IMNiles

As host Jazzbeau has said, this is a tricky question to answer without running afoul of the rules! Nevertheless, I’ll give it a go. As many others have said, nothing beats a referral, but absent that, here are a few criteria you might consider, assuming you’re not looking for a rebate/discount : * Do you always deal with the same agent, and do they either answer or return calls/emails in a reasonable timeframe? * If your “regular” agent isn’t available (agents are real people too who need to sleep and take vacations), is there someone else “minding the store” ? *Is the agent associated with some larger organization (like one of the several large consortia) that can either provide some benefit leverage or a minimal expectation of competence? And really the most important - * Does the agent actually travel? In my experience, the best agents are those that love to travel and have been to many of the places they sell. As a corollary, does the agent like/do the particular _kind_ of travel you are considering? (River, ocean, land…). Ask the agent what their favorite thing was about a line or destination - do they have an answer and does it resonate with you, or did you read the same thing on google? Do you sense a passion for travel, or do you feel like they’re trying to close and move on?

I suspect if Seabourn really wanted out of the expedition market, there would be ready buyers for the two ships given the explosion of the luxury expedition market and the number of players who would otherwise have to wait to build their own. I don’t see a need to resort to anything more indirect. Agreed, that longtime Seabourn folks probably want to avoid the APT-chartered sailings until more is known about how they run. Is it possible that Seabourn has just decided that they’d rather run the hotel side of things and let someone else run the expedition side? I suppose only time will tell.

Your mileage may vary, but I have a booking on Venture for December 2025, and the kayaks and submersible are already showing as bookable on my reservation.

I have an alternate perspective. While I have no insight into the details of this specific partnership, there is a non-dramatic precedent in the form of AMAWaterways (river cruise line). For many years, APT has partnered with AMA to charter some of their voyages and market them in Australia, where AMA has a comparatively weak presence. I believe I heard that APT also helped finance some of AMA’s ships as a part of this cooperative agreement. I do know that AMAWaterways is very much a going concern, and this is in no way a “try before you buy” situation - it is a successful long term partnership. The APT charters work very much like AMA cruises, except that some terms like gratuities are adjusted to match Australian expectations. I suspect the same may also be true in this case. Seabourn wants to get exposure to the Australian market, and APT is a very large and extremely well regarded player there. This charter could well be not just an opportunity to not only fill ships, but to possibly reach a market where Seabourn would like to grow their presence, with much less risk than trying to launch a marketing effort on their own. This is not a bare-metal charter, so as someone else stated, Seabourn is operating the ship, but it is also true that in this kind of arrangement the charter company does have some control over certain aspects of the operation (by specifying brands that would appeal to their audience, for instance). This said, I find it hard to believe that Seabourn would be willing to risk their reputation by allowing a charter company to dictate a food and beverage program that would be antithetical to their own principles such that it would lead to bad press. Of course, we won’t find out for sure what the experience is like until someone sails and reports back 🙂

We have arrived in Passau to disembark tomorrow, and the water levels are indeed quite high. Looking out the window at the shoreline down near the tip, all but the top three steps down to the Danube are covered. Another foot or 18 inches and it will be lapping at street level. It continues to rain. In the hour or so I’ve been sitting here, the fourth step went from “in and out” to “consistently submerged.” Here’s to hoping that Munich airport isn’t badly disrupted, or there is going to be a real mess.

“have just read that a barge has hit the the railway bridge at Regensburg. It happened around lunchtime and river traffic was halted. It was estimated that this would continue into the evening. Not sure if things have returned to normal there yet.” wow, that section of river can’t catch a break this week, things seem well on the river downstream between Budapest and Bratislava, water very high, and quite fast through Budapest, but traffic seems to be moving. I’ve seen only sporadic traffic between Linz and Vienna, but hopefully that’s just a function of schedules and not water.

