Seabourn Venture

[Cantara24]

Fletcher, we are glad to hear there are multiple options now offered. Understand the initial advice was you get your cruise moved to a similar 2023 date. Cancel and refund option offered is as it should be.

 

In these times this is a good reason to book flights, accommodation with Seabourn versus  independently.

 

Thought your plan to go to Greenwich to see arrival would have been cool. Perhaps you still can when Venture eventually floats! If you do take some pictures!!!

[cruiseej]

9 hours ago, Fletcher said:

It seems that the Venture lacks the space to store boots so these will be posted to your home, meaning that you will need to take them to the ship in your luggage, take them home again and then post them back to Seabourn.  NO WAY!!!!

 

How in the world could they design and build a brand new, next-generation expedition ship and not include space to store boots for passengers?! That seems ridiculous. It's like failing to put washers and dryers for passengers on a new ship. Oh, wait… 😉

[restlesssoul]

Fletcher, where did your wife find the information about the boots? We are booked on what now looks to be the first cruise starting July 27th, prior to which we will be hiking around Iceland for a couple of weeks. There is no way I'll be taking rubber boots with me!

[worcestergal]

I don’t understand. If there’s room for boots on voyages to Antarctica, why wouldn’t there be room for them in the Arctic?
I looked at the rental items for our Arctic trip and all I saw were regular hiking boots (which I can’t imagine renting) and over-shoe boot covers - not the kind of high Wellington boots we used in Antarctica. Did I miss something?

I know that, for us, we will just bring our (well used) hiking boots and, perhaps, gaiters (which take very little space in the suitcase). 

[restlesssoul]

Worcestergal:  For Antarctica we rented boots but there is no similar option listed for the venture. BTW my wife found a picture of the boot storage room on the Venture, but whether we have to take our own, or they are provided is anyones guess. Not sure gaiters will be enough for wet landings?

[restlesssoul]

Seriously thinking about cancelling our cruise. Already p**'d-off that they are charging for kayaking, when we were assured before we booked that it would be included. I can understand the extra charge for the submarines but charging for kayaking is nickel & diming considering the amount that people are paying to get aboard. Silversea includes kayaking and shore excursions and have got venture cruising down to a fine art (we went with them in the Kimberley).  Seabourn on the other hand is an unknown, and we will be the guinea pigs!

 

 

 

[sfvoyage]

I am surprised by the lack of storage for boots on the Venture and would like to know if that is indeed true.  From Day One, Venture's marketing materials were touting the mud room on board, where one would think the boots would be stored...

 

Regarding kayaks, on a voyage (pre-covid) Robin West was on the ship introducing Venture.  I had a side conversation with him about the kayaks.  He basically said that Seabourn could very well include them without additional charge, but they decided against that for better capacity control.  He said that in his experience, if kayaks were inclusive, everyone would sign up for them, including those who are not really interested and/or not physically fit enough, and they would end up giving up after a few minutes, thereby displacing those who really want to kayak.  I felt that was an anemic corporate speak.  In any case, I, too, would be upset if I had been misled by staff who told me kayaks were inclusive.

 

 

 

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

From Day One, Venture's marketing materials were touting the mud room on board, where one would think the boots would be stored...

 

It sounds like the problem is not the mud room, where current cruisers store their boots for the duration of their voyage. I thought this was indicating that they don't have the storage aboard for all the extra boots in various sizes that would need to be in some storage area for people to be able select from at the start of each voyage. And that just sounds like a crazy oversight.

 

Just like the intentionally-omitted guest laundry room on Ovation and Encore, which was quickly rectified by taking away the cruise director's office, if this is true, I think someone will be losing an office on the Venture very soon… 😉

[Fletcher]

14 hours ago, restlesssoul said:

Fletcher, where did your wife find the information about the boots? We are booked on what now looks to be the first cruise starting July 27th, prior to which we will be hiking around Iceland for a couple of weeks. There is no way I'll be taking rubber boots with me!

