Confused re Booking Options

[ggo85]

I’m looking to book a particular cruise.  We want to do our own air and (have lots of miles) and car transfers aren’t available for our city. So we want port to port. When I look at cabins for port to port, only the “lower” categories are available. However, if I select door to door, all categories open up.  Of course, it’s $50k more (not kidding).  Can someone explain this?  Why can’t I book a higher suite w/o booking stuff I don’t need or want?  Or am I missing something?

[Stumblefoot]

Simple; economics.  
 

People who are not price sensitive will book those higher end suites.  SS knows this and as such, does not need to sell them at a greatly reduced P2P price at this time.

[ggo85]

These people must also be nuts!  Seriously . . . one could easily pay for biz class air plus transfers for tens of thousands less than what SS is asking.  I like to think that people who've made a lot of money are also smart about money.  But I guess some folks want "one-stop shopping" and are willing to pay (through the nose) for it.  

 

People have all sorts of reasons that they want to do their own air (status with an airline, choice of flight plan, cost, ability to use miles, etc.).  "Forcing" you to tack on the extras to book the cabin you want is a huge negative for me.  We book higher-level suites, but if this is SS's new biz strategy, we might have to move on.  

[toseaornottosea]

12 hours ago, ggo85 said:

I’m looking to book a particular cruise.  We want to do our own air and (have lots of miles) and car transfers aren’t available for our city. So we want port to port. When I look at cabins for port to port, only the “lower” categories are available. However, if I select door to door, all categories open up.  Of course, it’s $50k more (not kidding).  Can someone explain this?  Why can’t I book a higher suite w/o booking stuff I don’t need or want?  Or am I missing something?

I would imagine a top notch travel agent who has extensive experience with SS could help get you the suite you want as a port port booking. 

[taxatty]

Various future SS cruises we've looked at online recently have a specific "door-to-door without flights" option that in effect provides a credit in advance for booking your own air and no transfers--was that an option for your cruise that would provide the same stateroom availability as "door-to-door with flights?"

[pavementends]

On 12/8/2022 at 9:37 AM, taxatty said:

Various future SS cruises we've looked at online recently have a specific "door-to-door without flights" option that in effect provides a credit in advance for booking your own air and no transfers--was that an option for your cruise that would provide the same stateroom availability as "door-to-door with flights?"

 

Door-to-door without flights is NOT equivalent to Port-to-Port.

 

Refunds on PtP are very different. Apparently Silversea feels that more flexibility with refunds is worth a bunch of money, because the difference in price is a lot greater than the reasonable cost of air fare.

 

I think PtP is only offered on cruises (or cabin classes) that are undersold. Think of it as similar to a discount inflexible airline fare. No flexibility, lower cost, and not always available.

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by pavementends
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[taxatty]

1 hour ago, pavementends said:

 

Door-to-door without flights is NOT equivalent to Port-to-Port.

 

 

 

I never said it was equivalent. It DOES allow booking your own flights and foregoing transfers at a lower price than regular Door-to-Door based upon the allocable credits while retaining its other aspects, which is precisely what the OP was seeking.