First Cruise with Seabourn

[catskier]

Thanks for the tip, I just emailed my TA. I saw the cabin next to me is available for 1000 less pp! Of course she is out of the office today. We shall see too. Looks like the ship is pretty booked. We locked down in May, as it looked like it was filling up fast.

Again departing Monte Carlo April 23rd.

Did not see you on roll call. When I looked a couple days ago, no one was on that departure date. We leave in Lisbon.

[pdx13]

Thanks for the tip, I just emailed my TA. I saw the cabin next to me is available for 1000 less pp! Of course she is out of the office today. We shall see too. Looks like the ship is pretty booked. We locked down in May, as it looked like it was filling up fast.

Again departing Monte Carlo April 23rd.

Did not see you on roll call. When I looked a couple days ago, no one was on that departure date. We leave in Lisbon.

 

I will be very interested in hearing how this turns out for you. It is a little frustrating that Seabourn would announce such a significant price reduction four days into the penalty period then not honor the reduction for those who booked early. This is the first time I have experienced this. For us the difference is $5k. An upgrade offer is little consolation unless Seabpurn wants to put us in a penthouse as we are fine with any veranda. Location is not an important consideration for us.

[Bostonactor]

Our TA sent us the statement for the new price Dec. 30, or at least that is the date on it. This does seem terribly unfair, for you, since final payment is not due until Jan. 31st. I had thought that they honor price drops until final payment date. My best guess is that they have been inundated with new booking requests since they dropped the price, and that is why they are not being co-operative. You would think they would take care of the customers who are already booked first. After all, if you cancelled, they would get no more for that suite from someone new than what you would be paying if they gave you a refund. I don't know…. maybe Jan. 1st was the cut-off date for refunds, in which case, we were just very lucky. Maybe they are closing the sale at 5:00 p.m. today. Who knows what's going on? I'm so sorry for the frustration this has caused you. Do let us know how it all turns out.

[pdx13]

Our TA sent us the statement for the new price Dec. 30, or at least that is the date on it. This does seem terribly unfair, for you, since final payment is not due until Jan. 31st. I had thought that they honor price drops until final payment date. My best guess is that they have been inundated with new booking requests since they dropped the price, and that is why they are not being co-operative. You would think they would take care of the customers who are already booked first. After all, if you cancelled, they would get no more for that suite from someone new than what you would be paying if they gave you a refund. I don't know…. maybe Jan. 1st was the cut-off date for refunds, in which case, we were just very lucky. Maybe they are closing the sale at 5:00 p.m. today. Who knows what's going on? I'm so sorry for the frustration this has caused you. Do let us know how it all turns out.

 

Thanks very much for the additional information. My TA does a significant amount of business with Seabourn so I am expecting that she will sort this out to our satisfaction. I will keep you posted.

[pdx13]

If this is the result of our TA not having her eye on the ball it is a big deal. Perhaps Seabourn figures if we cancel they can keep our 15% and take another booking to replace ours, but it certainly seems like a poor business practice to not take care of booked passengers first. I don't want to get too spun up about this until our TA gets a definitive answer back from Seabourn but it is interesting that Bostonactor received notice prior to January 1 and the beginning of the penalty period. Not sure if this is my TA's fault or Seabourn, but I am a little distressed that she told me she first became aware of this on January 4. Hate the thought of having to cancel now or swallow a $5K price difference. Hope to hear soon.

[nowornever]

I started a roll call for the 23 Apr - 15 May but no one has posted. That's not unusual however. Will look forward to meeting you on board.

 

PDX, I certainly hope you can get your price adjusted. Hopefully your TA will be able to pull some strings. I thought anytime until final payment would work for changes - never heard of the "penalty period" starting before then. I checked the date we re-did ours & it was 12/28. I would be very upset if they had denied it 4 days later, especially in light of the holidays & people taking time away from the office in the travel business. Good luck - let us know what happens.

