The itinerary for this cruise fit our schedule beautifully. We loved the fact that we docked in some ports in the evening, able to do a bit of exploring for/after dinner, giving it almost a river cruise atmosphere. And what ports! Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Rouen, Honfleur, and London! Each beautiful, full of history, good shopping, and lots of cobblestones. The Wind only holds 296 passengers, giving it a very intimate feel, yet never felt crowded. There are four restaurants available for dinner, and we enjoyed each and every one at least twice! Chef even prepared a special dinner for us of dover sole one night in the main restaurant. The staff and crew are delightful. After 10 days we felt as if we were leaving our "Cheers" bar, where everyone knows your name. The Cruise Director, Colin, is a trained classical pianist who entertained us, along with the 6 Seven Seas Dancers/Singers. From opera to Broadway, they were great. We had fun! Everyone bent over backwards to make certain everything was to our satisfaction. This was our third Silver Seas cruise, and I can't wait for the next one.... Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary and SilverSea customer service. The crew from the butler, restaurant server, cruise director, and ship capitan were exceptional. The food quality was very good and expertly prepared. The singers were very talented and provided good variety. The ports were all interesting and the tours provided a wide variety of options. The ship is a older vessel, but well maintained. The ship will need to be updated in the near future. The fitness center was small and could be refreshed. The service level by the crew is the highlight of this cruise. The crew quickly remembered your name and addressed you by your name. Hamburg, Germany was a particularly interesting port and St Michael church was very beautiful. I would recommend spending extra days in Copenhagen and London. We really enjoyed the theatre in London and visiting Buckingham Palace. Copenhagen is walkable and a friendly city. Read Less

Cruising with Silversea is a no brainer, everything promised was pretty much delivered. We did notice a difference in service between the Silver Shadow and the Wind, with staff in the dining areas not as attentive, and I hope this was a one-off. Perhaps the ship was short staffed on this cruise. Yes, as other reviewers have noted, the Wind is showing a bit of wear and tear but it didn't stop us from booking the next cruise on the same ship, especially knowing it is getting a facelift this fall. We enjoyed all the ports of call without exception and the grande finale at Tower Bridge, with champagne on the upper deck and Rule Britannia blaring from the speakers, was just marvelous...hopefully the locals didn't mind the intrusion. The enrichment lectures were informative and the cooking demonstrations were fun. Colin Brown, the cruise director, should be cloned and used on all the ships, he was excellent. Oliver at the pool bar has hospitality in his DNA, maybe he should also be cloned. The Voices of Silversea didn't disappoint, and it was nice to run into Nina again. Philip and Katherine, the butler and suite attendant, are to be commended. All in all a fabulous time! Read Less

We wanted to cruise the Baltic in August 2018 and looked for the most luxurious line. To start on a positive note, the suites were beautiful, clean and spacious. TV programming, including movies was excellent. Internet was fair, but only after purchasing the 'premium' version at some $ 150, the type of nickel-and-diming that we did not expect. Shore excursions were good, but very expensive. The cabins of most of our group members were very noisy and shaking, especially when the ship was moving. This is something we never experienced before (and we are seasoned cruise guests). This did impact our sleep negatively.. The handicapped facilities were so-so, no handrails on toilet. Food.. La Terrazza was fine, although the 'free' red wine was disappointing Spaccanapoli.. If we would come across pizza like that, we would walk away. Same for the burgers at the grill. Horrible. Indochine was fine, and so was Seishin ($ 40 per person additional) Also, frequently, restaurants were not able to seat us (we were a party of 12). At Seabourn, this never happened. Changes to menu items were usually not possible, let alone waiting staff remembering what guests liked (like, again, at Seabourn) Our cruise with Silversea was satisfactory, but not the best value for money. We will not return. Read Less

First time sailing Silver Seas. (Silver Spirit) It lived up to its billing. Almost everything was right, and when it wasn't it was appropriately addressed. Entertainment and Activities abord the ship were more (high quality talent) than anticipated. The cabins were spacious. Larger than expected. Attentive butler service and cleaning were almost "too much" but we got used to it. Felt there was way too much emphasis on premium alcohol (cruise wide) and a few fellow passengers got more "into the spirit(s)" than they might have if they were paying a la carte, but I suppose that is what you get when you are all inclusive. The "special" restaurants had such limited availability we were unable to book tables.A disappointment. Didn't realize how quickly you had to reserve (we waited two weeks after reservations opened) Food was excellent considering its such a large production The internet (and I upgraded to premium) was extremely cumbersome and slow. This was a surprising problem. I have had better service on airplanes! The Baltic itineraries/excursions (Copenhagen, Visby and Tallinn were uninspired). It seemed more like a "lead up" to St Petersburg. Guides were processional and logistics were smooth. Large complaint was on return flights. Took advantage of the Business Class upgrade. I should have been more insistint about direct flights home (Iceland Air stops in Reykjavik and doesn't have lie flat seats in business class.) Would have happily paid more and ended the cruise with more comfort. Read Less

We just returned from a very enjoyable Baltic cruise. We are not Cruise experts; this was only our second one (recently) after Alaska cruise with Crystal Serenity. We naturally compared the two lines/ships. Overall we loved both but do have a few nitpicks. Cabin: SS clearly more spacious than Crystal Serenity but the the CS balcony cabin was better organized and we preferred Crystal's less firm mattress. SS walk in closet is great. Public spaces: Advantage Silver Spirit. Beautiful pastel colors and rich style. Crystal Serenity is certainly excellent in its own right, but it has some garish or frumpy spots. Entertainment: Advantage Crystal. Entertainment on the SS was enthusiastic but basic. Service: Both excellent but more uneven on Silver Spirit, ranging from the superb to the chaotic breakfast buffet at Terrazza. Butler service tops, but so is regular room service. Food: Both excellent. Favorites on the SS were Indochine, Grill and Terrazza dinner, as well as Silver Note. Atlantide was fine. Our one serious disappointment was SS's Japanese restaurant (extra $) - much of the food was unauthentic and drowning in teryaki, much better in Crystal's Nobu. I also missed my main dining room on the Crystal Serenity. Wines: advantage Crystal. The offerings on SS were fine but on CS I had some excellent Loire, Burgundy and Cote de Rone wines. You can get this on Silversea but pay extra. Embarkation/Disembarkation: Advantage Silversea. Crystal is good, Silversea is better. Silversea's policy to provide shuttles to the center of each town where it docks is perfect. Bottom line: we would be very happy to sail again one either ship/ with either cruise line!! Read Less

