Our 1st cruise on Silversea Singapore to Hong Kong Jan 5, 2023

[Stumblefoot]

8 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

We’ll be talking to are TA about maybe canceling the Nova.

Probably for the best.  Just are personal opinion, of course.

[spinnaker2]

RR

From your posts, it does sound as if Silversea is not a fit for  you at all. But just curious, what line do you think fits you?

[ak1004]

13 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Thanks for reading, I’m going to try to close this now with a few general comments.

 

First I did enjoy the cruise, the service from most everyone that works the ship did an outstanding job.

I really do think management really needs to take a look if Silversea wants to be called a Luxury Line they need to know what’s happening on every ship they own.  When advertising a product you need to be consistent across the line.  If you promise a luxury experience, that is what it should be.  

The special request for service doesn’t exist,  we filled in a few items never to hear from the ship if they have the item or not.  A simple call or visit to explain the reason would be nice.

The food on the ship was generally good, no great or exceptional.  We don’t eat a lot of meat, but Silversea does not service Prime as they state in the menu.  The Seishin sushi is a joke, they really should not have that experience if they can’t execute the service.  La Terrazza was our favorite, but not got a little tried after awhile.  La Dame was my far the best with a $60.00 surcharge it should be, but it wasn’t exceptional as it should have been.  Sorry but the “Buffet’s” were OK, but nothing to exciting.  Better display of food at lunch would be nice.  Still by best place was the Art’s Cafe over all.

The shows, The singers were good and it was enjoyable.  Think Silversea could spend a little more to give them more to work with.

Tours, unless you pay extra for a tour I wouldn’t go.  That’s just my opinion, I prefer the extra pay or private personally.  Tours are way to long with a lot of unnecessary stops with short look around time.

Spa was good, make your appointments as soon as you can.  Price is high, but one would except that on a ship.

Last some of the perks you are suppose to get in some suites, you don’t get.  Not a real problem but you should be asked if you want that perk or not.

That’s it, like I said before I (personal  opinion) wouldn’t  cruise on Spirit again,  But am looking forward to the Nova in December.

 

It was very interesting to read your comprehensive and balanced review after we returned from the Spirit just 2 weeks before your cruise.

 

I agree with most your observations.. except for La Dame which we considered exceptional and worth the $60 surcharge. Otherwise, the food was between very good and excellent, but no single meal was really exceptional and memorable, and service was very good overall but inconsistent. 

 

That said, I want to believe that it was mostly due to many new and not experienced crew members, and I'm giving SS another chance. We are booked on the Dawn in December, hopefully will have a better experience, otherwise just don't see how SS justifies the extra cost compared to Oceania. 

[RetiredandTravel]

Great trip report Ronrick.  Thank you for taking the time its very valuable to us newer folks.  Our last experience on Regent was poor so our next cruise is on SS.   We've decided not to book on pre Muse SS ships until we have a couple trips under our belt.  Hopefully we have a better experience. 

 

I'm of the opinion that Regent may value the business of people in larger suites and frequent cruisers more.  IMO this may lead to better service and overall experience for the people in larger suites.  I'm not saying the service is poor for everyone else just that its better if you are spending more money.  Hard to argue with the logic.  If I spent $50k on a 2 week cruise and they charged me for the La Dame dinner I'd be pretty steamed.

 

 

[Silver Spectre]

2 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

I'm of the opinion that Regent may value the business of people in larger suites and frequent cruisers more.  IMO this may lead to better service and overall experience for the people in larger suites.  I'm not saying the service is poor for everyone else just that its better if you are spending more money.  Hard to argue with the logic.  If I spent $50k on a 2 week cruise and they charged me for the La Dame dinner I'd be pretty steamed.

 

 

The whole point of SS is that you spend extra money purely for suite space and perhaps position. The ‘perks’ for an Owners Suite such as included dinner in La Dame and premium Wifi are available to others if you wish to pay for them. You shouldn’t get better service just because you paid for more space. Unless I’m mistaken @ronrick1943didn’t say he paid again for La Dame.

[Silver Spectre]

Thanks for taking the time post @ronrick1943, it’s always useful to get different opinions, especially from newbies.

[RetiredandTravel]

8 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

The whole point of SS is that you spend extra money purely for suite space and perhaps position. The ‘perks’ for an Owners Suite such as included dinner in La Dame and premium Wifi are available to others if you wish to pay for them. You shouldn’t get better service just because you paid for more space. Unless I’m mistaken @ronrick1943didn’t say he paid again for La Dame.

