Every couple of years, a group of us (on average 15-20) will take a luxury cruise. It is an opportunity to treat ourselves and to see parts of the world we've never seen. Unfortunately, this year was the year of disappoint for our cruising experience. Everything was difficult -- booking a tour, trying to get help, trying to make reservations at restaurants. Any time we asked for help, the first response was "That's not possible", instead of "I will look into that and try to help you." We even jokingly started calling certain service personnel "Dr. No" because they kept saying "No" to everything.

Separately from the service, with very few exceptions the food was mediocre at best, and generally poor most nights in main dining hall. Unfortunately, all of the smaller restaurants were booked or didn't have the capacity to absorb more than a few dozen people (if that). So, we were not able to make alternate arrangements.

I would not recommend this cruise or Silversea to anyone unless they change their attitude, the quality of service, the quality of food and update the ship.