SS cancellations

[DCCruiser57]

Someone reported on Facebook, who was booked on the May 25th sailing on the Whisper, that SS notified them today that the sailing had been canceled.  In looking at the SS website, May cruises for the entire fleet are no longer listed. 

[jollyjones]

My May/June Spirit cruise is cancelled, and my friend's May Shadow cruise is cancelled.

What seems to be happening is that the TAs are being told and informing their clients straight away. Then apparently I must wait for a personal email from SS outlining my options before proceeding - the SS website says something about 'within 15 days' - and I expect the email will push the 125% FCC very hard with probably a very-small-print option to get a cash refund. Trying for the longest they can avoid refunds, and the least they must give, I'd guess.

 

Looking at the SS website, everything is gone till early or mid June. Give it another month and I expect it'll be a repeat for all the June cruises ...

Edited April 23, 2020 by jollyjones

[dougburns]

Great news about Fincanterri open back up next Monday. Maybe there's still hope for the Silver Moon in late Oct.

[pausulli]

Our cruise on May 23rd is canceled.  My agent finally told me he would take care of the request for the refund for me after trying to convince me multiple times to take the 25% FCC upgrade.  He said that you would get the refund 30 days after the accounting department had fulfilled the request but that are very backed up.  I am not expecting it to be refunded within 30 days of today.  I am thinking we will be lucky with 60.  I am just glad it is finally canceled and that we can get a refund.  

[DCCruiser57]

Just checked the SS website and cruises for the first part of June are no longer available.  First cruises are now June 13th on the Wind from Stockholm and the Silver Galapagos.

[Bucephalus53]

I just received my email that my London to London Cruise in May is officially canceled. 

 

Dear Esteemed Guest,

 

The safety, security and comfort of our guests and crew has always being our top priority. As such, Silversea has embraced the Royal Caribbean Group initiative to suspend all voyages globally. Silversea has taken the difficult decision to cancel your upcoming cruise on May 13th, 2020 aboard Silver Wind.

We regret this cancellation, but I am sure you will understand the unique circumstances surrounding us.

As compensation for this situation, which is completely beyond our control, you will receive a 125% Future Cruise Credit* (FCC) to be used within 2 (two) years of issuance date. This is an incredible value and an opportunity to enhance your future cruise by choosing a longer itinerary, or upgrading your stateroom category. Plus, as an added benefit of selecting a Future Cruise Credit, Venetian Society members will accumulate cruise days on the cancelled voyage as well as on the new voyage. ^^

 

You will receive an email with the Future Cruise Credit in the next 15 days.  It will be sent to this same email address.  

 

If you decide to forego the 125% Future Cruise Credit and the corresponding 25% additional benefit that Silversea is providing, a cash refund^ option is also available.  Please check the terms and conditions.**

 

We are deeply sorry to have to cancel a trip you were surely looking forward to and hope to welcome you aboard soon. 

 

Best personal regards,

 

BARBARA MUCKERMANN

Chief Marketing Officer

 

*The Future Cruise Credit (from now on FCC) is computed on the portion of the booking value paid. Booking value means the cruise fare as well as any other 3rd party items purchased via Silversea such as air upgrades, deviations, transfers, insurance, hotel, land tours and pre and post and overland tours. The FCC cannot be applied towards land programs, hotels, air and other non-cruise component of the new booking; ad hoc exceptions can be evaluated by Silversea Revenue Management.  FCC can be moved voyage to voyage towards any other 2020 voyage.  If the value of this certificate is applied to a cruise fare of less than its assigned value, a new Cruise Credit for the remainder of the certificate’s value will be issued subject to the same terms and conditions as stated herein; once applied toward future cruise(s), the Cruise Credit will be rendered null and void.  The Cruise Credit will be honored in the name(s) of the Guest(s) included on the Cruise Credit, or as a one-time exception the Cruise Credit can be transferred with a notarized letter from the Cruise Credit holder, naming the friend(s)/relative(s) the Credit is being transferred to.  If guests have a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) that was applied to the cancelled booking, this FCC will be reinstated with the previous amount used with the original expiration date or extend the expiration date to December 31, 2020, whichever is further out. This FCC must be used, and guests must sail by, December 31, 2021. Once re-activated, it can be combined with the Cruise with Confidence FCC on the new booking.

