PR Puffery?

[SteveBear]

Today's issue of the Cruise News Daily newsletter includes an article entitled "Going It Alone." It reports on an announcement by David Morris, SVP for North American Sales, of a new Silversea program called Solo Traveler Savings, under which singles will have to pay supplements of only 10-25% on selected voyages.

Left unexplained by the article is how this new program differs from the current program, under which singles pay supplements of only 10-25% on selected voyages. The only possible new wrinkle I can think of, not mentioned in the article, would be if these supplement-levels have now been extended to higher-priced suites.

http://mywebsite.register.com/db1/00019/steve.snugglebear.name/_uimages/LargerGrumpyBear.gif

Run for your lives; it's a grumpily pedantic bear.

Matsonia 6/59
Silver Cloud 12/00
Harmony 5/01
Silver Whisper 9/01
Ecstasy 12/01
Deutschland 7/02
Silver Shadow 11/02
Royal Clipper 4-5/03
Silver Wind 12/03-1/04

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<param name="year" value=2004>
<param name="month" value=08>
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<param name="hour" value=18>
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until Inside Passage on Cruise West's Spirit of Discovery.

<applet code="****************" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">
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<param name="year" value=2004>
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until Svalbard Circumnavigation on Akademik Vavilov.

I though the same thing....

[meow!]

SteveBear:

Nice to see your posting again. The news item you mentioned is now on Silversea's own website, under "press release". It does not mention anything other than Vista and Veranda suites, and it looks like just a collection of existing 10-25% single supplement voyages, and an incomplete list at that! It is probably just an effort to get attention, as well as to highlight those selected voyages in a clearer, more obvious fashion.

It seems that due to different levels of discount, as well as different original pricing for different geographic regions and times of the year, Silversea's per diem prices vary tremendously, from $250 to $750. At the lower end, it is close to Oceania's level. This offered us, one couple of ordinary cats, an opportunity to take a peep at a Silversea ship, with the cheapest itinerary available at the end of the year! Thank you for your previous postings in regard to these ships, which were very informative.

[SteveBear]

Bear thanks Cat for drawing his attention to the press release. For the curious, here's its exact URL:

http://silversea.com/why_ss/pr87.asp

By the way, some cruises are even offering Veranda suites at 110% (and were doing so before this announcement was made). An example are the Wind's itineraries in February and March of next year. Too bad I'm now in a remote-destination mood (now also including Antarctica next January on Explorer II).

http://mywebsite.register.com/db1/00019/steve.snugglebear.name/_uimages/LargerGrumpyBear.gif

Run for your lives; it's a grumpily pedantic bear.

Matsonia 6/59
Silver Cloud 12/00
Harmony 5/01
Silver Whisper 9/01
Ecstasy 12/01
Deutschland 7/02
Silver Shadow 11/02
Royal Clipper 4-5/03
Silver Wind 12/03-1/04

<applet code="****************" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">
<param name="font" value="lcdb0">
<param name="year" value=2004>
<param name="month" value=08>
<param name="day" value=07>
<param name="hour" value=18>
</applet>
until Inside Passage on Cruise West's Spirit of Discovery.

<applet code="****************" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">
<param name="font" value="lcdb0">
<param name="year" value=2004>
<param name="month" value=08>
<param name="day" value=27>
<param name="hour" value=18>
</applet>
until Svalbard Circumnavigation on Akademik Vavilov.