Silver Moon Sept. 22 Southampton to Lisbon

[Gourmet Gal]

My brief review:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=691593

[Catlover54]

Thank you for taking the time for your balanced review, Gourmet Gal!

 

[Stumblefoot]

7 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

Thank you for taking the time for your balanced review, Gourmet Gal!

 

After reading it, I was floored by the final score: 4 out of 5.  From the writing, I just assumed 2 out of 5 at best.

[Catlover54]

2 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

After reading it, I was floored by the final score: 4 out of 5.  From the writing, I just assumed 2 out of 5 at best.

 

The final score was actually 3 out of 5 -- there were many positives, so it was not 2.  But there were also negatives (both objective and subjective). 

 

There are some pax who will rate every cruise 5/5 (either formally or informally) and/or are hesitant to say anything negative about their favorite line for fear it will either hurt the line, make them look like fools for going along with paying a lot of money for what some may consider an "emperor has no clothes" situation, or bite the hand that feeds them if they are in the travel business and derive income from that business (directly or indirectly).  Others just report it like it was to them, and reading pax can form their own opinions. 

 

I have also rated most luxury cruises 5/5 or 4/5 even though I will list a whole bunch of deficiencies that could be improved, along with the positives (and always relative to other similarly priced luxury lines).  

My review of the Moon in January was also 4/5, though full of criticisms, as was my blog.

It's a different style.

 

 

[turtlemichael]

9 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

After reading it, I was floored by the final score: 4 out of 5.  From the writing, I just assumed 2 out of 5 at best.

I think the reviewer actually gave it 3 stars.

[ronrick1943]

Nice review, thanks for your opinion- we will be boarding are first Silversea cruise in 2 months-cruised a lot of Regent and was hoping Silversea would be better.

[Stumblefoot]

55 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

The final score was actually 3 out of 5

 

55 minutes ago, turtlemichael said:

I think the reviewer actually gave it 3 stars.

You are both right.  The score at the top threw me off.  Thanks for the help!

[Gourmet Gal]

I debated on 3 or 4 stars.  There are many positives to this beautiful ship, service onboard being highly important.  But now that SS is bundling the excursions into the product, those excursions became more of a factor than those booked as add-ons.  The score would have been 4/5 had the excursions been on par with the on-board experience. 

[Gourmet Gal]

12 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

The final score was actually 3 out of 5 -- there were many positives, so it was not 2.  But there were also negatives (both objective and subjective). 

 

There are some pax who will rate every cruise 5/5 (either formally or informally) and/or are hesitant to say anything negative about their favorite line for fear it will either hurt the line, make them look like fools for going along with paying a lot of money for what some may consider an "emperor has no clothes" situation, or bite the hand that feeds them if they are in the travel business and derive income from that business (directly or indirectly).  Others just report it like it was to them, and reading pax can form their own opinions. 

 

I have also rated most luxury cruises 5/5 or 4/5 even though I will list a whole bunch of deficiencies that could be improved, along with the positives (and always relative to other similarly priced luxury lines).  

My review of the Moon in January was also 4/5, though full of criticisms, as was my blog.

It's a different style.

 

 

Just read your very thorough review…do you take notes along the way?!  Impressive detail.  Agree with you on the croissants!  When traveling to Europe I love a nice croissant with marmalade but those onboard were just not great.

 

I neglected to mention that our cruise was nearly full which may have impacted service in some venues, mostly Atlantide, the crowding in the gym, full busses and Covid transmission.  There was a surge of cases towards the end of the cruise, though numbers were still low.  We appreciated the captain keeping us apprised of the daily numbers.

[Silver Spectre]

Thanks for your review @Gourmet Gal

[Catlover54]

2 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Just read your very thorough review…do you take notes along the way?!  Impressive detail.  Agree with you on the croissants!  When traveling to Europe I love a nice croissant with marmalade but those onboard were just not great.

 

I neglected to mention that our cruise was nearly full which may have impacted service in some venues, mostly Atlantide, the crowding in the gym, full busses and Covid transmission.  There was a surge of cases towards the end of the cruise, though numbers were still low.  We appreciated the captain keeping us apprised of the daily numbers.

 

Yes, having a full ship can certainly impact service as well as Covid risk (as it did on my very recent Quest cruise in Canada, which is where I likely got my Covid, and which only got a 3/5 rating from me (though I loved the beauty of the area). This was primarily due to service issues, and communication problems -- e.g., the previously wonderful SB croissants I referenced for comparison in my Moon review were now also gone, among other changes. 😞

 

Yes, I do take a few ipad notes as I go along on a cruise to help me remember the day, and to identify the location of what and where my DH is taking his pictures (especially if I plan to post them on a blog , though I don't always blog or write reviews , as I am sometimes too lazy, and/or know that too many people will be unhappy to hear *anything* less than wonderful about their favorite cruise line).

 

I do hope to cruise the Moon again, on the right itinerary, and to try the Dawn and the Nova.  Even within the same line, ship and cruise experiences can vary.

 

I wish you wonderful future cruises, and hope you continue to comment and write more reviews!  To me, the more the better.

[ClefsDor]

It's interesting that when people talk of the older SS ships and the newer ones and go on to say that they will only cruise on the newer ships Dawn and Moon that Muse is not listed  as one they would choose. Any reason for this? Obviously Muse is slightly older than Moon and Dawn but not by much and they are the same class of ship. 

[A Tucson Guy]

As I recall, the Muse does not have the SALT restaurant and bar, which I really enjoyed. For that reason, I stick with Moon, Dawn, Nova and the upcoming Ray. 

[Catlover54]

27 minutes ago, ClefsDor said:

It's interesting that when people talk of the older SS ships and the newer ones and go on to say that they will only cruise on the newer ships Dawn and Moon that Muse is not listed  as one they would choose. Any reason for this? Obviously Muse is slightly older than Moon and Dawn but not by much and they are the same class of ship. 

 

The SALT option (which Muse lacks) drew me back to SS (after several less than satisfactory pre-Covid cruises on older ships), and I was not disappointed (I know some either did not like it, or did not want to try it, given the odd menus).

  I also was partly drawn to the little warm thermal pool looking out at the sea on the back of Moon, but at least on my trip last January, it was closed off more than open, there are plans to eliminate it on the next dry dock, and it isn't there on the Dawn.  I like the idea of a thermal pool, which so far only mainstream  lines have (I'm not a lap swimmer, and have some medical issues that make the water in the main pool, though heated,  still too cold for me).