Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Four

[UKCruiseJeff]

What a great trip JP! Looking forward to traveling along with you ....

 

I mentioned in my earlier suggestion that Ultra Luxury in my opinion is more then the "show time" elements. What I meant by this was the really silly stuff done to ape personal service. Some people seem to really enjoy that the staff remember names. This quite frankly makes me shudder. I'm happy to be addressed by name - for example by BA cabin crew, who have my name on their ipad, but to have staff spending time remembering several hundred names from the photographs is simply in my view wasted effort and facile.

 

Over the years I have thought long and hard why this seems to matter so much to some people. Maybe it is because when they see really rich well known people who are genuinely recognised because they are well known, that they like to think that they are also well known or at least like to feel for a few moments what it may feel like to be a celebrity. The answer is of course I do not know why this is important to some, but I speculate that for whatever reason, it sort of makes them feel important, and some like or need to feel important. But if that is true why? Remembering your name does not in my view confer any importance. It is effort I would simply like to see saved or expended elsewhere and makes me feel uncomfortable for the poor person given the ridiculous task of trying to remember so many names.

 

On the other hand, if they remember what I drink, then that is great. It is because they have met me before and because they are good at their job and love it and they have made a memory data file of my face and my drink. They may not know my name, but they know my drink and to me I would prefer a barman to remember precisely how I like my dry martini ("It is extremely dry, with a twist isn't it sir") much more than my name. It doesn't confer importance but simply signifies a really good craftsman behind the bar. And if everyone in the hotel group knows what my favourite wine is because it is on their database than that has no relevance to my "importance" - it is simply the excellent use of technology to provide exceptional service.

 

Anyway ... we are all different. :)

[TLCOhio]

Ultra Luxury is certainly not rigidly defined, I agree. I also agree that it is more of a marketing tool that's used to try to one-up the competition. I am reminded of the credit card companies who have gone through the periodic table in an attempt to make their cards look better. Silver, Gold, Platinum, Carbon, Titanium, etc. if everybody calls themselves luxury, we need ultra luxury. Six stars, not five.

I have put the final touches on the South America trip for her milestone birthday in January. We fly from Albany to Santiago, then catch a flight to Calama, and spend 3 nights in San Pedro de Atacama. Back to Santiago for a night, then fly to Puerto Natales for 4 nights in Torres del Paine. Back to Santiago for a night, then we customized a private wine tour with an agency and guide who we've used before. Looks amazing. I'm a little jealous - my big birthday was amazing but hers will be even more so.

 

Great summary by J.P. on the "Marketing BS 101" for the excessive hype and games used by cruise lines and many others. Excellent examples cited.

 

WOW!! What a wonderful upcoming adventure for your wife. Look forward to traveling along for this trip.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Lisbon, NWSpain, Bordeaux/Brittany: Finished June 2017 sailing on the Silver Spirit from Portugal to France along the scenic Atlantic Coast, plus great pre- and post-cruise experiences. Now at 20,014 views. Many interesting pictures and details on history, food, culture, etc., from my live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511358

[mysty]

Not to disagree with anyone here! To my mind the labels (no matter what they are) are fluff. The experience value will be in the eye of the beholder. The individual decides if his/her definition of the label is met or not regardless of the hype. If some are impressed with being called by name then that is what is important to them. I don't think anyone should decide if that is a valid assessment of the label because for that individual it may well be. As J said we each have our own ideas of what we want in terms of what we are paying for. It all comes down to whether what is promised is actually what is delivered.

[Daveywavey70]

Good evening coolers.

JP, that sounds like an amazing trip. I Hope you're truly jealous at the end of it about just how amazing it has been.

 

Thank you all so much for your responses to my questions regarding "luxury" , its great to see the world from a different pair of shoes.

I've not responded so far with my own opinion because I'm in a great amount of pain biting my own tongue.

 

Anyway on the brighter side. I Visited my Solicitor today and he has offered to write my "letter before claim" to Silversea F.O.C. He was appalled at the way that they have handled this fiasco so far and confirmed the advice of an extremely helpful member of this forum, that under the circumstances, a judge would regard their offer of a future cruise discount with no alternative whatsoever as being very poor indeed.

