johng75370

If you choose to arrive early I don’t think you get the transfer and hotel as complimentary (e.g. you’d have to pay). We’ve had free hotel and transfers using FlightEase only for flights that require coming in a night earlier (e.g. from west coast to Miami or Barbados).

I’m glad you agree with me, although in addition to the more diverse entertainment options that you keep pointing out Crystal also has higher quality included beverages, more flexible food offerings, higher service level, more space per passenger, better bedding, and a more stable product - overall makes it worth paying more for Crystal. It’s great to have choice, and Explora and Crystal are different enough from one another that I would expect to pay more for one versus the other. I have enjoyed both products, and have upcoming bookings on both, so not saying one is always the right answer versus the other, just that IMHO Crystal deserves the higher prices it may charge.

Clearly some factors that go into creating the onboard experience (apart from room size) favor Crystal. Of course Explora excels in some above Cystal, but not at all surprising to find that of people who have tried both you'll find some who favor Crystal. Here's a few off the top of my head, others can likely add more details: - Extensive library with librarian - Wider range of entertainment and speakers, including movie theater, magician, and production shows - More extensive complementary alcohol selection, with more reasonably priced revenue wines - Daily updated menu in main dining room - Can order off menu with sufficient notice - Butler service for all cabins - Longer and more diverse itineraries

It looks a contestant in the onboard ship building contest Seabourn does on transatlantic crossings. Maybe the previous WC segment had that as an activity?

We’ve had a similar situation (returning to SFO from MIA on an 8pm flight booked through FlightEase). Seabourn arranged a car to an airport hotel, a day room and food credits, and then a car to the airport. We’ve also had a group room for example out of Barbados or San Juan where there are several Seabourn FlightEase passengers waiting for mid or late afternoon flights; in those cases they have a hotel conference room for the group to hang out in along with a lunch. They also usually offer a local tour followed by airport drop-off, depending on flight times. The only thing I don’t like about FlightEase is that these details require a call to Seabourn to find out what they are. The final document should have these details (or preliminary even should), but I don’t think it includes it. The FlightEase service is good, but the communications are not.

As this thread/discussion is showing, not much keeping up to be done. Seems like they are very competitive from most of the comments here, and old “rumors” around what CCL might do with Seabourn are similar to the “rumors” of RCL cutting costs at Silversea. Both lines seem healthy and competitive, despite what “rumors” you might believe. If you’ve got more than rumors please share!

Last I heard the policy is the same: The Restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch on sea days, and closed on port days. Depending on your itinerary you might find that it works for you. If you are on Ovation or Encore there is also the Sushi restaurant open for lunch, I believe on all days.

Was on last year for the southbound and was very impressed that for Glacier Bay they brought onboard 3 Park Rangers, provided a good map of what we should see there, and also had some locals onboard with some crafts. I was surprised how much I learned and got out of that "stop". The Park Rangers were great, very approachable, and had really good insights to share. For a relatively small ship it was a lot of Rangers!

Assuming it's Sean Smit he's great - sailed with him a couple times before and he's one of the reasons we love coming back to Seabourn. Thanks for taking us along!

The preferences page stopped working for me a couple years ago it seems. But if you're a return guest they save your preferences and use that.

Dining —> Fueling

We stayed in 6045, and found that that the cabins you mentioned (6049, 6048, 6015, and 6016) have slightly higher ceiling height than the other OT1 cabins on deck 6. Roughly a couple of inches, and you can see in the hallway right by these cabins that the height is lower for the central part of deck 6 where most of the OT1s are. Not sure about the balcony (I saw what you are referring to on the deck plans), but I would choose one of the cabins you listed as they are well placed near elevator/stairs and have a normal ceiling height.

I've only done it for lunch in The Restaurant (MDR), by asking the day before. Not sure if the Colonnade accommodates special requests. Another reason I (like you) am a fan of lunch in The Restaurant and wish it was open all days and not just sea days.

A few other points that you may have read elsewhere already, but worth pointing out: - you can order ahead with The Restaurant with 24 hour notice special dishes (off-menu), or special meal (Indian, Italian, etc). For longer voyages it’s a nice option for a special dinner. We’ve done things like a soft shell crab salad entree for lunch, or a Pom Moscovitz (sp?) caviar appetizer, as pictured below. - speaking of caviar, it’s available 24/7 delivered anywhere on the ship. Nice pre-dinner treat with cocktails! - if you enjoy the experience, the Future Cruise desk sells open future cruise deposits for $500pp (not sure in pounds) and it gives a 5% discount on whatever cruise you end up booking and is good for 4 years. A nice deal compared to what I’ve seen on other cruise lines. - if you want something don’t be shy asking for it; they really try to make the answer yes.

