This is not meant to be a full review. We disembarked the Silver Cloud on May 20, after a 12 night cruise Monte Carlo to Rouen, France. I sent this as in email to John and Viv as they are soon to board the Cloud in London thinking there might be a couple of tips they could use. This was my third Silversea cruise and Mark's second, but the first for us on one of the smaller ships.

"Thought I'd send you two a couple of thoughts and suggestions before you take off for the Cloud.

They talked up how special the Tower Bridge sailing is as it will only be possible another couple of times, so enjoy!

We had a great time. During our cruise the ship was underbooked with only 173 passengers. Good mix of nationalities but the majority were Americans with a big Aussie contingent.

We had a number of whiners. Lots of people complaining about the age of the ship or lack of facilities. The Cloud is the oldest "sister", as they like to call their ships, in the Silversea fleet and of course will benefit from the drydock this fall, but she's in great shape overall. It is a small ship, so naturally things are limited, but they do their best with what they've got. If you don't see what you want, ask.

The shower is a bit tricky. There's a partial glass partition as opposed to a full shower door that you have to lean around to turn the water on, or else stand in the tub and then take it cold full in the face when you turn the shower on. I learned to hold the hosed shower head in my hand and aim the cold away from me. Our floor often got soaked. There's also that stupid mirror over the tub like the Mariner. The tub/shower is one of the things I heard they're switching out during drydock. Bathroom is stocked with Bvlgari products. I asked our butler, Evelyn, to also stock the Ferragamo stuff which arrived later the first night. Evelyn was great, hope one of you get her. We rarely saw our room stewardess Jacqueline except when we popped into the room during servicing. She kept the suite spotless and learned our patterns. Left clean water glasses on our night-stands so we didn't have to round them up from wherever they're normally kept before we went to bed. Little stuff.

Make sure you bring a power strip or the like as there are only two plugs in the room (that I could find) and they are both at the vanity, one 110 and one 220, plug for electric razor in the bath. The clock radio/iPod player plugs into the 110 outlet leaving you with only one outlet. The clock radio has a battery backup which you need as you're constantly unplugging the thing. I brought an extension cord with three outlets and it really wasn't enough and didn't really work for the hairdryer's big plug, so think a power strip is better.

The night life is pretty subdued compared with our Seabourn cruise on a similar sized ship last summer. I'm sure that varies with the pax mix, but it was pretty obvious that the music stopped early and on our cruise was geared to a much older set. The four piece Filipino band could play just about anything, but they didn't, no matter how many times we requested rock and roll or the like, we got "Satin Doll" and other old standards. The final night we got them to play "Pick up the Pieces" as they could do "horns". When we complemented them and asked why they didn't do more requests like that they told me that the bartender dictated what they play and kept them on a tight leash. That I didn't get. At 11:30 at night the 70+ age group had been in bed for hours. The DJ would often just disappear. We actually went to a couple of the shows this time as table mates wanted to see them. The singers were quite good for a small ship. Three of the six left after our cruise and three new ones arrived when we left so it will be a new mix. Jovani and Anastasia are a new "couple". The other female who remained is Kashena. We called her "Boots" and she has quite a laugh. You'll understand when you meet her. I think the pianist, Mario, disembarked with us. He was good and did take requests. He did a whole Beatles set for us when he saw us at tea one day, without even asking. The band has all of your first names so go over and say you're friends of Suzanne and Mark. They're waiting for you! I told them that I had seen a photo with Mr. Kimmi playing bass with them on FaceBook. They were tickled!

Service onboard was exceptional. Everyone knew our name by the second day.

On Mark's birthday I went to the room to pick up a book and found Evelyn and Jackie arranging balloons and a birthday card from the two of them. There was also a new Silversea ballcap with balloons tied to it. I exclaimed that Mark had lost his earlier in the week. Evelyn said that she had overheard Mark asking about his missing cap at reception and decided they would replace it as a birthday gift! How sweet was that!?! We we returned to the room later that night, there was a cake and a b'day card from the captain.

The food was the best and most consistent of any cruise I've been on. We went to La Terraza at night three times. There are enough choices that you can do that, and the menu changes every four days or something. We had Evelyn book us for one night which we ended up canceling as we kept getting asked to join other couples who had booked. The food at the pool bar at lunch is pretty limited. I think we ate there only twice when we returned to the ship late at lunchtime. They do dinner by the pool by reservation weather permitting. I never booked and suspect it was only doable once or twice and doubt it would have been very pleasant as our cruise was pretty windy and cool/cold at night. The pool deck party was moved to the dining room. The food in the restaurant was very good, so make sure you're there for the formal nights. They are happy to do special orders with 24 hours notice if you want to do that. We were going to have them do an Indian dinner for us and two other couples, but we could never get it coordinated with our new friends.

Wine selection was good. We asked for NZ SB the first day or two and then found a white Bordeaux, "Les Tuilleries" or something like that, that we liked so drank that for our white most of the time. When we asked for a red at the bar that we'd had the night before at dinner, they ran down to the restaurant to get it for us. They got to know our preferences quickly (although we kept finding new wines that we liked so kept them jumping). We never had to ask for glasses to be refilled, they were always there with the bottle.

There were too many great staff members to mention. The restaurant manager had scary teeth but was a sweetheart and couldn't do enough for you. Edgbert at the pool bar, there was also another Edgar, Alex who was promoted from the pool bar to the Panorama Lounge during our cruise was delightful. Mark and I are both blanking on the tall bartender's name in the Panorama Lounge (Zak). Civan, from Turkey, was one of the wine guys in the dining room. Phillipe, from Bordeaux, tall thin blonde guy was more formal than most but very good and personable once you got to know him. Marwell and Jovi in "The Bar" (tell them hi from "the birthday boy"...they called Mark that for five days after his birthday. When they found out it was his b'day they poured everyone in the bar a glass of champagne for a toast and had the band play happy birthday.) There were just too many great people to mention. We had a whole laundry list on our evaluation at the end. Try to fill out the form they have in your room after the first couple of days. We didn't realize it was a "mid-cruise" review. If you mention staff then they have the chance to come up and thank you in person.

