Silver Shadow

My worst cruise ever.

Oct 18th, 2018

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.

Traumatizing Experience

Aug 28th, 2018

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.

Everything we expected and more!

Jul 25th, 2018

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

Not worth the cost

Jun 28th, 2018

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.

Chosen for Ports not Ship

Mar 19th, 2018

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!

Beware of claim of luxury

Dec 10th, 2017

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.

No Glaciers

Sep 17th, 2016

<p>We expected to cruise between glaciers, see whales and other wildlife and were highly disappointed that we didn&#39;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.</p> <p> </p> <p>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.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>

Full Family Cruising

Jun 26th, 2016

<p>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.</p>

Wonderful cruise

Jun 25th, 2016

<p>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.</p> <p> </p> <p>Food was excellent as well.  And Alaska is beautiful.</p>

Bucket List Trip for 86 yr old Father

Jun 25th, 2016

<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p> </p>