southseas

In my case (we were planning to sail Saturday) it would have been:  stayed home, stayed home, waved to the UPS guy, ordered Chinese delivery as fridge was empty, made up gift basket for the cat sitter, had small breakdown over which shoes to pack, drank far too much gin, threw out expired kefir,  ordered emergency shorts from Amazon after realizing quarantine was unkind, threw every piece of jewelry in a case in a horrific jumble, did video supervised COVID test, did contactless prescription pick up, stayed home, made ‘innovative’ dinner out of few remaining fresh foods, jumped on suitcase to close, got terrible phone call, drank far too much gin while contemplating unpacking.  
 

Um, probably more detail than was needed, but I’d have been happy to provide it.

We are booked for a back to back starting Saturday and just got the call that next week at least is cancelled.  They are preparing a letter to detail our options as to what happens next.  And we will stick faithfully by SeaDream and hope they can still keep sailing.  We’ve been socially isolating in a tiny bubble of two people basically since March and if we don’t get out of this house soon something is going to crack. 
 

I am wishing with all of my heart for SeaDream to pull through this, as well as the islands which so desperately need tourism to survive.  Disappointed but optimistic!

I am really happy to hear this—after our last cruise in the fall I commented that they should promote Frud.  Glad to see great crew members being rewarded!

Hello, oh miss, I was there with you, to help you recognize, I was part of the designated puzzle bunch plus Cats/Lion King for Halloween I’m the makeup artist, you?

We are so shocked and saddened to hear this. For us, Nikola WAS Sea Dream, everything good about it.

We’ll be there! The French guy and I plus Cousin Julie & Bill for those who remember us from the TOY and piano bars, backgammon, puzzles, trivia, etc. :).

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Dear Mr. Hum, we are now halfway through the cruise and with the most diligent of detective work we have finally identified your friends! Given the clue that they might need to be brought out of their shell I have terrorized every shy couple on board, forcing several of them to join us for drinks/dinner. Finally, in desperation I resorted to accosting every British passenger intil I ran across a gentleman named Paul, who promised to introduce us but warned that Russel was a short, ill-tempered fellow with an eye patch and a bad attitude. Today I again confronted Paul who said he feared to introduce us unless I left all my valuables in the safe and wore a chastity belt! Undaunted, I invoked the power of the hotel manager, Pierre, who promised an introduction. But lo and behold, Paul met us at lunch today and introduced us to the very couple we've been happily chatting with at dinner, poolside, etc. methinks the Hums perhaps have a different definition of shy??? But all is well, we've acquired any number of new friends, and we adore the crew of SDI.

Southseas, are you staying on until Barcelona? That's where we board. Haven't been on SDI for over a year. Last two sailings were on SDII, where we got to meet ho-hum and Blondie (as will as Jim and Lois). So it was worth "jumping ship." Please let us know what crew members are on board. We've done many sailings on SDI and love the crew. I'm sure you will, too.

Zimmerman, I apologize for the confusion, no we will be taking the return crossing from Barcelona on SDII but alas, due to some silly thing called job or work or something we can't stay onboard until then. Woe. ;)

Will do on the crew report!

Dear Mr. Hum et al, it is with some trepidation that I report that--traitors that we are--we are about to board the Sea Dream I for a crossing. After ~10 years of exclusively voyaging on SDII we fear we will know neither crew nor passengers. However, to make up for our lapse we plan to christen the TOY bar with a toast of pink gin in Hum & Blondie's honor immediately upon checking in. With hopes for Barcelona,

Southseas & the French guy

"Piece will come, piece will come"

Hum's "piece" (posts) will be a comin' ...... patience dear.

Yes Hum knows it's so darn difficult.

 

Hum has caused many to fall into all manner of depravity and degradation !

Oh and the shady characters that post around these parts ...... well you wouldn't want to meet them down a dark alley late at night that's all Hum would say !

 

So the simple addition of a splash (or two) of "Angostura Bitter" to G&T doesn't exactly rate as introducing you to a life of corruption (addiction ..... yes, quite probably !).

 

Explanation submitted for your re-consideration and hopefully accepted.

