What to expect on Silversea during Christmas/New Year's Sailing?

Hi all, new to Silversea. I am looking for some insight regarding your experience on Silversea's holiday sailings out of Fort Lauderdale. We tried Regent's Navigator Holiday Caribbean itinerary out of Miami last month and enjoyed it, except for the larger number of families and children. We did meet some very nice Regent passengers, but they tended to be the typical Regent clientele (retired, more mature, well mannered etc) and not the holiday family crowd.

I was wondering whether Silversea will be any different? SS has 2 itineraries that I am interested in for Christmas 2014, Silver Cloud in the Caribbean and also Silver Whisper Fort Lauderdale to LA, both over the holidays. Will SS holiday sailings attract the same clientele of families with kids that Regent does...or is it different? Given the smaller size of the Cloud and Whisper (which I like), I'd hate to be trapped on a smaller size ship with a larger number of kids.

Also, would love to hear any feedback from those of you whom have taken these itineries in the past.

Many thanks

I have done a number of FLL-based holiday cruises with Silversea. I also did Regent several times. My experience has been that there is a higher proportion of children on Regent than on SS. The larger Regent ships have much more running-around space than Whisper/Cloud. Moreover, I would assume that included excursions on Regent would attract families. Kids don't want to sit on the ship while it's in port (and the excursions are "free" on Regent), but a number of SS passengers stay on ship in port (perhaps esp. in the Caribbean). In my experience, both lines will have ships festively decked out for the occasion.

Observer,

I'm glad y ou put those quotation marks around the "free" excursions because they are anything but!

Observer,

 

I'm glad y ou put those quotation marks around the "free" excursions because they are anything but!

Thank you both for your replies. Very helpful Observer. I am hoping to get some additional feedback from anyone on the recent 2013 holiday cruises. Anyone out there that have done these holiday itineraries lately?

Also agree on the "free" part. You do pay for it upfront. I was wondering though what are your thoughts on how the "per day" total pp compares between SS and Regent (or Seabourn for that matter). For my Regent cruise it worked out to slightly less than $800pp per day. SS (website price) is priced less at approx $700 pp per day (veranda) but when you add air and an allowance for some excursions it still seems same or higher per day price. Perhaps its not fully comparable but have to wonder who really offers the best value?

Many thanks

I will assume that you are correct that there is a difference of ~ $100 pp per day in the fares between Regent and SS, with Regent the more expensive. Assuming a 14 day cruise, that's $1400 per person. One can get a lot of air and excursions for $1400. What's more -- and this is very important to me -- with SS one enjoys independence: One books one's own air on flights one wants (without worrying about their contracts or deviation fees), one doesn't feel the need to take group tours (one can get a cab at the pier and explore on one's own or spend the day on a quiet beach -- not one occupied by one or more bus loads of fellow passengers), one can get to the ship on embarkation day when one likes (not join a group being bussed from the hotel), etc. $1400 per person buys a lot, I think. The independence SS affords (and Regent effectively denies through its all-inclusive pricing policy) is to my mind priceless. (I do understand that one can opt out of Regent air, but not excursions.)

One thing to factor in is flight disruption a regular problem in these days of extreme weather and industrial disputes and strikes.We travel with friends who book their own flights etc and two years ago their flight was disrupted by weather in another country which meant their plane did not reach the uk until 27 hours later.They had to make their own arrangements to catch the ship up which they did on day 7 of an eleven day cruise.They now book flights through SS with the assurance that alternative arrangements will be made by SS and any loss of cruise time will be adequately compensated.I am aware of at least 3 occasions when this has happened.Peace of mind may be more expensive its down to personal choice.Not always more expensive,we came bacK from Rio to London Business Class for £820 return (Outbound flight was London to Barcelona)This was a time limited special offer at the time of Booking on board.

We have done the last Christmas cruises on Spirit as well as others so have some perspective on any differences. Apart from some decorations on the main staircase and some special efforts in the restaraunts there is little difference between Christmas and other times of the year. However this year there was another difference and that was in the number of children which was in the twenties. Previous years there were only about half a dozen and it was no big deal.

