Mauzac

Aren't holidays for shaking things up a bit and not sticking to home routines? We eat much much earlier at home (my husband has a hobby certain nights of the week that starts at 7pm). I'm still an early riser wherever I am though. Holidays are different, we like to make an occasion of our dining on SB. Dressing up, cocktails in the OB, meeting new people, taking our time over a delicious meal. We spend time in our other home in Spain, in summer a lot of the restaurants don't even open until 9pm, and we like to embrace the differences, that's what it's all about!

Please don't be put off. We SB cruised in February this year and despite masks and testing, we found the standard just as good as ever, possibly even better given the circumstances (pandemic) because everyone was just so pleased to be onboard. We have a big SB cruise coming up end of September and we are excited and more than positive about this cruise. I think you have to remember that those posting about problems are just a very tiny percentage of SB cruisers. You probably wouldn't know about any problems without this forum, and may well (hopefully) go off on your cruise and have a fantastic experience. I just know - from many SB cruises - that what annoys or upsets some people just doesn't register with us. We are in different times and as long as SB work hard to make everyone's cruise something special (which I feel they do) all will be well. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it all is with supply chains, restrictions, staffing issues etc and personally I am happy to cut them a bit of slack. The world has changed.

What happened on a cruise a while back was odd. We tip through the Crew Fund usually a few days/a week before the end of the cruise, depending on length of cruise. We were just getting round to organising it, but then had a note from our Room Attendant thanking us for our contribution to the Crew Fund! It was more than we would usually do, but that didn't worry us. I was more concerned about how that happened? I imagined the note was a mistake and should've been for another guest, but no, it showed up on our account.

Don't be put off. I pack quite a few dresses (they don't take up much room) and different jewellery, shoes etc. My husband takes a few jackets of different sorts, nice shirts, he doesn't even take a suit anymore! We mix and match and look smart enough for a SB cruise.

So agree with this. I remember a few cruises ago, going to a Q&A session with the Captain (think it was Tim Roberts) , and two other officers (think it was Food & Beverages Mgr and one other) and there were some interesting questions and fascinating answers. The Captain talked about how hard all the SB staff worked and he made particular reference to the laundry staff and he said he made a point of going in to the laundry daily if he could, to sometimes just say hello or check all was OK. They work in shifts and the laundry is going 24 hours, hard work. It is for staff like this that means I want to use the Crew Welfare Fund. They deserve it as much as the mixologist in the OB who makes your favourite cocktail, or your room attendant.

I do hope tipping individuals doesn't become more prevelant, it upsets the equilibrium as far as I'm concerned. When we were choosing a cruise line, we specifically chose SB for its no tipping policy. The Crew Welfare Fund makes it all very fair. On our last cruise there was a couple onboard who spent every day (certainly sea days) on the Deck 5 area outside the Club. They paid a SB employee to reserve them two of the most comfortable loungers in the sun, and two at the back in the shade. I like Deck 5 when I want peace and quiet, it was near impossible to get a bed as 4 were reserved by 2 people, and not always used. You may call it tipping, I call it blatant bribery! It was noticed by not just me, and it created a bit of an atmosphere. I really should've complained but it's just so awkward and although I really don't think the SB employee should be doing this, I also did not want to get him in trouble either. Hence my dislike of tipping... it creates situations like this.

I wouldn't dream of tipping individuals on SB, they ALL work so hard. I would feel really awkward about that but I come from a non tipping culture, very different to the US. So we tip via the Crew Welfare fund.

Are you very concerned, should I be?

Ditto here too. We have our 'big one' coming up in the Autumn. I think it has been nincredibly hard for all sorts of commercial business in the wake of the pandemic, and I imagine there is some 'resetting' going on. I will be remaining positive.

I also communicated with another couple whilst on SB via CC in February this year. We arranged a meet up via CC and then spent a delightful couple of evenings together!

Well.... we have a 62 day cruise coming up in the Autumn and I remain positive.

I have used this company linked below. They have various outlets in the UK. It was for a fit-to-fly certificate which was requested by the US but not by Seabourn as we were tested at the cruise port before embarkation in February. However, they were very efficient and I imagine it would be quite suitable for SB as it was a comprehensive certificate. https://localpcr.com/

We had a big cruise booked beginning April 2020. Refunds happened but we have to remember how difficult it all was for people, for companies, for organising staff to action refunds, for systems, etc. It happened but it took quite a long time.

Certainly. On this board, anyone is entitled to talk of any problem they have had and on he whole posters are sympathetic if there has been valid issues. And cruise lines are very different in the way they do things, and of course there is a lot of loyalty with a favourite cruise line which can made posters defensive! However, when on my cruise, I don't want to hear it when I'm perfectly happy with how everything is going for us, I don't want to spend my holiday being sought out so someone can moan to me! And I suppose for us, there's an element of 'easy come, easy go', we're just grateful to be there! @Thecat123I think we're in agreement! When on our last cruise in February there were some real issues with an excursion and my husband and I didn't bother complaining because we knew somebody would be doing it for us, and we were right, and it was handled by SB with a letter and some recompense. Maybe we're just lazy and switch off too much!

I would never judge anyone for coming from another cruise line but comparisons just don't work do they? They're all different. What I have a problem with is needless complainers. This happened on one of our earlier cruises, just one couple, but it was so bad, we had to make a huge point of avoidance because it was spoiling our time onboard. This person was trying to rally others into a mass complaint at every opportunity about nothing, nobody played ball. (To give an example, the weather was very misty in Halong Bay and SB should've taken that into account and cut the boat trip we were all enjoying, short) Serial complainers should remember it impacts other guests. There is nothing wrong with a quiet word with SB staff when something doesn't go right, of course.