Bostonactor

Thank you to all who responded. Your opinions and suggestions were and are very helpful. We booked a club marina view room at The Fullerton and can't wait for our Singapore experience, not to mention the cruise on the Encore, our 5th Seabourn cruise, but our first in their newer, larger class. Thanks again.

I am hoping the Seabourn regulars here can help out, as previous hotel recommendations you suggested in the past were excellent. We have finally booked the cruise we've been intending to take for years: Singapore to Dubai, departing March, 2018. After much deliberation, we have narrowed our choice of pre-cruise hotels to the Fullerton (not the Fullerton Bay) and the Mandarin Oriental, both in the Marina area. They both look terrific. We need help from people who have "been there, done that." We will be in Singapore for 3 nights and 2 full days before we embark, so feel free to suggest any sights, activities or restaurants that you think we should not miss.Thank you.

We boarded in Lisbon this spring. i don't know what you mean by "free for all." It sounds like pushing and shoving, which is something we have not experienced on Seabourn. i believe we left our hotel in Lisbon shortly before noon and were greeted at the port by Seabourn representatives. Our luggage was whisked away. We were offered cold drinks and ushered onboard. There is no more cumbersome picture taking. They took our passports and didn't need to see our e-tickets or any other documentation. We just filled out the usual health form. They escorted us to the elevator and sent us to the Colonnade for lunch, saying there would be an announcement when the suites were ready. That happened at around 2:00, I think, when we were having mini-massages on the pool deck. It could not have gone more smoothly.

Having just come off the Quest (our 4th Seabourn cruise) in May, I can assure you that everything is as good or better than before and certainly in the luxury category.

I don't believe all this. We recently left 2 weeks on the Quest, Lisbon to Copenhagen. Dress was virtually all over the place in terms of style. Generally casual in the Colonnade. Very few men wearing tuxedos on formal optional night….most wearing a dark suit and dress shirt plus tie or jacket (light or dark) with slacks plus shirt and tie. Some omitted the tie. All other nights, men came into the main ding room wearing anything from slacks with jacket and tie (presumably because they just felt like it) to slacks with a sweater. We saw several men wearing jeans, yes JEANS, with just a shirt or sweater….in the MAIN DINING ROOM. Everyone was seated. Nobody died. Get a grip.

We were also on the Quest, Lisbon to Copenhagen. Right after the invitation-only "soft" opening of the TK Grill, it was shut again because, apparently, the kitchen was not quite up to TK''s specifications. Lots of hammering going on the final few days. We did happen to dine with 2 ship's officers the following night, who said that the theme of the new TK grill is USA i950's DINER and that it will offer only the finest and freshest ingredients. No mention of "family-style" dining, helping yourself from a platter. Perhaps that will continue in the Colonnade. We never did get to dine in the Colonnade, which had this style of service on TK nights, because the menu did not particularly appeal to us. I am not a lover of hamburgers, but my husband had the TK burger twice at the Patio Grill, thought it was great, and we both got to try the TK hot dog, which we found to be very tasty, but I thought it was more like a spicy sausage and it gave me indigestion.

The best indication of a real change in Seabourn cuisine, I think, it that about every second night, in the main dining room there was a loose TK menu page inserted in the menu. You could try the whole dinner or mix and match courses from it with that night's offerings on the menu. We tried many of those dishes and thought that some of them were tasty and beautifully presented and others were just plain weird. A caviar starter is outstanding. However, I ordered a loin of lamb, rare, that came gray and overcooked, wrapped in a smooth caul of fat…really unappetizing. A "pave" of swordfish, whatever that is, was delicious, sitting on a bed of pureed roasted tomatoes; there was some kind of very fine, crunchy, caviar-like black stuff sprinkled on top. Another dish of grilled lobster on risotto was fabulous….not frozen lobster, but real Maine-type lobster, like what we get at home. In general, we thought the food was better than on our previous cruises and the service just as wonderful. Contrary to what someone else on this thread has said, I tried a cosmopolitan in the Observation Bar and found it to be undrinkable….far too sweet.

They are now serving martinis in 1950's-era wide champagne glasses, which we hated. No matter how many times we asked that they serve them to us in a regular old V-shaped glass, it never happened. We gave up sending them back and it became a running joke.

It was a gorgeous cruise: 14 straight days of warm and sunny weather and a great itinerary, with the possible exception of Fredericia, Denmark, which was neither beautiful nor interesting, although the town turned out to welcome us.

We can't wait to do it again and I'm already looking forward to seeing the 2018 itineraries.

We returned from 2-week Quest cruise last week. I can assure everyone that caviar is available in the Observation Bar, your suite, or at dinner. We ordered it, without prior notice, at least 6 times, mostly in the dining room, and we never had to wait more than 10 minutes, usually less. I hope there is some left for you.

We are looking forward to meeting Tk (or, at least, a TK sighting) and being among the first to sample the fare in the grill. I am a bit concerned about the difficulty of getting a reservation for this new restaurant 2. Will report back in late May.

As you put down Mel from London, who "LERVES" this activity, please keep in mind that some could as easily make an ugly stereotype out of a snob from London. Hasn't the world had enough of this? Stay in your suite or go to the Observation Bar. Who cares. The real question is why you feel the need to denigrate others who might enjoy something you dislike.

In our experience, everything was pressed, every time, even my husband's undershorts and T shirts. Dress shirts and blouses are beautifully ironed and hung in the closet, Everything else is folded and packed in a tissue-lined basket. It's worth every penny because I'm on vacation. The only things I wash out by hand are my delicate undergarments and that just takes a couple of minutes. My one experience with trying to use the washing machine and dryer on board was a disaster. Machines were out of order, wet and dry clothes were piled everywhere, and the people I talked with were justifiably cranky.

