Royal Caribbean is buying majority stake in Silversea for $1bn

[drron29]

Well we have over 250 nights on Silverseas and we really haven't run into all those snobbish old cruisers yet.An occasional one indeed but you can meet those anywhere.

 

We must have picked the wrong itineraries.

[Daveywavey70]

I think the biggest detriment to booking a SS cruise is not the perks but the passengers!! And I don’t mean the new passengers.... Laundry is not a deal breaker but snobbish passengers certainly are. YMMV...

 

 

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I didn’t find the passengers on our recent cruise snobbish at all. We spoke to people from all walks of life on board and didn’t encounter any snobbishness other than 1 particular couple who had, it turned out flown out on Ryanair.

Maybe that makes me snobbish.

Oh dear.

[josumello]

I didn’t find the passengers on our recent cruise snobbish at all. We spoke to people from all walks of life on board and didn’t encounter any snobbishness other than 1 particular couple who had, it turned out flown out on Ryanair.

 

Maybe that makes me snobbish.

 

Oh dear.

 

 

 

Lol. I rest my case.

I have based my conclusions of some SS snobbery from the posts on this thread. Of course this does not mean all are elitist but read back through some of these posts. Pretty evident.

Enough said. I am done here......

 

 

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[Toryhere]

Lol. I rest my case.

I have based my conclusions of some SS snobbery from the posts on this thread. Of course this does not mean all are elitist but read back through some of these posts. Pretty evident.

Enough said. I am done here......

 

 

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Elitism is always good fun if one is part of the elite :)

[eroller]

Those affected the most and the biggest "losers" will be those who have accumulated hundreds of "days" on Silversea before. Now those elite Venetian members will have to face the "masses" who choose to try Silversea for a couple of times.

.

 

 

I'm doubtful that a status match will happen between Royal Caribbean and Silversea. Royal will not have full ownership of Silversea, just a majority stake. This is similar to their arrangement with TUI Cruises in Germany. There is no status match between Royal Caribbean and TUI, or vice versa. Royal also owned Pullmantur in Spain for many years, and many older Royal Caribbean/Celebrity ships even ended up at Pullmantur, but again no status match. I'm just saying it's not an automatic thing.

 

Even if they do a status match, it's no big deal. Only a small percent of Royal Caribbean/Celebrity/Azamara pax will probably even try Silversea. Different worlds. Those that do, well more power to them. They may love Silversea or find it incredibly boring. Either way it shouldn't have any impact on existing Silversea loyal cruisers. I've sailed Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara, Silversea, and many others. Variety is the spice of life. I hope more cruisers branch out and try different products. You don't know what you're missing until you try it.

 

On a side note, overall I think Royal Caribbean getting majority control over Silversea will be a good thing in the long run. Consistency has been lacking at Silversea, and Royal Caribbean has the expertise, manpower, experience, and capital to do wonders with the brand.

[maggie.1008]

I have cruised all the luxury and Premium cruise lines. I also have 25 cruises on Celebrity. I just booked a cruise on the new Celebrity Edge for Jan. 2020. Have you looked at the Aqua and Suite prices ? My Silver Seas, Seabourn and Regent cruises were all less money than my Edge booking. Many Celebrity guests love the bigger ships and larger suites and can well afford Silver Seas.

[meow!]

The Silversea crew will also be affected. The hardworking, usually nice mannered "one bar" and below will likely not be affected. However, those "three bars" and up, rather "proud in-group" close to the management/owners will likely lose their status. There is likely going to be a "regime change" in due course. The executives/senior management may do well to look for another job, time will tell !

 

It will no longer be family owned and no longer Italian !

.

Edited June 16, 2018 by meow!

[meow!]

It does make you wonder if the current expansion (new ships, stretching and converting) has taken its toll or just a bullish bid at the right time.

 

As you say, time will tell.

Over-expansionism is usually fatal, the former Renaissance Cruises (while with different causes) still comes to mind!

 

Too much self-confidence and perhaps "cockiness" is the root of downfalls.

 

"We always dreamed of a fleet of twelve ships" -- yes, but owned by some other corporate entity.

.

Edited June 16, 2018 by meow!

[Daveywavey70]

And hopefully they won’t be as arrogant as I have found them. I Wonder if they’ll still section off large parts of the restaurants for “ the family” or indeed leave dozens of fare paying passengers in the baking heat on the quayside while the ceo takes a private tender and they are forced to wait for another? A regime change IMHO wouldn’t be a bad thing. Maybe the new “fleet manager’ won’t just shrugg his shoulders and walk off when introduced to a passenger that has been put through hell. Or the new Captains make jokes about passengers testing out their ships for them.

