Silversea Cruises Reviews 

ZERO STARS.

Silversea is a disgusting company. In July 2025, my husband and I had booked a June 2026 Mediterranean cruise. We were excited to try a Silversea cruise and just two weeks before we were supposed to leave for our trip we even paid to upgrade two room levels because they had not sold one of the higher level suites and offered us an opportunity to bid on an upgrade.

The week before we were supposed to leave, my husband’s mother had an unexpected cardiopulmonary crisis and was immediately admitted to hospice and then died the day before we were supposed to leave for our trip (within days of entering hospice).

We reached out to Silversea to find out if there were any options they could offer in light of the situation. We received an email reiterating their policy, basically saying that we are within the 30 day cancellation window so we lose all of our money if we do not show up for the cruise. No condolences or expression of sympathy were received at any point in our communication with Silversea.

We had purchased travel insurance, which we hope will cover most of the trip’s costs. However, there are some aspects of the trip that travel insurance will not cover, like the cost to last minute upgrade our room. Our travel agent (Harr Travel) was supportive and wonderful, lobbying Silversea to understand the circumstances and requesting that they consider any gesture given the circumstances and that would make us feel like valued customers. Silversea responded with the following offer:

They said we could select a cruise within the next six months and they would apply the money we had paid to the new cruise but we had to select and commit to a cruise within 24 hours, confirming that we would not be joining the current cruise.

They actually expected us to spend the day of the funeral reviewing cruises and making travel plans (booking fights, hotels, etc.) within 24 hours so they could confirm we would not be sailing on the planned cruise and they could make more money by reselling our existing suite. What they were offering us were the scraps of cruises set to sail soon (i.e., limited cruise and cabin options) so they could make a quick buck and attempt to resell our suite. They were also asking us to make rush travel plans at a time of grieving and mourning when we needed to focus on family.

Harr Travel made one final attempt to have Silversea at least credit (not refund – but credit toward some aspect of a future Silversea cruise) the cost of the room upgrade but Silversea refused.

They are a disgusting company, not because they kept our initially committed cruise money, but because they actually attempted to profit from our situation and would not even credit money for a last minute room upgrade given the situation.

Great Time

Just finished a cruise on the Silva Nova from Lisbon to Rome. We have done P and O and Cunard before but this trip beats both lines in my view. Great staff, excellent food in the restaurants, roomy cabins so am a bit surprised with some of the negative comments here- we have none except for the Greenland Cod served one night in the Atlantides restaurant, which had patently seen better days a few weeks earlier!
The website identifying what you have booked or reserved day by day for the trip could be made easier and impossible to actually print off in one complete document.
The medical team on board were great as my wife developed a swollen knee climbing the Lisbon hills prior to boarding so thanks to the onboard doctor for her attention to that minor problem.

Went on a cruise to French Polynesia in Silver Whisper. The itinerary included 3 of the marquesa island which is why we booked this cruise and not the 7 day one. Due to engine problems we missed out tense islands and had an extra day at sea and revisited 2 islands we had already been to
Onboard ten compensation offered was 3 days free against a future cruise if booked within 12 months. When we returned home this was significantly reduced to £1000 off a future cruise. Much less than previously offered. As we never intend to book another cruise with Silversea this compensation is worthless. The cruise itself was as expected but there was very little to do that appealed to us on sea days. Included excursions were short and you had to pay a lot more for good excursions.
I would advise going on a different cruise line that offer all inclusive excursions and better entertainment.

Wonderful customer service and Ellis Crossman- Personal Consultant - Private Travel UK Ireland EU and Africa deserves a special mention for being so personable and knowledgeable

I haven’t sailed yet, but their upfront service is terrible! DO NOT book travel through a Silverseas package! Our flights weren’t posted until recently, although supposedly booked in February when we paid in full. And when they finally were attached to our profile, they are wrong!! Wrong travel days. Even our top notch cruise travel specialist hasn’t been able to get them to respond and make this right in almost two weeks. I understand Silverseas is now part of Royal Caribbean. I’m promised the onboard experience is still fabulous - getting there and navigating the website and billing has been a nightmare. This is a once in a lifetime trip for me, and I should be looking forward to it. Instead, I’m stressed and losing trust in Silverseas with each passing day. It would have been worth it to pay more for flights we booked ourselves.

