We choose this cruise sailing from Singapore via Vietnam to Hong Kong because Silversea was fully inclusive ( no nasty bill surprises) and drinks included where not limited in anyway to cheap brands, great chocolate martini in bar area. Our butler was very good, what a luxury wish I could of taking him home. We where getting a little worried when I saw other reviews saying that the Silver Shadow was old and in poor condition, I have to say that we had a very good experience, our cabin was very clean and no sign of wear and tear as other reviews had suggested, the staff were very attentive and the food was very good apart from La Dame which was disappointing ( maybe because the food was so good elsewhere). The shore excursions where a little dull (Vietnam) but I guess they is only so much you can see near the coastline. Entertainment was good, Disembarkation was well organised. Have already booked another cruise for next year. Read Less

The ship is as advertised. Clean, great shows, plenty to do. Surprisingly, the boat did not feel crowded with over 6500 guests on board. Truly special. However, the service leaves a lot to be desired. The food was average at best. The wait staff was not very attentive in any of the restaurants we ate. The worst part was the lack of direction or support given at the ports of call. In short, once you were off the boat you were on your own, even if you were on a Royal Caribbean sponsored excursion. Many times we were left to wander (with 3 young kids) trying to find the right van, bus, etc with no RC employee in sight. Beware- RC (unlike other cruise lines) will give their employee name badges to employees of local vendor companies. This leaves you with false impression you are dealing with someone who is vested to help you. For those that enjoy the service touches of a Disney, Princess, etc note that this is a big step down. Read Less

We wanted to go to Cuba, and chose the Cuba Intensive sailing. For us, 2-days in Havana would have been ideal. Cienfuegos was nice enough but not much to see; Santiago was horrible. The Cubans we saw tended to swarm us looking for money, and we found it quite unpleasant. We were scammed by several taxi drivers. Air quality is poor and the poverty is ever present. Not Azamara’s failure by any means but I question why ships are going to Santiago at all, or why they’d spend more than a day or two in Havana. We found Cuba very overrated. The Quest seemed like an older ship and we saw ongoing maintenance like painting railings and other areas. We received a note that they planned to paint our state room during the trip and we’d have to store all personal belongings. This was not ok for such a small cabin and such a pricy vacation so we called to ‘opt out’. Is this common? If so, customers should be offered something in return for the inconvenience. We found the food options plentiful and good; we didn’t feel the need to try the 2 upscale restaurants. The staff was unfailingly nice. We never felt crowded, even on sailing days. There are plentiful common areas in which to relax. We enjoyed 4-5 nights of the onboard entertainment which was just right. Overall, this tone of the ship compared favorably to the other 2 cruises I’ve done on Regent and Royal Carribean: it was low key, fun, and our fellow passengers were generally friendly. My only complaint about Azamara is that it’s not all-inclusive - they have several packages they try to up sell, and it was annoying. I prefer Regent in that respect, which includes everything and isn’t constantly trying to sell you upgrades. Regent also includes excursions which Azamara does not - and they were expensive. Read Less

We had an amazing time on the Carnival Dream. The staff was amazing. We loved all the bartenders, when you passed staff members they always greeted you with a smile. Our most favorite was our waitress Olivia. She was beyond amazing and we made sure to ask for her every night. If you are ever on the dream and eat in the cremson dining be sure to ask for her. Food was good some days and not so great other days, but their was always something you could find to eat that you would like. The only problem I had was some peoples children walking around with their foul language mouths and rude, which is not carnivals problem but the parents problem. Loved the comedy shows, they played movies at night on the lido deck, they had an 80s party and a mega deck party. Overall, we had an amazing time and will definitely do it again. The only bummer was we couldn't go to mahogany bay because of the bad weather Read Less

