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Complementary Excursions


eliana
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We are considering booking a cruise that includes complementary excursions. Silversea seem to have far fewer complementary excursions per port compared with with Regent. Does this mean that there is difficulty in obtaining a reservation unless one books the cruise very early?

Edited by eliana
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This is a new venture for SS so suggest you send them an email to find out the answer to your very important question as you do not want to find out too late that you are unable to get on the excursions you have already paid for..There are a number of SS regulars who will be keen to learn of the response you get.Hope you get the answers that enable you to enjoy your proposed cruise.

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Having been on both Silversea and Regent this year, I've had a little experience with both company's excursions. I've done both the "free" (but not really!) and the "paid" excursions. Here are my thoughts:

 

Silversea - Yes, fewer excursions to pick from but still smaller groups and superior tours. I have NEVER seen Silversea fill up a 52-passenger bus under any circumstances, they are usually about 2/3 full or less. Even the expensive "Silver Shore Expeditions" which are usually in mini-busses are not full - and TOTALLY worth the extra $$$ - especially the ones which include a meal. The very BEST thing about Silversea shore excursions is that Silversea always sends a crew member-host along on every single tour to assist the tour guide to count heads and bring up the rear of all tours. This is SUCH A BONUS that I don't remember seeing on any other ship. I never had a wait-list which didn't clear well before embarkation.

 

Regent - Yes, many, many, many tours to pick from. TOO Many - some will be cancelled before the cruise due to "low demand" and then it's too late to get anything but a wait-list on the tours that they will actually send out. Regent fills up every single bus totally full and then the poor tour guide is too busy trying to keep up with everyone to do their job properly. This is a particularly frustrating experience on walking tours. No Regent host or crew member ever seen on a tour. Horrible, horrible organization in the theatre trying to get all tours sent out, especially on a full ship. Very little difference between the "free" and "paid" tours. Regent's "paid"-"meal-inclusive" tours are a joke - every single one we had offered absolutely inedible, cheap, no-choices banquet food. Tour wait-lists sometimes clear, sometimes not - then you feel "cheated" because you missed your chance for a free (but not really!) tour.

 

Good Luck...

Jen

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The following is the response I received from Silversea.

 

"All Silversea excursions, whether they are bookable at a cost or included in the cruise fare (i.e. Mediterranean voyages in 2015 and Asia sailings in 2016) are offered on a first come first served basis and we strongly recommend guests reserve their preferred excursions in advance on our website under the ‘My Silversea’ area.

 

If a late booking is made and your chosen excursion(s) is not showing available in My Silversea, they can be waitlisted online and we will endeavour to clear this if possible prior to sailing, otherwise the shore concierge on-board the cruise will keep you updated as to your excursion’s status as in the event of any cancellations or guests swapping to other options, places may become available at short notice."

 

We will go ahead with booking the Silversea cruise. We have sailed with Regent many times, have always been able to get on the excursions we wanted as we have the privilege of being able to book well in advance, and never experienced a cancellation. However we agree that on the popular excursions buses are often very full and included meals are often poorish. Generally, but not always, there is a crew member with us often one of the entertainers.

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You are right brimary. Silversea integrity is generally high, but their recent publicity on complimentary excursions brochures is misleading. They need to point out the risks passengers booking might take or ensure that all passengers can get the complimentary excursions they want.

Presumably in due course passengers will only be able to eat on board if they join the dining room queue early enough!

Edited by eliana
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E.

 

If they were genuinely intent on providing all passengers with their chosen excursions that they have paid in advance for, thenthey would allow unlimited reservations asking for both first and second choices and then ensure that EVERYONE (they have after all, all paid in advance for these .....) got an excursion in every port they chose of one of their choices confirmed a day or two before each port arrival. Saying "thanks ... yes you have paid ... but hard luck ..." seems too uncertain to me and would make me very grumpy if i travelled that far and paid that much but didn't get what I had looked forward to. To me it is a really daft idea.

 

The suggestion that passengers all paying should have their name entered into a hat or a sort of lottery and if you are lucky and chosen you get what you pay for and are looking forward to - but may get nothing at all, is to me a bizarre suggestion. If you choose a cruiseline where you pay for each excursion individually they will be very anxious to provide it. If you choose a cruiseline that charges you in advance they will it seems to me to be anxious NOT TO provide it.

