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Note - this page contains multiple reviews.
Name: john may
Email: jayyam@webtv.net
Age: 74
Occupation: retired
NumberOfCruises: 27
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Silversea-SilverCloud
SailingDate: 3/18/98
Itinerary: rio-ascension-st.helena-cape town
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 95
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 90
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 85
ShoreExcValue: 70
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 70
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 70
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 70
Casino: 60
AirSeaProgram: 95
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 90
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 85
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 06 Oct 1998
Time: 19:40:26
Remote Name: 207.79.35.32
Remote User:
Comments
usually we cruise on larger ships, crystal and royal viking, but decided to try something
smaller this time. also the itinerary,
rio-salvador-ascension-st.helena-walvis bay-luderitz-cape town was very attractive. with a
smaller passenger list it was easy to get to know others,
while embarkation, disembarkation and shore excursions were so much easier without the
crowds. we spent a night in rio, a return visit and our
hotel was very good, but I heard nothing but bad comments from people who were accomodated
at another one. we especially liked the open
single seating in the dining room and food met our expectations, that is to say very good.
the breakfast buffet had some low points but generally
was good. excellent bar service-all complimentary-but we only saw one case of over
indulgence which was very well handled. the cruise director
was also excellent. lounge pianist had just joined from ctystal and was too loud for the
confined space. on Bastille Day there was a great party with
crew members AND passengers in very inventive costumes. the show theatre is very well
designed, being 2 deacks high so all seats have
unobstructe sight lines. the entertainment suffered from a small cast which was not very
talented, especially compared to crystal, afternoon tea
was very disappointing. shore excursions were very good, but as usual on all lines, very
much overpriced. we missed luderitx as it was to rough to
tender ashore, so after a couple of hours wallowing around took off for cape town, but got
there just after the port authorities closed the port
because of rough conditons, but we spent a comfortable night slowly cruising around. after
disembarkation Silverseas treated us to an excellent
bus tour and lunch before delivering us to the hotel. generally we were well pleased with
the ship, but felt cramped after the spaciousness of the
larger ones. the reception area and tour desk were most unattractive in decor. overall I
am glad we went, even though I feel that on a per diem
basis Silverseas is overpriced.
Name: Jeff Porges
Email: jporges@juno.com
Age: 44
Occupation: Utilities Manager/Mechanical Engineer
NumberOfCruises: 4
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Silversea-SilverCloud
SailingDate: August 14, 1998
Itinerary: Baltic Capitals
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 98
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService: 85
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 85
CabinQuietness: 99
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 90
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 90
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 95
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 97
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 95
Casino: 85
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 97
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace:
Stabilization: 98
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio:
OverallCruiseValue: 70
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 17 Nov 1998
Time: 09:09:01
Remote Name: 12.20.115.66
Remote User:
Comments
I am disappointed after completing my first Silverseas cruise. The experience aboard the
ship was fine, but the dealings with Silverseas land based
staff in Florida have been extremely disappointing.
I lost some personal belongings on the ship (directly from my suite) and believe one of
the ships crew took them. I have made too many phone calls to
mention, written letters and faxes trying to recover my belongings. I have been ignored,
passed from one representative to another, promised an
investigation, and so on. I have been told my belongings were recovered at one point, then
they were not. I have been told they were shipped to me,
then they were not. This has gone on for months. Now, after several months, there is still
no resolution. The Guest Relations Management has done a
horrible job.
The memories of my ship-board experience have been tarnished by my personal experience. I
recall the best part of the cruise itself were the shore
excursions. There were several "special" experiences where costumed locals,
playing music and dancing greeted the passengers on shore. These
parts of the excursions were very well choreographed. My hats go off to the folks
responsible for these special greeting and events.
