Celebrity Retreat vs Silversea

[chemmo]

29 minutes ago, wineoclock said:

Yes all possibilities.

 

That did make me laugh about your friend. Cunard is too formal for us. My grandparents did 3 WC on Cunard with one being the inaugural QEII cruise. 

Yes, Cunard wouldn’t suit us either….Nice to have the option of dressing up or not…

[Whinenowine]

On 9/28/2022 at 1:44 PM, econprofessor said:

 

 

 

Price:  We drove to both ports.  Therefore, airfare was not included.  (On Silversea this is a Port-to-Port sailing.) As of 2022, the price was within $200 of each other, with Celebrity costing slightly more.  However, Silversea also includes shore excursions.  So, Silversea gets the win here.

 

 

On Silversea, if you don’t make dinner reservations prior to boarding you will find yourself out of luck with the exception of Alantide and Indochine.  – Unless you want to eat at 9pm, that is.  As this was our first time on Silversea, I wasn’t sure which we would like best, so I made reservations at all of them except La Dame.  I would have liked to return to La Terrazza, but couldn’t get a reservation.

 

 

 

On the pricing front--I'd commented on this several times this year...comparing a Superior Veranda vs a Sky Suite, Silversea was cheaper on a number of cruises (on itineraries I like), esp looking at the apples-to-apples port-to-port pricing. Some will still cruise with X b/c it suits them better--which I totally understand--but I think price creep on X will encourage some to shift to Silversea (I suppose RCL Group doesn't care...left pocket vs right pocket).

 

For me, at the entry level suites I think Silversea wins hands down...but once you get up to the Upper Suites on X, I think the balance of power shifts back towards X because Silver Sea pricing skyrockets.  Last month on our Millie Alaskan cruise we had a PS and the size (1500sqft cabin, 1000sqft veranda) and extra special treatment couldn't have been matched by Silversea, at least not at that price.

 

p.s.--for the record, one of my best meals at sea was at La Dame a number of years ago.

[BeeMinor]

12 hours ago, MarinerAlex said:

I recently came off my 1st Celebrity cruise, staying in the Retreat. The service was great, though I found it to be too much at times… passenger to crew ratio was about 1.2 to 1. I also ran into some of the same folks all the time, and not particularly the ones I wanted to see all too often. 

 

This is my fear with the smaller ships, meeting the same people over and over, and being “pestered” by crew all the time. Admittedly, I’m a low needs traveler and quite independent.

 

This is a real risk with a small ship. We sailed on the Silver Whisper back in 2018 . . . along with two charter groups. One was smaller and ignorable, the other comprised at least half the ship's passenger count and was, let's say, boisterous. We loved the ports and also found the food, especially in the Italian restaurant, superior to X, but were extremely unhappy about trying to share a small space with a large charter. 

 

However, we were on the Summit in a pre-Revolution suite about six months later and really noticed the constant upselling of dining, drinks, photography, etc. and not in a good way. Very much appreciated that this practice wasn't visible in the Retreat on Edge when we sailed in Feb 2019, and hoping it hasn't come back to the Apex for our sailing in November! We also found the food on Edge to be on par with what we had on Silversea, and I'm really hoping that's still true of Apex too.

 

We have tried to give Silversea another try, but one cruise was canceled due to the elimination of Cuba cruising and the other was a victim of the shutdown. Depending on how this next Apex cruise goes we might consider making another SIlversea attempt. IMO the steep price increases on X for the Retreat make them directly competitive at the Sky/Celebrity Suite-equivalent level that we would book.

 

[econprofessor]

On 9/30/2022 at 6:13 AM, BeeMinor said:

 

IMO the steep price increases on X for the Retreat make them directly competitive at the Sky/Celebrity Suite-equivalent level that we would book.

 

I agree.  I was surprised that the price points were so close.  I really thought Silversea would cost a lot more. 

[econprofessor]

Sorry, I forgot to add this one.

 

Room Service:  Silversea has a very extensive menu.  The food always arrived hot.   You could also order it to be delivered anywhere on the ship. They had a nice tabletop extension for the table in the room, so it was never crowded on the table.  Plus, they would bring drinks with your room service.  Silversea wins handily.

[canderson]

Have spent some time reviewing Silversea, and while it may be competitive at the Sky Suite level, coming up with the equivalent of a Royal Suite raises the ante to a Silver Suite on Silversea, which, even subtracting the included economy air fare, comes to a good bit more than a RS on Celebrity.

