We took advantage of an opportunity to board a Silversea cruise in our hometown of Portland, Maine. This was an eight day cruise to Montréal that actually started in New York. Overall, we give this cruise five stars out of five! When we cruise, food and service are very important to us, and both were excellent on the Spirit. Less important for us are entertainment and excursions, especially in North America. On this cruise, the entertainment was the weak link. We’d give it three stars out of five. We could have used help with our luggage at embarkation in Portland. I realize this was something of an experiment for Silversea but we all (about 30 of us getting on in Portland) had to bring our own bags on board. Debarkation was easy with two restaurants plus room service available that morning. We had a deluxe veranda suite and it was very spacious although the balcony was something of a waste on this cold-weather cruise. We did not dine in Hot Rocks or Seishin, but all the others were very good to excellent. We found the food and service to be equally good, and the included wines were up to the task. Our butler, Neil, was certainly very attentive and there were several crew who remembered us from a previous cruise on the Muse in April. That made us feel at home. The DJ in Panorama was good, and we really enjoyed the Art Cafe and The Bar in Dolce Vita (hello, Albert!) There was an unusual vibration, one night in particular, that was annoying. We heard several other passengers comment on it as well. I hope it goes fixed before a long trans-Atlantic voyage. The weather was cold but we really didn’t take this cruise for the ports. That said, we really enjoyed the trip up the Saguenay. The scenery was beautiful! All in all, we had an excellent cruise in Silversea! Read Less

This cruise was subcontracted to a British company. The good bits. The exploration staff are excellent keeping the passengers up to date and work really hard. Their safety procedures were impeccable both for the initial brief and then the zodiac brief. The food was good on the whole and exceptional at times. The only complaint really was that more could have been made of the outside restaurant on deck 6. The menu was limited and on the whole basic. Restaurant staff were variable from totally useless to exceptional. They really need a restaurant manager who can take control. The staff in the bar were excellent. The ship. Silversea is supposed to be a luxury cruise line and the word is liberally used for the Explorer. In reality the ship is well passed its refit, the cabin we were in on the 5th deck well well past its best, the bed was comfortable however the chairs were getting threadbare and there was no stool by a rather tired dressing table. The light fittings needed to be changed (one was hanging off its fitting when we arrived) and the bathroom was badly thought out, short of storage space and I suspect had not been updated for at least 20 years. The blinds in the observation deck were broken and in various stages of retraction, maintenance were clearly not on the job or didn't have the spares. it looked more like a 2 star hotel room than a luxury liner. Throughout the ship the carpets were clean but in some areas heavily stained. The ship spent its whole voyage listing to starboard, apparently due to not being able to discharge waste within 200nm of land however there is more than one grey water tank so there is no excuse. I suspect that there was an unserviceability in the transfer between tanks but we were not being told. So come on SS get some money spent on this tired ship and make it worthy of the Silversea name rather than an embarrassment to the other ships in the fleet and those who work on it. Read Less