Simply Silver Hotel Warning

[cruiseej]

23 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

It sounds like ideally one has to not only take care of one's own airfare (other threads discuss the problems with Silver Air), but also arrange one's own hotels.

 

Well, let's keep this in perspective. Many hotels don't even load booking inventory two or three years in advance, so you often can't book your own hotel that far in advance.

 

Also, if the cruise line is including a hotel, as is the case in the question above about a Grand Voyage,  it often isn't necessary to know the hotel years in advance. If you're particular about a hotel you want to stay at, and the convenience of having the cruise line provide a hotel and transfer is less important to you than the hotel you'll be staying at, then by all means book your own when the time is appropriate. But if it's just a matter of curiosity which hotel they'll have you in, then in this era of jumbled travel planning, it may just be that more patience is necessary. 😉 

 

On 10/19/2022 at 11:05 AM, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

my comment highlighted the question of why do they have hotels identified for a sailing in 2025, but not the same sailing in 2024? 

 

It could be something simple, like the hotel they're using in 2025 has a convention, wedding, or other event booked for the specific date needed in 2024. Or perhaps the hotel has some scheduled maintenance in that time and doesn't have a full room block available.

[MamaFej]

21 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Ha ha, two months.  As you know we finally got our Simply hotel one week before departure.

We are still waiting for our hotel assignment for 12 and 22 December in Santiago, included before and after an Antartica expedition cruise. 

 

I guess I won't hold my breath.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

Whenever I see this thread, my mind jumps to Sonesta Hotels, which has a brand called "Simply Suites".

 

So you may truly end up with "Simply" accommodations.

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

It could be something simple, like the hotel they're using in 2025 has a convention, wedding, or other event booked for the specific date needed in 2024. Or perhaps the hotel has some scheduled maintenance in that time and doesn't have a full room block available.

That makes sense.  Thanks cruiseej.  

[CinciCruise]

On 10/17/2022 at 11:48 PM, saminina said:

Please name hotel.

Mercure Nadi Fiji.  I have nothing against Mercure and stay at them in Europe and South America on occasion, but this is not anything close to any Mercure I have ever stayed. It was poorly maintained and dirty and very much like a Motel 6. The bathroom was the dirtiest I have seen in 30 years. You can read the reviews. The only decent reviews are from locals. We were the only non-locals. I think Silversea did wait until the week before to book. Shame on them. They should have least give us an apology or refund or some credit. 

[Observer]

I think that this shows the significant hazard to Silversea of including charges for and taking responsibility for so many aspects of the holiday, like limo transport to the airport, tours, flights, etc.  All of this simply increases the likelihood of some mishaps:  the limo did not arrive on time, the tour that I paid for was worthless, the flights that were provided had bad/unnecessary connections, the hotel was inadequate, etc.  And those lapses reflect directly on Silversea.  I imagine that most SS guests are experienced travelers who can make their own flight and hotel bookings (or have travel agents who can make customized arrangements)– and who, in fact, prefer to explore ports independently.  Time at land based resorts is becoming an increasingly attractive option for me.  

[MsCrystalina]

I agree- I have and do want to make all my arrangements and have no use for the door-to-door plans!  As a solo can do much better with hotel rates than the cruise lines offer me!

[Wombat706]

What hotel did you stay at in Cairns before your cruise?

 

thanks

[drron29]

At the airport the Mercure is one of the better hotels. they all suffered during covid as npo local market basically.

Then this-

"The hotel was even worse than I imagined. There was no elevator and we had to walk up outside stairs typical of dated motels and walk along a concrete walkway outside to enter the room."

 

Just about every hotel in Fiji including upmarket resorts has an outside corridor as this is the tropics. And most older hotels and resorts with 2 stories do not have elevators.

 

[milepig]

On 10/21/2022 at 7:19 PM, MsCrystalina said:

I agree- I have and do want to make all my arrangements and have no use for the door-to-door plans!  As a solo can do much better with hotel rates than the cruise lines offer me!

Agreed. I learned from my TA that even when they only post Door-to-Door fares you can negotiate a Port-to-Port fare.

Edited November 3, 2022 by milepig

[CinciCruise]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:30 PM, Wombat706 said:

What hotel did you stay at in Cairns before your cruise?

 

thanks

We stayed at the Shangri-La at the Marina and it was very nice. It showed up as our hotel in our documents perhaps 6-8 weeks before the cruise. 

[WesW]

Thanks Cincicruise, hope this the Simply hotel for the Muse Cairns to Singapore in February.  Did you do any day trips from the hotel?

