Note - this page contains multiple reviews.

Name: Fiona Allen
Email: allendf@flash.net
Age: 39
Occupation: Civil Engineer
NumberOfCruises: 8
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Silversea-SilverCloud
SailingDate: July 11, 2000
Itinerary: Venice to Monte Carlo
Cabin: 514
FoodDiningRoom: 100
CruiseDirector: 100
CabinComfort: 100
FoodRoomService: 90
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 100
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets: 
CabinSteward: 100
ShoreExcVariety: 85
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon: 75
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland: 
GoodForFamilies: 60
LoungeService: 75
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 85
BeautySalonStaff: 
EntertainmentLounges: 95
WheelchairAccess: 
ExerciseFacilities: 
EntertShowLounge: 90
OverallPortsofCall: 99
BeautySalon: 
EntertainmentPoolside: 
CruiseActivities: 85
Casino: 80
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities: 
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 100
DiscoNightclubs: 
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 100
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 26 Jul 2000
Time: 19:25:32
Remote Name: 216-215-73-153.flash.net
Remote User: 

Comments

My husband and I were eager to join my mother on this ship as she had cruised on it earlier this year
from Sidney to Bali. My comments are targeted for this type of boat. I have cruised big ones, like the
Sun Princess and little ones, like Sea Goddess I (before Carnivale bought them from Cunard and
completely trashed them). Good news Sea Goddess alumni, we discovered many Sea Goddess exes
have joined the Silversea Cruise line. Kudos to Silversea for having the sense to bring them on
board, so to speak. 

This is not a party cruise. If you are expecting Bingo, flashy shows, huge casinos, lots of night clubs,
etc. go on Princess. This is not a cruise for families or disco queens and kings. There were less than
ten under 19's on this trip and I felt sorry for them because, other than swim, there is nothing for
them to do. This was a bit of a problem for the adults. Although all the kids were very well behaved,
they tended to hang out in the hot tubs and pool, which kept away many of the oldsters. 

However, I think, overall, if you want a thoroughly relaxing cruise, with no hassles, elegant service
and no signing tickets for every drink, this cruise line is for you. (We compared the cost of this cruise
line with the Grand Princess equivalent cabins, added tips and drinks, and found Silversea to be
price competative.) 

We joined the ship in Venice, in the middle of a two week cruise, for seven days. Unfortunately, they
did not offer an overnight stay in Venice, as they usually do with other itineraries, so we had to make
our own arrangements. A water taxi to the ship and we were on our way. The food in the dining room
and the special chef dinners in the Terrace Cafe (we enjoyed Italian and French nights as well as
more delicious Italian food made for a private party and discovered the chef had just joined the Silver
Cloud from Sea Goddess II) were absolutely spectacular. I regret I didn't have my sea legs or jet lag
taken care of the first evening, and I didn't get through dinner. My husband remedied this with a 1:30
am call for room service. We promptly received a turkey sandwich, for me, and spaghetti and a super
apple tart for dessert. The food was the best I have ever had on any cruise ship. The wine selection,
which is included in the cruise fare, was very good. They had an extra wine list you could order from
if you preferred Chateau Margeaux or Cristale. The prices were very fair, compared to our local
restaurants. They also have a kitchen buffet, where they open the kitchen up to the passengers, so
you get a tour of the kitchen, topped off with delicious selections of food from the buffet, including
freshly made pasta, soups, cold meats, hot meats, hot and cold everything! And then you could
revisit for dessert. I could have eaten a bite of everything. We had room service for breakfast each
morning we went on a tour. One morning it did not arrive. When I called room service asking for it,
they claimed they had it ready, but I didn't put a time on my tag. I am pretty sure I did. It was delivered
about 10 minutes after I called, with piping hot coffee and hot bagels. I doubt there was a tray sitting
in the galley waiting for my call. We did order champagne every day to celebrate just being on
vacation. They deliver 500ml bottles which are a great size as they pour two glasses each, My only
disappointment in the dining room was on the last evening of our cruise. We entered the dining room
about 8:45 and the service was incredibly slow. After waiting a good 25 minutes, we finally found our
waiter and asked what was taking so long. He said he would check and find out. After what seemed
like an eternity, he said there was a wait on the creme brulee's we had ordered and the maitre d' was
checking. After about 10 more minutes, the waiter appeared again and told us that they had run out
of creme brulee's and the chefs were trying to make some more. After asking him why he didn't tell us
there was going to be a wait and giving us the option of ordering something else, he told us that
because we had ordered it, they were obligated to get it for us. When the creme brulee finally
arrived, we got what amounted to sweet scrambled eggs topped with burned sugar. One of our table
companions noted that this was not a brulee and was not amused. Sad note to the end of a delicious
gourmand's dream. 

