Silver Whisper June 7-14 Civitavecchia-Piraeus: A Very, Very Weird Cruise

BeeMinor....thanks so much for your honest review and beautiful photos. Your posts have added credence and validity to comments posted elsewhere on the SS Forum. It is very sad and disappointing that your expectations were not met. From my own personal experience this situation is very unusual for SS although the charter situation in general is not. Please know that your expectations were not unreasonable and you have ever right to express your disappointment.

My wife often asks for the NZ sauvignon blanc.Though now they usually offer it before she asks.possibly your 200 friends had drunk it all.

No need for a wine list.The sommelier should know wahat is stocked.Often not much more though.

Hi Beeminor,

May I have your permission to paste some of the quotes from your posts here into my reply to SS. In return, you of course have my approval to incorporate any of mine you wish to use.

Thanks. :)

It is so unbelievable that SS did for foresee the consequences of having a group as large as this not ruin the cruise for others. I have been on a charter on SS as well for a sales incentive but we did charter the whole of the Spirit which ensures something like this does not happen. The main reason I now book SS is for the great people I meet and the atmosphere of a relaxing cruise. Which is certainly not what a sales incentive is for.

It is so unbelievable that SS did for foresee the consequences of having a group as large as this not ruin the cruise for others. I have been on a charter on SS as well for a sales incentive but we did charter the whole of the Spirit which ensures something like this does not happen. The main reason I now book SS is for the great people I meet and the atmosphere of a relaxing cruise. Which is certainly not what a sales incentive is for.

It was an extremely poor decision and it seems inconceivable that the consequences could not have been predicted by a reasonably well managed organisation. Whilst many people might imagine what 20 or 30 rowdy people night have been like few can really appreciate what 220 of them was like.

We are however where we are, and I have tried in my current communication with them, to give them the benefit of the doubt in that perhaps in London they do not really comprehend how awful it was on Whisper and why they are responsible for accepting this group booking rather than insisting on a full charter. I can't see that it was our fault that they accepted this charter and decided not to inform us so we could decide whether to proceed or not.

So I have explained it all to them in glorious gory detail. I do not plan to post that detail at the moment because I feel that having given them the benefit of the doubt, that once they understand what happened, they might then accept that they responsible for the consequences of accepting this enormous group booking and seek to put it right rather than use the loss of our cruise simply as a marketing opportunity to extract more cash from us.

If they do so then it would give me great pleasure in posting simply that they have at last done the right thing and that (some) confidence has been restored. To me this approach seems fair to them to give the benefit of the doubt and allow them to put their initial poor response right, having fully understood what happened.

BeeMinor, I appreciate your posts and pictures, and am so sorry your special “luxury” cruise turned into this mess. I have done only four SS cruises, last one was in 2015, meanwhile am on other luxury lines, though keep thinking of returning to SS again ( one cruise 5/5, the other four 4/5, ports 5/5). But every time I think of returning to test it out I see something like this posted. It sounds like SS still cannot get room service right and still hides alternative included wines from novices who do not know how to ferret them out early on.

SS management on board should have put their feet down about the rowdy behavior as soon as it started, for the sake of other pax, and not let themselves be bullied like teachers who let their classrooms get out of control because they are afraid of their students’ parents.

If I do return, it will have to be on a longer cruise, or an expedition ( they have wonderful itineraries) to minimize risk of rowdy boozers ( as someone who drinks about 250 cc of wine at lunch and also dinner, and also a couple foofy cocktails or Baileys at varying times after an excursion, I still prefer non-rowdy boozers).

However, I do have many ABBA CDs from my youth, and before I could afford cleaning ladies, used to vacuum and dust to songs like “ Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight” and “Money, money, money,” so will not hold ABBA love against them.

A couple questions:

1. Could you tell what kind of snake you saw on your hike in Malta, a place we have been considering ( poisonous or not, or unknown?). It is rattler season where I sometimes go hiking in CA now, absolutely hate them.

2. Were the rowdy groups American, Brits, Aussies, or not English speaking?

3. While on board did you formally complain to the CD or the hotel manager about the rowdiness? What was the response, if any?

4. Was there constant overhead loud music piped in in the lounges and pool, or was it hard to tell, with all the other noise?

5. Were there kids on board with the no-pay cruisers?

A couple questions:

 

1. Could you tell what kind of snake you saw on your hike in Malta, a place we have been considering ( poisonous or not, or unknown?). It is rattler season where I sometimes go hiking in CA now, absolutely hate them.

