SiamCruisers

Hi.   We really enjoyed our Viking cruise from HK to Beijing several years ago.  Beautiful ships and staterooms were very nice.  I remember the bathrooms had heated floors.  Food was very good too.

Seabourn we have been on 2 times.  Seabourn is definitely at a higher level of excellence than Viking.

Beautiful yacht like ships and a higher level of personal service IMO.  Cabins are more roomy on Seabourn with a heavy, thick curtain that closes to separate the bed area with the sitting area in case one person wants to stay up late and the other wants to turn in.  

         You cannot judge by price between the two because Vikings' price includes all port fees, taxes, Internet, tips, a shore excursion in every port and limited selection of alcohol during meals in their cruise price.  Seabourn includes Internet, drinks and tips but you will pay for all shore excursions, port fees and taxes. Shore excursions are expensive for sure.

   Viking ships hold about 1,000 guests compared to I believe around 450 on the Seabourn Odyssey. Seabourn seems less crowded to me.

    We were on the Seabourn Sojourn in Alaska in 2018 and had a wonderful time.  Excellent food & wine the entire trip. Photos attached.   Great crew and absolutely an amazing trip.  We will be back on Seabourn in June in Iceland.  

  Enjoy your trip.  

 We live outside the USA & normally don't do any cruises as short as 7 days because it is way too short in my opinion considering the effort involved dealing with the visas, hotels & airline travel involved getting to and from the cruise departure point. 

  The CDC rules only apply to cruises that stop in U.S. ports.  So the Sea Dream cruise was not under these rules.  Looks like a nice ship.   So the length of cruises outside the USA I think it will depend on the countries the ship stops in and the rules each country sets up for cruise lines.

   Seems to me that the cruise industry will have a very slow start even when a vaccine becomes available.   It will take a year to vaccinate the USA and likely 2+ years to cover the entire planet. Also a good percentage of people always refuse to get the shots making matters even more complicated.   All countries will have their own requirements when dealing with cruise passengers.   This may vary depending on the country you are from as well.  Also some countries may not have access to a vaccine as soon as people in developed countries. The incubation period for Covid-19 is not fully known yet, the CDC is only guessing at this point how long after exposure a test will pick up the virus in your body. .  So if you have a test 72 hours before boarding and another when getting on the ship you still could have picked up the virus on the flight, in the airport  or from the taxi driver.  So passengers could still be infected when they board.  Nothing is 100% safe.  I have read that some people that recovered from Covid-19 were infected a second time.......... so it is possible one would need a booster shot every year or two. Time will tell. 

Limiting a cruise to a 7 day period would definitely save money for the cruise lines should the cruise be cancelled due to an infection onboard.  However most cruisers I think like longer cruises.

On 9/8/2020 at 8:27 PM, Ride-The-Waves said:

We all need to realize that prices - the cost of a cabin - are going to go up, and significantly.  Cruise lines have to repay their pandemic loans, have to clean and rectify ships, have to reassemble crews, and have to pay higher port fees and insurance.  Just for starters.  Add in the need to "social distance" on board and numbers of "guests" per cruise will also decline significantly.  There is no free lunch, and there is no going back to pre-pandemic practices.

I totally agree with you on pricing.  Only putting 2,000 passengers on a ship built for 3,000 will force the cruise lines to raise rates.  Airlines will do the same.  If there ever is a vaccine that works well in stopping the virus everything will return to the way it was.... but until then it will be more expensive to operate and that will be passed onto the passengers.  They will not operate for any length of time at a loss when there is great demand for their product.

   With everyone dealing with March / April booking we feel fortunate to be booked further out.  We are not booked until early August for 3 B2B cruises on the Pursuit.  However we are watching the COVID-19 situation very closely.  As much as we want to get cruising again it does not look like the smart choice. Considering the news daily how the virus is spreading rapidly now across Europe and the rest of the world it does sound scary.  Being a senior citizen the danger is 10x worse than other ages.   Plus if anyone gets the virus during the cruise it is quarantine and room confinement for everyone.

