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Seabourn advertising that there is room on Ovation for all summer voyages


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I just ran across this article: http://robbreport.com/travel/destinations/seabourn-launches-new-ultra-luxury-cruise-ship-ovation-2792089/ about the Ovation which states that there is still room to book all summer voyages on the Ovation this summer. We are joining on June 9th--it will be interesting to see if the ship is full---or not.

 

By the way, the article is incorrect in one aspect. The first leg of our voyage is 14 days---not a seven day voyage as the article states.

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Are you sure they haven't divided the 14 day into two 7 day cruises?

well if they have it doesn't reflect on the seabourn booking website which shows that as a 14 day voyage

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  • 2 months later...

Has anyone wondered why most cruise itineraries are in increments of 7 days? Cruise lines don't usually offer discrete "events" - they operate one continuous cruise between overhauls. The intervals -usually in multiples of 7 - are determined / designed by the spans between feasible ports of embarkation / debarkation. As a novice, I hadn't realized that our upcoming 21-day Ovation cruise wouldn't have the same passenger list between Stockholm and Copenhagen - until I discovered others who are booked on shorter segments of our itinerary. So, when we start our tour on 7/28, we won't be fighting 598 other passengers trying to board, but only those getting on in the same numbers as those getting off after completing voyages of 7, 14 or ?? That's a good thing for group management. And, the ship is certainly too big to get to know everyone as neighbors in two weeks, anyway. It seems somewhat presumptuous to deny the cruise line and its patrons the flexibility to mix trips of 7-days and longer durations - not everyone wants or needs that same 14 days as asserted here.

 

BTW, although the Ovation is only our second cruise and the first was in a HA Amsterdam penthouse suite 15 years ago, we're going out again in Feb 2019 on the Quest - 42 days (divide by our increment of 7 = 6 weeks even) from Santiago, Chile, to Manaus, Brazil. This may be an "event" cruise due to the limited ports of call (none on Antarctica, as I recall) for much of the trip, but I can see how the itinerary with the 7-day multiples stages the ship for spring in the Med. :cool::cool::cool::cool:

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The disappointing thing for me is that the passengers on 7 day segments are "short timers" and are not the same in terms of sociability and friendliness as those who are traveling on a continuous 14 day or longer cruise. I will be interested in the views of others

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Hmmm, so this is the criterion you have chosen to determine "sociability" and "friendliness" of your fellow passengers? Well, sorry to say, my cut-off is those making at least a 15-day cruise - that makes you a "short timer" persona-non-gratis on our voyage. It takes more than 14 days to display your value as a potentially-interesting and congenial ship-mate. But, you will easily qualify for our interest by joining our 42-day cruise next February! (But, I strongly suspect we still wouldn't become friends.)

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Oh come on spyder3010, I am only reporting what I experienced! My conjecture is that people onboard for 7 days are not looking to meet others and are often in a group. We were on a 21 day voyage and found the 7 day leg to be different. I hope to report honesty what I experienced. No snobbery here--just a report. Considering your off the cuff comment, I agree with you--we would probably not be friends.

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Never implied " snobbery" - just noting an extremely arbitrary assessment of people's nature based on how long they were able to cruise at that moment in life. It would be fun on even a "small" ship of 600 to watch you sort all the passengers by the length of their cruise! And, more importantly, that's not the way this industry works - what disappointed you on your 21-day cruise will disappoint you on this next and most subsequent cruises. That's the point.

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I did not set out to sort passengers on the length of their cruise--I am merely reporting an experience--and one that has been reported by others. We loved our 21 day cruise--all of it--no disappointments on our voyage. But, we did notice a difference in the passengers of the last 7 days. Maybe you will find something different or maybe not.

