SKP946

Hi Jo,

As a first time cruiser you are certainly starting at the top with Seabourn, I am sure you will have an amazing time.

If the ship is using tenders it often means you’re going to a smaller place where the big cruise ships don’t go, which is great.

Seabourn use the ships lifeboats, of which their are four, each with a capacity of 150 pax, but generally they only put  a max of 50 to 80 pax when used as a tender.

If the ship is a fair way offshore (10 mins or so travelling) they will quite often use all 4 lifeboats to save any waiting.

Pax  booked on an early tour have preference first thing, we usually wait for an hour or so, then there is no waiting.

The boats are reasonably quick, comfortable, handle any sea well and are enclosed with padded seats with a backrest and as FlyingScotSailors said, the crew are very good at helping you on and off.

There is a loading platform ( Red arrow first photo) either side on deck 3 aft, and generally the ship is swung around so the loading platform is protected from any wind and waves.

Onshore they set up a small marquee with chairs, water and chilled towels.

I’ve hunted through my photos to try and find Seabourn lifeboat photos, but hardly have any unfortunately.

I hope these ( below)will give you some idea.

The  first photo shows the loading platform, the second pax disembarking on a pier (Marquee on the right) and the fourth, an inside shot (faces blacked out for privacy)

Any other questions, ask away.

6 hours ago, AnnieO2019 said:

 . Our hotel in Barbados was nowhere near as good as being on the Odyssey. You live and learn!

I find very few hotels are as good as being on Seabourn; that’s why we (nearly) always fly straight home after we leave the ship

Seabourn generally keep their ship indoor temperature around 22c (72f), however the restaurants usually are bit cooler as the staff are “active”

Bars are probably around 22c.

I always wear a jacket for comfort and my wife takes a Pashmina scarf, if she is wearing an outfit with bare shoulders.

1 hour ago, Pixie NZ said:

Thank you all for your help and support. Special thanks to Cool cruiser. Your suggestion was excellent an now all booked and one very happy husband. In case anyone else is interested this tour does not pick up from the port but it is a 15 minute walk or they can arrange a private car pickup and return to the ship for 30 Euros. Once again many thanks everyone. You are all amazing.

Which one ?🙄 There were 3 of us “Cool Cruisers”  answering 🤔

if it was me you can “shout me a drink” (🤣) onboard at the TK bar 😀

From memory ( and it was 2011 0n Pride) there was a shuttle bus  off the wharf, as the ship is berthed quite a way out.

Perhaps someone who has been more recently can enlighten?

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Just make sure that if you book a private tour, you can make it back to the ship in plenty of time.  We did this a decade or more ago, and it turned out fine, but the traffic from Granada out to the coast was completely jammed because it was a weekend.  We had planned to get back a couple of hours prior, so we had wiggle room.

Ovation is at Malaga on Wednesday May 8 so they should be OK.

Remember that the Seabourn Alhambra tour includes quite a long lunch (also Ovation is not due to sail until 11pm)

Did you make a google search ? 

I just did and this came up; appears to be available

https://www.partner.viator.com/popups/priceAvailCal.jspa?code=17739P20&tourGradeCode=TG7&listDate=2019-05-01&PUID=68154&setLocale=en

Make sure they have skimp-the-line tickets.

1 hour ago, rols said:

well let's see if my attitude persists if we do actually get allocated the broom closet! This cruise was so well priced when we booked it that picking any of the available suites would have added 40% or more to the cost and so we decided to wing it. I think we've traveled Seabourn enough now to enjoy the ship even if we don't get upgraded to the penthouse. 

Even if you only scored a V1 at 245sq. Ft. (Plus veranda) those suites are still as large (if not larger) than a standard cabin on Viking; whose prices seem about the same as Seabourn (I’m reluctant to add the flippant remark that you might score a 🚁 ride to shore on Viking)🙄🤭

We had a couple on our Antarctica Cruise who had never sailed Seabourn, booked OB and ended up in a Penthouse; unfortuately for him he suffered terribly with seasickness; #1016 on Deck 10 forward was not the place for him when we crossed the Drake in Force 9+🙄

1 hour ago, rols said:

Two weeks to go. Now we're just waiting on our suite assignment. Hope for the best, prepare for the half-balcony is our motto! 

Rols, I like your style 😀😉

We were down from the big bridge last year on Sojourn (see Photo, red line was where we docked). It was about a 15 to 20 minute ride in the shuttle bus into the city Centre. 

This question has been answered before if you do a search on here

Seabourn uses the World Trade Centre Terminal in Barcelona, (photo) which is easy to get to and away from the mega ships in the main port.

We left the ship late last time, so we grabbed a taxi that had just dropped someone off, however there are a number of transfer co’s on the net.

Next cruise we are using Welcome Pick Ups (who appear to be a UK based company) as their price seemed very reasonable.

