Suite

Silversea

Lisbon

Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

Barbados

Barcelona

Copenhagen

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Venice

Bergen

San Juan

Europe - All

Caribbean - All

Caribbean - Southern

Europe - Western Mediterranean

Mediterranean

Caribbean - Eastern

Spain

U.S.A.

Europe - British Isles & Western

Europe River

Portugal

Douro River

France

Italy

USVI

Baltic Sea

Denmark

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Norway

Africa

Morocco

Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Croatia

Canary Islands

Netherlands

South America

Transatlantic

Trans-Ocean

Panama Canal & Central America

Norwegian Fjords

Caribbean - Western

Europe - River Cruise

Mexico - All

Belgium

Belize

Germany

Rhine River

Seine River

Excellent

Very Good

Poor

Average

Terrible

Silver Spirit

Silver Shadow

Silver Muse

Silver Whisper

Silver Dawn

Silver Moon

Silver Nova

Silver Origin

Very good cruise, but Seabourn better.

We paid £187 pp. per day for the cruise - a lot less than what the  luxury cruise lines charge - but not worth it. 

The ship itself is OK. Quite new, spaceous and well maintained. The cabins are large and clean with good size balconies and bathrooms with a shower stall and an ample tub. 

However “the product” (food, service and entertainment) is definitely low budget. 

Low budget food (photos atrached): 

1. New York Strip Steak one fifth of an inch thick. 

2. Sushi Rolls with rotten avocado. 

3. Prociutto way past sell by date. 

4. Vanilla Icecream (two scoops) not even cohesive. 

5. Fresh Fruit Plate with a total of three eighths of a strawberry.

The F&B  Manager stays in his small office by the gangway on Deck 3. He very rarely sets foot on deck. Who can blame him….

Low budget service: 

Half of the staff are actually excellent. Skilled, friendly and attentive. However in an effort to reduce pay-roll Silversea have stopped requiring any previous experience of new hires. They now recruit youngsters by the dozens from the absolute cheapest pools of unskilled labour on the planet. They bring in hordes of clueless new hires many of them hardly able to understand English. Then they turn them loose on the ship annoying both the existing staff and the customers.

They give a guy from Honduras and one from Zimbabwe tags saying Sommelier. They put  a boy from India in charge of the open galley at the Pizza restaurant. They gave him a white hat on his head and called him Chef. 

Low budget entertainment:

The show is performed by a low budget ensemble. A Silversea “Pool Deck Party” is not a party in which you actually participate. It’s the usual suspects doing their usual leg kicking to the usual old trotters on open deck instead of at the theatre. However the aim of the pathetic performance is the same - and I quote: “To get your toes tapping and your heads bobbing”. If your idea of fun is tapping your toes and bobbing your head - go Silversea…..

Low budget

We have sailed on multiple high end cruise lines including the old Crystal, Regent and the former Silversea. We are in the owner’s suite, which is the top of the line. The room is the high point; only negatives are high step ups to the bathrooms and a shower door installed upside down so you have to bend down to the floor to open it from the inside.

Butler is well meaning and tries hard but not the level of butler professionalism to which we are accustomed.

The food ranges from inedible to poor. That is the biggest disappointment. La Dame, pay to eat, touted as the best, is really a huge disappointment. Dessert was the only good course. Also, they charge a lot of money for TINY pours of their premium wine ( literally 3 sips).

Kaiseki and SALT are adequate but not inspiring. Service in all restaurants is poor. It seems to be a lack of management.

The spa and beauty salon were ok but over priced.

Overall, the ship seems to suffer from a lack of top management. You never see the ship officers, and most of the restaurant staff seem clueless.

We traveled on the Silversea before it was sold to Royal

Caribbean and this experience is not that. Previously, we thought Silversea was superb, well run, with delicious food.

Traveler beware and spend your money elsewhere.

