Having sailed most of the larger cruise lines, the smaller lines Seabourn, Windstar as well as Silversea, we were looking for a Caribbean itinerary that fitted the dates of a wedding anniversary of very close friends who wished to travel with us. They hadn’t been on a ‘luxury’ cruise before so we felt that any of three lines we knew would fit the bill. Silver Cloud came up with the dates, allowing us a few days in Barbados before the cruise .

The tone was set as we alighted from the taxi at Barbados Cruise Terminal. As soon as the taxi driver put one suitcase to the ground (with the Silversea label) a beaming Ray , who we learned was a pool side waiter, appeared as from nowhere, completely took charge of the luggage and we followed to a Silversea desk in the hall, immediately given our documentation and shown to the shuttle to take us to Silver Cloud. Once aboard we were given our room keys, told the suites weren’t available until 2 p.m. and advised to have lunch. This whole process only took minutes, no lines to wait in whatsoever, this was the same whenever we left or re boarded the ship.

Our friends were keen to have a quick look around, we viewed the Restaurant, all ready for the evening, the tables looked elegant with the silver service and crystal and the tables not too close together. We walked up to the pool deck for a pre lunch champagne, here we again met the ever smiling Ray who, from that moment, remembered our preference for Pommery every day, and then on to Terrazza for a lovely lunch. Whilst there we confirmed our pre booked reservations for later in the cruise. Read more