shipcamein

Right, dalliowner - nothing is "free" truly. Seabourn has treated the internet like the spa - pay for what you use, it's optional - instead of like the alcohol, where all fares contribute, even if not all passengers imbibe. Either way - it's not free.

But "installing" the hardware - this is not about changing routers in your basement or office. It's about switching to a new satellite network, which requires new antennae - not cheap, and not fast. Carnival has more than 100 ships in the fleet, and they will get to Seabourn sooner or later.

for educational purposes only, not to get flamed!

1. The bandwidth is limited by technology (in this case, satellites).

2. Certain lines (NOT CARNIVAL) were in partnership with "better" satellites sooner, so their boats got fast wifi...faster.

3. Carnival is now "onboard" with the "better" satellites - but it requires new antennas. This is Time and Money.

4. Since the "mass market" Carnival brands compete directly with mass market Other Lines for the same internet-addicted generation, it makes sense to improve those ships first.

5. Seabourn will continue to charge for internet until it affects their bookings. So far, this implies that...

6. ...Somehow, someway, the generally older clients of Seabourn do not communicate PRIMARILY by wifi as kids do, and will not wilt without facebook.

7. Nothing is without cost. It's as "free" on another line as "free" excursions and "free" airfare.

Hope that helps.

I do love food, so I think I can comment on this, re: "Most Americans eat dinner between 5-7..." I have to respectfully disagree. When I was a child, maybe, we always at promptly at 5pm, as did my grandparents...and theirs. That was 40 years ago. Nowadays...

I barely know anyone that still works (as in Not Retired) that is even home before 6 or 7 during the week. At any restaurant requiring reservations (I've experienced this across the country), if you don't want to wait...go at 5. But do not go at 8.

While many Americans might cook and eat AT HOME at 5pm, very few dine out before 7pm. A Seabourn cruise is more of an "out for dinner every night" kind of experience, and so it will suit (I think) more folks than not. This isn't to say there aren't those who prefer fine dining at an earlier hour - clearly there are - but you are in the minority (as many Fine American restaurants will verify). Seabourn is stuck trying to please the most people with the least staff, and it also pleases a great majority of European diners, so it does make some sense.

It's not complimentary - it's wrapped in the price of the fare. The boats don't own the satellites but have to pay the rent just like anybody else - I'm not sure where else it would come from. Nothing is free.

Seabourn gives you an opportunity to "not pay" for what you "don't need," just like laundry and massages.

While many people now "require" a connection so they can "work" on vacation, those folks are in the minority of Seabourn passengers (who are mostly retired).

I could happily go a whole cruise with zero phone or internet, and sometimes wish other folks would too. I'm sure I'm not alone.

(I'm not saying that there aren't people who need it - there are - I'm just saying it hasn't affected Seabourn's bottom line yet.)

Seabourn wifi will not compare favorably with certain other lines until they invest in the hardware. Maybe it's already planned at the next dry-dock.

It's not just a switch someone flips or a service provider they cut ties with. It's an investment that perhaps Viking already did, and Carnival is presently doing, one ship at a time. They will eventually reach Seabourn.

There are no excuses. If Celebrity can get super fast WiFi installed on its 18 year old M class ships so can Seabourn on its 7 year old O class ships. Especially given the much higher fares Seabourn passengers are paying.

Actually - no. Celebrity - being part of the RCL family - was able to use the "new at the time" O3b satellites - via contract - which carnival did not have access to at any price. That's a pretty good excuse. Carnival does not build or own satellites, no matter what the Seabourn fare. RCL - at some level - helped out with getting O3b to "fly" and so, apparently, had the right-of-way. The "old" satellites are simply not as fast.

New developments in the past year, though, led to SES - who is partnered with Carnival - to BUY O3b - and now, eventually, I expect Seabourn will benefit from that, pending some serious hardware upgrades, and then they, too, will have very fast wifi.

I still wouldn't expect the price to do down until there's an obvious pattern of unfilled cabins due to expensive internet. I hope I'm wrong.

Lots of variables with Wifi at-sea.

The fundamental satellite technology is different between cruise lines. Switching technologies is a big investment and not an overnight job. There's no hurry as long as the ships are full. On-board infrastructure is also a challenge. A metal box with structural steel everywhere is not the best environment to reliably deliver wifi. Years ago - when the ship was designed - it was "good enough."

Seabourn doesn't slow it down on purpose. They are handicapped by hardware limitations that do not exist or have been overcome on other ships, as well as their bandwidth contract with the provider. Internet is probably a money-maker for Seabourn, but they don't get the satellite usage for free either. They can either bundle it in the fare, or break it out. Why pay for something you don't use? The VALUE of it is another thread entirely. Do they "overcharge?" That's up to you...

