We chose this cruise because Bridge at Sea was holding a bridge event, the bridge was fine- the ship was a huge disappointment. The interior spaces are old and tired, wear and stains on every surface. The room was tiny, we knew that, but we didn't know that the beds weren't full sized, the brochure said "queen-sized", instead they were shorter and narrower than standard beds. Nice quality linens, though. The much touted butler introduced himself the first day and asked if we needed anything. My wife asked for an extra washcloth each day and bar soap (shower gel was provided but we like bar soap), we got two extra washcloths and two bars of soap on the last day (TIP DAY!). That was the total of our interactions with our superspecial personal butler. Dishes from room service breakfast were cleared away during dinner. In a tiny cabin, having the dirty dishes around all day was both disgusting and inconvenient. Room service food was uniformly cold.

In the restaurant, they had lobster on the menu every night. Folks, in Ohio we call crustaceans this size "crawdads" and they were always shrouded in a gloppy cheese sauce or gravy mix. "Lobster Thermidor" was the same cheese sauce AND gravy mix with a mushroom. La Dama, specialty restaurant for a $120 upcharge, was adjacent to the smoking room and the nauseating odor permeated the room. We are unsure what the specialty was, the food was the same as the regular restaurant. La Terraza, the Italian grill, was, obviously, Italian. On Silversea, Italian means that everything has a large dollop of Parmesan cheese and cilantro cooked in, we prefer to add Parmesan or cilantro to taste, asking for a dish without Parmesan and cilantro we were told everything was prepared in advance and it wasn't possible. They did make fresh pasta for every dish but it wasn't very appetizing unless you liked it to the chef's taste. One time, they had pasta with onions and garlic (and Parmesan and cilantro) and they made it fresh for my wife - plain pasta in olive oil, no onions or garlic.

The Small Ship Experience - while heavily touted as an advantage of premium lines, we never stopped at a port that didn't have a 2,500+ passenger ship from a popularly priced cruise line and the large ships get the dock while we had to tender. Most the ports were 1/2 days and tendering took a big chunk of time. Read more