Silver Dawn maiden voyage 18th March 2022 - cancelled

[machotspur]

Information is showing on various posts on the Silversea Passengers Facebook group stating that what was planned to be the maiden voyage for Silver Dawn on 18th March 2022 - FLL to Lisbon - has been cancelled.

The reason given for this is that a 'industry event' has been organised for the end of March in Lisbon, so the new ship will not be making it's way over the Atlantic to FLL but will begin it's life in Lisbon. (We are on the voyage from Lisbon on 1st April so have unwittingly found ourselves on the rearranged maiden voyage !). 

 

I seem to remember there are one or more CC posters that were due to be on this transatlantic cruise that is now cancelled, who may not yet know 

 

For info, Barbara Muckerman (Chief Commercial Officer) posted the following rather dismissive response on the group :-

very sorry about this, the industry event honestly came after. We will offer transatlantic eastbound both on Spirit and Moon this spring and Silver Dawn will start its inaugural season from Lisbon. I sincerely hope we will be able to stop making changes soon and very sorry about having disrupted your holiday plans. Needless to say team will do whatever to find a suitable alternative for you or issue a refund.

 

[MBP&O2/O]

Why does this not surprise me.

With all the problems on the Moon and Spirit, plus a couple of other issues I have had with ‘corporate’, I have cancelled my April cruise on the Dawn.

FWIW, I sent the email in last Sunday, there was no acknowledgement from the UK office .. I had to chase them up about it … but the refund arrived today … 12 hours short of a week.

Thinking parties and breweries 😃

[Island Venturer]

Just returned from the Silver Moon.  Truly, a stunning ship.  Excellent service and cuisine.  The best suites in the industry.  And there's nothing like the Silversea crew... warm, friendly, can't do enough for you (and yes, I've traveled on Crystal Cruises many times...).  

[tv24]

So we are among the customers to whom Machotspur refers.  We are booked on this Dawn crossing and it would be our first Silversea experience, if it sails.  We are currently not feeling too much love for Silversea.  Of course we have made lots of plans and spent lots of money for travel before and after the crossing, some of which we will lose if it is cancelled.  Sailing on the Spirit from Barbados does not work because the Spirit is NOT the ship we want to sail on, and because Barbados is a pain to get to.  And the imagined schedule of the possible Moon crossing poses several difficult issues for us.  So we would probably want a refund from Silversea and just fly to Portugal.

 

What is most troubling about this scenario is Muckerman's reason for canceling the crossing, a corporate event.  Like everyone else, we've had lots of plans canceled due to Covid, and we have sadly become used to that.  But in this case the possible cancellation is simply due to a corporate choice that is related to their bottom line and not to any support of the passengers/customers.

 

We will see how this pans out, and await some communication from Silversea.  At this point, we are not happy future customers, but we are hoping for a positive resolution.  Stay tuned.

[pegsammax]

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.

[taxatty]

10 hours ago, tv24 said:

But in this case the possible cancellation is simply due to a corporate choice that is related to their bottom line and not to any support of the passengers/customers.

 

 

It's not just SS--as with any other cruise on virtually all cruise lines that is initially available for public booking and then switched to a private charter, which is not uncommon even in non-pandemic times, improving the cruise line's bottom line will always be its choice.

Edited January 24, 2022 by taxatty

[tv24]

6 minutes ago, taxatty said:

It's not just SS--as with any other cruise on virtually all cruise lines that is initially available for public booking and then switched to a private charter, which is not uncommon even in non-pandemic times, improving the cruise line's bottom line will always be its choice.

I know...But it does not make me happy.

[pegsammax]

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.

 

[tv24]

38 minutes ago, pegsammax said:

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.

 

Je suis d'accord.

[tv24]

Received the official notice of cancellation this AM via our TA.  The sweeteners offered for rebooking on the March 11 Moon sailing, $500 OBC, for a FCC, only 110% are not all that sweet, so we will cancel and get a full refund.  They are also offering a 15% discount for a future booking, but it has to be made within the next 2 weeks, again not such a sweet deal.

 

We will be scurrying around to find another way to get to Portugal, where we are due April 1.  I will write more later.

Tom

[pegsammax]

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!

