Blacklane transport included with SS

[UKCruiseJeff]

1 minute ago, machotspur said:

Oops - I forgot to mention - when entering our personal info on “My Silversea” I was asked to select a preferred embarkation time, from 14:00 onwards.

 

Out of morbid curiosity, have you tried entering your trip on Blacklane as a potential early possible predictor of unexpected potential future challenges?

 

😉

 

Jeff

[yayoye]

I used Blacklane offered by Silversea as part of my door to door cruise in May 2022.  I live in Toronto Canada, so the service is offered in Canada, at least in Toronto.

 

I did have to make a change to my reservation, which was "klugey" as I had to cancel the original booking and then use the link in the Silversea email I received again with the link to Blacklane, to book a new transfer.  That was the instruction given in the email to make changes to an existing reservation and it worked just fine.

 

The driver was early  on the outbound trip.  On the incoming trip, my flight was delayed due to issues with overcrowding at Pearson.  Nevertheless, the driver was at the airport.  We did have to communicate by phone due to changes to pickup points at the terminal.  No other issues.

[Senga]

6 hours ago, gojirra said:

We have Blacklane here at Vancouver

 

17 minutes ago, yayoye said:

I used Blacklane offered by Silversea as part of my door to door cruise in May 2022.  I live in Toronto Canada, so the service is offered in Canada, at least in Toronto.

We are in Toronto so thanks for the information.

[tiggertom]

Can anyone help?  I live 70 miles from the airport and, according to the Blacklane app, my journey will cost £270 each way. How much of that estimate does Silversea cover? Is it 50 miles, which I worked out to be about £192 and I pay £78? For one way? Thanks 

[david63]

47 minutes ago, tiggertom said:

Can anyone help?  I live 70 miles from the airport and, according to the Blacklane app, my journey will cost £270 each way. How much of that estimate does Silversea cover? Is it 50 miles, which I worked out to be about £192 and I pay £78? For one way? Thanks 

I think I have read that the excess charge is £3 per mile so in your case it would be around £60 each way.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

Recent Experience --Not Good.

 

We live about 60 miles from the NYC Pier 88, not in a rural area.  Arranged with Black Lane to deliver us on a Sunday morning and bring us home the following Sunday, so no airport involved.  We received multiple confirmations that they would be there to pick us up from home at 9:30 am and even got a text that driver was on his way. About 9:40 got a ca!l that driver had been in accident and wouldn't be there but they would send someone else. Ok, we waited. Then a call that no one was available after which husband blew his top as one could imagine. Then a text that someone would arrive at 10:05 immediately followed by a call that nobody would arrive after all. Finally, at 10:15 I couldn't stand it any more and found a parking garage a few short blocks from terminal in NY west side near the Intreped, paid in advance, and arrived there in 1 hour as Sunday morning is rather quiet on the major roads. Typical NYC parking garage but takes lots if cruise business.  Tipped attendant to drive us the few blocks with our bags. Easy Peasy.  When we got back following week, it was an easy walk to the garage. The wait for the car was long but far less annoying than waiting for a driver that was never going to arrive. OP has it right. Prepare in advance to be disappointed and have a backup plan as the ship waits for no one.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

On 8/12/2022 at 5:56 PM, Mudhen said:

Oh brother.....not hearing anything very positive here....

My biggest concern will be getting from our house to the airport. We'll keep our car at the ready.

Coming home will be from the NYC cruise port to our house. Not as worried about that one, as we could always take the bus home from the Port Authority and the cruise will be over.

Geez, and we thought this was going to be a good thing........sigh.

Your concerns are spot on. See my posting about our experience a few weeks ago. Can't remember the exact name of the parking garage near the pier, but easy to find. Believe it is cheaper than using the facility on the pier itself and almost as easy.

[Mudhen]

OMG....this is NOT making me happy!

Part of our problem is that we fly out of Newark and we end our cruise at the Manhattan cruise pier.

We can't really leave our car in Newark as we'd need to pay for transport from NYC to Newark....

May have to check other options......

[UKCruiseJeff]

37 minutes ago, Mudhen said:

OMG....this is NOT making me happy!

