Oldiesfan

Short answer YES!

If you stay on them they can book and confirm the flights as early as 321 days before the scheduled return but they dont pay the airlines or get tickets issued until inside of 60 days to departure so the confirmed resv. can be at risk for cancellation.  Need to stay on top of it with your contact at SS.  Ask specific questions via email and preserve the response if it does not work out as promised.

On 1/23/2022 at 4:30 PM, alolewis said:

Booked on Silver Wind August 8, Kangerlussuaq to Kangerlussuag.  Paid for Business class upgrade but not Air Deviation. As of today the flights are not in My Silversea.  On our previous bookings on Silversea that were cancelled due to COVID the flights were on the My bookings.  Does anyone know how far in advance Silversea books flight?

 

Second question I noticed that the cheapest business class is on Icelandic air but no lie flat seats/beds.  The flights with lie flat seat beds are about double.  Would you suggest I do air deviation, would Silversea charge the much higher airfare?

Thank you.  This is our first time on Silversea.  I am hoping we don;t get so spoiled we never want to go back to Princess or Celebrity.

On 2/3/2022 at 12:02 AM, cruiseej said:

Your travel agent can get the record locator numbers even if you can't yet on My Silversea. There is no e-ticket number until the booking is ticketed, probably about 3-5 weeks prior to the flight. 

We booked Business thru SS for a March 2022 cruise.  We were allowed, per airline regs. to request our flights 321 days prior to the scheduled RETURN date.  The problem, as we discovered in these uncertain times, is that flights get changed or cancelled, we are now on our 3rd booking for this trip and 3rd air carrier.  SS has been great in helping find alternate routings that are on airlines that are acceptable to us but YOU need to stay on top of it with your SS consultant because SS Air team does not always notify you of the change or cancellation.  Also, we found out the hard way that while the will reserve and confirm your flights they dont pay for  them and get tickets issued until 30 - 60 days from the start date to avoid cancellation charges from the airline.  We still had the all the flights show up in the My Silversea details section - just need to be diligent.

On 6/21/2021 at 2:30 PM, WesW said:

Oldiesfan; we will also be on the Cape to Zanzibar voyage as well as the Puerto Williams to Cape voyage preceding it.  Can't wait.

 

Here is what Silversea says about dress on the Explorer, found in the FAQ section of the Silversea home page.

 

We have been on the Silver Cloud expedition for voyages to Svalbard and Cape to Cape and the dress is precisely as described below.

 

For Silversea Expeditions guests sailing aboard Silver Explorer, casual resort wear is appropriate at all times when on board, with the exception of two evenings when Informal attire is required. For men, this means a jacket, tie optional.

Thanks for the insight -still struggling a bit with having to lug a blazer so may just skip the "formal" nights and eat topside or in our suite.  We will be in the bush in Medikwe S.Africa and Botswana for 10 day before boarding the explorer so we really need to manage our packing to a minimum considering that with transit time from the US we will be away for 30 + days. Look forward to meeting you onboard and comparing travel notes. -  we are on the Origin in the Galapagos in 5 weeks.

We will be on the Cape Town to Zanzibar leg  next March - can anyone who has been on the Explorer please share their experience and if the typical SS Formal attire nights are done on the expedition type ships and itineraries?  We are also on the Origin this August in the Galapagos and my impression is that there either will not be any "formal" night partly due to the nature of the itinerary and partly due to the new Covid protocals being enforced on board.

According to my SS contact they will be doing Covid testing aboard the Origin prior to leaving the ship and will deliver written test results before disembarking.  I ftat is the case no worries - I doubt that a high end line like Silversea would risk stranding the clients in a foreign country.  More likely will cancel if they can't comply with US CDC requirements.  Marriott was still not open and still not taking any advance bookings but since SS made the hotel arrangements they probably are in the process of finding an acceptable alternative property.  I reached out to my contact and hope to hear back soon on what they are doing.

Thanks - pretty much the way we have been approaching but figured it wouldn't to throw the question out to see if anyuone possibly has some vision.  Does not seem to be anybody talking about this date/itineray yet - no roll calls any way.  Guess we sit tight and see what happens.

We are taking a leap of faith and have booked space on the Origin for a Galapagos sailing in mid August.  So far, have not been able to ascertain what provisions either Silversea or their parent Royal Caribbean have made for rapid COVID testing prior to return repatriation flights to the U.S. from Ecuador, specifically from the Quito airport.  As it stands today the U.S. requires ALL returning international passengers, even if you have been vaccinated to have a documented Negative test result before being allowed to board the flight in Ecuador!
 

