Seabourn, PLEASE COME BACK! We miss you!

[Hanoverian]

Gotta agree, cruiseej.  Baltics are next on our bucket list and we looked at Silversea, Regent, Oceania, and Seabourn.  Seabourn, especially, after a fantastic Scenic Fjords and North Cape cruise in 2019 on Ovation.   However, it will be Oceania Marina for twelve days in June, 2021.  Better port visits, overnights, and a convenient start and end in Southampton.  We tried all of last year to find a Seabourn itinerary that offered something different from the pack, but it seemed like there were so many one day stops in the big, tourist attraction ports over and over again.  We have such fond memories of past truly unique Seabourn voyages and shore experiences, but now there just seems to be something missing that would prompt a voyage to jump off the brochure page and grab the phone to call our TA.  I am having trouble explaining myself.  Maybe too much Keller and Weil, not enough concentration on one of the major reasons a lot of us want to cruise in the first place.   

[jdk-atlga]

15 hours ago, Hanoverian said:

Gotta agree, cruiseej.  Baltics are next on our bucket list and we looked at Silversea, Regent, Oceania, and Seabourn.  Seabourn, especially, after a fantastic Scenic Fjords and North Cape cruise in 2019 on Ovation.   However, it will be Oceania Marina for twelve days in June, 2021.  Better port visits, overnights, and a convenient start and end in Southampton.  We tried all of last year to find a Seabourn itinerary that offered something different from the pack, but it seemed like there were so many one day stops in the big, tourist attraction ports over and over again.  We have such fond memories of past truly unique Seabourn voyages and shore experiences, but now there just seems to be something missing that would prompt a voyage to jump off the brochure page and grab the phone to call our TA.  I am having trouble explaining myself.  Maybe too much Keller and Weil, not enough concentration on one of the major reasons a lot of us want to cruise in the first place.   

Hi Hanoverian: I think that you have summed up the issue perfectly: "something is missing that would prompt a voyage to jump off the brochure page." If SB would package a B2B of 7-days, instead of 7- plus 14-days (21 total), that includes Baltic and Fjords, that could also be perfect. Right now, I believe that they are stuck outside the Mama Bear bed - nothing is quite right: too short or too long. As I indicated, especially with the shut-down, this interlude is a perfect time for SB to recalibrate their offerings to be more compelling. Best, jdk

[TRIPACIAN]

21 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I agree! We and a group of friends are interested in a Baltci region cruise, and Seabourn would be our first choice -- but their itineraries are less-than-thrilling. Oceania has a 10-day cruise Copenhagen-to-Osldo cruise which includes stops in Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm, Visby, Gothenberg in addition to St. Petersburg. A 12-day Stockholm-to-Copenhagen cruise goes to Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Klaipeda Lithuania, Gdansk Poland, Ronne Denmark, and Warnemunde/Berlin Germany in addition to ASt. Petersburg. Seabourn has no itineraries in the region other than 7 day cruises to between Copenhagen and Stockholm to St. Petersburg, Tallinn, and Helsinki. Why?! We'd love a 10-12 day cruise with a few more ports. I haven't seen any variation in Seabourn's St. Petersburg itineraries for several years at least. 

We would love to see a Baltic cruise that did not go to St Petersburg.  We have been there and had a great experience but don’t want to return.  There are so many small and wonderful ports that could be visited and that we would love to see.  
 

I know St Petersburg is a must see and we agree but “been there done that” keeps us away from the Baltic cruises.  

[jdk-atlga]

Hi Tripacian: SB has added several Baltic / North Sea cruises that do not go to SP. Example: SB Quest, 14 day, Rotterdam to Dover, May 24, 2021 (Northern European Gems). It does not do the typical stops. As we are looking for SP, this is not on our radar screen, but you may find it appealing. Best, jdk

[TRIPACIAN]

2 hours ago, jdk-atlga said:

Hi Tripacian: SB has added several Baltic / North Sea cruises that do not go to SP. Example: SB Quest, 14 day, Rotterdam to Dover, May 24, 2021 (Northern European Gems). It does not do the typical stops. As we are looking for SP, this is not on our radar screen, but you may find it appealing. Best, jdk

Thanks I will look into these cruises.

