Tips for Travellers on Silversea Cruises Silver Whisper : what do you want to know?

Silversea Cruises Baltic Cruise

The countdown has begun to my cruise on Silversea’s Silver Whisper. Exciting, as this will be my first cruise with them. It is also my first “small ship” luxury cruise experience. As followers of the blog will know, I have cruised a lot but it has been with on larger ships with P&O, Cunard and MSC Cruises. This is going to be a new experience, and I am sure that I will be bringing lots of new ideas, insights and tips to help travelers interested in cruising – and considering a Silversea cruise.

Thanks to those of you that have suggested areas that you would like me to focus on during the cruise. Not surprisingly, they tend to be about the things that bloggers can cover, and do, that you cannot always get elsewhere: Real life, first hand advice, tips, opinions and reviews that go “beyond the brochure and advertising”!

These are the areas that readers have told me they want me to focus on. Let me know how you feel about these, and if there are any areas missing that you want me to explore:

Silversea’s restaurant, food and wine quality, choice and presentation.

Lots of requests about this, asking me to focus on what the food and wine offering is and how it is better, different and special versus other cruise lines. I will make sure I cover all the places to eat, and the food I get to enjoy. I am hoping that I will get a chance tour the kitchen and speak to those responsible for the food on-board.

What exactly does “luxury” cruising mean, and is it good value for money?

There is a lot of interest in discovering what a “luxury” cruise line like Silversea is, and what it offers versus the other lines that I have traveled on.

As Silversea offers an “all inclusive” fare, many people have asked me to explore what is included and any special extras that I observe. This will help travelers to assess if the all-inclusive approach is actually better value than it seems at first glance. I often write about, and recommend, that travelers carefully look at the total cost of any cruise, as many lines are discounting the headline fare for their cruises  – but are trying to make up revenue with on-board extras and add on costs.

“Beyond the brochure and promotional material” ship video tour

This is something that I know is always popular! It  is what I focus on when doing my video and photograph tours of any ship (or land based resort too for that matter!). It is something that I like as a traveler too. People have asked me to make sure that I explore areas of the ship in my video tour that  includes the more practical facilities like laundry room and the shops – and as many of the suites as possible.

Insider tips and advice on how to get the most from the crew and facilities on-board

This is also always a popular feature of what I cover on any trip! I also feel that I am not getting the most out of the crew and departments on-board, but never know quite what I should ask for, push for and expect. A number of you have asked me to do interviews with some of the heads of departments to get their insider tips and advice. The requests so far have included the butlers, shore concierge, reception and cruise consultants. I also hope to speak with people like the Hotel Manager too.

Cruise Critic Meet-up – getting other passenger insights, ideas and observations

I have signed up for the Cruise Critic Meet-up on the cruise. I have chatted online to a few other people attending already. Some are Silversea loyal fans, but most are first timers to Silversea. So hope I can get their insights, observations and thoughts. Maybe even some will let me record an interview for the audio podcast..!

What else do you want me to focus on? Leave a comment on this post, email me or message me via any of the social media links on the blog

Declaration
I will be traveling as a guest of Silversea on the Silver Whisper on a 7 night Baltics Cruise from Stockholm, visiting Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Copenhagen. Silversea are a privately owned, luxury all-inclusive, small ship cruise line with an Italian heritage that appeals to well-travelled, international guests.