seattleskibums

28 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

but in Atlantide and few other venues they won’t let you in without a jacket on formal and informal nights. La Dame for sure, I think also Silver Note.

That's not true. I ate in Atlantide without a jacket on a number of informal nights.  I avoided Atlantide and Silver Note on formal nights.  La Dame has become obsolete because the food is as good or better in other venues, so I wouldn't care if they required a suit of armor to eat there.

On 8/13/2023 at 9:52 AM, canderson said:

I could show up at a truck stop diner and bring my own linens and silver, but it would be hard for me to ignore that all of the other tables were still bare Formica with mismatched flatware.  Evidently that's much easier to do for some?  While some argue that they pay no attention things outside of their own table, many do take note of a world outside of their immediate 'bubble'.

 

What I believe @Sweetpea711423 is doing her best to express is that, for her, attire is one of many factors that impact the overall ambience of dining.  When we dress for dinner, we do so understanding that we are a contributing factor to others' perception of that ambience, and try to make a point of dressing in a manner appropriate to the venue out of respect for the house and other diners...

Here's an idea: Why not just make the main dining room the formal venue on formal nights?  That way people who want to contribute to others' perception of a formal ambience and dress in a manner appropriate to the venue all can gather in the same room.  The rest of us can enjoy our meals in casual attire at other venues.  Everyone is happy!

On 8/9/2023 at 8:08 AM, ak1004 said:

On the formal nights, can men dine in the Grill or the Pizza place without a jacket? if so, it means you don't need a jacket on SS cruises anymore if you don't want to. Definitely positive development, hopefully other ships will follow.

Men always have been able to dine at the Grill and pizza joint without a jacket on formal nights.  The jacket thing is a joke. I've been on six Silversea cruises and never have worn a jacket to any meal. The food actually tastes the same whether you're wearing a jacket or not.

On 8/13/2023 at 1:48 PM, broker1217 said:

Per the email sent specific to Nova:

Gentlemen dining at La Dame are required to wear a jacket.

On our Moon cruise around Iceland last month, a jacket was required in La Dame. I had no jacket, so the maitre d' simply grabbed one from a closet, followed me to the table and placed it on the back of my chair.  Seemed silly, but apparently it met Silversea's requirement.

On 7/26/2023 at 10:51 AM, Gourmet Gal said:

La Dame never seemed worth the slight upcharge previously but was okay for a way to spend OBC.

Exactly.  On the Shadow in 2017, we ate at La Dame four times just to get a decent meal, but on our recent cruises on the Wind and Moon in June and July, the Silversea food in the other restaurants was as good (and even better in some cases) than in La Dame.  Our feeling was that La Dame has become obsolete because Silversea has upped its game in the other venues. Other diners obviously felt the same way because we were the only ones in La Dame on one night and on the otherr night we went, there were only four other diners in the place.

On 10/4/2022 at 1:13 PM, Fieldofdreams said:

Would like any suggestions for private tours or Crystal tours while in port February 26, 2023

We spent three days in Hobart.  The most enjoyable experience was the ferry/MONA excursion up the River Derwent to Berriedale.  If you decide on the MONA, consider the Source restaurant there.  The food was excellent!  We also toured the Moorilla, a small-batch, premium winery, which is on the premises.

https://mona-umbraco.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/Eat-and-Drink/2021-01/THE+SOURCE+MENU+15.01.21.pdf

11 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

If clothes fit properly then they are comfortable it's when they don't fit you that they become uncomfortable.

Agree -- for both formal wear and informal wear.  We never wear clothes that don't fit properly.  It's much easier to buy new clothes than to try to make ones you've grown out of fit.  :)

On 8/12/2022 at 12:06 PM, mcshane said:

Very excited to hear that there will be formal nights. We like to dress up on vacation and especially after being in expedition gear all day! Great news. 

Y'know, there's nothing stopping you from dressing up for breakfast, lunch and dinner on any cruise if you're that excited about dressing up.  We prefer to dress comfortably while on vacation.

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

How does food on SS compares to Oceania? We sailed on Oceania twice, 2018 and last December, both times the food was outstanding across all venues. Planning our first SS cruise in December (Dubai-Mumbai).

Although we haven't sailed on Oceania for some time, we've always consider the food on Oceania the best at sea.  Silversea's food is fine, but there were many more memorable dishes on our Oceania cruises.  Although the food on the Silver Galapagos was right up there with Oceania quality -- except for the non-local beef, which was pre-cooked and frozen on the mainland.

Seabourn's food is acceptable, but nothing really stood out except for one or two Keller meals we had.  Our biggest complaint with Seabourn is the overcooked fish, especially the halibut.  Even when we ordered it rare, it came out like cardboard.

On 7/16/2022 at 7:58 PM, crickette said:

Davey

Interested in how the passengers have changed?

Yes, we also would be interested to hear how the passenger base "has shifted."

It seems like there's enough overlap with Crystal in the industry that CCL (Seabourn), NCL (Regent) and RCL (stake in Silversea) would not be interested in Crystal for its ships.  But the loyal customer base could be a boon for any of them.

