Musings on our 15 day Copenhagen to Copenhagen cruise on Silver Cloud General Impressions: Our collective overall impression is that this was what Regent was like several years ago. It started when we dropped off our luggage at about 12PM with the knowledge we wouldn't be able to board until 3PM. We had planned to do some sightseeing in the area where we were docked. However, when our taxi pulled up to drop off our bags we were immediately checked in an told we could go on board for lunch. As we were getting our pictures taken for our key cards our butler introduced himself and offered that our room was ready and wanted to know if we'd like a tour of the ship before getting lunch. So we dropped of our "hand carry," received a quick tour of the common areas and were taken to lunch at the Terrace Cafe. Sushi and sashimi were on the lunch buffet and we were off to a great start! Bottom line, after two weeks we felt if you were "beamed up" to the Cloud you wouldn't know whether you were on a Silversea or Regent ship. Our feelings are, "If you like Regent there's a pretty fair chance you'll like Silversea and vice versa." That said, there were some nits and nuanced differences we noticed so here goes.
Service: As I alluded to earlier, this is the way we remembered Regent's service being several years ago. We were greeted by name pretty quickly and the overall cheerfulness of the crew as a whole was quite noticeable. I thought the "Butler system" on Silversea worked pretty well for us. Since "Richie" always brought us our morning coffee and any other room service requests as well as getting the room made up in the morning and turned down in the evening; it seemed like we were dealing with a single person for all our needs. For whatever reason that worked very well for us.
We also had a leak in the ceiling above our bathroom the first night. Nothing was seriously damaged but the floor in our closet was soaked. I called Richie first thing and he notified head of housekeeping and we were offered a new suite down the hall before breakfast. Our "stuff" was all moved for us. Since our dirty clothes on the floor of the closet had gotten wet, I asked if we could get one day of free laundry so we could handle the wet clothes. No problem. Turned out to be a good deal as we were moved to a midship suite on the same deck.
One of the Sommeliers spent a bit of time discussing our tastes in red wines one day at lunch and promised she would have something for us that evening. She did and it was really great.
Don't know if this is really "service" or not but the Captain did a couple of things that were real pluses for our cruise. First, he delayed our departure from Honningsvag from 2AM until 6AM. This meant we arrived at Nordkapp at about 10AM instead of 6AM. Besides being a somewhat more civilized hour (after a 9:30PM-1AM land tours at Honningsvag) it also meant the fog had a chance to lift affording us a great sea view of Nordkapp. Second, he took advantage of good weather to take us into Troll Fjord on the way to Svolear. That was pretty magic. Fjord was only about 50 meters wider than the ship so you could just about reach out and touch the fjord walls.
Silversea -vs- Regent: I hesitate to take this on but here goes. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): We all three agree that Silver Sea and Regent provide very similar products. Our future choice of cruise lines between Regent and Silver Sea will be based on price, itinerary and schedule. Here are some small differences but none were "deal breakers."
• It came to pass that the more liberal smoking policy on Silver Sea was a non-issue as there did not appear to be many smokers on board.
• Buckwheat pancakes. Yes, I said "buckwheat pancakes." :rolleyes: We happen to love buckwheat pancakes. On Regent it's not real obvious there is any buckwheat flour in the buckwheat pancakes at all. Not so on Silver Cloud. Here they had a rich buckwheat flavor. I know this isn't a big deal for most if any of you, but we noticed and my wife was thrilled.
• Bathroom design. There are two items here. First, there is no shower door or curtain (I know the curtain is a sanitation thing). There is a standing (unmovable) glass panel that goes about half way back. You feel like you're going to get water all over the bathroom floor. It really does a pretty good job keeping the water in but it is somewhat unnerving in any event. Second, the vanity is in the corner with a curved edge. However, the shelf underneath goes straight across the corner. This has two affects: 1)you lose a fair amount of shelf space; and, 2) it's darn near impossible to reach the waste basket under the sink.
• There seemed to be an ongoing problem with the shower water temperature constantly varying in the middle of a shower. Other guests noticed this, too.
• Hot tubs and pools. The pool on Silver Cloud was heated and full at all times. Typical temp was 88-90 F. Hot tubs were also full at all times. Regent used to drain theirs frequently rendering unavailable for swimming.
• Pool Grill. Regent ships have a real grill. Silver Cloud has a large rectangular griddle. We prefer the grill especially for the "grilled" catch of the day offered at lunch. The griddle meant the fish had to be "pan fried" essentially and hot dogs boiled.
• Dress. We can live without formal nights.
• Postcards. Regent has always had postcards of the ship available at Reception that Regent would mail for free. Silversea has the postcards but charges to mail them.
• 24 hour coffee service. Silver Cloud had no way to get a cup of coffee before 0615 or so, except through room service. We really missed the "coffee bar" machine that Regent has on their ships.
• While the "midship veranda suite" we were in is smaller (about 240sqft plus balcony) than the standard suites on Regent's ships, we really didn't notice the size reduction except, maybe, in the bathroom.
• The Executive Chef spent 15-20 minutes in the dining room each evening making 5-6 minute visits to 4 or 5 tables (tables without any "management" just seemingly random tables).
• I had been told that the ceilings on Silver Sea were a bit lower but had not said anything to Gretchen or Cheryl (they're both rather tall). On the second day Cheryl asked, "Are the ceilings were lower than on Regent?" I hadn't noticed from my position closer to the floor, but others did notice the lower ceilings.
Other observations: • Special occasions. On Cruise Critic at
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923 you can read about two special events we were invited to attend. A birthday dinner for one of our friends that featured a specially prepared menu with the waiter describing each course in some detail and a visit by the Executive Chef toward the end of dinner. The second was a "Champagne Breakfast" with the Captain, the Hotel Director and the Cruise Director each hosting a table. Both were quite memorable. Also on this sight you'll find photos posted by "TLCOhio." They're great and portray a really good photo-journal of our cruise.
• The ship also hosted a small "4th of July" celebration in the theater. Nothing big, but for the 160 or so US citizens on board, a nice touch.
• On "Canada Day" (I hope I got the name right) there was a Maple Leaf Flag cake on display in the dining room.
• The Silver Cloud provided an extremely smooth ride.
• For our very first time we had "in suite" dinner (so we could watch the World Cup Final, and "dodge" a formal night). In the past we've always been a bit apprehensive about this, partly because there are three of us in the suite. However, it was GREAT. I suspect we may try on our next Regent cruise, too.
• Shore excursions can be quite pricey and folks should factor that in carefully when comparing Regent to Silver Sea.
• We did miss our "Gold" perks with Regent.
• TLCOhio's posts on Cruise Critic provide a lot of additional information and detail in addition to the great photos. This was the most visually stunning trip we've ever taken. I must add that we were blessed with great weather. Only rain of any significance was the morning in Geiranger Fjord.
• We absolutely enjoyed our cruise on the Silver Cloud!
Greg
