Pizzasteve

I wanted to share a recent experience, my first, with Silversea’s Guatemala based contracted call center (confirmed location with a supervisor).

This will be our first Silversea cruise, booked through a travel agent.  After booking we learned a bit about restaurants and reservations required by reading online and noted that the jazz club Silver Note seemed already ‘unavailable.’  The web site was not easy to use so we called the call center to see if we could get help booking on any dates we could.  After a lengthy process we were assured we had booked two dates and times over our 13 day cruise.

A few weeks later we didn’t see the bookings on our calendar and called in to ask why and were assured that the this new rep would follow up and get back to us.  We never got the follow-up so we called again.  This was repeated a few times.  I’ve now given up, because each call confirmed that the prior phone representative said one thing and then typed something completely different in the call notes.  For example, we were told a reservation was booked, the call notes said ‘we were advised no bookings were available.’
 

Having managed large call centers, I carefully asked during each call what the rep was doing and going to do and what was in the notes from the prior calls and interacted with the person on the phone to have them read back what they put in the call notes.  In every instance we were lied to, gaslight tactics of being told follow-up would happen, etc and in every case they did nothing and wrote in the call notes that we were advised something they never said. So either they were lying about what was in the notes or the prior person lied about what they were recording in them.  

Each of these calls were lengthy and detailed, including dates and times or actions they were going to perform to confirm our reservations and the call notes later something completely different.

Anyway, just sharing this to share to trust nothing they promise and verify immediately any actions they perform.  They also messed up basic names and other information when our travel agent worked with them as well.

What shocked us what how they just lied about our simple, frankly unimportant, reservation request and in the call notes on every interaction and that a ‘supervisor’ seemed ok with it and had no interest in any follow-up or correcting the prior wrong or unkept promises. I’ve obviously given up on trying to book anything.  

Thanks for your attention.

24 minutes ago, alithecat said:

@Pizzasteve as soon as you see your confirmed reservations on MySilversea you should go in and reserve your excursions and dinner reservations. Excursions can be booked as soon as they receive your deposit. Dinners 120 days in advance. You are entitled to one Included excursion a day, at no charge. Or you can pick a Selected excursion for a charge. If the cruise you want is only 2-3 months away, you might find that some things are already full. You don't need dinner reservations for Atlantide, the main dining room, but do for the smaller, specialty restaurants, which vary by ship.
I agree with the poster who recommended using an experienced travel agent rather than booking direct on the phone. They can explain all this and more.

Thank you for the response.

Yes I understand.  No more need for further answers.

I did book using an agent.  The issue was dining reservations and the web site showing both zero availability and no reservations for us when we had called and been specifically told we had reservations. Our travel agents don’t usually book dining.

I think I understand how their site is supposed to work.  Best regards and again thanks.

6 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Steve,

 

Thanks for taking the trouble and succeeding in posting the dough!  Have  you thought of uploading to Youtube which might be better ie easier and more permanent?  All we got was the stretch and it stopped. 🙂

 

You’re a skilled pizza man.  That is a great stretch.  Looks like high hydration, high gluten level etc. and possibly 00 flour?  

 

Love to see some more.  What oven and temp are you using? 

 

Jeff

 

 

I have my own recipe I’ve seen folks use after I posted on a pizza site.  I use 50% caputo 00 and 50% King Arthur bread flour.

For baking the pie I posted was in an electric Garland oven, at about 700 degrees f.  I found the oven on Craigslist.  It’s a commercial desktop that runs at 110v but takes quite a while to heat up.  I’m good with wood ovens, but they are a lot of work to start and clean.

A few pie photos for fun. I like a rustic sauce style where I just tear the san Mariano tomato and leave chunks . Some would say I under cook.  My eaters aren’t fans of char though.

All of the fine comments are appreciated.

For the ladies who appreciate skillful hands, I am reposting a link to my pizza instruction video.  I hope this one works.Pizza making video

if it doesn’t I will try to edit.  First time using streamable (expires after 2 days). 

2 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Hi Steve .... thanks for the upload, but I haven't found it viewable on ipad, iphone or PC.

 

My enthusiasm has been defeated by my technical inability.

 

Jeff

Sorry.  It shows up on my iPhone.  Maybe others can chime in.

Speaking of food and beverages, I saw one complaint posted about beers available, but then find a Silversea ‘lifestyles’ blog on their website describing an IPA and various mocktails and fancy drinks.  Is there any way to set or improve beverage experience?  My upcoming trip is a transpacific and if the wine and beer choices are poor it’s going to be a lot of sad sea days.  Any way to ask for a Sancerre and an IPA be stocked in advance?  I don’t need expensive, just not bottom shelf wines or ‘excess inventory’ included drinks.  Usually the luxury brands have at least some good beers/wines, but what will be available seems a mystery.  I did find a supposed drinks list, but was then told ships will vary or not have some items.

I will search for a thread with answers, so no need to respond, but if you personally have a comment on ‘best practices.’ 

Hi all.

Pizza attached.  
 

