Who''s got your back? Not Silversea Cruises

[FranSur]

Silversea did not take the welfare of their contractors, employees, or guests into consideration when they decided to go ahead with a cruise to Antarctica with COVID positive crew members in quarantine from the previous cruise. Silversea then tested the remainder of the crew on day 2 of sailing, not prior to setting sail only to find that 30% of the staff was positive and needed to go into quarantine. Every aspect of the cruise was compromised - limited and canceled excursions, entertainment canceled, buffets instead of table service. That is just the tip of the iceberg. (Every pun intended). And their offer to compensate for a trip gone awry was pathetic compared to what other cruise line companies have provided their passengers. 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2022/02/articles/disease/over-30-of-crew-members-on-silverseas-silver-cloud-test-positive-for-covid-19/https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2022/02/articles/disease/over-30-of-crew-members-on-silverseas-silver-cloud-test-positive-for-covid-19/

[Gourmet Gal]

Were you on this cruise?

[StingrayX303]

I was on this cruise and what was reported above is accurate.

[ronrick1943]

Not sounding good for new SS cruisers.

 

[MBP&O2/O]

Is it me or is there a growing unrest amongst SS regulars regarding corporate failings and an apparent disregard to customer care?

[brimary]

We fall into the growing unrest category after 24 successive years of luxury travel on Silversea cruises.Despite the best efforts of the crew on board to maintain luxury standards they and more importantly Silversea clients are being let down by Incompetent Management presiding over a declining standard on the evidence of last  few years.

[TR1963]

FranSur

This is the cruise I was mentioning in my post 'Ill fated cruise'.

Management continues to deny its shabby treatment of its passengers and fails to stand behind its stated and promised 

'luxury standards'.

 

[Mayflower1]

I regret to say that those of us who have been Silversea Regulars for many years have always known that the Senior Corporate ran the Company like a Private Plaything. This was just about sustainable with say 4 Ships and we were encouraged to return time and time again by the Excellence experienced on board. However, now with an ever expanding Fleet to manage, the lack of expertise and unprofessionalism by the same People is beginning to have serious repercussions on the Brand.

 

The time has come for a Root & Branch clear out and a more Professional approach, particularly in the field of Communication, which of late has been woeful.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Mayflower1
wrong wording

[Observer]

3 hours ago, TR1963 said:

FranSur

This is the cruise I was mentioning in my post 'Ill fated cruise'.

Management continues to deny its shabby treatment of its passengers and fails to stand behind its stated and promised 

'luxury standards'.

 

 

 Could we please have some detail?  The OP states: "And their offer to compensate for a trip gone awry was pathetic compared to what other cruise line companies have provided their passengers. "  What, please, was that "pathetic" offer?  What have other cruise lines offered?  Please be specific.  Thank you.

[FranSur]

Example of a cruise line that refunded appropriately - 100% of cruise plus 125% cruise credit

https://apple.news/Azz9Aj7A3SpeLARrj1vEG2A

 

Antarctica XXI canceled their February 21, 2022 cruise departure due to a covid outbreak the day before the trip was supposed to happen. 

 

I am not at liberty at this point to discuss the pitiful amount they offered. 

[Observer]

29 minutes ago, FranSur said:

I am not at liberty at this point to discuss the pitiful amount they offered. 

 

I am puzzled.  Why are you "not at liberty"?  Compensation amounts are generally discussed -- even announced on cruise line websites.  Who has constained you from discussing this?  After all, you are posting lots of assertions about this matter on CC.

[FauxNom]

It sounds like treatment of/compensation of crew members is the bigger issue here. Was the guest experience really so compromised when Silversea took measures to protect guests from infected crew? Did you see Antarctica? Were there Zodiac excursions? Was there food and drink and housekeeping service? If passengers went into this knowing that Omicron had been sweeping over the world for the preceding 2 months, surely some risk of a less than perfect cruise could be anticipated.

 

The refund linked above was for a cruise that was ended half-way through because the ship hit bottom! Not quite the same thing.

 

I can see that some compensation is in order for the inconvenience you encountered, FranSur/Stingray/TR1963, but nothing on the order of full refund.

