Silver Shadow: the worst cruise food we have ever had

[TedC]

strawberries were missing on this ship too:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHhkZ6GpVlQ

 

Hilarious!!!!

 

 

BTW Trivia: Bogart was named Humphrey because his mother's maiden name was Maud Humphrey - she married a Dr. Bogart - now you know the end of the story!

[juli2020]

I will tell you my agenda: I am angry about spending so much money for a cruise where the food was so awful. And since many of the passengers on this cruise shared my opinion, I want to warn other people what they might find so they are not as shocked as we were. Many of the people were on multiple previous cruises, and like us, none had experienced this before. Perhaps it was atypical, but at the price we paid, this should not be expected. If it was RCL or Princess pricing, I would not be complaining! And if you read any of my previous posts, I am not usually a complainer.

 

I am not surprised at what you experienced on the Silver Shadow. My husband and I took a ten night cruise in July 2012 on the Silver Shadow and found the food far from great. Not what you expect on a luxury line. We have taken three Silversea cruises and our last cruise was very disappointing. The food and service has declined. Plus the ship is starting to look dated.

[dusababy]

I am not surprised at what you experienced on the Silver Shadow. My husband and I took a ten night cruise in July 2012 on the Silver Shadow and found the food far from great. Not what you expect on a luxury line. We have taken three Silversea cruises and our last cruise was very disappointing. The food and service has declined. Plus the ship is starting to look dated.

 

 

This is quote #52 -- complaints. I may just have to quite reading CC. On and on and on -- you've made your point.

[Herman The Cat]

This is quote #52 -- complaints. I may just have to quite reading CC. On and on and on -- you've made your point.

 

Agreed. He needs to let it go and move on.

[ging466]

Agreed. He needs to let it go and move on.

 

Herman, there are quite a few on this board that need to do this.:)

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[Emtbsam]

IMHO -- I am a strong believer in self-fulfilling prophesies. If you spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about everything little detail before a trip, you will undoubtedly pick the experience to pieces and succeed in proving your original hypothesis correct in some regard. I've learned that life is too short to worry excessively or criticize every little detail. The experience on Silversea is so far superior to my every day life that even if it isn't perfect (and it isn't) it is still something I look forward to and gladly spend lots of money to enjoy.

[dusababy]

IMHO -- I am a strong believer in self-fulfilling prophesies. If you spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about everything little detail before a trip, you will undoubtedly pick the experience to pieces and succeed in proving your original hypothesis correct in some regard. I've learned that life is too short to worry excessively or criticize every little detail. The experience on Silversea is so far superior to my every day life that even if it isn't perfect (and it isn't) it is still something I look forward to and gladly spend lots of money to enjoy.

 

How refreshing ! Thank you. My sentiments exactly.

[Dmgmd50]

IMHO -- I am a strong believer in self-fulfilling prophesies. If you spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about everything little detail before a trip, you will undoubtedly pick the experience to pieces and succeed in proving your original hypothesis correct in some regard. I've learned that life is too short to worry excessively or criticize every little detail. The experience on Silversea is so far superior to my every day life that even if it isn't perfect (and it isn't) it is still something I look forward to and gladly spend lots of money to enjoy.

 

I am really upset by what you said and surprised that you would not mind spending big bucks for poor food. And when you imply that it is a self-fulfilling prophesy, you are correct that I had previously read some negative remarks about the food, but the SS loyalists told me not to worry and never did I think the negative remarks about the food would be as bad as it turned out to be. Believe me, I had a long talk with the food and beverage manager within a few days on board. I should not expect poor food on a luxury line. I certainly would not expect the food to be so inferior to the food a normally eat at restaurants or at my clubs. Or so inferior to food I recently had on Oceania and Celebrity, and previously on SS.

 

BTW, I did forget to mention that we enjoyed the afternoon tea each day.

[badgerdee]

There are two immediate issues I have with the opening post. One is the emotive title of the thread (worst food ever!) which is at best, hyperbole, and at worst, provocative. Some might say its both.

 

The second is that having proclaimed Silver Shadow had the worst food ever, the only specific example given is minor, bordering on petty. No strawberries? Perhaps for you it was the straw (no pun intended) that broke the camel's back but if so, what went before it that gave rise to the "worst food ever" claim? Were you served poor produce, over-cooked meat, rubbery omelettes, dreadful wine, stale bread... Etc etc. how was it that every meal was pure torture?

 

Are readers seriously meant to accept that the F&B manager's time was taken up on several days by placating guests because there were no strawberries on board? Because that's my take-away message.

