Excursions

[jtslattery]

Thinking of taking a Silversea cruise. Can someone explain what is meant by excursions included and how they work. Are all excursions included or just a few with others available at an up charge. When can you make reservations? 

[Gourmet Gal]

From my recent experience on Silver Moon there were usually several excursions to choose from in each port included in the cruise fare.  Then there were other more premium tours offered for an upcharge including the very expensive SALT excursions.  You may choose one per day from the included list and if time permits you can choose a second tour from the same list but there will be a charge.

 
On my cruise the included excursions were under-staffed, crowded and pretty basic.  In some ports we opted for private arrangements.

[Capri73]

Yes I agree the side trips for Alaska were pretty much worthless. W are on what they called a safari tour we saw a duck.We said we could see more in our backyard.

 

[Not a Georgia Peach]

We were recently on the Dawn for a cruise from Barcelona to Venice.  We did included excursions every day and were very satisfied.  There were a few guides that were less than great, but most were really good and their English was excellent.  The buses were very modern and they were never full.

[Stumblefoot]

4 hours ago, jtslattery said:

Are all excursions included or just a few…

Just a few.

[drron29]

7 hours ago, Not a Georgia Peach said:

We were recently on the Dawn for a cruise from Barcelona to Venice.  We did included excursions every day and were very satisfied.  There were a few guides that were less than great, but most were really good and their English was excellent.  The buses were very modern and they were never full.

We were on the same cruise I think. Ours was in August. We also thought most excursions were good, a couple were poor.

Though the 2 best excursions were the SALT tour in Livorno and the Virtuoso excursion in Kotor.

We once did 2 excursions in a day and that was too hectic.  
All in all we were happy with the excursions.

[Silver Spectre]

Currently on the Moon and just completed the Barcelona to Lisbon leg. We chose 3 included excursions and they all met our expectations. General feedback from other guests was positive.

[AtA]

15 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

On my cruise the included excursions were under-staffed, crowded and pretty basic.  

That was our experience too.

The only tours that were worth it were the one we paid an uncharge for and the one they arranged for us on turnaround day. (We were doing a B2B) 

The one tour we paid an uncharge for used a bus for 40 people but there were only 18 of us on the bus. Compare that to the included tours where the buses were filled to capacity. And in one port, the bus was a school bus. 

In the same port with the school bus, the tour guide told us that the museum we had been looking forward to going to was closed, so instead we'd be going to see a sculptor's work in his backyard. Mind you the tour was supposed to be the history and past culture of the area.

 

 

[Gourmet Gal]

One of our tours was in a double-decker bus  with well over 60 people in it.  Not my idea of luxury.

[FauxNom]

Find a cruise you're interested in and you can see a description of "included" and "selected" excursions by going to the daily itinerary and clicking on the down arrow for each port. 

I've done only expedition cruises and I'd say roughly 8 or 9 out of 10 excursions have been really good or great.

They recently changed the policy; I think now you can book excursions as soon as you've paid for the cruise (or maybe even just put down a deposit).

Edited October 20, 2022 by FauxNom

[gnome12]

58 minutes ago, FauxNom said:

They recently changed the policy; I think now you can book excursions as soon as you've paid for the cruise (or maybe even just put down a deposit).

Yes, you can book tours as soon as you have paid the deposit. There are fairly complete excursion descriptions available in MySilversea, and it is very clear which are included and which entail a charge.

[jtslattery]

Thanks - just the information I was looking for

[les37b]

48 minutes ago, jtslattery said:

Thanks - just the information I was looking for

 

You used to have to wait until 180 days before being able to book, but now its open from day 1 of your booking. They do "sell out" so make it a priority if you book o look at them.

 

Interestingly, one of my choices was waitlisted, so I "booked" that and chose another. This morning, I see I'm no longer waitlisted and my "sunset catamaran cruise" in Aruba is all mine and the Jeep safari no longer required and released. So basically suggesting you keep checking and do "waitlist" if you fancy it. Whilst they are with no charge, as mentioned you only get one per port. No charge for more than one until 2 days before the excursion date, so you have time to remove and avoid any charges if you do before then.

 

They are a mixed bag. Some I think are quite good, some are a bit meh and the "price tag" not the real value if you were paying IMHO.

 

On 10/20/2022 at 1:25 AM, Capri73 said:

Yes I agree the side trips for Alaska were pretty much worthless. W are on what they called a safari tour we saw a duck.We said we could see more in our backyard.

 

 

Looking at the Alaska excursions on my one next May, I see one port has a shuttle bus (listed several times) one not to miss - particularly as the only free one! Looking forward to the train ride from Seward to Anchorage though!

[milepig]

On 10/20/2022 at 10:24 AM, FauxNom said:

Find a cruise you're interested in and you can see a description of "included" and "selected" excursions by going to the daily itinerary and clicking on the down arrow for each port. 

I've done only expedition cruises and I'd say roughly 8 or 9 out of 10 excursions have been really good or great.

They recently changed the policy; I think now you can book excursions as soon as you've paid for the cruise (or maybe even just put down a deposit).

Is there a way to print the entire excursion list. I started cutting and pasting but it was taking forever, and the formatting was all messed up.

