pegsammax

I may be missing something, but I don’t see any references to ship boarding time in my bookings? Is that associated with a hotel stay?

Continuing to offer on your website a product that you KNOW is cancelled for 10 days,  and not letting your reservation people have that information is poor management, period. When you are extremely short staffed due to a covid surge, and you make more work for your staff because TAs are hounding them to find out if the Facebook post by a Chief officer is true, that's not good communication. I'm still looking forward to sailing on my cruise, and know I will enjoy it.

6 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

TV,

The cancellation of the Dawn’s crossing was announced by Ms. Muckermann weeks ago in what some may take as an unofficial posting. I would have to go back and search the postings on another website that she often frequents to find the exact date.

What I find incredulous is that statement about the cancellation never filtered down or up or anywhere to get to  pax, travel agents and others. 

That disconnect is more than bothersome. 

There were posters on these boards who did mention the fact that the crossing was cancelled and even posted the verbiage from Ms. Muckermann. 

Why did Silversea wait until yesterday to “announce” the cancellation?

What I find even more egregious is that they continued to sell the cruise, after Ms Muckerman’s confirmation post that it was canceled. Even if they didn’t officially announce the cancellation until they confirmed the dates for the Moon, the Dawn crossing was still showing as available on the website. I saw someone post on the other website that they had booked it, and then they saw the post from Ms. Muckerman. Communication and management doesn’t get much worse.

I'm still waiting for the official notification. We were thinking to still take this cruise, but if they don't notify us soon, we will cancel for a full refund and take a different vacation altogether!

I'm fine with them making a corporate decision that makes good sense. Why have the Dawn come over empty, and have the Moon head to Europe empty? I'm not fine with learning about it on Facebook, the cruise being available to be booked when they know it's canceled, and no direct communication from Silversea at all yet. They might be improving their bottom line with the Dawn charter, but they are alienating a lot of passengers.

We are also among the clients booked for this cruise. I'm extremely frustrated with lack of information from Silversea. It seems that Barbara Muckerman is content to confirm or deny rumors on Facebook, but there has been no official word about the status of the cruise. It's still showing available to book on their website, and some clients have heard of changes from their TA, but I haven't. I'd love to know if I have to change my airfare and hotel arrangements. Or if I just want to cancel altogether and give up on this cruise.

Well this was originally a March 2020 cruise, so technically we paid for it 2019. We know that there will be a cruise in March, but what ship, what dates, what destinations? Do I have to change hotels, flights, tours?  It’s not is it a question of governments keeping us from sailing, it’s a question of Silversea providing information. We’re fortunate that we can accommodate a change in dates, but I’d rather find out officially what’s going on, instead of a from a post on Facebook.

According to Silversea operations this morning the Dawn is still doing this cruise. Barbara Muckerman confirmed on Facebook that it’s canceled. I’m assuming it’s canceled, but I would really like to officially heard from Silversea what the options are. It’s less than two months until sailing, and I’d love to know when and where the cruise I paid for 18 months ago is going!

I looked in every folder, no email there at all. After this cruise I need to find a new TA, I’m not happy with our current person. The TA we’re working with now took over when the prior person left the company. 

At least you received an email advising you of a change. I just heard from my TA this morning, saying she hasn't heard from us regarding the change, but we never received any communication from Silversea or our TA until this morning. So frustrating!

Hi Lois,

I'm already trying to work on my wardrobe for the crossing, but I don't have the additional excitement of heading straight to a river cruise afterwards. That sounds like an awesome trip! I think it will be cool for most of the crossing, and I'm trying to decide what to bring with me.

Good luck Lois!

Hi Lois,

We'll be with you on the TA. I'll be retiring right before the cruise, so I'm very excited and counting the days! Looking forward to meeting you on the Wind. 😊

We really enjoyed 738 last year, and wish it was available for the TA we have booked next spring. Oh well, I guess other people deserve a chance to experience it. 

