Silver Shadow Reviewed by Kim

I don't know if this really counts as a review, but maybe rather just offering some random thoughts.

We had a fabulous time. Wes and Ida made it especially enjoyable and were 3 doors down from us in the shared veranda vista suites. (We both have a super TA. [Wink]

Alice has been trying to identify the fish ... naming the photos from the dives ... and organizing them. I'll try to get them on our LCT photo album.

The shared veranda suites were very nice. I was skeptical about it, but it worked out very well. There is better vis from outside since there are no partitions. Others who have had those suites have said that they rarely see anyone outside. I saw a guy one morning, figured it was Wes, and headed over to say hi. Then realized it wasn't him! So, we did have others out there occasionally, but not much. We were able to set our dive gear out there to dry. A very nice option since dive gear for 2 quickly clutters the bathroom.

The food started off rather blandly. The exception was dining with Wes and Ida in LT the second night. Everything was delicious. Then the food improved in the dining room and we had no complaints. However, there was a problem getting the vegetarian menu that Alice had requested. After not getting it at all the first few nights, she was told it would be delivered to the suite. Never happened. Finally, they started to present it to her upon arrival in the dining room.

There were plenty of activities during sea days to keep those who need entertainment quite well entertained. As Wes mentioned, the dance hosts were fun and we loved the classes! Alice learned to play bridge. Was very successful in the putting contests. And I enjoyed some lectures.

The casino lacked action at the poker table. It's one of those electronic tables (no real chips or cards or dealer). I was impressed that they had one. But, there wasn't much interest in it. When there were players (just maybe 4 at the most) it was late and it was smokey. And, as Wes mentioned, I was not in the very late night mode! I thought the dance bar was smokey too, which turned me off it, besides wanting to be well rested for the morning dives.

Well, this Silversea voyage was themed "Diver's Delight". Funny thing, though, the tour/excursion department did not offer even one dive excursion!! It was one of those things where people on the ship strike up a conversation and eventually get around to saying, "We thought it was very strange that we couldn't go diving (or snorkeling even) through the tour desk." I asked about it and got some kind of reply that basically meant there was some slip up in the marketing department communications with the other departments. If Wes hadn't done all the work we did getting up set up for dives, we'd have been REALLY pissed. (Can I say that?)

What else? Well, most of the staff warmed up to us nicely eventually. There was a bit of a mind set shift for me in that it seemed that the staff and crew would do whatever it was that I'd ask, but I really had to specifically ask! They weren't going to fall all over themselves to help me with something unless I knew what I wanted from them. For example: I went to the tour desk and said something to the effect of "well, if I wanted to go to a beach at this port, what would you suggest?" I'd expect a response that was either: "No, you should not go to a beach at this port. There aren't any good ones and/or it's not going to be pleasant if you do." OR "Well, yes! There is a beach you can go to, it's called Nice Beach, and you get there by doing this and then that! Have a great time!" Instead, the response I got was essentially a non-response. Like she didn't even hear what I'd asked. It took me a couple of days to determine (giving her the benefit of the doubt) that there really wasn't any good options. Therefore, no real response is better than saying, "that's a stupid idea". Maybe I'm making this explanation up to excuse bad service from a cruise line that's supposed to be tops in service in order to justify their price point. Or maybe I've learned something about cultural differences.

Embark and disembark went extremely smoothly. We had booked a 2:20 return flight thinking we didn't want to have to rush around the last morning. We'd relax over breakfast and stay on the ship as long as possible. We'll, we did that and by 9:30 were ready to go. So, we decided to get off the ship and try to make the 11:20 flight. No problem!! It was nice getting home before rush hour traffic.

Diving was great. The Dominican Republic was better than I expected. Many, many sponges (Giant Tube and Barrel and others I can't identify). More fishes than I expected too. (Oh, I learned at one of the lectures on board that "fish" is the plural for one species, but "fishes" is used for multiple species!)

Grand Cayman was very nice, but rough seas and on the dive boat during the surface interval I managed not to get sea sick, but after dive 2, it hit me. Not too bad, though. Most people snorkeled during the surface interval. Alice saw a nurse shark while she was snorkeling. I don't think we saw sharks during the dives. We had a couple of nice turtles sightings, though.

Belize had lots of big grouper and nurse sharks. A few swim throughs that stressed me a little. So, I had some bouyancy problems toward the end of the dive. A large eel was out and about swimming along the bottom of a small canyon. That was cool to see. Others were poking their heads out of holes. Vis was "only" about 40-50 feet. Currents where a bit strong.

Then in Cozumel it was too rough to dive. Oh well, we've been there before (pre-Wilma). So, we got a taxi to the other side of the island which was nice and calm and found a beautiful beach and snorkeled for a while. The taxi waited for us for almost 2 hours and took us back to the ship!

Many of the crew were going home after our cruise. The ship was getting spruced-up for the world cruise while we were on board. We really enjoyed the bridge tour, the galley lunch, the cooking demo, the martini and wine tastings, and many other activities. It was a wonderfully luxurious time. Oh, the spa was good too. We enjoyed each of our massages. Although the fitness classes (I heard) were lacking.