Seabourn vs. Silversea

[Sailer Girl]

We have travelled on Crystal a half dozen times, and would like to try a smaller ship. Would love to hear opinions on Seabourn and Silversea. Our interests are fellow passengers, service and fitness facilities. Our ages are early and mid-50s and we love to laugh and have fun.

[JaneBP]

We have travelled on Crystal a half dozen times, and would like to try a smaller ship. Would love to hear opinions on Seabourn and Silversea. Our interests are fellow passengers, service and fitness facilities. Our ages are early and mid-50s and we love to laugh and have fun.

 

Use the search keys on the Seabourn, SS, and RSCC boards and you will find many discussions of the qualities you are looking for. Perhaps you might start with an itinerary that appeals to you. Not all lines go to all ports.

[SeabournGirl]

We have travelled on Crystal a half dozen times, and would like to try a smaller ship. Would love to hear opinions on Seabourn and Silversea. Our interests are fellow passengers, service and fitness facilities. Our ages are early and mid-50s and we love to laugh and have fun.

 

Sailer Girl

 

If I had never been on Seabourn and sailed on Silversea as my first small ship, it would have been a delightful cruise. However, I found myself repeatedly saying (or thinking) "This is better on Seabourn" or asking for things and being told "No", which so rarely happens on Seabourn. Champagne in the surf or water skiing, banana boat, tube rides, paddle boats on the beach BBQ day? SS doesn't do any of that. No snorkeling equipment available for passengers on a Caribbean cruise?

 

The bars were very smoky, and poorly laid out. The food was superb, but the complimentary wine selections were limited and the champagne was not great.

 

I found myself wondering how they got their rating, as it seemed to be missing a few stars in the level of service, ammenities and attitudes of the staff (I have NEVER seen an unhappy staff person on SB, but they were everywhere on SS!). The floor plan for the suite and their pool & pool bar was better, but so many other things were lacking, I would not go back.

 

I've just been very happily spoiled by Seabourn.

[Hobar]

I agree wholeheartedly with SeabournGirl, but the problem is that Seabourn itineraries are limited. For example, the Asia cruise is the same one over and over and over. We are going on Silversea next year because of the itinerary (Shanghai to Tokyo with stops in China and Seoul S Korea). If only Seabourn would come up with new itineraries, but Seabourn seems to have become complacent with its more mature cruisers - you'll see their postings over and over and over again, and they seem to be quite happy with transatlantic cruising.

[Keith1010]

We have travelled on Crystal a half dozen times, and would like to try a smaller ship. Would love to hear opinions on Seabourn and Silversea. Our interests are fellow passengers, service and fitness facilities. Our ages are early and mid-50s and we love to laugh and have fun.

 

I have sailed with Crystal numerous times. I have not sailed on Silversea but have sailed multiple times with Seabourn. My experiences with Seabourn have been outstanding as they have been with Crystal.

 

There are simililarities between these two cruise lines and there are difference. The differences are mainly based on the size of the ships in their respective fleets.

 

The passengers we have met on our Seabourn cruises have been outstanding. My wife and I are also in our early 50's. On a Seabourn cruise you have lots of opportunities to get to know your fellow passengers because sailing with Seabourn is very much a country club experience. In fact, by the end of your cruise you will likely have spoken with the vast majority of the passengers. We have found that the passengers are very social and take a genuine interest in getting to know you.

 

The service on board the ship is outstanding. It is true that with 24 hours that most of the staff such as the restaurant staff know you by name. They are very professional in what they do. I alway tell the story that after a day or two that when we went into the club for a drink that as soon as the bartender saw us he remember exactly what we wanted and the person serving the drink also remembered precisely what type of nuts that my wife enjoyed. Service is a bit part of Seabourn.

 

The fitness center is nice but given its limited size it cannot offer the types of classes that you might find on the Crystal ships. It has a variety of machines which my wife and I use extensively.

 

I would not have touched on the itineraries but the previous poster did. Seabourn offers a nice set of itineraries and while many are repeated from year to year I don't see that as a factor since they represent a very diverse set of itineraries and for most passengers there is plenty to choose from. There are some people that say the same thing about Crystal. I know some people who have sailed to most places around the world and as I remind them from time to time there is a limited number of places that can be visited by sea. While my wife and I have now completed two fulll world cruises, on top of many other cruises, there are still lots of itineraries that include ports that we have not visited and we also find it nice to go back to other ports.

 

Keith

[Suite Travels]

Keith, we have been on Silversea and did not care for it. Without going into detail the word "No" was used many times. We felt that the food was very average and the attention to detail lacking.

 

We are giving Seabourn a try on the new Odyssey next November and we are really looking forward to it. We have chatted with many Crystal guests who absolutely love both lines.

 

Keith, could you please elaborate the differences we should expect on Seabourn vs Crystal? Open and fixed seating is not a deal breaker for us or the all inclusive.

[avalon1025]

Seabourn is the better choice between all three for food and service, absolutely perfect. Silversea wins for ships and suites. The SS ships are beautiful, the Seabourn ships a bit long in the tooth with a strange pool layout. Crystal provides a fine classic larger ship cruise experience. We are greatly anticipating our cruise on the Odyssey, which if Seabourn can keep the service and atmosphere of the smaller ships would lead this ship to be tops!

[Keith1010]

Keith, we have been on Silversea and did not care for it. Without going into detail the word "No" was used many times. We felt that the food was very average and the attention to detail lacking.