The problem lies not so much in the children as with the parents and how they manage the situation. Some thought it was fitting to carry a babe in arms into the dining room at 9.00 whilst others used buggies that were parked up alongside the table. SS had arranged for one of the international hostesses to act as an activities leader at various times of the day but I have no idea what they got up to. On one occassion I walked past the card room which was packed with children and buggies. Good job it was not a bridge cruise.

In the pool there was one young lad in particular who swam like a dolphin but kept on bumping into people with no regard for others and total disregard for the no diving which was not enforced by his father. Apart from him there was no great problem as ther might have been in the pool area.

One of the families were in the next 2 suites to ours and I have to say there was no problem with noise from the suites or balconies. I do not know if they were the ones that ran up and down the corridor at times as there were others on our deck.

Another thing we noticed this year was the lack of the ability of the restaraunt to cope on some nights. The number of children must have swelled the occupancy of the 3 berth suites and we must have been at maximum numbers. This had an adverse effect on the service and comfort during the evening meals. One night we ended up feeling almost exhausted on behalf of the waiters as they had been running absolutly non stop throughout service. There was no time for leisurely service and did spoil the enjoyment of the meals.

Do let me know if there is any other aspect of the Christmas cruises you would like some comment on.

We were also on the Sprit for this year's Christmas/New Years cruise. The previous two years we were on Cunard over Christmas/New Years and we thought we'd be OK on Silversea. Wow were we totally wrong!!!!

There were just way too many families with young children and teenagers onboard. I wouldn't ever want to go though that again, infact this has turned us right off booking another cruise with Silversea while we were onboard we'd thought about it. Our butler told us there were over 24 guests under the age of 18 onboard, something he'd never expereinced before.

Cunard's' QM2 may have thousands more passengers, but I've never felt as croweded compared with the recent Spirit cruise. Afternoon's around the pool on the Spirit were anything but restful or quiet as The Family' took over the pool. I was also put off by the behaviour of some fellow guests. Fortunately their poor behaviour also identified those who were repeat passengers. Some days prime lounge chairs by the pool were reserved with a bottle of water from 10am until 3pm and never used, this very was annoying.

There were very few activities organized to keep the children busy, or else the parents didn't want to be bothered with the childrens programs and preferred to let them run around the pool or jump from hot tub to hot tub.

Listening to a SCREAMING infant during dinner in the dining room is NOT the way I want to spend my vacation. I thought I'd paid enough money to get away from that!!!! Clearly Silversea just wanted to fill the ship at all costs, they may have succeeded in filling the ship but they lost alot of potential cruisers in the process. We dined with a couple who have taken several Regent cruises and they were very disappointed in the overall expereince onboard.

In my experience beware any voyage R/T Fort Lauderdale. Way too easy for locals including families to drive down to the port for an easy holiday get-away. This exists not only on holidays but year round, IMO.

Took me way too long to learn this lesson -- never again.

I think that we must be the only frequent SS holiday cruisers who have never had any real problems with children on board. There was only one sweet little girl on the recent Whisper cruise (FTL to LA) and her parents supervised her discretely and constantly. On another holiday cruise in 2011, there were about ten children, all of them well supervised.

The only difficult child we have met, was our grouchy 13 year old granddaughter whom we took on a cruise to Meso America on the Spirit. It was over a spring break, and she was the ONLY kid on the ship. I've teased her ever since by telling her that if she's not good, we'll take her on an expensive SS cruise again!

Can't say it often enough; Silversea is really NOT a good fit for children. There is almost nothing for them to do. The social staff tries to come up with little programs, but it's all pretty lame compared to the mass market lines. Last year took all of our 7 grandchildren (ages 5 to 15) on Celebrity to Alaska, and it was wonderful..even the grouch loved every minute. My husband and I wouldn't choose to sail by ourselves with Celebrity, but with children it is terrific.