[UKCruiseJeff]

 

 

"Mr Daveywavey70, I wanted to tell you from the bottom of my heart how my family and I were so personally distressed to hear of your unfortunate cruise recently. And we have talked about it and we agree .... it was terrible. Very terrible. Extremely terrible. To be on the toilet in the dark and without even a candle is unforgivable. Not even a torch. Terrible. How to find the toilet paper? Terrible. We understand that you have said that you will not cruise with us again. This is terrible. It was so terrible even mama was upset, and none of us like mama to be upset. What has really distressed me is that some of the other people on your cruise for some reason or other did not see fit to complain. Shame on them. What were they afraid of? Do I seem unapproachable? Am I not a reasonable man? We can speculate as to why they failed to complain, but all this would be just that - pure speculation. I do not take this personally.

 

My family and I have discussed this issue with a sense of deep compassion. We feel strongly that a complaint from one should be seen as being a complaint on behalf of all. So if we were to propose a solution we feel that we should impose that solution on all of you equally even if some of you did not have to take comfort breaks in the dark. Any other approach would be favouritism. We wish therefore to make you an offer that you cannot refuse. To show you how sorry we are for your suffering you will buy from us a further cruise and we do not see how we could be more fairer and generous than that. You can of course choose when you take the cruise - that is entirely your choice. You can even choose a cruise going to somewhere you want to visit. But our gift to you is to invite you to buy another cruise. No ... please ... don't be emotional ... it is my pleasure ... my gift to you ...

 

This generous offer however comes with some reasonable conditions. We want you to remember and respect the Cosa Nostra - "our thing". We want you to respect our sacred omerta - the "code of silence". I would take it as a personal kindness for you to do this for me. Whilst saying that, may I also pay my respects to your partner who I understand is doing a great job collaborating with us. I mean you not to read anything into this but I take a personal interest in his career and I am sure you will understand that we always repay kindness and respect with kindness and respect. It is just business, nothing personal."

[Daveywavey70]

Howling with laughter.

I never realised you knew my scililian friends so well. What a shame the damm thing ship fixers didn’t use mamas pasta to fix the bellassimo signora and instead just take your magnifico lira and spit on your honour. ( I do actually have connections that are that way inclined) and will be treated like a king any time I visit Cagliari)

So mamma decides she like a Bigga ship. So I open a big jar of dolmio and pour it over the pasta. Soon after, I realise I couldn’t pay for the extra jar of dolmio that I had poured over the pasta. When I realised I couldn’t pay for this extra jar I decided to sell the bowl of pasta. It is a very good bowl of pasta, it is more expensive pasta than any other pasta makers can make. Maybe it’s only pasta but it’s very expensive pasta. My papas dream was to serve the most expensive pasta and serve it in a dozen expensive pasta restaurants. We managed to get away with this for a while until those picky Europeans realised that the very expensive pasta came with no sauce.

Luckily our American friends decided that even though our pasta had no sauce they wanted to buy our pasta anyway.It was not important to them that our pasta tasted of nothing and had no sauce but it was very expensive pasta. So now that I have nothing important to do anymore I will dedicate my time and my billion dollars to finding a more honest dentist.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny....

 

 

Have a great day all!

[jpalbny]

Davey, good luck! I had a great laugh over Jeff's post above. M, that's a cute chair! Hockey sticks are pretty tough so I bet it's strong!

 

Thanks all for the kind comments about our upcoming trip. Even though much of the activity is planned for us, I still had to coordinate a lot of flights so I didn't get off that easy. This trip planning is hard work, just for the two of us. So I don't think I'll take it on as a side gig just yet. :D

 

I have to give another shout out to AMEX Platinum's ticketing agency, and especially their prices. I have been looking at the New York to South America flights for a few months now. The prices were persistently over 5K per ticket, whether we left out of Albany or Kennedy. And in recent weeks they went even higher! Annoying - I flew to Australia for less than that. The only way to make it cheaper was to do a 3-flight itinerary on a different alliance (we fly SkyTeam) which I didn't want to do in January - getting out of Albany is hairy enough without another connection in Philly or DC...

