Silver Moon, May 5-23 and May 23 - June 9, 2024

[FLRI]

20 hours ago, Joc123 said:

This really is becoming annoying.

It is obvious to all and sundry the cruise will not go ahead so we are looking at alternatives but of course we can’t do anything until we have confirmation.

May is now out of the question for us so it’s now August - peak season in Europe and heavily booked. We found a cruise on Ray which is ok (been to all ports before) but the flights from Adelaide on the date we need is completely booked out. We can go out of Melbourne but it adds an extra 8 hours to a 23 hour flight!

The longer we have to wait before we can go ahead the worse it’s going to be. 

I wonder if the crew have been told anything - it must be so stressful for them not knowing what they are doing.

This could have and should have been handled better.

 

Absolutely correct. And the longer they wait, the more expensive everything becomes, not to mention less availability. And airfares have gotten absurd. A business class seat I booked 4 months ago is now triple the price. I think the crew is the last to know. Can they really not make a decision and communicate it? Are mired in bureaucracy, indecisive, incompetent, negligent, manipulative (i.e., waiting for the penalties to escalate) or they just don’t care?

 

It’s sad, they did such a great job during Covid compared to other cruise lines and generated a lot of goodwill. That is rapidly evaporating.

 

Now they overpromise and underdeliver.

 

Anxiously awaiting the  “Esteemed Guest” letter…

[texanaust]

Still nothing from SS...maybe they are waiting till the 30 day mark just to make sure all of their 'Esteemed Guests' cannot possibly make alternative arrangements.  

[Juno1956]

Just now, texanaust said:

Still nothing from SS...maybe they are waiting till the 30 day mark just to make sure all of their 'Esteemed Guests' cannot possibly make alternative arrangements.  

My husband heard from Silversea and our travel agent earlier this week. Silversea stated that they are changing the itinerary ( aka cancelling in my opinion) and will be finalising this very soon. Travel agent stated that they should be hearing something definite this week. 
Seen on a Facebook forum someone had heard from Silversea that cruise has been cancelled and letters going out on Friday. And so we wait..

[FLRI]

The “party line:” when you call is that something is happening and the TAs, passengers and phone staff all hear at the same time. The phone staff says it’s an itinerary change but they truly don’t know and they probably wouldn’t even hint at a cruise being cancelled. My TA’s guess is we will hear at the 45 or 30 day mark, unfortunately. It went waitlist on the 60 day mark. I can’t imagine they would be that “structured” in terms of timing. 

 

Unfortunately Silversea doesn’t seem to know the old rule in regard to customer service that a satisfied customer only tells one or two people while a dissatisfied tells greater than 7 people.

 

[babydrum]

I wonder which it will be.  I have a Plan B land option in place but I need confirmation before I move forward.  I hope Friday brings clarification because it's getting a little stressful.

[sammyboots]

15 minutes ago, babydrum said:

I wonder which it will be.  I have a Plan B land option in place but I need confirmation before I move forward.  I hope Friday brings clarification because it's getting a little stressful.

I agree, just want to know that it's cancelled so I can make a new booking. Hate this hanging about waiting. 

[FLRI]

19 minutes ago, sammyboots said:

I agree, just want to know that it's cancelled so I can make a new booking. Hate this hanging about waiting. 

Unfortunately they have no empathy whatsoever for passengers…or the staff that will have to make the changes.

[fudge]

We are in the same boat, (no pun intended) We have already had one cruise cancelled with SS, what a joke that was! It took over 30 days to receive half of the cruise fare, they said our TA would refund the other half, that took over two weeks AND they sent a cheque to our other home in the UK! 

This cruise on June 1st from Jeddah to Athens through the Suez canal is bound to be cancelled, when, we have no idea? I dont have a back up either, oh well, we shall have to suck it up when it gets cancelled.

[Joc123]

In Australia it is currently 7:22am Friday 15th March and still no word from SS re May cruises.

However, we have received word that all SS fares will be increased 17th March!

Is it too cynical of me to think they are waiting for the fare increase before cancelling our cruises?

This way they can offer 20% off future cruise which now costs more - very clever.

[FLRI]

4 hours ago, Joc123 said:

In Australia it is currently 7:22am Friday 15th March and still no word from SS re May cruises.

However, we have received word that all SS fares will be increased 17th March!

Is it too cynical of me to think they are waiting for the fare increase before cancelling our cruises?

This way they can offer 20% off future cruise which now costs more - very clever.