The ports of call, Taormina, Sorrento, Civitivecchia, Portovenere, and Monte Carlo were all
interesting. In Taormina, the tour took us to Roman ruins, the town center, out to a lovely lunch, and
the opportunity to take the tram to Mt. Etna, which is still steaming. In Sorrento, we went to Pompeii,
but the tour was too short. We would have liked to stay in Pompeii longer. Civitivecchia is the port for
Rome. We overnighted there, but none of the tours took advantage of that. We let the bus take us
into Rome and spent the day exploring on our own. Had a blast, and are sorry the line at the Sistine
Chapel was 4 hours long by the time we got there. That stop was missed. Portovenere is a small little
seaside town with back alleys and streets that hide little shops and restaurants. We had a great
afternoon there. We loved these posts of call and would do the exact cruise again, but change our
port tours, now we know what to see. All but Monte Carlo and Civitivecchia were tenders to the shore.
No problems getting on, off, or in the tenders. 

The cabins were good sized, we had a veranda suite, with a balcony. This was our first cruise with a
balcony, and we sure liked it. There was a walk in closet and a bathroom with marble floors and
vanity. We had a sofa, two chairs, and a small coffee table that quickly and easily converted in to a
dinner table. The bathroom definitely big enought for two people at once. They were stocked with
Bulgari soaps, shampoos, and lotions. They were wonderful, and I looked for them in the Parfumeries
of Monte Carlo. Our stewardess performed above and beyond the call of duty by finding a place in a
galley freezer to put my husbands knee wrap in. She picked it up in the morning and returned it
frozen each evening and placing it in the cabin fridge. Despite the tips being included on this cruise,
we felt she deserved something extra for doing this. 

I didn't use the exercise facilities or the beauty salon. When we did call for an appointement for a
massage, they were already booked and my husband was put on the waiting list. Needless to say, he
wasn't called. 

As we said earlier, the drinks are included on this trip. We were happy with the bartenders, but the
bar waitresses had a hard time understanding simple bar orders like a Scotch with a splash of water.
Their english skills were very poor. My husband resorted to going to the bar himself. This happened
on more than one occasion, with more than one bar waitress. My Vodka drinks were never right. I
resorted to bailey's on the rocks or had a drink my husband got from the bartender. 

The cruise director joined the ship with us in Venice. My mother knew him from her more than 300
days on Sea Goddess, and he is another Sea Goddess alum who has joined Silversea. Colin is a
concert pianist by training, but has terrific experience as a cruise director. It was nice to see that the
cruise staff wasn't all young, perky, looking for their big break, entertainment types. Colin and Judy
have had many years at sea and their experience definitely added to their interaction with the
passengers. The hotel manager was also a former Sea Goddess officer. Our only complaint with the
cruise staff involved the varnishing of our deck rail. We returned to our cabin and found a note that
our rail had been varnished, and not to go out on the balcony until 10:00 pm. Okay, fine.
Maintenance needs to be done. The next day, we got the same letter again. My husband was furious
because we were not told this was a two day job and that we would be without our balcony for
another evening. He called the Reception Desk, which was the phone number provided, and the
gentleman that answered was not helpful and had no information to give us. My husband asked to
have someone who knew what was going on to call us back. About 10 minutes later, there was a
knock at the door. It was the Staff Captain, Paolo Rivera, with whom we had eaten dinner with the
second night at sea, asking what the problem was. He shook his head and told us that there was no
problem with us using the balcony and that he had already told the Reception Desk to change the
letter left in the cabin after this type of maintenance. He left our cabin in the direction of the
Reception Desk. I am sure he had something to tell them. 