This was our second Silversea cruise and it was wonderful. We were always greeted warmly and the staff went above and beyond to make sure our needs were met. This ship has wonderful, large public areas so it does not feel crowded. We were often greeted by name by wait staff after the first couple days and we were always greeted with a smile by any staff member we met in the corridors or public areas. The entertainers were excellent! They performed several different shows with different types of music. Each show was wonderful. Our suite was immaculate! We would go with Silversea again in a heartbeat. Our cruise began and ended with Copenhagen. We then traveled to Bergen, Songnefjord, Molde, and Geiranger. The beauty of the fjords is hard to describe. Docking was smooth as was tendering in the ports we had to tender to shore. Everything was always on time. I also can't say enough about our butler. He brought us appetizers each day at 5 without us even asking. It was difficult to say good bye to this wonderful ship and wonderful experience after 7 days. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we have always wanted to travel and explore Norway and Denmark. This is the first cruise we have been on and wanted it to be a good experience. We chose Silversea due to their reputation and recommendations from friends whom have traveled with Silversea. The price was high compared to other cruise lines but in the end it was worth every cent. The staff was amazing and very friendly, the food was incredible. My Wife is Gluten Free and as we informed them of this up front they were very responsive and well prepared for her dietary needs. Norway was amazing and the shore excursions were well worth it. The ship rout was such that we zigged and zagged in and around the majestic islands and fjords able to see amazing scenery. The offshore weather was a bit rough and I was amazed at hos stable the ship was, so I was told due to the stabilizers that were being used. I would do it again for sure, but would choose a different cruise so to see new sights. Read Less

We chose the cruise for the destinations and loved the small size. Food was delicious with good variety and beautiful presentation. We liked the choice of various small restaurants. Spa massages were excellent. The cabin was well appointed. Biggest problem was poor communication among staff in dining areas. All staff were eager to help with any request but it often took a while to fulfill it. Very smooth embarkation and disembarkation. We would sail again with Silver Sea. Ports were well chosen and the itinerary did not disappoint--beautiful views and lovely cities. Descriptoins from cruise director were accurate. Public spaces were attractive. Loved having the cafe with morning coffee and pastries as well as all day drinks and snacks. Really enjoyed the all inclusive beverages and reasonable corkage fee for wine we brought on board. Excellent ability to have internet access. Up to date movie list for viewing on TV with excellent choices. Ability to view shore excursions, menus and activities from the TV also good. Read Less

This was my third and unfortunately last time on the Spirit , Muse or any Silversea ship , that does no longer have a regular restaurant, with nightly changing menus. The stretch and “musification“ of the ship did not please me in quite a few aspects, mainly concerning the restaurant situation on board. I ran out of dining options on day 3 of the cruise. The ship itself is beautiful on the inside. The facelift of cabins and public spaces pleases the eye and looks elegant. The cabin feels much roomier now, however unfortunately, the ship‘s and especially the cabins aircondition was obviously harmed during the stretch. Not once in 10 days was I able to adjust the temperature. It was either warm and stuffy , or cold like a fridge. Uncomfortably cold ! the control did nothing, most days. I reported it numerous times , it wasn’t fixed. Later learned, I was not the only one. Since the cut and stretch of the ship, aircon was affected and did not work correctly in some or all of the cabins and other parts of the ship. Reason I will not return to the Spirit or any of the new ships is the restaurant situation, or I should precise it, their food offerings. It was downright mediocre, sometimes bad and tasteless, sometimes weird. Not enough choices. Never once really tasty, never once refined and delicious. First night I went to Seishin. It was empty, thus service was attentive and personal. The food was mediocre, the surf and turf ( signature dish ) gross! The rest of the menu was OK, nothing was however worth paying a 40$ cover charge. Second night Indochine. What a surprise. They call it Asian Fusion food. Oh boy. After hearing the explanation, I instantly knew that this is never a good sign and basically translates into „ we do not really know what we were doing - it is not authentic food , we just tried something but you won’t notice it anyway , but it does sound super cool“. It was horrible. During the cruise I tried 4 of the 8 main dishes, only one was OK, not good, nowhere near good authentic and tasty Asian food. The 3 appetizer were equally bad, and the same goes for 1 of the two soups. Yes, you counted right. 3 appetizer, 2 soups ( in large bowls for some strange reasons ) , and about 8 main courses. That was it. And 4 equally uninspired desserts. The menu never changed! So you go once, find out how bad the food is, and you are left with exactly one other choice for a main restaurant, leaving la terrazza, which was never Silversea‘ strong suit , and the hot rock‘ s aside. La Terrazza another let down again by the way, but that was expected, and I did not try Silver Note, so cannot comment. So that left me with Atlantide. Basically the same idea and concept as Indochine. This time it wasn’t pseudo Asian food, instead “Fish or Beef“. Reminds you on airplanes with their beef or chicken question? It wasn’t any better! The menu consisted of 4 fish options and a few meat options, 3 steak and one lamb. This never changed!!! You could pick either meat or fish, add one of their boring and also never changing sauces ( coming straight from the package ) , and you have your main course. Tara ! Fabulous. Well done Silversea. Easy on the logistics , not too difficult for the galley to execute and definitely lower in costs. You threw in a few appetizer, which indeed partly changed once during the cruise, again not enough to choose from and ever so boring on day 6 of your cruise. How could you Silversea ? The former restaurant was a pleasure to dine in, the changing menus wonderful, refined and one could always find something. On this cruise, dining unfortunately was the low light of the day and brought me to Spaccanapoli for dinner. Another lowlight of the ship‘s cuisine, you guessed it dear reader. Service in general was just OK, with some staff being as personal and attentive as I remembered, but many just did their job. Regardless what restaurant or time of the day. This was not how it used to be. Oh and one more word about Spaccanapoli. Two types pizza on the menu. Napoli style and regular style. No appetizer, no dessert for dinner. Two types pizza and staff had no idea, what the difference was. Go figure! So with food being the biggest letdown of the cruise, the routing however was fabulous and the reason to book the cruise in the first place, because we finally went to some ports ,remote and usually not visited by other cruise lines, the weather great, fellow passengers diverse and mostly friendly. Moss as cruise director as good as it gets. Entertainment I cannot comment because I knew from the previous cruises it wasn’t to my liking. So a good book it was instead and that was what I was looking for anyway despite the ports and countries visited. Overall angriest cruise, despite the food and the lackluster service sometimes. Read Less

