Disappointed with SS...is it me?

[skitravel]

Just returned from the Silver Wind 8/13 - 8/22 Copenhagen to London cruise. This was our 8th SS cruise, the first one in 1995. While 99% of the crew were very gracious, the service in the restaurants was way too slow. We left the dining room two nights at 10:30 before dessert was served....we had arrived at 7:30. Dirty dishes were left at the table for 20 minutes before they were cleared for the next course. The staff were all working very hard, leading me to believe they were short-staffed, or have cut back. We went to Saletta one evening and enjoyed the experience, but once was fine. We had met Sergio, the maitre'd at Saletta on previous cruises. We expressed our disappointment with the service in the other restaurants and it seems he has heard complaints before.....he said he would speak to Jorge, the maitre'd in the main restaurant....but nothing changed....we felt this was a problem at a corporate level, not the fault of anyone on board. When asked by the head-waiters how our dinner was, we quietly told them we were unhappy.....they seemed to be used to this complaint. Our last five cruises have been on the Whisper or Shadow with Antonio as the maitre'd and we were very pleased with the service....what's going on?

 

It also seems that previous attention to detail is gone.....the Tour channel on the TV constanty advertised excursions for ports we had visited days ago. The entertainment was not as good as previous cruises.....we missed Michael, the cruise director we had the good forture to have on many cruises. The officiers seemed very aloof and pushed ahead of the passengers at the galley brunch. The last "Chronicle" had mis-information regarding our cruise and the distances we traveled from port to port.

 

I also noticed most of the passengers were first-time SS'ers.....my travel agent said a lot of past SS guests are now cruising with Regent.

 

On a positive note....most of the food was very good (my husband says I go out to eat to be a food critic, not to dine) and the wines were very nice and it was easy to select another wine if the featured wines of the evening were not to your taste. Service in the bars was very good and as usual, the room stewardesses are outstanding.

 

I hate people that complain all the time......but as you know these cruises don't come cheap and a lot of hard work has paid for these wonderful vacations.....

 

Any insights, comments? I WILL write a letter to SS corporate.

[mistrtj]

almost 180 degrees different than my first SS cruise in june,,,, but then again that was on the Whisper and our Officers were cordial gentlemen throughout, we had Michael G as OUR CD, Antonio really IS a true pro and Hermann the Hotel Director could not have been nicer or more professional.

[skitravel]

I'm happy to hear all is well on the Whisper.....does this mean one has to choose a cruise based on the "key players". Antonio had been on the Shadow for quite a while, we heard the transfer to the Whisper was to get the dining room in shape.

[DebbieH103]

Sorry to hear this about Wind. We are going on board on March 19 and are really looking forward to it. Our first SS cruise was on Whisper in April. We loved it but had a few glitches. I've been reading so many praises of Wind the last year. I'm already disappointed that they don't have the golf program on the smaller ships.

 

We found mixed service on Whisper. We found when we just asked for a table for two, it was a mixed bag. Sometimes we were by large groups, and other times we were in quiet areas. If we asked for a quiet area or got one by accident, we got FAR better service. Otherwise we sat. Our service was abominable at the pool BBQ. Really, really horrid.

 

We also found great service at the bars, pool, hot tub, etc. In-room service was pretty good, but it was difficult to make them understand we wanted a bottle of wine daily even though I put this on the preferences. I don't drink hard liquor, and we spend a lot of time in the room, especially if it is nice. They also were really snotty about getting wine the last night and would only bring 2 glasses, not a bottle. When the guy brought them, he pretty much acted like we should be packing and going to bed.

 

The grass doesn't sound that greener to me on the Regent reviews I've read but maybe when they go all-inclusive next year and get the better linens in all cabins next year.

[skitravel]

I'm still in post-vacation fog.....I'm sorry, we were on the Silver Cloud.....so hopefully your upcoming cruise on the Wind will be better.

 

They didn't have the pool BBQ on this cruise since it was too cold...but we vowed never to go again after the last one we attended.....passengers were fighting for the lamb chops.....I'm not big on buffets to start with....

 

In the "old days" of SS they used to pay attention to your preferences on the pre-boarding documentation....now it doesn't seem to mean anything.

 

We had good experiences with room service for breakfast...prompt and hot. I ordered a bottle of champagne one day at 11:30 AM (it's vacation after all) and it took 45 minutes to arrive (warm) and the room service waiter was complaining "Everyone wants room service".

 

Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy.

