Has Silversea lost its luster?

[spinnaker2]

This post isn’t for a flame opportunity, but a more serious discussion of the current state of Silversea.

On recent sailings it seems there are more complaints, about most everything.

While we do not have 500 days aboard, we are getting closer to that mark. Using the retrospectroscope to compare, our first experiences were much better than those of late. We have made excuses, Covid, supply chain, etc, etc. 

Is Silversea resting on it’s laurels? Counting on the loyal Venetians? Seeking new cruisers who have no history to make “comparisons” with the promise of all inclusive luxury?

Why do we keep coming back and spending oodles of money?  For us, its the crew.  They are stellar.

We have two cruises coming up in the very near future.

Ever the loyal optimists, we are hopeful that perhaps a bit of polishing has happened, some of the  tarnish removed and the shine restored. 

 

 

 

 

[zqtchas]

we have our two weeker coming up to form a 51 day event. after that another one week to use.

after that we are seriously considering a change. we first sailed with SS 1999. we can certainly tell the difference between then and now. years ago we used to sail on princess and that changed after carnival took it over to "improve" it.

[Observer]

I am afraid that SS is losing its luster for me.  I have hundreds of nights on SS and was not only very loyal to the line but also recommended it to others.  I think that many of the issues have occurred since the RCL purchase. This may be merely a coincidence, and I recognize that the RCL support was critical in helping SS negotiate the Covid crisis.  

 

The cuts of meat offered in the Grill/Hot Rocks have visibly been lessened.  Customer service has deteriorated: my last encounter with Baggage Valet was terrible, and look at the complaints about flight bookings.  There has been a reduction in flexibility for the passenger: one has to pay for excursions even if one does not want them.  There is no opt out.  I understand that the soap that I used to enjoy is now no longer being offered in place of Bulgari.  SS travel consultants can no longer provide shipboard credits like they did for many years. And so forth.

 

These are certainly first world problems, and anyone is lucky to be able to sail on SS.  But I have sadly concluded that it is probably time for me to seek other travel partners.

 

 

[Gourmet Gal]

Not sure if they’ve lost their luster but the excursions left somewhat of a black mark for me on the most recent cruise.  If a great itinerary popped up, I would look to see if another line offered the same before booking with SS.  I’m hoping to eventually try RC and 4S and would be interested in Seabourn as well.

[zqtchas]

although i do have to say that i noticed the slacking off began before RC took over.

but i also have to say that SS has mostly treated us very well which had a lot to do with our TA

actively looking out for us.

[etual324]

We boarded the Moon in LHR check in was a nightmare took us forever there about 150 passengers

sitting with us hardly NO snacks or coffee suplied

 

When we boarded no SS rep to help with hand luggage   or a welcome glass of champange  we to our room vand the hallway looked like an airport luggage claim

 

The HD said how are things going I said you get one chance for a first impression and it is gone

 

 

 

 

 

[jpalbny]

We didn't notice much difference between our November 2021 cruise on Spirit, vs our memories of other pre-COVID cruises. That said, the ship wasn't full so that may have made a difference. We'll have to see what our expedition on Silver Wind is like in June. 

 

Definitely NOT a fan of the included excursions on the classic cruises, for a pumped-up fare. We can usually do twice what they offer for half the price, on our own. And the D2D doesn't hold much appeal for us either. So these changes may affect how many or few future bookings we make, especially if they become permanent.

[beaujolais]

I am afraid that I have to agree with you Spinnaker2

 

We have just recently sailed on the Moon and found our cruise to Norway to a great disappointment

 

We are approaching 900 days and have 4 cruises booked at the moment with Silversea.

 

We are on the Dawn in 2 weeks time and were going to book cruises as far ahead as May 2024 but have decided to look elsewhere

 

We have also sailed quite a large number of days with Regent and at the moment find them far superior in all departments apart from of course. the crew

[MsCrystalina]

I recently had my first Silversea cruise and wrote a summary for the Crystal site- as a newcomer unaware of past:

• •  144
• July 15, 2014
• North Carolina

• #60  

Posted October 14

I just completed a 9-night cruise on Silversea Silver Spirit from Istanbul to Athens with pre- and post-cruise stays independently booked.  It felt like I had 3 wonderful vacations!  I found the veranda suite

to be better than my 17 trips on Crystal.  The separate shower plus a tub was much better than standing in the tub.  The walk-in closet held all my clothing with a 6-drawer chest so my things were in one place and not all over the room!  I am not a light packer and there was spare room .  The room included a comfortable bed with Italian linens, a wall of granite covered console/desk/mini-fridge, and make up area with nice bench and even more shelves.  There was a full-size comfortable sofa and a larger table for dining. Multiposition chairs on the balcony and a butler is standard for all cabins.   I would have had to pay much more than I did for a penthouse suite on the past Crystal. 

