The totally off-topic thread

[Denali]

That sucks. Would a a claim via your credit card risk your booking?

 

[love_the_life]

Totally unimpressed with Silverseas Australia land service . They put through the payments on my CC in a foreign currency, which was fine as they alerted me to the potential (why they didn’t tell me before I don’t know, as I would have used my 28 degrees card). Anyway 4 months later they have only refunded half and don’t bother answering phone calls or emails. Leaving it to next week and then I am going to go up the line, Really regretting the Antarctica cruise now

Are you cancelling the cruise?

 

[Flying mermaid]

That sucks. Would a a claim via your credit card risk your booking?

I suspect you can only cancel the whole amount via the CC. They have promised multiple times to refund, but haven’t responded to any phone calls or emails for weeks. Just bemused - I thought Silverseas was a good company! If it was just me I would cancel the whole thing, but Ms FM really wants to go and I thought it would be nice to have one last holiday with her before they start a family.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Are you cancelling the cruise?

Thinking about it. I have already booked 4 J airfares to Santiago, but starting to look at other things to do....

 

[tgh]

Are you dealing direct with SS ?
If you have not cancelled the cruise , what is being refunded ?
There are clear conditions on cancellation percentages that are time dependent.
Silversea au is just an office, all payments/transactions are with a UK bank.
I have found the Sydney Office to be pretty good , bearing in mind that they are representing a very large privately owned Italian company..

 

[Pushka]

Let me rephrase. Do people really care where the last person left the toilet seat? Surely you just put it up/down as required.

Well, when you don’t switch on lights in the middle of the night so as not to disturb others, it comes as a nasty surprise and jolt. Plus, it’s just not attractive or good look.

 

[Pushka]

Why?

That's an opinion that not everyone will agree with.

Me included. I don’t like touching anything when I go. If a public toilet has the lid down I use my feet (shoe) to raise it up.

 

[drron]

We

I suspect you can only cancel the whole amount via the CC. They have promised multiple times to refund, but haven’t responded to any phone calls or emails for weeks. Just bemused - I thought Silverseas was a good company! If it was just me I would cancel the whole thing, but Ms FM really wants to go and I thought it would be nice to have one last holiday with her before they start a family.

We have found the Silverseas Sydney office to be hopeless.Their pre cruise arrangements are often pathetic.But the cruises are usually very good which is why we keep returning.

 

[Pushka]

I suspect you can only cancel the whole amount via the CC. They have promised multiple times to refund, but haven’t responded to any phone calls or emails for weeks. Just bemused - I thought Silverseas was a good company! If it was just me I would cancel the whole thing, but Ms FM really wants to go and I thought it would be nice to have one last holiday with her before they start a family.

We have found the Silverseas Sydney office to be hopeless.Their pre cruise arrangements are often pathetic.But the cruises are usually very good which is why we keep returning.

Have found that the administration of most cruise lines pretty much suck and put a lot of people off which is a shame when the onboard experience is worlds apart.

 

[Denali]

Family walking by the must have just gotten new car.

White car drives by and dad says, it looks bigger in white.

Kid about 8 says, ours looks smaller because it's black. Black makes you look thinner. When mum wears white she looks HUGE.

Hope he knows not to say that to his mum.

 

[blackcat20]

Me included. I don’t like touching anything when I go. If a public toilet has the lid down I use my feet (shoe) to raise it up.

Definitely leave public toilet lids up, but down at home.

 

[Pushka]

Family walking by the must have just gotten new car.

White car drives by and dad says, it looks bigger in white.

Kid about 8 says, ours looks smaller because it's black. Black makes you look thinner. When mum wears white she looks HUGE.

Hope he knows not to say that to his mum.

White does do that, especially skirts. I have some skinny white jeans though that seem to work.

 

[Flying mermaid]

We

We have found the Silverseas Sydney office to be hopeless.Their pre cruise arrangements are often pathetic.But the cruises are usually very good which is why we keep returning.

Well that’s good to hear (sort of). I was starting to wonder if the office was such a disaster what was the cruise going to be like!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Are you dealing direct with SS ?
If you have not cancelled the cruise , what is being refunded ?
There are clear conditions on cancellation percentages that are time dependent.
Silversea au is just an office, all payments/transactions are with a UK bank.
I have found the Sydney Office to be pretty good , bearing in mind that they are representing a very large privately owned Italian company..

