Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Four

When making advance dining reservations online does Silversea put a reminder of the times and venues in the suite ?

That sounds promising, J. Though I expect you'd rather have deeds than words!

It is a good sign rather than a bad sign, but I am far too old, experienced and battle worn to understand anything other than it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. I hope one day soon to report that I am happy with how it has been resolved .....

Ironically, I have just received an email ....

‘Silversea: Where will your next voyage take you?

:)

That article was very "educational" Rp! Thanks for posting the link! As you said J....it does seem to explain a lot! I wonder if any of the freebie crowd actually reached the quoted £2,340 a month – about £28,000 a year? Maybe they are being hood-winked just like their customers. I would definitely need a drink if I was one of those poor sods. No excuse for behaving like an idiot though!

Also best wishes for a reasonable resolution to the disembarkation fiasco and recompense for the nastiness of the cruise itself.

RP

 

Gosh that is an eye-opner and explains a lot to us.

 

An update and perhaps a seam of light. We shall see. Firstly on the transfer front firstly there has been a lot of humming and harghing and we are still discussing not being kicked off the ship 7 hours before the flight so that is ‘work in progress’

 

We have also been told that our complaint via the TA earlier today and over the last few days has been received by te UK office and they have contacted the ship to say they will be dealing with us ‘on a case by case basis’. I asked directly whether SS understands and acknowledges it has a serious problem and I was told they understand this clearly and accept it. So what I hope is that acknowledgement results in a sensible and adult discussion about resolution.

This sounds a bit more positive for you both. I know it doesn't change the fact that the cruise has been - and continues to be - horrendous but it will be interesting to know how this progresses for you.

EDIT - ah I hadn't refreshed the page and have just seen your reply to Tothesunset. I guess there's a long way to go yet, but fingers crossed.

rosepark, thanks for that link. Very interesting. These MLM schemes are, in my view, just another 'pyramid' scheme. I had a friend who got involved in one selling aloe vera juice, instead of the touted lavish lifestyle including a new luxury car every year she ended up in debt.

That article was very "educational" Rp! Thanks for posting the link! As you said J....it does seem to explain a lot! I wonder if any of the freebie crowd actually reached the quoted £2,340 a month – about £28,000 a year? Maybe they are being hood-winked just like their customers. I would definitely need a drink if I was one of those poor sods. No excuse for behaving like an idiot though!

 

Also best wishes for a reasonable resolution to the disembarkation fiasco and recompense for the nastiness of the cruise itself.

Thanks M,

The article states that the average earnings was found to be “less than £10 per week”. We were accosted last night by an ex-carpet cleaner who wished to know what we do, and who now boasts that he earns £200 per month to supplement his state pension, and who appears to feel that he has died and gone to heaven. I have never ever been anywhere before where so many people want to know who my broadband provider is.

Perhaps if SS had simply done some basic prudent research on a company they clearly had never heard of they might have predicted what might happen if the sell 220 cruises with the opportunity of drinking unlimited quantities for free for 24 hours per day. It is a perfectly avoidable trap to have fallen into.

It isn’t the UW peoples’ fault, they are simply doing what any rational person would do in their position given the ‘once in a lifetime’ freebie they have been given.

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Dave,

 

I’m in contact with my TA. My fear for the chances of a non-litigated resolution is that so much stuff seems to be passed back to the states who seem clueless about UK consumer rights. So it feels that (as in your case) what should be a relativley easy resolution is stubbornly refused and takes much more effort and expense etc.

 

What we know is if SS simply acknowledges the problem, makes a genuine apology and offers acceptable resolution they prove that at least they have a genuine desire to resolve genuine problems of their own making. And in the end customers will at least have some confidence in their integrity as an organisation. At the moment there seems a persitant impression of not really caring that much but doing everything they can to grab and keep every oprtunistic dollar irrespective of the consequences.

 

We like our pasta but it is clear that in the interests of culinary effiiciency Cannelloni Bolognese (I think they mean ragout) is both the main hot dish at lunch in Terrazza and a course in the MDR this evening. They have obviously made a big vat of the stuff. :)

Jeff, Sorry to learn of the circumstances resulting from a major charter which ruin the expected experience of loyal SS cruisers due to the unacceptable behaviour you have witnessed.

You have been so helpful in the past to posters who have experienced problems with your generous help and advice which I am sure has been appreciated by many CC followers.

My past experience may or may not help.

We have had a similar experience to that you describe with a charter of 150 approx Car Dealers on one of our early cruises with SS in 2005/6.