Crystal also has a river cruise division that could interest one of the U.S. cruise giants looking to expand into the European river market.  They have five "river yachts" that might be worthwhile additions to some cruise company.

8 hours ago, fred.mack said:

They are not 'silly' rules - they are guides to what the majority of guests would like comply with.  It can be very upsetting to guests when fellow passengers disregard dress code when they have gone to considerable lengths to adhere to the code.

The fact is guests are free to wear formal attire at any time without feeling they have to "comply" with any rule.  The only reason we can think guests would be upset about having "gone to considerable lengths to adhere to the code" is because they felt forced into doing something they really didn't want to do.  

If you want to dress up, sir, by all means dress up.  If you don't want to eat your vegetables, don't eat your vegetables.  But don't expect us to do the same as you.  We avoid the main dining room on formal nights because we're aware of the code, no matter how silly we think it is.  But I expect to be able to dine in other venues on formal nights without a tie or coat.  Silversea's policy allows that. 

If you can't live with a policy that caters to different preferences and you get upset seeing people who don't dress like you, maybe you should just forgo cruising.  Silversea suits us fine.

7 minutes ago, applefan75 said:

That’s hardly what I said, but the rest of your comment supports my statement.  Oh, and just because you think the dress code is silly, doesn’t mean other Silverseas guests do; most of them appreciate it.

We agree.  We never would presume what other Silversea guests thought.  We cruise Silversea because we like the itineraries, food and service.  Obviously, you also do.  You enjoy dressing up;  I don't.  There's room on the boat for everyone.  Nuff said.

1 hour ago, applefan75 said:

The type of attitude expressed is an example of society these days thinking “the rules” don’t apply to them.

Wow, so that's what's wrong with our society -- people just don't want to wear formal attire to please others. We're sorry that you think not adhering to a silly dress code is rude, but it in no way infringes on your being able to enjoy dressing up.  Gourmet Gal's advice is excellent: Live and let live. And try to relax if you notice me on one of your cruises dining without a jacket.

6 hours ago, applefan75 said:

I found this hard to believe.  I’m a frequent Silversea cruiser and except for casual nights, jackets are always required for men after 6pm, unless you are dining at Hot Rocks or Spaccanopoli as those are always casual.  Most nights are informal which means jackets for men but no tie required.

Choose to believe what you will, but your statement that jackets always are required for men after 6 p.m. simply is not true.  I can attest to that.  As stated above, I was provided a jacket on one occasion but removed it and hung it on the back of my chair before sitting down.  We also dined in La Dame on a "formal" night and I was seated without a jacket or tie.  Likewise in the bar after dinner.  Our point to nyc2pdx remains: Don't be intimidated by silly dress codes.

On 10/13/2021 at 4:42 PM, Catlover54 said:

1.  If ties are a no-no, and jackets disliked, forget about Silverseas.

We've been on three Silversea cruises and I never have worn a tie.  I don't even own a jacket or a tie.  Only once did they require me to put on a jacket to enter the dining room (a special chef's dinner that wasn't advertised as formal).  They provided the jacket and I promptly took it off and hung it over the chair back when we reached our table.  No problem.

We like the Silversea service and itineraries, so we're not going to let their snobby dress code interfere with that.  Besides, they offer other dining venues in which sports shirts and slacks are fine.  If people want to wear tuxedos to breakfast, lunch and dinner, we're OK with that, but we cruise to relax and enjoy good food.

If you don't mind skipping the one or two formal nights in the main dining room, you'll be fine on Silversea. We're looking forward to two more great itineraries on Silversea next year.  Don't be intimidated by a dress code.  Go and enjoy yourself!

We were refunded for our canceled January 2022 Venture cruise within three weeks.  Seabourn was very quick to return our cash after failing to accommodate us in rebooking another cruise.

They were holding about $12,000 of our money from two canceled cruises (Venture and Quest).  The best they could do was give us the same pricing for a 2023 cruise that we could have gotten starting anew and taking advantage of their early bonus discount.

The price for the 2023 cruise was about $10,000, which was covered by the money they already were holding.  But instead of refunding us the difference, they insisted that the remaining $2,000 would be issued as a FCC that would expire about six months after the cruise.

Instead of risking the forfeiture of the $2,000 FCC, we took the 100% refund.  Seabourn lost two bookings by trying to scam us.  Afterward, we contacted Josh Leibowitz about the mishandling of our rebooking.  He turned it over to Reservations, which sent us an arrogant reply that they had treated us fairly and bent over backward to show us goodwill.  We didn't consider their trying to steal $2,000 from us as goodwill.  So now we'll be sailing Silversea instead in 2023.

On 8/21/2021 at 9:01 PM, cruiseej said:

@seattleskibums Thanks for reporting back on your resolution with Seabourn, even though it wasn't a great one.  It seems all they might have needed to do is book you on the replacement cruise and roll the $2,000 extra you had already paid into a Future Cruise Deposit -- like one you could purchase onboard any cruise, ...  That would have given you four years to use it plus a 5% discount on whatever cruise you booked with it. You'd win, they'd win… oh well.

