Williwannago

the trick is getting there when the machines are empty. There’s only so many people on the boat so if it’s busy wait a couple hours. But it was easy, have a great sail.

Always late to the party, we sailed Encore this past Christmas/New Year and loved it. Cruising would be our preferred Holiday event but other demands of life get in the way. Have fun! Everyone is happy, full of cheer, we’ll 99.9% were happy including us.

Aloha,

willi 

We visited St Petersburg with Seabourn in 2013, cannot believe it was that long ago. We got our visa’s which was a bit of a pain, but well worth it. Walking around town after dinner or touring the Hermitage at our own pace was our goal. If/When we visit next we will likely go with the tours.

Have a great cruise!

Nice memories! 

Thank you for sharing your review. We were on the cruise before and had a great time. The first couple days service was a bit mixed, and they hit it out of the park after that. We loved the Encore and hope to sail again with her again.

Sorry for drinking all the wine. 

Aloha The Cat,

We did have fantastic weather the entire cruise. A welcoming official said thanks for bringing the good weather. The ship is in great shape, we really appreciated the details that was put into the Encore, and will sail her again. I didn’t know Capt John was departing but thought he was the most personable Captain we have had. CD Ross was hilarious, and our wine glass was never empty. 

We were on the 10th deck looking over at the slow off loading of bags 8:15-8:45. We have 1 more round of golf at Titirangi then we fly home tonight, it’s been an enjoyable adventure. 

Willi 

This is true, when we left the National Park fjords around 5pm we had a pretty healthy breeze from the north, which again had the weather gods with us as we were headed south. At 10PM our always on it Captain got on the mic and said stay off the weather decks, it’s about to get sporty (my translation) but we thought it was a pretty steady night. We are in the aft 1/3 of the ship. 

Then the sun came up to a lovely day in Oban. 

Most sea days are over and it’s about to get busy in a good way.

Aloha,

Willi & Jules

Yes, we had fantastic weather, great zodiac rides with 360 degrees of views. Now we are headed over to run a couple more channels before heading south. 

That is a good day lived, Cannot get enough of that scenery. Guess we are going to have to book our adventure.

Thanks!

Sounds like your off to a great start. Thanks for sharing the highlights.

Right on Stickman, enjoy the cruise, look forward to seeing and hearing about the travels. Then when your done, we’ll jump onboard in Sydney and carry the good times through to Auckland. We have a enjoyed a couple Crystal cruises and enjoy them just as well.

Aloha,

Willi

Yes it’s just added to your onboard account. Have not been on Encore but that’s the way it was on one of the smaller Seabourn ships. Much like Crystal if my memory serves me correctly. 

Good Luck!

willi

Aloha Margbem,

i just logged in to “My Account” and hit edit to my information and it allowed me to change basically all personal info like address, email, phone, for birthday changes  and other more personal info it gives an email to request the change. 

Happy Sailing,

willi

Aloha Russg140, Mahalo for sharing your experiences, we board the Encore in 40+ days and enjoy hearing what’s going on onboard.

From a fellow Empire Stater who traded snow for surf.

Willi

Crystal had a good deal if you worked for a vendor of theirs. Was $2k each for 12 day veranda on the Med. (I think)  Would think SB has something but one never knows...till you ask. 

Good luck on that!

Have a great cruise, can’t go wrong in the Med and May!

Aloha,

willi

14 hours ago, Tom504 said:

 -- I too hope you enjoy your cruise and I would love to hear about your first; pvt message if you prefer.

Thanks, it was a long time ago, inside room, huge ship, but we had fun; walking out on the veranda on our next cruise changed our lives. 

Happy Sailing!

Well this has been an interesting thread, we are booked on SB for this years holidays specifically because we saw a significant price drop around late August. Both start and finish are non stop flights with our airline still priced well, so we booked. This will be our 2nd with SB our 5th cruise, let’s not talk about the 1st but the other 2 were on Crystal and we figure between these two companies we can find an agreeable passage to interesting places for years to come. 

Aloha,

willi

Post away, this is a Cruise I look forward to enjoying in the future. 

Aloha,

willi

We are on Sydney to Auckland in December and we are bringing our golf clubs and reaching out to the many beautiful clubs in nearly each port. But that’s just us and maybe the “golf” is a family name. Either way it looks like a great way to enjoy a month.

Have fun,

Willi

When I toured New Zealand several years ago, I was able to rent clubs from the day from the courses I wanted to visit. I've had similar experiences in other locales

Thank you for sharing your experience. Yes there are several really nice courses and a consistent set is valuable. We’ve rented in the past then started favoring our own clubs. We have a pre-cruise game set up in Sydney and we have a good setup fitting 2 sets in 1 travel bag with a pack able 2nd bag but not bringing it would be the easiest. Next time I talk with the TA I’ll check just thought a fellow traveler might know.

Mahalo,

Willi

Aloha My Esteemed Seagoing Peers,

Looking forward to the Sydney/Auckland December to January tour and we are thinking of playing a round in several of the stops. So I ask, does the Encore carry sets of clubs to loan out to guests?

Yes, we can bring our own but have been on cruises where clubs were available and a quick search did not find a good answer for The Encore.

Mahalo,

Willi

Done the race a few times and I gotta think even the walkers are thru town by 8:00. We just ran up from Ala Moana turned right at bishop or nearby and then head east for the next dozen or so miles so Honolulu itself will be pretty open and the finish is on the east end of Waikiki at kapiolani Park. Yet It’s true heading west or north is likely a good idea.

Wow tough to get an answer so here is my 2 cents and I play almost weekly here on Oahu. I pay the local rate at all of these so I do not know what you will pay.

Koolina is definitely worth it followed with lunch at Roys.

Pearl Country club good fun, built on a gentle slope has a good variety of holes.

Waikele is almost always in good shape and usually busy.

Coral Creek, the Prince courses and Kapolei golf courses are nearby with Prince having 3 sets of 9 holes, they also have the best driving range on real grass, not a carpet.

For the muni's two that I do not play are Ala Wai no variety in holes and the busiest course on island. I also do not play Pali unless it gets really dry, the fairways have a sliver of grass with a ton of mud underneath.

West Loch is a good muni.

All the way on the north shore is the Palmer course at Turtle bay but there has been construction on the road up there so we have avoided it.

Way out west in Makaha valley, course is in good shape but cart paths are beat up.

If you want to get beat up, aka play a tough course both Koolau, and what used to be called luana hills are target courses.

Have fun, I love it here!

Just curious, has anybody ever gotten a Visa and explored independently? What were your experiences.

 

Roy

My wife and I went thru the hassle of getting the Russian visa and we loved being on our own for a couple days, walking back at 11pm after an agreeable meal, taking our time at the Hermitage and other sites. I do not like tour busses at all. Plus the hotels concierge was an immense help.

We booked a room at a local hotel, and had them write us a letter, which we included in the packet. We used a visa service out of San Fran and it was a bit uncomfortable mailing our passports but we used fedex and we had no hiccups.

Have fun, it's an interesting city.