The first evening a cocktail gathering was held for solo passengers and was a great success - with  dining companions for the duration established from the large population of solos on board.  On Crystal these rarely occurred and were never on first night or early in the cruise. The Crystal 6pm solo tables in the restaurants were found very insulting to me.     Silversea definitely has the expertise to treat solo travelers special and the 25 percent supplement is reasonable.

The diversity of dining venues was enjoyed- especially the jazz supper-club venue Silver Notes and the French - La Dame. IMHO the $60 charge was worth it.  The main dining room Atlantide had many choices and one could have caviar and fois gras with every meal if so inclined. My one concern was the steaks- one overcooked and one perfect but not as tender as expected.   Breakfast was in Terrazza which had multiple stations and not the long lines of CC.  It was never as crowded or loud as the Lido.

Russ Grieve was the cruise director and he was extraordinary- he can sing, dance and run Trivia. Such a nice, welcoming, happy talent!  He got crowds dancing with the on-board entertainers during a show in the Panorama lounge.  The onboard 6 singers and musical trio were very good. There were no big production shows as on CC but what I did attend were entertaining and I found the singers to be on par with CC.  Best of all the duo in Silver Notes from Capetown- a female singer and male pianist are the best act on the sea. She sung plenty of jazz from all the greats and also some pop. They did 2 sets during my leisurely dinner there. It is a smaller place and that makes it better.

Excursions were included and were of the quality of what I paid for with CC. There was only one that was basically a trip to shop at a tourist trap on Santorini.

The butler was nice and had my requested wines and champagne stocked promptly and restocked . He did help me with necklaces. I did not want any between meal snacks but one of my "group" asked once for champagne and caviar one afternoon and it showed up daily. 

I found all except the front desk people to be very friendly.  The 2 times I asked them anything I got the impression I was bothering them, and they never smiled.   The cleaning and wait staff knew my name and delivered excellent service with a smile. No complaints., 

 

In summary I had a wonderful time with a new cruise line which was a totally different experience than Crystal.   I found the differences to be better- or at least to me.   I do plan to sail with Silversea in the future.    

•  

 

[Gourmet Gal]

1 hour ago, etual324 said:

We boarded the Moon in LHR check in was a nightmare took us forever there about 150 passengers

sitting with us hardly NO snacks or coffee suplied

 

When we boarded no SS rep to help with hand luggage   or a welcome glass of champange  we to our room vand the hallway looked like an airport luggage claim

 

The HD said how are things going I said you get one chance for a first impression and it is gone

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed no welcome champagne, too.  I never accepted it as I don’t like walking about and drinking anything but I did notice it wasn’t offered.

[netpj]

We wonder if other premium lines are faring any better?  We are longtime cruisers on Oceania and having just returned from a 10 day voyage experienced many similar issues to the comments about Silversea which we have also sailed in the past and will be sailing in February.  Just like Silversea being rolled into RC, Oceania is rolled into Norwegian and Cunard into Carnival so it seems like these larger corporations are not premium line friendly.  It would be nice to think that these lines will be able to return to previous standards in the future.  

[WesW]

As with almost everyone, had a near two year Covid timeout from Silversea cruising since March 2020.  In December, we enjoyed a wonderful holiday Antarctica cruise on the Silver Cloud last December and 2022 New years.  Service, expection cruising, and dining, was at the same high standard we've experienced on three other expedition cruises pre covid. 

 

In April, had a good classic cruise on the Dawn's maiden voyage made better by intuitive service by Jovic, butler extraordinaire. However, with increased size in La Terraza and missmangement of the LT staff, after three dinners, had to walk out twice before main course was served due the length of service between courses. Never experienced this in La Terraza before on 15 Silversea cruises, but again this was a Maiden voyage and hiccups were to be expected.  

 

Will be on the Muse in Australia in February, and the Cloud in March, and with JP & Chris, on the Wind in June.  Will share how the service, dining, and entertainment is during these cruises.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

1 hour ago, netpj said:

We wonder if other premium lines are faring any better?

Maybe Silversea knows their competition isn't faring any better which gives them no incentive to improve their shortcomings.  

 

2 hours ago, etual324 said:

When we boarded no SS rep to help with hand luggage   or a welcome glass of champagne  we to our room and the hallway looked like an airport luggage claim

When we boarded the Moon this past March, we were escorted immediately to our suite and a chilled bottle of champagne  was sitting on the table, which our butler promptly opened.  Our luggage was sitting outside our door and we were asked to identify it before they brought it into our suite.  All in all, our boarding went smooth, but we see now that service is inconsistent from one sailing to the other.  What one experiences on their sailing is not necessarily what the other can expect on theirs. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by CruzinFeraBruzin

[AtA]

We had high hopes for SS having come from Crystal but were quite disappointed overall. 