I have this same question. We booked Suite 738 for an upcoming cruise in May, and I haven't been able to find any specific information, other than it's larger! Any details to share?

Yes I booked using My SilverSea last month.

When I booked our dining times for our cruise next week I had a choice between early arrival 7-8, regular 8-9 or late, 9-10.

I appreciate the 10% discount being offered, but I'm very unhappy that although the 10% discount has been extended, the price of the cruise has risen by 10% as well. There doesn't seem to be any good reason to increase the price of a cruise that is over a year away, but it's a pricing game I'm not willing to play. I don't think I'm interested in booking with Silversea anymore.

Agreed.

 

I booked my last cruise which was with Carnival in August through an Agent. The Role call was full of posts from members getting refunds on price reductions. I got nothing. My TA said Ive agreed a price and tough effectively.

 

Moving on, like you, I took advantage of the 10% off price and paid in full after they introduced a return airfare for £299 inc transfers. (That's flying London to San Juan and back from Miami. - The price booking direct with BA is £2500 for this fare!)

 

Anyway, we paid in full which was the advertised price as shown on the website and like the last time we booked direct, nothing further to pay.

 

A couple of months on, I noticed they were now giving a 2 category suite upgrade, so our Vista was now a Midship veranda on deck 7 upgraded free and after we'd paid in full.

 

If the 10% discount, the cheap airfare and 2 category upgrade wasn't enough, theyd also added a further promotion giving Venetian members a $1000 free onboard spend. The last 2 provided to me even though Id paid in full already.

 

It sounds very much like your TA has stitched you up not SS. The price SS display covers everything, so they need to be asked to explain these extras because SS don't charge it booking direct.

I have a cruise booked on the Spirit the week before you go on the Wind, and when my agent inquired about the onboard credit they were offering for Venetian members, they repriced the cruise without the discount in order for the me to get the credit. I'm not very happy with that response. It doesn't seem like one policy for all.

We cruised the first week of May, so I think we were on the same time as tipsygirl. (We actually boarded April 29th). I don't think the issues we encountered with the excursions would be a common occurrence. We know that something unusual happened, but we didn't think AMA handled the problem very well. The cruise was fine, but not to our taste. We knew going that there was a chance we would find the excursions long,and now we know that a land trip to Bordeaux would suit us better. I'm definitely going to go on another river cruise, but a different type of itinerary, and probably not with AMA. I wasn't impressed enough by the quality of the cruise (service, food etc.) compared to price paid for the trip.

I enjoyed the tour to Cognac, and didn't mind the bus trip. The day there was a mix up with buses, and there were not enough seats for everyone who was going on the excursion, it was an issue. We went down the same road 3 times and spent 4 hours on the bus. That for me was a big issue, and I know a lot of fellow passengers felt the situation could have been handled in a better manner. Some excursions were very good, but overall they are still in the process of tweaking the itinerary, and it was evident.

I loved the area, I thought it was a gorgeous place. I enjoyed the visit, but didn't enjoy being trapped on never ending excursions, some that consisted of 4 hours on a bus for one wine tasting that took 45 minutes. I admit going back to the floating hotel is nice, but I'd love to go back to the region and do a land based tour on my own. I think I could see a lot more, and not really miss the cruise portion. I'll go on another river cruise, but one with more cruise and less bus time.

We just returned from our week in the Bordeaux region on AMAwaterways, and I have to admit I have mixed feelings. I enjoyed some portions of the trip quite a bit, but there were a lot of misses. Some of the excursions were disasters, and the food in the main dining room ranged from good to mediocre. Service was excellent for the whole week, but over all not an itinerary I would recommend for a river cruise feel. I understand that they are at the mercy of the tides, but tides are known in advance. We spent way too much time on buses.

Thank you for the information. I'm not sure if I'm able to do the bike tour, and that was one of the questions I had, so I really appreciate your input.

Glad to hear you had such a wonderful time! I was wondering what you did for excursions, and how you enjoyed them. I'm getting so excited for this trip!