We are a past Silversea Guest Now Hooked On Seabourn!

Dafne had been an enthusiastic Silverseas cruiser; perhaps she posted on the Silverseas board because of her disillusionment with Silverseas and finding Seabourn to be the experience she had formerly enjoyed on Silverseas.

You love Silverseas; I love Seabourn. To each his (or in this case, her) own.

Thank you! Exactly!

You are welcome, Dafne; been there, done that!

Hi dafne,

Can I just thank you for taking the trouble of posting. I enjoyed reading your comparison between the two.

When organisations work hard and produce a customer like you who has defected from another product and then are so happy they proselytise and tell their friends that is really their reward for all their hard work. You owe posting about your delight to them and their staff who worked so hard and to people like me who want to read all sides of the choices. You also owe posting to SS as a reward for not trying as hard as SB. That degree of customer satisfaction doesn't happen by osmosis. It happens through listening to your customers and doing the best you can and sweating real sweat.

It has been wearisome that some people have tried to bully you into silence by criticising your idiosyncratic style and that you have posted here. By innuendo and direct accusation they have questioned you and your integrity. Just ignore them and stop replying to them. They are not just having a go at you they are also implying that the rest of us are some how stupid and dumb and are taken in by people. We're not. It is the bullying of you that needs sanctioning and it is those people that need to be told to shut up.

Anyway Daffers ..... thanks again for posting. I am under pressure from wifey to book a cruise when one turns up doing the areas we want and it's posts like yours - and the others about how SS currently is that is pointing us towards SB for our next one.

Have a good one and keep posting. :)

Thank you!

Thank you!

Ditto... Oh and BTW your post has caused us to really look at Seabourn!

Many of us are somewhat spoiled by the wonderful experience of cruising.

With many cruises on Seabourn, Silversea and Regent we have enjoyed the very good times and also endured the mistakes on all the ships. It often comes down to how the cruiseline "handles" an issue. I wish Silversea would just try a little harder to accommodate. All three lines are good IMHO.

Dafne, I enjoyed your unusually enthusiastic post, as I think more information pro and con is always better, and not just when it comes to cruising. Most people know to take Internet posts with a grain of salt and understand as they do their research that their own perceptions may vary, and that sometimes there are spammers mixed in with true enthusiasts.

I sincerely hope your experience was not "too good to be true" because we have a two-week cruise coming up on the Seabourn Odyssey in September(first time on SB) and another booked on the Quest in July 2016 for detailed Norway fjords, both were booked based on itinerary and timing. Our Auckland-Melbourne cruise on the Spirit last month was nice but had room for service improvement, as I posted in my formal review, so we will soon see how SB compares cruises of comparable length (10-14 days) where we will again not be insiders who have special preexisting relationships with staff.

We have enjoyed both cruise lines and have one of each coming up in a few months. On both lines we find die-hard cheerleaders claiming theirs is the best…. Reality is; both are more similar than different!

Although when reading threads on both sites; the Silversea site has WAY more colorful and cantankerous responses. Over on the Seabourn site, things are calm and downright boring…

I based my opinion and posts on the fact that this is not the OPS first Seabourn cruise and it sounded from other posts that she had expressed her opinions previously. I also did not find any comparisons between Silversea and Seabourn -- simply an "advertisement" for Seabourn. It was definitely the comparisons that made me question the post.

One question I would have liked to have seen addressed was smoking on Seabourn (the reason we have not sailed on them). Was smoking on the balconies an issue for the OP? As everyone no doubt knows, Seabourn has the most lenient smoking policy. Note: I am not against smoking but prefer not to be around it.

On the other hand, the review would read well on the Seabourn board. Just my opinion -- I am sensitive to people that write posts saying how wonderful another cruise line is on the wrong board. This happens upon occasion on the Regent board (interestingly, no one from Silversea has done that, even if it was their opinion - bravo!).