 

 

I'm just pointing out that I have the impression that Regents business model is to strongly cater to the larger suites.   Just compare the amenities,  Regent Master Suites can eat in specialty restaurants every night (+++) and I think the employees focus heavily on the larger suite clients.  Maybe SS does the same, you tell me.  I'm not saying one approach is superior.   When I was in business people who paid the most money got the best service.  It wasn't at the expense of other clients just top paying clients got special attention and they generally used more resources (room size). 

 

I had just noticed he said he had to pay for La Dame and IMO La Dame should be "free" every night at that level, any level actually but we won't go down that road.

 

We're more Veranda/PH people so most of this is irrelevant to us. 

 

 

https://www.rssc.com/ships/seven_seas_explorer

 

 

[ak1004]

3 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

I'm just pointing out that I have the impression that Regents business model is to strongly cater to the larger suites.   Just compare the amenities,  Regent Master Suites can eat in specialty restaurants every night (+++) and I think the employees focus heavily on the larger suite clients.  Maybe SS does the same, you tell me.  I'm not saying one approach is superior.   When I was in business people who paid the most money got the best service.  It wasn't at the expense of other clients just top paying clients got special attention and they generally used more resources (room size). 

 

I had just noticed he said he had to pay for La Dame and IMO La Dame should be "free" every night at that level, any level actually but we won't go down that road.

 

We're more Veranda/PH people so most of this is irrelevant to us. 

 

 

https://www.rssc.com/ships/seven_seas_explorer

 

 

 

If this is the case, it would be very sad. On Oceania we always stayed in the entry level veranda and never felt being discriminated in any way.

 

And I agree regarding La Dame. Why would an all inclusive line charge for 2 out of 8 restaurants and for premium internet? Maybe they should stop the advertising?

 

[RetiredandTravel]

If you read my post I'm not saying entry level get discriminated against or poor service..  Quite the contrary I'm just saying the top suites (paying clients)  get special attention.  We don't want to get the faithful going on the extra charge for two restaurants, touchy subject.

 

12 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 When I was in business people who paid the most money got the best service.  It wasn't at the expense of other clients just top paying clients got special attention and they generally used more resources (room size). 

 

 

[ronrick1943]

7 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

RR

From your posts, it does sound as if Silversea is not a fit for  you at all. But just curious, what line do you think fits you?

We’ll probably go back to Regent or maybe try the Ritz Carlton line.  We just wanted to try another line and Silversea listed as a Luxury line—it just ed isn’t a fit for us.  

[ronrick1943]

3 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

If you read my post I'm not saying entry level get discriminated against or poor service..  Quite the contrary I'm just saying the top suites (paying clients)  get special attention.  We don't want to get the faithful going on the extra charge for two restaurants, touchy subject.

 

 

Like I said the suite is great, the people that work are great….it’s just the food isn’t what it should be, so unfortunately it doesn’t work.  An example last nigth we tried to order room service, it’s a very limited menu—we couldn’t order from any restaurant on the ship. Two other lines will let certain suite order from any restaurant.  It’s the little things that make it “luxury “ or not.

[ronrick1943]

3 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

If this is the case, it would be very sad. On Oceania we always stayed in the entry level veranda and never felt being discriminated in any way.

 

And I agree regarding La Dame. Why would an all inclusive line charge for 2 out of 8 restaurants and for premium internet? Maybe they should stop the advertising?

 

You shouldn’t, but larger suites on “O” do get additional amenities with being in any buddy’s face, they know how and what to do.

[ronrick1943]

4 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Thanks for taking the time post @ronrick1943, it’s always useful to get different opinions, especially from newbies.

Thanks, Remember this is just are opinion for us.  IUt just isn’t a fit right now.

[ronrick1943]

7 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Probably for the best.  Just are personal opinion, of course.

Of course—opinions are important when one is spending good money on a cruise—just because Silversea isn’t a fit for us-that shouldn’t effect you…..😇

I guess we’re just like getting what we pay for—pretty simple I think.

[ronrick1943]

5 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

The whole point of SS is that you spend extra money purely for suite space and perhaps position. The ‘perks’ for an Owners Suite such as included dinner in La Dame and premium Wifi are available to others if you wish to pay for them. You shouldn’t get better service just because you paid for more space. Unless I’m mistaken @ronrick1943didn’t say he paid again for La Dame.

