Has Silversea Really Changed That Much?

[vistaman]

I was on the Dawn last month.  The cruise experience was of such a kind I decided to cancel my next cruise and not going back to SS.

SS is not buying local at all ,  despite SALT.  I was on the food markets in Sète , St Tropez and Monaco ( both open air markets ) and the giant market in Livorno with an overwhelming choice of fresh fish .  I never saw    somebody from the ship , nor deliveries by a local . 

So no speciality French or Italian cheeses  or fresh fish. If something is missing - ashame they are waiting until the next container ...  RCI policies ! 

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

3 hours ago, vistaman said:

I was on the Dawn last month.  The cruise experience was of such a kind I decided to cancel my next cruise and not going back to SS.

SS is not buying local at all ,  despite SALT.  I was on the food markets in Sète , St Tropez and Monaco ( both open air markets ) and the giant market in Livorno with an overwhelming choice of fresh fish .  I never saw    somebody from the ship , nor deliveries by a local . 

So no speciality French or Italian cheeses  or fresh fish. If something is missing - ashame they are waiting until the next container ...  RCI policies ! 

 

 

It seems to me that customers should move on from being bewildered and simply accept that the obvious must be confronted.

 

Firstly these shortage issues should very obviously not occur in the first place.  It really isn’t rocket science. Stores do not suddenly instantly and unexpectedly disappear.  You get warnings that stock is low and you make plans to replenish them.  This is a mechanical and automated and normally computerised process. 

 

Secondly, in the exceptional and unusual situation that shortages suddenly happen then there should and would be contingency plans to ensure that sudden or unexpected shortages are replenished as rapidly as possible either by delivery or collection at the next port.

 

The fact that (a)  shortages seem to regularly occur and (b) that nothing appears to be done to rapidly to mitigate the issues and it’s adverse effects on customers and (c) management would be fully aware that this simply indicate one of two things only  It has to be either that “they” don’t care or that they do care but there is a widespread supplier account problem with respect to further credit  AND there is no authority for cash  to be released for the Chef and/or HD who  are well aware of the growing shortages  to  get off the ships and replenish at the next port.

 

I cannot think of an alternative explanation. Very sad. 

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13 by UKCruiseJeff

[vistaman]

19 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

It seems to me that customers should move on from being bewildered and simply accept that the obvious must be confronted.

 

Firstly these shortage issues should very obviously not occur in the first place.  It really isn’t rocket science. Stores do not suddenly instantly and unexpectedly disappear.  You get warnings that stock is low and you make plans to replenish them.  This is a mechanical and automated and normally computerised process. 

 

Secondly, in the exceptional and unusual situation that shortages suddenly happen then there should and would be contingency plans to ensure that sudden or unexpected shortages are replenished as rapidly as possible either by delivery or collection at the next port.

 

The fact that (a)  shortages seem to regularly occur and (b) that nothing appears to be done to rapidly to mitigate the issues and it’s adverse effects on customers and (c) management would be fully aware that this simply indicate one of two things only  It has to be either that “they” don’t care or that they do care but there is a widespread supplier account problem with respect to further credit  AND there is no authority for cash  to be released for the Chef and/or HD who  are well aware of the growing shortages  to  get off the ships and replenish at the next port.

 

Very sad. 

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one of the 3 "better " sommeliers   on board  told me that when starting the cruise the stock of some better wines was very low 

they had 3 bottles of Tignanello  left   -  a family from a particular Asian country did order all of those the first night at La Terrazza ... 

imho  at an attractive price and sailing in the Medit  , demand for that wine can be "serious" 

it is a very decent good wine and not too expensive !

[UKCruiseJeff]

4 minutes ago, vistaman said:

one of the 3 "better " sommeliers   on board  told me that when starting the cruise the stock of some better wines was very low 

they had 3 bottles of Tignanello  left   -  a family from a particular Asian country did order all of those the first night at La Terrazza ... 

imho  at an attractive price and sailing in the Medit  , demand for that wine can be "serious" 

it is a very decent good wine and not too expensive !

