Silversea begins Door to Door all inclusive beginning March 30, 2022

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, ronrick1943 said:

If this works and people use the service, how many private cars at the port when the ship arrives—this would be a mad house 200/300 black cars lined up?????????

Sounds like O’Hare.

[brimary]

our only experience of Silversea home to ship travel was similar to Spins.Pick up by driver for 240 mile trip to Southampton.FOUR OTHER pick ups ,total mileage approx 450 on arrival at Southampton,nightmare 7 hour journey nearly double the normal 4 hours .......Never again!!

[A Tucson Guy]

I wonder when you would go to see if this service is available in your home town. Any thoughts or insights? Personally, I think it COULD be a nice touch. I hate leaving a nice car at the airport parking garage for 2 or 3 weeks.

[ronrick1943]

16 minutes ago, A Tucson Guy said:

I wonder when you would go to see if this service is available in your home town. Any thoughts or insights? Personally, I think it COULD be a nice touch. I hate leaving a nice car at the airport parking garage for 2 or 3 weeks.

If it’s BLACKLANE like they say, they book car service all over.  I use them and they are pretty good.  However so many cars at one time—???how nice will the cars be, will they have to reach out and get the bottom of the cars in any one area.

[A Tucson Guy]

3 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

If it’s BLACKLANE like they say, they book car service all over.  I use them and they are pretty good.  However so many cars at one time—???how nice will the cars be, will they have to reach out and get the bottom of the cars in any one area.

I went to Blacklane's website and they are not available in Tucson AZ. Maybe they will be available next Spring or SS will use somebody else.

[Lois R]

11 minutes ago, A Tucson Guy said:

I went to Blacklane's website and they are not available in Tucson AZ. Maybe they will be available next Spring or SS will use somebody else.

Hi, I checked here too and nothing is offered.

[Dolcevita Diva]

On 7/23/2021 at 2:47 PM, jollyjones said:

Ploughing through the T&Cs, it seems to be from home to domestic airport. Not an SS deal, it’s run by some mob called Blacklane. Only for 52 miles, then you pay extra. 

This would be a great benefit for some voyages if it covered home to port.   I live 59 miles from Port Everglades, so the addtl charge for more than 52 miles should be nominal.  Not keen on parking my car there and car service for that distance costs considerably more than the credit they would offer.   

Edited July 24, 2021 by Dolcevita Diva

[cruiseej]

21 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

If this works and people use the service, how many private cars at the port when the ship arrives—this would be a mad house 200/300 black cars lined up?????????

 

No, the new private transfer is from your home to your airport, and your home airport to your home -- not at the port. Transfers in the port city will be the same as in the past. 

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

 

No, the new private transfer is from your home to your airport, and your home airport to your home -- not at the port. Transfers in the port city will be the same as in the past. 

Well that is good news.

[MBP&O2/O]

I am not impressed.

For me this is a complete waste of money.

On current pricing I can book a return cab journey to my local airport at a cost of £90 - the equivalent of ten days parking at my preferred car park. That £90 is of course for two people!

Anything over the ten days and it will work out cheaper to book the taxi, and anything under ten days is diy.

Anything over 14 days, with Silversea, is hypothetical as I probably couldn’t afford it in the first place😁

It’s bad enough with the new ‘free’ excursions that add an arm and a leg to the base cruise price … with of course no refund for not wanting this ‘perk’.

It looks to me like a ploy to help to make up for lost revenue.

Presumably both these ‘perks’ will be incorporated into every cruise before much longer so it will be a case of take it or leave it, and I suspect a lot of people will choose to leave it.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

May I offer an alternative view?  I understand seasoned Silversea guests have a right to be irritated at this new added service they won't use or can't use, but I, as a new upcoming Silversea guest, am grateful they are doing what they can to stay afloat during these uncertain times so that I can experience what you have come to enjoy and love about Silversea.  Is it a ploy to line their already overstuffed pockets?  Maybe, but companies raise the price of their goods and services all the time and more often than not, they do not offer more, sometimes they offer less.  The prices on just about everything has skyrocketed over the past year, so incremental increases in the base fare for an added service is a disappointment for some but not really a surprise for others. I'm sure its been discussed many times on this forum that Silversea sets themselves apart from other cruise lines that offer cheap base fares, but then nickel and dime you for everything.  People choose Silversea for a variety of reasons and some of us pay for perks in our base fare we would rather not have or use, like a butler or caviar or unlimited alcoholic drinks or excursions, etc. while others enjoy them.  If Silversea starts making perks like these optional, they become just another cruise line. 

[eastwoodboy]

Just checked Blacklane prices for my Sept dates and they quote £179.57 each way and I am 52.7 miles from Heathrow.

My usual service which I have used for years is £120.00 for their e class Mercedes and they will continue to receive my custom.

 

I have used Blacklane and had some excellent cars and drivers but all overseas and found them to be quite reliable. Sometimes they have pretty well matched local taxi prices and others they have charged more but if they quote me too much I just make my own arrangements. I do not need SS do do this for me and the extra charge is just a way of trying to increase revenue.