[naperleigh]

Skitravel - Your observations regarding service slippage at SS have been discussed on other threads on this board and you have perspective given your prior 7 SS experiences. I wonder over the past 11 year period, what business has not changed nor sevice levels been compromised? We have been on Regent and Seadream over the past year and will be on the Cloud out of Stockholm starting 9/13. This will be our first SS experience (I am one of the "First Timers" your TA referred to what ever that means). I will have other cruise experiences to use for my comparison. For the amount charged per deim for top of the line cruises, and the limited amount of free time we working stiffs have I feel bad when expectations are not met. I do have one question.... would you go on SS again?

[BearJT]

I'll repost some of the complaints my wife and I had from last year's Cloud cruise.

 

1. Service in the main dining room was sloppy and slow. Most of the staff were not or ill trained. If you cater to mainly American passengers, your staff should have a working knowledge of English.

 

2. Deck service was prompt but they never caught onto the concept of clearing dirty cups and glasses.

 

3. The hotel staff was excellent. Rooms were always made and never on their schedule.

 

4. The senior Crew was aloof to all but long time passengers. No one bothered to learn your name.

 

5. Last year the beverage selection was a piece of paper you sent them. Now it's call your TA. This is also indicitive of SS's reluctance to deal with the public. Every other cruise line has an email address for all the senior people. Not SS.

 

6. When we boarded in London someone ripped off the handle on one suitcase (a TUMI). When I went to ask them, I wanted to know if someone found the handle, I was told I needed to fill out a form and since it was not a big deal I was told that nothing would be done about it. I thought the attitude might have been the lack of language skills by the woman at the desk (could v. would). Unfortunately her English was correct.

 

Yet we're on the Shadow on the 2nd. Hopefully it's better.

[Host Dan]

6. When we boarded in London someone ripped off the handle on one suitcase (a TUMI). When I went to ask them, I wanted to know if someone found the handle, I was told I needed to fill out a form and since it was not a big deal I was told that nothing would be done about it. I thought the attitude might have been the lack of language skills by the woman at the desk (could v. would). Unfortunately her English was correct.

 

 

Luckily it is a Tumi. They will replace the handle free of charge.

 

Host Dan

[skitravel]

To naperleigh:

 

The cabin stewardesses are as good as ever and the Silver Cloud was in tip-top shape....the rooms had been re-decorated at some point since the last time we were on it. The Whisper and Shadow have become shabby.

 

In the "old days" SS passengers were given complete wine lists which included all of the complimentary wines along with those for purchase. The entertainment was MUCH better and varied - vocalists, magicians, comedians, etc. of high caliber....and they always socialized with the passengers throughout the cruise. In fact, all senior staff socialized with the passengers and it's wasn't "put on".

 

Bottom line - SS felt more elegant and special

 

I was the one who said there are many "first timers" on Silversea now. We used to frequently run into passengers that had cruised SS well over 100 days....where have they gone?

 

Would I go on SS again? I'll let you know. We'll be on Regent in November for an Australia/New Zealand cruise. We both just retired and are doing a lot of travel this year......do it while you can...who knows what tomorrow will bring.

 

I would like to try Sea Dream - did the ship ever feel crowded? no balconies? can't wait to hear your comparison with SS.

 

 

 

To naperleigh and BearJT:

 

A big difference is the origin of the dining room staff...it seems SS is slowly converting to Indonesian and Phillipino waiters. I am by no means a prejudiced person, but the former European waiters were much more polished and spoke excellent English. I was told by a former cruise line employee Europeans make approximately $3,000 per month and Phillipino's $1,000 per month. Not sure if this is true but it interesting.

[dusababy]

Where have the long time SS pax gone? I'll be on Shadow 9/5 out of Vancouver and will be just short of my 250 days. I've done comparison cruising on the competition just to be sure SS remains the one for me.

 

Yes, things aren't quite the same as in the "old days", but overall, find something consistently better.

 

I take all posts with a grain of salt: you can't please some people ANY TIME, and it takes very little to please some all the time.

I board with the expectation of a fabulous cruising experience. Usually, I'm not disappointed in the big things. If there is a problem I take it up with someone who can do something about it - not Cruise Critic boards.

 

Mary Ann

[Pterostyrax]

As some of you know, my wife and I are avid Silversea boosters, but what many of you don't know is that on our first Silversea cruise my wife tripped on the rippled/washboarded walking track surrounding the golf cage on the aft of the Silver Whisper. The end result is that she shattered her elbow as well as having all the ligaments torn loose from her elbow that required extensive surgery and seven months of physical therapy to restore her elbow/arm to about 80% of the mobility she had before the accident, with continuing periodic pain several years after the accident. The rippled/washboarded deck is something Silversea should have been and probably was well aware of, particularly considering the average age of Silversea cruisers and the fact that this deck of the ship is a designated walking/exercise area.

