cruiseej

Ain't gonna happen. 🤣

I had the same thought. As @Pcardad noted, it's probably a big software undertaking. That said, Seabourn has a Flight Ease system (part of Holland America's software) which comes somewhat close to this. The complexity of air bookings is crying out for automation solutions where humans are needed for the exceptions, not for each booking. And most of the customer base is accustomed to booking air travel on their own. It would be great not to have to call, not to have to pay for the privilege of calling, and to be able to pore over the different possibilities and weigh the tradeoffs of different flights and costs from your computer.

Definitely fly in at least one day early; do everything in your power to give yourself that extra buffer day! (Or two.) As you know, weather from the east coast can be touchy in February. It's not just the flight from Philly to be concerned about, but if there's a storm anywhere on the east coast, many flights get cancelled and planes get diverted to, or sit in, other cities. If you do fly to Barbados a day early, do you have points with Hilton? Instead of the Hilton many people go to, consider The Crane, which is run as a Hilton Vacations resort. The rooms are large and much nicer than the Hilton. It's near the airport, but not as close to the main tourist area with hotels and restaurants; we found the restaurants there fine for a one- or two-day stay; the pools and grounds were nice. We got a cab to take us to an attraction (Harrison's Cave) and then on to the cruise port on the day of our embarkation.

Since you're not paying separately for the airfare, it has to be 40% off the cruise. That's not as crazy as it might sound: the cost of business class air has gotten so high that it could well be half the cost of a 7 day European cruise. With not enough business class capacity, it makes sense that they're now trying to induce people to settle for less-premium seats. And keep in mind it says "up to" 40% — which often means very few people will get 40%, and others might get a lot less. On a Regent cruise we booked for this summer, there was a Seven Seas Society savings of "up to $1,300", but it turned out that only the top-level Regent Suite got $1,300 off; a Penthouse suite got only $375 off, and verandah suites were $200, I think.

I've never understood the fascination with the marina on these ships. When it is available, it's for things like being towed on an inflatable banana or blow-up plastic loveseat until everyone falls in the water, or kayaking in the open bay near the ship. It's not snorkeling some see undersea life; it's not jet-skiing around an island or lagoon; it's not water skiing or parasailing; you can't just go swimming off the back of the ship. When we've seen it (on a Caribbean cruise), it's been available for 90 minutes or two hours on one day of the cruise. If you like getting dunked from a banana boat, go for it — but it's certainly not something I'd be super excited about, or be concerned whether sea conditions will or won't allow.

But if you bought your 100 shares back when Carnival was selling for around $30/share, it means you need to take about 20 Seabourn cruises (under 14 days) to recover in credits what you've lost on the stock price. We'll have to book a lot more cruises, I guess! 🤣

Pretty sure I've seen that one on TikTok. 🤣

Yes, we've met people on Seabourn cruises who have done this. I'd guess it happens all the time. (We have never had the flexibility to just decide to stay aboard.) If the next cruise isn't sold out, they'd be delighted to offer you a deal to stay aboard in what would otherwise be an unoccupied cabin. How much of a deal, and whether you perceive it as a good enough deal, will obviously vary. (And you have to factor in how much your return airfare might cost to change to another date and possibly to a different point of origin.)

Forget momentarily the surge of inflation over the past year. If we were in a time of happy, modest 2% annual inflation, then one would expect costs from 2019 to 2023 — four years — to increase by 8%. So how did they think that after a year of 6+% inflation, that expenses would only rise 5-6% compared to 4 years ago?!? People say the bean-counters are running the cruise lines; if that's true, I think Carnival needs better bean counters! 🤣

The same email from Regent went to me and my travel agent. So I'd guess yes. But the charge isn't to the TA, it's to the customer's Regent account.