Thank you all for your kind replies. Our Holiday experience on Regent seems to be very similar to many of yours on Silversea. I am sure we had many more than 20 under age during our past Regent Holiday cruise, including many in the top suites on the same deck as us. I am very hesitant to book either the Cloud or the Whisper for the 2014 holiday sailings. I can't imagine being on a smaller ship with many kids (or poorly supervised patents). But would hope a smaller ship would attract fewer families. We very much enjoyed the "regular" Regent guests and are sure to equally enjoy the Silversea regulars.

It is a crap shoot. Take a chance. Sometimes it has been great and sometimes not, but always enjoyed it in the end. Bon Voyage!

We were thinking of a Christmas/New year cruise however, after reading the posts on here there is no way I would take a cruise with all those kids. I love kids but couldn't eat a full one. ;)

There was only ONE small, well behaved little girl on the 2013-14 holiday cruise on The Whisper.

In 17 years we have never had a problem with children on board. I think taking a chance is really not taking a big chance. Anyone with half a brain should know that there are many child friendly alternatives to SS. (See my earlier post on this thread) If we had had a problem, we would have zoomed down to the Hotel Director ASAP.

I think that the very few kiddie horror stories reported on this board are aberrations. As was suggested; take a chance. I don't think it's much of a big deal. The ships are beautifully decorated, and the atmosphere is very festive. People dress up. The menus celebrate the season. The gingerbread houses installed all over the ships..real ones..are fabulous. We're booked for next year, and are looking forward to another happy holiday cruise.

Which ship next Christmas? Cloud?

Which ship next Christmas? Cloud?

I was considering the Cloud (#1438 Caribbean) or Whisper (#4434 FLL to LA). As far as the ship, I think I'd prefer the Whisper, but some of the ports on #4434 are not that interesting to me, although we have never been through the Panama Canal, so that would be nice.

Could not agree more with CruisinPashmina. We did Holiday Cruise on Cloud and no children. We did Spirit in 2012, two large families and with children. The children were very, very will mannered.We also had friends on 2013 Whisper and they loved it. We would have joined them but for a big family gathering in Calif. Would do the 2014 but leave for the 64 day Southern Crossing on 22 Jan 2015. So can not afford both! Van

Anyone with half a brain should know that there are many child friendly alternatives to SS

I agree that Silversea is a poor choice for children or many young teens, and sometimes wonder if the parents choose Silversea simply for their own enjoyment, rather than taking their children's needs into account. Yes, there are many nice cruise lines out there that really dedicate themselves to making sure kids of all ages have a good time; Silversea isn't one of them.

Of course, some older teens who are comfortable in a sedate, adult environment will certainly love Silversea (and the passengers will enjoy their company, too). But when planning a family cruise vacation, parents certainly owe it to their children to make a careful selection that goes beyond the fine wines, spa treatments and other amenities they - the parents - will enjoy.

If I was going to choose between those two, it would be the Whisper, hands-down, because that cruise is also the pre-World Cruise so some passengers will be on for almost 5 months, therefore the demographic you like.

On our last segment (WC – LA to Auckland) there were two young girls about 7 & 10. They were on the pool deck each day almost all the time and we commonly sat next to them. Never a peep out of them. We saw them at dinner twice (Hot Rocks) but aside from that, never saw them around the ship. They were emigrating to NZ and taking the ship so they wouldn't have as long a wait for the container with their household goods.

This segment (WC Auckland to Sydney) there is a family with teens. This will be a port heavy cruise and so far I've seen them only once, at tea, with the teens plugged into their electronics and sitting quietly.

In both cases, the families seem to be making the arrangements required to keep their children from being a disturbance.

We just completed a Christmas/New Year's sailing on Regent. While I know this is not Silversea (we love sailing on Silversea as well), we will never - ever sail at Christmas again.

The children that were little angels when they boarded the ship became monsters by the 2nd week (30 children, mostly between the ages of 9 and 13, with no activities for them or places for them to go).

The adults that cruise at that time of the year are also different. We saw small to medium family groups where one member (many times a grandparent) paid for everyone to cruise. So, looking at it as an armchair "shrink", the family members were not invested in the cruise and could have been on Silversea, Regent, Royal Caribbean, HAL, etc. The passengers seemed to complain about everything and were not happy with much. During our cruise we were in contact with the crew on Oceania's Riviera. They were having similar problems. I read today on the Oceania board that some people became so intoxicated on New Year's that a few people ended up in the pool with their clothes on.

