On Aboard Silversea Spirit Civitavecchia may 6

[Herman The Cat]

Fantastic—thanks for the info. Let us know if/when everything is fully operational.

[eastwoodboy]

As we leave on Sunday I doubt everything will be fully operational by then as finishing touches are still being made and paint splashes need to be removed from a number of places. The masking tape is still in position round the balcony lights so it is mainly little jobs like that rather than anything major.

 

Some things can not be helped and many of the problems are just small finishing details now however SS have done the decent thing and will issue a cruise credit of 25%of fare paid to each passenger. Most reasonable and credit to them.

 

However today I witnessed the other side of SS and a major PR gaffe. We are in Cannes and been blessed with good sunshine so it was quite hot on the quayside and we were unluck to just miss a tender. As another was on the way over we thought not to worry only a few minutes for the next one. When it arrived people got off but no one was allowed on and we all just stood around waiting in the heat. After about 25 minutes 4 people came through and boarded their own private tender leaving the next tender in to take the fare paying passengers in the fullest load I have ever seen. It turns out the private tender was ordered for the SS CEO and marketing director who are giving a spiel in the theatre this evening. Somebody has made a spectacular error in making this decision leaving what must have been close to 100 passengers standing around and a journey of just a few minutes taking the best part of an hour.

 

I do not suppose the CEO and market director asked for this but somebody at a very high level need to be educated.

[rosepark]

That is very poor behaviour, Eastwoodboy and even if the CEO etc didn't ask for this, they have eyes in their heads and could see passengers waiting to tender. One of them could have invited people to join them.

That is indeed a major gaffe and I would not have been happy. I might just have fainted on them to teach them a lesson.

Rp

[hypercafe]

This is what happens when it's a private company. The owners look at it as their property to do with as the wish. Little people just wait.

[Observer]

The report re. the tender and the CEO is indeed disappointing. Please let us know if there was any follow-up -- message of apology, comments during the program in the evening at which they were featured, etc. Has anyone raised the matter with CD or HD?

[Daveywavey70]

Well we are aboad the Spirit right now. It has been absolute hell for us. We had no lights in our suite for 3 days and yesterday we missed our tour to Monte Csrlo because of the complete incompetence of the crew.

 

I Was sat up very late last night with Dimitri who is corporate and responsible for the Butler Service offering my opinion on the way Silversea is run.

 

That was the first apology received from anyone. More detailed post is to follow.

[les37b]

As we leave on Sunday I doubt everything will be fully operational by then as finishing touches are still being made and paint splashes need to be removed from a number of places. The masking tape is still in position round the balcony lights so it is mainly little jobs like that rather than anything major.

 

Some things can not be helped and many of the problems are just small finishing details now however SS have done the decent thing and will issue a cruise credit of 25%of fare paid to each passenger. Most reasonable and credit to them.

 

However today I witnessed the other side of SS and a major PR gaffe. We are in Cannes and been blessed with good sunshine so it was quite hot on the quayside and we were unluck to just miss a tender. As another was on the way over we thought not to worry only a few minutes for the next one. When it arrived people got off but no one was allowed on and we all just stood around waiting in the heat. After about 25 minutes 4 people came through and boarded their own private tender leaving the next tender in to take the fare paying passengers in the fullest load I have ever seen. It turns out the private tender was ordered for the SS CEO and marketing director who are giving a spiel in the theatre this evening. Somebody has made a spectacular error in making this decision leaving what must have been close to 100 passengers standing around and a journey of just a few minutes taking the best part of an hour.

 

I do not suppose the CEO and market director asked for this but somebody at a very high level need to be educated.

I trust anyone affected by that raised Mary Hell? If I were in your situation and already been waiting long enough, I would have made a scene there and then and taken photos of the "passengers" who feel fare paying customers are below them and not suitable as travel companions.

 

I don't believe for one moment the CEO was not aware and if he wasnt and half decent, would have commented the tender was empty and there were people who pay his wages who were waiting around in the sun and not be happy to treat them with contempt.

 

This is even worse than the hangers on friends of the owner being treated like royalty, or owner deciding he would remove restaurants from availability to passengers so he could dine with friends.

 

Inexcusable.

 

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[eastwoodboy]

The report re. the tender and the CEO is indeed disappointing. Please let us know if there was any follow-up -- message of apology, comments during the program in the evening at which they were featured, etc. Has anyone raised the matter with CD or HD?

 

I raised it with the HD and received stock reply No1 of sorry, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I do not expect to hear anything further from him but an e-mail will be sent to CEO and Marketing Director upon my return. Too busy enjoying myself at the moment.

 

So sorry to hear from wavydavy I had no idea things were still that bad. Very pot luck as to the conditions in your area by the sound of it. We are most fortunate by comparison.

[Stumblefoot]

Inexcusable.

Totally agree.

[Silver Spectre]

I raised it with the HD and received stock reply No1 of sorry, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I do not expect to hear anything further from him but an e-mail will be sent to CEO and Marketing Director upon my return. Too busy enjoying myself at the moment.

