When Silversea was Silversea

[lincslady]

Oh dear - well, it is good to hear both sides of the coin, I guess.  

[shipsmail]

We have started to cruise on Silversea in 2005 and have sailed more than 500 days. So we have a lot of experiences. Our last classic cruise was last year in the Baltic on DAWN and it was perfect. This year we were on the ENDEAVOUR twice. Wonderful ship, perfect service, excellent meals. The maitre even cooked for us two meals to our liking after asking 24hours in advance. We were so far not missing anything from the „old“ Silversea. We have booked three more cruises on the DAWN. We will see. The big advantage is the crew. Some of them we know for years now.

[texanaust]

5 hours ago, DavyWavey70 said:

I’m really pleased that you’ve enjoyed your cruise but to dismiss the genuine concerns of so many as “exaggerated” is quite condescending. Especially when you admit yourself that a couple of meals served haven’t even been hot. Having been stripped of usable Wi-Fi, served wines available at any petrol station, and being charged more to rebook a cancelled cruise even after the discount, then those passengers are quite entitled to their opinions. Please don’t lecture us on criticising  a cruise line where only some of the food is served hot whilst paying 6 star prices and you can’t even WhatsApp your friends whilst enjoying a Hungarian Chardonnay to complain about it!

I’d hardly say that what I said was condescending or lecturing, but if that is what you believe so be it.  Don’t sail Silversea then, try Seabourn where what you get is much, much less.  I never dismissed any concerns, I simply stated an alternative viewpoint.  I guess that doesn’t fit your narrative.

[Tothesunset]

Isn't it wonderful that nobody has got ill-tempered on this thread (yet!)?

 

Clearly, different people have different needs/views/opinions and it's good to hear them expressed without rancour. 

 

Our cruise experience is quite limited but comprises:

 

212 days SS. It is changing in small increments away from the unique experiences in the last decade. It's just too expensive (with the occasional bargain through certain TAs). 

 

One 14 day Seabourn in 2013 on their Spirit (no longer sailing under the SB flag). We loved it. Looking at them again. 

 

One QM2 TA which was OK, just not our scene. 

 

30 days on Saga in past 2 years. Maybe we've been lucky but we thought it was excellent value. 

 

So there are clearly travellers with greater experience or who have different needs/tolerances. 

 

So now the Order of Battle is: 1. Saga; 2. Seabourn; 3. SS but only at rates offered by certain TAs. 

 

Might also look at Regent, Viking, Ponant and Tui's Mein Schiff (we are French and German speakers so language not an issue). 

 

No matter how hard I try I just can't justify spending the SS per diems for what is becoming a higher-end  mass-market line. 

 

Edit to add:

 

The preceeding post was made while I was typing. Makes a bit of a dent on my first paragraph! 

Edited Thursday at 12:49 PM by Tothesunset

[Tothesunset]

2 hours ago, beaujolais said:

 

I should also mention that at most ports at least 1 or 2 ambulances were waiting

 

 

So that's why the ships seem less full towards the end. 

[DavyWavey70]

1 hour ago, Tothesunset said:

So that's why the ships seem less full towards the end. 

I Always thought it was Fred Olsen that boasted the largest number of refrigerated berths at sea? 

[Tothesunset]

24 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

I Always thought it was Fred Olsen that boasted the largest number of refrigerated berths at sea? 

I always said I thought their steaks were a bit tough. 

[nfcu]

This past summer we spent 24 days on Shadow during a NE/Canada cruise.  We have been cruising Silversea for almost 15 years and have a few hundred days on board.  Our only complaint was the food was not like the good old days and the variety on the menu was lacking.  Also, we do not care for the included excursions and wish they would just go back to when they were not included.

 

That being said, it was one of our best cruises ever on Silversea.  Shadow is in great shape, clean and well-kept.  Plenty of bottled water was available throughout the ship.  Our included      wi-fi worked fine without issues.  There was more variety in the entertainment than on previous cruises with many guest entertainers.  Included wines were varied and plentiful.  I could go on and on, but you get the point and nothing is perfect.

