Out of interest - Do Silversea ever give free upgrades?

[Tothesunset]

We aren't too happy about the inclusive excursions as we much prefer to do our own thing. And as Les37b says it is usually much cheaper to arrange air, hotels and ground transport on a d-i-y basis.

 

For example we are loking at a cruise next year for which the air offered by SS in economy is £760 - using a combination of careful timing and Air Miles redemption it will cost us £120 each and a further £150 each or so for 2 nights in a decent hotel and ground transport (where the SS alternative is roughly double that). So we are looking at a saving for the 2 of us of somewhere in the region of £1500 or a little more.

 

Were that cruise to be inclusive of the air, hotel and excursions I'm guessing it might be £1k or more, more expensive per person. I'm quite happy to spend a couple of hours on the internet to save these costs - that's a good hourly rate!

[CanadianKate]

For a data point, we were moved from our cabin to one that might be considered (by normal people) an upgrade. In our case, we were booked on a segment of the world cruise and there was someone who wanted to buy a whole WC in our cabin class but we were 'in the way' so moving us was in SS best financial interests. They certainly didn't do it as a benefit to us, that was just a side-effect of the transaction, and we ended up on a different side of the ship, a deck we would not have chosen and no longer midship, so the perceived benefit to us was less than it might have been to another person.

 

A second data point: on one of our long WC segments, a lovely young family came aboard mid-cruise. The wife had decided the husband needed a vacation and saw a break in his crazy schedule so booked the cruise less than 10 days before sailing. SS had split the Sydney to HK itinerary since many Aussies had booked just Sydney to Darwin so this couple joined the ship in Darwin. Their per day cost was a fraction of ours, yet we were in a Vista and they were in a Veranda.

 

That was when I realized that some of the interesting longer itineraries that might not be fully booked 1) might be split and 2) there were deep bargains to be had if you were prepared to be flexible. I have filed that piece of knowledge away for when I'm ready to return to SS. At this point, I'm done with cruising but can see myself returning, especially at deeply discounted prices.

[wripro]

Canadian Kate,

 

Did they move you without asking? If so, I hope your TA raised one big fat stink and was able to get you some nice onboard credit or some other compensation.

[les37b]

Agree that this practice (thanks les37b for pointing out this practice) of discounting Silversea fares (those that are under the "Silver Fare Guarantee) to an outside wholesale cruise outfit is disingenuous. Jeff has it right above--"Silversea (with this practice) is circumventing their own guarantee. Altho, two weeks ago we canceled our Silver Galapagos Sept 3th sailing--it was booked at $6950 suite fare. On the wholesale cruise outfit site it is now 30% discounted at $4865. If you check most cruise regions (Med, Asia, NZ/Aus, Caribbean, Panama Canal) there are sailings at up to 50% discounts while the SS site has them at full price.

 

Unfortunately the site has chosen to save Silversea blushes over this practice of offloading its unsold cruises to specific travel agents and not lowering its internal pricing to circumvent its price guarantee by deleting references, so shame on the site and shame on SS.

[drron29]

We got an email from SS to "valued Venetian members"offering $US1500 OBC on certain voyages.One was the second leg of our August Whisper cruises.

Do we get it-of course not but if we rebook then OK-we will still get an extra $250 between us for doing so.But the kick in the tail.The new price did not include the discount for the second of B@B cruises.

Strongly thinking that no new SS cruises will be booked.

[Silver Spectre]

We got an email from SS to "valued Venetian members"offering $US1500 OBC on certain voyages.One was the second leg of our August Whisper cruises.

Do we get it-of course not but if we rebook then OK-we will still get an extra $250 between us for doing so.But the kick in the tail.The new price did not include the discount for the second of B@B cruises.

Strongly thinking that no new SS cruises will be booked.

 

Hi drron29, thats a fairly typical first response from SS these days, however its worth having your TA try and get them to rethink.

[bspill]

To quote an email from a vacationtogo.com promotion.....

 

"Today, I'm happy to start with this offer for our customers who are past passengers of Silversea: On select Silversea sailings, choose between a two-category cabin upgrade or a shipboard credit of up to $1,500 per stateroom"

 

Agreed you dont seem to see % discounted prices though.

