Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/16/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/16/24

Santorini, Greece

Our visit Santorini did not go as planned. We have lunch at Atlantide and skip dinner to finish packing.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

This morning, Silver Ray is anchored off the coast of Santorini, Greece, one of the most picturesque islands in Greece, if not the world. Without question, Santorini is the highlight port on this 11-night sailing. From our balcony, we can see that there are three other large ships anchored here today: Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas, Marella Discovery and a Celebrity Infinity.

We had tried to book a shore excursion here but, by the time we had access to book online, all of the excursions were waitlisted. We decided, instead, to catch the local tender from Silver Ray to Santorini and do some exploring on our own. I should mention that we have been here two or three times in the past.

The local tender boats used to shuttle guests to and from shore are larger than the ship’s tenders/lifeboats. We board the tender at 10:30am. The ride to shore takes about 15 minutes and, when we disembarked, we knew almost immediately that we would be heading right back to the ship.

The town of Santorini sits on top of a mountain and there are two primary ways for tourists to get there. The first is a cable car that takes you up the side of the mountain. It only costs 3 Euro, but it only runs every 20 minutes. The second way is on the back of a donkey…seriously. These donkeys take you up a winding roadway to the top. We did this a few years ago and it was an interesting journey, but not something you would want to do more than once.

Of course, you could walk on that same path the donkeys use, but it is a long, arduous, hike and it is already almost 100 degrees today. No thank you. That walk would easily take 45 minutes to an hour.

When we step off the tender, we can see that the line of people waiting for the cable car ride stretches for hundreds of yards. It would take hours standing in the hot sun just to get to a cable car. We have never been to Santorini in the past when it was this crowded. And, this experience showed us why so many destinations around the world are restricting access by cruise ships. There are just simply too many people on these large ships for these towns to handle, especially when you have two, three or four ships arrive on the same day.

We decided to catch the next tender back to Silver Ray, and even that required us to stand at the tender station for nearly 45 minutes waiting for the tender to arrive. Once we were back on board, we were not in any mood to stand in line for food at the buffet, so we opted for a peaceful lunch at Atlantide.

There were perhaps only 3 or 4 tables occupied in Atlantide and the service here is great. We enjoyed a much more relaxed and peaceful meal here than we would have had at the buffet or The Grill. We also learned that anything from the room service menu is also available at Atlantide!

Rickee ordered the Apple, Fig and Walnut Salad (below)

I ordered the stir fry Broccoli and Beef, which was delicious!

This afternoon, we partipated in a S.A.L.T. Lab session where guests are invited into a special kitchen to prepare a regional dish. Today, we were working with Phyllo dough to create a Baklava-style roll and Spanikopita.

There is no charge to participate in S.A.L.T. Lab, but advance reservations are required (you can book a spot as soon as you board the ship). Space is limited, so it is a good idea to book as soon as you can.

Each station has a stove and all necessary utensils

Today’s S.A.L.T. Lab was conducted by Erin, the resident S.A.L.T. lab chef/hostess.

Before we finish packing for the flight home, we took some time this afternoon to enjoy a glass of Champagne on our balcony as Silver Ray sailed away from Santorini.

Tomorrow morning, Silver Ray will dock in Piraeus, Greece, where we will disembark and fly home to Dallas. It has been another amazing 11-night cruise with Silversea and we have a lot of photos and notes to go over for our final review of this new ship.

Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss our final review video of Silversea Silver Ray.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/15/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/15/24

Day at Sea

We enjoy a relaxing day at sea aboard Silver Ray as we head towards our final port of Santorini, Greece.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

Today is the only day at sea on this 11-night cruise. We have been blessed with calm seas and great weather this entire cruise.

My morning starts, like every morning, with a visit to Arts Cafe.

I love the work table, or at least that’s what I call it, because it is the perfect place to work on my laptop.

I enjoy my cup of Americano while working on my daily blog.

Vadym has been here every morning preparing my coffee, often without me even having to ask.

Vadym Always Has My Americano Ready And Waiting For me

This morning we are treated to another excellent lecture by Lt. Col. Rick Francona on the topic of the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

A second lecture this morning is a demonstration on S.A.L.T. cookery. Today’s topic, “How To Mezze.”

The S.A.L.T. chef showed us how to prepare Spicy Bulgar Lettuce Cups.

At the end of the demonstration, we got to taste the dish accompanied by a wine selected to complement this tasty appetizer.

For lunch today, I ordered room service.

The Butter Chicken was the hero today. The dish was spicy, as I ordered it, creamy and delicious.

This afternoon, we played Bingo again, but the Bingo gods were not with me today.

Before dinner, we meet our new friends, Ann and Dave, for cocktails at The Dusk Bar on Deck 10 aft.

Rickee deviates from her Lemon Drop to try another new flavor, a Mojito.

For dinner, we join Ann and Dave at S.A.L.T. Kitchen.

They serve local wines from Santorini tonight at S.A.L.T. Kitchen. Many of the starters and main courses are also local delicacies.

Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be anchored off the coast of Santorini. This is the last port before we arrive in Pireaus to disembark and fly back to Texas. We will have to pack tomorrow…yuck.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/14/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/14/24

Argostoli, Cephalonia, Greece

Our first visit to Cephalonia, Greece leaves us unimpressed. We have lunch again at The Marquee Grill and dinner at Atlantide.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

This morning, Silver Ray is anchored off the coast of Cephalonia, Greece. The ship is operating tenders to shuttle guests back and forth from ship to shore. It is already getting very hot today by the time we board the tender and we disembark at the town of Argostoli around 11am.

The ship’s tenders dock right in the center of town, so there is no need for shuttle buses here. As we would soon learn, this is definitely a port where you should book a shore excursion.

As we walk to cross the main street of the town, we are lured by the signs promoting a Hop-On/Hop-Off tour. We have done HoHo tours in many cities around the world and have always enjoyed them. Since we did not have an excursion, we thought: what the heck?

We paid our 10€ per person fee for our tickets and then learned this is one of those little road trains, not a double-decker bus. We were told that the train would take us on a 20-minute drive to a place where we could get off and see turtles, at least I think that is what the ticket salesperson said. Then, we could re-board the train for the 20-minute ride back. The entire tour should last 40 minutes.

This tour was a disaster. We basically spent 30 minutes sitting in heavy traffic and simply being driven around a few city blocks, with nothing, and I mean NOTHING to see. There was a guide speaking broken English trying to explain some of the buildings along the way, but nothing we saw looked that interesting anyway. We never did see anything about turtles, but maybe we just missed it.

Our advice would be to avoid this tour if you ever visit Argostoli. Either book a ship’s excursion, or just stay onboard and enjoy the ship.

We did find some shops along the main street and purchased some souvenirs. As we went back to the tender dock to head back to Silver Ray, several of the ship’s tour buses all arrived at the same time, dropping dozens of guests off to be tendered back to the ship. There was only one tender at the dock and the next one was 15 minutes away. That meant nearly 100 guests had to stand out in the heat and sun waiting for the next tender to arrive. This seems like a small misstep on Silversea’s part. If they are aware that several tour busses are arriving at the same time, they should have 2 or 3 tenders lined up ready to board guests.

Once we are back onboard Silver Ray, we once again head to The Marquee Grill for lunch. This is our favorite lunch spot. Rickee again ordered the Fish and Chips and I decided to try the steak sandwich on baguette.

This evening, we took in a beautiful sunset overlooking the pool deck.

We did not make any advance plans for dinner this evening and did not really decide to eat dinner until about 8:45pm. This revealed one of the shortcomings of Silversea, at least in our opinion. At 8:45pm, with no reservations, there are really only a handful of choices for dinner. First or second choices would be Atlantide or S.A.L.T. Kitchen, which both offer open seating. However, we had eaten at S.A.L.T. the night before. The third choice would be Spaccanapoli for pizza and fourth would be room service. Neither of us was in the mood for pizza. We did not want to mess up the suite with room service and have the smell of food permeating the room while trying to sleep, so we opted for Atlantide.

When we arrived at Atlantide about 9:00pm, the restaurant was very busy. The Maitre’d informed us that there were no tables for two available. What he meant to say was, no tables for two that he would recommend.

There is a row of 5 two-top tables where nobody is seated. That is because these tables back up to the wait staff staging areas where waiters stack dishes cleared from tables. This is a very noisy area and, to make matters worse, the wall behind the tables is open so that the noise travels right to the tables. Bad design.

Avoid these two-top tables if you want a quiet meal

The Maitre’d did seat us at one of these tables, but later offered to move us to a window table, which was much quieter and in a better location.

Rickee ordered an Artichoke and Beef Carpaccio starter.

I ordered the Seared Scallop starter. Unfortunately, there was little to no sear on the scallops.

Rickee’s main course was one of the vegetarian options, Grilled Panisse Cake: Confit red onion petals, olives, slow cooked cherry tomatoes and arugula. It was a little strange.

I ordered the Veal Chop.

Our dinner at Atlantide was good but we still find the menu to be very limited compared to the original Atlantide menu from our last Silversea cruise.

Tomorrow is a day at sea, the only one on this itinerary.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/13/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/13/24

Corfu, Greece

While Silver Ray is docked in Corfu, Greece, we stay on board, have lunch at Kaiseki and dinner at S.A.L.T. Kitchen.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

We do not have much of a view of Corfu, Greece, today as a Mirella cruise ship is blocking the view from our balcony (above). We have been to Corfu before, so we decided this would be a good day to stay on board Silver Ray and let Rickee’s sprained ankle heal.

I used the opportunity to get some photos and videos of the ship while most guests were off on excursions. It seems to be getting hotter and hotter each day, so I wanted to check out the ship’s jogging track before the heat of the day makes it unbearable. The sign says eight laps makes a mile, but that seems very generous for such a short track. I need to measure this with my pedometer.

The track wraps around the ship’s funnel, just aft of the pool and extends all the way back to the Dusk Bar.

For lunch today, we decide to return to Kaiseki, the ship’s Japanese restaurant.

The decor here is very basic, but comfortable.

