Great news for Silversea - Mark Conroy takes the helm!

[Silver Spectre]

You can opt out if you want :D

 

But can you opt out of the cost?

[Stevanb]

But can you opt out of the cost?

 

Yes it lowers the cost It seems like only Med has them now

 

It seems like they are trying to have it both ways Regent and Seabourn

[MrsWaldo]

It seems like Mr Conroy has made the first change . Never offered before I can remember

 

The Most Exclusive All-Inclusive

Shore Excursions, WiFi, Airfare* and Transfers, Pre-Cruise Hotel (or Safari)

 

 

 

Those deals were on offer in December.....

[Ithaca]

Last May, in the Spirit in the Med, our cruise was one of the first to have the all inclusive (wifi and excursions) policy. We had booked way ahead of the change, but most passengers booked with the new policy. At that time, the cost was increased by more than $1,000. We felt like second class citizens when it came to board tenders. We were not allowed to board until all SS excursions passengers had boarded. This is just a heads up for those that can opt out of the new all inclusiveness.

[mpfund]

I'm not sure you can opt out of the shore excursions. Under "The most exclusive all-inclusive" blurb on their website it says, "or if you prefer to make your own plans, book just the cruise and you still enjoy free shore excursions." Since we all know that "free shore excursions" is an oxymoron, it looks to me that we will be paying for shore excursions in the future.

 

I hope I am wrong.

[brimary]

Last May, in the Spirit in the Med, our cruise was one of the first to have the all inclusive (wifi and excursions) policy. We had booked way ahead of the change, but most passengers booked with the new policy. At that time, the cost was increased by more than $1,000. We felt like second class citizens when it came to board tenders. We were not allowed to board until all SS excursions passengers had boarded. This is just a heads up for those that can opt out of the new all inclusiveness.

 

 

It has worked this way for the last 20years,excursions first ,DIY second for tenders so inclusive tours shoul not change things.

[Travelcat2]

Regent stopped having DIY being last on tenders some time ago. You just get into the tender line with everyone else - no one is checking tickets. Assume that it will be the same with Silversea. The difficulty that we have with Regent's included excursions is there are sometimes multiple buses going to the same places at the same time (we have had wine tasting at 9:30 a.m. because they tried to change the order that some buses would arrive at each site). Silversea has smaller ships so this may not be a problem.

 

Regent has premium excursions that have a cost so we tend to bypass the "included" ones and take the premium ones. However, this does not solve the issue of paying for excursions that you do not want. We also will book an "included" excursion simply to get to the first location they are going and then advise the tour guide that we are going out on our own (it saves taxi fare:-) One thing that I love about Silversea is that you can book excursions in advance without paying for them. This gives you the opportunity to pay onboard with OBC's.

 

We almost abandoned Regent over included excursions (and tried Silversea for the first time which was a good thing). After a while we just accepted the fact that included excursions were not going away and try not to let it bother us. We do like the all-inclusivity for everything else - especially airfare and reasonably priced upgrades to Business Class.

 

As bad as it sounds, it is workable and, IMO, is not a reason to leave Silversea.

[meow!]

Would those "included" shore excursions apply to the Montreal to Fort Lauderdale voyage in September, 2017 on the Silver Muse? We hope not, as we always have our own taxi tour!