Khareef

I'd say I agree about the food in the main Restaurant, it is decent but nothing to write home about. I found the sushi and the colonnade way better. But the restaurant is a nice social venue to share a table with your fellow guests. You also have to consider that when the ship goes on a long expedition in a remote location there are no places where new supplies can be delivered. Of course if you are in the med things are a lot easier and you can get fancy new supplies everywhere.

uhm weird, we had 35% in 2023 and 20% in 2024.

Yeah Expedition team members are mostly real nice and helpful and very professional when it comes to safety and I gotta say very patience with some of the guests who tend to forget they are not in their 20es anymore....Actually some are to be redeployed on the Pursuit which is good since they know very well how these new ships work! There is also a photographer who will share his pictures if you so desire and a videographer who will make a final video of the expedition. Everyday there is an expedition briefing before dinner time and if you don't feel like going down you can simply watch it live on your tv. Day 2 can feel a bit overwhelming with all the new infos about how to do things and safety measures but in reality it is not. Many passengers told me it would impossible to go back to the other ships of the fleet (but they all did miss Thomas Keller :-)) So nothing to worry about, you are in for a treat. Just go there with the right mindset. If you want formal nights, caviar and fancy small talk with the captain you are on the wrong ship.

Btw can you post the review? I am curious to read it

Rafting in Antartica sounds awesome, they didn't offer that when we went down there!!!

just came back from greenland -) i did go to all those mentioned hikes and i found out that in reality a 5 hours hike was really a 2 hours hike (7 km was our longest in Nuuk i think). I was talking to a lot of the expedition guys and they said they would love a push more the expedition part and have more challenging activities but they feel the guests are not ready yet although they are noticing that the guests age on the expedition ships is now a bit younger

Sushi in the club is easily my fav spot, at 20.30 there is hardly anyone and you can enjoy the space and great sushi all for yourself. Do people show up for the live music in the Pursuit? Hardly anyone on the Venture but of course expedition sailings is more energy consuming than your average cruise and most people go to bed after dinner

Jacuzzis on deck 9 are pretty sweet although there is also a smoking area right there which might bother many

what ship/itinerary? I'd say the Venture is one of the most stunning looking ship of any commercial fleet and the service on board is really excellent. Food is decent in the restaurant but not spectacular (gets very sameish very soon), Sushi and the Colonnade seemed the smart choices most of the time. There are two bars with live music on Deck 9 that not many guests seem to take advantage of, cocktails are pretty good The expedition team was excellent with one notable exception but you will always bump into someone that you just can't stand, same for the passengers for most part nice and funny guests. 🙂

I talked to a lot of crew members, they all seem very happy to be on the Venture, less people and people with a different attitude make their life much easier, there is a nice more relaxed vibe at lunch and even dinner. I think the average guest age might also be a bit younger. The only problem I see so far is that they are still not a full expedition ships, they are in a limbo as they probably think their demographic is still too old and traditional for more adventurous activities. So the daily schedule or the activities are a bit too soft for my liking. While I love the ship everything felt a bit too easy and I spent way too much time on board, I was hoping for more time inland exploring and hiking.

Just came back from Venture and there was one day where caviar and champagne were offered in the afternoon if I am not mistaken. But in all honesty I don't think anyone going to an expedition ship cares about caviar, tuxedos, massages and the likes of them. Guests want zodiac landings, hiking, kayak, wild life etc So whoever wrote that review is quite frankly on the wrong ship.

Care to articulate more about these complaints? And among the different cruise lines you tried so far, which one you enjoyed the most?

I am sure they are having nice parties down there....younger crowd as well...

Same here, mid deck 5 is always my target for seasickness. of course it counts as a V3 🙂

I would rather have Prosecco...I found the free Champagne a bit too aggressive for my liking

Depending where you travel, tipping can be an added pretty heavy cost, same for the inevitable tourist rip off you get if you don't pay attention at every receipt you get. Two things I love the most: Tips are included No upselling cross selling at least on the expeditions ships (not sure about the others) These are alone worth the money I don't think upgrading the suite makes any difference, to be honest I actually prefer the basic layout better than some of fancier suites. For example I don't like having the bed in front of window (I prefer it on the side).

Just remember that on embarkation day people tend to eat way too much 🙂 take it easy...pace yourself!!!

That's probably the best way, most of the staff is nice and kind and it would be difficult to tip just a few.

Thanks, it looks like we may need way less layers this time around. How wet are the Zodiac rides? In Antartica we got wet quite often (but we were always wearing boots and water proof pants)! You had water proof shoes or just normal trekking shoes?

That's one the reason people choose ultra lux lines, everything is included and you don't have the tipping non sense that goes on on other lines or the million different packages or the hard sale everywhere.... To be honest, as a European tipping has gone out of hands all together in the USA, even take away/street food places throw you in your face a 20% tipping which is ridiculous really. It is not tipping anymore, it is an added tax.

provided the bank still exists...

How is the weather so far? how many layers of clothes are people wearing? Gloves as well?

In all honestly, Seabourn might be the one and only assets on the CCL books that might generate enough interests from some buyers (there have been rumors for some time now). And the two new expedition ships are definitely a valuable addition in that market segment. So maybe the future of CCL ain't that bright with the amount of debt they have, but I would say Seabourn is pretty safe.

You might be the first passenger I heard of who was happy to dish 1k to see pretty much nothing but for the experience itself. Most passengers on my ship were extremely disappointed. I guess you went there with the right mindset

They might be fairly new A320 but they must have bought the bare minimum models...plane was frankly embarrassing and so dirty and poorly kept that I do wonder what sense of decency does the company have. Not to mention the attitude from the flight assistants....now I happen to speak Spanish and some comments they made about the American passengers were nothing to be proud of...