Has Silversea Really Changed That Much?

[lolawpb]

We were longtime Silversea cruisers but haven’t been aboard since 2019. Upon our return to cruising after the shutdowns, we decided to try out some other lines as we are Florida based and could easily jump on with shorter notice and a quick drive to the ports. Having experimented with Celebrity Retreat and most recently the Oceania Vista, we are a bit nostalgic for Silversea. My fear is that it won’t be anything like we remember and we will have spent a substantial amount over Oceania or another line just to be disappointed. We remember impeccable service, great CDs, very good food and wine, and small and organized shore excursions. They made us feel special always. For those who have been with them for a while, has the experience and food deteriorated as much as some of the posts on here say? We didn’t love Oceania after the quality of food and service on SS but I’m a bit concerned that what we remember is long gone. 

[DavyWavey70]

One thing that you will immediately notice is the pricing. I’d love to return to SS but I’m struggling to see any value in the current rates. There is only 1 cruise that interests me for my next holiday Jan 25) and a basic verandah comes out at £1,645.50 per night for a solo. That might be worth paying for a superb experience but taking into account both the reports onboard and the photos of School dinners onboard, my dollar is goin elsewhere. 

[Emtbsam]

Things have changed on Silversea, but haven’t we all in the last 5 years!  

[DavyWavey70]

Just for clarification, I was also interested in one of the Antarctica cruises but the cheapest cabin on that one was £64,798 or £4,320 per person per night.

Edited April 1 by DavyWavey70

[lolawpb]

Silversea was previously the better priced of the luxury lines but the new “inclusive” packaging along with general increases has really made me think twice. We don’t mind paying a little more if it’s truly a high luxury product but many comments are concerning and we don’t always want excursions if we’ve been to a port multiple times. 

[Silver Spectre]

At the moment SS is charging for a 6* product and struggling to provide much over 4.5*s. Understaffed by new, undertrained or uninterested crew, huge supply issues and a complete lack of interest or understanding from shoreside. And a tin ear from senior management.

[drron29]

For us the crew is not the issue. Most of the new staff recruited by SS that we have met have experience with other cruise lines or in Hospitality. Five of the new crew we have met in the last 6 months have been from the Hyatt Dubai and 3 from the Royal Livingstone hotel Zimbabwe. They are excellent.

However food quality and provisioning have gone backwards. If the increase in pricing goes towards better provisioning and quality ingredients then maybe things will be OK but I doubt it.

 

Although things have been satisfactory on our current Muse cruise have been OK our butler said today he had to search high and low before finding a banana of decent quality for our fruit bowl. I do like a fresh banana every day. There should be no excuse for that,

 

The excursions are also experiencing a decrease in quality. Our 3 Japanese excursions have had 34,38 and 39 passengers on a bus. Way more than in the past.

[Gourmet Gal]

24 minutes ago, drron29 said:

The excursions are also experiencing a decrease in quality. Our 3 Japanese excursions have had 34,38 and 39 passengers on a bus. Way more than in the past.

But are the bus groups broken up into smaller tours?

[drron29]

11 minutes ago, Gourmet Gal said:

But are the bus groups broken up into smaller tours?

No.

[TLCOhio]

13 hours ago, DavyWavey70 said:

One thing that you will immediately notice is the pricing. I’d love to return to SS but I’m struggling to see any value in the current rates. There is only 1 cruise that interests me for my next holiday Jan 25) and a basic verandah comes out at £1,645.50 per night for a solo. That might be worth paying for a superb experience but taking into account both the reports onboard and the photos of School dinners onboard, my dollar is goin elsewhere. 

 

Appreciate this excellent question and the great, insightful follow-ups.  

 

Having just completed a Feb. 11-29 Silver Moon, Mumbai to Singapore experience, there were many super positives, including as to the nice ship, excellent staff, generally very good food quality, etc.  

 

But, VALUE is a legitimate question and concern.  We fortunately booked ten months ahead, had a good price by planning/acting so early, had a nice upgrade from our guarantee suite, etc.

 

HOWEVER, the "bean counters" in Monaco and Miami played "cheap" and stupid in certain ways with failing to deliver on the promised "Silversea luxury" during our three days in Mumbai.  Our shore tours through Silversea were generally OK and not too packed/crowded.  But, there were a few goofs on the tours that reflected poor management/oversight by Silversea.  

 

Now, looking ahead, it is much harder to find "value" as prices have been jacked up so very, very much.  That's part of an overall cruise industry "greed game" to make up for losses/borrowing due to Covid shut-downs.  However, long-term, Silversea needs to keep the "balance" reasonable.  Will it happen or not?   

 

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

India to Singaore 2024: Live/Blog with many visuals, including “Golden Triangle”, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2992045-live-terryohio-india-to-signapore-silver-moon-rising-pix’s/

[spinnaker2]

The quality has been reduced. The food quality is mediocre to poor.