 

Mind you - when you see discounts of up to 82% on some cruises, I think I'd be miffed if my cabin next door neighbour paid only 18% of what I had! lol

 

Just saw an on line add for Vacations To Go offering 20 and 30 percent discounts on several Silversea cruises. Checked prices and they were 20% less than SS brochures prices. Does anyone know if they are legitimate?

Edited March 17, 2016 by bspill

[travelingduo]

Hope this isn't too off topic, but it looked like this post would fit. We just booked the Muse for September of 2017. We normally go through a large cruise agency and get a very nice discount. However, our personal SS rep was able to book a primo cabin that was not available on any internet site nor our agent's inventory. We got our 5% Venetian discount, and we went ahead and paid in full for the additional 10% discount. On top of that, our SS agent gave us a $1,000 OBC (our sailing was NOT one of the $1500 OBC sailings). We think we did well by staying with SS and are really looking forward to trying the new Muse. :)

[les37b]

Yes, they are genuine bspill. Lots of posts have been deleted... There were a few tears suggesting an advert for a TA had been posted when in fact is was a heads up that SS DO dump unsold cruises and bypassing their price promise in doing so as its still full price on the SS site.

 

Someone suggested when you try to book you are told "sold out", so I put it to the test on a deal for a a med cruise that was 50% off. I was given a choice of half a dozen vista mid ship suites for £1400. I didn't book (since I did it for the challenge.

 

I expect with the new pricing structure, we will see more and more SS cruises dumped with huge savings on the list price. I don't think they've thought that through, but that's another story.

[les37b]

Hope this isn't too off topic, but it looked like this post would fit. We just booked the Muse for September of 2017. We normally go through a large cruise agency and get a very nice discount. However, our personal SS rep was able to book a primo cabin that was not available on any internet site nor our agent's inventory. We got our 5% Venetian discount, and we went ahead and paid in full for the additional 10% discount. On top of that, our SS agent gave us a $1,000 OBC (our sailing was NOT one of the $1500 OBC sailings). We think we did well by staying with SS and are really looking forward to trying the new Muse. :)

 

Is 10% discount for paying in full standard? When I booked mine it 10 months away so guess past that option? I definitely would have paid it off .... 10% interest rates to match that are hard to find!!

 

Sounds like you did well.... And Muse does look rather nice.

[WesW]

If your SS sailing does show a discount on this travel site and you want to get this wholesale travel outfit's SS discount, Spinnaker2 gave me this tip. Call them up and ask to make a booking on the voyage you're interested in. They will tell you the discount (that is not published (e.g. on two of the 2017 Whisper WC seggies we had an interest in there was about $700 of non published discount of the SS web price). Our TA (with SS's permission) can match this discount. However, concur with others this practice is not transparent and violates the spirit of SS's low fare guarantee when you book.

Edited March 17, 2016 by WesW

[Ithaca]

I have been using the aforementioned discounter since my first SS cruise in 2009; this is not new. Their OBC is quite slim, but their service to date has been excellent.

[CanadianKate]

Canadian Kate,

 

Did they move you without asking? If so, I hope your TA raised one big fat stink and was able to get you some nice onboard credit or some other compensation.

 

No, we had several weeks heads-up. The news came through our TA and she recommended we take it since in her experience the opportunity is rare. The crossing was calm so the forward location turned out to be fine.

 

The issue with SS Veranda and Vista suites is that, aside from location, they are virtually identical and the service is the same regardless of where you are. So, for me, on SS the upside to upgrading isn't really there, unlike with lessor cruise companies. Obviously, going up to a Silver or higher suite would be different but I don't expect that will ever happen to me and when/if we return to SS we'll do so back where we like to be and be happy that the lower decks afforded us many more cruises for the same number of $$$$.

[travelingduo]

les37b- this is a promotion for cruises in 2017 and paid in full by April 25. Initially had to paid in full by Feb 29, but they extended it.

[les37b]

les37b- this is a promotion for cruises in 2017 and paid in full by April 25. Initially had to paid in full by Feb 29, but they extended it.

 

Ok thanks for clarifying. So a promotional thing rather than being the norm.