Silverseas Athens to Dubai disaster cruise- have cruised with Silverseas in the past with no problems. #1we were going to be sent to wrong port., until Silverseas air was notified. #2- the employees were all brand new and untrained leaving us to think it was a training ship. Ship was totally unprepared for Saudi visa requirements causing massive chaos at reservation desk and a charge of of $ 120.00 per person for a half day itinerary of which 1hour was spent standing in long lines and ,being finger printed and causing and returning to ship after lackluster tour. All restaurants ,but one required reservation but you couldn’t get confirmation until the afternoon. Some that were allegedly full were really only half full. We had very sporadic service ,sometimes waiting for over an hour on 3 occassions. On 2 occassions the main course was inedible after being sent back to the kitchen for review by the chef and one one occassion recieved wrong main course. The wait staff wasn’t to blame as this was a management problem as untrained staff were not ready for the job. Again, this was a training ship. We also ran out of fresh butter and capers half way thru the 28 days. Initially we were going to be parked at air port for 15 hours ,at end of cruise,, but it was taken care of after complaining to travel agent. Many of the itineraries were embellished and weren’t as advertised. Surprisingly we had a pirate security alert at mid cruise which was never advertised until it was announced. It sounds funny in this day and time, but some were truly afraid when they saw crew members with binoculars fore and aft. After 15 6 star cruises on 3 different lines rest assured this wasn’t a 6 star cruise. Perhaps it is a function of new ownership and will not bode well with those used to 6 star service..
