Business class air booked through Silverseas

[JohnGinPBG]

4 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

An advantage of booking through SS is that of there is a problem with your flight they will do their best to reroute or rebook to get you to the ship.  I’ve never had to use this service but I would suppose it would be without additional cost.  Perhaps others can comment.

 

We had free airfare through SS on a Caribbean cruise in March. Miami to San Juan and Barbados to Miami. The day the cruise started, all 737 MAX aircraft were grounded and that plane was what we were scheduled to fly back on from Barbados. While it took them a couple of days, SS was able to arrange alternate flights for our return. I was relieved I didn't have to work that out myself during a cruise.

[Gourmet Gal]

That seems odd regarding the flights.  You may as well book yourself, then.  As for hotel,  I never book through the cruiseline, the price is usually quite high for not much benefit except possibly transfers.  I get plenty of perks and better choice and price through my TA.  

[crusinbanjo]

On 7/9/2019 at 6:51 PM, bobolz said:

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! 

 

 

 

 

 

I usually know what flights are best before I talk to SS. Then sometimes you need to insist or they will just give you what they have.  Last year on a cruise in SE Asia, SS offered us flights through Dubai, but nonstops were available to and from using a different carrier.  I insisted on the direct flights and after some back &  forth, I got what I wanted.  In this case a little knowledge and persistence paid off

[Gourmet Gal]

2 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

 

I usually know what flights are best before I talk to SS. Then sometimes you need to insist or they will just give you what they have.  Last year on a cruise in SE Asia, SS offered us flights through Dubai, but nonstops were available to and from using a different carrier.  I insisted on the direct flights and after some back &  forth, I got what I wanted.  In this case a little knowledge and persistence paid off

Did you have to pay an  extra fee for the nonstops?  I also researched in advance the ideal flights and after undesirable flights were offered by SS My TA requested the nonstops and we paid an extra $700 pp. SS doesn’t have a contract with every  airline so there can be limitations unless you pay the difference.

[Colgal]

3 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

 

I usually know what flights are best before I talk to SS. Then sometimes you need to insist or they will just give you what they have.  Last year on a cruise in SE Asia, SS offered us flights through Dubai, but nonstops were available to and from using a different carrier.  I insisted on the direct flights and after some back &  forth, I got what I wanted.  In this case a little knowledge and persistence paid off

We did our “homework” before booking both of our cruises with SS but our requested flights were tagged with upgrade charges to the extent that we could book it ourselves for a better price - believe me we spent a lot of time on our research as did our TA . We were offered convoluted connections for our fare to Europe in June but expected that our flights to Asia would be easier considering that we live in the Southwest. Since we our now 0 for two  we will always make our inquiries through SS but not too optimistic about the outcome.

[mwhm]

A cautionary Silversea business air tale.  For an upcoming September 29 cruise that leaves from Rome, many months ago we booked business class seats through Silversea.  The My Silversea website showed that we had "confirmed" seats 8A and 8B, and I assumed that we did.  Yesterday I checked the UAL website to determine the location of the seats of travelling companions and noticed that one of our "confirmed "seats was shown as available.  I called UAL to find out what was going on.  The representative told me that not only did we not have seats 8A and 8B reserved, we didn't have any seats reserved. The representative was able to assign seats to us, but needless to say since the flight leaves in less than 6 weeks no desirable seats were left.   According to the agent, sometimes cruise lines will assume that seats were assigned as requested when in fact they weren't.  As frustrating as this is, it scares me to think what might have happened had I not checked with the airline sooner. 

[crusinbanjo]

5 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Did you have to pay an  extra fee for the nonstops?  I also researched in advance the ideal flights and after undesirable flights were offered by SS My TA requested the nonstops and we paid an extra $700 pp. SS doesn’t have a contract with every  airline so there can be limitations unless you pay the difference.

 

 We did pay an up charge, but it was still far better pricing than I could book on my own.  Having said that, sometimes you just have to tell them no thanks and book your own flights.  We have done that many times as well.

[Gourmet Gal]

6 hours ago, mwhm said:

A cautionary Silversea business air tale.  For an upcoming September 29 cruise that leaves from Rome, many months ago we booked business class seats through Silversea.  The My Silversea website showed that we had "confirmed" seats 8A and 8B, and I assumed that we did.  Yesterday I checked the UAL website to determine the location of the seats of travelling companions and noticed that one of our "confirmed "seats was shown as available.  I called UAL to find out what was going on.  The representative told me that not only did we not have seats 8A and 8B reserved, we didn't have any seats reserved. The representative was able to assign seats to us, but needless to say since the flight leaves in less than 6 weeks no desirable seats were left.   According to the agent, sometimes cruise lines will assume that seats were assigned as requested when in fact they weren't.  As frustrating as this is, it scares me to think what might have happened had I not checked with the airline sooner. 

