I Cruise Silversea To See If Its New Owners Have RUINED It
I Cruise Silversea To See If Its New Owners Have RUINED It
Four years ago, Royal Caribbean, best known for huge, good value resort ships, surprised many by buying Silversea known for ultra-luxury small ship cruising. Having cruised on it before the takeover, I decided I should return to see if the online reviews from other pre-takeover cruisers saying things like, “Not the same Silversea” and…
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Thanks for another great video
Your cruise must have been a while ago. La Dame is now $160 pp and an additional $90 pp for a premium wine pairing.
Great review. I have sailed over 25 times with Silversea (full disclosure as a guest lecturer each time) since 2011 both before and after RCI’s purchase of the line. I think the overall quality has been consistent through the years. Each ship and each voyage has its own unique feel based upon the staff. Originally the first four ships were about 290 and 386 guests. The more recent four ships are about 600, which gives the eight restaurants with the Silver Moon and Silver Dawn with the new SALT restaurant which has been excellent in my experience on cruises in the Caribbean and Norway with regional cuisine. I am booked on the two new builds, the Silver Nova and Silver Ray which are about 700 guests and have an axial deck layout instead of the “wedding cake “ layout of the other ships. Perhaps some of the online opinions have been the result of the line growing and that the newer ships are 600 guests instead of 300 or 400. Have sailed on Regent four times and agree that Silversea is more formal and “European” in feel and Regent perhaps more “American “ in feel
Thank you @tipsfortravelers ! Very helpful. The age of the travelers in this Silversea video appear to be 60s 70s . Is this the case for this line generally?
There is NOTHING picky about wanting the free caviar!
I pulled up your channel, saw the title of this video and LOL 'd!
Hi Gary, nice to see your videos again. Just want to let you know Silver seas door-to-door is not Business Class! I priced it out and found that if I did their door-to-door I would be paying about an extra $8000 more than booking it myself Business Class. I’ll be going on Silver Silver Muse January 5, 2025 Auckland to Sydney. When I booked the door-to-door I found they were charging me almost $40,000 for two of us. I was able to book the cruise (port to port) for $14,700 (superior balcony suite), and buy my Business Class airfare from a consolidator for a total of $16,700 far cheaper than their door-to-door “upgrade” to business class. My total is a little over $30,000 compared to their price of $39,000 and change. An Uber to and from the airport is a heck of a lot cheaper, and I was able to get discount hotel rates for the JW Marriott Auckland and the Marriott in Sydney.
Also, so you know, they’ve just introduced a budget fair which is absolutely no refunds and does not include shore excursions. Speaking with shore excursions, on my cruise Jan 2025, the choice of short excursions Australia, and New Zealand is very basic & limited! I have only two options for free, the rest cost money that’s a big disappointment to me. I understood before booking the cruise that they were all free. examples of included excursions are a bus ride around town, a tour of a garden sanctuary. The other thing that’s disappointment is there are no excursions included for the departure city, Auckland, or the Arrival city of Sydney, even though we’re docked. Given that we have three overnights on this cruise, I may book my own shore, excursions and pay for them (regrettably) but I’m disappointed to understand that you have to ask for things and they’re not automatically given. I booked this cruise with the understanding that they were absolutely top shelf, and they were very personalized get to know your name get to know your preferences without having to pull that information from them. I’ll let you know how my cruise goes. I’m starting to have regrets about booking this. Silversea Cruises makes it hard, Should you change your mind and canceled there is at minimum 15% cancellation fee. Well, I’ve given up on the mainstream cruise lines like Princess and Holland America due to overcrowding and poor quality, I will research with a fine tooth comb all high and cruise lines to make sure I’m making the best decision possible. All the reviews I read, said Silver seat was the best, we shall see.
