Ignotus

Got the same changes Friday afternoon 8/19. Hopefully the last revisions. Somewhat better than the prior "two days in Limassol and two days at sea" version but still not what we had booked. Shore excursions again in chaos. Curious that Seabourn justified the prior change with, to paraphrase, "We can't just change ports at the last minute; we have to take whatever we can get." The current revision presumably could have been implemented weeks ago. Seabourn said the latest itinerary changes were a response to comments from passengers - I certainly "commented" at length. Great ships, great service, great food - management needs to get on board. We anticipate a wonderful voyage, wherever it is we finally go.

If I may, Seabourn likely will not do anything to make up for the loss of the Evening at Ephesus. We were promised a "unique" Athens experience on an October 2016 voyage, to make up for it. Had the added misfortune of having booked a 14 day cruise - which is now essentially two runs of the 7 day itinerary with repeat port calls at Limassol (?!) and Rhodes plus two idle sea days instead of 13 different ports in 14 days. The "unique" experience in Athens (where we now depart after two days pre-cruise, call at in the middle, and return to again on the end) turns out to be the exactly same excursions Seabourn has been offering for months. How many times must we see the Acropolis? And what does one do in Limassol - a port we weren't going to visit once on the original itinerary, have no desire to visit at all, and now must visit twice in two weeks? No reduction in fares, no refund; no ability to cancel without penalty. I respectfully suggest that what Seabourn thought about first was how to keep our money and minimize its costs.

After several detailed e-mails, Seabourn offered us a $250 per person shipboard credit on the 10/15/16 14 day sailing. Based on the standard 20% discount for combined voyages (7+7=14), we're being overcharged > $2,000 over the combined cost of the two 7-day cruises ... and given the repeated ports in the two 7 day segments, the discount should be more than 20%. BTW, after my first couple of e-mails, Seabourn hiked the prices on the 7-day segments ... which makes the combined price look like less of an overcharge.

Thanks. E-mailed Seabourn at length. Our travel agent will chime in, too. Will see what develops.

Hi. See my recent post, "Turkish Ports and Fare Adjustment." Ship staff are wonderful - management has issues.

We're booked on a 14-day voyage in the Eastern Med. Immediately after taking our final payment for the original fare, Seabourn changed the itinerary : we're now visiting multiple ports twice in 14 days, and have two idle days at sea vs. the original itinerary of 13 unique ports and no sea days, and a port call in Myrina was axed without explanation.

The fares for the two 7-day "segments" were drastically reduced to account for the itinerary changes - ours wasn't. We're now paying more for 14 days than the combined fares for the vitiated 7-day segments vs. the customary 20% discount for consecutive voyages. (Discount should be >20% because the second 7-day segment is largely duplicative.)

No option of a refund; no fare reduction; nothing else. The "security" situation in Turkey is beyond Seabourn's control - the price-gouging isn't. Great ships; great service; prior voyages splendid ... but this is not in keeping with an ultra-luxe line.