Gosh, I feel like such a newbie! Having never sailed on Silversea, is one ship better than another? Which ships have the shared veranda, is it only the Whisper?

Two sets of sister ships. Whisper and Shadow are sisters and have the shared veranda. :)

Don has loved these cabins on his cruises! I for one like the privacy of my own veranda, but say if you can get it, go for it if it saves a lot! Thing about SS, by the time they reduce the price, those cabins may be gone! Not sure their policy of reducing to new reductions once you've reserved.

Karen, SS ships were build in the same shipyard as Mariner and Voyager. There are minimal differences in the cabins, mostly in the soft furnishings....upholstery in the furniture is a different color scheme. Other than that, exactly the same. If you like RSSC ships, you will like SS ships.

Oliva, just think if we all reserve the shared veranda deck! Mark said tonight at dinner that he would have to know his neighbors, lol.

I was just thinking about reserving now and hope that the sailing gets reduced in the future.

Where are you going????? Are you thinking of that cruise that Todd and friends have reserved?

Karen,

I think you and others should join Paige and I on the October 22 cruise (Barbados to Barbados). We were lucky and due to various discounts were able to get a Silver Suite!

We would love to have company, but at present we are alone.

Anthony

I do like the one Todd is on.

I won't be going til 2007, I think Todd's is this year.

Karen, and Don has posted a picture of the shared Veranda on a CC SS thread..r/wes

Karen, just wanted to add that the biggest difference suite-wise between the ships is that the Shadow & Whisper bathrooms have a full tub, separate shower, and double vanity; the Wind & Cloud have a shower/tub combination and a single vanity - so obviously, the bathrooms are a bit smaller on the Wind & Cloud.

We have been on the Wind and the Whisper and prefer the Whisper - but both ships were wonderful!

I do not know this for sure, but I would bet money that the Wind/Cloud built before the Mariner at the same yard does not have the 6" mistake in the height of the tub the Mariner has :eek:

We are booked on Wind for May 24th. to June 7th.
We sailed on Shadow last Oct. and found it to be a 'scaled down' Voyager ! Wind, I believe, has the tub/shower but the rest of the suite is the same as Shadow (I think). We met a wonderful couple from the UK, last year, and we have adjacent cabins on Wind.

According to the website the Silver Cloud vista suites have 240 sq.feet vs. 287 sq.feet in Silver Whisper.

The veranda cabins in Silver Cloud are 295 sq.feet (incl balcony) vs. 345 Sq.feet in Silver Whisper.

Karen, here are the pictures of the shared verandahs on the Silver Whisper.

Here you can see them on the lower level just below the regular verandahs.

Here is Diana standing outside our suite while docked in Genoa.

Don, were you allowed to have a chair outside? Would you recommend a real balcony? Mark says he thinks he would rather have a real one.

Great photo, Diana! The Silversea staff is quite firm in reminding passengers in the Deck 5 Vista staterooms that tables and chairs cannot be brought outside. The shared veranda must be kept clear at all times. During my cruise, two of our neighbor passengers dragged chairs outside, and had their hands slapped by the crew. Even though you cannot sit outside on the veranda....it still is very convenient to have...great for impromptu weather checks or quick "look-sees" while the ship docks. For my shutterbug husband, Ron, it was a great place to take quick scenery shots from. If you love and use a balcony, then go for a Veranda...nothing beats cocktails and a beautiful sunset from a private balcony!

Karen, because it is the escape route to the lifeboats, SS does not have any deck chairs or tables out on the verandah. However, we just carry a couple of chairs from inside the room when we want to sit outside, and it has never been a problem.

When you compare the price difference between one of these Vista Suites to a Verandah Suite, we just figured that we really didn't need the privacy as much as we enjoyed the savings. Besides, we have had one of these on our last three cruises and I can tell you that we hardly ever see anybody else out on the verandah. You do have to book them early though, because they sell out very quickly. There are only seven of them available (nine if you count the two handicapped cabins).

Do you know which sailing you are leaning towards yet? I am happy to answer any questions, so feel free to ask away.

Don, I am still waiting for the rest of the Caribbean 2007 sailings to be posted. I like the one this year that visits Bonaire and Aruba!

Linda, I guess we're just renegades. LOL Actually, nobody ever said anything to us. Maybe we just never got caught.

Hey Don. Tell me all you can about the Cloud. We are going on Norwegian fjords trip in August and have never sailed SS before. My husband loves to karaoke which has beeen offered twice on RSSC and not at all the last time we sailed even tho we asked. Any chance of this being available on the Cloud? What kind of bands/musicians do they have in the bars? I am really looking forward to this trip and am hopeful that we will like as much or better than Radisson. My sense from reading your posts is that you would give SS the edge over RSSC, right?

I don't think you can go wrong on either line, but we do like the all-inclusiveness of SS.

Here is what I can tell you about the Cloud, even though our first trip on her will be in April. It is a smaller ship, a little over 16,000 tons and only 296 passengers maximum. I would think that it would be perfect ship for the fjords and be able to get into places that some of the larger vessels cannot go. Cabins are a little smaller than on the Whipser and Shadow, but still nicely laid out from what I can tell. I have talked with some people that have been on the Cloud and they think they have a better layout than on the Whisper. I am sure that you are going to love your cruise. The Fjords are on our to-do list as well.

We have not seen karaoke on any of the SS cruises that we have been on, but it doesn't mean that they haven't had it. In the bars they usually have a pianist or combo playing everything from Big Band to Oldies to Soft Rock.

