machotspur

Thank you again for the incredibly helpful information you have provided - much appreciated. I think that in return for the immense help you have given to fellow Silversea guests you should be given first option on 741 when you want it 😉

rclarky & clarky - firstly thank you so much for providing the insight into Silver Wind, particularly the issues with the Silver Suite. We are booked in the same suite next year for a Antarctic/Falklands/S.Georgia itinerary and are so glad you gave us the 'heads up' on this suite. We are now hurriedly trying to switch to a different suite/cruise. Could I ask for you kind assistance one more time please ? The 4 Medallion suites on Deck 8 - am I correct in my understanding that they do not have a bath tub, but do have a walk in shower with a door ? Unfortunately the online suite plan is quite poor so I can't be sure. Thank you so much in advance for your very kind assistance.

I'm aware that there are a few posters that have experienced this itinerary with Silversea so I'm hoping that I can benefit from your experience when making an important forthcoming decision. We are currently booked on Silver Wind (Silver Suite) for 1st December 2023. In choosing this date we were very conscious of the 'December = eggs versus January = chicks' situation. We accepted that we would not be seeing penguin chicks on this cruise. HOWEVER - now we have some greater insight into the Silver Suite on Wind we are considering switching to a similar itinerary on Silver Cloud departing on 7th November 2022 - the beginning the season. The precise dates in each region are :- Falklands - 12th-13th November S.Georgia - 16th-18th November Elephant Island - 21st November Antarctic Pen. - 22nd - 24th November So - to get to the point - can anyone kindly give any insight into the likely differences in wildlife & conditions between Mid November (Cloud) and Early-mid December (Wind). I can find quite a lot of guidance regarding December v January, but not so much for November v December. Thank you so much to anyone who can share their experience & knowledge with me.

rclarky - thank you so much for this post and your observations - albeit they are most disappointing. As you say these are really basic issues that should have been eliminated at design stage by any bathroom fitter of note. Some points to clarify if I may please. Is the overhead shower at the 'tap end' of the bath ie behind the glass half screen, or at the open end where one enters ? If it is the former then is the shower head movable to enable it to be diverted whilst one turns the tap on ? Or is it at the 'open end' - if it is then this is just ludicrous, causing - as you say - much water to be splashed onto the bathroom floor. This latter point is a real 'red flag' for us. We detest wet bathroom floors and will always refuse a bathroom that has a 'wet room' style. Also - do you think that a sliding door have been fitted to close the opening ? Or does the half screen 'open outwards' - as often is the case - to enable one to reach in to fiddle with the taps ? Thank you.

We were on Dawn for the inaugural in April and were on Deck 10. For the reasons already given we avoided Deck 9 but were also concerned that the traffic through to the Observation Lounge on Deck 11 would be problematic, however based on our voyage we need not have worried - the Observation Lounge was very quiet at all times. The other benefit of Deck 10 is we bumped into the Captain - on his way to the bridge - a couple of times, and he (unrequested) arranged for a minor maintenance matter to be promptly attended to for us 😉

Hello clarky - I am following your reports on the Wind with great interest and appreciation - thank you. We switched a forthcoming Falklands/S.Georgia/Antarctica trip from Cloud to Wind due to COVID issues. Having benefitted from excellent communication from the London office and the ship's officers we were advised that the Silver Suites - both in quantity and configuration - were quite different to the Cloud. I'd be very appreciative of any photos of the Silver Suites you were able to post as you suggest - and confirmation that on the Wind there continues to be just 3 Silver Suites, compared to 12 on Cloud. I very much look forward to continuing to follow your voyage with you. Enjoy.

I'm not sure there are - at least for a certain sector of potential clients. Over the past 20 years or so we have been reasonably prolific cruisers with Silversea, Seabourn and Regent. We also had 3 bookings with Crystal at the time of their demise. We have fallen in & out of love with all of the above in that time. For example we ditched Silversea some 8 years ago as we found the product to be dated, poorly maintained, and far from a luxury experience. We subsequently enjoyed various cruises on the later Seabourn ships and also 'bling central' - Regent - and found them to be far superior in many ways to the Silversea offer at that time. HOWEVER - last month we enjoyed an inaugural cruise in a Silver Suite on Silver Dawn and were blown away by the ship, the suite, the F&B etc. A a result we now have 5 further bookings with Silversea, two with Seabourn and at the time of writing none with Regent. To our mind the competition to Silversea has reduced significantly :- - Crystal are no more - Seabourn has fallen way behind in terms of the ship offer, specifically the very limited F&B - the ships are dated and they are currently trying to offload the company to a Saudi Pension fund. - The Regent itineraries are very limited/conventional compared to Silversea, they are not in the expedition market, their older ships are in poor condition, and the 'blingy' new ones are not to everyone's taste (hands up we rather like them !). Apart from that there are the more niche operators, such as Scenic, Hapag Lloyd and Ponant, plus those that are in the earlier days such as Explora, Emerald, Ritz Carlton. IMHO none of these are currently in a position to offer much of an appeal to the majority of current - or potential - Silversea clients. As alluded to at the beginning a few years ago I was the most dissatisfied and critical (ex)guest of Silversea. However now I believe that they are in the very best position to meet the needs of a large proportion of the potential market - and according to our TA - the biggest seller of Silversea in the UK - their product is selling extremely well (irrespective of FCC etc). The competition is IMHO very weak. Silversea are a much larger company/fleet than they were say 10 years ago. They have invested a substantial amount in new builds and clearly wish to see a return on this. Their current pricing & marketing is unlikely to be a short term decision, bearing in mind the long term strategy being adopted by RCCL. So - it is surely - you pays your money and makes your choice. I believe that little is going to change - in the medium term at least.