 

 

 

So sorry to hear from wavydavy I had no idea things were still that bad. Very pot luck as to the conditions in your area by the sound of it. We are most fortunate by comparison.

 

 

 

Very sorry to hear that, but not surprised. In 14 years of SS cruising I have only met two HD’s who have been prepared to go above and beyond what Head Office normally allows. One just left and the other now works for a competitor

 

 

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[Lois R]

Well we are aboad the Spirit right now. It has been absolute hell for us. We had no lights in our suite for 3 days and yesterday we missed our tour to Monte Csrlo because of the complete incompetence of the crew.

 

I Was sat up very late last night with Dimitri who is corporate and responsible for the Butler Service offering my opinion on the way Silversea is run.

 

That was the first apology received from anyone. More detailed post is to follow.

 

WOW...so sorry, no lights for 3 days?......so you had no electric?:eek:

[737swapilot]

As we leave on Sunday I doubt everything will be fully operational by then as finishing touches are still being made and paint splashes need to be removed from a number of places. The masking tape is still in position round the balcony lights so it is mainly little jobs like that rather than anything major.

 

Some things can not be helped and many of the problems are just small finishing details now however SS have done the decent thing and will issue a cruise credit of 25%of fare paid to each passenger. Most reasonable and credit to them.

 

However today I witnessed the other side of SS and a major PR gaffe. We are in Cannes and been blessed with good sunshine so it was quite hot on the quayside and we were unluck to just miss a tender. As another was on the way over we thought not to worry only a few minutes for the next one. When it arrived people got off but no one was allowed on and we all just stood around waiting in the heat. After about 25 minutes 4 people came through and boarded their own private tender leaving the next tender in to take the fare paying passengers in the fullest load I have ever seen. It turns out the private tender was ordered for the SS CEO and marketing director who are giving a spiel in the theatre this evening. Somebody has made a spectacular error in making this decision leaving what must have been close to 100 passengers standing around and a journey of just a few minutes taking the best part of an hour.

 

I do not suppose the CEO and market director asked for this but somebody at a very high level need to be educated.

Holly cow I was there too. I was talking about this to my wife the other day. I actually got a look at the CEO as he was escorted by everybody on the other side of the fence and then stuck his head out of the boat and got a good look at everybody!

[Observer]

I actually got a look at the CEO as he was escorted by everybody on the other side of the fence and then stuck his head out of the boat and got a good look at everybody!

 

Could someone specify who this guy is/was? I gather his name is known because he was said to have given a program later that day. Is this the Italian (?) owner? Or the American Managing Director?

[Daveywavey70]

We had no lights, no phone and no tv we did have electric in the sockets. I spent the first 2 days BEGGING for a flashlight so I could shower. Staff completely overwhelmed. Ended up whe lights went again and phone not working having to go to reception in my bathrobe at 6.00 on formal night.

 

Very interestd to hear about the tender. We were told it was due to the harbour master and sat on the tender waiting for 45 minutes and ended up missing our privately booked tour of Monte Carlo.

 

Staff have been completely incompetent and not even a whiff of an apology.

 

Captain making jokes at the reception to thank us all for being guinea pigs and reporting all of our problems. Very funny.

 

Just used the spa for the second time and been overcharged for the second Time. This Time by 100 dollars.

I'e never experienced such a fiasco in my life.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Daveywavey70

[Observer]

not even a whiff of an apology.

 

I understand that this situation is very frustrating -- as sailing on ships right out of dry dock often is. However, I understood from a post earlier in this thread, that all guests received a future cruise credit worth 25% of the fare paid for the current cruise. This would seem to me more than a "whiff of an apology." Am I missing something?

[eastwoodboy]

We had no lights, no phone and no tv we did have electric in the sockets. I spent the first 2 days BEGGING for a flashlight so I could shower. Staff completely overwhelmed. Ended up whe lights went again and phone not working having to go to reception in my bathrobe at 6.00 on formal night.

 

Very interestd to hear about the tender. We were told it was due to the harbour master and sat on the tender waiting for 45 minutes and ended up missing our privately booked tour of Monte Carlo.

 

Staff have been completely incompetent and not even a whiff of an apology.

 

Captain making jokes at the reception to thank us all for being guinea pigs and reporting all of our problems. Very funny.

 

Just used the spa for the second time and been overcharged for the second Time. This Time by 100 dollars.

I'e never experienced such a fiasco in my life.

 

Daveywavey, Your problem with the tender was due to the harbour movements as I heard Moss relating the saga. But would that not have been in the morning for tours when you would have met in the lounge and been checked in by the trip staff and all gone together.

My sympathies with your problems in the cabin which I also had although our lights were alright. No tv, sockets, phone or door bell are quite insignificant compared to no lights. Fortunately ours were fixed in a couple of days.

 

My problem with the tender was returning at 4-00 in the afternoon when the arrival of Roberto Martinoli and Barbara Muckermann was only rivaled by the Queen of Sheeba. Never seen such sycophancy in my life.

[Daveywavey70]

Daveywavey, Your problem with the tender was due to the harbour movements as I heard Moss relating the saga. But would that not have been in the morning for tours when you would have met in the lounge and been checked in by the trip staff and all gone together.

