argyllsock

Hi All,

We booked a guaranteed verandah and just got notified that we've been assigned to an aqua class cabin.

Perhaps a silly question, but do you just get the better cabin or do you get all the perks that go with the AQ class - access to the persian gardens, Blu, priority embark/disembark?

Quite happy either way. looking forward to a beautiful ship and great cruise!

I have noticed that the guarantee option pops up more frequently the closer you are to sail date.

We just booked the 02/27 Reflection Western sailing and the site only had guarantee options for verandah cabins. I think this is due to the limited selection of cabins - most people booking in advance know where they want to be and the 'best' cabins are long gone by the time you get within a month of sailing.

If you go onto the celebrity site and look at cruises departing in the next three or four weeks you will probably see mostly guarantee cabins; very few options to pick your own cabin.

We used a Canadian agent via an online site. Not sure if the posting rules allow me to mention the agency name - is it considered a form of advertising?

Hi Innerchild,

Thanks for the information. I've found other postings that say this is the way it works. Sounds like all will be well.

I've noticed a lot of posters with questions about e-docs. We did our check in online and are assuming that we need nothing else. Hoping that is true.

Cruise #4 with Celebrity but first time trying out the all included option. With the OBC offered by our TA this is a fantastic deal!

Looking forward to being on the Reflection again as it is a beautiful ship.

Hi,

Just found this thread about the "It's All Included" - we were able to book a good deal with celebrity on this (flights are getting outrageous) but are still trying to find out when the flight out of hamilton happens.

It's a bit unnerving to have nothing in writing. We've been able to do the online check in but there is no mention of the flight times...nor do they mention that Gratuities and the Classic Drink Package are included. The reservation does say that it's the "It's All Included" booking

Has anyone gotten anything to confirm this? I suspect all will be well but just wondering.

One other point - definitely put the restaurant bookings into My Silversea. I expect that the reservations will be honored as they iron out the processes.

We made two dinner reservations on 'My Silversea'. Only one was actually processed. Fortunately, our butler was able to get us into the Grill (the lost reservation).

I would suggest following the old process of getting dinner reservations as soon as you get on board. My Silversea is quite new and I don't think that they have ironed out the processes yet (missing Grill reservations seemed to be a common theme).

On a positive note, there were two representatives from the FLL office on the ship during the embarkation process. I was able to spend a great deal of time with the IT representative who was on board describing my challenges. She provided me with her contact information and I am reaching out to her with my observations regarding the process. It's a positive sign that they are interested in our experiences with the new system.

Hi Duct-tape,

It was wonderful meeting yourself, Herman the Cat, edbreb, and fried guard at the M&M and following throughout the ship. One of the highlights for us.

As first time 'luxury' cruisers (we've been mainstream cruisers up to this point) we found the Silver Spirit wonderful and more than worth the premium over the mainstreams. Food was terrific! Jorge arranged an Indian meal for us on the last night (my birthday) that was out of this world (thanks to Stephan for preparing it for us).

Although for the regulars the ship seemed crowded we never felt like we were packed in and really enjoyed the space we had. The pool deck did get crowded but we were always able to find a space to relax.

Service was excellent.

The entertainment was 'weak' but we were expecting that and weren't on the ship for entertainment; solely for relaxing and unwinding. On that count, we were absolutely thrilled!

I will write a review over the next week with more details.

Duct-tape - enjoy week 2 on the ship!

TravelCat2:

You mentioned a charity charge. First time I've heard about this!

Could you provide some background on this? What organization does it go to, how much, etc.

I'm not a big fan of forced giving.

Looking forward to meeting everyone on the cruise!

An interesting discussion!

Family businesses can be successful at retaining people. SAS Institute in Cary NC is a family owned business with the lowest (by far) turnover in the software industry. They do it by offering a lot of benefits that are 'non career climbing' benefits - outstanding family benefits, work environment, etc. The organization (and family) has to decide what it wants in people, and what it doesn't want to represent, decide what type of person it wants to attract, and then structure it accordingly. SAS has done very well by attracting the right people for its ownership structure, and building a work environment and renumeration package that works.

Another challenge for anyone working in the US - you are 6 time zones from the Silversea headquarters. That can be a frustrating experience, since it's easy to get left out from the decision making experience.

To the financial viability point, I suspect that the family will sell the fleet and name to another cruise operator at some point. I believe they've done this before, and I suspect they will again.

Hi All,

I appreciate all of the responses and especially everyone's willingness to help out.

We did get our assignment from our TA. While I was on the phone with Silversea being told that they couldn't access the booking system (seemed very strange to me that they couldn't tell me) an email arrived from our TA with the cabin details.

We'd booked a Verandah category 1. It's our first time with Silversea and we wanted to try them out. Silversea ended up putting us in a category 3 cabin midship so we are very happy.

Can't wait to try out our first luxury cruise!

John

Hi All,

We booked a Verandah 1 category on the Silver Spirit departing 03/13/14 and was given a guarantee for a cabin assignment. We've cruised many times on 'mainstream' cruise line (SS is our first try on a luxury ship) and have always known the location of our cabin at booking time.

Will Silversea advise of your cabin assignment in advance or do we simply find out at embarkation? I was unable to find any indication of cabin assignment or type on the 'My Silversea' website.

Although it doesn't look like there is a 'bad' cabin on the entire ship, it would be nice to know in advance!

Thanks!

John

I did write to Silversea as well and they did respond, albeit rather slowly, regarding formal night on the 03/13/14 cruise:

Thank you for your website inquiry. The second night on board will be the formal night. Of course, this is always subject to change.

We booked Terraza for that night - we are really hoping to snag an outside table while we are at sea.

Looking forward to meeting everyone on the March 13 cruise

This is NOT to cause a big fuss...but...for the record, we love formal nights. We also have a March 13 cruise coming up on the Spirit. We have been disappointed twice once onboard to find that large "groups" had somehow managed to have formal nights cancelled. Obviously some extra work is involved in packing for formal nights and you can certainly dress formally regardless. If formal dress is not your thing, you might want your travel agent to check with SS to see if any official changes have been made for your sailing. I will say that everybody was dressed according to the "informal" code that I saw and the usual SS experience was outstanding, but often there are groups on the beachy cruises and this might be one of them. I only say this in case you would prefer not to be surprised. It will still be great fun either way.

Hi Fizzy,

We plan on having a great time regardless of what everyone else wears! My wife and I aren't into dressing to the nines on vacation (we wear business formal but not what I would call formal dress). We thought we would try one of the casual dinner venues (Silversea now has online restaurant reservations on their website) on formal night. I know lots of cruisers look forward to dressing up and dining at the MDR on formal night.

This is our first cruise with Silversea. We have tried most of the main lines (Disney, RCL, CCL, Celebrity, NCL) and really want to try a more traditional upscale cruise line. We thought the 7 day FLL to FLL would be a good way to try out Silversea.

Oh, and I forgot to say, WELCOME to the Silversea forum of Cruise Critic argyllsock. Hope you'll join in the conversation as there is a good group of folks here.

Thank you for the welcome! We are looking forward to learning about Silversea and everything we have to look forward to it.

Hi All,

We are sailing on Silversea on 13 March for a seven day cruise and were wondering if anyone knew which night they typically designate as formal night?

Thanks