Hopefully they’ll also be better equipped to deal with complaints in a more reasonable manner. I do believe that American companies are far more customer orientated than Italian ones.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I have cruised all the luxury and Premium cruise lines. I also have 25 cruises on Celebrity. I just booked a cruise on the new Celebrity Edge for Jan. 2020. Have you looked at the Aqua and Suite prices ? My Silver Seas, Seabourn and Regent cruises were all less money than my Edge booking. Many Celebrity guests love the bigger ships and larger suites and can well afford Silver Seas.

 

I'll sail the Edge when much newer ships become available, otherwise as you suggested, why not go luxury? We've got a 15 night Auqua cabin repo booked for 2020, at 2k pp. I've seen a Windstar transpacific priced similarly, but that's our preferred budget if we can help it. Not seeing Silverseas anytime soon on the horizon.

[THEPRFCT10]

We just booked our first Silversea Cruise two days ago! Mediterranean 11 night in May 2019---I am truly concerned I just made a mistake.

 

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[Daveywavey70]

We just booked our first Silversea Cruise two days ago! Mediterranean 11 night in May 2019---I am truly concerned I just made a mistake.

 

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By most accounts when they get it right they do get it right. Unfortunately for us they didn’t and we have endured absolute hell trying to get any reasonable response from them. They have failed to respond repeatedly when promised, failed to deal with our complaints reasonably and now we are at the point that my partner feels that he has been threatened by a CEO of the company. His latest response is that we should just agree to disagree.

Hopefully the takeover will be completed by then and you won’t have to deal with the shambolic company that we have. I do sincerely hope that you enjoy your cruise but personally they will never receive another penny of my hard earned money.

[Tothesunset]

We just booked our first Silversea Cruise two days ago! Mediterranean 11 night in May 2019---I am truly concerned I just made a mistake.

Thing is, the majority of happy cruisers (and there are clearly plenty of those) don't keep on posting about how great their cruise was, yet those with a justified reason to be dissatisfied fill the board disproportionately. When you look at the number of people who have 100+ days and at all those who rebook 2, 3 or more cruises in advance then you could conclude that SS must be doing something right.

[Tony & Trevor]

There have been quite a few comments about how Seabourn operates under Carnival. From a passengers perspective, it was not a comfortable and seamless takeover and the very essence and uniqueness of the brand became lost. Crew were transferred over from Holland America at that point and did not understand the Seabourn philosophy and Seabourn "way". The loss of the three smaller ships (Pride, Spirit & Legend) did not help and now with their own two larger sips Encore & Ovation, that original USP has been lost for ever. Sadly I fear that the same will eventually change in Silversea. It will be the bottom line of the majority shareholder that will drive direction and the type of line Silversea become. Only time will tell.

[CruiserFromMaine]

I can’t predict the last long term future but I can say we had a great cruise on the Muse in late April to early May. Those sailing on the Muse at least should look forward to a great experience.

 

I’m not buying into the doom and gloom based on just speculation. I’ll wait and see for myself.

[Brad1185]

As soon as the transaction is complete Royal needs to make SS an all inclusive cruise line

[MBP&O2/O]

Behind the scenes, and for what it’s worth I used to work as a Deck / Navigation Officer for P & O and we took over / merged with various other companies. From a corporate bean counters view I haven’t a clue but from a practical – behind the scenes - view it was more a case of getting used to the obvious ‘public’ rebranding (paint colours, logo etc.) and the new universal paperwork. The funny side was Masters who were ‘time served’ at one company and who tried to impose their ideas and traditions on officers from other companies who were versed differently. This could be incredibly frustrating as one master insisted on dinner at 7pm – which if you wanted to get some sleep before working at midnight sometimes proved problematical, or for the Third Officer who had to relieve the Chief Officer at 7pm for his meal, then when he had rushed his meal he returned to the bridge, the 3/O then grabbed a bit of something and rushed back for the 8pm watch.

It wasn’t often that we carried passengers on the cargo ships but when we did it was a whole new ball game and they wouldn’t have known what was different.

 

The end product was ‘same pizza base – different topping’.

 

Most of the ships were purpose built for a specific trading pattern / route / and that didn’t change … sort of .. maybe .. ish.

 

Putting that into context – if SS ‘merged’ the RCI expedition ships into the SS fleet then theoretically should there be a difference?