   In that it gets worse by the day my wife and I see no choice but to cancel our cruises before we lose more than just the $75/pp per cruise. I think refunds from shore excursion venders should be OK.  Our airline KLM however does not offer refunds / credits at present on our discounted biz class ticket but I think they might as we get closer the the flight date.  Chances are many of European flights will be cancelled in coming months unless the virus slows down. 

   Sad times for us cruisers that just want to kick back for a few weeks on Azamara's relaxing ships.  

Wishing everyone the best

John & Tai 

My experience has been Azamara is quite fair to guests.  They usually make things right.

Give management time to look at the situation and see what they can do for you.   John

8 minutes ago, MakingUpForLostTime said:

We were on before as well as after the dry dock. No change to TV or Internet. Only thing upgraded was shower walls and new shower curtain. That’s all for the cabins.

Thank you for your post.  Good to know.  

Hi ~

In regards to the dry dock work....

  Anyone know what changes were done if any to the standard cabins?   I had heard from crew members on our prior cruise that ended in Singapore before dry dock that the TV system & Internet would be improved. Was wondering if they would redid the  materials used in the showers at all?  Any photos out there? 

TNX 

John

Thanks to Vino123 for the great video.  This really shows what it was like on the ship.  

     Additional clarity......the shot I posted is from Pirrama Park as jo-b says which is about the same distance to the bridge,  directly across from where we moored at entrance to White Bay last month.  The photo is a wide angle shot meaning the bridge looks farther away in the photo than it does in real life but it shows a wider field.  Lisa's good photo shows the distance to the bridge more accurately but the camera lens limits the field of vision compared to what we actually see with our own eyes.  In any case.... lots of nice fireworks. 

      In that no cruise ship can park by the bridge on New Year's Eve ...White Bay is all you can get.  So choices were to stay on the ship or go out and get somewhere with a better view of the fireworks at whatever cost or inconvenience.  Maybe Azamara could have handled the advertising better, but it does sound like many people had a great evening on the ship watching the show.  I found a photo of the view of NYE fireworks from White Bay from a previous year.   

Sparklers are what you let your kids light up in the back yard.  Yes I realize  they always do a waterfall effect on the bridge, but the point is that there is a major firework display high above the bridge that can be seen for miles.  Ships docked at White Bay will see some nice fireworks but not the lower display.

If anyone is making up facts it is you.  This is a photo showing that the ship is parked fairly close to the bridge.  Everyone realizes the photo is taken higher than the ship.  You can see the ship below you in the front.

  Do you think they will be setting off sparklers on the bridge?  LOL   If you have any knowledge of firework displays you would know the firework shells explode between 200 and 1,200 feet in the air.   This is higher than the ship and any building in the area. 

     Here is the view over White Bay Cruise Terminal towards Sydney Bridge.  Not with fire works.... but it does show that you will definitely see the larger fireworks even though from a slight distance. This is as close as any cruise ships can get on NYE in Sydney Harbour since they stopped letting ships park at Curcular Quay on NYE.  It would be nice if Azamara does the White Night Party on New Years Eve.  If you are partying on around the pool with a couple of glasses of champagne in you .....I think you will have a great time and enjoy what fireworks we can see. Cheers! 

Found this on a Cruise Oyster Seabourn Encore review.

http://www.cruiseoyster.com/ship_report/seabourn-encore-veranda-suite/

I can appreciate saving money on an inside cabin so you can cruise more often. If that works for you then great. I love the openness and natural light of the rooms with balconies. We always book balconies. We like to relax in our room and watch the world pass by. Yes it costs more but life is short and one must do what one enjoys. If you watch the cruise specials .... quite often you can get a balcony upgrade for the price of a lesser cabin. We just booked a balcony cabin on the Azamara Quest last month for the price of an inside cabin. It pays to watch the specials. :)