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It seems strange to me to judge people based on the length of their time on-board. As Spyder3010 notes, the ship really is a series of back to back cruises, one picks some # of days which might be a single segment or multiple segments. To say those who are only on for a short segment are in a group or are not as friendly does not make too much sense nor jibe with the reality I have experienced. While the average length of our time on board is about 22 days per cruise, we have done a couple of 7 day cruises due to time constraints. The last 7 day one we did resulted in us being long-term friends with more than a few people - including a few regular posters on this board. I fail to understand how the length of time on-board equates to the level of friendliness and social interactions one has with their fellow passengers.

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it might be on longer cruises there are usually more sea days - so more relaxed opportunities to meet fellow travellers.

 

as in when in port every day - back to cabin - get dressed for dinner- you may not have time to meet fellow travellers in a relaxed way....and the timings mean you spend more time just with your travel group/companion...

 

i suppose i have found if people want to engage they engage .... but sea days give more opportunities..

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Oh come on spyder3010, I am only reporting what I experienced! My conjecture is that people onboard for 7 days are not looking to meet others and are often in a group. We were on a 21 day voyage and found the 7 day leg to be different. I hope to report honesty what I experienced. No snobbery here--just a report. Considering your off the cuff comment, I agree with you--we would probably not be friends.

 

 

I have to agree with Spyder...thats a very odd statement. We cant do long cruises, we have dogs at home and cant leave them with a sitter for more than 2 weeks total travel time. So our limit is about 10-12 days cruising. We are very social people and we dont travel in a group. And I dont think we are an anomaly. You’re painting that canvas with an exceptionally broad brush...

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Brand new future Seabourn cruiser here! We've cruised a few times on NCL in the Haven and are ready to make the move to a luxury line (now that we caught the cruising bug). We'll be joining the Odyssey in March 2020 on their 14-night Exotic Caribbean in-depth cruise. Looking at the cruise availability in March 2020, it seems like our cruise will have the same situation ... two separate 7-days with different names (seemingly based on sailing direction) and even another 14-night cruise (called the Caribbean Gems In-Depth). The only difference between the two 14-night cruises is that ours is closed loop out of Barbados and the Gems in Depth is closed loop out of St. Maarten.

 

So, apparently, the ship will be in a constant state of turnover every 7 nights from Jan-Mar 2020 . . . some people on a 7-night and some people on different legs of a 14 night. I'm sure we'll have a great time and look forward to meeting many fellow cruisers from all walks of life, but I do have a question about ship events/activities. Will we just end up with the same options 2x, with the same parties, same events or do they vary events, parties etc to take into account those of us on a 14-night itinerary?

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I apologize for offending some of you with my comment about 7 day voyages. Before our last trip on Ovation, we had not experienced a change of passengers on a voyage. Since we just returned a few short weeks ago, the experience is still fresh on my mind. Perhaps I should have put it this way---I could see a definite difference in the 14 days leg of our trip and the 7 day leg. This is not meant to criticize those who chose the 7 day leg. I met some very engaging and friendly people among the passengers. My point was (or should have been) that often groups (family groups of 10-15 and similar friend groups) choose to take a 7 day sailing and that the presence of so many of these groups tends to change the character of the voyage. I noticed this as did quite a few others. I even asked one of the entertainers if she thought there was a difference--and she said she definitely did. EVERYONE was still have fun---I just preferred the feeling of the 14 days leg to the 7 day. YMMV.

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I have to agree with Spyder...thats a very odd statement. We cant do long cruises, we have dogs at home and cant leave them with a sitter for more than 2 weeks total travel time. So our limit is about 10-12 days cruising. We are very social people and we dont travel in a group. And I dont think we are an anomaly. You’re painting that canvas with an exceptionally broad brush...

 

We in turn, would agree with you - we also have animals at home, so always lament the lack of 11/12 day cruises as we are so often stuck with only a 7 day option, which we do not like nearly as much. I would so like to be able to cruise for 14+ days as 7 days is far too short. If we ever do see an 11 day cruise however we snap it up - those extra few nights make such a difference. That said however, we are still in touch with a number of friends we have made on 7 day cruises so perhaps all is not lost.

