Silver Shadow Fails Sanitation Inspection After Caught Hiding Filthy Conditions from

Disgusting. I would NEVER sail on these ships, ever.

Shouldn't this be the kiss of death for Silversea?

I would not want to see any cruise line fail..... this should be a wake-up call for Silversea. Not sure what it means for people currently booked on the Shadow.

Silver Seas is an expensive luxury line. I can't believe they would stoop to this kind of behaviour.

We are meeting up with friends next weekend that are currently on a Silver Seas ship. It is an 8 day cruise and the cost was a minimum of $5600/person. Wow.

Rockfan2

What is worse? Storing food in the cabins or mixing non-premium liquors with premium?

Seriously though, I'm sure this is very common. It's not as if my kid figured out to throw things under the bed if they had to clean their room...

Are they only fearful of the US inspectors?

I would not want to see any cruise line fail..... this should be a wake-up call for Silversea. Not sure what it means for people currently booked on the Shadow.

Like you? What will you do when scandal hits Regent? This isn't just bad news for Silversea, which it is, but for the industry as a whole. Nothing but bad press for 24 months. Ugh!

The sky is not falling (unless posters get crazy and predict the end of cruising as we know it). There are questions that need to be answered by Silversea -- both to past and future cruisers.

Mikedoes thanks for sharing this.

While this problem was not discovered in previous inspections some items are so it is a reminder about the importance of inspections.

I would not rush to any conclusions that because of this problem that it occurs on other cruise lines or even on others ships in the Silversea Fleet.

With that said, you know failing inspections or passing them has nothing to do with the line being luxury. If you read inspections that are conducted on land by local city/town authorities those with poor inspections include not only inexpensive restaurants but also very pricey restaurants.

Hopefully, because of this the food operation will be "cleaned" up on any cruise ship and/or line at sea that would do something as unhealthy and as dumb as this.

Keith

I was about to say "words fail me" then realised I am about to explode.

Firstly this is disgusting, there is no excuse or mitigation.

The damage to Silversea's reputation is potentially enormous and the company need to make a statement to explain how this has occurred and what action they are taking to prevent a repetition. Silence simply will not do.

An apology and a little humility might be appropriate but in my experience of one cruise (on the shadow) this does not come easily to Silversea's management.

Quote from the article:

"Although the failed inspection occurred one month ago, the CDC has still not posted the failed score or its report of the inspection on its internet site."

Anyone know why? I would think that a failing inspection such as the one described would be posted immediately. And I personally would like to have a look at the actual inspection report.

A current Silversea employee posted a thread to warn passengers of the sanitation fail a month ago. In fear for his job, he asked that the thread be removed. Maybe some of you caught it...

Host Dan

Fascinating. My worst SS cruise was Whisper from NYC to Montreal. It was the first time the Whisper had been back in the US for several years and there were constant inspections.

Until the inspections were over the staff was cranky, service was poor, and I experienced my first "no" on SS (I asked for a green salad at the pool deck grill and was told I couldn't have one despite the fact that La Terrassa lunch had just stopped service and I was sure they could fetch me a lettuce salad from there.)

Our complaints were all met with "the staff are exhausted from getting up early for the US inspectors." I didn't realize that meant they were busy hiding things around the ship.

Host Dan, thanks for sharing the background on that other post.

I just spoke with my son who manages a land based restaurant and he was shocked that any restaurant facility would do what they did. As he said, it is so contrary to all that he was taught in his formal education and also in on-going training and safety measures that he and his team follow. After all we are talking about people's health. Ugh!

Keith

Wow, and we just booked our first ever cruise, and we picked SilverSea because they are supposed to be one of the best.

I hope things will be better after this report.

Oh my! SS reply should be interesting!!

For a change, I AM speechless. Almost. There are some heads on the Shadow that I would like to see roll.

For a change, I AM speechless. Almost. There are some heads on the Shadow that I would like to see roll.

It is difficult to imagine that anyone on the hotel side was unaware of this. "Understaffed" is a laughable excuse. All the pontificating about sanitation, hand sanitizers included, is so hypocritical in this instance. I am not so sure I believe the bit about topping of spirits, but the rest is hard to ignore, especially with the photos. My concern is that this isn't just a rogue F&B Manager or Exec. Chef, but rather industry wide. And I strongly doubt it is limited to food operations at sea and also happens in hotels and restaurants ashore.

What possible good did management think could come of this? Reports of sick passengers rather than a failed inspection? What about the crew galley?

Inspections should usually, if not always, be a "surprise." Our recent embarkation on Crystal Symphony was delayed due to a "surprise" inspection in Los Angeles. An inconvenience, sure, but the ship passed and we knew that part of the adventure was safe.

As the one (?) who got caught, Silversea needs to address this publically sooner rather than later. One can only hope the private addressing started the day of the inspection.

Although we have only sailed on Crystal recently, we loved our voyages on Shadow and Cloud, and don't want this to happen on Silversea or any other line, luxury or not. I suppos the good news for passengers boarding in the near future is that this isn't likely to happen again!

For a change, I AM speechless. Almost. There are some heads on the Shadow that I would like to see roll.

That would be nice. However, the problem did not begin last month. It's been around for awhile and it raises another issue. How does this company retain what appears to be very talented employees while the sky is falling around them? I am referring to people with titles such as executive chef, hotel director, inventory manager and restaurant manager.

Edit to add......the number of good hotel directors has been in decline. Not talking about nice guys.....I mean effective.

Management on the Shadow has been there for quite a while.

Management on the Shadow has been there for quite a while.

Do you know who the NEW managers are? The ones hired a month ago?

I just reread the article. The inspection was June 17. That was just about a month ago...There must have been new managers put in place immediately! That is a comforting reaction from SS. I guess we will find out eventually. To answer you question, no, I do not know who the new/current managers are.

duct tape maybe I missed it but I didn't read that new managers were put in place. Was that in the article?

Keith

duct tape maybe I missed it but I didn't read that new managers were put in place. Was that in the article?

 

Keith

No. I made the remark about new managers, hopefully not tongue in cheek, but rather assuming changes have been made in a month. I apologize for the misleading statement.

No. I made the remark about new managers, hopefully not tongue in cheek, but rather assuming changes have been made in a month. I apologize for the misleading statement.

Rally, that makes sense.

Hopefully, at some point we'll see the CDC report on line.

I wonder though about the other things that would not be in the CDC report but were noted on the web site dating back to 2011 about filling water bottles and liquor bottles. Not good and I do think that Silversea does need to address all of this publicly sooner rather than later. If mistakes were made, admit them and address how they won't happen again. If the article is wrong, then they should address that.

Wow!

Keith

What a blow. Not just to Silversea, but to its legions of trusting passengers.

Yet, we were on a Silversea back-to-back several years ago, and on the changeover morning, the generous platters of sliced fruit in La Terrazza weren't at their normal spot. An employee directed us over to the covered buffet counter where we found a modest tray of fruit under the glass "sneeze guard." He explained that there would be a rigorous inspection that morning, and Silversea knew that the usual exposed trays wouldn't pass, so they placed a small platter on the covered buffet to meet the health requirements. (The normal, plentiful trays of fruit were back on the open table the next morning.)

At the time, it didn't occur to me that this might be the tip of the iceberg, a health disaster waiting to happen. Who would suspect that Silversea would compromise their health and safety standards? What cruise line can afford to take such a huge risk? And, why?

It's only a matter of time before this ends up as messy, front-page news. Huge numbers are already reading about it here on CruiseCritic. I agree that Silversea must address this right away, in the media and in a letter to their entire mailing list. It's not too late - yet.