Silversea mimicking Royal Caribbean Experience?

[coco88]

Soon we will be taking our 10th cruise with Silversea. We have become increasingly concerned in our interactions with the land office

of Silversea which has become more akin to what one might expect at Royal Caribbean. We worry that this poor demeanor and

untoward mindset leading to lack of customer care and appreciation may have translated to the onboard experience.

We are loyal Silversea customers and believe our onboard experiences has thus far been nothing but the finest in the industry. 

 In your view has Silversea onboard experience adopted what one might expect on a Royal Caribbean Cruise? Thank you for all and any input. 

[Stumblefoot]

3 hours ago, coco88 said:

In your view has Silversea onboard experience adopted what one might expect on a Royal Caribbean Cruise?

No.  Not at all. 

[Gertieprickles]

4 hours ago, coco88 said:

We have become increasingly concerned in our interactions with the land office of Silversea 

We have always found that the 'land office' of Silversea lets the company down badly. They are in no-way a reflection of what you would expect onboard. Please don't let the admin side of things put you off enjoying the onboard Silversea experience.

[tgh]

In Australia ,  our experience has been that SS_au are all one might expect from a "high end" cruise line.

Working through a very competent au based ta , SS present to us as caring , competent and knowledgeable.

We could not ask for more...😊

[Randyk47]

We just got off the Silver Wind Monday after an 11-day Ft Lauderdale-Ft Lauderdale Caribbean cruise.  This was our eighth Silversea cruise and second on the Wind in the Caribbean in the past four years.  We sensed no degradation in the overall experience and actually thought the service and food was as good if not one of the best ever.   Never ever did we feel that now being a part of RCL had any impact.

[Lois R]

33 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

We just got off the Silver Wind Monday after an 11-day Ft Lauderdale-Ft Lauderdale Caribbean cruise.  This was our eighth Silversea cruise and second on the Wind in the Caribbean in the past four years.  We sensed no degradation in the overall experience and actually thought the service and food was as good if not one of the best ever.   Never ever did we feel that now being a part of RCL had any impact.

Hi Randy, welcome back...…..glad you had a good time......I will be sailing her again in April on the TA crossing!

[Randyk47]

7 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Hi Randy, welcome back...…..glad you had a good time......I will be sailing her again in April on the TA crossing!

Would love to be on the Trans-Atlantic with you.  Unfortunately it was hard enough to squeeze out time for the cruise we just got off of so no way we can.  Well I could but with Carey still working and in post-graduate studies it’s not happening.   I get “The Look” from Carey when I even hint I could cruise without her.  😬

[coco88]

Thank you all who replied to this post. We feel better now hearing from you and know that some of you are regular travellers with Silversea and regularly post to the boards. 

The Wind is our home away from home and it would be a shame if the land philosophy and treatment we experienced was extended to the ship operations. Thank you for taking the time to answer. Appreciated.

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, coco88 said:

Thank you all who replied to this post. We feel better now hearing from you and know that some of you are regular travellers with Silversea and regularly post to the boards. 

The Wind is our home away from home and it would be a shame if the land philosophy and treatment we experienced was extended to the ship operations. Thank you for taking the time to answer. Appreciated.

When are you cruising? Which cruise? Have a great time

[gofish]

We are on spirit now. When boarding in Bangkok our agent forwarded an email stating itinerary has changed ship not going to Hong Kong , getting to Taipei 1 day early. We were to get off there but now our disembarkation day is a sea day. When checking in at the dock we were told they will assist those with Silversea air but if you had a agent call them and if you did your own then you are on your own. We went to reception asking  if we could stay on 2 days to Manila or we had to get off early? We were told that they needed to contact home office and since it was Saturday it might take a while . We are also across the dateline so 3 days later there was still no response and they told us to contact our agent. We emailed our agent and they contacted home office and were told that home office didn’t know anything about an itinerary change. 
Lots of people on board with doing their own arrangements not happy with the way they handled the information.

today they changed Saturdays port. 
not impressed with the way they are handling it, home office or reception we are 5 days in and no answer to stay or go. 
On the positive side the food is good .