What a disappointment

Skagway

We booked this cruise leaving in January 9 months prior because we like the Owner's Suites and knew we needed to grab those while available. We had fond memories of 2 other Silversea cruises; particularly the butlers we became close with and the food and wine on board. We boarded the ship in Barbados which started things off slightly less than streamline. There were two seperate buses we had to take in order to board. There were less than a few words spoken to us during the process of check-in and bus rides. None of us knew where we were going!  We boarded at approximately 2:30pm and started the perusal of the ship. It is a very beautiful ship all in all, with just a few things changed from other same class ships.  The Casino (which may or may not be your thing) was extremely tiny to the point of an after thought. The pool area has been changed slightly with tables now down both sides and these are used for The Grill seatings in the evening. It became apparent that there were just too many tables for the servers to keep up with. We were given our raw food on the hot rock the evenings we had reserved this venue and no explaination whatsoever!  The second night we ate here we invited new friends to join us and we had to explain everything to them concerning cooking on the hot rock.  There was no happy banter with servers on this ship; they did their job and that was the extent of it.  The word "no" was told to us quite often when we asked questions and the first night we arrived at 3 minutes to 7:00 and were told "we don't open until 7pm!"  This became the norm throughout the ship. 

Our favorite meals were taken at Spacannopoli - the pizza was just as devine as we remembered and we profusely praised the cooks for such delicious pizza. The waiters were just as stoic as all other restaurants on the ship. When it came time for our La Dame night we were so excited,  as this was the most unique dining experience we had ever had on the seas in the past. The evening went from bad to worse. We arrived at 7pm when the restaurant opened and the maitre d wanted to sit us in the middle of a cluster of cafeteria style seats. We asked for a table by the window as there was only one couple seated there. We were given the stink eye by him. The waiter started off by explaining the menu (which is entirely different from past) and then we didn't see him for a while. The Sommolier came to offer wine and we politely declined the awful table wines they presented and asked for an upgraded Pinot Noir - another stink eye AND a huff when he left. We've never been treated so shabbily by servers in all our years of fine dining. We ordered and when the food came there were a few good items; caviar was good, lobster bisque was ok. Really, we felt as if we were eating at a 3 star restaurant and not the premier La Dame we remembered. Our server had so many tables it was a long time before he came to take our desert order.  We were glad La Dame was included as a perk in our suite category and we did not have to pay extra for this sub par restaurant.   This was the norm for most restaurants.

I won't go over each and every restaurant disappointment but suffice it to say the food on this ship was mediocre at best.

Please remember I am speaking only to our ship The Dawn and this particular crew. We heard many times over how the employee was just waiting to get off this ship. We had never heard that before ever!  

Our butler was argumentative and not very accommodating. We gave up trying to communicate with him and let him know what we would like.

We had one particularly rude officer at the excursion desk. We had pre-booked excursions prior to boarding so as to be able to have solid reservations and no waitlisting. The first excursion we took made us question the rest of the trips as the "resort" they took us to was really quite run down and all bathrooms didn't work - appalling.  We decided to cancel the rest of our excursions and when we approached the officer at the desk she barked that she needed the tickets. We said politely that we would get them and we were well within the time limits of cancellation. She just repeated the words, " Bring the tickets!"  We complained to another officer who was very apologetic and she went to speak to her immediately.

We only ask for the same respect we bring to any conversation.

We did have a wonderful time getting to know the fellow passengers and exchanged numbers with a number of them. This is one thing that Silversea cannot change.

We had to leave the ship 2 days early and we were treated so kindly by all officers in the Hotel department. 

However, when we left the ship there was to have been a car pre-booked for us and there was nothing. We had to hail a taxi.

Overall, we thought the price we paid for the trip did not equal the service or the food quality on this ship and we will probably be returning to Seabourn and possibly Crystal.

Not The Same Silversea

﻿﻿﻿﻿My wife and I started cruising with Seabourn in 1999 a few years before Carnival aquired them. We achieved diamond status while watching Carnival slowly choking the life out of the brand with budget cuts. We left Seabourn at the doorstep to the hospice. We weren’t around for the funeral. Carnival recently tried sell the corpse but nobody wanted to buy it. They have resorted to selling off the ships one at a time. Apparently they are worth more without the brand.

