frantic36

Sorry SLSD but on the last segment of our cruise in July/August the most casual and out there behaviour was from Texans. It was not our most enjoyable cruise since some of their behaviour was over the top ie calling MayDay, MayDay when a radio dropped down in front of one woman on a bumpy tender ride. She and her group thought it funny, the crew and we didn't.

@fudge I understand but I think most will do what they do now. Myself and my husband and I will dress up anyway as we don't get much opportunity at home so we will just do our own thing. As long as we don't have rude people commenting on my husband wearing a jacket and I wearing elegant casual like we did on a 2019 cruise where they sneeringly asked if we were dressed La Di Da to impress the Captain, fellow Australians sadly, we are fine. We will see how things are on our upcoming cruises.

Observation Bar is popular for pre-dinner drinks because it has big windows and is situated in the bow and looks forward, they also have a small selection of canapés. I generally prefer the club because it feels more intimate, though I prefer The Club on Odyssey class. If you prefer sitting outside the sky bar on Deck 9 in nice weather is also good. Seabourn Square is a popular place during the day to meet, have coffee, tea etc and they have small snacks. Early morning coffee can be had from 6am in the Obs Bar if you don't want to wait for room service.

I won't shoot the messenger as I also got the same email. I would like to know what their definition of "elegant jeans" is? Too me black, white and some solid coloured can be elegant but not blue jeans, they always make me think casual day wear. This is just my opinion, just pointing out how elegant jeans can be interpreted differently as I a sure some will disagree with me. @skybluewaters I have seen a young lady wearing jeans very similar to that ripped pair pictured once in the dining room for dinner. I didn't think it was appropriate, I don't care how much they cost. I'll go get my popcorn 🙂🍿.

Isklaar we were on the Singapore to Hong Kong in 2019. We were on Sojourn for the 2018/19 Holiday cruise, stayed a few days in Singapore then joined Ovation. We will meet some day I hope either on a ship or in London 🙂.

I will need to go back through my past itineraries but prior to Covid they always docked in the city and my last visit was January 2019. I know they changed the Bangkok city port when they sold the little ships but were able to dock up river in Vietnam still with the bigger ships. Maybe get your TA to confirm the port they dock in and I hope they have given you the wrong port.

Hi @ssummerwe have done this both on the Odyssey class and on Ovation. On our cruises pre-Covid we have parked right in town and we were able to organise private food tours etc and we just had to walk out into the main street. Ovation was parked towards the end of the dock so it was a few hundred metres but as 60yo at the time it wasn't a problem In fact it was interesting walking past the large Vietnamese Party/Event boats. There is no train available though taxis were available outside the port. I can't help with that cost though as we had our tours. Seabourn did use to put on a shuttle bus in previous years that stopped in the main city near a major department store. We used it to gain access to the Eiffel designed post office and the main market. Crossing the traffic was an experience. I must admit I kept hold of my husband's arm and let him guide me across as I knew I couldn't freeze mid-crossing, though I wanted too 😐. Julie

I will be arriving at the shipping Miami with carry-on only because Luggage Forward will have delivered our checked bags to the ship (hopefully). I will not hand these bags to port handlers because they contain valuables. Based on others experience when I refuse the port handlers assistance they will just move onto others with no pushback?

Kathy the penalty phase for a few years now has applied before final payment is due. I know because my TA has reminded me about this a couple of times for reasons I can't recall exactly, but I think this may have been due to me trying to re-fare when specials occurred. Having said that I checked when the Black Friday Specials came out and all of my next three cruises were still more expensive than what I booked initially, and that includes one I booked in August. I checked my invoice for my cruise in August and final payment date appears to be 120 days before the sail date. I haven't gone through the general financial T & C's but that is where you will find the dates of when penalty dates & rates start to apply.

Because those of us who prefer white wine prefer not to warm up the wine in a non stemmed glass. We don't like over-chilled white wine but the unstemmed wine glasses make it difficult to us to get our wine to the right temperature.

Wonderful. My husband and I will look forward to meeting you and I will happily introduce you to some of our friends. I will post my suite number on the roll call a few days before you board and use the @Sunviking tag to notify you. I totally understand about wondering if you will need to use cold weather clothing again since we live in a hot climate. The clothing I used for our Alaska cruise in 2017 I will use this time with a top up of thermals. We hope to do a route of the Vikings one time so will likely be able to reuse them again.

Hi Sunviking, I think I remember you are on Quest doing part of the Grand Voyage? If so it would be lovely to meet you and thank you in person for your Rome recommendation. There are a few Seabourn regulars from all over the world meeting up on that cruise. And we are also looking forward to meeting new to Seabourn people as well. Having never been to South America or Antarctica it is an adventure we are looking forward to. Julie

Yes, a mutual friend who has met you on the Japan & Alaska cruise have said that you and Mr SLSD are lovely people.🙂

@wishIweretravelling thank you for posting this. My concern has been the toiletry products with extremely small trace amounts ie Estee Lauder Serum. Like you we will be away for three months. So I think I will pack it and keep my fingers crossed. They are using DHL for us.

