Silversea overall quality dropped?

[Tape70]

I was planning on making a reservation on Silver Seas Mediterranean cruise (2023), as our reservation on the Ritz Carlton yacht was cancelled (again). But as I read the latest reviews it seems that perhaps with the new owner and savings, the experience and food, wouldn't be what it used to be. Now I'm wondering if I should give them also a pass and look for other cruise lines.  What do you think? And if I would like to sail the Greek archipelago, what would my options be? I liked the idea of a smaller ship in that area, but bigger would be ok if upgrades to a suite. Silverseas does have a great itinerary in that area.

[gcornell]

A few recent threads on this.  Seems to depend on the individual.  We recently did a SS cruise and are doing the Med July next year and Iceland in 24. I think every industry has had some service issues. Some used it as an excuse to drop a lot of things. SS had a few tweaks but nothing that would take away from the overall experience for the vast majority.  

[WesW]

Have enjoyed Silversea since 2006 and was on the Silver Dawn in April.  In my experience the quality (service, dining venues, itinerary variety (classic or expedition) has only improved.

[mysty]

2 minutes ago, gcornell said:

A few recent threads on this.  Seems to depend on the individual.  We recently did a SS cruise and are doing the Med July next year and Iceland in 24. I think every industry has had some service issues. Some used it as an excuse to drop a lot of things. SS had a few tweaks but nothing that would take away from the overall experience for the vast majority.  

 

It may be that the continuing situation with COVID is playing a role in the ability of all cruise lines to perform as they did in the before times.   The world is still off its axis.

[TLCOhio]

13 minutes ago, Tape70 said:

Silverseas does have a great itinerary in that area.

 

For us, if the itinerary is "GREAT", then that is a very, very big positive.  One of Silversea's major pluses has been their various ports and other unique connections to the local areas you will be visiting and experiencing.  

 

Agree with gcornell about "I think every industry has had some service issues."  Even before Covid, the service and experience quality could vary depending on the passenger mix, length of the cruise, staffing variations, etc.  And all of the cruise lines are under pressure from the bean-counter, finance types to cut costs and figure out ways to be "more economical".    All of the cruise lines have billions of dollars in debts to pay off and try to return to 'normal"!!

 

Mysty has nailed it well with "The world is still off its axis."

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 244,710 views.

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

 

[jpalbny]

Nostalgia and old memories are hard to compete with. I'm not as good as I was in 2009 (when we first tried SS), and I don't expect SS to be either. BUT - Can anyone name a travel company whose service and product was markedly improved by the events of the past few years? The world is a different place now. Travel is a mess. Things may never return to the way they were. If everyone has slipped a notch or two, it's not fair to hold that against the individual companies.

 

The question should be whether or not SS still offers a product that satisfies you vis-a-vis the price you pay for it. For us, it does. If there's another line that suits someone else better, by all means they should cruise with that line.

 

I think the only way to determine whether SS meets your standards is to try it for yourself. Go into the cruise looking to have a fantastic time. DO NOT look to make comparisons between SS of today vs your expectations of what SS was like in some mythical time in the past. That doesn't exist any longer. If you don't enjoy it despite that, then you know it's not for you. Hope you enjoy it!

[Stumblefoot]

29 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

I think the only way to determine whether SS meets your standards is to try it for yourself.

Agree.

 

Making a decision on whether to sail SS by asking people what they think about looking at other cruise lines in a Silversea forum is a folly for fools.

 

 

[machotspur]

We were regular Silversea cruisers until 2014 at which time the decline in the quality of the product (in our personal opinion) caused us to move our business to competitors.

 

We were on the maiden voyage of Silver Dawn in April of this year and quite frankly were blown away by how much the product had improved since our experiences of 8 years previous. Despite it being an inaugural cruise - with understandable teething issues - we really loved the whole experience. As a result we are on Silver Moon next month with other cruises beyond.

 

In our opinion the Silversea product has improved immeasurably since the RCCL takeover. In the past few years we have experience of Regent and Seabourn and believe that the experience on the new generation of Silversea ship is currently the best available.        

[A Tucson Guy]

28 minutes ago, machotspur said:

We were regular Silversea cruisers until 2014 at which time the decline in the quality of the product (in our personal opinion) caused us to move our business to competitors.

