gonetravellin

Hi, I'm travelling on Ovation at the end of January this year with my wife and am also travelling with my two adult children as a separate booking...would anyone mind helping with a referral please?

Hi, I'm new to this forum but have read intently over the last few years many comments and reviews that have really helped my cruising experiences. This topic has really resonated with me. I'm from the UK and after many years cruising in Europe, Caribbean and Asia thought we would take the plunge and join a Christmas Silversea cruise last December from Sydney on Silver Muse. This would be our first (and probably last) time with Silversea. I was so disappointed from start to finish: 1. Silversea refusing to issue flight tickets early despite me paying the full flight cost early to my Travel Agent. Comparing this to Seabourn whom we are with in Jan next year have issued tickets already and we have booked our plane seats. We are travelling as a family of four and not unreasonable to be sat with my family.....clearly did not work out that way. 2. Embarkation in Sydney was a disaster. All crammed into a building with lack of seats, no available water and just sooo slow. It took nearly two hours to eventually get onto the ship. 3. Totally agree with the comments on the effectiveness of the butler...or rather non effectiveness. On the one occasion we used room service after a full day and late night arrival back to the ship the food took over an hour to turn up and it was cold. 4. We found the food in general awful...limited followed by a shoddy service level. 5. Other guests: I've never been on a ship and witnessed so many other people complaining about service, food and the fact that a port visit was abandoned due to poor weather yet we could see other ships entering port! Only beaten by the very odd attitude of fellow passengers- quite frankly I've never experienced such rudeness and perceived entitlement in a set of people only exacerbated by the crew who seem to ignore new customers and dote on those with multiple trips under their belts. Massive own goal as they are alienating younger customers who have many years of cruising ahead of them. 6. The highlight of the ship had to be the service and pleasure of eating in Hot Rocks. We were greeted and treated as old friends....something the rest of the ship needs to learn from. 7. The low point was arguing with the MD regarding service (or lack of) at breakfast. My wife asked for a cafe latte to be then presented with a glass of milk! The MD seemed to take pleasure in loudly telling me that my wife actually wanted a cappuccino at which point I suggested that maybe he needed to visit Starbucks where no such issue has ever arisen! The remaining week on the cruise then led to very awkward exchanges which we simply had to ignore and rise above. I did raise this with Silversea on my return and given a significant cruise credit however I have to say this is something I won't be using. We are looking forward to our first cruise with Seabourn on Ovation in Jan next year.....I'm hoping for a less stressful and more relaxing time!