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Silversea included excursions


Pirouette
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We have just signed up for our first Silversea cruise next month. We like to travel and do not always cruise. We often book our own shore excursions. Our most recent cruise was on Regent where excursions were included. We enjoyed them but many were glorified bus tours targeted to passengers with reduced mobility. Even tours described as walking tours were comprised by a number of passengers who simply did not want to walk and preferred viewing sites from the bus.

 

I noticed that there are some included excursions on Silversea. What can we expect? We are physically active and enjoy climbing to the tops of structures or outdoor hiking. We may supplement what we have already signed up for based on the feedback herein.

 

We also like to dance after dinner. Is there a lounge or dancing area on the Silver Shadow?

 

Thanks

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Not sure about the included SS excursions yet. The charged for ones have generally been good in out of the way places, if you are young and fit it is often better to organise your own in bigger ports. There is a dance floor in the main bar and another one in the Panorama Lounge, both good for after dinner dancing. Neither are that big, but you rarely get that many dancing unless it's a disco night. Have a great time.

 

 

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Generally, I would say if you like to hike and climb to the top of things (me too!), you're better off doing your own thing on a luxury cruise -- unless it's specifically an expedition sailing. If you're considering a tour, read the description carefully or ask the destination manager. If it says 3-hour hiking tour, is that 30 minutes of bus and 2.5 hours of hiking -- or two hours of bus and 45 minutes of hiking?

 

Here's a story: On my first Silversea cruise in 2006, we signed up for an excursion that took us to the Torres del Paine park in Chile and promised lunch and a hike. I was a cruise newbie and this was my first luxury cruise. We spent a long time at lunch and the waiters plied us with pisco sours. When we could barely stand up straight, they bussed us to a parking lot where we "hiked" maybe 5 to 10 minutes up a very slight incline to a viewing point for a waterfall. Not exactly what I thought I signed up for!

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Excellent responses.

Many included tours are heavy on the bus experience, catering to older folks. Fine for some but not for the OP.

I agree about reading the optional tours wording carefully (avoid "panoramic" a synonym for bus tour) and it's really best to arrange your own private tour here and there where you have direct control over the amount and destination of hikes.

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Generally, I would say if you like to hike and climb to the top of things (me too!), you're better off doing your own thing on a luxury cruise -- unless it's specifically an expedition sailing. If you're considering a tour, read the description carefully or ask the destination manager. If it says 3-hour hiking tour, is that 30 minutes of bus and 2.5 hours of hiking -- or two hours of bus and 45 minutes of hiking?

 

Here's a story: On my first Silversea cruise in 2006, we signed up for an excursion that took us to the Torres del Paine park in Chile and promised lunch and a hike. I was a cruise newbie and this was my first luxury cruise. We spent a long time at lunch and the waiters plied us with pisco sours. When we could barely stand up straight, they bussed us to a parking lot where we "hiked" maybe 5 to 10 minutes up a very slight incline to a viewing point for a waterfall. Not exactly what I thought I signed up for!

We took a similar tour which included a round trip flight. There was no real hiking, but it was a wonderful day. Contrast that with hikes in Norway which were fairly strenuous and since it was rainy, fairly treacherous. Hiking poles were definitely a plus.

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Which cruise are you going on? I will be joining the Shadow February 22 in Singapore.

I did take come free tours last year while cruising on the Shadow. Yes the free tours are probably no hiking tours or so but for example we did a tour of the temples in Bangkok and it was for sure not just a bus tour. We did quite a lot of walking within the temples. But if you want adventure and activity the free tours might not be the ones you are looking for.

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Which cruise are you going on? I will be joining the Shadow February 22 in Singapore.

I did take come free tours last year while cruising on the Shadow. Yes the free tours are probably no hiking tours or so but for example we did a tour of the temples in Bangkok and it was for sure not just a bus tour. We did quite a lot of walking within the temples. But if you want adventure and activity the free tours might not be the ones you are looking for.

 

Will you be posting a review of your cruise (and any of the tours)? Would love to hear your thoughts - we're doing the same cruise (in reverse) a little later than you, so could help chose or reject current plans booked to date.

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Will you be posting a review of your cruise (and any of the tours)? Would love to hear your thoughts - we're doing the same cruise (in reverse) a little later than you, so could help chose or reject current plans booked to date.

I will try to write a review or maybe even post during the cruise. I will be on board for two cruises going from Singapore to Hongkong and then back to Singapore

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I will try to write a review or maybe even post during the cruise. I will be on board for two cruises going from Singapore to Hongkong and then back to Singapore

 

That'll be great if you can. The second part looks superb..... I wished I had booked that (a month later) instead of what I had. It gave me a taster for a land tour of Vietnam now and relatively easy to do. The obscurity of the second cruise is amazing and a bit too adventurous to do any other way.

 

Not long now :D

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Here's my rule of thumb: If a tour is included it's not worth taking. (Notice I said included, not free because you are paying for it.)

 

Henry, I agree.

 

OP my experience is that if you want to do things that are challenging in port you won't find them on a group excursion and not on luxury lines where they just can't offer these types of things particularly ones that are included recognizing that they have a group of guests many of whom could not do this.

