FLRI

1 hour ago, texanaust said:

Yes, an email.  I think they went out to agents first.

 

Thanks for posting and sharing the news. Disappointed on so many levels, especially the way they handled this.

And announcing 1) 46 days before the cruise when they knew this was going to happen awhile ago and 2) it right after a fare increase. Not nice.

It’s clear Silversea has become more focused on marketing than delivering the product they are marketing. 

3 minutes ago, texanaust said:

Both cruises are now cancelled.  Full refund (Takes up to 90 days to process???!!!🙄), 20% off the new increased prices and must book by May 31st.  Up to $500 for non-refundable things with receipts.  

Where did you get the info? Did you get an email? Still showing waitlist on the website and haven’t gotten an email yet….Can you post a picture of the email if you got one?

3 hours ago, Joc123 said:

I know what you mean, we feel the same way.

Do we get the cases out?

Do we start sorting summer clothes?

Do we organise things around the house, redirection of the mail etc?

The cruise leaves from Singapore so I’m guessing most passengers will be flying in from somewhere which means a lot of flights and hotels will need to be cancelled.

I wonder about passengers who are doing a B2B (Singapore - Mumbai second leg).

Have they heard anything?

What about the crew?

It’s a ridiculous situation!

 

YES!

COMPLETELY INCONSIDERATE of passengers, staff and crew. 

Is management so disorganized that they cannot make a decision? 

Is anyone out there on the Moon who can ask a few people?

On 3/15/2024 at 9:06 AM, babydrum said:

Not a peep. 

Well, Mark Conroy who is head of the Americas for Silversea and on FB. Send him a message.

Go to Mark Spencer Conroy since Mrs. Muckerman Martinoli is not responding. 

The silence from them on this and the Nova situation is deafening! 

In regard to Australian Consumer Law, Scenic Cruises, based in Australia has been sued at least twice. There was a class action suit against them. Basically they used industrial ports and substituted buses for an entire river cruise in Europe because of river flooding. They lost the class action suit. We had a river cruise scheduled with the in 2020 and they were horrible to deal with. Did not offer a refund and wanted to keep our money for 3 years before we could get a refund despite the cruise contract terms. 

4 hours ago, Joc123 said:

In Australia it is currently 7:22am Friday 15th March and still no word from SS re May cruises.

However, we have received word that all SS fares will be increased 17th March!

Is it too cynical of me to think they are waiting for the fare increase before cancelling our cruises?

This way they can offer 20% off future cruise which now costs more - very clever.

No not cynical at all.They play games with the fares and promotions all the time. And they think their passengers are stupid. When they cancel they should give you the price before the fare increase. If there is a replacement cruise you want, take a screenshot of the fares. (Though sometimes when prices go up they only go up $500, but still…)

19 minutes ago, sammyboots said:

I agree, just want to know that it's cancelled so I can make a new booking. Hate this hanging about waiting. 

Unfortunately they have no empathy whatsoever for passengers…or the staff that will have to make the changes.

Your travel agent should come back to you with the price for the air deviation fee. If you pick a different day, you will pay that fee PLUS any difference in airfare…if there is a difference.

The “party line:” when you call is that something is happening and the TAs, passengers and phone staff all hear at the same time. The phone staff says it’s an itinerary change but they truly don’t know and they probably wouldn’t even hint at a cruise being cancelled. My TA’s guess is we will hear at the 45 or 30 day mark, unfortunately. It went waitlist on the 60 day mark. I can’t imagine they would be that “structured” in terms of timing. 

Unfortunately Silversea doesn’t seem to know the old rule in regard to customer service that a satisfied customer only tells one or two people while a dissatisfied tells greater than 7 people.

We have cruised a lot on Silversea. Unlike other cruise lines, there is nothing very special about formal nights. They maybe serve a lobster tail, fois gras and caviar in Atlantide if you want it. But nothing else, no special party, event etc., other than maybe the Venetian Captain’s cocktail party on one of the nights It’s just an opportunity to dress up if you want to.

