cruiseej

I wouldn't worry about them not having enough staff in May. I actually wouldn't worry about it up to the last cruise. We were on the last cruise of a Regent ship before it left for a new buyer, and it was a fabulous cruise. (Helping clean out the food lockers with unlimited grilled lobster tails on the deck for lunch is one of our great cruise memories!) Seabourn values its customers; they won't allow their standards to slip and risk future business from customers sailing up until the end.

@kjbacon No, I have not stayed at both Hilton properties post-COVID. I read lots of reviews of both properties, and decided to stay at The Crane for two nights before one of our cruises. My comments reflect our experience staying there. (On our cruise, I talked to someone who had stayed at the Hilton overnight who described it as “adequate.”) For a modest number of additional points, I was able to upgrade to a huge 1,000 sq foot 2-room suite with a large living room, full kitchen and dining area. We didn’t spend long enough at the resort to fully take advantage of having such large accommodations, but we were happy having that over a standard Hilton hotel room with a bed, desk, and bathroom. I am not aware what, if any, water sports are available, as that wasn’t of interest to us. (I doubt there is snorkeling from the shore there.) In fact, the day we spent lounging at The Crane, we stayed around the multi-tiered pool area and didn’t go down to the beach. If water sports are your key focus, I’d guess the Hilton probably fits the bill better.

The spa is staffed by employees of an outside concessionnaire, unlike the restaurants and bars.

Well, it should be noted that each butler has multiple suites to service. So if they are tied up handling something for another passenger in their suite or somewhere else on the ship, they can't simultaneously handle something for you. Also, your butler is off duty during parts of the day, so not always instantly available. (Same with suite attendants on Seabourn.) There are some things you can handle in Seabourn Square which a butler doesn't handle (such as reversing prepaid excursion charges to use OBC), or which are better handled by someone in front of a computer screen. (This is not an anti-butler comment.)

Actually, "Overland" suggests it is not on land, but a flying tour. 🤣

Hmmm… it's hard to rank the cuteness of baby animals. Baby penguins? Okay, they look cute but don't do much. How about a baby fur seal?

I've never seen or heard anything which would support this assumption. Seabourn is paying tour operators whatever tour operators charge. Think about it this way: if Seabourn uses the same tour operator for the same tour as a Princess cruise the next day, do you think Seabourn voluntarily pays the tour operator more and asks each tour operator to give the the extra money to the tour guides and drivers? I think that's highly unlikely. But we don't need to speculate; Seabourn makes this pretty clear on their website in the Frequently Asked Questions section: Do Shore Excursions Include Gratuities? Prices do not include gratuities for local shore excursion guides, drivers, and related service staff. Independent, subcontracted ground operator companies employ all ground staff and these entities do not participate in Seabourn's on board "no tipping" practice. Tipping of guides, drivers and other independent ground staff is at the individual guest's discretion, anticipated and appreciated. Yes, it's up to each guest's discretion, of course, but this explicitly states that tipping of guides is "anticipated and appreciated." So there we have it. Case closed. 🙂

Regent is advertising that you may select an unlimited number of excursions on your cruise. It doesn't mean an unlimited number of excursions will be available to you. If you signed onto the Regent website when your cruise's expeditions first became available, you could have picked any excursion in every port, and possibly two in some ports if time allowed. If you signed onto the site days or weeks or months later, you would likely find some excursions sold out or waitlisted because others booked before you. Do you feel this is deceptive advertising? Because if you do, that means you expect them to always add more excursions in every port in order to fulfill every customer's wishes. If a bus for a tour fills up, and one more person wants to go, they would book another bus, drive and guide for that one additional person. If a boat becomes fully booked, they would get another boat for the next passenger who wants that excursion. Of course, that's possible in some cases and not possible in other cases. Having excursions canceled is just a variation on the same theme. If an excursion operator cancels an excursion they were providing to Regent, what do you expect Regent to do? They (and potentially other cruise ships scheduled in port on the same day) have long ago booked various excursions with various providers. If any local tour operator has additional capacity available, Regent can add another tour option for people whose initial excursion got canceled; if not, however, what would you expect them to do? Is Regent being deceptive because they can't manufacture a new excursion to replace one which was canceled? I don't believe so. I do agree with you that if you're on a cruise where multiple excursions are canceled, and new/additional excursions are not added, it's frustrating and disappointing. (If they were Regent excursions you had had to pay for, and they was canceled at the last minute without replacements, even though you'd get back your prepayment, wouldn't it also be frustrating and disappointing?)