Guests can choose to dine at a table or sit at the Sushi bar. Our meal, once again, was amazing. We each enjoyed a Ramen noodle bowl and the Bao Bun, as well as a Sapporo beer. We can’t imagine what we would order here at dinner that would make it worth the $70/pp upcharge. Lunch is complimentary and is very good.

This afternoon, we met our friends, Ann and Dave, for afternoon trivia and for the fifth time, we came in first place! Rickee also won at Bingo today!

Before dinner, we returned to Dolce Vita to enjoy the music of Alfredo along with a little refreshment.

The complimentary canapès served tonight are very nice. Canapès are served after 6pm in most of the ship’s lounges.

Rickee decided to try one of Dolce Vita’s signature cocktails tonight.

I think she will be sticking with her favorite, Lemon Drop Martini, from this point forward. At 7pm, we head down to Deck 3 for dinner at .S.A.L.T. Kitchen. This is the first time we have dined at .S.A.L.T. on Silver Ray.

In case you are wondering, .S.A.L.T. stands for Sea And Land Taste. This dining concept is inspired by local flavors and traditions and seeks to bring the tastes of the journey onboard.

The menus change constantly based on where in the world the ship is sailing.

Of course, we will include a full review of S.A.L.T in our dining review video, but for now, I can tell you that our meal was much improved over our very first S.A.L.T. Kitchen dining experience on Silver Moon a few years ago.

Tonight’s show is "Limelight” and is a collection of songs from popular Broadway and West End shows.

While the Silver Ray Singers and Dancers did put on an excellent performance, we felt like this was our least favorite production show so far. That said, we look forward to the next show because these are very talented performers.

Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be in Argostoli, Cephalonia, Greece.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/12/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/12/24

Kotor, Montenegro

We tour the Old Town of Kotor and Rickee makes an unplanned visit to the ship’s Medical Center.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

This morning, Silver Ray is docked in Kotor, Montenegro. Should you visit Kotor by cruise ship, you would be wise to be on deck during the sail into the Bay of Kotor through the beautiful fjords. This is one of the most scenic locations in the Adriatic Sea.

We have a walking tour booked for this morning at 9am. We disembark Silver Ray in plenty of time to meet our local guide shoreside.

Our local guide, Neda, greets us and provides us with audio VOX units. These units function perfectly, unlike the ones we were using in Bari yesterday.

As you can see, Silver Ray has the perfect berth in Kotor, right in the middle of town and just steps from the historic Old Town. There were two other ships in Kotor today, and both of them had to tender guests to shore.

Getting to the Old Town requires going down a set of stairs or escalators, through a tunnel, then back up stairs or an escalator. The tunnel makes crossing a busy street unnecessary. The escalators were not working today and, as we were walking down the escalator steps, Rickee stumbled and fell to her knees, twisting her right ankle in the process. Fortunately, she was holding on to my arm, or she might have done a face plant!

In spite of her fall, she was able to continue the walking tour. You enter the Old Town through an arch in the city wall where you come into a square and see the Old Clock Tower.

We walk through the narrow streets of Kotor into several different squares or plazas. The Kotor Cathedral (below) is one of the most impressive structures here, dating back to 1166. The surrounding mountains make Old Town Kotor one of the most striking towns we have ever visited.

The streets and squares are lined with cafes and restaurants. Undoubtedly, many guests will choose to dine in Old Town.

Some might be put off by the cats, which are everywhere in Old Town. Here is one lounging on a a restaurant table. If you are a cat lover, you will love Old Town Kotor.

At the end of our tour, we say goodbye to Neda and decide to spend some time on our own in Old Town shopping for souvenirs, and enjoying some Gelato.

We are back on board Silver Ray in time for lunch. We again decide to visit The Grill on Deck 10 as Rickee is in the mood for Fish and Chips. I ordered the fried Calamari once again (my third time) and a Silversea Burger.

After lunch is when Rickee realized how much her ankle was hurting her. In fact, she could barely get up from the table at The Grill. Unable to put any weight on her left foot, she had to rely on me to help her get her back to our suite. She was now in a lot of pain.

We decided it was time to contact the medical center to have her ankle checked to make sure nothing was broken. The nurse on duty sent two stateroom attendants to our suite with a wheelchair to transport Rickee to the medical center on Deck 3.

Once she arrived at the Medical Center, she was checked in and they were able to take an x-ray of her left foot. Fortunately, no broken bones showed up on the x-ray. They placed a tight wrap on her ankle with an ice pack and said we should check back in a couple of days. They also provided us with a walking stick/cane for her to use.

In spite of her injury, Rickee and I made it to afternoon trivia, where today our winning streak ended. However, we did come in second place and still racked up 3 Silversea Prize Points.

We even went to golf putting and from her wheelchair, Rickee made a hole-in-one!

After golf putting, we joined our new friends, Ann and Dave, at The Dusk Bar for pre-dinner cocktails.

We met Ann and Dave through our website where Ann discovered that we were going to be on Silver Ray on the same cruise. After meeting, we joined up for trivia and golf putting and have been enjoying sharing stories.

Cocktails and conversation with new friends

The Dusk Bar is by far the best feature of this new Nova Class Silversea ship. After 6pm, several of the lounges serve canapès, and the Dusk Bar is no exception.