On the other hand, the review would read well on the Seabourn board. Just my opinion -- I am sensitive to people that write posts saying how wonderful another cruise line is on the wrong board. This happens upon occasion on the Regent board (interestingly, no one from Silversea has done that, even if it was their opinion - bravo!).

Yet when you sailed recently on Oceania, you posted on the Regent board rather than the Oceania board where you remarked naught upon your Oceania voyage. Parse that.

Yet when you sailed recently on Oceania, you posted on the Regent board rather than the Oceania board where you remarked naught upon your Oceania voyage. Parse that.

Unfortunately you did not read my thread very well. Oceania and Regent are sister companies. Regent is luxury and Oceania is upper premium. There have been claims that food on Oceania is better than Regent. So, as the first part of my comparison, I posted food pictures and comments of Oceania food on the Regent board. As posters on the Regent board know, this will be followed up with pictures of Regent food with comments next month. This is a far cry from people that randomly pop up on a board to tout the advantages of another cruise line.

Sorry to have to respond to this unrelated post on the Silversea board. I understand that the OP is a former Silversea customer which does make a difference. Hopefully this will not be a continuing theme for the OP. There are a few Regent "former" customers (meaning several years ago) that pop in just to tout another cruise line. IMO, if a question has been asked or there is value in posting on the Silversea board about another cruise line, there is nothing wrong with it. Hopefully I'm done with this thread and can have a nice Sunday (hope you all do as well).:)

TC2,

I don't see why you care if Dafne posted a SB review on the SS board. These boards are full of comparison between cruise lines.

As always, anyone who doesn't like a post is free is skip reading it.

TC2,

 

I don't see why you care if Dafne posted a SB review on the SS board. These boards are full of comparison between cruise lines.

As always, anyone who doesn't like a post is free is skip reading it.

Agree somewhat, however, IMO, there was not one "comparison" contained in the review. In any event, I probably just got caught up in the other posts -- people that also wondered what the point of the post was. I do skip threads that I am not interested in. This one caught my attention as I am always interested in comparisons between Silversea, Regent or Oceania and xxxxx.

Exactly, TC2. The title of the thread implies a comparison.

As always, anyone who doesn't like a post is free is skip reading it.

Agree totally. There are however some who post on here who think they are taking the moral high ground when in reality all they do is stir up trouble.

As always, anyone who doesn't like a post is free is skip reading it.

But how do you know you don't like it if you haven't read it?

OK here goes: I've sailed SS 5 times, SB for the first time this past Jan to NZ/Oz. Upshot? At the end of the day, for me, nearly indistinguishable between the two. Great service on both, food marginally better on SB (but might have been the wonderful chef on that cruise), excursions/guides comparable. Ditto ambience, passengers, venues. So IMHO it will come down to itinerary/dates because they are largely similar products: some things I like better on each. Oh, and nearly everyone I asked on the SB cruise said they preferred SB to SS. I wonder if ratio will be opposite on my upcoming SS cruise...

Your post is good news for me, Psahoy, for I have two Seabourn and one Silversea booked. Yeehaw.

Thought maybe someone might enjoy one more recent opinion comparing Silversea and Seabourn sailed within last eight months.

Food: Seabourne was prepared well but uninspired in all but the once allowed TK grill. A noticeable lack of a variety of ethnic foods. Not much flavor or spice. It seems from most reviews I am very much in the minority in preferring Silversea for food. Didn't seem close to me. The biggest issue for me at least was MDR being closed for lunches and if open for breakfast at all then during small and inconvenient windows for tours. As I read in an older thread and agree with - this is a deal killer for me. Hard to talk about luxury and buffets in the same sentence. We did really like the caviar service on Seabourn available anywhere throughout the ship though. We prefer blinis over toast which we discovered needed to be ordered in advance so had the rest of the cruise after the first day.

