jpver

We were with our 5th Oceania Cruises in the Baltic States end august September 2017.

Quality of food of course excellent!

But important is the time that Oceania stays in St Petersburg, Russia. Take the excursions on board, no extra visa charge!

When I have seen that some ships 1 day or 2 days in this wonderful city... Oceania stays 3 FULL days!

We had the occasion to see Catherine's Palace outside and of course Hermitage and all other places. We started in Copenhagen, then Helsinki, St Petersburg, and the other Baltic States ending in Stockholm.

:) Again another TOP Oceania cruise

Well I have been with ms Marina of Oceania. First of all on board the food is the best on sea with Oceania. (Jacques Pepin = chief) Further Oceania stay 3 FULL days in St Peters burg. Take the Oceania excursions, so you use the ships visum... and the different excursions are very well organized. Further we stayed before embarking 3 days in Copenhagen in the old historic area. Beautifull things to visit.

When we ended in Stockholm we stayed 2 extra days.

Regarding St Petersburg I expected in would be nice.... NO it is not simply nice, but SUPERB! Was an excellent voyage where we have seen a lot of great history in all ports!

Well end August 2017 we will be on ms Marina (Oceania cruises) 3 full days in St Petersburg. Friends who where there confirmed me that using Ships excursions is the best way, as they have priorities to enter the nice places. I know that Oceania excursions are good quality. However it was not easy to make my choice, so much offers! Even when it is probably more expensive we preferred to do it with Oceania!

Another company operating on the Mekong Delta in Camdia and Vietnam to Saigon in Croisieurope. This company with base in Strasbourg France has rivercruises of course in Europe but also in other places of the world. They have bought the ship on the Mekong and are planning newbuilts. In april/may this year 2016 we made a cruise on the rv Indochine. 24 nice cabines, excellent kitchen and several excursion in different places. A few days before the organised a hotel in Siem Reap from where we went to Angkor for the different temples.

Selling the 3 little sisters and replace them by bigger ships is serious mistake of policy. What is the advantage of Seabourn today??? They now in more or less the same category as Oceania or Azamara. There Oceania with 3 x 680 and 2 x 1200 passengers took another ship more... 680 passengers, so they went back to smaller.

If I see that with the nice Seabourn Yachts, we have been through the canal of Corinth, we have done the nice small ports of Croatia and others. Big ones canot get there.

Well there is one company who took the place : Ponant!!!

They are now in an all inclusive system. The tips system of $ 15 per day per person did not exist with them as it is forbidden by French law. (Service charges in Hotel and restaurant sectors must be included)

And they will take more market as they just ordered 4 NEW ships in similar style 92 cabins! They will offer programs that the bigger canot offer. Excellent descision!!

I regret the former Seabourn but in the actual system I don't have any interest to make cruises with them anymore.

Just found out that there will be 4 new ships with Ponant, just ordered.

They stay in the small size class and they are right to do it.

Of course reviews are different to what people like. I prefer the small and midsize ships. menthality is quite different. Some of us will not like ok!

However making a cruise on a cruise ship of 3000 - 4000 - 6000 passengers, no regret I don't think even about that. ( lol : They should pay ME a lot of money to make a cruise on these bigs ships!!!)

For info :

http://en.ponant.com/4-new-expedition-ships-for-PONANT

Another company specilialized with 264 passenger Iceclass ships in Compagnie du Ponant. They have several specialized trips around Iceland, even Artica, Groenland etc.

They are since last year an all inclusive formula.

I put herunder the Iceland destination in the english version.

http://en.ponant.com/Cruises/All-Cruises?order=&type=&destination[]=27275&lang=eng-GB

Ponant is a French company but everything is bilingual French / English on board. Depending the destination of course there are not only Frnech passengers, but several European nationalities and even in the American market they start to be known.

I have been previously on 2 of the 3 "sisters" as they were called during the Seabourn times! And some years agoo on the Windstar itself.

With Seabourn everthing was clear. All inclusive wine, coctails and other drinks everywhere on the ship. Also no stupid tipping system charged to your invoice end of the cruise.

Now within the Windstar system it is not at all clear to me what is or is not included, because there have been several changes since the 3 sisters went over to Windstar.