We never had any fruit bowl in our Silver Suite. We had but one soap when we arrived. 

So many cut backs, too numerous to list.

Running out of fresh food mid cruise. Running out of many wines mid cruise. There were ports we stopped at but no effort to restock anything.

And the attitude of yes has been replaced by nope.

 

 

[lolawpb]

Many thanks to all of you for the insightful comments. For us the recent cruise travel has been about the experience on the ship and not as much the itinerary so this is of great importance. We were a little underwhelmed with our recent Oceania experience although the ship was lovely and the butler and suite experience was just as good as Silversea (with the exception of alcohol being included in the mini fridge). It was some of the food quality and small things like slow or nonexistent service at the pool deck that bothered us. It seems that going back to Silversea may not exactly solve those issues especially if the price is quite a bit higher. It's a bit sad for us as we were always devoted to SS as our first and literally only choice for many years but as TLCOhio stated, "VALUE is a legitimate question and concern."

[pavementends]

You can't go home again (cf. Thomas Wolfe) and you can't step into the same river twice.

 

Fortunately I've only started to cruise Silversea so previous experiences haven't stopped me from having a good time. As for price, I have been able to book at what I consider to be reasonable prices (although this was during the recent sale, not afterwards. And for a couple, not single).

 

I can't help suspecting that the extremely high cabin price mentioned above for an Antarctic trip was either the last very high end cabin or a website error. Yes, the Antarctic costs a lot but it doesn't need to be that much.

 

[Gourmet Gal]

4 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

But are the bus groups broken up into smaller tours?

 

4 hours ago, drron29 said:

No.

That right there seems like a mass, non-luxury cruise experience.  I book for itinerary first and then book a cruise line in the luxury category that fits that requirement.  So this is very concerning because, after all, I’m paying for those excursions and have a high-end expectation.  

[machotspur]

6 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

At the moment SS is charging for a 6* product and struggling to provide much over 4.5*s. Understaffed by new, undertrained or uninterested crew, huge supply issues and a complete lack of interest or understanding from shoreside. And a tin ear from senior management.

 

Mr Silver - I can't help but think that you were on our recent cruise, as oyu have captured perfectly our feelings. 😉

 

Mrs Machotspur & I sailed on Silver Dawn a couple of weeks back (Barbados to Barbados), preceding the TA reported by spinnaker2. Prior to this cruise we had very much enjoyed the ‘Muse class’ ships – they had become our favourite of any cruise company. This latter cruise on Dawn could not have been more different – or less enjoyable.

 

In short we found a whole range of shortcomings, across F&B, service, shore excursions – and managment/shoreside attitudes – far too much to detail here. This cruise was for us the least satisfactory - and least enjoyable – of the significant number of cruises we have taken on SS/SB/Regent/O.  Of course others onboard may have disembarked with more positive feelings.

 

Whilst we avoided discussing the situation with many Silversea regulars, there were apparently some 160 Silversea ‘newbies’ onboard. We spoke to quite a few of these, all of which were incredulous that what they were experiencing was a supposed ‘ultra luxury’ product, compared to the mid market product that they usually purchase.

 

There has been various comments made on here about the decline of the Silversea product and how an ever increasing price is being asked for something that is further and further from ‘ultra luxury’. As far as I can see the same sentiments are being voiced about the competitors of Silversea.

 

It is my belief that sadly what we are now experiencing is the future of SS/SB/Regent.  In my humble opinion RCI, Carnival, NCL all know that they have a large number of repeat mature guests that are willing to accept/excuse/ignore the decline in standards. I suspect that they also believe that the majority of these same guests – despite the ‘huffing & puffing’ – would be horrified at the thought of ‘divorcing’ their favourite cruise company.

Just take a look at the postings on ‘the other place’ to witness the overwhelming positivity shown !! (One will have their own opinion as to why this could be !).

 

At the end of the day it's all about personal opinions - "we pays our money and makes our choice" ! 

 

Mrs Machospur and I have - for now at least - filed for that 'SS divorce'.

 

 

[Observer]

23 minutes ago, machotspur said:

I suspect that they also believe that the majority of these same guests – despite the ‘huffing & puffing’ – would be horrified at the thought of ‘divorcing’ their favourite cruise company.

 

 

Divorce can be attractive when one can compare ~$1500/day solo cruise fares with the value, consistent quality, and amenities offered at luxury resorts and hotels.  

[Gourmet Gal]

1 hour ago, Observer said:

 

Divorce can be attractive when one can compare ~$1500/day solo cruise fares with the value, consistent quality, and amenities offered at luxury resorts and hotels.  

Not so sure about that value proposition.  If SS is to be compared to Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Peninsula and above, it wouldn’t be unusual to pay at least $1500 per day for a basic room depending upon location and season.  You might possibly have breakfast included but meals at those hotels are also expensive.  Add on taxes, resort fees, parking or transportation, etc.  A 3-day stay could easily be well over $5000. Hotel rates have also significantly increased lately.

