If you're a frequent Silversea passenger, read this!

[Caxe]

We have sailed on Silversea more than 100 days.  Once we reached 100, we were given a 5% discount plus free laundry services.  We were just about to book a designated Venetian cruise (extra 5% off) when our travel agent told us that if we don't book door to door, we cannot use both the Venetian discount and the 100+ discount.  In order to use both, we have to book door to door.  We ran the numbers and going door to door doesn’t make sense for us.  I feel that Silversea is punishing their most loyal customers.  This is a game changer for me.  OOPS - This is even worse!  My travel agent just said we can't use either discount for Port-to-Port.  No discounts allowed at all for Port to Port!

[Stumblefoot]

38 minutes ago, Caxe said:

We were just about to book a designated Venetian cruise (extra 5% off) when our travel agent told us that if we don't book door to door, we cannot use both the Venetian discount and the 100+ discount. 

 

I feel that Silversea is punishing their most loyal customers. 

 

This is even worse!  My travel agent just said we can't use either discount for Port-to-Port.  No discounts allowed at all for Port to Port!

I'm sorry you just learned this.  What you discovered has been reported extensively here on CruiseCritic, as well as on Facebook.

[ak1004]

Plus a non refundable deposit.

 

in our case a door to door was $2700 CAD more expensive, for economy flight which typically cost about half. Upgrade for business for an EXTRA $4,000 CAD.

 

My understanding is that you are basically paying for the privilege to have a refundable deposit (which in most lines is refundable anyway).

[Gourmet Gal]

It’s annoyingly complicated and doesn’t motivate me to consider SS for my next  booking.

[FauxNom]

That's worse than I realized. I couldn't find any prohibition on the 100+ day discount (which is different than the Venetian discount) for port to port fares. This is really unfortunate.

[Tothesunset]

The D2D v P2P pricing is a horror show. It's the reason we have 2 future cruises booked, neither with SS. 

 

Until they come to their senses on this I'm sure we aren't alone in looking elsewhere. 

[gwesq]

9 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

The D2D v P2P pricing is a horror show. It's the reason we have 2 future cruises booked, neither with SS. 

 

Until they come to their senses on this I'm sure we aren't alone in looking elsewhere. 

You are correct.   This D2D nonsense is going to cost SS dearly.  

[jimdee3636]

18 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Plus a non refundable deposit.

 

in our case a door to door was $2700 CAD more expensive, for economy flight which typically cost about half. Upgrade for business for an EXTRA $4,000 CAD.

 

My understanding is that you are basically paying for the privilege to have a refundable deposit (which in most lines is refundable anyway).

It's not totally refundable. We recently booked a Cloud expedition cruise for September of 2023 as a D2D. Our deposit was about $4,700 (25% of the total price). If we cancel prior to the final payment date, we forfeit $250 of the deposit. I'm not wild about that, but it's better than forfeiting an entire P2P deposit. 

[jollyjones]

 

You don't forfeit it totally, the $250 is a future credit good for, I think, a year.

[jimdee3636]

35 minutes ago, jollyjones said:

 

You don't forfeit it totally, the $250 is a future credit good for, I think, a year.

Thanks for the clarification.

[dawntrdr]

 Just checked a recent Voyage Confirmation for a D2D - the $250 pp fee is convertable to a future cruise credit "redeemable on a new booking made up to 2 years after the cancellation, on any sailing commencing no later than one year after the expiry date of the Future Cruise Credit."  So, if you should cancel today May 10, 2022, you can use the credit so long as you book by May 10, 2024 and sail by May 10, 2025.

Edited May 10, 2022 by dawntrdr
math

[Caxe]

But now there is a 15% non-refundable deposit.

[commodoredave]

Yesterday I received a survey from a competitor of SS (they requested we not publicly divulge their name) asking us whether we preferred cruises to be marketed/priced cruise-only or cruise with air, as well a series of related questions. This competitor may be aware that a good number of SS clients, me included, are not happy with the way the current D2D program is being marketed/sold/applied. Perhaps it is time for SS to survey their own clients about D2D and how it could be improved. We have 3 cruises booked with SS over the next year, but they will be the last if things don't change.

[Observer]

I do not like the included air and transfers, but I can opt out of them on D to D and get a refund.