Royal Caribbean aquired Silversea in 2018 with the same business model in mind: To have Silversea piggybacking on RC’s supplier contracts - essentially pushing their 4* big-ship product through the 6* small-ship outlet. RC paid a billion US for Silversea. Then Covid came. Bad timing if there ever was one. Trying to offset the resulting losses is not a walk in the park. But they are adamant.

Food and beverages is less than 10% of a cruise line’s total costs. Even cutting the F&B budget by 10% will result in a reduction of the total costs of less than 1%. They already have low standards for supplies. The only option left to them is skimping. Here are just a few examples:

1. They water down the freshly squeezed grape fruit juice. It would be more honest to serve proper juice every other day than serving a 50/50 mix every day.

2. The main course “Asparagus with poached eggs” now comes with 3 (three) asparagus. Instead of reducing the number of asparagus in the dish to three, a less ridiculous option would be to reduce by two thirds the number of days asparagus were on the menu.

3. Seemingly to conserve energy they have now turned down the pizza oven temperature from 500F (260C) to 350F (176C) slowly cooking the pizzas instead of baking them. You can’t even bake cookies at that temperature. If they can’t afford the energy consumed by the oven set at the right temperature, they could reduce opening hours and serve proper pizza for fewer hours, instead of degrading only dish on the ship that actually used to be of international standards.

4. An order of steemed vegetables (plural) now contains only two sorts: Broccoli and Cauliflower. If the budget only allows for two sorts of vegetables, better put them on the menu each in their own right instead of disappointing the customer and rubbing in the sad state of the inventory.

5. When Cacciucco (Seafood Stew) is on the menu - instead of starting 3-4 batches at half hour intervals and throw away any unused stew along the way - the Chef starts one big pot for the duration of service hours. The late comers will be served a bowl of unrecognizable solids almost dissolved in the liquid after three hours on the stowe. 

It is a pity really. The ship itself is fully satisfactory. Imacculate interior. Plenty of space indoors and outside. The standard cabins are large and well appointed. Lots of storage space. Large bathroom with tub and shower. 

The service is friendly, personalized and attentive. A lot of staff actually excel.

We find the entertainment on Silversea old fashioned. Most of the music performed at bars and other venues was composed before we were born. The shows are performed by an ensemble affordable for a 600-guest ship. We skip shows. Their “Pool Deck Party” is not a party in which you actually participate. It’s the usual ensemble doing their usual leg kicking to the usual old trotters on deck instead of at the theatre. However it is still meant to - and I quote: “Get your toes tapping and your heads bobbing”. 

If your idea of fun is to tap your toes and bob your head - Silversea is your thing….

A business case gone awry.

This was our second Silversea cruise and our second time on the Silver Dawn.  We liked departing from Barbados to avoid the sea days from Florida but the actual port facility in Bridgetown is more industrial and less convenient for cruising with two shuttle bus rides – one to a warehouse building for check in and another to the actual ship.  Other than that, the embarkation (and disembarkation) process was smooth and easy.  The ship itself is just as we remembered - - still modern, clean and welcoming.  Our cabin was ready mid-afternoon and we quickly settled in.  Our butler was more friendly and personable than on our prior trip but we did not really use her services as we already had dinner reservations and shore excursion plans.  Our cabin attendant kept our cabin clean and we rarely saw him.   We did need to make a couple of requests to have our service preferences recognized but this was nothing other than a minor inconvenience.  

Our veranda cabin on deck seven was more than adequate for my wife and I with seating both inside and on the balcony.  With lots of islands to visit, we were tired each evening and slept well without hearing noise in the hallways or from our neighbors.  The bathroom is well appointed and while at first the shower seems small, it is really quite adequate and has a rain shower plus a hand held showerhead.  The closet and drawers were more than adequate for the clothes needed on our 11 day cruise.  