 

We're doing an Alaska 14 day, and many of the tours sound very similar, so we don't want to duplicate, and we just like to sit down over coffee and look in all over at once.

[les37b]

41 minutes ago, milepig said:

Is there a way to print the entire excursion list. I started cutting and pasting but it was taking forever, and the formatting was all messed up.

 

We're doing an Alaska 14 day, and many of the tours sound very similar, so we don't want to duplicate, and we just like to sit down over coffee and look in all over at once.

 

Yes. In my.silversea.

 

Click on the red “activities” button. The close the annoying poppup. At the top menu bar, you will see 3 small lines on the top right. Click that. That reveals the entire program.

 

You can also just print the activities you’ve booked.

 

But….. it seems its not working properly.

 

On my android phone, the tour program is downloaded as a pdf. On IOS, (iPhone and iPad) it thinks about it but doesnt appear to do anything. I suspect a PC web browser would be fine.

 

 

 

 

[Lauranne]

17 hours ago, les37b said:

 

Yes. In my.silversea.

 

Click on the red “activities” button. The close the annoying poppup. At the top menu bar, you will see 3 small lines on the top right. Click that. That reveals the entire program.

 

You can also just print the activities you’ve booked.

 

But….. it seems its not working properly.

 

On my android phone, the tour program is downloaded as a pdf. On IOS, (iPhone and iPad) it thinks about it but doesnt appear to do anything. I suspect a PC web browser would be fine.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the tip. It worked just fine on my iPad. I really like that you can also see your booked activities as well. 

[gnome12]

18 hours ago, les37b said:

 

Yes. In my.silversea.

 

Click on the red “activities” button. The close the annoying poppup. At the top menu bar, you will see 3 small lines on the top right. Click that. That reveals the entire program.

 

You can also just print the activities you’ve booked.

 

But….. it seems its not working properly.

 

On my android phone, the tour program is downloaded as a pdf. On IOS, (iPhone and iPad) it thinks about it but doesnt appear to do anything. I suspect a PC web browser would be fine.

 

 

 

 

It doesn't work on my desktop in Firefox either, but I did get the download from Chrome.

Edited November 2, 2022 by gnome12

[milepig]

On 11/1/2022 at 1:52 PM, les37b said:

 

Yes. In my.silversea.

 

Click on the red “activities” button. The close the annoying poppup. At the top menu bar, you will see 3 small lines on the top right. Click that. That reveals the entire program.

 

You can also just print the activities you’ve booked.

 

But….. it seems its not working properly.

 

On my android phone, the tour program is downloaded as a pdf. On IOS, (iPhone and iPad) it thinks about it but doesnt appear to do anything. I suspect a PC web browser would be fine.

 

 

 

 

This worked for me - thanks.  But now I have another question.

 

For Icy Straight Point on the 8/17 departure, this Excursion:

 

Whale & Marine Mammals Cruise (ISP-H)

 

Says it begins at 23:30!!! but the ship departs at 19:00

 

Clearly this must be a typo, but when I select it it also puts it on my calendar for 23:30.???

Edited November 2, 2022 by milepig

[drron29]

It works on my desktop in Firefox.

[Desperate to Sail]

4 hours ago, milepig said:

This worked for me - thanks.  But now I have another question.

 

For Icy Straight Point on the 8/17 departure, this Excursion:

 

Whale & Marine Mammals Cruise (ISP-H)

 

Says it begins at 23:30!!! but the ship departs at 19:00

 

Clearly this must be a typo, but when I select it it also puts it on my calendar for 23:30.???

 

Same thing happened on our March 2023 Silver Moon cruise. Our TA asked for a clarification and within a day or two the start time was corrected. Based on the before and after times, I think the programmer entered "PM" when the correct input should have "AM". 12 hours difference. You or your TA need to confirm with SS but my guess is the actual start time is 11:30 am. Good luck! 

[milepig]

1 hour ago, Desperate to Sail said:

 

Same thing happened on our March 2023 Silver Moon cruise. Our TA asked for a clarification and within a day or two the start time was corrected. Based on the before and after times, I think the programmer entered "PM" when the correct input should have "AM". 12 hours difference. You or your TA need to confirm with SS but my guess is the actual start time is 11:30 am. Good luck! 

That’s my guess.  I hate to bother my wonderful TA over this, but I was online today with a SS rep for over an hour today who never got logged in. Maybe I should just book it!

[les37b]

2 hours ago, milepig said:

That’s my guess.  I hate to bother my wonderful TA over this, but I was online today with a SS rep for over an hour today who never got logged in. Maybe I should just book it!

Yes definitely book the excursion. You can cancel at a later date should something not be what you wanted with no obligation at this stage.

 

I’ve made several changes on my next one without problems.

[milepig]

Thanks to everyone's help, our first pass at Alaska tours for next August are in place. One was already fully booked!  Well see how they turn out, but I was impressed by the variety. The one middle of the night mystery tour, turned out fine, it continues to say it left at 11:30pm right through the booking process, but in the end it put it on the calendar at the expected 11:00 am departure.

 

I'm puzzling about the one 7:30pm departure for a three hour tour. Dinner seems awkward either before or after the excursion.