Silversea Vs Seabourn Comparison Recent Experience

[texanaust]

15 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Was it an induction hob or a gas flame trolley at your table

I believe induction and yes flames, but not to the ceiling flames 😁.  The maitre'd had this set up in one area of the restaurant and made them as requested.  Some of the best crepes suzette I've ever had.  

[conchyjoe]

Have done both lines over the past 14 years but none since 2019 due to Covid.

Close to Diamond on Seabourn and about the equivalent level on Silversea.

 

In our past experience, the overall difference between the two is negligible.

Yes, there are slight differences of course. The coffee is better on Seabourn and the pizza is better on Silversea, among many other very minor things. It’s just little stuff, they are both excellent.

 

I did a post about the comparison between them maybe 9 years ago. Maybe you can find it!

 

For our now finally resumed cruising schedule, we have based our decisions on which line purely on itinerary.

 

CJ

[Fletcher]

4 hours ago, conchyjoe said:

For our now finally resumed cruising schedule, we have based our decisions on which line purely on itinerary.

Absolutely right.  The differences between the lines are rather trivial in my view. 

[Host Dan]

I would think that SB would always win out compared to SS (having been a SB enthusiast for years.). Not so.  Was on SS Spirit in December and just off SB Odyssey last month.  The food and service on SS was far superior. IMHO

[fdnycruiser]

Agree with you Dan. I was on the Silver Moon in November, and on the Ovation in December, and thought that SS was much better with food and service. I’m going on the Quest in early November, and the Silver Dawn on December 1. I’ll compare again. However, although I had a better experience on SS, I still enjoyed the SB cruise

[commodoredave]

We did 3 B2B cruises on the Seabourn Odyssey in February. The food in the main dining room was lovely, and we had a terrific waiter (Christo) who made every evening a great experience with his engaging personality. We had booked dinners in Thomas Keller for one night on each leg of the cruise, but cancelled our third reservation as we didn't think the food was as good as the MDR. We were travelling with another couple (first time with SB), and we began each evening at the Observation Lounge Bar to listen to the lovely piano music and chat with our favourite bar tender (Annie). Overall, we had a very enjoyable time and both us and our friends made deposits on future cruises. Would I forgo other luxury lines and only cruise with SB? No, as we enjoy several other lines including Silversea and like to compare various offers before deciding. But Seabourn is and will remain amongst our favourite cruise lines, and once we decide on the region we want to cruise to next, we will choose the luxury line that best meets our needs for value, service and itinerary for that particular voyage.

[galeforce9]

33 minutes ago, fdnycruiser said:

Agree with you Dan. I was on the Silver Moon in November, and on the Ovation in December, and thought that SS was much better with food and service. I’m going on the Quest in early November, and the Silver Dawn on December 1. I’ll compare again. However, although I had a better experience on SS, I still enjoyed the SB cruise

Interesting!  I’m looking at quest early November vs dawn early November!!

[Catlover54]

16 hours ago, Fletcher said:

Absolutely right.  The differences between the lines are rather trivial in my view. 

Have you been on since Covid?

[Fletcher]

6 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

Have you been on since Covid?

No I haven't.  My Venture trip was cancelled, so I'm on Sojourn in September.

[highplanesdrifters]

IMHO currently it is not a difference between Seabourn and Silversea but  difference between specific ships and itineraries.  It is a luck of the draw depending on which ship has been supplied with enough staff, decent wine and food provisions.   When will things equalize and return to what we used to know and love? Who knows.  In the meantime, we're burning daylight. I'm going, warts and all.

[notjaded]

Re SS and SB comparison: We were on three SB cruises before our first SS one. We enjoyed the SS, but after the cruise we both felt that SB was a better fit. Being a non-smoker, I did not like the smoking lounge right next to the upscale restaurant. We were less than impressed with that restaurant, BTW.

 

Despite our preference for SB, we are looking at a SS sailing in a few months as we like the itinerary/timing.

