How well maintained are these ships?

Not having set eyes on either of these ships since they were with Cunard as Sea Goddesses (?) very many years ago, before committing to booking (a westbound transatlantic in 2015 on SeaDream I) I am wondering how well they are maintained. I see lots of negative comments on this board. Can anyone help with a balanced view?

They are both maintained well considering how old they are. Physically everything is shiny and polished as it always has been. One could argue that they need some new furniture, lounges etc. but they take really good care of what they have. Mechanically as you'd imagine after 30 years at sea things are bound to fail here and there. The AC was an issue for a couple weeks this year due to some small maintenance items needing replacing, but overall everything is smooth sailing.

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They are both maintained well considering how old they are. Physically everything is shiny and polished as it always has been. One could argue that they need some new furniture, lounges etc. but they take really good care of what they have. Mechanically as you'd imagine after 30 years at sea things are bound to fail here and there. The AC was an issue for a couple weeks this year due to some small maintenance items needing replacing, but overall everything is smooth sailing.

 

 

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Thanks for helpful comment.

Would agree with WorldTraveler. These are old ships (hate saying that as they are younger than me) and they cannot compete with the new builds.

However they are well maintained. I believe we've been on SD about 7 years and except for a color scheme change in the main salon, they look exactly the same. That's a compliment.

We have only done one trip on Seadream, it was on SD11. I felt the ship was quite dated in design however we really felt that the ambiance was really nice. There is a warmth with all the polished woods. It sort of borders on classic in feel and quite frankly that made up for the older design. The other thing we found was that as the ship was small and intimate all the cabin shortfalls were irrelevant as all we did was sleep and shower there. These two ladies may be old but still have an elegant classic charm......

Tried SD this year for the first time in the Baltics. It was SD 1 and the first sailing after dry dock. Maintenance was POOR! I've not posted anything until now, as I did not want come off as a complainer given it was my first experience with SD. But I couldn't resist now given the subject of this post. Examples of problems: no a/c for many days, toilets that didn't flush ship-wide on more than one occasion (including intermittent loss of water ship-wide - even while in the middle of a shower!), lots of dings, scratches, and knicks everywhere, hot tub out of service for several days, and I could go on and on. The crew were beside themselves it was so bad. They were embarassed and I felt really bad for them. SD did offer a rather generous credit to help make up for all the issues - but I would never sail on these ships again given the price point and high expectations they set. Without some new ships (or possibly new management that can stay more on top of overall mechanical conditions), the talk on board was that SD as we know it today will cease to exist In the not too distant future. It was really a terrible shipboard experience thanks in large part to HORRBLE maintenance (coupled with old age)... except for the food quality which was among the best I've ever had at sea.

stines--

What a horrible experience. I can't imagine how upsetting this would be.

Wishing you good travels for the new year--

Stines,

So sorry to hear you had this experience on Seadream! But if you read through other threads and posts you will find these problems were fixed and all is back to perfect condition... But still... One bad experience can leave a nasty taste for a while! We have been on Seadream only 3 times but everytime was wonderful!!

I would say give them a chance to make it up to you! 😊

Regards!

Kathy.

Tried SD this year for the first time in the Baltics. It was SD 1 and the first sailing after dry dock. Maintenance was POOR! I've not posted anything until now, as I did not want come off as a complainer given it was my first experience with SD. But I couldn't resist now given the subject of this post. Examples of problems: no a/c for many days, toilets that didn't flush ship-wide on more than one occasion (including intermittent loss of water ship-wide - even while in the middle of a shower!), lots of dings, scratches, and knicks everywhere, hot tub out of service for several days, and I could go on and on. The crew were beside themselves it was so bad. They were embarassed and I felt really bad for them. SD did offer a rather generous credit to help make up for all the issues - but I would never sail on these ships again given the price point and high expectations they set. Without some new ships (or possibly new management that can stay more on top of overall mechanical conditions), the talk on board was that SD as we know it today will cease to exist In the not too distant future. It was really a terrible shipboard experience thanks in large part to HORRBLE maintenance (coupled with old age)... except for the food quality which was among the best I've ever had at sea.

