New positioning of fare options - Door-to-Door or Port-to-Port

[mchell810]

4 hours ago, Observer said:

A nice feature is that one can price an itinerary and determine the solo supplement.

 

I find this to be very helpful.  However, the function doesn't work on cruises SS had designated as a "combo" so it's still not perfect, but an improvement.

[MBP&O2/O]

“I use a TA for all the research you’re describing but your point is well taken“

 

And there lies the problem 😏 Finding a good TA.
 

Word of mouth beats the advertising hype but I don’t know anyone who could recommended one. 

 

The last one I used claimed to be a specialist in luxury cruising …. but when problems arose it was grief dealing with them.

 

[Sodashire]

MBP&02/0.  There is a small independant TA 70+ miles south or you in an industrial coastal town, run by two brothers who only specialise in cruises. Always had excellent service from them even in lockdown

[MBP&O2/O]

Hullo Sodashire
Thanks for that … I shall confer with Mr Google and see what tees-ing results I get 😃

 

[Dolcevita Diva]

One other thing that I wonder about this new structure (and guess I'll need to ask for a quote to find out)! - for those booking solo - does the single supplement apply to the entire fare (which now includes airfare and transfers) when booking Door-to-Door?   Sure hope not - that would be a massive price hike for those travelling solo.   Will report back after receiving a quote.

 

[faucet]

Good marketing ploy. Silversea needs to be transparent about the hotels and airline routing they use, giving esteemed guests sufficient time to request alternate flights or hotels.

Esteemed Guests want most direct routing and five star hotels in proximity of the port. 

[Observer]

1 hour ago, faucet said:

Good marketing ploy. Silversea needs to be transparent about the hotels and airline routing they use, giving esteemed guests sufficient time to request alternate flights or hotels.

Esteemed Guests want most direct routing and five star hotels in proximity of the port. 

 

Fear not.  Esteemed guest will get whatever s/he wants.  For a price.  Probably a greatly inflated price (which is why I have valued the ability to make my own arrangements.). 

 

There is an exchange now on Facebook about transport from the airport to Quito. Silversea allegedly wants $190 for that trip.  Flat rate taxi fare is said by two people to be $25.

 

Apparently, the port to port fares will be limited to Vista and lower tier Verandah suites.  All others must use door to door.

 

For a 2023 cruise I have booked, I was compelled to pay for included excursions, though I expect to take few if any of them.  I have been to most of these ports before and will explore independently.

 

I do not believe I will play with Silversea at this new game.  There are some mighty fine resorts out there.  But I imagine that others more hungry for sailing may find unacceptable Silversea’s included flights/hotels/bus transport from and to airport (or the upcharges for customization) and will simply not use the paid-for inclusions (as I will with  excursions) and simply arrange their own.  

 

I am very disappointed by this turn of events at Silversea.

[Gourmet Gal]

14 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

“I use a TA for all the research you’re describing but your point is well taken“

 

And there lies the problem 😏 Finding a good TA.
 

Word of mouth beats the advertising hype but I don’t know anyone who could recommended one. 

 

The last one I used claimed to be a specialist in luxury cruising …. but when problems arose it was grief dealing with them.

 

Sorry to hear that.  I’ve been mostly lucky having used one TA for about 20 years for work and leisure travel.  When she retired I went with a couple of big luxury travel specialists but they were very disappointing.  Having traveled extensively for many years and for quite awhile booking everything myself I am usually on the lookout for what could go wrong.  Sounds like you’ve done quite a bit of travel research on your own, have learned some things the hard way so you may be well equipped to have a good working relationship with a competent TA.  I’ve found another one through word of mouth whom I’m very happy with but in between my two good TA’s I mostly dictated to the luxury TA’s exactly what I wanted.  
 

Good luck!

[Gourmet Gal]

3 hours ago, Observer said:

 

Fear not.  Esteemed guest will get whatever s/he wants.  For a price.  Probably a greatly inflated price (which is why I have valued the ability to make my own arrangements.). 

 

There is an exchange now on Facebook about transport from the airport to Quito. Silversea allegedly wants $190 for that trip.  Flat rate taxi fare is said by two people to be $25.

 

Apparently, the port to port fares will be limited to Vista and lower tier Verandah suites.  All others must use door to door.

 

For a 2023 cruise I have booked, I was compelled to pay for included excursions, though I expect to take few if any of them.  I have been to most of these ports before and will explore independently.

 

I do not believe I will play with Silversea at this new game.  There are some mighty fine resorts out there.  But I imagine that others more hungry for sailing may find unacceptable Silversea’s included flights/hotels/bus transport from and to airport (or the upcharges for customization) and will simply not use the paid-for inclusions (as I will with  excursions) and simply arrange their own.  

 

I am very disappointed by this turn of events at Silversea.

I guess the free caviar isn’t free at all.

[Stumblefoot]

On 12/7/2021 at 5:21 AM, jollyjones said:

I wonder what (or even if) the discount to me will be for not using air or transfers?

Jolly, knowing you can't see the air credit I just wanted you to know based on the voyages I track, the air discount remains the same or is even better.  Not a single one had the air credit reduced.

