Just Returned from Silver Spirit around Britain

[Mayflower1]

We have just returned from the Silver Spirit Round Britain Cruise and feel it might be appropriate to post some Personal thoughts in the light of numerous Issues that have been experienced across the Fleet of late. We boarded with some qualms.

We boarded in Southampton which was far from smooth due mainly to a bevy of Coaches arriving from London at the same time and the lack of expertise from the Check In Staff - we queued for approximately 45 minutes to clear Security & Check In. Upon Boarding the Spirit we were disappointed to learn that the Atlantide Restaurant would not be open for Lunch as on previous occasions, leaving Terazza & Grill as the only options ( the weather rather precluded the Grill to all but the hardy ). Nevertheless Terazza was ok.

There has been some chatter concerning the Menu reductions in both Atlantide & Terazza, which true were noticeable - however both Restaurants still provide a good choice in our opinion and what is offered was cooked well and presented hot where appropriate. We did not dine in Indochine or Sheishin but Silver Note, The Grill & La dame were all excellent.

 

The quality of Food & Wine was excellent throughout the Cruise with no items unavailable to our knowledge.

The Staff were superb from The Hotel Director downwards - Our Butler ( who we have known for Years ) was very attentive together with an excellent Suite Attendant - we did not have to ask for anything. The Bar Staff & Restaurant Waiters were unfailingly Polite & Cheery. Wine Service was magnificent under the watchful eye of the Head Sommelier Bilijana.

All in all we had a wonderful time, often in very poor weather, and feel that This Ship is certainly as good as we have always known her - there was no evidence of RCL downgrading in our opinion. Unfortunately the standard of Entertainment was no better than we have experienced over many years but we do not board a Silversea Ship with any great expectation in this area.

I hope this Report has been helpful to allay some widespread fears of Decline

 

Edited June 24 by Mayflower1

[TLCOhio]

3 hours ago, Mayflower1 said:

I hope this Report has been helpful to allay some widespread fears of Decline.

 

Great reporting and details!!  Somewhat matches our February 2024 Mumbai to Singapore Silver Moon experiences.  As always great, helpful, savvy, on-ship staff, but there are "issues" a little with some of the decisions driven by the "bean counter" money types in Miami and Monaco.  Better than being at home, doing your dishes, needed to make your bed, etc.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

[Gourmet Gal]

4 hours ago, Mayflower1 said:

We have just returned from the Silver Spirit Round Britain Cruise and feel it might be appropriate to post some Personal thoughts in the light of numerous Issues that have been experienced across the Fleet of late. We boarded with some qualms.

We boarded in Southampton which was far from smooth due mainly to a bevy of Coaches arriving from London at the same time and the lack of expertise from the Check In Staff - we queued for approximately 45 minutes to clear Security & Check In. Upon Boarding the Spirit we were disappointed to learn that the Atlantide Restaurant would not be open for Lunch as on previous occasions, leaving Terazza & Grill as the only options ( the weather rather precluded the Grill to all but the hardy ). Nevertheless Terazza was ok.

There has been some chatter concerning the Menu reductions in both Atlantide & Terazza, which true were noticeable - however both Restaurants still provide a good choice in our opinion and what is offered was cooked well and presented hot where appropriate. We did not dine in Indochine or Sheishin but Silver Note, The Grill & La dame were all excellent.

 

The quality of Food & Wine was excellent throughout the Cruise with no items unavailable to our knowledge.

The Staff were superb from The Hotel Director downwards - Our Butler ( who we have known for Years ) was very attentive together with an excellent Suite Attendant - we did not have to ask for anything. The Bar Staff & Restaurant Waiters were unfailingly Polite & Cheery. Wine Service was magnificent under the watchful eye of the Head Sommelier Bilijana.

All in all we had a wonderful time, often in very poor weather, and feel that This Ship is certainly as good as we have always known her - there was no evidence of RCL downgrading in our opinion. Unfortunately the standard of Entertainment was no better than we have experienced over many years but we do not board a Silversea Ship with any great expectation in this area.