 

^ The cash refund of the booking cruise fare paid to be credited to the original method of payment, to be received within 30 to 45 days of guest’s request, due to exceptional workload Silversea is facing. The refund of 3rd party items purchased via Silversea such as air upgrades, air deviation fees, transfers, insurance, hotel, land tours, pre/post and overlands will be net of any penalties assessed by the suppliers. Regarding the refund of 3rd party items purchased independently such as such as air upgrades, deviations, transfers, insurance, hotel, land tours and pre and post and overland tours; please reach out to the airline carrier, tour operator, or hotel supplier/chain directly to discuss options. Silversea will not provide a Future Cruise Credit or Cash Refund on any independent Air, Hotel, Transfer ,Tour or other arrangements booked independently either by a Travel Advisor or the guest directly with third party suppliers. Unless the refund has already been processed, clients can change their mind and ask for the FCC at any time. On all insurance items: no refunds allowed; guest should file a claim with the insurance company first, prior to any refund/FCC given. 

 

^^^ The double Venetian Society Days promotion is only applicable to FCC associated to cruises cancelled by Silversea. The guest will accumulate Venetian Society days of the original cancelled booking and the ones associated with the new booking, in case the new booking is done within June 30, 2020. It is combinable with all public fares and promotions excluding reduced rates and net deals. Only eligible for the Guests included in the original booking.

 

Other restrictions may apply.

 

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, Bucephalus53 said:

On all insurance items: no refunds allowed; guest should file a claim with the insurance company first, prior to any refund/FCC given. 

I find this a bit surprising since SS acts as the agent for their two policies which cost a combined total of 14% of the cruise fare.  I would have thought SS would taken care of this and not forced the guest to take action.

[UKCruiseJeff]

^ The cash refund of the booking cruise fare paid to be credited to the original method of payment, to be received within 30 to 45 days of guest’s request, due to exceptional workload Silversea is facing. The refund of 3rd party items purchased via Silversea such as air upgrades, air deviation fees, transfers, insurance, hotel, land tours, pre/post and overlands will be net of any penalties assessed by the suppliers. Regarding the refund of 3rd party items purchased independently such as such as air upgrades, deviations, transfers, insurance, hotel, land tours and pre and post and overland tours; please reach out to the airline carrier, tour operator, or hotel supplier/chain directly to discuss options.

 

 

With respect to the above paragraph, these comments may be of interest and value to UK/EU customers.

 

1.  When a holiday organisation cancels a holiday, UK/EU citizens are entitled to a prompt full refund.  It is understandable that with this volume that may take a short time but there is no excuse for starting that process in 30 days time.  Their communication implies that they do intend to START the refund process for 30 days which I suggest is unacceptable.

 

2.  When a holiday organisation (not the customer) cancels a holiday, UK/EU customers are entitled to a full refund of all of the monies paid without any deductions.   In this situation any charges made by Silversea's suppliers including hotels or airlines should be for SS to negotiate and/or absorb and those charges cannot be passed on to and charged to customers.

 

This therefore implies that as the amount that should be credited back to the credit card should simply be the exact full refund of the amount originally charged to the card, then this should basically be a very speedy, simple and automated service.  What was charged should simply be refunded in full. 

 

So for clairty the payment should be prompt and in full.

 

Good wishes all.

 

Jeff

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by UKCruiseJeff

[Alturia]

52 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

there is no excuse for starting that process in 30 days time.  Their communication implies that they do intend to START the refund process for 30 days which I suggest is unacceptable.

