We're booking 2 cruises for 2011. First is Silver Wind from Capetown-Las Palmas Mar 12-30 and second is Silver Spirit from Lisbon-Barbados Oct 21- Nov 5. Both have free air included and are reasonably priced. The cruise fares are @ $300/per higher than 2010, but the included air more than makes up for that. Have never been on Cloud or Wind, so this will be a new experience. Also, haven't done the west coast of Africa other than Namibia. The added bonus is that we'll be able to see our friends in Capetown.

Doug, as I mentioned earlier these two voyages
look wonderful, Lynn and you will have a great Silversea time...if Ida and I did not have the
Maiden Marina voyage booked in January..we would consider Capetown to LP.

Hi Wes,

Seems you enjoy all the maiden voyages - - hope some day we can be on the same cruise. Happy Easter.

Rod (and Cynthia)

Wow, the maiden voyage on the Marina should be fun, that ship looks great! Doug, you and Lynn have some winners too. Glad you'll get to see your Cape Town friends too.

After the upcoming Dec cruise on Spirit in a Grand suite it's going to be a real change for me to step down to a verandah suite on Silver Wind(295 sqft) and a verandah suite on Spirit(376 sqft) for the 2011 cruises, but that's the only way we can do both cruises financially. I'll really miss the front wrap around balcony of the Grand suite, because I spend a lot of time out there. Lynn doesn't really care and is very satisfied with a verandah suite. At least it'll give me a chance to evaluate the verandah suites and any differences in service, which I don't expect. We have definitely found a new home with SS and wouldn't even consider going back to Regent with the current management; even if they changed their smoking policy back to what it was.

We had a Grand Suite as well as a Silver on the Silver Shadow/Whisper and both were fabulous, but I must say that "stepping back down" to a Verandah isn't such a bad thing. As long as you have the proper mindset going in. I always love that first moment of walking into our suite no matter what it is - this is the start of our cruise and I LOVE CRUISING on a luxury line!

We have always gotten a verandah suite prior to the Silver Spirit T/A and have done just fine. I sure do like that Spirit Grand suite though. The T/A was the best cruise we've ever had. It had a lot to do with the pax though. We surely had a wonderful group of people. But then you can never repeat things like that. You just have to enjoy the memories.

Just booked both cruises. I was surprised that there were only 2 starboard side verandah suites left on Silver Wind for the Capetown-Las Palmas cruise. Must be a popular ship and cruise, since it's a year away. The Spirit T/A from Lisbon-Barbados was no problem for verandah suites and we got what we wanted.

I think part of the reason (and someone from B&K correct me if I'm wrong) that SS cruises book up quickly and early on is, they don't have the immediate $200 penalty like RSSC does (and perhaps other luxury lines as well). I think SS's first penalty phase is 120 days. So Doug, I bet other starboard side suites will open up here and there.

Surely I'm not from BK, but one difference I notice about R and SS is that R puts the "deals" out there in the beginning, whereas SS comes on with specials later.(At least I get a lot of emails from them on this)

At least that $200 "admin" fee that R charges can be forwarded to a FCC if you book another cruise. I have used that on a future cruise every time I have changed my mind.

Once the final payment is due, I'm sure all of the lux lines have a shift in inventory!

You can do the same thing with SS. SS does as Regent used to; they put the heavy discounts out early and they reduce or go away as the cruise approaches. One of the things I like with SS is that if you book at a certain discount then that same discount holds if you change stateroom categories later on.

I got a brochure from SS yesterday and noticed they have pretty much followed suit with R on air/sea deals. Free economy air or upgrade to biz for $999 pp one way. I think this is a step in the right direction for SS - it's part of the reason why we started sailing more on Regent than SS. I love good, healthy competition - that is for sure!

Kristin; They've been that way for the past 2 years.

I'd known about the economy air being included for some time now but didn't realize they offer the $999 biz upgrade. Do they include transfers too? I'm assuming so? Sure has been a long time since we've sailed SS but it feels like yesterday!

Yes, transfers are included. For example, we're on the Wind from Capetown-Las Palmas next Mar. Air and transfers are included. They bring you into Capetown a day prior and you leave a day after the cruise ends in Las Palmas. The pre and post-cruise packages are at good hotels in Capetown and Las Palmas for a total cost of $598/per. That is different than Regent used to be in that Regent always footed the hotel bill if it was their air scheduling issue. But then, SS has always done that as I understand it. You might want to take another look at SS.