I hope this Report has been helpful to allay some widespread fears of Decline

 

Thanks for taking the time to report your observations.  Can you comment on the itinerary and any notable excursions?

[Mayflower1]

Good Morning Gourmet Girl - The Itinerary on Paper looks very interesting but on this occasion it differed rather in reality. As soon as we left Southampton The Captain announced that we would be missing the first 2 ports, Plymouth & Fishguard due to impending Storms and would be sailing direct to Liverpool ( not on the original itinerary ). This caused some concern for a number of Guests who had made Private arrangements and others who planned to meet Friends ashore. However some were happy to take up the Tours offered in Liverpool.

There was some disappointment that the Ports of Dublin, Kirkwall, Edinburgh ( and originally Plymouth & Fishguard ) all required Tendering, especially as on this Cruise the weather was not great - often Rainy, Cool and overcast. ( It would be helpful I feel if Tender Ports could be made clear in Cruise Advertising by Silversea, as some other Lines do ).

I cannot comment Personally regarding Tours as we did not take any -There was comment overheard that some Tours did not offer quite what was advertised and there was a lot of ' Spare Time ' - this is however only hearsay.

Unfortunately such a Cruise does in my opinion depend rather heavily on Fair Weather but that is out of Silversea Hands - Kirkwall in the Rain and Temp of just 8 Degrees is not that attractive !!!

 

I hope this helps future Planning.

[jollyjones]

Interesting! Thanks for posting and I'm sorry your cruise was a bit mucked up by good old British weather.

 

I booked this cruise but cancelled when I did a bit more research and worked out how many tender ports there would likely be - I so hate tendering that I will not go ashore at tender ports unless I have a very, very good reason to do so.

 

And I find it one of the great weaknesses of SS that they will not give any warning of how many ports will be at tender - pretty much every other cruise line I have looked at does - you can only find out after embarkation.

I had a cruise last summer on the Moon that was ruined for me because eight out of the ten ports were at tender. I looked back at my previous SS cruises and reckoned that two or three tender ports was usual, cruises that had four tenders were longer than 21 days, and I had never had a cruise with 5 tender ports or more. I have 550 SS days so I have plenty of past experience to draw on.

So you can imagine I was surprised, to put it mildly, by eight out of ten ports at tender.

 

And I have now resolved to only cruise SS itineraries with which I am familiar, or at the very least do a lot of research before booking a cruise.

 

[Mayflower1]

 

 

Good Morning Jollyjones - We too have a similar SS History to you and totally agree that Tender Ports are certainly becoming more of a feature in our opinion. Whilst diligent Research can provide a good guide to likely Tender Ports, it should not be needed when a small addition to the Published Itinerary would alert the possibility.

Fortunately we were not surprised at the number on our recent Cruise but that was certainly not the case for many Guests - A 25 minute tender followed by 30minutes on a Shuttle Bus can often provide sufficient incentive not to bother !!!

[Bucephalus53]

Mayflower, I was also on the cruise and I agree with everything you said on your posts. We also had a wonderful time. Food and wine was great, service was top notch and we met so many nice people. It was just like our last Cruise in 2016 (Rome to Barcelona). So I did not see a drop in service. Edinburgh was spectacular.

Negatives for me…The Tenders were a problem in the rough ports. I had no idea we were going to have to use them on the trip. 

The onboard beer selection is sparse and not to my tastes, but the beer in UK more than made up for it. (Was so excited to have a Guinness in Dublin). The beer was a minor issue because I drink mostly wine on the ship anyway. 
 
The spa prices are ridiculous and the aggressive sell turned me off. 

Edited June 26 by Bucephalus53

[Mayflower1]

Good morning Bucephalus53 - So pleased that you too had a great Cruise and like us found few negatives in the overall Experience.

Whilst I personally did not use The Spa facilities, my Wife did use the Hairdresser and prices were similar to recent Cruises - however I did notice some Friction with another Guest over Prices whilst waiting for my Wife on one occasion.

