tfred

we are ok with a standard 7 night cruise ex Florida since we do a 12 night summer cruise somewhere new to us. the X Retreat experience is just fine for Caribbean for us.

On Edge class (which is what we travel in with Retreat) we think it's pretty good. The big production shows are well done and entertaining. What is creeping in is we don't really want to see Rockumentary or Tree of Life again as it is on every year. Most of the singers are good as well. Comedians are always uneven to us but that is us. Martini bar is good but can get loud. Eden acoustic is good. Pool is way too loud for us but we hang out in the Retreat pool anyway.

Well, it's not an Edge class ship with big productions shows but we are OK with that with port intensive European cruises No Martini bar band and no Eden acoustical trio. We really dont leave the ship in the Caribbean so the ship activities are more important for us on X Silversea has mostly individual performers in the pool, main bar playing better background music The nightly show is a "better" performer with some type of singing - West End, Broadway would be typical. Generally good enough and entertaining especially after a day on tour and a very good dinner.

we found our butler to be very good and not what we had experienced on Celebrity (which was OK) There are few restaurants on your ship and it is somewhat difficult to get to know a staff member (usually a waiter) to talk to. The butler took that role for us Delivers breakfast. Afternoon snacks which could include caviar and champagne. Can draw a bath "experience" in your room Worth it ! they will take care of your laundry

My two examples are a 12 day Rome-Venice trip (already taken) and a Norway (next year). In both cases Silversea and X Retreat were the same price. We like the Retreat product in the Caribbean, especially since we live in South Florida. Easy to get to the port. That would don't be the case for Silversea as it requires a flight or two. In Europe, both lines offer easy to get to ports Silversea wins for us - smaller ships, smaller ports, on board experience is excellent BTW - we get free laundry on Silversea due to X status an that is a big plus. Doesn't mean we are bored with X. We like the product, just depends on the venue. There is some comfort derived from a familiar situation. Many people go to the same hotel every year for vacation - why not a ship? I am Sur ethat the price similarity is not the same for every match up

I think that is doable.

the MDR choice is available in non-Edge ships. The two kitchens are very close. In Edge class ships the two kitchens are on opposite ends of the ships and it is difficult to send someone there and back and arrive with hot food. talk to the waiter in Luminae and tell them what you eat (and don't) and they will accomodate you as best they can. You will be surprised what they can do as they get requests all the time. Success will be giving them advance notice of what you like - not table side after looking at the menu.

The other consideration is baggage allowance of economy vs business. We have found that the cost of economy plus checkin costs of overstuffed American size luggage is very close to business class with included luggage allowances. the European business class seat leave something to be desired but it is a trade off with the other included add ons

You are lucky getting the new Club World suite. The old and still out there Club World seats are (IIRC) 2-4-2 with opposing seats. You are literally facing someone all the time. BA throws in a generally non working slide up barrier to terrorize you. I wouldn’t fly BA Club World without the new configuration

Celebrity has the same Move Up system. They still offer GTY

Certainly airlines do this and are generally successful at it. the upgrade program is not on what's available, it is what could be available. They may not make a decision until a week or so before sailing. They don't want any cabins empty and if they can recover the cost difference between what you paid vs the extra cost of the bigger suite

plus a thousand half empty glasses littering the ship with pax commenting how dirty the ship is

would love to see breakdowns by cruise line - RC,X or Silversea - that bolster the analysts thoughts.

I haven't done a deep dive but at least in the Med, Silversea has split the cruises into 7 day out and back ports and 10 day+ cruises that could be BtB I assume the 7 day are for folks that want smaller port, small ship but have to get back to work to pay for all of it. Those would appeal to the average upgrader from X et al who is tired of the Retreat suite. Ports are easy to get to with good airline connections. The longer ones are more varied ports for second timers Ponant has the advantage of being a outsized yacht that can get just about anywhere with minimal help - at least compared to a small cruise ship. The Ponant cruises look very good but would require the average traveller some adventure just to get to the port and home from there. Silversea isn't losing sleep over them no matter how good they are.

I don't think that most X cruisers in the Med are that adventuresome and want to see the highlights that they have heard about. My guess is that they cruised X in the Caribbean a few times, like it, and now are looking at an "Italy" cruise. If they liked X before they will stick with it for the Med Even Infinity is twice the size of a Silversea ship. There aren't any two hour bus rides from the port on Silversea to visit something - not true on X Bad news on Silversea is that it is Retreat pricing and many people aren't gong to spend that amount.

