Silver Shadow - Reviews

Ship needs urgent overhaul. Staff, food & service are excellent

Good experience, mostly positive experiences from the onboard ship activities, service and condition to ports visited. All the ports had numerous, duplicative "hawker markets" which got old real fast as about all were just selling same junk.

We disembarked 11 days earlier because of the bad quality of the food. Additionally the itinerary was changed eliminating three ports, two of which were highlights of the cruise: Incheon for Seoul and Osaka for Kyoto. After going through a Gale Storm and the Typhoon Trami, there was another typhoon heading towards the ships path. We had had enough very scary and uncomfortable days at sea rocking and rolling at the middle of the sea.

Disappointed with Silverseas. Noticed that the Trip Advisor awards for this ship were all from the early 2000's. Other passengers commented that Silversea is usually better organized. Each port was a long line to disembark!

We expected to cruise between glaciers, see whales and other wildlife and were highly disappointed that we didn't.  Of our 7 night cruise we spent less than a half a day seeing a glacier.  While it was a magnificent sight, we expected more.

Our bathtub upon check in needed to be cleaned again as it had a grimy ring around it.  Not what one would expect from a quality cruise line.

We just returned from our Alaska cruise on the Silver Shadow.  Nice ship (not to big) and the crew really went out of their way to ensure all our needs were met. Very much impressed with the professionalism of the staff.

Food was excellent as well.  And Alaska is beautiful.

All aspects of the cruise were outstanding. Four adult children and spouses were with us. The service at every level was exceptional. At age 87 I was limited to a wheelchair and the staff were very attentive and caring. The food was marvelous. All shore arrangements worked well. (My stay was mostly on board because of my handicap.) Needless to say, the scenery was all it was said to be--spectacular.

The ship was excellent and the service was the best ever.  The food however, while beautifully presented was often not hot and the beef, other than the filet, was very tough. The chef said they get all their beef from Kansas City so this issue was not a local problem.

The side trips were good, but the write ups consistently described the animals we could see they did not say that they were nocturnal and rarely seen during the day.  The monkeys however were great.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and I strongly recommend 3-4 days in Singapore if you had not been there.  It was  really beautiful city and the botanical garden was the best ever.

Thanks to Richey for all his help in putting this together.  He was the best yet. 

Sue and Jerry Friend 

The ship, cabin, food, and service were excellent. If they weren't cancelled due to weather, the excursions were adequate. The Hubbard Glacier was not seen due to weather. There was minimal information, no backup plan, and no consideration offered. This was a major disappointment. The same heavy seas produced a sleepless night and motion sickness. The waves breaking against the side of the ship produced a spray that extended well above deck 6. After skipping Hubbard, we wasted time by sailing slowly to Seward. The promotional material for this cruise did not include adequate climate data, sea conditions, and the risk of adverse conditions for various month the cruise is offered. The Denali extension was a disappointment. We rode through the park in the rain in a bus that has windows that only  opened a few inches at the top. Photography was difficult. Passengers had to clean mud from the windows with paper towels. Wildlife was sparse and only seen at a distance. We were not allowed to leave the bus except for bathroom breaks. Although we booked a float plane tour and flight out of the park, we were force to ride out of the park on the bus. The provider chose to fly only a few people out of the park due to a shortage of planes. This was another major disappointment.

We enjoyed our cruise to Alaska though that is  due to the scenery and animals Alaska offers as opposed to the experience Silversea offers.  While the Shadow was renovated recently, the decor is still dated.  The entertainment options are extremely limited and many passengers stated that "This cruise is boring."  We could not agree more.  With the cooler weather in Alaska, it's not like a Caribbean cruise where passengers are content lying in the sun by the pool.  There needs to be more activities for passengers on cruise days since lying in the sun is not an option for many of the cruisers on this locale.  

