Grand Northern Europe Voyage - Lisbon to Stockholm - May 6, 2022 to June 28, 2022

[lincslady]

11 hours ago, frantic36 said:

Mysty I just want to thank you for your blog. I just realised why I am enjoying it so much. With you just sharing your experiences without any compare and contrast to pre and post Covid sailing we can enjoy the journey. There is no fodder for opinions to be expressed by others how they had a terrible time on their cruise which tends to derail the journey.

 

I hope to emulate it when I try to do a similar blog on my cruise on Seabourn next month.

Well said, frantic.  It  must be tempting for some people, probably most people, to report instantly on the immediate happenings on board - good or bad in their eyes.  And you could change your opinion in the light of a few days at home afterwards, thinking back on the overall experience.

 

I hope that Mysty, and others who have been onboard, will give us a considered view of the whole cruise , with emphasis on the ship experience, when they have had time to get home, unpack their belongings and also their thoughts.

 

In the meantime, it looks like good weather in Tallinn, so I hope you have a good next to last day - yes, it has gone by very quickly.  I am enjoying coming along vicariously.

 

Lola

[highplanesdrifters]

Two months, I can't believe it either. Thanks for taking us along.

If you're looking for some authentic Swedish Meatballs and traditional Swedish cuisine in Stockholm check out Restaurant Bakfickan. As good as my grandmothers cooking.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

10 hours ago, mysty said:

We are currently steaming to Tallinn, Estonia with an expected arrival of noon.  Myster is going solo for the excursion,  The Best of Tallinn.  I am going to try to wrestle our stuff into the luggage.  We disembark on Tuesday in Stockholm.   The past 2 months have been a whirlwind and we thoroughly enjoyed the chance to see our wonderful world again!

I would like to also extend my thanks to you for sharing your experiences on the Grand Northern Europe tour with us.  Take care and have a safe trip home.

[CruisinPashmina]

I have followed this wonderful blog from your first post on. You write so well and are an efficient reporter who instinctively knows what your followers want to know. THANK YOU!

[QueSeraSera]

Just spent an hour or so catching up, absolutely delightful Miss M

[zqtchas]

We too thank the delightful duo of M & M.

They were as entertaining off the internet as they were on!

[mysty]

Today we are docked in Helsinki, Finland.  Another beautiful sunny day.  Myster has gone off solo for the excursion called Fortress Island.  I will continue to wrestle stuff into the luggage prior to disembarking tomorrow.

 

For your entertainment here are the photos Myster took yesterday in Tallinn.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mysty]

Unfortunately,  some really good pics that Myster took are portrait and not landscape.   When we get home I'll see if I can do something to deal with the obvious glitch for posting pics here.   It is beyond frustrating!

[mysty]

Here are pics from Myster's tour to Fortress Island.  This involved a city tour, followed by a ferry ride to Suomenlinna Island (Fortress Island).

 

Sibelius Monument.....

 

 

Ferry departure.....

 

 

Fortress Island.....

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we disembark.  It's been quite the ride.  Not sure when the next post will be.  We are spending time in Stockholm with friends.

 

I want to thank everyone who took the time to follow our journey!  And to those fellow passengers who shared their photos and their thoughts...bless you and thank you!

 

[silkismom]

Thank YOU!! Really enjoyed your trip.

[Tothesunset]

Echoing the thoughts of others. Thanks for your fantastic travelogue. 

[mysty]

Currently sitting on the veranda of suite 517.  There were tears last night as we said goodbye to the awesome Grill staff where we dined frequently in an attempt to stay in the open air.  Wiliam (our amazing waiter at the Grill) took such good care of us.  Chef Andrii at the Grill is a very talented chef! Now the tears are threatening again.  I hope I can make it off the ship without becoming a blubbering mess.  

[Stumblefoot]

Enjoy Stockholm!

[jpalbny]

Parting is such sweet sorrow. Enjoy your post-cruise stay in Stockholm!

[mysty]

To tie up loose ends.....we arrived home yesterday after a travel day too gory for public consumption.   In a nutshell.....air travel these days hearkens back to medieval times when the dangers to life and limb and sanity were the norm. 

 

Until the next time.....

[rojaan19]

Thanks Mysty  for your cruise  report,  hopefully your next cruise will  be a breeze !   I will  say  hi  to  Wiliam and Andrii  at the Grill  when  we are on board in August.  I will  just be so  glad to be back  cruising again !!

All  the best  for your continuing recovery 💗  Ron and Ann  in Queensland.

[mysty]

27 minutes ago, rojaan19 said:

Thanks Mysty  for your cruise  report,  hopefully your next cruise will  be a breeze !   I will  say  hi  to  Wiliam and Andrii  at the Grill  when  we are on board in August.  I will  just be so  glad to be back  cruising again !!

All  the best  for your continuing recovery 💗  Ron and Ann  in Queensland.

 

Thank you Ann!  Please do say hello for us.   Neither know us by Mysty and Myster but William will recognize the guy who had the daily fish for lunch and sat at William's station with his wife who had daily french fries.   😆  Chef Andrii will recognize the folks for whom he prepared cabbage rolls from his grandmother's recipe.   Have an awesome sail! 🥰

[Silver Spectre]

Thanks for taking us along with you @mystyand thanks for your perseverance with the vagaries of photo posting on CC.