On the advice from TA we proceeded to detail complaint in writing to SS in the UK.Result was in accordance with the penultimate paragraph of your above post.Satisfactory outcome acceptable to us and profuse apologies etc.Here we are twelve years on still cruising every year with SS.This would not have happened but for the solution reached by SS London rather than the Management on the ship were both powerless and uninterested in pursuing the issues raised by normal SS clients.

Hope with all your experience you receive an acceptable outcome for the problems you have been subjected to.

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Thanks B, for those extremely kind words, which are much appreciated.

I like to help others and it is really nice to be thanked.

Excellent service recovery has nearly always solidified loyalty following a bad experience and hopefully SS will show they understand it. In fact as you probably recall I have earned a decent living advising on that very topic hence the background processes and considerations I have been able to share.

Thanks again. Now to the Venetian reception ....

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Now to the Venetian reception ....

 

 

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I can't imagine any of the Venetians being happy this evening. A good opportunity to get contact details of others who are equally horrified to be stuck on this cruise. Well at least you know it's a UW free zone for a while!

Jeff,I think that you’ll be offered 25% off your next cruise with SS

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Hello coolers.

Hope everyone is doing well. Hard to keep up with this place.

I hope JP will return soon and let us know how his trip to Banff turned out. The weather here in the west was a bit crummy over the weekend, so I hope that didn't impact their enjoyment of the trip too much.

When making advance dining reservations online does Silversea put a reminder of the times and venues in the suite ?

Yes, you should get a reminder card in your suite the day of each reservation. If your plans change, just call the restaurant and cancel the reservation.

Jeff: Your current cruise sounds horrible. Our first cruise was as part of a SS charter, with two groups comprising most of the passengers. The larger group was a reunion cruise for a major University, and I believe most of them paid their own way. In any case they were very refined and well behaved! We were part of a much smaller group - a dozen of us who'd been 'rewarded' with the cruise and our significant others - and I'm sure some of the more seasoned cruisers looked askance at some of the antics of our group, but for the most part everyone just had a good time. We probably kept the bars open a bit later than usual, but no one was really obnoxious. Certainly nothing like what you've described! The two groups mingled quite a bit, and it hooked us on the whole SS experience. We've been on a few cruises (paid our own way) since. Maybe we'll stick to the longer itineraries, as these appear to be more seasoned travellers and not the 'all you can cram into yourself' type.

Now to go back to trying to figure out what exactly our PM Trudeau said that sent Trump (and his adherents) over the edge on Twitter and Faux news. I might not be a Liberal, but like an older sibling protecting their younger sibling from a bully, no one else is allowed to pick on Trudeau except Canadians.

(Nice trending #thanksCanada on Twitter though.)

Hi Coolers! On the plane in Calgary after a great weekend in Banff and Lake Louise! Sipping a Prosecco before pushback.

Yes weather was not the greatest so we hiked a little less than planned but saw so much beautiful scenery. We enjoyed the Fairmont properties and they treated us like royalty. So many freebies. Even a 1 hour canoe rental on Lake Louise was comped.

We had a great anniversary dinner at the French bistro in the Banff Fairmont last night. Entrecôte de bœuf for two, with a gorgeous mountain view, all of the meal comped through AMEX Platinum except for the bottle of French malbec. They even threw in two glasses of Crémant de Savoie on the house for our celebration. We were way too full for dessert.

Hoping for on time flights tonight. We are scheduled to arrive home at midnight if all goes well. Then a 5AM wake up for work tomorrow!

Reading Jeff's saga with much horror. We have a Wind cruise in September. Fingers crossed.

Pictures later.

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Thanks for the update JP! So glad you enjoyed Banff and Lake Louise! Really special places!

Good Evening All .....

We decided to attend the Venetian Do this evening and it was attended by less than 40 people I guess. The Captain who had evidently been asked before hand whether it was wise under the circumstances to ask his usual “how are you enjoying it so far” and the response was one muted “rubbish” follwed by a silence during which you could hear a pin drop. I spent some time chatting to the normal staff including the delightful Vicki and much of the conversation and comments I had I won’t ascribe to any individual on the simple basis that I don’t think they would want me to and one has to respect that.

The picture emerging is that we are told head office understands the problem but senior ship management give the impression that they understand what has happened but there is an element of denia in that they sort of expect staff to “hold the corporate line”. That is a bad decision, as genuine empathy would be welcome and take heat out of the situation. So instead of staff basically sympathising with customers they feel inhibited but are very clear candidly that they understand. A fair amount of odd stuff emerges like the drinks have been stopped being servd at 10:30 in the show lounge to curtail drunkeness and boorish behaviour and on some of the audience have been told to behave. I understand the UW management have been asked to control the behaviour of their people, and that theeir behaviour has been unacceptable but as I understand it these people are agents and not employees so any promises they make will be fairly shallow.