It's a beautiful drink.

 

By the way.

Another tipple to experiment with is "French 75" if you like your champagne with a zesty "backbone" (gin is used).

Very refreshing !

Is there no end to this Sea Dream debauchery!? Why, I NEVER! Please excuse while I go search in my jewelry box for some pearls to clutch.

French 75, you say??

Dear Mr. Ho-Hum, I am excited to hear about your new literary adventures but I have a bone to pick with you: you introduced my husband to 'pink gin' on the last crossing and now I can't stop drinking it.

Explain yourself, sir!

Gosh, we were on SDII during those infamous 30-foot waves! My husband wasn't bothered but I was down for the count until I got some pills and a cup of broth in my cabin. We always try to book a mid-ship cabin on Deck 2 for the least amount of rock and roll. The Bonine is a great idea (haven't needed it since but now I never cruise without it) and the candied ginger served just outside the main dining room is very helpful for settling your stomach as well.

Wow! Never have we felt pressured to tip on SD though we always give to the crew fund and tip the spa staff (I've always thought that since the time of the spa staff member was dedicated to me exclusively during a booked service that was only fair.) I would be very disappointed to experience that type of attitude on SD. I hate the whole awkward business of passing out envelopes or wads of cash and the implied 'snubbing' of any of the behind the scenes crew members who also work extremely hard. One of the very reasons we chose SD was that we felt that we would rather pay an all-inclusive no-tipping fare upfront and trust that the crew was being well-paid and well-treated.

I would rather see the fares raised and the crew compensation increased accordingly than to have to deal with all that tipping nonsense. Yes, I really would. SeaDream isn't a budget line, after all! I have an equal horror of hurting anyone's feelings and of waving around cash trying to look like a big-shot at the end of the cruise. Yuck!

Gosh. Well, here we are, about to take our annual SeaDream cruise and I come across this thread about unruly children/teens. We did have an issue on our very first SD trip with families overrunning the yacht, but we quickly figured out not to book on major school holidays, problem solved. I really wish people would not book lines that have NO activities for children when they have children, but if they do--how about saying something directly to the parents/kids? Perhaps I am biased, the last long voyage we had there was one 13 year old there with her mom, she was absolutely FANTASTIC to cruise with. There were adults on the cruise behaving badly (throwing their drinks into the hot tub, etc.) but the lone 'kid' was a rockstar. Anyway, we'll be on the crossing at the end of October, we'll likely be playing board games in the library or avoiding trivia for dear life, please say hello!

Back from a wondrous trip, tired, happy and in awe of the places we went. I will start a separate thread soon to post about some of our experiences (and I hope others who were onboard will contribute!) There were of course a few glitches but overall my bottom line is that this trip is not to be missed.

P.S. There were no kids onboard, and they would have been mind-numbingly bored if they had been.

P.P.S. I did meet the drop-dead gorgeous Varvara and her husband on board: very nice & funny people! :)

Whatnot, I will be happy to post notes about our trip! I'm not much one for spending time on a computer while I'm on a trip but I am going to keep a travel journal and will post when I get back. :)

I wrote an extensive journal on our last Caribbean trip including a hike we took up to the top of Saba (one of THE highlights of that cruise) but somehow never got around to posting it. The Saba hike is not for the faint of heart (we're not fitness fanatics, but that wasn't the problem, it was my lack of foresight in not wearing moisture wicking fabrics and footwear with better grip to the soles when we were essentially climbing straight up a mountain in a rainforest--I was literally *wringing* out my Tilley hat by the time we got to the summit!) but it was SO worth it once we got to the top and saw all of the island, the villages, the forests and the harbor laid out like so many jewels on a cloth.

We're kind of oddballs-when the yacht arrives at an island and everyone goes to the beach we'll sometimes find a local cabbie and go to the downtown and look around, and one of the walks we did on a very undeveloped island that a lot of people didn't like because it was kind of 'rough' with untrimmed paths, etc. we loved because we went through a little wood where there were hermit crabs roaming around everywhere, etc. What I mean to say is that sometimes we like things that might not appeal to everyone but I will happily write up our experiences & I expect this time we'll stay a lot closer to the usual destinations because this is our first time in Asia. Mine, anyway.

