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Just back from Silver Spirit


unfathomable
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I’m disappointed to write my first-ever negative review of a Silversea cruise after nearly 20 years. I hope that this is just teething troubles after a huge refit, but I worry that it’s a sign of a change in emphasis away from what I seek in a luxury cruise.

 

We experienced very few problems directly related to the refit, even though we boarded only a week after the first post-refit cruise. But we did pay full fare and overall we were frustrated that the experience fell short of Silversea’s usual high standards, especially food and service.

 

Structural changes following the stretch (top to bottom)

 

All or most of the furniture, inside and out, has been replaced, not just refurbished. It’s comfortable.

 

Décor generally has changed to a greyer, more neutral palette. People who like this sort of thing (including me) will find this the sort of thing they like. The change has been made in public areas and suites, but not lobbies or bathrooms, including suite bathrooms, which retain the darker wood and chocolate marble.

 

Tor’s Observation Library on deck 11 is pretty much the old observation lounge, plus a very limited selection of books. This is now the only library. A bar operates in the evening.

 

On decks 9 and 10, the pool grill and the pizza area above it have taken most of the extra space on the pool deck. The pool itself has not significantly increased in size. Lots of the pool grill area is under cover, and as you move away from the pool it gets a bit dark and it starts to feel not-very-outside.

 

The new Arts Café is a cosy indoor/outdoor venue that makes good use of a previously almost-wasted space at the back of deck 8, a better location than on Muse. There’s no actual art yet, but it’s in a good spot and the all-day snack idea is overdue. They also provide to-go coffee and there is plenty of demand for this in the early mornings. The indoor space is smaller than Muse and it gets busy when it’s too cold to sit outside.

 

La Terrazza (deck 7) has lots of extra internal seating where the old Stars Supper Club used to be. The door has been moved up into the corridor so this extra space does feel like part of the restaurant, not an annexe. It has more of a café atmosphere than before. The tables are quite close together. La Terrazza can be a zoo in the mornings if there are many early tours.

 

The show lounge on deck 5 does not seem to have had a major refit.

 

Dolce Vita (the new name for the deck 5 central lobby bar) has been enlarged, and separated by a wide arch from reception and the shore concierge desk. Also, the piano has been moved close to this arch. This separation from the reception area is an improvement, but Dolce Vita still feels big and not cosy.

 

On deck 4, Atlantide and Indochine are asymmetrical, unlike Muse, with more space for the former and less for the latter. Sensibly, this reflects actual demand. Both have bars, but we never saw them used by guests.

 

There is a structural improvement in Atlantide, Indochine and La Terrazza: the waiter stations have been hidden behind partitions at the sides of each room, so the noise of clatter and chatter has been significantly reduced.

 

Standard suites

 

Here too, all the furniture, inside and out, has been replaced, not just refurbished.

 

In a veranda suite, the dressing table at the foot of the bed has been replaced by a large mirror, so there is a clear (approx. 3 feet /1 metre) corridor to the sitting area and veranda. That’s an improvement. The desk now does double duty as the dressing table, which is OK. There’s now a stool under the desk and only one chair in the seating area, plus the sofa and the small table. The one chair could be used as a desk chair, but it’s a slightly clumsy arrangement.

 

There are multiple electrical sockets, including USB charging points, some of them “high power”, at the desk and bedside. Power sockets will take UK, US and European plugs.

 

The bed was comfortable; quite firm. The butler says the new mattresses don’t have a soft side and a firm side, but “we can make it softer” if it’s too firm.

 

The muddy behind-the-mirror TVs have gone. Instead there is a conventional flat screen, maybe 40 inches, driven by an interactive (presumably networked) box. This is pretty good. The moving map display is better, but weather forecasts are hit-and-miss. There is a limited range of movies and mini box sets, plus fairly reliable live TV news.

 

Basic always-on wi-fi is free for one device at a time per person. It is available in all guest areas. The basic wi-fi is throttled to a very low speed, acceptable for email and browsing text websites, but that’s all. Premium services are available for a charge.

 

Food

 

At first, I thought that Atlantide’s slower-changing, longer menu might make it easier for the kitchen to produce consistently high-quality results. I thought that a cook who specialises for a few days in a particular dish would become an expert at it, and when that menu came around again, those skills wouldn’t be lost. Also, the budget for ingredients seems to have gone up a notch.

 

My optimism was misplaced. I was very disappointed in three respects:

1. The menus did not change at all in three weeks. (This was also true of Indochine and La Terrazza.)

2. Atlantide food was usually lukewarm and sometimes cold. Even when food was sent back, a replacement dish was still lukewarm and when this was cleared, uneaten, staff did not seem to notice.

3. Service has yet to reach Silversea’s usual standard. For example, on tables for six, it routinely took several minutes for main courses to be served to all six guests; water and wine glasses were often left empty until staff could be called; side dishes were forgotten; and orders were mixed up between different people, even on an officer’s table.