Overall, this was a good cruise. However, we were in an Explorer Suite, which commands a significant price premium, on an already premium-priced line. And this is where the Viking experience began to break down IMO. I have done approximately 20 cruises, and found myself most comfortable on Celebrity, and Holland America — traveling in Royal Suites on the former, and Neptune Suites on the latter. Both of these lines provide their higher-end suite guests with a long list of extra services and priorities that greatly exceed those available on Viking. Yet, the suites on Viking are significantly more expensive. Premium guests on Celebrity are provided a concierge lounge, on Holland a butler. In both cases, a “go-to” person is available to take care of last-minute reservations, priority departures on shore excursions, priority seating at events, etc. Perks such as these are conspicuous in their absence on Viking. Even a separate boarding line to the vessel was not provided. While our Suite was large and attractive, a number of “shouldn’t happens” in fact “did happen”. Upon arrival our door keys did not work, the ice bucket was not filled, there were (and are) no plugs in the bathroom. Small issues, yes. Avoidable at these prices, yes. While this was a fine cruise with good food and service, if I sail on Viking again (unlikely), it will not be in a premium accommodation. The “First Class” perks available for comparable classes of passage on other lines were in short supply here. FWIW, we did not come away feeling “spoiled”, despite paying nearly $2,000 per night for the space. Read Less

We enjoyed a wonderful 7 night cruise on board Silver Wind, sailing the eastern part of Caribbean islands. It’s been 2 years since from our last cruise with Silver Wind and we were very excited to sail with her again. We had amazing time throughout the week, enjoying flawless service onboard and nice destinations. The weather could not have been better in March when sailing the Caribbean. What I in particular waited was to see how they have maintained and refurbished some of the areas. I must say that there is something special in Silver Wind. I like yacht-like look and feel throughout the ship. Small, elegant and extremely well maintained. It was nice to see that many of the public areas had received refurbishment since our last cruise two years ago. All areas looked fresh with a bit more lighter color scheme (similar to Silver Muse) which I enjoyed a lot. This was visible especially in throughout the ship in all lobbies, La Terazza, Panorama Lounge, Observation Lounge and around the pool area. Our suite On this cruise we stayed in a Veranda Suite on deck 5. The suite was as expected. Up to Silversea standards and always immaculate. Our butler and maid did a wonderful job in making sure that everything was always there for us – and always a smile on their face. They did arrange a very nice birthday surprise for us as well on one night which is something to remembered as well for long. The veranda is always a delight and we took a full advantage of that one. However, you may still consider to stay in Vista Suite as well especially on Silver Wind as the ship is so small that you will easily just walk to the deck and find your own special place. The suite is a bit smaller than the ones you have on newer ships such as Silver Whisper or Silver Spirit. What I did miss a bit was a separate walk-in shower. Dining We enjoyed breakfast in La Terazza, The Restaurant and in our suite. The best experience was always in the privacy of our own suite. La Terazza breakfast buffet is a good in terms of selection and service easy casual and fast during breakfast. Considering the size of the ship, I feel that La Terazza can be bit busy during 08-09 at breakfast times. Also hard to get a table for four outside as there are only few tables. In the Restaurant it is a la carte breakfast. Very nice atmosphere for breakfast there. For lunch our favorite is the Pool bar. Excellent service throughout the day. Good food and drinks. You can have your burgers, fries and salads by the pool or nearby tables as you please. Always a pleasure. Afternoon tea in La Terazza: one of the highlights! Try to find some time from your schedule and enjoy afternoon tea on the veranda in La Terazza. It is a wonderful experience to enjoy some pastries and sweets with a cup of tea or champagne and talk about the day and admire the view. Very relaxing and chilled atmosphere. Dinner in La Terazza: this is one of my favorite restaurant concepts onboard Silversea fleet. The food was great during our cruise (as always). You can have your 