cruiseej

Well, yes and no. They, like any airline or travel agent, will work to get you to the ship. But not necessarily on time. If you miss your flight, it may be one or several days before they can get you to Japan, and then to wherever the ship is by that time. I probably missed this somewhere earlier in the thread, but isn't there any earlier flight from DEN to LAX, on any airline? If there's no flight SS can get that day, could you consider purchasing a flight to LA on your own, and have SS change your booking to originate in LA? Alternatively, could SS book you on a flight to LAX a day earlier, and you stay overnight there (ideally paid for by SS, but even if you pay on your own )? I would do either of those rather than chance significantly disrupting your wonderful cruise if you miss your current connection.

@Stumblefoot Thanks for that suggestion. Do you think it's worth going to see the penguins there considering our next stop is three days in South Georgia Island and then on to the Antarctic peninsula? From everything I've seen and read, it seems like we'll be getting our fill of penguins on this trip. Or perhaps one can't see enough penguins? 😉

I don't want to "police" anything, and I don't want to report anyone. I was only asking or suggesting to both posters, and any who might follow, to turn down the heat to continue discussing the incident in a calmer manner. That comes from direct accounts reported by people onboard. The exact method or nature of the leg injury has not been reported. It could have been from the initial rupture of the Zodiac compartment, or perhaps getting tangled in a rope while falling overboard. But I don't think there's any question that the leg injury occurred during the Zodiac incident. We were using the term used by those onboard. You may be right that "explosion" may not be technically accurate terminology. However, "low pressure deflation" makes it sound like a slow leak in a tire, not a violent event that threw one or two people overboard, and caused one person to suffer a severe leg injury. I assume a ship's Master, like an airline captain, can be cleared or held responsible at the conclusion of an investigation. With airlines, a captain may make a decision in the moment which is later found to have been incorrect or not optimal — but the captain is cleared because it was an appropriate decision based on the information available and the captain's experience. Or a captain may be held accountable for making an incorrect decision which went against policies/procedures/best judgement based on the information which was available. But unlike an airline pilot who may have mere seconds to make life-changing decisions (like "Sully"), the cruise ship captain in this case undoubtedly had the opportunity to talk to the company's operations base for weather and medical advice, and to consider with local Argentine/Chilean authorities various alternatives like heading to a base in Antarctica or a medevac flight from Ushuaia. The captain's decision to depart the peninsula and head north to Ushuaia was not a split-second decision, and was almost certainly informed by collaboration with the home office and local authorities.

For those who have been to the Falkland Islands on a SS cruise, any recommendations among the three excursions SS offers? There's (1) "Exploring the Highlights of Stanley", a 2-hour bus tour; (2) "Battlefields - A Mountain Perspective", a 2.5 bus tour; and "Mount William Hike", a 4-hour strenuous hike. I might try the hike; is it easy to switch to one of the others at the last minute if the weather is nasty? My wife probably won't do the hike; any thoughts on which of the other two is better? Thanks!

I think the insinuations from @Catlover54 seem a bit unsubstantiated and heavy-handed, and the response from @Heidi13 was very heated, so perhaps everyone can just dial it back as we continue to learn about the multiple tragedies on this cruise. The passengers onboard are the ones who reported that a bladder on the zodiac exploded, throwing one or two people overboard and injuring another. Whoever was in the water was pulled safely back on the zodiac, but the injured person suffered a severely broken leg which the ship's medical staff felt exceeded their capabilities and needed medical attention in a hospital. (It's not clear if any others were injured less severely.) Weather conditions apparently precluded sending a helicopter to medivac her back to Ushuaia, so the captain decided to take the ship to Ushuaia. I'd guess that is part of the protocol for cruise ships in Antarctica. No one has stated the freak Zodiac accident was Viking's fault. An investigation will surely come up with a cause, but who knows whether that will ever be public information. Only the passengers and the crew know the exact speed of the ship. However, a passenger onboard did report "the weather is deteriorating. So, we are returning to Ushuaia (Argentina) at top speed." So yes, speed was mentioned. Whether the speed had anything to do with the impact of the rogue wave is unknown by any of us. We can guess that it seems unlikely, but again, an investigation will determine those facts some point in the future. What we know for certain is that one person died in the wave accident, others made a harrowing escape after water poured into their cabins, and one woman was severely injured in the Zodiac accident. Did the captain make the right call trying to help the one injured woman, or did she make the wrong call attempting to cross the Drake in the rough weather conditions at the time? There's no reason for any of us to speculate or assign blame, because we just don't have the information needed to reach such a conclusion; eventually the inquiry (and potentially lawsuits) will reach a determination.

