Sailed FLL to FLL over Thanksgiving for a little get away. It was my 25th wedding anniversary.
I usually sail Crystal (9 times) but they had no itinerary close to the US for this time frame so we decided to try a Silverseas ship. Our TA gave us this Eastern Caribbean itinerary which fit our purpose. We had heard a lot of great things about Silverseas and know they have as many die hard cruisers as Crystal.
The cruise had about 400 passengers out of 540 capacity.
We had a Silver Suite which, price wise, is comparable to a Crystal Veranda room but is much larger.
The décor throughout the ship is exquisite, elegant and subdued. Yet you feel comfortable in shorts for lunch and sport coat for dinner.
I liked the large rooms, the larger bathroom, and the walk in closet. The staff was most accommodating, and the beds are very comfortable. However, attention to detail was considerably lacking for a 6 star cruise line. I'll provide a few examples in the review.
It was confusing at the terminal to start. There was no organization among the hired port help as to how many people could go to the desks to register and proceed on board. We were greeted on board by one of the singers who directed us to a long line to get our room and could not answer some general questions I had. There was no one else except those manning the front desk.
Once we got to the front desk registering was a breeze. And I got my questions answered.
Making reservations at the specialty restaurants was easy and quick. However Crystal lets you make a 1 night reservation at each of the specialty restaurants online prior to the cruise. Additional nights are made when you get on board.
When we asked where we could get something to eat, we were directed to the main restaurant (MR). We waited 20 minutes for a diet coke and 45 minutes for a hamburger. My wife was so fed up with the poor service she wanted to get off the ship and forgo the cruise. We asked for the manager and Gustavo came over. He apologized and said the service would get better. We were used to being pampered on Crystal. No one directed us to the buffet in La Terazza, their Italian restaurant. I guess we were assumed to know there was also lunch being served there even as a first time cruiser on Silver Sea.
We get to the room and I asked our butler for some bottled water. He went to the in room fridge and pulled out 2 carafes with rubber tops, one with still and one (1/2 full) with sparkling. The still I assumed was tap water and the other looked like someone had drunk half of it. I wondered, did they drink it directly from the carafe? At Crystal there is bottled water in the room. I asked for bottled water and was told it would be delivered at night since he was busy.
They use a paging system for the butler. In the afternoon, assuming he has some time off, when he was paged we never received a call back. You call the front desk and they supposedly relay the message to him. Several times he said they never sent him the message or he got it 3 hours later.
Bathrobes were not delivered until the second day after we asked for them.
I liked the ability to go to the MR anytime for dinner. The drawback is that you usually get a different waiter so they don't learn your name or preferences. I think I would take the assigned seating and assigned time arrangement on Crystal over this for the familiarity of having the same area captain and waiter every night. But this is a personal preference.
The food is definitely not as good here as on Crystal. After going to Silk Road (a Nobu restaurant) on Crystal, the comparable Japanese restaurant here, Seishan has sushi that is mediocre at best. It's like something from a common strip mall sushi place, California Roll, Spicy Tuna, etc. There is also a significant extra charge for eating here while there is none at Silk Road. La Terrazza, their Italian specialty restaurant is good. However, the waiter and I had a good laugh one night when the Fresh Catch of the Day was catfish??!!
On our 25th anniversary the butler brought us a cake and some Happy Anniversary balloons..nice touch. We ate at their very upscale Le Champagne restaurant which has a charge of $30 per person but the food is well worth it. Funny though, much of the items on this menu, like caviar and foie gras, are served in Crystal’s main dining room at no extra charge. This was towards the end of the trip and the food was so good compared to the other restaurants, we would have eaten there more frequently if we had gone earlier in the trip.
The wine list is limited in choices in the $50-80 price range and for some reason several of the mid price wines on the list were not available. The prices on all the wines are very reasonable.
Here is another lack of detail. On formal night the lobster tails came without butter. We asked for drawn butter and waited 10 minutes as did several nearby tables. After reading some of the reviews I was expecting more.
The house champagne is Heidsieck Monopole which is nice. However, there is no opportunity to pay a little extra for a better glass such as Veuve. You have to buy a bottle.
Overall we had a great time. The weather was great, ship was relaxing, and service was generally good. There are a lot of tradeoffs between the 2, supposedly, top cruise lines: much bigger rooms and a smaller ship for a similar price on Silversea versus much better food and personal service on Crystal.
Would I sail Silversea again? Yes, but only if the cruise dates and itinerary could not be accommodated by Crystal. And I know there are people who love Silversea and would do just the opposite which is great. Its all about personal preferences.