We were also disappointed in the service on this cruise. Silversea is a luxury cruise line and touts it's incredible service.  I've had better on many cruises that do not fall into this category.  The staff was unfriendly and there was a language barrier that got in the way of providing good service.  Many of the staff acted as if this was one of their first cruises ever.  They were inexperienced and unorganized.

Alaska is a fantastic cruise location.  Definitely go there, but pick a different cruise line!

The ship was very clean and well appointed. It felt as if we were in another era of elegance and class. Wonderful art was all over the walls. The dining rooms were set with white tablecloths and crystal glasses.

Our first time with Silver Sea and we loved it so much that we booked another trip to St. Petersburg...while on board. All of the crew and staff were so well trained! Nice job management for the attention to all details.

This was our first time with Silverseas, and it certainly wont be the last. We were hugely impressed with all aspects of the cruise, with the slight exception of the rather dated nature of the ship (shes 19 years old) and the fact she needs some TLC. There is a complete refit due however which will resolves these issues

We were not able to visit any ports due to the conditions that I mentioned below. This "Vacation" was not ust horrible.....but TRAUMATIZING I cannot really say in words well enough to describe the experience that my wife and I had on the Silver Shadow Ship belonging to Silversea Ltd. I took my wife on this Alaskan cruise after she had treatment for Cancer and to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We had to leave the ship early because it was so bad and my wife did not feel safe after she became ill on the ship and was mistreated by the ship doctor. We both knew something was wrong when we got on the ship and it smelled of stale smoke but assumed that the "smokers" would only be allowed outside in certain areas. Not only were they allowed indoors and it is almost impossible to stop cigarette and cigar smoke from permeating the entire indoor area once it's there. We could not attend the dining room nor the card room because the smoke had infiltrated those rooms so heavily that both myself and my wife had a very bad reaction. For days our eyes felt that there were shards of glass in them IN OUR OWN ROOM and then my wife began to break out in welts. We called the ship doctor in the middle of the night when she started to wheeze and we just wanted to make sure nothing more was wrong and try to find out what we could do. When this woman showed up it was CLEAR she had it out for her and she laid into her like nothing I have ever seen in my life. She talked to her like she was trash, like she didn't believe she was sick and even shrieked "OH PLEASE!" when my wife tried to show her the welts. When I tried to intervene, my wife said no because she was FRIGHTENED of retaliation! The doctor then insisted "Well I'll CHECK your back, LEAN OVER!" and pushed her back forward to check her breathing. She never once asked my wife if she could TOUCH her and then proceeded to shove her around like a rag doll to "examine" her. At this time she was in tears and just wanted to wait until she left to talk to the person in charge. The doctor was not finished and ASSUMED her weight outloud and barked at her nurse to "JUST GIVE HER A FEW CCs of X." She said "no thank you please leave." She left us a bill of 230USD and walked out. I have never in my life seen any kind of professional treat another human being like this...EVER. My wife and I were standing there stunned and called immediately to report that she has just been treated this way. She cried all night long. We were able to talk to a very nice man name Marius who was very understanding and kind but he obviously had no authority to do anything. As if things could not get worse, the next day we called about a trip to Denali that I was specifically told was "by air." It's a;so called 'DENALI BY AIR." Well, we found out, it involved about 10 hours on a bus for 4 days and a lot of walking. Not only would I have never booked this because my wife tore her ACL at that time, but she just had surgery for Cancer. I wanted to take her to see this park without hurting her. When she called and cried and begged the man in charge of this expedition to help us out (we spent $4k on this excursion alone), he rudely and coldly said there was nothing he could do. And when she told him that she was ill and could not physically do the excursion especially since getting sicker on the ship, he simply said "YES YOU CAN!" Well when we tried to look in the written description of the executions, there was one for EVERY SINGLE ONE EXCEPT THE "DENALI BY AIR!" They insisted that it was always discoverable on their website but "I" booked this and "I" was told by the sales agent that it was ONLY by air. They refused any refund whatsoever and other than Marius and our nice butler, no one really seemed to care that we were in misery. After the manager let hq know what happened with all this we waited for a call but nothing. We said if we don't get a call back, we will just leave. The next morning, they were at our door to help us off the boat. Over $20k, no apology from headquarters, no refund, NOTHING. They had their money. Period. Repulsive. I would also like to add that if you are someone of color, you may want to think twice before taking this cruise. It didn't take long before we realized that we were being seated separate from "those who were of caucasian background." We did not really mind who we sat with but the fact alone that they would seat us in different places was just not a good feeling.