4 course Italian dinner here. We did feel that it was at times a bit chaotic in La Terazza during dinners. It was mainly due the size of the restaurant; it is fairly small and large tables are close to each other. But nevertheless we enjoyed and had a good time. The setting of La Terazza is better on Silver Whisper and Silver Muse. Superb wine service staff. Dinner in The Grill: always fun experience to cook your own food. Nice to sit outside for the dinner. Flawless services. Food is simple grill food but as the ingredients are excellent you don’t actually need much. Have your salad for the started, followed by a nice steak and end with sweet finale with apple pie and ice cream. Who needs more? Dinner in The Restaurant: good food, attentive service. Superb wine service staff. Elegant a la carte restaurant with changing menu during our cruise. We had one of the best meals on our cruise here. I’ve not been a fan of The Restaurant during my past voyages during our previous cruises but now it really took a special place on this voyage. We all liked it a lot. Dinner in La Dame: small and elegant setting. Food was good, but not great this time. It is a nice experience, but I’m again thinking that is it worth of the extra bee (60 USD per person). Service is great, but so it is across the ship. Food here is good but not spectacular. What I do miss here is to really have a wine pairings included to menu. That would lift the experience in my view. Now serving champagne, white, red wine for the set menu is a bit boring in my view. Of course there is the extensive wine list that you can choose from as well, as we then did. IF you dine here, you need to take the soufflé as desert. It is wonderful. Embarkation We had excellent embarkation in San Juan. We were able to access the ship already around 12. Everything ready, everything easy. Leave your luggage, get your suite card, walk in to the ship, no lines no hassle. Have glass of champagne, get your picture taken and you are all set to go. Some for leaving the ship in all ports flawless and when finally disembarkation came all worked as smoothly as you can image. Clientele On this cruise the clientele was international as usual. Mainly couples and some family groups. On this cruise I think that the clientele was a bit younger as well than on the other cruises we have been on. Overall experience To us Silversea provides always excellent experience and good value for money. It is a great product and we recommend it to anyone who has travelled a lot, has international background, appreciates less is more approach and is not looking for neon lights or rock climbing walls. It’s the ship, the service, the food and the destinations that make all the difference. Silver Wind is a lovely small ship with excellent condition. Such a beauty! Read Less

I was booked for 28 days and left after 2 weeks. The staff are really miserable, apart from a few, JR, Alfred, Christian, the waiters on table 321 and one or two others, the maintenance crew were very nice too. The staff in Kings court were mainly really miserable, there must be something wrong with management. As I was leaving and paid for 2 weeks that I will not be on board I offered my cabin to a lady who was travelling with a companion on an inside cabin, she was on a world tour and a platinum member, so you would think a valued customer....... Cunard had me waiting for 30 minutes to their headquarters to ask "permission" for someone else to use my paid for cabin! They said no, unless she paid for it too! They are very petty with charges.... Mineral water, hello! Are you an upmarket brand or cheap and nasty charging for mineral water? No one asked me why I wanted to leave the ship 2 weeks early, I have been a business owner and I would be mortified if that happened to me and want to set it right or at least know why? Also, there is no shade anywhere on the ship? Steamer seats with no towels available, yuck! Maitre d is useless and very unhelpful. I understand that it is difficult to accommodate everyone but there were so many empty seats at tables, a lot of unhappy passengers re dining. One passenger decribed his experience as a prison sentence.. Glad I broke out of my prison experience!...... Never again! Read Less