[Bostonactor]

I think you misunderstand. In my second(I think) post, I said that this had happened to us before so "I was on the lookout. I noticed" the price drop. I did not receive a notice from my TA. I notified HER immediately and she got us the new price, the same day, before Jan. 1st. She also does a great deal of business with Seabourn, but I honestly don't know what that would mean if I asked for the lower price today. As I said, I thought they automatically gave you the new price if it was before final payment, but, clearly, I am mistaken….or they have changed their policy regarding people who are already booked, perhaps because they are now close to selling out this cruise.

[pdx13]

I think you misunderstand. In my second(I think) post, I said that this had happened to us before so "I was on the lookout. I noticed" the price drop. I did not receive a notice from my TA. I notified HER immediately and she got us the new price, the same day, before Jan. 1st. She also does a great deal of business with Seabourn, but I honestly don't know what that would mean if I asked for the lower price today. As I said, I thought they automatically gave you the new price if it was before final payment, but, clearly, I am mistaken….or they have changed their policy regarding people who are already booked, perhaps because they are now close to selling out this cruise.

 

I apologize. I did misunderstand. I guess it is not the TA's responsibility to be checking prices. Shame on me for not checking frequently for price reductions.

[pdx13]

I started a roll call for the 23 Apr - 15 May but no one has posted. That's not unusual however. Will look forward to meeting you on board.

 

PDX, I certainly hope you can get your price adjusted. Hopefully your TA will be able to pull some strings. I thought anytime until final payment would work for changes - never heard of the "penalty period" starting before then. I checked the date we re-did ours & it was 12/28. I would be very upset if they had denied it 4 days later, especially in light of the holidays & people taking time away from the office in the travel business. Good luck - let us know what happens.

 

Once I get this straightened out and am sure we are going I will join the roll call. I guess worst case we could cancel, pay the penalty and rebook. We would still be ahead of the game.

[secoma4]

We are on the same cruise nowornever, and had picked up the reduction. Just pays t o watch the prices from time to time after booking. But your comment about having to change cabins for the price reduction doesn't right. The reduction is on the category and if if you have booked that category it applies to your booked cabin?

[Emperor Norton]

Im neutral in this, but isn't one of the points of a good TA is that they pickup on the price drop and get it applied for you the guest/customer so you don't have to check the cruiselines site every day (of course this may not apply if your rate was lower than the publicly listed rate to begin with...)

[nowornever]

one would think that would happen but apparently the rules have changed. It was no problem however since we moved up 1 category (V2 to V3) and even with that, saved almost $3000! All of the V2's have been sold out on the 21 day cruise for quite a while. I suppose I understand why they wouldn't apply the discounted price on a sold out category??? We're happy & yes, it does pay to keep looking at prices as that situation has happened to us more than a couple of times. But I simply don't buy the fact that you can't change after Jan 1st....it's always been a 90 day penalty period, & for PDX that won't be until late Jan.

 

I wish you success PDX !!!

[jenidallas]

Only one way to find out. :D:D

 

It will be an adventure no matter what!

 

I'm excited for the transatlantic... seems like a lot of familiar faces (either from this group and/or past sailings) will be on board!

[Chairsin]

Some time ago ( I think in the last year?) the cancellation policy for US booked Seabourn cruises changed to the following : cruises 25 days or less cancellation after 120 days before the cruise a there is a penalty of 15% of the cruise fare and for cruises 26 days or more cancellation after 150 days before the cruise there is a penalty of 15% of the cruise fare.. I believe it used to be 90 days and many long time cruisers appear to be unaware of this change.

[Emperor Norton]

It will be an adventure no matter what!

 

I'm excited for the transatlantic... seems like a lot of familiar faces (either from this group and/or past sailings) will be on board!

 

Depending upon how competitive you are you may wish to grab a lot of things from your local hardware and or craft store ;)

[lincslady]

Noticing from these posts, and also the Seabourn blog dated 6th Jan., that there are reductions in many cruises - as far as I can see there have not been any new reductions in the UK. Anyone know if there are any here? Certainly not at present with the TA most people use.

 

Thanks.