[MamaFej]

On 10/20/2022 at 8:13 AM, MamaFej said:

We are still waiting for our hotel assignment for 12 and 22 December in Santiago, included before and after an Antartica expedition cruise. 

 

I guess I won't hold my breath.

 

 

We now have the Madarin Oriental listed as our Santiago hotel bothe before and after our cruise. It looks lovely. 

[scottjeanne]

23 hours ago, MamaFej said:

We now have the Madarin Oriental listed as our Santiago hotel bothe before and after our cruise. It looks lovely. 

It  is lovely.  Great pool and a couple of nice restaurants.  Good location for walking to parks and other restaurants.

[highplanesdrifters]

1 hour ago, scottjeanne said:

It  is lovely.  Great pool and a couple of nice restaurants.  Good location for walking to parks and other restaurants.

Any favorite restaurants?

[kh76sp]

On 11/3/2022 at 4:47 PM, milepig said:

Agreed. I learned from my TA that even when they only post Door-to-Door fares you can negotiate a Port-to-Port fare.

My husband and I are booked Door to Door on the cruise from Tokyo to Seward in May '23. Our return flights back - upgraded to Business - leave a LOT to be desired (departing 01:25am the following morning from Anchorage after debarkation)  We have been trying to get it changed, but there will be a deviation charge, my TA says, because it has been more than 2 weeks since booking! We are NOT PLEASED with this first dealing with SilverSea and are thinking of backing out of the door to door and booking our own air and transports.

It seems strange too that we are flying into NRT when HND is so much closer to the port. Does anyone have experience in changing their booking from Door to Door to Port to Port? Has it been difficult?

[turtlemichael]

On 11/6/2022 at 1:14 AM, highplanesdrifters said:

Any favorite restaurants?

Check out ThaFish | Seafood Restaurant which is on the boardwalk in front of Shangri La. Our favourite in Cairns.  Oops! Correction Now I don't think you were asking about Cairns. Hope it is useful for others.

Edited November 11, 2022 by turtlemichael

[SWFLAOK]

On 10/19/2022 at 11:05 AM, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

True, but my comment highlighted the question of why do they have hotels identified for a sailing in 2025, but not the same sailing in 2024?  I completely agree, its ridiculous they can secure contracts for hotels well into 2025, but leave guests hanging for upcoming sailings that have been on the books for a couple of years.  

Is there small print with the 2025 cruise that says it's that hotel or equivalent? And if so, can they tell you what they consider equivalent. We were told by a different cruise line that the Fiji Pullman hotel was equivalent to the Fiji Sofitel. We did not agree. One is on the beach in a great location, with a wonderful, large pool. The other was near a small beach with almost no amenities, and next to the end of the runway, and still a long way to the airport terminal. The Sofitel is still there, and the not at all equivalent, the Pullman, is now permanently closed. That cruise was cancelled due to Covid, and after trying 4 times to reschedule it, we asked for our money back instead of yet another FCC, and they said yes. Hopefully we get it soon.

B

[SWFLAOK]

To add to the discussion of Fiji hotels, at the end of a cruise a few years back on the Paul Gauguin, we had a 3 night post cruise at the Intercontinental in Fiji. The Paul Gauguin was owned by the ICG at the time. It's a really great hotel, with a great breakfast buffet, a really nice and mostly empty beach, an adults only infinity pool, and we were assigned an upper floor (the second floor) very large room, with a view of the waterway at the south end of the property. It was very nice, and would have been perfect except  fhat we were there during a kiwi holiday. The New Zealanders came in large family gtoups, all staying in small rooms, with none of the adults keeping track of their kids. The worst we saw was a young woman who had started drinking at happy hour at the table next to ours when gram and gramps brought her 2 young children to join in. They ran wild, as gram and gramps ordered their happy hour drinks. Then dad brought their youngest into the bar, and handed the little screamer to mom who immediately started to breastfeed. While doing so, she ordered a second cocktail and asked for the same drink I was having, which I had found quite intoxicating. She finished it quite quickly and ordered another since happy hour was drawing to a close, all while breastfeeding. I thought how different the Kiwis must be than those of us from the US that they thought that was OK. I'm sure the baby slept well, but...

We did cancel a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to New Zealand after that due to Covid, but we haven't been tempted to go to New Zealand after experiencing their tourists in Fiji.