 

I am genuinely perplexed as to why anyone would pay in advance for something and have absolutely no guarantee they will get it.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Jeff

Edited by UKCruiseJeff
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Maybe take a "Germanic" ;) approach and reserve (like pool-chairs) all "free" excursions 120 days before cruise starts and then cancel the ones you don't like after you boarded... :D

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Maybe take a "Germanic" ;) approach and reserve (like pool-chairs) all "free" excursions 120 days before cruise starts and then cancel the ones you don't like after you boarded... :D

 

That sounds unfair to those who book later and will then have no access to those excursions. You can toss a towel or book off a reserved lounge chair but you can't get a sold out excursion.

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That sounds unfair to those who book later and will then have no access to those excursions. You can toss a towel or book off a reserved lounge chair but you can't get a sold out excursion.

 

I have no doubt at all that it was light hearted and that it was tongue in cheek.

 

:)

 

Jeff

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Thanks, Jeff. Thought ;) and :D made this clear...

 

 

:D

 

I have a WHOLE portfolio of Austrian v Germans humour anecdotes ....;)

 

I hope you have me and wifey in your diary for December 5th!! I'm expecting you to buy us loads of drinks!

 

We have a one-nighter in SZG as guest of BA on the inaugural BA flight LHR>SZG and I have a bozna or two planned plus of course lots of punch mit schuss and maroni in the main Christmas market ....

 

We haven't been to SZG for a while .... The Sacher was called the Österreichischer Hof on my first visit ..... :rolleyes:

 

Jeff

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Wripro,

thanks, no need. Postings (and e-mails) are notoriously misunderstood, especially when they get into (different types of) humour...

 

UK Jeff,

You are on. When and where? Just add 30min to two hours to your schedule, the usual :eek: delay for BA into SZG...

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Wripro,

thanks, no need. Postings (and e-mails) are notoriously misunderstood, especially when they get into (different types of) humour...

 

UK Jeff,

You are on. When and where? Just add 30min to two hours to your schedule, the usual :eek: delay for BA into SZG...

 

 

Hi,

 

I've responded on the cooler because steering off topic causes some to get incandescent with rage and grumpy and this is an easy way to ensure equilibrium without valium if you get my drift. :rolleyes:

 

See you there.

 

:)

 

Jeff

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Silversea - Yes' date=' fewer excursions to pick from but still smaller groups and superior tours. I have NEVER seen Silversea fill up a 52-passenger bus under any circumstances, they are usually about 2/3 full or less. The very BEST thing about Silversea shore excursions is that Silversea always sends a crew member-host along on every single tour to assist the tour guide to count heads and bring up the rear of all tours. Good Luck...Jen[/quote']

 

While we have never sailed with Regent, I just wanted to second the key points made by Jen. Our tours with Silversea tend to use buses that are half full or less. That makes things more roomy and comfortable. AND, it is fun and interesting having a staff member along during the tour. You get to meet and talk with them. That is usually interesting and a very good learning experience.

 

As I understand, Silversea is still testing and evaluating these "free" excursions that will result in high cruise fares. Plus, the potential to make some customers very unhappy about having to make the choice between the "free" basic tours versus the premium options at higher, added cost.

 

We are getting ready for an early February Silver Cloud "adventure" for South Africa and Mozambique. We are booked now at the lower, current pricing. Personally, I would prefer to pay at the current SS cost levels, not going to the much-higher, Regent-level cruise costs. I would much rather be more in control for our excursion choices and costs. This current plan better allows us to go private and/or DIY when we decide that this works best for us, etc. Clearly, "free" would cost more!!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 116,592 views for this posting.

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We were given the opportunity to switch our back-to-back cruises this past June to the tours inclusive option. We thought it was too expensive, at least for the few included tours we might have taken, so opted to stay with our original and lower priced booking. We probably got to know a dozen or more fellow passengers over the 16 days we were on board, a number who were also taking the same back-to-back, and none had gotten or opted for the tours package. Obviously we didn't talk to all 500+ passengers but it wasn't a big discussion subject so got no feeling for how the tours went or if they were crowded.

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