 

 

 

 

My cruise was one of the ones cancelled today. I called SS (in the US) and requested a refund. I was told that accounting would process the return within 24 hours but that it could take 30 days or so to see it on the credit card account. I agree that payments always process instantly, but refunds seem to always take an inordinate time. But from what I was told SS is not waiting 30 days to process the refund. Maybe it is different in different countries.

[UKCruiseJeff]

10 minutes ago, Alturia said:

My cruise was one of the ones cancelled today. I called SS (in the US) and requested a refund. I was told that accounting would process the return within 24 hours but that it could take 30 days or so to see it on the credit card account. I agree that payments always process instantly, but refunds seem to always take an inordinate time. But from what I was told SS is not waiting 30 days to process the refund. Maybe it is different in different countries.

 

Do you believe that if SS authorised the refund within the next 24 hours that the banking system would take 30 days to action it?  🙂

[Alturia]

18 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Do you believe that if SS authorised the refund within the next 24 hours that the banking system would take 30 days to action it?  🙂

No of course not. I do think the refunds  quickly go into a  queue for review and approval and I assume more than one person needs to be involved in the approval process. And given that 10 ships cancelled an average of 3 cruises I imagine there are several thousand refunds that have to be processed. So to me 30 days to receive a refund doesn't seem too bad. But it could be because of my experiences with other vendors in the last couple of weeks 

 

SS is in the middle in terms of responsiveness to refunds. Delta has been the best. They cancelled my flight on a Saturday and I had the refund deposited to my credit card on the following Wednesday. Lufthansa has been the worst. When they cancelled my flights I was offered the ubiquitous future credit. When I insisted on a refund they told me they would start the process, but that all of their refund department has been let go and they did not know when it would be restaffed so could not tell me when they would start actually working on refunds (needless to say I have started a credit card dispute for the Lufthansa transaction). Given that, the SS time frame of 30 days doesn't seem too bad.

[DCCruiser57]

SS has not updated the "Resumption of Itineraries" link today to reflect that cruises will not resume until mid June.  In addition, this new policy states "Booked guests on cancelled voyages will receive a 125% cruise fare refund in the form of a Future Cruise Credit (FCC), which can be applied toward any future cruise and it’s valid two years from issuance. "  Interesting in that it makes no mention of a cash refund.

 

https://www.silversea.com/information-on-itinerary-changes.html

[UKCruiseJeff]

6 minutes ago, Alturia said:

No of course not. I do think the refunds  quickly go into a  queue for review and approval and I assume more than one person needs to be involved in the approval process. And given that 10 ships cancelled an average of 3 cruises I imagine there are several thousand refunds that have to be processed. So to me 30 days to receive a refund doesn't seem too bad. But it could be because of my experiences with other vendors in the last couple of weeks 

 

SS is in the middle in terms of responsiveness to refunds. Delta has been the best. They cancelled my flight on a Saturday and I had the refund deposited to my credit card on the following Wednesday. Lufthansa has been the worst. When they cancelled my flights I was offered the ubiquitous future credit. When I insisted on a refund they told me they would start the process, but that all of their refund department has been let go and they did not know when it would be restaffed so could not tell me when they would start actually working on refunds (needless to say I have started a credit card dispute for the Lufthansa transaction). Given that, the SS time frame of 30 days doesn't seem too bad.

 

 

Either SS are processing refunds within the next 24 hours as they told you, in which case refunds will start within the next 24 hours, or they are not but waiting for 30 days before they start processing them.  

 

I cannot see how both claims can be correct. 

[alexandria]

22 minutes ago, DCCruiser57 said:

SS has not updated the "Resumption of Itineraries" link today to reflect that cruises will not resume until mid June.  In addition, this new policy states "Booked guests on cancelled voyages will receive a 125% cruise fare refund in the form of a Future Cruise Credit (FCC), which can be applied toward any future cruise and it’s valid two years from issuance. "  Interesting in that it makes no mention of a cash refund.