Can somebody indicate how it works now and if there are differences on the "yachts" or on the "Sailing ships" ????

We have some experience with Croisieurope. The company has 40 years now. It started in Strabourg (FRance) by Mr Gerard Smitter and is still in family hands. meanwhile they expanded very much worldwide. Even in Asia on the Douro they have now their own ships.

I have been with them in Bordeaux and in Portugal on the Douro. Excellent price/quality product level.

And my next Croisieurope cruise will be very soon end April/May 2016 with the "mv Indochine" (they own ) on the Mekong river in Cambodja / Vietnam (Siem Reap - Saigon). I will let you know afterwards, but I expect it to be a excellent level.

A few years agoo (2012) we have done a Douro cruise with Croisieurope.(Ship ms Fernao de Magalhaes This company has a good price/quality level.

You can fly to Oporto, the airport is not far away. We stayed several days in advance in Porto as it is a very nice town with a lot of things to visit.

The cruise went to the Spanish border. It was worthwhile to take the excursion to Salamanca Spain. The excursion prices on Croisieurope are honnest in price and well organised. On the Douro and around also interesting to take some excursions. The Lockx are quite impressive!

After our cruise we have combined our voyage with inland Portugal from Porto to Lisbon. We have rented a car in Porto and we re-delivered it at Lisbon airport. (of reasonable as it stays in the country) A lot of nice places Sintra, Coimbra, Santarem. And of cours Lisbon and around.

Routes and highways are quite good in Portugal.

For both Cambodja and Vietnam a visa is required.

Navigating with Croisieurope I've arranged the formalities with this company, so it is quite easy.:)

Well, each time I have the new brochure of Seabourn in hands, it is with regret that I miss the 3 little sisters as they were called. Small ships able to enter places where other could not go.

Honestly I don't find any attraction anymore in Seabourn.

When I see that all ports requiring small ships... the calls are replaced by Ponant!!! But thats my opinion.:mad:

Well last summer my son married and for their honeymoon the went with Oceania Venice - Barcelona. He 40 and his wife 30 years. They enjoyed this voyage, certainly they like to travel of discovering destinations. They like good food. They enjoyed the voyage fully! :):):)

Now the non-alcoholic drinks are included on Oceania, before it was not the sace.

Ponant with the 264 passenger vessels is really great for the mediterrean area!

The error that Seabourn made was to sell the 3 "little sisters". Well Ponant is an alternative! Meanwhile Ponant is an "all inclusive" product since last year.

Big ships canot enter the great little ports of Croatia (only Dubrovnik and Kotor). Before Seaborn was giving this great alternative..... now it is Ponant who took the place!

The Channel of Corith in Greece. I crossed it with the Seabourn small ships..... who is offering this nice crossing now Ponant!

It is not for nothing that Ponant is fully booked for a lot of cruises. They are the only alternative.

Note that the organisation of excursion is well done and honnest in price!

The menthality on board is great. Yes there have been some remarks on the food (not that it was bad, but a bit more sophisticated wud be better)

Ponant is know reorganising the kitchens!:):):)

I was on an cruise on the Austral. The ship of only 264 is very good. All is biligual (French and English)

The food in the main restaurant is good, well served and presented. The self service restaurant could indeed be a a bit higher.

Their cruises are non world-wide with extra specials ar Arctic and even the passages from Groenland through northern Canada to Alaska and Russia.

Since the ships are small they are able to pass the Corinth Channel and call ports on the Croatian coast where others can't go. They take these from Seabourn since they sold the 3 sisters! The 450 can't do it.

Before the drinks during meal only (wines and others) where included, but since last year they became an "All Inclusive"

It is certainly a company with an excellent growth.

Note they have also the 90 passengers sailing ship "Le Ponant"

When the original company name was "Compagnie du Ponant" they changed it to "Ponant" a way to put a accent on the more international caracter of the company

Indeed ships are child friendly and I adhere to most of the information given by the other people.

Safety and other anouncements of importance are indeed in English and German. The staff is bilingual English and German.

Another excellent point are the excursions at fair price and well organised.

Yes majority is indeed German. However they started since one or two years to consider other markets as Dutch, Belgian, Swiss mostly in Europe. Don't forget they will have new ships comming soon.

The origine of Aida is the former East German "DSR - Deutsche See Rederei"

Indeed belonging now to the Carnival group but through Costa.

I have 3 cruises on HAL : Buenos Aires-Santiago de Chili, Panama and Carribbean and was always satisfied certainly for the price/quality.

Now on Oceania one on the 680 type Nautica (same as Insigna and Regatta). Visited already also the Marina and Riviera (1250 pax type)

While HAL is certainly excellent in more difficult seas for exploring special areas, Oceania has in short 2 highlights:

1. the Kitchen under the management of the former Chief Jacques Pépin is one of the best kitchens at sea. Several speciality restaurants (reservation required but not extra fee) Use of more high quality and more expensive products.

2. The proposed programs (port calls) are mostly very good and in some ports they stay 2 and even 3full days for St Petersburg (Russia)

The non alcoholic beverages are now included. On several voyage they include also the services.

They are indeed a bit more expensive as HAL but Oceania is worthwhile!

Regret, but 2650 pax they follow the bad exemples of Costa, MSC, Royal Carribbean and similar. :mad::mad::mad:

This is not a ship for me. Prefer the 1250 types as Veendam, Statendam etc

Well not convinced anymore by Seabourn. Regret very much that the "real" Seabourns Spirit, Pride...are gone. 208 passengers is quite different.

With 600 passengers they are in the smaller midsize, but then there are others. Le Ponant for exemple with 264 pax max and now also all in is certainly an excellent alternative to Seabourn

There was no steak/lobster in the Lido on the last formal night on Noordam last month. I also did not see lobster on the Pinacle menu, even at an additional charge.

It was on 12 march 2014, a smart casual night

On another tread of the "Explore 4" of the >Noordam I posted following about the pinnacle grill:

quote

We were also on the Noordam fm march10. Well we were somewhat disappointed at the "Pinnacle". The restaurant is quite cosy, and the food is of course ok, but when you are supposed to pay a supplement for reservation (ok we did not with the action "Explore 4" ) in the menu there were two items where you had to pay a supplement if choosen. That is somewhere wrong if you pay already the entrance.

Further I have to say that the wine list is different as in the Vista Lounge: in fact only the expensive wines are mentionned! The reasonable Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Carolina of 24 + serv ch, which is excellent, was not on the list as several others. I paid more as the double in Pinnacle for another wine! The "free entrance gift" was paid back with the wine!

unquote

Now on e of the two items I mentionned above with a supplement to be paid was indeed a Lobster plate. :cool:

We went with the Statendam through the Panama Canal dpt San Diego Nov 25th 2011 to Ft Lauderdale Dec 09, 2011.

In fact the weather was good. During the transit in the Panama Canal we could stay most of the time outside with nice weather. Only at the "lake" places of the canal we had a short tropical thunderstorm with some heavy rain. They closed the pool area with the pannels. Afterwards again bright weather before we left the canal. In fact the heavy rain with thunderstorm was approx half an hour only.

They didn't on our Noordam cruise out of Fort Lauderdale 2/28 - 3/10.

Well, checking in on the flwg voy, I was surprised that after scanning of carriage on bag I was not asked to go for stickers. In fact there was much further a table for "alcoholic drinks" with a crewmember doing nothing. Nobody of the passengers had to go there. OK excellent.

Now as I always have done in the past there were some extra bottles in the checked in luggage and this for convenience. The luggage was deliverd to the room without any problem. :)

Does HAL starts to feel that their clients don't like it? Or do they realise that the checking bureaucratie around it, is not worth it?

When excursions were presented, they mentionned that at the visit to a rhum distellerie it was possible to buy the Rhum. For curiosity (as I don't drink Rhum) I asked if we could take it on board and the cabin. The answer was "yes". He even told me that their policies change all the time!!

Well I'm a bit surprised by this issue. I always have two small power chargers for our gsm phones, a charger for the batteries of my photo and video cameras (same brand!) and a charger for my small laptop I use for travelling.

No where I had difficulties with it, neither for the planes neither with HAL or any other shipping line!

It is correct that on Hal, you have 2 x 115 V and 2 x 220 V outlets at your disposal. This is quite easy.