Used to bring the tux and finery but no more. We have enough opportunities to dress up that we don’t need to bring it to do so on the ship. 

Heard a few weeks ago that Silversea is evaluating the dress code…we’ll see where that goes…and how long it takes!

20 hours ago, Joc123 said:

This really is becoming annoying.

It is obvious to all and sundry the cruise will not go ahead so we are looking at alternatives but of course we can’t do anything until we have confirmation.

May is now out of the question for us so it’s now August - peak season in Europe and heavily booked. We found a cruise on Ray which is ok (been to all ports before) but the flights from Adelaide on the date we need is completely booked out. We can go out of Melbourne but it adds an extra 8 hours to a 23 hour flight!

The longer we have to wait before we can go ahead the worse it’s going to be. 

I wonder if the crew have been told anything - it must be so stressful for them not knowing what they are doing.

This could have and should have been handled better.

 

Absolutely correct. And the longer they wait, the more expensive everything becomes, not to mention less availability. And airfares have gotten absurd. A business class seat I booked 4 months ago is now triple the price. I think the crew is the last to know. Can they really not make a decision and communicate it? Are mired in bureaucracy, indecisive, incompetent, negligent, manipulative (i.e., waiting for the penalties to escalate) or they just don’t care?

It’s sad, they did such a great job during Covid compared to other cruise lines and generated a lot of goodwill. That is rapidly evaporating.

Now they overpromise and underdeliver.

Anxiously awaiting the  “Esteemed Guest” letter…

7 hours ago, caviargal said:

I think it is ! Some insta crazy millennial at RCI thought this would be cool.

We received notice that we must vacate suites by 9 and and first off is 12:45.  How's that for luxury and customer service?

I think you are right. How does management approve something like this?

Can’t wait to see the memes on this “photo opp.”

So they gave you an hour extra in the cabin and you have to hang around the ship for almost 4 hours? Yikes, talk about adding insult to injury. Unfortunately the ones that will suffer with this are the crew.

What a poor business decision. And SS’s silence is just making it worse. 

Thought I'd start this thread so we can share any news on these two voyages that seem to be very much in limbo due to the Red Sea situation.

• May 5 - 23, 2024, Singapore to Mumbai
• May 23 - June 9, 2024, Mumbai to Athens

Of course there is May 23 - June 1, a shorter sub-segment, Mumbai to Jeddah, which is still for sale on the website...as are the two voyages above. Is Silversea still actively selling them knowing there is a high probability they will change???

The Moon needs to get from Singapore to Athens by June for the summer Med season.

The question is, what will Silversea do about these voyages and WHEN???

Every other cruiseline is making changes. Anyone on these voyages needs to re-arrange flights etc. The longer they wait the more difficult and costly those changes become. 

When will Silversea finally make a decision and announcement???

It seems virtually certain the May 23 itinerary will be significantly changed. But what about May 5 - 23??? Will the ship skip Mumbai and head from Sri Lanka, to the Seychelles, Madagascar and Cape Town before heading up the western coast of Africa? Or will they do what Crystal is doing? Are they waiting to see how the Crystal voyage thru the Red Sea goes??

A change in disembarkation port will significantly change flight arrangements. We are all hoping they make an announcement as soon as possible rather than the 45 or 30 day mark. Unfortunately the track record for making announcements at the last minute is not good!

Thoughts, comments, opinions??

On 2/4/2023 at 2:03 PM, bohaiboy said:

Unfortunately we met many former Crystal employees onboard the Moon.  Many had five + years with Crystal.  If the loyalty of Crystal employees is as strong as it seems, I personally believe many of these folks will head back, creating even more staffing issues.

 

The ships have been downsized, the Symphony has 606 PAX and the Serenity has 740.  The new itins are mundane nothing special or exotic.  I believe the PAX count is about 20% less than previously.  The pricing previously on Crystal was VERY expensive in my opinion.  The new ones seem to run about $600-700 per person per night for a veranda suite.  The verandas suites are small at 265 SGF including veranda.  Rates do not include air or excursions.

