Our Silverseas Experience

We travelled on 10.6-16.2014 on the Silverseas Whisper from Boston to Montreal. With over 50 cruises on many lines, we wanted to share our candid observations. This may or may not be reflective of Silverseas overall, but it sure represents as balanced a review as we could offer.

1. The ship is old and maintenance was very poor on the main decks with paint badly needed. We have taken many pictures and will post them on silverseas-exposed.com in the coming days.

2. The food was absolutely superb and the service was delightful in the dining rooms. The crew was generally warm and engaging..

3. The "unlimited" premium liquor promise is misleading. While it is true that the line will offer you a choice of bottles in your room, they ONLY restock when you hand them an empty bottle. This is never stated in any of their promotional literature. Imagine handing an empty bottle to the bar manager-- embarrassing, misleading and unethical in terms of how they position this.

4. Speaking of liquor, don't get excited about "premium" brands. They had a choice of two tequilas as an example: Jose Cuervo and Pepe Lopez, both low end brands and not 100% blue agave. Their brands were not premium across several selections of other liquors as well. The stock wines were found to be low end as well.

5. Free bottled water was available at every port and the line was generous and supportive in helping you on and off the ship with directions and ideas on what to do.

6. The staterooms were adequate, but not superior; Celebrity suites are actually better. The bedding was excellent and choice of bathroom products featured top brands.

7. The notion, advanced in Silverseas marketing, that your butler will pack and unpack was hit and miss from the many we chatted with on board. Some butlers were eager to assist; ours was indifferent, saw us unpacking and never offered.

8. Wait until you check out the internet café. The seats had gashes in them, so be careful. The furniture in the cafes and bars look like refugees from The Love Boat; if you love velour, you'll be in heaven. Web connectivity was generally good to excellent. The onboard library is one of the best we have ever seen with daily, full size newspapers from around the world electronically printed for reading.

9. The on-stage shows and performers were excellent, well trained singers who tried to please a wide variety of music tastes. Bravo.

10. The casino is embarrassingly small with about 20 slot machines and three card tables.

11. There is only one store on board and the merchandise was 95% high end jewelry; there are a few sundries and three types of T-shirts and one hat for sale. Do not expect much and you will be pleased.

12. Senior officers keep a low profile and largely did not interact with passengers. The cruise director was delightful, engaged, pleasant.

13. Our friend needed a wheelchair and was told they would be available but the line never delivered on that promise, either. Verify everything with Silverseas and hold them accountable. This issue ruined her trip. Her stateroom, 723, which was a junior suite, had major rust on the balcony. They painted only after she complained. We'll be posting those pictures as well so you can see the lack of maintenance that seemed pervasive.

14. The stains on the rugs throughout the public areas are embarrassing. This is simple stuff, guys-- replace and update your rugs. The result is a musty environment; major fans were used on several floors because of this.

15. If you're a boomer hoping to move up from Celebrity to Silverseas, as we are, we're boycotting these folks for sure. Stay with a winner. For the most part, management (or ownership) is asleep at the wheel.

You might be taken a little more seriously if you got the name of the cruiseline correct..... ;)

La C, you beat me to it!

OP,

Your account sounds very credible, but this is an odd first post. You appear to have registered this domain a couple of days ago, in order to link to it in this post because from "whois" you appear to be the same person that registered the domain name. The registrant is also based in Cocoa Beach and full owner details are in the public domain. This is obviously highly coincidental and you will expect to be asked about what is going on as this is an unusual amount of trouble to go through and so may I ask you some simple direct questions?:)

1. Are you the registrant of the domain you have linked to? If so why was this not mentioned in your post? The name error in naming the site replicates your naming error here. You are aware that your link is against the rules of the forum? What else is going to appear on that website?

2. Can you explain why you have the name of the cruiseline wrong? It does seem odd if you have actually spent time booking the cruise and on the ship to

3. Why exactly are you doing this? What is the motive? Are you connected in any way, shape or form to the other line you seem to be steering people to.

Genuine questions that I am sure will present no problem if there are genuine answers. All CC'ers value genuine feedback.

Obviously people will or will not chime in, but my suggestion is that we wait for a response because this seems to be an issue for Dan.

I look forward to reading your response. Thanks,

Jeff

We travelled on 10.6-16.2014 on the Silverseas Whisper from Boston to Montreal. With over 50 cruises on many lines, we wanted to share our candid observations. This may or may not be reflective of Silverseas overall, but it sure represents as balanced a review as we could offer.

