My partner and I, both 60, joined a business group for the first 5 days of this 11-day sailing. This was my first time on Silversea but not my first cruise. I have been on 36 other cruises on 11 other lines so I feel I have a good base of comparison. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale the day before embarkation and enjoyed riding the Water Taxi past the celebrity homes and yachts. Embarkation on the Silver Spirit was quick and easy. The Silver Spirit is one of the most luxurious ships I have sailed on. Understated, yet upscale, elegance permeates throughout. There are many venues, outdoor seating spaces, and a lot of eager crew to serve you, It never feels crowded and you can always find a seat. The pool was large for a ship this size and there were three hot tubs. The day we utilized them, only one had working jets. There were a lot of loungers by the pool but few in the shade. Away from the pool were many more seats in the shade. You really have to explore all the open decks to find all the spots. Our Deluxe Veranda Suite was lovely: Marble bathroom with large shower, menu of toiletries, bath puffs, bathtub, and good lighting (once I located all the switches). Beautiful veranda with teak flooring and rails which do not obstruct the view. Sofa and chair in sitting area which could be cordoned off from bedroom with a curtain - a nice touch. Bed was very comfortable and our friendly butler brought us an egg crate mattress topper. He also filled our mini-fridge with our choice of beverages, The FOOD! Mostly superb. I love buffets and the breakfast and lunch buffets were outstanding with lots of fancy seafood, carved meats, cute jars of layered things, ice creams, fabulous desserts, you name it. Dinners were hit and miss. When we dined as a group (17 of us) service was painfully slow (3 Hours for dinner) and food was often cold. When my partner and I dined alone, the meals were normally paced. My favorite restaurant was Indochine, which I understand is the least popular on the ship, excepting the $60 upcharged La Dame (French). I love Asian food and this meal was excellent. Portions were small by American standards but we did not go hungry. Order something from all the courses and try something new! Dinner begins at 7 pm, which is late for us. I wish at least one of the restaurants started dinner service earlier. Don't hesitate to make special requests or tweak your meals to your liking. This is one of the hallmarks of Silverseas' personalized service. For example, my partner ordered the four (or was it five?) cheese pizza but requested meat be added. The pizza was great! I also loved the little treats offered in the Arts Cafe throughout the day. The All-Day Dining (AKA Room Service) menu was extensive. The only times we ordered room service was for morning coffee and service was prompt. Compared to other cruise lines, the Silver Spirit does not offer a huge amount of activities. There was, among other things, trivia, golf putting, the spa talks, a galley and bridge tour. The latter tours required same day morning signup as noted in the Daily Chronicle, the shipboard schedule, in tiny print which is easy to miss. Don't be like me - read the entire Chronicle! A small library is in the very top and front of the ship. An excellent lecturer offered a few talks on history and Caribbean topics. I would have attended more if I could! The nightly entertainment was the weakest part of this cruise, The 10 pm shows were boring, dated and not of the caliber expected from an upscale cruise line. I actually walked out -a first for me. Even though most of the passengers were older, everyone seemed bored by the shows. As for the ports, Grand Turk was a riot of beach activity, a swimming pool, Margaritaville, etc.right by the dock. We took a tour of the island, somewhat interesting, and a very fun boat excursion to Gibbs Cay where we swam with stingrays. In Virgin Gorda, the big attraction is the baths. We did not book a tour here because I had been to the Baths recently. Note: There is absolutely nothing to see or do here unless you are on an excursion. Hurricane damage is still evident. Next time, I would not even bother tendering in. We disembarked at St Martin and there is a shopping complex right by the pier. Again, I think an excursion by water may be the best option here. This is not a cruise for children, although there were a handful onboard who seemed to be enjoying the pool. The ship seems to be geared to those who want a relaxing, quieter cruise with fine dining, wine, and service. Would I go again? If the price is right and the itinerary compelling, maybe. If the entertainment was improved, that would be a big plus. Read Less