Having been told that the London office understood the issue and would pro-actively contact me with a personalised resolution instead I got a sort of compliments card telling me that I must contact guest relations which I have now done succinctly explaining what I am expecting. I now feel less confident than earlier today and think that they think that I’ll be fobbed off. I have decided obviously to give them a reasonable shot at putting this right but if it is clear that they won’t then off we go to visit our lovely Court for them to explain why they think I do not deserve to be fairly compensated.

Tonight I had a small bowl of fries for supper and some sauvignon and a cigar and some grappa and we brace ourselves for tommorows sea day when I suspect there will be some caranage. I guess we will decide to stay in the suite.

Dear Jeff, I am reading your comments from the comfort and muted luxury of our South Padre Island resort and I am both sad and upset over the treatment that you and other non-chartered passengers have received. No matter how well SS responds, your leisure time has been wasted! Of course, an acceptable response will be very welcome and may prevent them from losing your business... Unfortunately, I think SS will not have our business until you are happy with the response, and they publish a policy of transparency with regards to group charters in regular cruises. Our best wishes for the best resolution.

The G7 summit has concluded. Some good things resulted. The Canadian government announced at the G7 summit in Quebec that it has raised more than $3.8 billion in an effort with other countries to send the world's poorest girls to school.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-education-girls-g7-1.4699620

"The Canadian government announced at the G7 summit in Quebec that it has raised more than $3.8 billion in an effort with other countries to send the world's poorest girls to school.

That includes a $400-million investment from Canada as part of the overall three-year commitment, and also includes contributions from G7 partners and the World Bank.

A spokesperson in the Prime Minister's Office confirmed no funds were offered by the U.S."

Just saying.

Although I really should be working, I found this

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jul/08/get-rich-quick-utility-warehouse-energy-scheme-joanna-lumley

 

Maybe you could print a few copies out and leave them in conspicuous places, Jeff?

Rp

Interesting insight into this Utility Warehouse. It sounds very much like Amway, maybe even worse.

Jeff, I am really sorry that after waiting so long to sail on Silversea again you are experiencing this. Not only have to deal with the majority of other passengers being in a large group. Many of whom seem loud and boorish. But also possibly being subjected to them trying sell their product. You are a better person then I as I am not so sure I would be so quiet or so stoic.

Julie

Well, I had started to spend some more time reading the Silversea board lately with a view to possibly returning to Silversea after a break of nearly six years.

I jumped ship to Seabourn back then, and while I still love Seabourn they currently do not have a cruise that both appeals to me and fits my work schedule. So I decided to take a look at SS.

Reading here this past few weeks I've noted that SS has had another ship fail CDC inspection, Spirit's inaugural cruise post stretch was disastrous for some guests, and now this experience of Mr and Mrs Jeff. Totally off putting.

Jeff, thank you for your continued updates.

Good Morning Jeff ( I hope it proves to be good ),

We are sitting in the UK anticipating our forthcoming Spirit Cruise and are shocked but not surprised at the debacle that you and your wife are having to put up with. Like Brimary we too were on the dreadful Cruise with over 150 US Car Component Workers who for the most part were exactly as you are experiencing. Apart from Morning to Night heavy drinking at The Pool, the Dining Room resembled a badly supervised Kids Party - Bread Rolls were used as Missiles across the Room and any attempt at enforcing a Dress Code was met with derision and foul language.

We experienced the same failure to regain control from the Officers on board ( we believe on the explicit instructions from Monte Carlo ) and the whole Cruise was a disaster. On returning to the UK we began a lengthy process with SS UK Office and eventually, like Brimary managed to negotiate a suitable outcome.

It is very worrying that Silversea sem to learn nothing from such incidents and one can only conclude that they really do not care. We are sure that they balance any Guest Claims against the Up Front Revenue and judge the risk to be worth taking.

We feel very sorry that you are having your holiday spoilt by this Corporate attitude which runs completely contrary to their lavish Advertising.

Perhaps a question on the ‘Ask Mark Conroy’ thread?

See what his opinions are?

I can see someone pushing for a large ‘Class Action’ lawsuit on this one.

I must read SS’s t&c’s to see if there is an expected code of conduct for passengers?

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Good Afternoon Coolers, from the MV BoozeCrooze .....

Forgive me sounding sentimental, but can I just thank all my old and new Cooler friends for the expressions of both sympathy and solidarity. I know it sounds soft of me to say so, but outside of the Cooler posts like mine would attract a fair amount of trolling and it feels great to simply report what we experience as we go along, and the last thing I currently have an appetitive for is for arguing with SS cheerleaders. I also know that when dealing with SS I must as always remain calm and unemotional and having decided I will be treated properly I will either be treated so or will not waste time but get it into a hearing as soon as possible and shrug until then.