Well it seems Regent has come up with a novel way of cutting down on call volume and hold times for people calling their air department: today they implemented a $75 fee for the privilege of calling their air department and speaking to a representative! If you accept the flights they propose, the $75 is folded into the $175 deviation fee; if you reject their proposed flights, you're charge the $75 fee. And if you want to gamble on contacting them about possible different flights, you pay the $75 again. Yikes! I luxury cruise competitors like Silversea and Seabourn will watch this closely and implement something similar if it doesn't backfire on Regent.

And it can get worse. Regent today announced the implementation of a $75 fee to talk with their air department! The $75 fee is folded into the $175 deviation fee if you accept the one flight option they proposed; if you don't like the flights they come up with, you're charged the $75. Want them to try to find something different? It's another $75 for a follow-up call. 😱 I understand the problems all the luxury cruises face, with a higher volume of calls to their air department due to ongoing airline industry turmoil (more frequent changes, reduced capacity). But some of the "solutions" the companies have applied are awful. Silversea makes it easy; you can't call the air department! Regent allows calls, but wants to cut down on long hold times, and has decided to reduce call volume by charging a hefty fee to call them. I have never heard of a company — a luxury travel company, at that — charging a significant fee just for the privilege of calling them and speaking to a representative. Yikes! I hope this isn't the start of a new trend in customer service.

I understand the problems they face, with a higher volume of calls to their air department due to ongoing airline industry turmoil (more frequent changes, reduced capacity). And I appreciate they want to try to cut down on long hold times. But I have never heard of a company — a luxury travel company, at that — charging a significant fee just for the privilege of calling them and speaking to a representative! Yikes. I hope this isn't the start of a new trend in customer service.

Are you asking about the cruise or air to get to the cruise?

Also of note from the Washington Post article was that prior to Covid, there was only a slight edge of Republican voters cruising versus Democratic voters. It makes sense to me that political leanings are less of a factor in whether one has cruised than education level, wealth and age. But, the article noted, "there are signs that the covid era has blown the partisan gap in cruising wide open… Is it cultural snobbery or covid caution that’s driving the divide?" "Looking deeper into the survey results, we find support for the covid caution theory. Because it’s not just cruise ships that make [Democratic] voters nervous. Other activities that require mingling with large crowds in public aren’t quite as polarizing, but they all show growing partisan gaps. Before the pandemic, Biden and Trump voters were equally likely to have attended a concert or traveled by airplane, for example: Everyone was close to 50 percent. Now, Biden voters are less than half as likely to be 'very comfortable' with concerts and plane flights as Trump voters are. So while there does seem to be a partisan gap on cruising, it looks to us like a manifestation of a larger partisan divide over the need for continued vigilance against covid rather than any elitist disdain for the big boats, onboard entertainment and 24-hour buffets." As Terry said, we don't want to erupt into political discussions here; it's just interesting to see that covid concerns are driving somewhat of a pull-back in interest in cruising to a segment of past cruisers. Not necessarily surprising, but nice to see some data behind it.

The Blacklane transfer does show up in My Silversea. But the date may be off from the actual date you are flying — and it doesn't matter. I think the Blacklane offer can be used within 30 days of sailing on either end, allowing for people traveling before or after their cruise. You won't call Blacklane; you'll get an email from Blacklane (not Silversea) telling you to create an account on their website. Be sure to use the same email address you get your booking confirmations from Silversea. Our email came exactly 30 days before our sailing, and I think that's the norm (but of course, anything can and does change!) After creating your account on the Blacklane site, you can create your two bookings (one going, one returning) on their website for the date and time you prefer. Based on your email, it will have your credit from Silversea in the system, and it will show the price is $0.00. (Also, the Blacklane transfer is not tied to whether you use Silversea to book your air or not.) You have a choice of a sedan or a larger SUV or minivan. Pay attention to the luggage limits for the sedan; we were concerned our luggage might not fit, so we opted for the minivan option. Both are free.

No, that's not the only interpretation. In fact, with the exclamation point, I definitely read it as humor — which turns out was the correct interpretation.

