Silversea Pricing: Europe vs. US??

[Sharon BME Hills]

Good Morning,

 

I need some group wisdom....

 

I booked a Silverseas cruise while on holiday in Italy, using the Italian Silverseas website's prices, which were $17K for a Silver Suite (converted from Euros).  However,  they charged me $24K for the suite, because I'm American and on the *American* Silverseas website, that's the stated price.  Yes, there's a $7-8K difference in the published prices between Europe and the US for the exact same cruises.  I never would have known had I not been in Italy when I booked it, but now I do, and I want the lower price. But they're saying I need to pay the US price, even though I committed to it having seen the European price.

 

Anyway, I need some calibration here. Is this normal?  Should I accept this?  Have you faced this?  It seems way out of bounds.   (I have screenshots that I've shared with them, so they're not disputing the difference.)

 

Thank you all!

[Silver Spectre]

Not sure if this helps but we have been told in the past that we could book SS through a US Travel Agent and pay the US price in US$ even though we live in the UK. Never tried though.

We did try it with Princess some years back and they refused, stating we had to pay the more expensive UK telling price as we had UK passports and address.

Ask them to show you where it is in the small print of their Ts&Cs.

[Isklaar]

 

One reason they may not honour the booking  is the consumer protection law offered to  EU citizens. 

It does go both ways, sometimes a cruise is far less expensive in the US than the fare offered in UK or Australia or the EU. 

Ask them to show you 'the legals' !

 

[Sharon BME Hills]

46 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

That's a great idea -- thanks.

 

[Balian65]

Your observations are completely right. Pricing in different markets can vary quite a bit.

 

On one hand there are reasons for that like different costs for included air. It makes a difference if you have an intercontinental flight or just a short trip within Europe.
 

On the other hand I realized Silverseas keeps the price level in its core markets US, UK and Australia high whereas special offers are often marketed in other places. We come from Germany and so far we did six European cruises with Silverseas. We often find offers that are port to port on a 500 € price level per day for veranda. There are other door to door offers for a similar itenary with a price tag of 800 - 900 € per day.

 

What I have learnt: you won‘t find these special offers while staying in the UK. And if you google these offers in Poland they are even less expensive.

 

 

[MJN1]

Needless to say, one needs to compare apples with apples and thus the cruise fare without flights.

USA ($), UK (GBP) and European (Euro) prices do vary and changing exchange rates increase/decrease the difference. We always look at all three before making a booking and always use a TA. Frankly, the Euro prices were always the highest ones and until now not competitive at all.

However, we NEVER had a problem using a USA/Canada based TA to book US$ fares or a UK based agent to book a GBP fare, both while living in the UK before and now in Austria. And SS (and SB) obviously know our home address...

[Mr Luxury]

If you want cheap cruises move to Poland is my take on this.

Seriously,if you book with a TA in a particular country then you will get the price as advertised in that country.

I have done this before especially US or UK based TA's

[labrasett]

There is always going to be some differential based on where you live.   In the past we hesitated paying for an expensive ski holiday priced in Canadian Dollars until our return from a long weekend.   During the weekend the exchange rate changed some 10% so by having delayed we saved a very significant sum.   With the US dollar being where it is against the UK pound at the moment a straight conversion on a price quoted in US$ would cost UK people much much more than it was would have a month or so ago!   Life is tough on so many fronts at the moment but somehow the knowledge of having some booked (and paid for) future cruises brings some comfort during these uncertain times.