 

We found the previous food much better than SS has been post covid.  We sailed about 3 months prior to bankruptcy in Dec 2021.  Entertainment and enrichment was far superior to SS, however it also was a much younger crowd.

So only time will tell.  With two ships, itineraries will be very restricted without much choices, so overall I don't see them hurting SS.  The question might arise that the new Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons ships might have a larger impact on SS.  Competition is always good to have.

Well, Russ (CD) will probably head back to Crystal. The CDs oversee entertainment and they are all about that so it makes sense. They have so much on Crystal so there is a lot to manage and a real entertainment job. Just wish SS would realize people want more to do than just sit around, eat and drink and have sandals made. We are big SS fans but the shopping is dismal and has been for years. You need more to do during the day than sit at the Arts Cafe or by the pool. 

Agree in regard to Crystal itineraries. I guess mainstream itineraries have the possibility of attracting more passengers which is what they need to do now. And I totally agree in regard to pricing — they were much more per cabin on a square foot basis…and the veranda cabins were tiny with tiny bathrooms.

I am not sure what is going on with SS with the food. It has been mixed at best. We were on the Dawn last month and it was certainly better than it was last June when it was dismal. But the thruster noise on the Dawn when pulling away from port is shocking or when they anchor. Did they cut corners on insulation in the anchor pocket, ship infrastructure etc.? It sounds like jackhammers if you are on deck 5, 6 or 7, forward of La Dolce Vita! I can only imagine what it sounds like in those suites in front.

Re: competition. Not too concerned about Ritz Carlton because it’s really Marriott and they are not “yachts” despite their marketing. And it would certainly annoy me if I was paying and others were using points. Explora is larger and we’ll see what they do. Atlas—more premium than luxury? Four Seasons might be the real luxury competition.

Has anyone been on Atlas?

11 hours ago, HPfoodie said:

Just been looking at the Crystal website, which is pretty poor to be honest. And wondered what the difference is between an ‘attentive’ butler as opposed to a ‘junior’ butler. And still not all categories are eligible for butler service. I know we didn’t use our butler too much at all - but it was a luxury we enjoyed. 

The difference may be “Attentive butler service” vs “inattentive butler service.”

It’s always a welcoming feeling when you get onboard and you have crew you have sailed with before acknowledge and welcome you back. It certainly makes you feel special; we assume they remember us for all good reasons LOL. 

The Crystal board is very nostalgic when it comes to crew and the ships…what happens when they get onboard and the crew is new and doesn’t recognize them, and the ships look totally different. Will they still feel the same way? New crew, new decor, new venues.

There is a lot of crew turnover post Covid. We were recently on the Dawn and have almost 300 days. We saw very few crew we had sailed with before and I think we were addressed by name maybe half a dozen times. We were a bit surprised. Cruise was still great, but it was missing that personal touch that we are used to. 

I think the Crystal folks will be shocked. They seem to think the entire crew is coming back. Some will undoubtedly have moved on. It will not be the Crystal that they know. When I look at the renditions of the cabins etc., the similarity to Silversea is quite striking.

My TA is great and proactive and called to ask about the WC. She was told there isn’t anything they can send out at this point, but she could book it. She tried to explain the logic that in order to book it you need to know what it is and where the ship is going. The agent offered to read her the countries on the itinerary. But there was nothing they could send out. Absurd!

Yes, outside seating is available in the evening if the conditions are favorable. There are overhead heaters as well. 

23 hours ago, dawntrdr said:

This intrigues me...just how old was this Holy Terror when these things occurred?

Probably about 3 years old?

On 10/20/2022 at 9:41 AM, Stickman1990 said:

Never mind the Silversea passengers getting a status match on new Crystal

Us ex classic Crystal cruisers are keen to get our previous status recognised on the new Crystal 😉

And they are anxiously awaiting that news!

Which makes me think of something interesting. Virgin Voyages (VV) just offered anyone who has loyalty status on another line to have equivalent status on VV. Could this be a new trend??? 🤔 Don’t get me wrong, not expecting an avalanche of Silversea passengers to head to VV! But cruiser brand loyalty is very high, so will new cruise lines offer this as an enticement?