Nothing posted yet for either Venture or Pursuit in summer 2024, as best I can see. Am I missing something?

Ah. To your knowledge, was there a stated limit of one 50 pound bag per person for your trip? Maybe they have different rules for departures from Buenos Aires than Santiago?

@GaitherBill They do a deep cleaning/disinfecting between each cruise segment. They've always done this to some degree, but it's part of the heightened response to Covid, and the effort to keep it from spreading on a ship. If you're boarding a ship and the person who was in your suite on the prior cruise was confined to the room because they had tested positive to Covid, or hadn't tested positive but was coughing/sneezing a lot, you'd be happy to know they are trying to disinfect and clean to the greatest practical degree!) So the comment above was that since the ship will be empty of passengers for the two months before this sailing, there wouldn't seem to be the need to do the normal between-cruises cleaning poor to boarding.

If they were being careful about weight/luggage capacity, I would think it would be on the flights going down to Puerto Williams, more than coming back. No one can acquire much to add to their luggage on an Antarctica cruise! 😉 What about when you checked in in Santiago for the flight south? Did they not care about/question the third bag? So you and others just disregarded the limits stated by Silversea? (I'm not criticizing, just asking). Did you have a plan if they stopped you and said the limit was one 50 pound bag per person, or did you just assume it wouldn't be questioned? I wonder if they look at luggage closely when there is bad weather which might reduce the capacity of the plane, but ignore it on good days? Or is the stated limit not really a limit at all, and those who make tough decisions what not to bring in order to meet the stated limits end up being the ones who are penalized? I'm aware that some passengers last year had their luggage left behind in Santiago because the plane was at its capacity, and I won't be the one who might cause someone else to have their dream vacation ruined by having their luggage left behind. But if the 50 pound/1 bag limit isn't a real limit, I really wish Silversea would tell passengers what the real limit is. I do know many people here say 50 pounds isn't/shouldn't be an issue, and I'm sure we'll find a way to make it work. But we do have our own boots to lug along, and camera gear, a laptop, and two Kindles (and their cords and chargers). We just ordered a very expensive lightweight travel CPAP machine just to make my wife's carry on capable of carrying more. I'd like to take a pair of hiking shoes for Port Stanley, but probably won't because they add a few pounds; I'd like to take one or two pair of binoculars, but may not if we're at the weight limit. I'd like to take a sport jacket and an extra sweater or two for a three week trip, but I'll jettison such optional extras if I'm over the limit. We can and will make it work at one bag of 50 pounds each — but it sure would be nice to know if we could go over the weight or bring a third small duffel bag and not have to make these choices!

I'm guessing the expedition staff on the Explorer, and all the expedition ships in Antartica, had some long meetings and drills on their safety procedures after this tragic accident. Zodiacs are used because they are so stable and so unlikely to flip over, especially when loaded with a full complement of passengers. In a quick Google search, I couldn't find mention of this ever happening before.

@les37b If you review your corrspondence with Silversea, perhaps you'll find you wrote something where you were pleading with them to "shine even a small ray of sunshine on the possibility of the other flight" you were trying to get. "Oh, 'ray'?" the representative though, "I'll move him to the Ray… first cruise!" 😉

We've never had a problem getting Seabourn Square to have the accounting person switch our prepaid excursions to use whatever promotional OBC we have, generating refundable OBC which gets refunded to our credit card after the cruise. (Well, it can get complicated if there are canceled excursions or partial credits issued, but they seem to get it straightened out within a day or two. And it definitely helps if you have printouts of your transaction history, and your invoice showing your OBCs; sometimes they have to check in with the home office if some OBC didn't transfer to the ship correctly.) @phillipahain You seemed to indicate you booked excursions using your non-refundable OBC. So if excursions are canceled, they get refunded to your non-refundable OBC. In most cases, OBC you accrue prior to a cruise isn't refundable. If it's from the cruise line or your travel agent or their consortium (e.g. Virtuoso or Signature), it likely isn't refundable (unless your TA paid for it in hard cash). That's different than what @CalmSea described, where the excursions were purchased and paid for in advance by the traveler; those excursions are refundable, whether canceled by the traveler or the cruise line.

I would guess that Seabourn has many/most of their port berths locked up for 2024 and later even though they haven't yet published their itineraries. In other words, I think they know pretty much where their ships are going well before the schedule is published. I don't know why they publish their schedules later than other cruise lines, but perhaps it has more to do with setting their pricing. Their contracts for food, fuel and staff are the major variables in their costs; by waiting until closer to sailing, they can get a firmer handle on what their true costs will be than cruise lines which have to guess more about costs three years into the future.