Second photo Odyssey behind Encore in Barcelona in July 2017

Enjoy your cruise😁

Hi victorsend,

“The only moment of entry and exit from the zodiac through really water!”

I understand that now where possible they use portable landing platforms (remember we were in the first cruise of only the second season)

The boots were “Boggs” that are insulated and very comfortable.

” Is there anywhere I can play table tennis on the ship?“

There is usually a Table Tennis table on deck 11 on Quest.

Cheers

Thank you Danish Viking for the “heads up”.

What is the best method of transport to and from Copenhagen to Koge please ?

8 hours ago, lydiamight said:

. We are quite loyal to British Airways 

Do you have BA “Miles” you could use for the flight ? We used our miles when flying one=way home from Athens after a cruise from Singapore. The “Miles” are usually a set rate per leg (just had to pay the taxes)

The two new Seabourn Expedition ships recently announced will be Ice Class 6 rated.according to this notice I received yesterday .

I couldn’t cut & paste it so I screenshot it and cropped the 4 photos, I hope it works:-

Seabourn states you have around an hour to an hour and and half, however, not once did anyone say to us that we had to head back to the Zodiacs. 

Looking at the time stamps on my photos at Neko Harbour, we left the ship just after 1pm and we were heading back at 3pm and that was more than enough time to a lot of of photos (In the 3 weeks I took over 5,000 and my wife over 2,000; take plenty of memory cards )

i even had time for a swimsuit photo shoot (I’m an all year round swimmer here in Melbourne) however permission was only given to strip off on the condition that I wouldn’t swim !

Looking at Google maps, they show Greenock West as 0.6 mile walk and Greenock Central as 0.8 mile walk, so take your pick.

9 hours ago, cruiseej said:

. Would I be able ask them to unapply the onboard booking discount from our December 2019 cruise in order to apply it to the 2021 Antarctic cruise, and would that be the right strategy?

I don’t think that Seabourn would change the booking discount, but you can’t book a cruise that hasn’t been released yet (and the ship isn’t built)

However, you just prepay your onboard booking deposit when you are onboard this December. We were caught in this situation before we went to Antarctica, I always have 2 prepaid onboard deposits (each) now in case something comes up between cruises.

Highly doubtful, you might be lucky, but I don’t think it worth the stress after a (hopefully) relaxing cruise. 

It took us about 4 hours from the ship to the airport lounge when we disembarked Encore in 2017.

We were flying Business Class, so we had Priority Passes for Security and Passport Control, however the Airport was chaotic.

I was pleased that I had booked the 5pm flight rather than the 11am.

This is a photo I snapped after take-off from BCN, you can see Encore sailing out of the Harbour (circled)

We have sailed on Quest for a total of over 100 nights now, and we have always found the crew wonderful. 

Like you, we try and sit in the same section of the Restaurant most nights so the waiters know our preferences.

Wait until you board, you never know, you may find someone even better than Ladonis. 

Great itinerary that you are doing, the cruise down the Seine from Rouen is one of our fondest memories of Seabourn (on Pride in 2011)

Have fun.

1 hour ago, Sunprince said:

So does this mean that you booked a cruise where you don’t know the itinerary or the price? How adventurous! 

Adventurous, Couragous, or maybe just plain foolish😉

However, they did stress that it was refundable

I was also asked my preference, Artic or Antarctic ?

We've done both, would prefer Galapagos.

Time will tell

I also received the email this morning, so I phoned Seabourn Australia for further information, (that wasn’t forthcoming) but they took a small deposit and made a booking for me, on the maiden voyage on a ship that has not yet been  built ! 

Weird

Not as often as we would like, but so far we have managed at least one cruise a year since we discovered Seabourn in 2010.

We live in Melbourne, Australia, so it’s over 20 hours flight time to Europe, (even nearly 8 hours to Singapore) We need to cruise for at least 20 days to make the flight worthwhile.

So far we have made a total of 19 cruises on Seabourn (mostly back-to-back) for a total of more than 250 days

The shortest was 10 days, (our first one on Seabourn) in Asia, the following year we did 28 days from Rome to Dover, the next year 36 days (our longest) from Singapore to Athens, all on “Pride”

We have cruised twice a year twice, would really like to cruise every 4 months or so.

We also have a dog and fortunately met a lady at the beach who adores our dog (and our dog adores her) she is happy to look after our dog. (We reciprecate with looking after her dog when needed)

15 hours ago, jag60uk said:

Thanks for all the replies. A lot to consider.

 

Slightly off-topic but please can those of you who did this cruise earlier in the year confirm where the Ovation docks in Ho Chi Minh City and where the shuttle bus drops you off. Trying to arrange a private tour but need to know where the guide can meet us. Thanks.

The red circle in the photo below shows where Sojourn docked last March.

I also prefer ice cream to caviar, this is the stand in Seabourn Square on Encore.