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Business class air booked through Silverseas


bobolz
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We just booked a cruise next year to Northern Europe that includes business class air from the US for an extremely reasonable price. I’m wondering if anyone has used Silverseas to book their air and how was the experience? We are planning on paying the $150 deviation fee to select our flights since we want to go out early and come back a couple days after the cruise. They are telling me we can start selecting flights 270 days out. Does that mean we can lock in the flight we select at that time? Did they offer nonstop flights or were there connections? Assume business class means flat bed seats? Did anyone have an experience of Silverseas not being able to honor the business class special (due to availability) and refund the cost of the air? 

 

Thanks for any response.

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55 minutes ago, bobolz said:

We just booked a cruise next year to Northern Europe that includes business class air from the US for an extremely reasonable price. I’m wondering if anyone has used Silverseas to book their air and how was the experience? We are planning on paying the $150 deviation fee to select our flights since we want to go out early and come back a couple days after the cruise. They are telling me we can start selecting flights 270 days out. Does that mean we can lock in the flight we select at that time? Did they offer nonstop flights or were there connections? Assume business class means flat bed seats? Did anyone have an experience of Silverseas not being able to honor the business class special (due to availability) and refund the cost of the air? 

 

Thanks for any response.

Hi, I have used SS for my flights on both of my cruises (sailed with SS twice) and I booked the Business Class upgrade too.:classic_biggrin:

The cruise line is the one who booked my flights...…...and yes, the seats went all the way down:classic_biggrin:.....Lots of room and it was really awesome!  I arrived in both places a day early without any problems.  I can't recall exactly when the flights were booked since both cruises were awhile ago...…..my first cruise with SS was the summer of 2017 and the 2nd one was last summer.  I do know it all worked out just fine though!:classic_biggrin:

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My TA usually calls SS with my preferred dates and then gives me choices as to what's available.  IE "Do you want to go thru Paris at 2 a.m. or change in Frankfurt at 3 a.m. or drive to Newark?"  Has always worked well.

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Yes we used Silversea air to fly to Amsterdam and then back from Dublin on our cruise this June. We paid a deviation fee to return 3 days after the end of the cruise. We went non-stop to Amsterdam but had to go thru London on the way back. Silversea doesn't contract with all airlines. Even when you pay a deviation fee, you have to go with one of the carriers that they use. In our case it was KLM going out and BA for the return. We couldn't come close to their price on our own and were happy with our flights.

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I like looked at a cruise to Asia that had economy fares included. There was an offer of £1800 per person, per journey to upgrade to BC. 

It was unclear if  “Journey” meant ‘per leg’  or ‘per return’.

Had I elected to sort my own flights I would have had a ‘refund’ of circa £400. 

BC return flights via Amsterdam were going for £2400.

Best case scenario is that SS would have saved me £200 .... but I would have to take what they offered ... or, to fly when I chose to do so, on the route that I wanted, I would have to pay a deviation of err err about £200.

From my point of view very much swings and roundabouts.

We elected not to book the Asia cruise and instead are looking at saving for a bit longer to go to the Galapagos in 2021 so I will be looking at my flight options later on as SS’s t&c’s regarding ‘own flights’ are quite complex. My plan is to ask for an official quote using both options and then I can play it by ear. 

 

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Thanks everyone for your responses. Glad to hear those that used Silverseas were satisfied with the bookings they made. So just to confirm , did all of you receive  a special offer ,which is what we have $700 each way for business class, versus just working with their air dept to make arrangements on your behalf? Did any of you lock in your flights early or wait until they contacted you when they were ready to ticket the flights( which I assume would be approx 3-6 mths  out). I have already researched the available flights and there is no way I can do better than Silverseas offer, so sticking with them, but am concerned they will not be able to book all 6 of us on the same nonstop flights we found with American, which I assume they have a contract, since the price would be less than what the airline could get from the market. 

 

Ive also heard stories from others using cruise lines air ( maybe not business class ) , but they had ridiculous connections that were not necessary. Since you all seemed satisfied with your experience, I’m hoping Silverseas does better than the others. 

