Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Four

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good luck. :)

[Capri73]

Good afternoon all.

Lovely funny M.

 

Great news,

I Have just had a look at the Silversea website and the premium rate number seems to have been replaced with an 0333 number which is charged at local rate. Perhaps now that Mr Conroy is engaging on the forum again, he may be able to improve upon the somewhat lacking customer services that some of us have recently received. It certainly looks hopeful.

Thought you would be interested.Our agent just got another reply.Pretty much tough.We have extended 25% to you. Sorry we have not lived up to your expectations.We do not want to loose you but this is all we can offer.Your letter will be forwarded to the proper people on board so they can deal with the issues you described. So I say bye bye SS.

[BeeMinor]

I certainly wasn’t attacking Mark but his comments are the complete opposite of what happened to us

 

Agreed. The whole idea seems like such an unequivocally bad one that I am still somewhat shocked that it went through. I don't work in travel so I am speaking without any real knowledge, but certainly Silversea could have filled a short cruise with appealing destinations during the summer travel season without relying on a huge partial charter to do so? Wouldn't it have made more sense for the company to retain existing customers and use trips like this to hook people like us who could pay the going rate now and in the future rather than fill the ship with folks who are extremely unlikely to ever return and scare off potential repeat customers to boot? I recall thinking to myself at multiple points during the cruise, I hope whoever thought this was a good idea gets fired over this.

[jpalbny]

Agree, Mr. Conroy's comments gave the specific example of a large incentive group, and how that likely wouldn't fit with the usual SS demographic, and how they'd be more careful with such a group. And also that they'd encourage a group of 150-200 to charter one of the smaller ships rather than mix in with a larger ship.

 

Sounds like this is a very reasonable response and they might consider making that more than an unofficial policy. Had those guidelines been followed, things on your cruise would have been very different.

[BeeMinor]

Sounds like this is a very reasonable response and they might consider making that more than an unofficial policy. Had those guidelines been followed, things on your cruise would have been very different.

 

Absolutely agree. No one have been talking much the smaller partial charter on the ship because they were thoroughly unobjectionable, and they would fit the criteria outlined. These guidelines weren't shared with me when I originally reached out to Silversea, so I wonder if they are being formalized in response to this cruise. Knowing that a formal policy like this one was in practice would carry a lot of weight with us, at least, when the time comes for us to look at planning our next raft of travel.

[jpalbny]

Apropos to that... our UPS driver just stopped by for a visit!

 

 

Amazing, as the cruise isn't until September. Still about 10 weeks to go..

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[UKCruiseJeff]

.>................These guidelines weren't shared with me when I originally reached out to Silversea, so I wonder if they are being formalized in response to this cruise. Knowing that a formal policy like this one was in practice would carry a lot of weight with us, at least, when the time comes for us to look at planning our next raft of travel.

 

No, if you read Mark’s reply to me he used the phrase “as a rule of thumb” which to me implies this has been their approach for some time before this issue.

 

To be honest it is useful for customers to understand that Silversea will consider extrmely large groups on cruises that also include retail customers. I hadn't realised how important that aspect is to us, but now having been confronted withnthe reality, and Mark’s criteria, I now know,that to us it is important because there are enough unexpected and unavoidable aspects without adding this one. I think a retail only cruise is going to be much more quieter and relaxed and more inclusive of all. I simply never want to risk being on any cruise again with a sizeable incemtive group of lowly paid agents .... with all due respect to them.

 

May I also welcome you to The Cooler and express the hope that you stay and participate ....;

 

:)

[UKCruiseJeff]

Apropos to that... our UPS driver just stopped by for a visit!

 

 

Amazing, as the cruise isn't until September. Still about 10 weeks to go..

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

 

That is lovely JP .... don’t let our tails of woe in any way reduce your’s and Chris’s joy!

[UKCruiseJeff]

My circle of friends is widening even further afield today. If this continues like this I'll be able to afford to get the leaks on the Cooler roof fixed. :D

 

Dear Friend ,

 

I am Mr Khim Leang and a personal Accountant/Executive board of Directors with Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia (FTB).

it is with good spirit of heart i opened up this great opportunity to you A deceased client of mine that shares almost the same name as yours died as a result of heart-related condition on march 2005.His heart condition was duo to the death of the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26 December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia where they all lost their lives..{More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami}

 

There is a draft account opened in my bank in 1999 by a long-time client our bank,a national of your country.he was a CEO/a textile company owner,business man,a miner at kruger mining company here in Cambodia. he was a geologist and consultant to several other mining conglomerates operating in Cambodia,China,Taiwan,Japan,Indonesia,Pakistan,Vietnam all in Asia,before he passed away on 12th march 2005 leaving nobody as the next of kin of his account after his death.

 

The amount in this account is currently $32,640,000 (Thirty Two Million Six Hundred and Forty Thousand United States Dollars) I want to present you as a beneficiary,I will use my position and influence in our bank to make they release this money to you for us to share.If i wait for days and i do not hear from you,I shall look for another person.

 

Kindly get back to me for more details

 

Yours sincerely

Mr Khim Leang

Board member

Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia

Phnom Penh

[jpalbny]

Wow Jeff!

 

A shame about all the typos. He must have typed that message on an iPad! ;p

[mysty]

The gift that keeps on giving Jeff! :) Myster says you should respond with:

 

"I'm sorry but I"m not in a position to accept your proposal at this time. I am currently heavily involved financially with a Nigerian prince". :)

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Heading for some steamy weather this weekend.Temps for Sunday (Canada Day - our 151st Birthday) are expected to reach 44 C with the humidity.

