Nops

There is a blog of the current cruise of the South Pacific on the Seabourn website. Very informative. Maybe answer some of your questions.

What is your source?

There is a blog of the current Pursuit South Pacific Cruise on the Seabourn website. Many diving pictures in the Pitcairn Islands.

Just relating my experience!

I am in UK and managed to rebook via TA without penalty. Seabourn and agent were very flexible about this. I think in their T & Cs they indeed give you the ability to take advantage of any reduction in fares.

Pricing can work both ways, we booked a cruise for winter 2023 which about four months prior to sailing reduced by about 20% (due presumably to low numbers), our TA secured us a slightly better reduction than that. While on the Sojourn Trans-Atlantic in November we booked for Greenland in August 2024 even our TA commented on the great fare. Indeed it was, it is now 50% more expensive. My conclusion, first look at the itinerary, no good booking a bargain to somewhere you don't want to go, then examine the offerings. After booking keep watching the fares, it is always possible to rebook.

There is at least one thread on this subject in the Seabourn Voyage Logs. Find the Venture on the location map and then use the menu to find a Svarlbard voyage (might not be called that of course). This url might work https://www.seabourn.com/en/gb/experience/voyagetracker/index.html It is a great feature of the website but very under publicised.

We have booked on a similar itinerary for 2025 and on two expedition cruises this summer in Northern Europe. My understanding and confirmed in a video from Robin West (Seabourn Expeditions Director) is that kayaking and submarine rides have to be pre-booked. (These are always shown on the first day of a cruise, but in fact take place during the cruise at suitable locations. You will be allocated a time when you are onboard). Other than that there is no specific excursion schedule. The expedition team arrange "expeditions" on the day according to weather/sea state. These are briefed to guests the night before in a daily presentation. These could be a simple zodiac tour or a landing and an activity. I think that if you are looking for scheduled excursions as on the classic ships you will be disappointed. The ethos of the expedition cruises is to maximise the guest experience which means being flexible on the day rather than having a strict plan. The good thing is that apart from kayaking/submarines is that everything is included. (This may not include scuba diving in fairness). The only question I have is that we are on two back to back expedition cruises splitting in Tromso and Papeete. I do not know if excursions are available for these ports. However I am expecting to be so relaxed by those ports that I will go with the flow.

Thanks to everybody, it now works for me. I do find it strange that Seabourn buries useful resources in the weeds of their website.

For me that links to booking portal.

I do not see four parallel lines, screen shot attached. I maybe making an error

My link to the Voyage Journal/Tracker webpage (https://www.seabourn.com/en/gb/experience/voyage-tracker) now only leads to the booking portal. It used to be able link to the day by day diaries of Seabourn onboard staff. These were very useful in deciding future cruise bookings, for instance if I wanted an in-depth knowledge of the Svalbard. experience there was a detailed diary. Can anybody help me navigate to these pages? As an aside I received an email from SB giving details of the new improved website, I duly navigated to it and received an outdated maintenance warming!!!!!

Taxi last Friday to South Beach was $35. No wait, clean, efficient and helpful driver.

Just off the Sojourn Trans-Atlantic from Lisbon to Miami. It was absolutely brilliant and well exceeded my expectations. The crew were magnificent and the customer service outstanding. I felt Seabourn had upped their food game, a particular highlight was breakfast on the Patio every morning. By day two my wife's grapefruit juice was waiting for her. A contributory factor may have been the low load of only 280 guests.

My point was about the quality of information on the SB website, I looked at a cruise in 2025 that stated "sold out". This was not the case. I love doing my own research but to do so am reliant on the source material.

This is a storm in a bath tub. Last year on Sojourn we had a choice of multiple Moulton and Brown refillable shower products in our cabin. Much better than small fiddly tubes, indeed advantageous as Mrs. Nops liked one fragrance while I preferred another. It also enabled me to try several different fragrances. So rather than cost cutting I would call it a welcome enhancement.

Well that is my fault must have left that unchecked from the time I set up account. Thanks your help, hope I will not come to regret it!

SB puzzle me. We have been on five cruises and have three booked in next seven months. They never reach out to me pro-actively. My only source of information is through the website or my excellent TA. I was specifically looking at Greenland expeditions following another CC thread. Mauzac is absolutely correct, I had another lines website open at the same time if this has the information I want and the itinerary/price is right then it is only my residual loyalty to SB that keeps me onboard (no pun intended). My wife and I like the SB product but sometimes it only needs a small nudge to change that. The website is the shop window of SB, if they cut corners on this what other economies are being made that we are not aware of.

I have been looking for expedition cruises in 2025 for a couple of weeks. Previously returned a blank page. For the period May to September 2025 now returns nineteen results. All our sold out. Fourpossible explanations; 1) SB has indeed sold all these cruises (unlikely). 2) Early booking is reserved for an "elite" group or TAs (possible but unlikely based on BASandSYBs thoughts above). 3) Like TKG change SB is rebranding (unlikely) 4) A problem with SB booking system (most likely) Does suggest not very joined up admin from SB though

On same sailing but no upgrade offers coming my way, jealous.

We have a cruise Christmas/New Year. Was able to book TKG in Dec 2023 but not in Jan 2024 for the same cruise. That would suggest it is a date issue, maybe nothing has been loaded beyond 2023. I agree with previous poster we enjoy TKG particularly on smaller ships. It is an opportunity to enjoy a world renowned chef without travelling to the US. When I looked at the prices in his land based restaurants then it is good value. The TK themed nights in the Colonnade always seem to book out so that would suggest that something is right. I suggest that any restaurant is going to struggle to be to the taste of everybody all of the time. Also it might suffer from familiarity. Be careful what you wish for as posters might not like the alternative.

Two recommendations. On the way to the cruise we are staying at The Bonnie Badger in Gullane, a fantastic small scale hotel with lovely food. About 20 miles from central Edinburgh but there is a very regular direct bus. Added bonus is lovely scenery and the nearby great town of North Berwick. in Edinburgh we think that Tom Kitchens main restaurant is our favourite in the UK. Superbly cooked Scottish products.

I see that the itinerary on Seabourn.com is now correct although they state disembarkation with be in Leith whereas it will of course be Edinburgh airport. As my car will be at the airport I am seriously thinking of skipping the overnight hotel in Edinburgh on the way back. Interestingly there is still no ship name by the itinerary but you can link to the itinerary from the Venture landing page, Also see that the price has increased somewhat from earlier in the year.

Looking forward to being out and about on the Venture. To reassure the cruise is available to book this morning.

Hope you are enjoying the Anvil at Sawden, best fish and chips in the area.