This was only our second cruise, the first being a Celebrity Eclipse S1 Suite cruise from Southampton to St Petersburg. This one week cruise on the Silver Shadow Veranda Suite cost £400 less than the two week cruise on Celebrity, so we expected it to be a step up, but for us it was a step down, in fact it was a step down in every respect, I can't think of one thing that was better on Silversea. The Celebrity was a much bigger ship, I think nearly ten times as many passengers, but being in a Suite means you have a dedicated dining room and lounge, so it didn't feel that way, except for the fact that there were way more facilities on the celebrity. Also, the Celebrity was very smooth even in some quite rough weather in the North Sea, whereas the Silversea rolled quite a bit in what looked like quite smooth waters.

Boarding was OK, but rather drawn out and we were lucky in some respects. We used the embarkation via the train service from Anchorage Airport Station. We arrived at the airport early, which meant we got a seat in the waiting area, whereas lots of people didn't and had to stand around. It also put us in the first train carriage, which meant we were first to get off and embark the ship, once on board and in our suite we could see people still embarking the ship a long time later.

The room was disappointing, smaller than the Celebrity S1 Suite and looking very old and tired. The dressing room sounds a great idea, but in practise it is cramped and takes space away from the room, wardrobes would be better. Similarly the separate shower and bath tub sounds nice, but it eats up precious space that could be better used. The bathroom lacked cupboards to put toiletries away, it all had to sit in the open or in your sponge bag. Read more