The food on the cruise was very good to excellent with dinner being the highlight of each day.  Our favorite was SALT as both my wife and I enjoyed the Caribbean flavors.  The menu changes and there were three SALT menus during the cruise so by spacing out our visits, we were able to try dishes from different islands.  We found the flavors to be excellent and the preparation/presentation to be first class.  We also enjoyed two SALT Lab classes and thought the 45 minute classes were both fun and informative (your cooking is limited to stirring and seasoning as the prep work is all done for you !!).  The SALT chef also did a couple of presentations in the theatre and we would recommend those as well.  The SALT bar rounds out the SALT experience and the bartender is a master at crafting cocktails reflecting, on our cruise, the Caribbean vibe.  If you do try the SALT bar, please experiment with the craft cocktails or tell the bartender what your flavor profile is.  He made a non-rum drinker like me appreciate the flavors one can get from different types of rum.  I think the whole concept of SALT really sets Silversea apart from others - - my wife and I are believers !!!

We also enjoyed the made to order thin crust pizza on the pool deck, the hot rock/grill your own dinner concept at the Grill and the jazz club vibe at Silver Note.  If you are not up to grilling your own dinner on a hot rock (we found it fun), the chefs will cook your food as well.  The menu at Silver Note is somewhat limited but we had no trouble finding starters and entrees (very tasty lamb) that worked for us.  We ate twice at La Terraza and while we found the entrees (veal and fish) to be a bit bland, the overall experience is nice, the antipasto is a great starter and the pastas were well executed and tasty.  The Atlantide is the traditional main dining room and while it was our least favorite, it was the most popular restaurant based on the line to get in at the 7 pm opening.  We had one dinner at la Dame and it is certainly the most elegant and formal of the restaurants.  For us it was a one time visit and while insignificant compared to the cost of the cruise, we felt the $60 per person charge was not worth it when compared to the menus and service at the other dining venues.  Breakfast at either the buffet or Atlantide was fine but nothing in particular stood out - - worked for us but not a highlight.  

The bars were generally only somewhat busy in the 6 to 7 pm time frame but there was always seating available.  Later in the evenings, the bars were quiet but that might reflect the age of the passengers as well as the port intensive nature of the cruise.  The quality of the cocktails varied based on the bartender but with a few exceptions, the cocktails were good and properly prepared.  In the pre-dinner cocktail hour, canapes and other appetizers were offered but in general they were not a highlight.  

Service overall in the restaurant, bars and throughout the ship was at a very good level with some employees being more friendly and more efficient with only a few falling below the level we expected.  We really had no complaints and always felt well taken care of.  

We did not use the spa or the pool as with only two sea days we used our idle time to rest and relax.  We did not eat at the Japanese restaurant but on our prior cruise the sushi was tasty.  

Overall, my wife and I enjoy Silversea and would certainly sail with them again.  My wife and I always select our cruises based on the itinerary first and then the cruise line.  If your expectation is flawless service coupled with magnificent food and drinks, you may be disappointed.  With realistic expectations, Silversea delivers a high quality and well rounded experience and in some areas like the SALT restaurant and bar, Silversea exceeds expectations.  We recommend giving Silversea a try or in our case, a second try !!

Another nice trip on the Silver Dawn

many areas of this cruise to comment on, most good a few in need of improvement, see below

Ship

Having been on several Silversea cruises it was easy to orientate yourself on board straight away. The ship is the newest of theirs we've been on and was immaculate, the crew brilliant and had several new features way better than the old ones including:

- Great cabins, lots of space, good controllable aircon,  and plenty of power points, though the electricians have still not come to terms with the size of English plugs and put pairs of sockets too close and individual ones too low to be practical, please designers sort this out for newer ships we have BIG PLUGS.

- new or redesigned food and drink areas. Some are very good including SALT Restaurant and Bar , our 2 favourites. The Turkish barman made the best cocktails on the ship and the tall bald guy at SALT was the best restaurant host on board and they had the best menu by far. The cocktail "shake off" comp on the 2nd sea day was great. The Japanese continues to be great for lunch and dinner.