 

When a relatively important issue that is pretty inexpensive to resolve is left unresolved it either indicates a lack of love or a lack of money.  

 

Or both. 

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13 by UKCruiseJeff

[Fletcher]

40 minutes ago, vistaman said:

one of the 3 "better " sommeliers   on board  told me that when starting the cruise the stock of some better wines was very low 

they had 3 bottles of Tignanello  left   -  a family from a particular Asian country did order all of those the first night at La Terrazza ... 

imho  at an attractive price and sailing in the Medit  , demand for that wine can be "serious" 

it is a very decent good wine and not too expensive !

They had three bottles of that Tignanello on the Wind.  I burned up $135 of onboard credit on one bottle and another couple bought a second bottle on my recommendation.  So only one bottle left now.  We had a steak and chips with ours.  A nice little slurper.  

Edited May 13 by Fletcher

[Dolcevita Diva]

One change that I’ve certainly noticed is they no longer invest the time and effort into proofreading! 
 

From this morning’s promotional email about the Silver Ray. 🤔😁

Edited May 16 by Dolcevita Diva

[gnome12]

Just now, Dolcevita Diva said:

One change that I’ve certainly noticed is they no longer invest the tube and effort into proofreading! 

[Dolcevita Diva]

1 minute ago, gnome12 said:

Love this self-directed instant karma!  😁😅

[Host Jazzbeau]

Austrailia – spelled phonetically (in Austrailian accent!)

[jpalbny]

🤬🤬🤬

 

Australia, Austrailia...

 

That was the only word I got wrong on my weekly spelling tests for the whole of fourth grade! It really sounds like it needs an extra "i" there. I was so annoyed to get that word wrong that I've remembered it to this day.

 

Now that I've grown up and learned more, I know that the root word is Austral, so of course it must be Australia. 

[UKCruiseJeff]

As a Brit, Oz only made complete sense when I wandered through Botanic and saw the Fruit Bats hanging upside.

 

In the view I held then,  everything should have been upside down. 🙂

 

Jeff

 

 

 

Edited May 16 by UKCruiseJeff

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

As a Brit, Oz only made complete sense when I wandered through Botanic and saw the Fruit Bats hanging upside.

 

In the view I held then,  everything should have been upside down. 🙂

 

Jeff

Just as getting onboard takes a while to develop sea legs, and getting off again to reclaim the land legs – I was worried for a while in NZ/Oz that I would fall off the Earth...  🤣

[drron29]

8 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Austrailia – spelled phonetically (in Austrailian accent!)

No. Oztraylya. Type that into google and it comes up do you mean Australia.

[DavyWavey70]

It does sound to me the way that you would pronounce it if you were a guest of Wentworth (under Mrs Davidson's watch, (my 2nd favourite teenage pastime) not this modern version. 

[turtlemichael]

Everyone knows there is no "l" in the pronunciation. But the is a double yy,  Ostrayya. Best said without moving your lips. This also protects you from moisture seeking bush flies.

Edited May 17 by turtlemichael

[Tothesunset]

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 I was worried for a while in NZ/Oz that I would fall off the Earth...  🤣

There's time yet... 

[Aussieflyer]

1 hour ago, turtlemichael said:

Everyone knows there is no "l" in the pronunciation. But the is a double yy,  Ostrayya. Best said without moving your lips. This also protects you from moisture seeking bush flies.

No no. If you are posh it is "Or-strarhl-ia" 🤣

[lincslady]

Lots of bons mots this morning, Tts. I wonder if you are in a lounge at Gatwick waiting to fly out and getting bored?

[Tothesunset]

27 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Lots of bons mots this morning, Tts. I wonder if you are in a lounge at Gatwick waiting to fly out and getting bored?

Got it in one. It's a lounge that I get free with my bank account. So it's pretty grim but saves having to pay silly prices in the terminal for bad coffee and worse food. And you know me and spending unnecessary cash... 

