SLSD

I'm with you on this. I don't see the point in criticizing those who are having a great time onboard a Seabourn ship. We all know that there are challenges--and those challenges have been explained for all to read. Why not just accept reports both good and bad and make your own analysis without bashing those who have one perspective or another?

Clearly not acceptable. This looks like a failure on the part of the Food and Beverage manager.

Only if you frequent places who serve it as such. We certainly do not. Restaurants in our city serve a sit down white tablecloth brunch, ordered from a curated menu.

Technically, there is a four day deadline for filing this information. Often big corporations do not wait for the full four days because the news gets out and they want to get ahead of it. The trigger is "the registrant has entered into a material definitive agreement not made in the ordinary course of business." It is possible that the Saudis bought the notes--but that is not the same thing as buying the cruise line. It's a loan. And, we don't know if they were buyer of the notes. That is private information. That would make them a lender, not a buyer.

This may well be happening, but is not a done deal yet. Otherwise, Carnival would have issued a Form 8-K and filed it with the SEC and that has not happened to this moment--6pm October 28th CST. The Securities and Exchange Commission's website (known as EDGAR) shows several Form 8-K (press release) filings since Sept. 30, and the headline is the issuance of another $2.03 billion of priority notes. There is no indication of Carnival selling its subsidiary Seabourn, or of Seabourn selling its ships, to anyone. Here's the link so everyone can keep watch for themselves: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=815097&owner=exclude

I had heard that on Facebook yesterday--but have been unable to find any confirmation of that online. Do you know of an article announcing this?

I don't see it as Scandi bashing, but criticism of ersatz Scandi. We had fabulous food in Stockholm. Not quite the same thing as Swedish meatballs at IKea in Dallas!

LOL! I have actually HAD meatballs in the Ikea restaurant here in the Dallas area! This was years ago when our younger son (about age 19 at the time) wanted something from Ikea and wanted to try the meatballs! It was a droll experience, but only memorable for that reason. I imagine that Viking might be something like that--in some cases.

The way you describe food on a Viking cruise is exactly how I had pictured it. And, you describe Seabourn just as we have experienced it. Thank you for helping us make the decision to skip Viking. I know we would be disappointed. We like a bit of ambience for our restaurant dining--not a school cafeteria atmosphere!

And that is exactly what I said. Thank you for confirming.

I think you can pretty much count on the MDR NOT being open for breakfast or lunch on your cruise. In the past, I have only seen it open on sea days and not on all of those.

Perhaps this varies from port to port? At any rate, I have determined that I need to get busy becoming app before our next SB cruise.

I think this means a guaranty veranda suite.

I look forward to hearing your complete analysis. We've considered Viking, but never have been able to ascertain what it is really like and how much it differes from Seabourn.

One of my objections to the buffet is eating food that has been around so many people and utensils. It's not a matter of being served the food instead of serving it to myself. I don't want to eat that food! And, I am not a germaphobe. I would prefer a well curated menu and a place with a pleasant ambience to dine. I think the issue is that some people don't understand what others object to or what they are looking for.

I've enjoyed your reports--grumbling or not. Please continue writing exactly what. you see and experience. I have been reading that the numbers of passengers on most SB ships are far from capacity. Maybe that is why there are groups of travel agents? One would expect them to act with decorum and not be raucous. But, maybe that is too much to ask?

If you have difficulty finding contact info--let me know and I will ask Mr. SLSD to message her through Linked in for an email address. I have been looking around on the internet and it appears she leads groups in both Turkey and Scandanavia now. If for some reason she no longer leads small groups (like two or four) you could ask her for a recommendation. I would be tempted to hire her to lead us on a tour all over Turkey following (or preceding) a cruise. I remember her taking us (outside of another port) to a black sand beach. We had lunch under a tent--some kind of Turkish pancakes that were yummy. We also went to the mud baths that day and rode in glass bottom boats (the boats and location were used in filming The African Queen movie. I had only seen that movie on TV as a young child but had a strange feeling of deja vu when seated in the boat. I asked our guide about it and sure enough--this was the place and these were the boats). She is very knowledgable about history, mythology, folklore, religious--everything you would want to know.

