Silversea Free Air

[Evertonian64]

I just received the lovely box with the full details of my cruise in March on Whisper but I noticed that there were no details of aircraft seat allocations for wife and self(we had the free airfares). I rang the Silversea TA and she quickly booked seats for travel together. I do not know if this is common but it may be worth confirming that your seat allocation has been made for you to travel with your wife/husband together rather than leave it until you arrive at airport checkin when there may be no availability.

[wripro]

One's TA should always take care of getting assigned seats. Never leave it to SS or any cruise line. they don't care where you sit.

[kpercy]

One's TA should always take care of getting assigned seats. Never leave it to SS or any cruise line. they don't care where you sit.

Sound advice. One other thing.....its not `FREE AIR` !

[wripro]

You're right, Kpercy. It's included and you can get a credit if you don't use it.

[Evertonian64]

Whilst not wishing to argue the point I think in my case of the cruise on 29/3 Silversea may well have given "free air" as the per diem rate is actually better than the similar cruises in the Caribbean which do not have the "free" air. Although I am sure it is only a case of supply and demand this is what attracted me to the cruise.
It may well be that other cruisers can point to some reason "my" cruise is less popular than the others and so made Silversea discount in this way.
I do agree though that you have to be careful and not just accept on face value.In particular for us Brits I think the Med cruises with "free" air look poor value.

[Amphitrite]

We are about to transfer a deposit for a cruise we cannot take this year to spring 2012 on the Whisper. We are confused by the "free air" offer- SS website shows a free air offer but our TA says they are offering air credit of $1000. We would be flying from Los Angeles to Heathrow and returning to LA from Copenhagen.

Any advice from past SS cruisers on which is the better choice for us would be most appreciated! Better to book on our own as we will go a few days early and stay a few days after the cruise or a better deal to go through SS (they then have all control of flights, carriers, etc.) and pay deviation fees??

[Magalie99]

our TA says they are offering air credit of $1000. We would be flying from Los Angeles to Heathrow and returning to LA from Copenhagen.
Better to book on our own as we will go a few days early and stay a few days after the cruise or a better deal to go through SS (they then have all control of flights, carriers, etc.) and pay deviation fees??

We are on a Copenhagen to London cruise, and for us, doing the math, the "free" airfare to Europe from St. Louis (I use the term "free" lightly for reasons mentioned above) is the best deal. $1000 these days is not likely to cover RT LA to Europe, especially with oil prices spiking (but maybe if you get a good deal or are planning on using miles). Even with a $100 per ticket deviation fee for early arrival pre-cruise and late departure post-cruise, it might be more economical to use Silver Sky.

Try using travel websites and see how much it would cost to fly into LHR and flying home from CPH on the dates you want -- if it's less than $1100 ($1000 credit + $100 deviation fee you would spend by changing your arrival and departure date with Silver Sky), then it might be something to seriously consider. If it's more, then it might be a better deal to use Silver Sky, even with an additional $100 to deviate.

It all depends on what deals you can find on your own. In our case, it was significantly more expensive to go "on our own" so we are using Silver Sky and are deviating the dates. In addition, our TA said you could look at the itinerary Silver Sky gives (for flights) and then choose to "accept" and use that/them for air or choose the credit (this is all way before 120 day/final payment time).

[wripro]

Amphitrite,

There are many variables to your situation. Do you have frequent flyer miles you could use to get your tickets? If so, take the air credit. Do you need to fly business class? If so, find out what the upgrade charge is for that with SS and compare to what you can get on your own. Also. if you are flying in early and departing after the last day of your cruise you will need to factor in the $250 deviation fee SS charges so not using their air actually saves you $1250 pp. The smartest thing to do is to discuss all this with your TA and let him/her work up the options for you.

[Magalie99]

We only paid $100 pp for a deviation (since we're traveling in August) - per SS website:
"In addition, for each confirmed change, guest will be charged a non-refundable administrative fee as follows: requests received 60 or more days prior to sailing – $100 per person; requests received within 60 days of sailing – $250 per person."

[Amphitrite]

Thank you everyone for the helpful information. We will likely use the Silver Sky air as we don't have enough miles for either free tickets or upgrades. I'll also discuss air options with my TA. Thanks again!

[wripro]

I may be wrong but I believe anyone who booked after last May has to pay a $250 deviation fee. If anyone can correct me, please do.

[Evertonian64]

May I make a final point in that I believe if you book your own flights and for some reason (Ash cloud, airline strikes etc.) the flight arrives late and the boat has sailed you are on your own. However if you have booked through Silversea they have a duty of care to you and presumably have a vested interest in uniting you with the ship or paying compensation.
I stand to be corrected but I think that is the position and is worth something if only in an insurance sort of way but given recent events.....
I sound like I am promoting Silversea but it is up to everyone to make their own judgements as to the level of "insurance" they prefer.

