Portiamac

We embarked at Mumbai last year. Not sure if it is close to the Taj Mahal Hotel or not but we found the port area a very unpleasant place to drive through (we were on a transfer provided by Seabourn). The ship docked quite far (at least 5 mins drive) from the entrance of the port (all gated and security checked/passport control took place at the entrance). The port area was very hot and dusty, full of (what looks like) run down warehouses. It also did not look very clean. All in all a very unpleasant experience and we were driving not walking through it! The 'terminal building' itself was one of the run down warehouses. We were going to get off the ship and spent a few hours in Mumbai, but after we saw the state of the port, we decided to stay on the ship.

With the hassle of getting an India visa and the state of the port area, we will not be embarking from Mumbai again if we can avoid it.

Seabourn is not catered for children or teenagers and we quite like that. We are in our late thirties/early forties and often found we are the youngest on the ship except the crews. The most children/teenagers we have seen on a med cruise during school holidays is 1 very young child and 3 teenagers (same family). If I am honest, the teenagers often look quite bored and we feel sorry for them as Seabourn is a very relaxed, lay back cruise line. As suggested, to bring a friend for you child or an alternative cruise line might be a better solution.

Any more information on incident?

I wonder whether this happens all the time. It was very strange the Captain posting a picture and disccussing the lobsters he bought on his Facebook page on the day after the incident. May be he was just trying to lighten the mood.

We are also on the March/April Sojourn cruise. Whilst I understand Seabourn has to change the ports due to safety, I am upset that we now appears to have an extra sea day! I feel cheated! I think if they change the ports, they should still keep the number of sea days the same. They could have easily add an extra port in India or the middle east or in Greece to make up the difference!

On the numerous occasions we disembarked/embarked in Piraeus, there is always a Seabourn transfer available from the ship. We have never taken it as it works out more expensive than getting a taxi from outside the cruise terminal. We also prefer the flexibility ie. getting off the ship when we are ready. Taxi costs less than 50 Euros (about €48 on the meter, the price is 'fixed' by the authorities) and there are plenty of taxis waiting. There is also a tourist police in the taxi rank in case there is any problem. We have never had a problem getting a taxi from the Piraeus port to the airport and vice versa.

Completing the Online Guest Satisfaction Survey is very important -- not only the scores but noting specifics in the details. They are studied at the corporate headquarters.

 

We received this response to our online survey after our 1st Seabourn cruise last November (which we had rated very highly but detailed a couple of specific areas that were not positive to the overall experience.)

 

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Thank you very much for submitting your Guest Satisfaction Survey from your recent Seabourn sailing aboard the Pride. We greatly value all feedback from our guests, as it helps us to refine the Seabourn experience for all of our travelers.

 

Be assured we have noted your thoughts and opinions in full and the details you shared with us have been registered against this ship and sailing. If there is anything additional you would like to discuss or follow up on, please feel free to contact our Guest Relations team directly; you may reach us by email at guestrelations@seabourn.com or by phone at 1-800-628-2298.

 

Again, we want you to know that we truly appreciate your taking the time to provide your feedback, and we hope to have an opportunity to welcome you aboard another Seabourn sailing very soon.

Yes, we did receive this generic letter after completing the survey. What I meant is the more specific response addressing the concerns raised in the survey.

Never received any response/follow up after the survey was completed.

We missed the deadline this time and was not able to complete one as it was filtered out as Spam. Does anyone knows any other ways I can do the survey as I had some very bad experience I want them to know. At the same time, I also want to mention some excellent crew members to Seabourn.

Yes, specifically from a verandah to verandah in this case:

Is anybody sending this photo to Seabourn?

Was on the Quest in April. Unfortunately has someone that smokes staying next door. So we had a 'time share' balcony - when my neighbour was out on his balcony, we went inside and vice versa. It was a shame, other than we couldn't use our balcony whenever we want to, we also did not get to know our neighbour better who appears to be a very nice guy when we spoke to him on the last day before disembarkation.

When we enquire with customer service whether there is another cabin we can move to, she told us guests are allow to smoke at all open areas including the balcony. She also said (without prompting) the policy is clearly stated in their website. No apology, nothing. The atitude was very much of that is the policy, deal with it. Needless to say, that was not the response I expected from Seabourn!

