Silversea Cruises: New Silver Spirit Dining Developments

[LauraS]

Check out this news item from Cruise Critic:

 

Silversea Cruises: New Silver Spirit Dining Developments

[Travelcat2]

As long as Silversea continues to charge for their dining venues, they do not have a right to call themselves "all-inclusive". JMHO

[Keith1010]

As long as Silversea continues to charge for their dining venues, they do not have a right to call themselves "all-inclusive". JMHO

 

I have never traveled on any cruise line that includes all items. That just does not happen.

 

Some of the all inclusive lines charge for premium wines but they do include the basic wines.

 

We just came back from our first Silversea Cruise. It was quite good and I have posted a review on the Silversea Cruise Critic Board. Yes, there are two specialty restaurants. One has no cover charge. There is one that seated approximately 20 people that has a charge but it is mainly for the very premium types of wines it serves. We didn't go to it and had no concerns with that. It's nice that they offer it for those who might want the opportunity to do something like that.

 

Keith

[palamoh]

Keith, well stated, I have read your review of your recent Silversea Shadow Cruise to Alaska, also well written. There are many Cruise Lines that offer I Independent Dinning & Charge for it Silversea is usually my Cruise Line of Choice for a number of reasons. Foremost the Food is always better than dependable in all their venues. The New Spirit which I will be on in Oct 2010, will have two Indedendent Choices. Its an alternative to those whowish to venture into Wines that NO CRUISE LINE afloat could provide for their Passengers without needing your Banker to provide a Loan for that type of Cruise. One always has a Choice of what floats your Boat.

 

 

"Mitch"

[Travelcat2]

I have never traveled on any cruise line that includes all items. That just does not happen.

 

Some of the all inclusive lines charge for premium wines but they do include the basic wines.

 

We just came back from our first Silversea Cruise. It was quite good and I have posted a review on the Silversea Cruise Critic Board. Yes, there are two specialty restaurants. One has no cover charge. There is one that seated approximately 20 people that has a charge but it is mainly for the very premium types of wines it serves. We didn't go to it and had no concerns with that. It's nice that they offer it for those who might want the opportunity to do something like that.

 

Keith

 

I also enjoyed reading your Silversea review.

 

The four main luxury cruise lines are so different -- there are large ships, tiny ships and many in the middle. It is nice to have a choice. My comment about Silversea's dining venues was simply that they are the only luxury cruise line that charges for dining in a restaurant. They are also, to my knowledge, the only luxury line that charges for early boarding.

 

There is nothing wrong with being different. . . it somehow does not seem to fit the rest of their marketing strategy.

[Keith1010]

Travelcat2, the thing to keep in mind about the these items is two fold.

 

Like Seabourn, boarding on Silversea is 3:00 PM. And like all of the other cruise lines you normally have to be off the ship by a certain time. Let's say around 9:00 AM. Silversea has a capacity controlled earlly boarding and late disembarkation. In the case of early boarding for $100.00 per person you can board starting at around 10:30 AM. I look at it as that they don't have to offer this option. Certainly none of the other luxury lines allows you to board before anyone else, regardless of what the time is that they operate under. We did the early boarding and it worked great for us. They do provide a cost for this because if then just everyone would want this benefit and there is an added cost for this such as the lunch, expediting the room etc. As a first time cruiser of SS we thought it was a great option for us.

 

In terms of the premium restaurant I look at it differently. They are offering a feature that is quite expensive in terms of the wine they serve. I think it is analagous to some extent with the Vintage Room on Crystal where you pay a fee per person as they not only are serving a very special dinner that is customized to a small group of people but they are serving some very expensive bottles of wine that are significanlty more than the types of bottles that are normally poured on the ships where wine is included.

 

In short, in both instances they are offering something a bit out of the norm. No one is compelled to take advantage of either one but if they do they are each unique and special in their own ways.

 

Finally, as I've said in the past, being different is great. I am glad that there are plenty of differnces in cruising between cruise lines.

 

Keith