 

I very much regret the included excursions, without any opportunity to opt out with a refund.  

 

Some mischievously inclined friends who share my feeling about this and who are frequent Silversea guests say that they will sign up for excursions every day and appear very randomly so that the Shore Concierge folk will not cancel all reservations.

[ak1004]

I'm new to SS (will be doing our first cruise in December), but what is exactly the issue with D2D? I understand that in some cases (like ours) there was a significant and unjustified difference between D2D and P2P, so we just took a chance and booked P2P with 15% non refundable deposit. But if the price of D2D is okay, can't you just book D2D and then take the air credit?

 

At the end of the day, it's all about pricing, isn't it? I mean, if you like SS and (for example) Seabourn, you compare a similar itinerary, then account for the SS air credit and the included excursions and just book whatever is cheaper. And if SS prices are consistently too high, they will start losing customers and will have to adjust.

[mchell810]

1 hour ago, Observer said:

I do not like the included air and transfers, but I can opt out of them on D to D and get a refund.

 

I very much regret the included excursions, without any opportunity to opt out with a refund.  

 

Some mischievously inclined friends who share my feeling about this and who are frequent Silversea guests say that they will sign up for excursions every day and appear very randomly so that the Shore Concierge folk will not cancel all reservations.

 

Seems to me this will hurt other passengers, but not SS.  Passengers who would have taken the tour may miss out bc it's full; while a no show will not impact costs to SS as they would have already committed to a contracted price with tour operators.

[cruiseej]

4 hours ago, commodoredave said:

Yesterday I received a survey from a competitor of SS (they requested we not publicly divulge their name)

 

I received the same survey. In part of my comments, I said they should avoid making the mistakes Silversea has made with their D2D air inclusive pricing! If a cruise line wants to offer air or private transfers or a pre-cruise hotel night in one easy price for customers who want to keep things clean and simple, that could be fine. But the same add-ons shouldn't cost more as the suite cost goes up (as they do with SS pricing). And if they raise the price by, say $200 per person to offer home-to-airport-and-back car service, then refund $200 if there service is not available/desired/used (rather than adding $200 to the price and then refunding $100 if not used). And hopefully the other line is not even thinking about the onerous non-refundable discount.

 

Silversea could fix their errors by having a cruise-only price (for all, not just a few, cruises) and an "all-inclusive" (aka Door-to-Door) price which simply bundles in the three add ons of car service, air, and hotel. The price they build in for the hotel should be the same whether the customer is in a basic Vista suite or a Deluxe Veranda, and even high-level suites (unless they put those people in a fancier hotel). The price they build in for the car service should be the average cost for providing that service, plus a reasonable markup to cover their overhead in managing that service. The price for air should be based on their average contracted prices for the destination. If that were the case, customers could evaluate:

(a) you might be able to find a flight or hotel cheaper, and you could opt out if you wish;

(b) you might find Silversea's contracted rates are better than you can find on my own; or

(c) you might prefer the simplicity of one-stop-shopping and having Silversea manage all the details, even if it's a bit more expensive.

 

But it could all be simple and transparent and logical, rather than the mess they've created with the current D2D versus P2P pricing.

Edited May 10, 2022 by cruiseej

[Dolcevita Diva]

The other thing with the new Door-to-Door scheme is the odd way it impacts pricing if you are traveling solo or traveling with friends but each booking your own cabins. 

 

For example, I just went to price out a voyage later this year that is showing available with a 25% solo supplement.  But the door-to-door pricing adds the solo supplement onto the whole package, not just the cruise fare. So now you're paying an extra 25% for the airfare and transfers. That makes no sense, as there is no additional cost to Silversea for the airfare for 1 person vs. 2.

 

Even worse, for the voyage I was looking at, the port-to-port price properly applies 25% single supplement for the cruise fare. But the door-to-door price adds a 50% single supplement to the door-to-door price, not the advertised 25%.   It is patently absurd to impose the solo supplement on the airfare portion of these fares.  

[jpalbny]

12 hours ago, cruiseej said:

But it could all be simple and transparent and logical, rather than the mess they've created with the current D2D versus P2P pricing.

 

Don't we wish!

