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If you are a first timer on Seabourn and you have not made your final payment, I also have $400 referral coupon. You can contact me at tony at dinethebar dot com.

Happy sailing!

Thanks for asking, Claudia. Just to add to our adventure, we were bumped from our business class return on United but they were able to get us on a British Airways business class flight just an hour later. Arrived in Houston almost on time. Not to be outdone, BA lost our luggage. It showed up several days later safe and sound.

We are on the Egyptian Gems Tour leaving Mumbai at 11:00pm on March 31, 2015. The one where Seabourn had cancelled all the Egyptian ports. We arrived in India almost a week early to visit the Taj Mahal, Kathmandu and Mumbai. We scheduled our trip so that we would arrive in Mumbai the day before the Sojourn was to leave.

On the day we were to arrive in Mumbai, our airline, Jet Airways, cancelled our flight because of bad weather. We called Seabourn’s emergency number the next day once we had tickets and a schedule. The new flight would get us to Mumbai around 8:00 pm, three hours before the scheduled eleven pm departure. The person we talked to checked the distance between the airport and the dock. They are close together so arriving three hours before departure should not have been a problem.

Once the plane landed in Mumbai and I turned on my phone, it went beep, beep, beep. I had three voicemails. The first one was from someone onboard who said to get to the ship as soon as we could. The second one was from a local who said he represented Seabourn and was waiting outside the baggage pickup. My first thought was that Seabourn was looking out for us and was going to assist us in getting to the ship. Then I listened to the third voicemail. It was from the guy onboard who said the ship had decided to leave early and had left Mumbai! The local took us to a hotel. We checked in and we were having a drink trying to comprehend what had happened. It was a little after nine.

The cruise was scheduled to spend four days sailing before getting to its first port in Salalah, Oman. That amounted to more than 20% of our entire cruise. The local guy said he had a travel agency and he could look up the cost of flying to Salalah. We told him we were too shocked and exhausted to make any decisions. We would talk to him the next day. The next morning, we decided to fly on to Salalah and told the local Agent. He was hard to understand and kept telling us that he would call back. He didn’t. At least he didn’t until late in the evening after I had talked to Seabourn several times. I called the Seabourn emergency line and talked to Tom Fletcher who was the only bright spot in this whole affair. After several conversations with Tom, it was decided that we would be flown to Salalah, Oman courtesy of Seabourn and be put up in a hotel until the Sojourn arrived. The flight was in economy and the hotel was decent although not the quality that we were used to. We are now on board. This is our third day on board. No one has offered us an explanation or an apology.

This is only our second cruise. The first one arrived and departed on time. I don’t know if the Sojourn sees the schedule as a recommendation or if Seabourn regularly changes the schedule without notice. All I know is that changing the departure time a few hours before departure gives one pause. I have scheduled land excursions and am now worried that the Sojourn will decide to depart early and strand us again. Can we depend on them not doing that? I don’t think we can with any peace of mind.

Imagine if our airline was scheduled to take us back to the USA at 10:00 but on the day of departure decided to leave at 07:00 and left us at the airport? If you can imagine that then you know what we have been through. Fore warned is fore armed.

We are on Seabourn Sojourn for a March cruise. Do the cabins have wired network plugs/outlets or just WiFi?

We made our payment for the cruise. Credit card has been charged. We have been notified by Seabourn that a $400 credit has been added to our account (thanks Liam.) I received the phone call but I did not receive an email or any other confirmation of the four hundred dollar credit. When I called them, they confirmed that the credit was applied but that to get email confirmation I would have to go through the travel agent that I used to book the cruise. I don't normally use travel agents but I did this time for the cruise. The travel agency is a Virtuoso travel agency and a benefit of booking with them is that I get a free land excursion to Petra. Since we're going to Petra anyway that's just an extra freebie that we get. The downside of booking with a travel agent is that Seabourn will not talk to you about anything that involves finances including the $400 credit.

Now is the time to get down to the nitty-gritty and take care of such mundane items as what to wear, what land excursions to take, and what hotels to stay in pre and post-cruise. We arrive in India a few days before the cruise. We want to see the Taj Mahal as well as take a side trip to Kathmandu. I have booked all of the hotel rooms that we will need as well as the flight from India to Nepal and back.

It appears that Kathmandu and Athens Greece may be on the cool side while India and I assume the Middle East will be on the hot side. We're planning on taking some sweaters and maybe a light jacket to layer in case the temperature is really cool. Any suggestions?

It appears that there is an active group wanting to do independent land excursions as opposed to booking with the cruise line. I am all for that. If you are putting together some of those sidetrips, please let me know so we can possibly join in.

