9stilton

Hi Terry I don't like to pick flies but I'm sure you'll agree that detail is important!!! The total passenger count is 518 - not 418 as you stated. Must be too much champagne! If you add your nationality breakdown up then it "squares the circle". Regards

Hi Terry If it any consolation then rest assured you would have been no better off in the Trident Hotel. Lots of people are grumbling about what is on offer and Silversea have done themselves no favours in promising a 5 star service but delivering something well short of that. Basic is an apt description. Yes, we won't starve but equally it is well short of what we have all paid for. Many have complained to the local silversea reps but I took the liberty of writing to the hotels general manager. As of yet no reply has been received!!

My suggestion would be for you to chose another SS cruise and ask your TA to approach SS and request a change. My understanding is that SS are prepared to be flexible on the matter, given what is happening.

I spoke with my TA today and amongst the many things that we discussed she indicated to me that if I wanted to cancel the cruise then SS would likely be flexible about it. I have no idea if that would be in the form of a refund or a FCC, but I feel sure those who want to withdraw would be pushing at an open door -- if they so desired. Secondly, at the risk of upseting people, I have to say that I am surpised at all the negativity being aimed at SS at present. I do believe that given the current circumstances we should cut them a 'bit of slack' to finalise matters! It seems to me that most 'posters' are eating and breathing this situation and no doubt checking emails & the SS website every hour!! We all know that we are booked into a decent hotel for a few nights & that other arrangements are in hand and with 2 weeks still to go we should be assured that we will have the remaining info shortly. I have been critical of SS in the past, particularly about the potential high risk of transiting the Red Sea, but in this case I suggest we should let events unfold & wait patiently until we have completed our travels until we finally get the guns out!

Hi Terry Just to let you know that we were originally booked into The Oberoi for 1 night pre cruise but according to My Silversea we have now been moved into the Trident for 4 nights. In this instance we had fortunately booked 'door to door' for this cruise with Silversea

Hi Terry I'm with you all the way on this. Just reversing what you have said I believe that SS have a lot to lose, should this cruise not take place. Just completing back of the hand calculations, it would seem to me that the cost of NOT doing it could be much higher than £10m!! If you took 600 passengers each paying an average of £8k pp (perhaps understated) should it not happen, then refunds would cost SS £5m alone. That takes no account of ongoing running costs, crew pay etc plus loss of special excursions, compensation to be paid etc. So an extra £20k or so on fuel is indeed small fry!!

Interesting! It must either be a British thing or I simply got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Whatever, in my mind I had a 15% FCC owing me and not a fixed amount of credit from a previous cruise.

There was one other point that I wanted to draw everyones attention to. Only the other day I used a FCC on a new booking with Silversea & fully expected to get my 15% off the cost of that future cruise. Much to my surprise it seems it does not work like that with Silversea. The 15% that I received was based on the cost of the cruise that it was awarded / given against. In my case it worked out for the better as the original cruise cost was more than the new booking -- so I received more than I expected off the new booking. However if I had been given a FCC against a relatively cheap booking then I would no doubt be either surprised or maybe a little disappointed. In other words there are no big discounts to be expected on new bookings to the Antartica / Arctic!

I read an interesting article (attached) the other day & suspect that many of us simply don't read the t&c attached to the cruises that we book to fully understand the risk(s) we are taking https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/articles/my-dream-60th-birthday-cruise-has-become-a-war-zone-why-ca/ I do not want to upset anyone, but it looks to me that the bottom line is that cruise lines in many situations do not have to pay compensation!

Regarding all the speculation about where & when Silver Moon will arrive & depart from, it occured to me that one of the events that has not been factored into these discussions are the Mid Voyage Land Adventures departing from both Goa & Colombo. Yes, I agree that these can be cancelled and or perhaps re scheduled, but firstly I suspect Silversea make a healthy profit (or loss!!) on them and secondly they clearly all have to be completed before the ships departure from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Finally regarding the current speed I would be prepared to wager a bet that the Captain has been told the day & time that he has to arrive in Cape Town & he has set the ship up to achieve that. I agree that the more interesting point is what happens after that. Interesting times!!

Thank you for your information and willingness to share. I hope you can make the most of the sorry situation that you are in. Needless to say Silversea have not handled matters at all well and no doubt many will bear that in mind in the future.

It is indeed hard for CruiseDig and SS to be correct at the same time!! Well, I have just opened up CruiseDig for Muscat and guess what? There is no arrival or departure shown for Silver Moon in Muscat in January. Also CruiseDig does not show Silver Moon in Dubai either in Jan or Feb but does show it in Mumbai on 11th Feb 24. It could be that the site is not updated or perhaps like others are thinking SS know something that the rest of us don't!

To me SS are taking an enormous risk in continuing with this sailing. IMHO the risks are immense -- should some terrorist group seek to get in the headlines!! I don't understand why SS don't acknowledge that the events which have occured have created a quantum change in their clients feelings and approach and therefore they should allow ANYONE to withdraw from the cruise without financial penalty. There is no doubt from these boards that fear exists and to effectively force people to continue with their holiday, where commercial decisions seem to dictate, is simply not right. It is clear that many are questioning the approach being taken! Yes, SS may look toward the t&c / small print but my own view is that any responsible company should look to the future and do the honourable thing, given the prevailing situation.

I suspect it may be that decisions shortly make themselves in this respect. Even without any further escalation it would seem likely that to take cruise ships through the Red Sea now would be putting both passengers and crew at risk. Surely that is something that no reputable cruise line could even contemplate, irrespective of the cost. Silverseas, after many weeks of prevarication, finally communicated to all that Egyptian ports of call in the coming months were cancelled and now have even an bigger call to consider. I just hope going forward the decisions that they make along with communication are handled much better than in the recent past, where different people were clearly told different stories.