 

https://www.silversea.com/information-on-itinerary-changes.html

 

I'm showing the Resumption of Itineraries page to be current as of April 23, 2020.  While the mention of the cash refund option is not on that page, when you click on the "More Information Here" link it takes you to the cancellation policy page (https://www.silversea.com/temporary-amendment-to-cancellation-policy.html) which does mention the cash refund availability when Silversea cancels.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by alexandria

[Alturia]

18 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

 

Either SS are processing refunds within the next 24 hours as they told you, in which case refunds will start within the next 24 hours, or they are not but waiting for 30 days before they start processing them.  

 

I cannot see how both claims can be correct. 

Accounting take the steps in the SS accounting system to start the refund process. But the review and approval of the refund can take time because there are several thousand refunds to review and approve. The lucky people at the front of the may see the refunds in a short period of time. While the people in the middle or end of the queue won't see the refunds for 30 days or so. But SS tells everyone 30 days because they don't know where someone will end up in the queue. 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Alturia

[Bucephalus53]

I just spoke to SS and I am extremely tempted to take the British Isles Cruise in September of '21. No London but I could add that on up front. I can't help but worry about what the world will look like at that time and whether SS will still be around. 

[DCCruiser57]

33 minutes ago, DCCruiser57 said:

SS has not updated the "Resumption of Itineraries" link today to reflect that cruises will not resume until mid June.  In addition, this new policy states "Booked guests on cancelled voyages will receive a 125% cruise fare refund in the form of a Future Cruise Credit (FCC), which can be applied toward any future cruise and it’s valid two years from issuance. "  Interesting in that it makes no mention of a cash refund.

 

https://www.silversea.com/information-on-itinerary-changes.html

 

Sorry - meant to say "updated" ,

[UKCruiseJeff]

19 minutes ago, Alturia said:

Accounting take the steps in the SS accounting system to start the refund process. But the review and approval of the refund can take time because there are several thousand refunds to review and approve. The lucky people at the front of the may see the refunds in a short period of time. While the people in the middle or end of the queue won't see the refunds for 30 days or so. But SS tells everyone 30 days because they don't know where someone will end up in the queue. 

 

 

 

In the UK and EU the law obligates  SS to refund the customer within 14 days from when they cancel. 

[alexandria]

Assuming that Silversea was booked at 100% capacity, they are processing almost 1,700 refunds per week, either in the form of a cash refund or FCC.  I'd imagine that the department and employees who are responsible for processing refunds only saw a tiny fraction of that number each week prior to this crisis and are staffed at levels appropriate for that pre-COVID workload.  Considering the nature of accounting work, the need for transaction accuracy and the personal and confidential financial data that they have access to, most companies would not be able to simply "reassign" office staff to handle financial transactions.  Add that to the furloughs and layoffs that they have experienced as well as workplace restrictions that means some of the remaining Silversea personnel are working from home, and I can understand that it may take longer than usual to process customer refunds. 

 

I personally believe that the Silversea personnel, some of whom may be facing uncertainty about whether they will even be employed tomorrow, are doing the best they can under these very difficult and unusual circumstances.  And some of them may be dealing with their own personal situations, as many are, such as children who are home due to school closures and friends and family who may be ill or unemployed. 

 

As one who has been blessed to be able to enjoy luxury travel, I hope that if I am in the situation of expecting a refund from Silversea I can show a modicum of patience and understanding for those at Silversea who are quietly and without complaint working behind the scenes to handle that process.  And frankly if I can't afford to wait 30-45 days for my refund to post to my credit card statement, then I have no business booking a luxury cruise.

