Silver Shadow : when was the last time it went to dry dock?

Hi,

I am looking for an Alaska Cruise in June 2018. We don't have much experience in cruising. Only 2 cruises with RCL

This time we would like to choose an upscale cruise line so I picked Silversea Shadow . The itinerary, the price are OK but I concern about the ship. Some recent reviews mention the ship being old, tired, far away from luxury cruise.

Would you please to let me know what do you think about the Silversea Shadow , I don't want my first experience with a luxury cruise will be a bad one

Thanks,

Hi,

 

I am looking for an Alaska Cruise in June 2018. We don't have much experience in cruising. Only 2 cruises with RCL

This time we would like to choose an upscale cruise line so I picked Silversea Shadow . The itinerary, the price are OK but I concern about the ship. Some recent reviews mention the ship being old, tired, far away from luxury cruise.

Would you please to let me know what do you think about the Silversea Shadow , I don't want my first experience with a luxury cruise will be a bad one

Thanks,

Silversea is not the dry-dock type of cruise company. Sure a couple have been sent back to a dry dock to get a complete make-over but for the majority of the fleet. Things are repaired or re-done a little at a time in stages. Sometime between cruises or being done while the ship is cruising along. So you might hear about a recent dry-dock but all that was done is some re-carpet and new fabric on some chairs.

So go on the cruise and just don't look so close at things and just have fun...

On the other hand, the luxury cruise line Seabourn has two new ships (the second launching in May 2018), the Encore and the Ovation. Seabourn is a cruise line similar to Silversea. This ships are brand new and gorgeous. We sailed on the Encore in September and it was a wonderful experience.

I’m not sure how this post will be received, but, here goes. It has been my experience that folks who regularly sail on the mass market ships expect an awful lot from the more “luxury” lines. One of the things those of us who are SS regulars love so much about the line, is that it is low key luxury...understated luxury. The decor on the older ships is very Italian...think of a special hotel on The Grand Canal in Venice.

I have sailed on Seaborne, Regent, the Cunard Queens, grill class, and others, but I keep coming back to Silversea. The Wind was my first SS ship..more than 20 years ago. My husband and I felt we had found a treasure...and we did! I now have several cruises (2 Wind and one Shadow) booked in 2018 which means that I am an unabashed SIlversea loyalist...struggling with the slightly new direction SS has chosen with the new ships...but I know the product is essentially just evolving.

My advice would be to read a lot of Cruise Critic posts..discount the really negative ones, and take them all with a grain of salt..perhaps including this one.

Given the Shadow entered service in 2000, she had to have her last drydock in 2015 some time, and since she is now over 15, she needs to drydock twice every 5 years, so she should be due for drydock sometime in 2018. As others have stated, drydocks are not always for massive renovations of the front of the house, and Silverseas does not have the "upgrade the bells and whistles" business model that mass market lines do when they do drydocks. The timing of nearly all cruise ship drydocks is driven by the amount and timing of technical repairs that need to be done in drydock, and any front of house refurbishments are done within that framework. Things like re-upholstery, renewing carpets, and cabin/public furniture renewal can and are done with the ship in service (taking cabins out of inventory as needed, or working in public spaces at night or turn-around day) with little or no interruption of service, on an "as needed" basis.

I’m not sure how this post will be received, but, here goes. It has been my experience that folks who regularly sail on the mass market ships expect an awful lot from the more “luxury” lines. One of the things those of us who are SS regulars love so much about the line, is that it is low key luxury...understated luxury. The decor on the older ships is very Italian...think of a special hotel on The Grand Canal in Venice.

I have sailed on Seaborne, Regent, the Cunard Queens, grill class, and others, but I keep coming back to Silversea. The Wind was my first SS ship..more than 20 years ago. My husband and I felt we had found a treasure...and we did! I now have several cruises (2 Wind and one Shadow) booked in 2018 which means that I am an unabashed SIlversea loyalist...struggling with the slightly new direction SS has chosen with the new ships...but I know the product is essentially just evolving.

