new here hi! silversea cruises? anyone......
Discussion
big hi to all, wife and I are just about to book a cruise with silverseas, silver spirit 31st may ten nights rome to venice
its our first cruise with a 5/6 star brand. before we sign on the dotted line would love to hear from anyone with views reviews. Have read up but the reviews are all over the place good and bad !. We not new to cruising have done well over 20 with Rci & p&o . Know every ones likes are different but some basic ground info would be good. Thanks in advance
merry x mas !!!!
its our first cruise with a 5/6 star brand. before we sign on the dotted line would love to hear from anyone with views reviews. Have read up but the reviews are all over the place good and bad !. We not new to cruising have done well over 20 with Rci & p&o . Know every ones likes are different but some basic ground info would be good. Thanks in advance
merry x mas !!!!
hornetrider said:
Welcome and all but... why have you joined a motoring forum in order to ask?!
because its holidays and travel my first post but not first visit to the site ! plus will no doubt have some motoring questions in the near future with my summer fun cars. Reading through several topics here in general im expecting some banter etc LOL but hope to pull out some useful facts amongst it all. Thanks for being the first to reply to my first post ... merry xmasMrs BC & I cruise with Seabourn which is a competitor of Silversea, similar prices & service etc. also both are all inclusive which narrows the price difference with other lines.
We love Seabourn. In fact I'm typing this at Heathrow on the way to join another Seabourn cruise.
Silversea v Seabourn. A bit like BMW v Mercedes, many will have a preference but not exactly a hardship either way.
We love Seabourn. In fact I'm typing this at Heathrow on the way to join another Seabourn cruise.
Silversea v Seabourn. A bit like BMW v Mercedes, many will have a preference but not exactly a hardship either way.
I have cruised with Silverseas, Regent, Seabourn and this year Cunard (QM2 Queens Grill) over a 10 year period. The first three are pretty close in equal first place with Cunard a clear second place. I would probably rank Silverseas narrowly over Regent and Seabourn only because their pricing is a little keener for what you receive. They are all top notch cruise lines with everything included and you have to quibble to really find fault. Regent is slightly more casual than Silverseas and Seabourn. The ships mostly came out of the same ship yard so the cabins have a similar layout design with just stylish flourishes between them. The ships never feel crowded unless everyone gathers for the captains cocktail party.
The all inclusive style is my preference - you don't have to bring out the room card every time you want a drink. You will get sticker shock initially but compare it to a conventional large cruise ship line and add on all the fees, drinks, tips, excursions, etc and get to a comparable cabin size pricing and you will find the pricing starts to make sense. I found my per day cost all in on Cunard QM2 was 15% more than the comparable per day cost on the prior year's Regent cruise almost all due to alcohol
.
I do recommend that you research the ship you are going on. Some have vibration problems (e.g. Regent Navigator which started life as a Soviet spy ship of all things) and so it is critical where you choose a cabin on those ships. Also as they are smaller ships they do pitch more than longer ships so you won't want to be way up the front. Its been 7-8 years since I was on Spirit and it has been renovated since then so my experience will not be the same. We were mid ships balcony lower down and had no issues but I did hear on the that cruise the service desk complaints of someone towards the back having a vibration problem. The cabin layouts and space are excellent.
The itineraries between Silverseas, Regent and Seabourn are all fairly consistent - no real pick amongst them here. Smaller ships do mean you get into smaller ports or into docks closer to the action. Some Seabourn ships can get under Tower Bridge and dock opposite the Tower for example. On Regent we docked on the other side of the bridge from the Hermitage in St Petersburg - strolling distance - big ships are docked an hour bus ride away.
I would not worry so much about the inconsistent reviews. What you are seeing is that you will get the Florida retiree types with too much plastic surgery and money coming on and being prima donnas. They whine and moan about everything whereas I am a lot more relaxed.
The Rome to Venice itinerary was one we did in reverse in 2012 on Regent Voyager. I liked it a lot as an itinerary. I did want another day in Livorno to see Lucca or another destination in the countryside but it just means I will have to go back!
I don't know who you are booking with but there are some specialist cruise agents in the US that will book a cruise and rebate half the commission back in a cheque just prior to departure. That can be a sizable refund (US$800-1200 depending on the cruise cost). The agent I use has customers globally who all prefer to book this way to get cheaper pricing. Do not book directly with the cruise line as they will cost a lot more than these specialist agents.
The all inclusive style is my preference - you don't have to bring out the room card every time you want a drink. You will get sticker shock initially but compare it to a conventional large cruise ship line and add on all the fees, drinks, tips, excursions, etc and get to a comparable cabin size pricing and you will find the pricing starts to make sense. I found my per day cost all in on Cunard QM2 was 15% more than the comparable per day cost on the prior year's Regent cruise almost all due to alcohol
. I do recommend that you research the ship you are going on. Some have vibration problems (e.g. Regent Navigator which started life as a Soviet spy ship of all things) and so it is critical where you choose a cabin on those ships. Also as they are smaller ships they do pitch more than longer ships so you won't want to be way up the front. Its been 7-8 years since I was on Spirit and it has been renovated since then so my experience will not be the same. We were mid ships balcony lower down and had no issues but I did hear on the that cruise the service desk complaints of someone towards the back having a vibration problem. The cabin layouts and space are excellent.
The itineraries between Silverseas, Regent and Seabourn are all fairly consistent - no real pick amongst them here. Smaller ships do mean you get into smaller ports or into docks closer to the action. Some Seabourn ships can get under Tower Bridge and dock opposite the Tower for example. On Regent we docked on the other side of the bridge from the Hermitage in St Petersburg - strolling distance - big ships are docked an hour bus ride away.
I would not worry so much about the inconsistent reviews. What you are seeing is that you will get the Florida retiree types with too much plastic surgery and money coming on and being prima donnas. They whine and moan about everything whereas I am a lot more relaxed.
The Rome to Venice itinerary was one we did in reverse in 2012 on Regent Voyager. I liked it a lot as an itinerary. I did want another day in Livorno to see Lucca or another destination in the countryside but it just means I will have to go back!
I don't know who you are booking with but there are some specialist cruise agents in the US that will book a cruise and rebate half the commission back in a cheque just prior to departure. That can be a sizable refund (US$800-1200 depending on the cruise cost). The agent I use has customers globally who all prefer to book this way to get cheaper pricing. Do not book directly with the cruise line as they will cost a lot more than these specialist agents.
Edited by LostCroc on Tuesday 16th December 10:56
thanks lostcroc we just booked the silversea silver spirit Rome / Venice ten night cruise . Spoke with few agents here in the uk, all pretty close price wise, you are right about going direct to silversea they were more for the same deals.
we ended up booking with Iglucruises here in the uk, used them many times in the past and always been the best deal. Close on price with this cruise but ...... the free upgrade from window to veranda on deck 5 was a plus and then the on board $ credit put them in first place (again) Got the last suite !!! of that grade. The suite is right at the front, and aware of the max movements... but not an issue (like a bit of rocking ) Really looking foreward to this one, no looking back I expect after though. Thanks again for your input and merry x mas..
we ended up booking with Iglucruises here in the uk, used them many times in the past and always been the best deal. Close on price with this cruise but ...... the free upgrade from window to veranda on deck 5 was a plus and then the on board $ credit put them in first place (again) Got the last suite !!! of that grade. The suite is right at the front, and aware of the max movements... but not an issue (like a bit of rocking ) Really looking foreward to this one, no looking back I expect after though. Thanks again for your input and merry x mas..
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