In all, Silverseas is over rated and not a great value. The accommodations, food, and
service are fine. Dealing with the land-based staff is remarkably
different than dealing with the ship staff. There is a sense of urgency and desire for
customer satisfaction found on the ship. This same sense of
"customer satisfaction" is totally absent on land. A warning: If you have a
problem with Silverseas, you probably won't find anyone who will work to
resolve it.
Name: John Morrissey
Email: greatplanes@sdprintmail.com
Age: 60
Occupation: Retired
NumberOfCruises: 6
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Silversea-SilverCloud
SailingDate: 11 Sept '99
Itinerary: Edinburg to Montreal
Cabin: 635 Veranda
FoodDiningRoom: 96
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 98
FoodRoomService: 92
CruiseStaff: 94
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 82
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 84
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 96
ShoreExcVariety: 89
FoodVariety: 94
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 84
GoodForHoneymoon: 90
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 30
LoungeService: 70
TenderService: 92
GoodForSeniors: 86
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 92
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 92
EntertShowLounge: 80
OverallPortsofCall: 86
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 76
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 98
MedicalFacilities: 96
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 70
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 92
Stabilization: 98
ShopsOnBoard: 98
SpaceRatio: 96
OverallCruiseValue: 88
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 28 Sep 1999
Time: 16:06:18
Remote Name: sdn-ar-003mokcitp112.dialsprint.net
Remote User:
Comments
This is our sixth cruise, and our second one on the Cloud. We have crusied three times on
the Seabourn Legend
and once on the Silver Wind.
We were very disappointed with our reception in Edinburgh and the boarding procedures for
the crusise. When we
were taken to the Bamoral Hotel, we were escorted to a smoke filled, unventalated
reception room where we were
asked to stay until "some information regarding our rooms" became available. The
Silver Sea staff at the reception
area as well as the Bamoral staff were not ready to receive us and did not have their act
together. We can certainly
understand not having rooms ready at 11:00 hrs but to keep us in a smoke filled room sith
no estimate of our check
in time was/is unacceptable. When we finally did get a room, it was hot (the air
conditioner did not work), and the
hotel was unable to fix the problem.
The next day when we were taken to the ship, we were bussed to the Pier at 13:15 and taken
to a rather primative
contonement area in which there were two Silver Cloud representatives who merely told us
that the ship was not
ready and that they would let us know when we could board. This room had neither water,
refreshments, nor a
bathroom. When we were allowed to board :15 later, we were greeted by our crusie director
and told to go to lunch
and not to our rooms. This whole process reminded me of boarding an economy class airline
flight in the United
States and a far cry from our ususal experience during boarding on previous Silver Sea
cruises where we were
taken to the bar, greeted, offered a seat and a refreshment and given the keys to our
room. To be fair, the ship had
a quick turn around which challenged the crew, but it was Silver Sea who set the arrival
and departure times, not
the passengers. This rather strange boarding experience was never acknowledged by the
Captain or his staff.
As this was a full ship coupled with a "cool" weather crusie, there was little
opportunity to use the outside deck
space and the inside was a little more conjested than we had experienced before. The
breakfast service in the
Terrace Cafe was a step down from previous Silver Sea crusies. It was difficult to get a
second cup of coffee and
several times we waited over :15 to place our food order. The food line was usually
conjested in front of the hot
food area where passengers were trying to get a server to accomodate their requests while
at the same time the
waiters were trying to place their "hot" food order with the same server. This
rather elementary problem never did
get sorted out.
On our previous cruises with Silver Sea, we never had any trouble being seated at a table
for two, even when the
ship was full. On this crusie of 14 days, we were never able to get one of the "two
tops". Also, on all of our
Seabourn and previous Silver Sea cruises, the maitre d' always knew our names by the
second day. On this cruise
we were never addressed by our names in any dinning areas. To make matters worse, the
matre d' began to roll his
eyes and become exasperated when we asked to be seated at a table for two. SS does
advertise that one can eat
when and with whom one wants. In our case, we wanted to eat by ourselves. To be fair, this
was usually done, but at
a table for four, six, or even eight. Even that would have been satisfactory, except that
the extra settings were never
remnoved, a fairly standard procedure at most restaurants, even down to medium grade
establishments. The
bottom line is that one does not expect to be seated with others at an upscale restaurant
and certainly not on the #
1 rated crusie line which emphasizes private dinning.
