the care & concern of the staff towards their guests is very personable the food and attention by the wait staff is phenominal the ship size makes it easy to navigate we met many wonderful people having a money exchange on baoed would be helpful when you visit so many different places each with a different currency

We enjoyed the Hot Rock dinner by pool, we were given our meat/fish and cooked it ourselves on the hot rock. The small ship with only 400 passengers had it's advantages the staff and crew knew us by name. There were two items that were very disappointing, the first, it was impossible to get a good cappuccino, it was a hit a miss 12 out of 14 days. The second item was the complimentary wine, it was very young and not pleasant to drink. Unfortunately this cruise line did not meet our expectations.

Best: the food; the staff & service; the fact that you never felt crowded; we never experienced lineups; the balcony in our stateroom; the ability of the ship to dock right in town; the all-inclusiveness so you didn’t have to worry about paying for items. Most memorable: the private shore excursions we had arranged via Exeter in St Petersburg. Could be improved: at times there were water smells in certain parts of the ship.

Best aspect by a wide margin, was the level of service throughout the ship. They anticipated every need, and did so with friendly enthusiasm. Special requests were handled without question or discussion. Wonderful experience, and the best we've had on any cruise. The most memorable thing was, in fact, the crew. After that, the lack of overcrowding i.e. no jockeying to get pool-side chairs, tables etc. Plenty of room everywhere for everyone. Improvements: Strangely, the people manning the excursion and reception desks. Our 3 or 4 contacts invariable ran into language or comprehension issues. e.g. we had pre-arranged an excursion through the 'Silvershore Concierge Service' yet nobody on duty recognized the option or the service. Turned out the excursion went off just fine and was thoroughly enjoyable, but the lack of ability to answer simple questions was a bit unsettling. Although the food was very good, and presented in wonderful fashion, it was also somewhat bland. I suspect due to the average age of the guests, but still, it would have been nice to have some spicy or full flavoured options. e.g. Caesar salad was very weak tasting, pizza was very bland with no meat options like pepperoni. Strongest item tasted was horseradish, and it was quite weak as well. Despite the above comments, our overall experience was excellent, and we will definitely book Silversea again, though I personally would like to try one of their newer ships to see what improvements they have come up with.