Sea Dream I

Three more Trap, just three more..:D Wonder if I can talk them into playing the SEC Championship game on the big TV next Saturday??? Would be perfect for the cocktail party. :eek:

That should be a deal-breaker, Jim.

Thanks for posting Tiki. I do have to say that this type of event is not a one time blip. We have had at least three voyages marred by large groups or lots of kids on board. The times when it all goes well is what keeps us returning. I have been told there is a group that booked 18 cabins on our SD II trip next week. Hopefully not a "takeover" type group. Will be posting. SD food and service is top notch but the passenger makeup can drastically change the on board experience. Hopefully your next will be much better. Yes, the bathroom (head) is a beautiful phone booth. Look at the bright side, you can brush your teeth and shave all while sitting........:eek::D:D

Hmm, Jim you give me a bit of pause if this type of thing happens often. I don't mind large groups or folks having fun (there was a large family from Barbados that had the only child on board, she was may 12 but had perfect manners) This family group behaved and were very pleasant (SD even brought back out the water trampoline late on the final day after the sports deck had shut down so the little girl could play in the water and on the trampoline - AWESOME job by SD).

It was the over served rowdy group of 40 year olds that wanted to be 20 year olds - screaming and shouting and dancing until 1 am each night. I would have thought the Captain or Club Director would have asked them to quiet down but no such reprimand.

In regards to the bathroom and stateroom, yes the head door handle/head rest was a first for us haha. The shower was actually very spacious and nice. The rest of the room was fine although since there were 3 of us we had the bed made into 2 singles and sofa made into the coffin bed and then played "rock paper scissors" for the coffin bed loser. I did try the Bali bed one night (had to wait for the rowdy group to leave TOTY at 12:30 as they headed to Piano Bar until 2 am). All in all it was a wonderful trip but truly hope for no more Booze Cruze antics.

Mark

Mark, in the spirit of wanting you to have a great time next voyage, I suggest March might present more of the same. Our worst trip was March with a very large family group with 30 (not a misprint) kids. It is Spring Break month and lots of kids find their way to nice places. In my Spring Break time we were lucky to be able to afford gas to drive 4 hours to the nearest beach. Unless you are bound to March by your schedule, you might find a better passenger mix in early February or late April. Just a suggestion and certainly no guarantee you will have any problems at all in March, just my personal history. :eek::D

Mark, in the spirit of wanting you to have a great time next voyage, I suggest March might present more of the same. Our worst trip was March with a very large family group with 30 (not a misprint) kids. It is Spring Break month and lots of kids find their way to nice places. In my Spring Break time we were lucky to be able to afford gas to drive 4 hours to the nearest beach. Unless you are bound to March by your schedule, you might find a better passenger mix in early February or late April. Just a suggestion and certainly no guarantee you will have any problems at all in March, just my personal history. :eek::D

Jim, yes we are worried about Spring Break and kids. Really wanted to book the Feb 11th sailing but it was sold out. April is a hard month for Mary to get away due to work. I may have to research Feb a bit harder. We were trying to get on one of the San Juan or St Thomas itin so that we don't have to go through Customs. First world problems picking which sailing to do after we have just returned haha.

Mark

Don't be discouraged, Mark. We have done more than a dozen trips on SD, and have encountered difficult passengers only a couple of times. We had a family with several teens once during a New Year's cruise, and a rowdy group of South Americans on a 5-day. On the latter, the cruise director read them the rules early on and it was not a problem after that. Hasn't kept us from booking more and more trips. We do avoid the holidays, now, and would not consider spring break cruises. But the rest of the year, enjoy!

I suspect that 4- and 5-day cruises are harder for SD to sell in the US or Europe, so they open them up to locals or travel agents at cheap fares. We will be doing a 4+7 B2B in January, and I'm curious to see what it will be like on the first part. We added that on in order to get the discount on the 7-day portion. If there are problems, I have no reservations about discussing it with the hotel manager and/or the captain.

Tres interresant mon ami, merci.

How on earth did you discover this cher Oliveau.

Very impressed with your discovery.

'Cos I was on board at the time!

'Cos I was on board at the time!

Investigators are searching for a Frenchman who is reported to have caused the incident by giving bad directions to SDI as it was docking next to another ship.

"OK, come forward, plenty of room, left hand down a bit, OK bags of room, keep coming, right hand down a bit, stop !"

Sssscccrrrhhhhhh.......(as SDI scrapes boat in front).

The Frenchman shouted "Mon Dieu" and "Oh merde".

He was wearing a beret, with onions round his neck: he escaped on an old bicycle in the direction of Paris.

Sound familiar Oliveau ?

If you need a place to "lie low" just ask ? SD forum posters are well connected with the "underworld".

Thanks for posting Tiki. I do have to say that this type of event is not a one time blip. We have had at least three voyages marred by large groups or lots of kids on board.

I have always wanted to try Seadream Yacht but the possibility of this happening makes me very hesitant. Honestly it's a deal breaker for me. The ships are so small (part of the appeal) that any large group probably diminishes the experience for those not in the group. It's not like a big ship where there are tons of places to avoid large groups.

If this is a recurring problem, Seadream may want to limit large groups, or insist when they reach a certain size that they have to charter the entire ship.

I have always wanted to try Seadream Yacht but the possibility of this happening makes me very hesitant. Honestly it's a deal breaker for me. The ships are so small (part of the appeal) that any large group probably diminishes the experience for those not in the group. It's not like a big ship where there are tons of places to avoid large groups.

 

If this is a recurring problem, Seadream may want to limit large groups, or insist when they reach a certain size that they have to charter the entire ship.

We live in an imperfect world.

Ho Hum 1367-1478

I'm very pleased to say that our recent TA was perfect. Perhaps one or two who 'enjoyed' their drinks, but nothing unseemly.

We have already booked a TA on SD 2 for next autumn

Ho Hum 1367-1478

???

???

A previous quote from the Original Ho-Hum.....As you can see from the dates, they live a long time.... We now have the results of centuries of inbreeding in the Hum line. :eek::D:D

I posted the following back in October when they told us less than 48 hours before we were to embark that our 2 week cruise was canceled due to a fire that occurred 6 weeks prior! I was quite upset that they waited until after we had already arrived in France. Many of you on this discussion didn't think it was a big deal that they were canceling week by week. But you can see I was not one of them. :mad:

I'm with you and not sure why others are giving SeaDream a pass on this one. My husband and I are victims of these poorly thought out, last minute cancellations. We had just arrived in France for a back to back 14 day cruise when we got the word only a day and a half before we were to board SD1. Maybe others don't mind being told it's off after 15 hours of travel but I am not one of them. Especially after I found out the fire occurred 6 weeks ago!

 

I think they could have projected at least a week or two out to try and help customers re-group and make alternate plans. This mere 1-2 days before the trip cancellation is bad form. We'll see how well they treat us after they see the bills we had in order to re-book our flight home.

 

I feel terrible for the crew and was relieved to find no one was hurt. They are a lovely bunch! We were very happy with the product and this was to be our 6th cruise with them but I am very disappointed in this company right now. I'll let you know what happens.

So here is my update. Well after 3 months I can happily report that Sea Dream has refunded all our cruise money and compensated us for all airfare and hotel expenses we incurred. It was a substantial sum of money and I feared they would tell us to take a hike. Thank God those fears were unfounded. Good for Sea Dream! :) Maybe we will sail with them again.:D