We are many time Silversea cruisers. This is the largest ship we have sailed with. It is not as intimate as the smaller vessels in the fleet. The staff was very nice, but on the smaller ships, they know your name and you cannot get out of a buffet without someone offering to carry your plate to the table. It is hard I expect to keep up with 600 passengers vs. 350. Food for the most part was excellent and our cabin butler and maid were excellent. The downside of this cruise was primarily new, small city ports for the liner and they had not much to offer. Because they are not regular cruise stops, they don't have professional guides. We had 2 nice excursions and one amateurish one. Don't want to pay $129 per person to be bored. My siblings had even worse experiences than we did with several bad excusions. SS needs to send an advance team to new locations to really vet the places. Very good sushi for lunch in the Japanese restaurant. We ate at both paid evening venues, La Dame and Senshi (sp?), and would skip those in the future. La Terraza and the Alantide are fine. Indochine I liked but my wife was not impressed. The Grill is very good. One nice thing about the larger ship... you barely feel the waves. Very smooth. The one thing that was missing was a self serve coffee / cappuccino bar for early risers. They had that on the small ships observation deck. Not on this one. Either get room service or wait till 6.30 to get coffee in the Arts Café. Entertainment: the glee club members have excellent voices, but the shows are way over produced. Too much glitz and dance and very non-stop busy. We preferred the trios and the guitar / piano duos. Read Less