 

Finally, we could not say enough about the professionalism and friendliness of the crew, from the Hotel Manager, bartenders, waiters, butlers, suite attendants, pool guys, etc.  There were many we sailed with the in past years.  And, yes, there are some new crew members on their first contract from parts of the world that we were not used to seeing on Silversea, but they were outstanding in almost all respects.

 

We agree Silversea is not the same as, say, five or ten years ago.  But no other cruise line is either.

[taxatty]

14 minutes ago, nfcu said:

We agree Silversea is not the same as, say, five or ten years ago.  But no other cruise line is either.

Excellent point that many long-time cruisers seem to forget. 

[lincslady]

Funnily enough, Saga is actually definitely better than five or ten years ago, as they used to have old ships virtually ready for retirement, and for about the past 5 have had two brand new attractive ships tailored you could say to the British Saga style.  The only slight downside for most of us is that they are larger, holding 1,000 passengers each.  Otherwise the all balcony cabins,  specialist  restaurants etc. is a huge improvement, as well as the all inclusive drinks.

[Fletcher]

I did one Saga trip, on the old Sapphire.  It was a 30-odd day job from Southampton to the Caribbean and back.  Because our cabin rattled like hell due to a tumultuous storm on the previous voyage, they gave us a quiet cabin on the deck below and gave us quite a large refund while on board.  When we complained about one shore excursion they immediately refunded us the money.  We had some onboard credit left over at the end and they gave us that, too.  .  There was a dress code strictly enforced - I bought a suit just for this cruise.  It was a fun trip with an interesting crowd of people - entirely Brits I think.

 

One thing, though.  We were docked at Antigua alongside a big ship with a load of young Americans on board.  On the pier, one of them came up to me and asked what sort of ship we were on.  I said it was a cruise ship, just like yours.  "Oh," he said, "I thought it was some sort of hospital ship."

Edited Thursday at 04:11 PM by Fletcher

[MJN1]

Silversea is clearly not what SS was 15 or 20 years ago. We were so fed up with the constant cost cutting and dropping what made SS so special,  that we moved over to SB in 2014 and truly enjoyed our cruises there.

 

We risked trying the SDawn last September for a Baltic cruise, which was wonderful. So we are currently back on the Dawn, chasing the Northern lights along the Norwegian coast.

 

The ship is still great, we love the ArtsCafe, the Salt Bar, the Salt Restaurant and Silver Note. Atlantide is open for breakfast and lunch every day. They have not (yet, we are just over the mid cruise point) run out of berries. The plates are hot. The cabin attendant and butler are not from India, but from Nepal and Bangladesh, and the suite is always serviced when we com back from breakfast. The food is not Michelin, but OK and varied. The Japanese government should sue SS for misusing the name "Kaiseki" and serving very low quality "Japanese" food. If we don't like today's wine selection, we find a wine we like.

ALL the staff is helpful, friendly and smiling. The same cannot be said for all passengers...

Laundry is still free and  comes back the same day.The current cost per diem is about 10% higher than 10+ years ago ($607 vs avg 560). Don't tell the beancounters what the cumulative inflation rate is for this period.

 

Could some things be better/improved/upgraded/reinstated? Yes! Are some folks complaining? Yes (and I would do the same if I would have been on the "Huskies in the mud" tour). Did they just cancel the 2nd port because of too strong winds, unfortunately yes. So we are now enjoying 8 days on Sea and 6 in port (vs 6 and 8).

 

Life is too short to type up daily and more detailed reviews of this cruise on the smartphone. It is probably not long enough to find the 100% perfect cruise lline. Thus just a one snap-shot perspective.

 

[drron29]

41 minutes ago, MJN1 said:

Silversea is clearly not what SS was 15 or 20 years ago. We were so fed up with the constant cost cutting and dropping what made SS so special,  that we moved over to SB in 2014 and truly enjoyed our cruises there.