The ship was in better repair (paint, brass, carpet, etc) than any of our other cruises,
except that our toilet was
inoperative on 5 different occasions, once for over 17 hours - not good for the # 1 line.
There was also a noticable
trace of septic tank/sewer smell in the ship on several occasions.
We felt that the food in the Restaurant was better than on previous SS cruises and is now
on a par with Seabourn.
The reception staff, including the concierge and cruise consultant/Venitian representative
were outstanding;
however, we never felt that there was anyone on the Cloud that we could turn to to discuss
our concerns,
The magic act was superb as was the guest pianist, although she only played twice in 14
days. The piano
bar/lounge entertainer was also top notch; however, the floor shows were not up to
previous SS experiences.
The "feel" of the ship was quite different than our other cruises on SS. After
reviewing our feelings on the subject
after returning home we feel the change is, in a large part, attributable to the
difficulty of the European staff having
to intigrate with the expanding Asian staff in the bars and dinning areas. It was
interesting to note that while we were
being briefed by the Venitian representative about the two new ships and the direction
Silver Sea was taking, we
were served drinks by an Asian hostess while we were being briefed on the "all
European" staff on the SS Line. The
service in the bar, were we were asked "You wahn drinks?" is a far cry from less
than two years ago when a
European waiter would say "Can I get you and your wife another drink, Col
Morrissey?"
Having said all the above, the cruise was still very good and had we not seen what this
Line stood for in the past, we
would probably have thought that "this is just the way it is"; however, the
standards that we expected were set and
demonstrated by Silver Sea. It is a bit sad that they do not seem to be there any more
If Silver Sea is going to point to right field, then they have not only to win the game
but to hit the home run - every
time.
Name: Donald Kurasch
Email: marydon22@excite.com
Age: 54
Occupation: Lawyer
NumberOfCruises: 40
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Silversea-SilverCloud
SailingDate: August 18, 1999
Itinerary: Copenhagen to London
Cabin: 411
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 82
CabinComfort: 92
FoodRoomService: 90
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 93
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets: dna
CabinSteward: 78
ShoreExcVariety: 80
FoodVariety: 92
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: dna
GoodForHoneymoon: 70
CasinoStaff: 70
PrivateIsland: dna
GoodForFamilies: 50
LoungeService: 92
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff: 85
EntertainmentLounges: 70
WheelchairAccess: dna
ExerciseFacilities: 50
EntertShowLounge: 70
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon: dna
EntertainmentPoolside: dna
CruiseActivities: dna
Casino: 70
AirSeaProgram: dna
MedicalFacilities: dna
ShipCleanliness: 90
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs: 85
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 80
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 17 Oct 1999
Time: 23:03:58
Remote Name: d3-5-141.cedar-rapids.dialup.ans.net
Remote User:
Comments
After many cruises on most of the major lines, from Carnival to Crystal, and just about
everything in between, we
were looking forward to this, our very first Silversea Cruise. We had read everything most
of you probably have
read, and we were aware of the awards. Perhaps our expectations were just too high, but
overall we were pretty
disappointed. On the positive side, the dining room experience was beyond our highest
expectations. The variety
and quality of the food was as good as in any large city in the world. And the staff could
not have been more
accomodating. I happen to love seared foie gras, and I was able to have delicious foie
gras virtually every night.
One day they served a particular kind of pizza at the lunch buffet, and we were able to
ask for and be served that
particular kind of pizza any day we asked for it.
The wonderful food and service, combined with the ability to eat
whenever and with whomever we chose made the dining experience on this ship the finest
we've ever experienced.