- wines overall ok but nothing special, I get better ones from my online suppliers at under £10 a bottle so i think they should do a bit better

-Trivia was great, made up a great team and had a great time every day with Mr Perez the cruise director who is so much better than the last one we had. The putting was fun too , and bridge on the sea days was enjoyable just a shame so few seem to play. We only went to the Venetian lounge twice, once for the Venetian Society cocktail party and once to try a show but songs from Lion King etc weren't our thing and we left very quickly and never went back. 

- La Terraza continues to be excellent at breakfast and lunch. On our last cruise it was awful in the evening. It has improved but still really only offers a Trattoria standard of cooking, beaten by several Italian restaurants in our small English town. We didn't go back.

Areas for improvement

Atlantide has continued to deteriorate since our last from just over 2 years ago. The menu is now so thin compared to a few years ago and service the slowest and least helpful on the ship, especially the host desk which is poorly run. Its also so dark, so much lighter and nicer at lunch time.  Its amazing how so many people default to this restaurant, one night near 8pm I was told it was 45 minutes to an hour to get a table, we walked straight into the Italian which is supposed to be reserved. I suspect space has been sacrificed in Atlantide to make room for SALT which is fine quality wise but makes Atlantide even less attractive. Your effectively Main Dining room should not be so hard to get in or have such a poor menu.

We missed the Asian restaurant too, there is nowhere to get a spicy meal, maybe still pandering to USA taste buds not European. Please Silversea get a kitchen to do Thai/Chinese/Indian cooking, I'd have paid for one on this trip.

La Dame's food is still good but the room has grown from an intimate dining room to a huge space, mostly empty the night we went. Its the most expensive on the ship so will attract the least numbers, why make it so big? Its not an improvement. Why also is it so expensive when you pay so much for the cruise?

In Silver Notes the menu is very brief but some tasty items, really tapas size meals. It easily could be one or two dishes bigger. The singer this time wasn't anything like as good as the one on our last cruise, but the pianist was great, again we didnt go twice as the singer wasn't so great.

Shore Excursions

I missed the opening date for bookings by a couple of weeks, don't do this you can miss out big time. We got most of our preferred ones, just missed one good one. The snorkeling on the catamaran at Curacao , the kayaking at Bonaire and the rum and restaurant on Martinique stood out. The main disappointment wasn't controllable , ie the weather, some heavy rain some days and a lot of wind. In the past Silversea crew often accompanied tours to see the quality, this only happened once , curious why. The worst run tour was on Tobago, 4 bus loads went to the cocoa plantation, only 1 guide , we couldn't hear or see much that he said or did. You do wonder when Silversea will more widely adopt the modern technology common on river cruises or Asian cruises of headphones linked to a guides mic which works brilliantly 

A comment on embarkation at Bridgetown, why on earth do you have to take 2 separate buses in such a small port area? With so many ships in and out you do wonder why they don't streamline the process. Disembarking was much more efficient

Caribbean Cruise

Just returned from a 12 day Caribbean cruise on Silver Dawn and we were quite disappointed, but we cannot pinpoint why.

Its a lovely ship and the crew were great.

The layout of the deck gave rise to limited sunbed availability on sea days - not helped by individuals grabbing the double sunbeds for themselves. There is a big area of deck gone to waste forward of the pool area above the mezzanine level. There is no proper access (other than via a small stairway from the Observation Bar) to a sizeable deck area where a good number of sunbeds could have been placed, but it's empty. A bit strange really.

A big let down on the entertainment front - very poor. There were only the onboard singers/dancers (not really our thing) and a backing trio. The drummer was not behind screens, as is usually done nowadays, and it was just bang, bang, bang. Once you picked up on it that was all you heard and it really killed the sound, so we didn't bother again. No visiting act(s) to give some variation and no talks about anything. There was a general 'nothing happening' feel later in the evenings.

