Jane21

Have stayed in Wintergarden and Penthouse Spa number of times.
Bar in both have always been stocked with 4 plus bottles of spirits and they have just swapped them out for those specifically requested when we asked.

If going to have an in suite party they happily brought us numerous more bottles.

47 minutes ago, SLSD said:

It's not paying for extra luggage weight that is an issue for us-it is actually dealing with the luggage (and yes we get help with it) .  You can say to each his own--without even knowing us or how we would really like to dress.  Sometimes there are multiple days (up to a week) on either end of the cruise and a need to pack all kinds of clothing.  We make the best decisions we can.  Mr. SLSD wears a jacket every night to dinner, usually with a bow tie. He dresses this way at home as well when we go out for dinner.  He packs dress pants and dress shirts.   I usually wear black dresses, black silk pants and tops  with  scarves and jewelry or something similar for dinner. I pack a lot of things that lay flat and take little space.  We actually love dressing up, but have difficulty packing everything we might like to pack  for a long trip.  And yes, we use the laundry services of Seabourn.  We try to travel with one large suitcase and a a tote with things we would want to have if all luggage was lost.  We would love to hear exactly how you do it.  I'm not familiar  with kg, but know that our large suitcases are usually 50 lbs.  

I think you are misunderstanding “each to their own”. 
I mean everyone does what they want to do /able to do re luggage etc. and not really for anyone else to comment. I am not criticising you in any way.

Our cases are not an issue for us. We don’t pay for extra luggage : it is included with our flights. The driver collects us from the house and loads the cases. He drops us at the airport where the guy takes our luggage from the car, loads it onto the trolley and immediately wheels it to the check in lady to place the luggage labels on.

On arrival we get a porter and point to our luggage. Same thing at the port. The only thing we actually carry/lift at any point are our two wheelie bags.

As said below 32kg is around 70lb a case. 

23 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

It's not that we don't "enjoy dressing for dinner"; as I said, it's all about the weight of luggage. I have 50 pounds allowed. My bag itself weighs close to 10 pounds. Taking a tux is not just "one more suit and extra pair of shoes" -- it's probably about 10 pounds, or 25% of all I can take on a trip. For just one night (or two on a longer cruise). Both my wife and I are always right at the 50 pound limit; I have a digital scale and we're often between 49 and 50 pounds in both bags. Taking the tux outfit would significantly impact what I could have with me for day and evening clothing for the rest of the trip. Therefore, since I'm comfortable wearing a nice black suit, my wife is happy with that, and it complies with the cruise line's stated dress code for formal nights, that's what I go with. I don't mean to be (and don't think I am) flaunting any rules, and my black suit instead of tux shouldn't impact other passengers' enjoyment of their evening. 

We have 2x 32kg each. Not bothered how many cases we take.

We dress for ourselves.

As I previously said, it is each to their own 😀

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

DW estimates about 20%.  I was one of them but since I have a tux it is no more bother then packing a suit.

 

Hank

Same for my husband - it is just packing one more suit and extra pair of shoes.
I am happy to pack numerous dresses/shoes.

We enjoy dressing for dinner.

Each to their own 😀

8 minutes ago, fdnycruiser said:

I’ve had a few upsell offers over the years, including from V to penthouse . It wasn’t any bargain though,so we declined .

I agree that the upsell from Penthouse to Wintergarden is not a bargain - in fact never had an upsell that was a bargain but have saved many thousands of pounds.

2 minutes ago, markham said:

My TA says that these offers do go out on cruises that are “under-selling” and there more of them in past years. They are generally for the V category - and so not necessarily of interest to us. It’s the former that explains why I haven’t seen them to speak of.

 

Anyway I intend to dial in 8 weeks before my next likely under-selling cruise of 2022, assuming that despite all the pent-up demand that particular cruise qualifies.

 

And again Jane21, thank you for the heads up!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

If by V category your TA means Verandah cabins that also is not strictly true in my experience.

Only one of mine was from a verandah cabin ( that was a cruise that is known to have wide open availability in all suites and thus deliberately booked a verandah as an upsell was obviously going to happen), remainder have been Penthouse to Wintergarden.