I' might be missing something, but why take a train to Rome and back for a day, when the cruise ends in Rome? (I think most people would be happy to have an extra day in Venice. Even if you've been multiple times before, going to one of the outer islands offers lots of possibilities for a nice day.)

I'm not sure I understand the issue. If the agency buys a large block of suites at a discounted price, then the cruise line has none left to sell, and the agency has a lot to sell at their volume booking/discounted price. Are you suggesting that because the cruise line sold a large block of suites to the agency, they should turn around an offer the same lower price to every direct-booked customer? If they did that, they really wouldn't be able to sell to agencies at all, or they'd need to implement general variable pricing which can go down or up, like airlines and hotels. The latter would penalize customers who book early, so they don't want to do that. The former would remove a channel they can use to fill remaining inventory on their ships, when needed, at a discount for those who book through these agencies.

@canderson You make your own booking with Blacklane; Silversesa is not involved. And it doesn't matter if it's a different date than shown on My Silversea. (Silversea doesn't even know what date many people are traveling on.) So, no need to call SS; just wait until you ge the email about making your Blacklane reservation, and you'll be fine.

Well, you didn't miss out because of losing ESPN — because March Madness (the US college basketball championship tournament) isn't on ESPN! (The tournament is broadcast on CBS and TBS.)

Around the ship during the day? I generally wore either jeans or what I call hiking pants: (These are from Eddie Bauer, a line they call Guide Pro pants, which I have found very comfortable. I have both regular and fleece lined.) And sneakers. And a long sleeve t-shirt, sometimes with a light-weight fleece pull-over or sweater. I was really looking forward to using all my Antarctica gear when we had a big snowstorm this winter, but our part of the east coast got through the winter with a grand total of 0.3 inches of snow! For evenings, I had a pair of navy and khaki colored Docker-type pants, and several long-sleeve button down shirts. Depending on the day, I'd sometime wear with a sweater, and on a couple nights, a navy sport jacket. The latter is not necessary; the friends we traveled with did not bring a sport jacket. Also, we were on the cruise over Christmas and New Years, so I figured I'd dress up that little bit on those nights and the captain's welcome event. And I'm often cool on the ship, so the jacket was an alternative to sweaters every night. I'd guess that perhaps 50% of men had a sport jacket they wore on some nights, but you definitely won't feel out of place without one. I had one pair of black shoes, which I wore in the evening for all 18 days of the cruise (!), and one pair of sneakers/walking shoes; with size 13W feet, taking more shoes was just not an option!

Seabourn definitely breaks out the port fees separately from the base cruise fare. (At least for those of us in the US; it's possible other countries may work differently.) When there are discounts, they apply to the base fare, not the port fees. On the other hand, if you end up missing a port, Seabourn will refund the (small) fees for that port.

All the advice I read said wear layers and peel off as needed. What they didn't say is that peeling off a middle layer, such as a lightweight fleece I wore over a shirt and under the parka, isn't always easy. you'lll probably be wearing a backpack; on the South Georgia itinerary, the backpack is a heavy-duty dry sack which you roll up at the top. And I carry a small camera bag. Oh, and you can't put anything on the ground! Sometimes I put my camera back and backpack on a tarp the expedition team had out near the landing site. But it I hiked up a hill and wanted to peel off a layer... not so easy! I became good at balancing my backpack on my feet (I emulated the emperor penguins in March of the Penguins, balancing their eggs on their feet!), and squeezing my camera bag between my legs while removing my parka and then outer layer, rolling the outer layer and putting it in the backpack, and then putting the parka back on. Another hike, I wanted to separate the outer parka from the inner down layer — another challenging balancing act. One time I wanted to pull off my waterproof pants, and just decided with nowhere to sit down it wasn't easy enough to do.

If you log into the airline's website, in most cases you can see when the status of your booking changes to "Ticketed".