Going to start applying for our visa in India. It looks like we have to do that in advance. The visa requirements for Nepal and for the Middle East seem to be easy things that we can do when we arrive.

We are less than three months away and are getting very excited.

rl787, thanks for the information. You can never have too much information.

We're from Texas so a three hour drive is not too much for us. We are also like the Griswolds, we see it, enjoy it then leave. I think a car and driver from New Delhi for an early morning start to the Taj Mahal then a late afternoon return would work best for us. If I'm missing something, please let me know.

In Mumbai, was your experience with the wrong terminal gate just a mistake by the taxi driver or is this a problem that all taxis will have? Did the Oberoi accommodate you in your request for a driver to stay until you were sure that you were at the correct terminal?

ClaudiaYVR, a few years ago we went to a cooking class in the south of France. There was a couple there from Vancouver, Rick and Lana. Sometimes it's a small world so I thought I would ask.

rl787, I'm asking all those questions. So tell us the answers.

We were thinking of staying at the Oberoi in New Delhi and Mumbai and the Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu. We haven't spent a lot of time on it but we're thinking we could rent a car and driver for a day to go see the Taj Mahal from New Dehli. Is that the best way?

Thanks for all information.

ClaudiaYVR, thanks. I see you're from Vancouver. Do you know Rick and Lana?

Ab21au, when I called to tell Seabourn that I had a TA, I asked how that would affect my relationship with Seabourn. The person I talked to said that they could no longer talk to me about financial matters but other than that, there would be no difference. I'm worried that if I need some information, Seabourn is going to tell me to contact my TA and I will be at her mercy! Hopefully not. Fingers crossed. We have booked our air ourselves so didn't need help from TA on that part.

Leesre, thanks for the info. We enjoy coffee the first thing in the morning. Breakfast later. I assume that all we have to do is place an order with room service for the coffee or does Seabourn have coffee makers in each room?

Well, we've done it! We made a deposit on the Seabourn Sojourn cruise leaving Mumbai on March 31, 2015. Our final payment is due December 31, 2014. This is our second cruise and the first one on Seabourn. Our one prior cruise was 10 to 12 years ago on a seven day cruise in the Baltic.

On our trips, I normally do all of the planning and reservations myself. This time, I read several articles about using a travel agent to get various perks that you do not get if you book yourself. I clicked on the "Find a Travel Advisor" link on the Seabourn site. Several travel agent sites in my area were displayed once I entered my ZIP Code. I called one who happened to be a Virtuoso agency. I did not know what that was but I was assured that it meant that we would receive "benefits" not available if we were doing the booking ourselves. The travel agent, after researching the cruise, said she could provide a free land excursion to Petra if we booked through her. Since Petra is one of the sites that we are most interested in seeing, I went ahead and booked my cruise through her. Before we booked, we had a number of email exchanges and several phone calls. The agent would usually respond to my email right after I sent it. Once we made a deposit through her, and notified Seabourn that she was our agent, the response to my emails became slower, e.g two days to respond to an email. Her emails also became terser than they had been at the beginning. While this may have been related to the holiday season, I did notice a difference in help once we had committed to use the travel agent. I will see how it plays out as we get closer to the final payment and departure dates. We need information about visas and other things to which I assume a travel agent would have ready access. She also assured me that she could get better hotel deals than I could online or at least match the price that I got online with the addition of free Internet or free breakfast or something similar. I hope that her assurances of the advantages of using a travel agent turn out to be true and that she adds to the enjoyment that we will have on the cruise. Our cruise category is OB Veranda Suite. I think that means that we have a veranda suite but it could be anywhere from V1 to V6 on any deck. I don't know if we have any say so in the assignments or if we can ask for particular rooms but we'll see.

I also read on cruisecritic.com that there may be some vouchers floating around for first time Seabourners. I have been corresponding with a person in another country who says that he has a voucher that will allow him to receive a $400 shipboard credit and me to receive a $400 shipboard credit. I am trying to work with him so that I can get that if possible. If it doesn't work out with him, hopefully I'll be able to find someone else that has a voucher.

We are landing in New Delhi about a week before the cruise. We were able to get better flights going to New Delhi than to Mumbai. We also wanted to go see the Taj Mahal and it is closer to New Delhi. We're also hoping to fly from New Delhi to Kathmandu, spend two nights and then fly to Mumbai. We should arrive in Mumbai the day before the cruise leaves.

We have a number of questions about the cruise such as: information on the advantages of having private tours at various stops as opposed to using Seabourn's land excursions; recommendations for toiletries, shoes, clothes, hair dryers and other necessities. I would appreciate any up-to-date help or information on these questions.

Anxiously awaiting the cruise.