2. Were the rowdy groups American, Brits, Aussies, or not English speaking?

3. While on board did you formally complain to the CD or the hotel manager about the rowdiness? What was the response, if any?

4. Was there constant overhead loud music piped in in the lounges and pool, or was it hard to tell, with all the other noise?

5. Were there kids on board with the no-pay cruisers?

1. The snake (eek!) was in Lipari, and my on-the-spot Googling suggested that there are no venomous snakes on the Aeolian Islands. Based on what I saw on Malta I strongly doubt you'd see any snakes, but we were only in a highly developed area. The Lipari snake was small and very quick to dart away when we approached, thankfully!

2. British. Based on the accents various regions.

3. I complained about some specific things I saw but not in a general way, and it resulted in the arrival of security but never in time to actually do anything. Everyone knew about the overall behavior and no one seemed to know how to address it. Various staff members told us repeatedly that "never in xx years have I ever seen anything like this."

4. The only time I noticed piped-in music was on embarkation day. I specifically noticed the absence of music at the pool a couple of times, although that was usually because someone was playing music via phone, etc.

5. I saw only about three kids on board, none with the group, all well behaved. I understand the large group had a separate vacation reward option for families.

Hi Beeminor,

 

May I have your permission to paste some of the quotes from your posts here into my reply to SS. In return, you of course have my approval to incorporate any of mine you wish to use.

 

Thanks. :)

Hi Jeff--I figured anything I said here was open to the public so quote away!

We have received some more communication from Silversea and accepted their proposed resolution. I suspect what we accepted is not an outcome you're seeking, but it works for us.

Hi BM.... thanks.

In fact I posted the whole of the text of my offer in the other thread which you may wish to glance at. They basically said that they carry no responsility for booking the 220 group booking and had no responsibility for their behaviour. I had already instructed them to cancel my next cruise, which they ignored and instead offered us 20% of the last cruise cost off of the next cruise which was 8% of that. What of course might be acceptable to one might not be to another and a part of that may relate to both future cruise plans and relative strength of consumer rights. You may or may not wish to compare your offer to the one we received and I’d quite understand if you prefer not to comment. It might be interesting to compare. I have rejected the offer.

Can you give any more detail on what specifically triggered you calling security and what they did?

Thanks.

Thanks for the tips on the wines, commenters! Out of curiosity, do you normally find that Silversea ships stock only three kinds of beer? My husband was disappointed with the lean selection, especially since none of the options were ones he particularly likes. He was also a little disappointed with the extremely limited bourbon selection, but I pointed out to him that it was a European cruise line in Europe and maybe there wasn't much demand for more variety.

Someone mentioned we may have been happier back on Celebrity. That is a question we discussed before, during, and after the trip. If we hadn't done this Whisper itinerary, we probably would have just stuck with a land trip rather than sailing the Reflection. We have enjoyed big ships for floating-resort-type vacations when we just want to go somewhere warm, but that didn't appeal for a sightseeing-focused trip. Celebrity also has some odd ideas about Italian food and hasn't updated the menu in its suite restaurant at least since 2015. Despite the obvious challenges of the trip, Silversea was unquestionably superior on ports and food, and I wouldn't count out a small ship again.

It's been a busy few days, but coming soon: beautiful Siracusa!

In fact I posted the whole of the text of my offer in the other thread which you may wish to glance at. They basically said that they carry no responsility for booking the 220 group booking and had no responsibility for their behaviour. I had already instructed them to cancel my next cruise, which they ignored and instead offered us 20% of the last cruise cost off of the next cruise which was 8% of that. What of course might be acceptable to one might not be to another and a part of that may relate to both future cruise plans and relative strength of consumer rights. You may or may not wish to compare your offer to the one we received and I’d quite understand if you prefer not to comment. It might be interesting to compare. I have rejected the offer.

 

Can you give any more detail on what specifically triggered you calling security and what they did?

Thanks for the heads up, I will read that with interest.

I reported the man wearing only boxers in the hot tub and saw an officer arrive perhaps 15-20 minutes later, after the man in question had left, to investigate. So no resolution. (Except that I avoided the pool itself at all costs, and felt relieved I had never gone in the hot tub.)

I heard secondhand reports of security incidents in the theater, but was not present for any of those.

