Anyone else have difficulties with the Silversea air department?

[AllisonJames]

We have booked a cruise that included free air or a $200 pp air credit. Because we are flying into the port several days in advance we agreed to the $100 pp deviation fee and have now been attempting to book our flights with SS for about 10 days. This process of only being able to communicate with the air department via email and then having to wait 3 - 5 days for a response is ridiculous. The Pony Express would be faster. 3 - 5 days, first we find out that the flights originally suggested by SS now have an upcharge in addition to the $100 pp deviation fee. So we inquire about the 4 - 5 other direct USAir flights to San Juan that day with the willingness to take whichever does not have an upcharge. Wait another 3 - 5 days, told none of the USAir flights are available without an upcharge, they suggest an alternate airline but can't guarantee it will continue to be available without an upcharge when they finally get around to booking it in another 3 - 5 days. Our Virtuoso travel agent even inquired if she could please call them directly to get this settled once and for all and was told they only communicate via email and it takes 3- 5 days. This antiquated SS process is taking too much of my time and my travel agent's, is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth regarding my first SS cruise because the process seems designed to cause me to spend more money than planned on air due to flights getting booked up in the time it is taking for us to communicate back and forth with SS. When are they going to come into the 21st century? What are we doing wrong? is there some secret SS air hotline that all you experts use? Help! The process of booking the flight is far longer then the actual cruise will be!

[Jim00]

Yes, we've had problems with SS air just recently. They took a long time to arrange our air arrangements, so we watched the rate go up as time passed. Now the deviation is much more expensive than when they first became available 330 days out.

 

We got much less expensive and timely arrangements with Regent. I would use Regent air again, doubtful of Silversea air.

[kpercy]

Yes, we've had problems with SS air just recently. They took a long time to arrange our air arrangements, so we watched the rate go up as time passed. Now the deviation is much more expensive than when they first became available 330 days out.

 

We got much less expensive and timely arrangements with Regent. I would use Regent air again, doubtful of Silversea air.

 

Your frustrations are felt by many. Not just trying to arrange air but sometimes Silversea booking procedures are well past their sell by date. Not just this, but in my experience staff can be curt,rude and abrupt and not always in receipt of the correct information.

 

My TA hates dealing with them.

 

Recently my TA contacted SS re a booking to be advised to ring back later as they were having lunch. Needless to say we didnt ring back we booked Seabourne instead.

 

However, I have to say, once you get past the inferior booking experience you will enjoy the cruise.

 

So come on SS get your act together and sort out your customer service.

[dougburns]

That's what your TA is for. We have always used SS air and have never had anything but outstanding service. Let your TA handle it. If they can't, or won't, change TAs. In the past we have had airline glitches and SS Air Dept has been right on the ball and changed things. Last Jan we got caught up in that BA impending strike and SS changed us to Continental without us even having to ask. Remember, every time you make a modification it's $100/per, so think carefully before you act. Our TA has never had a problem dealing with the air dept and usually gets an answer back same day. Again, maybe you need to change TAs.

[DebbieH103]

I also have never waited much over 24 hours, and they have been very flexible.

[Jim00]

We did use a travel agent (would never do otherwise) and he had to contact upper management to ask what was going on.

 

We only had one deviation, the original one. The deviation fee was $550/person because their contracted carrier was US Airways and their deviation was UAL/Lufthanas. This was offered 200 days out whereas these flights were much cheaper 330 days out. The deviation on Regent was $100, standard.

 

And this has nothing to do with the cruise experience as Silversea is our favorite.

[wripro]

Debbie,

 

Did you use email or call them?

[AllisonJames]

Hi, here's an update as we thankfully did get a quick response from Silversea yesterday once we said "yes, book that flight" which was a direct flight on another airline without an upcharge. But I do hope SS management reads this thread because my complaint is with the slow-as-molasses back and forth, 3 to 5 days for an email response and with the fact that there seems to be no way to call them directly. I do have a Virtuoso travel agent who deals with SS quite often and my complaint is not in any with her service, it is with the fact that she'd have to wait 3 - 5 days for a reply from SS, then get back to me, then get back to SS and wait 3 - 5 more days, etc. etc. Total elapsed time to actually book the flight -- 10 days. Ridiculous and extremely poor customer service. I see I am not the only one with such complaints -- this is not what customer service of a luxury cruise line should be. It's interesting about the Seabourn comments as our last cruise was on that line and there were always tons of complaints on that board about SB customer service, in fact, we changed this cruise to SS when one we were holding with SB got cancelled without any communication to us. So, it seems like the lines have a great deal of work to do with their main customer service offices and I am hopeful that my experience actually on board will be much better than it has been thus far!