8. And now, the end is here … (apologies to “The Voice”)

This final chapter will just clear up some loose ends and cover some highlights and lowlights of our wonderful, wonderful experience. Without a doubt, this was the best holiday experience I have ever had (Rose agrees!).

Firstly to cover some questions that people have asked.

“Why holiday on a ship? Surely you get bored?”
Well, one thing that really bores me is packing, unpacking and transiting from one place to another. And one thing that really sets my nerves on edge is arranging accommodation as you go – either you have to use Swiss quality planning and know where you will be every minute of the holiday, or use the most rash gamble and hope you will find a room at 10 at night when your train was late arriving in a city you have never seen before.

If you have ever done some touring, moving from one small hotel to another on almost a daily basis, never completely unpacking, no home base, and paying exorbitant travel costs from one point to another, try this instead.

Imagine that your hotel room follows you around from one city to another - only requiring you to unpack once for the whole trip. Imagine that your room also transports you, at no extra cost, while you sleep in a luxurious, queen sized bed. And has a totally free minibar stocked to your choice. And, your choice of pillows (a must for me!)

Imagine also that you never have to put your hand in your pocket, not for a drink, not for a snack, not for any meals and never for a tip. Imagine that whatever you feel like to eat or drink, whenever it is, you just have to pick up the phone and it is delivered to you.

Imagine having three classy restaurants to go to whenever you want, at no extra cost, with world class wines matched to every dish you choose by an expert sommelier, with a widely varied menu every evening, with flavours of the area you are travelling through. Imagine being greeted with a smile and by your name by maids on floors that you don’t even live on (part of the crew’s job is to memorize names from the photographs taken for your ship’s guest card!).

Imagine a “free” shuttle bus from your hotel to the centre of every town, at half hourly intervals. Imagine local history experts offering you daily talks on what you are going to see and have seen. Evening shows and big screen movies. A free DVD library with a huge selection of latest movies, international news channels, bridge coaching, Tai Chi lessons …

Maybe you are starting to see why?

“I’ve been on the local cruises and didn’t enjoy it that much - all that queuing and no window in my cabin …”
Every room on Silver Seas ships is sea facing. There are no “inside” cabins. Every room is a suite. Only a few do not have veranda’s, and those have panoramic windows instead. There are approximately the same number of crew as passengers (just under 400 of each). There are too many tables in the restaurants to have to be concerned about queuing, and all are excellent. Everything is included in the price.

I suggest that you don’t make the mistake of comparing this line with the ones we see cruising our local ports - even the Sinfonia, which takes 2,000 passengers, five times as many as the Silverseas liners. It would be like comparing the Killarney Hotel with the Lost City.

Of course it’s all not wine and roses. There is no pharmacy, although there is an excellent Doctor/Surgeon. If you want an aspirin, you have to pay for an appointment and will find yourself $110 (R 850) poorer – plus the cost of the asprin – and if you have Scottish blood, an even bigger headache! Better to wait and suffer until the next port, at least it is for me, the eternal scotsman. And the onboard shop is expensive – Harrod’s prices (and Harrod’s labelled stock), and the Spa is also – again, European prices. These are expensive, at least for South Africans they are.

Like most beach resorts I have ever visited, the deck chair SS – those Euro tourists who leave a towel and a book on a lounger all day just so they will have the option of spending a few minutes there if they happen to want to, irritate me to a tooth grinding fury.

Everyone else is too “civilized” to toss the towel and book to one side and just take the lounger, so they lug another one to some obscure corner and watch begrudgingly as the shadows of evening start to fall on the prime spots, still sporting the book and towel, but nothing else. The crew clears them up each night to “swab the decks”, but before 6:30 the next day they are there again, re-armed in pre-breakfast raids.

Rose and I seriously considered collecting all the books and returning them to the library. On one occasion only, outside the Panorama Lounge, I moved the “book and towel” to another empty lounger so that Rose and I could lie next to each other and watch the sunset. I am sure no one ever knew. The practice should be banned. It is unconstitutional!

Also, the ship-arranged tours are expensive – very. I suggest using the (free) shuttle bus, and taking a local taxi tour, or pre-arranging your own as Rory did for us in Petra, and Voyager Travel did for us to Luxor. However the ship-arranged tours have some considerable advantages – the service quality, the booked meals at excellent hotels, the high quality guides, the superb transport, and the certainty that comes with relying on the ship may make it worth considering as an option for critical tours – and also, you know the ship won’t leave without you.

But enough of the negative already – as you can see it doesn’t take much to send “Old Grumpy” on a roll. Other than these niggles, I have never experienced a better way to see the world.

I cannot recommend Silver Seas liners more highly – they are superb.

And I have to acknowledge Janet Aldworth of Sure Voyager Travel. A superstar beyong compare. I know everyone raves about "their" travel consultant, but I have been through many, and I am super critical. Janet IS unique.

We cannot wait until our next cruise!