Silver Galapagos Finally Made it onboard Nov 9th 2013

[Lauranne]

I find this interesting. Aaron, a blogger From the Deck Chair was unable to take the Silver Galapagos cruise on Nov. 1 (medical reason). His blogging friend Ralph, Avid cruiser, who was to be on the ship on Nov. 16 to provide a review was offered a cruise instead on the Explorer to the Antarctic next month by Silversea. Here is a link to their planned reports. http://www.fromthedeckchair.com/2013/10/30/unveiling-new-live-voyage-reports/

We were to have two reviews by these gents but we have zero. As Ralph reports Silversea presented him with an offer that he couldn't refuse. http://www.avidcruiser.com/2013/11/13/antarctica-silver-explorer/

I am wondering if Silversea is trying to keep the dismal condition of the ship under wraps. Thankfully others are posting reviews and hopefully this forces Silversea to get their act together.

[5waldos]

That is interesting. I have heard that they are VERY aware of the problems and really scrambling to improve things while battling 'the system' in the Galapagos. We'll see how they do.

 

 

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[carefreecruise]

The review linked to from the other thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1945286 (follow his link for the true horror of his review) has me seriously concerned.

 

OK I have read the review and being on the ship can concur with most of his experiences. More than 70% were corrected the first two days on our cruise. Of course we could add 8 more items to his list but here’s the deal: I was paid for mays years to inspect commercial buildings for owners prior to paying contractors. So I was paid to look closely at working procedures and completed work. While on my inspections some sub-contractors would follow me and I would tell them “I am the enemy so stay away”. A few would ask what could they correct during my inspection and I would share their discrepancies. To my surprise, some would correct all items; regardless of how severe it was before I could finish my inspections. I found myself giving these contractors a break due to their commitment to providing quality work. Believe me some of my inspection customers asked me to rip the contractors apart so they didn’t have to pay full price on the building costs. These were very stressful for me and the general contractors I was inspecting. No one wins on going in on complete negativity. Give them a fair shake, except mistakes and only judge them on how they fix the problems.

 

While I was on board the Silver Galapagos all staff members I presented with a problem; it was corrected in a very acceptable time frame. Sure I could poo-poo the price paid for what we received I refuse to let myself fall into spending more time looking for problems than enjoying the trip.

[carefreecruise]

I find this interesting. Aaron, a blogger From the Deck Chair was unable to take the Silver Galapagos cruise on Nov. 1 (medical reason). His blogging friend Ralph, Avid cruiser, who was to be on the ship on Nov. 16 to provide a review was offered a cruise instead on the Explorer to the Antarctic next month by Silversea. Here is a link to their planned reports. http://www.fromthedeckchair.com/2013/10/30/unveiling-new-live-voyage-reports/

We were to have two reviews by these gents but we have zero. As Ralph reports Silversea presented him with an offer that he couldn't refuse. http://www.avidcruiser.com/2013/11/13/antarctica-silver-explorer/

I am wondering if Silversea is trying to keep the dismal condition of the ship under wraps. Thankfully others are posting reviews and hopefully this forces Silversea to get their act together.

 

They know how bad it looks with the majority of guests they inherited on three and four days voyages from the previous owners. it will look a lot better after the first of the year when this problem all goes away.

[5waldos]

That does make it sound more than salvageable. If they are working on improvement together then it will work out. And I do think that having two sets of guests with different expectations must be miserable.

 

 

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[mrsm88]

Did find out where most of this miss information is coming from. On this voyage of 75 passengers. 35 were booked from the previous owner and Silversea had to honor the bookings. Most on this trip are from one Canada travel agency. Staff is confused if something is free for a Silversea guest or should they be charged for the M/N Galapagos Explorer II. Looks like all these combined bookings of Silverseas all-inclusive and the other previous owners packages will run out by the end of the year. Then Silversea will take full control to convert to seven days only and provide employees a standard way of doing things.

I hope that is the case & the new year brings more organization & better service.