Silver Whisper - April 5-9

[Sparticus]

I tried to post this several times just after midnight, but the CC server kept throwing a PHP Stack Overflow Error..

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MrsS and I just got home from the April 5-9 Whisper sailing. (Nothing takes the relaxation out of you better than arriving at the airport at 10 AM and back home at midnight.)

 

I'll post a proper review later as I am beat right now, but I wanted to let you know that we didn't have any major issues with our suite (Silver Suite #729 - I posted the # incorrectly earlier, sorry.)

 

We filled out the online form and a bottle of Maker's Mark Bourbon and Grey Goose Vodka were waiting for us as requested. Our stewardess Iluta dropped by shortly after embarkation to introduce herself and tell us what to expect, how to reach her, etc. Fortunately, we didn't run into any of the suite-related issues that BB did.

 

Whilst perusing the board, I did come across a fair amount of misinformation. Allow me to correct.

• This wasn't a "training cruise." These were the "regulars". We did meet a few new people, but the majority had years of service with the line. Some had a decade or more. One of the newest staff members was a bartender from Glasgow. We wouldn't have know that he was new if he hadn't told us.
  
  
• There were a suprisingly large number of Silversea repeat guests on the voyage. (Based on posts on this forum, I was expecting the vessal to have a small number of repeat cruisers.) Other than the duration of the voyage, we were told that this was the same Silversea product that they've come to enjoy and that keeps them coming back. Everyone agreed that four days is awfully short and that you'd need a longer voyage with some sea days to fully experience SS. I can't really argue with that logic, since we just came off a 10-day cruise in mid-March ourselves and we know that sea days can be the most relaxing.
  
  
• This wasn't a corporate charter. (The two cruises that were "missing" from the calendar, however, were. If I recall correctly, those two sailings bracketed the April 4 -9 voyage.
  
  
• The staff doesn't dislike the corporate charters. They get paid either way. On top of that, if a client books the entire ship for 4 days, that's the equivalent of one passenger booking 768 days. In conversation with the staff, SS works just as hard - if not harder - to keep the corporate customer happy.
  
  
• Unless a typical SS voyage had 100% of passengers attired in bespoke formalwear, then the passengers on our sailing were pretty representative of the typical SS cruise. Was there 100% compliance with the formal dress code? No, but I'd peg it in the high 90s. (Our table was 100% in compliance - with bespoke formalwear BTW - and we didn't feel overdressed.
  
  
• There was at least one "company group" on the voyage. They were well-dressed and well-behaved. There were also a couple of larger groups traveling together. As near as I can tell, all of the groups were well-dressed and pretty well-behaved.
  
  
• While we didn't meet every single person on the cruise, the people we did meet were pleasant and well-traveled. There was a pretty wide range of ages represented. Since this sailing was both of short duration and coincided with some Spring/Easter breaks, that was to be expected.
  
  
• We came up with a "drunk count" that was quite a bit higher than DebbieH's two. All were pleasant, happy drunks - which is nice. Based on our conversations with the inebriated, we'd have to estimated that is was a pretty even mix of Venetian Society members and SS first-timers.
  
  

 

I'll post a longer, more detailed review later.

[blackbird71]

Looking forward to your review but it sounds like you and DebbieH had the standard SS product and myself and two other posters on the 3/28 had the substandard product. I do not know why the difference in Venetian Society members on your cruise over mine, but maybe the dancer was off on her numbers.

 

The staff doesn't dislike the corporate charters

 

One other poster from your cruise was talking to the ship officers and they were upset about the charter between mine and your cruise and the problems with drunks on the Pfiser (sp) cruise.

[Sparticus]

One other poster from your cruise was talking to the ship officers and they were upset about the charter between mine and your cruise and the problems with drunks on the Pfiser (sp) cruise.

 

That could very well be. We only talked about the Pfizer cruise with a handful of bar staff members.

[mdmourges]

Iluta was our room attendant too (3/8 - 3/18). She was quite nice and very service oriented. She never missed a beat.

 

Mark