Karen, for me, it is worth it for the private balcony, as it is my "smoking area" since I don't like to make the cabin smell. I also enjoy sunning, reading, and just spending time on the balcony in a lounge chair at all different times of the day! Like a.m. coffee, afternoon sunning and reading, late night, just sitting out there enjoying the quiet seas going by. Not sure the difference in price. If is a deal breaker, I would probably go with the communal thing, but not otherwise.

Don, I am eager to hear your take on the Cloud. Somehow, I have the perception that the cabins are somewhat the same as the Diamond of yore. Fine with me, I sailed that ship 3 times and loved every cruise.

Thanks Don. I had one of those synapse malfunctions but realize not that we have not yet gotten to April 06. Not an unusual event for me anymore! I look forward to your review and will surely let you know how the fjords trip is. We aren't going until August so plenty of time to anticipate.

Olivia, we are anxious to try one of the smaller ships and see how they compare and will post our comparisons when we return. We were slso thinking that the cabins were about the same size as those on the Diamond. Though we never made the sailing, because they sold the ship, we would have loved to have had that experience.

Ms Understood, that's OK, it is hard for me to even remember where we've gone and what we've done! LOL

cruisinsince75

It is my understanding that the Cloud/Wind and the RSSC Mariner were built in the same yard and the cabins are basically the same. LOL but the Mariner had the 6 inch "engineering" mistake in the height of the bathtub. The Whisper and Voyage were built in a different yard and their rooms are around the same in layout and size.

I'm not sure if they were built in the same yard or not, but I know the Mariner is 50,000 tons while the Cloud is only 16,800 tons. The rooms do seem similar though.

I think the Navigator was built in the same shipyard as the Whisper and Shadow and has a similar layout from what I have heard.

Hi Karen,

Although we didn't have a balcony on our Silver Whisper cruise, the standard Vista and Verandah cabins are the same inside. So the photos we took and posted of our Vista cabin will give you a good indication of what to expect. If you want to splash out - the Silver suites did look very nice - we had a nose round one of them when we boarded early!

Normally we don't book a balcony cabin - it gives us more to spend in the bars! But on Silversea there is no bar bill - and i can see the attraction of ordering that free bottle of champagne and sitting on your own balcony drinking it!

Blackbird/Don, RSSC Voyager and Mariner, and SS Shadow and Whisper were both built at the Mariotti shipyard, as I recall. That's not Blackbird's recollection. They really are peas in a pod, except for that darned bathroom design on the Mariner, which would certainly not keep me off the ship (have been on her 4 times and headed for more). Not sure where the Cloud/Whisper were built,as I have not been on either, but I am looking forward to Don's report, as he has been on the larger ships on SS and can offer a comparison. I really liked having different experiences on RSSC when the Diamond was around, having cruised on her 3 times, well knowing that the cabins were smaller. A smaller ship can bring a different atmosphere for some people, more to their liking. I never cared what ship I was on in the past, and hope NOT ever to be wedded to one....gets in the way of alternate itineraries!

Olivia, that's true! That is why we are looking forward to going on the Mariner this summer. That and sailing with our friends of course. It opens up a whole new avenue for us. Gives us so many more options from which to choose from between Radisson, Silversea, and Seabourn. So many places we want to experience, but only so many ships that go there.

Google is your friend :)

Voyager
http://www.rssc.com/ships/detail.jsp?code=VOY&type=stats

Shipyard: T. Mariotti, Genoa, Italy

Gross Tonnage: 46,000

Cruising Speed: 20 knots

Ship's Registry: Bahamas

Propulsion System: Dolphin Pod® System

Mariner

http://www.rssc.com/ships/detail.jsp?code=MAR&type=stats

hipyard: Chantiers de l'Atlantique, St. Nazaire, France

Gross Tonnage: 50,000

Cruising Speed: 20 knots

Ship's Registry: Wallis & Futuna

Propulsion System: Mermaid Pod System

Silverseas Whisper

http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/feature/silverwhisper.cfm

We recently traveled to Genoa, Italy to preview the two new ships in the Mariotti Shipyard, one getting very near to completion and the other only beginning to take shape

Silverseas Cloud

built in the Mariotti Shipyard.


So the Mariner is odd ship out. :) Besides the bathtubs, the Mariner also uses the Mermaid Pods, and I think NCL and others have had problems with that Pod.

That's why the Mariner has French officers. We were told on the bridge tour that for certain financial considerations, RSSC would have French officers for x number of years.

Another Kathy:

That is true of most cruise ships out there. The top officers are from the country that built the ships.

RSSC Paul Gauguin as you would expect:

Shipyard: Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Saint Nazaire, France

I'm not sure about NCL, but I know that Royal Caribbean and Celebrity especially have had major issues with them. So much so, that they have a lawsuit pending with the Chantiers de l'Atlantique Shipyard.

I am feeling really dumb. I don't knmow what a Mermaid Pod is, someone elighten me.

Karen - Google to the rescue! :)
http://www.rolls-royce.com/marine/product/propulsion/electrical/default.jsp

Masaki

I may recall this incorrectly, but it seems to me that the only Radisson ship that has "pod propulsion" is the Voyager, while the Mariner has the traditional set up. I also seem to recall that the pod system on the Voyager is not the Mermaid system, but a similar competing system.

Thanks,
Richard

Richard, according to the RSSC website, both have Pod systems. The Mariner uses the mermaid pods and the Voyager uses the dolphin pods. Not sure what the difference is.