As we sail out of Kotor, we enjoy another beautiful sunset from our vantage point at the Dusk Bar.

We decide to skip dinner this evening and let Rickee rest her sore ankle back in our suite. We also lose an hour tonight as we have to move our clocks ahead one hour. We want to thank our excellent butler, Sajan, for bringing us an extra ice pack and being available for anything we need.

Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be in Corfu, Greece. We will probably stay onboard as we have been here before. We will give Rickee some more time to recover and I will get to explore more of the ship.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/11/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/11/24

Bari, Italy

We depart our walking tour of Bari early and opt for pizza at Spaccanapoli, enjoy an amazing sunset at the Dusk Bar and Rock the Boat.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

This morning, Silver Ray is docked in Bari, Italy. This is another city we have yet to visit, so we chose to take a ship excursion: “Scenic Drive & Old Town Walking Tour.”

We met our local guide, Eugene, shoreside, where he collected our tickets and guided us onto one of the coaches for the tour.

The scenic driving part of the tour was really a drive around the newer parts of Bari and, honestly, was not that interesting. The coach drops the guests right next to a 12th century castle, within walking distance to the Old Town.

Once inside the city walls of the Old Town, this excursion quickly turned into what we like to refer to as an “ABC tour” (another beautiful church). We walked from one church to another as Eugene informed us of the history of each one.

There were some interesting architectural elements in the Old Town, but we lost interest in the tour and decided to depart from the group for a few reasons. The first reason was the audio VOX units were basically nothing but static, making it impossible to hear the guide. Everyone in our group Awas complaining about the static.

The second reason was that we had to wait an incredibly long time for some people who needed to use the public restroom. There were long lines at the restrooms. The third reason was, it was incredibly hot and humid.

About half of the tour group decided to end the tour early and either walk around town on their own, or head back to the ship. We chose the latter. The guide did give us directions on how to go through the arch and follow the waterfront back to the ship.

It took us about 15 minutes to walk back to Silver Ray.

Since this is Sunday, it is my “cheat” day and I get to eat anything I want. So, we decided to head back to The Marquee on Deck 10 for pizza. But, before pizza, I had to have another order of the delicious fried Calamari.

Rickee ordered a Margharita Pizza (below)

I ordered the Diavola pizza with spicy sausage slices. Both pizzas were delicious and I now can confirm that Silversea has the best pizza at sea.

This evening, we met our new friends, Ann and Dave, at the Dusk Bar for cocktails, conversation and an amazing sunset.

What a view?

Tonight is the Rock The Boat party held poolside on Deck 10.

Tomorrow, we will be in Kotor, Montenegro.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/10/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/10/24

Dubrovnik, Croatia

A visit to Dubrovnik today as we celebrate our 30th anniversary with a very special dinner at Silver Note.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

Today, Silver Ray is anchored off the coast of Dubrovnik, Croatia. More significant is that Rickee and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary. When our butler, Sajan, stops by to wish us a happy anniversary this morning, we mentioned to him that the breakfast we had ordered the night before had not arrived yet. He said he would take care of it, and he did. Within ten minutes, he arrived with our breakfast and set up our dining table (see below).

Room Service Is Something Special on Silversea

After breakfast, Rickee wanted to stop by Panorama Lounge to look one last time for a lost jacket. So, here’s the back story. Two days ago, Rickee left her jacket in Panorama Lounge after we played trivia.

We went back to Panorama Lounge to see if anyone had found it, but nobody there had seen it. We went to Reception to see if it had been turned in to Lost and Found, but nothing. We kept checking with Reception over the next two days, but the jacket had not been turned in.

When we left for our visit to Dubrovnik today, Rickee said she was wondering if her jacket had slipped down between the sofa cushions and wanted to check one last time. Unbelievably, all we did was move the two pillows and there was her jacket! What are the odds?

Today is the first time we have to use the tender boats to get to shore. After guests who are on shore excursions have all been tendered to port, tender boats run continuously to shuttle guests to and from shore.

The tender boats are the ship’s lifeboats and can hold up to 100 guests. There are only about 20 guests aboard our tender for the 10-minute ride to Dubrovnik. The tender station is right in front of the entry gate into the Old City.

This was our third time to visit Dubrovnik. On our previous visits, we walked on top of the old city walls, which is a must-do if you have never done so.

The cathedrals, red tile roofs and bell towers conjure up memories of many Game of Thrones scenes that were shot in Dubrovnik.

It is a fun place to just walk around and sightsee, but, it is extremely hot today.

We take a break for Gelato before heading back to the ship’s tender station. We are back on board Silver Ray by early afternoon.

For the third day in the row, we had the winning trivia team with 21 correct answers out of 24! After Trivia, Rickee and I decide to try S.A.L.T. Bar which is on Deck 10 forward.

I ordered the Silver Ray, the signature drink which has the Silversea logo printed on top! The drink was quite tasty.

We return to our suite before heading to dinner at Silver Note, and we see that our butler, Sajan, has been hard at work decorating our suite for our anniversary. A special cake is waiting for us on the desk.

Towel swans greet us from atop our bed. Sajan is so creative! The flickering electric candles add the perfect touch to all of the beautiful decorations.

