RetiredOnVacation

I'm not convinced that what's seen as 'cutbacks' is actually wastage reduction, because something might not be always presented as it was once but is still available on demand. Eg Suite fruit bowls, or the restaurant menus which are still impressive, but just not so comprehensive as before ie. Primo & Secondi courses in La Terraza, which people often skipped or short cut. Consider also the recent investment in other f&b onboard provisions such as the brilliant (imo) SALT and Arts Cafe! And the much improved Dolce Vita layout on Moon & Dawn cf. Muse. Would these be down to RC input ?

Great to hear check in & embarking was so quick. Regent do seem to have this down well, especially compared to SS. Looking forward to the Grandeur early next year!

@mklions Did you see the Blacklane UK phone number I put in a post a few above this? Maybe would solve those problems rather than the webchat?!

Thanks for sharing that info. There's another Blacklane discussion going on in this Silversea board and one poster shared how for their booking of 2 people, there were 4 blacklane journeys available (one for each person), link here.Blacklane Transfer Idk but I think the intention would be for the pre and post cruise journeys (between your home and LHR in your case) to be Blacklane, and with the foreign airport/hotel/port transfers being local coaches that SS will tell you about nearer the time, but not Blacklane per se. Never having actually used SS transfers (always do our own, which coincidentally has often involved blacklane where available) I can't say for sure, but that's my thinking of most likely scenario! 😀

Interesting findings from you both, thanks for sharing. Maybe a one-person blacklane limo can be upgraded to a multi-person van for no extra charge? After all cruising tends to involve more baggage!

You'll probably get access to your suite without any waiting by doing that too?

@tipsygirl Or also on massage treatments in the Spa! Hope you enjoy your SS cruise!

Bit puzzled with your question and the answers that have come afterwards - I thought the Blacklane transfer elements relate from/to home-home airport, not emabarkation/disembarkation port-foreign local airport? This latter would be provided by a local coach supplier for all D2D transfer/air inclusive passengers and not by Blacklane?! But it seems that your question is conflating the two journeys? Iirc you can book/pay port to airport transfer on the SS coach if it's not inclusive for you, using the disembarkating form they leave in your suite towards the end of cruise. Sometimes, if your flight is a lot later, there's a port-airport excursion you can book through mysilversea in advance that uses up the spare time.

💯% agree with you in that! And arriving a day or two early too. It's what we do and why we're pleased to see the new P2P fares that take Blacklane and SS Air (or RC Air) out of the equation!

To be fair, although living within the included Blacklane distance, we have never used that part of D2D fares, preferring to make our own arrangements and so getting a transfers credit (x2) - of course the new P2P caters for this now anyway. But have used Blacklane multiple times for other things. If it helps, there is this UK number that's listed in the Blacklane app you could use instead of webchat? +44 (0)20 3318 5249. Hth. Regarding your Senegal disembarkation, surely the Blacklane elements are purely between home airport and home, not a foreign port to foreign airport? This would be provided for by an inclusive SS coach transfer assuming your flights are SS inclusive too? Or have I got that wrong?

Not sure if this card is being targeted outside of US or in other currencies, but it wouldn't work so well for non $ cardholders with visa's currency conversion charges (my usual card for travel costs has a zero fee for foreign currency transactions). And as has been mentioned above, travel insurance or other benefits from mainstream cards makes trader-branded credit cards unappealing to me.

Oh, sorry I must have misread that - I thought you had identified someone (in curlers) that had been on the TA cruise near you in Silver suites that who then appeared to be on a deck 5 veranda as you left. Was just thinking they may just be enjoying a late disembarkation in a spare room rather than continuing a cruise as you suspected! Oh what a shame; you're so close to getting a free 14 day cruise as well as the potential up-to 20% cumulative discounts for that level of status!

Hope that you are able to treasure your good memories from that TA cruise despite the small misforgivings. Just a thought about those fellow guests you saw on deck 5 - is it possible perhaps, that they had requested a 'day room' for a 'late check-out' and as deck 5 wasn't going to be used on charter, that SS allowed this? Just a thought!

Agree with you, although other than the fact it is a vacation, I think that there is a difference between land based holidays and cruise holidays. The closest comparison of a land based holiday would be a resort-style property which has several f&b options and multiple facilities including stage artist entertainment, but such a resort doesn't move locations for varied visitor & cultural experiences. So cruising is unique in that respect and difficult to truly compare. But I think you are right about a cruise pricing readjustment (especially in the luxury all-inclusive market) catching up to the fare-point it perhaps needed to be at. I think SS will survive as it won't be an outlier in the cruise sector it's in!

One thing's for certain - if SS price themselves out of the market, they won't be around very much longer! Or is the ultra-luxury market itself trending upwards? 🤷🏻

Maybe Voyager has Starlink working then! 🤞 Thanks!

Does RSSC allow the emptying of unused Onboard Credits to be placed into the Crew Fund?

Any word yet for Voyager? On it twice later this year, although both being European & largely coastal transits we'll be in 4/5g most of the time.

We're also expecting the Westin in September, although that's a long way off yet! Interesting to see the choices all seem to be within the Bonvoy group. Does anyone know if you can use Bonvoy loyalty status on RSSC booking at any of these hotels? Tks

Can't remember the shower @sea bright-maybe need to refer to the suite plan. But the balcony is no deeper than the neighboring suites (Owners & Silver, but these are same as Veranda too), just half as wide again as a Veranda, so I guess iirc there's not a lot of space for lounger to face out to sea.

Have stayed in Medallion suite on Shadow back in 2015. Obviously it will have been refurbished at least once since then but you are right about scraping of chairs on the pool deck above. This was very noticeable both mornings and evenings (setting up and clearing away). It's a nice sized balcony though and just that bit more spacious - if you can tolerate the noise from above! Also, although I don't think this is a thing anymore, there was a sandle maker stall set up on the pool deck above us so we heard a lot of tapping and hammering from that during the day. As a rule, we now never stay on the deck immediately below any pool area!

Probably kept back for bridge-crew family members or guest artists

I've spoken with SS a couple of times across the Easter weekend with no problems at all. Had a next day call back following an evening online web quote request from our Personal Cruise Consultant (same for over 20 years) which had the 0207 340 0700 as the caller ID number, and was able to call her direct dial 0207 number without problems. Also email responses were literally immediate. Can't rate highly enough our SS Personal Cruise Consultant, who's looked after us with best offers available. I think TA/TP is less of a thing in the UK market (with moreso direct bookings if in advance, or bucket agent deals for last-minute) over how it's remained more prominent in US market?

Don't know but I guess there'll be a fair amount of merch being worn! Just hope it's not formal (optional) on the monaco days 😬

I think these new Essential fares might be a way to get into the late availability online bucket market and avoid commission fees. Just worry that it might lead to a non-inclusive fare which would definately devalue the SS product. I do like that PTP is now aligned with D2D wrt cancellation conditions etc.