Silversea Air?

[McMer]

Although we've taken a few Silversea cruises (and loved them), we haven't cruised with them since they started free airfare. We have booked on Silver Whisper for our first trip to Japan & China for fall 2012. Considering the long flight, we've paid to upgrade our air to business class, but we would like to have input as to our choice of flights. I know that on another line we've been able to submit our choice of flights and pay a diversion fee for early arrivals and late departures. For those of you who have experience with Silversea air, are they also agreeable to this? Do they have a preference for particular airlines? We would also appreciate any advice for traveling this route from the midwest?

[Emtbsam]

Although we've taken a few Silversea cruises (and loved them), we haven't cruised with them since they started free airfare. We have booked on Silver Whisper for our first trip to Japan & China for fall 2012. Considering the long flight, we've paid to upgrade our air to business class, but we would like to have input as to our choice of flights. I know that on another line we've been able to submit our choice of flights and pay a diversion fee for early arrivals and late departures. For those of you who have experience with Silversea air, are they also agreeable to this? Do they have a preference for particular airlines? We would also appreciate any advice for traveling this route from the midwest?

 

We have always had input on our flight schedule. They do charge a $100 diversion fee pp if you change the dates, and sometimes, they charge more for the airfare if you ask for specific flights that are more expensive or are not on the airlines with which they have their arrangements. By all means, tell them what your preference is and see what they come up with.

 

Bon Voyage.

[Randyk47]

Although we've taken a few Silversea cruises (and loved them), we haven't cruised with them since they started free airfare. We have booked on Silver Whisper for our first trip to Japan & China for fall 2012. Considering the long flight, we've paid to upgrade our air to business class, but we would like to have input as to our choice of flights. I know that on another line we've been able to submit our choice of flights and pay a diversion fee for early arrivals and late departures. For those of you who have experience with Silversea air, are they also agreeable to this? Do they have a preference for particular airlines? We would also appreciate any advice for traveling this route from the midwest?

 

We initially went with Silversea's "free" airfare and paid the upgrade to business class. Before final payment we found out we could cash in our miles and get first, or business where first is not available, for less than $1,000 in taxes and fees so we dropped the upgrade and got that taken off the amount due. They also credited us $1,000 per person for not using Silversea air. Silversea had sent us at least our tentative flight schedule and it actually wasn't all that bad. Before that they'd only asked us when we wanted to fly out of San Antonio to Barcelona and then when we wanted to fly Istanbul back to San Antonio. We did tell them our preference in airlines but that's not what they booked. Because we eventually booked our own flights we never got to the point of trying to negotiate different times or airlines.

[SusanNJ]

If you have a persistent TA you will be able to pick your flights.

[McMer]

Thanks so much everyone. We'll give it a try, especially since we have a great TA. We didn't really relish the thought of several stops on the way to Asia. Is it Star Alliance that Silversea seems to use most often?

[Randyk47]

Thanks so much everyone. We'll give it a try, especially since we have a great TA. We didn't really relish the thought of several stops on the way to Asia. Is it Star Alliance that Silversea seems to use most often?

 

I don't have enough experience with Silversea to make a specific statement but our Silversea air, before we dropped it, was not with a Star Alliance carrier. A quick look at Star Alliance partners makes me think those lines don't have a big presence in our area of the country and the flights they have out of say Dallas, which is our closest major hub, are more directed at Asia than Europe. Friends who are cruising with us are using Silversea air and coming out of Maryland on a Star Alliance partner. Kind of hard to draw any specific conclusion from those limited experiences other than to say it all depends on where you live in the US and what airlines in your part of the country service your final destination.

[dougburns]

We use SS air all the time and do the $100pp deviation thing. Have always been able to pretty much pick the airline and flights as a result. We've used BA, Delta, American, Singapore, Continental, etc. It's the old adage, you have a mouth, ask! If your TA is good and used to dealing with SS you'll have no problem.