 

Indochine and La Terrazza food at dinner was significantly better than Atlantide, but both still lacked variety.

 

I don’t have any comment on Seishin and La Dame, since we did not try them this trip. They are still windowless boxes on deck 4.

 

We tried Silver Note, but the so-called tapas were main course portions, far too large to sample a wide range of dishes; we liked the few we had. The Arts Café has snacks that change during the day; the evening canapes were excellent.

 

We ate at The Grill on the pool deck several times at lunch and dinner. Lunch was sandwiches, burgers, salads etc and it’s OK. Dinner was better; we asked the chef to cook for us (no hot rocks for us) and it was all as requested. We had lunch at Spaccanapoli once, above the pool deck: they do a short list of pizzas, it’s good pizza, but it’s only pizza.

 

Room service has been reduced to the room service menu only, almost unchanged in 15-plus years. Although this is extensive, course-by-course dining from the restaurant menu is no longer available. In effect, this means one less dining venue.

 

Service

 

Although service in Indochine and La Terrazza was better than Atlantide, service generally was no better than OK, with frequent lapses. The Arts Café was better than other venues; the pool deck was a bit worse. There are a few individual stars among the crew, but far fewer familiar faces than usual. The crew are uniformly proud of the changes and want to show them off. They are mainly hardworking, but inexperienced.

 

The senior management are all experienced and capable and working very hard to bring standards up to the usual level. In contrast, most junior staff seem to be new or nearly-new and it will probably take a couple of years to drag the standard back up. Being a competent, experienced waiter (etc) and being a competent, experienced Silversea waiter (etc) are two different things.

 

Name recognition remained patchy after three weeks on board. Maybe 500+ guests’ names are beyond the number that normal mortals can be expected to remember. Worse, two or three service staff had difficulty understanding English. That was a first, in my experience.

 

More worryingly, this is how it may stay for the next few years: a new big ship every two years means hundreds of new staff, even if you ignore churn. It takes time to assimilate so many new people into the culture. Perhaps the need for large numbers of new staff means that recruitment standards have dipped?

 

Butler and housekeeper service was keen, but again inexperienced. For example, the butler did not seem to know how to use a corkscrew to open a wine bottle.

 

Last time we were on Spirit, it had a five-piece band. It is now a trio. There’s also a resident pianist, a guitar-vocalist (one great, one not so great) and a jazz duo in Silver Note, plus the six “Voices of Silversea” who sing to recorded backing tracks. I have heard this described, unkindly, as professional karaoke!

 

I think we have about 70-100 fewer guests than full capacity, despite the advertised waitlist, so service may get worse if the ship is really full.

 

Conclusion

 

It sounds like there are going to be three Silversea fleets from now on: Expedition (Cloud, Galapagos, Explorer and Discoverer/Discoverer’s replacement, and maybe Wind at some point in the future); Muse-like (Muse, Spirit, Moon, Dawn…); and Classic (Whisper, Shadow and Wind, at least until/unless it is converted to an expedition vessel). Officers say that no decision has been made about converting Wind, but if Cloud cruises sell out at much higher fares, the economics may be imperative.

 

We have a fair few future cruises booked, all of them on Whisper, Shadow and Wind. We are not expedition people. So on this latest cruise’s showing, we are now restricted to cruises on just three ships, and maybe two in future. Not a happy thought.

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I appreciate your thoughtful, detailed, and balanced review. Our only experience with Silversea has been once on the "old" Cloud and twice on the "pre-stretched" spirit. Everything I've read about the Muse and the post-stretched Spirit---aside from the decor---has given me concern. I think I'll do what you plan to do and book only on the smaller, non-expedition ships for as long as they remain in the fleet.

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Despite the minor problem it seems that you enjoy the experience. I was just on her for a visit and I miss the former, darker more classical look. New times, more people in, cuts and lower standards going in all luxury companies.

 

Less privacy, not too many "frills". I have experinced them in all the luxury cruise lines including Silversea. So sad.

 

Enviado desde mi SM-T813 mediante Tapatalk

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Thanks for the comprehensive review. It sounds like the Spirit is basically a substandard version of the Muse, but with the advantage of a much better division of the MDR space into Atlantide and Indochine.

 

One question, is Atlantide using the new Muse ‘slate style’ platters for mains or proper plates. The former are useless at retaining heat.

 

 

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Thank you for the well balanced review.

 

We too prefer the smaller ships and are not expedition types. I can already see different (higher on smaller vessels) per day pricing on SS website reflecting the higher popularity of the smaller vessels. I wonder if the lower price points on the larger ships will woo some passengers, who are accustomed to the service levels on the Whisper, Shadow and Wind, to the (relatively) ‘value priced’ larger vessels, resulting in bad reviews (based on previous expectations) and a dilution of the brand.