Edited April 23, 2020 by alexandria

[UKCruiseJeff]

17 minutes ago, alexandria said:

Assuming that Silversea was booked at 100% capacity, they are processing almost 1,700 refunds per week, either in the form of a cash refund or FCC.  I'd imagine that the department and employees who are responsible for processing refunds only saw a tiny fraction of that number each week prior to this crisis and are staffed at levels appropriate for that pre-COVID workload.  Considering the nature of accounting work, the need for transaction accuracy and the personal and confidential financial data that they have access to, most companies would not be able to simply "reassign" office staff to handle financial transactions.  Add that to the furloughs and layoffs that they have experienced as well as workplace restrictions that means some of the remaining Silversea personnel are working from home, and I can understand that it may take longer than usual to process customer refunds. 

 

I personally believe that the Silversea personnel, some of whom may be facing uncertainty about whether they will even be employed tomorrow, are doing the best they can under these very difficult and unusual circumstances.  And some of them may be dealing with their own personal situations, as many are, such as children who are home due to school closures and friends and family who may be ill or unemployed. 

 

As one who has been blessed to be able to enjoy luxury travel, I hope that if I am in the situation of expecting a refund from Silversea I can show a modicum of patience and understanding for those at Silversea who are quietly and without complaint working behind the scenes to handle that process.  And frankly if I can't afford to wait 30-45 days for my refund to post to my credit card statement, then I have no business booking a luxury cruise.

 

 

I share all of your sentiments with respect  to the staff.  They  must be having a horrible time. 

 

Reversing a credit card transaction is an extremely simple and speedy automated process. The refund appears almost instantly in the receiving credit card account.   It takes a very small fraction of the time a new booking takes.   It only takes longer if you are attempting to make a partial refund when calculations might be  needed.  In the EU and UK SS should be simply reversing the transaction because all charges are fully priced refundable without deduction when they cancel. 

[NJ Cruiserman]

3 hours ago, Alturia said:

My cruise was one of the ones cancelled today. I called SS (in the US) and requested a refund. I was told that accounting would process the return within 24 hours but that it could take 30 days or so to see it on the credit card account. I agree that payments always process instantly, but refunds seem to always take an inordinate time. But from what I was told SS is not waiting 30 days to process the refund. Maybe it is different in different countries.

On April 2 I cancelled our August 6 cruise on the Silver Moon (126 days before embarkation). I received an acknowledgement from Silversea of the cancellation. However I have not yet received any refund, and I expect that it will take at least 30-45 days. I would be happy to hear from anyone who has already received a refund.

[Observer]

40 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Reversing a credit card transaction is an extremely simple and speedy automated process. The refund appears almost instantly in the receiving credit card account.   It takes a very small fraction of the time a new booking takes.   

 

In the US at least, this is true only if the transaction has not been completed.  It is definitely not true if the original transaction is weeks or months old, the charge has been billed and paid, and the customer is now asking the supplier for a refund.  That's an entirely different transaction.  There have been many detailed discussions on the Crystal board of this matter by travel industry professionals (one from Canada, the other from US) setting forth the various steps required.

 

Perhaps the UK situation is very different.

[alexandria]

Some posters on the Silversea Passengers group on Facebook report receiving their refund in 30-40 days from date of cancellation to when it appeared on their credit card statement.  Others have complained of waiting almost 45 days now without the refund posting.

 

Barbara Muckermann of Silversea reported on the same page that "The volumes we had to process in March were almost 50% of the total volumes of a typical year but we are now finally on a roll and the refunds are now taking an average of 30 days to be posted on the customer's credit card."

 

[QueSeraSera]

I'm at 40 days from my conversation to cancel with our Silversea rep.  No refund yet, cruise was cancelled by SS prior to my calling them.  Mom taught us sons, patience is a virtue.

[spinnaker2]

32 minutes ago, QueSeraSera said:

I'm at 40 days from my conversation to cancel with our Silversea rep.  No refund yet, cruise was cancelled by SS prior to my calling them.  Mom taught us sons, patience is a virtue.

And my mom taught me:

Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, it's seldom in a woman and never in a man.