My sympathies with your problems in the cabin which I also had although our lights were alright. No tv, sockets, phone or door bell are quite insignificant compared to no lights. Fortunately ours were fixed in a couple of days.

 

My problem with the tender was returning at 4-00 in the afternoon when the arrival of Roberto Martinoli and Barbara Muckermann was only rivaled by the Queen of Sheeba. Never seen such sycophancy in my life.

Yes it was 8.15 so a different incident all together then. They left us on the tender for 45 minutes and held everybody back. When they finally got clearance from the harbour master they then decided to load 60 passengers onto the tender.

Infuriating.

[Daveywavey70]

I understand that this situation is very frustrating -- as sailing on ships right out of dry dock often is. However, I understood from a post earlier in this thread, that all guests received a future cruise credit worth 25% of the fare paid for the current cruise. This would seem to me more than a "whiff of an apology." Am I missing something?

 

I think you probably are missing something if you don' t think someone should say sorry for what we have been through. A voucher that I'm never going to use because I would never sail Silversea again is worth a lot less to me than a straight forward apology.

 

We weren't told about this when we booked it. This is my first holiday in 10 years.

 

As soon as I found out about the stretch I rang Silversea and they offered me a guarantee that everything would be right or she wouldn' sail.

 

"We are Silverea Sir."

[Observer]

I think you probably are missing something if you don' t think someone should say sorry for what we have been through. A voucher that I'm never going to use because I would never sail Silversea again is worth a lot less to me than a straight forward apology.

 

 

I am puzzled that the voucher apparently arrived with no note explaining the background, no word of apology, no suggestion that the provision of the voucher was in fact a concrete expression of the company's regret over the issues. If I had had challenges on this post dry dock cruise, I too would have welcomed an apology. I would have welcomed even more warmly an apology accompanied by a substantial discount on a future cruise.

[wripro]

Why do cruise lines think a voucher or discount for a future cruise will make up for ruining the current cruise?

[UKCruiseJeff]

Why do cruise lines think a voucher or discount for a future cruise will make up for ruining the current cruise?

 

Because they can.

 

It is weird how different nationalities would tolerate different infringements. If I had no power for a couple of nights I’d explain firmly that I was expecting a full refund of the pro-rata payment ie 2/7ths of the cruise cost plus something for the “upset” and a promise that the power would be reinstated immediately or a refund for each power-less day would continue to be reimbursed - or I was leaving in the next port and going home when I’d claim the full cost of the cruise, fares home and compensation for being subjected to a perfectly avoidable fiasco. This is clearly not a luxury cruise experience. That would be my starting point for negotiations and if I was told that no one had authority to agree this with me I’d go home and litigate if it proved unavoidable.

 

The problem is that Americans have very limited legal recourse but Europeans and Australians have significant rights.

 

What I find bewildering is that it seems that senior SS staff were on board but seemed absent from engagement with customers and taking leadership but were instead ensuring they had a better cruise and causing further avoidable irritation and effectively making a bad situation worst.

Edited May 12, 2018 by UKCruiseJeff

[Herman The Cat]

I think you probably are missing something if you don' t think someone should say sorry for what we have been through. A voucher that I'm never going to use because I would never sail Silversea again is worth a lot less to me than a straight forward apology.

 

We weren't told about this when we booked it. This is my first holiday in 10 years.

 

As soon as I found out about the stretch I rang Silversea and they offered me a guarantee that everything would be right or she wouldn' sail.

 

"We are Silverea Sir."

 

I am so very sorry to hear what you are going through on so many levels. Are you in a cabin that was in the “stretched” section?

 

Sadly, the Silversea employee who took your call could say nothing else. Cruises after dry docks or new ships typically have kinks to work out, but your electric issue is extreme. They couldn’t move you to another cabin?

 

People think that “booking direct” with the cruise company is an advantage. It is actually a distinct disadvantage on so many levels. This is an example where a knowledgeable and good travel agent would have told you not to book the cruise after the stretch.

[Zenblue100]

This really does not sounds like the Silversea I know - I do hope they sort this out to your satisfaction. I feel for you since this is your first holiday in such a long time. I would do the same as Jeff suggested above but I hope you can start to enjoy yourself at least for the last few days

[737swapilot]

This really does not sounds like the Silversea I know - I do hope they sort this out to your satisfaction. I feel for you since this is your first holiday in such a long time. I would do the same as Jeff suggested above but I hope you can start to enjoy yourself at least for the last few days

We just disembarked from the Spirit this morning, I will try and post some pics when I have a good internet connection. We ended up having no air conditioning for the entire cruise and several light fixtures we not installed correctly.

My big problem is that the room STILL is not fixed. I spoke with the front desk 4 times and nothing has been done.

I almost forgot we had diner in La Dam and one of the windows had a light that was flickering the WHOLE night, apparently nobody cared!

 

Not really sure if I will end using the voucher, I think a lot will depend on the response I receive from Silversea

[SeekingShelter]

That is so disappointing to hear. Definitely follow up with corporate in writing. From the sounds of it you should get more than a 25% voucher.

 

 

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