Seabourn Air Inclusive starting 2022

[texanaust]

It appears that SB will be including airfare and transfers for European cruises starting this year in their fares.  You may opt out in which case you will receive a credit on the price of your cruise.  Currently this is for guests in North America and Canada.  Air Inclusive will eventually be rolled out worldwide.  

 

I for one am not very happy with this change.  I suspect fares will rise substantially and the credit for not using SB Air will not be very generous.  Hopefully I'm wrong.  

[FlyerTalker]

It's part of the "arms race" in the luxury cruise segment.  Regent went "all-inclusive" by including shore excursions.  Silversea is pushing "door to door" along with excursions.  No cruise line wants to look like they aren't giving their guests the "complete luxury experience".

[sfvoyage]

I also do not like inclusive air because you have no control over airlines and routing.  If you want to choose your airline and routing, you will need to pay a deviation fee and the fare difference, which will in practice by always greater than 0, since the included air will most likely be the cheapest option.  Let's hope the credit for opting out of inclusive air is reasonable.

[frantic36]

7 hours ago, texanaust said:

It appears that SB will be including airfare and transfers for European cruises starting this year in their fares.  You may opt out in which case you will receive a credit on the price of your cruise.  Currently this is for guests in North America and Canada.  Air Inclusive will eventually be rolled out worldwide.  

 

I for one am not very happy with this change.  I suspect fares will rise substantially and the credit for not using SB Air will not be very generous.  Hopefully I'm wrong.  

 

I also don't like this idea. We have already seen some pitfalls with included air because of our upcoming Grand Voyage cruise next January.

 

Our TA checked in to see if we could arrange our flights as normally it was ~250 days prior only to be told it has been change to ~160 days out which is a concern with needing to travel at the beginning of January when it is likely to be more in demand. 

 

We also would prefer to travel west from Perth to Miami as we could use Qatar or Emirates and avoid any USA domestic travel and it is two flights with only one stop in the middle. Our TA will ask but has told us not to be disappointed if we can't get it. I am thinking this isn't such a great idea now.

[RetiredandTravel]

We always make our own travel arrangements.   In my experience research from the US Regent (Business) & SS (Economy) air credits are reasonable to Asia & Australia (not sure with current rates) and less for Europe.

 

I hope Seabourn doesn't follow SS and include excursions in the fare.  IMO including excursions in the fare is just forcing every passenger to take an excursion at every port under the guise of being "All Inclusive".

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, RetiredandTravel said:

I hope Seabourn doesn't follow SS and include excursions in the fare.  IMO including excursions in the fare is just forcing every passenger to take an excursion at every port under the guise of being "All Inclusive".

 

It's also a profit center.  Every passenger that doesn't take an excursion is one that paid for it (wrapped into the cruise fare) but that the cruiseline doesn't have to pay the tour operator.

[Xerxes10]

15 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

I also do not like inclusive air because you have no control over airlines and routing.  If you want to choose your airline and routing, you will need to pay a deviation fee and the fare difference, which will in practice by always greater than 0, since the included air will most likely be the cheapest option.  Let's hope the credit for opting out of inclusive air is reasonable.

Because the cruise line buys so many tickets, it should be getting a better price than the retail customer could. I hope that they pass part of this saving on to their customers resulting in a good deal on inclusive air.

[sfvoyage]

14 minutes ago, Xerxes10 said:

Because the cruise line buys so many tickets, it should be getting a better price than the retail customer could. I hope that they pass part of this saving on to their customers resulting in a good deal on inclusive air.

 

Based on my experience getting quotes from Seabourn Air, that is unfortunately not the case.  They only have contracted rates on certain routes with certain airlines, and most of the times their quotes are higher than what I can get online.  Their justification was that SB Air comes with protection in case of irregularity, but we never need that benefit because we always fly in a few days before departure.  Having said that, there is now the Covid-related benefit in case of cruise destination rerouting, cancellations, etc.

 

No idea how this will play out with the new inclusive air program, but I doubt it would work to our benefit.

Edited May 19, 2022 by sfvoyage

[ciaoYacht]

Is this posted somewhere? I looked for a source online like Seabourn website and new articles but couldn't find anything.

[texanaust]

3 hours ago, ciaoYacht said:

Is this posted somewhere? I looked for a source online like Seabourn website and new articles but couldn't find anything.

Seabourn Insider.  If you are a TA, then you have access to it.  I am sure it will be announced publicly very soon.  

Edited May 20, 2022 by texanaust

[MBP&O2/O]

I have just 'binned' Silversea because of their new AI options ... if Seabourn go the same way then, IMHO, it is a retrograde step. Reading the SS forum on CC shows numerous people are unhappy with this new fangled option and SB seems to be where they are heading.

