BrownshoeCruise

What is a typical % discount?

Why would one choose *not* to select your specific cabin from the get-go?

So, this seems like free money to any new Seabourn customer? I didn't understand this when I took my first cruise on Seabourn last summer.  

Given how this referral program works, it is effectively a free $250 for any first-time customer of Seabourn, and one can use/submit a "referral" for a $250 credit anytime after booking your first cruise and up to 2 weeks prior to your departure.  Just ask someone on this thread if they would "refer" you to Seabourn in advance of your actual cruise, and they will have an invite sent to you.  

The "referrer" has a limited number of referrals to offer, but it appears to be greater than 2, and each time their referral is used, they also get a $250 shipboard credit to use on their next cruise, and can use up to 2 credits per trip - so up to $500 per stateroom per cruise for the referrers.

I'll add my email to this list, I guess:  if you are a new Seabourn customer and would like to be "referred" for your upcoming trip in order to get a $250 credit for your suite, feel free to email me at

general-plea.0h[at]icloud[dot]com

and I'll have the referral invite sent to you.

Thanks.

We had the pleasure of being on the Ovation last summer for one of the first cruises out of Greece.  It was fantastic being on a ship that was booked only to 40% capacity (and at major ports where we were the only ship).

I suspect that in advance of this summer, they are anticipating booking the ships to full capacity if they can sell the rooms.  Does anyone know for sure or have examples for various itineraries this summer?

Someone last month said the Ovation has ~400 guests on it, so under 70% utilized, but forward bookings could easily be fully offered and subscribed.

53 minutes ago, mcondition said:

PCR or antigen test is required at airports only if you are not vaccinated. If you are vaccinated just fill up the PLF and present proof of vaccination.

The cruise company most likely will rapid test you before boarding, take care!

Test required even if you are vaccinated *upon return*. See official regulations:
 

https://www.heathrow.com/customer-support/faq/coronavirus-covid-19

I understood the OP as interested in particular in: comparison of the large suite experience  (not “just” Queens Grill); relative ability to establish known relationships with crew; and food and other differences. 
 

I sailed transatlantic two years ago through Iceland in the Queen Elizabeth Suite on the QM2, and am currently on the second week of my Seabourn Ovation cruise in Greece.  While I have visited each large suite here on the Ovation, I specifically choose to not get one candidly to see whether the extra space made an important difference to me. (I’m not hosting a group, I instead chose to add the Retreat for the two weeks and full access to the Spa’s “Serenity” area, since I too had added the Spa deal whilst on the QM2).  In addition, there are fewer than 300 guests on board, so perhaps my experience is not comparable to a more-typically-full ship. 

1) Seabourn is experimenting with suite hosts, but they are not meant to be the same as the steward in QG rooms, more a single point of contact versus a “buck stops here” person. To arrange a larger-than-dinner event, however, you would go to the Guest Service desks in the Seabourn Square and they would work with the restaurant managers. I didn’t note that the larger Seabourn suites have the same dedicated service areas for hosting parties similar to those in the larger suites on Cunard… but you can double-check that online I’m sure. 
 

2) It is decidedly the case that there were a handful of staff that knew me well when I sailed in the Queen Elizabeth Suite, including my stewards, my waiter in the Queens Grill, the maitre d’ of the Queens Grill, the servers in the QG lounge, and the spa folks. There were perhaps some downsides to this, including I didn’t think my waiter was fantastic and yet I couldn’t switch easily, and that most other people on the ship didn’t know who I was. Here on Ovation, I have to admit that I’m SHOCKED at how many of the staff have learned my name, remember my (and my wife’s) preferences, and will say “Hello Mr. B” whether I’m in their venue or simply passing them in the hall. (I once asked Steve Wynn if he could change anything at his business what would it be, and his response was that he wished his employees could remember and address every guest by name. Seabourn has come about as close to this as I’ve ever experienced.) My current sense is that the Seabourn staff are both well-trained appear more genuinely service-oriented, as well as a greater reliance on Europeans/ former Brit Empire staff versus Indians/SE Asians. The staff, in short, has been universally awesome. Kudos to Seabourn. 
 

3) The food has been fantastic, and especially given the greater variety and some real subtlety in some of the menus I think in the end generally superior on Seabourn Ovation to QG. I did love having an assigned window seat in QG that was there whenever I wanted, never taken by anyone, and I think the breakfast there was superior than what I can get on Seabourn. I’m reserving judgement of the TK

restaurant - having eaten both at French Laundry and Per Se, my first visit was more steak house than Thomas Keller and I don’t need to go more than once per week, I actually prefer some of the other venues/menus. We’ve gotten window seats in the restaurant maybe 2/3rds of the time, always arriving at around 8pm, but I could see as this would be trickier if the ship were full. 
 

