2SailingNomads

I will need some additional info, but we will correspond via email not in this public thread showing your details to anyone. :)

I'd be glad to assist you, please send me an email to SailingNomads@outlook.com and I will be happy to refer you.

Nice to see the juicer, that is an improvement. Glad you are having smooth seas.

Just recently returned from Scenic and one of my biggest complaints is communication. You don't find out until the night before what time your tour starts; we had a low pax count so they alternated what restaurants were open for dinner but no advance notice of what was planned for the rotation. The crew are great but communication from the really poor web site (and all you can do is fill in flight / hotel info, contact info, etc.) Once you pick your tours you can not go back and review what you selected.

Use a VPN (as you always should when on a public WiFi) and set your server location to near where you live.

Yes it is the only PC2 class ship in the world, it is an amazing ship as far as the technology goes. Only Russian nuclear icebreakers are more powerful. Other countries ice breakers are PC3.

Ok just saw it was posted: Expert Review of Ponant's Le Commandant Charcot (cruisecritic.com)

We returned 2 weeks ago from the North Pole. Wrote a review but for some reason it hasn't posted. That was the ultimate experience but not much wild life except for that female polar bear that made us all run back to the ship... been to Greenland and Iceland multiple times and yes who ever named them was confused, each have their appeal IMO. I actually prefer Norway.

If FedEx merged with UPS it would be FedUP....

Pick up the phone and call Seabourn maybe? Get peace of mind and not wake up at 2 a.m. fretting? Just sayin

Usually the on board rep knows who we booked with and she gets a notification the next day from Seabourn. Never a problem nor with Scenic. Have not yet booked onboard with Regent but suspect similar given a conversation with the person whose contact is in every email I get from them. Seabourn does have internal sales people who multiple friends sometimes use (despite 20 cruises I never was contacted by anyone and not complaining just find it interesting people with a lot less days have been) and they compete against travel agents. Murky waters in that regard IMO

Especially from cheerleader #1 (still want to see him in his cheerleader outfit and pompoms ...) who must have nothing else to do all day but write 4000+ word responses on CC on how WONDERFUL Crystal new and old is/was.

All inclusive apparently has a different meaning in the French language. We encountered lots of upcharges. And we never were served Heidsiek even at the North Pole celebration. I am working on a forthcoming writeup of the trip, some of which was absolutely amazing and other parts disappointing.

My question exactly, I am on a vacation and so why do I have to rush for a 3 or 4 hour tour? 10 a.m. would be preferable for us. And it's true of all cruise line tours.

We have never and never will give money to bartender or any other crew hoping to get better service. We get great service for 3 reasons: it is Seabourn that is what they do; we are polite; we connect with the crew.

Please do not tip individual Seabourn crew it is included in the fare, if you wish to reward crew above and beyond what you already paid contribute to the crew welfare fund. The tender driver works as hard, but you don't know him on a personal level, as your suite attendant. Crew fund goes to all the hard working folks. And throwing money in advance to someone in anticipation of preferential service is not what Seabourn is about or at least used to be.

On Ponant they require an EKG within the last 12 months to participate.

Heading back from 90° North only 2 ships can take you there. You don't want to go on the other one. Alain Ducasse associated restaurant that has been serving up some amazing food for being on a ship. I love Seabourn but this is a different level of experience if you want to go places no one else can. Tons of PC6 class ships only 1 PC2, too bad Seabourn didn't go for PC3 level and stand out from the competition. Not disputing that Venture and Pursuit are great ships, but not ground breaking for serious experiences.

Haven't been on Venture nor Pursuit yet , currently on Le Commodant Charcot which is the ultimate expedition ship, and on this sailing offered multiple strenuous 4 1/2+ hour hikes. One of the team who has serious mountaineering credentials and leads the hikes warned people they had to be in really good shape. The white water trip we did with Seabourn when we went to Antarctica was amazing, another time on a different cruise was more like a float trip.

I believe Nelson is the longest tenured SB employee, have sailed with him many times, but he always was at the Sky Bar unless closed due to weather.

We too will be on Encore next August so maybe our paths will cross again.

On right now, no mention has been made of it. We are OK with the included offerings but very disappointed given the very expensive price of this cruise that they want to charge for certain brands that are included on other all inclusive lines. This is not IMO all inclusive. 2 white. 2 red and 1 Rose offerings pretty substandard and only included Tequila is Cuervo.

It will be interesting to see over the next few years what happens price-wise. Right now lots of pent up demand / revenge travel. Will there be as much demand in a year or 2? And lots of new product coming to the market. A few years ago I was telling multiple people IMO the number of ships coming into the expedition market was getting too large to sustain prices. Now we get a lot of good offers for expedition cruises. (Friends are currently on Scenic II - it has all of 48 pax on it's current sailing). Non-expedition luxury cruise lines have a lot of competition, Silver Sea has launched several new ships the last 4 or so years and now has the Nova and another similar sister coming on-line; Explora with 900 pax is building 6 ships. Regent has Grandeur launching in November. Lots of new beds to put bodies in... Seabourn has said no new ships (although last cruise someone who definitely would know told us there is an idea - and interesting to me - being considered) are planned. Time will tell, the luxury cruise market is a lot bigger and better than when we first sailed on the Legend, which was an incredible introduction to cruising.

And for many years after several top managers went to WindStar SB crew followed. I think more competition in the high end market means more opportunities for experienced crew to move around. To the earlier conversation, loyalty means something, itinerary means a lot, last experience on the ship matters for will I book something else or even pay for a FCC. Seabourn was our first cruise and for many years the only line we looked at. Now we no longer only look at Seabourn. Have 3 Regent cruises, over the next 2 years, booked, Laundry is certainly a nice perk, Regent 1st cruise you get it. Scenic, which we will be back on in a month and no free laundry (Scenic has other issues for me beyond laundry). Will be on Ponant in 6 days, a totally new experience. So looking forward to our Explora cruise next year, from what I have seen / read that looks like a real potential new home. Price is, of course a consideration - even for my friends who take the most expensive suite on a ship. For us the premium for the "included" tours on Regent which some are pretty decent or we might not take is NOT going to come into play. It will be the service, food, itinerary and last experience on-board that will drive our decision. If I can pay less and get a great experience, wonderful. If I can pay less and have an inferior experience than at this stage of my life I prefer to pay more. JMO and YMMV

Many went to Scenic, our cruise with them last June 80% of hotel department were ex-Seabourn. Second cruise a few months ago, not sure of the number but still high and some faces we knew from SB had joined. However, more than a few have gone elsewhere including to Regent. We also met more than a couple of former SB on Regent, including one long time bar manager who came up to me one day, totally caught me off guard and addressed me by name and said I remember you from many cruises on SB. I think the take-away is in the past SB had a lot of loyalty among the crew, now it is different. One person on Scenic told us a story about some issues SB various crew had while on the ship that I am not at liberty to repeat that I was very surprised to hear about. Suffice it to say tensions between different XXX that could manifest in various forms.