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I've taken a couple of 7 day cruises on Seabourn, necessary due to work commitments at a time when I was unable to have a longer holiday.

One of those was sold as a stand alone 7 day cruise, there may have been guests on a B2B on that cruise but the week before was a mirror image cruise as was the following week so fairly unlikely.

The other one was the first 7 days of a cruise sold as both 7 and 14 days.

Each of those cruises I found very enjoyable but there was something different about them compared to the longer SB cruises that I've taken. The ambience onboard does seem to be better on longer cruises. The 7 day cruises I took were both port intensive and had a more frenetic feeling to them. Tougher on the crew also!

(I also did a couple of 7 day cruises on Silversea and noticed the same)

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We in turn, would agree with you - we also have animals at home, so always lament the lack of 11/12 day cruises as we are so often stuck with only a 7 day option, which we do not like nearly as much. I would so like to be able to cruise for 14+ days as 7 days is far too short. If we ever do see an 11 day cruise however we snap it up - those extra few nights make such a difference. That said however, we are still in touch with a number of friends we have made on 7 day cruises so perhaps all is not lost.

 

 

We agree totally....10/11 days is sweet spot for us. 7 a bit too short, 14 a bit too long...hmm...this sounds vaguely familiar...Goldilocks and the 3 bears..lol

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And yet the most “difficult” pax we’ve ever encountered were those on a world cruise segment who seemed to regard the whole ship as their personal domain and woe betide anyone foolish enough to sit on “their” barstool or poolside lounger. They formed an airtight, usually hostile little clique and even a friendly “good morning” was met with icy (aka rude) distain. It pretty much ruined the whole trip.

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And yet the most “difficult” pax we’ve ever encountered were those on a world cruise segment who seemed to regard the whole ship as their personal domain and woe betide anyone foolish enough to sit on “their” barstool or poolside lounger. They formed an airtight, usually hostile little clique and even a friendly “good morning” was met with icy (aka rude) distain. It pretty much ruined the whole trip.

 

 

 

Was that on Seabourn or another line?? Just curious.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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We agree totally....10/11 days is sweet spot for us. 7 a bit too short, 14 a bit too long...hmm...this sounds vaguely familiar...Goldilocks and the 3 bears..lol

 

Totally agree with you totally Tarwood.

 

As for the comment about people being sociable or not on 7 day cruises, rubbish. Some of us have businesses we cannot leave for longer durations, each cruise is like pot luck as to who you may be travelling with, and some crowds are far more akin than others. It would be just as easy to encounter unsociable or rude people on a world cruise than on a short cruise, and much worse as you cannot get away from them on sea days!

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You all are so correct in saying that each cruise is like a potluck! I did not mean to disparage in any way those who choose to cruise for 7 days. My comment could have been better made to reflect that it was the number of groups on the 7 day segment that made that leg have a different vibe. As I said before, the groups ranged from 7 to 15 people each and while they could be quite insular, they also affected excursions as they travelled together as a group--and made comments to the guides about what they did or did not want to see--disregarding the rest of us who had signed up and wanted to see what was described in the excursion description. As the seven days progressed, more and more of the passengers from the 14 day leg of the voyage starting asking us if we had noticed a different vibe on this segment. Everyone was noticing it--not just me and my husband. At the same time, we met some delightful passengers on this leg, but they were harder to find in and among the various groups.

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Totally agree with you totally Tarwood.

 

As for the comment about people being sociable or not on 7 day cruises, rubbish. Some of us have businesses we cannot leave for longer durations, each cruise is like pot luck as to who you may be travelling with, and some crowds are far more akin than others. It would be just as easy to encounter unsociable or rude people on a world cruise than on a short cruise, and much worse as you cannot get away from them on sea days!

 

Agreed...so funny how one cruise on the same line can be super friendly and fun and everyone just seems to get along really well....real commaraderie and the next can feel like no one is interested in being social...Makes each one an adventure. Also goes to show you that you cant judge a cruise line based off one experience...

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