Definitely check your reservation on the airlines website as soon as it is booked.  I am finding with TAP they do not allow seat assignments until the reservation is ticketed which SS will not do until 60 days i advance.  And you guessed it, you can pay an extra fee to have SS ticket 120 days out but on long haul flts, the  the seat options could be limited.  Some airlines will allow seat bookings without the tickets issued but better to keep checking anyway.

[daddyo]

We have also had a VERY interesting development.  Late last year,  we booked the Muse from Yokohama to Vancouver,  May 4, 2020.  At the time,  SS was offering reduced air fares for this cruise.  We were quoted $3880 for business out of Nashville (reasonable compared to pricing we got on line).  Last week we received a SS Asian brochure that listed business air for $699 each way with a negligible increase in fare.  We happened to be in Las Vegas at the same time as the Virtuoso Conference and saw our TA.  She had dinner with the SS Reps and they knew nothing about the offer.  She is pursuing that pricing for us.

Not to be skeptical,  but I think we were never intended to receive that mailer.

[Gourmet Gal]

23 minutes ago, daddyo said:

We have also had a VERY interesting development.  Late last year,  we booked the Muse from Yokohama to Vancouver,  May 4, 2020.  At the time,  SS was offering reduced air fares for this cruise.  We were quoted $3880 for business out of Nashville (reasonable compared to pricing we got on line).  Last week we received a SS Asian brochure that listed business air for $699 each way with a negligible increase in fare.  We happened to be in Las Vegas at the same time as the Virtuoso Conference and saw our TA.  She had dinner with the SS Reps and they knew nothing about the offer.  She is pursuing that pricing for us.

Not to be skeptical,  but I think we were never intended to receive that mailer.

Would love to hear the outcome and would expect they would honor a fare reduction.   Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the $1398 RT is just the starting point.  If you’re traveling earlier or staying later there may be a deviation fee plus if your original routing airlines are not ones with SS bulk fares there could be further up charges.  Good luck.

[silkismom]

Let me give a "what if"  We are looking at the Dec 2020 Auckland to Dunedin on the Explorer, could we fly DEN-HNL, spend a night then on to Auckland and the same on the return, mainly to break up that loooonnng flt. Could Silverseas do that or would we have to book DEN-HNL separately on our own and then HNL onward with Silverseas? Any ideas, we won't book the cruise for another month.

[Gourmet Gal]

Try pricing it out both ways online first.  At the very least there would be an air deviation charge.  I agree, Hawaii is a nice way to break up the trip but I would stay a couple of days at the least, especially on the return if your goal is to reduce jetlag.  An overnight isn’t worth it.

[Stumblefoot]

7 hours ago, silkismom said:

Could Silverseas do that or would we have to book DEN-HNL separately on our own and then HNL onward with Silverseas?

 

SS could definitely do it, but since I assume you’ll want the direct UA flight to HNL, I assume SS will nail you with two deviation air charges on both the outbound and inbound since you’ll be flying two different carriers as Hawaiian doesn’t fly to DEN.

[bobolz]

Update on our experience.

 

We forwarded our preferred nonstop flights and dates to Silverseas and they were able to reserve our flights that we provided, except we could not get our entire party  on the outbound flight, so we split the group up to fly out on 2 separate days, but the same nonstop flight. So far I would have to say I’m very impressed with the service I have received thru the Silverseas agent who worked with the air dept to get us what we wanted, albeit we have to go out different days. Not a big deal. 

Silverseas provided us with the PHR # for the airline and was able to get on the airline website (American) to see our record locator # and confirmed the days and flights with the Airline directly. The Silverseas air agent had apparently pre selected seats for 2 of us, but did not for the remaining 4 on the later flight. I did call the Airline, but they said we could not make any changes or select seats until the booking was ticketed and to call Silverseas for seat assignments. Silverseas said the earliest I could have the tickets released was 4 months before the cruise for $150 per ticket. This would be on top of the $150 pp air deviation fee we will be charged shortly. 

All in all was very satisfied with my air reservation experience, but believe it helped that we provided the dates and flights we wanted and our Silverseas agent followed up to make sure we did that as soon as air reservations became available (~270 days prior to the cruise start date) . It should be noted when Silverseas offers this air promotion to its guests,  it appears  that there are only a certain amount of seats that will be released by the Airlines for specific  flights at a contracted rate, so we probably got lucky we reserved the moment it was available and grabbed the last “contracted” rates  on the desired flight, for only  4 of us.  The flight the day b4 had apparently exceeded their seat/price allotment and thus 2 of us are going to leave 2 days b4 our family where there was apparently more allocated seats available.