To say that our cruise was phenomenal would be an understatement! What amazing service, from the moment you get to the port the level of customer service is exceptional. The personnel, the ship, food, our suite & the entertainment and everything in between was exceptional. I can safely say that we will never travel on any other cruise line other than Silversea.

What a horrible company.
Had a cruise on the silver seas and in fairness really enjoyed it.
We booked another cruise on the ship which we was assured would have free cancellations.
We checked with them several times about the cancellation policy and was assured on the ship it was free to cancel before Aug2027.
When we went to renew our travel insurance my partner was declined due to her health.
We went to cancel only to find there is a mysterious 200 dollar per head cancellation admin fee.
We booked direct with silver seas on the ship only to find our booking was now with a travel agent and silver seas won’t talk to me as have to talk to the travel agent.
Be warned silver seas are wolfs in sheep’s clothing.

Disappointing cruise to the Caribbean (Philipsburg to Barbados) with Silversea. Food was luke warm and the air conditioning too cold, particularly in the entertainment lounge. Dropped off at airport with our luggage 5 hours before we could check in. Excursion in Dominica was classified as suitable for the 'Physically fit' but turned out to be an assault course with near vertical slopes, no steps or hand rails, mud everywhere and extremely dangerous. Husband damaged his foot and others had cuts and bruises. Complained to Silversea and reported to medics whilst on board at least 3 times and when returned home. Long delay before receiving reply and then only AI condescending answer. Still waiting for a satisfactory resolution.

We are still on a Silversea cruise. So far the service has been way below our expectations. The cruise was expensive and we expected an extra special cruise experience. Sadly we have been hugely disappointed. We are thinking of cancelling another Silversea cruise that it booked for later this year

I have read some very disappointing reviews. We didn’t have a whole bad experience, however, it did reach the promised level of service. The ship was very clean and spacious the boarding and disembarking process was well organised. The variety of Restaurants were fine and the cafe opened at 6am for light sleepers which I found useful. Where they fell down was the service. I don’t know if the Crewe were new but there was no coordination in any areas. Service was slow and non existing in the pool area. We didn’t do any shows but found the musicians in the Lounge area very good.
The pool area was disappointing as the old hogging sunbeds practice was going on. We had a snorkel trip on a very tatty catamaran which has seen better days. We enjoyed our experience, however, we met many people who had sailed regularly who were disappointed since the take over. We are due to go on Silvernova soon.

I am writing this review to call out Silversea - a cruise operator who makes sky-high claims for its customer service and lives up to none of them. We have, nominally, a cruise booked for an Indian Ocean round-robin starting from Singapore on March 30 and terminating in the Seychelles on April 17. No question of a deposit; everything had to be prepaid. Yet, less than two weeks from the off we don't know the status or location of our cabin, where in Singapore we have to go or even - given Trump's war - whether the cruise can go ahead: after all, airlines would have to overfly the fighting. Silversea have simply been absent, uncommunicative, remiss even in helping with visa formalities for the numerous ports of call. We are not even close to embarking and already I'm regretting having signed up.