The biggest let down was the food. Couldn't find out, even after talking to the Hotel Manager, whether this was now the new low standard following the Royal Caribbean takeover or if we were just unlucky. Main complaint was the Atlantide dining room - where has the fine dining gone? A very limited menu. First page is changed daily and usually offers 2-3 starters, 3 mains and a dessert. The next pages don't change and offer 8 starters!, a vegetarian selection, fish and steaks. No further choice of mains, so if you don't want any of the 3 daily mains or the fixed listing, then you are stuck. The dessert menu didn't change either. No sommeliers that we could see - just the waiters offering a red or white. Is this Silversea's underhand policy to force you to use the extra charge dining rooms to get something better?

Silver Note and SALT were good.

We got home with the feeling that, overall, things could have been so much better - it used to be.

As a comparison, it will be interesting to see on our next Seabourn cruises what has happened to them!

Not such a good experience as we were expecting

This was a 21-day b2b from Jan 5 to Jan 26 with a quite unusual itinerary.  I chose it because it included some ports to which I had not been and many which are not visited by many cruise lines.  We were the only ship in most places.

The ship – The Silver Dawn is a new ship which had just come out in 2022.  It was in beautiful shape with no rust and no worn places.  It has an unusual layout – all the cabins are mid-ship and forward; the food and theater were aft.  I presume the older ships do not have this layout; and the Nova class may be different still.  It was a small ship, easy to get around, did not feel crowded anywhere.  The artwork was beautiful.  

The ports and shore excursions – This was a very interesting itinerary.  We went to sixteen ports, three of which were duplicates; there were four sea days.  SilverSea includes shore excursions as a part of the cruise price.  I was very impressed with the number and quality of these excursions; they were not just bus rides around each island.   I took nine of them and only one was not satisfactory. There were a few excursions at additional cost.  Most of the half-day excursions had morning and afternoon departure times.  In nine ports, we did not depart until 11 P.M.

The cabins – This was undoubtedly the biggest standard verandah cabin I have ever had; it must have been three to four feet longer than any other ship’s.  (SS’s older ships may not be this big.)  The lighting was very good and the AC was excellent.  There was a walk-in closet with a chest of drawers; a large bathroom with separate tub and shower large enough not to bang one’s arms on the walls, long counter and six shelves; a desk big enough to land a small aircraft carrier and a giant TV; plenty of drawers and shelves everywhere.  This is the first cruise that I would say the cabin was adequate for more than one person.

My cabin was on deck 5 about five cabins from the front.  I would not want this location again.  When the ship was moving, the noise of the ship going through the water was substantial.  My balcony had salt spray on it all the time, either wet or dry.

The entertainment and activities – The wifi was complimentary but extremely complicated to access and use; in addition, to use wifi calling, one also needed WhatsApp.  There were no desktop computers available; a laptop could be borrowed.  The inhouse singers and dancers were excellent, as was the house band; there was one show every night, most at 9:45.  There was a hosted Solo Traveler’s Group every night; two of the cruise director’s staff were always there.  The interactive TV was fairly easy to use for information.  A hard-copy two to three page chronicle of events and activities was delivered to each stateroom every night for the next day.  In addition, one could request a hard-copy news digest be delivered each day.  There was a library with a small collection.  There was a very small casino, which was not used much.

The restaurants and food – There was no “main dining room”.  There was a buffet and one table service restaurant for breakfast.  There was a buffet and two table service restaurants for lunch, including on port days – a real plus not often found on most ships.  There were eight specialty restaurants for dinner, three with open seating, two with hefty upcharges.  There was no buffet at dinner.  Dinner service began at 7:00 and the last seating was at 9:30.  Except for the Japanese restaurant, the menus changed every three days, but were mostly repeated every ten days.  

The Japanese restaurant probably should be eliminated unless it can be revised.  The menus never changed.  There were not a lot of choices.  It was definitely not authentic Japanese, nor even what is currently considered Japanese American.  Many dishes did not match the menu descriptions.  The raw fish was not acceptable from the first day.  The quality of the rolls deteriorated considerably from the first part of the cruise to the end.  At lunch, the sushi chef made the rolls and sliced the sashimi in advance and let it sit on an open counter with no refrigeration for the entirety of lunch.  I am hoping this is ship-specific and I will not find the same situation on other SS ships.