And, our coffee table is set with a chilled bottle of champagne, candles and Happy Anniversary balloons. There is even a nice card from the Captain. This was a very special recognition of our 30 years together!

As we are heading out for dinner, one of the other butlers stops to take our photo outside of our suite.

Dinner at Silver Note tonight was one of the best meals we have ever had on a Silversea cruise, and most certainly the best meal we have ever had at Silver Note on other Silversea ships. Every dish was expertly prepared and presented. And, the jazz duo of Esther and Andre provided excellent entertainment worthy of any supper club.

This was an anniversary we will remember for the rest of our lives. Thank you Silversea for making this special day even more special.

Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be docked in Bari, Italy.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/9/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/9/24

Split, Croatia

We take our first ship’s excursion in Split, Croatia, have lunch at The Marquee Grill, win at trivia and, explore the ship after dark.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

Today, Silver Ray is docked in Split, Croatia. As with Zadar, this is our first time ever to visit Split. From our balcony, we can see the old town of Split over the top of the ferries docked next to us.

We decided to book one of Silversea’s shore excursions: Diocletian’s Split and Olive Oil Tasting. Our tour is scheduled to depart at 10:30 this morning and we disembarked 10 minutes prior to our excursion to meet our guide, as instructed.

Our walking tour group gathered next to the gangway where we met Katija, our local tour guide for today. Katija provided all guests with audio receivers which make it much easier to follow her dialog during the tour.

After a short, but warm, walk into the Old City, Katija gave us an overview of what we will see today. Split has a very strong Roman history, which is evident in the remaining architecture. Our first stop will be a visit inside Diocletian’s Palace. Before entering Diocletian’s Palace, we see how the palace would have looked upon its completion in 305 AD.

My favorite part of these excursions is admiring the architecture and engineering skills the Romans possessed in order to create these structures. I am not sure these could be built today.

It is incredible that these buildings have survived nearly 2,000 years. Even a Sphinx at the palace remains in place.

After our palace tour, we visit the Split museum where we learn about the Venetian and Ottoman influence on the Dalmatian Coast region over the centuries.

After the tour, we visit a local cafe for an olive oil tasting. Rickee and I have been wanting to do an olive oil tasting for years, and today we finally get to do one.

We tasted three different olive oils today. The first was a virgin olive oil and the last two were extra virgin. We learned that only extra virgin olive oils offer anti-oxidant properties. It is interesting how the different oils have completely different tastes.

At the conclusion of our tour, we opted to wait for the next Silversea shuttle to take us back to Silver Ray. It is getting uncomfortably hot and air conditioning seems very appealing about now.

We are back on board Silver Ray in time for a late lunch, so we decide to try The Grill. There is seating in the center of The Grill, where no one was sitting. This area is covered by a pergola structure allowing fresh air and light into the space. It sort of reminds me of Wintergarden on Viking Ocean ships. We seated ourselves at one of the booths, wondering why all other guests were seated in the covered section of The Grill.

We soon learned why nobody was being seated in this area. We began to notice little black specks all over the table and the dishes. No, this was not pepper. We learned that this was ash from the ship’s smokestacks! The Maitre’d told us that in certain wind conditions, this can be an issue and is why they are not seating guests in that area today. He immediately moved us to a different table for two that was covered.

After we moved to a new table, Rickee ordered the fish and chips, which she absolutely loved and will order again.

I ordered a fried Calamari starter, which was so good I forgot to take a photo! The Calamari was served with a garlic aioli and it was one of the better Calamari dishes I have ever had. For my main, I ordered the Silversea burger with cheese. The first burger I was brought was under-cooked and I had to send it back for a replacement.

The second burger they brought to the table was cooked nicely. I will do a thorough review of the Silversea burger in my Food and Dining Review video coming soon.

When we returned to our suite, our butler, Sajan, has created a beautiful Otivm shower experience for us, Chilled champagne was waiting for us in the bathroom along with macaroons and candles (electronic, of course). A special shower “cake” has been placed on the shower floor which releases fragrances of eucalyptus, black pepper, rosemary and mint as it dissolves in the warm shower stream.

We also discovered our mid-journey guest questionnaire, which we completed and returned to Reception.

This evening, we decide to skip dinner and just enjoy the ship after dark. The weather is perfect for a stroll around the outer decks.

At 10pm, it is show time and we are treated to the second production show of the cruise.

While there were some excellent vocal performances, this show was all about dance. The four dancers on board are excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed the show and look forward to the next one. We just wish they did not start so late.

Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be anchored off the coast of Dubrovnik.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/8/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/8/24

Zadar, Croatia

We visit the old town of Zadar, Croatia, have lunch at Kaiseki and dinner at La Terrazza.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

This morning, Silver Ray is docked in Zadar, Croatia. This is the first time we have visited Zadar. In fact, I had never even heard of Zadar before booking this cruise. Our plan for today is to spend a couple of hours exploring the Old Town on our own before heading back to Silver Ray for lunch.

The dock here is the perfect location to get some photos of Silver Ray and the sun happens to be in the right position for good lighting.

A complimentary shuttle bus is located just outside of the spotlessly clean cruise terminal building.