The cruise should have been fabulous: 10 days to areas of Denmark, Sweden, and Finland rarely visited by cruise ships, with expected weather a relief from the heat of a New Jersey summer. Instead, the cruise started off badly, with problems regarding food service and an excursion, and never quite recovered. Stateroom Let's start with the best part of the cruise: our room and its attendants. Our superior veranda suite was nearly indistinguishable from the suites were used to on our usual cruise line, Regent. Our butler, Rahul, and our cabin attendant Jobie kept the room in tip top shape. Rahul attended to our every need, including our unusual requests for pomegranate juice and other beverages, and even provided me with a tie, since I had forgotten to pack one. Now for the worst: our first excursion, and several bad food experiences in the first two days. These things created a bad impression that was never overcome, even though the cruise improved as we went along. Excursions The highlight of our tour in our first port, Ronne, Bornholm, was supposed to be a ruined castle, and Silversea sent at least 5 buses there. Unfortunately, there was no coordination between the ship and tour provider on one hand, and the Danish parks department on the other hand. As a result, we arrived at the castle at 8:50 am, only to find that the visitors' center (with toilets, gift shop, panoramic view, and an explanation of the site) wouldn't open until 10. The guide pointed to the castle, and we were on our own. No explanation, no place for my wife (for whom the trail was too steep to walk in 85 degree heat) to wait, no bathrooms. At other stops, the guide also failed to guide, and didn't tell us about an interesting museum. Our complaints about the tour to the Silversea excursion desk fell on deaf ears. After Bornholm, the excursions improved, but they were pricey. The best was the second day, to Kalmar, Sweden from Borgholm, Sweden. Good guide, good tour. In Lulea, Sweden, the trip to a UNESCO heritage site, Gammelstad, was nice; but we could have gone there on a bus for $3.50 instead of $89. The Arctic Arts and Culture tour was pricey (nearly $250 per person), long, but interesting. We could have done without time spent making key chains in 2 different places, and lunch at one of th3e museums was meh. In the one place where we took a free shuttle, Sundstrand, the shuttles were overcrowded, and they made some people wait in the heat for the next bus 30 minutes later. Couldn't they get more shuttles when the need became obvious? Overall rating of tours other than the F in Bornholm: B minus for content, C for value. Food Our first dinner on the ship, at The Grill, was pretty bad. It was too hot for us to cook the food ourselves, and the food was over cooked by the kitchen. I'd give the meal a D plus. On our first day, after we returned from Bornholm and had lunch, there were more food goofs. We got hungry in mid-afternoon . The ship has no afternoon tea, which is a big minus for us; so we went to the pizzeria, Spaccanapoli. We said we were hungry, and asked how long the food would take. "10 minutes", we were told. After 25 minutes, we asked what was happening, and were told that a group of 11 people had ordered before us. Why didn't they tell us that when we were told the wait would be 10 minutes, and why didn't they say that the restaurant had ice cream. (We found out about that on the next to last day of the cruise.) We had ordered a pizza margarita and a mushroom pizza. The margarita was awful-bad crust, no flavor. Instead of a mushroom pizza, they brought one covered with ham, which we don't eat. Just awful! Other food disasters included an order that was lost in the kitchen of Indochine, so that our main course arrived 50 minutes after our appetizers. By then, we were too tired to eat it. We had food allergy problems at Silver Note. I'm allergic to chocolate, my wife to strawberries. As listed, the desserts had either chocolate or strawberries. However, the non-chocolate dessert included a beautiful chocolate tower, which they removed for me (creating a very blah dessert). After tasting strawberries in her chocolate (but no strawberries) dessert, my wife inquired about dessert ingredients. She was told "no strawberries", but decided to be cautious. That was a goof thing: 5 minutes later, the waiter rushed to the table to apologize for the fact that the dessert did, indeed, have strawberries. That could have cause a major medical problem. We tried on at least 4 days to speak to the food manager about our food problems. We never connected with him. That's very bad management on the part of Silversea. We shared a private tour with people who were vegans. They will never sail Silversea again, since the ship apparently didn't even know what a vegan was. Inexcusable. Ratings of individual restaurants: Silver note - small portions of slightly odd food, dessert disaster, opening time (8 pm) too late for us. D Spaccanapoli - as noted above, F The Grill at supper - C minus Indochine - We ate there twice. The first time, as noted, an F. The second time, with some friends, a B. The menu is still too limited, with only raw foods or soups too spicy for my wife as appetizer choices. Atlantide - Nice menu, but still limited choices and the menu never changes. Excellent service. A minus. La Terrazza lunch - Standard luxury ship buffet; but it's odd that there's only one choice of pasta on an Italian ship. Very friendly and courteous staff. B La Terrazza dinner - Excellent food, lots of choices. A. La Dame - Small number of choices, but excellent food in a nice atmosphere. Rating is an A; but it's annoying to be charged $60 per person for a meal on a luxury liner, and then to have to sign a bill. More food issues - Dress code - I don't like having to put on a jacket (sometimes with a tie) for dinner; but it's part of the Silversea culture. New Silversea cruisers need to be aware of the code. Hors d'oeuvres - Uniformly the worst I've ever encountered. Tiny and a bit odd, especially in the Arts Cafe. (One shrimp with gloppy sauce in a mason jar? Weird!) Certainly not enough to hold one until the late Silversea dinner hour, which is a big problem for us. The biggie: late meal times, no afternoon tea, impossibly late show times. We normally eat at or before 6 pm, so even the 6:30 dinner time on Regent is a problem for us. The problem is solved by having some fruit, tea, and sweets at afternoon tea. Still, 6:30 dinners mean 9:30 show times, which is late for us. We make it to the shows on Regent about half the time. On Silversea, early dinner is at 7, show time at 10, and there's no afternoon tea. We found ourselves trying to have an afternoon snack, so we wouldn't be overly hungry by 7 (or worse, by opening time of 8 pm for Silver Note). That was difficult, (especially since we didn't know Spaccanapoli had ice cream). Pizza at Spaccanapoli was a disaster, Room service took more than 30 minutes. The grill closed at 3:30, usually before we were hungry. (The one time we sneaked it at 3:25, the food was excellent). The only thing that worked for us was making cheese sandwiches from the breakfast buffet, then eating them when we got hungry at 4 or 5 pm. Not exactly a luxury experience! Entertainment We were only up late enough to try one 10 pm show. That was in the Panorama Lounge instead of the main showroom; and we couldn't get a seat in the room. Bad! There were three 6:30 shows, a time which pushed supper to later than the too-late-for us 7 pm dinner time.. The two opera singers were terrific, the individual singer so-so, and we had no interest in a blues and soul show. Just singers, late shows, no dancers or guest entertainers, no local entertainers even when we left ports at a late hour. Pretty lame. Grade: incomplete, since the 10 pm show time made us miss most shows. The ship The ship was shiny and new, as it should have been two months after the "big stretch." Public spaces were generally good, except for the overly small and unattractive show lounge. Our basic problems were with design, particularly with spaces too small for an increased number of passengers. The gym was small and cramped. Seishin (which we didn't try) and La Dame were too small. The laundry rooms had only one small washer and dryer each, and no place to sit down. Someone thought it was a good idea to have all public spaces in the aft part of the ship, which has pluses (no stateroom over most of the lounges) and minuses (vibration in each restaurant or lounge, no aft cabins.) The strangest thing is having the grill on the 9th deck and the buffet restaurant on the 7th. That means that one can't have a lunch partly from the grill, partly from the buffet, as we've often done on at least five different cruise lines. Strange! Overall grade for the ship: B. Itineraries We chose the ship because of the terrific itinerary, and the ship mostly delivered on the itinerary. If we come back to Silversea, it would be because the line has more interesting itineraries than other luxury lines. Conclusion Our whole experience on this cruise was less than the sum of its parts. Somehow we never adjusted to the meal hours, the late activities, the lack of a good (but light) afternoon snack, the failure of management to respond to our problems, and the early excursion times in most ports. Silversea is probably great for most people; but it was not a good fit for us. Read Less

We joined the ship in Copenhagen. The ship looked good and was clearly well maintained. Embarkation was speedy and easy. Our suite was ready at 2pm and was was fresh and light. The facilities in the suite were good - a ‘home from home’. We had a butler and suite attendant who were absolutely faultless. You can eat in 10 different locations (including the suite). We found the food quality and presentation was top-notch. All the crew were excellent. Everyone was very friendly and attentive. This included the captain, cruise director, hotel director all the way down to the deck staff and cleaners. The entertainment was very good and wide-ranging. There was a group of talented singers who were very popular. The ports on this cruise were unusual ones. The highlights were often well away from the ship. There were good tours or a complimentary shuttle bus service. We went to see Father Christmas, reindeer and huskies at the Arctic Circle. It was 31C !! The Silver Spirit had recently been enlarged. We felt that this was money well spent. We also felt that our own money was well spent by going on this cruise. Everyone we spoke to felt the same. We have booked our next Silversea cruise! Read Less

