Well, it appears that my review on Cruise Critic got lost in cyberspace, so I'll try to repeat it here. This was our first Silversea cruise after 13 Regent cruises. Based on this cruise, I have to give the edge to Silversea in most areas. We were surprised that the crew mix on the Shadow had a large number of European wait staff, as opposed to the primarily Asian staff on Regent. The crewmembers were very friendly and most called us by name after the second day. The officers were primarily Italian and the key members were as follows: Captain-Corsaro, Hotel Director-Maglione, Cruise Director-Blanar, and the chef was Carsten Lang. The officers were pretty much transparent, but they did mingle and were very friendly. Many of the officers would come to the Bar, or outside at the Panorama Lounge after dinner for a smoke and a staff meeting of sorts, much the same as they used to do on Regent. We enjoyed their company. As far as smoking goes, you can smoke in your stateroom and on your balcony, in the Bar(starboard side), outside at the Panorama Lounge(starboard side), poolside just aft of the bar on the starboard side(4 tables), and in the cigar lounge. There is no smoking in any dining area inside or out, except poolside, as mentioned. There were no "in your face" non-smoking passengers such as those that we experienced on the last couple of Regent cruises. Many of the pax were from CA too and the age range on our cruise was from 40s to late 80s. One thing that we didn't like was that you are charged 2% to get cash via a credit card. That could be really expensive for casino users. Also, contributions to the Crew Fund had to be made in cash. The only other thing that we didn't like was the reservation system for dinner at La Terraza. We didn't want to eat there, but many who did could not get in the entire cruise, while others ate there multiple times. That needs to be corrected. We didn't even consider Le Champagne because of the additional charge for that. The Bar is well laid out and much larger than the Voyager Lounge, even though the dance floor there is pretty small. We were pleasantly surprised at the dance floor in the Panorama Lounge, which is very large. The ship's quartet was 2 Polish, 1 Israeli, and a fourth from one of the other European countries. They played wonderful dance music. Much better than that of the Asian bands on Regent. They also had a piano player who played in the Bar and at tea in the Panorama Lounge. Good listening, but not good for dancing. The DJ music was good for dancing as well and catered to a mixed age group. We ate breakfast primarily in La Terraza, lunch in both restauants and at the pool grill(full service, not buffet like Regent), and dinner exclusively in the Restaurant. We did not even consider Le Champagne because of the additional charge. The food, it's presentation and the service was slightly better than Regent in all dining areas. Lynn found the Spa to be about the same as Regent; OK, but not great. Our suite was a veranda suite on deck 8 forward(812). It was about the same size as the Voyager standard(345 vs 356). The closet was slightly smaller than Voyager as was the shower. The ameneties in the bath were Bulgari. Lynn found the hairdryer provided to be very good. The TV was a Phillips flat screen and it was on a swivel platform at the desk area. There was also a Phillips DVD player. There are 2 110v outlets at the desk and one at the vanity table. The bath only has the shaver outlet, same as Regent. There were 2 end tables on either side of the queen bed. No drawers, but a door with very good storage space. Same configuration on either side of the couch. There was a lamp on each end table. The veranda furniture is metal frame. The chairs had plasic webbing and the table was sturdy with a formica top. We found the bed to be very comfortable and the ship rode very well. There was also a very good pair of binoculars provided in the suite for use while aboard. Our two female room stewardesses were from Peru and were excellent and mostly unseen. I hate to say it, but Silversea is a step above Regent overall IMHO. If there are any specific questions I have all of the schedules(Chronicles) for the cruise and would be happy to try and answer your questions. GREAT CRUISE!

Doug, thanks so much for your review. I have a reservation on silversea for next year and have a couple of questions for you. What type of entertainment did they have in the evening besides a piano player and the band? Also, were there any lectures during sea days and how were they?

Thanks, Nancy

Thanks Doug, I am dying to try Silversea one of these days!!

