I did want to note in followup to my previous comments - the December 12 3830 Shadow cruise that we are booked on has a 50% supplement in vista (non-balcony) and 75% for veranda, while the 3831 Christmas cruise I'd like to change to has the 200% supplement. The 3830 also is a 40% off silver sailing, while the Christmas has the 10%. It has the 5% early payment. I guess when they think they an sell it, they offer basically nothing. I booked the 3830 onboard for the savings but booked medallion, so it is only 25% off vs. 40% for veranda.

So the bottom line is if they want you to save, you really save, if not, you really don't. I guess December 12 is a much slower time than the Christmas/New Years cruise.

Early December is always one of the slowest times for the cruise lines and always offers specials. The holiday parties, getting ready etc no one wants to travel.

Christmas and New Years cruises nearly always sell out completely and are consistently two heaviest booked cruises of the year.

Supply and demand always determines price.

Sadly, it is true about supply and demand. I see that Regent has much better deals for their Christmas sailings to the Caribbean, but then they also bring you back before New Year's.

Actually, the Caribbean Christmas and New Years sailing are more expensive per diem if you look at balcony cabins. They are just shorter.

I know. I worded that badly. I meant the Regent one is cheaper than the Silver Shadow one. It is 3 days shorter than the Silver Shadow one, but I think it still is cheaper by the day on Regent, or are you saying the SS one is cheaper? All I know it the cost difference for 3 days less is $8000 less in cost, so the SS per diem must be higher.

I thought you were comparing Regent Mariner and Voyager to the Navigator Christmas and New Years cruises. Per diems on the holiday cruises on M and V are less than on the Navigator with balcony.

Comparing Regent prices to SS is almost always an eye opener. Silver Shadow per diems for the 14 day Christmas/New Year's cruise for Verandah are $719, v. $412 for Voyager, and $428 for Mariner! Navigator slightly more as they are shorter. It baffles me that Silversea can fill ships at those prices, as I can't tell the difference between the lines from my one experience on SS, which was very pleasant, BTW! I got a fair deal back when I booked my one SS cruise, and plan to be on Whisper with Ngaire on our group cruise (CAMEL) in May for Dubai to Athens, which is just a little less (for balcony cabin) than what Regent charges for almost the same itinerary on the Navigator later in the year. Plus, we get our sweet BK rewards check with our docs that will provide a good bit of shopping money for Dubai!

Right onw, I am booked on 3830 on Silversea, but will either change to 3831 or move to the Voyager. I really wanted to be on for Christmas and New Year's both, and we surely cannot do the back-to-back. However with that expensive SS May, 09 to Vietnam/Japan, saving $8000 would be attractive.

In the last 20 months, I have been on Whisper twice, Wind once and on Voyager and Navigator once each. Wind's service blew them all away, followed closely by Whisper. Service on Voyager was far from exceptional, and on Navigator is was MUCH better, but still in a party of 6 on the pool deck for 4 hours, we got all our own drinks, and I even bussed our table. In addition, they can't seem to figure out their in-room liquor policy, and if I am to go 11 days and have 1 bottle of wine in the room the entire time, I am not going to be happy.

SS has itineraries and service all over Regent, and that is why they are filling up the ships, but Regent has good itineraries and decent service and is more fun at night, and they certainly seem to be cheaper on some of the key sailings.

You won't be sorry you took that Dubai trip on SS. They know what they are doing in that part of the world. We were in very good hands with them a couple of weeks ago. I am sure your group will have a good time.

Sorry if this is getting a bit off topic.

The Silversea Dubai to Athens itinerary may be a bit less expensive than Navigator later in the year. I haven't run the numbers. My two bits is the Navigator itinerary is the better of the two sailings. Since it's part of the Discovery Grand Cruise, I'd expect there will be more special events on that sailing. Plus, let's not forget Crystal and Beth will be aboard! LOL!!

Were it not for ROAR2, I'd have changed my booking to the Navigator sailing. We can't go wrong either way, and I'm looking forward to trying Silversea and sailing on another great LCT escorted cruise.

I'm confident both cruise lines know what they are doing in the Middle East.

Cheers, Anne

That would be a tough choice between Crystal and Beth and an escorted Dubai SS cruise. That's not fair!

I just know your SS Dubai cruise will be good. I still wish you all could see Dubai, but Beth and Crystal tell me Greece is great. If only we could all have it all.

I am glad to see there are still some SS trips cheaper than Regent. One really has to dig, and they entice us with these exotic itineraries on all the lines. I know they are all going for bigger and better, and some can go for a long time. I'm just starting to venture past the 9 day sailings, as that is where the good stuff is.

The difference in pricing on those two cruises only gives a negligible benefit to SS. Like Anne said, we had a schedule conflict for the Navigator, as we are both on the BK ROAR trip as well. I am planning on seeing a lot of Dubai, as I'm meeting several other BK clients there for three nights before we board!

Spending 3 nights before boarding will be wonderful.

We are going to go back to Dubai. It is a question of when, not if.