naata

As an Australian, and keen to resume cruising in the not too distant future, the issue of cancellation is high on our list.

The big issue we see, despite the Seabourn cancellation options, is the booking of supporting business flights into Europe or NA / Canada.    The 30 day cancellation offer is not much use if other air / ground transportation needs to be cancelled with uncertain refund prospects!.

I fear, regardless Seabourn, for us will be a risky option and many others depending on their location relative to the departure point of the booked cruise.    Not sure when this situation will improve and how many other prospective passengers have the same concerns as us??.

Still happy and safe cruising to all.

Have a safe trip home to the US and other parts of the world.

I have been sorry to hear of the problems with your cruise around Australia, perhaps you can all return one day to enjoy out country and also welcome you all here!.   

Zimflyer,  looks like strong bout of "Stonewalling" by Seabourn, which is not what any passenger would expect.

We have had multiple future cruise offers by mail, nice glossy ones with decent pricing!.

If Seabourn are so keen to keep up the reservation flow, I fail to understand why would they treat their cruising members in a similar avoidance manner as yourself.

We all would wish that they treat booked passengers in a sympathetic manner.          Future passengers must be keenly watching how this virus situation plays out, and in particular how Seabourn handles the current difficult situation?!.

A lot depends on it, IF they wish to keep loyal passengers booking in the future!.

Greetings Catlover.

                                    Yes you can, it's a roughly a 40% on cost.     I had a discussion at a recent Travel Show with an insurer.

You first  have to negotiate any refunds for the different components of a holiday  - Cruise, Air, Hotels and other tour packages booked.    After this the insurance provider reviews the situation regarding a refund.

There are apparently limitations as to the overall refund from the insurance, it was suggested $5-10k.    It all sounded rather iffy, and you end up at the mercy of the insurer.    

So perhaps spending $30-40k with an uncertain refund situation is not the best!!.

Refund of flights would be good, but we know that will not happen!.    My concern is, none of us knows where this world outbreak of the corona virus will take us or indeed the duration or general severity.

My general concern is IF Seabourn expects us in the current situation to keep booking, they need to strongly consider the implications for passengers when they are cancelled or have major changes in the itinerary .

In such instances, a full refund is the ideal outcome, not a future credit with short duration validity.

We would still have to deal with the other aspects of terminated bookings!.

I think the cancellation policy of Seabourn misses the mark for us Australians & New Zealand  cruisers who are on average 25% of the passenger mix.  The very nature of our more distant geographical location often involves long flights and in our case we often take a Seabourn cruise, and several associated holiday stops around Europe as part of the overall holiday.

All this involves other costly reservations and flights to make a trip to Europe worthwhile and enjoyable.

However the published current cancellation policy will not in the current turmoil induce us to book with Seabourn for a 9th voyage!.    So Seabourn, as tough as it is you need to improve your cancellation provisions, before we will book again in the current situation ..... your call!!.

Two years ago around Christmas we had a cruise to the Islands starting in New Zealand.   We made the error of booking the return flights from Adelaide  through Seabourn as a promotional offer, only a saving of around $300 below our agents price, still a saving is a saving!.

However, closer to Christmas, and shortly before final payment,  there was a price reduction of several thousand dollars, which our agent applied for.   The rub was, in cancelling and re-booking the cruise we would also be losing the total cost of flights as arranged by Seabourn. 

Then trying to re-book at Christmas would have been difficult, and we expect more costly.

So, since then we would never lock ourselves into their flight offers, keeping ones options open is much better!.

We have sailed on each class of ship, and our preference is for the Encore, lighter & brighter than the Odyssey, which was looking a bit tired and in need of a good spruce up.   The crew was/is more polished on the smaller ships, depending on the particular vessel and trip.    The Encore crew are STILL finding their way a bit to our estimation after a cruise last year, we are returning again this year in a few weeks..... will be interested to see if the crew has improved?!.

Not keen on the TK Grill, but the Japanese offering is superb as is the staff, they hit the mark on each occasion we have dined there!.

Seabourn Square, again better than the "O" class ships.

