spinnaker2

WOW dr Ron!!!!!

Safe and enjoyable travels.

Looking forward to the foraging. Perhaps leave a few bread crumbs for a trail back to your suite…

Have a wonderful time aboard.

When we were on the Dawn a few weeks back most pax ignored all of the sanitizers and the hand washing stations in La T. No effort from crew to direct pax to wash up. This is in sharp contrast to the cruises immediately post Covid when pax were directed to wash hands.

Vista I was waiting to hear about your experience on the Dawn. Thanks for posting. I am sorry that your experience seems to be consistent with ours, days earlier. We too are looking elsewhere. After years of sailing with Silversea, the handwriting is on the wall.

I think there are many crew and Silversea personnel who would go to Crystal right now. We are looking at Crystal.

I think they already did

Yes all the best to Barbara.

Hair dryer by Bentley! Kid you not.

This was not an instant thing. Been in the works for awhile, announced today. Very sad to see her go because she was responsive to the pax and had the brand in mind.

The Silversea experience has been deliberately and systematically eroded by the management. By penny pinching, profit taking and metric splicing, the Royal people have eliminated the little and big touches that made Silversea seem special, and a luxury line. The product has been dumbed down so much. Relaxing the dress code may make the pax look less elegant, but the Silversea bears the brunt of the blame for what has happened. Frankly, I do not think the management cares. The older and wiser Silversea pax of old are not valued, after all they are expendable just by virtue of age.

Not sure about the pax on deck 5. After much thought, we have decided we cannot throw good money after bad and have cancelled our cruise on the Spirit for September - October. We have 448 days on Silversea at the present time. We can accept change when it is for the good and the concept doesn’t change. The Silversea product has drastically changed in our opinion.

Not on the Dawn crossing March 19- April 2.

Agree about Steve and his help. Invaluable.

I know. That is why I am wondering how they pulled this off.

I tried to book the following cruise and was told no, it was chartered. Perhaps they became insurance salespeople?

Nope she’s not a Brit. From the colonies. If the pax on the crossing weren’t bothered then… I would guess that the charter group, who are from an insurance company, will be too busy with imbibing and foraging (from what I have been told). Today is their last day or maybe tomorrow. Hope we hear from Vistaman.

Home sweet home. Decompressing from the cruise and the return travel. We booked nothing onboard for the future. There was a time when we would always have a future cruise booked onboard. Processing final thoughts. Some trivial information: We had been told while we were aboard that decks 5 and 6 would have no passengers on the charter following our cruise and all the silver suites and big suites were booked. Less than 400 pax for the charter. As we left the quay we looked back and saw several pax on their verandahs of deck 5, including a couple who had occupied a silver suite near ours on the crossing. We recognize the couple because they make themselves known at every venue, she frequently wears curlers in her hair to lunch in la T. I guess some pax who were not in the charter group were able to book the cruise. Not sure how one accomplishes that.

We have arrived in Lisbon. The Grimaldi's are here too.

The quality has been reduced. The food quality is mediocre to poor. We never had any fruit bowl in our Silver Suite. We had but one soap when we arrived. So many cut backs, too numerous to list. Running out of fresh food mid cruise. Running out of many wines mid cruise. There were ports we stopped at but no effort to restock anything. And the attitude of yes has been replaced by nope.

Sunday afternoon became rough and squally, blowing wind and rain. In the midst of the rain there was a rainbow( apologies for taking the photo through the glass door, but the force of the wind and rain would not allow us to open the doors). Many pax were seasick, according to our butler. As the decks were moving a lot, we chose to have room service for dinner, instead of trying to maneuver to la T. We missed the crew parade and the Motown show as well. The en-suite food was actually quite good. Thanks JP for the input. Invited We may have been snookered for the last time by Royal Caribbean. Fool me once…

Easter Sunday The Dawn slipped out of the harbor at Tenerife long before we rolled ourselves out of our warm cocoon of soft, fluffy quilts and sumptuous sheets. The linens are still lovely. We lost another hour last night. Really tough on the crew who remain outstanding, smiling and attentive. Breakfast was waiting at the table in our suite. As we enjoyed the meal, we looked out to the grey blue sea with rolling waves from the SSE; we meandered forward at 14 knots. I will miss the sound of the ocean, the gentle rocking, the vistas where water and sky have endless edges. Lisbon is but a few days away, and the end of the cruise. The pool deck is rapidly filling with the worshippers of el sol. Tonight is formal night # 3. The Venchi bunny is a nice touch. Restore faith? Not even close.

Wish we had more time here to explore the national park and other places. If we had known we were coming here ( we are here due to Funchal bad weather), I might have rented a car to see some of what you described. I thought the sail in was quite lovely with the dramatic craggy cliffs and the houses hugging the mountains. I cannot in good conscience, book a 5 hour bus tour for my 6 foot three husband who uses a cane, and who's knees will suffer after 20 minutes in a tiny bus seat.