Kendal? Great town and we enjoy the area. Our friends from Liverpool have a weekend house in town Nice boat ride on Lake Windermere with a wander through Ambleside.

Big ship means big ports if you want small then you need smaller ships. We did Silversea this year. The cost was the same as X in The Retreat. Excellent

Luminae is very good but the menu is what it is. you can always ask for vegetarian or Indian, Filipino or Indonesian with a day notice and they will prepare it for you.

The Silversea loyalty program needs to get into the game. It is based only on nights with no regard to cabin selection or $ spent. The first threshold is also too high at 100 nights. There was a line in the President's video that they will have the first threshold at 50 nights. 100 is almost unattainable for most cruisers - save the "we cruise every other month" crowd Every other hospitality/travel loyalty program out there has some multiplier for seat/room/cabin level selected. Then there is a bump for dollars spent. Silversea needs to do this The status match really isn't much for us coming from Celebrity - free laundry (well, that is something) and a 10% discount None of this takes anything away from existing native VS participants from a physical space which is what kills other programs - airline lounges in particular I would be somewhat miffed too in theory, I just dont know what else they could offer something of note to X and RCL pax to get them looking at Silversea. What was interesting was Bert mentioned that they are getting Silversea pax going to X and RCL for more than likely multi generational cruises

the other way to look at it is that the cruise ship has many fixed costs that have to be paid for no matter no how many people are on board. The only variable is food, but Silversea has to figure that each ship is going out full and order accordingly way ahead of time. Labor and fuel are the same no matter what. The room still needs to be cleaned. Same amount of liquor in bottles. There really isn't that much saving with a solo cabin other than food and while that number is something it is "much"

There was a speech by Jason Liberty recently where he believes that cruise vacations are under valued by 20% compared to the average daily costs of a land vacation. Just taking a quick look at higher end hotels here in south Florida he is right. The cost of a land hotel and a Silversea cruise are actually pretty close for 2 people. The Ritz Miami South Beach and JW Marriott Marco Island room only rates are about $625. Adding food, booze and parking and it's pretty easy to hit $1K/day if not more. $50 for lunch, $50 brekkie and $250 for dinner. Add in a few drinks during the day. The service is good but it isnt Silversea I know that Silversea cruises vary but I can find Med and Caribbean cruises at that same daily rate as an all inclusive. Cruises have gone up in price but I think they are now just aligned with many "better" vacation options. RCL Group (and all of them) are looking to bring over hotel stayers. This is one reason recent cruise hires come from the hotel business. This doesnt mean that the cruise business is a floating hotel, but a cruise is a part the hospitality business. Many similarities with delivering a value based customer experience no matter what the ADR is (average daily rate)

Silversea et al will spend their marketing money to ensure that there are no empty cabins Do you think that the marketing department is telling management that we can't figure out a way to fill the ship so set aside some solos ? That is their last week on the job

Solo travelers are no one's target market Silversea (and everyone else) wants full occupancy Solo means discounting revenue for that room and any potential ancillary revenue on board. Singles are low(er) profit and no business wants that no matter how loyal that customer was. Most of the complaints were from solo customers. Silversea will make some cruises available - it will be a low count - with some future cabin configurations (maybe)

https://x.email.silversea.com/ats/msg.aspx?sg1=9c2b1b3431a54022de61ef95151ccb46&cid_email=em_USA_EM_B2C_INV_PRESIDENTS_WEBINAR_241017_GBL_VS_OTHER_CON_DEM_LINK&IndividualId=25520146&utm_campaign=USA_EM_B2C_INV_PRESIDENTS_WEBINAR_241017_GBL_VS&utm_source=USA&utm_medium=Email&cid=195423&mid=2091891337&pi=2V-M7jqPmpqwJVoDxZE2bQThotBFvcrFO9QU2_Dv3Nk I haven't seen a new topic on this so I thought I would post here. If there is another please combine Interesting discussion with topics of interest - port and itinerary selection changes, VS changes, excursions et al

They aren't punishing singles per se - they just want to sell double occupancy in every cabin No cruise line wants to be the home of solo cabins as more pax equals more money. Look at RCL stock - it has basically tripled in a year. Something is working Silversea can't be all things to all people. They have determined who their customer type is, what they want and will pay for They have also thought about services which are nice but don't generate enough perceived value to offer anymore. Some previous customers will take umbrage and move on - it happens in every business