So this would explain why some people may not get their desired nonstop flights. It’s what is available at the time bookings open up. I’m going to assume more seats will open up, but don’t know for sure if and how many and looks like for some of you an additional charge may be incurred to get what you want. In the end it was much cheaper than what we could do on our own. However, that may not have been the case  if Silverseas was not offering the BC air promotion. 

Will cross our fingers that the ticketing process goes as planned and we fly out and back with no issues

Best luck to all of you!

Sent from my iPad

Edited September 7, 2019 by bobolz

[Gourmet Gal]

It pays to do a little research and to know which flights are ideal.  Just wondering, are you planning to pay for the early seat assignments?  We got lucky and assignments were made by SS but on one of the airlines the assignments “disappeared” after a week or so.  I called the airline, TAP to rebook the seats and they also said the couldn’t do it until ticketing but reserved the seats anyway and said they would probably disappear again.  That was a month ago, so fingers crossed, it sticks this time.  A little convoluted for sure but the fare is still excellent.

[bobolz]

20 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

It pays to do a little research and to know which flights are ideal.  Just wondering, are you planning to pay for the early seat assignments?  We got lucky and assignments were made by SS but on one of the airlines the assignments “disappeared” after a week or so.  I called the airline, TAP to rebook the seats and they also said the couldn’t do it until ticketing but reserved the seats anyway and said they would probably disappear again.  That was a month ago, so fingers crossed, it sticks this time.  A little convoluted for sure but the fare is still excellent.

What I would be interested to know is if anyone experienced having been booked on a flight, but when they finally ticketed the flight, the flight was changed to a different flight? If the reservation we currently have doesn’t change and we are guaranteed a seat, I would hate to have to pay $150 to simply release the ticket , so I could reserve a seat. 

However, even this extra $150 is still less than what we would  pay on our own. 

 

So so at this time not sure.

 

 

[cdn.cruiser]

Bobolz.

To answer your question, yes we had a change when the flight was booked.

We were suppose to fly Singapore to Hongkong on our return home to Canada after our cruise.  However SingaporeAir cancelled that flight so we are flying Singapore to

Beijing instead. Unfortunately the flight time is not as convenient as before.

Previously our flight was at 1:05 p.m. Now our flight is at 8:45 a.m. We have to be at the airport 2 1/2 h before the flight so that is 6:15 a.m. it probably takes an hour to get to the airport so we have to leave the hotel at5:15 a.m. I am not a morning person and will

 probably have to be up at 4:30 a.m. Not happy about that but cest la vie.

[MrsWaldo]

8 hours ago, cdn.cruiser said:

it probably takes an hour to get to the airport so we have to leave the hotel at5:15 a.m. I am not a morning person and will

 probably have to be up at 4:30 a.m. Not happy about that but cest la vie.

Its about 30 minutes to Changi airport from most hotels and you will be heading away from town and not in peak hour

 

30 mins more sleep

[cdn.cruiser]

Thank you. A half hour is definitely better than an hour.🎀

[bobolz]

Thanks cdn 

 

sorry about your flight change. I understand the need for the change if your original flight was  cancelled, sorry that it was not ideal new flight times. I’m wondering if there was anyone that had Silverseas change their flight possibly as a result of overbooking and since they did not have a seat assigned, they were moved to another flight. 

 

If a flight is cancelled, I will accept that, I just don’t know if there would be any other reason to change your flight other than overbooking . If these  unticketed “bookings “ are truly holding a seat for you , I would hate to pay extra for ticketing a month or so early. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jeter55]

Is the deviation fee charged for arriving or departing earlier or later and for requesting certain flights ? Also I  have a deposit on an August 2020 departure which includes business class flights, when can I request my preferred flights? Do I need to pay in full to request my preferred flights ?

[Lois R]

Hey Anne...

.Where you going?😁

[jeter55]

Hi Lois

 

Venice to Venice on the shadow making up for my canceled Uniworld trip this summer....yours is coming up soon enjoy!

 

[Gourmet Gal]

3 hours ago, jeter55 said:

Is the deviation fee charged for arriving or departing earlier or later and for requesting certain flights ? Also I  have a deposit on an August 2020 departure which includes business class flights, when can I request my preferred flights? Do I need to pay in full to request my preferred flights ?

You have to wait for the schedules to be released by the airlines, usually 330 days in advance.  I think you have to pay for the flights in advance but not the entire cruise.  Someone will correct me if wrong, I’m sure.

[jeter55]

Thanks for this information. I have taken two cruises with Silversea but I booked both of those much closer to  departure so I had my flights soon after booking. My airport is JFK , I know Delta is the only carrier that flies nonstop to Venice from JFK but I don't think Silversea uses them, I guess I just have to wait for the schedules to be released.