That had to be awful. I'm so sorry that happened to you. We were on the I just a couple of weeks after you, doing the Norwegian Fjords, and none of these problems occurred. Water was fine - A/C was fine - hot tub was fine. How did they resolve these things so quickly after your voyage when they obviously didn't resolve them in drydock?

Thanks for your comments (and sympathy). I am glad to hear they rectified the issues not that long after the first sailing out of drydock. Bad luck for us I guess. They should have just canceled the cruise (or put us up in a hotel for a few nights) when they realized there was major unfinished work - e.g., they boarded the whole ship with NO running water or air con. When you picked up the toilet seat in the cabin, it was all brown muck. Ew! When you went a to a public restroom and tried to do the same, people had been "doing their duty" right on top of others since there was no water and the toilets didn't flush. I am chuckling to myself as I type up the experience... it seems so absurd now... that any line would board passengers under these conditions. It really speaks to the core of management's judgement I think. Everyone seems so happy with their experiences (for the most part) here... the other first-timers along with us were just amazed and we became very skeptical of all the cheerleading that goes on for the line on CC. To all you potential first-timers out there who are reading this... just remember you can only put so much lipstick on a pig. These ships are ready for retirement NOW. When things are fine, it may be a good experience. But if you get some bad luck and there is a mechanical problem, you'll be at the mercy of their bad management.

Several years ago I bought a house. I thought it was just the nicest thing ever. I was so proud of my "little castle". Then, some time after, I was invited to a 45 million dollar summer cottage on Lake Rosseau. Every possible surface was finished, even the ceilings had Siberian Birch Bark. When I got back to my beautiful house, I could not believe how plain, bland and incredibly poor it appeared. My God, you could see drywall, albeit it was painted.

OK, so I believe with respect to SD, it is perspective, the ships will appear to you, relative to all the other things you have experienced. My husband and I are not very picky and so are generally easy to please. The first time we were on Seadream I was simply in awe. I have never been on any other luxury ship, and only once ever on a Royal Caribbean ship. In fact, I remember once, on a bathroom break from the pool area, I found myself distracted by the azure blue sparkle in the marble floor forgetting where I was just for a moment.

However, that being said, over the 10 years we have cruised, there have been a couple things that have stood out that I feel could be updated. The cabins' carpets and cabinets have obvious wear, they certainly do not feel fresh and new, and the pool deck feels desperately worn with curved and splintery boards.

There are other areas though that I think are "perfect". The library stands out, the dining room, the lobby, the main salon, the Spa and gym... In fact I love it all but would love to see a brand new pool deck.

The staff on board do a phenomenal job of "putting lipstick on a pig" if that's what the age of these ships suggests. They work tirelessly, always with a smile, polishing, cleaning, running about with buckets, vacuums, cleaning cloths. It is incredible how gracious and hard working the cleaning staff are. Anything that can be attended to, is.

The hot tube has always worked, the water flowed, and the toilets flushed (sometimes you might have to wait 10 minutes for a new CO2 Cartridge). I often wonder how on a ship that size I can take such a long comfortable hot shower, and still have water left for my husband.

Perhaps there are newer fancier vessels abound, and I suspect in my case ignorance is bliss, but one thing is certain, I have had a perfect vacation for the last 10 years and am looking forward to another in 2 weeks time.

OP at the end of the day it boils down to rolling the dice as to whether you'll have a trouble free experience on SD or not. Question is , are you willing to spend in the region of $10000 rolling that dice? Only you can decide.

Amen to that, Tall Lad.

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http://travelnews.no/2014/10/26/intervjuet/atle-brynestad-drommer-om-havet/

We would love to return to SD and will once we can travel in non school holiday times. But we would love a new ship with balconies and a larger bathroom. Forgive me if this link has been posted but I've never seen before.

Great to know that the debt overhanging SD is gone and that the owner was able to come back from the effect of the prior downturn

FT

http://travelnews.no/2014/10/26/intervjuet/atle-brynestad-drommer-om-havet/

 

We would love to return to SD and will once we can travel in non school holiday times. But we would love a new ship with balconies and a larger bathroom. Forgive me if this link has been posted but I've never seen before.

 

Great to know that the debt overhanging SD is gone and that the owner was able to come back from the effect of the prior downturn

 

FT

Hi FT. Is there a link to translate that article? My Norwegian is a tad rusty.