Cruise Ship: Silver Cloud
Cruise Destination: Northern Europe and the Baltic
Cruise Date: July 2004
Finding Your Silversea Cloud: Exploring 6 Star Luxuries - Page 1
By: Doug Eads
Filtering through all the brightly-colored and smartly-marketed brochures, and investigating the where to go and what to do on a cruise vacation is quite a lot of fun. I always envision destinations afar, and most times we choose the destination first, and hope for the best on the ship facility part to fill that destination agenda.
The ordinary was not the case this year when reaching out for excellence - There would be no compromises, no excuses, just the finest service and amenities. Every itinerary Silversea Cruises offered seemed embraced by a lavish layer of distinction. In our case, the final Silversea choice was to an area we had longed to visit. This fulfilled our vacation wish-list, blending both our dream itinerary with extraordinary service and elegance.
My wife Carol and I received a shipment some weeks later with our packet of reservation documents and we knew that our cruise on the Silversea ship Silver Cloud would be an exceptional experience. From the moment we opened the elegant leather voucher-case, which was packed with personal and distinctive luggage tags, and a new vacation expectation level ensued. From that moment on we sensed the welcome mat of elegance offered by Silver Cloud - we could hardly wait!
ITINERARY: I envisioned writing and recounting of our captivating itinerary aboard the distinctive Silver Cloud in the Baltic Sea. I could go on at length about the enticing ports in Northern Europe. However, it was the allure of this top quality vessel that must first be emphasized as I briefly describe this voyage.
We embarked in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Flying in early is a comfort with today's busy pace with airlines, and Silversea's staff can help your travel agent arrange lodging and transfers.
By arriving early, we enjoyed an engaging but leisurely day in Amsterdam, a city to be savored for its world famous museums and the special charms of her canals. This also allowed time to decompress from traveling before boarding Silver Cloud - We did not want to board bleary-eyed and jet-lagged.
Our first cruise stop was Tallinn, Estonia. Its old town of medieval architecture is as wonderful as those in Germany or the South of France. Estonia is a country quite proud to be out of the Soviet domain. Then we were on to St. Petersburg, Russia for two glorious days of exploring the Hermitage Museum, the opulent gilded Peterhof Palace, Catherine's Palace and others. From Russia we sailed onward to historic Helsinki, Finland.
A special city came next, Stockholm, Sweden where beautiful tiny islands link together to form one of the loveliest cities on earth. Last and not least was Hans Christian Anderson's enchanting and immaculate Copenhagen, Denmark. But, I won't go on and on, for on this cruise we found that our ship was to be a destination in and of itself. Does it seem possible that a ship, its crew, and services could account for such feelings of vacation completeness?
But, though this was a most remarkable itinerary, the ships of Silversea generally do not stay fixed on one itinerary. They move on to new and wondrous places around the globe visiting peoples and places on nearly every continent. I want to convey that what came to be our most loved destination of choice each day was the Silver Cloud herself. The ship was a haven that we were eager to return to and share stories of the day with our many new friends.
Page 2 > > More on the Silver Cloud Cruise to the Baltic > >
