Astride

I was on a Seabourn holiday cruise in the Caribbean last year. I remember a special Christmas day lunch in the Colonnade with roast turkey. It was very good. Since I only have turkey at Christmas time, I ordered it again for dinner in the MDR. It was quite disappointing. I found Christmas & New Year very laid back on Seabourn. But that's the way I like it. There were a couple of ginger bread house displays & the ship was decorated but not over the top.

I have no idea how this works. I am a loyal Seabourn Club member but have some Crystal Society points from a previous cruise. Why can't those points be converted to Seabourn Club points if Crystal Society points can be switched to Seabourn points? What's good for the gander is good for the goose. Are you listening Seabourn?

I'm all for waste reduction & saving the planet but I think cost-cutting is the motive behind this shift. Seabourn saves money by promoting a good image of itself as an environmentally friendly corporate citizen. It's a win-win situation for it.

Pardon my silliness but women can have hairy toes too.

I really miss the days when formal attire was worn on formal nights. It was a treat to see men in tuxedos for a change. They were so attractive to look at. And the ladies looked so glamorous in their floor-length gowns. You don't have to invest in a fortune to look splendid. Just a bit of taste & imagination will do it!

They look like the chocolates from Costco that we get when we get a certain score at bowling. We pay 25 cents Canadian & get one of them as a consolation. How cheap can Seabourn get?

You shouldn't have to bring your own but perhaps you should be limited to a few choices. One thing I noticed in the past was that most of the empty paper packets were blown away into the ocean when sitting at an outdoor venue. That is not good for the environment. If you bring your own paper packets, you might be contributing to the problem of items flying off the decks of cruise ships on windy days.

Did you mean aerie instead of eerie?

I do think they have Sevia but not in individual packets. The artificial sweeteners on board come in special dispensers that are terribly designed. What I did was opened them up & used a spoon to serve myself. If I remember correctly, it was the barista in Seabourn Square who suggested that I do that. I also think they will try to accommodate you if you ask for a special brand of artificial sweetener.

In-room coffee would be so nice! About 6 years ago, I was on a lenghty Crystal cruise & brought a one-cup coffee maker with me. CC did not have in-room coffee at the time & restricted the use of electrical appliances. I asked my stewardess if I was permitted to use it & she sent the ship's Chief Electrician to inspect it. He took it away to test it & later returned it telling me it was safe to use. I used it once but found it was too messy to clean up afterwards. I didn't want to mix the coffee grinds with the recycling stuff in the wastepaper basket.

You should be okay if you are still hanging out west of Anticosti Island before Saturday as I expect you would be on the Quest. I would love to know how everything turned out for you.

Hi, Wendy. I think I do remember you from that infamous cruise. Was your mother with you?

I have been on the same cruise 4 years ago. Believe me you don't want to be sailing on the western side of Newfoundland either when the waters of the Gulf of St-Lawrence push you northwards past Havre-St-Pierre towards St-Anthony's & L'Anse-au-Meadows during a storm. Experienced hurricane winds the highest on the Beaufort Scale. I & several crew members thought we were toast. I actually thought the ship was breaking up during the night. I tried to reach my closet on all fours in order to put on warm clothes in case of the need to abandon ship but couldn't reach it. Granted I was 70 years old at the time & so perhaps less agile. Everything inside my cabin rolled. My glass shower door kept banging open & shut but I couldn't reach it to put a towel against it. I opened my drapes to see what was going on outside & saw nothing but a giant wall of water hitting my patio door. The next morning breakfast was only available in one venue because of broken dishes. Never again!