 

We risked trying the SDawn last September for a Baltic cruise, which was wonderful. So we are currently back on the Dawn, chasing the Northern lights along the Norwegian coast.

 

The ship is still great, we love the ArtsCafe, the Salt Bar, the Salt Restaurant and Silver Note. Atlantide is open for breakfast and lunch every day. They have not (yet, we are just over the mid cruise point) run out of berries. The plates are hot. The cabin attendant and butler are not from India, but from Nepal and Bangladesh, and the suite is always serviced when we com back from breakfast. The food is not Michelin, but OK and varied. The Japanese government should sue SS for misusing the name "Kaiseki" and serving very low quality "Japanese" food. If we don't like today's wine selection, we find a wine we like.

ALL the staff is helpful, friendly and smiling. The same cannot be said for all passengers...

Laundry is still free and  comes back the same day.The current cost per diem is about 10% higher than 10+ years ago ($607 vs avg 560). Don't tell the beancounters what the cumulative inflation rate is for this period.

 

Could some things be better/improved/upgraded/reinstated? Yes! Are some folks complaining? Yes (and I would do the same if I would have been on the "Huskies in the mud" tour). Did they just cancel the 2nd port because of too strong winds, unfortunately yes. So we are now enjoying 8 days on Sea and 6 in port (vs 6 and 8).

 

Life is too short to type up daily and more detailed reviews of this cruise on the smartphone. It is probably not long enough to find the 100% perfect cruise lline. Thus just a one snap-shot perspective.

 

Who do you know to get those per diem rates. Our cancelled Whisper Tahiti per diem rates were $A1871- $US1289.

The replacement cruise price just 8 months after the first booking is $A2300 per day - $US1585.

[pavementends]

On 9/26/2024 at 7:48 AM, nfcu said:

We agree Silversea is not the same as, say, five or ten years ago.  But no other cruise line is either.

 

I would like to encourage all who are unhappy to try a new cruise line they have never used before. Then that experience can be judged by what it is as opposed to comparing it to what it was before.

 

[Woodrowst77]

On 9/26/2024 at 10:48 AM, nfcu said:

 

We agree Silversea is not the same as, say, five or ten years ago.  But no other cruise line is either.

Based on the myriad positive reviews on their section of the Cruise Critic board, Crystal Cruises is as good as it used to be. 

[Observer]

1 hour ago, Woodrowst77 said:

Based on the myriad positive reviews on their section of the Cruise Critic board, Crystal Cruises is as good as it used to be. 

Perhaps this is the case because Crystal is independently owned and is not part of a huge company. They can march to their own drummer, and on their two ships they do not need to follow policies or procedures that must apply also to non-luxury ships. 

[DavyWavey70]

3 hours ago, Observer said:

Perhaps this is the case because Crystal is independently owned and is not part of a huge company. They can march to their own drummer, and on their two ships they do not need to follow policies or procedures that must apply also to non-luxury ships. 

There have also been some extremely positive reports recently in the other place on a Crystal Cruises friends group. Some SS regulars have just debarked their first Crystal cruise and loved every minute. They do appear to be striving for perfection and also appear to be free of the constraints of the bean counters. 

[Observer]

Perhaps Crystal, which of course was resurrected from bankruptcy, should embrace the slogan employed by Avis car rental in the 1960s in North America. They were trying to distinguish themselves from Hertz, the leading car rental company. Their slogan was WE TRY HARDER. It was a hugely successful advertising campaign.  

Edited 11 hours ago by Observer

[MJN1]

21 hours ago, drron29 said:

Who do you know to get those per diem rates.

Sorry for not being precise. I always calculate per diem per Person for all our trips as we are not always two. Assume your per diem is per suite and thus double. And I do compare USD/GBP/ Euro prices incl TA benefits for best net rates.