Yes I am dealing direct. I paid for for two suites by Credit card. A few days afterwards the SS lady informed me that I might get charged foreign currency fees and if so to let her know, that was late December. In early January I informed her that the booking had gone through as two amounts and there was a foreign currency charge of $1,269 on each. She asked for a copy of my credit card bill and I provided her with the copy that day and she said they would be refunded.

By mid February I hadn’t received anything so I followed up again. After a couple of emails she responded and apologised and said she would get onto it. A few weeks later a cheque for $1,269 arrived in the mail. I left it for a couple of weeks, but when nothing more arrived I contacted her again. She apologised and said she would get onto it. Early April I sent a polite email. Mid April I sent a Did you see this? Then I phoned twice and left messages. Then I sent another email. I have had no answers to my emails or phonecalls since 14 March and the refund hasn’t turned up,

The cruise is not until January 2019 so well outside the 120 day cancellation, so can cancel with $250 fee. (Probably $500 as they seem to treat it as two bookings)

 

[love_the_life]

Yes I am dealing direct. I paid for for two suites by Credit card. A few days afterwards the SS lady informed me that I might get charged foreign currency fees and if so to let her know, that was late December. In early January I informed her that the booking had gone through as two amounts and there was a foreign currency charge of $1,269 on each. She asked for a copy of my credit card bill and I provided her with the copy that day and she said they would be refunded.

By mid February I hadn’t received anything so I followed up again. After a couple of emails she responded and apologised and said she would get onto it. A few weeks later a cheque for $1,269 arrived in the mail. I left it for a couple of weeks, but when nothing more arrived I contacted her again. She apologised and said she would get onto it. Early April I sent a polite email. Mid April I sent a Did you see this? Then I phoned twice and left messages. Then I sent another email. I have had no answers to my emails or phonecalls since 14 March and the refund hasn’t turned up,

The cruise is not until January 2019 so well outside the 120 day cancellation, so can cancel with $250 fee. (Probably $500 as they seem to treat it as two bookings)

Which of course is so very frustrating. They seemed to have managed one part of the transaction but forgot the booking. Agree that most cruise lines' AU offices are pretty poor, though every time I look at SS online and order a brochure I get a phone call from one of the staff offering assistance with booking.
I can't remember if we booked them direct or not when we went to Svalbard, suspect it was through an agent as I think I felt bad that I had cancelled a big trip with them the year before and so sent this trip their way.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Which of course is so very frustrating. They seemed to have managed one part of the transaction but forgot the booking. Agree that most cruise lines' AU offices are pretty poor, though every time I look at SS online and order a brochure I get a phone call from one of the staff offering assistance with booking.
I can't remember if we booked them direct or not when we went to Svalbard, suspect it was through an agent as I think I felt bad that I had cancelled a big trip with them the year before and so sent this trip their way.

I had amazing service from them from when I made an online enquiry until I paid. In fact I complimented this girl on how efficient she was at replying. Once they had the money, not so much....

 

[Denali]

$1,269!

 

[Flying mermaid]

$1,269!

$84,000 for the 4 of us for a 10 day cruise - you would think that would at least get an answer to an email.

 

[Flying mermaid]

On another subject - I think Mr FM and I just qualified for the stupidity of the year award.

Took the dogs for a walk in the reserve today. Saw a little old ladty with a walker a fair way off on one of the paths. We have a retirement village at the end of our road and you quite often see people with walking sticks getting a bit of exercise. Our dogs like to wait for people to come to them, so they can maybe scrounge a pat. So I say to Mr FM I am not waiting for her so I pick up a dog and race up the hill and Mr FM follows me.

Anyway half an hour later, back down the hill and there is little old lady in the same spot. I say to Mr FM - that doesn’t look right, we start walking over, police car arrives and policeman walks into reserve. Poor lady had gone for a walk and got lost and couldn’t walk any further. Mr FM and policeman assist her down to the road and into police car and I bring walker.

Felt absolutely dreadful that the poor thing had been trapped there for goodness knows how long and it didn’t occur to us to check first time round. In future will be more observant!

 

[JohnK]

Why?

That's an opinion that not everyone will agree with.

Divided opinion. I prefer the lid (and seat) up as that ensures no surprises for next person.

Public toilets, including office, are awful. I'm not perfect but ensure I do not leave a mess for next person but can't say the same for others.