No not cynical at all.They play games with the fares and promotions all the time. And they think their passengers are stupid. When they cancel they should give you the price before the fare increase. If there is a replacement cruise you want, take a screenshot of the fares. (Though sometimes when prices go up they only go up $500, but still…)

Edited March 15 by FLRI

[tonyssss]

I'm booked on the Mumbai to Athens Cruise and following this topic closely. Have been corresponding with my Travel Agent who is also awaiting information from Silversea.  I suspect the closer we get to sailing date, the more chance there will be that Silversea's lack of action may be construed as contrary to Australian consumer law.  I may test this in the near future.

[regent traveller]

What is the law in Australia? This is the information I am reading.  I am not a lawyer in the US or Australia or anywhere. 

What the regulator says 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says the terms and conditions in your cruise agreement dictate your rights, but adds that the Australian Consumer Law is "unlikely to apply to cancellations as a direct result of government restrictions. This may impact the remedies available to consumers". 

[tonyssss]

I'm not a lawyer neither, but in my uninformed view, if a party to a contract has information that is relevant to the execution of that contract then their is an obligation to disclose that information. I'm happy to be corrected, but I'm simply contemplating asking the question.

[texanaust]

On 3/10/2024 at 8:53 AM, babydrum said:

I emailed both and bmuckerman@silversea.com bounced back so barbaram@silversea.com appears to be the appropriate address. 

 

Did she or her office reach out to you by chance?

[FLRI]

In regard to Australian Consumer Law, Scenic Cruises, based in Australia has been sued at least twice. There was a class action suit against them. Basically they used industrial ports and substituted buses for an entire river cruise in Europe because of river flooding. They lost the class action suit. We had a river cruise scheduled with the in 2020 and they were horrible to deal with. Did not offer a refund and wanted to keep our money for 3 years before we could get a refund despite the cruise contract terms. 

[babydrum]

4 hours ago, texanaust said:

 

Did she or her office reach out to you by chance?

Not a peep. 

[FLRI]

The silence from them on this and the Nova situation is deafening! 

[MrsWaldo]

I emailed Ms Muckerman a few weeks ago.

 

After about a week I received a very positive (in that it addressed and resolved my concerns) response from Asia Pacific head. 

 

I would assume at this point she is getting swamped with emails given the current global situation

Edited March 15 by MrsWaldo

[FLRI]

On 3/15/2024 at 9:06 AM, babydrum said:

Not a peep. 

Well, Mark Conroy who is head of the Americas for Silversea and on FB. Send him a message.

Go to Mark Spencer Conroy since Mrs. Muckerman Martinoli is not responding. 

 

[fudge]

Wouldn't you think SS would be informing clients about forthcoming cruises which may be cancelled? Our cruise on June 1st including down the Suez canal is bound to be cancelled, just let us know! 

[babydrum]

On 3/16/2024 at 3:04 PM, FLRI said:

Well, Mark Conroy who is head of the Americas for Silversea and on FB. Send him a message.

Go to Mark Spencer Conroy since Mrs. Muckerman Martinoli is not responding. 

 

We leave in 39 days and have no idea what vacation we are going to need to pack/purchase for. This is definitely going to be my one and only SS cruise. 

On 3/15/2024 at 12:36 AM, texanaust said:

 

Did she or her office reach out to you by chance?

Not a peep. 

[Joc123]

1 hour ago, babydrum said:

We leave in 39 days and have no idea what vacation we are going to need to pack/purchase for

I know what you mean, we feel the same way.

Do we get the cases out?

Do we start sorting summer clothes?

Do we organise things around the house, redirection of the mail etc?

The cruise leaves from Singapore so I’m guessing most passengers will be flying in from somewhere which means a lot of flights and hotels will need to be cancelled.

I wonder about passengers who are doing a B2B (Singapore - Mumbai second leg).

Have they heard anything?

What about the crew?

It’s a ridiculous situation!

 

[FLRI]

3 hours ago, Joc123 said:

I know what you mean, we feel the same way.

Do we get the cases out?

Do we start sorting summer clothes?

Do we organise things around the house, redirection of the mail etc?

The cruise leaves from Singapore so I’m guessing most passengers will be flying in from somewhere which means a lot of flights and hotels will need to be cancelled.

I wonder about passengers who are doing a B2B (Singapore - Mumbai second leg).

Have they heard anything?

What about the crew?

It’s a ridiculous situation!

 

YES!

COMPLETELY INCONSIDERATE of passengers, staff and crew. 

Is management so disorganized that they cannot make a decision? 

 

Is anyone out there on the Moon who can ask a few people?

Edited March 20 by FLRI

[Joc123]

We have received an email from SS welcoming us onboard on May 5th, with dress code and packing suggestions.

Guess this means we are going (I will believe it when we are actually onboard)

Dog sitter is still on standby.

 

[regent traveller]

It's cancelled.The same deal. Refund and 20% off a new cruise until May 31, 2024.