[Lois R]

So sorry you are not getting answers....I am of the mind set that if Guest Relations won't help you? Go above

them.  Be firm without being rude but explain to them you want some answers.

[gofish]

Well it changed this morning. The original cruise ended next Saturday in Hong Kong but got changed last Saturday to end in Manila. Today it’s changed to end in Vietnam this Saturday. 
Philippines and Taiwan are closed for cruise ships.
we are now headed back to Saigon and getting lots of announcements about their plans for us.

they are handing everyone s airline changes and a full refund of the cruise fares.

not their fault but they are doing a great job of making it good for us.
 

 

[les37b]

What a nightmare for everyone. And though your initial thoughts on hearing the news was negative, I'm pleased they've come through for you by handling everyone displaced return airfares, full refund and a 25% saving on a future booking.

 

There is nothing whatsoever Silversea can do about this and it's such a huge shame for all concerned. I notice the next sailing is still showing as starting from Manila, which I suspect we shall see changing shortly and I hope those affected have already been informed. A logistical nightmare.

 

So to answer the OP.... No I don't think RCL would be treating it's guests in the same way as SS has done here and from what I read about the quarantined vessel in Japan, passengers are locked in rooms with little and poor quality food to drink... And no refund for being incarcerated. 

 

So fair play to Silversea. Fingers crossed this doesn't become more widespread. I'd be devastated at "a full refund" for cancelling my 4 booked upcoming cruises, but also know it's not something ANY CL would want to do.

 

 

[gofish]

well at 7 pm the captain asked for all passengers to go to the theater. He announced that Saigon won’t let us in so we are now headed back to Bangkok. So maybe on the11th they will get us on airplanes.  
so we are slowing headed that way now.
no berths available till then. 

dinner was good.

[Poskashflo]

Gofish, any updates?

[gofish]

I thought we were doing good. On Saturday they said Bangkok would let us in and they’re making airline reservations for everyone.. got call that we were booked bkk  to dxb to lax to hnl on February 11.  Its a long ways to go but it’s Emirates business class at it gets us out of Asia. Captain announced everyone would have tickets by dinner time Sunday. With still no tickets on Monday  we made multiple trips To reception and were told that home office was sending them soon. They said be ready for the 10 pm bus to the airport. Now its 10 pm and our next big decision is do we sit by the gangway with suitcases or go to bed. Crew is great, home office keeps screwing it up. 
 

people at next table at dinner were told all is good and Silversea took them to the airport this morning but brought them back in the afternoon when the airline said their reservation was not good..

some people are gone but always someone at reception trying to get answers like us.

Spirit leaving tomorrow afternoon don’t know what we are doing. They are so positive when  we talk to them and then it doesn’t happen.

Saturday seemed like they had it handled and we were going home, Sunday still optimistic but starting to doubt, Monday sucks. 
looks like we are not going to the airport after all  just to bed now with no airplane tickets at all. 
I can book my own tomorrow but they keep saying they will be here soon.

 I think I’ll sleep in the room and give up on listening to Silversea. 

[Silver Spectre]

12 minutes ago, gofish said:

I thought we were doing good. On Saturday they said Bangkok would let us in and they’re making airline reservations for everyone.. got call that we were booked bkk  to dxb to lax to hnl on February 11.  Its a long ways to go but it’s Emirates business class at it gets us out of Asia. Captain announced everyone would have tickets by dinner time Sunday. With still no tickets on Monday  we made multiple trips To reception and were told that home office was sending them soon. They said be ready for the 10 pm bus to the airport. Now its 10 pm and our next big decision is do we sit by the gangway with suitcases or go to bed. Crew is great, home office keeps screwing it up. 
 

people at next table at dinner were told all is good and Silversea took them to the airport this morning but brought them back in the afternoon when the airline said their reservation was not good..

some people are gone but always someone at reception trying to get answers like us.