Beautiful ship with large cabins and plenty of public spaces to get away. Lots of restaurants, but food choices were somewhat limited. Like most cruises, there were minor issues along the way, but we really enjoyed this cruise. Embarkation seemed a bit disjointed with multiple stops. Staggered times based on suite category meant no big lines and cabins immediately ready. Our boarding opened at 2:00 pm. Don’t get too comfortable unpacking and miss lunch as the hours are limited. Welcome champagne glass and a full bottle waiting for you in the suite. We toured and photographed the ship after lunch. Disembarkation went as scheduled with full room service breakfast available (a rarity on most lines). Out of the cabin by 8:30 am, we waited until 9:15 for our group to be called right on time. Uber for two to FLL was less than $12 + tip. Why would anybody spend more for a bus transfer? Ship. So much room throughout the ship that we often asked ourselves, “Where is everybody?” Like many newer ships, this ship has the plethora of quiet places to “hide out.” Lots of elevators and stairs made it a snap to get around. Service and Amenities. Mostly what I would expect for a luxury cruise line. All-inclusive alcohol and wine flowed freely. Water, iced tea, and juice at the gangway with cold washcloths back on the ship. Friendly staff always greeted guests in passing, but don’t expect them to remember your name like they do on much smaller ships. Bulgari toiletries. All the toys in the cabin except binoculars. (I bring my own anyway.) No fresh flowers or fruit in our cabin. Clientele. Most people we met were very experienced cruisers. Some were avid Silversea clients, but quite a few were on their first Silversea cruise. A fair number of Brits. The clientele age was more varied than we expected. We quickly made friends with a lot of interesting people and enjoyed their company throughout the cruise. This is not a ship for kids, although the one 5-year old girl onboard got a lot of attention. Entertainment. Six singers and dancers did all the shows, including their solo acts. Other musicians also onboard for piano music, etc. Enrichment activities. Ira Feldman was our destination lecturer. He was very informative and approachable. We didn’t spend time doing most of the other cruise trivia, bingo, bridge, etc. We like doing puzzles and this ship could use a better location than the card room for that purpose. Restaurants. Very different arrangement than many other cruise lines and we were quite confused when trying to make pre-cruise online reservations. I’ll try to provide the information I wish I had before boarding. There is a cluster of four restaurants on Deck 4. Atlantide is the closest thing to a main dining room and doesn’t require reservations unless you have special requests. Menu only changed slightly once during the cruise. Indochine is similar with an Asian menu, but we never went there. Seishin (Asian) and LeDame (French) are the small, premium restaurants that are pricey and small. Hot Rocks (aka The Grill) is outside on Deck 9 by the pool. For lunch they serve burgers, but for dinner you cook your own food on a hot stone. Just upstairs overlooking the pool is the pizza restaurant Spaccanapoli. It’s not really a dinner restaurant, per se, but it does have a dinner menu if you want pizza. La Terrazza is the buffet converted to a sit-down Italian restaurant in the evening with both indoor and outdoor seating. Surprisingly, it had some of the best food on the ship, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Finally, Silver Note is a nice restaurant on Deck 8 that transitions into a piano bar with dancing at night. Menus vary by restaurant, not by day, so the idea is to try the different venues if you want variety. Finally, Arts Café is a gem of a place to get snacks next to Silver Note. That is where they serve afternoon tea with scones, cake, sandwiches, etc.. Unfortunately, the amazing cakes are replaced with only chocolate after dinner. It’s a good place to get an after dinner drink. The biggest critique I have is that afternoon post-shore excursion food was limited. Waiting an hour to get a burger from The Grill or room service just doesn’t cut it when you have been walking all morning and you are starving hungry! The simple fix would be to provide more substantial food (e.g. sandwiches, sushi, fruit, cookies, etc.) at the Arts Café during the entire lull period between lunch venues closing and dinner venues opening. Food Quality and Service. We were disappointed in the quality, variety, and availability. Although we had a few excellent meals, most were just average, which was disappointing for a luxury cruise line. Appetizers were typically the best part of the meal. Our lobster tails were overcooked. Steaks were not very tender and often undercooked. Lots of good fish choices, so we ate a lot of fish. Service was too often painfully slow, sometimes taking 2 ½ hours for a three course meal. What is it about some ships and the timing of the coffee? I like to drink my coffee with dessert, but the coffee usually came 15 minutes after dessert was served and long gone. Our last dinner onboard at La Terrazza was the best food and service of the cruise. Dress code. Two formal nights and five other nights