 

In business the goal is usually to maximize the ROI (return on investment) and the bean counters may have concluded that a slight lowering of the service levels and the loss of a few prior passengers will be offset by the increased numbers of new passengers (who won’t have prior experience with ultra high service levels) on the larger ships. And thus the spiral down begins.

 

In the interim, repeat passengers will learn that there is no such thing as loyalty when it comes to business.

 

Sad to see. I’m pretty sure someone else will come in to fill the void in the market, eventually.

 

 

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I agree that there are now quite a lot of inexperienced staff now on Silverseas but for us most noticed in the Expedition staff on the Explorer.The dining room staff were mainly the old faces and they appeared a lot happier than previously under Maitre'd Emmerson and hotel director Zoran.There was just one thing that worried them.Quite a few are going to the larger ships on future contracts and they do love the Explorer.

Like you I believe that this is due to the rapid increase in the SS fleet-both the larger ships and expedition ships.

It is not only the SS fleet expansion.On the expedition side there are over 20 new expedition ships being built in the next couple of years.We know that SS expedition staff are being poached by the competition-eg Karen Weller to the new Scenic Eclipse due to begin voyages this August.

 

But it is not only expedition ships.Ritz Carlton is going into cruises for example.The demand for good quality staff at sea must be increasing dramatically.

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What is "slate style?"
Not actual slate. A material that looks like slate at first glance, but is slightly less matt in appearance less dense and smoother to the touch. I suppose that the material can go through the dishwashers. It does not seem to get hot.
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...I wonder if the lower price points on the larger ships will woo some passengers, who are accustomed to the service levels on the Whisper, Shadow and Wind, to the (relatively) ‘value priced’ larger vessels, resulting in bad reviews (based on previous expectations) and a dilution of the brand.

 

In business the goal is usually to maximize the ROI (return on investment) and the bean counters may have concluded that a slight lowering of the service levels and the loss of a few prior passengers will be offset by the increased numbers of new passengers (who won’t have prior experience with ultra high service levels) on the larger ships. And thus the spiral down begins....

I thought that the goal might be to get a higher ROI on larger ships through the volume effect: one double-size ship (Spirit, Muse...) has lower running costs per passenger than two original ships (Cloud, Wind...), even if you keep the same service-staff-per-passenger ratio. For an over-simplified example, on the larger ship, you still only have one Captain, Chief Engineer etc.; fuel, a big cost, is more efficient too.

 

I hoped that it might be possible, on the larger ships, to get very close to the luxurious level of service that we know Silversea can deliver, at the same fares per day, but with a higher ROI. That way, everybody wins: quality and value for guests; higher ROI for the owners, so that they can service their debts and stay in business, which is what we all want.

 

I also hope that anybody in sales and marketing will make it a priority to retain past customers. Experience suggests that this is much, much easier and cheaper than winning new customers.

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Am I the only person in the world who thinks that '' slate style'' and other such pretensions need to be banned by international treaty?

 

Yes! :D

 

I'm guessing La Dame will be OTT for you too?

 

In fairness, I'm not a fan, but not aghast either.

 

 

Thanks you for your well balanced Review OP. I will be posting my own thoughts, video and photos shortly from my visit to the Spirit in Greenwich yesterday. I loved the Spirit, saw teething issues and don't disagree with much of what you've said.

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And then there are those volcano plates in silver note...not a fan of them.

 

 

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Ah, but those are slimming plates, designed for those of us who are rotund. If you are short and sit on the banquette side in Silver Note, with your chin on the table, it is virtually impossible to hook any food out of the volcanos - hence the slimming effect

Rp

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I thought that the goal might be to get a higher ROI on larger ships through the volume effect: one double-size ship (Spirit, Muse...) has lower running costs per passenger than two original ships (Cloud, Wind...), even if you keep the same service-staff-per-passenger ratio. For an over-simplified example, on the larger ship, you still only have one Captain, Chief Engineer etc.; fuel, a big cost, is more efficient too.

 

 

 

I hoped that it might be possible, on the larger ships, to get very close to the luxurious level of service that we know Silversea can deliver, at the same fares per day, but with a higher ROI. That way, everybody wins: quality and value for guests; higher ROI for the owners, so that they can service their debts and stay in business, which is what we all want.

 

 

 

I also hope that anybody in sales and marketing will make it a priority to retain past customers. Experience suggests that this is much, much easier and cheaper than winning new customers.

 

 

 

I agree on the possible efficiencies of the larger vessels. Unfortunately scaling up seems to have, at least initially, removed the freedom of showing up anytime for dinner. Growing pains, quite literally, which showed lack of perception of what their guests truly valued. Good to see them trying to now accommodate spontaneity, although the physical limitations on the Muse might make this more difficult. They obviously learnt from the Muse experience and applied some of it to the Spirit Stretch.