[Sunday golf]

We are long time SB cruisers pre Covid and love their style and informality. Last year went on the silver spirit on a cruise that ended up round the UK. Both the food and service was excellent but there were only about 250 pk on board. Have just returned from a trip on the spirit, somewhat a different story. Transfers and Covid checks were a nightmare. The organisation at the airport and the dock was almost non existent. Even on arrival to the dock because they don’t send out luggage tags anymore it was like a rugby scrum. I guess it showed the worst of tired Brits. Why there are no luggage tags sent is a mystery, I guess cost cutting. We had pre tested and at first seemed to be an advantage. But after the third check on our papers waiting in line for each probably wrong. There is absolutely no feel good factor till you are on board.

in general service excellent with food standards variable. Overall enjoyed the cruise. One big negative are the all included trips. SS have not been able to get this working well. Definite lack of organisation and guest care.

it was very noticeable that there was a total lack of management around the ship. Every SB cruise we have always felt they were around and help ensuring everything went well.

would we go back probably not felt the more open informal style of SB is for us, but of course we are comparing pre and post Covid trips.

[fudge]

Thanks for your report. We sail with the Spirit on Friday and we hope we have a better experience than you did?

 

Its the first cruise with SS for a few years, we have sailed with SB and Regent, to be honest we dont see much between them, I will be doing a live blog on the Sprit and post on here. 

[jollyjones]

13 minutes ago, fudge said:

I will be doing a live blog on the Sprit and post on here. 

 

Very much looking forward to this Fudge!

 

Spirit is my favourite ship so will be very interested to see how you like her, plus I'm cruising from Fusina on the Dawn in a few weeks so of course am dying to hear how your embarkation goes.

 

[fudge]

You are very welcome, I am normally a "half full glass" guy however, if something is not right I will make a constructive comment, never sailed on the Spirit before so a new experience for us, luckily we booked our restaurants and excursions on line so we will see how that goes?

 

Just setting off for our PCR test, fingers crossed.🤣 

[galeforce9]

11 hours ago, fudge said:

Thanks for your report. We sail with the Spirit on Friday and we hope we have a better experience than you did?

 

Its the first cruise with SS for a few years, we have sailed with SB and Regent, to be honest we dont see much between them, I will be doing a live blog on the Sprit and post on here. 

Can’t wait for your live blog thanks.  Hope you have a good experience 

[auldlassie]

I agree the quality of champagne and of caviar have detetoriated over the years, but it is the same across all these supposed luxury lines. Don't let these current champagne differences put you off. They are all dross , although the Pommery is the best of this bunch - but only just. 🙄  Who would base their overall cruise on what champagne is served from such a low grade list anyway? Just spring for better from the wine lists. Or drink something else.🙂

[RetiredandTravel]

14 hours ago, auldlassie said:

I agree the quality of champagne and of caviar have detetoriated over the years, but it is the same across all these supposed luxury lines. Don't let these current champagne differences put you off. They are all dross , although the Pommery is the best of this bunch - but only just. 🙄  Who would base their overall cruise on what champagne is served from such a low grade list anyway? Just spring for better from the wine lists. Or drink something else.🙂

 

Deteriorated? Just a touch. attached is the 2004 complimentary wine list on Silversea.  Was this a special event or was this the norm in 2004?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[auldlassie]

Haha, Retired and Travel! Philipponnat in 2004. Lovely stuff! My first cruise was on Seabourn in 2011, so that's a bit before my time there. Reading this, I wish it wasn't! I currently buy this Philipponnat from the Champagne Company in the UK for £39 a bottle for their standard non vintage or slightly more for the rose. Utterly lovely in its white or rose versions and a beautiful, big and fulsome champagne to treasure. Way better than the usual main line houses.  I also currently have both the blanc de blancs and blanc de noirs vintage versions in the cellar at home.  Is a truly a favourite of mine.  Shame they decided to cut the price to less than half since then, with dross. Some savings are just not worth the degrade in customer experiences, in my opinion. I'd happily pay the extra in, for example, a normal Seabourn 14 day cruise cost) to drink this than the dross they now serve, as overall it would be a pittance.... and so much more fun! But that won't happen, so I just spring for a champagne that doesn't make my stomach ache. 

That's still more fun in the end. 🙄 Plus, it is a holiday cruise, not a wine tour!  Just a shame they compromised beyond the point of decent quality. 