Our tenth Silversea cruise on four of their ships, our favorite is the 296 passenger Wind, but all are top notch. Service is outstanding and the Butler is not just an advertising gimmick, he and the cabin attendant work well together with superior results, far better than efforts on Seabourn. Spirit now offers more dining choices. Our favorites are the Atlantide for an a la cart breakfast, excellent for days at sea or when no early tours are scheduled. Also good for dinner with the lobster tails prepared so much better than in the past. The hot rock grill is fine in good weather and when one wants to be dressed casually. Steak and prawns are large and very good quality. The Italian restaurant, La Terraza, has a generous buffet at lunch and excellent dinner menu. None of these are extra charge. High tea is missed, no longer available on Spirit and the Panorama lounge is now used for cocktails and late night activity. Embarkation and debarking are best of any cruise lines, handled very well. Tours and shuttle buses are definitely more crowded on the enlarged Spirit, not up to standard for a luxury cruise. Overall, we remain loyal to Silversea, but worry about their ability to maintain quality with the larger ships and with new ownership by Royal Caribbean. Read Less

Meeting with Hotel Director later this am. Very sad. Our friends who are with us usually go on Regent. 1st time on SS and because of this experience will not go back on SS. Women`s restrooms on 4th Fl (outside of restaurants) and 7th Fl repeatedly disgusting, out of towels, etc. Female Japanese guest observed to be trying to clean restroom 4th Fl (outside of restaurants) herself! Last night we went to Panarama Lounge 9:00pm after Dinner---NO STAFF! We had to go behind Bar and serve ourselves. Called Reception to complain and they say “ Panarama Staff are on Break from 8:30 -9:30pm! Why not stagger breaks but at least have some Staff present during anticipated times for use of Lounge (ie—after dinner)? Much of 6th FL deck, incl our friend`s room very warm and could not get thermostat to cool off. Very uncomfortable throughout Cruise until just yesterday. Thermostat worked fine in our Suite, but problems with plumbing throughout cruise (continuous sounds of gurgeling coming from sinks and shower drains 24/7). Another experience in Panarama Lounge---UNBELIEVABLE! All (4) of us go for drinks after dinner into the Panarama Lounge. We all order drinks and I requested a special Cognac. Debbie and our fiends get their drinks and the Waiter puts an empty Cognac glass in front of me and says that he is going to get the Cognac and return. 40 min later, Debbie and friends had finished their drinks. Same Waiter comes over and looks at my empty glass and asks if I would like another Cognac! We are all thinking this guy is trying to be funny and then realize that he was serious! I tell him that I never rec`d my 1st glass. He picks up my glass, puts his nose it and proceeds to smell 2x, and then puts my glass back on the table and says that he was sorry, starts to leave, and says that he will go and get the Cognac! We are all really SHOCKED witnessing this happen. I then stop him and demand that he get me a CLEAN GLASS! UNBELIEVAABLE!!!!! Pool/Lido Deck Grill---Super Poor Svc and food not good. Lots of Staff simply standing around, talking to themselves, as if they are in training or don`t care. Guests flag down Staff for service quite often (we even had to get up out of our seats to get attention of Staff just standing around). Very poor Management overseeing these Guest Services on Pool/Lido Deck. Overall food definitely gone downhill—quality and selections in La Terraza Lunch and Dinner not as good as before. Entertainment was very poor---although we do not usually go to many Shows anyways. Alantide—Formal Night—I forgot to bring ties on Cruise. I had Black Dress Shirt, Black Slacks, looked nice, but no tie. Several people were in line checking in. Instead of pulling me aside and quietly/politely advising me that I needed a tie to come in and eat, Maitra`d proceeds to advise me in a LOUD voice . . . I pulled him aside and told him that I understood the policy and respected that what he was saying but was critical about the way the message was delivered. He really did not care. I then asked if Debbie and our guests could please be seated and that I would try to go find a tie and return. Despite being advised of Debbie`s impaired vision and us needing a well lighted table, he proceeds to sit us in a knowing dark unacceptable table. I remind him of Debbie`s impaired vision and ask if we could please be seated at more well lighted table. He gets frustrated, says “sit wherever you want” and walks away! Read Less

Prefer luxury cruises that are all inclusive.... but...this was a partial inclusive as shore excursions were not included and this ship and the service were not on par with our cruises on Regent Seven Seas. The embarkation started off very well and the champagne greeting was lovely. Dinner however began the downhill slope. The maitre' d appeared annoyed. The wait staff were impatient and not particularly interested in being friendly or chatty with the guests. The food was fine but not spectacular. Complimentary wine was very nice. Our room, although on the lowest level, was very nice other than the worn out look of the hallway leading to our door. Otherwise no complaints on room. Shore excursions were pricey and no super informative...but, honestly not much to do in these small, cute, quaint Norwegian towns. Our first excursion was on the Rama Railway which began very poorly as our group did not seem to have seats on the train and ended up being shuffled around carriages by a surly train conductor. Communication was poor considering that we were not to stay on the train to the final stop but since our group ended up split apart on separate carriages it was amazing we didn't lose folk! The language barrier was an issue everywhere. The excursions, the wait staff, and the bar staff (who had no idea what a 'blended' margarita was or what 'extra olives' in a martini meant ). Conclusion... this will be our last Silversea cruise. Read Less

Researching cruises for 10 family members, SilverSeas was forward to us by AmEx with a wonderful rep. We started with 3 days in Iceland coming from NYC and LA for a stop over (a good move, hit Messin for dinner), two full days in Copenhagen (Marv and Ben- a excellent restaurant). Getting to the pier by taxi was easy and quick from center of town, on and off the boat was too easy and welcoming. Rooms were amazing large with service (butler and housekeeping), that did everything you didn't think of. The fish was sensational from breakfast to lunch to dinner. The Japanese restaurant, Kaiseki is a good lunch place, reservations needed for dinner. You be pleasantly surprised eating at La Terrazza for a touch of Italy with a bottle of Pipoli Aglianico Del Vulture (another find). The Sorrento style pizzas on the pool deck was addicting, especially with the wine service (Chenin Blanc from South Africa was a wonderful learn). For us, Kayaking in Geiranger fjord was an experience that one wanted to last longer and if you can, a must do.. The services & crew were all caring, always putting the vacation experience first, something hard to find. We are thinking about SilverSeas again! Read Less

