kej1

So we will be on the same cruise!  Or most of it.  Look forward to meeting you.   A couple of the ports are repeats for us but we are really looking forward to seeing the ports in Indonesia as we have only been to Bali and Java in the last ( by land and air).  🤞will be another great trip!

We look forward to meeting you.  We met great people on our Papeete to Guam last spring on Pursuit.  That was a highlight along with being in the South Pacific.

Glad to know you heard the Indonesia trip went well.  Yes that is what we are on next summer/fall starting in Broome ( doing the Kimberly) and ending in Fiji where we might spend a few days at an old haunt called the Wakaya Club that has amazing snorkeling and diving.
 

I’m also happy to see you had what looked like a lovely day on the small Fijian island!  It looked like a lot of fun in a beautiful spot.  
 

BTW,  there are a few wine stores in Papeete that I was told at Brando were decent.  We had wanted to buy some to take on the Pursuit but we ran out of time.  I’d give you the names but I’m afraid I can’t find them.   There were two as I recall - maybe the inky two!  

Just received confirmation our entire Mumbai to Capetown ( Dec 2025 - Jan 2026) cruise  is cancelled. We will see if there is something else we are interested in on Silversea or cancel with refund.  We haven’t been offered anything so I assume we will receive a full refund including the administration fees since we just paid the deposit a week or so ago.

Glad to know this far in advance!

The wine dinner looks fantastic!  They offered a couple of wine dinners for a charge on our pursuit trip in April/May but not with these wines!   This is well worth the $250 and I hope to see it offered again!  And it must have been so nice sitting outside the Square for dinner in the South Pacific! (Ours were in the dining room).   Sounds like it was a lovely evening.

On the other hand I’m sorry to hear about some of your iten changes.   I know its  disappointing but love the way you try to turn lemons into lemonade as best you can, as we tried to do on our last pursuit trip as well!  I would agree these Pursuit South Pacific cruises seem to be combo Ocean/Expedition trips and they should be honestly marketed and priced this way in the future to set expectations accordingly.  
 

BTW, I hope you are able to do wine shopping with the sommelier in Papeete! 

My husband and I had just booked Mumbai to Capetown a week ago ( Dec 2025-Jan 2026).  The Mahe to Capetown referred to by the OP was the second leg of our trip.  Have not been on Silversea in ages as have been loyal to Seabourn.  Decided to try something different and this iten appealed despite having visited many of the stops by land.  Asked my travel agent about it yesterday and she checked with Silversea who said they are sold out as around the holidays.  This is clearly not the case.  I would just appreciate honesty and good communications and the ability to cancel before making pre and post cruise plans given they know this far in advance.  I hope they make this known to all soon.

It looks like a wonderful day!  And you just answered my thoughts about what will we do when we return to Honiara  given we have exhausted all the WW2 things.  I’m glad you had a great experience and I’ll surely try that tour next year!  Once again great photos.  

@highplanesdrifters thank you for showing all of us Nan Madol.  Pursuit did not visit it on our trip last spring and having read about it we were a bit disappointed it was not on the itinerary.  Well, I’m actually very happy to have seen it instead through your wonderful photos and commentary!  I think for us armchair travel on this has been the way to go.  Thank you for taking the plunge and sharing it.  Fascinating to see from home!  Hope Lovie recovers soon.  Perfect you now have two sea days after that adventure!

Your photos and videos from the sub excursion are great!  So glad you were able to do the sub in Chukk! We really enjoyed that experience too.   

Your comments about the Earth and Ocean experience on Pursuit was similar to ours as well.  We love Earth and Ocean on the ocean ships but for some reason the execution didn’t seem as good on the Pursuit although we kept trying it.   ( and we didn’t starve!).  

Glad you are safely enconsed on board!  I recognize and miss that back deck of your suite which we loved so much! We are missing the Pursuit!   Glad to hear you had a nice meal.  We found the lobster very well prepared and delicious.  They did run out toward the end of our 30 days but we enjoyed it often.
 

So happy you were able to get a slot on the sub in Chuuk.   We enjoyed seeing the wreck named as the San Francisco Maru which was over 120 meters deep.  We had a local on board the sub that knew it well and I was fortunate to sit next to him and he answered lots of questions!  I hope you enjoy it.  It was a good experience!   But sorry to hear they are still doing the mad dash for excursions.  I had hoped they would have that a bit more organized by now.  We found ourselves constantly looking at the app to see if anything appeared instead of waiting for the evening briefing as by then many expeditions had shown up maybe 30 min before and were full by the time they were presented.  I’d prefer them to publish as much as possible in advance and if weather changes or something prohibits an excursion to have it canceled vs scrambling to sign up at the last minute. In some cases the last minute excursions get canceled anyway on the day of due to various factors.    Despite all of that we loved the ship and had a great time so here is hoping you do too!  It will be a fabulous trip I’m sure!

The complimentary wines were below average on our 30 day Pursuit cruise last spring in the South Pacific.  We  made due some of the time with the Louis Latour Chard and the rose from Provence ( servers were excellent btw in knowing what we wanted everywhere on the ship), but mostly purchased premium wines at dinner - especially red although they ran out of many.   We don’t drink cocktails so wine with meals and as cocktails is important to us.  Living in San Francisco we are well aware the wine industry is really suffering right now in California.  Lots of overproduction and younger people are not drinking much wine.  Was in the news today that Constellation one of the huge liquor distributors nation wide is suffering financially due to large decreased wine sales.  Duckhorn ( California) which produces very nice and very popular wines  in the mid range made the news as sales way down as well.  I understand Seabourn is struggling post Covid but now would be a great time for a savvy purchasing person to acquire some at least better wines at great prices.  IMHO!  Just a suggestion if anyone from Seabourn mgmt is listening!  Great time to up the wine game!  Don’t expect the best but better than white zin and some of the others named by the OP that are really poor.  We still had a very nice time but “ fine wines” is false advertising!  

10 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Update:

 

Our flight delay is now less and we were able to switch to the NRT-GUM 5:25pm flight instead of the 5pm flight. We now have 2hr+ Layover, whew.  Unfortunately I do not have a seat on the second leg.  My companions do.  The rest of the open biz class seats are blocked.  No worries....I'll get there!

 

As for Seabourn Flight Ease.  Our TA said that the person on the emergency help line was dumb as a rock and useless and said she could do nothing. FYI, United had told me all changes had to go thru Seabourn.  We got to the airport early and luckily had an extremely helpful gate agent.

Hope you made it a little bit less stress free once you arrived in Narita to connect to Guam.    I used to connect a lot there on business trips ( when I wasn’t staying) and I recall the ground agents being very organized and good about getting people to their connecting flights. ( of course it was pre Covid so hope that hasn’t changed!)   🤞🤞you made it safely!

Love the PH Spa suites especially on the Sojourn class which has floor to ceiling windows.  You do have to climb stairs to get there but if you are ok with it, that’s part of what makes it pretty private ( only 4 rooms) and got to know the spa team really well since you walk by them all the time to get to the stairs.  We brought  them cookies from TK grill after dinner as we walked by which they really appreciated.   Back on board the Sojourn in March/ April in a PH Spa suite.  Can’t wait.  But what will we bring the spa team from Solis?  

I will say the photos of the suite shared by @highplanesdrifters looks wonderful!  That looks like a big win too!  hope to try it one of these days.  

3 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Guam - Santiago  Sep. 8 - Oct. 17. Occasional missives from The Andesite Line.  

 

Who is ready for some fun?

 

 

FYI, Some of the ports may have changed. You get the gist.  Remote islands,  friendly locals, sing sings, welcome to island ceremonies, carved souvenirs, warm tropical waters, cold tropical beverages, snorkeling, and some general hijinx. Lots of sea days.  Me happy!

 

Following in the footsteps of @kej1 and @Sharkb8. Hope I can do their reports proud.

@highplanesdrifters I can’t wait to hear about your trip!  I’ll be going along for the ride unfortunately not on the ship!  Try to book the sub in Chuuk to see one of the deep wrecks.   Have a wonderful time on the Andesite line!  

@SLSD. Thank you for sharing your experiences!  I really appreciate your commentary and feedback on the cruise.  Also happy to hear they will start opening the MDR for lunch in particular on port days.  On our spring South Pacific trip on Pursuit it was closed except sea days.  The Colunmade was crowded with a wait and the patio which is an extension on this smaller ship was very hot and humid also with a wait and pretty uncomfortable in the heat of the day with 90% humidity.  Given the fact there was no place to go off ship for lunch, and the expeditions were for everyone at more or less the same time morning and afternoon ( staggered but everyone returned for  a lunch window at around the same time more or less), lunches were dreaded as opposed to relaxed!  We started just having a big room service breakfast and picking up snacks in the square or ordering room service which unfortunately quite a few were doing the latter so it was tight to make the afternoon expedition sometimes.     Fingers crossed this will change on the expedition cruises as well! 
Thank you again for taking the time to write such a nice report!  Much appreciated by all.

16 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

 

Was the air conditioning lacking on the Pursuit.     Husband is usually very comfortable with his blue jacket at dinner in the Restaurant as it is usually quite polar.     It would be a shame if the air conditioning is not up to snuff.   We are on an Antartica voyage.

There was air conditioning. 

On our Pursuit trip from mid April til mid May in the South Pacific, the dress day and night regardless of venue was very casual.  The weather was very warm so there were very few men who wore jackets to dinner.  My husband did on occasion but no tie.  Often he wore a long sleeve button down shirt with a pair of nice slacks and was more dressed up than most.  I generally wore nice slacks and nice top or casual dress.  When we ate outside on the patio many men were wearing shorts and Hawaiian shirts as it was often quite hot and humid even when the ship was traveling.  So it was the most casual Seabourn cruise we’ve been on in terms of dress.  

We much prefer the smaller ships - sojourn and quest.  We like the smaller number of passengers, and in the MDR and on the patio it does not seem as crowded.

i agree that the extra space and bar for what is now Solis ( we have not  been since the new restaurant was added) on the Ovation and Encore is a positive, and the addition of the Sushi restaurant with more choices than sushi in the club is another positive.  However we will always prefer the smaller ships when looking for a cruise. 

On 8/11/2024 at 8:14 AM, highplanesdrifters said:

@kej1

 

Working on last minute details for our upcoming trips.  Would you consider sharing contact info on your private Honiaria trip. I  don't think we'll do the Seabourn tour.  Might want to do more than walk to the mall. 😃 

 

Other than the WWII sites did you go to the Mantaniko Falls or the Petroglyph Caves.  Was it safe to walk around the warf area? Any suggestions much appreciated, thanks.

@highplanesdrifters The company I worked with to schedule a private tour in Guadalcanal was DestSolo or Destination Solomans.  Another way to reach them is to email wmaelaua@gmail.com and ask for Christina who organized our tour with Bernard.  
bernard was a really interesting guide.  His grandfather was a “ coast watcher” during WW2.   He would likely remember Kim and Chris from San Francisco, on Seabourn Pursuit, touring with him the day before the election in May.  I owe Christina a photo with Bernard and the two of us so you reminded me! We thought Bernard was great.  

In Rabaul we booked through Rabaul Scenic Tours and Rose was our guide.  She wasn’t as knowledgeable on the history as Bernard ( or my husband) but she was really an interesting person - an older woman who had lived through the volcano and had to escape the town being 9 months pregnant.  She had great stories about her life in Rabaul which was really interesting.  If you have more questions just ask or feel free to email me at Kim.jones.ray@gmail.com.

@highplanesdrifters I am happy to share the information on our tour company and guide ( we really liked our guide).  We were with him from about 8:00am ( when we were first allowed off the ship) until about 3:00 or so. I am currently at the beach and don’t have great access to my files but we are going back to the city tomorrow so will post all the information when we get back.  We did only the WW 2 sites but I am sure you can customize your tour to see everything you’d like given how much time you have in the port.

We were supposed to be there for two days but the second day was cancelled and we were told not  to the port in the evening as there was to be an election and they anticipated potential demonstrations as had occurred in a previous election.   Luckily we had booked our private tour for day one and saw most of what we had wanted to see.  Unfortunately for those on board who did the last minute Seabourn tour ( we were told about the day before arriving) it was changed again at the last minute from day two to the late afternoon of day one.  The buses were just leaving about 30 min after we returned and very unfortunately guests were not able to see all of the sites and rushed through ending in the dark.  We were very glad we had booked a private.

I will post the information tomorrow afternoon.  Let me know if you have any more questions!  We also did a private in Rabaul but I think per your posts in the past you may have done most of it. 

2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

@kej1

 

Working on last minute details for our upcoming trips.  Would you consider sharing contact info on your private Honiaria trip. I  don't think we'll do the Seabourn tour.  Might want to do more than walk to the mall. 😃 

 

Other than the WWII sites did you go to the Mantaniko Falls or the Petroglyph Caves.  Was it safe to walk around the warf area? Any suggestions much appreciated, thanks.

That sounds like an interesting trip!  Can’t wait to hear about it.

Yes, that’s our trip! There are a few repeat ports for us but many new ones and I’m already looking forward to it.  I just wish we were going this year but too many other things going on.  Family stuff and a bit over a month at the beach ( where we are now) right on the ocean.  Also heaven so I can’t complain.  Looking forward  wait to hearing about  your trip..  You will love the SS suite - it really spoiled us.  I’d also love to hear about your experience with Ponant should you give them a try.  

@highplanesdriftersI think you should have a wonderful time.  I’m hoping by now they have worked out some of the “ issues” on the expedition side.  We were in a sense guinea pigs on this route so I have high hopes things will just get better! The ship is beautiful and the ship crew was great as well.  I look forward to your feedback given your extensive experience on various expedition cruises.  It will be very helpful in preparing us for our August 2025 trip from Broome to Fiji via Indonesia and PNG!

My husband and I were on Papeete to Guam on Pursuit in April/May.  We love to snorkel so were very much looking forward to this aspect of the cruise and had never snorkeled from a cruise ship in the past.  Always at various resorts in the past where we could snorkel at the resort or on a private or semi private  boat trip.  We also used to dive quite a bit but did not on the cruise as we hadn’t been in several years and it wasn’t allowed unless you’d done two open water dives in the last 6 months or year.
 

The first opportunity  for snorkeling was in the Cook Islands.  It was third party and I believe we paid for it even though it was an “ expedition” cruise.  There had been a previous opportunity at another Polynesian island which was also third party with a cost but it was cancelled due to poor weather and lots of wind.  ( the divers found their own dive shop and went btw not organized by Seabourn despite the weather).  The Cook Islands snorkel trip was ok.  The snorkeling itself was very good, but almost all 200 people went in a number of small boats that each took maybe 12 or 14.  We were one of the first boats to leave but within about 20 minutes or so  there were so many people snorkeling in the area one was more concerned with bumping into people than finding  fish.  That was not great and put a damper on what could have been and started out to be a good snorkel trip.

We did not have another snorkel opportunity until a remote island in Fiji.  It was a beach snorkel.  The expedition team did not seem very familiar with the area so went off exploring and found a spot.  The beach was tiny and again you had almost 200 people crammed on to a small beach and the water was a bit rough and not a lot to see.  
It was a poor experience in my personal opinion.  
 

Things improved later in the cruise. All of the snorkeling that followed was through the Seabourn expedition team, not  third party.   It did however seem that the team didn’t really know where to go ( unlike when you do this at a resort).  So it was hit or miss as to whether the conditions and snorkeling was good, fair, or not great.  Snorkeling was either done from a beach you’d arrive to from a zodiac, or off a zodiac in deep water.    We had a couple of very good experiences, but others that were average to poor.  One of the biggest problems was although people went in color groups spread out, ultimately everyone ended up at the same place so particularly on the beach snorkels it was crowded.  
We preferred the snorkeling off the zodiacs. 
 

Ours was one of if not the first expedition of this type Seabourn did and there was a lot of feedback from guests so I hope others will share their experiences as I assume with time and experience it will improve,  I believe there are ways to spread  people out more in some cases. I’m not sure what other expedition cruises do that might help with the crowded feeling but I came away having enjoyed it but thinking the snorkeling is usually better to do on private  boat trips from resorts where they know where to go that aren’t crowded or where you can snorkel off their beach.  Now this will not preclude us from another expedition trip as we are scheduled to go from Broome to Indonesia and back to PNG on the Pursuit next summer!  But I am hoping some of the disorganization we experienced will be worked out by the time we go back.  We loved the ship, thought the service was really good, loved the spots we visited, just the expedition part was a work in progress and too many paid excursions along the way.  ( we had private guides in Honaria and Rabaul as wanted to see the WW 2 stuff and nothing was published in advance and typically not til the night before.  In the end they put things together but given it was 200 people in buses all going to the same sites more or less at the same time we were happy we had done privates in those two places.  
 

I hope this helps.  I’m happy to answer any questions.  BTW Seabourn provided masks and fins whether the snorkeling was through them or a third party although we did bring our own masks and snorkels.  

January of 2020 we did a West Africa cruise on Seabourn.  We had done many (13) trips to Southern and East Africa by land.  These were mostly planned around safaris with a few other activities attached.   I had always wanted to explore West Africa - something that didn’t interest my husband much.   When I presented the opportunity to do it by cruise ship he changed his mind.  We started in Miami, did a few stops in the Caribbean, then crossed the Atlantic to the Cape Verde islands, followed by Senegal and headed south ending in Capetown.  We visited many of the ports you mention.  We had been numerous times to Capetown and a Couple of times to Namibia by land and we both love them so I won’t mention them in my highlights as they are a given ( although there is much to see and I highly recommend spending some serious time in both places - more than you can do, see or access via a cruise).

So my personal highlights leaving those aside were:  Cape Verde Islands , Senegal ( not sure if you are going), and Ghana.  The reason I liked these places so much is we had outstanding guides.  This was not an “ expedition” cruise, but I found great guides on the internet who were reliable and showed us key sites, how people lived ( our Senegal guide took us to his home), visited schools, markets, had some local meals , etc.  I found it a fascinating area and really enjoyed the entire trip.   These countries are the kinds of places one has to be careful so in choosing the guides I did loads of research.  In fact one of the only places we had a poor experience was in Côte D’Ivoire where I was unable to find a good guide on my own so had Seabourn organize a private.  It was a disaster - old broken down car, poor English ( luckily my husband pretty good with French - mine passable but barely).  The car needed gas and they tried ( the guide and driver) to get us to pay but had to be in local currency which we didn’t have, side swiped a car on the way back to the ship ( luckily in bumper to bumper traffic so nobody was hurt), and it was just an all around poor experience.  So based on my experience I’d recommend a ship tour in this country, but since you are on an expedition cruise you will likely have small, educational tours included.  
 

I loved visiting the various ports.  My husband wasn’t that keen on it to be honest.  He couldn’t wait to get to  Capetown where  we would be spending another two weeks in Southern Africa.  He liked Cape Verde and Angola ( the latter not a favorite of mine but it was interesting and we had a very good guide).  I would like to go to some of the ports we visited again and other countries we did not visit on that trip.  
 

I also highly recommend you read @Fletcher’s trip report as he was on a Silversea Expedition cruise and it will give you some great insight.  It was an excellent read!  If you love adventure  and love visiting and learning about different countries and how people live I think you will really enjoy this trip.  I can’t say our trip wasn’t without snags in these developing countries, but I loved it!  

Looking forward to your train trip and cruise!  We did Pursuit from Papeete to Guam in April/May.  We are signed up for the Kimberlys , some Indonesia, more PNG and ending in 

Fiji Aug 2025 so looking forward to your tales of the trip - and are also thinking of doing the train!  Thank you for sharing.