[lincslady]

And  you will both soon be in your hotel, which I have just looked up.  Looks lovely, a bit like the Lisbon version of the Grande Bretagne in Athens which I love.

Not very envious.

 

Lola

 

 

 

[lincslady]

P.S. Sorry, this should be on the Live from Silver Wind thread.

[DrSHF]

HELP. We have a reservation for the entire WC on the Dawn and need to pay the deposit by tomorrow (our TA thinks SS won’t extend it, as Seabourn would.) The reports and reviews about the current state of SS have been alarming. Bad food, poor provisions, understaffed service, waits in the dining room for meals not at 7:00pm, etc. The itinerary for the WC is very tempting—lots of overnights and late departures. We really can’t decide if we should commit such a large amount of money and time to a product that seems to be getting worse, or should just bite the bullet, and pay attention to the (very few) positives which have been posted. I know no one can make the decision for us, but…

[Gourmet Gal]

16 minutes ago, DrSHF said:

HELP. We have a reservation for the entire WC on the Dawn and need to pay the deposit by tomorrow (our TA thinks SS won’t extend it, as Seabourn would.) The reports and reviews about the current state of SS have been alarming. Bad food, poor provisions, understaffed service, waits in the dining room for meals not at 7:00pm, etc. The itinerary for the WC is very tempting—lots of overnights and late departures. We really can’t decide if we should commit such a large amount of money and time to a product that seems to be getting worse, or should just bite the bullet, and pay attention to the (very few) positives which have been posted. I know no one can make the decision for us, but…

Unfortunately SS is getting very mixed reviews right now and is not transitioning well after Covid and becoming part of RCI.  Some might say its glory days are over but then Regent and SB are also not measuring up to their luxury reputations.  So perhaps in comparison SS at least still compares favorably in the luxury category but the category has come down a notch.

 

I cruise very occasionally as I do mostly land or air-based travel but I do enjoy cruising.  I try to choose ideal itineraries for my DH and me.  My last SS cruise in May was a great itinerary that included Monaco Grand Prix but in the end it was the first time ever I was glad to finally get off the ship.  And it was only 13 days.  I promptly cancelled another upcoming Japan SS cruise also with a great itinerary.  You can read my SS Spirit review if you want details.  I think you really need to love the itinerary with any cruise line to commit to a WC because it’s possible the sea days will outnumber the port days.  

[Observer]

1 hour ago, DrSHF said:

HELP. We have a reservation for the entire WC on the Dawn and need to pay the deposit by tomorrow (our TA thinks SS won’t extend it, as Seabourn would.) The reports and reviews about the current state of SS have been alarming. Bad food, poor provisions, understaffed service, waits in the dining room for meals not at 7:00pm, etc. The itinerary for the WC is very tempting—lots of overnights and late departures. We really can’t decide if we should commit such a large amount of money and time to a product that seems to be getting worse, or should just bite the bullet, and pay attention to the (very few) positives which have been posted. I know no one can make the decision for us, but…

 

Given the amount of time and money involved, I would not chance a cruise as long and costly as this.  I am opting for land – based vacations at the moment. I will wait and see how things shake out at SS with their staffing, provisioning, etc. Recent experience tells me that today's SS is pale shadow of the cruise line I traveled as recently as several years ago.

[JimDee363636]

@DrSHF

I think you should cancel, and here's why. If you pay the deposit, you'll be torturing yourself every day between now and the final payment date. You'll read every review about Silversea and (if you're like most people) you'll focus more on the negative than the positive. You'll wind up cancelling anyway at some point and losing some or all of your deposit---and for a world cruise even "some" can be a lot of money.

 

Why don't you book a Silversea cruise in the 14-28 night range and see for yourself. If you love the experience, great---book a world cruise; it or a similar one will probably still be available. If you're disappointed, at least you'll be glad it wasn't longer.

 

But full disclosure: I'm someone who hates buyer's remorse more than NON-buyer's remorse. Not everyone feels that way.

 

Good luck, and let us know how this turns out.

 

Jim