Silver Shadow in the Mediterean

[liamur14]

Good evening everyone.🙂.  Has anyone been on the Silver Shadow recently?   I am reading poor reviews  for  2019 / 2020 regarding food quality, wine selections, and overall customer service. We were looking at the Sept 8, 2021 Med ( 12 day).  The prices should reflect quality I think, We have been on Princess and Holland. Thank you in advance for all your time responding.  Regards 😎

[QueSeraSera]

We enjoyed our last December cruise on the Shadow, and would happily sail her again.

[Stumblefoot]

We were on the Shadow in Feb., 2019 and it was fantastic.  Since our voyage, the ship has been upgraded extensively, so should be even better.

[Emtbsam]

We are booked on that cruise which is the first leg of the Grand Mediterranean cruise.  It should be good.

[nowornever]

We were on the last cruises before it call came crashing down,  & it looked wonderful after the updates.  Food is always subjective but I thought it was overall excellent.  Their included wine selections are perfectly fine & if the "suggested" ones are not to your taste, you can certainly ask for an alternative.   I can't even imagine a better crew anywhere, unless of course, you bring your own staff.😁We will do the Med. Grand Voyage without any hesitation...health considerations not withstanding.  You will find that there is no comparison with Holland or Princess.  

[nowornever]

Emtbsam...I signed in on your roll call page & will look forward to meeting you.

[Emtbsam]

1 minute ago, nowornever said:

Emtbsam...I signed in on your roll call page & will look forward to meeting you.

Let us keep our fingers crossed.

[nowornever]

I feel more hopeful now than I felt about the Whisper June 2021 cruise that has now been canceled. Fingers crossed for the vaccine.  At least it's something to look forward to after the Moon cancelation & now the Whisper.  Hope springs eternal.

[jpalbny]

58 minutes ago, nowornever said:

Emtbsam...I signed in on your roll call page & will look forward to meeting you.

 

You will enjoy meeting the Emtbsams. We certainly did! Hope your cruise goes as scheduled. We have two in the Med booked for next year and hopefully at least one happens.

[eastwoodboy]

Our Caribbean sailing on Shadow in January was upto standard and we have 2 more booked on Shadow for the latter parts of next year. Need I say more?

[Randyk47]

On 11/17/2020 at 4:49 PM, liamur14 said:

Good evening everyone.🙂.  Has anyone been on the Silver Shadow recently?   I am reading poor reviews  for  2019 / 2020 regarding food quality, wine selections, and overall customer service. We were looking at the Sept 8, 2021 Med ( 12 day).  The prices should reflect quality I think, We have been on Princess and Holland. Thank you in advance for all your time responding.  Regards 😎

We were on the Silver Wind this past January with a gentleman who had something like 700 days on Silversea.  He bemoaned a number of times he wasn’t on the Silver Shadow and raved on and on about the ship, crew, service, etc.  Apparently the only reason he was on the Wind was because of a business commitment he had that he couldn’t make if he was on the Shadow.   Not sure of his exact number of days on the Shadow but he made it sound like it was the majority of his 700 days.  Might add that as a 4-star Mariner on Holland America there is no comparison for overall experience versus Silversea.  We will probably never cruise with Holland America again.   

Edited November 29, 2020 by Randyk47

[crusinbanjo]

47 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

We were on the Silver Wind this past January with a gentleman who had something like 700 days on Silversea.  He bemoaned a number of times he wasn’t on the Silver Shadow and raved on and on about the ship, crew, service, etc.  Apparently the only reason he was on the Wind was because of a business commitment he had that he couldn’t make if he was on the Shadow.   Not sure of his exact number of days on the Shadow but he made it sound like it was the majority of his 700 days.  Might add that as a 4-star Mariner on Holland America there is no comparison for overall experience versus Silversea.  We will probably never cruise with Holland America again.   

Mrs Banjo and I were on the wind in January as well, (it seems so long ago now),  I think we might have made similar comments before as well.  In any case we also are 4 star mariners on Holland America, but will likely never return to them. Since all the small ships are now gone, there is nothing that attracts us anymore to HAL or many of the other "Big Boat" lines. 

Personally Mrs Banjo and I have only one trip on SS that is not on either the Wind or the Cloud.  WE were on the Whisper, (I think), for Hong Kong to Singapore in 2019.  WE liked that ship a lot and certainly would be on her again, if the IT were right, but our preferences are still with the Wind and the Cloud. 

[Randyk47]

10 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

Mrs Banjo and I were on the wind in January as well, (it seems so long ago now),  I think we might have made similar comments before as well.  In any case we also are 4 star mariners on Holland America, but will likely never return to them. Since all the small ships are now gone, there is nothing that attracts us anymore to HAL or many of the other "Big Boat" lines. 

Personally Mrs Banjo and I have only one trip on SS that is not on either the Wind or the Cloud.  WE were on the Whisper, (I think), for Hong Kong to Singapore in 2019.  WE liked that ship a lot and certainly would be on her again, if the IT were right, but our preferences are still with the Wind and the Cloud. 

