mara01

We visited Safaga for one day from our cruise ship and used Ramses (Ramasside) Tours. We were picked up at the port and went first to Luxor and visited the Temple of Karnak (interesting but very crowded!) and also had lunch in a lovely local restaurant overlooking the Temple of Luxor and the Nile. We then got a boat across the river where we met our driver who took us to the Valley of the Kings. We paid the extra money to go into Tutankhamen’s tomb and were glad we did, but we wished we had also paid the additional price to take photos as the paintings and hieroglyphics in the tombs were colourful and fascinating. We could picture Howard Carter and Lord Carnavon in those tombs all those years ago! It was very hot but not very crowded as we beat the ship’s tour buses there. Then we visited Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple which was impressive, with good views over the Nile Valley. Our last stop was the Colossi of Memnon. We found it staggering to think of the huge stones and columns etc being transported with no mechanical aids or modern machinery. Our guide was very good and gave us a lot of interesting information. There was a lot of driving involved but it was worth every minute. We were so pleased that we took a private tour instead of a ship’s tour as it’s much better not to be in a big tour group and to be able to do things at your own pace.

I have a $400 referral coupon if any first time Seabourn cruisers would like one. Please email rosteve@gmail.com

I’m on Journey at the moment and have just booked the Antarctic voyage in an OV for a very good price and nearly half what an inside cabin is. Check out OV prices for your cruise. If you don’t mind just a window then promo code 5 attached to them is very attractive at the moment.

 

Just to say I checked this on the UK website before I booked with Michelle, the LCV Manager.

 

Phil

You were indeed very lucky Phil. The OV is now showing at £5662, Balcony at £5297 and Inside at £5272! Must be the Promo Code 5 that made a huge difference (we haven’t heard of that?)

Rose

We just put a deposit on our first Seabourn cruise. Our departure date is March 31, 2018. Would love to receive a referral coupon from past SB cruisers and would appreciate knowing more about the process.

I have a referral coupon which would entitle both of us to $400 onboard credit. Please email me at rosteve at gmail dot com.

Rose

Hello,

My husband and I sail on the Encore September 14, 2017. This will be our first Seabourn cruise. Do you still have a coupon available? Please email me at

Efvailthreeoneseven at gmail dot com. Thank you!

I have one if southcoastcruiser does not have theirs anymore. Just let me know. 😊

We are shortly going on our 17th Azamara cruise (with another booked in 2018) but agree that prices have risen - if they can fill the ships at such a high price, they have no incentive to charge lower prices! It is for this reason we have booked a Seabourn cruise in the Med for next Summer. We were looking at a B2B of 14 nights on Azamara (which is our cruiseline of choice) but a 14 night Med cruise on Seabourn was considerably cheaper. A verandah room on Seabourn worked out at £1300 less pp than a CC suite on Azamara. Of course we will not get the OBC we would get on Azamara but as we prefer to 'do our own thing' in the Med, we wouldn't use it for Land Discoveries. The other thing that helped our decision is that the Seabourn itinerary was much more interesting, visiting places in Greece, Croatia and Italy that we have never visited. This doesn't mean we will not book Azamara again but probably only when there is a good promotion. That being said, in Summer 2019, as there are only cruises to Alaska or Northern Europe, I imagine we will have to look elsewhere for our Summer Med cruise.

As others have said, the Cabaret Lounge can sometimes feel a bit chilly but elsewhere I've found very comfortable - and I hate being cold! Usually take a thin cardigan with me but don't need it.

We had a very helpful call from Azamara today asking if we would like to book any excursions for our cruise in June and explaining that it was now possible to book in advance with a credit card and once on board to cancel and rebook with on board credit. I told him that we read this yesterday on Cruise Critic which is great news. What we didn't know is that the 48 hour cancellation rule does not apply to these excursions and he assured me that we could also cancel and rebook with OBC tours booked on the first and second days of our cruise. As the opposite is stated on this thread, I double checked this with him and he confirmed this is right. More good news so we are now able to book these tours in advance for the first 48 hours of our cruise.

That's interesting. In that case we will probably book ours, which is our second port of call. However, it would be helpful if we could have it in writing that we'll be able to cancel on board although it will be slightly less than 48 hours until our tour. Perhaps Bonnie could confirm this to avoid problems on board.

Good news! (except the tour we want to do is on the 2nd day of our cruise so will still have to book onboard :D)

Phil - can you tell us please if the orange juice machine in Windows is now up and running? On our Panama cruise in Feb they were waiting for a spare part for it so there was no freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast in Windows.

Are glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and smoothies included in the drinks package or is there an additional charge for these. Looked all over the web site but can't find any reference to this at all.

All included - and delicious! Also love the little glasses of 'Energiser' at breakfast. The hit of ginger wakes you up!

As an afterthought, we visited the suite below ours on deck 6 and the layout was slightly different. The bed was in the old position, coming into the room at an angle and their wardrobes were along the wall where our bedhead was positioned. That meant they did not have the porthole next to the bed which we liked and they more or less faced the bathroom door. That being said, it was still a lovely suite!

