CruiserfaeFife

We were able to make two online reservations - one in each week - for our 14 day Asia cruise in January this year. 

Seabourn cancelled the Quest’s programme of Autumn 2021 cruises between Montreal and Boston, because of the restrictions on 7+ Day cruises accessing US ports. I guess if they’re not doing these then they don’t need the repositioning cruise to get Quest over there. Pity...

Err...yes...

Twice, both waiting in a line, both in Greece.

1. Standing waiting to board an inter-island ferry in Piraeus, going to Paros. Turned around to find ex-school friend, from same small town in Scotland, standing behind me. 
 

2. On Hydra, in line to buy tickets for hydrofoil to Piraeus. Person behind me taps me on shoulder and says “weren’t we on safari together in Kenya last year?”  Err...yes!

DW asks “Is there anywhere we can go where you don’t know someone??!!”

The sun deck directly above the deck 11 Aqua Class cabins is used for film shows so you will get some noise from the soundtrack when you are on your balcony. That has never bothered us and we much prefer the deck 11 Aqua Class cabins to deck 9.  The rear facing cabins are over the  Oceanview bar so you will get some noise from the musicians there, but they are popular for their larger balconies.  Both the films and the musicians wind up around 9pm from memory, so not a problem late at night. 
 

Also be aware that there is no cover over the deck 11 balconies so you will often be in full sun.  
 

Hope that helps. 

No personal experience (only done V3) but you might find Cruise Critic’s own pictures helpful. If you click on the More tab at the top of this page then “Ships” in the drop down menu and go to Seabourn Ovation you’ll find lots of pictures taken around the ship and the Veranda Suite shown must be a V2 because it has the half metal/half glass rail. 
 

We found this a really useful resource when we were planning our trip and went for V3 because the half metal/half glass rail made it look rather claustrophobic. 
 

hope this helps. 

We’re just off Ovation travelling from Hong Kong to Singapore so definitely no need for blankets!  We ate at Earth & Ocean several times - we normally got there a couple of minutes before 7 and the waiters were happy to seat us. Never had a problem getting a table but it definitely got busier as the cruise progressed, as passengers found out about Seabourn’s best kept secret 😀 .  Limited menu choices but the food was always excellent and the waiters were really well organised and welcoming. 

I suppose it’s possible Deck 11 on Infinity is different but we’ve been in 1108,1107 and 1120 on other M-class ships and they all follow the pattern in wrk2cruise’s post. The difference is only a few inches so not worth stressing over, but definitely a variance as they follow the windows of the Oceanview cafe below. Here is a photo of the fire exit notice from the back of our door on Summit from January.
 

FWIW we would always go for deck 11 because of the deck 9 overhang.

and yes, pagers were the norm at Blu in January if you arrive 7-7.30 but wait time usually  10-15 minutes or so. Time for a quick one at Cellarmasters! 🍸

We are first-time Seabourn cruisers (booked on Ovation Hong Kong to Singapore Jan 2020) so can’t comment on previous experience but we’ve received three emails with upgrade discount offers, the first just before final payment deadline and the other two after. In each case the upgrade is from our V3 booking to V5/6, Penthouse or Owners suite and the upgrade cost is reducing each time. 

The penthouse offer is quite attractive (£2.2k per person extra for a 14 night cruise) but we will resist temptation for now at least...

On our January 2018 cruise out of San Juan scheduled departure was 8.30pm but incoming flights were affected by the blizzard further North. We delayed departure by at least a couple of hours (it was a sea day the next day so no time pressure) to wait for some of the flights but some folk only caught up with the ship on day 3.  4.30 does feel tight if there are any hold-ups along the way - and I agree San Juan is an interesting city to explore. 

We are perhaps on the same cruise as you - departing 4 January.  We have two nights booked pre-cruise, staying in Central on Hong Kong island. We intend to make the most of our time in HK but stay alert to what is happening around us and move away from any large groups that may gather.  It would be a pity to stay holed up in our hotel given there is so much to see and do around the island. 

2 hours ago, Thecat123 said:

Have a look at this as it explains what should happen

Thanks very much - really helpful. 

We are doing this itinerary in reverse in January so reading others’ comments with interest. On a related note can anyone tell me what water activities are available at Ko Kood, which I’m assuming will be our beach day with caviar in the surf etc etc?  For example will they provide snorkelling gear? 