Lastly, this is clearly less formal (and a little

younger)… and for me that is refreshing. 
 

Back to my own vacation! Hope you enjoy yours!

On 7/12/2021 at 11:32 AM, BrownshoeCruise said:

Tenders run through boat departure, All aboard is 10:30pm. Last cable car is 10:40pm.  So, plenty of time for dinner through a sunset. 🙂

Correction: last cable car down was 10pm… a potentially important difference!

On 7/9/2021 at 7:18 PM, seersucker47 said:

This is all so helpful.   Would you mind answering a question re:  Santorini port?   When was the last tender back to the ship?   We'd like to have dinner on shore but not at the expense of having to swim to the next port of call.

Tenders run through boat departure, All aboard is 10:30pm. Last cable car is 10:40pm.  So, plenty of time for dinner through a sunset. 🙂

My wife and I went on our first Cunard cruise (Queen Mary 2) and were fortunate enough to stay in a Queen's Grille (Q2) room.  I was caught a little off-guard at the end of the cruise by the question of whom, and how much, to tip, so unfortunately stressed a bit on the final night running around getting cash and envelopes for people!  However, after asking a few other people we met during the cruise, it was clear that their answers varied widely and that they also had also searched the web on the topic (even those who cruise a lot) but failed to find useful or thoughtful advice.  So, I thought I'd write up what we did, either to help someone else consider this in the future or to receive feedback on our approach.

It would appear that this topic can drive snarky comments or class warfare, so please take this as a suggestion primarily to fellow Americans who might be "used to" think about tipping a certain way and are unsure how they might want to act on this particular cruise, and who are traveling in a Grille's suite.  Obviously, your individual mileage may vary.  Also, please note that I was told onboard that of the circa $14USD auto gratuity applied each day per person, only about $3-4 goes to the restaurant waitstaff. I should also not that I intend this to apply only to the waitstaff in the restaurant, and the butler/steward for a Q2 room is a different topic (one for which I have even less ability to make a good argument).

I was seeking to determine a "baseline" of tipping that would be the equivalent of 15% of the food charges, off which I could make changes for exceptional service.  Here's how I thought about it.  I would estimate that I can have a nice four course dinner at a nice restaurant for two for $140 (just food, before tax - say, two $18 appetizers, two $18 salads, two $25 entrees, two $15 desserts, misc).  Since we also showed up for most breakfasts and lunches, I thought it was "fair" to think we had "spent" the equivalent of $250 per day on food (again, pre-tax, no liquor, which is billed separately with an auto-gratuity that I presume goes to the separate person responsible for bringing drinks). $250 per day for two is also about 15%-20% of the total cost Cunard typically charges at rack rate for two people in a Queens suite, which doesn't seem terribly off but hardly a precise measurement.  

Anyways, if I wanted to establish a baseline of 15%, that would be $38 per day.  If about $3-4 of my auto-gratuity per person per day goes to the waitstaff, then for a party of two, I'd want to pay a baseline tip, in addition to the auto-gratuity, of $38-$7 = $31. For a 7-day cruise, that'd mean I'd expect to tip about $190-$200 to the waitstaff directly.

Even if I thought that was the "right" number, it's unclear "to whom" it should go.  In the US, you pay once to your waiter, and in many restaurants that person will pay out the busboys or hostess.  In the Queen's Grille, in addition to your waiter, there is at least one assigned assistant waiter/runner, plus the head waiter and the maitre'd. In our case, we gave about 10% of the total to the maitre'd, 20% to the head waiter, and the rest we split between the main waiter and the assistant (in our case, 50/50 since the assistant was particularly good and the main waiter slightly less so).  

In hindsight, and if *everyone* did this, it might perhaps be overdoing it.  If a waiter worked an entire year, had 10 tables like this, 5 nights a week, 50 weeks per year, that would be the running equivalent of $95,000 annually. Maybe my starting $140 dinner estimate is too high? There are certainly six-figure-earning waiters in NYC, but not that many. As a former waiter myself (got me through college), I don't think that that run-rate is necessary... so maybe next time I'd reduce that by a bit. Again, not trying to start an argument about class, just saying.

Anyway, would be interested the feedback for future Cunard cruises (which I am certain to do, it was great!)