My advice would be to read a lot of Cruise Critic posts..discount the really negative ones, and take them all with a grain of salt..perhaps including this one.

You are mirror image of ourselves even starting on the Wind twenty years ago and every year since on SS.Booked on the Wind for this year and next,our favourite ship but only travelled on the four small ships of the SS original fleet.No desire to go on the larger newer ships as the attraction of excellent staff,small number of passengers and excellent choice of itineraries world wide keep bringing us back to SS.

Your post has finally put to bed the occasional thoughts we have had of trying the alternative lines you mentioned.Thank you for that helpful guidance from one unabashed Silversea loyalist to another , It is much appreciated.

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We went on SIlver Shadow to Alaska last summer. First timers for our family except our mother who had been on silversea before we were unimpressed with the food which we were told would be 5 star. Not much decent entertainment except for trivia and casino. We were a group of 18-80. The college age kids wanted to get on the big boats when we docked. We still had a great time together. Didn’t notice that the ship looked old.

Good Morning Brimary - hope you are both well. It would appear from your Post that you have now made some SS Bookings - never thought your ' Fallow ' Period would last long !!!!!. When are you going on the Wind in 2019 ? - we are on the rather strange Itinerary in June London Bridge/London Bridge, 13 days - hope to see you there.?

N.B. It is Tower Bridge (not London Bridge). Different altogether [emoji6]

Good Morning Brimary - hope you are both well. It would appear from your Post that you have now made some SS Bookings - never thought your ' Fallow ' Period would last long !!!!!. When are you going on the Wind in 2019 ? - we are on the rather strange Itinerary in June London Bridge/London Bridge, 13 days - hope to see you there.?

Hi Mayflower....one of the cruises is 13 days in June but have no paperwork with me at the moment.Hope it’s the same one will be nice to meet up again.Cannot keep away from SS for too long especially our favourite Wind!!

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N.B. It is Tower Bridge (not London Bridge). Different altogether [emoji6]

Yeh we won’t get away with that gig again! lol

Hi

For what it's worth, the last time I was remotely involved with a dry dock - and the ship was of a similar age - there were several 'behind the scenes' issues to be resolved such as

(a) 3rd Special Survey ofthe hull with thickness determination.

(b) Docking Survey.

© Annual Survey.

(d) Safety EquipmentSurvey.

(e) Safety ConstructionSurvey.

(f) Load Line Survey.

(g) Completion ofContinuous Machinery Survey.

(h) Tailshaft Survey.

(i) Main Boiler andSteam Generator Surveys.

So what the 'customer' is made aware of is only the tip of the iceberg.

Having said that the self same ship suffered a main engine gearing problem within two weeks of all the certificates being issued ....she had to be towed to err... err... err.. another drydock.

Oops!

Yeh we won’t get away with that gig again! lol

I wasn’t going to mention that ...

Good Evening 57 Varieities - Thank you so much for the correction, it must be a senior moment !!!! - we have sailed too many times from Tower Bridge to get it wrong but was thinking of our good friends in the States who are related to the man to transported the wrong Bridge ( maybe ? ) to the States. You are so right there is a massive difference.

Good Evening Brimary - It looks as if we will be together again as I think it is the only 13 day Sailing in June 2019 from Tower Bridge. We look forward to the meeting. Meanwhile have Fun.

I just noticed that our November 2019 sailing on the Shadow out of Barcelona (and the voyage immediately before it out of Athens) has been removed from the website and the activity calendar for that cruise has also been removed from My Silversea.  So, there appears to be a 20 day gap from Nov. 1 to Nov. 21 in 2019.  (the Shadow leaves Lisbon for a TA on November 21.)  Could this be a refurbishment?  The ship would be in the vicinity of several Italian refitters.  