My husband does the same🙂. The flight attendants are always good enough to return it to him at the end of the flight without him needing to ask.

@wyattsaunt I am glad you had a good time on your cruise 😀. Thanks for letting us know your experience and it is a bit weird I agree what happened with your TK reservations. I have no experience with this issue as we only book for two. I responded to SLSD's comment because I have read she is searching social media to try to gauge whether she should return to Seabourn at all and I think that is not reliable. @SLSDto be honest I think many cruise lines have worrying debt however based on news articles I have read in Cruise Industry News and similar bookings are strong. In fact i was looking at a cruise in August 2024 and all high level suites were booked out and only a few verandah suites left.

SLSD I know you are just expressing your concerns but I have had multiple friends who are still on a Seabourn cruise or just got off and they have all enjoyed their cruises. In fact they have booked further cruises for 2023 and 2024. Everything wasn't exactly the same as there is still supply issues, though I remember that happening pre-Covid, and some places like Australia & New Zealand require masking it seems.But many things were just as good and the crew were still wonderful. Social media and I include Cruise Critic and the other Face place in that description, doesn't give you a full picture. For example prior to Covid I was on a December 2019 cruise where I had a great time but on social media there was many complaints and honestly if it wasn't for the fact on saw these people on the ship I would have thought they were on a different cruise. In fact my only complaint if I was going to complain, was my husband & I were in the retreat one day and we had to leave early because the Seabourn Sailors had a private event there and so they needed us out so they could set up for them.

They do have wine packages though if new to Seabourn I would wait onboard and get the included wine list before buying a package. We do buy a package but we tend to do long cruises so want to have more choice. Yes you can bring wine onboard and have done so especially in Europe. There is no added charge for doing so.

I think this really has become more port and cruise dependent. When we sailed in July 2022 it was more blazers and linen jackets in the Mediterranean and some long sleeved dress shirts in the main dining room on formal night. We have a Grand Voyage coming up around South America this January. The Gala Evening prior to boarding is designated as Formal and I know a special event in Rio de Janeiro is Formal. So my husband is bringing his tuxedo and I have some silk, long formal outfits to wear. We will wear them other Formal evenings as well. I will admit we like to dress up. My silk clothes don't weigh much and my husband has various jackets in various colours so we will dress up. We have learnt to dress how we want and let others do the same within the ship's guidelines.

That's fine for you. My point was I pack the same toiletries for multiple trips and have had no problem but now I have to check what small amount of alcohol maybe in there. So to be safe I have to buy my usual products in the USA and to be honest I don't find it cheaper to buy them there rather than bring them from home.

I have a few excursions booked for our upcoming January cruise and though my TK bookings weren't there my excursions were. I take a hard copy of confirmation emails for things I have booked. It may be old school and usually isn't needed but I am on computers enough and travel enough to know "stuff happens". Thanks for this suggestion. I checked Seabourn Source on my iPhone and I can see my upcoming cruise and itinerary. It is telling me I can't check everything until we are 14 days before our cruise. Is that what you had when you checked?

I agree there could be chaos on the ship so hopefully this is sorted soon. I called Seabourn Australia this morning because I thought I would check first and when they looked they confirmed all my original bookings and times were there. I have printed off a hard copy of my original confirmation details to take with me. I must admit I always do as I have had a couple of times previously when I have had a booking gone astray. Usually it is just one not all of them though 😁.

I have to agree with LMB01 sadly. We disembarked in Vancouver in 2017 and I distinctly remember it being one of the slowest ports organisation wise and that was due to the the Port Authorities not Seabourn. I remember standing with others waiting for bags to be brought out and three guys would push one large baggage trolley loaded with bags while others stood waiting with smaller trolleys obviously hoping someone would employ them to take bags out to transport, so they could get a tip. I was worried because we had a late morning tour booked and was concerned we would miss it. After this experience I am wary of Vancouver Port but loved the city.

You are so right fudge and I am sure there are many times my comments are cringe worthy and for that I apologise. My husband reminds me that emails and forums are not the best way to express nuance but still I try. This I do agree with and am looking forward to future cruises.

I am using Luggage Forward on a long cruise as part of our cruise package deal. I have to say it will be the first and last time I bother. These onerous restrictions on regular toiletry items that I have travelled over most parts of the world with no issue with on planes means I will likely have to buy everything I usually prefer when I get to Miami and then leave it behind. We have only 2 hours to get from international to domestic going via customs and immigration in both our SFO - MIA flights and IAH - SYD. So we are taking carry-on only to help to try and make our onward flights. So no way will I risk checking even a small bag. So I am one who says using Luggage Forward to ship luggage defeats the purpose of a less stress free holiday. Just needed to vent my frustration with Luggage Forward.