 

1. The ship is old and maintenance was very poor on the main decks with paint badly needed. We have taken many pictures and will post them on silverseas-exposed.com in the coming days.

 

2. The food was absolutely superb and the service was delightful in the dining rooms. The crew was generally warm and engaging..

 

3. The "unlimited" premium liquor promise is misleading. While it is true that the line will offer you a choice of bottles in your room, they ONLY restock when you hand them an empty bottle. This is never stated in any of their promotional literature. Imagine handing an empty bottle to the bar manager-- embarrassing, misleading and unethical in terms of how they position this.

 

4. Speaking of liquor, don't get excited about "premium" brands. They had a choice of two tequilas as an example: Jose Cuervo and Pepe Lopez, both low end brands and not 100% blue agave. Their brands were not premium across several selections of other liquors as well. The stock wines were found to be low end as well.

 

5. Free bottled water was available at every port and the line was generous and supportive in helping you on and off the ship with directions and ideas on what to do.

 

6. The staterooms were adequate, but not superior; Celebrity suites are actually better. The bedding was excellent and choice of bathroom products featured top brands.

 

7. The notion, advanced in Silverseas marketing, that your butler will pack and unpack was hit and miss from the many we chatted with on board. Some butlers were eager to assist; ours was indifferent, saw us unpacking and never offered.

 

8. Wait until you check out the internet café. The seats had gashes in them, so be careful. The furniture in the cafes and bars look like refugees from The Love Boat; if you love velour, you'll be in heaven. Web connectivity was generally good to excellent. The onboard library is one of the best we have ever seen with daily, full size newspapers from around the world electronically printed for reading.

 

9. The on-stage shows and performers were excellent, well trained singers who tried to please a wide variety of music tastes. Bravo.

 

10. The casino is embarrassingly small with about 20 slot machines and three card tables.

 

11. There is only one store on board and the merchandise was 95% high end jewelry; there are a few sundries and three types of T-shirts and one hat for sale. Do not expect much and you will be pleased.

 

12. Senior officers keep a low profile and largely did not interact with passengers. The cruise director was delightful, engaged, pleasant.

 

13. Our friend needed a wheelchair and was told they would be available but the line never delivered on that promise, either. Verify everything with Silverseas and hold them accountable. This issue ruined her trip. Her stateroom, 723, which was a junior suite, had major rust on the balcony. They painted only after she complained. We'll be posting those pictures as well so you can see the lack of maintenance that seemed pervasive.

 

14. The stains on the rugs throughout the public areas are embarrassing. This is simple stuff, guys-- replace and update your rugs. The result is a musty environment; major fans were used on several floors because of this.

 

15. If you're a boomer hoping to move up from Celebrity to Silverseas, as we are, we're boycotting these folks for sure. Stay with a winner. For the most part, management (or ownership) is asleep at the wheel.

Perhaps,one consumed too many bottles in too short a time that seemed credible......just saying'.

You might be taken a little more seriously if you got the name of the cruiseline correct..... ;)

Beat me to it too ! :D

I have generally been a Silversea booster, but I cannot dismiss this post as some have.

Comments:

Would that I had a dollar for every time I have heard a passenger onboard speak of Silverseas. It's a common error and hardly reason to impugn the OP.

I think the post is generally balanced -- giving praise (food, entertainment, CD, library holdings, free water, bedding, etc.) along with many criticisms.

I have to agree with the OP that maintenance is declining and ships are looking old and threadbare. The fact that Silversea seems to schedule dry docks so rarely (compare with Crystal) may be a cause.

I too find the senior officers very standoffish. I often sit near their table in Terrace at lunchtime. They have never acknowledged my presence -- no hello, no smile, no nothing.

As I have posted in the past, I find the selections of single malt scotch disappointing. They used to have Macallan 12 (we're not talking about 18 year old!) as a free pour. Now it's $10/glass.

The new/improved boutique description sounds very plausible given previous posts. So they do disruptive construction with passengers onboard to sell more high end jewelry?

The butler unpacking advertisement is of course largely bogus. Let's say a butler has 12 suites and unpacking takes 30 minutes/suite. The butler has a couple of hours to introduce himself to boarding guests, to offer soaps, to take special orders, etc. If more than a couple of people asked to be unpacked, the butler would be fully occupied. The butler idea needs work: They cannot do the promised unpacking for many guests, and they are overwhelmed doing room service breakfasts on port days when everyone wants breakfast during same half-hour.