 

So after the prices climbed over 7K yesterday, I called AMEX. We went through a number of different options and ended up with a cool itinerary that does Albany-Atlanta-Santiago on the way down (Delta) and BA-JFK direct (Delta codeshare) on the way back. That itinerary was a fair amount cheaper than flying back to Albany. But the best news is that they saved me $2200 over the best price I could find for that itinerary elsewhere. And yes, I mean $2200 per ticket. That will certainly pay for a one-way rental car from JFK to home when we return from BA.

 

If you have AMEX Platinum (at least in the US), I think you're spending too much if you don't try them for international business class tickets. I have saved at least 10x the membership fee, this year alone. Plus what I saved on the Australia tickets when I bought them last year. The bottle of Dom and OBC on the Wind will be nice too, but these savings are amazing. The more we travel, the more we save - yes, we could save even more by staying home, but what fun would that be?

 

***

 

Dinner last night was grilled shrimp with a variant of chermoula sauce. Here is the sauce on the grill, along with the shrimp skewers. The sauce has diced red (sweet) pepper, onion, and garlic sautéed in olive oil along with paprika, cumin, and a dash of cayenne.

 

 

 

The shrimp don't cook fully on the grill - they stay long enough to get a few grill marks, then they finish cooking in the sauce. That way, they stay juicy and don't dry out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add lemon juice and chopped herbs to finish. I didn't have fresh cilantro so that was dried, but I did have fresh parsley and mint, the latter from the herb garden so it doesn't get fresher than that! Here is the finished meal, over Jasmine rice.

 

 

 

One of our favorites. We've been making this recipe for years and it doesn't get old. It comes together really fast after the chopping work is done.

[mysty]

JP...that looks amazing! I need a bib now! :)

[UKCruiseJeff]

It transpires that Silversea are not responsible for accepting a group booking of 220 and operating a BoozeCrooze. Silly me

 

I guess others can decide for themselves whether this is the type of response that would justify full confidence in this line.

 

:)

 

 

 

Dear Mr UKCruiseJeff

 

Silver Whisper Voyage4812

 

Thank you for getting in touch with us, following your cruise aboard the Silver Whisper.

 

You have every right to expect top levels of service, set in a background of luxury, every time you take a Silversea cruise. I am concerned therefore, that you have reported incidences of noise and poor behaviour from other guests on board, who were part of a large group. I completely understand your annoyance, and I am very sorry for this.

 

While every measure is taken by our staff to control any unruly or disturbing occurrences,we have to rely to an extent on all our guests behaving considerately and respectfully towards each other. It is rare for Silversea to accept large groups of guests, and we had no way of knowing that they would have the impact or inconvenience other guests in the way that you describe. I know from the ship's report that every conceivable effort was made to address this situation and the senior crew have intervened and held meetings with the group's leader to register other guests' dissatisfaction with the conduct of some group members.Our VP, Head of Corporate & Incentives has also been made aware of this matter and we will no doubt review our criteria for the acceptance of charter/group bookings following this voyage.

 

We cannot, as a company, accept responsibility for the actions of individual guests on board our ships. That said, we recognise that you did not have the experience that you might otherwise have had, and we want to maintain your support as longstanding Venetians. I am therefore pleased to extend to you a Future Cruise credit for £X, which represents 20% of your cruise fare paid. The certificate can be put towards a future Silversea voyage of your choice on a new booking, and is valid in conjunction with other promotional offers we may have at the time of booking. I do hope you will reconsider your request that we cancel your cruise, giving us the chance to restore your faith in us again.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

**Guest Relations***

 

 

[Isklaar]

We cannot, as a company, accept responsibility for the actions of individual guests on board our ships.

 

 

Speechless. Even their own T&Cs contradicts this.

[swindy]

Jeff

At least you have got a reply now!!!!!

[swindy]

More than we have got!!!

[TLCOhio]

We cannot, as a company, accept responsibility for the actions of individual guests on board our ships.

Speechless. Even their own T&Cs contradicts this.

 

"Speechless" is an excellent one-word summary as to the pure "Bull Shxx" from Silversea. In a bar, hotel, etc., or on a cruise ship when passengers or customers get drunk and become disruptive, management has a legitimate RESPONSIBILITY to step in and exercise control.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 226,979 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[UKCruiseJeff]

If I were in a hotel, I could shrug and leave. Out to sea, there are no options other than to stay in your suite and rely and place 100% trust on the ships management to ensure your comfort and safety whilst at sea.