For the most part, the food was very good to excellent.  Some restaurant concepts were very innovative.  I particularly enjoyed SALT, Atlantide and La Dame.  Good lamb was provided frequently, as were good curry dishes.  The bread and butter, ice cream, vegetarian dishes, cheese, fruit were excellent. The wines were very good to excellent.  On most cruise lines, nuts cannot be found; they were everywhere on this ship, including five kinds on the breakfast buffet.

During the first cruise, caviar was available, but it disappeared from the menu on the second cruise.  Some dishes were not prepared as described on the menu.  The coffee was bad; the yogurt was poor quality; the wagyu would not have passed muster in Japan.   Just after the COVID break, I could understand the supply chain issues; now there should be none.  

For a ten or eleven day cruise, there were two formal nights; the rest were informal except for the first and last nights of each segment which were casual.  Some restaurants had more upscale dress codes.

The service was exceptional everywhere.  

Intangibles – Although all charges were made in US dollars, charge cards were processed through the U.K. resulting in foreign transaction fees for some passengers.  No luggage tags were provided; I made my own. 

All passengers had to be out of their cabins by 8 AM on disembarkation day; however, cabins were not available to new arrivals until 2 PM.  This is six hours and is far longer than any other cruise line on which I have been.  There was no table service restaurant for lunch on embarkation day. 

There was a big communication gap between what the landside operation said the ship had and what the ship provided; and, of course, my chemical and scent instruction never made it to the ship.

Laundry was done and returned the same day.

All-inclusive is the way to go.

Impressive second cruise on SilverSea

In this review you’ll find a few of my photos of Silversea’s culinary offerings. Some will be difficult to guess - some will be impossible. But if you’ve got a few minutes, give it your best shot. You’ll find the correct answers below my review of the Silver Dawn Christmas cruise. Don’t cheat.

Our background is that we have 300+ days on Seabourn, 200+ days on Crystal, 100+ days on Silversea plus one or two cruises with each of these: Seadream, Regent, Viking, Oceania, Windstar and Explora. Crystal and Explora being the only ones we’ll book in the future.

Like it’s two siblings, Muse and Moon, Silver Dawn is new - and there’s a lot to be said for new. Imacculate interior. Plenty of space indoors and outside. The standard cabins are large and well appointed. Lots of storage space. Large bathroom with tub and shower.  As opposed to a year ago, the service on this particular ship had a high standard with a lot of staff actually excelling. 

We find the entertainment on Silversea old fashioned. Most of the music performed at bars and other venues was composed before 1951, when we were born. The shows are performed by an ensemble affordable for a 600 guest ship. We skip shows. Most afternoons the Cruise Director has a Bingo or a game in the main lounge. We skip Bingo and games. My wife and I like to do our own thing at ports of call. We skip excursions. Embarkation and (especially) disembarkation in US ports is of course a hazzle - but that’s no fault of Silversea’s.

And here are the correct answers to the Silversea Food Photo Quizz. If you get a photo partly correct, your answer is awarded half a point.

1. Easy to guess: The complimentary (prepaid) water. (Poorly) purified seawater with a faint taste of chlorine. Half point. Impossible to guess: If you prefer San Pellegrino, Perrier or even bottled no-name water you will have to buy it. Ashore. And haul it on board yourself. After the budget cuts of December 21 you cannot get it on board anymore - even if you wanted to pay for it.

2. Easy to guess: Freshly cut Prociutto. I lifted the photo from the internet for reference. Half point. Impossible to guess: Prociutto comes to the ship whole, deboned and vacuum wrapped. Vacuum wrapped it will stay fresh for at least two months in the fridge. Yet they freeze it and then defreeze it when they put it to use. There was one serious Chef on board but even his explanation was beyond me. He supplied this bonusinfo: Sometimes the same prociutto even gets frozen twice. Anyway defrozen meat degrades at a faster pace than fresh meat. Twice defrozen even faster.

