Do you think Silversea will ever phase out Butlers?

[mancunian]

dronn29

 

Than k you so much for your update.  I do hope things improve next segment for you.  I think noisy children would impact most SS passengers holiday so bad news for us all.  I guess we will all need to keep clear of school holidays.  Problem for doing that is that we do not all know school holidays for America, Canada, Australia and UK

 

I have actually read some of your thread but short on time to read all threads on SS and Oceania boards

 

[Rothko1]

3 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Knowledge is power 😀

And power corrupts.

 

So knowledge corrupts you.

[labrasett]

So what is stopping the small number of Venetian Society guests from mixing with the new SS guests?  In my experience you dont discover who are Venetian Society guests until you start talking to them, new guests to SS are usually really enjoying themselves and what is for many a real luxury experience.   We need lots of new SS guests to ensure our favourite cruise company continues to thrive and grow.

[drron29]

43 minutes ago, labrasett said:

So what is stopping the small number of Venetian Society guests from mixing with the new SS guests?  In my experience you dont discover who are Venetian Society guests until you start talking to them, new guests to SS are usually really enjoying themselves and what is for many a real luxury experience.   We need lots of new SS guests to ensure our favourite cruise company continues to thrive and grow.

Just think of the numbers in my reply. If 542 guests averaged just 7 nights it means more than half the cruise consisted of new guests so the chance of them sitting next to another new guest is greater the chance of sitting next to someone who has done many cruises on SS.

Edited April 15, 2023 by drron29

[Rothko1]

1 hour ago, labrasett said:

So what is stopping the small number of Venetian Society guests from mixing with the new SS guests?  In my experience you dont discover who are Venetian Society guests until you start talking to them, new guests to SS are usually really enjoying themselves and what is for many a real luxury experience.   We need lots of new SS guests to ensure our favourite cruise company continues to thrive and grow.

 

We don't speak to any guests onboard unless they wear the Venetian Society pin on their lapel.

[canderson]

14 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

 

We don't speak to any guests onboard unless they wear the Venetian Society pin on their lapel.

I'll be wearing mine on my tank top (can't find one with lapels, even at Men's Warehouse), so I guess we won't be speaking!

 

[labrasett]

2 hours ago, drron29 said:

Just think of the numbers in my reply. If 542 guests averaged just 7 nights it means more than half the cruise consisted of new guests so the chance of them sitting next to another new guest is greater the chance of sitting next to someone who has done many cruises on SS.

Does it matter so long as they are all enjoying themselves.

[labrasett]

48 minutes ago, canderson said:

I'll be wearing mine on my tank top (can't find one with lapels, even at Men's Warehouse), so I guess we won't be speaking!

 

Drat, I dont usually wear a tank top over my posh frock.

[drron29]

3 hours ago, Rothko1 said:

 

We don't speak to any guests onboard unless they wear the Venetian Society pin on their lapel.

Well you wouldn’t speak to us then because even though we will be 400+ nights at the end of this cruise we have never received a Venetian Society pin.

[jollyjones]

And even though I’m about the same number of days as Ron and Ann, I don’t have a pin either. 
Not that I’d ever dream of damaging my clothes by sticking a sharp thing through them so perhaps it’s just as well. 

[Rothko1]

They only give them out to the Crème de la crème.

[canderson]

21 minutes ago, Rothko1 said:

They only give them out to the Crème de la crème.

No, for that, you get one of these:

 

[Rothko1]

[philw1776]

Enjoyed our 2 Silversea cruises very much.

 

1st butler was a disaster. Eager to serve he kept pestering us, ringing the doorbell time and again despite us telling him we did not need constant checking. There was no way to stop him. As cruise end neared, we made a big mistake. Accepted his offer to pack our bags. Came back from dinner and found to our dismay that he failed to see our 3rd bag under the bed and had jammed everything into the 2 bags. Quite a feat! Had to repack to get under 50LB weight limit.

 

2nd cruise the butler was unobtrusive. I remember him taking care of restaurant reservations for us and our travel companions and also dealing with an excursion issue. Helpful.

 

Our always excellent Viking room stewards have always provided enough service for us. 

Edited June 4, 2023 by philw1776

[UKCruiseJeff]

5 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Enjoyed our 2 Silversea cruises very much.

 

1st butler was a disaster. Eager to serve he kept pestering us, ringing the doorbell time and again despite us telling him we did not need constant checking. There was no way to stop him. As cruise end neared, we made a big mistake. Accepted his offer to pack our bags. Came back from dinner and found to our dismay that he failed to see our 3rd bag under the bed and had jammed everything into the 2 bags. Quite a feat! Had to repack to get under 50LB weight limit.

 

2nd cruise the butler was unobtrusive. I remember him taking care of restaurant reservations for us and our travel companions and also dealing with an excursion issue. Helpful.

 

Our always excellent Viking room stewards have always provided enough service for us. 

 

Entirely your own fault.  🙂

 

When you booked the cruise when presented with the choice of “Would you prefer to be butled or debutled” you should have chosen “debutled”.

 

And in the future when offered a choice when booking “Would you like a human to manage your booking or our AI Bot” choose the “AI Bot” option.  Much better. 

 

As all us oldies know, that increasingly less and less stuff involving humans works anymore.  It turns out that artificial intelligence for most stuff may be better than no (or limited) intelligence.  

 

I always pack our own bags and cases splitting our negligables between all bags so all of us have Y fronts and knickers.  I do this because I don’t even trust ‘er. 

 

😄

 

Jeff x  (From the Original Old Hampshire) 

Edited June 5, 2023 by UKCruiseJeff

[Port Power]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:40 PM, drron29 said:

So the new guests have little opportunity to mingle with those who have had many nights and can point out many of the ways you can make things happen better.

 

I agree with your comment from my recent experience on Silver Explorer, my first Silversea cruise.  It was good talking to seasoned S/S pax and asking questions.  For instance, about Antarctic expeditions.  One newbie couple learned a lot from me.  They thought I had sailed S/S a lot.  I told them I knew the tricks and perks because of reading threads on Cruise Critic! 😄

[labrasett]

17 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Entirely your own fault.  🙂

 

When you booked the cruise when presented with the choice of “Would you prefer to be butled or debutled” you should have chosen “debutled”.

 

And in the future when offered a choice when booking “Would you like a human to manage your booking or our AI Bot” choose the “AI Bot” option.  Much better. 

 

As all us oldies know, that increasingly less and less stuff involving humans works anymore.  It turns out that artificial intelligence for most stuff may be better than no (or limited) intelligence.  

 

I always pack our own bags and cases splitting our negligables between all bags so all of us have Y fronts and knickers.  I do this because I don’t even trust ‘er. 

 

😄

 

Jeff x  (From the Original Old Hampshire) 

Bizarre, entirely bizarre except for doing your own packing.

[highplanesdrifters]

20 hours ago, Port Power said:

I agree with your comment from my recent experience on Silver Explorer, my first Silversea cruise.  It was good talking to seasoned S/S pax and asking questions.  For instance, about Antarctic expeditions.  One newbie couple learned a lot from me.  They thought I had sailed S/S a lot.  I told them I knew the tricks and perks because of reading threads on Cruise Critic! 😄

Along with many other things, it was the brilliant @Port Powerthat taught many SS veterans on that voyage that you don't have to remove the top on the shampoo bottle, it flips up. And for that we will be forever grateful! 😁