Didn’t think it was a horrible place to ask a relatively simple question, but I’ll drop it for now.  
 

It turns out that a second phone rep also couldn’t see the reservations the prior rep ‘assured me were made while on the phone and gave specific dates and times.’  
 

So it is being researched because I suspect the prior agent was telling me something wrong, as the second agent said they can’t make these for passengers.  Seems odd for a luxury line, but that’s what he said (he could see the record of my prior call, but notes were vague). The times I was told they were reserving over the phone are not in their system so it wasn’t reflected in my account online like a ‘normal reservation made in the web site.’  Anyway it shows as unavailable now (2-3 months prior to trip) so that’s also a bit odd, but they promised to get back to me.

Hope the coffee or tea is hot for you all and the water cool and refreshing, wherever you are.  I guess each cruise company has its quirks.

38 minutes ago, zqtchas said:

did you check "my silversea"?

Yes.  As I said in my post, no reservations are shown.  I found the web site very awkward, but maybe it was the phone. 
 

Will see if more functionality appears on another device. But it’s ok, I was hoping for helpful tips, and if there aren’t any that’s fine.  I can call SS.

On 7/4/2024 at 6:35 AM, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Hedge fund managers rarely beat the S&P these days.  I've often wondered who the experts really are and what is their expertise besides collecting commissions. 😃

IMHO, hedge fund managers rely on ‘a good story’ designed to convince investors to give them lots of capital versus actual analytical rigor to consistently find good values to exploit.

Beating the market is very difficult.

Great Japan photos.  Excited to hear

more about your trip.  We will be there in the Fall.

Question from SS First Timer (September)

Trying to use the web site and finding it hard to see information about my booking, like reservations.  I called and made some reservations a month ago, but they don’t show in the app.  Also, submitted a shareholder benefit request, but don’t see anywhere online that shows credits or anything financial.

Is there a way to see reservations I don’t know about other than the ‘calendar’? Do ship board credits show in the web site (other lines all do this). If I was assured of bookings over the phone is this worth trusting or do I need to call again to confirm?

I did seem to be able to enter our passport and related information which was similar to other lines.

Thanks for any advice.

Someone was writing earlier about writing covered calls as a way to earn extra money. 

A few quick comments. 
1. It is an options trade where you offer to sell your shares at a price, while holding the shares.

2. A person pays you a premium for this option. The amount of the premium depends on the stock, time until expiration and price.

3. Usually one is ‘giving up’ the upside of ‘if the stock rises’ in exchange for the premium.

Some people get fooled into thinking this is ‘free money’ because the stock must rise and one has received the premium.

But these options are priced by people who know precisely the odds and sometimes you may be giving up a fortune.  For example I lost a large position in stock by writing calls during a year it tripled in price. Since then it is up over 10x from when I lost the shares, costing me huge profits in lost ‘upside’.

I don’t recommend trading options for anyone.  Spreads tend to be high and most don’t know how to price them properly.

All we can do is refuse to buy anything and hope they decide the cost of managing the inventory isn’t worth the meager sales.

On 6/9/2024 at 5:18 PM, DavyWavey70 said:

It’s a mystery yet to be solved by many regulars over the years. The “up charge” list is readily available and easily found by means of a quick search. 

As a minor trivia point, I saw Wavy Gravy introduce Tedeschi Trucks Band a week ago.  Any inspiration for your name there?

Thanks.  This is SS’s chance to win my business away from their rivals.  Guess they don’t think luxury travelers care about wine?

always puzzles me as good wine can be very inexpensive, and a list of what’s available is trivial to produce, but ah well.

Anyone know how to get a wine list for a ship prior to cruise to see if I need to bring some of my own wine?

transoceanic so limited chances to buy onshore 

59 minutes ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

This is where it ended up being a problem for us. We are mid-30s SFBay area couple, and it didn't meet our vibe on the SF-->Vancouver leg at all. We were easily half the median age. On the Alaska portion the median age dropped about 20ish years. We were on the younger side, but not the youngest there.  

Sorry for my typo.  I meant upcharges.  Claim to be younger but haven’t mastered my IPhone autocorrect.

Feel free to explain if they ever respond that they may have lost a chance with this frequency luxury cruiser to try their brand this fall.  Thanks again for caring enough to share your experiences.

I was at the Greek Theater in Berkeley last night and noted that the average age was quite old (70s), but also dancing and rock and roll attitudes.  Folks in tie dye smoking weed and dancing.  An elderly Wavy Gravy introduced the Tedeshi Trucks Band. These people pay $200 for a

concert and have a lot of money to spend, if cruises are/were fun.
 

I think it hurts the large cruise brands that they are all based in Florida and live in this bubble of assumptions echo chamber where they observe these retirement home Florida retirees who are stuck in some old age home mentality and think these are their customers.

It seems to be something like ‘too old to taste the food anyway, so if it looks luxury that’s ok)’, music should be something grandma played, don’t meet active older adults who live in the real world and hike 10miles per day like us, so excursions are designed around people overweight with walkers, etc

Tried to call AMEX and this wasn’t on my offer list and am told ‘offers are personalized and not available if not among the ones you have on your list.’