I took a short 4-day “try it you’ll like” cruise on the Carnival Fantasy in 1993 to see if I liked cruising.   Based on that experience my TA booked me on the then quite new MS Ryndam and actually consider that my very first real cruise.   That started a series of annual cruises on Holland America, with the exception of one Celebrity cruise, until 2011.   Late that year we were looking for a Med cruise and had pretty well settled on the Prinsendam when we came across a similar cruise on the Silver Wind that was actually two days longer and actually less expensive.  Figured we’d give it a try as we’d seen a degradation in Holland America food and service.   That was it.  Eight Silversea cruises later and I’d say we’re now Silversea “loyalists”.   

[crusinbanjo]

3 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

I took a short 4-day “try it you’ll like” cruise on the Carnival Fantasy in 1993 to see if I liked cruising.   Based on that experience my TA booked me on the then quite new MS Ryndam and actually consider that my very first real cruise.   That started a series of annual cruises on Holland America, with the exception of one Celebrity cruise, until 2011.   Late that year we were looking for a Med cruise and had pretty well settled on the Prinsendam when we came across a similar cruise on the Silver Wind that was actually two days longer and actually less expensive.  Figured we’d give it a try as we’d seen a degradation in Holland America food and service.   That was it.  Eight Silversea cruises later and I’d say we’re now Silversea “loyalists”.   

For Mrs Banjo and myself, our first cruise was on the island Princess, (the original Love Boat), in 1990.  We sailed from Vancouver to Alaska with an extensive land tour to Prudhoe Bay and back.  That hooked us on cruising.  From there we bounced back & forth on HAL and Princess, until out TA booked us on the Silver Wind in the Mediterranean.  From then on, it was almost exclusively Regent, Silver Sea and or Seabourn.  Holland America, was the default if all others didn’t work out.  Now with the S class ships gone Holland America is no longer an option.

[Randyk47]

1 hour ago, crusinbanjo said:

For Mrs Banjo and myself, our first cruise was on the island Princess, (the original Love Boat), in 1990.  We sailed from Vancouver to Alaska with an extensive land tour to Prudhoe Bay and back.  That hooked us on cruising.  From there we bounced back & forth on HAL and Princess, until out TA booked us on the Silver Wind in the Mediterranean.  From then on, it was almost exclusively Regent, Silver Sea and or Seabourn.  Holland America, was the default if all others didn’t work out.  Now with the S class ships gone Holland America is no longer an option.

As I mentioned the MS Ryndam was my first HAL cruise with who would turn out to be my ex-wife.   We cruised a couple more years but divorced in 1996.  Four years after my first Ryndam cruise my new bride and I honeymoon on the Ryndam.  I figured no problem as crews and staff turn over pretty regularly.   First night of the cruise I take my bride to the Crow’s Next for a before dinner cocktail.    Over comes the waiter and he says “Doctor Randy and...and...and not same wife.”   My wife just laughed and one of my favorite pictures is Ronald and my wife in the Crow’s Nest.   One of the hardest things about leaving HAL was their great staff.  Unfortunately over the years the level of service diminished but we found it again on Silversea.   I do agree that the loss of the HAL S class and the Prinsendam was the final straw for us.   We won’t go back.  No big ships for us.   

Edited November 29, 2020 by Randyk47

[crusinbanjo]

On 11/29/2020 at 6:34 PM, Randyk47 said:

 Four years after my first Ryndam cruise my new bride and I honeymoon on the Ryndam.  I figured no problem as crews and staff turn over pretty regularly.   First night of the cruise I take my bride to the Crow’s Next for a before dinner cocktail.    Over comes the waiter and he says “Doctor Randy and...

Mrs Banjo and I had a similar, (well not that similar) situation with an assistant Maitre D, (Mickey), we met on one of our first SS cruises in the Med.  Years later we ran into him again, we never expected him to remember us, with the thousands of pax who pass by each year.  But, when we walked into the restaurant he just looked up, as casual as can be and said welcome back Mr and Mrs Poirier.  I was blown away because we always keep a low profile.  WE have met many extraordinary crew members over the years.  SS has some of the best and we miss them all.

 

[jollyjones]

Don’t wish to rain on your parade, but I have been told that before each cruise the crew are given on their tablets the pax list with photos and past cruising history, and they are expected to learn it as much as they can so they can greet pax by name. 
That notwithstanding, SS still has the best crews ever. 

Edited December 1, 2020 by jollyjones

[Tothesunset]

1 hour ago, jollyjones said:

That notwithstanding, SS still has the best crews ever. 

Seconded

[crusinbanjo]

On 12/1/2020 at 1:48 PM, jollyjones said:

Don’t wish to rain on your parade, but I have been told that before each cruise the crew are given on their tablets the pax list with photos and past cruising history, and they are expected to learn it as much as they can so they can greet pax by name. 
That notwithstanding, SS still has the best crews ever. 

I know they do that now, as do many of the cruise lines, particularly when you buy a premium suite.  Not sure if they were doing it in the 90's..  But point well taken.