Of course you know Silversea is suing Crystal already for poaching some talent who had non-competes.

No surprise about Fernando leaving as he is very tight with Manfredi and was there at the beginning with Sitka/Silversea. Actually surprised it took this long! Nice guy, a legend — simply because he is so friendly, outgoing, loquacious, quick-witted speaks so many languages and memorized everyone’s name. A professional socializer. Quite the gig!

On 3/5/2022 at 9:06 AM, Observer said:

I take your point. But Silversea's Chief Commercial Officer has made herself or been made the voice of the cruise line. She is featured in videos. Is she who responds for the cruise line on Facebook. When I received a book about SALT, the cover message was signed by her, not the president or the extraordinarily able head of North America. (Interestingly, she did not sign the misguided email about PCR tests.)  

Random thoughts….

She is a Chief Marketing Officer. She is creating an approachable persona that people can relate to and is in charge of the brand. Who knows who is in charge of customer service, if there is one.  The CCO is responsive on social media SELECTIVELY. I suspect the SALT book was her idea and it’s part of creating a brand. The email about PCR tests was signed by her husband, the President. I do wonder where Mark Conroy (US Head) is in all of this and what he actually does. Is he just a figurehead? How can he stand by and watch this? You would think he would step in, but perhaps he’s keeping his hands clean and staying in his lane. The “we will let you know” response from their head of sales is unacceptable—no timeline on when, no follow-up.  To me, it doesn’t seem like any one person is in charge — more like no one is in charge. 

She may not have any role in this—-perhaps it is the Head of Fleet Operations who would determine this. Who is that these days???? 

In regard to the comment on booking number—if this is a criteria (which would be very difficult to manage) they are probably going to determine who gets tested by when you booked as all those booked months ago were told testing would be pierside. 

And once again, I will state we are big Silversea fans. The sense of urgency to resolve this seems to be lacking…which leads me to believe it is in the hands of Fleet Operations who is wrestling with how to handle this and what it means before making a change which they do not want to reverse again. 

Where is the leadership? Even an email from marketing saying, “we are revisiting these policies with fleet operations and seeking additional information. We expect to send you information by March 31 etc.” The CCO should know that If you are in marketing part of that is managing expectations…and communication in times like this.

1 hour ago, Observer said:

It is one thing to err.  We all screw up, some of us more frequently than others.  But most people, after committing an error, will rapidly correct the error and even apologize.  It seems pretty clear that the announced requirement of a PCR test was erroneous. Can we really trust corporate management that delays unconscionably in owning up to the error and correcting it?

They seem to have or feel no sense of urgency in resolving this…or they are still in the Galapagos at the Silver Origin naming ceremony. Would think they would ask another senior level exec, perhaps Mark Conroy to IMMEDIATELY step in and provide some leadership but it doesn’t seem that way. FB had a message from Katina who is Silversea’s new head of sales saying we’ll let you know when we have more info. From someone who left Norwegian as head of sales because she wanted to delay her vaccination…and if she hasn’t been vaccinated probably won’t be able to set foot on a Silversea ship for quite sometime. And don’t even get me started on that email from the inside sales rep at Silversea…incomprehensible and an embarrassment. It’s not like they don’t have spellcheck. If the person is that sloppy with communication, how can their message have any credibility? I know this sounds harsh and I am a huge Silversea fan but this is ridiculous. JMO. 

I agree with whomever mentioned the 48 hour vs. 2 day issue. This either means a test upon arrival at an airport (assuming the airport has testing) or arranging in advance with the hotel. The issue will be getting the test results back in time. Let’s hope antigen is ok and not just PCR. 

Since that’s the Icelandair hub, there would be a high probability your flight is on that airline.

BUT, they don’t ticket until about 75 days prior. So once Silversea books your flights (which your TA will be able to see on the TA website), if you don’t like them your TA can go back to Silversea and request another. If it’s a more expensive routing than the bulk contract fare they have or the bulk contract fare is not available on that airline, they will charge a surcharge and perhaps an air deviation fee. 

They also use American a lot.