Included Shore Excursions + WiFi

[Spot The Cruiser]

What does this mean for someone already booked and fully paid for a Med voyage in 2015? I checked the Silversea website and the prices do not seem to have changed since I booked last year.

We had the same question and I spoke with our Travel Agent and they advised the WiFi would be available for us but the inclusive Shore Excursions won't be. The only way to get those is to cancel and rebook (no penalty) at a higher fare. This worked out at more than £1200 extra for the 2 of us in a Veranda for a 2 week cruise so we declined and stayed on the orginally quoted fare.

[brimary]

Is the free WiFi two hours total for the length of the cruise?

 

Yes.A rip off together with the extra quoted above to include excursions.

[Herman The Cat]

Booked a b2b for this spring on the wind last summer. Talked to my TA after hearing about the included excursions. If I booked the same 2 cruises today it would be roughly $3500 more per person with the included shore excursions and wifi.

 

 

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We booked our Med voyage this past December (2014), so not that long ago....

 

 

I had our TA talk to Silversea and the price has gone up significantly since then--almost $2000 per person. Silversea agreed to add the 2 hours of wifi, but not the excursions. They said we can cancel and re-book at the higher rate if we want to get the excursions.

 

For what it's worth, I think we got the better deal! :D I really do think if you book in advance ( > 6 months) you get a significantly lower price...the price goes up closer to the sail date, but they add some extras and or conduct promotions (i.e., Silver Wave) to compensate for the higher price.

 

The sentence in the Travel Weekly article is a bit bizarre. http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-T...-Med?ct=cruise

 

As SeaSiq said,"Note the the first sentence in the third paragraph! Sound like you get included for an upcharge." That sentence is "guests who have already booked can contact Silversea and be included for a price adjustment." Looks like an upward price adjustment if you really want the wifi and excursions!

Edited January 16, 2015 by Herman The Cat

[bspill]

Received the same response when I contacted SS. Happy to include shore excursion for $600 per person.additional. I guess the "shore excursion package" is considered an ad on for already booked passengers and included for new bookings.

[duct tape]

The whole thing is a LOUSY idea!

[Geo3543]

Silversea sent out this a.m.

http://www.silversea.com/exclusive-offers/shore-excursions-and-wifi-now-included

 

 

 

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[wripro]

Has anyone asked SS if people can opt out for a reduced fare or is like Regent where you cannot?

[Gourmet Gal]

Just checked for an upcoming 10 day cruise that I recently booked and it will be an extra $570 PP. With tours of Ephesus and the potential for excursions in every port included is that a bad value? I just don't know the cost of booking excursions on my own nor the charge that SS incurred in the past for Med. excursions.

[Wellseasoned]

We are aboard the Spirit and have back to back med cruises in October, booked months ago. The onboard cruise consultant did a comparison of our current bookings and the new system and found that our current booking, with its discounts, is significantly cheaper than if we changed to the new prices. And she said that passengers will get the free two hour PER DAY PER GUEST internet, regardless of when they booked. (Same for the free unlimited internet in bigger suites).

[Gourmet Gal]

So excursions are not really "included" as there is a significant upcharge to pay for them. It's a Prix Fixe instead of A La Carte. I just don't understand if there is a value there....probably not. Would love to hear some examples of what SS has charged for Med. excursions lately.

[bspill]

So excursions are not really "included" as there is a significant upcharge to pay for them. It's a Prix Fixe instead of A La Carte. I just don't understand if there is a value there....probably not. Would love to hear some examples of what SS has charged for Med. excursions lately.

 

Based on the cruise we have booked, if I added up the six tours now included at $99.00 per person each, it comes out equal to the $600 up charge per person. Basically, you're buying the six tours whether you are going to take them or not.Doesn't quite make much sense, but, I imagine the idea is to make the cruise fare "all inclusive".

[Elginjock]

Glad we booked two weeks ago. Cruise fare now £500 per person more for excursions we don't want.

