First time on Silversea ... looking for answers and advice

[kitcrazy]

I am excitedly looking forward to my very first sailing on Silversea - the Silver Moon July 19-26, beginning and ending in Venice, down and up the Adriatic coast.  As a first-timer, I would love to know more.

• Is there anything you know now that you wished you knew before you went on your first Silver Seas cruise?
• How large are the groups for ship-sponsored shore excursions?  I prefer 20 or less, and wondering if I should join a ship-organized cruise, or make my own plans.
• On other cruises, I have often booked a private tour, and then found others to join me to split the cost.  Is that common on Silversea itineraries?  I noticed that there are a lot fewer roll calls on CC for Silversea ships, which is why I ask.
• Any must-dos on the Silver Moon?  This is a port-intensive itinerary, but if there is something I MUST experience, then I will make it a point to do so.

 

Thanks for any help! 🙂

[Gourmet Gal]

Welcome to SS.  The Moon is a lovely ship.  My must do can be done on most ships and that’s a visit to the observation lounge during the morning sail-in.  The SALT cooking classes are a nice activity as well.
 

Th excursion groups seem to be at least 20 on my current voyage on Spirit and yesterday 2 bus groups converged on a winery for a tasting with about 50 people.  Honestly, the excursions are hit or miss.  You may want to read the descriptions carefully and perhaps choose a few and then book a few on your own.  The ships are small so the Roll Calls are usually rather limited so you may not get the chance to share an excursion.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Emtbsam]

I wish I had known that I could book a future cruise with a 5% discount while on board.  I also didn't know that I could special order just about anything with 24 hours notice.

 

The Moon is a great ship.  I suggest that you try Silver Note.  It might be hard to get a reservation, but give it a try.

[Lois R]

Hi, just wondering if you are sailing solo? If so, Silversea is very welcoming towards their solo guests. Each evening they will offer drinks together to any solos who would like to join (no pressure to do it but it can be a nice way to meet other guests). They also have different staff members that may join the group and depending on the people, some go to dinner together as well. Again, there is no pressure to join in but if you are so inclined, they offer the opportunity.

 

And I agree, Moon is beautiful. I sailed in in 2021 and am booked on her for this coming December🙂

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

[kitcrazy]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:00 PM, Gourmet Gal said:

Welcome to SS.  The Moon is a lovely ship.  My must do can be done on most ships and that’s a visit to the observation lounge during the morning sail-in.  The SALT cooking classes are a nice activity as well.
 

Th excursion groups seem to be at least 20 on my current voyage on Spirit and yesterday 2 bus groups converged on a winery for a tasting with about 50 people.  Honestly, the excursions are hit or miss.  You may want to read the descriptions carefully and perhaps choose a few and then book a few on your own.  The ships are small so the Roll Calls are usually rather limited so you may not get the chance to share an excursion.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you Gourmet Gal, I will definitely plan to visit the observation lounge during the sail-in, as well as attend a SALT cooking class at least once.  I appreciate your advice.

[kitcrazy]

On 5/19/2024 at 8:16 AM, Emtbsam said:

I wish I had known that I could book a future cruise with a 5% discount while on board.  I also didn't know that I could special order just about anything with 24 hours notice.

 

The Moon is a great ship.  I suggest that you try Silver Note.  It might be hard to get a reservation, but give it a try.

Thank you Emtbsam, I have just made a reservation at the Silver Note.  It was only available for Sunday evening, and even then I am waitlisted, but I hope it will work out.  When you say "special order", are you referring to menu items, or something else?

[kitcrazy]

On 5/19/2024 at 9:42 AM, Lois R said:

Hi, just wondering if you are sailing solo? If so, Silversea is very welcoming towards their solo guests. Each evening they will offer drinks together to any solos who would like to join (no pressure to do it but it can be a nice way to meet other guests). They also have different staff members that may join the group and depending on the people, some go to dinner together as well. Again, there is no pressure to join in but if you are so inclined, they offer the opportunity.

 

And I agree, Moon is beautiful. I sailed in in 2021 and am booked on her for this coming December🙂

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!

Thank you Lois R.  I am indeed sailing solo, so I will definitely attend at least one of the early solo events, just to check it out. It's nice to know that they do things to make sure that solos have opportunities to make friends while on board.  Sometimes it's really pleasant to go on a tour or to town with someone.

Edited May 20 by kitcrazy

[Emtbsam]

20 minutes ago, kitcrazy said:

Thank you Emtbsam, I have just made a reservation at the Silver Note.  It was only available for Sunday evening, and even then I am waitlisted, but I hope it will work out.  When you say "special order", are you referring to menu items, or something else?

You can special order food items or even request a certain cuisine for dinner.  We have requested Thai, Filipino and Indian meals.  This is better done with a group, but if there is a special dish you would like, by all means speak to the Maitre d’.  
 

if your reservation for Silver Note does not come through, you can still go there and sit at the bar.  I do not know if they would serve food at the bar, but you could go after having dinner somewhere else.

 

You should go to the singles event at the beginning of the cruise and also join a trivia team.  Teams are always looking for Canadians who can broaden out the knowledge base. 