Loved this report Gary .. I'm a silversea girl since my first cruise with them in 2005 .. have never looked back .. have over 40 plus cruises mostly in the early days royal Caribbean ( 1989).. I have been on dawn & moon & Agree with you on several issues you mentioned since take over but I still enjoyed my last 2 cruises & have 2 more bookings..
did all these top end offerings many years ago while six figure incomes were flowing
now retired with all the time in the world I'd rather a shorter cruise with the common folk and their take on life, enjoying a jolly good splash and banter while the liver is still able.
The fact that most ocean liners or cruise ships are charging extra for specialty dining is yet another reason why I prefer river cruises. All inclusive for 1 price ( drinks, excursions, meals, etc…).
Fully agree, though the personal touch may depend on the specific crew on board. In February on the Muse, everything you missed was there (adressed by my name almost instantly, waiters remembered my preferences, butler volunteered all you had to ask for, …). Communication on board non-existent, though, and "entertainment" just embarrassing. The enrichment speakers were unacceptably bad. So it really is perhaps the growth that redistributes things less evenly. BTW, there are even zero supplement cruises for solo travellers, and this puts this into a much more affordable range in comparison.
brilliant video very informative. Can I ask are all pre hotel stays included in the price for d2d. I ask because we fly from the UK and it looks like we will have to fly out the day before to Barbados.
I just came off Endeavor. They definitely have communication issues on the front and back end (off ship). I found that most of the crew remembered everything I liked etc – or at least were nice about it – and they all knew my name. I agree I didn't know how to use our Butler, but he did offer to do a special dinner for us and asked what we wanted – we did an Indian dinner one nite and an Asian dinner during the last week – both were the best of all the food we had on board. We are sailing again on Endeavor in 2025 because we loved the ship and the staff. If you ran into the senior staff, they were very nice and would talk with you – but since they were sailing through icebergs and sketchy weather, I get it. Thanks for your video!
they are not worth the money ! I prefer Regent.
Constructive criticism that Royal Caribbean should take note of.
1200 and day per person and they have a extra fee for specialty restaurants?😮
Would suggest you try the Nova, their newest and biggest ship. The Arts Cafe has been changed dramatically , now it’s $160 pp for La Dame, the Grill and the pizza are on the same level and the same venue and all of us were inconvenienced on the last trip for a photo op with RCL’s two other new ships. Definitely see the influence of a big corporate owner. Still a great 39 day BA to Ft. Lauderdale cruise we were just on. Booked on another, but it’s not the same as the smaller family owned line.
We chose Silversea a few years ago because Viking did not have the itinerary we wanted. It was more expensive than Viking but for a few extra perks, not that great. We were particularly annoyed over the extra fee specialty restaurants and that smoking was allowed in areas where the smoke would easily pass to the non smoking areas. It is a very good line but we still prefer Viking for its value, consistency, and its beautiful ocean ships which are all of the same design.
Love your reviews. Where do you place Viking in the cruise line up. We really enjoy but haven’t done these other lines yet!😊
Thanks Gary, as always, great info.
I’m booked on an expedition cruise on Silversea in 2025. Hopefully their expedition cruises are still amazing 🥺
How the 3 dress codes pertain to women (not just the men) would be valuable information.
Perhaps you can stretch your thinking to consider us in your future videos.
Otherwise, I find you to be helpfully thorough.
Thanks!
Hey, if people want to waste their money ($1300/pp/pd!) on these types of cruise lines, more power to them. The other 98% will be perfectly content on Celebrity and Princess , thank you very much. I just don't see 5x the value in them. I know value is in the eye of the cruiser.
Thanks for the information Gary. You had me worried when you started your video, as we have our first Silversea cruise in February next year aboard the new Silver Ray (Lima to Buenos Aires). Thankfully none of your points are deal-breakers for us. One of our biggest fears is the dress code. We are not big dress up people and were told by our TA and Silversea that the dress code is beginning to be somewhat MORE relaxed specially on the newer ships. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen (<fingers crossed>). But thanks again for this informative post.