Will Silversea sell you air when not included in cruise/

[seaver]

We are booked for cruise to south America that air fare is not included,

Will Silversea sell me air fare?

Would feel better if the cruise changes starting location that Silversea would get me there.

 

[RetiredandTravel]

Which cruise?  I thought economy air was included in all their offerings.

 

Did you specify not to get the air and get a credit?

[seaver]

24 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Which cruise?  I thought economy air was included in all their offerings.

 

Did you specify not to get the air and get a credit?

Feb 9 from Buenos Aires. Air was not included but did get a credit.

 

[cruiseej]

4 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

I thought economy air was included in all their offerings.

 

I thought so, too -- but apparently not. I just looked at these South America cruises on Dawn and there clearly is no included air as there is on, say, Antarctica cruises from South America. I wonder if it's due to airlines having limited flights to South America and not being able to get enough contract seats for this time period? 

 

6 hours ago, seaver said:

Will Silversea sell me air fare?

 

Yes, you can always request air. It may or may not be a better fare than you can book on your own. In this era where cruise cancellations reman a distinct possibility, I think it's definitely advantageous to book through Silversea -- unless their price quote is significantly higher -- so they are on the hook if the cruise is canceled or to make changes anything is altered about embarkation or disembarkation. 

[kimanjo]

We have an Antarctic cruise booked for this Nov ( 2021).  We booked our flights with points.  AA going down, Delta coming back.  Both airlines now allow free redeposit of miles.  Previously, only high status could re-deposit with no fees.  We are not business class flyers, but the Premium economy + product on both were under 50K miles, so really no harm in booking using miles with free redeposit. Just a thought.

[cruiseej]

@kimanjo  Good point about the ability to cancel air and redeposit points, but it's worth noting there are some caveats to be aware of. If you cancel before your trip was to begin, you should be good. If something changes on the return, you could be out of luck, as you can't redeposit points once the original flight departed (unless they're feeling generous due to Covid problems).

 

Aside from dollars and/or points, an advantage of having the cruise line book the air is that if something changes, they immediately work on fixing the air situation rather than you. If you miss a connecting flight, they work on getting you to the ship as quickly as possible; if that's the next day in another country, they make it happen, whereas if you've booked your own air, the airline will likely just get you to your original destination -- potentially after the ship has sailed; re-routing yourself to another destination would likely be at your expense. And booking with the cruise line includes transfers from/to the airport (unless you're traveling on a different date), which could be a plus. 

 

I'm saying this just to share some of the ints and outs of cruise air travel, but that doesn't mean I always have the cruise line book our air; in fact, on most of our cruises in the past, I've booked our own air -- for cost, for convenience, or to use points. In the current era where cruise changes are much more likely than in the past, I'm more inclined to book through the cruise line than on my own for some of the reasons above.  

[mchell810]

31 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

I'm saying this just to share some of the ints and outs of cruise air travel, but that doesn't mean I always have the cruise line book our air; in fact, on most of our cruises in the past, I've booked our own air -- for cost, for convenience, or to use points. In the current era where cruise changes are much more likely than in the past, I'm more inclined to book through the cruise line than on my own for some of the reasons above.  

 

I have to second this.  I usually prefer booking direct, but with constant airline changes and the ever present chance of cruise cancellations I've decided to use cruise air until things settle down.

[kimanjo]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

@kimanjo  Good point about the ability to cancel air and redeposit points, but it's worth noting there are some caveats to be aware of. If you cancel before your trip was to begin, you should be good. If something changes on the return, you could be out of luck, as you can't redeposit points once the original flight departed (unless they're feeling generous due to Covid problems).

 

Aside from dollars and/or points, an advantage of having the cruise line book the air is that if something changes, they immediately work on fixing the air situation rather than you. If you miss a connecting flight, they work on getting you to the ship as quickly as possible; if that's the next day in another country, they make it happen, whereas if you've booked your own air, the airline will likely just get you to your original destination -- potentially after the ship has sailed; re-routing yourself to another destination would likely be at your expense. And booking with the cruise line includes transfers from/to the airport (unless you're traveling on a different date), which could be a plus. 

 

I'm saying this just to share some of the ints and outs of cruise air travel, but that doesn't mean I always have the cruise line book our air; in fact, on most of our cruises in the past, I've booked our own air -- for cost, for convenience, or to use points. In the current era where cruise changes are much more likely than in the past, I'm more inclined to book through the cruise line than on my own for some of the reasons above.  

 

I agree.  But, for me personally, I only book non-cruise air ( for personal reasons).  And, I have booked AA tix to Santiago, and Delta home, which I don't mind mixing airlines.  Also, most importantly, these were booked with miles for this specific point in time ( Covid) and I assume that by September, October, even November, if the cruise cancels even up to the very last minute, I just re-deposit the miles.