[spinnaker2]

Oh yikes Mysty, were you and Myster flying on the wing?

or maybe a wing and a prayer.

 

When you stack some z’s and recover, hope to hear a general impression or specific, whatever your druthers, of the entire cruise!

 

Welcome home.

[scseas]

I've put my impressions of the last week of this voyage in this thread here: 

 

 

 

[mysty]

On 6/26/2022 at 4:54 AM, lincslady said:

I hope that Mysty, and others who have been onboard, will give us a considered view of the whole cruise , with emphasis on the ship experience, when they have had time to get home, unpack their belongings and also their thoughts.

Lola

 

I'm going to provide my impressions of the recent Grand Northern Europe Voyage on the Silver Moon.  First some caveats:

• The following comments are based on my personal experience.  There will be comparisons to my experiences sailing on Silversea pre-COVID.  These comments are not intended to smear Silversea.  They are meant to reflect differences which I think passengers (new and old faithful) might be interested in.
• My comments are not intended to start a debate!  If you disagree with my comments, that's fair.  However, you are not welcome to argue.  I will not hesitate to report your post!
• To give some background on my travels I have done 4 cruises with Silversea pre-COVID (2 World Cruises, a Transatlantic, a British Isles) and 1 cruise following COVID (the Grand Northern Europe Voyage) for a total of 367 days.
• I won’t comment on entertainment because we avoided the Venetian Lounge except for gathering for tendering.
• I won't comment on the quality of the staff and crew because on every voyage they have provided spectacular service!

 

Okay....now the meat and potatoes.......

 

Staff and Crew Shortages:

Of course it is to be expected that since COVID it has been difficult to keep the staffing levels up to what was happening pre-COVID.  When a number of crew and staff are down for the count with COVID it is reasonable to expect service delays in the various restaurants.  And there were definitely delays.  

All staff were masked.  Their smiles were in their eyes!

 

Food:

If anything has suffered with the advent of COVID it has been the food.  On pre-Covid cruises there were always hits and misses.  Not every meal was spectacular and most were delicious to my taste.  On the recent Moon experience the food had more misses than hits.  The Grill was always a hit. The Grill Chef was amazing.  La Dame was La Dame.  Enough said.  Kaiseki and Spaccanapoli were good.  We dined once at Silver Note and once at La Terrazza.  The other restaurants (Atlantide and S.A.L.T. Kitchen) were very uneven.

 

Excursions:

The quality of the excursions has changed with the advent of COVID and the introduction of "included" excursions.  The "Select" excursions we took (with the exception of one) were consistently better than the "included".  Of the many "included" excursions we took over the two month Silver Moon cruise only about 10 were good.  The rest were long bus rides with crowded buses.  The quality of the guides on the "included" excursions was hit and mostly miss.  To be fair, it may be difficult these days with the dearth of tour companies on offer.

When shore excursions came at a price before the introduction of "included" excursions they were almost always well worth the money.  If you were unsatisfied you could talk to the Shore Concierge office and voice your concerns.  When the excursion is "free" did people do that?  Not sure.

When COVID counts started to climb many excursions did not have a Silversea escort.  Once again...staff shortages.

 

Supply Issues:

Supply shortages were definitely an issue on the Moon cruise.  Not fair to compare with pre-COVID as the reasons for shortages were missing expected shipments.  They ran out of Kleenex at one point and paper napkins were stuffed in the empty Kleenex boxes.  No chips or bar snacks for a few weeks.  No maple syrup for much longer.  

 

Atmosphere:

Again not fair to compare as the current COVID conditions are making social interaction the challenge of avoiding COVID.  Meeting for drinks and dinner became a guessing game as to whether your fellow passengers were actually COVID positive once the daily temperature checks stopped and the testing for in transit guests was discontinued.  That doesn't make for a comfortable environment.  And yes, I know that I took that risk when I boarded the ship!

There was also a difference in the conviviality of the group.  I think the social isolation and the general level of fear which resulted from COVID have eroded people's social skills.  And yes, there were also this kind of passenger pre-COVID.  It just felt like there was a higher percentage on the latest cruise.

 

Do I hold Silversea responsible for these differences?  No I do not!  Will I sail with them again?  Indeed I will!  We have another World Cruise booked for 2024 and a Christmas Cruise booked for December 2013.  If the Goddess of Finance smiles we will be on those cruises.
 

[highplanesdrifters]

The Goddess of Finance. May she smile upon you.

[mysty]

5 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

The Goddess of Finance. May she smile upon you.

 

Love that High!  Thank you! 🥰 

[Daveywavey70]

Thank you so much for your musings M. I’ve loved following along, even though I haven’t chimed in much. It was such a privilege to meet you both in Liverpool. I Too am finding this new world a little difficult to adjust to. It seems that some of the slightly less than pleasant  members from “the other place” have found their way onboard. Much love to you both xxx

[Lois R]

Hi Mysty, thanks for your insights. I hope you meant Christmas 2023