 

No doubt SS considers themselves to be on par with those chains…at least FS and RC, but can the consumer now consider them on par?  Now if the hotel comparison drops down to one of the mass chains then perhaps there is a valid argument regarding value.

[drron29]

Re The comment about no fruit bowl in suites. We had no fruit bowl for the first 2 days of the current cruise. So I asked our butler if they were no longer supplied. He said they were available on request so I requested one. I was asked what fruit I wanted so that is a positive. 
 

The problem is that no where is it stated that if you want a fruit bowl you have to ask. A similar situation for ordering from the In Suite Dining menu. Yes you can order from it in restaurants and we have done this a few times in Atlantide. Those new to SS have no idea that this can be done.

Of course there have also been cuts in this menu. For example lobster and caviar are no longer on it. But asking I was told that caviar is available at any time but lobster may not be and could be a special request with 24 hours notice. There have been some differences between senior crew that I have asked such as Restaurant Managers and those higher up in the Hotel Department management.

[turtlemichael]

The OP was asking whether they would be disappointed on Silversea, compared with their last sailing 5 years ago, given the increased number of adverse comments in recent times. A perfectly reasonable question to me.  My last cruise was the World Cruise 2023 on Shadow. Prior to that it was a Pacific Island cruise on Muse in 2020 and the World Cruise in 2019 on Whisper. All were excellent in most respects. Of course, you'd expect a WC to be good given it is their premium product. The next is on Nova in November. I haven't deserted Silversea for anyone else. I've just done a lot less cruising as there are many other things on land to do and the attractions of cruising after 600+ days are fading.

 

Now, I'm interested to know what are the intentions of the many people here with significant adverse comments. Is it to move to another line, keep sailing with Silversea or cut back sailing overall? Is it so bad now, for the price, that you don't want to sail with Silversea any more? I'm particularly interested in the views of those who have done many trips on Silversea rather than just one, or even none. 

[turtlemichael]

7 minutes ago, drron29 said:

Re The comment about no fruit bowl in suites. We had no fruit bowl for the first 2 days of the current cruise. So I asked our butler if they were no longer supplied. He said they were available on request so I requested one. I was asked what fruit I wanted so that is a positive. 
 

 

Our experience of automatic fruit bowls on Silversea was the fruit was usually so under ripe that it would not get eaten. Peaches like cricket balls for example. The only bits we would eat were the grapes! On request seems reasonable but you have to be told by Silversea that that is possible.

[Gourmet Gal]

1 hour ago, turtlemichael said:

Our experience of automatic fruit bowls on Silversea was the fruit was usually so under ripe that it would not get eaten. Peaches like cricket balls for example. The only bits we would eat were the grapes! On request seems reasonable but you have to be told by Silversea that that is possible.

Seems less wasteful to have fruit bowls by request but agree it should be stated somewhere.

[jpalbny]

54 minutes ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Seems less wasteful to have fruit bowls by request but agree it should be stated somewhere.

 

I will admit, they were wasted on us for sure. Except for the little 750ml "fruit" bottles of liquefied grapes which used to briefly occupy our fridge!

[Port Power]

3 hours ago, turtlemichael said:

Now, I'm interested to know what are the intentions of the many people here with significant adverse comments. Is it to move to another line, keep sailing with Silversea or cut back sailing overall? Is it so bad now, for the price, that you don't want to sail with Silversea any more? I'm particularly interested in the views of those who have done many trips on Silversea rather than just one, or even none. 

I have been on 7 Silversea cruises, all extended voyages and most at least 14 days each.  I have another this year and two booked in 2026.  My Antarctica cruise was booked 18 months in advance, which is why there was only a 25% solo supplement added.  As are the 2026 cruises.
 

I definitely will not book a SS cruise at the double occupancy rate. Looking at the new price schedules, I doubt that I will book SS again.  There is a limit to what I can afford, as well as a price limit on what I consider value.  
 

Running out of fresh food on a long Antartica cruise is not unusual.  There are no ports to reprovision!  However, I was surprised and not impressed that ships were not taking on fresh produce in larger ports along the way as they used to do.  I just cannot think why that practice has stopped.  Bad move!  Bad decision.
 

So I won’t say “never again”.  I’ll keep my eye on fares and will see what happens.  However I might now be taking cruises more locally (saving on expensive, long haul international flights) on NCL or Celebrity instead.  More entertainment as well as good food, but without the expectation of excellent food.

[Gourmet Gal]

1 hour ago, jpalbny said:

 

I will admit, they were wasted on us for sure. Except for the little 750ml "fruit" bottles of liquefied grapes which used to briefly occupy our fridge!

Yes, I know you like your “fruit” juice!

[jmmiva]

I have no complaints.  I really enjoy SS and think the food is great.  Excursions, not so much.  I tend to arrange my own.  Bus rides are not my thing.