Welcome to Seabourn Stu, hope your first experience is a great one. The website has been messed up (for a while) on being able to enter your cabin bar preferences. As others have said, when you meet your cabin attendants they can take care of it. Any of the included wines or spirits offered in the bars can be stocked for your cabin. In terms of the "Serene Area" thermal spa they have sold a full cruise pass before; not sure of the pricing but was a good discount below the standard price. Only tip I can think of is if you play trivia it's worth getting to The Club a bit early on the first day to join a team; a lot of people play and Seabourn runs it well. Also, you can ask for the included wine list at Seabourn Square or from the sommelier; worth getting a printout so you can have a better sense of what is on offer.

Is that on top of the "up to 40% off" sale? I thought if you went with the sale price there were no onboard discounts to it.

This is a horrible situation for you to have been put in, and you are right to feel let down by Seabourn. I’ve never experienced that kind of treatment with Seabourn, and think you are right in asking for a refund for the airport transfer/tour and an apology. I’m assuming it was a contract person acting as “Destination Dis-Services”. Seabourn can work with them to make sure it does not happen to someone else. I would email the office of the ptesident (Natalya Leahy); for this level of issue I would think that is the right place to reach out to. Officeofthepresident@seabourn.com

Will be interested to hear how it turns out for you; was on Seabourn Odyssey in October and Explora in December and would overall give the advantage to Seabourn at that time. Back on SB Ovation in April, and then on Explora in May, so will have a chance to reconsider after those sailings. Good to have choices and a range because we all have different tastes and standards!

Hi @Suite Susie, I would provide the booking number to your travel agent and have them sort it out; it might be that they can just create a new booking for you while the current one waits to expire (when we placed a booking on hold it was set to expire after 7 days). We booked another one directly with Explora and then had our travel agent transfer it to their control, and it was easy to do. Hope that helps! We share your frustration with the website!

We’re loyal Seabourn guests, and for a small ship environment Seabourn punches above its weight in terms of evening entertainment and shows. Production shows, guest performers, live band for dancing, piano or guitar lounge players. Having said that, it’s not going to be on the scale of Celebrity or Princess. While disappointing in some ways, we found the evening entertainment on Explora to be okay and likely to get better quick (it was an acknowledged issue that was being worked on) - we had fun with karaoke and have booked a future Explora voyage because in all other respects it was a great cruise. We’re sticking with Seabourn for longer voyages, but will be happy to return to Explora.

I can’t speak to expedition vs traditional, but we’ve sailed on both Seabourn and Celebrity in The Retreat and there is a huge difference. Seabourn’s service is more personal and genuine, much easier to meet and socialize with other passengers, and the smaller ship size makes it feel much more like “your ship” for the time you’re there. Pretty much every voyage with Seabourn we run into crew and passengers we’ve sailed with before; not on Celebrity. Food (very subjective) we find better on Seabourn (and particularly have been very disappointed by Luminae on Celebrity), but more options and venues on Celebrity. Celebrity offers the big ship advantages in terms of entertainment options and walking decks, and has more diversity in passenger mix. Because Seabourn’s entry veranda cabin is generously sized we’re usually fine with that, whereas Celebrity we typically go for the Retreat - making Seabourn a less expensive option. Both are owned by massive companies, but also both retain their own staff and brand identity (Seabourn’s been part of Carnival for over 20 years, while keeping it’s own uniqueness). Both are great options, but we’ve found significant differences (and advantages) to Seabourn.

Yes; after you board you can get a printout of the included wines from Seabourn Square (or perhaps from your cabin attendant), and all the included wines are available at all the venues (or for your cabin). Typically with TK Grill they "lead" with the revenue wine list, but they should also highlight that you can order any of the included wines. We've never had a problem, although some people we've read on here have felt the waiters have "pushed" the revenue wines. And FWIW the revenue wines can sometimes be a good deal, especially if you're from an area where wines tend to be priced higher. Attached is the revenue wine list from Odyssey in October, where we marked the prices from what we could buy locally versus the onboard price; in some cases the price was very similar or less. Have a great voyage and hope you find Seabourn to be an exceptional experience. Seabourn Odyssey Wine List Oct 2023.pdf

Our cruise in mid-December had about 400 passengers, ~200 of which apparently were travel agents or influencers. Seems for their financial health (this has been going on for months) Explora will have to end up with a more normal ratio of full-paying passengers to "discounted/comp'd" passengers.

That’s not what we found. Seabourn told us that the Amex provided OBC (or our TA provided OBC) could not be combined with referral credit. Only Seabourn provided OBC can be combined with the referral credit. It certainly reduces the value of the program (and came as a surprise - we found out only when the credits did not appear onboard). Our TA missed it. Here’s the link to the terms and conditions, where it states you cannot combine the referral credit with third-party OBC: https://www.seabourn.com/en/us/terms#referafriend

We’re looking at booking a PS suite on Ovation, and the only remaining one is an accessible cabin (#1191). Anyone familiar with it, or have any feedback? We’re mainly interested in whether the roll-in shower is awkward or presents any issues (we are okay in not having the tub). Thanks in advance for any help.