I never said I should get better service, I said we really didn’t care for the food on the ship and how it is serviced and display.  Luxury means different things to different people, for us Silversea isn’t for us.  I don’t see if I paid for La Dame or not is anybody business.  It just wasn’t a great experience.

[ronrick1943]

10 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Great trip report Ronrick.  Thank you for taking the time its very valuable to us newer folks.  Our last experience on Regent was poor so our next cruise is on SS.   We've decided not to book on pre Muse SS ships until we have a couple trips under our belt.  Hopefully we have a better experience. 

 

I'm of the opinion that Regent may value the business of people in larger suites and frequent cruisers more.  IMO this may lead to better service and overall experience for the people in larger suites.  I'm not saying the service is poor for everyone else just that its better if you are spending more money.  Hard to argue with the logic.  If I spent $50k on a 2 week cruise and they charged me for the La Dame dinner I'd be pretty steamed.

 

 

Like you say, having a named suite does give extra perks like the La Dame dining one time, full laundry service along with other perks.

[Silver Spectre]

4 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

I never said I should get better service

Correct, it was a response to a different poster!

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, Silver Spectre said:

Correct, it was a response to a different poster!

Sorry, understand.

[cruiseej]

On 1/16/2023 at 3:43 PM, ak1004 said:

And I agree regarding La Dame. Why would an all inclusive line charge for 2 out of 8 restaurants and for premium internet?

 

@ak1004 For La Dame, I don't think the issue is generating a lot of extra revenue; it's that there isn't enough capacity for every passenger to dine in La Dame on every cruise. So they use the extra cost as a means of reducing demand somewhat; some passengers decide they don't want to spend more, or are just as happy in one of the other restaurants. If La Dame was free, but a fair number of people were not able to eat their on their cruise, there would be many more complaints.

 

Regarding premium internet, I think this is now pretty standard across much of the hospitality industry. It's certainly not unique to Silversea among cruise lines. Seabourn and Regent, to name two competitors in the luxury cruise market, offer free unlimited Internet, but also offer upgraded Internet for a fee, giving you access with more than one device at a time and/or faster service. and it's similar at many hotel chains, which offer free basic internet and faster premium internet for a fee.

[drron29]

8 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

@ak1004 For La Dame, I don't think the issue is generating a lot of extra revenue; it's that there isn't enough capacity for every passenger to dine in La Dame on every cruise. So they use the extra cost as a means of reducing demand somewhat; some passengers decide they don't want to spend more, or are just as happy in one of the other restaurants. If La Dame was free, but a fair number of people were not able to eat their on their cruise, there would be many more complaints.

 

Regarding premium internet, I think this is now pretty standard across much of the hospitality industry. It's certainly not unique to Silversea among cruise lines. Seabourn and Regent, to name two competitors in the luxury cruise market, offer free unlimited Internet, but also offer upgraded Internet for a fee, giving you access with more than one device at a time and/or faster service. and it's similar at many hotel chains, which offer free basic internet and faster premium internet for a fee.

Though some of the hotel chains do have complimentary higher speed wifi for their top elites.

Maybe SS should think of adding it to Venetian society benefits.

[Stumblefoot]

9 hours ago, drron29 said:

Maybe SS should think of adding it to Venetian society benefits.

Hopefully not. I’ve found that the more sailing days one has the less they disconnect their devices from the internet. 😁

[les37b]

11 hours ago, drron29 said:

Though some of the hotel chains do have complimentary higher speed wifi for their top elites.

Maybe SS should think of adding it to Venetian society benefits.

Free laundry and free upgraded internet on reaching 100 days sounds like a wonderful idea! 🤣

[cruiseej]

19 hours ago, drron29 said:

Though some of the hotel chains do have complimentary higher speed wifi for their top elites.

Maybe SS should think of adding it to Venetian society benefits.

SS already provides the upgrade to Premium Internet to people in the top suites (Silver Suite and above).

[drron29]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

SS already provides the upgrade to Premium Internet to people in the top suites (Silver Suite and above).

But who has given them more profit someone with 1 cruise in a larger suite or someone with 400 days in a verandah suite.

We have spent the majority of our days in Silver suites though from now on it will be Verandah suites.

[ronrick1943]

3 hours ago, cruiseej said:

SS already provides the upgrade to Premium Internet to people in the top suites (Silver Suite and above).

Really, noi they don’t.  They may call it Premium, but it’s more like the old dial up.