By the way, some ships (maybe all of them by now) already use two antennas, with a 3rd as a backup. This is about keeping the satellite beam precisely located - but it will not increase bandwidth beyond what you (Carnival) paid for.

Political climate notwithstanding, the odds of something happening on the day you are there in the place you are standing are far less than something/anything happening in your car-ride to the airport.

That said, I've received this wise advice many times: If your heart isn't in it, do everyone a favor and don't go. You will never enjoy it to the full extent possible, and you will waste valuable loving family moments and thoughts fearing the unknown. That is no way to spend your vacation, with or without teenage daughters. Go somewhere/anywhere where your fears aren't in the conversation.

Several travel review sights set the luxury entry bar at about $500/pp/per day - and that has roughly followed I have found over years of shopping. You can of course do a little better (or a whole lot worse), but, as others have said - it's really in the value of it, not the dollars, if that makes sense. If this type of cruise doesn't get it for you, then no amount of savings will make it better.

Wow this will be fun! OK - Camillus - the correct thing to say is, "I could not care less" (or "I couldn't care less"). This means - literally - I care so very little about the matter, it would not be possible for me to care any less than I do. I care, effectively, ZERO. As a result - I could not care less.

HOWEVER - Laylam AND Camillus - many native English speakers are awful English speakers. The phrase is old - old - old - and so what folks now say is what their parents said, their grandparents said...and my own grandparents, not being excellent English speakers, always said, "I could care less." And so do I, by habit and by inheritance, but correct or not - there is never any doubt about what I mean.

I'll tie it in to the topic by making a comment: While I might care less about what one wears to dinner, I couldn't care less about the excuses for ignoring the spirit of the posted ship policies.

Seems likely that the full magnitude of a one-star rating on an internet forum is not occurring to the reviewer ... just like it's not occurring to me.

A similar thing often happens to me when my wife tastes the wine first: She says, "It's awful, he won't like it, please don't pour him any. One Star."

This means it's excellent and she wants to hoard it for herself.

It was entirely a joke. "No lines here. It's awful. Please, everyone, stay away!"

important Wine Axiom: Drink what you like.

Most folks cannot guess the price of wine by tasting it. But they can easily say if they Like It or Not, which is, afterall, the only thing that matters

If you are in the tiny minority of folks - supertasters if you will - that can appreciate the subtleties of All Things Delicious (...for you...), then the premium list is there.

From Seabourn's point of view, there is nothing to be gained by upping the outlay on the layman's bottle of wine. No one (I hope) is making their booking (or canceling it) upon realizing

that the stock wine is worth $10 instead of $20. A true game changer would be if the premium list were suddenly included in the fare. THAT would possibly bring in new bookings...

well - anything is possible - so please do what's in your comfort zone - but -

Seabourn is at far more risk from you plugging your stuff in than vice-versa. If you're (very) paranoid about your personal info, then please don't do it. But - if these four ports are dedicated to charging (not data), then the data lines aren't connected to anything anyway - there is, quite literally, zero data risk.

The charge time may or may not be slower, depending on your Usual Set-Up, but slower is better for charging these things in nearly every case. Your battery will thank you for it by keeping a fuller charge longer, and needing replaced altogether less frequently.

Surge suppression is not really a problem - you would be very unfortunate indeed to get a voltage surge thru a USB port that somehow damaged your device. It would, in all likelihood, have destroyed your TV computer too. (Meantime, and not on a boat, I've seen the "surge protected strips" absolutely burst into flame to stop the "surge." That energy has to go somewhere! If you're going to use these, don't skimp on power or cost - they'll save your iPhone and burn your house down.)

But the real point of doing this is to NOT transport yet another useless item in an already full suitcase!

Miami airport (like many, if not all US airports) stupidly does not have "in transit" - meaning you'll have to fetch your baggage (after waiting), then clear customs (long line), then go through security (longer line)- again.

This makes a 90-minute turnaround just about impossible.

more follow up and possible thread hijacking, apologies...

regarding the fares - if I search the web and click on a link that says BEST CRUISE PRICES EVER or WE CANT BE BEAT or so on - and if I do this dozens of times, which I have - i have yet to see a fare that is less than the very same fare offered on Seabourn's website, or within, say, 5%. Hardly earth shaking, in any case. (this is not the fantasy brochure fare, but the realistic what-you'll-probably-pay fare)

sooo am I to conclude from all of you that, if I deal directly with a (perhaps local) TA, I will easily beat these rates by a decent margin?

Not meant to hijack the thread but - in general - where do these "reductions" appear? The prices on the SB website don't seem significantly lower than I usually see, but I haven't checked every one. Is that the source? Is it true (as many bloggers would have me believe) that my TA isn't going to beat the bottom line price supplied by SB? (credits and charters notwithstanding).

Alright, as a Seabourn Neutral Reader, I'll play Devil's Advocate, since he's not defending himself.