We went on this cruise with a total of 8 people for spring break. Ft Lauderdale to Barbados. We have cruised on mostly upscale cruise lines (Crystal, ect) and stay in mostly four and five star hotels so we know what this level of service is. In general, the ship was clean and well laid out but the service was absolutely horrible for this level of ship with almost a 1:1 staff/guest ratio. The issues were brought to their attention and they only were marginally improved. On a positive note, the suites are the largest we have ever seen. They are well laid out and comfortable. The quality of the food and beverage options are nice but we found it quite petty to charge an additional amount for a couple of the restaurants like the tepanyaki grill. Just bump the cruise fare by $60/pp instead of trying to nickel and dime people. We understand with the Michelin starred and branded restaurants. Entertainment was average in our opinion when comparing it to Crystal. We realize that the Crystal ship is twice the size so this was not really an issue. The musicals were more comical to our kids so it was still entertaining. Hopefully Sliversea will send in some undercover guests and make some major changes to their service process, communication and overall organization. If they do, I think we would try them again but the luxury/upscale space is far too crowded in order to drop the ball like they did for us on this cruise. Read Less

March 22 through 1 April 2018 This is a cruise for you if you ever wondered what it would be like to sail aboard a private sailing yacht through the South Pacific paradise. HITS: - Sailing on a four mast ship through the South Pacific Islands just sailing on your own private Motoring Yacht at a fraction of the cost. - The two special events on private motu (reef islands) were absolutely awesome. - Service on the Wind Spirit was exceptional throughout our cruise. Our room attendant (Dedi) was very efficient as well as being very friendly. The Serving Staff in the Amapour Dining Room was also exceptional. - All meals were also excellent throughout our trip. It is amazing that the chef could get such a wide variety of high quality fresh food in such a remote location. - Embarkation and Disembarkation were both very quick & easy. This is not surprising given that there were only 116 passengers to process. - The description of the excursions in the My Windstar website was very accurate and informative. We found that Windstar’s excursions were high quality experiences. GETTING THERE: It is not easy any or cheap flying to Papeete, Tahiti. Only Tahiti Niu and Air France fly nonstop from LAX to Papeete, Tahiti (Airport Code PPT). Air New Zealand (United Code Share) has an insanely long 30+ hour flights (via Auckland) or Hawaiian Airlines with 18+ hour layovers in Honolulu. We choose the Air France flight (Code Share with Delta) LAS > LAX > PPT. We splurged for Premium Economy because it was only about ~$500 more than Coach when we booked. I checked air fares a few months later and found that they had been raised much higher. We flew a Delta flight to LAX and our Checked Luggage was booked through to PPT. Our Delta Flight arrived in LAX Terminal 2 and our Air France Flight departed from the Bradley Terminal. Fortunately, Delta has a shuttle from Terminal 3 to the Bradley Terminal so we DID NOT have to go through TSA again. The service on Air France was very good. It was an overnight flight so we slept for most of the 8 hour flight. Premium Economy was a worthwhile splurge. Thankfully our luggage arrived without any problem Papeete is a small airport and getting through Tahitian Customs and Immigration was quick & easy. We took a taxi to our hotel 2,400 Polynesian Francs (~$US24) PreCruise Hotel: We chose Hotel Tahiti Nui (3 Star) because it was close to the ship (just 4 blocks/400 yards). We chose a Jr Suite (another splurge) with an Early Check In for (~$US240). The Le Meridien (recommended by Windstar) and the InterContinental are both 5 Star Resort Hotel alternatives which may be better for longer stays. The location of the Hotel Tahiti Nui is in the downtown area. The area looks rough but we never felt unsafe. We found it very convenient for our needs. Traffic in Papeete was much more busy than I expected. For example, the traffic was stop and go all the way from the airport to the hotel. It seemed just busy and congested as Honolulu. Both my wife My wife and I experienced serious Jet Lag from our flight. Our afternoon was spent exploring the downtown and harbor area. The weather channel predicted 80% chance of rain but thankfully they were wrong. Very humid through. We walked back to our hotel after a nice lunch in a restaurant overlooking the harbor. We stopped into a convenience store and bought cereal and milk for breakfast. 