I cannot imagine this type of behavior on Silversea, Regent, Seabourn or Crystal. Enough said.

I was on the Christmas and New year Seabourn Sojourn Ft Lauderdale to LA

only two children on board.one boy of five who I saw twice and never heard and one well behaved ten year old girl who was delightful and mixed with the adults.

Great trip for all and I have booked the Sojourn for next Christmas Cape Town to Cape Town

We just completed a Christmas/New Year's sailing on Regent. While I know this is not Silversea (we love sailing on Silversea as well), we will never - ever sail at Christmas again.

 

The children that were little angels when they boarded the ship became monsters by the 2nd week (30 children, mostly between the ages of 9 and 13, with no activities for them or places for them to go).

 

The adults that cruise at that time of the year are also different. We saw small to medium family groups where one member (many times a grandparent) paid for everyone to cruise. So, looking at it as an armchair "shrink", the family members were not invested in the cruise and could have been on Silversea, Regent, Royal Caribbean, HAL, etc. The passengers seemed to complain about everything and were not happy with much. During our cruise we were in contact with the crew on Oceania's Riviera. They were having similar problems. I read today on the Oceania board that some people became so intoxicated on New Year's that a few people ended up in the pool with their clothes on.

 

I cannot imagine this type of behavior on Silversea, Regent, Seabourn or Crystal. Enough said.

TC, I am very surprised by your experience on the Regent Voyager given your itinerary. But I guess we incorrectly assume fewer children from North America will be on a Far East/Australia cruise. I guess there are plenty of kids from Asia and Australia to make up for it! I would say our Navigator experience was a bit better than what you described, certainly no NYE antics around the pool. We did meet some lovely people on our cruise who are Silversea, Crystal and Regent regulars. In fact one very classy lady we met commented that the clientele was far better on Silversea than Regent but I am sure she was judging based on some of the imports for the holidays. I do agree with your comment that, for a certain segment, grandma and grandpa had to be paying the bills. I don't usually judge the book by the cover but I truly did not understand how some cold have afforded the cruise.

We are leaning heavily towards the Whisper holiday cruise, even with some families we always enjoy ourselves and meet lovely people (and avoid/ignore those whom are not). Our only problem now is that our "baby sitter" for the dog has retired, so we now are on the search for that special someone to entrust her with...otherwise we stay home!

If I was going to choose between those two, it would be the Whisper, hands-down, because that cruise is also the pre-World Cruise so some passengers will be on for almost 5 months, therefore the demographic you like.

 

 

On our last segment (WC – LA to Auckland) there were two young girls about 7 & 10. They were on the pool deck each day almost all the time and we commonly sat next to them. Never a peep out of them. We saw them at dinner twice (Hot Rocks) but aside from that, never saw them around the ship. They were emigrating to NZ and taking the ship so they wouldn't have as long a wait for the container with their household goods.

 

 

This segment (WC Auckland to Sydney) there is a family with teens. This will be a port heavy cruise and so far I've seen them only once, at tea, with the teens plugged into their electronics and sitting quietly.

 

 

Inth cases, the families seem to be making the arrangements required to keep their children from being a disturbance.

You have a good point and we did look into the crossing, I still am a partner in an insurance agency and taking more than 65 days is kinda a long time for me. It is really at this point in my life the time. I need to retire.

I am very proud and flattered to say that I am the petsitter you wish that you had and I say this with a chuckle because for us to schedule the one trip a year that works for the families of all the horses and house pets I take care of takes a lot of planning. Of course since that leaves us with no sitter other than boarding, might I suggest that you talk to the staff at your vet office. We have come up with the solution of having one of the vet techs housesit overnight, knowing that obviously they love animals and that they would tend to recognize any kind of medical problem if it should arise. We have found this to be the best solution short of never going away. If your dog is very social, your tech may be able to bring your dog to the office to "hang out" for a few hours to keep busy. I hope this suggestion might help.

Brilliant idea!