I began with Silversea in 1999. The "old" Silversea is no more. I share the OP's disappointment.

Great post jeff .

I'm far from a Silversea(s) fan, but I'm really not clear what the big problem was here. :confused:

After reading the intro, and the shock and awe drama of setting up a website to 'expose' SS(s), I find myself distinctly underwhelmed by the actual exposé itself......

Great post jeff .

 

 

I'm far from a Silversea(s) fan, but I'm really not clear what the big problem was here. :confused:

 

After reading the intro, and the shock and awe drama of setting up a website to 'expose' SS(s), I find myself distinctly underwhelmed by the actual exposé itself......

Thanks.

The OP returned after the post and decided not to respond - perfectly within their right. I agree with your observation that all the comments seemed fair but none worthy of so much trouble,

I guess what I would really like to know is why all the trouble and has a request for compensation been made or contemplated. Building a web site has a sort of coercion feel. It's that level of effort that is puzzling.

The OP I'm sure will explain,

Jeff

Thanks.

 

The OP returned after the post and decided not to respond - perfectly within their right. I agree with your observation that all the comments seemed fair but none worthy of so much trouble,

 

I guess what I would really like to know is why all the trouble and has a request for compensation been made or contemplated. Building a web site has a sort of coercion feel. It's that level of effort that is puzzling.

 

The OP I'm sure will explain,

 

Jeff

I hope there's an explanation as it does all seem rather dramatic given the issues described.

Nobody wants any problems on holiday, especially at luxury cruise prices, but this really does appear over egged.

Observer, I didnt see your earlier post until now. I read your recent thread, and in your case, especially with regard to the work going on during your cruise, I do understand why you're not best pleased with SS.

I hope there's an explanation as it does all seem rather dramatic given the issues described.

Nobody wants any problems on holiday, especially at luxury cruise prices, but this really does appear over egged.

What could be the end purpose of registering a web site called "Silversea(s) Exposed" when Photobucket etc are perfect places to post piccies. :confused:

Requesting boycotting is just strange. It seems more a campaign than a simple one off post. I am probably just a suspicious and cynical old bugger ....;)

I'm sure all will be clarified.

Jeff

Observer, I didnt see your earlier post until now. I read your recent thread, and in your case, especially with regard to the work going on during your cruise, I do understand why you're not best pleased with SS.

Nigella, I think you are referring to my thread from the Southampton to Montreal cruise segment during which I posted about the boutique reconstruction which was done right below us. Bad as it was, to bring things up to date, Silversea leadership did apologize, acknowledged that they had seriously underestimated the problem, and provided appropriate compensation. And I hope that they have adjusted their plans for these changes on the other ships.

Yes, you have to question the motive behind such a waste of time/effort.

He lost me after stating superb food on SS. And the liquor comments said more about him than the booze.

Talk about stirring things up, this has even woken up the CC mites.

Nigella, I think you are referring to my thread from the Southampton to Montreal cruise segment during which I posted about the boutique reconstruction which was done right below us. Bad as it was, to bring things up to date, Silversea leadership did apologize, acknowledged that they had seriously underestimated the problem, and provided appropriate compensation. And I hope that they have adjusted their plans for these changes on the other ships.

They have apparently not adjusted plans. I understand that a feature of the Shadow's Grand Voyage this winter will be the renovation of the boutique. According to my information, they have not informed passengers of this work on their cruise and one passenger who had a suite on deck 5 close to the work and learned about the renovation accidentally was not allowed to cancel without penalty. All of this to generate more revenue for Silversea by selling high end jewelry. Sad what Silversea has become……..

Nigella, I think you are referring to my thread from the Southampton to Montreal cruise segment during which I posted about the boutique reconstruction which was done right below us. Bad as it was, to bring things up to date, Silversea leadership did apologize, acknowledged that they had seriously underestimated the problem, and provided appropriate compensation. And I hope that they have adjusted their plans for these changes on the other ships.

Oops :o Yes, of course, I'm sorry I was muddled and apologies to both yourself and Observer. It was very late here when I posted and tiredness is my only defence !

I'm very happy to read your update and that Silversea has resolved to your satisfaction.

I just want to add that some necessary editing has been done by CC on the first post of this thread, making my own comments on post #8 somewhat lose context.

I see the OP is so committed to a balanced reaction to their effort that they have failed to return to the thread.

Seems like a very clear bit of trolling.

what is a "junior suite"?

what is a "junior suite"?

From the cabin location given, appears to be the same thing as a Silvers Suite. :D