Part of our problem is that we fly out of Newark and we end our cruise at the Manhattan cruise pier.

We can't really leave our car in Newark as we'd need to pay for transport from NYC to Newark....

May have to check other options......

 

The art of happy travels is to try and predict what “might” go wrong and do anything reasonable to avoid it.  That’s why I was a bit surprised  to see Silversea using Blacklane.  Blacklane is not a fleet owner but an app based company like “Just Eat” or “Uber”. They make their cash from what they charge their contractors for each booking and their contractors routinely complain about Blacklane’s cut.  Blacklane have an incentive to make themselves appear global when it is very clear they do not honestly  operate snugly or at all in some of their claimed areas of operation. Hence my suggestion to others that they make a dummy booking directly using their home address and destination to see whether they get the message that the address is outside their area of operation.   It should at least raise alarm bells if Blacklane have accepted Silversea’s  bookings for addresses that owner/drivers appear unwilling or unhappy to service.  I have regularly been offered In Singapore, Vienna and Nice/Cannes/Cap Ferrat the cards of drivers to make future bookings directly.  

 

On top of the Blacklane share, presumably Silversea are also making a profit and are  taking a cut.  Once Blacklane accepts a booking then the contractor they allocate it to is obligated to accept and fulfil the future booking even if they feel it unprofitable.  

 

I think it unlikely that Blacklane would volunteer not to accept a Silversea booking even if there are obviously going to geographics where they cannot be guaranteed to be fulfilled. They want that business,  So when drivers have fairly obviously been “double booked” or simply do not fancy respecting a booking they are hardly going to admit that they have decided not to honour the booking but naturally make up an excuse that their non-arrival is for reasons outside of their control.  This also gets them off the hook with Blacklane.

 

My only purpose in contributing to the thread was I felt it wrong not to offer my own experiences so that people can make informed judgements either way about the non-guaranteed nature of this risk and about the  possible hazards and potential consequences on their cruise.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Jeff

Edited August 15, 2022 by UKCruiseJeff

[machotspur]

5 hours ago, tiggertom said:

Can anyone help?  I live 70 miles from the airport and, according to the Blacklane app, my journey will cost £270 each way. How much of that estimate does Silversea cover? Is it 50 miles, which I worked out to be about £192 and I pay £78? For one way? Thanks 

 

The booking document for my most recent booking with Silversea - June 22 - states :

 

Silversea will cover the cost of a pre-determined distance, up to 52 miles.

 

So - the excess you would pay would apparently be 18 miles x £3 (as per david63's insight) = £54 - each way.

 

Interestingly I noted a further caveat on the booking document ...

Silversea will not be responsible for any delays, which could cause a guest to miss their flight and/or their cruise.   

So one is no more protected by using Blacklane than if using a local taxi. 

 

 

 

 

[CamMag]

16 hours ago, machotspur said:

Hi CamMag

 

You may be on the same Silver Moon cruise as us, departing Southampton on 9th September 22 ?

If so the port website shows the departure as being from City Terminal 101, which is the one just before Mayflower Park (where people stand to wave at outgoing ships !) and the IOW ferry !

 

Regarding Blackstone. We don’t use them because the Silversea distance limit is 50 miles I think. We receive a £75 credit each way for not using this service. It may be that a cost of a local taxi from Ferndown is less than this so it may make sense for you to do the same DIY as ourselves.

 

 

Yes, we're on the same cruise. Thanks for the port information - we went to Norway in 2017 on the Wind from Tower Bridge and haven't travelled from Southampton before. We are leaving our car at the mother-in-law's so will probably think about using her reliable local taxi company.

[CamMag]

16 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Margaret,

 

Have you requested a Blacklane quote? 

 

A sensible starter for your decision would be to put in a pricing request from Ferndown to Southampton, on the Blacklane site and if as the case is for much of the UK that the Blacklane site does not quote because the service in “unavailable” in Ferndown then this might imply that it is perhaps an option you should avoid. if you wish to avoid a layer of avoidable stress and use a trustworthy local company. If it quotes then at least you know where you are.

 

https://www.blacklane.com/en/

 

Jeff

 I'll give it a go and also check with a local firm.