Feeling adrift in the silversea world.

Hi

We am feeling sightly adrift in the world of silversea.

We have booked the world cruise in January last year for January 2014 and we expected a steady flow of info regarding the (for us trip of our lives) but to date all we have received are two changes of itinery and one email about various suite items.

We together with my wonderful ta have managed to extract a small list of the countries that require a visa for uk people but nothing else. The response is Miami is dealing but the web site gave 2 months ago the detailed info for USA and Australian citizens.

Are you travelling with us and have you been kept in the dark or do you know the answer to one of our worries only have 7 blank pages in my passport.

Not what we expected from Silversea but by any means we will be in LA on the 6th of Jan waiting for the Whisper to take us on a wonderful journey.

Regards to all who know us

Joy & John

I'd definitely be concerned about having only 7 pages in your passport; you will use far more than that. See you in LA

I am sorry you are feeling adrift but what a wonderful wonderful time you have ahead! You still have time to update your passports, and I admit to be utterly green with envy!

You are Going to have a terrific time. Good folks, good ports, good food, but I would get additional pages in my passport. We have done this trip a few times and you will find your way.

Definitely get more passport pages. You have time! So envious. Maybe someday. Still have to work for now.

Do get passport pages added as others have said.

I have taken several world cruises on Crystal and have looked over your itinerary. We normally would be asked to have around 20 to 24 blank pages to be on the safe side but they will fill up quite a bit more than 7.

Keith

Enjoy your cruise it will be fabulous! We will all follow your travels if you share with us and we can fill in 20 blank pages of our passport vicariously!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Thank you all for the replies

Unfortunatley the UK passport office has informed us that you cannot add pages to an old passport it's a new book @ £85 + a fee of over £100 to have it completed inside a week.

My ta has got very little satisfaction from Silversea who are unnable to say what is required for passports and I have not even started on luggage to go before us.

John & Joy

Thank you all for the replies

 

Unfortunatley the UK passport office has informed us that you cannot add pages to an old passport it's a new book @ £85 + a fee of over £100 to have it completed inside a week.

 

My ta has got very little satisfaction from Silversea who are unnable to say what is required for passports and I have not even started on luggage to go before us.

 

John & Joy

I would get a new passport.

I can't imagine seven pages being enough.

Have you already gotten the visas that you will need such as China, and India.

There will be others either you will get or the ship will such as Mynamar.

And then there are some to be obtained by the ship and just pages that will be stamped.

I would have guessed you will need between 15 and 20 just based on doing other world cruises on a different line.

Keith

If your TA isn't getting any satisfaction, I would email Silversea with some displeasure and tell them you need information- and much sooner than later. I am rather surprised that you haven't gotten any.

But as far as passports- why would you need to expedite them if you aren't leaving until Jan? That is still nearly two months. Unless you need them for visas.

SS includes the Visa notices in printed materials. There is also a link on the website that takes you to that information for all the voyages. I will try and find it for you.

SS includes the Visa notices in printed materials. There is also a link on the website that takes you to that information for all the voyages. I will try and find it for you.

I have a few random thoughts.

I feel like something is amiss.

On the one trip where we needed a visa, it was clearly outlined in the Silversea booking confirmation/receipt that our TA provided with their booking confirmation.

I would think with a world cruise, you would have all that info. Did you receive it?

As Duct Tape mentions, the visa info is also on the web.

I know you think highly of your TA, but with the utmost respect, I am suspect.

And i would definitely get a new passport tomorrow, since you cant have pages added.

Contact Silversea directly. Explain to them your TA has had no response. Their World Cruise passengers are treasured guests, and I suspect they will be appalled.

Have to jump in. I agree with the other posters; get a new Passport ASAP. You will need it. Also agree that your TA might be a lot more proactive..that's why he gets commissions. Never forget that he is working for YOU...or should be.

Now, on a positive note. We were on the last segment of the 2013 World cruise, and every single person we met during our 26 days, was thrilled by the experiences they had had. As much as we cruise, we had thought that a World Cruise would be far too many days, but not one person with whom we chatted, felt that way. Every one of them was sad the journey was coming to an end. We were truly surprised and are now considering a WC in a few years. I think your 2014 itinerary is outstanding, and I'm more than a little bit jealous!