Not being a fervent Bear Drinker I have little knowledge of the Issue but I did see that Guinness in Cans was available - possibly not quite the same as your experience in Dublin !!!!

I wish you Good Cruising in the future - will it be on Silversea ?

[Bucephalus53]

If an Ocean Cruise, definitely. I have had two great experiences and I love having the Connoisseur Lounge option. However, I think our next cruise will be a river cruise. We have been yearning to try one of those in Europe. 

[tiny rod]

That's awesome. We are traveling on the spirit in December and the reviews are awful. Please tell me the condition of the ship as there were many complaints about old worn smelly carpeting etc. Apparently not so much as a dry dock in 2018. I am panicking. And again they said the food was just awful. You are the first positive review I have read.

[Bucephalus53]

I did not have that experience, however… I have no other cruise line to compare too since my only two trips were with this ship. So keep that in mind. 
I really don’t understand the food complaints. Nobody I interacted with on the cruise felt that way. The original poster of this thread is in agreement also. 

I’d be curious to see the reviews you are looking at. I can only speak from our personal experience, but as Shakespeare said, “expectation is the root of all heartbreak”.

[drron29]

9 hours ago, tiny rod said:

That's awesome. We are traveling on the spirit in December and the reviews are awful. Please tell me the condition of the ship as there were many complaints about old worn smelly carpeting etc. Apparently not so much as a dry dock in 2018. I am panicking. And again they said the food was just awful. You are the first positive review I have read.

People are more likely to complain about bad experiences than good ones. And some people just like to complain.

Also some really don't know what they are talking about. I well remember an English fellow that always asked to see the maitre'd about his food and the sommelier about his wine. Then one night he sat beside me -2 tables of 2 side by side. he complained about the wine saying I asked the waiter to bring me a sauvignon blanc but he came with this Sancerre from the Loire valley. I don't like chardonnay.

Then the food. He ordered exactly the same as I for main -filet that was rare. Mine looked exactly the same as his and I thought it was perfect. I wondered what he was going to complain about when he insisted on seeing the maitre'd. He thought it wasn't cooked enough.

[Mayflower1]

Good Morning tiny rod - My intial Report of our Spirit Cruise was of course a Personal experience and as we know Opinions can differ. We have been Cruising with Silversea since 1999 and have had mainly wonderful experiences but some poor ones over the years.

 

As stated in our opinion the Spirit Cruise was excellent in all aspects other than Weather for which SS can not be blamed. From my observation I saw no Carpeting that could be described as worn or smelly and as stated the Food served in all the Restaurants we visited was well presented, of good quality and hot ( when it was supposed to be ).

 

As drron29 has indicated there are always those who take pleasure in looking for mistakes and it is difficult to counter that approach. In this instance I would just say that I encountered a few instances of Guests making themselves heard at The Tour Desk relating to changes in the Itinerary due to weather issues, impacting on Booked Tours/ Private Arrangements.

 

I hope that you prepare for your Cruise with an open mind and have a great time - do report back in due course.

[frankhi]

5 hours ago, drron29 said:

People are more likely to complain about bad experiences than good ones. And some people just like to complain.

Also some really don't know what they are talking about. I well remember an English fellow that always asked to see the maitre'd about his food and the sommelier about his wine. Then one night he sat beside me -2 tables of 2 side by side. he complained about the wine saying I asked the waiter to bring me a sauvignon blanc but he came with this Sancerre from the Loire valley. I don't like chardonnay.

Then the food. He ordered exactly the same as I for main -filet that was rare. Mine looked exactly the same as his and I thought it was perfect. I wondered what he was going to complain about when he insisted on seeing the maitre'd. He thought it wasn't cooked enough.

One guy told me he didn't like that the bartenders carefully measured when making a drink. He said he was use to free pours and liked his drinks stronger. I was going to say....., but realized he was just another person not to engage.