Nancy; They had evening entertainment every evening. We don't do the shows- would rather dance. From what I heard the entertainment was great to mediocre. No production shows like Regent, just single entertainers. The one singer, Jennifer Fair, also sang at the pool barbeque and she was fantastic. They usually had 2 or three lectures a day, but we don't do those either. Larry Herson was the primary lecturer on our cruise, but they had lectures on health, wine, etc as well . If you like Regent you'll love Silversea. It's a bit more formal, but classy in every way. The pax on Silversea seem to mingle a bit more than on Regent. We met a lot of new friends whose company we really enjoyed. Many were traveling single.

Thanks Doug. I have yet to sail on Regent, I'm a Crystal cruiser. while I recognize that the Silversea ships will not be able to offer the entertainment/production shows like Crystal, I'm hoping for good entertainment. Crystal does an amazing job with lots of great activites and lectures on sea days. I'm trying to cruise closer to home next year and we have a reservation on the Shadow on an Alaska itinerary. We still have a Crystal cruise/British Isles booked and my husband still would rather do that. I know either will work for me and I'll figure this out at some point. I know that I'm not comparing apples to apples, just trying to gather more info.

Thanks again!

Nancy

Doug, we enjoyed our SS cruises for the social/mingling you mentioned (actually preferred SS over Regent for this reason) but back in 2006 while SS was AI, Regent was not. Now Regent is--may explain your perception of more mingling on SS...when we were on the Nav last Dec (AI) there was the same socialability in the lounges we found and preferred on SS but lacking in 2004 and 2005 on Regent. Your comments on La Terraza's rsvn system are spot on, which means they have not changed in 18+months since we were last on the Whisper & Shadow. Thanks for taking the time to share
Lynn and your thoughts...r/wes

Doug-

I had a feeling you might like Silversea - glad you had a great experience.

Thanks for that great review, Doug. I have a feeling quite a few of us will be trying out Silversea in the near future. We might see a lot of familiar faces on board, both crew and fellow pax!!!

And Todd, I just have to say that it's really, really nice to see you on the board again.

:lct:

There were @ 6 former Regent crewmembers who we ran into on the Shadow. One was our waiter on our first Regent cruise in 2002.

Curiosity question....has anyone ever heard of matching tier level on one cruiseline to a competing cruiseline? I know it's common on airlines to "match" a Platinum type status you may have on say AA with UAL to get the business.

Just curious....difficult to try other lines if you have to give up so many perks.

Curiosity question....has anyone ever heard of matching tier level on one cruiseline to a competing cruiseline? I know it's common on airlines to "match" a Platinum type status you may have on say AA with UAL to get the business.

Just curious....difficult to try other lines if you have to give up so many perks.

Great report. Our last two cruises on SS, they were doing LTZ dinner reservations AT the restaurant, vs. at the front desk as it had been on our first two cruises. This made it much easier to get in for us, but then a lot of guests did not know about it. I wish they would do the online thing like Regent does.

To me, the closet is bigger on Shadow/Whisper, and I like that Regent has the full couch vs. the loveseat on SS.

Regent certainly gives perks quicker on their loyalty program w/ Silver, and you never get free internet w/ SS, though you eventually get free trips.

The one pet peeve I have on SS about the smoking issue is that I hang out in the hot tub, and the smoking area is behind that, so I get smoked up in the hot tub.

I have found lots of mingling on both ships, but I never went on Regent when it was not a/i.

I love the Bvulgari amenities. I loved the Aveda on Regent, but I will see what I think of the new stuff. A lot of people on SS go to bed right after the show, and it seemed to me that people stay out a bit more on Regent, but then I was solo on my two Regent cruises and was looking for stuff to do besides sit in my cabin (which I love).

Thanks for mentioning the charge for getting cash. That can really be a consideration on a longer voyage or one to remote areas with a bunch of different currencies.

I am glad you really enjoyed your sailing.