[tv24]

It's been a busy day. It started with a letter from Barbara Muckerman in which she announced that the Silver Dawn's March 18 sailing from Lauderdale to Lisbon was canceled "due to the ongoing global situation."    Had to laugh at that one, since we know from various postings on CC and Facebook that the cancellation was due to Silversea's decision to use the Dawn for a corporate event.

 

We seriously considered the offers made to us by Silversea in Ms. Muckerman's letter.  And we seriously considered quickly booking a crossing on another line, including Seabourn and Oceania.  However for our own personal travel reasons related to the apartments that we already rented and paid for in Europe and visa issues related to the long term of our stay, we decided to fly to Lisbon.  And we will take the full refund offered by Ms. Muckerman.

 

So lots of activity:  Find the flight to Lisbon, cancel our flight from California to Ft. Lauderdale, investigate the use of the travel insurance policy that we had purchased separately, negotiate with our landlord in Lisbon on a slightly changed arrival date, talk to our house sitter about new dates....In other words, Silversea's decision to pursue a corporate event (due to the ongoing global situation?), triggers a lot of work, anxiety and lost money for the passengers who booked the Silver Dawn sailing in good faith.

 

This was to have been our first sailing on Silversea.  We've been on 34 cruises before, including many crossings, and we love to take ships instead of flying.  We were excited about the new ship, the Silver Dawn, and the fun of experiencing a different set of ship services.  We had read great reviews of passengers' experiences on the Moon this past summer.  We were really looking forward to this.

 

But now not feeling much love for Silversea.  They are not completely off my radar screen for future bookings, but I will surely consider the competition first.

Tom

[coverpoint]

We were booked on this cruise and paid for it a year ago. Silversea clearly have the right to cancel and replace it with a corporate event but it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. The dates of the Moon replacement TA are not very suitable for us and the $500 OBC is not sufficiently tempting to change our plans so it is probably easier to cancel and re-book with Regent or Seabourn.

[Emdee]

We too are canceling. I have asked Silversea for a couple of out of pocket expenses directly related to this cruise.

Our air fare to Florida

flight from Lisbon to Porto 

And paid for land arrangement deposit.

Fortunately our hotels are all cancellable. 
 

Very disappointed with SS. 
Booking Seabourn Canary Islands in it’s place. 

[MBP&O2/O]

As mentioned earlier, we cancelled our Dawn cruise. It was booked as All Inclusive (v3? 😊) and airfares were included.

A full refund has been received .. kudos to admin … but today, almost three weeks after the cruise and flights were cancelled we have received an email from KLM notifying us about an aircraft change on the April flight???

Dunno what they are playing at 🤪 

A similar situation to Emdee … looking to book a Seabourn cruise in the Med. Much better vfm.

[ggo85]

We’d booked this cruise many months ago. It was to be our first SS cruise.  Must say I’m not at all impressed with SS. Changing both the ship and date less than two months in advance without a decent reason is not a good sign. This was after they told us last year that Dawn wouldn’t do the sailing and they were substituting Moon and THEN said they’d made a mistake an Dawn would definitely make the crossing.  And THEN  we learn of the cancellation of the Dawn cruise via this board days before we heard from the line.  
 

Doesn’t sound like they care much about their customers. 
 

We did take the 15% and booked another SS TA cruise for later this year — but ONLY because of the situation with Crystal.  
 

I sincerely hope this snafu isn’t a sign of things to come.  

[Carpricorn cruiser]

Hi , first post on CC. Joined this forum simply to express my extreme disappointment at the Silver Dawn maiden voyage cancellation. Muckermman should hold her head in shame. There were so many better ways this could have been handled.

 Like others I have the same grievances - 

found out cruise was cancelled before officially being told. 
Our flights had been rescheduled before we were told. 
angry that the “ global situation was blamed when it was actually a corporate decision. 
disgusted at the poor customer consideration. 
pathetic incentives to rebook. 
We have 50+ cruises between SS , Crystal and Seabourn. It looks like the it will be Seabourn going forward because Crystal seem doomed, SS will not get another penny or dime from me. 