 

We shall see.

 

 

Sent from the magic box!

[markham]

Here’s another way to anticipate the relative success of a line after they are taken over. Firstly, look at the good side: savings on duplicative operations, a potentially larger upscale passenger base due to stronger/wider marketing, and opportunity to evaluate what the line’s mission is (including customer service which Silversea failed to execute with this stretched ship fiasco) and then try to deliver “best practices”.

 

The downside is the shakeup of former operations that everyone was used to and the possibility that you might not like what you see relative to the “good old days”.

 

But one thing is sure. Change will happen. And if Silversea gets it right the can become more profitable. And that would hopefully allow them to deliver more than they do now. That’s what it’s all about.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[SeekingShelter]

I too am in the ‘wait and see’ camp, although we do have one cruise booked for later this year. Could be interesting.

 

 

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[Lois R]

I too am in the ‘wait and see’ camp, although we do have one cruise booked for later this year. Could be interesting.

 

 

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Hi, I am sailing in just over 3 weeks on Whisper...…….I am planning on a wonderful 10 days:D

[Randyk47]

I too am in the ‘wait and see’ camp, although we do have one cruise booked for later this year. Could be interesting.

 

 

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While interested and maybe a bit concerned we’re not ready to holst the gloom and doom flag right now. Also helps that after our extended cruise last November-December, a significant pending change in my wife’s work, and house renovations we’re in a time out on cruising for this year. We have plenty of time to research, plan, and book a potential cruise we’ve come across for later next year on the Shadow.

[TLCOhio]

Thing is, the majority of happy cruisers (and there are clearly plenty of those) don't keep on posting about how great their cruise was, yet those with a justified reason to be dissatisfied fill the board disproportionately. When you look at the number of people who have 100+ days and at all those who rebook 2, 3 or more cruises in advance then you could conclude that SS must be doing something right.

 

Appreciate the wisdom and insights reflected in the above post by our smart UK friend. Plus, the many other comments made on this thread!! We have seen some "slips" and minor problems during our five cruises with Silversea. Fortunately for us, nothing dire as documented by Jeff and as a few others have detailed.

 

Even on the same ship with the same crew, there can be differences. After doing a wonderful 17-day Amazon River cruise three years ago with only 179 passengers on the Silver Cloud, our back-to-back sailing shifted to a nine-day Caribbean segment. Our SS Hotel Director predicted the experience would be very different. It was. Nothing dire or drastic. But, a significantly different type of "experience" on the ship. Same ship. Same crew. It happens for a variety of reasons and factors. Our experience has been that many times a longer cruise allows more time for the passengers and crew to get the "chemistry" right for a better sailing.

 

We are open to future Silversea sailings. As always for us, it all depends on the itinerary, timing, ports, pricing/value, etc. If SS has what we seek at a reasonable cost, we will go with them. If not, we will go another direction.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean adventure that started in Barbados, here is the link for that live/blog. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.):

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 56,743 views for these postings.

[hubofhockey]

Hi,

 

I think this move makes sense. It gives Royal Caribbean a presence in the luxury market. Also, the luxury expedition market is booming. This should help Silversea by providing better economies of scale in purchasing provisions for its ships. I wonder if the small Celebrity expedition vessels in the Galapagos Islands will eventually become part of Silversea Expeditions?

 

Chuck

 

Celebrity is currently building the nicest ship for the Galapagos (and also the most costly), the Flora. Too rich for my blood. I wonder if that will go to Silversea as a swap for the Silversea expedition ship, which is priced similarly to Celebrity's current Galapagos ship, the Xpedition. I hope neither goes to Azamara, for operating reasons.

[keltic]

I didn’t find the passengers on our recent cruise snobbish at all. We spoke to people from all walks of life on board and didn’t encounter any snobbishness other than 1 particular couple who had, it turned out flown out on Ryanair.

Maybe that makes me snobbish.

Oh dear.

Not everybody has a corporate jet to fly back home. Nowadays there's not much difference flying Ryanair or British, Air France and so on. Same pitch, extra charges and so on

 

You choose Ryanair when it's the only option to flight your local airport.

 

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[Archipelago]

This could spell the end of low single supplements for solo travelers. When Cunard was taken over the supplements went to 75% and when Seabourn was taken over the same thing . Seabourn use to have 25% supplements. I'm not 100% sure but I don't think any of the RCCL corp. lines do any type of discount for solo travelers.:(