Wanted to see the Fjords. Had nothing to do with Silver Seas. Our friends had a so-so experience on an exploration type cruise so wanted to give the more conventional cruise a chance with SS. The wait staff, especially the so called head maitre d were terrible. Bepin, Norbert, and Samuel were great. In fact, we went to IndoChin the last 5 nights because the service was so bad elsewhere. E.g. I wanted two scoops of vanilla with chocolate sauce which was not on the menu. Waiter did not offer to get it for me. So, I left table, went up to the ice cream lady and got it myself, returned to the restaurant to stunned faces. On outside grill, had to go get a glass of wine downstairs because noone came by to check on us. At almost every meal, someone made me feel like I was imposing. Bepin and Norbert didn't play those games. Tours were ok. Train ride (not Flam) was a fiasco. We had fun, but who wants to feel like an imposition. Get rid of the tall short haired blond supposed maitre d...it's clear his staff was afraid of him. Never smiled and he's two faced--smile then shut it off as soon as guest left his presence. Jerk. Food was ok, but not outrageously good. Bepin did respond to my request to steak (gave me filet mignon, not sirloin) and lobster on the last night and another change up to the Indochin menu no questions asked. Wonderful. And the other thing was the language barrier for us Americans. I should say the pronunciation barrier for us America. The waitress did not understand the term blend, slush, and frozen for a margarita drink. It was repeated to her several times. No clue what we were talking about. We ran into this almost every day. And the 11th floor bar in the front of the boat had no breakfast or anything until 6PM. Coffee was only avaialble in the back of the boat. Very bad. We went the first night at 6PM or later for drinks and never again because the second night we didn't know it wasn't open at 5:00 PM for happy hour (duh!). Silly us. It takes two-three days to get the lay of the land. Again, the ship itself was ok for some things and uneven for others. I enjoyed my walks outside around the pool, but that had nothing to do with staff although Harvey, a waiter outside, was super nice and checked up on my step total. Most wheelchairs I've ever seen on a cruise. If I had trouble negotiating and/or locating my way around the ship, I can't imagine their plight. Embarkation and disembarkation were the best of our experience as cruisers. Super organized and done quickly, including even getting our pictures taken and all of that. Leaving on bus was very well done and we felt comfortable with that. Coming on board, they allowed our taxi to pull right up to the waiting group of staff members. Nice. You can't take the beauty of what we saw on the ship. SS had nothing to do with that. We did enjoy that part of it, but our experience with the staff was so uneven and weird (remember all four of us in our party felt the same thing, so it's not just the author) that we won't be back. If it wasn't for Bepin, Samuel, and Norbert, we might have settled for room service dinner. Read Less

This was our first ever cruise so we didn't really know what to expect. Silverseas had been recommended and we were keen to go with a smaller ship for a shorter time so that we could get used to the cruise experience. A 7 day trip to the Norwegian fjords in a ship with 600 fellow passengers seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Well, as far as we were concerned, it could not have been better. We loved pretty much everything about it and cannot wait to do another one. We are not especially fussy about detail and obviously have nothing to compare this cruise and the ship against but we felt that the overall quality of the suite, the restaurants, the food, the service and the ship's bars, lounges and public areas was outstanding. My wife has a gluten intolerance and she was well looked after in all the restaurants at all times. The various restaurants mean that you can have a different and very high quality dining experience virtually every night. We particularly liked La Terrazza, Indochine and Silver Note (wonderful singer and pianist to accompany the excellent food). We're no wine buffs but all the wines offered were very nice and seemed to be of good quality. Our glasses were regularly refilled as each meal progressed! The Arts Cafe was excellent and a very popular spot for afternoon tea and delicious cakes. Entertainment was good and there was plenty of variety but remember it's a cruise ship not the West End of London or Broadway. It was nice to have a couple of dances in the Panorama Lounge most evenings before retiring. The vibe here was wonderfully relaxed and chilled. Fellow passengers were fine. Like us, most seemed content to keep their own company but were happy to chat when the opportunity arose. We enjoyed the onshore excursions. A bit tiring jumping on and off coaches and trains all day but a great way to see a little of Norway other than from the ship.c Having your own butler was nice but, to be honest, we didn't really bother him at all. All in all, a truly memorable experience for us. I'll leave other more seasoned travellers to point out the faults and whether or not it was value for money. We'd go on the Silver Spirit again in a heartbeat. Read Less

WE have sailed Silversea before. We sailed the Fjords of Norway and it was a very relaxing cruise. Love the update to the Spirit. We have sailed the Muse twice and like that the Spirit now has Atlantide (seafood and steaks), Silver Note (jazz supper club), and Indochine. The food is always innovative and of high quality. We were very happy with all the service with the exception of wait too long outside for someone to take our pizza order. Also on another occasion in the Arts Cafe service was off. The other meals and venues lived up to the Silversea brand we are use to. The entertainment is only 6 singers but this group was the best so far that we have seen and it is amazing the shows they can put on with only 6. We don't need a big production when on vacation, just lovely entertainment at the end of an evening. Getting off and on the ship at ports was seamless; which is another reason we love this size of ship. We took a couple tours which were excellent and we also just walked out into the ports at some stops. Service , Service, Service. We booked another cruise while on board. Read Less