Highplanesdrifters, Mr. SLSD says he has maintained contact with our guide through Linked in. Her name is Sebnem Altin and she has been with several agencies. She was our guide in Istanbul and another Turkish port a little over 10 years ago! Sebnem was a very young woman at the time. We were a group of four (two couples) and she was our guide over a number of days. She was an excellent guide. I'm not a member of Linked in--so I couldn't see much there about her, but I googled her and I think you would be able to contact her, even if you are not a Linked in member. I just remember that she enabled us to have such a rich experience. We asked her to order for us in restaurants so that we could be sure to have dishes that were local specialties. I remember most fondly a lunch in restaurant overlooking the Bosporus--what a view. We were able to go places that we would have known nothing about but for our guide. There is a photo of Sebnem in this BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60262964

I think some of the surprises on SB can be somewhat spontaneous and not advertised. Hot chocolate for everyone on a cold day in Alaska while viewing a glacier, a special French tea, or a chocolate tea. We've only seen the marina on one cruise as it is often cancelled due to sea/weather conditions. I do not think you will be disappointed by the Seabourn atmosphere.

Vineyard Vine, I have long been very curious about Viking and have wondered if it would be a good fit for us. I've investigated the site and read some posts at the board here. One thing that has bothered me is that reservations for various things--restaurants, excursions, etc are based on the level of suite that you book. In other words, the higher the suite, the more preference you get in terms of sign up date. On Seabourn, things are much more egalitarian--no one gets preference when it comes to reservations for the TK Grill or excursions. At least this is the stated policy. We've never had difficulty getting reservations on a SB cruise at either the TK Grill or an excursion. Also, we enjoy the entertainment on Seabourn and have never been able to totally understand the level of entertainment on Viking cruises. From what I have read, Viking appears to be an upscale very casual cruise line without the special touches and surprises of a Seabourn cruise--such as a caviar/champagne brunch on the bow of a ship in Alaska while viewing glaciers, or a sail away deck party in port of Monte Carlo with drinks passed on trays and special appetizers, or very engaging Cruise Directors who sometimes give a concert of their own, etc. etc. We have not cruised since the pandemic--preferring to wait a bit longer before flying abroad.

It's been some years, but I think my husband kept in contact with her --at least some years ago---. I'll ask him and come back with an answer. She was actually our guide at two different ports. I hope Mr. SLSD has current contact info. i know that people can see the sights in Instanbul without a guide, but her knowledge of restaurants (and ability to get a good table there) and familiarity with the city was instrumental for our wonderful time there. She was even a tea leaf reader! The ONLY sight we saw there that I would skip is the NEW palace (whatever it is called). It is a very large wood frame building and it felt like a fire trap to me and could not hold a candle to Topkapi.

If you choose the Athens to Istanbul, ending your cruise in that city could be one of the best things ever. We did this route some years ago and hired a private guide in Istanbul and stayed an extra two full days days at the end of the cruise (or was it three days). . We enjoyed seeing all the famous sites in the city (the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi, the Grand Bazaar--as well as some lesser known sites that our guide knew about.) We even crossed the Bosporus via a very small boat one evening to dine at a memorable waterside restaurant. There were lunches overlooking the Bosporus as well as time spent in a wonderful hotel. Seeing Istanbul is one of our most memorable vacation experiences.

I totally agree. No one is going to see things in exactly the same way. One of the benefits of reading posts on Cruise Critic is being able to read posts from all points of view. I've noticed that we have people who say that they pay a lot of money to cruise on SB--so everything should be top notch at all times and those who say that staffing issues are happening on all cruise lines and we have to be patient. As with most things, the actual situation is probably somewhere in between.

I don't think it really works to criticize posters for what they have to say. I agree with you that we get more criticisms of Seabourn than praise here. That is just how message boards work. And this is why I sometimes ask the posters to be sure to tell us about the good things they are experiencing. But, please, let people write what they choose to write. All of us are free to discount what we see as unimportant or exaggerated.

Thank you. I think I understand now.----We don't want to ride the donkeys of course and don't want to walk down the donkey path for sanitary reasons. IF the island is overwhelmed with cruisers, there could be a long time consuming line at the cable car. SO---it would be best to take an excursion that comes back to the tender. OR, if there are not many ships at the island, the cable car would be an ok choice.