 

There is no other way to say it other than the fact that Silversea's handling of the accident was atrocious. After considerable prodding, poking, and twisting of her broken arm by the ships doctor who pronounced that there was nothing seriously wrong with my wife's arm/elbow, we were sent to the emergency room in Newport, RI for precautionary x-rays (read "cover your ass") where the ER doctor confirmed that her arm was indeed broken and was subsequently put in a temporary cast. When going to the emergency room after going ashore on a tender, we were met by a Silversea representative who informed us that we needed to call a cab to take us to the hospital rather than having a Silversea representative take us to the hospital. Additionally, we were not allowed to leave the ship until we toured the accident area with the ship's security officer, even though my wife was in considerable pain.

 

Upon arriving back to the ship and informing the Doctor that my wife's arm was indeed broken, we never received a call from any Silversea representative inquiring as to my wife's condition and whether or not there was anything that they could do for her until about three hours later. I spotted and mentioned to the cruise director that no one in an official Silversea capacity appeared even remotely interested as to my wife's condition or if there was anything Silversea could do for my wife. We subsequently received a call from the Cruise Director asking if my wife needed anything, but not until I had mentioned the rather careless attitude towards my wife's misfortune.

 

To make a long story short, it was clear that they were in a "cover your ass" mode with regards to my wife's accident and all of our dealings with them over the last several years since the accident. However, we both understood that in the present day litigious atmosphere so prevalent in the U.S. and the attitude of lawyers regarding how to treat injured passengers (apparently, do nothing and say nothing, but I don't know that as a fact), all of the Silversea employees were more than likely severely constrained in their response.

 

I would submit that if anyone has valid reasons for saying thanks, but no thanks to Silversea Cruises in the future, It would be me and my wife. But, despite all of what happened on our inaugural Silversea cruise, we have gone on two more Silversea cruises, which some of you may remember from my previous postings regarding the cruise experiences and plan on going on another one to the Caribbean this November - we have not cancelled and now intend to once again enjoy the terrific Silversea experience that we have come to know and love. I believe this is a rather ringing endoursement of our overall Silversea cruise experiences to date. And it is not like we have not experienced other cruise lines for comparison. We were on the David Rosengarten sponsored Barcelona to Paris cruise aboard the Sea Cloud in May and just returned from an Alaska cruise aboard the sternwheeler Empress of the North in August. Neither of them were up to the standards of our Silversea experiences (although the Sea Cloud cruise was a very close second).

 

Skitravel, thank you for your post and I hope to possibly enjoy your company on a Silversea cruise in the future, if you still find the experience sufficiently worthwhile to justify spending your hard earned dollars.

[Pterostyrax]

My post may seem a little strange as it was a response to someone who took a rather vehement exception with Skitravel's original post regarding negative aspects of his recent Silversea cruise. Those posts and my specific referral to one of them (prompting the above post) have subsequently been edited out of this thread and my post, an action with which I wholeheartedly agree.

 

My point of the above post was not to criticize Silversea, but rather to show that negative criticisms of Silversea should be welcomed by those monitoring this forum as additional information with which to base ones purchasing decisions regarding the Silversea experience. Those posting negative experiences should not be belittled in the process.

[cechase]

My point of the above post was not to criticize Silversea, but rather to show that negative criticisms of Silversea should be welcomed by those monitoring this forum as additional information with which to base ones purchasing decisions regarding the Silversea experience. Those posting negative experiences should not be belittled in the process.

 

Pterostyrax, we certainly agree with your comment quoted above. These cruise critic forums are here to provide future cruisers and newbies with information concerning their cruise line and specific vessels based on the posters experience. We have found a wealth of information over the past two years which has enabled us to avoid pitfalls, and to have marvelous cruise experiences. And that information, certainly includes negative experiences as well as positive experiences.

 

Am really sorry to hear about your wife's fall - since the injury was extremely serious, and apparently resulted in a permanent injury. These things do happen and that is why we always consider it prudent to have travel insurance despite the added cost. With that experience, we consider it very positive that you and your wife still cruise SilverSeas. We will have our first SS experience in December.

[swindy]

In my opinion SkiTravel is perfectly entitled to make constructive criticisms especially after 8 cruises with Silversea over 10 years. I certainly don't think Silversea was being ripped apart.

Our last Silversea cruise was on the Whisper and the service was definitely below 6*. I don't believe it was the fault of the staff but the numbers of staff. We have seen a deterioration in the staff numbers and this prohibits staff from providing the excellent service that we had become used to.

We were told that Silversea management were aware of the many complaints mostly about service and were going to address the problem. SkiTravels comments appear to show that they have not yet rectified this.....will they ever?