[BasandSyb]

Totally agree. We are booked for July 2021 (yes, very optimistic!) and needed to find another cruise line to do a longer cruise (we are Australian) and include all the places in the Baltic (and still haven’t got them all) and do Norway and Svalbard. The 7 days Baltic on Seabourn just didn’t cut it, and you can’t combine the cruises to cover the region in any satisfactory way as there’s too much yo-yoing . They’ve forced us to look elsewhere although we would prefer the Seabourn product. They operate smaller ships, so why not include more regional towns than dropping off passengers where the massive liners disgorge for the day and we all fight for a “local experience”. Why have smaller ships and not capitalise on them?

[TRIPACIAN]

After looking at all of the Baltic cruises, other than the May 24th cruise, I still don’t see any other cruises of interest.  As BasandSyb said there are so many interesting ports that should be included.  The Seabourn ships are perfect for this type of cruising.

[Fletcher]

I'd be interested to know if anyone finds a cruise - maybe a back-to-back - that includes the Baltic as well as Svalbard. I think they are fairly distinct - Svalbard being the preserve of expedition ships.  Maybe Hurtigruten . . .?  I'm sure there are cruise lines which would enable you to bolt together Norwegian fjords with Svalbard.

 

Some years back we did a Baltic cruise on a small ship - about 100 pax - which basically visited all the usual suspects, plus Bornholm, Visby and the Aland Archipelago.  As I said in an earlier post, some cruise lines - even Regent - are now including Kaliningrad.

 

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Fletcher

[whogo]

On 9/18/2020 at 12:55 AM, Fletcher said:

I've always been slightly put off by the 'German only' language on most of their cruises, despite the fact that they say the crew are bi-lingual.

I would bet that the staff speaks English better than they speak German. I think that all the lines use English as the lingua franca, except when dealing with their customers. Perhaps Hapag-Lloyd is an exception and can hire excellent German speaking waiters, bartenders, and housekeepers at their price point. You are still out of luck with the daily program, announcements, menus, and lecturers.

 

M&PGermany, I appreciate your take on Hapag-Lloyd and on the golden cage of Germans. I have considered cruising a German line despite my limited ability with the language, although Phoenix Reisen would be more in my price range.

 

 

[BasandSyb]

Fletcher - yes involves B2Bs. The difficulties in having the time and wanting to do a regional exploration are (a) itinerary - looking for something a bit more than the same old and (b) coverage - being able to link a few cruises B2B (too much seasonal yo-yoing) or at least link within a reasonable time period and include indepth land content between.

Unfortunately the year we wanted to do Svalbard on Seabourn Pride they discontinued it.

Have found an Azamara Norway for 18 days July 2021. It only does a brief Svalbard cruise around, but will give us a taste to decide if a re-visit is desired. It also does a reasonable coastal Norway without having to do 2x Seabourn with crossovers. So we have then added an extended Baltic.

In all likelihood it will be cancelled...but something to look forward to for a while!

[Mauzac]

I haven't been on CC for a while because I almost can't bear to be reminded of what we are unable to do.  We miss it all so much.

 

But I clicked on this thread and was glad I did, thank you M&P Germany for such a lovely reminder.

 

This time last year we were beginning to get excited for a cruise we booked about now for embarkation in December.  With all that has happened I am so so glad we took the plunge for an extra cruise at the last minute because there are so many happy memories from it, to keep us going until the next time, whenever that might be.

 

All the best to everyone, fingers x'd we'll be coming out the other end soon. 🙂

 

 

[TRIPACIAN]

On 10/20/2020 at 7:52 AM, jdk-atlga said:

Hi Tripacian: SB has added several Baltic / North Sea cruises that do not go to SP. Example: SB Quest, 14 day, Rotterdam to Dover, May 24, 2021 (Northern European Gems). It does not do the typical stops. As we are looking for SP, this is not on our radar screen, but you may find it appealing. Best, jdk

I just wanted to thank you for your recommendation.  We just booked the May 24th, Rotterdam to London.  It may not happen but it really works for us.

[jdk-atlga]

Hi Tripacian: I hope that it really works well for you and that you can make your cruise. I have booked a short 6day on Odyssey from LA to Vancouver, which now looks that it will be among the first, if not the first, SB cruise regarding US ports. Strange times, indeed. Best of wishes and luck. Jdk

[TRIPACIAN]

On 11/13/2020 at 11:19 AM, jdk-atlga said:

Hi Tripacian: I hope that it really works well for you and that you can make your cruise. I have booked a short 6day on Odyssey from LA to Vancouver, which now looks that it will be among the first, if not the first, SB cruise regarding US ports. Strange times, indeed. Best of wishes and luck. Jdk

Thanks, let’s both hope we cruise soon!