zimmer46

We will certainly look at the Deviation Fee option and booking our own flights direct with BA although it would depend on what Regent say is the "flight" element of the cruise fare. As I say, I don't have any issue paying the full airfare up front be allowed to book our seats, but I cannot understand why the cruise balance needs to be paid 11 months in advance also.

We are fairly new to cruising but our preference has been Regent for the overall package and the truly all inclusive set up. We booked our Caribbean Easter 2015 cruise last September so that we could get the dates we wanted and the suite. However, just had a conversation with Regent now that the airline tickets are available for booking and frankly I am dismayed.

Regent us United for flights from the UK to Miami. Now we have flown United before and their transatlantic offering is not great. Last time we upgraded to their Economy Plus. Not a lot of Plus I'm afraid. So this time we are opting to fly BA who's World Traveller Plus is, in our view a good offering. We asked about pre booking seats. Should not be a problem we thought, although I was expecting to have to pay the airline fare element to be allowed to book seats. However, I was amazed ( angry in fact ) to be told that the only way we could book our airline seats was by paying the full cruise balance now !!

Frankly I find that hard to believe, but that seems to be Regents customer offering. Just wondered if anyone else has had a similar scenario before we go into battle with Regent and start browsing the Silversea brochures for future cruises.

Thanks for the responses folks. Before we booked the Premium drinks package x 2 we did a similar exercise to check if it was good value. After all it's a fair chunk of money. Although we had not included quite a few of the possible items suggested by wallie5446. We like our bottled water and speciality coffee / tea. My wife will only drink Earl Grey tea ! So adding all of that into our social drinking ( coughs ! ) it quickly mounts up.

Thanks also for clarifying the dinner wine too. Sounds similar to our previous cruises. Although they were fully inclusive of all drinks, it was the same arrangement ... the sommelier would have a range of suitable wines to offer by the glass.

Still not finalised excursions yet, but with a few ports being at dock we may just do our own thing. As suggested I'll go look at the Roll Call and see what I can find out.

It's a long way from the UK for 7 days so we have opted to stay on at South Beach right on Ocean Drive for 3 extra days. Really looking forward to the cruise and some sunshine.

Hi, my wife and I will be aboard the Silhouette departing 6th April. This is only our third cruise, and our first with Celebrity. Our previous cruises have been on small ships ( 475 and 800 ), so the Silhouette is a BIG ship by our standards, but we have great confidence in our TA and feel sure she would not be putting on a ship we will not love from start to finish.

It's been interesting and informative reading posts on here from the very experienced cruisers and I dare say we will learn as we go. We have pre booked the Premium drinks package as I like the idea of not thinking about the cost of things once we are on board. However, could someone tell me how the drinks package arrangement works at dinner e.g. wine ? Do we need to buy bottles as we go ? Still finalising excursions and our preference is for a mix of short sightseeing or sometimes just going for a walk at our leisure depending on docking arrangements. I notices some arrange their own excursions with local agents directly. I dare say this may be something to try in future, but what happens if the boat cannot dock say due to weather ? Would you lose your money ? I'm assuming any excursions booked thru Celebrity would be refunded if the ship were unable to get into port ?

Any pointers from previous Silhouette cruisers also appreciated.