Why is Silversea still listing cruise dates in November?

[crusinbanjo]

I think we all believe that SS will not be cruising until sometime in 2021, but they still list departures in November!  Does anyone think there might actually be any cruising in 2020?  Or am I missing something?

[A Tucson Guy]

I am signed up for Thanksgiving 2021 Dubai to Mumbai and I am starting to wonder if that will ever happen!!

[Randyk47]

15 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

I think we all believe that SS will not be cruising until sometime in 2021, but they still list departures in November!  Does anyone think there might actually be any cruising in 2020?  Or am I missing something?

Silversea is using what I call a 30-45 day rolling cancellation process.  Not sure why other than they are hoping against hope that some miracle will happen and they’ll be able to at least resume some cruising.   That may be a reasonable business decision but quite frankly it is a little off putting for me.   But what do I know.  As I have posted before no way did I see this pandemic becoming as broadly spread or as long lasting as it has turned out to be.  

[philipb]

It's simply to preserve cash for as long as possible, before having to make refunds. No other reason.

[Randyk47]

4 minutes ago, philipb said:

It's simply to preserve cash for as long as possible, before having to make refunds. No other reason.

I guess it’s the practice of still advertising and booking some of the close in cruises that bothers me the most.   For instance some are reporting over in FaceBook that the November Moon TA has been or is in the process of being cancelled but others have heard nothing and Silversea still shows it available.   Which is it?   I am sometimes reminded of my early career when I’d tell my boss I “hoped” to have something done by a particular time only to be chastised and reminded “hope” is not a “plan”.    

[Silver Spectre]

20 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

I think we all believe that SS will not be cruising until sometime in 2021, but they still list departures in November!  Does anyone think there might actually be any cruising in 2020?  Or am I missing something?

Incompetence.

[keryn and Dudley]

Hey there, I’m pretty confident we will hear from SS shortly that there will be no cruises  from them until 2021. Certainly the November 2020 cruises will be cancelled. 😪

 

 

[brimary]

22 hours ago, philipb said:

It's simply to preserve cash for as long as possible, before having to make refunds. No other reason.

Thanks for posting the short and sweet obvious answer to the question why Silversea are spreading out refunds as much as possible.Preserve cash flow for as long as possible in the hope that cruising is resumed before the cash runs out sadly is the only sensible policy to pursue.Unfortunately nobody knows as phase two of the Pandemic is gathering pace throughout the World the consequences for the cruising industry is bleak.

[crusinbanjo]

I received an email from SS today promoting cruises to Antarctica, with dates beginning November of 2020.........  ok......  just so you folks at SS know, when the phone doesn’t ring, that will be me calling to book one of these..  Mrs Banjo and I won’t be booking any cruises until we can expect the cruise to be relatively safe and  we can expect to get there and return home with safety and without other issues.

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by crusinbanjo

[JessJ]

@crusinbanjo On a trip like Antarctica - the current rates and bonus perks seem pretty good to a first time Silversea cruiser. I don't see a downside of booking one of those close-in discounted trips, locking in the nice package, waiting til its inevitably cancelled, and rolling the credit forward to a safer voyage time while still keeping the discount.

I feel like there's a hole in my logic - can any veterans cruisers weigh in?

 

[Randyk47]

4 hours ago, JessJ said:

@crusinbanjo On a trip like Antarctica - the current rates and bonus perks seem pretty good to a first time Silversea cruiser. I don't see a downside of booking one of those close-in discounted trips, locking in the nice package, waiting til its inevitably cancelled, and rolling the credit forward to a safer voyage time while still keeping the discount.

I feel like there's a hole in my logic - can any veterans cruisers weigh in?

 

My problem is the state of the cruise industry.   It’s just a bit too shaky for me right now.   

[alexandria]

5 hours ago, JessJ said:

@crusinbanjo On a trip like Antarctica - the current rates and bonus perks seem pretty good to a first time Silversea cruiser. I don't see a downside of booking one of those close-in discounted trips, locking in the nice package, waiting til its inevitably cancelled, and rolling the credit forward to a safer voyage time while still keeping the discount.

I feel like there's a hole in my logic - can any veterans cruisers weigh in?

 

 

Silversea recently reduced the FCC on cruises they cancel from 125% to "up to 110%.". They also retroactively applied that reduction all who previously booked, regardless of the terms and conditions in effect at the time of booking.  Their chief marketing officer Barbara Muckermann has said further reductions should be expected.

 

So if Silversea cancels your cruise, they may only offer 100% future cruise credit.  Additionally, you may not find the rates to be as attractive in the future.  So the risk of your plan is that you don't really "lock in" the discounted rate you are seeing now.

[clo]

On 9/20/2020 at 4:53 PM, crusinbanjo said:

I received an email from SS today promoting cruises to Antarctica, with dates beginning November of 2020.........  ok......  just so you folks at SS know, when the phone doesn’t ring, that will be me calling to book one of these..  Mrs Banjo and I won’t be booking any cruises until we can expect the cruise to be relatively safe and  we can expect to get there and return home with safety and without other issues.

 

We went to Antarctica on Hurtigruten a couple of years ago. A glorious trip but not someplace I would want to be evacuated from.

[alexandria]

20 hours ago, JessJ said:

@crusinbanjo On a trip like Antarctica - the current rates and bonus perks seem pretty good to a first time Silversea cruiser. I don't see a downside of booking one of those close-in discounted trips, locking in the nice package, waiting til its inevitably cancelled, and rolling the credit forward to a safer voyage time while still keeping the discount.

I feel like there's a hole in my logic - can any veterans cruisers weigh in?

 

 

To further follow-up to my earlier comment, RCCL (the parent company of Silversea) announced that they do not intend to extend their Lift and Sail program past the end of this month.  That program allowed passengers to simply move their existing booking to the equivalent sailing in the future.  By ending that program, passengers will have to re-book at the prices then offered.

 

You can see how that appears to be working now on Silversea from this thread by zqtchas, which reports that prices for an equivalent TA sailing next year are more than ten percent higher (per day), and that is after applying a limited-time 15% discount that was offered!

 

 

[cruiseej]

I don't think it should be a surprise to see rates going up. The company is losing more than half a billion dollars a month. They will have to charge more in the future to pay off the financial gyrations they've been forced to do to try to survive.