Seas_The_Day

someone PLEASE tell me this post is parody??? good lord....

i know what you were asking texanaust - but unfortunately masks are a religion now - i have 400+ days on SB but won't go near a ship until this face covering theatre is gone.

so grateful for all of the expert medical and political advice i have received on this board - now wondering if anyone has a link to place where one can actually discuss having some fun?

agreed - florida and texas are right at the national average for cases per 1m and are better than the nat'l average in deaths per 1m - so much misinformation out there that is influencing people

not a complaint - just an observation - i'm curious how people feel about the side by side 2 top tables at TK - the encore has decent spacing/separation between the 2 tops so it's really isn't too bad - but to add capacity on ovation they have a bunch of tables that i think are uncomfortably close  - i understand the space issues - but you really aren't dining alone if they put you at those tables - you are almost touching your neighbors, you can't have a private conversation and the wait staff can't stand at the side of your table to directly speak to you or serve you - i don't mind meeting people - but when we do prefer to dine just the 2 of us - TK on ovation is not an option unfortunately.  agree or disagree?  

i read through the RCCL etc... document on restrictions - i suspect carnival (seabourn) will be similar. in my opinion i think it's a mistake to put in place all of these artificial measures which won't have any effect. (masks etc...)  the unfortunate reality is that elderly people and people with certain pre-existing conditions need to be very careful - the measures being proposed are not going to stop this virus from spreading on a ship. all these measures do is to potentially give people who are vulnerable a false sense of security and effectively put them in danger. 

younger healthier passengers and especially the young healthy crew are going to be fine - likely have extremely mild or no symptoms and we need them to have immunity - that is nature's (and the only) solution to this problem. the good news is that heroic efforts have been made to develop vaccines faster than anyone thought possible and hopefully they will give us that immunity more quickly. 

i think all of these proposed measures are just theatre and would not only ruin the cruising experience for most - but could possibly do more harm than good. 

so from my perch... the USA is in another league as far as testing - almost 30m (russia 17m) and all the other countries far behind. many other countries are now using the testing technology that the USA so rapidly developed. the USA has successfully created manufacturing of hundreds of thousands of ventilators which we are now sharing with other nations who can't do what we do. we are also sending a lot of $$$ to lesser fortunate countries. and it's a safe bet that the first vaccine will come from the US as a result of our "warp speed' program which is a creative approach that will for the first time allow a vaccine to be created this quickly (dr. fauci words - not me saying this).

as for our response to the virus - we are a diverse country of over 330m people with large borders and 50 individual entities that govern themselves - and most importantly we have something we treasure called "freedom".

see attached chart - our death rate is declining nicely, average age of positive test has dropped in half. this is exactly how the virus is supposed to behave as it resolves itself. # of positive test results are meaningless 

i know it's fashionable to knock the USA - but wise people know better

On 6/11/2020 at 3:14 PM, brenecke said:

Phew - That's good news!  One less whiny, self absorbed blowhard to worry about encountering when travel and cruising resume.  And by the way, Seabourn still owes me money for a cancelled 14 day cruise that has not yet been refunded.  Our cruise was also cancelled on March 30th and I requested a refund the same day.  Still waiting, but not complaining daily on a public forum. 

yes - what you said!!  😉

i guess i'm thinking if the cruise lines start sailing again and they limit capacity - the upside is there will be fewer "seabourn passengers" around - am i the only one who feels this way?

personally, i enjoy water in disposable plastic bottles - and get annoyed by others trying to tell me what i can and cannot do. but that's just me... 

wow floris - thanks for posting that. i agree - the one thing i really don't like about SB - is the way some people make a sport out of finding fault with the crew - and then get some perverse satisfaction from feeling superior and reporting it. (that's right up there with someone sitting down near you and immediately telling you how many homes they have- snnnoorrre!!). i personally am humbled that these young people in the crew leave their homes and families and come to live in a small box, work 12 hours a day 7 days a week and manage to almost always make me smile!! i'm gonna have to side with hugo!! ;)

i was on the first (pre-inaugural) sailing of the encore. we were told at the time the ship was between 2/3 and 3/4 full. the ship seemed similar to the ody class as far as passenger density i.e. not being crowded in any place. in fact it seemed even a bit less congested which was very nice.

i was wondering if anyone on the actual inaugural trip or later when the ship was full had any comments on how crowded the ship seemed? any noticeable difference? any specific areas too crowded (pool area? colonnade? MDR?) do you think it's about the same? less crowded?

thanks

really nice work henry - probably your best yet! and thanks for leaving in the 3 seconds of us chewing our food!!! it was such a pleasure meeting you and sharon - hope to see you again - until then happy new year! - take care and god bless.

john & susan

kudos to seabourn/carnival mgmt for making this change. i'm sure they incurred some significant cost - but unfortunately it was the right thing to do. i also think the way they did it in terms of offering "reasonable" reimbursement is more than fair. we were able to switch our flights/hotels to athens at no additional cost so no reimbursement needed. we are pleased that we can go ahead and look forward to our trip now. only regret is i still want to visit istanbul - hopefully in the not too distant future.

