Overnights stays

May I ask Seabourn regulars, would they, like us enjoy more overnight stays being added to itineraries?

We have enjoyed our sailed Seabourn itineraries however there are occasions when we would have enjoyed a have a night experience in a vibrant port.

BTW I have noticed in 2017 Valletta has an overnight which is fantastic, we will do this again, sometime.

Depends where the overnight port is.

Kind regards,

Tony

Yes, depending on the port. We had overnight in Quebec which was great. And will be on Encore in Valletta this year which we are looking forward to.

We are on Encore now and in 2 days will enjoy an overnight in Cairns coinciding with Australia Day. Should be fun... I am looking forward to it partly in the hopes that the crew especially enjoy themselves. They are superb and truly deserve a shoreside break!

In a week we disembark in Sydney where, fortunately for us, Encore will dock at Circular Quay. It's just a day stop, no overnight, sadly for those continuing to New Zealand. But at least the ship is at a convenient location. Our overnight last year on Odyssey was at White Bay, with terrible access to the Sydney Harbour and principal hotels for those touring or transiting. What a difference location makes and I hope that since then the infrastructure has improved.

Happy and healthy sailing!

Hi Koalapanda, we too like overnight stays. The one we enjoyed the most was in Venice at the end of a wonderful cruise on the Spirit(still our favourite of all the Seabourn ships...sigh) when almost everyone got off the ship and had a lovely evening.

The one we didn't really like was the extra day and night in Ushuaia as the result of missing the Falklands due to bad weather. Everyone stayed on board that evening, but the crew did go into the town later and had a great time!

Markham, safe onward travels. I would like to add that I really enjoy reading your posts from the many parts of the world that you have visited whilst on board Seabourn.

Good to hear there are some like minds. We would enjoy overnights in Patmos Greece vibrant at night instead of some of the smaller Greek ports offered. Venice our favourite overnight, Barcelona , Sorrento, Bonifaco or Syracause, Dubrovnik at night would be nice.

Markham did you enjoy your Cairns overnight stay?

Happy Australia Day to all Australians reading this post.

We're on our 18th SB cruise. We almost always book a few days at the beginning and sometimes at the end of the cruises. This cruise began in Singapore. We arrived four days early because we love the city. Turned out to be a fortuitous happenstance, as our luggage arrived three days after we did.

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Yes indeed, we love overnight stays - in the right ports. Valletta is certainly one of those. We are delighted to see that Seabourn have chosen to begin & end segments of a few voyages in Valletta this year. It makes a nice change from the Athens/Venice/Rome routine - and the airport in Malta is only a short ride away from the port.

I agree totally marama Valletta is one of the great ports where an overnight stay is a must. Other great ports Venice and Budapest are the most a amazing Ports to sail into and just feel you have to stay awhile.

Another vote for more overnight ports! Late (11:00 P.M) departures are nice too, love being able to enjoy an evening in port!

Overnight in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) was fantastic!

Overnight in Bordeaux is also fun as the ship is docked right in the centre of town and there are dozens of excellent restaurants within easy walking distance.

We were on Encore last week and it was really annoying to have the same amount of time allocated to an interesting port like Palma, Mallorca, as we had in other, smaller and less interesting ports.

Seabourn take note, there have been quite a few small ports as you mentioned that we also thought did not deserve a full day. The Greek isles are stunning but some really do not need a full day, some more hours would be fantastic.

Seabourn take note, there have been quite a few small ports as you mentioned that we also thought did not deserve a full day. The Greek isles are stunning but some really do not need a full day, some more hours would be fantastic.

I may be wrong, but my guess is that the larger more popular ports cost significantly more and thats the problem.

Probably been said before but we like seabourn because of the small ports and the relaxed pace. Big ports tend to get visited on almost every itinerary by other cruise lines. They might have the top sights but when you've already been many times they involve more hassle to see something worthwhile that you've seen a number of times before and I don't think you want that all the time.

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For a few different reasons, I cast my vote for overnights in certain embarkation/debarkation ports. I have been lucky to have this experience in Barcelona and Capetown on other cruise lines and wish that Seabourn would offer this plus to some of their itineraries.