Simple: supply and demand. Capacity for only a small number of passengers means they can charge a lot, pay for a (hopefully) premium experience, and pocket a significant profit. They've got to find ways to pay for the expensive new ships and all the downtime during the height of the Covid pandemic. (If you think these are expensive, just take a look at the new expedition ships with onboard submarines; those excursions on Seabourn cost up to $900 per person. And it sounds like they're not having trouble selling them!)

Laurie, if they have to leave luggage behind, it will undoubtedly be what's still sitting on the tarmac and not yet loaded. There is no way they would track who has a third bag, and unload luggage from the plane to find it. In other words, if too many people bring too much luggage and they have to leave some behind, it would be luck of the draw as to whose luggage is on and whose isn't. That's why I feel it's incumbent on everyone to follow the stated rules so everyone has the cruise they've been dreaming of. (And if there actually is extra weight capacity this year, as Silversea promised, then shame on them for not updating their rules for luggage allowances.)

If these are non-refundable OBCs, then they cannot be donated to the crew fund. Only "real" money can be refunded or directed to the crew fund.

I would love to have an extra suitcase, or one heavier case, for our trip in two weeks. But I've read that last year, some people had their luggage left behind in Santiago — intentionally — because passengers brought too much luggage. I can't imagine the disappointment of waiting for a trip like this and arriving at the ship with no luggage! I realize flights can be affected by many factors; bad weather can decrease weight capacity for a flight. If the weight wasn't an issue, I can't imagine Silversea would state these luggage limits (especially after initially announcing increased luggage limits and then rescinding that promise). So I don't think it's fair to take more than we're allowed and risk putting anyone in a situation like the people who didn't get their luggage on the charter flight last year.

@safarigal Glad you are on your way. Have a great trip!

@highplanesdrifters Thanks so much for taking time to post information about the MO. We'll be there in just over three weeks. (It seems like it's been years in the planning... maybe because we originally booked more than three years ago!) You mentioned upgrading to a Terrace suite. Did SS provide a basic room, and you paid for an upgraded room? (If so, did you do this in advance, or at the time of check-in? And if you don't mind sharing, what was the daily cost for the upgraded room?) Or did you book your room for the 4 days at the MO on your own?

@sullaRaffaello I understand those who prefer to have breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Restaurant. But I disagree that my having a meal in the Colonnade is "demeaning" or "degrading". While 100% of the food there may be great, most of it is, as you say, "actually very good." It is certainly not "served in a 'slop the hogs' manner". I've never experienced, or seen, food slopped on a plate like a hog feeding, or even like a basic high school cafeteria. If you don't like dining in a buffet-style restaurant, I get it — but characterizing it that way is over the top… and an insult to the hard-working crew who carefully cook, carve, plate and serve in the Colonnade… and a put-down of any of us who might actually enjoy a meal there. Isn't it enough to advocate that the absence of a sit-down, white tablecloth restaurant for each meal doesn't meet your definition of luxury cruising?

Ah, I see. It was a proactive, voluntary move made by one of the largest cruise conglomerates, Following a coronavirus surge in Australia, Carnival reintroduced mask mandates on all seven of its brands operating in Australia and the region. They are Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, P&O Cruises World Cruising, Cunard, Holland America Line and Seabourn. Passengers and crew must wear masks at all times when indoors (except when eating and drinking) and outdoors when they cannot socially distance and when on company transfers. I'm sure they're trying to avoid future government action which could result in shutting down the cruise industry again.

Unless there's a huge worldwide surge in Covid cases, it's likely to remain a country-by-country issue, where the cruise lines must abide by any regulations of the county(ies) being visited. Otherwise, no, I don't think required masking will be reinstated.

Exactly right! In Silversea's lexicon of nightly dress levels, expedition ships have mostly "casual" nights, a few "informal" nights, and no "formal" nights. Informal requires men wear a sports jacket. But from many reports, not everyone does, and it isn't enforced as strictly as formal nights on a conventional/classic cruise. @alithecat We'll be on your cruise, and if you see me on one of the informal nights, you'll know from the presence or absence of my blue blazer how well I made out fitting into the 50 pound luggage weight limit! 🤣

You're a very experienced cruiser, but I worry when I hear someone is selecting a cruise because of one port, or in this case, one excursion in one port. So many things can go wrong, from weather to Covid restrictions, mechanical breakdowns to the tour operator being under-staffed, which is why we counsel cruisers and potential cruisers to not be too fixated on a single destination in case it doesn't happen. You know this, I know.But sometimes we all can get a little deep in the weeds and not look at the big picture. 😉

Thanks! I'm aware of that, but I was referring to the post I made above from the previous day — and there's no way to edit that.