Thanks for the tips on the wines, commenters! Out of curiosity, do you normally find that Silversea ships stock only three kinds of beer? My husband was disappointed with the lean selection, especially since none of the options were ones he particularly likes. He was also a little disappointed with the extremely limited bourbon selection, but I pointed out to him that it was a European cruise line in Europe and maybe there wasn't much demand for more variety.

 

I recall a selection of beers on my most recent cruise (within past year) far greater than three. I never went thirsty. Could it be that your fellow travelers exhausted the supply? :) I can't speak to the bourbon selection, but I think if one does so far enough in advance that one can request that a particular libation be boarded.

It sounds like SS still cannot get room service right and still hides alternative included wines from novices who do not know how to ferret them out early on.

I'm not even a SS novice (yet), but do have a cruise booked. I'm not an oenophile, but would like to know what is (truly) available; after all, I've paid for it.

:confused: How exactly does one, as a novice, "ferret out" the alternative included wines?

I'm not even a SS novice (yet), but do have a cruise booked. I'm not an oenophile, but would like to know what is (truly) available; after all, I've paid for it.

 

 

 

:confused: How exactly does one, as a novice, "ferret out" the alternative included wines?

Find the head sommelier or one of their assistants and ask what they have. Anything from the comp list is always available. It may not be in the bar or restaurant you frequent but can always be retrieved at relatively short notice. It is not an issue.

Agree with Observer, SS normally carries around a dozen different bottled beers.

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Agree with Observer, SS normally carries around a dozen different bottled beers.

Huh. I'd say I wonder why this cruise was different, but I think I can draw a reasonable conclusion as to that question.

The Internet swallowed up my last attempt at this, so let's try it again--Siracusa! (aka Syracuse)

We had a loose plan for Syracuse: first, explore Ortygia island, the city's historical center, and then after lunch, walk over to the archeological zone. Of the ports we saw--not including Rome and Athens, of course--Syracuse seemed to have the most visitors not connected to a ship and the greatest density of sights.

The port is very conveniently located to the bridges to Ortygia, which was first settled by the Hellenes in the 700s BCE, so there are interesting Greek ruins scattered about. The site of the Temple of Apollo is right across the bridge from the port.

We made for the general direction of the Castello at the far side of the island. When we got there we found it was closed that morning and decided to try again later. A lot of things were actually closed because it was a Monday--much as it seemed like major sights in Malta were closed because it was a Sunday. In a perfect world I would have swapped them, but so it goes.

Ortygia is good for wandering. There's a major shopping street, pathways along the water, and a very picturesque array of buildings and piazzas.

We made our way to the Duomo. The cathedral was built on the site of the ancient Temple to Athena, and you can still see the Doric columns embedded in the wall of the later structure. The nave is Norman and much of the rest of the church is Baroque. It's a real slice of the town's history in one place--very interesting.

It was really, really, REALLY hot, so after leaving the cathedral we decided to have and an air conditioning break back on the ship. We were also a little burned out on pasta after more than a week in Italy, so we hit the pool grill for sandwiches. (It seemed pretty sedate so The Group must have been still been sleeping off karaoke.) I wasn't super impressed with my burger, but it fit the "not pasta" bill and I was able to sub a side with only moderate confusion.

Next up--Syracuse's Archeological Park

More Siracusa + La Dame

After eating lunch and refilling our water bottles, we set off for the archeological park. The walk through this part of Syracuse wasn't as pretty as around Ortygia, but it wasn't without sights.

Unfortunately, this shop was not located next to Cher's wig store:

The archeological park is home to the ruins of several public buildings, including the ancient theater. Syracuse has a summertime Greek festival that plays in the theater; we'd been hoping that the late port stay would mean we could see a performance, but no luck. It was literally the only night of the festival that a play wasn't running. Too bad, because I imagine it's quite a spectacle based on the scenery and enormous props tucked away.

The park was open and quite busy, though, and for good reason. We spent some time enjoying the shady gardens that fill what used to be the ancient limestone quarry:

That's a lotta limestone.

A highlight is an enormous cave known as the Ear of Dionysius. Dionysius became the tyrant of Syracuse around 400 BE and made the city the most powerful in the Greek world. There's some debate about how the cave was formed and what its purpose was, but it's definitely impressive. Notice the humans for scale.