For a few different reasons, I cast my vote for overnights in certain embarkation/debarkation ports. I have been lucky to have this experience in Barcelona and Capetown on other cruise lines and wish that Seabourn would offer this plus to some of their itineraries.

Totally agree. We usually do a few days prior anyway given we have to fly such a distance and turn our body clock around. An extra night in port would be great in terms of unpacking, settling in and finalising any last minute running around on shore or sight seeing. Everything is so rushed getting on board, unpacking, pressing suitcase wrinkles, fire drill, sail away etc.

We have an overnight in Cape Town on the ship next February which will be most welcome even though we have 4 nights in CT prior to boarding. The beauty of places like Barcelona, Cape Town, Valetta, Venice etc is that you are in the "thick" of it all.

Wouldn't be too keen for overnights in Safaga or Salalah. We are still coughing up cement dust from years ago. :D

Assume port charges are the decider. We note there have only been a few cruise ships into Sydney Harbour in the last few weeks while the Vivid Light Festival is on (laser light show over town, the bridge, opera house etc). Those ships did a quick turn around were off and out around 4pm (light show starts at 6pm). It would have been a front row ticket for passengers. Understand the port charges are increased each year at this time, so it was avoided.

It is nice to begin or end a Cruise with an overnight stay and we have been fortunate to have that experience on quite a few occasions. There are lovely small ports where overnights would be lovely. our interest is to experience more of the local culture, cuisine and the feel of a nightime visit. Ports like Patmos , Mykonos and other smaller European ports.

On our wish list is also another overnighter in Seville Spain and experiencing the wonderful entry from the river. This is a magic overnighter. Our worst overnighter was definitely Mumbai.

BasandSyb,

We also are on the CapeTown to Singapore cruise next Feb/March and in addition to overnighting in our embarkation port of CapeTown we are overnight for two nights in Rangoon (where we hope to arrange for a private overnight tour to Bagan) and one night in Singapore.

Jenny,

I agree Seville is a special place to overnight but I am not even sure if the big ships even go all the way up the Guadalquivir river. We last did it on one of the small ships.

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Overnights would be nice and we had one on the Indonesia itinerary where we actually stayed in a hotel near Borobodur temple so we could be there for sunrise. A definite once in a lifetime event. I wish Seabourn would at least adopt the longer evenings in port like Azamara. I was underwhelmed with the ship but really enjoyed the later sail away times. Most of the stops we didn't pull out of port till 9pm or later.

A big fan of overnight ports. It allows you to explore somewhere and get your teeth into it. If you are leaving at 5.00pm in reality you want to be back at the ship by 4.00pm and you daren't stray too far in case of break downs, traffic etc.

Even pate departures work. We left Abu Dhabi at 11.00pm which allowed me to spend a few hours at the Grand Mosque as the sun was setting. I now know why they call it the blue Mosque !

Henry :)

Another vote for overnights here. My DW and I were just discussing this the other day as we have noticed that a good many other lines are offering overnights. We are sailing on Silver Muse next spring, Dublin to Barcelona, partially because of overnights in Lisbon and Barcelona. The overnight in Lisbon means that we can use the Oporto stop to extend our tour of the Duro into the evening, stay in Oporto, then take a train the next day, meet up with a driver, see a few places outside of Lisbon that we have always wanted to visit, and rejoin the ship when we are ready. We were looking hard at several Seabourn cruises for next spring, but the flexibility that the Silversea itinerary offers won the day.

Hi Jenny,

I agree Seville is a special place to overnight but I am not even sure if the big ships even go all the way up the Guadalquivir river. We last did it on one of the small ships.

Hi Chairsin, we did the magnificent Seville entry backing under the bridge and into the Port on Azamara Quest. This itineray through Basque country was a very special. Pasajes was used as the Port for San Sebastian another overnight desire. San Sebastian, lovely.

BasandSyb,

We also are on the CapeTown to Singapore cruise next Feb/March and in addition to overnighting in our embarkation port of CapeTown we are overnight for two nights in Rangoon (where we hope to arrange for a private overnight tour to Bagan) and one night in Singapore.

 

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We haven't started on the cruise yet and private excursions. Have just finalised 2 weeks in South Africa prior. Happy planning.