[CanadianKate]

Background: I don't eat most things with sauces, including salads but as a treat when on SS, I have berries on my salad. As well, my breakfast each morning at home is a bowl of shredded wheat with blueberries on it. I'm not fussy, frozen berries are fine. My life is very middle class plus my dh and I don't dine when not on SS, we eat. We'd never been served beef tenderloin before SS, for example.

 

Of course, frozen berries are not fine for a 6 star cruise line. I understand that.

 

But when SS can't manage my two requests (the garden salad with a few berries on top at dinner and berries for my cereal in the morning), I wonder what I'm paying $1000/day for (I won't book any itinerary that costs me more than that.)

 

You see, my dh and I don't drink, so we get no benefit from the free flowing alcohol, although SS introduced us to de-alcoholized wine which we do enjoy at a cost of $7 a day to the line.

 

For us, all that is left is outstanding service (which only failed to materialize on one of the SS cruises we've taken so far), and the roomy cabins.

 

Gotta love the service, but our last cruise had rationed berries at the beginning and then non-existent berries. Our de-alcoholized wine was not available and hypo-allergenic toiletries were not available. All of these things were blamed on a failure to load containers in Cape Town and the majority of the ship were upset about the lack of champagne (also in the unloaded containers.) Given our itinerary, sourcing fresh fruits and champagne in porsts wasn't an option although a long day's drive was done to score some bottles in Ghana. Our 'wine' never did catch up with us (I had assumed the ship would be restocked including our bottles when we reached the Canaries and started another itinerary, but it wasn't so the sommelier found other brands for us - not to our enjoyment but an example of SS service.)

 

That other passengers are experiencing similar rationing of fresh food while cruising where alternate sources of stores could be purchased makes me wonder what is going on with SS's logistics management.

 

The sign of a truly great business is not how they handle things when everything is going fine, but how they handle things with there are hiccups. It seems to me that SS is not passing that test with the flying colours we expect from a 6 star line.

[Dmgmd50]

There are two immediate issues I have with the opening post. One is the emotive title of the thread (worst food ever!) which is at best, hyperbole, and at worst, provocative. Some might say its both.

 

The second is that having proclaimed Silver Shadow had the worst food ever, the only specific example given is minor, bordering on petty. No strawberries? Perhaps for you it was the straw (no pun intended) that broke the camel's back but if so, what went before it that gave rise to the "worst food ever" claim? Were you served poor produce, over-cooked meat, rubbery omelettes, dreadful wine, stale bread... Etc etc. how was it that every meal was pure torture?

 

Are readers seriously meant to accept that the F&B manager's time was taken up on several days by placating guests because there were no strawberries on board? Because that's my take-away message.

 

Let me clarify: the worst food I have ever had on a ship and I have been on at least 25 cruises. And the berries were only one example. I assume you did not want to hear about all the tasteless, unappetizing things we ate ( or tasted and did not finish). We had tough meat, bland veggies, over sweet desserts. The omelette I had made to order was fine; those on the buffet were rubbery. And the service was very inefficient as well as exceptionally slow. I never wish you food like that. But maybe it would not bother you: one couple we were with did not like the food, yet they signed up for 30 days on SS next winter.

[Dmgmd50]

...Were you served poor produce, over-cooked meat, rubbery omelettes, dreadful wine, stale bread... Etc etc. how was it that every meal was pure torture?

.

 

All of the above except for stale bread and some of the complimentary wines were fine. Actually you described the food well; you were much more accurate than I was. Thanks for hitting the nail on the head.

[dusababy]

Cruise Critic what did I ever do to you?

 

I go to bed -- wake up -- and he's still here! :mad:

 

Will this never end.........

[fudge]

It's hard to believe that the food on any SS cruise can be that bad ALL of the time! Although we have only sailed 4 times with them we have never been disappointed all the time, the odd meal maybe not to my taste, so why would I keep going back?

 

We have just sailed for 10 days on the Explorer to the Antarctic where once she leaves dock thats it, we get what we get, the food was perfect.

 

Talking about food/drink is so subjective, what is one mans meat, Etc, you know the rest.

 

Are your expectations so high? I realize we are all paying good money for the cruise but honestly, maybe you are difficult to please?

[wripro]

Why must the OP be difficult to please just for stating his opinions? There are enough corroborating posts here to validate his concerns. And if one is disinclined to believe them or is offended by them it's easy enough not to click on to this thread.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Why must the OP be difficult to please just for stating his opinions? There are enough corroborating posts here to validate his concerns. And if one is disinclined to believe them or is offended by them it's easy enough not to click on to this thread.

 

It is a shame because it is becoming bullying.