In 12 days we had 3 formal nights, 5 informal and 4 casual. Your itin is more port intensive so it may be flipped around. Mark wore a tux on formal night and probably at least half of the other men did as well. As usual, I brought way too many clothes.

We flew coach and were very aware of weight restrictions. I bought one of those mini hand-held scales and weighed our bags before we left as overweight bags were $200 additional. When we left one bag was 49 pounds another 53. I swore to myself this time I was NOT going to load up on the bath products as it would end up costing more than they were worth, but, well, you know what happens, they just "forced" them on me! I came home with 17 bottles of product and picked up more at our hotel in Paris. Now, here's the weird part. When we weighed the bags before our return flights WITH product, they weighed less than they did on the outbound flights (I know, could have brought MORE home!).

Another very strange thing. I swore I wasn't going to weigh myself for three weeks after returning home, but Mark got on the scale the first day and said "Get on. I think you'll be pleased!" The first day I was about a half pound up from departure weight. The next morning I was two pounds under! Mark lost over three pounds. How is this possible?? We ate and drank to excess!!! I've decided this should be our new diet! Go on a Silversea cruise! Expensive diet, yes, but it works!!

Have a great trip. If you have questions, fire away!"

If anyone else has questions, I'm more than happy to answer them!

Nice recap, Suzanne! Good going on the no weight gain!

I don't gain weight on Regent either, despite eating and drinking a lot more that I should. Think it is because I am always moving. We do our first silversea next week, so we will see if I can keep the weight the same there.

Thanks Suzanne and Mark for outstanding review, happy to hear you enjoyed your Cloud cruise. We look forward to our Cloud cruise--London Tower (to Reykjavik) to London Tower next July.

I don't normally gain weight on a cruise either since I am much more active on a cruise but I gained 2lbs on my last one and I was ACTIVE! I think the longer the cruise, the more opportunity to gain

Suzanne did they do a private tour of the Tower of London? we did a Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Cloud several years ago and ended at the Tower Bridge but we overnighted and so Silversea arranged the private tour that night. It was pretty special, hope they still are doing it.
--------------------
Helen

thank you

Helen,

I can't answer about a private tour of the Tower of London as we disembarked in France. John and Tonya and Viv and Greg board the Cloud in London tomorrow and overnight on the ship before departing, so they may know. Certainly sounds intriguing!

Suzanne, why don't you and Mark join us on Grand Prix; it will be a great trip!

Marc, last I checked, we are on GRAND PRIX!

See you and Arlene in November!!

OOPS!!!



I must have meant Taj Mahal

Hmmm....I think she might have been on that one too, at some time, like some others (me). Marc, you want everyone on lct on every cruise you take! Can't wait to see you and Arlene on Grand Prix, and looking forward to it!

Yep, Olivia's right!
I was on TAJ as well, but opted out in favor of something in the same region, a little shorter, two weeks behind you on a different ship. That way I didn't have to compete with all of you for FFmile flights

I'm with Marc. More than half the fun is traveling with all our LCT friends!

Doug

Great to hear that you enjoyed yourself on the Cloud. We agree on your review and have to agree about the food, best I have had so far.
We can see another Silversea cruise on our to do list in the future...

Evelyn was our butler, too. She really was wonderful:) Have to agree on the food, best and best selection. Also, great wines....we, too, found one a couple of days into the cruise and had it practically every night. Do you remember it, Frank?

Tonya and I just returned from the Cloud and had a great time. The food was amazing. Ironically, the only meal that missed was in Le Champaigne. The service was outstanding as well. While taking the galley tour, we saw a poster in the chefs office with everyones face and name on it. It was surprising how many of the staff knew our name by day 2, even ones we had never met. The poster explains it.
The cruise left from London's Tower Bridge which was amazing. It's a lot to live up to when one of the highlights of the cruise takes place in the first 15 minutes of sailing. We sailed under the Tower Bridge with huge crowds waiving at us from the Bridge and surounding areas. We blasted God Save the Queen and other British songs from our speakers to entertain those that were wishing us a Bon Voyage (I'll post some pics and video once we get settled into our time zone). We then sailed down the Thames past Greenwich and other nice sites. Then out in to the North Sea toward the Kiel Canal. We passed through the Kiel Canal overnight, so didn't get to enjoy the German countyside which is supposed to be nice.
After a sea day while sailing toward Visby, the port intensive part of our cruise began. I'll post more about the cruise later, but just wanted to give a brief 2 big thumbs up for Silversea. We can't wait to return on another cruise. The food and service are top notch and the prices cannot be beat for the itineraries we like and the independant shore excursion or self guided tours we like to take.

John, I can't wait to see the sailaway video!

Also can't wait to see Tonya and your Cloud/London Tower video.

This morning (thanks David/Englishusa) shared with me up to date information on The Shard (opens today in London), we look forward to taking in the view (tho the 24 pounds pp (about $38) is expensive during our london stay next July prior to our London Tower to Reykjavik and back cruise. pls see link below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/201...ow_n_1649323.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share

The video of us sailing under Tower Bridge is ready to be premiered!

Here's the link: http://worldflyer.smugmug.com/Travel/Movies/Silver-Cloud-Sailing-Under/

It's a little over 3 minutes.

Great video John!

Really nice video.

You might want to track the Cloud Amazon cruise on CC. A lot has changed on the ship. Some good pics as well.