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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 “Before it was sold, we thought Silversea was superb, well run, with delicious food. Not now” were right or not. So, I booked myself on Silver Spirit for a two-week cruise, and this is what I found
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ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 101 cruises I have done to date.
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00:00 Start
00:40 What is Silversea?
01:34 What's the same on Silversea?
08:14 What's Better on Silversea?
10:04 What's not as good on Silversea
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0:00
Four years ago, Royal Caribbean, best known for huge good value resort ships, surprised so many
0:05
people by buying Silversy known for ultra-luxry small ship cruising, so almost the opposite
0:12
Having cruised on a before takeover, I decided I should return to Silversy to see if the online
0:16
reviews from other pre-takeover cruises saying things like not the same Silversy
0:21
And before it was sold, we thought Silver Sea was superb, well-run with delicious food
0:25
but not now. I want to see if they were right or not. So I book myself on Silver Spirit for a two-week cruise, and this is what I found
0:34
By the way, if you're new here, welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bembridge, helping you to get cruising right, including if Silver Sea is still worth considering
0:41
But before I get into what I found to be good, bad and the same, I thought it's worth reminding you what Silver Sea is or was
0:48
Founded by the Le economist family as an ultra-luxury all-inclusive cruise line, it competes with Region 7 Seas, Seaborn Crystal and the new explorer journeys
0:58
biggest fleet of all the ultra luxury lines, 12, making it almost double the next largest
1:05
Unlike most of those, it has a classic and an expedition fleet and calls on 900 ports a year
1:12
which is double the next biggest competitor, Seaborne. You'll pay around $1,300 a night per person in a classic veranda suite
1:21
That's about the same price as Regent and Crystal, and a little bit more than if you're going on Seaborne
1:26
So what did I find they are doing the same, better and worse under the new ownership, starting with what hasn't really changed
1:34
Well, there's still an ultra-luxy line with both classic and expedition ships, and much of the senior management, surprisingly, from before, is actually still around
1:43
One of the things that is the same, but also changed, is the all-inclusive offer as they've got more inclusions now because they've got the door-to-door and port to port fairs, so two different types of fairs
1:56
The door-to-door fare moved them closer to what Regent do. This fair includes a limo transfer
2:02
from your home to the airport, usually business class flights, a pre-cruise hotel stay
2:08
transfers from the hotel to the ship, all the onboard inclusions, butler drinks, basic
2:13
Wi-Fi gratuities, most specialty dining, and now also a choice of one excursion per port
2:20
Then also you get a post-hotel stay or a day room if needed, transfer to the airport and then a limo
2:25
home. The port to port is a cruise-only fare with just those same inclusions on board
2:31
Talking of fares, they still offer many, many cruises with low solar supplements of
2:35
around 20% to 25%, which really appeals to me. They still have butlers for every single
2:41
sweet grade, not just the highest grades, still making them different to all the competition
2:47
You sell as in my view the strictest and most complied to dress code across the ultra luxury lines
2:53
This is the only one that I ever feel and still do feel the need to get dressed up more on
2:58
They have three dress coats, casual where I could wear a collared shirt and slacks
3:02
informal where I was expected to wear jacket with tie optional, and then formal with tuxedo or dark suit and tie
3:10
One of the things that is still the same is the style of service, and this still divides cruisers as it did before
3:17
Silver Sea has a more formal, even slightly aloof, and I guess more European style of service compared to the more sort of relaxed chatty perhaps more American style of the other lines While overall good service there are a couple of issues I feel post
3:32
takeover that I will come to later. In terms of entertainment, I found on my cruise that it's
3:37
largely unchanged from before. In my view, unfortunately, it's still stuck a little bit in the
3:44
past and very classic cruise fair. To be honest, I did find it a little disappointing that it was still
3:50
the same since Royal Caribbean have enormous expertise in entertainment. While some people tell
3:56
me that on the newer ships, they definitely felt that it's improved. I did find the daily
3:59
program was basically much the same. Trivia, bingo, table tennis competitions, cooking
4:05
demonstrations, live music and lounges, and the production shows. Now these are the standard
4:10
themed song and dance with for me, I'm sorry, data themes and music. I'm in my mid-60s and it still
4:17
feels like it's more my parents' generation that the entertainment's talking to. They did have an
4:22
enrichment program that still stood out versus the competition. On my trip, they had four
4:27
speakers, one on destination and ports, one on local South African politics and history, one on