The shuttle ride to the Old Town takes about 20 minutes and guests are dropped off right next to the Greeting To The Sun, a 22-meter diameter solar panel array that provides a spectacular light show after dark. Unfortunately, we will not be here to see the show.

As we walk along the waterfront we are mesmerized by the Sea Organ, an architectural structure that creates soothing sounds from the waves crashing against the rocks.

Walking along the waterfront, we come across many local merchants selling hand- made souvenirs.

I was very tempted to try this grilled corn on the cob. I wish now, I had done so.

There are several historic structures and some Roman ruins near the Church of St. Donatus.

The Sea Gate (below) is one of the historic entrances through the old city wall.

The fruit and vegetable stands here also tempt us with the fresh watermelon, which looks much better than any we can get at home.

We enjoyed our brief walk around Zadar and caught the 1:00pm shuttle back to Silver Ray in time for lunch at Kaiseki, Silversea’s Japanese restaurant. Dinner at Kaiseki carries a $70pp cover charges, but lunch is complimentary.

When Rickee inquires about plum wine, our waitress informs us they offer a plum-flavored sake. It was delicious!

The menu at Kaiseki has changed since our last visit which was on Silver Moon a few years ago, and the change is good. They now offer two Ramen Bowls. Rickee and I tried each and both were delicious.

Another new item is Bao Buns, a soft dough filled with shredded BBQ Brisket and served with a teriyaki dipping sauce.

The sushi rolls have always been a hit at Kaiseki. I had a double order of Spicy Tuna Roll, which were delicious. Rickee and I agreed that our lunch at Kaiseki was the best meal we have had so far on Silver Ray.

This afternoon, we try something new on Silversea, or at least new to us. Bingo is being held every day at Panorama Lounge right before Afternoon Trivia. Guests play for Silversea Prize Points.

After Bingo, we played team trivia and our team came in first place today with 23 out of a possible 27 points! Immediately after trivia, it is time for golf putting, another Silversea tradition.

At 6pm, Rickee and I enjoyed a lively lecture on the Roman Emperor Diocletian who built an imperial palace at Split, Croatia (which we will visit tomorrow). The lecture by Dr. Stephen Wessley was very well presented and interesting.

For dinner this evening, we had reservations at La Terrazza. It is becoming very apparent that there have been a lot of changes at Silversea since our last sailing on Silver Moon. None of the changes are more obvious than the evening menu at La Terrazza.

First, we requested a table for two outside, which was nice, but the noise coming from the ship’s wake was so loud it was hard to carry on a conversation. On Silver Moon, La Terraza is on Deck 7, on Silver Ray, it is on Deck 4. Perhaps being three decks closer to the wake is the reason for the increased sound?

Second, the menu is nothing like what we remember from past visits to La Terrazza on other Silversea ships. There was very little choice in starters, or main dishes. And third, the delicious charcuterie board is no more. This was a highlight of every evening meal at La Terrazza and really set it apart from other dining experiences. They used to also pour every guest a complimentary glass of Prosecco before the meal. That tradition has also been done away with.

We left La Terrazza very disappointed. It was always one of the highlights of every Silversea cruise and I am sorry to say we were not impressed. The food served was just okay, nothing special. We had a second reservation for later in the cruise, but we will be cancelling it and having room service or dinner at Atlantide instead.

We did not make it to the show this evening. Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be in Split, Croatia, and we will be taking our first ship excursion.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/7/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/7/24

Trieste, Italy

We visit Trieste, Italy during our 11-night Silversea Silver Ray Cruise.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

This morning, Silver Ray is docked at Trieste, Italy. This will be our first time to visit Trieste. My morning begins with coffee and some computer time at Arts Cafe on Deck 4. Arts Cafe has a very nice work table where I can enjoy my morning Americano as I pour over the photos and video from the previous day.

Arts Cafe offers a variety of pastries, fruit, yogurt and other light bites for breakfast.

As we prepare to disembark the ship, we have to remember to fill our water bottles. These metal water bottles have replaced the disposable plastic water bottles that Silversea used to provide to guests. I am not sure how I feel about these refillable water bottles just yet. There are refill stations located throughout the ship.

We do not have a shore excursion booked here, but Silversea does offer a complimentary shuttle service every 30 minutes to transfer guests to the town center. The old town of Trieste is very easy to navigate on foot and it is hard to get lost. Of course, Silversea provides city maps for guests.

Many of the streets here are pedestrian only, so you don’t have to worry about dodging traffic. We were impressed by the architecture in Trieste. Also, there are lots of sidewalk cafes and restaurants should you decide to have lunch in town. High end boutiques line the streets; however, souvenir shops are scarce.

We spend a couple of hours exploring Trieste on our own before returning to Silver Ray. We are back on board in time for a late lunch, but we had such a large breakfast at Atlantide this morning that all it takes is a couple of small finger sandwiches from Arts Cafe to tide us over until dinner.

A quick look at the daily Chronicles reveals afternoon trivia and a very interesting lecture this afternoon.

As we wait for afternoon trivia to begin, we decide to enjoy the warm, but comfortable weather aft of Panorama Bar. Rickee enjoys a Limoncello while I have my Crown Royal.