I have always heard positive reviews of Spirit from other passengers and given it's recent transformation I wanted to experience her renovation and crew. I have enjoyed the Wind twice in the past and last year I sailed on the Muse shortly after its maiden voyage. The primary driver for this trip was the itinerary. The diversity of passenger nationalities on Spirit was excellent which made for interesting conversations. There were groups of friends and multi-generational families traveling together, a few same-sex couples and several handicapped passengers. The Spirit feels very much like the Muse in decor and layout. Overall, this was a very smooth voyage both literally and in terms of service, on-board venues, food, excursions, etc. The exterior of the ship looks brand new; the deck crews on all Silversea ships does an amazing job washing and sometimes even touching up portions of the ship with new paint. As a result, Silversea ships always look crisp and clean. This is noticeable when docked next to other passenger ships. The only interior space I saw that appears original are the public restrooms on various decks. The gym and fitness areas are nicely equipped and were never crowded. The steam and dry sauna areas are co-ed and very small. Both appeared to get little use on this voyage. Silversea, to their credit, has made all of the multiple dining venues much easier to experience than on the Muse which required reservations during my sailing. Most all of the crew are smiling and friendly and I even recognized a few faces from other ships. iPads have made it easy for waiters to address passengers by name and even confirm noted food preferences even before you order. The current Voices of Silversea quartet on Spirit were good but the talent on our Muse sailing was better. I was in an 8th deck deluxe veranda cabin which is nearly identical to the Muse except the TVs are wall- mounted flat screens vs the in-mirror TVs on Muse. The butler explained that passengers complained about noise from adjacent cabins with the in-mirror style. It's a shame because the wall-mounted TV is obtrusive and clunky in an otherwise streamlined cabin. Silversea no longer provides self-serve coffee station in any of the lounges for early risers. The only way to enjoy early hour solitude with coffee is to order room service delivered to a public space. Fresh fruit is no longer stocked in each room which is a shame. We bookended our voyage with two days in Copenhagen and two days in Stockholm. Both of these cities are unique and glorious. The premium hotel choices (D'Angleterre in Copenhagen and The Grand in Stockholm) were both excellent. If you are sailing the Baltic itinerary, do not miss the arrival in Stockholm through the archipelago. We also visited Helsinki Finland and Tallin, Estonia both of which were just okay comparatively speaking. Embarkation and debarkation were smooth and well organized. Silversea does a good job getting luggage reunited with their owners. There was a PhD guest lecturer on this sailing who did an excellent job highlighting what to expect and see at each port. She was concise, knowledgeable and humorous. To sum it up, I highly recommend this itinerary and the Silver Spirit ship. Read Less

Years ago when I was a university faculty member, I had a reputation as a tough grader who didn't award many "A's." So with that in mind, here are my thoughts about what, overall, was a first-rate cruise experience. We chose Silversea for our Baltic cruise in large part because we wanted to enjoy a true "first-boat" experience. Which is what we enjoyed during our days onboard along with another couple who have been friends for over 50 years. Our trip began with a long, but unavoidable, business class flight on SAS to Copenhagen, which Silversea arranged at a price well below the standard prevailing rate. Prior to embarkation, we enjoyed two full days in very sunny Copenhagen, burning "points" at the Marriott, walking extensively and doing a very "touristy" but delightful canal boat ride. The Glyptotech museum's collection of impressionist painters was especially impressive. Check-in at boarding time couldn't have been run any better. We were whisked to our cabin in a blink without ever having to endure the long lines that are so common with cruises on mega-ships. And miracle of miracles, Silversea provided two luggage racks, an amenity that even many top-flight hotels fail to provide. Our butler from Nepal provided a thorough and efficient introduction to shipboard services and we headed quickly to the LaTerraza restaurant for our first taste of Silversea's fine and diverse dining experiences. During our stay on board, we ate at LaTarraza, Atlantide, Silver Note, The Grille, the Arts Cafe, and the pizza shop, the name of which escapes me. We especially enjoyed the first-two, always receiving both top-notch food and attentive service. I especially enjoyed the soups that were included on the multi-course menus. Unfortunately, we had scheduled our visit to The Grille on an evening that was cloudy and cold, but the overhead heaters and blankets kept us very snug. The white and red white wines that were offered during dinner were quite adequate, but it was a bit disappointing that the offerings changed little from night-to-night. As a beer drinker, I was disappointed that Silversea's offerings failed to include even a single IPA. As "morning people," my wife and I especially appreciated the ship's breakfast offerings. It is difficult to imagine that someone would be unable to find something at breakfast that failed to whet their appetite. For me, it was the mounds of smoked salmon, and the always hot, buttery, scrambled eggs. The Silver Spirit's lounges provided comfortable settings for a before-or-after dinner libation. The piano music in the main lounge could not have been better, both in terms of tunes selected and volume. The vista and intimacy provided by Tor's high and at the front of the ship were perfect. From beginning-to-end of the cruise, however, the main lounge was in serious need of another bartender. While the "mixologist" worked at a rapid pace, she plainly was overwhelmed. As a result, table service was unacceptably slow. The only downside in the ship's food service occurred in the Silver Note. Food quality was very high, but the portions were unreasonably small as if they had designed for a tasting menu than the regular course menu we were provided. Our cabin plainly met our expectations. We especially liked the fact that it included a walk-in shower and not the ungainly tub-shower combination that seems to be the order of the day in so many European hotels. Silversea should offer better pre-cruise information about bed size. At the time we made our reservations, we were left with the impression that the room's two-person bed option was the width of an old-fashioned "double" bed. We discovered once onboard, however, that this option was, in fact, pretty much the size of an American "queen" bed, which we would have very much preferred instead of the twin beds we selected. One of the greatest problems with the twins is the placement of overhead lighting on the bed closest to the bathroom wall -- it can give you a good whack in the head if you're not careful. Our excursions overall fully met our expectations. We especially appreciated the fact that our ship was able to dock so close to the center of St. Petersburg -- something that allowed us to avoid the one-hour bus ride to town that comes with the large cruise ships that must dock so far away. Our guides all were well-informed, and all were readily understandable. Indeed all but one was engaging and truly enjoyable. The extra-cost side trip to Moscow was worth every penny and a real trip highlight. We would recommend it to anyone who can deal with arising at 4:30A and not hitting a bed until almost 1A. My wife and I, however, would like to offer a few suggestions for making the shore excursions even more enjoyable. First, in St. Petersburg, structure the tours to places like Catherine's Palace and the Hermitage so that there is less emphasis on "seeing everything," and greater emphasis on leisurely, selective viewing. Second, we both were struck by the absence of any tour offering that focused on the Russians' efforts to save St. Petersburg from the Nazis and the terrible conditions that so many city residents endured during the Second World War. Similarly, it would have been interesting to have some exposure to the city's booming neighborhoods of post-Glasnost Russia. The weakest of our tours occurred in Helsinki. While we were under the impression that we would have a good opportunity to experience the city on shanks mere, we spent an undue amount of time in an undistinguished building listing to performances of Sibelius' music, something we could have done just as easily at home. Additionally, it became immediately evident that we could have seen a great deal of the city by exploiting Helsinki's trams. This proved impossible, however, even during our free time as it is impossible to purchase tickets on the trams or without Finnish currency. Perhaps Silversea could consider pre-purchasing tram tickets for those interested in exploring on their own. Our guide and our experience in Tallinn were most enjoyable. Indeed, we both wish we had had substantially more time to explore the city, especially the newer sections that have been developed in recent years. While on-board, we took advantage of the ship's evening entertainment only twice, once when we were dead-tired and really have headed to bed. We all thought the farewell performance was most enjoyable, with the 60's-70's pop music well-suited to the age of most in the audience. Overall, the debarkation process was handled as smoothly as the boarding process, very professional and well-thought-through. We had decided, however, to stay in Stockholm for two days after the cruise, and received absolutely incorrect and unduly costly advice as to how to reach our hotel. We were advised that it would be difficult to secure a cab, as almost all accepted only Swedish currency; that we would do best to permit Silversea to arrange a private car for a charge in excess of $150. Nonsense! As we discovered subsequently, it is rare cab in Stockholm that doesn't accept credit cards. Indeed, the 10 minute ride to our fine At Six Hotel should have cost us well under $20. Read Less