 

We were on the maiden voyage of Silver Dawn in April of this year and quite frankly were blown away by how much the product had improved since our experiences of 8 years previous. Despite it being an inaugural cruise - with understandable teething issues - we really loved the whole experience. As a result we are on Silver Moon next month with other cruises beyond.

 

In our opinion the Silversea product has improved immeasurably since the RCCL takeover. In the past few years we have experience of Regent and Seabourn and believe that the experience on the new generation of Silversea ship is currently the best available.        

Having just gotten off the Moon on 7-15-22, I agree 100%. That being said, all my future five cruises are only on the Moon, Dawn, Nova and Ray. I just like all the food choices especially SALT and Silver Note. Other ships are just a no go for me.

[markham]

I guess this conversation is going full circle since there are lots of opinions about what is what these days.

 

We are on Dawn now. The food quality is superb and have our routines including rotating between Atlantide and Terrazza for dinners. The 3 ships of the Muse class are light years ahead of the Cloud and Whisper class ships. Makes Silversea a small line for us to select a cruise with.

 

We know a few passengers who, like us, alternate with Seabourn ships for cruises. What we all miss is the entertainment: poolside activities, officer engagement and spontaneity of a cruise director plus staff which very obviously have a much bigger budget and more important emphasis for the product. You all can take it from there, and you might as well try Seabourn to see for yourselves.

 

I hope that helps put things into perspective.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[les37b]

On our January sailing the negatives we experienced were all COVID related or use of 3rd party operators who definitely fell short of the goal.

 

We were fortunate that numbers sailing were low, so service particularly after leaving quarantine, were always very good but actually got better. (And I genuinely think the guest count going down from 220 to 120 wasn't the reason... SS just treated us with kid gloves and couldn't do enough.)

 

I've zero concerns on the quality for the 3 future bookings we have.... though I think we have just lost Japan 2023 and I don't think that'll end well with clear increases in prices.... Not good on something originally booked in March 2019 and already cancelled twice. I don't think this will be third time lucky.

[Tape70]

Thank you so much for your comments! So great to hear that you find the quality very good or even better than before.

 

I was worried about the latest reviews and the possibility for the new owner trying to save too much and of course keeping in mind the COVID situation, war, travel restrictions etc, word is a different place now for many reasons. Because it could have affected the quality "too much" which was the reason I asked, great to hear that it hasn't. 

 

I'll look closer my cruise options for the summer 2023 🙂

 

[MBP&O2/O]

Our last SS cruise was essentially fine once on board, however I found the UK corporate side of things very very poor. Emails were ignored, no information was given re  boarding times etc. I suspect that may have been down to the pcc .. we had a new one as Stefan ... who was excellent ... had gone back to Switzerland.

[UKCruiseJeff]

30 minutes ago, Tape70 said:

Thank you so much for your comments! So great to hear that you find the quality very good or even better than before.

 

I was worried about the latest reviews and the possibility for the new owner trying to save too much and of course keeping in mind the COVID situation, war, travel restrictions etc, word is a different place now for many reasons. Because it could have affected the quality "too much" which was the reason I asked, great to hear that it hasn't. 

 

I'll look closer my cruise options for the summer 2023 🙂

 

 

Ritz-Carlton seems impressive. 🙂

 

The reviews on the reviews sections of CC that you read that caused  you to wisely to be concerned are from a wide range of customers who are either long-term SS customers or not.  They may have only had that single cruise. They are a cross-section or new and existing customers and you can make of the reviews what you will.No one is given the option to rubbish their opinions. 

 

A forum for a particular cruise line is more likely to be differently populated.  The more prolific posters are of course likely to be loyal and extremely happy customers. 

 

Concluding that a product specific forum is a safer source to rely on than  the wider  reviews section of the website is an interesting approach.

 

Good luck 🙂

 

 

[Mr Luxury]

I sailed Silver Moon  August 2021 and enjoyed it.

The food and service were excellent.

I am currently on the Seabourn Encore sailing from Patmos to Kudadasi and I am am having a wonderful time.

The ship is spotlessly clean and the food great.

There are many new staff that are new to the cruise industry and they are being trained well.

The world has changed a bit but if you go with a positive attitude then you'll be ok I'm sure.

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Mr Luxury

[ronrick1943]

To us, it depends on the crew—-if the crew is good, should be a good cruise.  One never knows until you cruise.  Go with a good attitude, if something happens-just work with it, don’t get all up set.