I was pleased to see that at Panorama Bar they serve Crown Royal in a proper, heavy rocks glass. When I had my drink in Dolce Vita, it was served in what resembled a water glass you would find at a Holiday Inn. It is strange how the type and weight of a glass can affect the enjoyment of a cocktail.

Soon, our Cruise Director, Rico, was calling out trivia questions. We teamed up with some new friends and ended up with 14 points out of a possible 22. The winning team had 21 points…seriously?

After trivia, we tried our hand at golf putting. There were so many people at golf putting that Rickee had to leave early to make it to the afternoon lecture in time. I stayed and finished the putting competition, then joined Rickee at Venetian Lounge for an excellent and very interesting lecture on US Intelligence operations by Lt. Col. Rick Francona.

Tonight is the Captain’s Reception and it is “formal optional” dress code this evening. I soon learned that “formal optional” translates to “jacket required” when entering Atlantide. You would think after 18 Silversea cruises I would know better!

Atlantide was packed with guests this evening, but we were offered a nice table for two. Rickee had her favorite, Caviar, along with a beef tartare appetizer. Of course, we will do a complete review of the food and dining on Silver Ray at the end of our journey.

After dinner, we head to Venetian Lounge for a front row seat at “35mm Blockbuster'“, tonight’s production show. A 6-piece band provides back up music for a very lively song and dance show featuring popular songs from epic movies.

The production quality was definitely a step above anything we have seen on Silversea in the past. The singers and dancers were excellent. Perhaps this is a result of the influence of Silversea’s new Royal Caribbean ownership?

Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be docked in Zadar, Croatia

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/6/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/6/24

Embarkation in Fusina, Italy

We embark Silver Ray in Fusina, Italy and spend our first day exploring the ship.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

Today is embarkation day for our 11-night cruise aboard Silver Ray. After a very restful night’s sleep at our hotel, Palazzo Veneziano, in Venice, we inquire at the front desk about the best way to get to the cruise terminal from the hotel. One option is to walk, which would take about 25 minutes. If not for our luggage in tow, this would have probably been our first choice. The second option is a private water taxi, which only takes about 10 minutes, but costs 90 Euro (about $98 US).

The hotel ordered a water taxi for us and when it arrived, the bellman grabbed all of our luggage and escorted us to the dock, less than 200 feet from the hotel entrance. After all of our luggage was loaded onto the water taxi, we boarded for the short ride to the cruise terminal

*A Private Water Taxi To Cruise Terminal*

When we arrived at the cruise terminal, Silversea crew members were on hand to tag our luggage, which will be delivered to our stateroom after embarkation. We were then directed to walk or take a shuttle to the cruise terminal building for check-in. The terminal building is only about 300 yards from where we dropped our luggage, so we decided a short walk would do us good. However, Silversea does provide a complimentary shuttle for guests with mobility issues, or those who simply choose not to walk.

Walking to The Cruise Terminal Building 107

Once we arrive at Building 107, there is signage everywhere, as well as Silversea staff, to direct us to the proper check-in area.

Even though our pre-cruise documents claimed embarkation began at 2:00pm, we were not the only guests to arrive early, as you can see in the photo below. We checked in at around 1:00pm. The line was short and moved very quickly. The entire check-in process only took a few minutes.

After we received our stateroom key cards, we are directed to the security checkpoint where our carry-on luggage is scanned.

Shuttle busses were waiting for us outside the terminal building to transfer us to Fusina, where the ship is docked.

The shuttle drive to Fusina took about 20 minutes and soon we were alongside Silver Ray.

Shortly after embarkation, we were informed that lunch was being served in La Terraza, the ship’s breakfast and lunch buffet restaurant. La Terraza is located aft on Deck 4. Since our suite would not be ready until 2:00pm, we decide to have a quick bite at La Terrazza.

Even after less than one hour on board Silver Ray, we become aware of many changes that Silversea has made. The most notable was that there was no Champagne offered as we boarded the ship. It may be a small thing to some, but it was always a nice little touch to make you feel like you are not just boarding a cruise ship, but that you were boarding a Silversea ship.

After lunch, we head to our Superior Verandah Suite (6099). Upon entering our suite, we noticed yet a couple of other things missing from past Silversea sailings. There was no bottle of Champagne on ice waiting for us in our suite. No flowers, no fruit and no chocolates. These may seem like small items to most, but they are details that we noticed and in a luxury product, details matter.

We did later learn from our butler, that there is a bottle of champagne in the mini bar fridge.

After less than one hour on board, we felt this ship has a completely different vibe than Silversea ships from our past. I am not suggesting that different is necessarily bad, but we are careful to take note of all the changes we notice during this 11- night cruise.

Soon after we arrived in our suite, our butler did stop by for a meet and greet. He showed us many of the features of the suite and asked if there was anything he could do for us. Silversea is one of the few cruise lines that offer butler service in every suite category.

After our butler, Sajan, briefed us, it was time for us to participate in the mandatory muster drill. Our muster station is in La Terrazza. The drill basically involves a demonstration of how to put on one of the life vests. Hopefully, that will not be necessary.

After the muster drill, we decided to enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail in La Dolce Vida lounge. We were pleased to see that Silversea still offers canapés.