And we must say, for a ship that includes all the liquor you can drink on board in the
price, they were not at all
stingy about the quality or quantity. The staff kept filling wine glasses at dinner, even
before they were empty. And
these passengers do drink quite a bit of it. The other real plus were the suites. While we
were in the basic suite, we
were able to spend quite a bit of time in a Silver Suite, as the couple we spent most of
our cruise with were in one.
And make no mistake about it, passengers in the larger suites receive a significantly
elevated level of service
beyond that of the basic suites, though we thought our service was adequate. Just know
that in the larger suites,
such as the Silver Suites, passengers are brought fancy appetizers and other assorted
goodies without even asking
(and that's fine, for $40,000.00 they ought to get something more). But the rooms were
fine and roomy enough,
though the bathrooms were not up to the standards set by Crystal (the Harmony has double
bowl sinks, which
Silversea does not). Our biggest disappointments were the gym facilities and the
entertainment. And we really did
attempt to sample almost all of the entertainment, but usually left soon after the start.
We had no problem with the
smaller stage, since we knew before we arrived this was a smaller ship. But the competency
of some of the
performers was mediocre at best, and once when the cruise director attempted to sing the
beautiful song Stars,
from Les Miserables, it was quite literally a painful embarrassment. It really is hard to
convey just how bad this
entertainment was. We've enjoyed much finer entertainment on almost every other cruise
we've ever been on,
including Carnival. And the gym was like an afterthought. There were three treadmills,
often with long waiting lists.
And in the small, low-ceiling room they use for a gym, tall men had to be careful not to
bang their heads on the
ceiling while running on the treadmills. Too small, too poorly equipped, and dark and
dreary inside besides. And the
outdoor 'track' was totally inadequate to run on. Simply too many narrow passageways and
sharp turns, poor
running surface, and too many laps to a mile. We actually knew in advance the casino would
be small, but over and
above that, we found the dealers rather stiff and unfriendly. Sometimes not even a thank
you for a tip. And how do
you like this for a blackjack rule - if you double down, and the dealer has blackjack, the
dealers takes both your
original bet and your double down.
If any of you reading this are blackjack players, you know how outrageous that
is. Because we were on a cruise from Copenhagen to London, even though it was August, the
combination of the
cool weather and the fact that the ship stopped every single day except one, no one really
was able to sample the
pool area. I'm sure in the right climate, it's a perfectly adequate facility. Just a brief
comment on what this line calls
the Silversea Experience. The best thing I can say about it is that they didn't charge
anything extra for it. It was a
trip to a castle in France, and we saw a parade of hunting dogs. It was OK, but if I had
paid for it, I might have said
something about value. One thing for sure, if you're determined to take Silversea, don't
base your decision on
whether or not your cruise includes a Silversea Experience. It is no big deal at all. And
about that 'no tipping' policy.
Forget it. Obviously, you can if you choose, leave the ship without tipping. But believe
me when I tell you, tips were
readily accepted, and I definitely had the feeling they were expected. I happen to think
that ships ought to either
have an absolutely outright policy of tipping strictly forbidden (with the staff trained
to politely but firmly turn them
down), or else have a tipping policy that specifically suggests that passengers tip within
certain guidelines. Period. I
think the most awkward policy of all is Holland America's, with its 'No Tipping Expected'
policy. On our several
cruises on that line passengers seemed totally confused about what to do. Some even
thought the crew was paid
more than on other cruises, which is absolutely not true. Overall, we have to say there
was a bit of 'The Emperor's
New Clothes' going on here. These are enormously expensive cruises, and in our humble
opinion, it just ain't worth
it. Perhaps Silversea's two new ships will offer more in the way of entertainment and
workout facilities, but that
remains to be seen. We're going to try Radisson's new Navigator this January to see if
that ship bridges the gap
between small, yet with great facilities. I'll report on that early next year.
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