Silver Shadow Panama Canal December 8-23

[meow!]

continued from above …

 

DISCUSSION

 

Silversea is a luxury cruise line, and its price, while heavily dependent on itinerary location and special discounts, is still a lot higher than the mass market lines, but it offers a rather different product:

 

Cabin size – The standard cabins are equal or larger than mini-suites on mass market ships.

 

Elegance – All its cabins have walk-in closets, separate tubs and showers as well as double sinks (Shadow/Whisper), marble/granite bathrooms, make-up modules, designer veneered curve shaped furniture, wood bordered ceilings, etc. While these may not be important, they highlight its quality.

 

Elaborate service - Room service dining, be it breakfast early morning, lunch at noon or dinner in the evening is automatically served in the form of fine dining. They do not just leave a tray of food on your desk. They put a converter board on your centre table to make it a dining table, put on clean table linen, and set the plates and utensils properly for you as in a good restaurant. Dinner can even be served course by course. Even if this service is available on those large ships, it will only be for high end suites with butlers and a fare just as high!

 

Attention to passengers – Staff often ask you how things are. They attend to you and unobtrusively watch over you, unlike a Sheraton or Marriott, for example, and more akin to St. Regis, Ritz, Peninsula or Mandarin Oriental.

 

No need to tip – You can ask for service repeatedly without having to prepare a bundle of single dollar bills always ready to give a tip. Bottled water is freely provided at the gangplank before and after shore excursions.

 

No preset seating for meals – You are free to eat when and with whom you like (Oceania has the same benefit here)

 

Freely available caviar and foie gras – Otherwise such high end delicacies are sold (most mass market lines) or restricted (once in a while on Oceania)

 

Brand name toiletries – Bulgari, Aqua di Palma or Neutrogena, with soaps and sample sized lotion worth $5 to $8 each freely supplied.

 

Ease of mind – You can safely believe that staff members will help you, push your wheelchair if you are mobility challenged, or provide pier side shuttle even if it is only a quarter mile to the terminal building and taxi service. On mass market lines, you often have to walk your own way.

 

Small ship - Less crowding, much easier to handle, more cozy and yet with good facility, with a fully equipped multi-storeyed theatre, pool, gymnasium and shops, etc.

 

We can go on and on this list. A quick glance at the price list will show per diem prices for the standard verandah suites range roughly from $350 to $750. Is this good value? This question is difficult to answer as there are too many variables. Using “fuzzy logic”, perhaps we can say that at minimal discount the value is so-so, at average discount the value is good, while at maximum discount the value can be exceptional. Value is often subjective and circumstantial, each individual has to weigh it for him/herself! It is competitive with similar luxury lines, we guess, though we have not been on Seabourn or RSSC and therefore have no first hand knowledge for comparision.

 

Comparing with the next closest thing we have experience on, an “upper premium line” Oceania, it depends on the price. For cheap Caribbean itineraries, and when Silversea is on heavy discount, its price is similar to Oceania’s and therefore a great “deal”. For expensive European itineraries (twice the per diem for Silversea) and fewer discounts, we will take the economy of Oceania (whose pricing is much less geographically dependent). With that in mind, we have booked a Greek Island cruise this October with Oceania. We all do things according to our means, and of course, if you can afford it, go for the best!

 

CONCLUSION

 

We are well satisfied with this voyage. We will gladly take many Silversea cruises if not for the fact that as ordinary cats, we have only limited means. Through this voyage, we have tried to gather as much information as possible to share with all readers of this board. We have also touched upon many questions raised by previous posters in this column. Hopefully it will serve as a reference for those interested in Silversea (or other comparable luxury lines for that matter) or similar Panama Canal itineraries. For those who have a lot more experience than we do, perhaps this thread can serve as bedside reading, helping by boring you to sleep!

 

Some years down the road, and especially after Silversea has built a new ship, perhaps we will have saved enough money to give it a try. If that happens, we will be able to again make all the measurements and write full detailed descriptions! We welcome your comments and questions, and we hope to continue to post on this Silversea column in the years to come. Thank you all for having the patience to read this rather lengthy thread!

[Jana]

Hello, Meow,

 

Thank you for your lovely report. I was almost on that voyage as well. Did you by any chance go to the Pinot Noir tasting and screening of the movie Sideways by the author? If so, can you tell us about it?

 

Thank you!

 

Jana

[duct tape]

It didn't happen...he wasn't there!

[meow!]

Jana: Thank you so much for your kind comment.

 

Duct tape: Thank you kindly for your reply.

[Jana]

It didn't happen...he wasn't there!

 

 

OH MY GOSH! I wonder why... do you know?

 

Jana

[duct tape]

No one ever mentioned it...!

[DebbieH103]

Meow, thanks for such a thorough review.