requiring jackets for men. I would prefer more nights of “country club casual” or a dress code based on restaurant venue. Wearing formal clothes or even a jacket to an outdoor pizza restaurant didn’t make sense. Internet. Finally! Free, unlimited internet. Still ship-slow and sometimes difficult to get a good connection, but at least you are not being billed for every minute. Upgrades to higher speeds and more devices were available. Self Service Laundry. With machines on every floor, we were actually able to find open machines on a sea day, which made quick work of the laundry we needed washed. Free with a confusing soap dispenser. Machine instructions were practically non-existent and also perplexing. It didn’t help that the machine labels were German and the water temperatures were degrees Celsius. Cruise lines could really help out their guests by providing no-nonsense guides in English with recommendations about which of the 14 cycles (from 20 min to 3 hours) works best for most clothes. Spa & Fitness Center. Lots of treatment rooms. We enjoyed the Thermal Suite, which was an extra package price and limited access. Silversea could take a tip from Oceania and provide free Gatorade. Smoking. This was one of our main reasons for not sailing Silversea earlier. It is now reasonably restricted and the occasional whiffs of smoke from a designated smoking area did not bother us much. Ports. Santiago de Cuba, Grand Cayman, Cienfuegos, Havana, Bimini. Most people were on this cruise to see Cuba. Almost everybody went ashore to get a chance to see it firsthand. We invested heavily in shore excursions primarily because we didn’t know what to expect in terms of access and meeting the U.S. requirements to visit Cuba. All the Cuban tours were operated by Havanatur and transportation was provided on relatively new Chinese buses with toilets (an amenity you will appreciate in Cuba where every bathroom has an attendant with their hand out for a tip). Our shore excursion guides were all high quality. Everything was on time and the three sea days were a welcome respite from touring. An unexpected extension to our time in Havana allowed last-minute shore excursions to the nightclubs and shows. Friends we met through Cruise Critic were able to book their own independent tours, but we did not have the time to do all the advanced research and booking. Tenders. This was the first Silver Spirit itinerary to Cuba so there were many learning opportunities. Particularly problematic was the tendering service. Some of the tender rides were 35-45 minutes, but this was not entirely Silversea’s fault. Even this relatively small ship was not allowed to get close enough in some of the ports to have reasonable tendering times. This caused several of us to miss evening plans in Santiago because we could not get back to the ship in time to go back for the evening shows. Havana was the only port where we used a dock, which was a real luxury after all the tendering. The one big misstep was in Bimini, where bad management of tender rotations caused an hour wait that made several of us miss our afternoon shore excursion. The ship staff accepted full responsibility and refunded our ticket prices, but it was disappointing. In summary. We’ve never taken a perfect cruise, but expectations can be high for luxury cruise lines like Silversea. However, after 18 cruises on a variety of lines, this cruise makes our top 3, with Regent and Azamara. We loved the location and size of our cabin. Now that we understand the system, we will make better dining choices next cruise. Cuba is a must see and we will be back in the future to see the progress. Overall, we really enjoyed this cruise and will be back Read Less

We chose this cruise for several reasons. Rated 6.0 luxury. It was our first cruise so we wanted to keep the days down to a minimum, and this cruise lasted 7 nights. It was refurbished last year so it was practically new with beautiful soft colors and rich woods. I read many reviews and it was touted to have excellent food and service. It did not disappoint. We loved everything about this ship. Everything went smoothly and everything worked perfectly. Our cabin was perfect, enough space for all our things. Everything was put away and there was never any clutter due to lack or storage. Our butler was terrific and very accommodating. We tipped him when we were first introduced, although we knew it was not expected. We just wanted to be sure he was happy with us from the beginning. He was sure to bring us our snacks in our room every day at 4:30 when we got back to the cabin to relax before dinner. All the restaurants were terrific. We were on deck 7 so it was very convenient to go to La Terrazza for breakfast every morning for their buffet. We could sit in or out depending on the weather and the wind level. La Dame was elegant as was Seichin. We loved eating at Atlantide. Very elegant and great service and food. Although there were 555 passengers, we found everywhere