Is Port-to-Port Going Away?

[bohaiboy]

On 12/21/2022 at 2:59 PM, A Tucson Guy said:

Post covid we have done two SS cruises and we have five more SS cruises paid for until 4-25. I see mixed opinions from many about SS. SS Air has been perfect for me and really came through last summer when some airlines went on strike. Life on the SS ships could not be better. I still will look at RSSC and Seabourn for future cruises. I only like the newer ships, just me. When I do the number crunching, SS beats RSSC every time when you factor in Bus Air. The current challenge with Seabourn is you cannot lock in the Bus Air before 330 days and I tend to book way in advance. With the crazy inflation, I pass on Seabourn since I will not know the cost including Bus Air. I am not a cheer leader for any cruise line, but right now, SS is getting all my business. Also for me, trying to use air miles for Bus Class is a joke and I don't even try anymore.

No one can book an air ticket more than 330 days prior to the return date.  There may be a few airlines that will but not in general.  SS is guessing at what airfare may be 12-24 months out.  And have noticed they have gone up substantially, especially for Asia and Aus/NZ..  If you notice on mySilversea your air details will never show up on a far advanced schedule, only your price is locked.

[cruiseej]

We've booked a SS cruise for 2024, and unlike in the past, SS is not providing price or availability of business class air until sometime in the future. I guess they don't want to be in the futures market and guessing incorrectly about future prices. Or perhaps it's the airlines which don't want to sign long-term bulk contracts so they aren't caught having sold underpriced flights. 

[cotto22]

On 1/21/2023 at 8:29 PM, cruiseej said:

We've booked a SS cruise for 2024, and unlike in the past, SS is not providing price or availability of business class air until sometime in the future. I guess they don't want to be in the futures market and guessing incorrectly about future prices. Or perhaps it's the airlines which don't want to sign long-term bulk contracts so they aren't caught having sold underpriced flights. 

We booked an Auckland to Bali cruise in Feb 2024 about 8 months ago. We were quoted and deposited on the cruise with business air from Houston. I do not think that this price can increase, but on the otherhand, neither can it be lowered!

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by cotto22

[Randyk47]

We are on the Dawn right now and for the first time booked a trans-Panama Canal cruise late this year after Christmas with the Cruise Consultant.   At least for now we booked door-to-door.  We only live 9 miles from the airport and at least for now Blacklane has a presence in San Antonio.  We also left the air portion in place.  While we are too far out to see actual flights or fixed price the included business fare was right at what we paid for our present trip so we left it in place.  I will say previously we have been able to beat cruise line airfares so we’ll keep checking as the window opens for flights here in a few months.  Our friends and cruise partners also booked but dropped the limo option as they live 70 +/- miles from the airport in Atlanta.   

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

4 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

for now Blacklane has a presence in San Antonio.

We live in Bulverde and booked Blacklane for our Silversea D2D cruise last year.  We were extremely pleased with the service and will be using them again for our upcoming D2D cruise in April.  I'm pretty sure Blacklane subcontracts local limo companies to provide service and hopefully it will be the same company this go round.  

[les37b]

What’s the blacklane process? Do SS send a link so you can book what you need? How far out does that happen?

 

My next doesn’t have a home transfer, but the one after we have included from 23 April. When should we start chasing if we don’t hear anything?

[Randyk47]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:11 AM, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

We live in Bulverde and booked Blacklane for our Silversea D2D cruise last year.  We were extremely pleased with the service and will be using them again for our upcoming D2D cruise in April.  I'm pretty sure Blacklane subcontracts local limo companies to provide service and hopefully it will be the same company this go round.  

I looked at the Blacklane website while we were still on the Silver Dawn and it shows they service the San Antonio area.  I also figured they just subcontract with a local limo service and glad to hear you got good service.  We live in the Timberwood Park/Canyon Springs area south of Bulverde about 9-10 miles north of the airport straight down US 281.  Our biggest surprise was the business class flight costs for here to Ft Lauderdale to start the cruise then San Francisco to San Antonio at the end.  We will monitor and cost that out closer to the cruise but on the ship last week it seemed right in there with what we had paid for airfare this just completed cruise.   Our previous experience was Silversea was sometimes more expensive than we could book ourselves or their flights were so convoluted and complex that we felt more comfortable arranging our own.  Our friends and cruise partners also booked the same cruise as a door-to-door but took the limo credit as they live 60+ miles from the airport.  They also felt that because of Christmas and their extended family they could not leave until the day of the cruise…..a scary proposition that we never do….and didn’t want to rely on a limo service so far from the airport.   Bottom line a trans-Panama Canal cruise is a high bucket list cruise we all have wanted to take so we’re all excited about that.  Also will be our first time in the Shadow which we’ve wanted to try.   

[CruzinFeraBruzin]

1 hour ago, Randyk47 said:

looked at the Blacklane website while we were still on the Silver Dawn and it shows they service the San Antonio area.  I also figured they just subcontract with a local limo service and glad to hear you got good service.  We live in the Timberwood Park/Canyon Springs area south of Bulverde about 9-10 miles north of the airport straight down US 281.  Our biggest surprise was the business class flight costs for here to Ft Lauderdale to start the cruise then San Francisco to San Antonio at the end.  We will monitor and cost that out closer to the cruise but on the ship last week it seemed right in there with what we had paid for airfare this just completed cruise.   Our previous experience was Silversea was sometimes more expensive than we could book ourselves or their flights were so convoluted and complex that we felt more comfortable arranging our own.  Our friends and cruise partners also booked the same cruise as a door-to-door but took the limo credit as they live 60+ miles from the airport.  They also felt that because of Christmas and their extended family they could not leave until the day of the cruise…..a scary proposition that we never do….and didn’t want to rely on a limo service so far from the airport.   Bottom line a trans-Panama Canal cruise is a high bucket list cruise we all have wanted to take so we’re all excited about that.  Also will be our first time in the Shadow which we’ve wanted to try.

