How booked is the voyage really?

In a little less than two weeks, the cruise on which i am booked will sail. The Silversea website is showing availability in all but the tippy-top category (owner's suite). Does this indicate the cruise is unlikely to be fully booked? Would there be up-sells?

What cruise are you sailing on?

Whisper, 20 Nov., Barbados-Manaus-Barbados.

For a sale-up, give a call--it can't hurt, they can only say no-but could say yes with a much lower price for owners suite.

Other than Vista suites, your sailing appears to be pretty full with only 1 or 2,suites still available in any category. At this point, though, I doubt they will sell many more. Like ronrick said, it couldn't hurt to ask.

Other than Vista suites, your sailing appears to be pretty full with only 1 or 2,suites still available in any category. At this point, though, I doubt they will sell many more. Like ronrick said, it couldn't hurt to ask.

I don't know how to see what specific suites are available for a specific cruise. Is there a specific link within the SS website that shows that, or do you use another site that shows availability details?

No, not at Silversea, as far as I know. But certain online travel agencies, which I'm not allowed to mention by name, show available cabins (up to 7) in each category.

Ditto. How can you tell how booked a cruise is?

Other than Vista suites, your sailing appears to be pretty full with only 1 or 2,suites still available in any category. At this point, though, I doubt they will sell many more. Like ronrick said, it couldn't hurt to ask.

Thank you, that's useful.

We've only been cruising on Silversea for four year so we're still relatively newbies to Silversea but my impression, and I've actually been told this by line personnel, is that Silversea doesn't generally do discounted up sells or free upgrades. I have told by a PCC and a ship's senior staff member that this was Silversea's general policy so as to not offend other passengers who may have paid full fare for a specific cabin category. Furthermore, that the Silver Fare Guarantee Program was reflective of this policy. ?????

We've only been cruising on Silversea for four year so we're still relatively newbies to Silversea but my impression, and I've actually been told this by line personnel, is that Silversea doesn't generally do discounted up sells or free upgrades. I have told by a PCC and a ship's senior staff member that this was Silversea's general policy so as to not offend other passengers who may have paid full fare for a specific cabin category. Furthermore, that the Silver Fare Guarantee Program was reflective of this policy. ?????

Your are more likely to be offered an upgrade once you have passed the basic landmark of 100 days, and even more so when passing 250 days, otherwise I agree. However this will only happen once you are onboard ship.

We've only been cruising on Silversea for four year so we're still relatively newbies to Silversea but my impression, and I've actually been told this by line personnel, is that Silversea doesn't generally do discounted up sells or free upgrades. I have told by a PCC and a ship's senior staff member that this was Silversea's general policy so as to not offend other passengers who may have paid full fare for a specific cabin category. Furthermore, that the Silver Fare Guarantee Program was reflective of this policy. ?????

That could well be but this is my first cruise on the line and I'd not found any discussion of the topic which, of course, could bolster your view.

We are booked currently into a royal suite and I am considering changing to a grand suite which the website shows as yet available. At list price that would be an extra $2K. That sum seems not much when compared to the cost of the royal suite for two, round-trip 1st-class airfare from SFO, six nights lodging on Barbados and the assorted host of incidental expenses.

Your are more likely to be offered an upgrade once you have passed the basic landmark of 100 days, and even more so when passing 250 days, otherwise I agree. However this will only happen once you are onboard ship.

My only caveat, in the form of experience on our last cruise, is that there were a couple of Silver Suites empty on our Spirit cruise in June and they stayed empty for our 9-day cruise. We were in a mid ships veranda cabin and I can't say they beat down the door making offers. It was actually this situation that the caused the up sell and upgrade policy discussion with a senior staff member. She said if we'd asked about moving the offer would have been for the full fare difference.

Your are more likely to be offered an upgrade once you have passed the basic landmark of 100 days, and even more so when passing 250 days, otherwise I agree. However this will only happen once you are onboard ship.

au contraire. we have been upgrade twice by our T.A

That could well be but this is my first cruise on the line and I'd not found any discussion of the topic which, of course, could bolster your view.

 

We are booked currently into a royal suite and I am considering changing to a grand suite which the website shows as yet available. At list price that would be an extra $2K. That sum seems not much when compared to the cost of the royal suite for two, round-trip 1st-class airfare from SFO, six nights lodging on Barbados and the assorted host of incidental expenses.

Understand. We went through some of the same analysis for our June cruise opinion the Med on the Spirit. We were in the category below Silver Suite and were actually doing a 9 and 7-day cruise so the increase to a Silver Suite wasn't quite as reasonable as your situation. Since we were on a port intensive itinerary, only one sea day in 16 days, and wouldn't be in the cabin that much we stayed put. I'm really not complaining. If it is standard or generally typical Silversea holds the fare line then that's good by me. I know on the line we cruised for 15+ years before coming to Silversea was and still is all over the place with guarantees, up sells, and upgrades sometimes to the chagrin of early bookers who get stuck with their originally booked fare. That line has not low fare guarantee program.