Wine - for those that it is important to as much as me. The sommeliers on both lines were knowledgeable and friendly. I thought Seabourn had better wines available on the complimentary servings but we mostly order off the menu for better wines. Silversea has better pricing on menu wines. Closer to retail and I believe more interesting wines. On Seabourn we had purchased the gold connoisseur package only to find out that they were out of the better wines on that list. A bit of a bait and switch. We were were easily credited for the package and ordered by the bottle to supplement a couple of bottles we brought with us. Btw, the pierre peters blanc de blancs grand cru champagne available at TK grill can be sent anywhere else on the ship and I believe the best deal.

Entertainment: Seabourn has the most clear advantage in this area. The lecturers were really good. The musicians, especially instrumental were surprisingly good.

Service: As I have read on these reviews, Seabourn staff did address me by name at times which did not happen with Silversea. Otherwise, I thought the service was noticeably better with Silversea and seems as though they have more front line staff in the lounge and dining areas minimizing wait times.

Internet: $400 for a weeklong cruise. Seriously, Seabourn gets this wrong. Fortunately I have a skyroam which gave me decent service and speed the majority of a baltic cruise for $10 a day.

Rooms/Housekeeping: Comparable basic level suites. We had a major issue early in our cruise with housekeeping with Seabourn. We had purshased three Rick Steves guidebooks for city stops along the way. After disappearing out of our room we were told she thought they were trash, then told they believed they belonged in their library, and then they were burned along with other trash. Agreed solution after dealing with this for half a day was to download from Amazon and then be reimbursed. Problem was that didn't happen on our final bill so had to wait in line embarkation day to deal with that.

Dress/Fellow cruisers: A Caribbean Silversea cruise had noticeably more British passengers whereas the Baltic cruise had noticeably more Americans. The Silversea cruise seemed a bit more formal dressed by the passengers and certainly moreso from the staff with the butlers and white gloves and more officer/staff presence in uniforms.

OK here goes: I've sailed SS 5 times, SB for the first time this past Jan to NZ/Oz. Upshot? At the end of the day, for me, nearly indistinguishable between the two. Great service on both, food marginally better on SB (but might have been the wonderful chef on that cruise), excursions/guides comparable. Ditto ambience, passengers, venues. So IMHO it will come down to itinerary/dates because they are largely similar products: some things I like better on each. Oh, and nearly everyone I asked on the SB cruise said they preferred SB to SS. I wonder if ratio will be opposite on my upcoming SS cruise...

PSahoy, let me echo your conclusion. We are avid SB guests because of our wonderful days on the "Sisters", however, we had a long talk between ourselves when deciding what line to sail on for our 30th anniversary next year. Sometimes the ship is the destination when you do not want to go ashore and just want to veg out, which is why we took a cheap HA caribbean cruise in February just to be warm and be amused during the day without feeling compelled to visit each port. Other times, certain itineraries are the reason. We ended up booking SS Voyage 6811 after our research because: we wanted to return to Ireland once more (8 days on our own before joining the Muse in Dublin); the great reviews that SS gets for service and cuisine; a chance to stay longer and overnight in the Duro while the ship sails from Oporto to Lisbon; and who could pass up a chance to sail on something as beautiful as the Muse? Put it all together and this is the cruise for us. We are confident of a great anniversary experience in luxury on a small ship going to our favorite countries. Otherwise, we would be looking at several SB cruises hard. But we have come to realize that sailing just one line all the time is too restrictive. Although mass market ships are never considered, we might look to Viking when sailing Northern Europe (goes with our Scandinavian roots) and we may look to Oceania or Windstar for other cruises depending on itinerary, cost, and time of year. And doing so might cost us something in terms of service or food or whatever at times, but being inflexible may cost us even more in the long run. We expect every line to excel at certain things sometimes or all the time and similarly fail to deliver at certain times. There are just too many variables at play to always deliver predictable results. Hope that you and we return to SB in the future just as we hope to return to SS based on what happens next year.