Silver Spirit Good but not Great FLL to FLL 11/25-12/5
in Silversea
Posted
Sailed FLL to FLL over Thanksgiving for a little get away. It was my 25th wedding anniversary.
I usually sail Crystal (9 times) but they had no itinerary close to the US for this time frame so we decided to try a Silverseas ship. Our TA gave us this Eastern Caribbean itinerary which fit our purpose. We had heard a lot of great things about Silverseas and know they have as many die hard cruisers as Crystal.
The cruise had about 400 passengers out of 540 capacity.
We had a Silver Suite which, price wise, is comparable to a Crystal Veranda room but is much larger.
The décor throughout the ship is exquisite, elegant and subdued. Yet you feel comfortable in shorts for lunch and sport coat for dinner.
I liked the large rooms, the larger bathroom, and the walk in closet. The staff was most accommodating, and the beds are very comfortable. However, attention to detail was considerably lacking for a 6 star cruise line. I'll provide a few examples in the review.
It was confusing at the terminal to start. There was no organization among the hired port help as to how many people could go to the desks to register and proceed on board. We were greeted on board by one of the singers who directed us to a long line to get our room and could not answer some general questions I had. There was no one else except those manning the front desk.
Once we got to the front desk registering was a breeze. And I got my questions answered.
Making reservations at the specialty restaurants was easy and quick. However Crystal lets you make a 1 night reservation at each of the specialty restaurants online prior to the cruise. Additional nights are made when you get on board.
When we asked where we could get something to eat, we were directed to the main restaurant (MR). We waited 20 minutes for a diet coke and 45 minutes for a hamburger. My wife was so fed up with the poor service she wanted to get off the ship and forgo the cruise. We asked for the manager and Gustavo came over. He apologized and said the service would get better. We were used to being pampered on Crystal. No one directed us to the buffet in La Terazza, their Italian restaurant. I guess we were assumed to know there was also lunch being served there even as a first time cruiser on Silver Sea.
We get to the room and I asked our butler for some bottled water. He went to the in room fridge and pulled out 2 carafes with rubber tops, one with still and one (1/2 full) with sparkling. The still I assumed was tap water and the other looked like someone had drunk half of it. I wondered, did they drink it directly from the carafe? At Crystal there is bottled water in the room. I asked for bottled water and was told it would be delivered at night since he was busy.
They use a paging system for the butler. In the afternoon, assuming he has some time off, when he was paged we never received a call back. You call the front desk and they supposedly relay the message to him. Several times he said they never sent him the message or he got it 3 hours later.
Bathrobes were not delivered until the second day after we asked for them.
I liked the ability to go to the MR anytime for dinner. The drawback is that you usually get a different waiter so they don't learn your name or preferences. I think I would take the assigned seating and assigned time arrangement on Crystal over this for the familiarity of having the same area captain and waiter every night. But this is a personal preference.
The food is definitely not as good here as on Crystal. After going to Silk Road (a Nobu restaurant) on Crystal, the comparable Japanese restaurant here, Seishan has sushi that is mediocre at best. It's like something from a common strip mall sushi place, California Roll, Spicy Tuna, etc. There is also a significant extra charge for eating here while there is none at Silk Road. La Terrazza, their Italian specialty restaurant is good. However, the waiter and I had a good laugh one night when the Fresh Catch of the Day was catfish??!!
On our 25th anniversary the butler brought us a cake and some Happy Anniversary balloons..nice touch. We ate at their very upscale Le Champagne restaurant which has a charge of $30 per person but the food is well worth it. Funny though, much of the items on this menu, like caviar and foie gras, are served in Crystal’s main dining room at no extra charge. This was towards the end of the trip and the food was so good compared to the other restaurants, we would have eaten there more frequently if we had gone earlier in the trip.
The wine list is limited in choices in the $50-80 price range and for some reason several of the mid price wines on the list were not available. The prices on all the wines are very reasonable.
Here is another lack of detail. On formal night the lobster tails came without butter. We asked for drawn butter and waited 10 minutes as did several nearby tables. After reading some of the reviews I was expecting more.
The house champagne is Heidsieck Monopole which is nice. However, there is no opportunity to pay a little extra for a better glass such as Veuve. You have to buy a bottle.
Overall we had a great time. The weather was great, ship was relaxing, and service was generally good. There are a lot of tradeoffs between the 2, supposedly, top cruise lines: much bigger rooms and a smaller ship for a similar price on Silversea versus much better food and personal service on Crystal.
Would I sail Silversea again? Yes, but only if the cruise dates and itinerary could not be accommodated by Crystal. And I know there are people who love Silversea and would do just the opposite which is great. Its all about personal preferences.