Kane

It's been a few years since sailing Seabourn for us. I'm an early riser and was unable to get coffee until the coffee bar opened at 6:30. It's not possible to use the in-suite gizmo early without earning an evil-eye from my dear spouse. Other cruise lines have a 24x7 coffee machine somewhere. Has this become available? TIA

OK, a little more of an answer to your questions. Our voyage to Svalbard and vicinity was > 10 years ago, so itineraries may be different. There were no excursions on Svalbard other than the stop at Longyearbyen. It's really quite desolate there. Mostly scientists doing Arctic research. One could not venture out of town to look for polar bears (which are present) without armed escorts present to protect you from them. Our voyage took us on a cruise-by into Magdalena Fjord on Svalbard. Very similar to Alaska glacier sail-bys. No disembarkation. The third sail was a sail-into rather than sail-by. The ship poked its bow into the polar icefield as close to the North Pole as the captain dared to N80-20-47 670 miles from pole. No giant icebergs there like Antarctica. If you are a "check-box" person, that's one that is pretty rare.

OK, it's time for a nice Regent Air story. Our agent came up with a Regent offer of a Rome-Istanbul voyage last year that was not selling and offered at a very good price. . We signed up and told some of our club friends about it. We ended up with 16 people. I guess because of our group size, our agent got our non-gateway and custom air deviation fees waived. Everyone gave Regent their preferences with many varying carriers and routes. The Regent clue was: make your preference on the same airline/alliance and we can probably get you business air all the way. Usually, it's coach on domestic segments and business on the overseas legs. The outcome: EVERYONE got business air all the way from HNL-FCO and IST-HNL. Individuals went on airline/alliances of their choice on various routes. No additional cost. Turns out to be a really smart move on Regent's part. 80% of the group were first-time Regent sailors and so far, 50% have signed-up for Regent cruises in 2024.

Well, I got to this thread late. I also do NOT understand how Viking Ocean got rated #1. First, we sailed the Mars from Bali to Sydney when it was a brand new ship. To be fair, we feel it was one of the most well designed ships and a joy to walk around and enjoy. The cruise director was one of the best we have ever seen, bar none. However, our dealings with Viking started about a year ahead when their requirements were: Pay now, in full, no exceptions. Sort of different from all other cruise lines we sailed on, but OK, done. Next, Indonesia had some pre-arrival Covid app that absolutely did not work. Viking response did not offer any help or suggestions, just "do it", even though it did not work for us or our other friends we went with. Indonesia (I think) finally just gave up and never checked our compliance on our arrival. No help from Viking. I understand the concept of Chef's Table ... what the chef designs for the evening is what you get. Not Viking's fault, but I have shrimp allergy. At the restaurant; ok no substitutions, we will take the shrimp off, you can have the underlying lettuce base. Similar (but less stringent) treatment at other dining venues. Lastly, disembarkation in Sydney was at some boonie docks maybe 5 miles out of the city. Find your own way to your hotel. The final insult was, the next morning, seeing the Viking Mars docked at the Sydney Circular Quay ready for the new passengers. I think we are just not used to the Nordic attitude. Here it is, what you see is what you get, and normally quite decent and good. It's just how it is presented. We're Regent loyalists and used to being coddled a bit more.

Birds: Arctic Tern "attack" on walk from dock into Longyearbyen. There are warning signs about this. The locals also leave sticks in containers along the road to "wave off" the terns when they make their dive bombs 🙂

Sort of an unusual location, on the 9th deck, above but not on the pool deck. Would not seem to be a popular location. What sort of hours is it open?