Seabourn Spirit vs Silversea Silver Spirit

[lincslady]

Although a lot depends on personal taste, some things about Silversea we do not like. Didn't know about the prosecco in a champagne bottle!! But I don't like the charity donation to the family 'charity' which you are expected to give unless you opt out. On a personal level, we also found the Filipino service staff on Silversea, though smiling and generally efficient, sometimes seemed in fear of their immediate bosses; lacked the ability to really converse with passengers, and one Silversea cruise was the only time we have been almost pursued to give a tip at the end of the trip by one of the waiters, which leaves a nasty taste. We also found the senior Officers often spoke little English, and obviously did not enjoy having to host tables unless with Italian passengers.

 

However, the Cruise Directors were often very personable Brits - Judi, Ray Solaire and Colin in particular. Not enough to make us want to go back though.

[eyedoctor]

does anyone have a referral coupon for silver sea? we are traveling november 2 from rome to barcelona acath935@aol.com thanks

[lincslady]

does anyone have a referral coupon for silver sea? we are traveling november 2 from rome to barcelona acath935@aol.com thanks

 

Look on the Silversea board! You are not likely to find anyone on the Seabourn board who would have one, though I suppose it is possible.;)

[Tothesunset]

does anyone have a referral coupon for silver sea? we are traveling november 2 from rome to barcelona acath935@aol.com thanks

Silversea don't have a referral coupon system similar to Seabourn's.

 

Silversea offer a ''friend's intro'' whereby if someone is sailing SS for the first time and they get referred by a fellow cruiser from that same cruise before final payment is made then both the referrer and referree get some benefits (can't remember exactly what). Needless to say that's a tricky thing to set up unless you really are referring a friend for their first SS cruise.

[rols]

While one can't compare apples with oranges you can compare apples to oranges.

 

I was really looking for personal preferences to get a feel for the difference in the experience.

 

ok personal preferences, we've sailed the small Silversea ships, the Silversea Spirit, the small Seabourn ships and the large Seaborn ships (Quest and Odyssey). Our personal ranking would be

 

1. Larger Seabourn ships

2. Smaller Silversea ships

3. Smaller Seabourn ships

4. Silver Spirit

 

We found the service and quality of food, drink etc on both lines to be of a high quality, especially service. There were some things better here than there but generally we love them both.

 

We enjoyed the smaller ships because they are intimate and very friendly, we liked the Seabourn sisters a little less than the Silversea ones because we thought the Silversea small ships had a better design to them.

 

We love the new larger Seabourn ships. The amount of extra public space they have, the size of Seabourn Square, all those little places you can relax in, we love and yet we haven't felt they lost the original charm.

 

Silversea Spirit, in our opinion however was not well-designed. It had some great points (like the modern connections for the entertainment system in the cabins and the general modernity of the fittings) but most of the rest of the ship was too small. Breakfast on the Spirit was trying to fit yourself between the very closely-packed chairs in La Terrazza, the place wasn't large enough. The theater also wasn't large enough and the deck area had about 10% the amount of shady space it needed to have.

 

So on our list, you're moving up. You could of course set yourself the job of trying them all, but be quick with the little Seabourn ships if you're doing that .. not long left.

[wripro]

The small Silversea ships were designed to be ships. the small Seabourn ships were designed to be yachts (of a sort). In Fact, Silversea copied the design of the triplets when they designed their first ships by putting all cabins forward and all public spaces aft.

[Miss Jet Set]

I agree with almost everything you have written. Especially the food - it was terrible and passengers were complaining daily. We have been on both lines this year and about to go on the SB Spirit in August however our experience

of the staff on Silversea was they were just as friendly as Seabourn but thats where

the comparison ends.

[Ithaca]

do you still have a referral coupon? we are on the silver sea from rome to barcelona nov 2 2013 thanks, anne schwartz

 

Anne, if you happen to be Ithaca's eye doctor, Dr. Shwartz', relative, I am a patient and have traveled both on Seabourn and Silversea. I do not have a referral coupon right now, but can share my experience. You can e-mail me at vs41@cornell.edu.

[Cashew14]

Well for future reference you should do a little research for the UK Agent that many of cruise critic posters in the UK use, in fact even our American friends use him as well because his prices are so competitive. Unfortunately I can't give you a name as it is against the policy on this board, but I can tell you they are based in Reading and usually advertise in the weekend travel supplements, with big adverts for Cunard!! Happy cruising with which ever line you most enjoy and I am sure you will be happy with Seabourn.

 

We are planning to sail on Seabourn next year. I have read the "hints" regarding the UK Agent which people seem to use a lot but can't find her/him online.

 

Could someone give me some more hints please?

 

Andrea :)

[Prunella1]

We are planning to sail on Seabourn next year. I have read the "hints" regarding the UK Agent which people seem to use a lot but can't find her/him online.

 

Could someone give me some more hints please?

 

Andrea :)

 

Hi Andrea, without giving the actual name I find it very difficult to give you another hint!! Think of another title for the Queen......hope this helps, if all else fails post your email address and I will contact you.

[Cashew14]

Hi Andrea, without giving the actual name I find it very difficult to give you another hint!! Think of another title for the Queen......hope this helps, if all else fails post your email address and I will contact you.

 

Thank you very much! Got it. :)

[Bluewatercruizer]

Hi -- RE: OP question - I have been on both SB Spirit and SS Silver Whisper so I will put a few of my own opinions here - strictly my own!

I would advise you look through the SB and SS threads for trip reviews - I find these kind of thread-based reviews invaluable -- as long as you take all of these as representing only one poster.

 

My own personal preference and opinion is that I find the smaller size of the SB triplets (including Spirit - on which I spent 3 fantastic weeks) provide a more congenial passeger atmosphere -- and it probably attracts those who enjoy that (along with superb service). Silver Whisper was only a few months old when I sailed (we boarded on 9/11 -- so that clearly predjudiced my overall experience. It was pretty awful - but that is another topic.

 

However, for a brand new ship that wasn't full, I did not expect to first be put in a cabin with a badly cracked sink, then they moved me to cabin where I believe they stowed the anchor. Finally moved again but it took an act of Congress to get them to do this.

 

On SB, I don't feel I ever would have been put in a cabin with a badly crackled sink - this would not have happened as the cabin stewardesses would have reported it and engineering would have fixed it before I even got ther. This episode was indicative of SS attitude of "well, if we have to..." vs. SB which has always been "We already know about it and here is how we have solved it or will solve it".

 

Food on SB - far superior. Wines - I tend to order a few nice bottles off of SB's generally excellent wine list along with enjoying mixed drinks, etc.

Service on SB --generally the best -- of course, there are minor details but really, this is what keeps me coming back, especially on the triplets.

 

I have also sailed on SB Sojurn and I liked the decor and the staff was excellent (but hard to give the same level of service as on the triplets), but I just did not feel the same passenger conjeniality as I have on the smaller ships. This wouldn't hold me back from trying the "bigger" ships again -- just to be sure, of course.;)