we are booked on the july 30th out of istanbul and have decided we are not going. we are trying to find out now what our options are. there is no way they

can say it is safe to travel there - passengers and crew have to go to the airport, to a hotel, spend time in the city, get to the port etc.. all against the recommendations of the state dept. not to mention it would just not be enjoyable - it would be stressful.

i enquired about this situation a couple of months ago and i got a cut and paste talking point about how they are "monitoring" the situation. it has since gotten much much worse.

frankly i can't believe that seabourn would put the costs and pain of logistics above the safety of the crew and passengers.

standard travel insurance packages do cover terrorism but i haven't looked that close at the fine print.

we are on the odyssey now - i think that the ship is in great condition. the internet is working just fine (uh..remember - we are in the middle of the pacific ocean bouncing O's and 1's off of satellites from space.).

the food has been the best i've had on seabourn so far including the thomas keller dishes. it never ceases to amaze me how they are able to serve so many people in 4 different restaurants with the variety and quality and level of service that they consistently offer.

and the crew is great - we even have a new batch of enthusiastic young people who have just come out of onboard training and are earning their sea legs. fantastic young people!

the only downside seems to be the usual set of passengers who are rude to the staff and seem to complain about everything. but fortunnately that's not my problem ;)

fare winds and calm seas!

Vases are Oriental. People are Asian.

i think the "oriental" comment was perfectly fine - nothing hurtful in the intent - i do tire of this political correctness nonsense however.

well you can be pretty sure if the NYT is critical of something - it probably means it's pretty darn good. these people generally know nothing but how to be critical. that's why they type and act pretentious - because they can't cook. listen to them at your own peril.

i applaud seabourn's efforts to "energize" their offering. i quite liked the TK dishes. in the MDR some of the dishes were very unique and imaginative. "Le Homard de Vin" comes to mind. it's very clever. i didn't personally care for every choice, but everyone i tasted was well constructed and almost perfectly executed (in my opinion).

the care that is taken in procuring and handling special ingredients and some of the advanced techniques that are being used in the kitchen to prepare these are the stuff of 2 or 3 michelin stars. admittedly a challenge to do all this on a floating hotel traveling all over the world - but kudos to seabourn for allowing us the chance to enjoy these offerings.

i also really like the ad-hoc style dinners at the colonnade. it will be good for seabourn to inject a little "fun" into the experience - i love the casual family style service, the wine tumblers, the staff uniforms. makes for a really pleasant evening out on the rail! in fact the only time i felt like a guinea pig was when enjoying the rib eye dinner there (well make that simply a pig!).

of course, a few glitches are going to happen. but they will work out the bugs. i give them credit - seabourn needs to look forward and inject some new energy and cache into the brand as they roll out their new ships. i'm looking forward to see how this all evolves!

my wife and i were on this trip - and we thought it was 100% wonderful. to us, class and luxury is not about meat temp or time between water refills, and it sure isn't about how much we spend.

we got so much enjoyment out of the crew working so hard to spoil us. of course nothing in this world is perfect. but just interacting with these young people who come from all over the world, often away from their families for months at a time, working 12 hours a day, living in tight quarters. i think they did a remarkable job.

the only down side we experienced on this trip was the number of constant complainers on the ship. in my opinion, i think seabourn could use more passengers that just want to have fun.

My wife and I are currently on the 20-day Odyssey Panama Canal trip. I am pleased to report that this journey so far is about as close to perfect as can get. The staff is upbeat and energetic and they are going out of their way to please the passengers.

The food coming out of all the restaurants is some of the best we have had (we are seabourn diamond). Having been trained and have cooked in Europe for 5 years – I can tell you that they are doing an impressive job for the passengers. This is not a 12-table bistro. I’m confident you won’t find better on any cruise line

The complimentary wine choices are very good and offer a great variety. If one can’t find a couple of wines they really enjoy – My guess is they don’t want to find one.

The CD and Ass’t CD (Sophie and Meredith) are the best we have experienced. They are fun and unpretentious and are making an extraordinary effort to add a nice Christmas touch to our trip.

The Captain manages to delight the passengers each day with a short Christmas poem as part of his mid-day update.

Of course, we all experience a couple of hiccups, water glasses not refilled right away, or one of the crew being diverted for a short time etc. We had an incident where we had to reorder our dessert 3 times because they kept bringing the wrong one. We had a great laugh with the server about it and it turned out to be one of our most memorable moments on board. In the end, we got our dessert (which we didn’t really need anyway) and no one died!

Unfortunately there is always a small set of passengers who want to focus on the inevitable imperfections one will find in an operation this complex. But we are finding that the vast majority of passengers are interesting, upbeat and friendly. It's a genuine privilege to just be able to sit back enjoy the wonderful crew and the great experience they provide for us!

Overall – I would recommend the Odyssey and her extraordinary crew to anyone looking to book an amazing experience.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, Fair Winds and Calm Seas!

thanks so much for the responses. that's great news!

good afternoon,

we are traveling on 2 back to back itineraries next month and due to availability we will need to switch suites mid cruise. has anyone done this before? i am wondering if we will need to re-pack everything (including hanging items)? do we need to repack the night before and leave the bags outside the suite? we are wondering what the process is and how helpful seabourn is in getting us moved on a busy disembark/embark day?

thank you!