canderson

The SS site has a nasty little IT trick that can hurt. I'm sure they meant well by making it impossible to book overlapping events, but ... Book an excursion. Go back later and attempt to book the same excursion, but at a slightly later time, and that shows as Available, NOT Waitlisted. Web site says cannot book the excursion at the later time because of conflict (overlap) between times for the two. Must therefore cancel first booking in order to make later booking. Immediately (and I mean within seconds) attempt to book the excursion at the later time. Web site now informs that the second booking is in fact NOT Available, but is Waitlisted. Now have no confirmed reservations for either time for that tour, and both are now shown as waitlisted. Annoyed. If the later schedule had shown as Waitlisted, I would have never touched my original reservation. Based upon what I've read, I assume, unlike other RCL lines, that SS allows no communication with the Shorex desk for customers using TAs for reservations?

Never mind my previous post. SS doesn't bid out upgrades using a 3rd party company the way Celebrity does. So the person I mentioned wouldn't have a role. Guarantees are a little more complicated there. Especially for more fully booked cruises, only after it becomes clearer about how the flow of the upgrade bidding process is moving and available inventory more clear would it be possible to assign guarantees. Too many years traveling on X needs to be unwound in my new SS brain!

Good question. RCL employs a "Manager, Hotel Finance, Onboard Revenue, and G&A". Could be that person has some say in final assignments.

Have you tried it with Roquefort?

We have noted that for other RCL ships, the IT configuration seems to vary a bit by ship. Since we'll be on Dawn soon, wondering whether you attempted this via VPN, and if so, which VPN (or VPN protocol) seems to work on Dawn at this time.

So what did you think of the food service on "Royal Jordanian"? 😅

Good deal! At today's prices, that upgrade was worth about $2,200 and a veranda.

@FlyerTalker Our itinerary is unlikely to have been popular to begin with. We've got one way business, direct DEN to LHR then LIS, for what is, I believe, the last European SS departure ( a TA) of the season. No other reason for eastbound flights, much less one to LHR / LIS. Wouldn't make sense for SS to buy a block for that, much less one four days early. That it's one way raised the ante for a private booking. (Ah, the old days of consolidators and consolidator fares!) I couldn't touch it for the add-on SS was offering then, and the public fare is even more now. This leads me to believe that we were the beneficiaries of a substantial general discount SS receives from United and TAP.

I will say I was surprised that SS was perfectly happy to move my flights to 4 days ahead of departure with just the standard small deviation fee. I understand that 3 days max is the norm, as is the case with pre-cruise hotel. It would be interesting to know, for the future, just how "soft" the "before" ("after" would make no sense) is in days in their contracts with the airlines.

We scheduled !4! days ahead for our 1 way business class to LIS for a TA and only had to pay the standard $150 deviation. However, we did this immediately after the original booking, and fares have gone up considerably since then. Might be a different story if we tried to switch to an earlier departure now.

Is it just that I'm viewing on a phone, or were a large percentage of those reds screw tops?

Not until they get their own alphabet!

Ask SS specifically for the Silversea port agent's phone and address for the port city and see if you can get a response to that. Since you have no personal/business/hotel contact there for your trip, the agent is about all you've got available.

See link, post #3.

Great upgrade! The SS Silver Suite is of equivalent size to a Royal on X.

An aside: Ever wonder why gift sets of tableware in Japan come in sets of 5 vs the 4 more common elsewhere in the world? It's a cultural thing. 4 = death = unlucky. That said, setting a 3rd place for what is clearly a dinner intended ONLY for two assumes too much.

We will be spending 4 nights there in November, so any tips will be appreciated. We have one dinner included, so any info on the two restaurants are of particular interest.

Not to mention the little 'mushroom' seats in public spaces that were impossible to escape (without assistance) for half of Celebrity's demographic!

Can you be more specific? Apart from included fast WiFi and laundry, what differences did your traveling friends encounter?

You may find this site helpful: https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/tipping-etiquette-around-the-world/

"Gorgeous" though they may be, they aren't always entirely an step forward. Hiring an interior designer who bragged about never having spent a single night on a cruise ship left Celebrity's new builds with a few less than desirable features in their cabins. I suspect @Host Jazzbeau is familiar with that distinction. Storage and ergonomics in marine quarters design shouldn't include, among other things, loading horizontal surfaces with tchotchkes, chairs with arms too tall to slide under counters, and bed tables with no drawers, etc etc.

I understand why SS would work with a middleman like Blacklane - working with 100s of individual companies would be impractical. The last minute cancellations could be a logistics problem within Blacklane, or they might need to work with more reliable car services. Either way, if you look at Blacklane reviews, they tend to run to the extreme. If they show up, they most often receive a 5. But there are too many 1s due to last minute cancellations, and Blacklane doesn't arrange for an alternative when this happens. For airport transfers where schedule is critical, that just isn't acceptable.

Yes, if there's no 6 character record locator shown, you'll need to have your TA ask. Alternately, if you have an account with the airline, log in there and see if they already have the flight associated with your account.

Yes, the LIS>FLA run. Yes, the Tivoli. We will be arriving 11/21 for 4 nights. Check pricing privately first. We got the nicer view at a good price and some perks from the hotel for night 1, and they agreed not to move us to our somewhat lesser SS room for the last 3. Sweet.

You can ask your SS rep or TA, but it/they will also appear in your flight itinerary data at My Silversea.