 

Agree that this D2D vs P2P pricing is really opaque and from my POV is does not add value at all. We almost never use cruise air or transfers. And in most parts of the world, we DIY in port, so adding excursions to the price of the cruise is not helpful to us. More inclusions are less helpful to us.

 

The exception is expedition cruises where the excursions have always been included. So we just booked an expedition on Silver Wind for June 2023. D2D was the only choice but after the air credit, transfer credit, and Venetian discount, the per diem was not unreasonable. And the excursions look like fun; it may be hard to choose in some of the ports!

 

We have also started exploring some other lines. After a fun trip to Corsica with Ponant last year, we're booking another Ponant cruise for March. If SS continues with this pricing we will probably look to do more land-based independent trips to Europe, rather than cruise there.

[commodoredave]

13 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I received the same survey. In part of my comments, I said they should avoid making the mistakes Silversea has made with their D2D air inclusive pricing! If a cruise line wants to offer air or private transfers or a pre-cruise hotel night in one easy price for customers who want to keep things clean and simple, that could be fine. But the same add-ons shouldn't cost more as the suite cost goes up (as they do with SS pricing). And if they raise the price by, say $200 per person to offer home-to-airport-and-back car service, then refund $200 if there service is not available/desired/used (rather than adding $200 to the price and then refunding $100 if not used). And hopefully the other line is not even thinking about the onerous non-refundable discount.

 

Silversea could fix their errors by having a cruise-only price (for all, not just a few, cruises) and an "all-inclusive" (aka Door-to-Door) price which simply bundles in the three add ons of car service, air, and hotel. The price they build in for the hotel should be the same whether the customer is in a basic Vista suite or a Deluxe Veranda, and even high-level suites (unless they put those people in a fancier hotel). The price they build in for the car service should be the average cost for providing that service, plus a reasonable markup to cover their overhead in managing that service. The price for air should be based on their average contracted prices for the destination. If that were the case, customers could evaluate:

(a) you might be able to find a flight or hotel cheaper, and you could opt out if you wish;

(b) you might find Silversea's contracted rates are better than you can find on my own; or

(c) you might prefer the simplicity of one-stop-shopping and having Silversea manage all the details, even if it's a bit more expensive.

 

But it could all be simple and transparent and logical, rather than the mess they've created with the current D2D versus P2P pricing.

Agree with all the points you have made. One of the reasons that SS is trying to push D2D down our throats may be that it is more profitable for them to sell more D2D per cruise that P2P, and that when people opt out of D2D it negatively impacts the profitability of it. The same principle applies to shore excursions. If SS allowed people to opt out of Shorex and get a rebate, it would negatively impact the profitability of them providing the included in price shore excursions. This kind of thinking puts the wishes of the customer behind the greed of the cruise line. 

[fudgbug]

21 hours ago, commodoredave said:

Yesterday I received a survey from a competitor of SS (they requested we not publicly divulge their name) asking us whether we preferred cruises to be marketed/priced cruise-only or cruise with air, as well a series of related questions. This competitor may be aware that a good number of SS clients, me included, are not happy with the way the current D2D program is being marketed/sold/applied. Perhaps it is time for SS to survey their own clients about D2D and how it could be improved. We have 3 cruises booked with SS over the next year, but they will be the last if things don't change.

We received the same survey.

[mancunian]

This topic is really depressing.  We have done well over 50 cruises on 10 cruise lines predominately Holland America now out of picture because of size of ships.  We like Oceania and have done 2 cruises on each of SS and Seabourn.  We loved SS but not keen on Seabourn.  We have two further cruises booked this year on SS but feel they will probably sadly be our last.

 

Nearly all cruises are door to door in UK.  We already know that we pay over the odds because of alcohol.  Because. I am on certain medication only supposed to have one drink a day (OK really it should be none) and husband is not a drinker and therefore on a cruise two a day would be his limit, but we love SS and the experience so we were prepared to put up with that.  

 

The included excursions were a shock and not a good one.  Typically on a cruise in Europe we might do two or three cruise excursions on a 10 day cruise and perhaps two or three using a local taxi.  The rest of the time we gently potter or even stay on board as I am not a good walker and have to use a rollator.  On our cruise in April we decided to try doing the included excursions every day and found it much too hard going for me.

 

Now you are saying here that you get 100 back if you do not use the home to airport transport but that is less than you have paid for the facility.  We do not live near enough to use this.   

