Has Silversea Really Changed That Much?

[canderson]

21 minutes ago, tinaincc said:

What is MCRIDE?

 

Suspect AKA Magic Carpet.

[spinnaker2]

3 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

A people have been worried that any relaxing of the dress code would erode the luxury experience.  Lately, many posts would indicate that SS is doing a good job of eroding the experience in so many other ways.  Really disappointing.

The Silversea experience has been deliberately and systematically eroded by the management. By penny pinching, profit taking and metric splicing,  the Royal people have eliminated the little and big touches that made Silversea seem special, and a luxury line. The product has been dumbed down so much.

 

Relaxing the dress code may make the pax look less elegant, but the Silversea bears the brunt of the blame for what has happened. Frankly, I do not think the management cares. The older and wiser Silversea pax of old are not valued, after all they are expendable just by virtue of age. 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

46 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Frankly, I do not think the management cares. The older and wiser Silversea pax of old are not valued, after all they are expendable just by virtue of age.

And that expensive free laundry perk!

[commodoredave]

6 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

We found the service at breakfast in La Terrazza very inconsistent. It was consistently inconsistent on both our SS cruises, the Dawn and the Spirit. The idea of ordering some items like omelet from a waiter instead of standing in line is good, but the implementation is terrible. Sometimes we waited 15-20 minutes for some of those items. Also many times I had to wait a long time for Perrier (it was almost like they have to bring it from another ship), so at some point I gave up and just settled for their "in house" soda, which is pretty bad compared to Perrier. Around mid cruise they ran out of Perrier and Pellegrino anyway.. 

 

I was very surprised to experience such basic service issues on an ultra luxury line.

Agree 100%. Part of the reason for slow and inconsistent service is that the table staff are now responsible for things that were once done by the buffet waiters. This includes making toast, making soft boiled eggs, making non-crispy American bacon, etc. Now all these requests go into the kitchen which slows everything down. Maybe SS will figure this out in due course.

[Gourmet Gal]

Does anyone know what the crew to pax ratio is now compared to pre-Covid?

[JMMKUK]

SS have been repeated calling us this week to discuss our future cruises. They don't get through because we have a caller filter & as yet I haven't put their number in. Just wondering if they are getting fewer repeat bookings & are going on an all out sales campaign.

After reading this thread I'm not sure I want to talk to our cruise advisor.

 

[MBP&O2/O]

12 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

The Silversea experience has been deliberately and systematically eroded by the management. By penny pinching, profit taking and metric splicing,  the Royal people have eliminated the little and big touches that made Silversea seem special, and a luxury line. The product has been dumbed down so much.

Wait until the start changing the ships names😁

Aura of the Silver Ray?

Magic of the Silver Spirit?

Poetry of the Silver Muse?

 

The list could be endless.

 

Of course there will be a small price increase to pay for this but hey ho the esteemed guests will oblige.

 

If it is of any consolation I was talking to a manager in a local supermarket  .. part of a chain, and he said their corporate head office was well aware that customers did not like the way they did things but that was the way they chose to and that was the way it would stay.

[Tothesunset]

5 weeks from now we will be boarding the Wind. It's going to be very hard to approach that voyage with our normal excitement in view of the opinions expressed in this thread (and elsewhere). 

 

Of course, some aspects of the experience will have changed since our last trip on her in 2019; that's normal, things change. What we don't expect is change for the worse. And what we certainly don't expect is overt penny-pinching, upselling, mediocre food, diffident staff or gauche fellow passengers (although there's always a few...).

 

Hoping to be pleasantly surprised. 

[JMMKUK]

5 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

5 weeks from now we will be boarding the Wind. It's going to be very hard to approach that voyage with our normal excitement in view of the opinions expressed in this thread (and elsewhere). 

 

Of course, some aspects of the experience will have changed since our last trip on her in 2019; that's normal, things change. What we don't expect is change for the worse. And what we certainly don't expect is overt penny-pinching, upselling, mediocre food, diffident staff or gauche fellow passengers (although there's always a few...).