1,100 CFP. (~$US11) which was more reasonable than the Continental Breakfast offered by the hotel for $US33 (a full “American Breakfast” was $US45). We both needed showers after our walks and we were content spending the rest of the day recovering from our flight. The Hotel Tahiti Nui is just fine for a day or two before a cruise but it is not a Resort Hotel of the same caliber as the Intercontinental or Le Meridian. It is also much less expensive as a result. Having a couple hundred in CFP came in handy as we saved a lot of money by avoiding the expensive hotel restaurant. EMBARKATION: Hotel Check out was 11:30 and ship embarkation starts at 1:30. Although it is only an 8 minute walk to the Fingers Pier where the ship was docked, it would have been very difficult to transit because there are many poor sidewalks, high curbs and cross streets so we took a taxi for 2,000 CFP (~$US20). We arrived at 1:30 when embarkation started along with some of the other 116 other passengers. Unfortunately, it was not raining. There were there porters available who quickly took baggage and put on the luggage tags. Check in went quickly though and efficiently taking about 15 minutes once it was our turn. Once onboard a nice Buffet lunch was available. We departed Papeete at 18:00 sailing off into a beautiful sunset. Our first dinner was excellent! Day 2 - AT SEA: DAY 3 - FAKARAVA, TUAMOTU (Anchor) We did not book any excursions as I wanted to get the feel of the ship and take advantage of the Windstar's water sports platform where you can swim off the back of the ship. Weather was mostly sunny but there was a stiff breeze which made the water quite choppy. Spent the rest of the morning reading and napping. DAY 4 - TIPUTA, RANGIROA (Anchor) Rangiroa, the second largest coral atoll in the world and a premier dive destination. I took a snorkeling excursion to “The Aquarium” a small motu (island) inside the lagoon. I have snorkeled many places all over the world and have never seen as many fish as this location!!! It was incredible!! My wife went to the Paul Gauguin Museum and Pearl Farm where she learned about the island as well as how pearls are “farmed” The "Special Event" Dinner was Bbq on the pool deck under the stars. Great food and wonderful service. DAY 5 - AT SEA Much needed rest after BBQ on the pool deck the evening before. Sailing between Rangiria and Taha. The Captain shut the engine down and used sails for most of the day. Another very good dinner. Nice entertainment in the lounge 9 to 10. Spent about 20 minutes Star Gazing fro forward deck of ship. Lots of stars in Southern Hemisphere that we rarely get to see. DAY 6 - TAHA'A (Anchor) The quiet sister island to Raiatea (they share the same lagoon) offers similar enchanting scenes, from paradise-white sand beaches to an ancient volcano and deep valleys redolent with the scent of vanilla. I booked the Coral Garden Drift Snorkel Excursion to a Coral Garden channel. We took a small boat to the other side of Tahaa Island where a 100 yard wide channel runs between two small islands. The current runs over a beautiful coral reef. We walked to the inlet side of the channel and drift snorkeled about 400 yards downstream which was a truly unique snorkeling experience. We snorkeled down this beautiful coral filled channel three times which was enough time in the water. My wife was very happy with the Scenic Exploration of Taha'a excursion that she booked. The second “Special Event” was a BBQ lunch on Motu Mahaea off the island of Taha'a. The ship dining staff set up a great lunch for everyone. The ship’s staff also brought over kayaks and paddle boards for use in the motu. It was a great day!! DAY 7 – HUAHINE (anchor) Huahine is a more isolated and "savage" island (actually two sister islands linked together), known for its lush forests and deep lagoon. We both took the Sacred Sites & Cultural Walk excursion. Our guide was incredibly interesting and informative. He explained the history of the Island of Huahine as well as the history of French Polynesia in fascinating detail. This was a great excursion. It was very warm (90 degrees) so we really looked forward to getting back to the ship. DAY 8 - BORA BORA (anchor) is justly famous for its magnificent lagoon and magical water I booked a snorkeling excursion through Trip Advisor. It had the same 3 snorkeling spots as the ship's excursion but was about $40 cheaper. Swimming with Black Tip Sharks is completely safe but takes some getting used to. The Sting Rays were also a unique and interesting encounter. My wife enjoyed her Glass Bottom Boat excursion. Her guide was excellent. Described the history of Bora Bora. She thought it was a fascinating excursion. DAY 9 - BORA BORA (anchor) We needed a rest day