by Zodiac in the morning. Seems this ship never docks. All provisions are brought out by boat, including fuel. The luggage is transferred by boat and we will get it at the airport to check in for our flight. We've really enjoyed this cruise! D2

Yes, she was excellent. We told her what we wanted to see and it worked out great! D2

I don't think we are allowed to post recommendations. She was killer! Is there a way to send me a DM on this site? D2

The trail is all big rocks about a foot or so big. They are jumbled in all directions. You are having to pick your way between our on top if they are flat enough. Takes some balance and leg strength. 2 hours of that at a slow pace. If you can do it it's worth it. A number of folks were in poor shape but still pulled it off. D2

We did Machu Picchu several years ago on an orient express tour. Staying in the hotel at the site was a big win. All the tourists leave about 3pm to catch the trains so it is all yours. Don't do much first day in Cusco. You are at 10k feet! Your body needs time to settle. We took the Hiram Bingham train round trip. It was really cool. D2

The food was again great today. Wifey did have a problem with the lunch menu, first time, and had to rely on the basics menu. I don't know what all is on that menu, but there are standards you can order anytime, anywhere. She did a margarita pizza. The crust was a little different than she is used to, but she was ok with it. Cheeseburgers, pizza and things like that are on that menu. Today had the most challenging hike we have done. They warned us in advance. It was very worthwhile, but it was a lot of work. Tomorrow the Darwin center and more giant turtles. I think some of these are double the age of the oldest cruiser on the ship. We have not sailed Silversea since 2005, but we have done Seaborn and Regent a bunch. This cruise, being an adventure cruise, has a younger crowd than those. D2