labrasett

On 6/26/2023 at 4:12 AM, 1954 said:

That's basically why I started this thread. I received my e docs, but no cabin assigned. I thought that was strange - but apparently not. Since my cruise was booked via TA and they didn't get answer, I don't see much point in trying SS direct. Anyway, it's more a "nice to know", the world won't end unless we turn up at the dock and find we don't have a cabin 🤪

Its the lifeboats for you!!!😃 

On 6/24/2023 at 2:57 PM, RLK33853 said:

Hello Everyone - we have a couple of questions about Silversea.  We are currently booked on Silversea next May in the Mediterranean.

 

We are experienced mainstream cruisers (50 + cruises on Princess, plus other lines) who have decided to try various upscale lines hoping to find a new home.  Mainstream lines are now nickel and diming worse than ever, loyalty perks are being taken away, plus service and food quality continue to deteriorate.  

 

Just a bit of background about ourselves - mid sixties, very active, usually stay in mini-suites or full suites, enjoy good food and the dining experience, like exploring new places, spend two to three months a year travelling (usually on cruises but have also done extensive land trips in Africa, South America and Australia), and have made life long friends around the world doing so.

 

We have used these boards extensively and value the advice we have received over the years.  Hopefully you can assist over the next while with our Silversea questions. 

 

Our first question is about the Silversea's evening dress codes.  I have read a lot of this forum's topics but am confused about "informal" dining - specifically jackets in the evening.  This is not a question that needs to be debated, it's just a question.  We already dress up  and enjoy doing so on formal nights - full length evening gowns for my wife, and suit and tie on formal nights for me, but we are confused about Silversea's "informal" dress code.  My wife will still be wearing a cocktail dress on these evenings, but I usually just wear nice pants and open collared shirt.  Our question arises from whether a jacket is also expected.  Some places it gives the impression that you need a jacket, otJ

 

Second question concerns the included wines.  My wife enjoys crisp clean whites in the afternoon, and nice full bodies reds in the evening, preferably Australian. Our question is, are the included wines of decent quality or should we expect to purchase optional ones?

 

Thank you in advance.  Silversea looks to be a good fit for us in the future.  We have almost a year before we board and want to be as informed as we can be.  We are also booked on Paul Gauguin (Ponant), and Viking Ocean - hopefully we will find a new cruise line that meets our expectations.

 

Any other advice, or tips and tricks will be appreciated.  

 

Thank you

 

Ray and Ann

Jackets for gentlemen on informal nights but not necessarily with ties and not in all restaurants.   Ladies can dress up just as much as they like on informal nights and a tad more for formal nights.   Men can wear tux, dark suit or at very least a very smart [dark] jacket and smart trousers plus tie on formal nights.       There are some very nice Sauvignon Blancs to be had and I am sure they can find you some fuller bodies reds in the evening, if you dont wish for the offered wine the Maitre d' or Sommelier will find you an alternative to suit your taste and without an upcharge.   Have a wonderful time.

You will have a wonderful time.   There are singles meet ups each evening before dinner, there are often gentlemen hosts who look after the singles, go to trivia so you can meet up with people there, its a great way to make new friends.   Just relax and enjoy it, your butler will do everything he can to make you feel at home.   There are usually quite a few singles.   What a great itinerary you have chosen too.  I applaud you for stepping up and doing this I am sure you wont regret it.

On 6/9/2023 at 3:10 AM, bobolz said:

Flyer 

 

the risk with doing it on your own is having to pay out of pocket for the BC ticket 220 + days in advance (a non refundable ticket ) versus SS booking it 220 days in advance for sometimes $1000-$1500 less for BC and refundable up to 60 days out(or whenever they ticket it) which provides flexibility  if there are any changes to itinerary or I decide to make a change  due to unforeseen circumstances.

 

 

The risk of doing it yourself is that it could go wrong with a change of embarkation/debarkation port, change of itinerary or even change to dates.   It is often, but not always less expensive to take the SS offering and pay the BC upgrade but you are hostage to fortune in that you are then at the mercy of their providing you with flights, timings, airlines and transfers you dont want.   If you do the flights yourself you have control, if you hunt around a bit (not difficult) you can often get very good deals and you do of course get the non use air credit from Silversea which you can use to offset the cost.   Travel insurance should cover last minute unexpected illness and several different types of events which might prevent you from travelling but doesnt, of course, cover "disinclination to travel" ie you just changing your mind.   For my last trip from UK to South America for the Galapagos I looked at the SS costings, I costed the flights booked through BA and Iberia and then at KLM.   I was obliged to travel through Amsterdam but would have had to travel through Madrid on BA/Iberia and with the non use air credit applied to the total flight cost it all came in slightly less than the SS offering.   I was very happy with our choices and enjoyed our flight on KLM which was very comfortable even on one on their older aircraft.   If you are not time constrained a minor deviation if ports/itineraries change is not likely to be too difficult to overcome.  Travel is an adventure and long may it remain so.