11 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

Yet, interestingly, it doesn't appear they are offering these paid upgrades on the current 7-day cruises in the Caribbean, even though they are very lightly sold. (There were about 130 people on the first two cruises, and under 100 on the current cruise.) They clearly have premium category inventory which is unsold, but reports from everyone here on CC and on the Facebook Seabourn forums indicates that no one has received an upgrade offer. Perhaps their staff is so overwhelmed with rebooking canceled and changed cruises that they don't have time to send out upgrade offers? On the other hand, it's 100% profit for Seabourn if they get any takers, so you'd think they would be trying not to leave behind easy money.

My friends travel agent has confirmed they have received paid upgrade offers for clients on 7 day Greek cruises. 
They have had no clients on first few Barbados cruises.

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We are on the Ovation now.  Had booked a V1 guarantee and about 3 weeks prior to the cruise we were offered various upsells to nearly every category which we declined.  SB assigned us a perfectly located V5 cabin just down the corridor from SB Square.

 

Hank

This is what I am used to. I think the issue must lie with Markham’s agent.

17 minutes ago, jenidallas said:

We’ve received these upsell offers onset of our Seabourn sailings, always passed onto us by our Virtuoso agent.  Interestingly the only times I have not received one of these offers have been when I booked with someone other than her.  

We use Virtuoso for our land based holidays but never for a cruise. We pay same price as on website for hotels but are given extras.
The cruise company I use just gives me a straightforward cash discount (10 - 12%) off the advertised price on the Seabourn website. 
Do you mind me asking what benefits you get booking a cruise with a Virtuoso agent?

Always find I learn something from these boards 😀

Thanks

1 hour ago, markham said:

Thank you Jane21.

I have never seen such a promotion in 20 years of sailing Seabourn.

I will be in contact with my TA before my next cruise.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

In my experience they have appeared around six weeks before sailing ( you can normally tell if one is going to appear if you look online about eight weeks before and see a number of premium cabins available and they are also selling OB cabins. Have been told by people I have met on Caribbean cruises that they have received them 12 weeks before and then prices reduced at eight weeks)

28 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

I'm looking at my booking confirmation, and there's nothing about dining or format nights that I can see. Page 1 has pricing and guest info; page 2 has cancellation fees and notices, page 3 has additional included amenities, page 4 has our itinerary and flight notice legalese, and page 5 has Seabourn Club information. I would think it might be denoted on the itinerary page, which lists each day's port, arrival and departure -- but it's not. Where is it in your booking confirmation? 

Ah - just realised booking confirmation is from my travel agent. On all my confirmations it is included in the last page.  My 14 night Barbados to Barbados 29 August states two formal nights.

26 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

I must be missing something. I'm logged into the Seabourn website and looking at my upcoming cruise, and not seeing anything about formal night or dress code. Where does one find this information?

Quite far down towards the bottom of your booking confirmation

3 minutes ago, Jane21 said:

Had one of these upsell offers on every one of my last five Seabourn cruises for the last four years and thus I am afraid they obviously do act like a mass market line 😀

Thought I would show you an example:

18 minutes ago, markham said:

Does Seabourn even/ever do/offer/solicit “paid upgrades”? 
Sure, at full price this might happen.
Sounds like something you would find on a mass market line.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Had one of these upsell offers on every one of my last five Seabourn cruises for the last four years and thus I am afraid they obviously do act like a mass market line 😀

Did anyone get an upsell offer to a premium suite for their cruise or was able to do a paid upgrade when they boarded?

Thanks

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

@Borna. Well, if Grenada won't allow Seabourn in, I'm happy to see they came up with a new port of call to replace it -if there's anything you can do there, of course. Since you can't go off on your own, do they have any excursions available for you for the Grenadines port call?  The lack of communication to passengers is disappointing (although not surprising based on recent past experience). 

 

I'm also surprised to see there is a Formal night on the schedule. I thought there were no formal nights on tropical cruises. Did you have one formal night on your first 7-day cruise?

My paperwork for the 14 night cruise at the end of August states two formal nights. 

32 minutes ago, Borna said:

Jane21.  I haven’t met anyone who paid for an upgrade.  Didn’t know it was an option.  But considering the huge number of empty cabins, seabourn would be wise to earn a little extra dough for an upgrade.   

Thanks for prompt response. I have never paid to upgrade on board, normally do it 6-8 weeks before with an upsell offer.