Please SS stop this stupidity.

[Gourmet Gal]

Where can one see what the excursion fees are?

[Randyk47]

Where can one see what the excursion fees are?

 

If you have a booked cruise you can go into the My Silversea section and go to the details. Each day has a link to the tours available and the cost. Once you reach final payment you can go ahead and book the tours on line.

[Observer]

Apparently others agree with me that this is a very, very bad idea.

 

The number of different experiences within Silversea is growing exponentially. There's regular SS. There's the expedition experience. And now there's the Regent-like experience with the free Wi-Fi and excursions.

 

Presumably, with this "first come first served" access to free excursions, some people are going to be disappointed not to be able to access excursions for which they have effectively paid. In some ports, it appears, only one free/included excursion is offered.

 

One of the things I enjoyed about the SS it is now rapidly disappearing is the fact that the tours were of manageable size, buses were not filled, the crowds were not such that the guides could not be heard, etc. With free excursions this is likely to be a thing of the past.

[johnnycruise]

Presumably, with this "first come first served" access to free excursions, some people are going to be disappointed not to be able to access excursions for which they have effectively paid. In some ports, it appears, only one free/included excursion is offered.

 

The number of "free/included" excursions is very limited and misses many port highlights. In Portovenere, the excursion to Cinque Terre is not included. In Livorno, the included Florence excursion is nothing more than a bus drop-off without sightseeing. In Messina, Taormina is not included. Volos? Meteora is extra! The price point for inclusion on the free list must be quite low.

 

Doesn't live up to the marketing hype.

[wishIweretravelling]

What this tells me is that SS perceives that it is being hurt in competition with the Regent inclusions. Which I find interesting. It is clear that I am not the only person who has backed away from Regent since after the excursion inclusions and corresponding price increases. I can only guess that they've picked up enough new clientele to make up for the formerly loyal clientele who they have sent off to the competition, and that SS is now salivating after that market. By only sticking their toe in a bit, it seems that they are aware of the risks of losing their core market.

[Gourmet Gal]

Randy, thanks for the directive to the tour prices. It looks like the few included tours tend to be the least expensive ones and if you have to be herded on and off big busses then I am glad I am in a position to not pay the upcharge this time. We just booked this cruise last week! Turns out it was good timing and the upcharge would be $600 PP for Venice to Istanbul in Sept.. I am sure we will end up spending more on a few tours, probably booked outside of SS but they will be just what we want. If this scheme goes fleet-wide then our next cruise will probably be with Seabourn or The World.

 

I wonder if there were any focus groups to support this decision by SS.

[Randyk47]

Randy, thanks for the directive to the tour prices. It looks like the few included tours tend to be the least expensive ones and if you have to be herded on and off big busses then I am glad I am in a position to not pay the upcharge this time. We just booked this cruise last week! Turns out it was good timing and the upcharge would be $600 PP for Venice to Istanbul in Sept.. I am sure we will end up spending more on a few tours, probably booked outside of SS but they will be just what we want. If this scheme goes fleet-wide then our next cruise will probably be with Seabourn or The World.

 

I wonder if there were any focus groups to support this decision by SS.

 

We're doing a back-to-back Venice to Istanbul to Athens in June. After the initial rush of interest we realized the better tours, the ones we're interested in, are not included in the "free" tours. We'll be fine without the new offer/package.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Randyk47

[Herman The Cat]

It's basically the bus and walking tours to and around the most popular sights in a port that are now included--where they have capacity to take a lot of people. If Silversea is already paying for a full bus and only 15 people sign up, it certainly is more profitable for them to fill the bus since they will be getting more money per person for the cruise. And what does wifi really cost them--not much.

 

The cruises in the next few months have gone up quite a bit. Looking a bit further out, I have a quote for a cruise in the Med in Sept. (that I priced December 2014) and it is up $500. $500 more for excursions and wifi...perhaps that's how the pricing will ultimately work out--a $500 surcharge.

