mumcat

9 minutes ago, Port Power said:

Insist that SS provide the replacement cruise as a replacement for your cancelled cruise.  No further payment necessary.  And if they won’t refund you for the lost days, demand OBC in lieu.  It really should be that simple. Why does Silversea complicate a simple swap?

My cruise isn't cancelled. Its the cruise on Dawn that is cancelled.  My cruise has been reduced from 18 to 14 days by removing 3 days in India and one in Sri Lanka. 

18 hours ago, LikeNiceThings said:

Silversea has now posted the revised 14-day Whisper itinerary with pricing.   It compares unfavorably to the cancelled 18-day Dawn sailing that we had booked.  After subtracting the 15% discount, our cruise fare would still be 22% higher for a comparable suite notwithstanding 4 fewer days, reduced ports/time in port, less amenities/dining venues on an older, smaller ship. We won’t likely pursue this option.

That's awful. I just checked the website and the price at our level is £5000 more expensive than when we booked. I also did a cost per night comparison and even with the 20% reduction we have been offered, the cost per night has slightly increased. For us they have removed the most interesting ports so it will take a lot more than a 20% reduction to keep us on board.

10 hours ago, LikeNiceThings said:

Thank you for sharing. The shortened itinerary gives those of us cancelled from Dawn’s Mumbai-Singapore sailing a head start on deciding whether or not to pursue this option.  The 20% reduction offer is modest given you lose 22% of sailing days, ports and time in port.

I agree with you. For us, India and Sri Lanka were the reason why we booked this cruise so to have all of the changes applied to them makes the new itinerary unappealing. In essence they have reduced the usable time in port in India to about 10 hours in New Mangalore plus a few hours on departure day in Mumbai. I could have more easily accepted missing ports in the latter half .

We have received details of the revised 14 day itinerary on Whisper.

Dec 8       Mumbai.       Depart 23.00

Dec 9      Sea day

Dec 10    New Mangalore     7.00 to 19.00

Dec 11    Sea day

Dec 12   Colombo                8.00 to 18.00

Dec 13   Hambantota          4.30 to 18.00

Dec 14   Sea day

Dec 15   Trincomalee          7.00to 18.00

Dec16 & 17 Sea days

Dec 18 & 19  Phuket           14.00 to 19.00 ( overnight)

Dec20      Langkawi           8.00 to 16.00

Dec 21    Port Klang          8.00 to 17.00

Dec 22     Singapore         7.00. 

They are offering a 20% reduction to maintain the  booking or a full refund if we wish to cancel. 

9 hours ago, LikeNiceThings said:

My question is for mumcat.

We have not been officially told by SS that the cruise has been shortened. I only know about it from reading here . So yes, we are still booked on Whisper and I assume we will be notified of the change and hopefully given options. 

On 5/29/2024 at 9:07 PM, LAL Cruiser said:

The new Whisper itinerary (14 day Mumbai to Singapore) with pricing should be available around June 6 according to my sources.

 

14 days from Mumbai to Singapore is rather quick as these itineraries are usually in the 17 to 20 day range; there is a lot of distance to cover.  It will be interesting to see the schedule. ports visited and timing.  Will the 14 day cruise be worth taking: to travel so far for a few points with numerous days at sea misses the point of this cruise in my opinion.

 

I fear that we will end up cancelling our entire India/Cruise adventure and do something else - but what?  We will have over €5000.00 to burn with Lufthansa.

I'm sorry to hear that. We were supposed to be on Whisper in March for the similar itinerary and it too was cancelled so we eventually rebooked on Whisper for the Dec 4 sailing. Today that sailing is also waitlisted so I wonder if SS are hoping that the passengers from Dawn will transfer over. 

We are booked on the Whisper cruise out of Mumbai on December 4 having had the previously booked Singapore to Mumbai cruise cancelled. I can see that the Dawn has nothing sailing from November 17 until Singapore but the Whisper's November cruises are still bookable.  It would seem strange that they would cancel the larger cruise but keep the smaller one - wouldn't it be easier to allow the Whisper passengers to transfer to the Dawn? Anyway, I won't be surprised if the Whisper is also cancelled I just hope that they don't leave it until the last minute like they did when they cancelled the March cruise in February.