Thanks for all the postings Borna.

Off your usual topics: have you met any one onboard who did a paid upgrade when they boarded as there have been no upsell offers prior to boarding on these cruises?

Thanks

I think another point to note is that when you previously went on the webpage for international cruising, it clearly stated government advised against it. This has been removed.

1 hour ago, auldlassie said:

From what I have read this is only for international cruises DEPARTING FROM THE UK. Not sure about returning back to the UK, but definitely departing from, so it is not a lot of good to me. 😞 

Government website states “ starting calling or ending at ports outside of the UK”

It does not state only for cruises departing from UK

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

So far, the Odyssey is running at very low capacity, so it makes sense Seabourn will offer upgrades with all the unsold inventory of suites. We don't know how the bookings look later in the summer and fall, but the addition a few weeks ago of air credits and higher onboard credit suggests that they are far from filling the ship. 

 

I had a situation where I was seeking some form of adjustment after Seabourn made that pricing change (added $200 OBC and $1,000 air credits) after we booked and paid. Seabourn offered an upgrade from our V3 suite to a V6, a $900 per person retail value. But that was the same suite, just on a higher deck -- and I didn't consider that an advantage or an upgrade to what we consider a convenient and well-placed suite on Deck 6. In the end, we stuck with our original suite and held out for additional onboard credit from Seabourn.

 

I know that isn't the same as a Seabourn upsell offer to a higher category of suite; I just wanted to make the point to anyone reading that not all "upgrades" really are upgrades. If the upgrade is from a veranda cabin to a penthouse suite, that's a definite step up to larger accommodations, which might be appealing to some people. The jump from a V3 suite to a penthouse suite, for example, has a retail price of $4,200 ($2,100 per person). If that upgrade was was offered for, say, $2,000, it might be enticing; on the other hand, it would still represent a roughly 25% increase in the cost of your cruise, so it just depends on how you look at it and value the higher-level suite. We spend most of our time in public spaces on the ship, so a larger suite is nice but of somewhat limited value; other people might prefer to have more meals in their suite, or to have friends join them for a party or meal, in which case a larger suite is of greater value.

 

That all said, for the original question from @Jane21, I haven't yet seen any posts about people getting upgrade offers on these cruises. Our cruise isnt' until late September, so it's probably too soon for them to be trying to do upsets. Have you received such an offer? 

Not received any offer. 
Penthouse/Penthouse Spa/Owner suites are still available for cruises departing this Sunday and next few weeks and just wondering if no offers have been sent out or people unhappy with offer and not taken them up.

Anyone had an upsell offer for the Barbados cruises this summer?
 

If so, can you remember what was offered/price?

Thanks in advance

2 hours ago, Borna said:

Stressing news from a current passenger, who arrived early for the first Barbados cruise and reports that he was held captive and had to raise hell before being allowed to leave the hotel to get to the port to board the cruise because the on arrival test result had not yet been given.  His post is on Facebook Seabourn friends and family.

 

 

Decided I am now going to fly in on the day to avoid arrival testing.

2 hours ago, Baz-t said:

I am still concerned as to whether the Insurance company offering travel insurance cover when travelling against FCDO rules are also extending this to international cruise cover. The FCDO advice against international cruises is a separate advisory to a country advisory.

Has anyone seen in writing in the press, insurance co website or Government website that international cruising is now included?

See my post on this thread 16 and 62. Staysure would not provide cover outside of EU for my Barbados to Barbados cruise but they will. 

22 minutes ago, Baz-t said:

The big issue is valid travel insurance. Contrary to my earlier post, I have turned 180 degrees and have now had a good conversation with my travel insurer who, with clarity, has confirmed that our travel policy will not be valid if we travel against UK FCDO advice. That UK FCDO advice is what Seabourn is waiting to hear if it is changed in early August. My insurer will not cover us even with the enhanced Covid-19 Extension cover as we would be travelling against the Government advisory.

We are holding onto our Seabourn booking for 7 August in the hope there may be a change to the advisory. No way can we cruise without medical cover!

 

My travel policy covers everything except Covid - I am ok with this as if you read Seabourn cover - you would get a credit note if you could not go due to Covid and be covered on cruise if you got Covid. This is for the Barbados cruise and the policy states the cruise is travelling against Government advisory,