[faucet]

Classic example of reason  to avoid Silversea hotels in Fort Lauderdale they use the Biltmore at least an hour from Port Everglades 

[ronrick1943]

On 12/6/2021 at 8:51 AM, Dolcevita Diva said:

On the surface, the new fare categories described in the email received today seem to simplify the options - Door-to-Door is all-inclusive (air, transfers, etc.). And for those who prefer to handle their own air arrangements, it's refreshing to see what that fare looks like without having to find out and subtract the air credit. But there is one very important detail that is a major change - the deposit on a "port-to-port" fare (15%) is nonrefundable.  Ouch.  But hopefully not an issue if you have travel insurance. 

 

Also, when I did a quick scan of some voyages that were on my consideration list - the Port-to-Port option is not available on every voyage. It looks like as a voyage becomes more fully booked, that option is no longer available.   

 

I am sure the discussion will be lively!  🙂

How true—you need to read the offer(s).

[ronrick1943]

On 12/8/2021 at 2:27 PM, Gourmet Gal said:

I guess the free caviar isn’t free at all.

Nothing is free—should say included in the price.  That’s for all cruise lines.

[les37b]

9 hours ago, faucet said:

Classic example of reason  to avoid Silversea hotels in Fort Lauderdale they use the Biltmore at least an hour from Port Everglades 

 

I saw this mentioned elsewhere. This morning when I checked, my.silversea is showing we are booked in 2 weeks at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa, which is about a 10 min drive to the ship. I rather suspect if you had asked, you could have got this also. Seems odd they have used a hotel in Miami.

 

[MBP&O2/O]

I had a quote for a FLL departure and the price SS were charging for a hotel was a couple of dollars more - PER PERSON - than what the hotel was charging PER ROOM. Double the price … plus a service charge 😁

[Gourmet Gal]

10 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

Nothing is free—should say included in the price.  That’s for all cruise lines.

Of course.  

[Dolcevita Diva]

One interesting twist to these fare categories is that they seem to be conflating all-inclusive vs. “cruise fare only” with voyage availability.
 

Voyages that are more fully booked (at least based a review of availability of lower single supplements, Venetian Society savings and other traditional tools that Silversea uses to improve bookings on select voyages) seem to be only available with the  Door to Door fares. So if you wish to book a popular voyage, you have to book the included air and transfers also.   Also do not see Port-to-Port fares available above the Verandah suite category. 

[Stumblefoot]

Going to be interesting to see all of fares tomorrow, and whether they offer P2P on all voyages, across what I imagine will be several new suite classes on the new Silver Nova

[Dolcevita Diva]

18 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Going to be interesting to see all of fares tomorrow, and whether they offer P2P on all voyages, across what I imagine will be several new suite classes on the new Silver Nova

And only Door-to-Door fares available on Silver Nova.     

[Stumblefoot]

55 minutes ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

And only Door-to-Door fares available on Silver Nova.     

You were clearly right about the P2P program.  Clearly, SS is just using the scheme on lightly booked voyages.  So, there is no way they are going to offer P2P’s on an exciting new ship.  Good call, Dolcevita Diva!

[Observer]

It would have been nice, wouldn’t it, if Silversea treated its long term guests as well-traveled adults who prefer to explore familiar ports independently, who prefer to make their own air arrangements (often using frequent flyer miles),  who are quite capable of hiring cabs or limos to/from airports, and who do not consider it a privilege to be transported along with as many as 40 other guests to and from ship.  Silversea and its proud Chief Commercial Officer are infantilizing customers under the pretense of luxury.  After my next 150 day free cruise, it’s curtains if this scheme is not radically modified.

[applefan75]

1 hour ago, Stumblefoot said:

You were clearly right about the P2P program.  Clearly, SS is just using the scheme on lightly booked voyages.  So, there is no way they are going to offer P2P’s on an exciting new ship.  Good call, Dolcevita Diva!

I booked the crossing on Nova and got the air credit and transfer credit.  I’m happy with the result.

[sail1658]

This is on the website showing the credit for unused Private Executive Transfers and Business Class Flights

 

Door-to-Door

PRIVATE EXECUTIVE TRANSFERS

BUSINESS CLASS FLIGHTS

 

PRIVATE EXECUTIVE TRANSFERS

Take your Silversea all-inclusive experience to new heights.

Start your cruise as soon as you leave home with our new chauffeur service. Taking you from home to your domestic airport and back again, this luxury service is included as part of our all-inclusive offer on this voyage.

All-inclusive and all exclusive, there is simply no better way to travel.

In case Executive Private Transfers are not available or for guests not utilizing the service, we are pleased to offer £75 non-use-credit.

BUSINESS CLASS FLIGHTS

The air promotion is only available to the first and second full-fare paying guests in a suite.

In case the booking includes more than two guests, they will need to purchase their roundtrip business class airfare.

Airline baggage fees are not included.

In case Promotional Flights are not available or for guests not utilizing the promotional bundle offer, we are pleased to offer an Air credit of £400.

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by sail1658

[Observer]

Thanks.  The L400 air credit would be very reasonable if we were talking about a short trip (Memphis to Ft Lauderdale).  But not so generous if we are talking about Boston-London.   Could you specify the itinerary?

[sail1658]

This was a Silver Dawn sailing on June 27th 2022 Barcelona to Barcelona, flying from UK. 

 

I think if you look at any voyage on the first page under ALL-INCLUSIVE FARES it shows Door to Door and Port to Port fares. You can click on each element of the Door to Door fare underneath that heading and it shows what I displayed earlier. This is on the UK website, not sure if the US website is the same.

Edited December 16, 2021 by sail1658