Silversea v Seabourn comparison from 1st timer on SS

[mbpaul]

I think Lord of the Seas was talking about this:

 

"Silversea rating: 3 * 5 = 25"

 

That is not what they taught me in school but maybe it is the "new math".

[Marylebone37]

Oh my goodness... and my undergraduate degree was in MATHEMATICS! I'm not kidding! But it's been a few years. :)

[lord of the seas]

Oh my goodness... and my undergraduate degree was in MATHEMATICS! I'm not kidding! But it's been a few years. :)

 

I will accept your apology when you post it.:)

 

I won't mark you down as it is still a good review.

[mrsgritoli]

Anyone that chooses SB over SS (or vice versa) based upon a single review is not doing justice to the other.

 

I have sailed both lines annually for the last 6 years (with a couple of Regents thrown in). Both Lines are exceptional. In comparison, neither of them are "worse" or "inferior" to the other. Rather, you could say that you might "prefer" the food/officer mixing/formality/balconies/etc.

 

I would look askance at anyone who might claim that their experience on either Line was anything less than special. I don't believe the Reviewer is doing that; I'm just suggesting that you can't go wrong with either SS or SB.

[Marylebone37]

Silversea exceptional?? I would go with Silversea very good (for the $13K price paid) and Seabourn exceptional. But like you say, one review is only based on one person's experience on one ship, one itinerary, one set of crew, that sailing's weather conditions etc. It cannot be interpreted as anything more than that... my one and only experience on SS. I hope to give SS one more chance in the future with the right itinerary and pricing.

[WWLori]

Thank you so much for you thorough and thoughtful review. As a fellow 48 yo traveler I can relate to much of what you say as we are often among the youngest traveler. My husband and I are looking into a South American cruise - probably for next Nov and probably on Seaborne- and your comments make me feel good about our choice. This will be our first truly luxury cruise. We went on an Asia cruise on Azamara in a suite and were quite disappointed. Thanks again!

[suni]

I would love to read a similar review between Seabourn Odyssey/Soujorn and Regent !

[Dreps]

An interesting comparison. I'd like to see Stines tackle a comparison between SB and Regent in a similar manner.

[Marylebone37]

Dreps,

Have never tried Regent. While I've heard great things from friends about them, particularly the cabins, I got a little concerned with the all-inclusive aspect that they introduced recently (about a year ago?), where excursions etc. are all part of the deal. I know it sounds great in writing and a real value... but rightly or wrongly, I envisioned everyone signing up for everything possible. Just was a little worried that it might jave become less of a luxury experience. But I have no personal basis for those feelings I admit. Maybe someday I'll give them a try. And haven't their prices really gone through the roof?

 

In the interim, I hope to do a report on my SB Spirit sailing this August. I am very interested to see if they have kept up the exemplary standards and service that I was fortunate enough to experience about a year and a half ago.

[hoosier74]

I posted a link to this unique review on the Regent board because there seems to always be comparisons being made there. I think it is the only proper way to evaluate a cruise experience...by what is important to you.

 

We went on our first lux cruise with Regent on a transAtlantic in March/April on the Mariner and had a really wonderful time. There have been many concerns expressed about the excursions policy but we had very few ports (5 as we went all the way to Monte Carlo) and it really wasn't an issue of folks booking everything...at least not for us as we booked online when they first came up. I found the quality of the excursions very good and of course, the 'included' only goes up to excursions that would normally be $100-$125. There were ones to be paid for at every port, I think, except Bermuda.

 

We really aren't dedicated cruisers but we have booked a Seabourn cruise (Legend 3/4/11, Caribbean Hideaways) because the itinerary is a perfect fit to our Virgin Islands vacation plans (basically staying an extra week on St. John) and because my preference is toward smaller ships. I would never have thought we'd be cruising again this soon but I never knew there were such things as lux, smaller ship cruiselines until about 18 months ago. I had totally sworn off cruise ships as vacation options, so I guess I just didn't investigate. However, our Regent experience was superb and we look forward to our Legend cruise.

[strawbs1]

An absolutely outstanding critique! I'm going on my first Seabourn cruise in August after having sailed Silversea many, many times. Very interesting to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much for this!

[Capri73]

:)Sailed on both SS and SB.

In our opinion SB shines above SS.

[SantaAna,CA]

I have been on Seabourn four times and Silversea once. A fellow Seabournite on these boards told me, when I announced I had booked Silversea for a 9 day Caribbean cruise "you'll love the ship and the cabins, and that's about all they have over Seabourn". They were right. The cabins are very much like Seabourn, but they have one additional feature that I really liked; a separate bath and shower. Why? I like to scuba dive and that tub is where I put all my equipment! Nice to be able to leave it there.

 

I also preferred Silversea's pool. Now of course the larger, new Seabourn ships have the wiser pool layout, but I have only been on the smaller ships and I really dislike the pool placement!

 

Silversea had pleasant service, but not even in the same category as Seabourn. And the food was no comparison, I thought Seabourn head and shoulders above.

 

I'm desperately trying to get back on Seabourn next year; maybe on the Spirit to the Caribbean. That will round out my experience, as I will then have traveled on all three "sisters".

 

Best wishes to all,

 

Jane