Raptordash

Our travel group of 5 which, for the past 9 years (pre-Covid) always sailed on Crystal, mostly Symphony, but once also on Serenity. Due to the circumstances, we decided we had to try another "luxury" line and chose to start with Silversea. As a test, we did a 7 day Alaska cruise on Silver Muse, August 25 to September 1. I realize I am comparing a pre-Covid Crystal cruise with a Covid era Silversea cruise, but as Silversea is charging full price for it's cruises, there should be no reason for Silversea to use excuses such as supply chain issues or crew staffing problems if they choose to do so as to why their product was not as advertised. We all agreed, overall Silversea was nowhere near as good in most things as the pre-Covid Crystal experience. Food: Some of the restaurants advertised as open for lunch were not (Kaiseki, Atlantide). The quality of many of the food items served was not top notch. Almost all meats (veal, beef) were tough and chewy, no matter the restaurant, and the preparation of many of the food items lacked even a hint of the chef using seasoning while cooking. Too many bland tasting items, as if the chef were cooking a "bland diet" in a hospital kitchen. This included proteins as well as vegetables on the plate. Many of the buffet items in La Terrazza for both breakfast and lunch seemed to be of low quality and lacked any imaginative display and plating. For example, in the fruit section of the buffet, half of the blueberries had the stems on them in a large bowl of fresh blueberries. Someone in the kitchen just didn't care enough to pick over them before placing in the bowl. So, I had a plateful of blueberry stems at my table. The coffee and snack venue, Arts Cafe was dismal and I could argue that my local 7-11 had a more appetizing bakery display case than the Arts Cafe. Just a few plates with slices of cake and a few sad looking plates of cookies. Nothing imaginative, nothing appetizing. Crystal hands down much better food all over the ship. Bartending: Extremely hit or miss depending upon who the bartender was and at what bar venue. It does not appear that they use a standard recipe across the various bars for some of the cocktails. And they do not use any higher end ingredients in some cocktails (the only vermouth is Martini and Rossi, they do not use Luxardo cherries, but rather the bright red marischino cherries. Some of the cocktails served were undrinkable. Entertainment: Nowhere near the professionalism of the Crystal Singers and Dancers and Silversea does not bring in professional talent for a few days at a time like Crystal did. (comedians, solo singers, instrumentalists, etc). Not to disparage the hard working entertainers that were on the Muse, but just not at the level of Crystal, nor the variety. Enrichment: The destination lectures and enrichment lectures were all repeats of previously recorded lectures given on the prior several Alaska Muse cruises. (could watch on the TV rather than need to go to the lecture) As for the positives for Silversea: Crew: They were all extremely friendly and helpful. It is basically a one to one ratio of crew to passengers, as our cruise was almost to capacity at 530 passengers and I think that Muse has about 500 crew. If anything, perhaps a little better deployment of waiters in the buffet at breakfast and lunch (a few less) would be better as multiple waiters would continually ask if you needed something and then run off. Sometimes bringing what you asked for, sometimes not. Cabins: We would always book Deck 7 limited view cabins on Symphony and occasionally a deck 8 balcony as we basically only use the cabin for sleeping, showering and changing clothes because of all the great public spaces and multitude of activities on sea days. We booked Classic Verandah cabins on Silversea Muse. The cabins are gorgeous and large, probably 1.5x the size of the cabins we booked on Crystal. The bathroom has a full sized tub and a walkin shower, very nice. Internet: Unlike Crystal, which never seemed to be able to get a consistent internet service no matter where the itinerary was or time of year, Silversea internet worked nonstop and quickly for routine web browsing, emails, What's App calls and texts. The in room TV based list of activities, restaurants, your account, etc. was fairly intuitive and easy to use. Ship's decor: The overall look of the ship and artwork was beautiful. The only thing that seemed puzzling to me was Dolce Vita. It is a beautiful venue for activities and enjoying the company of others in a room surrounded by large picture windows. But why block most of the windows with gangways and other massive equipment? Seems like no one thought about that. The bottom line is that at nearly twice the cost of what the same cruise would have cost on Crystal, our Silversea experience was not "luxury" and we would not book another Silversea cruise, before trying Regent or Seabourn. We don't mind paying for a good product, but Silversea is not worth the price.

I will be on the August 25th Muse cruise and look forward to reading about your on board experience the next few days. Marc

Thanks for your review. Very disheartening, but again, will board with an open mind and see what goes. Marc

As a few others have said, you can't enter a US address, so I used Vancouver Cruise Terminal address. Also, as someone above wrote, one screen asks what date you are boarding the ship, but only gives a few day window. I was playing around and put in 8/13/22, but then I couldn't delete it, so just kept on with the screens and received a QR code. In reality, it doesn't seem like the Canadian authorities at the airport care.

Hi Lois, I have filled out most of the ARRIVCAN forms. There were two screens that I ran into a problem: 1. It will not let you fill in the arrival in Canada until 72 hours prior to scheduled arrival in Canada, so that will have to be done towards the end of the cruise. 2. There is a screen asking where you will be staying in Canada upon arrival. There is not an option for " transiting thru" so I picked "other" and put in the address of the Vancouver Cruise Terminal. It then gave me a receipt with a QR code. Marc

Best wishes Lois. You should be recovered by the time of your Alaska cruises. Looking forward to meeting you. Marc

Thanks for the quick reply. One other question for you as you enjoy the cruise. The entertainment. Is there music during the day at the pool area? How about entertainment before and after dinner? Thanks, Marc

Hi gcornell, I just wanted to verify what you posted about lunch options. You stated that only La Terraza and Main Dining Room are open for lunch. Is not the Pool Grill, the pizza parlor and the Japanese restaurant open for lunch at all? Thanks, Marc

As we will be on the August 25 cruise, I am looking forward to your views on the ship, staff, food, and entertainment. Marc

Hi Lois, Sorry to hear. Hopefully, you will be fully healed by the time of the August 25 Alaska cruise. (you should be) Marc

We enjoy a cocktail that is made with Absolut Vanil as an ingredient. Do the bars have a vanilla vodka as part of their normal inventory? Thanks, Marc