I have 100 random offers if no interest for reasons no one in particular can explain but not this one.  Have a Schwab Platinum AMEX.  Anyone know a way to game this system of offers?  May need to cancel

my card over this.

 
Not allowing someone to participate in a broadly offered benefit rubs me the ring way enough to cancel this $650/yr card.

17 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Why do you think you would be second class citizens on Silversea? Before the status match you would have needed 100 days on Silversea for free laundry. I’m sure that there are lots of passengers on board who don’t qualify. I certainly don’t; this is my first SS cruise, and I have never cruised with any other line in the group. 

I was surprised to read that they charged for laundry at all, and that they had different wine for people with ‘status’ given the price point.  Regent didn’t have policies like that, which feel more mass market.

but I’m trying to learn. SS may not be for us.

Thanks for the careful review.  Was considering booking Silversea for the first time instead of a Regent cruise (we’ve done several times) and this gives me pause.  As a younger Bay Area type, perhaps the combination of old style and inflexibility, uncharged for any fine dining and ignoring of wine care is not our vibe at all.

the mass market linked luxury brands seem to not understand that their customers who are in the 60s grew up with the Grateful Dead AND zeppelin, not Lawrence Welk.

Hi.  A little confused by this status matching and potential benefits of previous RC brand sailings.

We've cruised I think 2 Celebrity and one RC cruises long ago.  Have status on other brands but never SS.  Looking at booking a SS trip this fall, but does this mean we don’t get onboard services like laundry because it’s our first booking?  Do we need to consolidate our days of cruising RC brands in the past some way into a new status system?

The posts seem to have a lot of knowledge I lack.  But it seems that SS should want to attract my business as well (59, retired high income type) and if we are second class citizens on a ship that’s not attractive to me.

anyway any advice regarding SS is appreciated.  When alcohol is supposed to be included, what is ‘upgraded cabin sparking as a benefit.  Is the included drinks in a premium line poor quality and they are seeking up charges?  That totally turns me off to a like charging $1000 pp per day rates.

Sorry if i missed this in the many pages, but are these credit card credits usable on Oceania and Regent or other NCL brands?

5 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Do the ships use medium eggs?  Do many restaurants?  IDK anyone who actually buys less than large eggs.  Not that I know everyone mind you.

Buy and use Medium eggs all the time.  Also extra large, etc.  Interestingly, since it is a minimum size, many medium dozens include large eggs.  We've weighed them as the sizing is by weight. 50 vs 56 grams i recall, so not that big a difference. Because of folks with attitudes like your post, Medium eggs are often a great bargain.

Regarding nutrition, the yokes are often the same size, further complicating, but i dont expect the calories and other stuff M vs L, vs ExL are much different.

Hi.

We were on an MSC cruise recently that was delayed by one day.  MSC in their email promised an automatic credit for the day/night missed (we also lost the chance to visit one of our favorite ports).  The cruise was a total cost of over $3000 for 13 nights and we received an $8.65 credit x 2.

Anyone know how this promised credit was calculated?  by my math $3000/13 is $200-300, not $17.30.  I called (several times) and was promised a call back (never happened) then wax told by the phone reps that they could not help, but that we need to email ta special email address. Our email has as yet received no reply (about a week).

Anyone else had similar experiences?  MSC also didnt provide any help with hotels or other expenses while waiting at departue for an extra day, which I thought EU law requires for delays (though a 100-300 pp credit onboard was offered, depending on stateroom for the missed port).  Anyway, we are puzzled because service was good prior to the cruise sailing but now that its done and the money collected it seems we dont exist anymore, nor the promised credit.

Well each ship has its own life vest storage plan and a safety briefing is mandatory.  What was explained at your briefing?  Not all ships store life vests in cabins.  Did you inquire with the room steward?

But regarding your experience, not surprised.  The culture of MSC seemed to me to be ‘overbook the staff and pressure them to perform.’  Even on our half empty ship staffing was just at the level needed. So other than the cooks (pizza chef exception), our service level was pretty good, but not over staffed for sure.

They had extra bartenders and excess photos staff, but everywhere else (waiters, room stewards, customer service) seemed like they would be strained under a full ship.

I think it is a good idea to look into the expected load factor when booking any cruise line, particularly those like MSC that appear to adjust poorly to crowded ships.

We had great service on our recent Transatlantic, but upon leaving spoke with several crew and learned that the next cruise on a holiday week was full of 4 per room families and pretty much fully booked.  The passenger load was about to double with the same crew.  Our waiter knew he was in for a tough week and we tipped him extra knowing he likely would be earning it.  We saw tons of child life vests being staged in hallways to add to the rooms.

Really enjoyed Oceania Vista on an Istambul to Rome this summer.  Some food wasnt quite as premium as on prior cruises, possibly due to a bit of cost cutting, but still excellent.  Comparable to Viking Ocean IMHO, with a bit fancier food, maybe a bit larger ships.