Cruising with Silversea
Myself and my colleague were in a Veranda Suite with a spacious balcony. We had a large bedroom with a living area, a large bathroom (including a bath and shower), a walk-in wardrobe with plenty of hangers and a very large chest of drawers. There was beautiful linen on the beds and a bottle of champagne to greet us. We also had a mini fridge which our butler and his assistant stocked with whatever drinks we needed every day. Silverseas prices include full board at 8 restaurants (2 of them only have a supplement), all premium alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, bottled water and tea or coffee, all tours ashore at each port (one or two may include a supplement). They also have 24 hour room service with no extra charge.
My favourite restaurant in the morning and for lunch was La Terrazza, buffet style and great seating inside and outside. The choice for breakfast was amazing especially the fruit selection and equally fantastic choice at lunch time as well. The salads were fantastic and there was plenty of hot food if that is your choice. I have to mention the Arts Cafe for early morning coffees and light snacks, that is open all day. The Atlantide Restaurant does A la Carte for breakfast and lunch. Of the 8 restaurants on board we managed to do dinner at La Terrazza, Atlantide, Hot Rocks (you cook your steak or fish on a hot rock in front of you, quite an experience), Spaccanapoli ( Italian) and Silver Note. All were equally as good. Our last night was in Silver Note and along with excellent food we had a fabulous singer from Cape Town who had us all up singing and dancing. There are also shows every night and we managed to get to two of them. Both equally excellent with song and dancing. There was an opera and classical night as well, unfortunately it clashed with our South African singer night. Next time..
Our itinerary was Greek Islands starting at Piraeus ( Athens) including Santorini, Katakolon on the mainland, Corfu and Chania on Crete, Montenegro and Dubrovnik.
Our first stop was Santorini on a beautiful morning as we had our breakfast on La Terrazza with breath-taking views all around us. There is no port at Santorini so we were tendered in. Santorini is a wonderful island with a lot of steps and deep blue skies. We took the cable car to the top of Fira and walked to OIA and had lunch in one of the many restaurants overlooking the bay. Next stop was Chania in Crete. We berthed and took the shuttle bus in to Chania and just watched the world go by at the beautiful Venetian harbour. The following day we went to Katakolon where we did the beach trip. This is the port for Olympia and there was a tour to this if you wished to do it. Next stop was Corfu where we visited the beach and then spent some time around the old town.
We had our breakfast on the Veranda in the morning as we sailed through the most stunning fjord to arrive at our destination in the beautiful resort of Kotor in Montenegro. Kotor was just magic and we were the only ship small enough to berth here. We took the tour to Budva in the morning and then explored Kotor in the afternoon. I did the 1350 step climb up to the ruins of the Old Monastery (not for the faint hearted), but fabulous view from the top. The next day we visited Dubrovnik as we ended our time on this beautiful ship with such fabulous food and the excellent staff who could not do enough for us.
I have sailed on big ships and small ships but in all honesty I have to class this Cruise with Silversea as the best I have been on. I would highly recommend. They sail to so many different destinations and ports (about 900 worldwide).
Definitely a bucket list trip or an anniversary of some kind or if you just want to treat yourself after the last couple of years and give yourself some luxury and most importantly just unpack once, then give me a call.
Look forward to hearing from you,
Niamh.