 

We’ve never been big users of room service, but reading other reviews makes me think this might be another area where SS will want to rethink their ‘efficiencies’.

 

 

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Thank you Unfathomable for an excellent detailed overview of your Spirit cruise.We have sailed with Silversea for twenty years now and as non Expedition cruisers all our cruises have been on our personal preferred option of the original four small ships,Shadow Whisper Cloud and favourite Wind.Your report confirms many of the reasons for sailing small ships rather than the large ships Silversea are moving towards with further large new builds on the agenda.Having lost the Cloud to the Expedition fleet we are now left with only three choices and the Wind rumours of following the Cloud will further limit the choice as the Whisper does the World Cruise for 4/5 months of the year the choice of luxury small vessels is sadly fading away.We have been assured by the Silversea M.D. that our sixty days booked and paid for on the Wind for 2018/19 will be honoured as no decision has been taken re turning the Wind into an Expedition ship although it is something that will be considered for 2020 onwards! The progression to larger vessels does not fit with a luxury line with excellent personal service and is more akin towards the Disney type cruise for 3/4000 passengers with hundreds of noisy kids filling the pool area up.Lets hope SS have done the financial calculations correctly to justify the gradual move from LUXURY to MASS market cruising.

 

 

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We had no problem getting a table when we wanted one in Atlantide nor indeed joining one. What put us off using it more was the non changing menu.

One evening I wanted to have one course from the Indochine menu whilst we otherwise wanted to eat in Atlantide, we asked if this could be accommodated as the kitchens are close together but were told no. As you can't order from restaurant menus for in-suite dining, there is no place where you can mix and match.

There was also a definite diminution in the level of service on board.

My OH also asked for a particular cheese from the cheese menu, the first plate was incorrect so he asked that he be given the cheese which he had ordered. A second plate arrived but again the correct cheese was missing. The head waiter only then admitted that he couldn't find the cheese in question, so he substituted something else - twice and without asking. Was this a disaster? No, of course not, but it was, I felt, indicative of a rather glib attitude towards guests and not what I expect from a senior member of Silversea staff. A similar episode of substitution without asking happened in La Terazza.

 

I know neighbours had great hotel service- I wrote my initials in the dust on the mirror in the suite before it was cleaned and whilst our butler was charming, she was rather ineffectual, I had to chase her for updates on lost laundry

 

The stretched Spirit is a very pretty ship, the new décor is lovely and I finally got the hang of the washhand basin tap in the bathroom without any soaking incidents. The Arts café is great, Seishin sushi and sashimi ( what a tongue twister!) at lunchtime is excellent but there is now a degree of inflexibility in dining and service which does not equate with luxury, to my mind.

Our cruise was fine, we had a good time on board, but I don't really want my holiday to be just fine or good, I want it to be great and the on board experience to be memorable. We have had many great and memorable cruises in the past but this was not one of them sadly.

Hopefully things will improve, we will just give the Spirit a wide berth for the time being - I doubt management will be devastated.

Rp

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The progression to larger vessels does not fit with a luxury line with excellent personal service and is more akin towards the Disney type cruise for 3/4000 passengers with hundreds of noisy kids filling the pool area up.

 

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This is a bit over-the-top, isn't it? There's quite a leap from Silversea to Disney.

 

The larger Silversea ships (Muse and now Spirit) have about the capacity of the newer Seabourn ships.

 

The larger Silversea ships carry fewer guests than all but one of the Regent ships.

 

The larger Silversea ships have hundreds fewer guests than Crystal's two ocean liners.

 

At last report, Seabourn, Regent, and Crystal offered a true luxury product.

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I am with Rosepark. On the Muse and now Spirit there is zero flexibility when it comes to dinning. Although some say the menu changes for us on a 13 day trip it didn't which I didn't like. I also found the quality of beef and seafood to be poor. I like the size of the Muse however however for luxury dinning management should take a trip on Hapag Loyd and copy them.

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On the Muse and now Spirit there is zero flexibility when it comes to dinning.

 

I suppose it depends upon what you mean by "flexibility." There are certainly more options than there were on, say, Spirit before the re-do. Arts Cafe is, IMHO, a huge addition, adding the flexibility/option of getting a snack/coffee at any hour without calling room service. There is now a dedicated pizza restaurant, an Asian restaurant, etc.

 

I have yet to travel on Spirit or Muse, but I think I will have more options and more culinary flexibility than on other SS ships. After all, the need for reservations at some outlets (La Dame, Terrazza, etc.) is nothing new for SS or other luxury lines.

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Unfortunately scaling up seems to have, at least initially, removed the freedom of showing up anytime for dinner.
On this recent Spirit cruise, we did have short lines/queues for Atlantide, but only waiting to be seated. We did not have lines/queues for Indochine. YMMV.
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