We are a little further north than you, off of 1863 and we overlook Cibolo Canyon.  As I speak, the freezing rain is coming down.  Keeping my fingers crossed our ancient power grid holds up.  The Blacklane driver was the same guy both times and his company, River City Limos, services high profile clients, some who play for the Spurs. His general clientele book him thru Blacklane.  I will follow up with you on this thread in late April to let you know if its the same company when we leave for our next trip.  All of our upcoming SS cruises originate outside the US and I priced business class air for each before agreeing to D2D.  In all cases, the fares were significantly higher.  If we had enough miles to do it on our own, we would.  We had the 2024 Grand South America booked and our SS Rep told us to take the air credit because he thought we could get a better deal flying to Ft. Lauderdale on our own.  We ended up doing a voyage swap to the 2024 Grand Africa and Arabia and didn't even think about arranging flights to Cape Town and Athens from SAT ourselves.  I did a quick price check and it was outrageous.  It really depends on where you are flying to and where you live.  The Panama Canal transit is on our list to do (your upcoming itinerary going up the west coast after the transit is perfect), but we've pushed it down the road, specifically because it doesn't require an overnight flight and we figure that will be easier on us when we are a bit older.  I hope y'all have a great time.

Edited January 31, 2023 by CruzinFeraBruzin

[Randyk47]

1 hour ago, CruzinFeraBruzin said:

We are a little further north than you, off of 1863 and we overlook Cibolo Canyon.  As I speak, the freezing rain is coming down.  Keeping my fingers crossed our ancient power grid holds up.  The Blacklane driver was the same guy both times and his company, River City Limos, services high profile clients, some who play for the Spurs. His general clientele book him thru Blacklane.  I will follow up with you on this thread in late April to let you know if its the same company when we leave for our next trip.  All of our upcoming SS cruises originate outside the US and I priced business class air for each before agreeing to D2D.  In all cases, the fares were significantly higher.  If we had enough miles to do it on our own, we would.  We had the 2024 Grand South America booked and our SS Rep told us to take the air credit because he thought we could get a better deal flying to Ft. Lauderdale on our own.  We ended up doing a voyage swap to the 2024 Grand Africa and Arabia and didn't even think about arranging flights to Cape Town and Athens from SAT ourselves.  I did a quick price check and it was outrageous.  It really depends on where you are flying to and where you live.  The Panama Canal transit is on our list to do (your upcoming itinerary going up the west coast after the transit is perfect), but we've pushed it down the road, specifically because it doesn't require an overnight flight and we figure that will be easier on us when we are a bit older.  I hope y'all have a great time.

For us we’ve taken way more cruises….starting back in 1994…..than we will take in the future.  The husband of the couple who are our best friends and cruise partners is slowly but surely losing his mobility so cruising at least with them is kind of a now or never proposition.  We may cruise without them in the future after the Shadow but barring a miracle cure for peripheral neuropathy it’s getting more and more unlikely they do another cruise after the Panama Canal.  Anyhow, it was the first time we booked a cruise on the ship so got the extra 5% discount which was nice.   Silversea already transferred our booking to our external TA, who already sent an acknowledgment, so other than waiting 300+ days we are going to go.  And for those wondering I have to say at least for this cruise booking door-to-door for the first time was an easy decision.   

Edited January 31, 2023 by Randyk47

[cruiseej]

9 hours ago, les37b said:

What’s the blacklane process? Do SS send a link so you can book what you need? How far out does that happen?

 

You'll get an email from Silversea with the subject line "It's time to book your airport transfers with Blacklane" 30 days before your cruise. It gives you instructions on the website to visit (https://silversea.blacklane.com) and how to create an account on the Blacklane site. There's no voucher or special personalized link; when you log into Blacklane with the same email address you use with Silversea, it will lead you through creating your bookings (home to airport and airport to home are two separate bookings), and Blacklane's site will show your cost of zero.

[Dolcevita Diva]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:37 AM, les37b said:

What’s the blacklane process? Do SS send a link so you can book what you need? How far out does that happen?

 

My next doesn’t have a home transfer, but the one after we have included from 23 April. When should we start chasing if we don’t hear anything?

If you don't see this email within a few weeks of the cruise, be sure to check your Spam folder. Even though all other Silversea emails come through with no issues, this one was routed to the junk folder for some reason.

[cruiseej]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:45 AM, Dolcevita Diva said:

If you don't see this email within a few weeks of the cruise, be sure to check your Spam folder. Even though all other Silversea emails come through with no issues, this one was routed to the junk folder for some reason.

 

Even if you don't see the email, you can go to the website (https://silversea.blacklane.com), create and account if you don't have one (using the same email you use with Silversea), and start entering a reservation. If Silversea has sent Blacklane your cruise info, the booking will be free; if it shows there would be a charge, then you'll need to contact Silversea.