6 minutes ago, seaver said:

It looks like I will lose everything else if I did that. Are you saying I can opt out of air but keep tranfers

and hotels?

I dont know how it works in your country but usually on the Silversea booking site for a specific cruise  there is a page with headings including "Fares and offers", if you open that up there is usually a figure quoted for non use air credit which leaves all the other elements of door to door in place possibly excluding tranfer from airport to port.   I tend to book D2D then take the non use credits for air and Black lane transfer which gives me the freedom to choose and book my own flights but retain the better cancellation rights attached to D2D over P2P.

17 minutes ago, seaver said:

I don't think so.

I think you can always opt out of the air segment for the price shown on the website.  Speak to your rep.

5 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Whilst the onboard experience has changed since RCG took over, mostly it’s still positive with some beneficial changes. What has deteriorated is the service provided by the shore based staff. Those in the London office try to do their best but have been hamstrung by significant changes to how they operate and the flexibility they can offer to guests. As for the marketing department, it’s still heading downhill.

Not sure why you might have contact with the marketing department and therefore be aware that is is heading "downhill".   My only contact with Silversea is through my computer and my Silversea agent administering my bookings.

4 hours ago, david63 said:

Has anyone tried asking if they can have P2P where it is not promoted? Fairly sure it can be done - it only needs the "extras" removing from the booking.

There is very little price difference in D2D v P2P if you take the D2D price, deduct transfer pre cruise, deduct flights and then put in the discount for Venetian Society members.   Yes it is a little more in total than P2P but you get the benefit of better cancellation terms so the extra is actually paying to preserve an element of flexibility which can be important if you are booking for a trip many months in the future.

The answer to this depends on your interpretation of "worse".   The dictionary says "less or good or desirable".   We started on an expedition cruise to Antarctica in 2011 on the Explorer.  Suite with window but no balcony, small room and tiny bathroom but all perfectly adequate.  The ship was (is) small, but pretty much perfectly formed for expedition type activity with plenty of space to eat, drink, relax and the only issue might have been the limited size of the mud room but with a little give and take even that works. The trip was amazing, we saw and did everything we expected with a fantastic expedition team and we vowed to return when funds allowed.  Move on eleven years we are still sailing with Silversea, we have done two classic trips but nearly half a dozen expeditions.  Our most recent trip was on the Dawn, chosen for routing at the right time for us (returning from Galapagos via the Caribbean/S. America in March).   Every trip has been amazing, some slightly more than others, sometimes the food is better (more to my taste) sometimes not quite so yummy all the time, the facilities on board have improved exponentially and with the introduction of the Origin and recently the Endeavour it is possible to do expeditions in great luxury if that is your choice.  Covid occurred virtually concurrently with the RCL takeover and Silversea has been emerging like a crysalis since the devastation of the pandemic.  Has it got "worse"?   I dont think so, it has changed somewhat with newer and bigger ships but change is inevitable and the service, care and commitment by crew remain, in my view, unrivalled.  

On 6/6/2023 at 7:40 AM, Tothesunset said:

We've had a veranda on 3 occasions on SS but otherwise Vistas. However, even when we've had a veranda we've rarely used it and that includes on fine weather sea days. Like yourself we question the value given the price difference. To my mind I'd rather spend the £s or $s on something less ephemeral. 

I love the use of the word ephemeral!!    So right, in my view.

17 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Entirely your own fault.  🙂

 

When you booked the cruise when presented with the choice of “Would you prefer to be butled or debutled” you should have chosen “debutled”.

 

And in the future when offered a choice when booking “Would you like a human to manage your booking or our AI Bot” choose the “AI Bot” option.  Much better. 

 

As all us oldies know, that increasingly less and less stuff involving humans works anymore.  It turns out that artificial intelligence for most stuff may be better than no (or limited) intelligence.  