Oh my, this is a lot more water drama than I expected in December! I guess this is the new normal. I’m very sorry to hear about the situation with the Scenic Opal (though sadly it is not out of character for Scenic/Emerald in my experience) - glad to hear they were able to accommodate the reverse sailing on Jasper, anyway. I get of course that they have less than zero control over the weather, but how they react in a situation like this is what makes all the difference. I met some folks at the airport who were due to sail on AmaSonata out of Budapest tomorrow, but since she is still way upstream near Straubing that seems pretty unlikely, so I hope they had an alternate ship for them here. I myself am due to board SS Maria Theresa tomorrow, and I am gratified to see that she is already here, and since we don’t have to pass beyond Vienna until Tuesday I hope that means the trips heading upstream this weekend will be able to make the full run. I’m quite sure Uniworld will take good care of us in any case, and in the meantime I will continue to gorge myself on Goulash here in Budapest 🙂

I think folks have mostly covered it, but in general the first two (edge and apex) are “nearly twins” as are the second two (beyond and ascent) - the big changes are between the two pairs. Most notably, the sunset bar is dramatically improved in the second pair, the layout of the martini bar is improved (more central bar, more space), the rooftop garden is different, and there is quite a bit more shade on the retreat sun deck. There have been other minor differences of course. We just disembarked Ascent yesterday having only previously been on Edge and I would choose the Ascent every time unless the price difference was really dramatic.

Imagine how quiet these boards would be if we didn’t have dress codes to talk about! I sympathize with your questions - I’ve been on multiple christmas market cruises, and multiple uniworld cruises, and even I struggle to articulate what is appropriate to the friends with whom I am traveling in a couple of weeks. In the end, I settled on “dress as you would for a nice special occasion dinner at a restaurant that does not sell gift cards at the grocery store.” This is not to impugn chain restaurants, because who doesn’t love bottomless shrimp or endless breadsticks, but my memory tells me that most people will be dressed, as a previous poster aptly put it, “respectfully.” This means no ball caps, shorts, flip flops, tank tops, ripped clothes, or anything else that you might be surprised to see at church or work. There is no need to go over the top unless it makes you happy so to do. For what we paid for this trip, I think it’s fair to expect a sense of occasion, if only at our own dinner table. So, for my part, I’ll be packing an assortment of slacks, collared shirts, and ties that can be easily mixed-and-matched as the mood suits (pun intended!), and a single sport coat in lieu of sweaters, which I often find to be too inflexible. While I own a tux, I won’t be bringing it (I’ll save that for Cunard). My female travel companion will be opting for nice dresses or slacks-and-shirts or sweater-dresses, perhaps lent a little flair with a scarf or well-placed piece of jewelry. We’ll all probably pick one night to dress our best, most likely the captain’s reception. Remember also that your itinerary probably includes a couple of evening activities off-ship, like a Mozart concert or evening visit to a venue where you may want to be nicely dressed, but also may be called upon to stand in the cold waiting for a coach or visiting a market. Sensible trumps flashy, because you want to remember the beautiful market, not how cold you were.

Gosh, this has the potential to spiral out of control very quickly. Were I a mod, I’d probably close the topic, though I think the answers so far have been generally spot on, and I’m gratified that the flamethrowers have remained mostly holstered. I’m very sorry the OP’s plans were ruined, and I have no reason to doubt their own subsequent “lesson learned” response. An expensive and painful lesson to be sure, but also perhaps a reminder we could all use. I mean, we were all expecting a global pandemic, right? Things that may once have seemed far off and unlikely are not just possible, but seem to be increasing in frequency (or at least in visibility). Fear of travel is real, and it’s an insurable risk. If we’re going to visit corners of the world not renowned for their stability, we need to adjust the way we think about that risk, and either accept it or insure against it. I don’t think it’s fair or reasonable to expect a travel supplier to shoulder a risk from events in which they really have no role (I see no evidence of negligence here). I think travel agents can also play a part in helping people understand what they can and cannot expect in terms of flexibility in the event of this sort of eventuality. I believe it’s also important to recognize, without weighing in on who is right or wrong (this is not the time or place), the impact on our travel plans is definitely not the greatest tragedy of this conflict.

Connection is great aboard Onward right now in the Canary Islands…. Not as good as home but amazing for a ship!