Celebrity Cruises vs Silver Seas

[SYD]

I wasn’t going to come on as I haven’t done both lines for comparison. But I did love SilverSea, and would travel with them in preference to Ponant if they could give me no single supplement like Ponant does.

Looks like SS will soon give DSCs on a single occupancy stateroom under the "Enhancements" - FWIW...

I haven’t looked at the size of ships that Celebrity run but I’m thinking they are much larger than the SS ones. You pay more per head for a smaller passenger load but the experience is commensally better as well.

They have Medium (Millenium class), Large (Solstice class) and Big (Edge class) but none have anything like waterslides, waveriders and other kid and kid at heart stuff. They tend to target the 30 to 40/50 somethings. They're generally nicely fitted out without that gawdy without being tasteful stuff you might see on Carnival (so I've heard), RCCL (very family friendly), NCL and Holland.

They tend to retrofit older ships with newer touches from the new ships. I was on the Solstice last year before it's refit - it was looking a bit tired compared to when it was new and I first went on it. But it's just had a multi-million-dollar refit and now has some Edge class features - including a whole new "Retreat" section for Suites.

 

[Pushka]

Looks like SS will soon give DSCs on a single occupancy stateroom under the "Enhancements" - FWIW...

They have Medium (Millenium class), Large (Solstice class) and Big (Edge class) but none have anything like waterslides, waveriders and other kid and kid at heart stuff. They tend to target the 30 to 40/50 somethings. They're generally nicely fitted out without that gawdy without being tasteful stuff you might see on Carnival (so I've heard), RCCL (very family friendly), NCL and Holland.

The tend to retrofit older ships with newer touches from the new ships. I was on the Solstice last year before it's refit - it was looking a bit tired compared to when it was new and I first went on it. But it's just had a multi-million-dollar refit and now has some Edge class features - including a whole new "Retreat" section for Suites.

The Millenium scrubbed up really well. We are booked next year and there's a gap between the last and ours. In Singapore. Maybe a charter or possibly a small make over. I think there was just one child on our last cruise.

 

[love_the_life]

We did do quite a few X cruises in the past and are Elite but if you compare the cost of a suite on Celebrity with a balcony on Silversea (no "s" on the end), although the cabin may be a little smaller, the cost is almost the same (eg often around $8-10Kpp for the ones I look at). Silversea is a smaller ship with higher staff /passenger ratio, all inclusive,. choice of restaurants (not only Lumea for suite pax). It is much more attractive for us - MrLtL does not like crowds or queuing and on SS we don't have either. I look at AQ on X at times and yes, it is much cheaper but the additional pax on the ship is not to our liking. I do admit though, when not travelling with MrLtL and with a friend or son, I have quite a few Princess cruises under the belt and even Carnival, RC and NLC The size of the ship doesn't worry me as much as it does Mr LtL. We look at alternatives like Seabourn and Explora but haven't tried them to date.

 

[goldenhorn]

We did do quite a few X cruises in the past and are Elite but if you compare the cost of a suite on Celebrity with a balcony on Silversea (no "s" on the end), although the cabin may be a little smaller, the cost is almost the same (eg often around $8-10Kpp for the ones I look at). Silversea is a smaller ship with higher staff /passenger ratio, all inclusive,. choice of restaurants (not only Lumea for suite pax). It is much more attractive for us - MrLtL does not like crowds or queuing and on SS we don't have either. I look at AQ on X at times and yes, it is much cheaper but the additional pax on the ship is not to our liking. I do admit though, when not travelling with MrLtL and with a friend or son, I have quite a few Princess cruises under the belt and even Carnival, RC and NLC The size of the ship doesn't worry me as much as it does Mr LtL. We look at alternatives like Seabourn and Explora but haven't tried them to date.

Thanks for the info, that's really helpful.

Do you book direct with SS or do you have a travel agent you'd like to go through? It's been years since I've booked a cruise, and I'm not sure if it's like some hotel chains, where if you book through the agent, you get a few extra benefits or discounts.

 

[tgh]

An experienced agent will always be worth the effort, booking direct is a recipe for disaster, IMnsHO…
Always try to use a Virtuoso agent as you will receive obc and also usually a deal pre and post with their hotels will be offered.
Sailing with any new line requires homework to make the best outcome, lots of discussion here on AFF but also on the SS thread on Cruise Critic.
The facebook SS passengers list also has an extensive searchable file with all the little details that are not always easy to find like power point etc