Last night we found our corner for a cigar and were shortly joined by a very large pink faced chap who proceeded to give his wife her annual wife appraisal review with detailing everything she had done wrong over the previous year. This process lubricated by a large volume of lager.

We woke up this morning to a sunny day and as usual we had ordered breakfast. So far, we have found that ordering breakfast is not so much ‘ordering’ but ‘expressions of interest’. So basically you tick off what you would like and they consider your request and send you something entirely different. This has happened every day. In order to bring a bit of variety and excitement another layer of interest is introduced, so not just cooking stuff badly and it seems like several days earlier, what you might think should be hot and what you might think should be cold is luke warm. So I diet has been what SS decide I should have for breakfast rather than what I fancy. The thing that wifey os most looking forward to when she gets back is simply a cup of tea. The procedure on SS is that they provide you with a cold (un-warmed) teapot filled with medium hot water and a tea bag for you to try and extract some sort of tea flavour from. The general presumption so far is that you need neither lemon or milk and sometimes not any sweetener because if you had wanted it you would have said so.

We were blessed in Europe with the clocks going forward an hour and this seemed to to thwart the drinking plans of a few of our fellow travellers who started drinking up to an hour later than normal. So it was closer to 10am when the ship started coming alive with red-faced silver-backed apes wandering around with lagers. The pond took on a Benidorm hue very early with all campers reserving their sun-beds for the day before going off to stuff themselves with brekkies. There really wasn’t anywhere unreserved to use even though the staff had put beds into every nook and cranny.

Wifey and I went up to 10 and found ourselves a couple of quiet seats until Terrazza opened with the plan we have a quiet lunch together outside.

Some have kindly observed I seem quite stoic about all this and to be honest I am obviously seething about all this. But the reason I booked the trip was because I wanted wifey to have a really nice break and if I behave as though I’m upset in front of her then this will only upset her ‘cos quite suprisingly she loves and cares for me and so I do all I can to make her happy. Whilst sitting on 10 she asked me what I thought was happening in Singapore with the meetings. I told her that what I think will happen is that Kim, who has based himself on or close to Orchard Road which for those who don’t know Singapore is the main shopping area, and I speculate that he will go off shopping with his entourage to stock up on stuff that he is unable to buy in North Korea due to sanctions and embargo. Wifey asked me what sort of stuff he might buy and I speculated that he didn’t look like the type of man who was enjoying a healthy high-fibre diet so I suspect that he would make a bee-line to fill up on medicated bum wipes and that on tonights CCN we would see a row of large black limmos with their boot lids up with enormous brown containers of “Pop Up A Wet One”. Trump would also be CNN with his finger and thumb bit saying “he didn’t turn up for the meeting and if he had simply told me he had a piles problem I could have sent him a few cases of Trump Wipes”. Anywhere this picture kept her laughing and chuckling for a while and she complained that I had made her belly hurt.

We had out table at Terrazza for lunch and I had my fish and she had a double portion of turkey which must have worked at at nearly 2 ounces and all was fine until a number of our new compatriots arrived with a Which Magazine Trophy which they took it in turns to photograph against the backdrop of me and the ocean and so that moment was lost.

The view of Siracusa from our balcony and today’s lunch. Thanks again Coolers for the kind and softish sentiments to wifey and I

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Good morning...…...I also feel badly for what Jeff and his wife are experiencing.:(

I sail in less than 30 days on Whisper...…..my 2nd cruise with SS...….surely hoping my cruise goes much more smoothly.

Good morning...…...I also feel badly for what Jeff and his wife are experiencing.:(

 

I sail in less than 30 days on Whisper...…..my 2nd cruise with SS...….surely hoping my cruise goes much more smoothly.

As an occasional reader of this thread I am astounded. I too am hoping that the World Cruse from January, on which we are booked, goes a lot better than Jeff's cruise.

Still not too late to send in the Marines, Jeff, with strict orders to create as much collateral damage as possible- that should reduce the numbers a bit.

We hereby award you your own trophy, the Coolers Cup- for Stoicism ( but not spinach) in the Teeth of Adversity.

https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/golden-trophy_777281.htm#term=trophy&page=1&position=2

Daveywavey can have one of those too

Rp

We received a glossy brochure from SS today. After reading about your trip Jeff, I’m not convinced I’ll book in a hurry.

We were on Regent once with a party 100 Canadians ( car salesmen and partners) on a reward trip. It was a port intensive cruise so although there was a bit of partying it didn’t disrupt anyone and they were well behaved.

I can imagine you will be looking forward to getting home, which isn’t how you should be feeling while on a holiday.