>He said he's been on continual vacation for two years - never home. That's 104 weeks, plenty of time in there to take 72 one-week cruises, maybe some were longer. I think there are people on this forum who have spend 4 months at once on Seabourn, perhaps more than once, so - it's not impossible, and may even have been (relatively) affordable.

>He said the "free" wines were awful. If you truly love wine - is that comment hard to believe?

>He said he expected maid service three times daily. The response that "once should be enough" (to paraphrase) may be OK for some folks. But if you get three on other lines - then three it is!

>The dinner problems have been widely reported, even by some of you, as the changeover to both new menu and new technology is happening. Not hard to believe.

>He's not the only one that has complained about breakfast crowds. Every thread bemoaning the lack of Restaurant at breakfast has said the same.

>He's not posted before because he just made up this name for this one post. He may or may not have posted under other (dozens) of names. Or this may be his first post - not everyone that cruises reads CC. Better to say MOST people who cruise NEVER post here, or read it. If you doubt that - count the total number of Seabourn reviews since CC was created - then estimate the number of passengers that have sailed. You'll be somewhere around 1%. Maybe less. Probably less for mass lines, not more.

>And he's not responding now because - of course - he is on another cruise. No internet.

On the other hand - his post contains the most negative elements of the last several reviews - if you cherry-pick the bad spots and wrap them altogether, you get this review. Unlikely? Yep. Impossible. Sadly, nope.

Jus' sayin'.

(Please don't flame me for infrequent posts - I'm an everyday lurker!)

Regarding the plate habit - well, I find these forums to be a good place to swap culture (and other things).

It's absolutely common in our neighborhood of the US to put "all the food on one plate." This is neither greed nor laziness (well, usually). It's using one plate only. A second trip would require a second plate. Separating by course would require two or three or six. That is just wasteful. It's not "offputting" at all - it's exactly, in fact, how my mother would put my breakfast plate in front of me while growing up. Old habits die hard!

We did the very same thing for our parents' 50th. This was one week of a land tour (train, etc.) and one week coastal cruise (Holland America). This cost (about 12K total) included plane tickets which you will not need. We paid for all excursions, onboard credit to cover everything we could think of, land transfers, so on, so forth, they basically paid for absolutely nothing.

And they loved every minute of it, even though neither of them had ever cruised. Alaska was beautiful - they even rode in a dog sled and slept in a teepee one night. It is what you make of it - but after 50 years of marriage, i figure they they knew that going in, and would enjoy it no matter what.

So - all that to say - GO FOR IT!!

Previously, I could see at a glance the most recent across an entire cruise line (useful for smaller lines with just a few similar ships) - they may be organized by date now, but the date isn't shown - so I can't see if the "most recent" was yesterday or last year, without clicking on EACH BOAT. Was there something wrong with the old way?

Feel free to stick my post in another Topic - but -

Why the new "Member Review" format? (Unless it's just my PC doing it...)

There is no way to sort by date - is there? I like to read the MOST RECENT reviews, and keep the repeat reading to a minimum.

Am I missing something? Until very recently, the cruise DATE was right there, and the reviews were in order...unless I'm ...wrong...am I?

This always confuses me: We adore SB, but not since the Carnival acquisition.

It's been over 15 years, no? And a significant chunk of Seabourn was owned by Carnival even before that.

That's a long time for apples-to-apples, then and now.

"...but I hope you understand were I am coming from when I say that reviews that try and paint absolutely everything in a bad light are not very believable."

Yep, this is exactly the problem right here. Basically, if the review is all negative, it must not be true. (Sarcasm alert...)

Reviews can certainly be all negative. People with bad experiences tend not to recall the things that went right, unless pressed.

If I have a complaint, I will post it - I won't sugar coat it by saying something nice about the entertainment or whatever. If I wasn't happy, you're going to get a list of things that made me unhappy.

This leads to "everything" being painted in a bad light, and it's the truth (for someone).

Minor point, but I think the poster is saying PG did not address the issues at the moment while they were still on board, while Seabourn did. Or maybe I misunderstood.

Either way, though, I think it's overly...optimistic(?)... to assume that Seabourn acts on bad reviews on this forum. There are just 257 Seabourn reviews over 10 years. That's a teeny tiny fraction of all the possible reviewers.

Let's estimate the number of cruisers in 10 years - for the past few, it's been about 2000 passengers at any given moment, and assume most go for two weeks or less...let's just say it's conservatively 100,000 over the 10 years. That's 0.257% of all cruisers bothered to post a review. And only a few of those, say, less than 10% - have extremely negative things to say.\

(nitpickers, I'm sure seabourn has this info posted somewhere - I am too lazy to look!)

If you are keeping 99975 people happy, and 25 don't like the food - it seems unwise to change your recipes (or anything else) based on the 25.