 

We are giving Seabourn a try on the new Odyssey next November and we are really looking forward to it. We have chatted with many Crystal guests who absolutely love both lines.

 

Keith, could you please elaborate the differences we should expect on Seabourn vs Crystal? Open and fixed seating is not a deal breaker for us or the all inclusive.

 

Congratulations on booking the Seabourn Odyssey.

 

Let me start off by saying that I do believe each cruise can be unique even on the same ship or cruise line. Sometimes the mix of port days to sea days, where the ship is traveling, the staff, the mix of passengers and other related items can vary the experience. At the same time, there are certain items that should remain consistent.

 

Our experience is that the size of the ships are mainly what the difference is all about and that Crystal and Sebourn use size of ships to their advantage. At the same time, size can prevent them from offering certain amentiies that the other one can offer. And, as I say there are various similarities between the ships.

 

Since you are very familiar with Crystal I'll focus more on Seabourn.

 

But I want to start off by saying that I suspect there will be differences between the experience on the new Seabourn ship since it will carry 450 passengers vs. the existing three Seabourn triplets which carry 200 passengers. So, some of the thoughts I will share will likely be different on the new ship since as a somewhat larger and more state of the art ships it will likely be different.

 

In the evening, the focus of the exisiting Seabourn ships is more on passengers mingling with fellow passengers. Many like us would go to the club before dinner for a drink and it provided a nice time to meet new passengers as well as to talk with fellow passengers who we had already met on the cruise. Dinners would be longer on the ship as they would be a large focus of the evening in terms of the social aspect of the evening. While you can dine by yourselves, the open seating provided an opportunity to get to know others quite well. Throughout the cruise we would get formal invitations from someone on the staff or one of the entertainers to join them and some other fellow passengers for dinner. This provided a very nice opportunity to meet those from the staff/entertainers and fellow passengers. You can easily turn down the invitations as well. At the same time, you could make arrangements with others to have dinner with them or you could just show up to the dining room and ask to sit with others. It was a very nice experience. After dinner, there would be some type of entertainment such as a piano player and singer, or say a comedian or some other event like that. Now, on the new ship some of this might change such as offering somewhat different entertainment. We enjoyed all of our dinners. I remember early on we met a nice couple at a reception and they turned to us towards the end and asked if we want to join them for dinner and we were not used to that and it was wonderful. So, we found that the open seating added to the social part on the ship.

 

The food was quite good but food is always a matter of opinion. Just like on Crystal you can order amost anything if you provide 24 hours notice.

 

The service is very professional. The restaurant staff is very experienced and it shows.

 

For breakfast we would eat in the Verandah (similar to the Lido Cafe) but much more intimate. While there are some items on a very short buffet line when you sit down at your table the wait staff will also take your order for various hot items and quite frankly will run around and get other items for you.

 

For lunch, it is very similar and if you want an item in another area they will run to get that for you.

 

Dinner in your room is quite nice. The wait staff does the dinner or lunch or breakfast. For dinner they will bring the items course by course if you like it that way. Again, very professional.

 

The entertainment is low key but very enjoyable.

 

Getting on and off the ships is quite easy given their relative size along with walking around the ships. Tours are quite nice and with less passengers it adds to the enjoyment of the tour.

 

In general, everything is a bit more intimate because there are far fewer psasengers. So, the dining room can be more intimate and the ship overall.

 

In some ports, the ship has the advantage of say not tendering (although in some ports you will or may tender) given its size and we were able to sail in some areas that larger ships could not sail in.

 

We enjoyed the fellow passengers. Most are very seasoned travelers who have seen many areas of the world either on land, or by ship or by a combination of both. It is very much a country club atmosphere where you get to know many of your fellow passengers quite well.

 

In short, we found it to be a wonderful experience. There are some areas of the world that sailing on a smaller ship has its advantages while for us there are some areas of the world where we would prefer to be on a larger ship.

 

As I say, I suspect that there will be a difference with the new Odyssey. Seabourn will be able to offer some amenities on that ship that it can't offer on each of the triplets and it will be more state of the art. Looking over the deck plan it will offer more choices. At the same time I suspect it will be less intimate than the 200 passenger ships. Again there will likely be many positiives that it can offer but I suspect some of what it offers on the 200 passengers ships will not be quite the same on the larger ship.

 

We have met some passengers who prefer the small ships only and would never sail on a Crystal ship. We have met others who prefer the medium size ships of say Crystal and would never sail on a ship the size of Seabourn's. We enjoyed both a great deal. As I say there are similarities but there are differences.

 

I hope this helps and will be happy to try to answer other questions for you.

 

Again, as I say, our experience even on the same ship can vary from cruise to cruise based on varius factors. The good news for us is that we have had excellent experiences with both lines. We try not to compare those things that each line can do that the other can't because we like the fact that there are differences. We never want them to be the same as it makes the experience so much better with the differences.

 

But in my opinion the similariies are the fact that both lines strive to provide a very high quality product with focus on the quality of items such as the service, and the cuisine.

 

Keith

[Tillylovesseabourn]

Seabourn, all the way,fabulous honeymoon 6 years ago, fantastic anniversary 4 yrs ago, awesome holiday 2 yrs ago, cant wait to go back, its like home from home, staff are wonderful,food is great,service is brilliant, silversea staff were miserable(well alot of them), shabby cabin also.