Having sailed on several Silversea voyages, the decline in this most recent trip was impossible to ignore. For a line that markets itself as the pinnacle of ultra-luxury, "just okay" is a failure.
The Food: The Biggest Letdown
The culinary experience used to be the reason to book Silversea. On this trip, it felt neglected.
• Repetitive Menus: The rotation was stagnant. We saw the same "special" ingredients reused in different restaurants under different names.
• Quality Control: The protein quality has dipped significantly. Steaks were often tough or improperly aged—comparable to a standard land-based chain rather than a fine-dining establishment.
• The Buffet Trap: La Terrazza felt more like a crowded cafeteria than a luxury bistro. The "fresh" seafood often lacked flavor, and the sushi selection was uninspired and repetitive and mostly rice.
The Ship: "Just OK"
The hardware is starting to show its age, or perhaps the maintenance isn't keeping up. While the suites remain large and the butler service is still the saving grace, the public spaces felt a bit "tired." The gym equipment was outdated, and there was a noticeable lack of the "wow factor" that newer competitors are now offering.
Final Word:
Silversea seems to be leaning on its reputation rather than earning it. If you are paying for a 6-star experience, you should not be receiving 2 Star dining.

We booked a South America cruise with Silversea for our 50th wedding anniversary, having not given too much attention to reports of how standards had fallen in recent times; that was a mistake - we should have been more alert to those warnings.

Service and standards on board were way below standard for a 'five star' line. They were unhelpful / obstructive when adverse weather impacted outdoor anniversary dinner.

Worse still, on one of their shore trips their coach hit a tree bursting the window next to our seat. Cut and with bloodied clothes, the guide was more interested in the window and could not offer first aid; other passengers helped us.

Back on board, the ship's Customer Relations team offered no help or assistance whatsoever. To cover their failings, they later told the HQ Post Cruise Experience team that they had offered us medical assistance and help; which they didn't.

As a 'gesture of goodwill' they offered future cruise credit. We declined as we certainly won't sail with them again.

All in all a terrible experience.

Frist I would like to say to RC (Sliver Seas) department that you have put profit first and not your customers.
Let me explain, In Nov 2025 a 12-day cruise came available from Nice to Nice to sail in July 2027. Which required approx. $5000 deposit.
The cruise was fully booked very quickly. In Feb 2026 we were notified the cruise is cancelled due to a recent full ship charter.
Therefore, you rather cancel everybody arrangements over 400 passengers, so that you can charter the ship out to someone that must have influence to kick everyone off
To make the ship available to them.
This was going to be our first experience with silver seas from recommendation from friends who have experienced traveling with you on a number of times.
However, I sorry that you have done this but I won’t be booking with you again. I am going back to Viking Cruises who looks after their passengers first .
From Sydney Australia

Spent 10's of thousands on a Grand Voyage which was anything but. Made complaints onboard and when returned home, their solution was to thank us for bringing to their attention problems THEY should have seen they were so obvious. Offered credit on another cruise we WILL NEVER SAIL ON THEM AGAIN AND DO NOT RECOMMEND; US owners do not know what constitues a luxury brand. Half way through the cruise they dramatically down-graded the food offerings as if we were suddenly on a very different cruise. 'One' could only surmise they were losing money and needed to prop-up their profit margin. Never Silversea again.

Annoyed with this company and haven't even step foot on board yet! We have been succr'd in with the promise of luxury and a trip of a lifetime, only to find multiple changes to itinerary, stops outside of the original destinations, meaning more bus rides, cheap included excursions, and having to pay upfront for anything adequate. Of course they know its too late to cancel now.
I only hope the actual trip is better than the experience so far! More to follow!

Late last summer my wife and I did a 14-day SilverSea cruise to Norway and Iceland on SilverSea's Silver Shadow. This was close to a $70k, door-to-door trip, including airfare, transfers, and booking in one of the ship's nicer, upper deck suites. Compared with what we were led to expect, and for which SilverSea charged a premium price, we were very disappointed with the overall experience. SilverSea bills itself as a 5-star experience; it's just not.