 

It really feels that realistically from next year we are being priced out of the market for SS.    Too much cash for things we cannot use or do not want.  Really really sad and I guess it will be Oceania  all the way.

 

This year the fares seem to be the same roughly as last year despite the included excursions but next year they do not to account for this I guess.   Oh well it was nice knowing you Silversea,

 

 

 

 

 

[ak1004]

3 minutes ago, mancunian said:

This topic is really depressing.  We have done well over 50 cruises on 10 cruise lines predominately Holland America now out of picture because of size of ships.  We like Oceania and have done 2 cruises on each of SS and Seabourn.  We loved SS but not keen on Seabourn.  We have two further cruises booked this year on SS but feel they will probably sadly be our last.

 

Nearly all cruises are door to door in UK.  We already know that we pay over the odds because of alcohol.  Because. I am on certain medication only supposed to have one drink a day (OK really it should be none) and husband is not a drinker and therefore on a cruise two a day would be his limit, but we love SS and the experience so we were prepared to put up with that.  

 

The included excursions were a shock and not a good one.  Typically on a cruise in Europe we might do two or three cruise excursions on a 10 day cruise and perhaps two or three using a local taxi.  The rest of the time we gently potter or even stay on board as I am not a good walker and have to use a rollator.  On our cruise in April we decided to try doing the included excursions every day and found it much too hard going for me.

 

Now you are saying here that you get 100 back if you do not use the home to airport transport but that is less than you have paid for the facility.  We do not live near enough to use this.   

 

It really feels that realistically from next year we are being priced out of the market for SS.    Too much cash for things we cannot use or do not want.  Really really sad and I guess it will be Oceania  all the way.

 

This year the fares seem to be the same roughly as last year despite the included excursions but next year they do not to account for this I guess.   Oh well it was nice knowing you Silversea,

 

 

We are pretty much in the same boat regarding alcohol and the excursions. We decided to try SS in December because the price was really good (comparable to Oceania actually), but typically this is not the case. On those few cruises where there is still P2P price available, the difference is pretty big. The P2P prices many times are actually not bad, but we are not willing to put a non refundable deposit as many have mentioned already.

 

it remains to be seen how much better SS is compared to Oceania, but even if it is, I don't think we are willing to pay 50-60% more, especially considering we are paying for some things that we don't use. Seabourn is typically 20-30% more compared to Oceania, which I would consider reasonable. 

[commodoredave]

19 minutes ago, mancunian said:

This topic is really depressing.  We have done well over 50 cruises on 10 cruise lines predominately Holland America now out of picture because of size of ships.  We like Oceania and have done 2 cruises on each of SS and Seabourn.  We loved SS but not keen on Seabourn.  We have two further cruises booked this year on SS but feel they will probably sadly be our last.

 

Nearly all cruises are door to door in UK.  We already know that we pay over the odds because of alcohol.  Because. I am on certain medication only supposed to have one drink a day (OK really it should be none) and husband is not a drinker and therefore on a cruise two a day would be his limit, but we love SS and the experience so we were prepared to put up with that.  

 

The included excursions were a shock and not a good one.  Typically on a cruise in Europe we might do two or three cruise excursions on a 10 day cruise and perhaps two or three using a local taxi.  The rest of the time we gently potter or even stay on board as I am not a good walker and have to use a rollator.  On our cruise in April we decided to try doing the included excursions every day and found it much too hard going for me.

 

Now you are saying here that you get 100 back if you do not use the home to airport transport but that is less than you have paid for the facility.  We do not live near enough to use this.   

 

It really feels that realistically from next year we are being priced out of the market for SS.    Too much cash for things we cannot use or do not want.  Really really sad and I guess it will be Oceania  all the way.

 

This year the fares seem to be the same roughly as last year despite the included excursions but next year they do not to account for this I guess.   Oh well it was nice knowing you Silversea,

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if the D2D "feature" is another brainstorm from Barbara Muckitup?

[Emtbsam]

I had heard that if you do P2P, you do not get your ”days”.  My TA checked with SS and assured me that we would get credit for the days if we do P2P.  It never occurred to me that our discount would not apply to the fare.  Thank you for highlighting that issue.  Now if SS would just get back to us about our reservation request after almost 2 weeks!