 

We prefer doing these types of things on our own with no formal excursion or if we do one as a private one that we only do by ourselves.

 

For us included excursions are not something we want as you are indeed paying for them and we just want to do things on our own and not with a large group of people.

 

Keith

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Henry, I agree.

 

OP my experience is that if you want to do things that are challenging in port you won't find them on a group excursion and not on luxury lines where they just can't offer these types of things particularly ones that are included recognizing that they have a group of guests many of whom could not do this.

 

We prefer doing these types of things on our own with no formal excursion or if we do one as a private one that we only do by ourselves.

 

For us included excursions are not something we want as you are indeed paying for them and we just want to do things on our own and not with a large group of people.

 

 

 

Keith

 

As usual we are on the same page, Keith.

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  • 8 months later...

So I am a little confused on the included excusion question. In researching various threads on the topic here it seems like Silversea does include excursions but they aren’t better than what you can book independently? I see an itinerary that I like on the new 2020 schedule for The Wind - Lisbon to London. There are excursions listed but no indication if they’re included or not. I have already booked a B2B on the new RC ship with a similar itinerary for quite a premium over the SS pricing. I would like to give a fair comparison but without knowing the SS excursion policy I’m finding it difficult. I do like the timing of SS better but it is also a very old ship compared with a brand new ship. The last SS cruise I was on did not include excursions but it looked like they were about to roll out a program for the Med..

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I see an itinerary that I like on the new 2020 schedule for The Wind - Lisbon to London. There are excursions listed but no indication if they’re included or not.
Hi Gourmet Gal. For the Apr 28, 2020 voyage you mention from Lisbon to London on the Wind, excursions are not included. If they were, they would be listed in the "Featured Exclusive Offers" section on the voyage "Itinerary and Fares" page.
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When does Silversea include excursions? We're on the Amazon trip in November and we signed up for excursions available for a fee, but we didn't see any that were included. We have become quite annoyed by people taking excursions who aren't physically able to participate without excessive crew assistance, and holding up everyone else. I think the cruise lines need to stop being an extension of assisted living. On our last cruise, 2 women who were roommates in assisted living held up getting on and off the boat at every port since they couldn't go up and down the gangway or get on and off the tender in a timely manner. Imagine what would happen in an emergency.

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Sometimes SS runs specials in which the excursions are included. Last spring, in the Caribbean, there was quite a range of included excursions of variable quality. It seemed to be an enticement to return to the region post-hurricanes. There was even a rumor that the included excursions were a way for SS to donate to the affected islands.

 

I've seen other specials, such as the "Far More in the Far East," which also includes excursions. My Alaska cruise next May, however, does not include them. It seems to be region specific.

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  • 3 weeks later...

In the excursion details they do a great job of listing exactly how many steps, stairs etc. I do find that the more active excursions are not the included ones. Better to do your own thing if that's what you want. Maybe best to do a mix of private and ship tours. BTW - I did one of the SS cruises to the Caribbean April 2018, some islands yes were quite damaged and I liked that SS didn't want to pull the Muse out of the area. Many Islands were doing great and so happy to see us! My first experience with included excursions and I thought they were excellent. Due to this and a great itinerary we are doing an Asian cruise again on the Muse next month!

Enjoy the cruise!!

Edited by stingraynz
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  • 3 months later...
On 9/17/2018 at 5:41 PM, Stumblefoot said:
Gourmet Gal said:
I see an itinerary that I like on the new 2020 schedule for The Wind - Lisbon to London. There are excursions listed but no indication if they’re included or not.

Hi Gourmet Gal. For the Apr 28, 2020 voyage you mention from Lisbon to London on the Wind, excursions are not included. If they were, they would be listed in the "Featured Exclusive Offers" section on the voyage "Itinerary and Fares" page.

 

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We are on  Shadow out of Hong Kong next month.  The advertised included excursions disappeared when we opted to make our own travel arrangements.  Not that it matters, as we prefer to arrange our own tours.

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18 hours ago, jawz33 said:

We are on  Shadow out of Hong Kong next month.  The advertised included excursions disappeared when we opted to make our own travel arrangements.  Not that it matters, as we prefer to arrange our own tours.

 

How would they know you were making your own arrangements?

 

The free Junk tour in Halong bay is worth it. The free ones in Chan May and HCMC I'd suggest you did the right thing and did your own thing.

Edited by les37b
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On 1/9/2019 at 8:57 AM, jawz33 said:

We are on  Shadow out of Hong Kong next month.  The advertised included excursions disappeared when we opted to make our own travel arrangements.  Not that it matters, as we prefer to arrange our own tours.

 

Yes, the same with us.

Are you one voyage #3904 that departs Hong Kong on Feb 8?  If so, I hope you'll sign up for the Meet & Mingle.  There are currently 12 folks registered which is BY FAR the largest Meet & Mingle we will have ever been a part of.

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7 hours ago, les37b said:

How would they know you were making your own arrangements?

 

They would know because to get the free excursions you had to take Silversea economy air at a minimum.  So, when one chooses not take the offer SS knows you are making your own travel arrangements.  

For us, it was a no brainer to pass on the offer as there was no way we were going to fly economy for 19-hours.  So, it was nice to save $3,000 and use miles for first class air travel instead.

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