[Techno123]

I don't know if they are reductions but there are some very good prices for Gty suites in the Adriatic/Med area for july. £3200 cruise only for 14 nights Athens to Istanbul and the return journey on the 30th

[lincslady]

You are right about that particular cruise, certainly. We have just received a brochure in the post, with some completely different prices to those on the website for the cruises we are interested in. Mostly more expensive. Will have to telephone to sort it out.

[catskier]

I started a roll call for the 23 Apr - 15 May but no one has posted. That's not unusual however. Will look forward to meeting you on board.

 

PDX, I certainly hope you can get your price adjusted. Hopefully your TA will be able to pull some strings. I thought anytime until final payment would work for changes - never heard of the "penalty period" starting before then. I checked the date we re-did ours & it was 12/28. I would be very upset if they had denied it 4 days later, especially in light of the holidays & people taking time away from the office in the travel business. Good luck - let us know what happens.

 

I don't see it.

[catskier]

The Travel agent just got back to me about refunding the difference in price. Just as other writer, they did not offer a refund. They offered us a pretty good upgrade. We were a V3, they offered a V6 for no extra charge, or a penthouse for $900 more. We took the Penthouse.

[nowornever]

sounds like you came to a good conclusion. They usually make things right in the end. Was it $900 per person or total? I imagine you are just glad that it's settled & you can move on to planning! Thanks for letting us know. I hope PDX has a similar happy ending.

[Nigella]

Noticing from these posts, and also the Seabourn blog dated 6th Jan., that there are reductions in many cruises - as far as I can see there have not been any new reductions in the UK. Anyone know if there are any here? Certainly not at present with the TA most people use.

 

Thanks.

 

We've had an email this morning about some reductions on UK pricing.

Obviously we won't be taking SB up on their offers, :eek: but if you want more information let me know and I'll give some more details.

[lincslady]

Thanks, Nigella. We have now had an ad. in the post from Seabourn, with some reduced prices, following one from the Agent we usually use with very different prices. As we are (slightly) thinking about a cruise in the early summer I have been on the phone to the Agent, and the prices are again slightly different! But about what one would expect, and not over the top. Presumably pricing alterations due to pressure or lack of it on accommodation, which can vary day to day. We will make up our minds at some point whether to do this cruise, and take whatever price is then going.

 

Thanks also for your responses on the other threads - your response to 'Ryan' was very helpful, and said about what I would have expected - like the facts about suite tidying; I have never known it to be done 3 times a day on any ship, but always twice on Seabourn. Some other things are rather intangible, as we all have different experiences on board.

[Nigella]

Thanks, Nigella. We have now had an ad. in the post from Seabourn, with some reduced prices, following one from the Agent we usually use with very different prices. As we are (slightly) thinking about a cruise in the early summer I have been on the phone to the Agent, and the prices are again slightly different! But about what one would expect, and not over the top. Presumably pricing alterations due to pressure or lack of it on accommodation, which can vary day to day. We will make up our minds at some point whether to do this cruise, and take whatever price is then going.

 

Thanks also for your responses on the other threads - your response to 'Ryan' was very helpful, and said about what I would have expected - like the facts about suite tidying; I have never known it to be done 3 times a day on any ship, but always twice on Seabourn. Some other things are rather intangible, as we all have different experiences on board.

 

I've often found that pricing is all over the place. Our agent does offer a very good discount though.

 

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to CC with some more comments. I've been very busy since we returned, and this time I'm suffering with horrible jet lag the worst I can remember. I'm going to add some of the TK menus on my thread when I have the chance.

[Mr Luxury]

We've had an email this morning about some reductions on UK pricing.

Obviously we won't be taking SB up on their offers, :eek: but if you want more information let me know and I'll give some more details.

 

 

Nigella,

As you know every cruise is different and I am sorry to read about your personal experience on a particular cruise.

The next one would possibly be the best ever but as you will not sail Seabourn again please let us all know which cruise line you will sail with and what board you will post on.

It's been good to read your posts.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Mr Luxury