If it ain't broke then don't fix it, as opposed to SS who say if it ain't broke then muck about with it so it is 😉

 

[Utopia1]

I agree with MBP&020--  the simplicity and ease of booking with Seabourn and Seabourn air has been a plus for me.  I eliminated the other lines whose bookings were  complicated with choices. My guess is Seabourn's new booking package is the way of the future--but for seasoned travelers it is a mistake. 

[cruiseej]

8 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

I have just 'binned' Silversea because of their new AI options ... if Seabourn go the same way then, IMHO, it is a retrograde step. Reading the SS forum on CC shows numerous people are unhappy with this new fangled option and SB seems to be where they are heading.

If it ain't broke then don't fix it, as opposed to SS who say if it ain't broke then muck about with it so it is 😉

 

 

I quite agree! We've been turned off to Silversea's sometime-confusing and often-illogical new pricing. I think there's a simple vector for Seabourn to follow if they add air by default and make it easy to opt out of for a reasonable reduction in cost. Currently, they default to no air, and customers have to opt in to use Seabourn air; they could flip it to default to included air, and customers have to opt out to book their own air. As long as the credit for not using Seabourn air is reasonable, Seabourn would likely sell more air tickets (and make some profit in the process) while keeping it easy for travelers who want to book air on their own. Surely they understand some people want to use air miles or select their airline of choice, so if they make opting out of included air simple and logically-priced, I don't see this change as problematic. But if they go down the road Silversea has gone with their "door-to-door" pricing, baking in overall price increases and offering under-valued opt-outs, they will be repeating the mistakes that has some Silversea customers walking away and looking for alternatives. 

[labonnevie]

It also matters what level of air they will be including. We will no longer fly coach/economy for intercontinental flights. We have completed nine Regent cruises and they include business class airfare on intercontinental flights. On the cruises we have not used miles, I have found it is very difficult to match the opt out credit. They also do a very good job of letting us propose airlines, routings and schedule and trying to get them for us. Additionally they allow deviation from their proposed flights for the nominal fee of $175 per person. All in all we are very satisfied with the Regent approach and would welcome it on Seabourn. 

[purpleally]

Add me to those opposed.  Regent’s credit for not taking air is not competitive 

[Mr Luxury]

I have take Seabourn Air on many occasions if the price has been competitive and it has sometimes been much cheaper than I could get it myself.

Other times it was not so cheap

I'm not fussed about the included air if that is the decision Seabourn makes

Let's judge it if and when it arrives

Edited May 24, 2022 by Mr Luxury

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

I'm not fussed about the included air if that is the decision Seabourn makes

Let's judge it if and when it arrives

 

Yes, of course, we need to wait to see what they come out with. I think the concern expressed here is a hope that they not repeat what many see as the problematic way Silversea has added included air to most of their prices. If Seabourn simply switches the default from cruise-only with optional air add-on to air-inclusive with optional removal of air, and the prices remain essentially the same, I don't see any problem with that. But if they raise the price of a cruise by, say, $3,000 per person for air-inclusive, and offer a $1,000 credit for removing air, that's where things would be problematic. 

[SLSD]

I would prefer to see Seabourn leave things as they are--you can choose to buy air through them--or not.  This would be most advantageous for most cruisers.  Same for lodging in port cities.  

[RetiredandTravel]

If you make your own flight (&transfer) arrangements Regent offers $7200 each for Australia and $4900 Asia (Hong Kong) both well within reason of what you can get a biz class ticket w/ one stop from most cities.  Direct flights to Sydney from LAX can be slightly (sometimes significantly) higher or lower.  Regent offers $2500 for Europe that's light.   We've always made our own flight arrangement on Regent but have met several people that did not have direct flights.

 

 

[Covepointcruiser]

We have three cruises booked and have heard nothing from Seabourn about including air and excursions.

[tv24]

I am another customer who prefers that Seabourn keep its current system for air, purchase through their air option if you want.

[braidmacd]

I am also against. Due to covid   cancelling many trips of our over the last two years we now have  over $7,000 in our United account to be used before the end of 2023. We are (hopefully not were) planning to use these on our next Seabourn cruise

[Covepointcruiser]

We have also received countless brochures from Seabourn for 2022 and 2023 with no air included.   Does Seabourn even realize they are now including air with the cruise fares?

[purpleally]

We have a cruise booked and paid for July 2023. Do you think they would just throw in the air?
nah, I don’t think so

[rallydave]

3 minutes ago, purpleally said:

We have a cruise booked and paid for July 2023. Do you think they would just throw in the air?
nah, I don’t think so

While you are  I am 100% positive air won't be "thrown" in free, there is the possibility that the cost to include air will be less than we can buy ourselves thus a savings to already booked cruises.  Unlike other Luxury lines that falsely  advertise "FREE" air, obviously the cost is included in the cruise prices just like anything else advertised as "FREE" the correct term is inccluded.

 

We have a Pursuit cruse fully paid for in June/July 2023 and the executives of my TA  are meeting with Seabourn executives tomorrow  on this very subject so hope to have more info later this week.