we went it was never crowded. We even found lounge seating at the pool area along the side of the ship where we were completely alone just looking our at the Caribbean Sea. It was glorious. We loved the hot rocks dinner at the Grill at the pool in the evening. The massages in the Spa were excellent. The shows were lovely. This was not Broadway, and coming from New York we get Broadway whenever we want it, but it was wonderfully entertaining. If you wanted daily activities they were there for you. We went on shore excursions, and we chose to play Trivia which was headed every day by the cruise director Rico. He did an excellent job throughout the cruise keeping us all happy and laughing. All in all, I'm sad to say our cruise ended. We can't wait to have this experience again. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was the only one available for 7 days in a warm climate in February. The agent with Silversea was amazing in assisting us with any of our questions or concerns. The embarkation and disembarkation were flawless. The ship is small which is very nice and the cabins (we had one for our grown son and one for us) were as or larger than we had on Regent and Oceania, all with verandas. The decor may be a bit subtle for my taste. We enjoyed our meals at the Silver Note and at Seishin. We thought the entertainment in the various areas was very nice, although we never went to any "shows" so I'm not sure about that. The service was very good and our butlers were very attentive and did extra things like polishing shoes without being asked. We were very happy with our shore excursions which included a helicopter ride, snorkeling (no fish, but a fun day on the boat), our favorite was The America's Cup trip, my son enjoyed the canyoning with rapelling and diving off of the waterfalls. Roseau - hmmm. Not worth getting off the ship as far as we could tell. The Baths were great fun but plan on getting wet. Overall, the food was not up to par with Regent or Oceania; but, was still very good and I overheard other people raving about it, so that's inconclusive I guess. There were not enough activities onboard. There is a bridge room but nothing organized so it may as well not be there, no mini-golf or mini-tennis which we've enjoyed before. Smaller ship size accounts for this I guess. Trivia was fun. We felt it was a good value. We noticed that the age range was younger than on our other cruises, so a more lively, visible and active group. Our other cruises were 24+ days so I'm guessing it was the quick, easy, 7-day trip to a warm clime would explain that. Read Less

First time in SilverSea very disappointed, definitely not was I expecting, Embarkation in San Juan went smoothly from there all went downhill, we book Cruise true American Express and got $ 1,500 dlls cruise credit on board the first order was to make reservations for dinner to our surprise ALL the Restaurant where book for the week we ended up having dinner at the same restaurant 3 times( The Grill ) and 2 times at la (Terraza), cabin was clean in perfect shape but above us was a restaurant " The Grill " so we had heavy noise until 11pm every night, next day we pick our tours and proceeded to reserve them to our surprise they where all book and all of them on waitlist, only one open up out of the five we selected. The port selection for this Itinerary was very poor except for St Barths & Tortola, I just don't understand how can a cruise line with this level make a stop in an Island like Rosseau, Dominica. Service on the ship was excellent but nobody went out of its way to assist or help beyond giving you the NO or you are on Waitlist.. Try to spend the on board credit on the Spa but with the same results it was book for the week and if an opening was available we will be notify, we where also unsuccessful, In General the ship felt very dull no activities at all, will not travel in SilverSea again. Read Less

Overall our cruise was delightful. The only downsides being: first, some of the ports on this cruise (Road town,Tortola and Rouseau, Dominca) were odd choices. They are both sadly still suffering from hurricane damage. My second issue was the awful wi-fi, even with the premium service we received for being in a Silver Suite. At times it simply did not work, and we were only doing emails and checking the weather and written (not streaming) news.. The explanation that it's tough to do wi-fi at sea is at odds with our very positive experience with wi-fi on Silver Muse about 18 months ago. Moving on to all the many positives: The Ship was in perfect, pristine condition. It was interesting to play "find the stretch spot". It was done so well that only with the help of a crew member could we figure out precisely where the work was done. And the additional room at the pool and Grill made for a better experience. I particularly like the new, Muse like, color scheme; others may disagree. Dining options are plentiful. We made reservations on MySilversea and all were honored. It was easy, however, to make some changes as the cruise went on. And, Atlantide and Indochine require no reservations. Even with a nearly full cruise (544 passengers) there were no problems making adjustments. The increased space in La Terraza was a mixed blessing. It was easy to get in there for dinner, but the relative intimate nature of the space is gone. And, I notice they no longer mention Slow Cooking in the description; sadly, the duck pappardelle was just OK. We tried Silver Note and enjoyed it. The duo (singer and pianist) were quote good, took requests andwere not at all too loud. The crew make the Silversea experience and this trip was no exception. They were uniformly charming and a delight to interact with. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and the cruise line. We had sailed with Silver Sea's on the Spirit two years ago. Some things have greatly improved from our initial sailing. 1. Level of service was excellent from the pool waiters to our butler and cabin steward. The crew was very engaged in making sure you had whatever you needed to make the trip enjoyable. If you made a request for something, that person made sure you had it. 2. Food, unfortunately both quality and variety really fall short. We were on a 14 day cruise and the menu's in Atlantide (main dining room) and La Terazza hardly changed. By day 14 I did not even open the menu. The staff says the menu changes after a week, but what changes is maybe one appetizer selection or soup. The majority of the menu stays the same. The other problem is the quality of the food is varies. One night the entree may be delicious and a few nights latter the same choice not very good. This is especially true with the veal. There are several restaurants , which helps, but Silver Sea's still need to address this problem, because it is a problem. 3. Ship expansion. This really helped the flow of the ship. Restaurants are no longer crowded. Also, created more room around pool area which is nice. 4. Beds, the new mattress are very hard. They will put a foam topper on bed, if requested. Does help. 5. Dining time - Service is very very slow. It was not unusual for dinner to take 2 hours to complete. Long time between courses. 6. Entertainment - Shows now start at 10 pm (maybe because of the above). So we did not get to see any shows. They use to start at 9:30. Bottom line, if food is not your priority or you are on a short itinerary, the Silver Spirit is a good choice. The friendly staff and beautiful ship certainly was enjoyable. We also found that the afternoon buffet had a very good carving station and lots of variety. So we ate more at lunch and less at dinner and came home weighing the same. But for what you pay for this cruise, you should not have to make compromises. 7. Excursions - Gibbs Bay (Grand Turk) - swim with stingrays. Wonderful- swim with stingray is optional, but the beach is beautiful. Sailing St. Bart a little on long side and they do not serve lunch only snacks. Be careful, if you swim, current is strong. 4X4 Bridgetown - ride rough (yes I know its a 4X4), but also because the seats face into jeep - so you are having to turn to side to see front or back. Most sights not very interesting, don't need to see McDonalds or schools. Some beach stops beautiful. Rum Factory & Beach Tour (St. Georges) bring bug spray - mosquitoes are terrible. 8. Spa services are great had massage and manicure. Be aware tip is added to your bill though NOT STATED on spa menu. Would I sail again on Silver Spirit?- maybe Read Less

We choose this cruise line and ship because friends raved about it and we enjoy luxury cruising. Sadly, we did not think it lived up to the standard we are used to on Crystal. 1. There were things not working on the ship. The forward elevator was out the entire trip and it was out the cruise before ours. Our room was freezing for 2 days before my husband found the head of Hotel and she got engineering/maintenance to get it working after an assistant tried to fix it and said it was working, but still was not. 2. Many people got sick while aboard 3. Menus were never changed in the different restaurants with the exception being on Christmas and New Years. Only the La Dame ($60 per person charge) was cozy with an outstanding menu. We went twice. 4. We enjoyed the different all day snacks at The Arts Cafe in the back of the ship with lounge seating outside as well. At 3:00 five different cakes were served and different ones each day. Different salads in a small glass container, great coffees, cookies, sandwiches, etc. 5. We also enjoyed the Panorama Lounge before dinner with live music, dancing and cocktails. 6. We liked the ambiance in The Silver Note restaurant and the lovely live dinner music during dinner. The menu was not very much to our liking very though. We liked the menu at Indochine restaurant, but not the decor as it was very contemporary, open and not cozy. The outside restaurant at night was by the pool and called "Hot Rocks" where you cook your own steaks or fish or whatever on a very hot plate. I had the best filet mignon I've ever had there. 