markandjie

This is how they do kayaking signups now. You sign up before boarding and then once on the ship when they open up signups those who signed up precruise get first access to the available slots. Then the rest of the slots go first come, first serve to anyone. If you keep your eye on the app you can usually sign up multiple times.

I had the same observation, though the risotto did look good. Otherwise the food did not look appetizing.

If you have a good travel credit card (we have both the United Chase card and the American Citi cards) then you're always better off charging in local currency. Not uncommon on our recent Japan trip to be offered a charge in USD that's 3-5% higher than what our credit card converts to from local currency.

The included Surf plan covers 1 device at a time but blocks many streaming websites like YouTube (and potentially FaceTime/Zoom/etc, but I can't remember). If you upgrade to the Stream plan you get 4 devices at a time and those sites are NOT blocked. At least on the Venture our experience was that the Surf plan was NOT bandwidth limited at all that we could tell. It was very fast. I believe it's $20/day to upgrade to the Stream plan, and you have to buy for your remaining days. In my experience VPNs are blocked, but perhaps I'm insufficiently creative.

I had no idea such a thing existed! Thanks!

Interesting! I went back and looked at my Citi statement and we got between about 750 and 1,000 on our transactions. Not sure why some were higher or lower than others. In general I lean towards not changing cash unless I really need it and in Buenos Aires I did not.

I believe they've now floated the official rate (as of mid Dec) so that's not necessary any more. Besides, when we were there in November we got very favorable rates just using credit cards. I got a coffee at Starbucks in EZE when we landed and per official rate paid something like $8. When I checked my CC statement it came through as $2.50 or so. We never did get any pesos. Just used CC everywhere. But we also never took taxis or bought anything from street vendors.

We're also in Austin. Small world!

I feel your pain! We were lucky enough to get upgraded from Miami to BA but didn't get the upgrade coming back. I'll be honest, it really wasn't too bad at least for our group. I think the fact that you're not really changing time zones makes it a little easier because you sleep when it's time to sleep... Looking forward to the updates!

They briefly passed thru the Caribbean on the way to Antarctica. The South Pacific this spring for pursuit I think will be the first time to know for sure. They do have scuba tanks onboard.

Can confirm that the seaborn parka makes a great ski jacket.

Yes, I remember that day at Salisbury Plain. Amazing scenery but no landing!

Does Seabourn rent hiking poles?

Can't wait to follow along on your voyage! Every trip is different, and given it's all in the eye of the beholder every traveler experiences each trip differently. I'm jealous it's your third time...ours was just our second. Did you also cruise Seabourn the first two times? Edit: just looked at your signature and see that you were also on the Quest in 2015 for the holiday cruise! What a fantastic experience that was!

This is what I meant as well. Def not driving from BA. From what I recall it was very easy with many options to fly into Iguazu (we flew from Rio) and then we rented from Hertz and saw the falls from both sides on our own. We stayed in a smaller hotel outside the park because it featured a large kids water park, important as we were traveling with our then 6 yo. We also practically burned out the hair dryer in the room trying to dry our soaked shoes after being in the park!

This. Just so emblematic of the fact that expedition is a little too much of sideshow vs having the reigns on the overall operation. Breakfast (and everything else!) should work around the expedition schedule, not the other way around.

Porque no los dos? Seriously, easy to rent a car and do both sides.

Same rules as any other flight, really. We each had a backpack and rollaboard. Our checked bags were taken from the hotel hallway the night before. Not sure there are any limits there.

We did iguazu on our own in 2015. It's very straightforward to fly there, there are several great hotels, and even renting a car is easy. IMO it's one of those destinations where I wouldn't pay a large premium for an organized tour.

That's a fascinating development. I wonder if this is driven by insurance and a reassessment of Turkey, either because of the ongoing conflict or perhaps something to do with Erdogan's reelection. Ephesus is in Turkey and is one of our all time highlights. Love Istanbul. Sad if it's becoming a no go.

Most suites have very good blackout curtains. The regular verandas also have another set of curtains mid-suite that allows an early riser to go to the sitting area and open the curtains even without disturbing the person in the bed. I don't believe the spa suites are quite that good in terms of keeping light out of the bedroom if the balcony curtains are open. Yes and yes. Yes you have access and personally I've never known it to get particularly busy. I'm one of those who feel that it's harder to get what you need from your room attendant when staying in the spa suites, but I do think utilizing written notes and just being very clear on expectations solves 90% of the issues. We've been fortunate to stay in WG in each ship class. It's a fantastic suite in every way. We sleep with a noise machine so can't comment on early morning noise from the pool deck as I never recall hearing any (different from launching zodiacs on Venture...those hydraulic lifts cut right thru the noise machine). The shower is plenty large on all ships. I don't specifically recall a vanity with side lighting on the Quest-size ships, but do know only on Venture did DW complain about the makeup station. Two big differences: 1) you can have up to 4 devices, and 2) you can use sites like youtube and photo upload sites that consume more bandwidth. Those are usually blocked on the surf plan. Otherwise it's a pretty identical experience IMO. Aside from the transportation thing you mentioned, to my knowledge the only thing you don't get when upgrading is credit in your Seabourn "frequent flier" account for 2 points per night instead of 1 point per night. Stream package, spa access, etc is all at the suite level regardless of how you got it. At least that's our experience having upgraded 4-5 times. We have frequently upgraded, but not every time. We've had a great cruise every time. So there's that. Two general thoughts: I would be willing to upgrade either where I highly value more space (eg, when we're traveling with others and want a gathering place, or when we might want to have a party in our suite like we did in Alaska for our son's 10th birthday), or when I want to get to a more central part of the ship to minimize the impact of rough seas. Only you can judge the value, but our recent upgrade to WG was only 30% more than our base V1/2 fare...that was a steal! OTOH, when we upgrade we typically spend more time in our suite and less time in common areas of the ship. It means we don't get to know as many other passengers or interact with the staff quite as much. Some of this is because we have a gathering place, some because with better amenities we don't need to go elsewhere (eg Nespresso vs Seabourn Square), and some because I think on a base level we feel the need to justify the upgrade to ourselves. Silly, I know, but a real thing at least for us. So I think upgrades cut both ways and aren't necessarily a clear cut must do either way. The Seabourn experience in a basic room (and in Greenland over the summer we were in a V1...the only people lower or more forward than us were the invited lecturers!) is soooo good that on some level when we upgrade (like to WG for Antarctica) I feel like we actually miss out on some of what makes Seabourn great. As always, YMMV.

We were at the pier coming and going. I had a Patagonia nanopuff jacket and was glad to have it.

There are three of us so we've gotten jackets 4 times... Of that the last two the jackets were identical. Kind of wish Seabourn would give the option to returning cruisers to forego the jacket in favor of OBC, but whatever. We won't keep them forever... Sooner or later will donate them...

In November parkas were waiting in our room. Same on Venture in July in Iceland.

We're now up to 12 Seabourn parkas of various sizes and designs... 🤣