calm down dear

Yes but I suppose my point was the E&O is not a separate venue, I do think the expedition ships need to rethink dining on these ships.

Well except Earth and Ocean is not a separate dining venue like the larger ships it is only ever one of the "theme" nights in Collonade so you can hardly plan - in 16 days it appeared twice and the menu is wildly random items, yes like you we enjoyed but we were with I would say less than 20 others each time. We spoke with the FB mgr and the Maitre D about how they need to adapt and not copy the bigger ships - they agreed and said they keep raising it.

Certainly - on our landings we had some walks to see a glacier or through woodland - these were not that arduous but some didn’t like the very rocky/pebbly/slippery “paths” - I would say no more than 3-4km round trips. Our zodiacs were all to get close to glaciers / fjord cliffs / inlets. We saw lots of birds and sea life.

Hi - you misunderstood we enjoyed it and booked another - I was merely pointing out some aspects. The weather was a bit atmospheric but in all honesty it was down to what you wore. The expedition leader was Dom and the expedition team were good - some were better speakers/presenters than others but all gave interesting talks. There were in general 2 or 3 lectures a day. The only “excursions” were in the two ports - Punta arenas and Puerto Montt - they were the “usual” Seabourn type a bus, sightseeing etc, all other days except sea days were 1 or 2 zodiac tours and landings. You were off ship about 2 or 3 hours each time. Hope that helps but happy to take questions.

I think the majority on board were new to expedition although not Seabourn and whilst the concept of zodiacs etc you can easily get your head around until you actually do it you realise quite a lot of faffing around getting kitted up (parkas, waterproof trousers and life jacket quite bulky), big boots, stairs etc and the getting on/off did require a degree of confidence - its not like getting on a tender. You go to the landing platform which is virtually level with the water, a zodiac comes alongside, you step up onto a small wooden box, you step one foot across onto the side tube of the rubber zodiac which is a bit bouncy/slippery and then immediately one foot down into the craft, you must immediately sit and scoot down the side of the craft. Once underway you need to lean in and hold a piece of rope - it is bouncy (and fun!) but yes when pouring with rain (as it often was) some didn't like - I think because some didnt have good gloves or warm undergarments - the side of the zodiacs you sit on are chilly and bear in mind some zodiacs are 90mins or more. There absolutely were people who thought there would be other stuff to do.

I do think there are many who dont realise the ship is much smaller and that, for example, the CD isn't front and centre and the things to do are all talks and the evening act is well not much. I think some didnt enjoy that zodiac getting on/off did require some confidence and could be wet/windy and some didnt enjoy that but there were no other options. Whilst there is a small pool area, the weather not conducive. The lounges though were good.

We would say food is *exactly* the same as the larger ships including menus and execution - which was generally passable and sometimes very good. The weather was not conducive for outside dining so that area was not open. Our view is that on this ship the colllonade needs to be a more popular venue as the main restaurant has limited capacity - that's not to say some of the themes eg Thai had terrible food, on the contrary it was good but there was hardly anyone there. Your point on tours / ports is a potential issue - they do emphasise that they sort of make it up on the day which to be fair was often because swell or wind made zodiacs problematic so ship would move to somewhere more sheltered etc. Even on more major ports the timings of arrival and departure were changed night before but there were a couple of days where there were some excursion choices.

I think that is right - our two cabin stewards had 18 to look after which they said was more than the other ships. Bearing in mind 6 of these they had were the largest on board - our room was often not serviced until around 1pm. They reported living conditions for them as "much better" what they didnt like at all was extremely limited ability to get off the ship at all. Antarctica they said was great once, not 8 times. The bar service was simply a function of not knowing where the guests would go to but do think understaffed but to counter they did move people and also resorted to trays of pre-made cocktails as a sort of theme which were often good but if you wanted something else well, you waited.

