Procedures after missed embarkation

[Jim00]

Hi All,

We have Silversea Air arriving in Barcelona next week at 1:20pm with sail out to Marseille at 6pm. Our flight connects through Chicago ORD which might have some bad weather next week.

What should we expect if we miss ship's departure due to bad weather? I have the telephone numbers to call, but what normally happens? Does Silversea get us to Marseille to meet the ship the next day? What about the hotel arrangements, etc?

Thanks in advance.

[lord of the seas]

I would contact Silversea and get the correct answer.
I doubt if many posting here have missed the boat.

[Keith1010]

I would contact Silversea and get the correct answer.
I doubt if many posting here have missed the boat.

I agree.

Call Silversea and be sure you have a phone number where you can call them from Barcelona or from wherever you are when you are traveling in case you need their help at that point in time.

I know this doesn't help your situation but for those who have not yet booked their air this is one of many reasons why I always recommend flying in at least one day before prior to the start of a cruise and when it comes to international travel I recommend more days if possible.

Again, contact Silversea directly and be sure to have the contact numbers with you when traveling.

Keith

[57 varieties]

We missed the ship in Valparaiso three years ago due to losing our passports in a robbery on the morning we were due to be driven from Santiago to the port. We called the ship direct and flew to the next port of call, two days later. We were not using the Silversea travel package so arranged our own flight and taxi.
We use Silversea hotels and flights now, whenever possible, to be safer!

[dougburns]

Have your TA contact the Silver Sky folks and ask them if they think the connection is too tight. When we went to Lisbon a couple of years ago during the impending BA strike issue SS switched us to continental through Newark at no cost. We always pay the extra $100/per and go in at least a day early to avoid air delay possibilities.

[Nigella]

We are booked on the same voyage. We booked SS air and the flight- much shorter than yours though- was due to arrive in Barcelona at 2.35pm on the 26 May. As we are first time cruisers, we fully (Naively!) trusted SS to give us reasonable fight timings. We hadn't given much thought to it until I read a few posts here on the board about how tight our arrival actually was.
We contacted our travel agent and asked if we could reschedule to arrive in Barcelona the day prior to departure. We would have been happy to pay the regular deviation fee, and of course for our hotel in Barcelona.
SS Air would not change the timings - our air tickets were already issued and they stood absolutely firm that no changes would be permitted. So we cancelled and rebooked ourselves, out of our own pocket.

We have friends who are also joining us on this cruise who have booked flights with SS Air. They arrive from Scotland, with flights via London Heathrow, at 2.25pm on the 26th May.
I know that they are very concerned about their connections etc.
They have been assured by their TA that SS will take full care of making arrangements to get them to the next port etc if they don't make the ship. IMO that does not in any way begin to compensate for losing a precious night of the cruise, and the stress etc.
If we enjoy our cruise and decide to take another one in the future we will make all of our own arrangements to get to the departure port, and in plenty good time!

[Keith1010]

We are booked on the same voyage. We booked SS air and the flight- much shorter than yours though- was due to arrive in Barcelona at 2.35pm on the 26 May. As we are first time cruisers, we fully (Naively!) trusted SS to give us reasonable fight timings. We hadn't given much thought to it until I read a few posts here on the board about how tight our arrival actually was.
We contacted our travel agent and asked if we could reschedule to arrive in Barcelona the day prior to departure. We would have been happy to pay the regular deviation fee, and of course for our hotel in Barcelona.
SS Air would not change the timings - our air tickets were already issued and they stood absolutely firm that no changes would be permitted. So we cancelled and rebooked ourselves, out of our own pocket.

We have friends who are also joining us on this cruise who have booked flights with SS Air. They arrive from Scotland, with flights via London Heathrow, at 2.25pm on the 26th May.
I know that they are very concerned about their connections etc.
They have been assured by their TA that SS will take full care of making arrangements to get them to the next port etc if they don't make the ship. IMO that does not in any way begin to compensate for losing a precious night of the cruise, and the stress etc.
If we enjoy our cruise and decide to take another one in the future we will make all of our own arrangements to get to the departure port, and in plenty good time!

Nigella, you are absolutely correct about your comments about your friends and what it means to miss a cruise.

My view is why book a wonderful cruise and then spoil it by missing the start of the cruise. Shame on their Travel Agent for not guiding them through this.

I hope that you enjoy your cruise so much that you'll continue to cruise.

Enjoy!

Keith