If anyone has booked this itinerary in Equador with Silversea has any updated intelligence Iwould be grateful for the information.

Doug and Kathy

Palm Beach, FL

USA

Dipping our toe back into the cruise pool after getting our Capetown to Singapore trip cancelled in January - too risky to go to South Africa and SE Asia right now.  We have been vaccinated and saw a feeler sent out by Silversea for the Origin.  We  think that because it is such small ship, new and with limited passengers and not visiting any ports except for the Islands we would give it a chance.  We booked the San Cristobal to Balta itinerary because the Siverseas folks advised me that both itineraries are very similar one is just the turnaround from the other every other week.  As they explained to me the one that starts in Baltra is closer to land and has more focus on hiking and birding while San Cristobal will allow for more time snorkeling and kayaking.  They have suspended 2021 sailings through May and suggested that if they go in June it will be a shakedown for the crew and ship so suggested we push out to July and beyond.  We opted for Mid August figuring if it gets pushed they will rebook us later in the fall.  The young lady, Amanda, who reached out to me from their Miami office has been extremely helpful and accommodating.  One tip - if you want to book your own air into Quito SS will give you a $750 reduction pp on the pkg.  Flying out of Miami AA is selling Business class for $794 R/T versus flying economy with the package.  A no brainer for us.  Good luck!

1 minute ago, Oldiesfan said:

Typically Viking only publishes time in port info fo Ocean.  Like you , I try to plan my time in advance.  We are on this itinerary in Nov for the Christmas markets traveling Zur to Par.  You just need to contact a Viking rep and ask for the projected time in port and they will give you the current expected schedule (subject to change based on river conditions.  I Got this info for our cruise no problem.  Good luck - this is a nice trip if you have never been in these towns especially Basel and Strasbourg and of course Paris, our personal favorite city in Europe.

Doug

PS - your ship typically will dock right alongside old town making it unnecessary for a shuttle and an easy walk into the village.

On 4/8/2019 at 10:25 PM, lucky cal said:

My mother and I are cruising on Viking's Paris to Swiss Alps itinerary on August 5th. We have taken a number of ocean cruises but this our first river cruise. I tend to be a detailed planner, and two things are driving me crazy. The first is not knowing how long we will be docked in each port. The second is not knowing exactly where we will dock for each location.

 

We have reserved an excursion in each port, but I'd like to know how long we'll be docked. That way I would have a better sense of timing and know if I can/should research and plan any other activities for time on our own.

 

As far as docking location, I'm trying to determine how close we will be to each town. Are we able to walk to and from the ship for free time on our own, and if not, does Viking provide a shuttle into town?

 

I'm sure we will receive more detailed information with our final documents but we won't receive those until 3 weeks before the trip and that's not much time to research and plan.

 

If anyone can shed light on the timing and docking location for the following ports on the Paris to Swiss Alps itinerary, I'd be grateful!

 

Strasbourg

Speyer

Mainz

Koblenz

Cochem

Bernkastel

Trier

Typically Viking only publishes time in port info fo Ocean.  Like you , I try to plan my time in advance.  We are on this itinerary in Nov for the Christmas markets traveling Zur to Par.  You just need to contact a Viking rep and ask for the projected time in port and they will give you the current expected schedule (subject to change based on river conditions.  I Got this info for our cruise no problem.  Good luck - this is a nice trip if you have never been in these towns especially Basel and Strasbourg and of course Paris, our personal favorite city in Europe.

Doug

Many thanks for your reply. It is so difficult to find out this type if information in regard to international cruise ships, from Australia.

 

No, we are not trying to add a third person. I can just be a very restless sleeper and so was hoping to be able to use the Penthouse Junior Suite (PJS) sofa to sleep on occasions, so as not to disturb my wife.

 

On the Celebrity ships for example, the Celebrity Suites have a sofa that converts to a sofa bed arrangement. We have done 3 cruises with Celebrity and also have 2 more booked.

 

But Viking Orion ( new ship ) does an itinerary from Bangkok Thailand down to Bali, which we particularly like the look of and am just hoping that the PJS sofa either extends to a sofa bed or would be suitable for me on occasions as mentioned above. Our budget does not unfortunately stretch to the Explorer Suite and above.

 

I am not sure how else to find out this information and so was hoping Cruise Critic members may be able to help.

 

 

 

 

Thanks,

If you have not yet gotten an answer - I believe that the bed in the cabins can be made up as one queen/king or divided into 2 twins upon request. We will be on the Orion from Bali to Sydney in November.