On the subject of selling empty suites at the last minute the following occurred at Reykjavik,Iceland last year.We were doing back to back cruises on the Cloud with the changeover port being Reykjavik and we left the ship after breakfast to explore the city.There was a queue of around 30 people waiting to board,and we engaged in conversation with a member of SS staff as to what the queue was for to board the ship.We were told it was the response to local advertising for 1/2 price cruise for the next cruise being sold on first come basis.A little annoying to us having booked some 18 months in advance,but thankfully it is the only time we have encountered a last minute sale of this size.

On the subject of selling empty suites at the last minute the following occurred at Reykjavik,Iceland last year.We were doing back to back cruises on the Cloud with the changeover port being Reykjavik and we left the ship after breakfast to explore the city.There was a queue of around 30 people waiting to board,and we engaged in conversation with a member of SS staff as to what the queue was for to board the ship.We were told it was the response to local advertising for 1/2 price cruise for the next cruise being sold on first come basis.A little annoying to us having booked some 18 months in advance,but thankfully it is the only time we have encountered a last minute sale of this size.

That would be annoying and supposedly the exact thing that Silversea says they don't want to happen. Granted I've only talked to two people about that and even then they said "generally" try to avoid. "Generally" gives them wiggle room.

Should add that for our upcoming cruise Silversea came out with a sale offering a two category upgrade or $1500 OBC. We went to them about the offer through our TA and Silversea gave us the $1500 OBC without any questions. Means spa visits for Mrs K and better wines and maybe a couple of better cigars for me so that works. Bottom line it was handled well without issue and that kind of service keeps us coming back.

Understand. We went through some of the same analysis for our June cruise opinion the Med on the Spirit. We were in the category below Silver Suite and were actually doing a 9 and 7-day cruise so the increase to a Silver Suite wasn't quite as reasonable as your situation. Since we were on a port intensive itinerary, only one sea day in 16 days, and wouldn't be in the cabin that much we stayed put. I'm really not complaining. If it is standard or generally typical Silversea holds the fare line then that's good by me. I know on the line we cruised for 15+ years before coming to Silversea was and still is all over the place with guarantees, up sells, and upgrades sometimes to the chagrin of early bookers who get stuck with their originally booked fare. That line has not low fare guarantee program.

I agree. I prefer it when most everyone gets the same fair(ish) shake. Our first cruise was aboard Regent and that forum often discusses all sorts of maneuvering including up sells and upgrades so I guess I assumed that approach was common amongst the luxe lines.

We'll have six sea days on the 17-day voyage so I may as well pay for the change but I'll sit on it for a few more days.

We'll have six sea days on the 17-day voyage so I may as well pay for the change but I'll sit on it for a few more days.

We've been in a Royal but not on the Whisper. Quite frankly you're not gaining much in the higher cabins if the difference is like on the Shadow.

We are booked currently into a royal suite and I am considering changing to a grand suite which the website shows as yet available. At list price that would be an extra $2K. That sum seems not much when compared to the cost of the royal suite for two, round-trip 1st-class airfare from SFO, six nights lodging on Barbados and the assorted host of incidental expenses.

Randyk47: We've been in a Royal but not on the Whisper. Quite frankly you're not gaining much in the higher cabins if the difference is like on the Shadow.

In checking with Silversea this afternoon' date=' it appears that [b']your Amazon River cruise will be about 90% full.[/b] We were lucky earlier this year in doing these same ports and Amazon River routing in only having 179 passengers compared to the capacity of the Silver Cloud at 296. Have a crew of 212 on our ship for 179 people spoiled us significantly.

We have not been in the Whisper, but in looking on the website, but it seems that the size and lay-out of the Royal Suite versus the Grand Suite seem fairly comparable. Either way, you'll be in excellent comfort and get great staff treatment. Randy seems very realistic in his summary point. It is, however, your cruise and choice.

Look forward to hearing any reports and posting for your impression of these various port stops, sights along the Amazon River, etc. Be sure to spend time up on the top deck and/or back-viewing Panorama Lounge to be able to see the various activities on both sides of the ship and river.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 32,022 views for these postings.

We've been in a Royal but not on the Whisper. Quite frankly you're not gaining much in the higher cabins if the difference is like on the Shadow.

I'm still sitting on it, Randy.

My only caveat, in the form of experience on our last cruise, is that there were a couple of Silver Suites empty on our Spirit cruise in June and they stayed empty for our 9-day cruise. We were in a mid ships veranda cabin and I can't say they beat down the door making offers. It was actually this situation that the caused the up sell and upgrade policy discussion with a senior staff member. She said if we'd asked about moving the offer would have been for the full fare difference.

This has been our experience exactly on past cruises. On one cruise on Spirit, we asked for and received a tour of the four classes of suites above our mid-ship veranda suite by the front office manager. All of these suites were unoccupied and ours for the taking if we were willing to pay the difference in price (we were not). She told us that Silversea does not "usually" upgrade so as to keep the peace among guests, thus the empty high-end suites.

Silversea's policy of not doing upsells is interesting. We have stayed in Silver Suites on the Whisper, Shadow and Spirit mainly because the front suites feel the motion of the ocean much more than mid-ships and the Owner's Suite is a bit pricey. When it comes to upsells, Regent does many and I have not read/heard about any problems (aka jealousy) from other passengers either on board or on Cruise Critic (the lack of issues could be that most Regent passengers are savvy enough not to tell everyone they see how much they paid).

Just because you don't know it is unfair does not mean that it is fair.