[les37b]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:04 PM, kitcrazy said:

• How large are the groups for ship-sponsored shore excursions?  I prefer 20 or less, and wondering if I should join a ship-organized cruise, or make my own plans.
• On other cruises, I have often booked a private tour, and then found others to join me to split the cost.  Is that common on Silversea itineraries?  I noticed that there are a lot fewer roll calls on CC for Silversea ships, which is why I ask.

 

Generally the free or paid for excursions are likely to be around 20 persons. Obviously this can depend of the tour, but I've never had any that are overfull.

 

The included excursions since they started including as part of your fare, have not been too bad, but obviously if there is something specific you'd like to do which is not a freebie, the paid for excursions are a premium far in excess of what you could get by a DIY tour. I've never managed to plan a combined with other guests strip on a SS cruise, but have booked a few of my own activities through companies like Get your guide. I did manage to book a mini bus tour once on a larger ship cruise that took in Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius and worked out at 32 Euros each for the 12 passengers. The ship probably charged what we paid for 12 guests! 

 

Rollcalls on here are usually sparse, but its worth a go. I've certainly met a few people from doing so.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Silver moon is a splendid ship and absolutely certain you will agree with that.

 

[drron29]

3 hours ago, kitcrazy said:

Thank you Gourmet Gal, I will definitely plan to visit the observation lounge during the sail-in, as well as attend a SALT cooking class at least once.  I appreciate your advice.

On the Moon on sail ins the best observation spot is deck12 forward.

There is a door to the staircase on deck 12 on the Port ( left ) side of the Observation lounge. i did this on a spectacular sail in to Kotor on both the Moon and Dawn.

[kitcrazy]

On 5/20/2024 at 1:42 PM, Emtbsam said:

You can special order food items or even request a certain cuisine for dinner.  We have requested Thai, Filipino and Indian meals.  This is better done with a group, but if there is a special dish you would like, by all means speak to the Maitre d’.  
 

if your reservation for Silver Note does not come through, you can still go there and sit at the bar.  I do not know if they would serve food at the bar, but you could go after having dinner somewhere else.

 

You should go to the singles event at the beginning of the cruise and also join a trivia team.  Teams are always looking for Canadians who can broaden out the knowledge base. 

Trivia teams!!  I love trivia.  I am a cornucopia of useless information!! 😄

[kitcrazy]

On 5/20/2024 at 1:59 PM, les37b said:

 

Generally the free or paid for excursions are likely to be around 20 persons. Obviously this can depend of the tour, but I've never had any that are overfull.

 

The included excursions since they started including as part of your fare, have not been too bad, but obviously if there is something specific you'd like to do which is not a freebie, the paid for excursions are a premium far in excess of what you could get by a DIY tour. I've never managed to plan a combined with other guests strip on a SS cruise, but have booked a few of my own activities through companies like Get your guide. I did manage to book a mini bus tour once on a larger ship cruise that took in Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius and worked out at 32 Euros each for the 12 passengers. The ship probably charged what we paid for 12 guests! 

 

Rollcalls on here are usually sparse, but its worth a go. I've certainly met a few people from doing so.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Silver moon is a splendid ship and absolutely certain you will agree with that.

 

Thank you for this info les37b, appreciate it!

[kitcrazy]

On 5/20/2024 at 4:37 PM, drron29 said:

On the Moon on sail ins the best observation spot is deck12 forward.

There is a door to the staircase on deck 12 on the Port ( left ) side of the Observation lounge. i did this on a spectacular sail in to Kotor on both the Moon and Dawn.

Deck 12 forward, duly noted!  Thank you.

[kitcrazy]

One of the tours I really want to attend on my cruise is currently showing full.  There is no option to waitlist.  I called Silversea, and the person told me that there are often spots held open for once you get on board, and to book there.  Has this been true in your experience?

[jpalbny]

Sometimes people cancel and spots open. Sometimes more spots are added. Sometimes neither one happens and the tour remains full. It depends on whether Silversea can arrange the additional tour spots which is more likely in a larger area with lots of tourism infrastructure, and probably less likely in a small port with few cruise ship visitors. The Adriatic is probably more like the former, but my advice would be to have a Plan B just in case. 

[kitcrazy]

3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Sometimes people cancel and spots open. Sometimes more spots are added. Sometimes neither one happens and the tour remains full. It depends on whether Silversea can arrange the additional tour spots which is more likely in a larger area with lots of tourism infrastructure, and probably less likely in a small port with few cruise ship visitors. The Adriatic is probably more like the former, but my advice would be to have a Plan B just in case. 

Thank you.  I will try once I am on board.  I have a Plan B in place, but this is a 3-island sailing tour, and outside vendor options are cutting it too close to the all-aboard time.  If this doesn't work out, my Plan B will be a land-based tour instead.

[Host Jazzbeau]

On my NZ/Oz cruise several of the included tours filled up.  In some cases they added a later departure – I know because I monitored regularly and when that happened I switched to the later one (don't like early mornings!).  But I don't think that happened for all, and I don't know whether people were accommodated onboard.