P.S. I previously wrote that my husband got extremely ill from food he ate in Singapore--turns out I had my locations mixed and he was actually in the Philippines. I don't know how I made that mistake but I wanted to correct my misunderstanding!

Hmmm, I guess it's a good thing we decided against the slum tour, then! ;) We're doing a car tour with a very experienced guide, and while markets will be included they won't be the entire focus. I am also interested in the Kala Ghoda arts district so we are including that as part of the tour. We've done a bit of adventure travel--the Galapagos, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, downtown Atlanta, etc.--and try to just go with the flow. I'm sure we will experience a good bit of culture shock, and we can't wait! :)

Singapore seems very promising to us, too! I was tickled to read about how safe the food stalls are--we plan to be a bit culinarily cautious in Mumbai and to go hog wild so to speak in Singapore. We've been reading up a bit on the history of Singapore and are very interested to experience it.

Our experience with Sea Dream shore excursions has been overall very positive--we find that they pay attention to details and try to personalize the experience as much as possible. We are particularly interested in the spice farm and elephant orphanage visit, but as always, whether shore excursions go forward or not will depend on how many people sign up. We wish we could spend more time in Sri Lanka, too. As this will be our first visit to these countries, we are interested in getting a 'taste' of the culture, etc. that will help guide future travels. And to be honest, we also booked this particular trip because there will be several sea days--we find that the attentive service and intimate surroundings of the yacht are one of the best parts of any cruise with Sea Dream. (I am not a PR person for the company, really, I'm not!) Anyway, as long as we have good books, interesting people to talk to, cold beverages and a place to relax we're pretty happy.

Looking forward to meeting you onboard!

Varvara, we will look forward to meeting you! We'll be the bespectacled couple with accents (one Southern U.S. and one French.) Would love to get your thoughts on the offered shore excursions.

Hi, folks! Thanks for your responses. :) Yes, our travel doctor advised us to to use a Deet-based mosquito repellant even though we will be taking anti-malarials. (To our utter amazement, our normal health insurance covered these at a $10 pp co-pay, color me shocked!) We'll be in Mumbai for two days before our cruise and in Singapore for ~1 1/2 days post-cruise. For Mumbai, my personal objectives are just to go to as many markets/absorb as much local color as possible. We are looking into local guides for this, possibly through our hotel. I have not been to Singapore but my husband has (for work.) He went out for dinner with co-workers and ended up with such severe food-poisoning that he had to have a doctor come to his hotel, and afterwards a duty-nurse and an IV! (Most of this was ALSO covered by our health insurance, though the costs were ridiculously low.) Nevertheless, we will soak up as much local culture/cuisine as possible. :)

We already know that SeaDream will take awesomely good care of us once we are on board, I just wondered about those pre- and post-cruise times during which we will be on our own. I guess this worry has been exacerbated a bit by the recent events in Kenya (and knowing that Mumbai has been a terrorist target in the past) but you know what, we intend to enjoy ourselves and the cultures we are visiting without regard to crazy extremists who do not represent them for the most part.

Yikes! I'm sorry your cruise was spoiled like that. :( I'll never understand why parents drag young kids on a ship like Sea Dream that has NO facilities for them. Bored kids act up, especially if the parents aren't, you know, parenting.

Hmmm, maybe the thing to do is if you ever find a child unattended go straight to the bridge and report it, citing safety concerns, e.g. kid drowning in the pool, kid falling overboard, etc. I bet if the parents had to have the kid buckled to their sides the whole cruise they wouldn't be so eager to bring them along!

Hello, all! We are booked on SDII for the above cruise and after getting all the required vaccinations, meds (including anti-malarials, which were actually covered by our health insurance much to our shock) & visas this is beginning to feel real. We are extremely excited about this cruise and are trying to plan to pack as lightly as possible while still being prepared for the weather and respectful of cultural dress requirements.

Is anyone cruising with us? Does anyone have any advice for Asia travel? This will be my first trip to Asia.