gcornell Posted July 8 #1 Share Posted July 8 Currently on the Spirit in Iceland. We’ve already covered the nonsense with the changes to excluded and included but just had a conversation that was unreal. The Shore Concierge just told us that our excursion on Wednesday is being cancelled unless all 18 guests agree to pay an additional $400 each as the “price went up”. Speechless. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Observer Posted July 8 #2 Share Posted July 8 Incredible. But, unfortunately, increasingly credible. Please keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdnycruiser Posted July 8 #3 Share Posted July 8 Wow ! That is a new low. A stick up man without a gun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcornell Posted July 8 Author #4 Share Posted July 8 I just asked to speak to the Concierge Manager and was told he was busy and I should make an appointment which I assume would be after it’s officially cancelled. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Dolcevita Diva Posted July 8 #5 Share Posted July 8 ☹️🤯 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKCruiseJeff Posted July 8 #6 Share Posted July 8 Salvador Dali has control of Silversea, 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caviargal Posted July 8 #7 Share Posted July 8 This happened to my friends on Muse with me now. They will not honor the quoted price (she has documentation) and are stating that prices can change at any time. While that would be ok for those NOT confirmed at the lower rate, it is NOT ok for those that are. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulaJK Posted July 8 #8 Share Posted July 8 It’s not okay! SS seems to be eroding its reputation with financial influences engendering culinary shortfalls to failing to honor program promises and ludicrously, now this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Dolcevita Diva Posted July 8 #9 Share Posted July 8 1 hour ago, caviargal said: This happened to my friends on Muse with me now. They will not honor the quoted price (she has documentation) and are stating that prices can change at any time. While that would be ok for those NOT confirmed at the lower rate, it is NOT ok for those that are. Agreed. In another thread (Silversea Shenanigans), a recent passenger on the Muse said that she had prebooked a spa service that was priced at $419, but when she arrived at the spa they told her the price would be $599. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DavyWavey70 Posted July 8 #10 Share Posted July 8 Seems to me to be what happens when the finance department rule over all others including both the people that have to deliver what has been promised and those that promise it. Unless some balance is redressed soon, the damage to the brand will be extremely hard, if not impossible, to repair. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caviargal Posted July 8 #11 Share Posted July 8 2 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said: Agreed. In another thread (Silversea Shenanigans), a recent passenger on the Muse said that she had prebooked a spa service that was priced at $419, but when she arrived at the spa they told her the price would be $599. Yes, I overheard a similar conversation this morning in the fitness center. These decisions by Silversea are going to come back and bite them. As they should. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare drron29 Posted July 9 #12 Share Posted July 9 5 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said: Salvador Dali has control of Silversea, Dali wasn’t mad enough to agree to control Silversea. 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DavyWavey70 Posted July 9 #13 Share Posted July 9 50 minutes ago, drron29 said: Dali wasn’t mad enough to agree to control Silversea. He might have put her up in a flat though whilst he painted melting watches and elephants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare RLK33853 Posted July 9 #14 Share Posted July 9 This is not surprising in the least when it comes to the Excusion personnel. They have the attitude that you will take whatever they say as the gospel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcornell Posted July 9 Author #15 Share Posted July 9 2 hours ago, RLK33853 said: This is not surprising in the least when it comes to the Excusion personnel. They have the attitude that you will take whatever they say as the gospel. Interesting you say that because, as with our previous trips, the way they speak to guests is condescending and dismissive. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare highplanesdrifters Posted July 9 #16 Share Posted July 9 18 hours ago, gcornell said: Currently on the Spirit in Iceland. We’ve already covered the nonsense with the changes to excluded and included but just had a conversation that was unreal. The Shore Concierge just told us that our excursion on Wednesday is being cancelled unless all 18 guests agree to pay an additional $400 each as the “price went up”. Speechless. Insane! Care to tell us what this excursion is. Something special for an additional $7,200! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcornell Posted July 9 Author #17 Share Posted July 9 6 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said: Insane! Care to tell us what this excursion is. Something special for an additional $7,200! Of course. Glacier snow truck and snow mobiles. Djupivogur, Iceland 10 VATNAJÖKULL ADVENTURE (DJU-E) Start time: 08:30 AM - End time: 04:30 PM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare highplanesdrifters Posted July 9 #18 Share Posted July 9 Just now, gcornell said: Of course. Glacier snow truck and snow mobiles. Djupivogur, Iceland 10 VATNAJÖKULL ADVENTURE (DJU-E) Start time: 08:30 AM - End time: 04:30 PM It does sound like fun. I wonder what the back story is on the price hike. Did the vendor Jack up the price, or did SS make a big pricing mistake and decide not to eat it? Either way, not cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcornell Posted July 9 Author #19 Share Posted July 9 We are told the vendor raised prices several times in the last few months. I spent the morning googling and making some calls and was able to secure a private tour to Glacier Bay and Diamond Beach tomorrow so my kids aren’t too disappointed. Meeting with the Shore Excursions Manager at 6 today. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare highplanesdrifters Posted July 9 #20 Share Posted July 9 Just now, gcornell said: We are told the vendor raised prices several times in the last few months. I spent the morning googling and making some calls and was able to secure a private tour to Glacier Bay and Diamond Beach tomorrow so my kids aren’t too disappointed. Meeting with the Shore Excursions Manager at 6 today. Good luck, and keep us posted. Not defending Silversea, but things are a tad crazy in Iceland these days. That does seem over the top! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Observer Posted July 9 #21 Share Posted July 9 2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said: Not defending Silversea, but things are a tad crazy in Iceland these days. Presumably, the concept of a contract is not unknown in Iceland. Does Siilversea not have written agreements with its vendors, including cost, payment terms, cancellation arrangements, etc.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jpalbny Posted July 9 #22 Share Posted July 9 2 hours ago, Observer said: Presumably, the concept of a contract is not unknown in Iceland. Does Silversea not have written agreements with its vendors, including cost, payment terms, cancellation arrangements, etc.? Quite likely, but if you read the Silversea T&Cs they can cancel your reservation for any reason they choose and their only obligation is to refund your deposit. I don't know what kind of contracts they sign with the "independent contractors" who provide the excursions, but might those contracts protect the independent contractors in the same manner? I am not an expert in EU contract law but I don't think that EU contracts would heavily favor a larger corporation over a small independent contractor. So if the independent contractor notices that s/he can get a better rate than what Silversea agreed to pay them two years ago, why would they NOT cancel, or threaten to cancel unless Silversea pays them something more akin to the going rate? No tour provider can stay in business by continuing to lose money. Inflation has been terrible for the past few years and this may just be a manifestation of that, rather than malfeasance from Silversea. Not to take away from the fact that this is a bad situation for the OP - I would be upset too. I'm fully expecting that some of the excursions that we signed up for on January's WC segment will change, probably not for the better, and I probably won't be happy about it either... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKCruiseJeff Posted July 9 #23 Share Posted July 9 (edited) 53 minutes ago, jpalbny said: Quite likely, but if you read the Silversea T&Cs they can cancel your reservation for any reason they choose and their only obligation is to refund your deposit. I don't know what kind of contracts they sign with the "independent contractors" who provide the excursions, but might those contracts protect the independent contractors in the same manner? I am not an expert in EU contract law but I don't think that EU contracts would heavily favor a larger corporation over a small independent contractor. So if the independent contractor notices that s/he can get a better rate than what Silversea agreed to pay them two years ago, why would they NOT cancel, or threaten to cancel unless Silversea pays them something more akin to the going rate? No tour provider can stay in business by continuing to lose money. Inflation has been terrible for the past few years and this may just be a manifestation of that, rather than malfeasance from Silversea. Not to take away from the fact that this is a bad situation for the OP - I would be upset too. I'm fully expecting that some of the excursions that we signed up for on January's WC segment will change, probably not for the better, and I probably won't be happy about it either... EU and UK consumer law always favours the consumer over the “merchant” irrespective of whether small or large under a basic philosophy of “balance of power” when entering into contracts. EU consumer rights laws are based on UK laws simply because UK law was developed before the EU developed theirs. “Balance of power” in EU / UK etc law is a long complex topic but best left alone in this reply. All companies irrespective of size are treated as though they are the same size. All companies operating in the EU and the UK irrespective of where they are registered must comply with local law. But the issue here is irrelevant from that standpoint because it is much more straightforward from an EU / UK consumer rights perspective. If the consumer had paid for the spa booking when actually making the booking then the price is contractual and binding and cannot be changed. Put simply, once a price is agreed and the price paid it is a binding contract. There could be clauses but they must be “fair” and that - again - is a different topic best left alone. I’ll just say they do not apply here. So, if it is simply a reservation then either side can cancel without penalty prior to the service being provided and a new price agreed. There may or may not be cancellation options, but again what is fair or unfair is an entirely different and complex topic. The situation here therefore is one of purely customer service consideration rather than consumer contract law. The important issue therefore is this. To a luxury brand concerned about meeting or exceeding customer expectations then they would fully know that many customers reserving a spa would be unaware or concerned whether it was Silversea or a contractor offering the spa. The customer would innocently and reasonably expect the price to be honoured once they have booked. This would exceed the customers consumer rights but simply be what they reasonably expect. If Silversea offered the facility to the contractor to include in its’ website a reservation facility to benefit the contractor so that the contractor could harvest bookings from Silversea customers then you’d reasonably expect Silversea to have a contract with the provider to honour prices that were in place when the customer booked. Not doing so means that Silversea are exposing themselves to a customer satisfaction disappointment that would be outside of its’ direct control. This would be unacceptable to a well organised company. They would expect the contractor to agree to a fixed price. But Silversea as we know is in the process of “readjusting” the brand. So in summary in the EU / UK and other countries the spa price can be changed if it hasn’t been paid for. Jeff Edited July 9 by UKCruiseJeff 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcornell Posted July 9 Author #24 Share Posted July 9 I met with the excursion manager just a short while ago. They were getting hammered with complaints and many were really nasty (I felt bad for them) so I simply explained that we felt this was a poor customer experience and he has already passed along the feedback to corporate. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKCruiseJeff Posted July 9 #25 Share Posted July 9 (edited) Sadly it seems that the current SS focus is away from satisfaction to short term profit. It may change after the current demand for SS recedes. To remove doubt I might have caused unintentionally in my earlier reply - this was intended to obviously cover pricing protection for both excursions as well as spas. There is a slight complication in that if EU / UK customers book a cruise in contemplation that excursions are free then that is contractual. If they are at an advertised price but the price increases to be unaffordable then there might be scope to pursue for some compensation on the basis that the cruise was inaccurately described. But that is complicated and uncertain. Jeff Edited July 9 by UKCruiseJeff 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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