Spirit leaving tomorrow afternoon don’t know what we are doing. They are so positive when  we talk to them and then it doesn’t happen.

Saturday seemed like they had it handled and we were going home, Sunday still optimistic but starting to doubt, Monday sucks. 
looks like we are not going to the airport after all  just to bed now with no airplane tickets at all. 
I can book my own tomorrow but they keep saying they will be here soon.

 I think I’ll sleep in the room and give up on listening to Silversea. 

So sorry to hear that. Hope it all gets sorted asap.

[Stumblefoot]

Oh Gofish, that just sounds horrible.  And, then to think you've got to fly west nearly 7-hours, before flying east for 17 more, missing Honolulu completely, before back tracking to HNL for 6-hours.  BRUTAL!  Just brutal.

[badgerdee]

Wonder why they don’t fly you Thai Airways to Sydney, then Qantas to HNL. Both of these are direct flights and would mean you don’t need to go hours in the wrong direction! Best of luck to you.

[Stumblefoot]

27 minutes ago, badgerdee said:

Wonder why they don’t fly you Thai Airways to Sydney, then Qantas to HNL. Both of these are direct flights and would mean you don’t need to go hours in the wrong direction! Best of luck to you.

I was thinking ANA or JAL to Tokyo and then onto Honolulu.  Surely those ANA A380’s have plenty biz class seats available.

[gofish]

Well at 1030 last night we gave up getting our tickets and catching the bus   Then the couple we travel with called and said they just got their tickets and there was an 1130 bus. So I went down to reception and they said they were downloading them any minute. A half hour later they said they had printed and gave me the sheet. The sheet had a 9am flight to Dubai and then on to London. Turns out it was someone else’s tickets. 10 minutes later I was told that they had mine but it was too late to get the bus. 
I went back to the room and waved goodbye to our friends from our balcony as they went down the gangplank. 
went back down to reception and discussed options since the ship was leaving. Told them that we would just book our own return to Honolulu in the morning..

so at midnight We give up and go to bed.  At 1am they phone and and have us booked on a 9am flight and the 430 am bus, we agreed to that and am now sitting in the business lounge in Seoul waiting for our Honolulu flight home. 
we will beat our friends who left last night by 12 hours.

 

the home office was absolutely atrocious at handling this and the crew on board were spectacular.

 

happy half way home and all is good. 
 

 

[gofish]

We were told that spirit leaves today to go to Manila for their next cruise on Saturday. The crew was to sanitize the whole ship.

all of the passengers would be off today. 

[Lois R]

2 hours ago, gofish said:

We were told that spirit leaves today to go to Manila for their next cruise on Saturday. The crew was to sanitize the whole ship.

all of the passengers would be off today. 

So sorry about this mess for you.....I heard this from a friend of mine last night. The ship is actually sailing to Manila

empty--except for crew

[Observer]

If they are really sanitizing the entire ship, it would seem unlikely that family members of Filipino crew will be able to board the ship to see where the family member spends so much time away from family.  These stops in Manila are very touching.  It is so good to see crew members (many of whom have become friends) show off their workplace, beaming with pride.  I hope my prediction/assumption is mistaken.

[CanadianKate]

51 minutes ago, Observer said:

If they are really sanitizing the entire ship, it would seem unlikely that family members of Filipino crew will be able to board the ship to see where the family member spends so much time away from family.  These stops in Manila are very touching.  It is so good to see crew members (many of whom have become friends) show off their workplace, beaming with pride.  I hope my prediction/assumption is mistaken.

 

When we went, there was a tent set up on the pier for family to meet and greet at but the family didn't come onto the ship. Whether or not they'll deny meeting with family (in case any of them were exposed to anyone from China) would be another matter.