I think what's surprising here is that the cruise I am referring too (and I believe pdx13 is referring to as well) is not the in Med. It is the sole cruise that Seabourn does each spring up the western coast of Europe. It is hard for me to believe that this did not sell out…..a great itinerary. The only thing I would do differently is swap Rouen for Bordeaux, which had been the major French port on their itinerary in previous years.

Our TA recently noticed the additional price drop and was able to negotiate some on-board credit with Seabourn. Not the same as saving literally thousands of dollars had we waited until today to book the same cruise. The advantage we have is knowing the exact location of our veranda suite…..important because we like mid-ship. Also, we would have missed the business class seats we were able to obtain with miles, many months ago. So…. all things are relative.

First, are you sure you have the right board? The transatlantic this year leaves April 10 from Ft Lauderdale and goes to Barcelona. Next year, I believe it departs April 15 from Barbados and, indeed, goes to Monaco after stops in Funchal, Barcelona and Marseille. More on that….

Second, I will try to answer your question about on-board expenses, which, since everything but laundry is included in the price of your cruise, will be entirely up to you. Laundry is $50 per bag or you can do your own. You can spend extra for "fine" wines, spa treatments or go crazy in the casino……. as you choose. Shore excursions for ports of call will be listed with their prices about 6 months before the cruise. You can purchase them then, so it's possible to know pretty much what the total cost will be long before you leave home. The real unknown is what are you intending to spend in Barbados and Monaco, on the before and after? For us, that's what really adds to the cost.

I find it hard to believe as well. Which ship is sailing the Med? Northern Europe?

We'll be on board, but have already booked Seabourn excursions, mostly because they are all-day ones and we don't want to risk being late back to port and hence, missing the boat. On other days, we'll enjoy wandering on our own, having lunch in town. Good luck with roll call.

Seabourn twice adjusted the price for us prior to final payment……probably a month prior. I saw the lower price and notified my TA who was able to get the lower price. It is my understanding that there is no adjustment to the price after you make final payment. There is a recent thread on this topic. Scroll down to "the fare went down. What did Seabourn do for you?"

I am in total agreement with Chairsin. We book midship deck 5 now and have had no issue with ship motion, even in hurricane conditions. Mid-ship deck 6 is an excellent location as well. We booked a GTY once on the small Legend, taking a chance because we were sailing in the Caribbean. We ended up with a mid-ship suite on deck 5 and were lucky with the weather, but decided not to risk it again. To us, the saving was not worth the worry.

Try a different browser. I was not able to see all excursions on Safari, called Seabourn and they suggested I switch to another browser, saying they are not fully compatible with Safari. I switched to Firefox and it worked with the Seabourn site; there was the excursion I was looking for. While I was on the phone with them, however, I booked over the phone. It took only a few minutes and the person I spoke with was very professional and competent. Hope this helps.

We will be staying at the Avenida Palace pre- cruise this April, based on the recommendation of friends who thought it was wonderful. They loved the service, the location, the room, the breakfast and, in particular, the bar.

We have twice received the lowered price, both between 90 and 120 days before sail date, definitely before final payment is due. You have to keep an eye on the your particular sailing and alert your travel agent.

Marazul, very different, both in taste and texture. The Morbier is a cow's milk. It is, although still fairly soft, a much firmer and more yellow cheese than the Humboldt Fog, and it is "buttery" in flavor…..not sharp. The Humboldt Fog is a goat's milk cheese…...very creamy, especially toward the center, when ripe. Although you can use it in a salad, I find the texture to be somewhat like a triple creme, and so I especially like it as a dessert cheese. It does not, however, get runny when ripe, as do some of the double and triple cremes. Really delicious with pears. Hope this helps.

I'm honestly not being difficult; I just don't see the irony, which to me, would be if the identical cheese or near-identical cheese were available in France. But it is all semantics. In the end, the important thing is a great cheese. I am suddenly hungry for the Morbier we have in the fridge.

Chairsin, I disagree. It is quite unlike any cheese we have had in France or imported from France, and we are there often. If they don't charge an arm and a leg to ship it, why not? Or try perhaps try to get your local grocer to get it for you?

Humboldt Fog is one of our favorite cheese and readily available at fine food shops in the Boston area. I went online to the California maker, cyressgrovechevredotcom, and went through the steps as if to purchase. It looks like they ship to the UK, although they also say that they ship only by FedEx Overnight, so I'm not sure what the process is for long-distance. You can call or e-mail them. This cheese keeps very well, refrigerated and loosely wrapped. I took it to my in-laws, with several outstanding cheeses, for Christmas, and it was gone in a flash.

We have always avoided the "precious" restaurants with celebrity chefs. After reading this review, I don't have high hopes for the direction Seabourn is taking. Ultimately, a name means nothing. There was a terrific German chef on our Med. cruise about 4 years ago. He had owned a 1-star Michelin restaurant in Hamburg…. a quiet man with really good intuition about food. As much as he could deviate from the "plan" he did. It was a particular pleasure to go shopping with him, which we did twice. They should have given him the reins. Based on my experience, the one-star chefs are the people who really, really work hard to show their stuff, putting terrific food on your plate, and with real care. The 2-stars are looking for the 3rd star, and the 3-star have become complacent and arrogant. Daniel Boulud's restaurant in NY is where we had the most expensive and one of the worst meals of our lives, not to mention the overall experience. We waited over an hour for our table, so they offered us a glass of champagne, and then they charged us for it! They actually, physically, moved our table, causing the water glasses to tip over and the contents to spill in our laps. Not a single apology. Quite the reverse, the waiter said it was our fault because my foot was in the way. Where was the NYTimes that night?