3. Easy to guess: “Prociutto With A Duo Of Melon”, Silversea version - dark brown from oxydation being served way past “sell by” date. Half point. Impossible to guess: We sent it to the bin and asked the Waiter for proper Prociutto. Three minutes later they sent in the exact same plates. One full bonus point if you guess how I knew they were the same: The original order was actually from the room service menu. A new order takes 15-20 minutes from Main Galley to guest.

4. Easy to guess: Ravioli in Grease. Half point. Impossible to guess: It was included in Chef’s Dinner, showcasing his cooking skills. It was one of the total of four dishes - advertized on a rolled print with a bow at each cover - all  of wich went straight to the bin. We dined on (a decent) Brie with Crackers and Grapes. On Christmas Eve.

5. Impossible to guess. Zero points. Mercifully it is not what it looks like. Actually it is a hard, bone dry piece of overcooked salmon, cooled down and camouflaged with a dark brown, sweet, gooey, sticky dessert sauce. As I recall they call the dish “Ponzi Glazed Salmon With Strawberry Compote”.

6. Easy to guess: Freshly Squeezed Grape Fruit Juice. Half point. Impossible to guess: After budget cuts they dilute it with (poorly) purified seawater. I pointed this out to the Maitre d’. He straightned his back, and with proud loyalty he said: Sir, I have been with Silversea for ten years. We do NOT mix juice with water. Then we did a test. He tasted a small slice of grape fruit from the buffet followed by a sip of the juice. Visibly upset he went straight to the pc at the counter, typed an explicit message and sent it up the “food chain”. The next morning the F&B (whom I had personally informed of my query) and the Executive Chef sent the Maitre on the humiliating mission to inform me that - as a special favour for my wife and I - they would keep a small jug of undiluted juice in the fridge beside the regular mix of juice and (poorly) purified seawater. The juice came, and as it happened it was still watered down. Supplying the punch line to this story, the Chef had gone through the pains of actually trying to fake authenticity. One full bonus point if you guess how: He had put in four pips in each glass….

If you got a perfect quizz score you are a seasoned Silversea veteran having done a recent cruise. If not, hopefully you found the quiz “helpful”. If so, please tap the button and send a link to all your cruise friends. Thank you: I collect.

PS: I know some of it is hard believe. But you just couldn’t make this stuff up.

The Silversea Food Photo Quizz.

This was our first cruise on Silversea but we have cruised all the ultra luxury brands recently and wanted to see how Silversea stacked up. They were good but we prefer Regent, Seabourn and Explora Journeys over them. I think with some improvements they can be really good but for now they are just not the cruise line for us. We are in our mid 60s and cruise often. The vibe on the ship was a little too low key for us. No energy. Here are our pros and cons:

Pros:

Blake and the Salt Kitchen were excellent; nice that there's no charge for the cooking class

Silver Note jazz dining was one of the best at sea; food and entertainment were superb

Excursions were mostly good

It was nice having the self service laundry on each floor

The suite was good sized with a nice balcony and bathroom

Disco in the panorama lounge in the evenings was good

Pizza was some of the best at sea

Excellent port speaker (Dr. Michael DiSpezio (SP?)

The singers and dancers were very good

The embarkation and disembarkation process were very good

The tender service was very good

Cons:

Lack of entertainment during the day, especially on sea days

They couldn't show any NFL football and many people wanted to see it

Lack of varied entertainment, maybe add a comedian or something else

The Butler was nice but didn't proactively offer services; we've had better room stewards

Consider having appetizers/finger foods around the ship in the afternoon/evening

The Dolce Vita area was underutilized; consider piano sing alongs, etc.

The Library/Observation lounge was underutilized; consider having parties there

No afternoon tea service; which was strange on a luxury line

The service in Alantide was extremely slow; we stopped eating there

Roy Perez the cruise director was very good but is underutilized; rarely seen

Good cruise but needs improvements

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