On 4/7/2024 at 12:50 AM, ORV said:

Just to throw another idea in here. If you are sharing a table in the Specialties being late is rude and inconsiderate. I'm sure the OP is talking about dining by yourself. Just wanted to separate the two things. 

My OH and I booked in the Speciality restaurant and agreed to share a table. We arrived on time but we were not allowed to order our meal until the other couple arrived. After 15 minutes I complained to the M'd that we did not even know the other people they were not friends  and we were not prepared to wait for them. He agreed and took their settings away. To my knowledge, they never did show up. My point is to confirm what ORV has said - it's rude not to show up.

I'm upset because AZ are ignoring me. I managed to get them to change the 5 different AZ Circle numbers they have given me so that I now have just 1 and, I can now access the cruise that I booked recently. I was also promised that they were going to correct my membership status to reflect the 4 past cruises I have taken. I have even sent them the booking numbers for these cruises but , still nothing. It seem that this is a problem that has been going on for others for a while so I wondered how others had got it sorted .

Is anyone else still having this issue? I have taken 4 cruises with AZ but my Loyalty Circle account shows 0. I have emailed them with the details of the 4 cruises but have not had a response. I note that the last post on this said that AZ said the problems would be resolved in June 2023 but apparently, it is still an issue. It is beyond frustrating.

I am very grateful to UKTOG for their posts about their experience on this cruise. Because it sounds so wonderful I have booked my OH and I on the February 2025 itinerary on the Journey. I will be looking over all of the posted comments for suggestions about on shore tours etc plus joining the Roll Call. Thank you to everyone on this cruise for sharing your experiences. 

8 minutes ago, bitob said:

I agree. the cancellation of your cruise (which i predicted) is the only way they can get to drydock on time. Nothing to do with safety   Once they cancelled my red sea cruise your cruise was doomed

Thanks for understanding my point and, sympathy for your cancelled cruise. 

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Safety for guests overall.  It's not just about your cruise.

 

We seem to be talking at cross-purposes. I'm done.

4 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Going north to Mumbai adds to the distance and time then needed to go back southbound to sail around the Cape of Good Hope.

 

As it is, there are weeks being added to the time to get to the Med, and going to India would just make it longer.

 

My original point was that our cruise does not go near the Red Sea so their excuse of our safety does not make sense. I would rather they had been truthful. 

2 minutes ago, david63 said:

That may be part of the reason but I was told by a SS representative that other cruises have also been cancelled that are going in that area.

Mumbai / Singapore aren't near the Red Sea. It doesn't encourage me to rebook anything at the moment.

We are booked on the recently cancelled cruise from Singapore to Mumbai on Whisper. Obviously it's very annoying , especially as the reason given was 'safety and security of guests and crew' when we weren't going anywhere near the Red Sea / Suez. I believe the real reason is to give enough time to sail around Africa to get to dry dock in the Med. Why couldn't they just say that. 

We will receive a full refund of the cruise fare plus Euro450pp  for air travel fees. That will cover barely 50% of our air costs. Then we can have 20% reduction in a future cruise but we must book by February 29. IMO we should be given longer to decide especially given the state of travel these days. For instance, Silver Dawn and Whisper are both doing the Mumbai to Singapore itinerary departing Mumbai on December 4 2024. I would be happy to book either but, both ships will  be coming to Mumbai from the Med. If sailing through the canal and Red Seas still continues to be impossible there is a very real possibility that these cruises will also be cancelled unless they cancel several cruises in the Med at the end of that season. Obviously I have way too much time on my hands to think about this but as I am no longer getting ready to sail in a few weeks, I will no doubt continue until I calm down!

5 hours ago, Bennyeggs said:

Yes it has, not happy here...

Me either!

21 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

No. You can dress one category lower than the evening's dress code in LT, and the Grill is always casual.