Amazing staff, fabulous food, spacious and comfortable accommodations, professional and engaged crew all made for a very special travel experience.

Have sailed twice on Princess- you can get a penthouse suite on Princess and get just as good of service and twice as much room and regular unlimited food. Silver Shadow has great personal service but at the penthouse level on other ships you get the same for far less money.I would recommend Silver Shadow only to someone willing to pay a high price to be alone on a ship.

For first time travelers to Asia, this was an excellent way to see the highlights of what the key cities and less traveled spots (Borneo) have to offer. Beautiful classic cities blended with incredible unique nature, quiet natural scenary from coastal to rain forest. I would highly recommend this trip, it was 1/2 luxury cruise and 1/2 expedition. Perfect blend for us.

Having visited New Zealand upteen times , this was a little different because the ship is so much smaller , especially compared to Majestic Princess , with the ability of venturing that much further into Milford Sound also visiting Stewart Is. . Much prefer this size of ship with only 386 passengers & nearly the same number of crew & surprisingly quite stable for such a small ship at 28,000 tonne displacement , however affordability will for now be a consideration . We do have another cruise in March 2020 on the Silver Muse .

Luxury is the most abused word used by cruise companies; it is an attempt to mislead consumers. Silversea plays a con game because it is, based on my recent experience, very far from being a true luxury cruise line such as Seabourn, Regent or Azamara. The Silver Shadow should have received a major renovation and refurbishment some years ago. Every other passenger on our cruise who had previous experience with true luxury cruises agreed with our view that Silversea was a major disappointment in a number of ways; this was true for people from different countries. One of the first shocks was the terrible television system in cabins; more like 20 year old technology than what one gets in modern cruise ships. Much of the food was disappointing, either bland or overly salted, and with too little variety. Nearly always meats of any kind were overcooked. There was no coffee and tea bar with snacks that one could go to at any time; something that true luxury ships offer. Amazingly, there was only one computer for the whole ship that passengers could use. Like us, many others were also disappointed with the entertainment and with many of the excursions. More importantly, cabins were either very hot or cold. Even more disturbing, at least half of the passengers became sick with coughing, nasal problems and other symptoms; if there was effective government regulation of cruise ships, then the one we were on would be required to undergo a very thorough cleaning and sanitizing before beginning another itinerary. On the plus side, the selection of wines was very good and the service was very good nearly all of the time. My advice is to dig deep for information to avoid falling for the luxury scam being marketed by Silversea and other cruise companies.

The Service of the staff far exceeded expectations. At any moment on the ship we had attentive crew meeting all needs.  From offering drinks and food, to offering to push my fathers wheel chair.  He preferred to stay on board as we all (4 siblings and spouses) went ashore, but we felt very confident that his private butler would attend to any need.

The Wildlife and Glacier viewing were all that we would wish for.  Hubbard Glacier access was incredible and the Shadow was able to get unusually close...the photography was awesome. On an whale watching excursion we watched humpback mother and calf breach in circles around our boat...lifetime memories all around.

Only improvement would be to have a few offerings of Northwest seafood.  The Salmon served was Atlantic and there seemed to be no local seafood...i.e. Northwest Salmon, Dungeness crab, etc.  We are from the Northwest and would have expected it on an Alaska cruise.  The portions offered were perfect, a lot of care went into presentation, the wines overall were good.  I would rate the food at 4 stars but only because of lack of Northwest offerings on an Alaska cruise.