[nfcu]

If this scheme is going to be rolled out fleet wide, and I would bet it will, then I would recommend that anyone thinking about booking a future voyage, to book it now. The 2016 schedule is already out. So book it before it expands to Asia, Alaska, Caribbean, etc. And it will expand, with no notice; we just do not know when. That way you will get the cheaper price without paying for excursions you do not want or will not take.

[brimary]

It's basically the bus and walking tours to and around the most popular sights in a port that are now included--where they have capacity to take a lot of people. If Silversea is already paying for a full bus and only 15 people sign up, it certainly is more profitable for them to fill the bus since they will be getting more money per person for the cruise. And what does wifi really cost them--not much.

 

The cruises in the next few months have gone up quite a bit. Looking a bit further out, I have a quote for a cruise in the Med in Sept. (that I priced December 2014) and it is up $500. $500 more for excursions and wifi...perhaps that's how the pricing will ultimately work out--a $500 surcharge.

 

Sounds like an expensive shuttle bus service to me.A very sad development from the luxury SS we have enjoyed for many years.

[TLCOhio]

If this scheme is going to be rolled out fleet wide, and I would bet it will, then I would recommend that anyone thinking about booking a future voyage, to book it now. The 2016 schedule is already out. So book it before it expands to Asia, Alaska, Caribbean, etc. And it will expand, with no notice; we just do not know when. That way you will get the cheaper price without paying for excursions you do not want or will not take.

 

Appreciate the above smart comments/insights, plus the other varied reactions noted on this thread. Yesterday I had a chance to talk with a source at Silversea about these efforts, the timing and what happens next, when, etc.

 

This roll-out of their "all-inclusive" 2015 Mediterranean voyages to include shore excursions and complimentary WiFi is basically a "test-marketing" of this concept and idea, per this source. Will it sell? What audiences does it attract? How does it function operationally? So far, in only a short time period, they at SS headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale have been happy. Clearly some on these boards are not happy.

 

For us, as I mentioned earlier, we are considering a February 2016 Silver Cloud South Africa sailing. If we are satisfied with the conditions and services on the Cloud starting in eight days, we would do the on-ship booking later this month or early in February. That keeps things at the lower, current pricing. This source noted that for future passengers to take this step now or soon, would be a smart way to lock in at the lower, current pricing. The sense I got is that shifting from doing this Med 2015 test to an all-inclusive plan for all future Silversea cruises would not happen until later summer or fall. That's a guess. Nobody know for certain if and when it happens or not.

 

On this whole concept, it is classic "Economics 101" question. It will cost more and you will get "more". Are these "extras" worth it, does it attract a younger, busy audience that maybe does not like or have time to work on figuring out as many of the details, booking for their own private tours, etc.??? Plus, in marketing, their guess/hope is that some will like . . . book once and you're done! Others, like us, would prefer to keep the base price lower and give us the choice to configure things in our own way.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed 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 pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 93,138 views for this posting.

[Gourmet Gal]

Only a very small percentage of cruisers have even heard of Cruise Critic and many of them may not research their cruise in great detail other than to compare prices, itinerary. The "All-Inclusiveness" could be an easy sell for many of those cruisers. I have friends who will only cruise with Regent because of the all-inclusive aspect...they like the convenience of air, transfers and excursions being included and are happy to book it and not have to think about the details. That's the target customer, not CC'ers.

[CASHIPman]

My tuppence...

1) I do not like this idea. To me, "all-inclusive" should refer to onboard offerings, not land offerings.

2) I take offense at Silversea using the world "free" because as some of you have already found out, Silversea wants to upcharge existing bookings. Also, is anything really "free"? I'd be fine with them using "included".

3) So far it's only on Med cruises? I'm hoping that Silversea is only trialing the program and that the results will show it's not what the customer wants.

4) This won't stop me from sailing Silversea unless it causes their pricing to be out of whack with their competitors.

5) See (1).