One note, we could not hear any announcements over the PA system, as it is not piped into the
cabins. Great for late sleepers, bad for those of us who want to hear. 

The Panorama Bar kept us up late with sing along and dancing music. I think the type of passengers
made this the party place on the ship. We met a lot of people up there. 

Would I travel on the Silver Cloud again? Absolutely. We had a great time and hope to go again. And
we never had to listen to anyone announce a bingo game.

Name: John C. Morrissey
Email: greatplanes@sprintmail.com
Age: 61
Occupation: Retired
NumberOfCruises: 7
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Silversea-SilverCloud
SailingDate: 8 December, 2000
Itinerary: Hong Kong to Singapore
Cabin: 714/Verandah
FoodDiningRoom: 68
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 96
FoodRoomService: 50
CruiseStaff: 86
CabinAmenities: 94
FoodLidoDeck: 
DiningRoomService: 74
CabinQuietness: 86
FoodMidnightBuffets: 
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety: 100
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 92
ShoreExcValue: 94
GoodForHoneymoon: 
CasinoStaff: 
PrivateIsland: 
GoodForFamilies: 88
LoungeService: 96
TenderService: 
GoodForSeniors: 
BeautySalonStaff: 90
EntertainmentLounges: 96
WheelchairAccess: 
ExerciseFacilities: 86
EntertShowLounge: 88
OverallPortsofCall: 100
BeautySalon: 90
EntertainmentPoolside: 
CruiseActivities: 70
Casino: 
AirSeaProgram: 100
MedicalFacilities: 98
ShipCleanliness: 84
EmbarkDisembark: 70
DiscoNightclubs: 
DeckSpace: 92
Stabilization: 94
ShopsOnBoard: 
SpaceRatio: 96
OverallCruiseValue: 80
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 06 Feb 2001
Time: 15:48:21
Remote Name: sdn-ar-016mokcitp095.dialsprint.net
Remote User: 

Comments

This was our 5th cruise with the Silkversea Line and our third on the Cloud. With the exception of our cruise
last January on the Wind from Tahiti to Valperiso, where there were only 95 passengers, we can say with
certainty that the quality of the Line continues to decrease. Specifically, the SS brochures state that boarding
begeins with a ceremonious white-gloved greeting. This is not the case on this cruise nor was it the case with
our cruise on the Wind last January or the previous cruise on the Cloud in September of 1999. The last time
we experienced a proper boarding on the SS Line was February of '97 in Rio.In this instance, we boarded the
Cloud in Hong Kong at 14:15. Boarding had been in progress since 14:00. We were left to our own devices to
find our way to the boarding ramp, helped only by widely scattered "SILVERSEA" signs hastily pasted on the
walls of the terminal. At the boarding ramp, there were no (as in NONE) Silversea personnel in evidence;
instead, there was a Chinese port/security agent in a military uniform who barely spoke english. He made it
cle4ar thawho wanted to see our ticket. He gave a cursory glance at our paperwork and waved us on board.
We then proceded to the bar and received the key to our room. In the bar there were four SS crew members -
none with white gloves and certainly no ceremony. We were offered a glass of Champaigne and, finally, some
help with our hand held luggage. I can still see our boarding in Tahiti where elderly passengers were
struggling with their hand held items while trying to climb a steep boarding ramp to the entry deck. The
boarding in Edinburg on the Cloud was worse and is detailed in a previous report in this section. 

The itenerary was magnificent and the Silversea Experience (an overnight from Haiphong to Hanoi) was a
masterpiece. The overnight in Saigon was also very well done; however, being tied up to an industrial pier
overnight in Bangkok with a megawat security/search light shinning in our room was totally out of character
with a quality evening on board a 6 star crusie ship. 

There were two unacceptable problems with the Cloud on this crusie. One is an old problem that has never
been solved and the other is new, at least to us. 

