commodoredave

Just wondering why you wouldn't take the air fare credit from SS, book your own economy ticket directly with Delta and then use your points to upgrade? Might be easier to upgrade your own ticket than a bulk ticket provided by the cruise line, plus you would know the details of your flights sooner.

My first Silversea cruise was on the Wind in 1995. Since then, I have seem a few temporary downs (remember when staff on the Silver Shadow got caught hiding food trolleys from the CDC's vessel inspectors in 2013?). But overall the trend has been upwards and I believe SS has evolved in a manner that suits me very well, and I think their current onboard product is on a very high level.

I don't think there is a major cruise line out there that hasn't seen some deterioration in their onboard product post-Covid. When talking with some staff on recent cruises, they have mentioned the challenges to the onboard experience in the immediate aftermath of the Covid shutdown. This is surely reflected in the lower ratings that some cruise ships are getting. As to the claim that only unhappy people write reviews, it takes a lot more happy people writing them to get a score close to 4.

I beg to differ. I don't think CC would waste so much valuable online real estate on cruise reviews if they thought they were useless. Same for other companies with reviews on their websites.Of course some reviews make little sense and should be discounted. But there are nuggets of good information in some reviews that make them worth the effort to find.

I agree that reviews are imperfect inputs and have to be read with a grain of salt. However, who out there hasn't looked at a Google Review, a Trip Advisor review, or a cruise review on some occasion as part of their research? They serve a purpose. But they are just one input.

Yes, to some extent. For example, Regent is currently rated 3.7, but Seabourn is 4.1.

That would jive with some of the reviews. Unfortunately, as bitob noted, since most happy people do not write reviews, a handful of poor experiences can skewer the overall rating.

I have been on 6 cruises with Silversea and loved every one of them. Having said that, there has been a troubling negative trend in the passenger reviews on Cruise Critic https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/silversea-cruises/cl/ that has pulled the overall rating down to 3.8 out of 5 -- which is not good. I don't know whether it's the rapid expansion, the lack of detail on some ships, or whatever, but too many people say they are not getting the luxury experience they expected. I'm hoping that Silversea management is paying attention and will take the necessary steps to bring their rating back to where it should be.

Many years ago I won a spot on our company's annual awards program, which that year was a Caribbean cruise with Princess. The issue was not the behaviour of my fellow employees, but rather some of their spouses. In fact, one of them had to be put off the ship in St. Thomas for starting a brawl while very intoxicated. After that experience I have done my best to avoid large groups that charter a ship.

If I have to be stuck on a ship with a group of drunken people, I'd prefer the insurance sales staff. At least I'd know where to make a claim if one of them knocked me over.

Sounds like you have been reading the cruise version of "War and Peace".

And when it comes to Cruise Critic passenger ratings of Seabourn, you might find this recent 1 star rating review of interest: https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=699654 As they say, you can't believe everything you read!

While your one and only SS cruise was a disappointment, I would recommend you give it another try. If I stopped sailing with every cruise line with which I have had one disappointing experience, I would have stopped sailing with Seabourn in 2013, Regent in 2012, Celebrity in 2009, and Cunard in 2006. Fortunately I gave all of them more opportunities and have never regretted it.

I stand corrected. Thanks.

Let's hope cruise lines are making the doors between adjoining cabins more sound proof than in the past. On one TA cruise on the QM2, we could not only hear the couple in the next cabin talk, cough and sneeze, but there was light shining through between the crack around the door frame. There were even white glue stains around the frame of our door where a previous passenger had afixed duct tape around the door to block out the light. As a result, we avoid connecting cabins just in case.

Based upon my experience on 7 Seabourn and 6 Silversea cruises (6 of them over the past 2 years), you are correct. I would also point out the TK Grill is an upcharge on SB, and that we had daily entertainment outdoors by the pool with SS on every decent day. Having said that, I love both SB and SS, and have more cruises planned for both over the next year.

I'm on the October 10 departure, which is still showing as you noted. But the all the other Pursuit sailings prior to that have disappeared from the Seabourn website. Could be a simple website issue, or perhaps something more serious. Would be nice if Seabourn cleared this up.

And sometimes there is an upside of not having a passport. On a river cruise that docked in Germany, we were told that anyone taking the excursion across the river to Strassbourg would need a passport in case they were stopped by local police. I asked what would happen if we were stopped and had no passport. He said the officers might return us to the ship. I said I would remember that if we missed the last shuttle bus back!

On our TA from Ft. Lauderdale to Lisbon in March, we had Poke bowls several times on the Moon at the pool.

This is also my preferred mode of operation. I can't tell you how many times I've been told to bring my passport ashore, incluidng on a river cruise, when it was not necessary and no one ever asked for it. I carry a paper copy and an electronic copy ashore.

I had a lot more flash 30 years ago, but still have some left in the tank. 🤗

We have always tipped our butlers and room stewards, and occasionally a great bar tender. I know gratuities are included and that tipping is not expected. But I like to give a little extra to reward consistently great service.

Completely agree - we usually do the same. Unfortunately on our recent cruise on the Moon, the menu was still the same as our cruise on the Whisper last August. So we skipped La Dame all together.

Having sailed with Seabourn pre-Carnival, I have seen many changes of leadership, and to the quality of the product, mostly in attempts to save money and broaden the brand’s appeal. Some has been positive, a good deal not so much. I’m hoping Natalya will reach back for a little of that old magic, while building on the best of the present.

When Natalya is fired/promoted/disappears, Josh may come back as an Extremely Very Senior Advisor for the next CEO.