Would like to see a large change in the food offerings across all ships, there is a lack of surprise and delight, perhaps they should look at the food on Oceania line.

Four of us used SPB tours in St Petersburg 3 years ago ..... they were great, and across 4 pax it worked out cheaper than Seabourn offerings for the two day's we had them.   A nice well presented MB Van/wagon with driver and an English speaking guide who enabled us to dodge the crowds, and make chances on the run - which we did!.  As for entry permits, SPB handled all that no problem.

Just take some Roubles, for quick simple purchases.    Great city, and the locals were very happy to see us, but with Putins recent antics that may have changed a touch now!.

Floridiana, your input is appreciated, and completes the picture I was forming over the tour.   The watering hole appears to be the focal point,  and I suspect that the longer forest expedition will afford little extra immersion into the world of dragons!.    Not keen on being cooked with the hot & humid conditions, the short one seems the way to go.

21 hours ago, dalliowner said:

I quite agree, my quote was not about TA `s  but   was about Cruise companies   having different conditions for bookings in different countries. In the UK it makes no difference if you book via an agent or direct with them you loose your deposit if you cancel before final payment is due.

I suspect Seabourn has it's "cloth ears" on this situation, but it would be nice if they reviewed the situation and made some changes to booking conditions.

4 hours ago, dalliowner said:

Not all UK TA s  give a rebate in fact most do not. The  decision  to make deposit not refundable is not down to the TA but is the cruise company policy.  Some UK TA`s give a rebate where some USA TA`s give on board credit and  trips on shore and as you say you have a choice. My point was those who make multiple bookings with no intention of taking them all ,therefore restricting the choice of others.

Uniformity in booking policy would be great, but I am not sure IF the USA consumer laws allow for a reserve and no loss of deposits.   I do think Seabourn should discourage multiple bookings of cruises, as it seems to create issues with other non-USA made bookings and cabin availability. 

In order to obtain decent business flight reservations & cost, we are required often to book 6-8 months in advance and pay in full.   This from Australia tends to preclude multiple cruise destination bookings, despite that it would appear we could avoid any deposit loss IF the booking is made with a US Agent.

8 hours ago, fudgbug said:

Thanks.  I didn't read the small print and even if I had, would have felt that it was a "bait and switch" since we had just received the brochure.  Now the cost of the same category is up $2,000.

Hmm - "Bait & Switch"   that seems to be evident on all these offers that appear via the post.

Have had cruises in the past that have had two reductions prior to departure ..... some we have been granted others not.    

I understand Seabourn now has a system that manages the bookings like the airlines which is in effect a demand management process.   This is ok, but I suspect this creates the environment that is conducive to the yoyo of pricing and the infernal "conditions" that are areas of confusion or non-availability.

3 hours ago, zelker said:

 

The key to not losing your airfare, at least here in the US, is to book FlexFare, which can be changed or cancelled any time up until final payment of the cruise.  However, I "think" that if you rebook the cruise at a new fare and the air credit promo is no longer in effect, you will lose that credit AND you will lose any other perks from Seabourn that may no longer be in effect either.  Bottom line - you have to weigh the lower cruise fare against what you might lose in benefits, if anything, to see if it's worth it to rebook.  YMMV. 

Greetings Zelker,

                               The airfares booked through Seabourn were pre-Christmas ones (but made 3 months before), and any sort of Flex type fare was not available as far as I can recall.     With the Seabourn stance on cruise price drops and Seabourn booked flights we will not take that gamble again ever.

There was no changes required to the flights, they were just playing hardball.    If we had taken the cruise price drop and forfeited the flights who knows IF we could have made the Air NZ bookings again or at what cost?!.  The effective flight bonus was small and not worth the "locked in"  nature of them.     

We booked a supposed air credit through our agent with Seabourn Australia.  

The flights were with Air New Zealand, which we booked as part of the cruise ...I was not much of a bonus, around $250aud for our two tickets, still a better price than with Air NZ direct.   We suspect it was a trade/wholesale fare.