 

Hoping to be pleasantly surprised. 

Really enjoyed the sudoku race & the afternoon quiz when we sailed on her. Met some great people through the quiz. That was in 2017 so before her refurb.

Hope you have a fabulous time.

[Fletcher]

22 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

5 weeks from now we will be boarding the Wind. It's going to be very hard to approach that voyage with our normal excitement in view of the opinions expressed in this thread (and elsewhere). Hoping to be pleasantly surprised. 

I'm boarding The Wind in two days . . . taking my own food.  Oh and Mrs Fletcher.

[lincslady]

21 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

I'm boarding The Wind in two days . . . taking my own food.  Oh and Mrs Fletcher.

Is that so that she can do the cooking?

[Lirio]

4 hours ago, Fletcher said:

I'm boarding The Wind in two days . . . taking my own food.  Oh and Mrs Fletcher.

Are you in Manaus already?

[jpalbny]

17 minutes ago, Lirio said:

Are you in Manaus already?

 

He's probably out food shopping! 

[commodoredave]

Great news! I went up to the Pool Grill today to see if I could pre-order a freshly made hamburger for tomorrow lunch rather than the pathetic pre-processed, frozen and thin burger we received a few days ago (see below photo). To my complete surprise and delight, I was told that the Grill was no longer serving these burgers, and had returned to making their own fresh and plump burgers. They even took me behind the counter to show me the fresh burgers. Wow! What a fantastic mid-cruise course correction by SS.! Thank you!! Having one of these new burgers tomorrow and looking forward to it.

 

 

[Aussieflyer]

27 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

Great news! I went up to the Pool Grill today to see if I could pre-order a freshly made hamburger for tomorrow lunch rather than the pathetic pre-processed, frozen and thin burger we received a few days ago (see below photo). To my complete surprise and delight, I was told that the Grill was no longer serving these burgers, and had returned to making their own fresh and plump burgers. They even took me behind the counter to show me the fresh burgers. Wow! What a fantastic mid-cruise course correction by SS.! Thank you!! Having one of these new burgers tomorrow and looking forward to it.

 

 

Great news - hope it sticks and they never go back to the cardboard/plastic ones.

[Host Jazzbeau]

They should throw the patties overboard – but that would probably be illegal as cruel to the fish!

[RetiredOnVacation]

6 hours ago, commodoredave said:

Great news! I went up to the Pool Grill today to see if I could pre-order a freshly made hamburger for tomorrow lunch rather than the pathetic pre-processed, frozen and thin burger we received a few days ago (see below photo). To my complete surprise and delight, I was told that the Grill was no longer serving these burgers, and had returned to making their own fresh and plump burgers. 

 

 

 

The power of the Cruise Critic cruiser! 

[RetiredOnVacation]

6 hours ago, Aussieflyer said:

Great news - hope it sticks and they never go back to the cardboard/plastic ones.

I wonder if it was a local ship F&b Manager decision, or a corporate decision? 

[drron29]

I think there were a few onboard who made suggestions. I certainly mentioned patties in my mid cruise survey. I am sure it was a local ship decision.

I will though be wary of the lunch time enchiladas etc that appear on the Atlantide menu.

[highplanesdrifters]

8 hours ago, commodoredave said:

Great news! I went up to the Pool Grill today to see if I could pre-order a freshly made hamburger for tomorrow lunch rather than the pathetic pre-processed, frozen and thin burger we received a few days ago (see below photo). To my complete surprise and delight, I was told that the Grill was no longer serving these burgers, and had returned to making their own fresh and plump burgers. They even took me behind the counter to show me the fresh burgers. Wow! What a fantastic mid-cruise course correction by SS.! Thank you!! Having one of these new burgers tomorrow and looking forward to it.

 

 

 

 

Well done!  Or should I say medium rare.😃  Thanks for helping right be done.