[SingBill]

Thank you so much for your review.  We’ve been considering trying Silver Seas for some time and your your review is both helpful and informative 

[econprofessor]

On 10/8/2022 at 6:05 AM, SingBill said:

Thank you so much for your review.  We’ve been considering trying Silver Seas for some time and your your review is both helpful and informative 

Thank you.  I tried looking for comparisons before I took Silversea.  Since I use Cruise Critic so much, I thought I would return the favor.  It has been such a great resource for me over the years!

[bigbenboys]

We have sailed on Azamara once. While the places we went were nice, the ship was boring. Food seemed limited at breakfast and lunch. I have looked at Silversea in the past. It comes down to 2 things. Ship being to small and not many activates. The three different dress codes. I have never worn a tux. Have have not worn a suit in over 15 years and dont own a pair of slacks. I wear pants with 5 pockets. I do have 5 pocket pants not made of blue jeans material.

Celebrity we mostly book Sky Suites. We do have a Celebrity Suite booked for next year. I'm sure if I'm going to like having a separate bedroom.

[wineoclock]

26 minutes ago, bigbenboys said:

We have sailed on Azamara once. While the places we went were nice, the ship was boring. Food seemed limited at breakfast and lunch. I have looked at Silversea in the past. It comes down to 2 things. Ship being to small and not many activates. The three different dress codes. I have never worn a tux. Have have not worn a suit in over 15 years and dont own a pair of slacks. I wear pants with 5 pockets. I do have 5 pocket pants not made of blue jeans material.

Celebrity we mostly book Sky Suites. We do have a Celebrity Suite booked for next year. I'm sure if I'm going to like having a separate bedroom.

What’s the difference between slacks & pants? Thank you 

[canderson]

Just pulled the pin on a WB TA on Silversea for 2023, Lisbon > FLL on Silver Dawn.  Space-wise, their Silver Suite looks about equivalent to a Royal Suite on a Millennium class ship.  This will be our first cruise with them.

 

Was happy to see a VERY good pax:crew ratio - 1.45:1 vs. Celebrity's already superior 2.3:1.  The service will feel like we're back aboard a thinly populated restart cruise.  Those were the best Celebrity cruises we've ever had.

 

Ships are smaller (Dawn is one of their 3 'big' ones at 298 cabins, 40,700 tons), but a surprising variety aboard.  Eight different dining venues and a lot of space.  To put it into perspective, the old Celebrity Horizon was about 46,800 tons with 1,828 at capacity.  Granted, the space includes larger cabins, but at capacity ...

 

Horizon = 46,800T / 1,828 pax = 25

Dawn = 40,700T / 596 pax = 68

 

The price is a bit more than Celebrity, but when comparing pricing, you have to get to apples-apples by subtracting shorex, some of the air fare, and a few other costs.  Still more, but not as much as it first appears.

 

 

[bigbenboys]

4 hours ago, wineoclock said:

What’s the difference between slacks & pants? Thank you 

Well I think of Dockers. Slacks dont have pocket stitching on the outside of the pants. Slacks is the word Silversea uses.

[Whinenowine]

4 minutes ago, bigbenboys said:

Well I think of Dockers. Slacks dont have pocket stitching on the outside of the pants. Slacks is the word Silversea uses.

I'm a SlakER...does that count? People at work are always says 'boy he always slacks'......

[BeeMinor]

14 hours ago, bigbenboys said:

Well I think of Dockers. Slacks dont have pocket stitching on the outside of the pants. Slacks is the word Silversea uses.

 

When we sailed Silversea they seemed to care much more about the jacket for men than the specifics of pants. I'm pretty sure my husband, who isn't much for dressing up, wore non-denim jeans-style pants most nights--basically what he'd wear to Luminae but with a sports coat, which they politely but firmly enforced throughout the ship. 

[econprofessor]

On 10/11/2022 at 12:56 PM, bigbenboys said:

The three different dress codes. I have never worn a tux. Have have not worn a suit in over 15 years and dont own a pair of slacks. I wear pants with 5 pockets. I do have 5 pocket pants not made of blue jeans material.

Celebrity we mostly book Sky Suites. We do have a Celebrity Suite booked for next year. I'm sure if I'm going to like having a separate bedroom.

 Most nights my husband wore nice looking jeans (not denim) with a collared shirt and jacket.  He never wore a suit or a tie.   As this was Alaska, the formal night was optional. 

You cannot enter Alantide without a jacket.  If you try, they will provide you with one.  An ugly one at that.  <g>

[Gourmet Gal]

On 9/29/2022 at 10:45 PM, letsgogogo said:

This is precisely what has me leery about trying a river cruise. Too much structure, and too much possibility of getting stuck on a trip with people you don’t care for and can’t really avoid. 