There is a useful document on visa requirements for various ports hidden away in the Seabourn FAQs, with the usual caveats of course. Here is a link to it:

https://www.seabourn.com/content/dam/sbn/inventory-assets/faq/SBN_Visa_Guidance_ADA_v5_180703.pdf

11 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

As far as speakers go I think most of the speakers might be getting off the ship since the itinerary is very port heavy going forward. I know Celia the naturist is moving to the Solstice.

I’m guessing that Celia is actually a naturalist but hey, we’re a broad church 😉

Thanks for a great review, really enjoyed reading. 

We’ve booked the Mandarin Oriental on Hong Kong Island for two nights pre-cruise in January.  There are good deals on the usual booking websites but we dealt direct and got some useful perks by signing up to the Fans of MO programme.  The Four Seasons is also good. 

Obviously watching the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong but hope it will come to a peaceful resolution in the next few months. 

I’d be inclined to avoid these cabins. We had booked one as Aqua Class for our Asia cruise on Millennium but the first few reviews following its refit when they were built were negative - the cabins were smaller than expected and very noisy in the evenings from the lounge above, leading to Celebrity downgrading the cabins. Agree that the location near the pools looks attractive, but it feels like Celebrity spoiled a good idea by penny-pinching to squeeze in a few more passengers and inadequate soundproofing. 

When we were on St Vincent in January we went on the Vermont Nature Trail Hike, one of Celebrity’s own excursions. Be aware that this is a difficult trek up and down hill through rainforest with many uneven steps and slopes so I wouldn’t recommend it if you  are at all unsteady on your feet. A few of the people in our group struggled. To be fair it was described as “Strenuous” - and it lived up to its billing!

2 hours ago, Tatka said:

 

Ooops.. Spoken too soon. 🙂 

 

Do you like all movies, concerts, singers, comedians? Although Giselle is classics, but there are many different ballets. If you didn’t like theme or performance of Giselle it doesn’t mean you will hate all other.

Indeed... but my underlying point was that we do well to respect different points of view and tastes on these boards, as indeed in life generally.

As it happens I’m not a complete philistine, enjoying opera, classical music (including from ballets, as it happens) and other performing arts but that is probably going beyond the scope of this thread...🙂

We’ve sailed Aqua class in Millennium and Summit (same deck plan as Constellation).  Blu is the main benefit for us. We avoid the Deck 9 cabins because of the overhang and always go for Deck 11. Never been bothered by the noise from the cinema above - you can hear it on the balcony but not in the cabin. I’d avoid the very front and rear cabins (1100, 1101, 1136, 1139) because they are next to an exterior door which can slam. 

I went to the ballet once, on land. Dreadful experience - three hours of my life I won’t get back.  A production of Giselle (SPOILER ALERT: unscrupulous noble flirts with peasant girl, peasant girl falls in love. But unscrupulous noble is already betrothed.  Peasant girl dies of broken heart and comes back as a ghost.)  in case the plot wasn’t depressing enough this production was set in the Warsaw ghetto during Nazi occupation instead of the usual forest. 

My companion on the other hand was move to tears by the emotion of the ballet and then joy when she was gifted the prima ballerina’s (used!) slippers after the performance. 

Moral: one man’s meat is another man’s poison

So if you enjoy ballet (or haven’t been so don’t know) go along and I hope you have an enjoyable evening. I’d be in the Martini bar though. 

And good on Celebrity for trying something different.  

Hi. We are booked on our first cruise with Seabourn, on the Ovation from Hong Kong to Singapore in January 2020.  Final payment in November. Would anyone be kind enough to offer a referral coupon?  We are UK based, if that is relevant.  Many thanks in anticipation. 

Back in February we booked one of the new Deck 10 Aqua Class cabins on Millennium for a cruise in Asia January 2020. The cabins were to be added during Revolution refit. Come May we get an email to say we now have a “guarantee” booking. After several attempts to get an explanation we are told that the Deck 10 cabins have been downgraded following customer complaints - main issues seem to be size and noise from the lounge above.  Turns out that there are no suitable alternative cabins and so after a series of unsatisfactory calls with the contact centre we end up cancelling and going elsewhere.  The person we spoke to said Celebrity was “surprised” how small the new cabins turned out!

Can LLP explain how Celebrity got this aspect of the refit so badly wrong - surely in the age of CAD technology they should have known off-plan exactly what size the cabins would be and also been able to install soundproofing?