By the time we left the archeological park, it was even hotter. We'd both consumed about a liter of water since leaving the ship, but with the heat it really wasn't enough, and we'd clocked about 20,000 steps. We decided to head back for the ship and perhaps venture back to the Castello that had been closed earlier, but the appeal of air conditioning and endless giant bottles of water was too great. We took a break in the room and then wandered up to afternoon tea, which was thankfully quite calm.

Dinner that night was in La Dame. I heard mixed reviews of La Dame from others on the ship but I found it excellent in food, service, and pacing. We also found the wine pairings were more thoughtfully done even sticking with what was poured from the comp list. All in all it was the best effort at fine dining I've experienced on a ship, and even with the mildly outrageous added charge we would probably have gone a second time had we had the chance.

Good to hear that you enjoyed your meal in La Dame. Thanks again for posting your photos and commentary.

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I'm not even a SS novice (yet), but do have a cruise booked. I'm not an oenophile, but would like to know what is (truly) available; after all, I've paid for it.

 

 

 

:confused: How exactly does one, as a novice, "ferret out" the alternative included wines?

After our first few cruise frustrations getting timely included wine information at meals (other than one at a time suggestions if you reject their daily proposal, with no printed list overview provided by waiters), when I get on an “all inclusive” cruise ship, I ask to see a list of included wines either at the first meal or soon after boarding and load iphone snaps of it. DH and I had typically experienced resistance by waiters to showing us included wine lists on SS, Regent, and SB but with persistent talk to sommelier or MDR manager would get it, three days in was the last, on SB last year ( Regent constructively refused, we never got one, though we got a lot of promises, or were left wineless at our table when the befuddled pourer would run off to “check” and never came back).

I also take a few pictures of wine styles I like from the extra pay list as sometimes there are delays going through the process if ordering at meals. I also like to check the degree of markups compared with internet pricing, if I do not know the wine.

I study MDR menus in advance from TV or provided in room paper menus to decide what kind of wine we will likely want, included or not. We like sampling different wines we are not familiar with and sometimes are pleasantly surprised, and make a note of what we like so early on so when we feel like a certain style can easily order it at lunch or in a bar without saying “just give me a white wine”, we just ask for one specifically we know they have that is included.

That way also when we sit at a group table, or on a busy understaffed MDR evening (which seemed to be the norm on my last three SS cruises and last two on SB) I was ready with my proposed selection for my meal without holding things up thinking when tired waiters would swoop in ready to pour the white of the day ( which was often a generic sauvignon blanc style wine which is inexpensive to them but I do not typically like) , or red of the day ( often the one offered was not “big” enough for DH).

You can ask at the table of course but for unclear reasons it was not routinely shown to us so as a newbie, you may have a long wait ( we often had long waits before I started doing this; included wine service is designed to move you along quickly and too many people even on luxury lines do not care what wine they drink as long as it is “free” so it works fine for most).

If everyone asked for a recitation and discussion of the many included wines every night or every meal ( there are many) , staffing would have to increase. But there is likely something you will like, statistically.

Experience may also be different for regulars ( I have no loyalty to one line and am not extra important to SS, we were just in a basic suite). At a busy dinner time in NZ on SS in 2015 we waited 30-45 minutes before we were able to get anything except the generic initial pours, and the waiters clearly resented giving us extra info. Another night we joined two seasoned SS couples doing over two months on-board and many waiters and the sommelier fawned over them, and therefore us, the whole dinner.

YMMV, but I like to prepare, to minimize the irritation of long waiting or drinking something I do not like just because it is easy.

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Earlier this year I asked SS for a copy of the comp. list for the Wind, I presume it may well be a corporate list?

They supplied the following

There is a slight duplication as they are taken from an iPad screen dump but hey ho ....

Mike

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Mike,

That's great! I've saved the list, and I'm going to print the three pages and take them with me.

Thanks,

Bill

No problemo ... SS date that list as May 2017 so it shouldn’t have changed that much ....

As I mentioned on another thread I do find it incredibly frustrating to be offered a choice of two wines only and this before you have even seen a menu [emoji15]

On the one occasion we did ask for an alternative bottle of white they kept it away from the table in the communal ice bucket so we either had to wait to be offered a ‘top up’ or fetch it ourself. In the meantime we had to hope that ‘our’ bottle was not going onto the evenings comp. list [emoji3]

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I recognise many of those wines from our recent 22 days on the Explorer so I presume pretty close to whats available now.

Thank you, Mike. Now newbies will be armed and dangerous!

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Don't be surprised if some of the listed included wines are "out of stock" and not on board the ship during your voyage.