Restlessoul - here is the link. Read the item 'Rental Gear'

https://seabourn.newheadings.com/index.php?cPath=1029

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Restlessoul - here is the link. Read the item 'Rental Gear'

https://seabourn.newheadings.com/index.php?cPath=1029

I went to the link.  It looks like the waterproof boots are delivered to you onboard the ship.  It only mentions the Quest--but perhaps the text has not been updated yet.  

[restlesssoul]

15 hours ago, SLSD said:

I went to the link.  It looks like the waterproof boots are delivered to you onboard the ship.  It only mentions the Quest--but perhaps the text has not been updated yet.  

Yeah, clear as mud at the moment!

[Covepointcruiser]

What kind of shoes/boots will you be using in Iceland.    Gortex lined shoes or boots should be sufficient.   There were a lot of dirt and muddy walkways in Iceland near the natural sites.   Don’t forget insect spray and a net to wear over your hat to protect you from the annoying midges.

[jsea]

Looks like initial cruises for Venture are booking up quickly with the delayed launch. Just yesterday I could find availability in July and September, and now both months are sold out (presumably). Still availability for one cruise in August.

 

We were on a canceled July sailing and were lucky enough to grab space for August.

[Cantara24]

Genoa: Venture has appeared (VesselFinder)

 

[restlesssoul]

Just returned from Seabourn Ovation Miami to Miami (Feb 13 - 27). The "ventures" lady onboard was very informative and allayed some of our reservations about our July 27 cruise. Unlike on the Quest/Antarctica, boots will be provided on the Venture and there is dedicated boot storage. She acknowledged that the Seabourn Website is less than helpful and was trying to get Seabourn to make it clearer. As for the July launch date everyone seems confident that it will be met. I spoke to some of the Ovation staff that are transferring to the Venture and it seems that transfer dates are being pulled forward, another good sign.  We didn't get anywhere concerning the charge for the kayaks, but were assured that those choosing not to kayak (or submarine) would not be disadvantaged in that, unlike the "Ventures Days" on the Quest, kayaking would be in addition to the days normal activities (a la Antarctica). So, while giving us a bit more certainty that our July 27 cruise will be going ahead, and allaying our fears that if we didn't kayak we would be twiddling our thumbs, for some intangible reason we are still not 100% committed.   But more like 80/20 for as opposed to 60/40 against.

[Covepointcruiser]

Don’t believe there is much, if any, availability this year.   The Venture cruisers who had their voyages cancelled have moved to later voyages or to identical ones next year.

 

If you decide to sail on her, you may not get much of a choice in the sailings.   Some of the future cruises look very interesting, but expensive.

[sleeper9]

There has been some misinformation in these posts about the Venture, so I hope this will clear things up for future cruisers on the Venture. Those sailing on the Venture will have a locker for the storage of their boots in the "landing zone".  In addition, your suite will have a heated closet for your gear, this is in addition to your walk-in closet.  As the previous poster said, boots will be provided for everyone on board, no rental, no shipping, no packing.  All of this information came from Danae who will be one of the expedition team leaders for the Venture.

With regard to excursions included, zodiak trips will be included for everyone, and where a port call allows, a shore excursion will be included.  Some of the ports will have some additional optional excursions available for a fee.  If you pull up the shore excursions for your trip you can see all of this.

Personally, I'm very excited about our trip in August.  We did two trips on Quest to Antarctica and South Georgia, both were incredible trips.  Now we are off to the land of the Polar Bears!

[Fletcher]

Interesting to note that Venture's inaugural cruise on 15 July now starts at dreary old Tilbury and not Greenwich.  Also, while Seabourn's website offers this cruise - Tilbury toTromso -  from £12,999 there is today a full-page advertisement placed by Seabourn in the Telegraph offering suites from £7,999.

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Interesting to note that Venture's inaugural cruise on 15 July now starts at dreary old Tilbury and not Greenwich.  Also, while Seabourn's website offers this cruise - Tilbury toTromso -  from £12,999 there is today a full-page advertisement placed by Seabourn in the Telegraph offering suites from £7,999.

Wow--that is quite a difference in price.