You will get through all these irritating details, and when the wonderful Whisper sets sail in L A, I feel certain that you will be embarking on an even better adventure than you have been hoping for. Don't get discouraged...and...

Bon Voyage!

These folks are correct. I loved the WC the year we did it. It was definitely not too long! I would do it again in a minute if it was from the beginning of Dec thru March. May/June is too late for me to come home. You should expect more from your TA.

SS includes the Visa notices in printed materials. There is also a link on the website that takes you to that information for all the voyages. I will try and find it for you.

I would expect Silversea to provide visa information and I would worry about a travel agent that is unable to obtain it at this late date. All I find on the Silversea website is a denial of accountability.

All travel documents (air and cruise tickets, passport, medical card, inoculation verification) are the guest’s responsibility. It is also the guest’s responsibility to obtain any necessary visas and public health documents for all applicable ports and to comply with all customs requirements. Without the required documents, a guest may be denied boarding and accommodation by Silversea, or the guest may be disembarked during the voyage and Silversea will not make a refund or be otherwise liable to any guest for such denial of boarding or disembarkation. In the event that Silversea, as a courtesy, provides information or advice as to necessary travel documents, visas and medical inoculations, guests are still obligated to verify such information with the appropriate government authorities and Silversea does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information.

Hi

Thank you duct tape and all respondents. My ta has been TALKING to the london office and it now appears that they are running 1 month behind for paper work re the world due to staff leaving. I will tomorrow apply for a new passport just to be sure.

John

Good luck with the London office, and I am sorry to say luck is what you and your TA will need.

I am tempted to suggest that you get you TA to contact the US office direct.

Geez, sorry I did not realize you were dealing with the London office. As suggested, consider an American TA.

Because we all understand that promoting any specific TAs is, rightly, not allowed, I'm hoping that I can sneak through with suggesting not only an American agent, but a Virtuoso agent. This is some one who works thru a travel consortium. In our experience, these are very knowledgeable folks. Since they primarily specialize in luxury travel, whoever you choose from this group will undoubtedly know SS well, and if by chance, they aren't SS experts, they will know who to ask for helpful info. Just Google Virtuoso. This has worked very well for us, and we hope that whatever you decide to do, you will have a wonderful time.

And, please, do get your travel docs brought up to date!

John, so glad you are getting the new passport. You will be happy you got it. If you can expedite it in the UK like we can in the USA I would do that because if you also need any visas you really need to get it back.

I am sorry to hear that they just have not sent the requirements out yet. On a World Cruise that also begins in January we got our information in early September and to me that is the time I want to hear for a variety of reasons. Some people do other travel before the World Cruise and need their passports for that and others might even board the Silversea ship before the World Cruise.

Anyway, hopefully you will have the requirements soon but getting the new Passport back in your hands as soon as possible is what I would do and if you can expedite it and there are additional fees to do so I would do that. I am not sure in the UK if you can request a passport with more pages in it (in the USA we can get 24 or 48 pages) I would get the larger one so it will last for a while. A World Cruise can really put a dent in the number of pages you use.

Keith

Good morning Joe 90 - Silver Spectre is correct in saying your Agent should get in touch with the US direct if London cannot assist. Over the years the London Office has not always performed with distinction but recently my dealings with them have improved noticeably. Unfortunately their own channels of communication with the US Office often leave a lot to be desired.

I feel that you need to talk personally to The Head of Reservations & Guest Services. From my experience you will receive good attention.

I hope this helps and wish you a wonderful Cruise.

Not sure if you've found this or how accurate it is but maybe has links to up to date info for relevant countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_British_nationals

Mary

Mary, that is very nice that you posted that link but the key is Silversea needs to let everyone on the cruise know which visas they will obtain for them on the ship because often many are obtained and that avoids the need to apply for traditional ones.

Keith

Whoops sorry just thought I was helping as British Passport holders often do not need Visas whereas others do.

I will go back to lurking.

Mary

We are eagerly awaiting info too.

Do you know when Gala dinner starts on 5th Jan and what is dress code?

:)