So as I wrote above, how would you expect them to satisfy the conditions you are stating? They would have to have every excursion, in every port, available to every passenger, at all times, right? Actually, the moment excursions open for a cruise, at that time every excursion is available to you, and you can sign up for an unlimited number of them (except for those which overlap in time). But over time, some excursions fill up, of course. Are you saying that their wording is misleading because you believe they have promised that no excursion will ever sell out, and they will expand capacity on every excursion to everyone who wants to go? I think we all understand that's just not possible. (I say this as someone who booked a cruise earlier this year, 7 months in advance, and is still waitlisted for several of our desired excursions. Is that frustrating? Of course it is. But I don't think they were being deceptive with their marketing.)

@seasickphil "Unlimited shore excursions" means you are free to book as many shore excursions as you want, in every port, even more than one a day if the timing allows — there is no limit on the number of excursions you can book. It does not mean they provide an unlimited number of shore excursions — there may be 3 or 5 or 9 or 14 in any given port — but it's a finite, not unlimited, number of excursions. And it does not mean there is unlimited capacity on every shore excursion such that every passenger can get a seat on every excursion offered. It's just common sense, really. (They also offer unlimited alcoholic beverages, but that doesn't mean that they will have the bottle/brand you want in every bar on every day or every cruise. Nor that you can consume them all. 🤣) If the exclusion company that have contracted with cancels an excursion — whether because their boat or bus or ATV is broken, or because they can't get enough staff to provide drivers/guides on every bus or boat — what do you think the cruise line should do? They can't manufacture a bus or tour guide if one isn't available from one of their vetted and approved tour operators. Refunds aren't a viable option, because the excursions are not priced a la carte to begin with; some people sail on the cruise and never leave the ship, and they don't get money back, so why would someone whose excursion gets canceled?

ToursByLocals.com

@Vineyard View I suggest you take a multi-outlet adapter, which can either be part of or in addition to an extension cord. I seem to recall that last time we were on Quest, I plugged in an extension cord across the room and ran it across to near the bed for my wife's CPAP machine. It could be a simple, under-$10 extension cord like this or and under-$20 one which has USB ports as well as power ports like this.

@AmateurGO It used to be that anyone could board early-ish (noon-12:30) and go to lunch or wander the ship, but suites weren't available until around 2 pm. Post-COVID, with the changes in both staffing and cleaning procedures, they now aim to have suites available at the time you board. But if everyone shows up at the same early time, not all suites may be ready and there may be a queue for checking in.

Next month, we are part of a group of 6 couples traveling together for 10 nights on the Sojourn; some have cruised on Seabourn before and some have not. Can anyone tell me what is the largest able in TK Grill on the O-class ships? I'm thinking there are a couple of banquet tables which seat 6? Of course, when we originally booked the trip last year, we were unable to book a single table of 6 for any night of our cruise, and couldn't even get two tables of four on the same date and time. I believe this cruise will be pretty close to sold out. I will visit the host at the restaurant as soon as we board to see what they might be able to offer us. I'm not expecting to get all 12 people on the same night, but if we could get two tables of 6, even on different nights, that would be fine. Or will we have to settle for tables for 4 or different nights? I'm just wondering what to anticipate is or isn't possible.

That's generally too early. It depends on the port, how quickly they got passengers off in the morning, availability of local shore staff, and other factors — but I'd say noon or 12:30 is a better time to aim for for early boarding. And you might have to wait if they're not ready at that time.

Reviving this old thread… can someone who has done one of the classes tell me how long they last? On our upcoming cruise, the classes are offered several days at 4 pm. That seems to run into dinner, and depending how much you eat during the class, potentially make dinner undesirable after the class. On the Regent website, I see descriptions of the classes, but no indication of how long they last. Thanks!