[Gourmet Gal]

36 minutes ago, FranSur said:

Example of a cruise line that refunded appropriately - 100% of cruise plus 125% cruise credit

https://apple.news/Azz9Aj7A3SpeLARrj1vEG2A

 

Antarctica XXI canceled their February 21, 2022 cruise departure due to a covid outbreak the day before the trip was supposed to happen. 

 

I am not at liberty at this point to discuss the pitiful amount they offered. 

Do you work for Silversea?

[cruiseej]

56 minutes ago, FauxNom said:

Was the guest experience really so compromised when Silversea took measures to protect guests from infected crew? Did you see Antarctica? Were there Zodiac excursions? Was there food and drink and housekeeping service?

 

@FauxNom  Read the other thread. Yes, they saw Antarctica, but missed 2 of 6 days. there were limited landings, limited zodiac excursion, and no kayaks. Yes, there was food, but the main dining room became a buffet, there were no menus, and two of the restaurants were closed. So yes, the guest experience was clearly compromised. I'm not saying it was all Silversea's fault or preventable, but certainly these passengers did not have an enjoyable cruise.

[Gourmet Gal]

Everyone takes a calculated risk when traveling during Covid and a virus is going to do what a virus does…infect as many hosts as possible.  For my upcoming cruise I really haven’t read the details of SS liability related to Covid or the extent that any loss is covered by insurance but I am willing to take the risk to travel and understand that service could be impacted, ports could be missed, and Covid precautions might not be adequate if there is an outbreak in such a confined area.  I would however expect SS to do the best they can and to meet their liability obligations and perhaps extend some goodwill.  I don't know enough about this particular cruise to judge if their efforts were thus.  

[Pegs1]

I was on this trip and all the problems were caused by Silversea's decision to set sail with covid infected passengers.

All passengers were tested prior to boarding and kept aware together to avoid mixing with the public.  However, Silversea only test random (not all) crew members every 10 days, not at the start of a cruise but on a rolling 10 day basis.  This was only discovered by the passengers when the Captain announced it during a crisis meeting held half way through the voyage.

By Day 6 infections amongst the crew were totalling 70.

We took, what we took to be a calculated risk, not knowing that Silversea would be so lax with their testing. They have offered 30% cash refund.  This in no way makes up for the stress, disappointment and feeling of being used.

[commodoredave]

It does sound like several poor decisions were made by the Captain and management with respect to this cruise that adversely impacted passengers. And a 30% cash refund seems inadequate to me. 

[PaulMCO]

Something smells....  Did SS hide this fact from the Chilean authority of did the Chilean Authority ignore the fact that crew members had COVID.  If this was Argentina, the ship would have been quarantined and the next two cruises would have likely been cancelled.  We had 6 crew tested positive on Quark and they cancelled the cruise.

[FranSur]

@Observer– I don’t want to mention compensation amount until it is back on my credit card.

@Gourmet Gall – I was a passenger on the cruise. Not an employee.  Understood risks are taken but don’t board a boat with covid positive people in quarantine and not test the rest of the crew. They tested the rest of the crew when we were already sailing.

@FauxNom – yes Omicron was sweeping the world but the ship had covid positive crew in quarantine when the passengers boarded. That is where the mistake happened. If it happened during sailing – then I get it. But the guests should have been informed before sailing there were ALREADY COVID positive people on the ship AND the remainder of the crew had not yet been tested. So maybe not 100%, but definitely more than they are offering.  We were off the ship for about 5 hours of the 6 days we were supposed to be in Antarctica which was cut to just over 3. With the chef and captain with covid and 30% of the crew in quarantine, our trip was very compromised from food, entertainment, excursions, and overall service.

@PaulMCO – not sure what they told Chilean authorities. When we had to turn around early due to “weather”, we had to get tested for Covid before we went back into the Chilean waters. That’s when some passengers were identified with catching covid on the ship. The Chilean authorities did board the boat when we got back to Chilean water.  We were let back in but not allowed off the boat even into zodiacs. That was another mishap – sailing the Chilean fjords for 2 days with not being able to leave the ship.