onboard after several day’s of fantastic excursion experiences. The evening’s Destination Discovery event where everyone on the ship was taken by large Polynesian Catamarans to our own private island off Bora Bora for a spectacular Tahitian luau, complete with Tahitian dancers and fire dancers. DAY 10 – Morea (anchor) I walked around the port area for about a half hour, stopped at a cafe for a cup of tea before returning to the ship. DAY 11 – Papeete > DISEMBARKATION The ship arranged a taxi to take us to the airport. Our Air France flight (07:30 departure) was a long but uneventful back to LAX. We had 3 hours to clear Customs & Immigration and get over to Terminal 2 where we caught our Delta flight back to Las Vegas (arrived 23:00). FINAL THOUGHTS: I believe that this was the best cruise that we had ever taken. I cannot recommend Windstar any higher than that. Read Less

The wife and I booked a mid-March Empires of the Mediterranean on Viking Star in September, 2016. We also added the three night Tuscany pre-cruise and the Athens four night post-cruise stays. We wanted a educational small ship experience with time in both Italy and Greece, We encountered uncharacteristic winter weather at the front end of the trip that resulted in 3 port cancellations once on ship. Viking responded by adding the port of Split and 2 sea days (which we really needed after the Tuscany tour). The upside to a March cruise was that, in most cases, we were the only ship in port and the weather cool. I have nothing but praise for the tour guides, staff and crew throughout the trip. From the time we stepped off the plane in Florence until we boarded again in Athens, we were expertly taken care of. In Tuscany, our stay at Villa il Poggiale, hosted by Monica Cozzi, was outstanding. Our tour guide, Roberta, was a gracious individual and really enhanced our tours of Florence, Siena and San Gimignano! We boarded in Venice (do the opera excursion), we found the Viking Star a modern, well appointed and beautiful ship with all members of the crew going out of their way to provide exceptional service. The bartenders at the Viking Bar, Dejan, Destra and Iskra, were especially delightful. We had a deluxe veranda room which was spacious and comfortable. The food was wonderful everywhere and the main dining room equal quality to the specialty restaurants. If you are looking for dazzling shows, casino entertainment, art auctions and amenities for kids, this is not the ship for you. The clientele is mature, the entertainment geared to enrichment and education and the schedule port intensive all of which was exactly what we wanted. We took many of the included tours which were more than adequate if one does a little research. Viking provided a bus shuttle in Dubrovnik and Athens which was a nice touch. Consider adding the drink package; it is inexpensive and well worth it. After debarkation, we were met by George and Barbra, our host and guide, and taken to the Hilton Athens which is a beautiful facility. Three of our four days included tours the Acropolis, Acropolis Museum, Mycenae, Epidaurus and Delphi: all outstanding. During our free time, we purchased a 5 day metro ticket (9 Euros each and also good for buses) and the inclusive archeological site and museum ticket (15 Euros each) and did Athens on foot. We ate at DioDos in the Plaka at 19 Adrianou Street (across from Angora entrance) three times which had fabulous food and wine. Dimitris, the waiter, was a great ambassador, teaching us Greek and rendering fabulous service. Of course something negative albeit hard to find. Do not let Viking Air book you less than 2 hours for air transfers at Charles De Gaulle Airport regardless. We learned the hard way. I had a hard time getting clarity before the cruise and once on board exactly what tour was included during the transfer from the ship to the hotel in Athens. It is unclear on the web site and cruise guide. In all cases, representatives had to consult 1 to 2 levels above and even then were not really sure. It is the “The full Acropolis Experience” tour and sadly several couples did not seek clarity or did not know and paid for this tour the port day before debarkation. We guessed right on tours but Viking should let people know at least 90 days out what ports will have shuttles and locations as it would help in shore excursion decisions. The shore excursion to the National Museum is too short. My biggest disappointment was the cancellation of the port of Katakolon and not seeing Ancient Olympus. However, it gives us an excuse to book a future Viking cruise to the area. Read Less