As first-time cruisers, we chose this cruise because the itinerary was perfect (three full days in St Petersburg..more about that below). In addition, we wanted to experience a cruise that was mostly all-inclusive and a bit luxurious with very spacious cabins. We certainly made the right choice for us--a couple traveling with two friends. The embarkation from Copenhagen was easy and quick and we were delighted at our attractive and spacious suites (one Classic Veranda and one Superior Veranda--they were identical). The food served was excellent and we enjoyed Indochine...but most of the time we were very happy with the main dining room and appreciated the variety of choice of wine and entrees. Service was uniformly excellent. We were always seated right away although the morning of disembarkation breakfast was unusually crowded...not surprising. I would agree with the other comments that perhaps the private butler is 'over-hyped' although she did a marvellous job of setting up for an anniversary cake and bringing a very early am breakfast when entering Petersburg harbour. As mentioned, the highlight of our trip was our time in St. Petersburg. As we are all in our 70s with some minor mobility issues, we decided to book a private three-day tour. After quite a bit of research, we settled on TJ Travel...a company that specializes in providing tours in the Baltic cities and Petersburg, in particular. We were thrilled with our incredibly knowledgeable and informative guide whose English is not only perfect but also colloquial and an extremely fine and careful driver. Our three-day highlights tour enabled us to see so much and in such an easy fashion, tailored to our own speed and interests. We wished we had booked TJ in the other ports as well. We did take a Silversea half-day tour in Helsinki which was fine although it was saved from being a disappointment by a short concert at the end accompanied by interspersed talk by a delightful retired musician. We tried out one night for the entertainment but found it disappointing...which did not matter to us as we are not fans of what we imagine as typical cruise entertainment. We also attended several talks on the ports but found little information that we hadn't read in our travel guides. We have already booked a Mediterranean cruise with Regent (attracted by the included tours...couldn't see booking separately for each of the ports) but we would go back to Petersburg (and use TJ Travel, of course) and happily sail again on Silversea. Read Less

Nice cruise with rough weather. Ship was great as was staff. Excursions ok but extra so added quite a bit to the cost of the trip. Spent a lot of time cruising so excursion time was limited. Three consecutive days of sailing which were pretty boring. Gym was so small we never could get in. Packed at all times with people staying for long work outs. Food was excellent. Several restaurants to choose from so you could always find something you liked. Cabins were very nice and Butler was excellent. A little misleading in stating you have a private butler. Does not mention the Butler cares for 13 rooms so they are not always available. Free laundry but only one washer and dryer per floor. With each floor full it was impossible to get to use them. Suggest adding more on each floor or a way to schedule time. Probably would,not do silver sea again but would go with seabourn. Read Less

Chose Silversea as it is the very best for service which is genuine and authentic. Chose Norway for the geography and to get a small taste of the culture. The fact that the cruise was enjoyable despite 13/15 days of rain speaks to the beauty of the wild and mystical coastline as well as to the excellent service/care of the Silversea staff. The increased number of small speciality restaurants was a treat [ the jazz supper club especially] although I did miss being able to order from the daily dining room menu for in suite dining. Something that must be addressed is the inclusion of the former High Tea service [ a consistently popular offering despite age of passengers] in the new coffee shop , Arts Cafe.There is not nearly enough space to serve all passengers wishing to attend and many left disappointed. There are several other excellent venues on board where the tea service could be offered [ it is only 1 hour per day!] with space and reasonable table size. I would also advise reassessing the offerings which ranged from turquoise to vivid green to hot pink iced cakes. Otherwise, up to Silversea standards with lovely fresh but restful decor Read Less