2 days later, we were offered a paid upgrade to another cabin by the cruise specialist (?), who didn't even bother to address us by the right name. We declined the offer out of principle - if I don't want to use the balcony, I will book a cabin without one. If I have already paid for a balcony then why should I pay extra just to use it!

Would have mention this in their post cruise survey but unfortunately we missed the deadline.

Is there a name for the cruise terminal or a pier #? Or do all the major cruise ships leave from the same terminal? Having never been there before, I woud like to be able to give a specific destination to my taxi driver.

Taxi from the airport is €50. We told the taxi driver to go to the cruise port and he knows where he was going. You will be able to see the ship on the way there from a distance. The dock is near the bridge and you can see it from both sides(Asian and European). There were other ships when we were there last July, including Princess and Celebrity.

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Yes, currently they've eliminated all ports in the Ukraine, so the Seabourn Black Sea itinerary is now:

Istanbul, Turkey (sailing from)

*Nessebur, Bulgaria TR

*Varna, Bulgaria

*Constanta, Romania

*At Sea

*Sinop, Turkey

*Istanbul, Turkey (overnight)

Istanbul, Turkey

 

We live in Italy, so we're seasoned travelers and the Black Sea itinerary appealed to us but looking into the ports, it appears there's not that much to do there. We are definitely more inclined to the Athens to Venice sailing, even though we'd probably have to sacrifice having a balcony on that sailing.

 

The Seabourn cruise we're more inclined for, albeit in an oceanview suite (not veranda, bummer):

 

 

Depart

Piraeus (Athens), Greece (sailing from)

*Monemvasia, Greece TR

*Katakolon, Greece

*Parga, Greece TR

*Dubrovnik, Croatia TR

*Hvar, Croatia TR

*Ravenna (San Marino), Italy

Venice, Italy

 

Thoughts/opinions welcome. Thanks!

We have done the Black Sea (part of back to back) itinery last July/August. The weather was good. Our favourite ports were Odessa and Yalta (both very clean, very pretty and very interesting) which they are not stopping there this year. Nessebur and Sinop were ok. Constanza is a complete waste of time and a number of guests were complaining about it. Even the staffs commented it would have been better to have a sea day instead. So, may be the Black Sea itinery is better to be left for another year when they do stop at Ukraine.

We have done the Adriatic twice but have not stopped at ports you mentioned except Dubrovnik, which we find very crowded. Whilst it is pretty, most of the buildings within the walls are actually relatively new. Someone tried to sell us trips for kayaking along the coasts which sounds interesting. We will be doing that this July when we do the itinerary you mentioned.

As far as the Adriatic is concern, our favourite port is Kotor which we will be there again in July. If you do Venice to Athens instead, you will find Seabourn stops there.

What was the median age on most of these Seabourne cruises?? My mom (54) is concerned that we'll be the only "young" people on...lol :-)

I would thought 50 - 60 will be about the median age as most people we met on Seabourn tend to have retired.

First time poster here.

 

My wife and I are looking to take a 6-9 day cruise in June. Trying to find a cruise line for us. We've cruised several times before, but it's always been Caribbean. We're at a different stage in our life looking for advice on which cruise line to choose.

 

What we're looking for:

• Mediterranean cruise.
  
• Our budget is under 12k.
  
• Age - Late 30s
  
• Adults only. We have three children and are trying to have a "Get away" vacation.
  
• Large ship.
  
• Not too crowded.
  

 

I'm cross-posting this to a handful of the cruise lines we've heard about. Can any provide info for this cruise line, or suggest a better one given our criteria above?

 

Thanks!

We are in your age bracket and generally find ourselves to be the youngest guests (except the odd children, we have not seen more than 5 children on each cruise. We always travel during school holidays).

We always cruise the med because there is less flying for us and there are loads of places to see. Seabourn is very much a relaxing cruise as there is not much to do on the ship. Whilst the facilities are good for the purpose of relaxing, your daily activities (if not getting ashore) are likely to be lying around the pool, playing a bit of shuffle board/table tennis/'golf'/board games, relaxing at Seabourn Square, using the spa etc and deciding where to have dinner. If you are looking for a large ship with ice rank, surf machince, shopping, etc, this is definitely not the cruise line for you. Whilst the ship is small, it is never crowded.