4:33
wildlife and game parks, and then slightly stranger for the region, although interesting
4:38
one about Lindy Chamberlain, the dingo baby case in Australia. I've left dining in food for the
4:42
last in the what's of the same category because it overlaps with the improved and worse
4:47
areas at the same time that I will cover next. In the past I found the food on silver to be good
4:52
and unlike reviews in some people on my trip, I feel that they still do really good food. Some
4:58
people told me they felt the grades of meats and the produce was perhaps worse because maybe
5:03
they've shifted to use Royal Caribbean's providers or there's been budget cuts. Personally, I didn't
5:08
think that at all. However, there are a couple of things around that whole area that probably
5:13
drove and qualify why I thought that perhaps versus other people. One thing I do feel is different
5:19
but cannot check as I didn't keep them from before, is I felt the items and choice on the menus
5:24
were smaller than they used to be, even though it's still a good range at a choice. Even if they're
5:29
not smaller than before, they're definitely smaller than I had on competition, say like regent
5:35
All ships do not have, though, it's important to understand the same dining venues. But what I do
5:40
like that as before, Silver Sea have bank venues and more than on many of the competitive lines
5:47
in ultra luxury. Let me talk about included dining first. On Silver Spirit, I had Atlantide
5:53
which is the closest you come to a traditional dining room in menu and style. It was open for
5:59
breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then I had Indochina, an Asian-focused restaurant, which operated
6:04
more as a main dining room at night. I didn't have to make reservations in the evening
6:08
by the way, for either of those two restaurants. had La Tarrazza, which is the buffet for breakfast and lunch. In the evening, it turns into an Italian
6:17
restaurant, which does require reservation. In there in the evening, they do great Italian food. The buffet
6:22
was, and still is relatively small, but it was definitely generous enough with a pasta station
6:27
good desserts at lunch, that kind of thing. The Silver Sea Signature Grill is still there. This
6:33
Poulette Grill has an informal lunch menu, things like hamburgers and so on
6:37
but for dinner turns into their signature hot rocks, the piping hot
6:40
lava stones where you get to cook your own food. I always enjoy that. They then have
6:46
a speckinapoli the outdoor pizza restaurant over most of the day and into the evening Many say it has the best pizza See I not sure that true that it ever was but it still is very good I could but I didn need to make reservations there
7:01
They also have Silver Note, which is a venue which plays jazz music in the evening
7:05
and a venue I loved called Arts Cafe, which is a relatively new edition, but it did come in pre-takeover
7:11
This is their coffee shop, it has snacks all day and into the evenings, a big favorite of mine
7:16
Then, of course, I also had room service. Now, I loved that in the evening I had lots of variety included in my fare, but they also
7:24
then have some specially dining with fees, which I do find strange for an ultra-luxury high-line
7:30
fair, though it was the case before the takeover too. Like all ships, there was the fancy Ladar, which is a silver sea signature, which you pay
7:39
$60 per person if you don't do the wine pairing. They also had Seishin, which is open some days for lunch, but
7:46
always for dinner. This is kind of an Asian, Japanese restaurant, and this was $40 per person to dine there
7:52
I really, really like this one. But what I did like to, which is true of Silver Sea before
7:57
is unlike some competition, I wasn't limited to how often I could go to any of the restaurants
8:02
and I went to order them a couple of times, which leads me on to what I think Silver Sea is doing
8:07
better before some of the things that I find that they're actually doing worse since takeover
8:14
The first, what's better, is in dining. launched the Salt Program in 2021, which stands for Sea and Land Taste
8:21
The concept is to make the food and drink on board way more connected to the destination
8:26
which even on other ultra luxury lines is not really done in much depth
8:31
It includes dining experiences with local menus, with the salt kitchen restaurant and bar
8:36
on the newer ships, along with local food and wine excursions, there's salt cooking classes
8:42
and salt cooking demonstrations. Less good is it's not on all ships like it wasn't on Silver Spirit. The closest I got on my cruise
8:51
was a South African chef doing a cooking demonstration of three classic South African dishes
8:56
along with the history behind them, which was really interesting. The other thing I found
9:00
that they're doing better is around the area of excursions. Now first of all, everyone gets access
9:06
to excursions when booking. So they're rewarding those of us like me who book early
9:11
So for example, on that South African trip, I had booked way in advance
9:15
And as soon as I did, I could access and book and I got all the excursions that I wanted
9:20
It wasn't based on what grade you've booked. Secondly, which I love, instead of meeting in a venue being allocated a sticker and waiting
9:27