The rub was, when a substantial drop in our cruise cost was available to all, we applied for the new discount on the cruise, we had these in the past!.    The problem was, Seabourn would give us the "New" price on the cruise, but we would not be able to have ANY refund on our airfares, despite no actual change in the flights, all unchanged.

So lesson learned, the bonus flights lock you in, and any cancel and rebook at the lower cruise price will in effect have you lose the whole airfare!.

Not exactly sure IF this is the situation in the USA, but it is in Australia, and I suspect in the UK/Europe.

Thanks for the comments on Dragon tours,  it's as I expected regarding the climatic conditions.  The feedback over shopping is noted, and not an issue for us as we are not big shoppers for tourist junk, if it was high quality art pieces that would be a different matter!!.     Several nice pictures would be an adequate reward for enduring the prevailing weather. Kind Regards to all.

We will be on the Encore in April, there are short and long visits conducted by Seabourn / with local rangers in support.

It would appear that the climatic conditions are often hot & humid, so the inclination is to take the short tour, but may well take the longer one IF there is a compelling reason to do so!.

Feedback would be appreciated from past passengers who have taken one of the Komodo trips.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

In my view a TA is a real benefit, as long as they are good. I hae used ours several times in negotiating with Seabourn with a positive outcome. Go direct Seabourn or online then there are risks .. in general, with airlines, tour packages, our great agent has saved us money and aggravation!!

Seabourn is not a bogan cruise line, and has a stimulating and interesting group of passengers. The mix is around 50% from USA, 25% of Europeans/British and we follow up with the rest inclusive of our NZ friends!.

The age group sweet spot is 45 - 65, but there are others either side of that. Smart clothing is the order of the day, and a nice sports jacket / shirt and tie will not go amiss. We are about to take the 6th cruise with Seabourn and again looking forward to it, take the plunge you should enjoy it, but the bogan remains at home!.

The rest of the cruise has been smooth sailing. I am unaware of any excursions being cancelled due to the heat, and most people are mopping their brows and drinking extra water as they explore in port. The cafes are still full of people sitting outside but the shaded tables are definitely the prime spots. It was lovely on deck tonight with a light breeze.

Gaa2 - thanks so much for the update, and we wish you an enjoyable voyage for the rest of the cruise. Was preparing to stock up on Quells and some extra sunscreen!!.

Gaa2, Your report regarding sea conditions is interesting, as we take the repeat of this cruise next month !!.

Sorry to hear the passengers & crew are being cooked and shaken with the hot and wild weather. Has any of the shore tours been affected or cancelled due to the heat ?.

Thanks for any update

The comments regarding the train service from Nice to Monaco is on the money regarding taxi's at the station on arrival. We ordered one via a street phone at the station exit, after trying to flag one on street. The cabbies were just not interested!, and resorted to the street phone in the end. Last time we used the Express Bus from the Nice Airport, the nice driver set us down at a stop near the port and we rolled our cases down to the port. There might be a similar Express Bus from Nice city centre, I think there is.

Having perused a number of other cruising itineraries I notice that the small notes against some of the itineraries show 'tender operations subject to weather conditions' which knowing what we now know about Norfolk Island would probably be a more appropriate condition.

I also note that 'scenic cruising' is included as part of some itineraries showing that it could be an alterative where tendering operations are cancelled due to safety concerns.

Interesting photos thanks!, with the history of this place and it's particular historical interest to many Australians, the photo of the old buildings is great. Just a shame the 159 Australians onboard did not get to see it close up on land!.

Greetings Brisbane Gran, exactly along the lines we thought the real situation was.

After returning home and having good access to the net, one only has to Google for photos of the two piers to realise the situation for landing passengers. It appears to require dead flat seas, and close to high tide to clear the apparent sand bar across the entrance to the Kingston pier. I would suspect that the chance of having all the right conditiond aligning was about 10%, and with these odds it should not have been listed or considered as a stop. As it was, this cruise had many sea day's and with the landings at Dravuni Island and Russell in the Bay of Islands NZ also abandoned, it was a dissapointment to say the least.

In fairness to the Captain and Seabourn, the Russell cancellation was a resonable call with a very severe weather situation predicted.