[yayoye]

In the last 2 years I've been on a 25 day Silver Dawn transatlantic crossing, a 10 day Mediterranean cruise on Oceania, and I just completed a 16 night cruise on Silver Nova from Fort Lauderdale to Lima.  The Silver Dawn crossing was wonderful and just like the Silversea I expected.  The Oceania cruise was so bad I wrote a 9 page letter of complaint to the President of the company (and got no response - not even a form letter of acknowledgement of receipt).  However, even though the Silver Nova cruise was much better than the Oceania cruise, it was not up to the standards of the 2022 cruise on the Dawn.  Note that all of these are post covid and post acquisition of Silversea by RCCL.  

 

My assessment is that Silversea went from First Class to Business Class.  My main concern is that while you can get pretty much anything you ask for, you need to know to ask and sometimes you need to ask the most senior staff person to get it.  Many aspects of the cruise were great and most of the staff were excellent, but some seemed to understand that they could have done things the old, proactive way, but were now constrained by corporate rules such that they had to wait to be asked.  Also the excursions were never more than 25 people in 2022, but in 2024, 40 became the norm, or perhaps even a few more if the buses could hold more.  Included excursions are no longer a luxury experience.  Staff became more sensitive to my concerns following the mid cruise survey, but I was also highly encouraged to fill in the end of cruise survey as comprehensively as possible as that is the survey that goes to head office.  

 

I have another cruise booked for this September on the Muse and hope that all of the changes will not have filtered down to that ship.  I also have another cruise booked on the Muse for 2025.  This is the first time I did not book a future cruise while on board.  I am now willing to try other cruise lines.

[RetiredOnVacation]

2 hours ago, yayoye said:

My assessment is that Silversea went from First Class to Business Class

The airline analogy of First and Business class is interesting!  Over the last few years that you might say SS has gone from First to Business, airlines themselves have to a great extent removed First class and instead have improved their Business Class from what it was just a few years previously.

Qatar, BA, AA, ANZ are just some well publicised and recent examples. 

Basically, people don't want to pay for full First Class but are content and happy with a better Business Class instead. Perhaps the luxury cruise market like SS are following that path?

Market forces! 

[TLCOhio]

On 4/12/2024 at 11:49 AM, jpalbny said:

He's probably out food shopping! 

 

YES, in Manaus, their fish market is great and fascinating.  Need to grab a couple items from there.  Here is one of my visuals from being there in 2015 while on the Silver Cloud. 

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Amazon River-Caribbean 2015 adventure live/blog starting in Barbados on the Silver Cloud for 26 days. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.).  Now at 74,904 views:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2076101-live-amazon-river-caribbean-many-pix’s-terryohio/

[CruisinPashmina]

I have cruised with Silversea exclusively since 1998, and after taking a holiday cruise on the Silver Nova, I am looking at other cruise lines. I feel terrible, even disloyal, but the Silver Nova cruise was very disappointing. The crew, without exception, was wonderful. The food was inconsistent…ranging from okay to lose to inedible. 
The layout of the Nova is weird in that there is SO much wasted space. And very sadly, the Arts Cafe is not in a specially designated room but in what is in a ship wide corridor which also houses the excursion desk and the reception desk and an oval shaped bar with seats. Noisy! And very limited snack selections….BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.

i sure hope other asks old timers are happier than I am.

[DavyWavey70]

7 hours ago, RetiredOnVacation said:

The airline analogy of First and Business class is interesting!  Over the last few years that you might say SS has gone from First to Business, airlines themselves have to a great extent removed First class and instead have improved their Business Class from what it was just a few years previously.

Qatar, BA, AA, ANZ are just some well publicised and recent examples. 

Basically, people don't want to pay for full First Class but are content and happy with a better Business Class instead. Perhaps the luxury cruise market like SS are following that path?

Market forces! 

Im hoping to bag a first class suite on emirates on points on my next jaunt. They don't appeared to have drawn in the drawbridge like SS has.