[les37b]

On 10/21/2022 at 7:10 PM, Observer said:

I think that this shows the significant hazard to Silversea of including charges for and taking responsibility for so many aspects of the holiday, like limo transport to the airport, tours, flights, etc.  All of this simply increases the likelihood of some mishaps:  the limo did not arrive on time, the tour that I paid for was worthless, the flights that were provided had bad/unnecessary connections, the hotel was inadequate, etc.  And those lapses reflect directly on Silversea.  

 

Unfortunately SS are stating they cannot be held accountable for any third party mishaps as they are out of their control and effectively down to you.

 

So if your Taxi that SS has provided, or your flight cancelled or late, then it's down to you.

 

At least that's how it reads to me in the T&Cs

 

Whether that's put into practice may be debatable.

 

Never had any problems with a hotel given until January just gone and in a hotel we've been given before in Fort Lauderdale. I probably would ask to stay somewhere else when we return in Jan 2024, though accept the series of events were probably not indicative, but still gives cause for concern.

[highplanesdrifters]

14 hours ago, turtlemichael said:

Check out ThaFish | Seafood Restaurant which is on the boardwalk in front of Shangri La. Our favourite in Cairns.  Oops! Correction Now I don't think you were asking about Cairns. Hope it is useful for others.

I wasn't asking about Cairns but luckily we will be there! Thanks for the great suggestion!

[highplanesdrifters]

11 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

To add to the discussion of Fiji hotels, at the end of a cruise a few years back on the Paul Gauguin, we had a 3 night post cruise at the Intercontinental in Fiji. The Paul Gauguin was owned by the ICG at the time. It's a really great hotel, with a great breakfast buffet, a really nice and mostly empty beach, an adults only infinity pool, and we were assigned an upper floor (the second floor) very large room, with a view of the waterway at the south end of the property. It was very nice, and would have been perfect except  fhat we were there during a kiwi holiday. The New Zealanders came in large family gtoups, all staying in small rooms, with none of the adults keeping track of their kids. The worst we saw was a young woman who had started drinking at happy hour at the table next to ours when gram and gramps brought her 2 young children to join in. They ran wild, as gram and gramps ordered their happy hour drinks. Then dad brought their youngest into the bar, and handed the little screamer to mom who immediately started to breastfeed. While doing so, she ordered a second cocktail and asked for the same drink I was having, which I had found quite intoxicating. She finished it quite quickly and ordered another since happy hour was drawing to a close, all while breastfeeding. I thought how different the Kiwis must be than those of us from the US that they thought that was OK. I'm sure the baby slept well, but...

We did cancel a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to New Zealand after that due to Covid, but we haven't been tempted to go to New Zealand after experiencing their tourists in Fiji.

We had problems with the IC in Papeete. Between the Costco discount drinking crowd, locals throwing parties, and tired rooms we are thrilled the Hilton opened. Will be there in January, and glad there is now another option for an arrival and departure hotel close to the airport!

 

Give NZ another chance, it's not the country,  it's the type of traveler that comes from everywhere. 

[milepig]

2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

We had problems with the IC in Papeete. Between the Costco discount drinking crowd, locals throwing parties, and tired rooms we are thrilled the Hilton opened. Will be there in January, and glad there is now another option for an arrival and departure hotel close to the airport!

 

Give NZ another chance, it's not the country,  it's the type of traveler that comes from everywhere. 

Is the Hilton a newly building property, or is it a conversion?

[Lauranne]

5 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Give NZ another chance, it's not the country,  it's the type of traveler that comes from everywhere. 

I agree. We spent a month in NZ early in 2020. It is a truly amazing country with some of the friendliest people that we have meet traveling. I think it’s so unfair when someone makes assumptions of a whole country based on one or two citizens. 

[jjs217]

19 hours ago, kh76sp said:

My husband and I are booked Door to Door on the cruise from Tokyo to Seward in May '23. Our return flights back - upgraded to Business - leave a LOT to be desired (departing 01:25am the following morning from Anchorage after debarkation)  We have been trying to get it changed, but there will be a deviation charge, my TA says, because it has been more than 2 weeks since booking! We are NOT PLEASED with this first dealing with SilverSea and are thinking of backing out of the door to door and booking our own air and transports.

It seems strange too that we are flying into NRT when HND is so much closer to the port. Does anyone have experience in changing their booking from Door to Door to Port to Port? Has it been difficult?

I made the change for a SS cruise we are taking in Aug 23.  I had booked through SilverSea and called the agent that I had originally booked the D2D with.  It was no problem at all - however, we did lose our OBC which was for D2D only, and not P2P.