 

Silversea made no effort on board to mitigate the consequences of accepting this group. Quite the reverse. Speaking to the group leader was of course wasted effort. None of these people were employees. So the group leader had no effective control over the people he had booked onto this cruise. In fact he had the absolute opposite motivation. He wanted these people to have a “trip of a lifetime” with all of the predictable implications that involves. Silversea on the other hand happily provided these self-employed agents on low income unrestricted alcohol 24/7.

 

In order to fob me off and keep me quiet whilst on board they reassured me that Silversea accepted fully the consequence of them accepting this booking and would be compensating me for it. I’m a fairly clear and direct person. I made it absolutely clear what I was expecting and they reassured me.

Edited June 22, 2018 by UKCruiseJeff

[swindy]

It’s a totally insulting offer and it’s not even a refund. You have to spend thousands more to get it so probably won’t cost them much at all. The way it has been handled isn’t conducive to encouraging long standing guests to continue sailing with them at all.

[jpalbny]

That is a ludicrous response.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[swindy]

Jeff

 

Have you replied to Silversea?

[UKCruiseJeff]

Jeff

 

Have you replied to Silversea?

 

No, I am having a cigar and some grappa. :D

 

`that at rhe moment is much more important. :D:D

[UKCruiseJeff]

That is a ludicrous response.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

 

There are with most well managed organisations two distinct elements of “service recovery”.

 

First you adequately put right what went wrong offering a generous and honourable resolution to show your integrity and rebuild trust and then secondly you offer an inducement to the customer to “give us another chance” and make an appropriate offer to do so. Most organisations “get” that.

 

Silverseas obviously think that first stage to be unimportant and seriously believe that based on the lack of response to that think that any sane person would make the same mistake yet again.

 

The reason why we had such a long lapse from our many previous Silversea cruises was because having had several previous dissapointments, and having had several subsequent unsatisfactory tries, we decided to be fair and give them another chance.

 

Would any sane person trust an organisation who had effectively cheated them, behaved totally dishonourably pay a lot of cash to make the same mistake yet again?

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited June 22, 2018 by UKCruiseJeff

[brimary]

We cannot, as a company, accept responsibility for the actions of individual guests on board our ships.

 

 

 

 

 

Speechless. Even their own T&Cs contradicts this.

 

 

 

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

All the best with your genuine efforts to achieving a fair and equitable solution from SS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Tothesunset]

From the contract of passage:

 

If it appears to the staff or crew at any time during the cruise that guests are or are becoming for any reason unfit to travel or likely to endanger the health, safety or comfort of anyone on board then the Master or duly authorised representative may refuse to embark or disembark the guests at any port or place, transfer the guests from one suite to another, or otherwise deal with the guests as may be necessary. In such circumstances the guests shall not be entitled to any refund or compensation and shall be liable to pay any fines, losses or compensation due to any party.

 

Seems the Master or his duly authorised representative failed to implement the above.

[MissSophia]

Think I’d be more p....d off with that letter than with the cruise Jeff...if that’s possible!!

Absolutely beyond belief....

[Mr Luxury]

Jeff,that’s a disgraceful response from SS

Next time you’ll have to give Seabourn a try,I’m sure it’s a much better fit.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[TLCOhio]

From the contract of passage:

If it appears to the staff or crew at any time during the cruise that guests are or are becoming for any reason unfit to travel or likely to endanger the health, safety or comfort of anyone on board then the Master or duly authorised representative may refuse to embark or disembark the guests at any port or place, transfer the guests from one suite to another, or otherwise deal with the guests as may be necessary. In such circumstances the guests shall not be entitled to any refund or compensation and shall be liable to pay any fines, losses or compensation due to any party.

Seems the Master or his duly authorised representative failed to implement the above.

 

Appreciate this excellent follow-up with the exact contract wording. Either the Captain and/or Hotel Director failed their responsibilities and/or common-sense duties. Or, the stupid/shallow, at times, bean-counters in Monaco would not let the ship's staff do their job. Silversea owes the other, well-behaved customers an honest response to the legitimate questions.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean adventure that started in Barbados, here is the link for that live/blog. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.):

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 56,913 views for these postings.