 

Today's funny....a snapshot from our courtship......to be clear....Myster is not the moose. :)

 

 

Have a great day all!

[jpalbny]

Wow, that's toasty! Our high on Sunday is only 99F but I haven't looked at the humidity so it may be similar. We plan to hang out close to the pool.

 

Cute funny! We've been that close to a moose before, in Denali. We were walking one way along the main street, and it was walking the other way. And we met. Luckily, we were more excited to see the moose than vice versa.

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[Joc123]

Jeff, have you seen a James Veitch? I wish I knew how to include YouTube attachments but I’m hopeless. If you google him and watch his show on replying to spam you may pickup some ideas. ;) He is my favourite English comedian.

[swindy]

Jeff

 

Have you had any further communication from Silversea?

[UKCruiseJeff]

Jeff

 

Have you had any further communication from Silversea?

 

Hi,

 

I've just had an acknowledgement from Mark that he is discussing the issue with the London office and will come back to me. My note fleshing out the issue was long and detailed and intended to ensure that they fully understood the complaint and fully justified our request. I hope I am proved wrong, buy my very clear expectation is that it will not be resolved and that it will proceed to court. I see no evidence that Silversea has the remotest idea that they have an unsustainable stance in the context of UK consumer law.

 

The idea that the way that you deal with a very clear failure to produce the product you sold because you failed to meet even your own standards of quality control and reply to a genuine complaint by refusing any sort of refund and compensation and instead treat your customers disappointment and loss as a marketing opportunity is treating your customers with utter contempt. I only see obstinacy and I do not think I will get anywhere in trying to resolve this with Silversea.

 

The promise was clear, the failures are clear, the law is clear and the right approach to dealing with the issue seems clear to all but currently Silversea.

[swindy]

At least you are getting the courtesy of a reply!!!!!!!

[Daveywavey70]

Good morning Coolers,

I Suspect our case may be very much the same Jeff. I’ve already been told what SS final position is on the matter. My Solicitor is back from holiday on the 2nd and the full file is there waiting for him. The attitude I have encountered so far seems very much to be if your not satisfied with our very generous offer then you are very welcome to take the legal route.

 

What a shame that they don’t understand their obligations under UK law and then completely ignore them when they are pointed out to them. I Have a feeling that this is going to cost them an awful lot more than it would have if they’d treated us more reasonably.

 

Still we can live in hope. Perhaps Mr Conroy will have a different approach.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning Dave,

 

My wife was talking about the issue this morning and she was comparing how Silversea responds to a major issue compared to how the Intercontinental hotels we use deal with really minor issues and their instant and good resolutions. Her comment that I know you will understand because of "what you do" is that it is as though they do not understand that they are in the "hospitality" business.

 

Anyway .....

[turtlemichael]

Is there a message in the fact that Mark Conroy's thread has become "read only" ?

[UKCruiseJeff]

Anticipation ........

[jpalbny]

Is there a message in the fact that Mark Conroy's thread has become "read only" ?

 

Maybe, maybe not. On other threads, when a cruiseline corporate exec came on to CC to answer questions, I thought that there was a limited window during which questions could be posted and answered. And after that window the threads were (perhaps unofficially) closed to new postings. This happened a bunch of times on the River Cruise boards... So one explanation could be that the recent postings reminded CC that the threads should have been closed months ago?

 

Or perhaps they don't want to continue the conversation here. Hopefully they will continue it somewhere else and come to an acceptable resolution.

[jpalbny]

Jeff, yummy! I'm anticipating the final product too!

 

FYI Banff pictures are uploaded to my SmugMug galleries. Chris managed to make it through all of our pictures and pick favorites, after I finally had the time to label them last week. There are a few waterfall videos too. So if anybody is interested to see the "summer" weather that we had in the Canadian Rockies...

[turtlemichael]

Maybe, maybe not. On other threads, when a cruiseline corporate exec came on to CC to answer questions, I thought that there was a limited window during which questions could be posted and answered. And after that window the threads were (perhaps unofficially) closed to new postings. This happened a bunch of times on the River Cruise boards... So one explanation could be that the recent postings reminded CC that the threads should have been closed months ago?

 

Or perhaps they don't want to continue the conversation here. Hopefully they will continue it somewhere else and come to an acceptable resolution.

 

The hopes expressed by some for a better social media engagement in CC by Silversea are clearly not going to come through that thread. Let's hope there is some other way.

[UKCruiseJeff]

The hopes expressed by some for a better social media engagement in CC by Silversea are clearly not going to come through that thread. Let's hope there is some other way.

 

Maybe, maybe not. On other threads, when a cruiseline corporate exec came on to CC to answer questions, I thought that there was a limited window during which questions could be posted and answered. And after that window the threads were (perhaps unofficially) closed to new postings. This happened a bunch of times on the River Cruise boards... So one explanation could be that the recent postings reminded CC that the threads should have been closed months ago?

 

Or perhaps they don't want to continue the conversation here. Hopefully they will continue it somewhere else and come to an acceptable resolution.

 

The thread was dormant and only reactivated a few days ago, by the welcome contribution by Mark who responded to a previously unanswered question, which I appreciated. It is a shame that sub-forum thread was reactivated just to then have it closed down a few days later.

 

Lovely cold Gösser and kebabs ...