New to Silversea! Please share your expertise!

[Lois R]

I agree..…..daytime is casual...….I wear shorts/tops/sandals...…...and if it is a sea day and you are in a tropical locale, well, I am in a bathing suit and cover up.  I have no idea where dress like in a 5 star resort comes into play.... and if I am touring, depending on the port, I am probably in shorts or capri's with walking shoes......please do not worry about "designer" dressing.

[Cruising the waves]

Hi Clodia

i did my first silversea cruise last year having previously cruised with P & O and Cunard, and like you I was worried about the 5* resort clothing that they refer to ....   For daytime wear I took my usual cruise attire of shorts, casual trousers and tops and there wasn't a problem.   I'm hooked on the smaller ships now.   Enjoy your cruise.

Jill 

[Stumblefoot]

On 1/26/2019 at 1:16 PM, Clodia said:

A bit worried about this for my first SS cruise.

Don't worry one bit Clodia.  I agree with Emtbsam and Daveywavey, you will literally see everything during the day.

[mikalm]

I tried to look up posting guidelines, but got a page that said "does not exist." I wanted to email "Host Dan" but could find no email address.

I'm not sure that this post belongs here or anywhere on Cruise Critic, but am hoping it might be useful in some way.  In summary, we had a fine cruise on the Silver Muse from Singapore to Hong Kong through Vietnam from 11/9-18/2018, but our disembarkation was atrocious (and not because we committed any of the errors in Cruise Critic's article on "rookie mistakes."  We were so shaken by it, that I wrote a personal letter to the Roberto Martinoli, president of Silversea describing our experience.  I never received a response.  A month later, I sent a copy of the letter to "Customer Service" at Silversea's Corporate offices, and again never received a response.  The epitome of adding insult to injury!  I am really flummoxed at the lack of response.  I add a copy of the letter I wrote to Mr. Martinoli here - 

 

Dear Mr. Martinoli:

I just received an email from Barbara Muckermann, asking me to rate the ports of call on our recent cruise on Silver Muse from Singapore to Hong Kong through Vietnam.  While I am happy to do that, just as I was happy to fill out the onboard survey, I am writing to you now regarding what happened on the cruise that my wife and I were decidedly UNHAPPY about, and that was the level of communication on the ship.

Most of the problems were minor annoyances (although not what one would expect from a high end cruise line.)  These included being given a dinner reservation for our first night at a time that was one hour before the restaurant opened, changing times on shore excursions (the ticket saying one time, the Chronicle saying another, reception saying trust the Chronicle and then people on shore upset that we were late!), getting a dish of mayonnaise when I had asked for sour cream, etc.  As I said, mostly minor, but the worst was what happened on the day we disembarked in Hong Kong.

We left the cruise the night before the official end to catch our flight home.  During the day, we had gone out sightseeing and became aware of what a nightmare the Harborfront Mall and Ocean Terminal were in their complexity. Because of that, we had great anxiety about getting our luggage off the ship, which we talked about with reception.  We were promised that help would be provided to take our luggage off the ship, and to a taxi stand, and that it was very easy, “there are great signs and guidance every 10 meters.  Just call us 10 minutes before you want to leave and we will send assistance.” We did as we were told and our butler and housekeeper arrived and took our luggage, which we then we found, still on the ship, at the gangway!  We told security no way, the luggage is too heavy for us to handle. Finally they sent two young men, Derrick and Dennis, to pull our luggage for us – and then the journey into the unknown began.  First we couldn’t get out of Customs.  We made three wrong turns, then we finally got out, and eventually found a sign by an elevator that said, “Level R – taxi stand.”  We got into the elevator and pressed “R,” but it didn’t respond.  We asked someone who said, “Try level 5 – carport.”  We got up to level 5 and it actually said “R” outside, but there was no taxi stand. We asked several people, who all had varying suggestions, but then one young couple said the shortest possibility was for us to walk to the Marco Polo Hotel, which was about 300 yards away. We did this walk with my poor 81-years-old wife lagging behind, to get to the Marco Polo Hotel – now what? I asked someone in a restaurant who said, “Go inside and take the elevator down to the ground floor.” I asked what level we were on now. She said, the 6^thfloor.  We got into the elevator, went down to the ground floor after several false starts, and again, – now what!  I asked someone in a restaurant, who said “go that way,” pointing – then as we started, she came running after us, and said, “No, if you go that way, it is a long walk past the bus station to the taxi stand, better to go the opposite way to the front of the hotel and get a doorman’s assistance.”  So we walked another 100 yards to that – and finally got a taxi.

We had a great cruise, and the staff was truly amazing – always friendly and helpful.  Even at the end, Derrick and Dennis were true troopers, hauling our luggage at every step, but still, to have such poor communication about where to find taxis and then make an 81-years-old woman (and I’m no spring chicken myself!) walk all that way just to get a taxi to the airport, this put a real damper on our trip.

I am hoping that you will do something to encourage better and more accurate communication onboard the Silver Muse.

                                                                        Sincerely,

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, mikalm said:

We were so shaken by it, that I wrote a personal letter to the Roberto Martinoli, president of Silversea describing our experience.  I never received a response.  A month later, I sent a copy of the letter to "Customer Service" at Silversea's Corporate offices, and again never received a response.  The epitome of adding insult to injury!  I am really flummoxed at the lack of response.

Such a shame what you experienced.  And, from what I've read on this forum over the years from fellow passengers, Silversea's shore communication is absolutely atrocious.  Unfortunately, the lack of response seems to be the norm and not the exception.

In the end, I'm glad you had a generally enjoyable voyage.  We depart in one week for Hong Kong whereby we'll join the Shadow for a voyage to Singapore.  I was thinking we'd walk from our hotel to the Hong Kong cruise terminal, but after reading your account I think we'll just take a cab directly there, especially since it'll be the heart of Chinese New Year.

[Clodia]

Thank you to those who responded on daytime dress code; feel mightily reassured now!