 

Thanks again for all your responses and welcome any new ones! 

 

 

 

 

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SS did the booking...…..the gal in customer service I use is awesome:classic_biggrin: and she helped me with everything. I did give her my input on timing of flights, etc...….and there is no way I could have booked a business class ticket for the price.  When you ask about 700.00..….my first cruise with them was 2 years ago and so that price may have been a bit less.  Their air dept does the actual booking. One year they put me on American, the other year was United.  If you want the name of my rep, I can give it to you...….I have known her for more than 15 years.:classic_smile:

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Thanks Lois. I already booked  with an SS agent, but if your contact works for the air dept , and there are no issues with working with guests who have already booked with another SS agent, I would be interested in talking with your contact. Thanks again, that is very kind of you.

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We used Silversea air on the last cruise returning from London.  At first they only wanted to book with certain airlines.  Probably because they have contracts.  So we were not allowed to book a direct flight even though we were willing to pay the deviation fee.  A month out, the original airline changed the flight time to one we couldn't make with disembarkation so, miraculously, the direct flight home was offered.  We will again use their air for a return flight from Tokyo because of the very cheap business air (the other was business also) & it is not direct but it's an ok layover so it should be fine. Please watch the routing & insist on the most direct.  The price is right, however....no way we could get $600'ish business flights from TOK to Seattle, even with a YVR stop.  Let us know what they come up with.  Good luck.

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9 hours ago, bobolz said:

Thanks Lois. I already booked  with an SS agent, but if your contact works for the air dept , and there are no issues with working with guests who have already booked with another SS agent, I would be interested in talking with your contact. Thanks again, that is very kind of you.

Good morning, she does not work in the air dept....but she has been a personal friend for many years.:classic_biggrin:, she has been working for them for a few years now (as an agent).

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Nowornever, you got a very good fare for business class from Tokyo to Seattle at

$700 ish. SS wants $2500 Cdn. each way per person for business class for

 Vancouver to Hong Kong. With business class costing $10,000 extra we will be flying with the included Economy fare.

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On 7/9/2019 at 4:23 PM, Lois R said:

SS did the booking...…..the gal in customer service I use is awesome:classic_biggrin: and she helped me with everything. I did give her my input on timing of flights, etc...….and there is no way I could have booked a business class ticket for the price.  When you ask about 700.00..….my first cruise with them was 2 years ago and so that price may have been a bit less.  Their air dept does the actual booking. One year they put me on American, the other year was United.  If you want the name of my rep, I can give it to you...….I have known her for more than 15 years.:classic_smile:

Hi Lois- i would love the name of your contact as we are having difficulties booking our business class air through SS. We live in Az and the return trip was Singapore~London and Phoenix but there re numerous flights that are wide open in business class with a better itinerary. Thank you!

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Yes we just booked this morning and are very excited to be going on the Muse- we sailed on the Spirit in June and loved it! Just trying to put together a reasonable flight- there are numerous and more comfortable connections through LAX but SS offered our TA a less than wonderful connection through Vancouver and then returning through LHR .

We are trying to utilize the $4000 pp business class upgrade but I would prefer to fly a less circuitous route.

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Our 2017 cruise on the Silver Spirit was Rome to Dubai with an offer of reduced coach air fare.   We checked with Silversea to see what they could offer in the way of business air fare.  This trip required us to get to Rome so typically that means San Antonio to a big International airport like Dallas or Atlanta then on to Rome.  The return would be Dubai to a major European airport like London Heathrow or Paris then to the US to a major airport then home.   We already knew from our own research we were talking around 26 hours to get home from Dubai.  No way were we going to that in coach.  So Silversea gave us a quote and it was more than we could book our own flights in business.  Sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn’t.

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Yes that is true!

