Some questions for the Silversea experts.

How good is wifi in cabin? Or, should I plan on going to intenet cafe to connect?

How expensive is internet? Is it priced by minute or megabyte? If by minute, does it seem relatively fast?

How expensive is ship to shore phone?

In the Antarctic, will the ship be able to maintain both telephone and internet connectivity?

Can't say for Antarctica, but on the Silversea Explorer in the Arctic (2009) the internet was extremely spotty - we didn't sign up for a package because it was quite pricey, (charged by the minute,) but Ngaire did. She noticed that when CNN or another channel came in on the TV then the internet did too and she would quickly send out a pre-composed email. They have a couple of computers in the ship's library - I don't imagine the reception is any better there than in your cabin, but not sure. Maybe the group who went in 2010 can fill you in on that.

Marc; The price for the internet is the same on all of the SS ships; WIFI or in the internet cafe. Best package is 1000 minutes for $250. I don't bring a laptop, but friends have had very good success from their staterooms. Not sure how the satellite coverage is in the Antarctic. Crossing the Atlantic we had good coverage all the way aboard Silver Spirit; albeit slightly slow. SS has had some problems with their satellite provider, MTN, but that has been rectified, hopefully. What MTN did was oversold their bandwidth to the detriment of all of their customers.

Leslie and Doug, thanks for the feedback; I guess I won't be getting much work done at those prices. ;)

Marc, you shouldn't be working on vacation anyway.

Probably not but the more I can get done while on vacation the less pushback I get when I book these long vacations.

One more question: Does Silverseas provide an email address where people can send you email without there being a charge? With aging parents, need to at least have one way to get in contact with us.

Marc things are always changing when I get back to town I will check on this and let everyone know how it is working now.

Generally, they will give you an e-mail address for the ship when you get your docs. You will have to have the sender indicate your name and stateroom #. The ship will then deliver it to your stateroom. With Silver Spirit I have just used the e-mail address for the hotel director, even though I am always connected.

Will look forward to your update, Ngaire, as you know I have an elderly mom.