[broker1217]

I think there are several obvious reasons that passengers are noticing declines in service/food on all lines owned by the big 3. 

First--they are collectively in debt to the tune of $73 billion. Probably still working through those passengers using up FCC.  So drowning in debt and not as much $$ coming in. So definitely some economizing on food and cuts of meat.

Staff shortages as they struggle with sudden influx of passengers while simultaneously dealing with logistics of bringing on new crew with varying COVID policies by country. This too should eventually stabilize.

Supply chain issues---I hope those should be easing. 

 

But I think one other issue at play is that people are cranky. Whether it is having to get tested, having to wear a mask, or irritation with others who do silly things like cough on others or avoid testing when they know they are sick.

And sometimes it manifests itself by feeling that everything was better 'before'.  

 

I also think we are dealing with inflationary sticker shock. To get the experience we had before COVID, we may need to pay considerably more considering the increases in food, fuel, labor, etc. 

 

In other words--someone moved our cheese and we are not happy about it.

 

I am looking forward to my first SS cruise. Since I don't have another SS experience to compare to, I am fairly confident I will enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

[mancunian]

We are going on our 4th SS cruise next weekend and found very little to disappoint, in fact superior to SB in our opinion

 

However we are starting to feel the fares are getting more than we want to pay.  We tolerated included drinks though we drink very little - in my case one alcoholic drink a day (medical reasons) and partner a couple of drinks (choice).  As I say to get cruises on SS we accepted this, but now with DtoD which we live too far from airport to enjoy, and particularly included excursions which you cannot opt out of we feel there is too much money being spent on things we cannot enjoy.   We feel we really do not want to go on a coach excursion everyday, and would normally do about three excursions per holiday and make our own arrangements for the rest.   Indeed as I walk  with a rollator (walking aid) many excursions are not even available to us.

 

It may be that we have to travel with Oceania in future where there is more choice.   We like Oceania but will be very sad if we have to drop SS

 

[cruiseej]

I think all the luxury lines are experiencing similar problems, from difficulties in hiring trained and exceptional staff to soaring inflationary prices for everything from fuel to caviar to billions in debt from the Covid shutdown. I follow the Seabourn and SS boards here and on FB, and the comments are very similar: while some say "good as ever" others note declines and snips in many places. We had two great SB cruises last year when guest count was way down; we're looking forward to our next SS cruise in December and hoping we aren't constantly conscious of cutbacks.

 

Both SB and SS started as independent luxury lines which now are part of large cruise conglomerates. Will we need to look to some of the new start-ups to recapture past glory? Is there an affordable way to provide the luxury experience people seek from 20 or 30 years ago? (Just think about how the experience for flying has diminished over the decades!) Will loyalty perks keep longtime customers loyal to their primary cruise line? I think it will take a few more years post-pandemic to get a feel for how things will shake out. 

[SWFLAOK]

We had a very good first experience with SS back in 2018 on Silver Whisper with a cruise from Barbados to Manaus on the Amazon and back. We loved our cabin, we felt the meal at  La Dame was well worth the cost, we had a great butler in our Silver Suite, and a great waiter at The Restaurant that we met again at Compass Rose on Regent Voyager a year later.

We just completed our 6th Regent cruise a few weeks ago on Splendor. While it was still very enjoyable, and we had already booked a cruise in 2024, and just booked one for April 2023 with friends and family, it was not up to previous standards. Our boarding in Southampton was slower than expected, there were supply chain problems with wine and spirits, there were several very incompetent restaurant staff, and destination services planned very poorly, and were sometimes rude. Some of these problems were solved during our 24 nights aboard. However, the supply chain problems and destination services scheduling became worse on the second leg of our cruise which was fully booked as compared to being more than 100 less than capacity on our first leg.

We had already booked the 2025 World Cruise on Silver Dawn, and are still looking forward to it. With all of the cruises that are taking place now on the luxury lines, there will be many more crew members coming on board and being mentored by the long time employees that are still there. Hopefully the supply chain problems will be resolved. We continue to see more of these problems in our local stores and restaurants than we have seen in Europe on our Viking and Regent cruises this year, and the prices were significantly lower there for food and wine as well.

[californiacruiseluvrs]

On board Silver Moon right now and we are sadly disappointed.  The staff is not friendly or engaging.  If they were many of the other shortcomings could be overlooked.  Friendliness does not cost Silversea money and their crew and their ability to engage and make passengers feel welcome is what would result in five star reviews and encourage passengers to return due to the fond memories created.  