 

Quoted from the website: https://www.silversea.com/travel-informations/general-information.html

 

"Evening attire falls into three categories: casual, informal and formal.

• On casual evenings, pants, blouses, skirts and casual dresses for ladies; open-neck shirts and slacks for gentlemen are appropriate.
• On informal evenings, ladies usually wear dresses or pantsuits; gentlemen wear jackets (tie optional). Appropriate formal evening wear for ladies is an evening gown or cocktail dress; gentlemen wear tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits. Tie is required.
• On formal nights, guests may dine in La Terrazza and choose to dress informal; dresses or pantsuits for ladies, jackets for gentlemen (tie optional).

This option also applies to Seishin on board Silver Spirit, Kaiseki on board Silver Muse, Silver Moon and Silver Dawn. Dining at The Grill and Spaccanapoli is optional casual all nights."

Thank you for this information - I don't think I would have found it where it was posted.

Thank you all for your responses. I am aware of the booking requirements for the speciality restaurants on Regent but you are only able to book each one once prior  to boarding. I'm struggling to decide today what I may want to eat in 2 months time. As someone has suggested, I may have to just book randomly and cancel when on board rather than not get a reservation at all. 

In any event, I hope that someone will be able to clarify the dress code - specifically on formal nights. Is it formal in all restaurants? I apologise for asking these basic questions but the information doesn't seem to be available on the website - unless I'm just not seeing it!

Hello, we have recently booked to be on Silversea Whisper, Singapore to Mumbai March 3 - 23. This is our first SS cruise and I'm trying to get to grips with a few things. We have previously sailed on Regent, Oceania and Azamara. I can see that the subject of SS's dress code can cause some controversy - I am used to the idea of no shorts, jeans. t-shirts at night . Also what Regent calls Country Club Casual which some people took very liberally indeed! I'm interested in where formal attire is appropriate. I can see which nights are formal but does this apply to every restaurant - even the Grill?  FWIW I like the idea of formal but would prefer to know more about it.

Also, I see that other than the main dining room, we have to make reservations,  which is a bit disappointing as I prefer to just turn up. I can understand reserving at the special d-room where we have to pay $60 but not the Grill or the Italian resto. This isn't a complaint - just a slight whine 😉. Are reservations essential or just advised and can it wait until we are on board?

Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing from you seasoned SS sailors.☺️

10 hours ago, Spudd said:

Given you have visas, there's nothing to stop you getting off in India. I don't know why O would have said you couldn't, if you already had visas. I would check with them again if I were you.

Oceania's visa department don't seem to know much. They have told people on another cruise that they must have a visa for Indonesia otherwise they will have to leave the ship before it reaches port! This is so untrue as its possible to get a visa on arrival at the port or, just stay on the ship.

10 hours ago, geoacs said:

We are booked on the 40 day cruise from Barcelona to Singapore. Being Canadians, we have been informed by Oceania that we will not be able to disembark in India due to that country's suspension of Canadian visas.  Since that notice in mid October, India has resumed issuing visas to Canadians, but O has not notified us of the change.  We already obtained our visas prior to the suspension, but wondering if O will allow us to disembark in India???

India is still not issuing tourist visas. They have begun issuing visas to Indian nationals in Canada who need to visit India. 

Indian citizens in Canada often take Canadian citizenship but India does not recognise dual citizenship so they  effectively lose Indian citizenship and  need to have an entry visa to travel  to India.

2 minutes ago, mom says said:

Just saw that multiple news sources are reporting that India will resume visa services at the High Commission  and consulates beginning tomorrow. Only for select categories, but they include entry visas.

Unfortunately this does not include tourist visas. Entry visas are only for Indian citizens in Canada. 

1 minute ago, em-sk said:

 

If your in France you may have an easier time.  They use a contractor in Canada to process Visa applications and have told the contractor to close its offices in Canada.  I don't think they have imposes restrictions on issuing visas for Canadian passports.  

No, we applied for his visa on line and it makes no difference where you are geographically. Canadians worldwide are not being given visas.