Even though Seabourn's unrealistic and rigid cancellation offer caused them to lose a couple of bookings from us, we wanted to return to let others know that they processed our refunds very quickly.  We received our money back on Friday.

On 8/19/2021 at 11:25 AM, Tomc4253 said:

We were also on the Bali to Auckland cruise for December 2021. 

When we got the cancellation email and saw the choices offered we didn’t like any of them so we picked something else and applied the credit to that. ...

We're curious whether Seabourn gave you any consideration for canceling your cruise.  Our January cruise on the Venture was canceled and -- like you -- we didn't like any of the choices in Josh's cancellation letter.

The new cruise we wanted to book was less than what we already had paid for the Venture cruise, but Seabourn was not willing to refund the difference to our credit card.  All they would offer was a FCC with an expiration, which means we would have had to risk forfeiture of almost $2,000 if we didn't take another cruise within seven months of the one we were hoping to book.

Anyone in the Seabourn Club with a FCD on file could have received the same deal as we were offered without risking the forfeiture of almost $2,000.  When our cruises on Silversea and Crystal were canceled, they actually gave us bonuses that made it advantageous for us to book a future cruise.

Seabourn’s offer was totally inadequate because we would have lost money upon the likely expiration of the FCC.  That really wasn’t much of an incentive for booking another Seabourn cruise, so we just took the 100% refund.  Now Seabourn can hope we'll forgive them some day for trying to scam us.

5 hours ago, Fletcher said:

I think if Seabourn wants the Venture to succeed in the expedition sector they need to rethink the predictable itineraries. ... There is so much competition in the sector...

You really hit the nail on the head.  Seabourn's "take it or leave it" approach on both pricing and itineraries eventually may result in more people "leaving it" than "taking it."  And considering our recent dealings with Seabourn, they also might be wise to give their Customer Service people a refresher course.

20 hours ago, cruiseej said:

It seems all they might have needed to do is book you on the replacement cruise and roll the $2,000 extra you had already paid into a Future Cruise Deposit ... That would have given you four years to use it plus a 5% discount on whatever cruise you booked with it. You'd win, they'd win… 

Have you ever thought about taking a job in Seabourn's customer service dept.?  They could use someone like you.

On 8/18/2021 at 2:02 PM, cruiseej said:

Yup, I agree it would be the right thing to do for Seabourn to offer you a 10% bonus on whatever you originally paid, on any cruise through 2022. ... I think all you can do is to ask your TA to continue to press the case with Seabourn. They have a chance to make you satisfied customers, or to potentially lose you as customers now and for the future. Best of luck.

UPDATE:

Well, Seabourn just wasn’t able to come around and do the right thing.

They were holding about $12,000 of our money from two canceled cruises.  The best they could do was give us the same pricing for a 2023 cruise that we could get starting anew and taking advantage of their early bonus discount.

The price was about $10,000, which was covered by the money they already were holding.  So what about the extra $2,000?  Seabourn offered to give us a FCC that would expire about six months after the new cruise.

Obviously, we were better off taking the 100% refund under Option 3 because we always can book the $10,000 cruise later and still have $2,000 in our pockets instead of risking the forfeiture of the FCC.

But we have no incentive to book the Seabourn cruise now, so we’ll be checking other cruise lines for similar itineraries.  We're not swearing off Seabourn, but they won’t be getting as much of our business in the future as they would if they had done the right thing.

46 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

Are you working directly with Seabourn, or through a travel agent? This is a case where working with a TA  who specializes in Seabourn cruises might be able to reach out to the right person and press the right buttons to get something to budge. But it's also possible they are taking a hard line on offering the 10% discount only on cruises rebooked on Venture. 

 

You mentioned that the Venture cruise you were booked on was rebooked from a previous canceled cruise. Did you get any  bonus credit in the FCC at that time? That is, it was standard last year for them to add 10% (and more at some times) to the FCC for a canceled cruise. If you already got a bonus above what you paid in cash, I think it's unlikely for them to give you an additional bonus for the Venture cruise being canceled. 

 

Typically, if you rolled over one canceled cruise to FCC for another cruise, you can't get your cash back if the subsequent cruise is canceled. If their "option 3" in this case says you can get your cash back, not just another FCC, you might want to take the money and clear the slate, and then start over when you're ready to book another cruise. I understand you feel you should get more than 100% towards the next cruise; I'm just not sure how likely that is.

Yes, we are working through a travel agent.  And yes, we were offered a 10% discount when our original cruise was canceled, but the only way to benefit by a discount is to take a cruise.  We have had two cruises canceled so it doesn't matter whether they offered us 10% or 50% -- we did not realize any benefit from the cancellation.  Option 3 would give us only "the monies paid," not any bonuses.  We don't expect any cash bonus to be issued to us, but we do expect a discount on our next cruise as consideration for the two cancellations.

We're expecting that we probably will have to accept our cash back and "clear the slate" as you say, but then Seabourn ends up giving us absolutely zero consideration for holding our cash for more than a year and canceling two cruises on us.  If we have to take the cash refund with zero compensation for a future cruise, that isn't much incentive for us to rebook with Seabourn.