We only had time for one cocktail (probably a good thing) before it was time to head to Deck 10 for our 7:00pm dinner reservation at The Grill. The Grill on Silver Ray (and Silver Nova) is located in what’s called “The Marquee”, a beautiful open-air venue that is home to The Grill and Spaccanapoli Pizza.

The meal begins with a starter plate of tortilla chips, guacamole, grilled shrimp and olives and feta.

The Grill menu has changed from our last Silversea cruise. While they still offer the Hot Rocks experience, they now offer a pizza selection and a few new appetizer choices. There are also a variety of other entrees from which to choose that are prepared in the galley.

I ordered the 10 oz Rib Eye which was brought to the table raw and placed on one of the 500 degree Hot Rock stones for cooking. If you enjoy cooking your own steak, shrimp or lamb, the Hot Rocks experience is something everyone should try at least once.

The welcome aboard show tonight in the Venetian Lounge is Emotions. However, we are still fighting off some jet lag and will be going to bed early tonight.

*Welcome Aboard Show At Venetian Lounge*

Tomorrow, Silver Ray will be in Trieste, Italy, where we plan to disembark and do some exploring on our own.

Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/5/24 Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson 8/5/24

Pre-Cruise Stay in Venice

An overnight flight on United and our first day in Venice prior to embarking on Silver Ray.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

Today we flew from DFW to Venice on United Airlines. Our air was booked through Silversea, otherwise we would have booked with American Airlines. Unfortunately, we have no status or lounge access with United.

Our first flight was from DFW to Newark, where we had a nearly four-hour layover. When checked in for our flight on the United website, we were offered an opportunity to upgrade to Premium Plus (United’s Premium Economy), which we did. We had already paid for Economy Plus, and Priority Boarding and secured exit row seats at a bulkhead. Nevertheless, we chose to upgrade to Premium Plus, for a hefty fee, I might add.

The flight from Newark to Venice was on an older Boeing 767, but the cabin appears to have been recently refreshed. All except for the overhead bins, which are woefully undersized.

As it turns out, we should have saved the money and stuck with our original seats, which had more legroom than the Premium Plus seats. United claims that you get upgraded meal service in Premium Plus, but both of our dinner entrees were inedible. My chicken with vegetables was the worst meal I have ever been served on a flight, and that is saying something. Rickee’s Udon Noodle stir-fry was equally bad. Both meals went untouched.

Rickee settles into here premium Plus seat

About an hour before landing in Venice, we were served breakfast. I had the eggs and Rickee had the French Toast. Once again, the food was just weird. The eggs were some sort of frittata that had the the texture of bread, and they were cold. Rickee’s French toast was not served with any syrup and, hers too, was cold. Once again, we did not eat either meal.

We were not impressed with United’s catering. The flight crew, however, were attentive and pleasant.

Our flight was about 20 minutes late due to some inclement weather prior to takeoff in Newark. Getting through immigration at Marco Polo airport was fast and easy. As we exited baggage claim, we were greeted by our Blacklane driver for our transfer to our hotel. Blacklane is an international limousine provider and is a partner with Silversea. We booked our transfer directly with Blacklane through their website, Blacklane.com, which was very easy.

Our driver, Constantine, greeted us, grabbed the large pieces of our luggage, and escorted us to a Mercedes van. After all of the luggage was loaded, we were on our way.

BLACKLANE DRIVER MEETS US AT MARCO POLO ARPORT IN VENICE

The drive across the bridge from the mainland to Venice takes about 15 minutes and Constantine explained that because one of the bridges we would need to walk across to reach our hotel is under construction, he would drop us near a water taxi station and a water taxi would take us to our hotel. We were not aware of this and wondered if we were going to have to pay extra for the water taxi.

As it turns out, Blacklane had pre-arranged for the water taxi portion of the transfer as well. A nice surprise. Our luggage was loaded onto the private water taxi and soon we were navigating the canals of Venice by boat. The water taxi ride only took about 10 minutes and when we arrived at the dock, a bellman from our hotel met the water taxi and took all of our luggage, then escorted us right into the hotel lobby, which was less than 300 feet from the boat dock.

WATER TAXI IS ARRANGED TO TAKE US TO OUR HOTEL

This was one of the smoothest and easiest transfers we have ever experienced. We can highly recommend Blacklane! Even though we arrived at hotel Palazzo Veneziano very early, our room was ready and waiting for us. Check in was a breeze and soon we were about to crash for a much needed nap on the king-sized bed.

Our Junior Suite has a canal view and is quite large for a European hotel room.

After a nap, we decide to walk to St. Mark’s Square. This was about a 23-minute walk from the hotel and a great use for Google Maps. We strolled through many small alleyways and streets, stopping to take in many of the canal views along the way.

The hotel concierge recommended a pizza restaurant near St. Mark’s Square. We were both pretty hungry, having not eaten anything on our flight the day before.

After doing a little sightseeing and shopping, we stop for a photo of the Bridge of Sighs (below). The walk back to the hotel was brutal thanks to the heat today.

We will go to bed early tonight, and tomorrow we will embark Silversea’s Silver Ray.

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver RayItinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens