jenidallas

Not in my experience.  A few guests got Seabourn to make arrangements to get the Final Four games on a 2016 transatlantic.  They showed them live in the card room and provided self-serve beverages and snacks. We were told they were willing to allow use of the card room for this since it is rarely used by anyone in the evenings and the game times were fairly late based on where we were positioned on the Atlantic. 
 

There were a small handful of us interested (at peak maybe 6-7 of us) and also made them available for on demand watching on the in-room system afterwards.  As I recall, it required tuning into a channel not available on the in-room televisions.  I would not expect that they’d have the full tournament available.

3 hours ago, Mauzac said:

We've been on tables where it almost seemed like the host did not want to be there (very rare admittedly) and we've been on tables where the host has just been wonderful, making sure no one has been left out, making sure introductions are made and everyone is comfortable and having a chance to contribute etc.  

I’ve been told in the past that certain positions (all entertainers, for example)  are required to host a table every X number of nights or times per cruise, so there are a small number who view it as an obligation for a variety of reasons, ranging from entertainers who are trying to watch what they are eating so that their costumes still fit to those who do not drink.  By their hosting rules, I’m told they  to “sample” the wine when poured (I’ve watched a non-drinking entertainer put the glass to their lips while never touching a drop) and have a course for every one that is ordered by a guest (we once sat at a hosted table where a couple added additional courses to the meal as our bird-like entertainer was served extra courses of consommé every time extra plates arrived that she struggled to pretend to eat).

There are other staff who live to host and will sometimes ask to host additional tables (some seasoned guests performers or lecturers, for example).  If you find yourself enjoying the personality of any entertainer or officer types ttat you meet around your normal course of ship activities and would enjoy a dinner with them, definitely mention to them that you’d enjoy joining their table if they are hosting later in the cruise.  They are allowed to suggest or request passengers for their tables and we’ve sometimes known a few days in advance which invitations to expect because the host has told us in advance.  
 

The other tip there… feel free to extend an invite in the opposite direction. Some staff enjoy having dinner with guests without the formality of the hosted table. I’ve had a couple of entertainers and staff officer share with me that they like the TK Grill but are only allowed to dine there if invited by a guest (and cleared by their supervising officer). 

We stayed at the Gritti Palace for three nights in 2018 prior to embarking on the Ovation.

Pros… access was easy coming in at night from the airport on a water taxi and then leaving again for the port on a water taxi.  We were also in Venice during the record flooding that October and the hotel was well-prepared for the floods.  They took good care of us at the start of our 35 day wedding/honeymoon trip, of which 70% of the time was on Seabourn, the remainder air/land.  

Cons… many of the rooms at that property are small.  You are paying for location location location, which was really a con during the flooding as it was difficult to get anywhere on foot from that area.  Depending on the time of year, that entire part of Venice is overrun by tourists and you can have a much more luxurious stay at one of the properties that is further away from St Marks or the Grand Canal if you don’t need to be right there.

Perhaps it’s a nod to the obsession with trivia that many Seabourn sailors have…. 🤔

7 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

Just came across this article from today's New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-non-alcoholic-drinks/

Great article… thank you for sharing!  I’ve tried less than half of those mentioned so it gives me some options to add to the list.  It’s incredible how quickly this category has exploded.  
 

Our NA bar cart has a lot of interesting options already, but there is definitely room for more.

On 1/6/2022 at 11:59 PM, ronrick1943 said:

Do they have Non-Alcoholic beer, wine and champagne ?

I was *just* coming to ask/discuss the same.  
 

I know they stock NA beer in 1-2 varieties as a standard course (and have been willing to pick up other varieties in port, as available) but I saw on a blog yesterday that a regular passenger was drinking NA wine so now I’m curious if there is available NA wine/sparkling.

We had a fairly lively discussion about Seabourn mocktails and Seedlip a couple of years ago and I know that guests had Seedlip onboard (both for in-room and bar drinks) but it seemed that might have been a special pre-cruise request.  With all the new good NA spirits available (Ritual, Monday, Lyres just to name a few), I’m wondering if availability has expanded.

We fully stopped imbibing after our last sailing so haven’t been been back onboard to figure it out yet.  I can always DM Martin and ask, since he’s who has been willing to make special procurements for us in port.

I did notice that the new Virgin ships that are sailing have NA sparkling and interesting mocktails on all their cocktail lists so at least someone in the industry is on-trend.

4 hours ago, fdnycruiser said:

That would be me fudge. The moderator is removing my posts.I wrote only the truth and facts. I’ll probably soon be banned completely 

Insane… I came back for part 3, and couldn’t find your posts.  I was appreciative of your candid recollections since we were one of those having to make a decision to sail (or not) for next month.

Are you still onboard or were you allowed to disembark as scheduled?  

16 hours ago, labonnevie said:

One of our all time favorite “shore” excursions! Would do it again in a minute.. 

 

Mine too… I don’t frequently do short excursions, but I’ve done this one twice and would do it again in a heartbeat.

If you don’t want an active job or have some limitations, they’ll assign you to man the drinks cooler or something else less demanding.  

1 hour ago, Navis said:

Not sure if I’ve previously mentioned, all our prior 6 cruises have been in NCL (out of NYC) … of the ships we’ve been on the Escape was by far our favorite. Especially our Deluxe Owners Suite in the Haven … felt like we were on a ship of a few hundred rather than a few thousand!

Next to Seabourn, NCL is the line I have the most nights on and I can easily say Seabourn beats The Haven by a wide margin.  Unless you love having close proximity to lots of kids, presenting your key card all the time, attending art auctions to bid on mass-produced Peter Max and Thomas Kincaid works, taking pictures for purchase with costumed sultry pirates or mangy dolphins in every port, and being limited to one restaurant/bar if you want to avoid the masses.
 

Seabourn is the Haven across the entire ship minus all those things I mention above plus a ton of things you won’t get even with The Haven, like free flowing caviar and staff across the entire ship who know your name and remember your preferences (and not because they are angling for a tip).  And almost always less cost per night than what one pays for the ship within a ship experience.

The idea of “enforcement” makes me think of the staffer that seems to always be stationed at the entrance of the buffet on the large ships sing-songing “washy-washy” as they use their spray bottle of sanitizer on everyone who walks in.  That just seems so NOT Seabourn.  But I do hope people are following all protocols right now - and hopefully always!

2 hours ago, Hobar said:

According to posters on a Facebook site for SB, those who tested positive were removed from the ship at the next port, no refunds, find your own way home. And until then, all indoor activities are suspended.  Trying to get real answers directly from SB and our TA but not forthcoming.     

If this is true, it’s contrary to the policy Seabourn has been putting out to TAs about how these cases would be handled with refunds/allowances, passenger quarantine coordination, and travel changes.  
 

I hope that it’s just rumors because it would be disturbing to think that Seabourn would just dump positive passengers at the next port.

We are also in Fort Worth and use a cruise-focused (but not cruise exclusive) Virtuoso agency that does a high volume of business with Seabourn (as designated by Seabourn’s own agency sales levels).
 

I like having someone who is a neutral party who can go to bat for me should anything go sideways (it rarely does) and she’s also able to book for me on other lines, luxury or otherwise,  as well. I like being able to use her to book excursions independently of the cruise line (I’ve had a couple amazing ones that the cruise line could not have arranged for the same value), hotels and transfers not directly related to the cruise (pre/post journeys), off us options on travel insurance, and generally be a good sounding board.  
 

We’ve had lunch to discuss future cruising plans so she can keep me on her radar for things she’ll think I’ll interested in (which at various time in my life has been solo cruising, cruising with girlfriends, cruising with my mother, and cruising with my husband) and I like having someone who knows all my travel experiences and dreams outside of just one cruise line.

Seabourn’s hairdryers are better than those I’ve I’ve used on other lines.  They are not wall-mounted so you can use them anywhere in the room and they are a high enough wattage not to overheat on long hair.  They’ve always had a concentrator attachment available which can be removed.

We had 912 on Odyssey on the 2018 westbound transatlantic crossing.

It was very quiet.  There were occasional comings and goings from the officers on the bridge and any family staying in those offices cabins, but they were incredibly quiet.

We loved that location and would take it again in a heartbeat.

I did not notice issues with the internet.

The only warning I’d issue is that the bridge has a view of the edge of your veranda should someone be on the fisheye side of the bridge!

I’ve been on for Halloween twice.  Costumes don’t generally appear until the evening party after dinner, but if you wanted to wear a costume you would not be alone as a few passengers dress up as do many crew.  But if you don’t dress up you’ll be fine too.  

1 hour ago, cruisr said:

I keep getting emails on the 3 Ovation sailings R/T from MIA in November and December.  11 nights.  I would have booked one but as they are accepting non vaccinated guests I will not book.

When did they make that switch?  

8 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

Wow, that seems surprisingly low for the third week in a row. They're surely losing money on these cruises.

I read a couple synopses from the recent RCCL shareholder call and they said something to the effect that most of their ships operate at a break even at 50%-ish capacity and that newer build ships have efficiencies that allow trek to be profitable well below that.  I’d imagine it is similar for CCL/NCL brands.

They had to keep these ships at least minimally staffed and running throughout the pandemic and still have vendor contracts to fulfill/maintain… so there is probably a surprisingly low passenger margin required.  Add to that the liability of carrying all of these future passenger credits on the balance sheet - it makes sense to aloe passengers to redeem those on sailings that are priced higher than usual.  It gets those off the books, it helps fulfill contracts, and it offers lots of controlled PR opportunities (lots of journalists, bloggers, social media influencers getting hosted not to mention the usual quiet TA and friends/family) to allow the public to see that everyone is “normal”.  The short game is about getting back to a net neutral.

My hot take… we will continue to see the lines subsidize these soft openings because they need the positive momentum going into Wave Season… that’s what will shore up the big comeback in 2022 and 2023.  This is a long game at this point.  

Wow, today’s Herald seems awfully sleepy for a sea day… a cooking demo and team trivia - that’s it?  Or, and some spa/shopping shill lectures plus the daily afternoon tea dressed up for the occasion.

I wish Seabourn would make it easy for browsing future guests to see the details of available shore excursions without having to book a suite to do so.

We cancelled our 21-night Barbados holiday RT when it was announced last month that only bubble shore excursions would be allowed in the Caribbean for the first phase of sailings.  Knowing that we had little interest in most of the offered excursions, we cancelled proactively so we would still have time to find another reasonable option.  The prices on some of these sailings are already up 25%+ over what we’ve paid on prior years and when we added on the cost of shore excursions for 2 in the ports (and not the 2 hour bus to the rum factory and back at 8:30 am ones), that was another 15-20%.

On top of that, we have to think about testing plus extra nights in hotels to ensure we can depart smoothly, and the growing risk of being turned away due to asymptotic infection despite being vaccinated.  I keep watching for ways for Seabourn to make this easier to plan for but they seem to come up short compared to their peers.

We booked Silver Moon for 15 nights RT from Hong Kong to Singapore instead.  Now do I reasonably think Asia will return for cruising by December?  I do not!  But if it does and it’s in a bubble, we were at least able to find something where we’d be willing to take the offered onboard excursions if required.  Better yet, we were able to get enough of a sense of other options that we feel we could be very flexible with a change of region or a future rebooking when this one likely changes to a new region.

I’ve generally been a Seabourn cheerleader over the years, but the lack of proactive communication has been frustrating.   I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a wee bit of over-communication about things like available shore excursions and adjustment plans, not just for booked passengers.  It’s not like any of the current scenario wasn’t something that could be planned for.  I’m not willing to hand out free passes for being caught flat-footed at this point.

9 hours ago, SLSD said:

We need a new Travel Agent.  Too bad you can't share whose yours is--but I will be looking for a Virtuoso agent.  

We use a great agency out of Fort Worth that is almost exclusively cruises.  A bit of etcetera.  If only I could name them.  😉     
 

We typically get either a special shore excursion (which have often been nicer and more unique from anything Seabourn has on offer for that particular port) or a $150/pp extra onboard credit.  My agent also usually gives us onboard credit on top of that.

Sometimes Virtuoso will have an onboard host and they will then throw a cocktail party.  We’ve loved some of the hosts and enjoyed meals or onboard activities with them.  But we’ve also had hosts we despised who have Virtuoso a black eye with their attitude/behavior.

I like my agent a lot - her being with Virtuoso (and a Seabourn preferred agency) is just a bonus.  

We’ve received these upsell offers onset of our Seabourn sailings, always passed onto us by our Virtuoso agent.  Interestingly the only times I have not received one of these offers have been when I booked with someone other than her.  

These are great perspectives and I appreciate the experiences of so many of my trusted fellow Seabourn passengers.

in addition to the S.A.L.T. Program, we are also interested in the longer post times and multiple overnights on the holiday sailing we are eyeing… if we do have to stay in a bubble, we liked that they had afternoon and evening tour options.  As a lap swimming and track walker, Silversea seems to have better options for working off the extra calories from what looks to be intriguing cuisine.

From what I can tell, the casino looks slightly larger and I recall past comparisons suggesting that there is more dancing onboard.  We tend to not be very late night folks (despite being relative youngsters) but I like the concept of the later evening club/small plates concept.
 

I’m curious how other activities compare… we usually play trivia and are often found in Seabourn Square working on the jigsaw puzzle, in the card room playing a game, or curled up somewhere on the ship reading a book or working the daily crossword.  I tend to gravitate toward the afternoon tea and stitching, while my husband checks out the putting green.  Does Silver Moon/Muse offer any of those activities.

Reading about S.A.L.T. has gotten us interested enough to think we will probably sail on Silver Moon instead of a Seabourn ship this year. We are foodies who love to talk cooking classes, both at home and while traveling, and try to seek out epicurean tours abroad.  

1 hour ago, SLSD said:

I've seen only one person reporting on the cruise starting in Barbados.  I would not share here as it is his report.  The shocking thing though is that he says there are only 120 passengers onboard.  No wonder there are not more reports!  There is practically no one on the ship!

 

I have to admit that I am despairing a bit now.  With the cases of the virus going up up up in the Dallas area and throughout the country--with the worst yet to come (according to an NPR report this morning), I think it may be a long while before we get to cruise again.  This makes our household very unhappy.  

 

 

 

Someone is onboard in the group I’m on so hopefully there will be more updates.  But yeah, with 120 it’s going to be quieter!
 

120 passengers sounds like my idea of bliss, but I too worry about the timeline for a return to normal.  I’m presently sitting in an ER in Fort Worth waiting on labs (not due to Covid… just my ongoing bacterial infections) and they are at overflow capacity because the hospital has no free beds.  DFW hasn’t even seen the peak of Delta cases that other parts of the south are now getting, Arkansas and Missouri being hardest hit.

We cancelled our 21-night for the holidays and I’m unlikely to recommit until we have a better line of sight to what this resurgence might mean.  I’m not willing to end up somewhere only to test positive and be denied boarding - and I’m not okay with being limited to ship only tours on a sailing that long.