canderson

When we came through in November 23, we were pleasantly surprised to find that they had extended this to 4 hours. One less hour to schlep bags waiting to check them in for a mid-afternoon flight.

In November 23, we flew into Lisbon 4 days pre-cruise (one day earlier than normally managed by SS), and only had to pay the $150 deviation fee. Evidently they found seats (and the itinerary was absolutely perfect) that they could provide at their contract price. It's the luck of the draw, but it worked well for us. As for Blacklane, great service there as well, but the caveat about a last minute cancellation should be heeded. No idea how often this really happens - you can't tell from message boards - but it wouldn't be the first time.

Some said it would never happen. We predicted otherwise.

You know our history, and why we made the X to SS switch. **At least for the moment**, we find SS a better overall experience. I think you'll enjoy it. As for the fiasco in question, if all of the SS pax on deck for the photo shoot would channel their inner Carnival instincts for a few minutes and flip the bird to the drone taking the video... 🤣

Not sure how often it happens, but on our 16 nt, 2 of 3 turned out to be on different nights than the bow ties indicated pre-cruise.

Yes. Since the final passenger manifest must be nailed down before sailing, just showing up at port with a sub pax creates major complications and may cause boarding denial.

Ray and Nova, perhaps?

The differences you are seeing may have to do with location. Frankhi doesn't say, but may be in Europe, and there are numerous differences in what's legal and what's offered on either side of the pond when it comes to fares, refunds, etc.

Also possible that only a fixed number of bookings were set aside for solos and they've already met that quota. SS's solo pricing, when available, seems to be quite popular.

For breakfast, you'll leave a card outside your door as is common on many lines. For other orders, you can talk to your butler or you can call the room service number directly with your order. Your butler will come to pick up dishes if you call, or if you wait until the butler comes by for regular service, they'll clear them then.

As they already know based upon existing schedule whether the excursion is chargeable or not (hence the $0 next to the crossed out price), the price needn't show unless it is chargeable.

Showing a 'price' is just a marketing ploy to suggest the 'included' value in your fare. Think of it as a "Here's what you saved by booking with Silversea" sort of gimmick. Of course, we all know those costs to SS are covered as part of the higher fare paid vs. other lines. It actually does show 'no charge' since the price is zero'd out and appears a $0 charge to your expenses.

That's what I did as well. At that time, the system would not allow overlapped events in the personal planner schedule regardless of whether any or all of them were waitlisted.

Glad to hear this. My attempts were last July for our Nov 23 cruise.

Our experience was that it was impossible to double book excursions online, even if the first was waitlisted.

A line can't just show up for drydock when it's convenient. Those schedules are exceptionally tight. Mandated periodic inspections during drydock are a safety issue.

Our experience was the same. We booked the Tivoli Avenida in Lisbon for 3 pre-cruise nights with SS at a decent rate, booked a 4th on our own in a better room, and stayed in the better room for all 4 nights, plus got the extra perks due to our own 4th night booking.

We haven't done it on SS since we've only done D-D, but one can typically buy the port > airport transfer separately on the ship on other lines.

We enjoyed snacks at the Arts Cafe. Never starving at dinner. Cheese plate with a glass of Port always nice.

You might want to start up a roll call for your April '24 cruise here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?type=forums_topic&search_and_or=or&search_in=titles&nodes=2451&q=Apr April

When we booked D2D this last time with SS, it was a year and change ahead of sailing, and same class + same route broke even when we added in the price of our usual car service, so we went with SS since we didn't have to make final payment on D2D until 120 days out. SS was evidently getting a decent deal on the flights and not marking up much. Their D2D package was about $100 more per person than the price I'd have had to pay for the same flights. One way trans-oceanic, in particular, can get expensive. Seems the good old days of easy to find 1 way international consolidator fares are gone forever.

Unless it isn't. Our last cruise was from Denver - Lisbon, and SS routed us in Polaris class DEN to LHR, and business class LHR to LIS, one stop with an appropriate layover in LHR. And you couldn't ask for nicer seats than Polaris on a 787 for a U.S. based airline. Last year was DEN-FRA-BCN (again, major oversea leg DEN-FRA was on a 787 in Polaris) using X's air and my own upgrades stacked on top. It can be a crap shoot, but we've been pretty lucky in recent years.

This is true for spas in cruise ships everywhere. The 'upsell' spiels are a requirement of the company providing the service (Canyon Ranch, Steiner, whoever), though I suspect there are spiffs involved for the employees as well. Would Elemis even be in business if not for cruise lines? Well, yeah, I guess it would, but ... Our overall experience is that the Steiner spas tend to be less expensive for services, but tougher on the upsell side vs. Canyon Ranch.

Perhaps not so much a joke as you might think. Pre-COVID, the difference in dress between Euro and US passengers on European cruises was definitely discernible. Haven't been there enough since COVID to know if that's still the case.

I wonder if X will take that on as well. Then we can all ruminate about how Captain Kate's cat will respond.