I could just head out when I was ready to go on my excursion at the time
9:31
Someone at the end of the gangway then allocates me to a bus. It just feels so much more kind of sophisticated
9:37
Third, though not everyone, to be honest, agreed with me. I felt actually that the included excursions were really good and weren't just basic walking or
9:45
panoramic bus tours. So I went on some pretty incredible excursions to game parks
9:50
cut some marangues to view seals, a four by four ride over these massive dunes in Namibia
9:55
I didn't actually feel the need to book the premium excursions as they do on other lines with
9:59
included tours. So far, so good. But what did I find they're not doing as well as before
10:05
First, I think for me, the biggest change that I saw is it did feel more corporate. It did feel
10:10
less kind of family-owned. And it's one of the things that's hard to put your finger on exactly
10:14
which is why I think many people in reviews said there was something off but they couldn quite work out what it was Of course it may be because the fleet has grown dramatically since Takeover with five new ships
10:26
entering service at the time of recording, the Silver Moon, Silver Dawn, Solar Nova, Silver Nova
10:30
Silver, Origin, and Silver Endeavour, and more on the way. It is a much bigger operation
10:35
so it's likely, I guess, that the pre-takeover kind of Silver Sea crew are dispersed, they diluted
10:39
across the fleet, and of course, there's lots of new crew post shutdown. Also, versus what I
10:44
remember, the visibility of senior crew was pretty low. And even when they're about, I didn't think
10:50
there was sort of an interaction and engagement with passengers. It felt pretty limited. So other than
10:54
the daily updates or the welcome captains party, you didn't really see the senior team kind of
10:59
active engaging with passengers. That felt very different to what I remember from before
11:03
I also found, and this is nitpicking a bit, communication and attention to detail, felt a little
11:08
bit mixed and not as slick as it was before. A really simple example. On Embarcation Day for the
11:13
Mustardrill. The television was telling us one thing, the announcement's another thing
11:17
the daily programme said something else, and we were told something else when we checked in
11:21
So there was kind of just that sort of attention to detail and consistency that you kind of
11:26
expect when you're paying that kind of fare. Another example of communication was we had choppy
11:30
weather and they dropped a tender port call at Mosul Bay. It wasn't particularly well communicated
11:36
it was just announced. Then there wasn't any senior crew about willing to take questions on
11:40
which lots of people had because they knew another ship had gone in and was tendering
11:44
Another thing I felt was less good was a shift from crew giving a really personalized proactive
11:49
service to a little bit more of a ask and you will receive approach, which if you did ask
11:55
you did get. But let me give some examples. There's a lot of butler can do and bring, but if you don't know what it is, then you
12:01
miss out because it's not explained or it wasn't done proactively about what they could do
12:06
Things like getting canopays every day or special treats or the ability of afternoon
12:10
tea served in your room. I kind of I realized that I needed to brush up on what I could get before I
12:15
went to be able to ask. It wasn't kind of proactive and interactive. I also discovered after the
12:20
trip that it could have had caviar on demand, but unless I knew that, I didn't ask for it and
12:24
it wasn't really apparent. So kind of an ask and you will receive. In the restaurant, I would go most
12:29
mornings to Atlantide for breakfast and over the course of two weeks, so quite a lot. I basically
12:33
had this pretty much the same way to, but they just didn't remember things like I had decofe
12:37
coffee with skin milk. You know, other ultra-luxial lines I've been on. I found that staff are trained
12:42
and encouraged to remember and offer for a kind of really personalized service. And I find when I
12:47
go, you know, my decaf, skin milk, it basically arrives without me asking. So they're just that
12:50
attention to detail personalization. Now I know these are small and picky issues, but there's an
12:55
ultra-luxury line and for the fair. And so the other lines you'd, I also remember it being the case
13:00
before. So this, I feel seems to have changed. But overall, I felt the service was good. It just wasn't
13:07
perhaps as sharp and proactive as before. I felt on balance that reviews are being, in my view
13:13
too harsh in thinking that Silver Sea is being dumbed down or ruined by Royal Caribbean ownership
13:18
It's grown fast because of their resources and I came away thinking
13:22
these are perhaps some growing pains, they're making some edges a little bit less sharp
13:26
but not so bad that they're ruining it. I think they're fixable and I think they will elevate
13:31
And I will go again based on what I experienced on Silversy, but if you feel that Silver Sea is not for you
13:37
Find out what I think of Regent 7Cruisers, one of the closest lines of them by joining me in this video
13:43
where I start with one thing people get wrong about them and why. See you over there
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