@rallydave I would continue to ask Seabourn directly as your trip approaches. I can tell you that on our expedition trip on Silversea to Antarctica this winter, they could not confirm in advance whether a medical device carry on (CPAP machine) would be allowed as an "extra" carry on as it would on a regular commercial flight — so we got a smaller one to make it easy to fit into our regular carry on. (But the charter flights to the port in southern Chile were smaller regional jets, and we understood we needed to comply with one checked bag of 50 pound apiece, one carry on, and one "personal item"; your charter flights to Greenland should be on larger planes, and hopefully Seabourn's limits don't need to be as tight.)

As others have mentioned above, "free unlimited shore excursions" simply means there is no limit on the number of free/included excursions you may book. For no cost, you are allowed to book an excursion every day, or multiple excursions on any day when time conflicts allow. It does not say "guaranteed seat on every shore excursion offered." It does not say "guaranteed free excursion in every port." Similarly, "unlimited WiFi" means you are not limited by time or how much data you consume; it does not promise it will be fast. And "unlimited beverages" means you can order as many drinks as you want every day; it does not guarantee that the type or brand of liquor or wine you would like will be available at all times.

This news makes to instant disappearance of Josh Leibowitz even more mysterious. There was no transition period; he was there one day and gone the next. The article says "Leahy will consult with Meadows as needed during her onboarding process." Why bring back a retired past president to help her learn the ropes rather than draw on the immediate past president? Unless there were serious problems with the past president… We'll probably never know more, but it would be interesting to learn the back story.

It's a bit far for a service call on the copier! 🤣 (It needs a new drum or a wiper blade.)

Even after final payment has been made?

Hmmm, on our most recent Silversea cruise three months ago — an expedition cruise on Silver Cloud — there absolutely was afternoon tea service every afternoon. Tea, sandwiches, pastries, live acoustic music by the piano player or guitar player — we enjoyed it a number of afternoons. It was in Panorama Lounge. Seabourn also does a nice daily afternoon tea.

Hopefully it remains "carnival" and does not morph into "Carnival". 🤣

I'm not following that math. From pre-pandemic 2020 to August 2024, the only change in "traditional cruise itinerary beds" will be the sale of the Odyssey, which has 225 suites (450 beds). But, you fanjet discount that they did replace those beds with 264 suites (528 beds) on the two new expedition ships. Expedition cruises are certainly not what everyone is looking for, but I think many experienced Seabourn cruisers wanted something new and different, and these ships allow Seabourn to offer something new and different. From a corporate standpoint, the expedition ships probably pull in more revenue per passenger day, so if they're able to get the same occupancy rates as pre-pandemic, they will be more profitable (not adjusting for inflationary impacts on supplies, staff, fuel, etc.).

I think Royal Caribbean and Carnival are both financially distressed after the pandemic shutdown. How they respond/recover over the next several years will be interesting to watch. Seabourn isn't really shrinking. They have just added one new expedition ship, and will later this year add a second new expedition ship. The capacity of those ships is slightly higher than the Odyssey, which will leave the fleet in a year and a half. It appears they weren't desperately trying to sell a ship to shore up finances, but got an offer "to good to refuse" to sell their oldest ship. So Seabourn will end up with passenger capacity a slim 2% higher by the end of next year as when the pandemic shutdown took place. Silversea is definitely growing, with the addition of the expedition ship they bought from the defunct Crystal as well as two newbuilds this year and next year. The plans for the new ships were underway before the pandemic. Yet to be seen is whether they can maintain their standards with two large new ships ion an era where hiring experienced staff has proven challenging for all the cruise lines. And whether they can fill all their ships at the higher prices they are charging for the new ships. Silversea also has four ships which are more than 20 years old, so it all be interesting to see if they keep them all or retire any of the older ships in favor of their more modern siblings. After Seabourn launches the Pursuit later this year, and Silversea launches the Ray next year, what comes next will tell us a lot about the future of these cruise lines. Neither currently has any future ships on order, as the cruise companies pause their capital spending spree to try to recover from the pandemic losses.