We were in Ocean Suite 7005 on our 29th Feb cruise through the Panama Canal and we absolutely loved it. Yes, it was sometimes windy but didn't seem any worse than wind we have noticed in a balcony cabin if there's a cross wind. There was the odd occasion when the wind was head on that we had trouble opening the patio door but more occasions when we hardly noticed it. We had sun for most of the day all the way down from Los Angeles to Miami and due to the width of the balcony, there was often a sunny spot when heading in other directions. The view of the stars at night was amazing and there were frequently different seabirds circling the bow and sometimes "hitching a lift" on the flagpole.

We had one uncomfortable night where the ship was pitching a lot - "bouncing" would be an understatement - but we weren't seasick. On this night I don't think you would have found a motionless place anywhere on the ship. Even during dinner in Discoveries the waiter had trouble trying to pour water into our glasses! The room steward actually duct taped the sliding door open between the bedroom and lounge as it was opening and closing on every bounce. Surprisingly, nothing fell off any shelf though.

We spent a lot of time on the balcony and you can keep out of the wind anyway if you are down on your sunbed! There was also often a sheltered spot either end of the balcony, depending on the wind direction. We weren't bothered by the view of the front of the ship and actually found it interesting to see the men at work! It was a prime position for the Panama Canal transit and my husband took a great time lapse video of the whole transit by setting his camera up on the front of the balcony. We always kept the curtains open at night - the only time we had to shut them was when we arrived in Miami and woke up to find ourselves nose to nose with a Disney ship! The big porthole next to the bed in 7005 provided a great side sea view as well!

For this cruise we couldn't have wished for a better room and wouldn't hesitate to have the same one again, although if there were several rough sea days it may not be so relaxing! Have never done a TA so don't know if you always have to expect choppy sea conditions.

We have used Pleasant Travel twice, once in Sorrento and again in Amalfi. We found this firm to be very good and reliable. (Pleasantravel.com). Mariano was very quick at responding to our emails. We had a driver plus a female guide both times (in Amalfi she was Mariano's niece) and both tours were excellent.

I really hope so. We are in the same position and have booked one excursion so far, for the same reason. There are a couple of tours since we started looking that are not shown anymore so don't know whether they have just changed or are sold out. The downloadable Land Discoveries brochure seems to have more tours than are shown under the Shore Excursions for our reservation. Tempted to book others but want to use OBC or we will probably waste quite a bit of it.

When I order tea I try to remember to ask them to put the teabag into the hot water before they bring it, otherwise it isn't hot enough to make a good cup of tea.

When we cruised on Quest last December they were serving Fields and Selects "tea". We will be back on board in a few weeks. Have they returned to serving Twinings tea, or do we need to bring our own?

 

Kampol and Lee

On the Journey they definitely have Twinings - they still have the weak Fields and Selects but if you can't see the Twinings on the counter, you can ask for it. We always ask for Twinings in Mosaic.

Just watched it on All 4 - yes, he did really well!

As Phil said "the curse of Guatemala" strikes again.

It appears from above that despite Azamara saying in quoted email above that policy started in April other bookers in May have received labels.

Perhaps Azamara UK might like to respond directly to the anomalies above or perhaps Bonnie can enlighten us all as to Azamara worldwide policy on adhesive labels

Can I also offer a cost saving suggestion.

As some 60 per cent are repeat cruisers is it not possible to utilise loyalty card as ship/door card.

After all if you return hotel door cards they are swiped and used again.

Also for repeat cruisers do away with the wallet and especially the map of ship.

Pointless if you have already sailed on ship previously.

This would save approx 200 wallets and maps per journey or Quest.

After all Azamara has the information to identify repeat cruisers.

I agree, must admit I use A Seabourn wallet as both our cruise cards can be seen and scanned through the plastic. Used to use an Oceania one, but that didn't last long. 😀

Just to confuse further, we requested our luggage tags for our 20th September sailing on the Journey last week, and they arrived today in the post which had a return address of Celebrity Cruises, Weybridge. We are in the UK and we booked the cruise mid Feb this year.

We were in 8065 last year on the Quest and had no noise issues at all, it's a lovely room and we had a great cruise

in fairness though, i don't think any of us have said they shouldn't have the new restaurant, it is only where it is situated that is the issue. :)

+ 2 😊

There is a very good bus service from Fira to Oia which we have used a number of times.

http://ktel-santorini.gr/ktel/index.php/en/services-eng/timetable-summer-eng

It is very cheap and the last bus back from Oia to Fira is 10.20pm. Of course this does depend on the departure time of the ship!

Hi Pedro

We went there last year on the Journey and did the Kandy Tour on the train which was a great experience.

If that's still on the Land Discoveries we can highly recommend it.

It's not clear to me why people are making such negative assumptions about a "less than stellar" ship and work beginning on the cruise before the ship goes into dry dock. I will be on Quest in July and again in October/November and have no doubt the ship will be "stellar" as it always has been.

Well said Marinaro👍👍