Silversea Cruises
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I’m going to entitled this review…beginnings and endings..
I’m going to entitled this review beginning and endings. We’ve just returned from a 31 day cruise from New York to Lima with a number of stops on Caribbean islands. The beginning and end were disasters. We arrived in New York after a lengthy flight. We were met by the reps who asked to to wait with a number of other guests. After waiting 45 minutes and complaining we were told that the transport had been delayed but another had been organised. It arrived. We all piled in to a very overcrowded minibus for our journey to our hotel. To make matters worse we picked up 2 more customers to have a very uncomfortable 90 minute trip to New York. The following day we had hoped for a walk around the city before boarding the ship. Unfortunately there was then a massive queue for breakfast, most of them Silversea guests. We were eventually offered breakfast 30 minutes later. After a very brief walk we vacated our room. We had to be out by 11.00 am even though transport to the ship did not start until 11.45. More than a hundred guests were then waiting in the lobby with only 2 toilets for the transport to arrive. It was similarly poor on the way home. We were kindly offered a day room in a hotel,in Lima as our flight was not until 10.15. There were a significant number of guests offered the same facility. However, it would seem that Silversea did not arrange sufficient transport. There was not sufficient space for all the luggage in the underneath of the coach and so 6 or 7 cases were piled in with the guests. Had there been a fire on the coach none of us would have survived. When we arrived at the hotel the idiot boy who was our rep got off the coach and started unloading bags from underneath the coach. The guests were forced to move the bags themselves in order to get off. Silversea cannot describe the service as 5 or 6 star with the shambles we experienced. Turning now to the cruise itself which is why I have given Silversea 4 stars. I cannot fault our cabin or the ship. Star were invariable polite and friendly. Not all the staff were competent and some needed further tracing but when issues were raised they were dealt with. I enjoyed the food and there was plenty of variety. Most of the excursions were brilliant. I particularly enjoyed a jeep tour, some Turks and swimming with sea lions. Others were pretty poor. Avoid the excursions which a long coach rides which are usually pretty bad. On one occasions we’re due to visit some caves but there was at least 60 people on the coach. We got off and did our own thing. My one objection to the cruse itself was penny pinching. The internet only allowed you to use one device at a time and was pretty slow. You could upgrade to faster broadband for more that one device at a cost of several hundred pounds if I am paying that much for a cruise I expect the best quality internet to be included. The cost of visiting the La Dame restaurant was extortionate at about £200 extra per person. We didn’t go but those that did go say it wasn’t worth it. Stop the penny pinching. However, on the whole we loved it and will probably go again but Silversea could do much better.