7. Most of the shows were so-so with the exception of two, which were excellent. The Silver Note Singers did their best. 8. No one remembered our name except our butler and his assistant. 9. Most all of the staff was very friendly, although a couple of the men in charge in the restaurants had “attitude”. Most everyone tries, but do not quite make the cut. 10. Not very many activities but they had bridge play and lessons, black jack and poker tournaments, occasional dance lesson, trivia, occasional bingo. Most of the activities were held at the same time or would overlap so we had to choose one. 11. We went on two excursions and one was barely acceptable. There were two enrichment speakers and one was quite interesting about Radio City Music Hall, Bob Fosse, etc. 12. This was a Holiday cruise, so there were a few families on board. Sometimes the kids got rambunctious, but generally it was a quiet seniors cruise, which we liked! We thought the cruise did not accept anyone under 18 years, but we were wrong! 13. Embarkation was a breeze and debarkation took forever. 14. We feel we got our money's worth, but we are not sure we would go again--would have to be the right destination for the right price! Read Less

I choose this ship for its 6 stars, and the itinerary. Our reservations included the airfare. Sivlersea had us booked on a overnight United flight. Arrived in Ft. Lauderdale right after 6 AM. We were picked up at the airport and taken to a hotel for breakfast. The check in table at the hotel did not have our information. They were eventually able to provide us with a $20/ person coupon for breakfast. Restaurant was mediocre. We had to wait at the hotel until 12:15 to be taken to the ship. The bus ride was not well planned, lots of confusion. The check in at the ship went smoothly. Waited about 30 minutes for our room and another 2 hours for our luggage. The suite was very nice. Divided into a bedroom and sitting area. Nice size balcony. Walk in closet, with a dresser. Bed was very comfortable. The bathroom had a soaking tub and a shower. The service in the room was excellent by both the butler and the cleaning staff. I ordered breakfast most morings, which was delivered in 5 minutes. The quality of the food and wine ran from average to very good. They did have great icecream. We have traveled often on Crystal and found their food to be much better. Silversea have two specialty restaurants which charge an additional fee. We found the food to be of less quality then the regular restaurants. There were two specialty acts which we thought were very good, but the regular entertainers and shows were of poor quality. Two guest speakers were good. We choose to make our own tour reservations, which were excellent. Did go on one of Silversea's tour. Too many people, too much shopping, and too slow. The embarkation was slow and confusing. Should I cruise on Silversea in the future I would make my own arrangements. Read Less

Silver Spirit at Christmas time is a beautifully decorated ship, as well as one of the most pleasant to cruise. The extension added new cabins as well as enlarging the main dining room. No reservations are needed there, and it was never filled. The menu has multiple choices, but does not vary from day to day during a ten day cruise. There is enough to choose from in the main dining room, and also several other venues that are available at no added charge but require a reservation. None of the areas were ever filled to capacity during my lunches and dinners there. Only two areas have surcharges - the Japanese and French specialty rooms charge $40 and $60 for dinners. There is really no reason to pay extra when there are so many other dining areas included. The new pizza area on Deck 10 is terrific, and Hot Rocks at The Grill on Deck 9 continues to be a favorite. LaTerrazza on Deck 7 is an Italian restaurant at dinner time, and has a six or seven page menu all in Italian with English subtitles. Wine is poured freely at each and every venue - no need to ask unless you prefer a certain type. A red and a white are offered, and you are free to request something else - no problem! Everything is done with a flair - all services are top notch. Entertainment is not their main feature, but the singers do a good job with various types of music each evening. One daily trivia is well attended, and the no-charge Bingo games get a good turn out of players. All of the staff from room butlers to waiters do their best to accommodate your every wish. The cabins are much larger than on other ships of this size, with a walk-in closet that has a six drawer dresser w/safe as well as large hanging area. The bathrooms feature a large glass-enclosed shower and full tub plus lots of storage area. Your room fridge is filled with your choice of beverage at no added charge. Who could ask for more? Read Less