1 hour ago, dawntrdr said:

I just noticed that our November 2019 sailing on the Shadow out of Barcelona (and the voyage immediately before it out of Athens) has been removed from the website and the activity calendar for that cruise has also been removed from My Silversea.  So, there appears to be a 20 day gap from Nov. 1 to Nov. 21 in 2019.  (the Shadow leaves Lisbon for a TA on November 21.)  Could this be a refurbishment?  The ship would be in the vicinity of several Italian refitters.  

Hmmm.You wont be the first to learn from Cruise Critic (though sounds like a self discovery) that your cruise has been cancelled.

You would think in this day and age, its not just easy to notify guests by email instantly, but more than common courtesey, it should bea big concern to do so. Alas, it isn't.

We're encouraged with a discount to book early and get the best deals and prices, but rather defeats to object, if gets cancelled and the equivalent in a similar timeframe has increased in price due to getting nearer to sailing.

Hopefully its just some quirky website error, but I have my doubts. Best get in touch with your agent ASAP. Please keep us informed what the problem is and how it goes to resolve things.

We are on the cruise that finishes in Athens. It arrives on 1st November and we disembark on the 2nd. This cruise is still available but mainly ‘waitlisted’. 

Should I worry about further changes? 

We disembarked the Wind in March .... and on the build up to that they (SS) cancelled six cruises so they have ‘form’ for this type of thing.

Hmmm ... and I'm on the TA from Lisbon on the 21st.

I would never, ever voluntarily book the cruise immediately before or after a refurbishment so I'll be watching this closely.

Unfortunately the dates and itinerary suit me perfectly so I'll probably keep the cruise ... nervously ... 

I am also scheduled for the TA - it was a back-to-back - but I agree that I would not have purchased that one either if it was just coming off a refurbishment. 

I have reached out to the consultant at SS headquarters but only gotten voicemail so far. 

That said, I have a high degree of confidence that SS will make a satisfactory accommodation.  I have a 2020 itinerary already reserved.

Spoke with the consultant in Miami:  he confirmed what I saw missing on the website but neither he or his supervisor had an explanation and are going to make some inquiries.  

Silversea confirmed today that the Shadow will be going into drydock during the period of Nov. 2 to Nov. 21. 2019.  Voyages 3931 (Athens to Barcelona) and 3932 (Barcelona to Lisbon) are cancelled.  They confirmed that voyage 3933 (Lisbon to Ft. Lauderdale) is scheduled to sail as planned on Nov. 21, 2019. 

Thanks for the confirmation, it's better to know than be surprised but now I have to make a hard choice - risk all that may come with the first cruise after a dry dock, or cancel and find something else.

Do I feel lucky???

PS I wonder what they'll be doing to her? I'm going to be on the Wind in a few weeks (4th voyage after her dry dock ... that was a surprise too), maybe the Cruise Consultant will be able to get me some information.

5 hours ago, jollyjones said:

Thanks for the confirmation, it's better to know than be surprised but now I have to make a hard choice - risk all that may come with the first cruise after a dry dock, or cancel and find something else.

Do I feel lucky???

 

PS I wonder what they'll be doing to her? I'm going to be on the Wind in a few weeks (4th voyage after her dry dock ... that was a surprise too), maybe the Cruise Consultant will be able to get me some information.

I don't think it's a matter of luck. It's pretty much a certainty that there will be issues on the first post dry dock cruise. There always are no matter the cruise line. 

18 hours ago, wripro said:

I don't think it's a matter of luck. It's pretty much a certainty that there will be issues on the first post dry dock cruise. There always are no matter the cruise line. 

Oh, I expect there'll be issues - by luck, I am referring to how much the issues might impact my personal cruise enjoyment. (Of course I'd be sympathetic to problems for other pax but it'd be my own experience that mattered). For instance, there could be problems in the spa, casino or shops and I'd never know, but cabin troubles would be another kettle of fish, if I am still allowed such a phrase by PETA.