RSSC vs. Silverseas vs. Seabourn

[count florida]

We've sailed all three of Radisson larger Seven Seas ships: Navigator, Mariner, and Voyager (we're plank-holders on the Voyager, with plak to prove it), and the Diamond (now gone) as well as on QE-2 (grille class, which we feel qualifies as luxury), Celebrity and HAL (the Prisendam disaster on its maiden crossing and cruises for HAL in western and northern Europe.) Radisson is our clear favorite, but the line is changing, not all for the better.

 

RSSC used to have a very fair Internet charging policy, but no more, now they gauge users, although they say they are working on a new fairer scheme. You still get two bottles of liquor in your suite plus free drinks AND wine at dinner (no need to choose), but you pay for booze the rest of the time. Plenty of comp cocktail parties - almost too many on one week cruises, it seems to me at times. The food is very good, and the service has been excellent, but I've been hearing little whispers, and noticed a slight degradation during our Montreal to Tampa triple on the Navigator last fall. We ahd one of the best meals ever in Signatures, the Cordon Bleu resturant on Mariner several summers ago.

 

Radisson was exceptionally flexible and had a real "yes we can and will" attitude. The ships officers and crew still try, but something (Ft. Lauderdale?, Minneapolis?) seems to be restricting their ability to make and keep guests happy. To give credit where it is due - they try real hard, and will go to bat with the head shed on behalf of a guest if they feel there is even slight justification. It seems they are in a cost-revenue squeeze, or something is happening, and are handling it badly - a real shame.

 

The on-board programs RSSC offers don't compare with Crystal's, in fact, it doesn't seem they try to compete in that arena, too bad. We've just cancelled the Auckland - Los Angeles leg of the Mariner's Grand Pacific cruise because they wouldn't let us get off in Papeete without paying all the way to LA, and there are six sea days in a row just before LA, too much for my bride, who put her foot down. Me-thinks this is an example of RSSC cutting off their its nose to spite its face. When something goes wrong, they do bend over backwards to be more than fair even to slightly inconvenienced guests. Much more so than other lines we've experienced.

 

We plan on trying Silverseas, although 'all-inclusive' isn't a big draw for us. After a dozen cruises with RSSC, we've NEVER finished the two bottles they provide, even on a 19 day Atlantic crossing on the Diamond five years ago. That was the trip that taught us about too many back-to-back sea days without enough to do - nine in a row without so much as a sight or smell of land, from Madeira to Puerto Rico! SHE WHO DECIDES decided 'never again'. I really did want to make the west to east trans-Pacific crossing (we did it east to west on the Voyager last year). Too bad.