 

I always pack our own bags and cases splitting our negligables between all bags so all of us have Y fronts and knickers.  I do this because I don’t even trust ‘er. 

 

😄

 

Jeff x  (From the Original Old Hampshire) 

Bizarre, entirely bizarre except for doing your own packing.

On 5/29/2023 at 7:01 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I booked United EWR to the Azores (and return from Madeira to EWR) which involved United flights to LIS then TAP onward.  [This was not through Silversea Air]  We originally booked Premium Plus on United, which put us in plain Economy on TAP.  [I later upgraded the outgoing United flight to Polaris, but that didn't change anything else.]  So I paid TAP $30 per seat per leg to upgrade to Plus, which allowed me to choose seats; and later was able to use SeatBoost to upgrade one TAP leg to Executive.  It was hard to use the TAP website because my bookings were originally through United, so I ended up calling them; the phone reps were able to do everything I needed based on the TAP record locator number.

We flew home from Lisbon to UK after cruising on the Dawn from Barbados.  I booked economy as the flight was short and during the middle of the day.  I have to say the flight was absolutely fine, not too cramped and I was glad I hadnt paid a large amount to upgrade.

On 5/30/2023 at 12:37 PM, Lonedaddy said:

Definitely not 5 star

Stuff happens.

On 5/10/2023 at 5:07 PM, lincslady said:

I have never heard of it either.  Is it 'poke' or  'poky'?  And I guess basically Japanese?

 

Can't say it thrills me.  Maybe tastier than it sounds, and it looks pretty.

 

Lola

Not only had I never heard of poke bowls but I am deeply suspicious about eel sauce and dragon aioli!!!😄 

On 5/8/2023 at 10:44 PM, taxatty said:

Precisely.

Also pricing would have to be in one or many currencies, far too complicated

On 5/3/2023 at 8:32 PM, golfguyhhi said:

This thread should be required reading for anyone contemplating booking a cruise with SilverSeas.  I will point to it whenever anyone asks me why I've only cruised once on SS and never gone back.

Hope you are happy elsewhere.  Many of us are very happy and very accepting of the multifarious changes that first Covid and subsequently world unrest is causing to itineraries.

On 3/20/2023 at 11:09 PM, Gourmet Gal said:

Honestly, the pizza is hit or miss.  Sometimes terrible and sometimes just good.  Never great.  Food and cuisine are so subjective.  It depends on what you’re used to and personal taste.  I live in a culinary mecca so it’s hard for me to say that any food on any ship is off-the-charts-fabulous.  But SS is mostly good to surprisingly good for me with most dishes well-prepared.  I wouldn’t say there’s anything to avoid.

Are you serious?   It may be that pizza isnt so good on other ships but where there is Spaccanapoli (Dawn and Moon and maybe others) it is world beating IMHO. 

I wonder where you are coming from.    We went out to Ecuador at the beginning of March, booked our own flights and had a Silversea transfer from the airport to the hotel.  Our SS rep on the transfer asked us what we would be doing on our two extra (early arrival) days and when we said we didnt know he offered to organise a trip out for us to the top of a massive volcanic Caldera, a visit to a monument on the true Equator and following up with a visit to a humming bird conservancy garden.  This was just right for us we are not culture vultures but love the outdoors and nature. We had a fabulous day out and the humming bird garden (Alambi) was incredible.   We saw no suggestion of any unrest or political issues in Ecuador.  We then went on to Galapagos (Silver Origin), it was an amazing trip on a superb ship with the most incredible expedition team, great food and very comfortable suites.   On return to Ecuador we had cancelled our planned extension to Machu Picchu and rural Peru due to the unrest there so we flew to Barbados over the weekend and travelled across the Atlantic on the Silver Dawn.   I am not sure where you have gleaned information that suggests Ecuador is dangerous, like most of South America you need to be careful but it is not on the UK list of countries to which travel is advised against.   I wouldnt hesitate to book the trip but keep an eye on any changes.  South America is a very volatile continent but mostly fine if you are careful.  

No problem with the internet for emails and Facebook, wouldnt have had time to do much else.   LATAM is fine its only three hour flight anyway.   No launderette but laundry can be sent out via the butler and will return the same day if handed over before 9.00 and it comes back looking really lovely.

13 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you. Interesting pricing and good to know ahead of time

I think you need to check what you are getting as some itineraries do not include air at all.   As someone else has said caveat emptor, read and check what you are getting before you book so you are not disappointed.

