Another Excursion Issue

[gcornell]

Wondering if anyone has had similar issue and resolved successfully.  I booked my 7/3 Iceland cruise a while ago and immediately booked shore excursions.  7 of 8 were included so no additional cost and a nice variety as well.  Since that time SS moved 6 of the 8 to Select excursions but since I booked prior I was honored the original cost ($0).  So far so good.  SS cancelled 2 of my excursions yesterday and because the vast majority of excursions are now Select (except some walking tours) the additional cost is $2,100.  We are a family of 4 so it adds up fast.

 

Anyone successful in getting them to at least give a credit for the cost of the originally booked tours?  Frustrating because it seems like every day companies are figuring out new and creative ways to get more money out of their customer's wallets for the same product or service.

[Gourmet Gal]

I have no advice for you but this seems to be a prevalent issue with converting included tours to Select.  At the very least it is confusing for passengers and falls under the category of poor customer service.

[gcornell]

It gets worse.  They have now started cancelling my grandfathered Included Excursions and but they are still available under Selected Excursions.

[Gourmet Gal]

Well, going forward everyone should do screen shots of their confirmed included excursions to use if one has to plead their case.

[turtlemichael]

Bait and switch comes to mind.

[gcornell]

Update: I had my TA reach out to his contacts and got a canned response that excursions aren’t guaranteed….  I called customer service and well you know how that went.  I then resorted to what I call the nuclear option and emailed every VP and up.  Got a very prompt and courteous reply that they will review and get back to me by end of week with a “fair outcome”. 
 

Also, just and FYI, I did book some Select excursions originally and the published price is up 30-40% since I booked. Thankfully, I still have original price. I know inflation is still a little warm but that’s it’s nowhere near that hot.  When will the money grabs end?

[jpalbny]

Ugh. That is a new one. Certainly an unpleasant surprise to those of us who are booking tours.

 

I think this is another example of why it's a bad combination to (1) make excursions bookable years in advance, and (2) have the gimmick of "included" excursions part of your fare, which is/was set years in advance.

 

Now they are trying to actually find operators who are willing to provide all these tours that SS has promised us, years ago when we booked, at yesterday's prices. And they are doing this in an economy where inflation is nuts, especially in the tourism industry. Silversea is undoubtedly "discovering" that the tour which they could buy for $X a few years ago (and what they budgeted $X for), is now going to cost them 2-3 times that much in 2024 and beyond... They simply cannot provide what they have committed to provide, without blowing their budget.

 

Guess who's going to be on the hook for that cost increase? The esteemed (or steamed) customer.

 

PS - I'm not saying that there isn't ample opportunity for price gouging on top of this.

[Gourmet Gal]

13 minutes ago, gcornell said:

 

Also, just and FYI, I did book some Select excursions originally and the published price is up 30-40% since I booked. Thankfully, I still have original price. I know inflation is still a little warm but that’s it’s nowhere near that hot.  When will the money grabs end?

Another thing to look out for!  But along with not guaranteeing excursions does SS also not guarantee their prices?  Is there a disclaimer somewhere to that effect? I think one of my upcoming Select excursions has increased in price but I do not have the original listing.  Sneaky!

Edited March 12 by Gourmet Gal

[gcornell]

1 minute ago, Gourmet Gal said:

Another thing to look out for!  But along with not guaranteeing excursions does SS also not guarantee their prices?  Is there a disclaimer somewhere to that effect?

Sorry if I was not clear. I still have the original price when I booked for the Select.  For now at least!  I think the post before yours nailed it. They underestimated the cost a year+ in advance and are now trying to pass it along to clients. 

[Gourmet Gal]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they go back to a shorter window for booking excursions for the very reason sited above.

[jpalbny]

1 minute ago, Gourmet Gal said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if they go back to a shorter window for booking excursions for the very reason sited above.

 

I hope so!

[commodoredave]

Two of our excursions on our upcoming cruise in Japan were cancelled 5 weeks before departure. Then, it was difficult to find a replacement as the best options were already full or waitlisted. I am at the point where I would rather not have excursions included with my cruise if I can’t rely on them.

[Gourmet Gal]

6 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

Two of our excursions on our upcoming cruise in Japan were cancelled 5 weeks before departure. Then, it was difficult to find a replacement as the best options were already full or waitlisted. I am at the point where I would rather not have excursions included with my cruise if I can’t rely on them.

If there is something in a port or two that you really do not want to miss then perhaps it is better to book it yourself. I have a Japan cruise booked for 2026 and am planning to hire some guides I’ve used before and book food tours on my own in some ports.  It’s also nice to have a little break from all the group touring.  The included tours on my last SS cruise were such a mixed bag I was left rather unimpressed.

[commodoredave]

21 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

If there is something in a port or two that you really do not want to miss then perhaps it is better to book it yourself. I have a Japan cruise booked for 2026 and am planning to hire some guides I’ve used before and book food tours on my own in some ports.  It’s also nice to have a little break from all the group touring.  The included tours on my last SS cruise were such a mixed bag I was left rather unimpressed.

Booking my own in a port or two may well be necessary -- if you have any preferred tour guides in Shimizu, Hiroshima and Kanazawa, please let me know. We had our booked excursions cancelled in each of these three ports. 

While I don't mind paying for the odd excursion when it's supposed to be included in the fare I paid, I do find it annoying, especially when it happens more than once per cruise. I really wish Silversea and Regent would take excurions off the fare, and let us choose and pay for our own. 

This is even more relevant to people like us who have been to most cruise destinations at least 2 times, and now prefer to go ashore on our own to out of the way places without having to pay twice for it. 

I do have to say this is one of the things I liked about Explora. 

[Gourmet Gal]

You could check with Kensington Tours or Jacada to see if they can assist with booking a local guide for a day.  They both specialize in full service private guided journeys and they are outstanding but I’m not sure about just day tours.  Otherwise, check in Ports of Call here on CC or by location on Tripadvisor.

[gnome12]

On 3/12/2024 at 5:41 PM, gcornell said:

Sorry if I was not clear. I still have the original price when I booked for the Select.  For now at least!  I think the post before yours nailed it. They underestimated the cost a year+ in advance and are now trying to pass it along to clients. 

I have a strange issue now. My originally booked included excursion became a select excursion some time ago. The price is crossed out, and, in my previous version of My Activities, it showed a unit cost for the tour of $0.00 and a total cost of $0.00. However, My Activities from March 22/24 continues to show a unit cost of $0.00, but the total cost now shows $159.00. However, when I look at the day on My Silversea, the price is still crossed off. This differs from another select excursion that I have chosen, where the price is in red and not crossed out. (They have also changed the name of the excursion, but not its content.)

 

I had my travel agent look into this, and the response she got was that I will have to pay. (I was on Bluetooth in the car so I wasn't prepared to talk to the person at the time, because I didn't have any way of making any notes.) She promised to give me the number of the person she was talking to, so I'll see if I can get this figured out.

 

As an aside, I double checked the Shore Excursion Terms and Conditions that I printed out when I first selected my excursions, and it says "Prices are subject to change without notice."