[les37b]

On 1/31/2022 at 6:05 PM, Carpricorn cruiser said:

Hi , first post on CC. Joined this forum simply to express my extreme disappointment at the Silver Dawn maiden voyage cancellation. Muckermman should hold her head in shame. There were so many better ways this could have been handled.

 Like others I have the same grievances - 

found out cruise was cancelled before officially being told. 
Our flights had been rescheduled before we were told. 
angry that the “ global situation was blamed when it was actually a corporate decision. 
disgusted at the poor customer consideration. 
pathetic incentives to rebook. 
We have 50+ cruises between SS , Crystal and Seabourn. It looks like the it will be Seabourn going forward because Crystal seem doomed, SS will not get another penny or dime from me. 

 

I really don't think they stop to think of the consequences of the poor communication and misinformation for why it's being cancelled.

 

I've just returned from Silver Moon midway through its second leg of its grand voyage with just 100 guests on board. Pretty much unanimously, every guest I spoke with were unhappy to learn of late changes. Some on the afternoon of sailing - learned they were no longer stopping in Argentina and the leg end point was now Uruguay. What makes this even worse, is that Peru and Brazil has already closed boarders and Chile tightening to the point it's pointless. I was aware that Argentina was a problem six days before it sailed. Chile couldn't be helped, but it's compounded the dissatisfaction. 

[seaver]

Don't forget Les, your cruise ship was supposed to be Silver Dawn and then switched to Silver Moon after SS told us the ship will be ready on time numerous  times.

 

I'm still on the last leg of the grand voyage leaving Feb. 22nd Fingers crossed!

[les37b]

52 minutes ago, seaver said:

Don't forget Les, your cruise ship was supposed to be Silver Dawn and then switched to Silver Moon after SS told us the ship will be ready on time numerous  times.

 

I'm still on the last leg of the grand voyage leaving Feb. 22nd Fingers crossed!

 

Well, originally for me it was the Moon (Nov 2020).... But get your point and yes until Oct 21 it was still Dawn.

 

My fingers crossed for you too.  Is that leg from Bridgetown? Gets a bit confusing. I know leg 3 must be 9th Feb from Montevideo.

 

On the plus side for those doing that leg.... No worries about any tours bringing on COVID! Should make quarantine zero hopefully. That's one advantage I'd not factored I must admit!

[seaver]

Yes we start in Bridgetown,originally we were on the 3rd and 4th leg ,but canceled the 3rd.

Just need to get away at this point.

[les37b]

1 hour ago, seaver said:

Yes we start in Bridgetown,originally we were on the 3rd and 4th leg ,but canceled the 3rd.

Just need to get away at this point.

 

Completely understand, though expect you are bracing yourself for missed ports. Fingers crossed you'll all be cruising covid free from the start with zero in quarantine. There is every chance of that given the changes and likelihood not many will be doing leg 3 except the grand voyagers and the few who are still boarding. Staying at sea has its advantages!

Edited February 2, 2022 by les37b

[coverpoint]

Like others, we were very disappointed that the Silver Dawn TA was cancelled because of a corporate event. We did look at booking something else but the incentives on offer were extremely poor so we have decided to cancel for a full refund. This cancelled cruise was paid in full by us a year ago but although Silversea have had our money all this time they seemingly will only refund the amount we paid them.

It does not exactly encourage us to book anything with Silversea in the future.

[phillipahain]

Did they not offer 125% FCC as other lines have done in similar situations 

Edited February 3, 2022 by phillipahain

[cruiseej]

@phillipahain 110% is the new 125%! 😉

 

As noted above in this thread, passengers booked on the canceled cruise were offered (a) 110% FCC, (b) a 15% discount on a future booking booked within two weeks, (c) $500 OBC if switching to the Moon TA, or (d) 100% cash refund.

 

Perhaps that's fair for something beyond their control, but as others have noted, it seems a bit light for displacing passengers on an inaugural voyage in order to make more money chartering the ship.

 

3 hours ago, coverpoint said:

This cancelled cruise was paid in full by us a year ago but although Silversea have had our money all this time they seemingly will only refund the amount we paid them.

 

Did you expect them to pay you back with interest? (At 0.5% interest rates, what would you get? Maybe $100 on a $20,000 cruise?) In any case, I'm not aware of any cruise lines doing that, prior to or during Covid.