 

 

[Hlitner]

On 6/22/2022 at 4:46 AM, Sunday golf said:

We are long time SB cruisers pre Covid and love their style and informality. Last year went on the silver spirit on a cruise that ended up round the UK. Both the food and service was excellent but there were only about 250 pk on board. Have just returned from a trip on the spirit, somewhat a different story. Transfers and Covid checks were a nightmare. The organisation at the airport and the dock was almost non existent. Even on arrival to the dock because they don’t send out luggage tags anymore it was like a rugby scrum. I guess it showed the worst of tired Brits. Why there are no luggage tags sent is a mystery, I guess cost cutting. We had pre tested and at first seemed to be an advantage. But after the third check on our papers waiting in line for each probably wrong. There is absolutely no feel good factor till you are on board.

in general service excellent with food standards variable. Overall enjoyed the cruise. One big negative are the all included trips. SS have not been able to get this working well. Definite lack of organisation and guest care.

it was very noticeable that there was a total lack of management around the ship. Every SB cruise we have always felt they were around and help ensuring everything went well.

would we go back probably not felt the more open informal style of SB is for us, but of course we are comparing pre and post Covid trips.

SB really disappointed us with how they handled our recent (April) debarkation in Monte Carlo (Seabourn Ovation).  We had arranged a car/driver tranfer (to go to our Nice hotel) through Seabourn and SB assigned us a pick-up time of 9:30.  Around 7:30 I looked down from our suite balcony and noticed that a large pile of luggage (including ours) was off the ship and piled on the pier.  The nearby terminal building was locked tight as a drum.  Those that had bus transfers were being forced to walk several hundred meters along the pier past a security gate where they could get their bus.  Those of us with private car transfers were to meet our driver off the end of the gangplank and the cars were parked next to the ship (all a good thing).  But the weather forecast was for heavy rain and the skies looked very bad.  I walked down to the exit area (near the gangplank and found our Hotel Manager.  I told him the weather forecast was for very heavy rains in the next few minutes and we were concerned that our luggage was simply sitting out in the open and would get drenched (along with everything inside).  He acknowledged the problem but said he had no control of what happened on the pier although he thought the dock workers had some tarps to cover the luggage..  10 minutes later the heavy rains hit.  Some of the dock workers very slowly moved the luggage up against the terminal building where they still were getting drenched.   By the time we left the ship about 9:30 all that luggage (over 100 pieces) was soaking wet.  SB made no obvious attempt to do anything. There was no security on the pier and SB could have simply sent somebody off the ship with some tarps but the staff just stood in the door watching all that luggage get socaked.

 

Later that morning, when we arrived at our Nice hotel we were unable to get into our room (not available until early afternoon).  When we finally got our luggage, a lot of our clothes were wet or damp.   This was all so unnecessary.  

 

Hank

[thorve]

Thanks for posting! We are planning our first empty nest cruise for either Fall 2023 or Spring 2024 and looking at both Seabourn and Silversea. Both have several destinations of interest, but we are curious about programs, dining, etc. that make each line distinct. I have read several recent unhappy reviews of Seabourn, but have read that Silversea can be a more "stuffy" luxury than Seabourn. Looking for relaxing luxury. Thanks.

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

When we finally got our luggage, a lot of our clothes were wet or damp.   This was all so unnecessary.  

 

It's not a good way to start a trip!  My experience was when my traveling companion and I was traveling to Amsterdam on KLM out of ATL.  Heavy rain the afternoon/early evening before departure in Atlanta.  When we arrived at AMS, our 3 pieces of luggage was damp with my companion's thoroughly wet.  We were able to get into our hotel room and spent the initial hour or so unpacking and trying to place the clothes on hangers to let them dry.  We filed a possible claim with KLM before we left the airport (along with many other passengers).  Response was:  "so sorry.  Nothing we can do."  When I got home, I snail mailed a letter to Delta and got the same kind of response.  Fortunately, nothing was damaged.  

[Covepointcruiser]

I remember when luggage used to be waterproof unless damaged.    With all the major thunderstorms especially in the summer, luggage may often stand in the weather and unless you are taking a large jet, they will be loaded individually by conveyor.    Believe some higher quality luggage manufacturers sell plastic overcoats that will keep your luggage and it’s contents dry.

[jollyjones]

 

Luggage getting wet is one reason why I pack all my clothes in large compression bags. It's not so much to be able to cram more in my case, but more to keep everything sorted out tidily and safely DRY!

Packing cubes will keep things tidy, but compression bags keep them dry.

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by jollyjones

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, jollyjones said:

 

Luggage getting wet is one reason why I pack all my clothes in large compression bags. It's not so much to be able to cram more in my case, but more to keep everything sorted out tidily and safely DRY!

Packing cubes will keep things tidy, but compression bags keep them dry.

 

 

Thank you very much for this idea.  Never thought of that as being a solution to wet luggage.  (Tried dry cleaner bags lining the interior and around "stuff" and that proved more trouble than it was worth.)