[Emtbsam]

We have used Blacklane several times, once in the US and once in France.  They are not the cheapest, but the service was on time and it worked well for us.  Normally we use a rental car to go to the airport, but this year, we are concerned that out car might be given to someone else, so we will use Blacklane as our fall back.

[zqtchas]

On 7/24/2021 at 6:20 AM, brimary said:

our only experience of Silversea home to ship travel was similar to Spins.Pick up by driver for 240 mile trip to Southampton.FOUR OTHER pick ups ,total mileage approx 450 on arrival at Southampton,nightmare 7 hour journey nearly double the normal 4 hours .......Never again!!

Our ride was from London to Southampton on a big bus with just the 2 of us.

another time in Athens , airport to ship by car just we 2. Another time 4 of us in an suv.

so far we have been treated pretty good. 

[ronrick1943]

4 hours ago, Emtbsam said:

We have used Blacklane several times, once in the US and once in France.  They are not the cheapest, but the service was on time and it worked well for us.  Normally we use a rental car to go to the airport, but this year, we are concerned that out car might be given to someone else, so we will use Blacklane as our fall back.

We’ve used BLACKLANE before, very good.  For us it will be less costly to book ourselfs direct.

[Fortunate2]

We've had good service from Blacklane in the past; on time and clean cars.  The uptick in price is virtually a wash with what we currently pay so, at least for us no harm, no foul.

[MBP&O2/O]

We have a couple of trips. Booked. Both have the standard air and transfers included. In both cases we are deviating flights and flying out early and in both caes we have missed out on the included transfers, without recompense. I wonder what will happen with this new arrangement in the event of diy arrangements? Presumably there will be a minimal discount offered as standard?

[les37b]

1 hour ago, MBP&O2/O said:

We have a couple of trips. Booked. Both have the standard air and transfers included. In both cases we are deviating flights and flying out early and in both caes we have missed out on the included transfers, without recompense. I wonder what will happen with this new arrangement in the event of diy arrangements? Presumably there will be a minimal discount offered as standard?

 

 

I'm expecting to get the nod my Panama cruise in Jan 21 booking will be cancelled for the 3rd time for this booking. This one obviously doesn't have the price hike for excursions and now a taxi I neither want or need. Time will tell as we've not seen the full details yet, but I've a feeling I wont ever be getting that Panama trip because of the differentials. (I think the "included excursions" added about £2000 pp to the cost over this sailing at time of booking and something I will not be paying the extra for.)

 

I'm beginning to wish I'd taken the refunds now for the 3 bookings...... Though I do hope that the other 2 will sail next year and year after and not be affected by this.

 

[MBP&O2/O]

Les, I quite fancy a Panama cruise and have been looking quite seriously at a Seabourne one … Los Angeles to Miami … early 2023. DIY flights etc but worth a bit of in depth financial calculations …… ie can I afford it 😁

Having said that I also looked at a Viking one for Japan … and that was more expensive than SS on current pricing 🙄

Can’t win 😏

[MBP&O2/O]

Les, I quite fancy a Panama cruise and have been looking quite seriously at a Seabourne one … Los Angeles to Miami … early 2023. DIY flights etc but worth a bit of in depth financial calculations …… ie can I afford it 😁

Having said that I also looked at a Viking one for Japan … and that was more expensive than SS on current pricing 🙄

Can’t win 😏

 

Correction … early 2022 … it’s an age thing … memory like a sieve 🤪

[jollyjones]

5 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Presumably there will be a minimal discount offered as standard?

US$100 or 75 GBP

[Mayflower1]

This would appear to be an ' Enhancement ' with a number of caveats ? - The mileage add on at an undisclosed Rate could make this expensive, and as the Contract seems to be between the Guest & Blacklane I assume Silversea will not wish to involve themselves if the Pick Up goes wrong ( they already indicate a missed Flight is the Guests responsibility ). This would not seem to be as Seamless as the Advertising suggests.

 

I have, in the past, Priced Blacklane against another Luxury Provider and they have always been far more expensive for the same Service - this is not to say that they are not themselves a good Provider.

 

I feel the Option to Decline this Service and get a £75 pp Reduction may prove attractive ?

 

[DCPIV]

I'm glad they offer it for those who want it, although I can't be pleased about jacking up prices and then offering a lesser credit.

 

We have a $30-40 Uber ride to the airports around here, so we would pass.

[5waldos]

Has anyone figured out whether this service is bundled into the flight package? We are making our own flight arrangements so are going to lose transport services. But this Blackburn service seems to be separate. 

[Fortunate2]

Just as a point of information, I chatted with our SS rep this afternoon regarding the new door-to-door service on our previously booked cruises.  What I found was that it's not included in the 2022 trips that were booked in September 2020 and January 2021.  Our two new bookings, one from the 2023 schedule and one from an earlier schedule, door-to-door is included.  Priced up at $90USD pp, a virtual wash with our current car service.  We're 24 miles from our departure airport.