[Otis]

Thanks for saying that, wripro. When attacks become personal and - by the way - persistent, it dissuades others from sharing any critical thoughts because they might be perceived as too hard to please, having an agenda, etc. This is a message board, not a cheerleading PR site for Silversea. People are entitled to opinions and we all benefit from an open, non hostile environment. We can make our own decisions about what to believe.

 

I jumped into this thread because I agreed with the OP, but I won't be so quick to do this again.

[Travelcat2]

I am wondering if the food issue is related to the current chef (who may have also been on board during parts of 2012), or if this is a affecting all Silversea ships!? For instance, fresh berries...... are passengers on the Whisper, Spirit, etc. getting fresh berries?

[Stumblefoot]

I am wondering if the food issue is related to the current chef (who may have also been on board during parts of 2012), or if this is a affecting all Silversea ships!? For instance, fresh berries...... are passengers on the Whisper, Spirit, etc. getting fresh berries?

Good point TC2 and something I had wondered about as well. It seemed some others experienced poor food on the Shadow previously as well.

 

Personally, while on the Whisper in November, we had plenty of berries available and in general, all of the fruit was good. I don't doubt the OP for one minute and hope his voyage was a one time aberration. We'll find out soon enough as others join the Shadow and post their food experiences.

[dusababy]

Thanks for saying that, wripro. When attacks become personal and - by the way - persistent, it dissuades others from sharing any critical thoughts because they might be perceived as too hard to please, having an agenda, etc. This is a message board, not a cheerleading PR site for Silversea. People are entitled to opinions and we all benefit from an open, non hostile environment. We can make our own decisions about what to believe.

 

I jumped into this thread because I agreed with the OP, but I won't be so quick to do this again.

 

 

It's fine to voice an opinion -- beating it to death serves no purpose.

[Travelcat2]

Good point TC2 and something I had wondered about as well. It seemed some others experienced poor food on the Shadow previously as well.

 

Personally, while on the Whisper in November, we had plenty of berries available and in general, all of the fruit was good. I don't doubt the OP for one minute and hope his voyage was a one time aberration. We'll find out soon enough as others join the Shadow and post their food experiences.

 

I also do not doubt the OP. Just wondering if the problem is specific to the Shadow. If so, something needs to be done. I will also be watching posts from people who join the Shadow. I would hate to cancel my Shadow cruise for a second time due to food:confused:

[Dmgmd50]

Thanks for saying that, wripro. When attacks become personal and - by the way - persistent, it dissuades others from sharing any critical thoughts because they might be perceived as too hard to please, having an agenda, etc. This is a message board, not a cheerleading PR site for Silversea. People are entitled to opinions and we all benefit from an open, non hostile environment. We can make our own decisions about what to believe.

 

I jumped into this thread because I agreed with the OP, but I won't be so quick to do this again.

 

Thanks to all of you who have understood what I am trying to say. I am actually hoping that someone from SS reads this, that the company works on making sure that it does not happen in the future, and that all can enjoy their meals while cruising. Though I am one of only two CC members who was on this sailing according to the Roll Call, I can assure you that many other passengers on THIS sailing (many of them repeaters) shared my feelings, and many of them complained to the staff while we were cruising.

[MrsWaldo]

In Sydney we have had a very poor berry summer (or was it just a berry poor summer) and our berries are sourced from the same areas as those in melb

 

It was hot quite early and while in the markets there were lots of fruit at an Ok price...it was not so good too taste (bitter strawberries, dry blueberries) they looked great though. even the mangoes were only OK

 

This is not an excuse but just maybe the chefs went OK not up to standard. Which down here is a challenge because our climate isn't berry friendly.

 

As for the other food... maybe some Junee Lamb or Otway Pork could have made a big dining impression (however our food prices are horrendous so maybe this is the issue)

[tgh]

vis....

 

the veggies were definitely NOT Birdseye or frozen for that matter

 

Did they just wander down to the ships garden and pick 'em before dinner ??really.....

 

Perhaps the ships ARE being provisioned parsimoniously.

If this is the case it seems useful NOT TO shoot the messenger(s) .. better for some of the old ss hands to make some discreet enquiries of management about just how the provisioning and the menu process is being managed and what , if anything , has changed.

I have considered an Azamara cruise but haven't found the itinerary.

The interactive manner of the AZ website is an object lesson in proactive marketing that SS management could learn from ...

[wripro]

A lot of the OP's comments are responses to the cheerleaders here. I do not see him beating the issue to death. It's his opinion, he's entitled to it. I had a very similar experience on the Shadow but never on the other SS ships. And as I said, it's easy enough to avoid by not reading.