[turnip eater]

May I make a final point in that I believe if you book your own flights and for some reason (Ash cloud, airline strikes etc.) the flight arrives late and the boat has sailed you are on your own. However if you have booked through Silversea they have a duty of care to you and presumably have a vested interest in uniting you with the ship or paying compensation.
I stand to be corrected but I think that is the position and is worth something if only in an insurance sort of way but given recent events.....
I sound like I am promoting Silversea but it is up to everyone to make their own judgements as to the level of "insurance" they prefer.

You're right....If you miss the ship because of a SS flight delay, then they will get you on the ship.....perhaps the ship may even wait for you.....you will probably be on a flight with other SS guests:)

[CruisinGerman]

Dear Evertonian:

You're profile says you are in the UK. May I also presume that you purchased your cruise from a UK or EU travel agency and NOT a U.S. travel agency?

If that is the case (purchased from UK or EU travel agency):

The inclusive air is a good deal for EU consumers because of the legal protections built into that type of package, without the need to purchase extra insurance for this purpose.

If your flight is cancelled or delayed (whether due to fault such as airline lateness, mechanical difficulty, or no fault such as weather, volcanic ash, etc.), and you miss the ship, Silversea must re-route you at its cost and get you to the ship immediately thereafter if it can (and also provide you with expenses along the way such as meals, hotel, telephone) and also provide you with a proportional refund of the part of the cruise you missed.

If they can't get you to the ship or getting you to the ship is impractical (such as missing a substantial part of the cruise), then you are entitled to a full CASH refund of your entire package (air, cruise, other items booked in the same package).

And all of the above is without the need to purchase any insurance (you should purchase insurance for other reasons such as medical, baggage, etc.).

Just remember the thousands of Brits who missed their cruises in New York, Florida and San Juan over Christmas because they couldn't fly out of Heathrow. Those who purchased air/sea package were given a full refund by law, those who purchased air and cruise separately but also purchased insurance were for the most part taken care of, and it is unclear what happened to those passengers who purchased air and cruise separately and did not have insurance.

So if "free" air is convenient and makes for a good price in the EU, it is always a good idea to go that route, especially due to the legal protections automatically offered at no charge.

Kind regards,

Gunther and Uta

[dusababy]

Turnip Eater I see you will be on Whisper May 7 out of Barbados -- me too.

And I think you have the same feelings I do re SS dress codes --

Birds of a feather ....... ??;)

See you on board.....

from California

[turnip eater]

Turnip Eater I see you will be on Whisper May 7 out of Barbados -- me too.

And I think you have the same feelings I do re SS dress codes --

Birds of a feather ....... ??;)

See you on board.....

from California

We'll look forward to that. :D

[brimary]

May I make a final point in that I believe if you book your own flights and for some reason (Ash cloud, airline strikes etc.) the flight arrives late and the boat has sailed you are on your own. However if you have booked through Silversea they have a duty of care to you and presumably have a vested interest in uniting you with the ship or paying compensation.
I stand to be corrected but I think that is the position and is worth something if only in an insurance sort of way but given recent events.....
I sound like I am promoting Silversea but it is up to everyone to make their own judgements as to the level of "insurance" they prefer.
Exactly right.If you book your own flights pre and post cruise hotels you are on your own. In todays climate of strikes and natural disasters it is reassuring to know SS will make all the arrangemennts to get you to the ship.

[Randyk47]

We typically don't use a cruise line's air, preferring to find our own way to and from a cruise, but for our Silversea cruise next year we're seriously considering letting the cruise line handle. In fact we've actually signed up for Silversea to do our flights and have asked for the business class upgrade. We'll be looking at our other options, more specifically can we use a significant number of American Airlines miles to buy business class seats or update coach seats, but by signing up right now we bought ourselves some time to do that research. The cruise is too far out for us to price airline tickets but using the furthest out dates available on the Internet right now shows we can't do much better than Silversea's offer. We'll see......

[Magalie99]

I may be wrong but I believe anyone who booked after last May has to pay a $250 deviation fee. If anyone can correct me, please do.

We just "deviated" (yesterday, in fact) and had an additional $250 added to our charges (per person). Which I thought might be what you had mentioned (that since it was after May '10) - but upon asking our TA, he said it was $100 deviation fee + $150 because the route (itinerary) we wanted was $150 more. We are flying into a different city than where the cruise departs (4 days early) and flying back to the US 4 days late from the desination/disembarkation city. Maybe if you keep the dates from our original itinerary it's only $100 and if you change dates it's $250? :confused: Not sure.

We're still fine with the extra $250 since we're upgrading to Business and there is NO way we'd get that fare going on our own (adding the $800 credit + business upgrade + $250 = still less than RT Europe in Business).

[Kagehitokiri]

the TA im using said there are no such guarantees in the US.

when i was on seabourn in 2006, they rebooked everything when they were late into port, even though i hadnt booked through them.