The old problem is the septic/sewer smell that seems to come and go throughout the ship. We have had this
problem twice before on the Cloud, and never on the Wind. On previous occasions, it was strongest in the
forward part of level 4 and the midle part of level 5. It is always strong (on our crusies on the Cloud) in the
bathroom on the pool deck and in the men's room on level 4 and 5. This time, it was in our room. The hotel
manager came to the room and admitted he smelled the odor. He offered to have the room sprayed or the
carpet washed. I thanked him but said that since the carpet was not the source of the problem, cleaning it
would not help. On previous trips, the staff engineeer(Navio) had told us that the Cloud was the "oldest" ship
and that mistakes were made in the ventelation system which allowed septic smells to join the normal
cooling/heating system under certainb wind conditions and that nothing could be done at sea to correct the
problem. On two previous Cloud cruises, the staff engineer promised the problem wouyld be corrected in
drydock. 

Our first cruise on the Cloud was in 1997 - the problem still exists, is still being denied as a systemic problem
by the ship's officers, but not the chambermaids who freely admit the unacceptable odors are a frequent
problem. 

The surprise problem was the food. I hate to suger coat it, but it was terrible! What a surprise. We turned
back 7 meals in the main dinning room and gave up on room service. The food was tough (meat), and cold
(as much as 1:15 between apetizers and the main course). The service in the Terrace Cafe was no better. On
several occasions there would be a small number of passengers in the Cafe and as many a 9 uniformed
waiters - all in clusters of three, talking to one another. It was impossible to get their attention without getting
up from our table and approaching them - totally unacceptable. One morning I went to the main dinning room
to get breakfast as I wanted steak and eggs. There were only 5 passengers in the room, and 5 waiters. It took
7 minutes to get a cup of coffee and another 12 minutes to get waited on. By the time I finished my meal
(which was cold), an hour had elapsed. 

I knew a few of the senior waiters from previous SS cruises and asked them what was going on. The answer
was simple - 50% of the Cloud staff had been stripped for the Shadow. There were several (many) crew
members in the kitchen/wait staff who had never been on the ship before we departed, who did not know their
way around the ship, and had never been trained to SS standards or told in no uncertain terms what was
expected. They were talking to themselves to try to figure out their duties/locations/procedures. I hope none
were critical in emergency situations. The headwaiters did not have time to train them as the ship was full and
they were busy trying to sort out the hiccups which will always arise when untrained personnel are asked to do
a quality job. This is obviously a headquarters problem. It is very disturbing to me to be asked to underwrite
the task of bringing new ships on line by paying for advertised quality (which used to be there, especially on
the Wind),and getting a "trining" cruise. 

I was additionally embarrassed as we had invited three friends from Mexico to join us on the ship. Their
boarding was just as impersonal and thier opinion of the food and service was worse than ours. 

What saved the cruise was the well done SS experience to Hanoi, the guest lecturer, Lawrence Herson, the
two great bar waitresses, two good bar tenders, a good cruise director, and Jerry Blaine at the Piano. That
and a well though out itenerary. 

One of the things that we have noticed while cruising with SS is that when a "main" Captain (De Palma,
Missetti, Corsairo) are in charge, everything goes much better. Our two big disappointments (both one the
Cloud) were when "staff" captains were running the ship. I swear, I never saw them unless it was a Captain's
function. I was always aware of the presence, on a daily basis, of the "main" Captains. 

I really believe that SS owes every passenger on that cruise a personal appology for the lack of service in the
main dinning room, Terrace Cafe, and the rooms, the absolutely unacceptable smells that roam the ship, and
food that was no better and sometimes worse than a Hokiday Inn restaurant. 

We will wait until (and if) SS gets its growing pains/expansion issues under control before venturing out with
them. I hope they do get their problems solved. This was a great line and we so enjoyed looking forward to
our cruises with them. They should understand that a reputation is a precious and fragile thing and that the
word travels fast among the clientel of the tops lines. We have already heard from friend that the intial voyage
of the Shadow was a culinary disaster. Anyone with a basic understanding of management could get this
solved. I jsut hope SS is not too busy with their future projects to keep a watchful and competent eye on the
present.

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