21 hours ago, jollyjones said:

Sorry you’re not able to benefit from a price drop, the limitations on the benefits attached to, and what you can do with, a P2P fare are why I only book D2D.

And SS air isn’t even available to me here in Bermuda, I have to take the credits and do all my flights, hotels and transfers myself so in effect I have a P2P cruise at a D2D price!

You can bet that when SS first brought in these fare structures, I looked very closely at the P2P T&Cs to see if the lower price would be for me, but I soon figured that I’d be sticking with D2D to retain the T&Cs to which I am accustomed. 
 

I suspect the lack of air is already factored into the price you pay as a Bermuda originating customer, the prices do vary according to the originating territory, some with what is obviously a higher attributable air cost element and some trips from some places just dont do air at all.

23 hours ago, 5waldos said:

Having booked a cruise in advance, the price has dropped by nearly $1,000 a person. I put in a request to have the fare met, based on what I had read on the webpage. They are denying it because they say that it only applies to a particular kind of fare (D to D)- not mine (P to P). But on the page it says the following:

Silversea Fare Guarantee Programme

Silversea Fare Guarantee Programme provides guests with the peace of mind in knowing that when they plan ahead and book early, not only will they be able to reserve their desired suite, but they can also benefit from any future reduction for their voyage, upon request. All voyages are eligible. Requests for reimbursement received on or after the sailing date will be denied. Reimbursement provided under this guarantee will be in the form of a shipboard credit, suite upgrade, future cruise credit, fare reduction or other method. Silversea reserves the sole right to determine the method of reimbursement made to guests.

Bottom of page-Footnote:

Onboard Savings Programme, Terms & Conditions: Up to 5% Savings is only applicable to bookings made by the Future Cruise Manager whilst the guest is on board. 5% Savings is guaranteed and only applicable to open booking deposit options that are converted to an actual voyage within 6 months of the floating deposit being made by the Future Cruise Manager. Offer valid on new on board bookings only. Offer applies to all suite categories and all guests on the booking. Some voyages will be noted as black out voyages and the savings cannot be applied. Offer is combinable with other publicly available promotional programmes such as but not limited to Venetian Society & Combination Savings. Offer is capacity controlled and may be withdrawn or modified at any time without notice. Click here for complete Terms & Conditions. Ships' registry: Bahamas.

When you follow the link, this is what it says, about 3 pages in:
“Fare Guarantee” Policy
Policy applying only to “Door-to-Door All-Inclusive fares”.
Within this policy, guests will be eligible for reimbursement if the fare for their particular voyage and suite category is reduced after they have made a booking and deposit with XXX. Requests for reimbursement received on or after the sailing date will be denied. Reimbursement provided under this guarantee will be in the form of a shipboard credit, suite upgrade, future cruise credit, fare reduction or other method. Silversea reserves the sole right to determine the method of reimbursement made to guests. The amount of reimbursement the guests receive will be determined by the difference between the fare actually paid by the guest and the fare displayed on XXX.com the day the request is received is by Silversda This policy does not apply to clients willing to switch their existing “Door-to-Door” booking into a “Port-to-Port” reservation.

I feel like they have been intentionally misleading. The footnote with the link has to do with another program and does not mention the fare guarantee policy at all. And yes, it is in the small print pages in but if this program is only for certain fares, it seems to me that they should be more specific. Or at least point you to the small print as they do with the Onboard Savings Program- telling you to review the Terms and Conditions. Certainly based on the page where they discuss this there is no indication of it being limited. Nor is there any mention of this on my contract. 

It looks to me as if this may have been a booking through a TA ("l... and the fare display on XXX.com......").   If so then it is possible you have already received some other benefit from your reservation but you should get your TA on to it and it is for them to provide an explanation to you if my thoughts about a TA's involvement are correct.   

22 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Sailing with ‘many under 10s’, or even ‘10-20’ is surprising to me. That is not something I would expect.. ..

To be expected if you travel during school holidays particularly in the Med or the Caribbean

On 4/21/2023 at 7:12 PM, Tothesunset said:

Matched with fairisle tank top, khaki shorts and wellies? 

Dont forget the grey socks and sandals!

10 hours ago, david63 said:

If by that you are referring to SS door to door then before booking I would read some of the topics in this forum as it would appear that some folks have serious problems/issues with that service

..... and lots dont.