[Gourmet Gal]

CA Cruise Lovers, which staff are you referring to?  I felt the staff was the highlight of my recent Moon cruise.  I never encountered anything but courtesy, friendliness and warm hospitality from every single staff member.

[Silver Spectre]

13 minutes ago, Gourmet Gal said:

CA Cruise Lovers, which staff are you referring to?  I felt the staff was the highlight of my recent Moon cruise.  I never encountered anything but courtesy, friendliness and warm hospitality from every single staff member.

With a single exception the staff on here are outstanding. Please give more details and examples.

[QueSeraSera]

1 hour ago, californiacruiseluvrs said:

The staff is not friendly or engaging.

Wow, don't want to believe.  Looking forward to our next SS cruise in a few months, just can't imagine the crew has changed so much from our past experiences

 

[Catlover54]

6 hours ago, broker1217 said:

I think there are several obvious reasons that passengers are noticing declines in service/food on all lines owned by the big 3. 

First--they are collectively in debt to the tune of $73 billion. Probably still working through those passengers using up FCC.  So drowning in debt and not as much $$ coming in. So definitely some economizing on food and cuts of meat.

Staff shortages as they struggle with sudden influx of passengers while simultaneously dealing with logistics of bringing on new crew with varying COVID policies by country. This too should eventually stabilize.

Supply chain issues---I hope those should be easing. 

 

But I think one other issue at play is that people are cranky. Whether it is having to get tested, having to wear a mask, or irritation with others who do silly things like cough on others or avoid testing when they know they are sick.

And sometimes it manifests itself by feeling that everything was better 'before'.  

 

I also think we are dealing with inflationary sticker shock. To get the experience we had before COVID, we may need to pay considerably more considering the increases in food, fuel, labor, etc. 

 

In other words--someone moved our cheese and we are not happy about it.

 

I am looking forward to my first SS cruise. Since I don't have another SS experience to compare to, I am fairly confident I will enjoy it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am also "fairly confident" you will enjoy your first ever SS cruise, based on your post .  That is often the case when pax  move from a premium or mainstream line experience to a "luxury" (as defined by the industry) line.  The mere increase in passenger public space is refreshing, even if nothing else is better!

 

I totally agree with you that debt, staff shortages, and inflation are huge problems (not to mention Covid, which relates to all three of these).

 

However, I disagree that people are "more cranky" , a la worrying  about migratory dairy products. 

If anything, people are *more* keen to travel, keen to cruise, and keen to "be happy happy happy "  after 1-2 years of lifestyle restrictions (and some people just running out of lifespan)  -- to the point that so many make excuses for inadequate products and services which are pedestrian or mediocre but which are still dubbed "luxury."  

There are simply many undeniable clear objective negative changes, some of which are outlined in post #3. These are not just subjective changes, e.g., "I didn't like the taste", or "my butler wasn't nice." We have mean boarding waits previously almost unheard of on luxury cruises, we have objectively quantifiable inferior cuts of meat, we have 20 minute waits or longer for water or wine refills instead of 10 minutes or less, etc. and these are happening more often (not always) .  Many people are seeing very little to replace both the objective and subjective cuts on many cruises.  The problems are about more than cheese moving.

In any event, regarding "moved cheese" analogies,

"Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams said that patronizing parables are one of the top 10 things he receives complaints about by email.^[7] Adams' retort to the message in the parable is that it is a "patronizing message for the proletariat to acquiesce" [and become more rodent-like]."

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Catlover54
Typo

[broker1217]

I agree Cat lover. We have sailed Viking, Crystal and  had one time shots on Princess and Celebrity.

We travel 3-4 months out of the year and primarily land based--cruises are the exception. 

And we are so very happy to travel that we don't care about whatever restrictions we face--testing, masking, etc.

And I agree that it is disappointing to have lower grade food and service--or to not be able to get the spirits or wine that you expect. Super frustrating

 

I completely understand passenger disappointment based on the prices we are paying,

 

If you don't like the 'who moved my cheese'---well, then we disagree!

I am only saying that times have changed.

 

[crusinbanjo]

20 hours ago, etual324 said:

We boarded the Moon in LHR check in was a nightmare took us forever there about 150 passengers

sitting with us hardly NO snacks or coffee suplied

 

When we boarded no SS rep to help with hand luggage   or a welcome glass of champange  we to our room vand the hallway looked like an airport luggage claim

 

The HD said how are things going I said you get one chance for a first impression and it is gone

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, I agree with the sentiment of this post.  Mrs Banjo and I started sailing on SS in 1996 and, my, has the boarding process deteriorated from far exceeding expectations, to just another cruise line.