Just back from 2 weeks in Chile. We have many Seabourn (and Silversea) cruises but this was our first expedition cruise and overall we really enjoyed it and booked another. The ship seemed spacious and the staff and expedition crew really engaging with a wide variety of talks. This being cruise critic I can venture some critical points, but as I said we have booked again, lets start : Food - there are 2 venues , the restaurant and colonnade - they are in essence exactly the same menus as the "normal ships" with the exception that instead of the odd Keller night in colonnade you get a short "earth and ocean" night. This is a great mistake as many of the colonnade themed nights were poor and literally the place was empty, this was no good as the restaurant isn't designed for so many. Many evenings staff were switched to try and meet demand. The issue is copying the normal collonade menu eg "olde England" isn't appetising and the classics so tired (have they changed in 10years ? do they have a glut of chocolate pots?). The earth ocean nights also were such random offerings that didnt work. The restaurant has close tables and very few near a window it also only opened at 7 and had a huge queue. It closes at 9 and we like to dine at 8 - we often had to wait and only once got a "good" table. The pre-dinner drinks could be had in 3 different bars but it always seemed a bit of a zoo 630 to 730 and I would say staffing levels seem to be lower, sushi in club was a nice touch but it often took ages and quality perhaps so-so. My usual annoyance you had to specify fever tree tonic and san pelligrino constantly (and they never save Damian in explorer) remembered and it seemed always to be stored "out the back". Many times had the "normal water" the taste was poor and sparkling barely so. The food in the restaurant was no different to normal Seabourn, always passable and some very good dishes, service at times haphazard and do think if they opened a little earlier it would smooth out the service (and of course have colonnade with better food.) I had always wondered whether people in the top suites were treated any differently. I can say with certainty the answer is no (which is good!). We were offered 3 days before boarding a very attractive price to take the owners suite at the front. It was nice but balcony unusable in the wind and they tied up all the furniture for the entirety which was annoying and we were not allowed our curtains to be open at night "bridge says it distracts them!" - on occasion I forgot and opened them at 1030pm and in 15 mins we had a knock at the door and our poor steward hurried in ! Only once did we get a nice table in the restaurant, we did notice some seemed to be always in a certain place but we assumed they were in the queue at 7pm sharp ! The entertainment on board was ok and everynight at 930 in the discovery centre there was always an act. We had Aimee as CD - she was with us on the transatlantic in autumn so knew us, she said on expedition she is very much ships publisher but also sings 1 or 2 times a week - all the usual announcements (eg "reminder trivia today is at 3pm in club with Aimee and at 4pm Merel will be in discovery centre talking about seals") were all done by expedition team not Aimee. What did we hear people complaining about ?- not much in the shop, not much in the way of "entertainment", some couldn't get their heads round the zodiac excursions and timings were more a guide than a guarantee (oh but I have a 430pm massage I thought we'd be back by now, can we go back?), lack of "shopping" ashore. A few less mobile didnt realise every ashore trip was on Zodiac and yes it wasn't the same as a normal tender. Happy to take questions - oh and very casual dress code - most in evening wore sweaters, lots of jeans, no one scruffy all very nice and informal.

We were on the Pursuit last month in Chile and no submarine offered. Upon enquiry (at a great tour of the submarine garage) the driver(?) of the vehicle was very clear that they do not want to offer the sub when they believe visability will be poor - we were in glacial run off water and it was indeed very milky - he said the same with amazon, many areas not worth it and they were very conscious that it was a £££ expense for guests and they only want to do it if you can see !

thanks - who'd of thought your own wine made the qpr ! Reisling is greatly under rated and that cuvee is brilliant.

Ok that's is an interesting idea. Seems like need to ask.

Thanks for that, your handwriting better than mine ! I am pleased there are indeed some pricing value points. I will look at this.

that's interesting, I saw on the source the wine recommendation in the restaurant tonight and the 2 listed were nearly 3x retail for uk.

I cant seem to find details of this package anymore - I vaguely recall it was a (short) list you choose from but it is now just a discount off any wines (that is also combinable with any discount you get from being a loyal customer)