22 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

Our 2017 cruise on the Silver Spirit was Rome to Dubai with an offer of reduced coach air fare.   We checked with Silversea to see what they could offer in the way of business air fare.  This trip required us to get to Rome so typically that means San Antonio to a big International airport like Dallas or Atlanta then on to Rome.  The return would be Dubai to a major European airport like London Heathrow or Paris then to the US to a major airport then home.   We already knew from our own research we were talking around 26 hours to get home from Dubai.  No way were we going to that in coach.  So Silversea gave us a quote and it was more than we could book our own flights in business.  Sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn’t.

Yes that is true! We had to book our own business class flights for our recent Spirit cruise in June. I was hopeful that the 4,000 pp upcharge would get us a decent flight but I’m not sure that will happen and will have to book on our own if we can’t live with the itinerary. Will keep everyone posted!

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5 hours ago, Colgal said:

Hi Lois- i would love the name of your contact as we are having difficulties booking our business class air through SS. We live in Az and the return trip was Singapore~London and Phoenix but there re numerous flights that are wide open in business class with a better itinerary. Thank you!

 

Hi, her name is Lisa and if you dial the 800 number..her ext is 3038. Tell her I sent you:classic_biggrin:

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Thank you Lois-I will give it a try. Today was full of frustration with our TA trying to work with SS. 

 

I offered several itineraries that were at the reasonable end of the spectrum regarding $$  but  apparently SS has contracted rates with a vendor that are higher than what we could do on our own.

 

We are holding a reservation with a 24 hr cancellation but I will contact your person to see if she can do better. We would lose the one night pre-cruise hotel and transfers but I believe I can book the same property at a competitive rate and arrange for transfers without getting damaged financially. 

 

I spent a lot of time on formulating itineraries just to be told by the SS rep that we would incur surcharges. My TA also was frustrated by the emailing process- she would have preferred a direct discussion with SS rather than a back and forth by emails.

 

Still excited about this cruise and will keep you up-to -date!

 

 

 

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Thanks Lois for your contact info. I may also contact her if she is not opposed to providing guidance,  although I’ve booked with another agent. 

 

Thanks everyone for your responses regarding your experiences. This was what I was concerned about, that the options may not be the best. I know we can not do better on the price, so will have to hope for the best. 

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Just an update on our latest SS flight experience from just the past couple of days.   Our January 2020 Wind cruise included free coach fare.  We really wanted to fly first/business and wanted to fly in a day before.   Our TA worked with SS and the upcharge for first/business and the $150 deviation fee drove the price up to slightly above what we could directly book ourselves. After thinking about it we decided to use some of our considerable frequent flyer miles.  Not sure why we’d be sitting on them so decided to use them for this trip.  SS has already credited us $1,000 ($500/person) back to the credit card we used to book the cruise.   

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9 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

Just an update on our latest SS flight experience from just the past couple of days.   Our January 2020 Wind cruise included free coach fare.  We really wanted to fly first/business and wanted to fly in a day before.   Our TA worked with SS and the upcharge for first/business and the $150 deviation fee drove the price up to slightly above what we could directly book ourselves. After thinking about it we decided to use some of our considerable frequent flyer miles.  Not sure why we’d be sitting on them so decided to use them for this trip.  SS has already credited us $1,000 ($500/person) back to the credit card we used to book the cruise.   

Randy, great news!:classic_smile:....saving money all the way around!   When in January are you sailing?...is this to the Caribbean?

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3 hours ago, Lois R said:

Randy, great news!:classic_smile:....saving money all the way around!   When in January are you sailing?...is this to the Caribbean?

 

Yes.  We needed a break and rather than one of our more exotic distant destinations we picked the Caribbean.  Really a time and distance decision because of my wife’s work and graduate studies.  This is a modified itinerary caused by the Cuba ban.  Cruise is a 11-day cruise January 23 to February 3, 2020 Ft Lauderdale to Ft Lauderdale.   Just looking to relax and surprisingly go to two or three islands or ports we’ve not been we’ve not been to in close to 300 days on Holland America and Silversea in the Caribbean.

Edited by Randyk47
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