That’s a real problem on river cruises.  I find I have to perfect my anti-social skills with certain people  without coming off as anti-social!

[Gourmet Gal]

Excellent comparison.

[bigalgreen]

We are elite (soon to be plus) on X.  On our last cruise, we booked a future SS cruise, tbd.  The future cruise desk advised that the SS experience was a better fit than the sky suites on X.  We have booked sky suites for later this year from FL to Panama Canal, and next year Sydney to Vancouver (back to back).  Would probably not want to do transoceanic on the smaller SS ships.

Due to scheduling will book our first SS cruise for 2026 (with a modest discount being given when you book onboard as elite).  I have contacted RCL, as a loyal passenger, and as a stockholder, that they should better integrate their rewards programs to include all three lines.

 

Appreciate all of your feedback on X vs SS

[ggo85]

We’ve done X Retreat many times and SS Silver Suite 3x.  Could write a novel.  What specific things do you want to know?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

2 hours ago, bigalgreen said:

We are elite (soon to be plus) on X.  On our last cruise, we booked a future SS cruise, tbd.  The future cruise desk advised that the SS experience was a better fit than the sky suites on X.  We have booked sky suites for later this year from FL to Panama Canal, and next year Sydney to Vancouver (back to back).  Would probably not want to do transoceanic on the smaller SS ships.

Due to scheduling will book our first SS cruise for 2026 (with a modest discount being given when you book onboard as elite).  I have contacted RCL, as a loyal passenger, and as a stockholder, that they should better integrate their rewards programs to include all three lines.

 

Appreciate all of your feedback on X vs SS

I guess you email to Head Office must of woke them up to change it 😉😁

Edited August 17 by Ex-Airbalancer

[canderson]

2 hours ago, bigalgreen said:

Would probably not want to do transoceanic on the smaller SS ships.

Due to scheduling will book our first SS cruise for 2026 (with a modest discount being given when you book onboard as elite).  I have contacted RCL, as a loyal passenger, and as a stockholder, that they should better integrate their rewards programs to include all three lines.

 

Appreciate all of your feedback on X vs SS

Their smaller ships are mainly their 'Expedition' ships.  The exception is the Whisper, which will make a TA run in Fall 2025 since it will spend Summer in the Med and then move to S. America for the Winter.

 

One of the the two classes of SS ships that make regular TA runs (Muse class) are more the size of the old Celebrity Horizon class ships with better stabilization technology than they had back then.  213m long for Muse, 208m long for Horizon.

 

The newer (SS Nova class) ships are a bit larger at 244m, while the Celebrity Century class was 260m.

 

We just finished our first SS TA last Fall, and it was just fine.

 

FWIW, the booking discount as Elite or Elite+ should have been 10% of the cruise price per the recent intermingling of loyalty programs.

 

[MamaFej]

1 hour ago, canderson said:

FWIW, the booking discount as Elite or Elite+ should have been 10% of the cruise price per the recent intermingling of loyalty programs.

 

Correct.

The co-mingling of the loyalty programs went into effect right before our June SS Expedition cruise in the Arctic. We booked a Galapagos Expedition while onboard and got both the 10% loyalty discount and the 5% book onboard discount. 

---

Edited to add that you need to go through the process of linking your loyalty statuses prior to boarding the cruise on the line you're moving up on. We did this and had no problems, though I've read that some folks had issues when they hadn't done it. 

Edited August 17 by MamaFej
additional information

[canderson]

22 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

Edited to add that you need to go through the process of linking your loyalty statuses prior to boarding the cruise on the line you're moving up on. We did this and had no problems, though I've read that some folks had issues when they hadn't done it. 

 

It appears that this still must be done by phone. 

 

 

The Celebrity page still has only the ability to add a C&A number, not Silversea number.

 

 

and Silversea has no online mechanism to link to either of the other two lines:

 

 

 

 

[MamaFej]

2 minutes ago, canderson said:

 

It appears that this still must be done by phone. 

 

 

The Celebrity page still has only the ability to add a C&A number, not Silversea number.

 

 

and Silversea has no online mechanism to link to either of the other two lines:

 

 

 

 

I know we did it without a call. I think it was within the Celebrity app? I'll try to remember to ask the hubby if someone else doesn't jump in here and confirm before he's back (and I remember when he's around).

[canderson]

4 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

I know we did it without a call. I think it was within the Celebrity app? I'll try to remember to ask the hubby if someone else doesn't jump in here and confirm before he's back (and I remember when he's around).

Ah, hadn't looked at the app.  The web page is certainly zero help in this regard.