- The pre-cruise lodging was at a < 3-star airport hotel in Oslo. We had a tiny room, no amenities, and no daytime food service, despite the fact that we were among a large group of passengers who arrived at 8am local time after flying all night from the US. When dinner was finally served, the food was C-minus and the single server on shift completely overwhelmed.
- The pre-cruise transfer from hotel-to-airport-to-ship is best described as a cattle-call that bordered on chaos. It was unprofessional and poorly unorganized, with insufficient transportation and long queues to wait for buses.
- The food on the ship, across all restaurants, was repetitive and uninspired. The food was also consistently poorly prepared, to the point where I finally just gave up on sending back poor cuts of meat or badly prepared food. We came to conclude that we were unfortunately trapped in a bad restaurant for two weeks. It was a relief to get off the ship and find good food again.
- The 'included' wine offerings at meals consisted of one red and one white. The "included" wines were young, cheap and sometimes just undrinkable. There were very good "not included" wines available, but at full retail, premium restaurant prices.
- Only two out of the five public lounge areas on the ship were staffed for service during the day. Of the two that were staffed, one was on the open deck, which was usually too cold for seating. That forced all passengers on board, but wanting to be out of their suites, into the Atrium lounge, which was then understaffed. The result was a completely avoidable packed house in the Atrium on days at sea, or on the occasional day when we passed on shore excursions and stayed on the ship.

Following our trip, I sent SilverSea customer service some very candid post-cruise feedback. They replied with very nice messages, messages that also appeared to be mostly AI-generated. The messages were apologetic and - get this - conveyed how much my feedback would benefit future passengers. When it came to redressing my bad experience, though, they offered $3k future cruise credit, good for a year; and this was at a time when SilverSea was routinely offering $5k promotional credit for future cruises. So, they basically offered me the sleeves from their vest.

SilverSea does not live-up to its brand promise. SilverSea is owned by Royal Caribbean, and in our experience, SilverSea delivers a B-level Royal Caribbean experience wrapped in an attractive and very over-priced cover. We believed the SilverSea brand promise. They didn't deliver, acknowledged they didn't deliver, and were casually dismissive in their unwillingness to do anything to redress that failure. Several months later, I'm still steamed at how I let myself be taken in by SilverSea, and by how I was treated by their customer service team. We won't ever make the mistake of traveling with SilverSea again. Hopefully, this post will help someone else avoid the mistake we made.

Sincerely,

Mike Temple, Scottsdale AZ

Tried to book shore excursions online, managed to book 3 TIMES - however, when looking later they had disappeared. No luck. I have visual problems and could not do it any longer. Could not find a telephone number for Silversea except an expensive telephone number. Got through, spent 1 1/2 hours on the telephone trying to get them booked. Halfway was cut off, phoned back another agent said “we can’t do anything you have to ask your travel agent’. Thankfully first agent called back and after 35 minutes she managed to do it. I complained to manager who just said ‘thanks for your feedback”, I will never book with Silversea again.

Just came back from an Asia cruise with my wife and we loved it. We sailed on silver nova an immaculate ship, with excellent staff and restaurants. The boarding in Tokyo was very well organised and a very easy procedure. From getting on to getting off we were looked after by our butler David, special shout out for the Atlantide restaurant and the manager. Food exquisite, service first class and this restaurant is included in your package. Entertainment was very good and if you Don't fancy going out one night you can order to eat in at no extra cost. I think maybe the standard WiFi should be better at no extra cost and also the Atlantide should be open 24 hours 🤔. Yes the package is more expensive than other cruises but I believe as a special occasion well worth it. Keep up the good work

I initially booked with Silversea because it advertised itself as high end luxury cruise company which they are but unfortunately I wasn’t able to commit to the dates I had booked. I wanted to cancel my booking and that’s when the trouble started, firstly it’s impossible to get the right contact, email addresses or relevant contacts are non existent, and when I finally got through by phone I was told that the relevant booking agent would contact me back. They never did and I had to contact them again, this time I got an unfriendly agent who then gave me the wrong email address and I had to search again. All I wanted to do was cancel my booking and get a confirmation of this, but no not as far as this company is concerned. Not impressed and would definitely not go to them in the future. Still haven’t heard back 😠