We like Seabourn because we just want to have a rest from work and visit new places at our leisure. Basically to have a very lazy holiday.

p.s. Oceania and Azamara are very similar to Seabourn (activities wise) except Oceania has larger ships that accommodate 1000 guests and again never feel crowded.

I have never had a problem getting a decrease in the price if the cruise line discounts a sailing.I use a UK TA.

I suppose it might depend on how good your TA is.

I agree. I was also told by my TA, he will pass on any reduction if the price dropped. I think it is very much depends on the TA.

Booking last minute does not guarantee the best price. We often book last minute ( a month before sailing) because of work commitments and find last minute is always more expensive. So far this year, we have booked 2 cruises in March sailing in April and July. We can see the July prices has gone up a few hundred pounds already. The same happened last year, prices were much lower in advance. Booking last minute also means you have less choice on cabins and we have found some sailings were fully booked.

Seabourn offers a 5% discount if you place a future deposit whilst on board (in April, the amount quoted was £250 pp) May be that is a better way to secure a discount.

Thanks for the response. Also, I am on a different cruise, at the very end of August. There are several that stop in Marseilles.

Not sure about Sojourn but was on Oceania last April (2013) docked near the Cathedral, they have shuttle bus to town. Could see Regent's ship docked somewhere far away, presume it is the big cruise port decribed above. They also have shuttle bus to town. Very surprised Seabourn has not. Disappointed to hear that.

Just returned from the Seabourn Quest yesterday. Whilst the European cuisines (especially French) and the steaks generally are still very good and only on the rare occassions it is not, i.e. the rice in the Paella was undercooked, the Asian cusines are not. We had a Thai evening in the Colonnade, it was a bad imitation and we had to send the food back. The Chinese dishes they prepared for lunch were also as bad. I wonder whether this is because these were American style/recipies for Chinese/Thai food, therefore they tasted nothing like the ones you get in the UK? They were also nothing like the authentic item either.

We also find the fish (despite mostly are still good) but it is not as excellent as it used to be.

We generally feel the food standard has slipped a bit.

I know I'm missing something here. I can't imagine that the brand of "free" champagne available would be either a deal-breaker or worth more than about 10 minutes of my pre-cruise planning time. The only issue would be if I wanted something specific out of the ordinary and arranged well beforehand for them to stock it (possibly at additional cost to me).

 

Just wondering...

 

I am sure Seabourn will try their best to fulfil your request, as long as it's within reason. We find them generally very accomodating. We always asked for our in suite bar to be stocked with fruit juices, they have not failed yet.

By the way, we did the east med-black sea back to back on the Odyssey last year. It was lovely. I would miss Constanza though.

I have sailed with Seabourn a no. of times but was never sent any referral coupons :(

30 mins, preferably 1 hour. Too embarrassed being massage in full view in front of the other passengers. I once saw them giving a free message to a gentleman on that little space near the staircase outside restaurant 2 on the Odyssey!

We always just get a taxi from outside the terminal but may be we will try 'George' this time!

Man should always wear a shirt in the evening and preferably a jacket as well if dine in the main dining room.

We have sailed with Seabourn a few times and find their dress code pretty relax. As long as you are not wearing vests, shorts or flip flops after 6 pm, you will be fine. I wouldn't wear jeans after 6 either. What you said in your message seems fine.

Likely Port Hercule unless it's full or Grand Prix Weekend, then can be tender.

We have got taxi from the airport to the cruise port (£50) before. It was no trouble, there were plenty of them outside thw airport. On the last occasion (Oct 2013) we booked with 'A2B transfers' when we disembarked at Venice. They arrived at the arranged time. Again it costs £50. The driver was polite, the car was clean. The car was arriving at the port as we disembarked. We were able to leave straightaway whilst the other passengers were still at the port waiting for their transfers (it looks like some of them actually booked their transfer with seabourn)

I have heard someone mentioned there is a bus go straight from the airport to the cruise port which only costs £3 but we have never tried it and unlikely to as we are too paranoid of missing the ship.