Roxburgh

They are not going to take Sojourn out of service for minor repairs to the pool deck.

That's the cruise it was, Odyssey 2012 - with Captain Dexter where we rescued the 3 presumed dead Samoan fishermen who got blown off course in a storm and after 21 days their families were planning their funerals. I'll never forget getting off in American Samoa and seeing them walking down the gangway, the happiest people I ever saw. (If you haven't noticed, next time on the Odyssey look at the rescue boat:) )And the pax taking up the donations to pay for the boat they had to abandon. Great cruise, we were always closing the Sky Bar along w/ 3 other couples who we did almost everything with.

 

And who can forget snorkleman?

That was indeed the cruise. Will trying to get snorkleman to stop splashing everyone, a well know Australian lady falling over at the patio (possibly vertigo or too much champagne).

We were very friendly with two other couples - still are - and tended to spend time with them.

I had just got my first DSLR so it was all a learning curve.

Nick was the CD as I remember ....

And the rescue ....... Cruise Critic actually used a couple of my shots in their article on it (suitably attributed of course) .......

I know, I have a friend who when he was in the 5th grade started taking pictures w/ a black & white and developing them in his friend's basement. He has an incredible eye, missed his calling in life. When I wanted a new camera for Antarctica I only asked his opinion and bought based on his suggestions.

Roxburgh, I wish we could join that cruise but we will be just getting back the prior night from Cabo when it starts (although luckily for you, you get to have the company of our mutual friend Chairsin and her DH) but we will be on the Ovation in February. I do think we sailed together in the past without meeting, but off hand don't recall the cruise but seem to recall a thread where we realized that. Maybe LA to Sydney? Like you we have 15 cruises and over 330 days.

We were with Chairsin and her DH on Cape Town to Singapore and looking forward to renewing our acquaintance on this next cruise.

We did Sydney to LA some years ago but not the other way around.

Both galeforce9 and Roxburgh have amazing photos, by far the best I've seen posted on CC. I hope to sail with either of you in the future to learn from you (maybe we did, as we have over 330 days on Seabourn...)

Appreciate the compliment.

We are on from Sydney to Singapore .... Dec 11, 2018 ...... if interested.

The thing about photography is that you are always learning and always trying to get better.

Hi Roxburgh.

 

The golden rule with photo shake is actually related to the mm of the lens size with slr cameras. So a zoom with 28-70 should be a minimum speed of 1/70s shutter speed or 1/90 which is more typical. However, my lenses have image stabilisation, which is worth 1/2 stops. So, for a 70mm max zoom, I could in theory drop through 1/60 or to 1/45. Hope this helps. Obviously if it is windy, or I want to be sure of a good shot, I won’t risk this and take several with different iso or aperture.

I was aware of that but I have noticed a difference in sharpness since I started using faster shutter speeds. Maybe I have a shakier hand than most but if I'm not using a tripod then I am generally at 1/250 or faster. I haven't found that to be much of a problem for most of my photography.

The other aspect of this is really understanding the autofocus on the camera. These things are so sophisticated now that it is a steep learning curve. I have my D500 since last Christmas and I am still learning how the autofocus works.

Correcting grammar and punctuation could be a full-time job on CC, but many errors could be due to not noticing spell-check's version.:D

That would be the spill chucker. :evilsmile::evilsmile:

This is one of my recurring nightmares which is why I check that my passport is in my bag when I put it in the car, when we get out of the car and compulsively at various times through the trip out and the trip back.

In fact, the only time I don't worry is when I know Seabourn has it.

I should add .... as a dual UK/US citizen, although I always travel on my US passport, I always have the UK one just in case.

We stayed at the Twelve Apostles. Liked the out-of-town location and the ocean views. The room was nice if a bit small but it did have a balcony with ocean views that we used quite a lot.

The concierge (Dane) was outstanding and set us up with two great all-day private tours (both with Robert). Dane also got us tickets for the cable car so we didn't have to queue. The hotel has a shuttle into the waterfront so that is no problem.

Main downside was getting reservations for restaurants and the bar (!). Hopefully they have fixed that as I left a pretty strong review. But something to double check if you are staying there.

How heavy is he,that might make a difference to how it feels

 

 

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Depends on how long he has been on-board. :D

Wipro and Roxburgh, you both seem to have great TAs. It's too bad that cruisecritic restricts the mention of specific TAs. When our TA obtained the current promotion fare for us, their OBC dropped as well - as a result of the lower fare we would be paying. Of course, this meant that their commission was also reduced. We're relieved, however, that we didn't have to lose our deposit and do a new booking, in order to get the more favorable fare.

A good TA will get plenty of repeat business as well as referrals which more than make up for a smaller commission. We do a couple of cruises/vacations a year plus she has started doing the flights for us. In addition, we are now starting to book premium suites which attract a bigger commission.

Years in business taught me that relationships and client service matter. If you are good at your job and make your client's interests yours then you will never go hungry. If a TA cannot see beyond the immediate commission then I would suggest looking for another one.

A good TA will ALWAYS monitor the fare and advise of a drop. Then get you the lower fare as long as it's before final payment. Even after final payment sometimes they can get OBCs or some other kind of compensation to make up the difference. But remember a lower fare lowers the TA's commission so many prefer not to advise. That's why it's so important to choose the right one.

Our TA gets a lot of business from us as well as referrals. She knows that looking after us will lead to more commission in the long run.

In addition, it is relatively little work for her. We often book the next cruise on-board but she still gets the credit.

I monitor fares before final payment and so does our TA (who is fantastic btw). We just saved another $2,750 yesterday thanks to her vigilance.

Great photos

I made a mistake in my post ..... it wasn't so much slow shutter speeds in the rain forest but having the aperture more open with less depth of field so that we could blur the background.

As a practical matter, if you are not using a tripod, you really need a shutter speed of 1/250 sec or faster to minimize hand shake. Another of the tips I got on these tours.

Another thing I learned was that having people in the shot really brings it to life. I always had a tendency to try to take shots of buildings and landscapes, etc. without people. Obviously it depends on the situation but I think that can be a mistake. Something to think about.

Great photos and descriptive text. Appreciated your photo techie comment too.

I have done this twice and both excursions were excellent.

The first was in Juneau and was more 'technical' than the second. Essentially, the photographer had us changing shutter speeds for different situations. So very fast shutter speed for wildlife and slow shutter speeds for still life in the rain forest. It made me think much more about how I set the camera up and now I shoot entirely in manual.

The second was in Yangon and was superb. The photographer was more about the composition, getting interesting angles and shooting people than the Juneau one. It got me over my reticence for shooting people I don't know amongst other things. It was also good because we were a small group of people, we went to places the other tours didn't (e.g. the night market) and we finished up at a local restaurant. That excursion was probably the highlight of our cruise.

I sell photos for stock and have already sold several of my Yangon ones.

Hope this helps.

I see you are now in Tangier having sailed overnight from Portimao. The Med can often throw up unexpected weather systems that seem to come out of nowhere. That’s where we as a family learned to sail. Just hope it calms down for you before you sail back to Spain tonight! If not, two or three large malt whiskies after dinner should take care of it!:whiskey-glass::whiskey-glass::whiskey-glass::evilsmile:

Rough seas and practicing for rough seas is the only reason I drink single malts. :halo::halo:

For scotch, in addition to a handful of good single malts, you can get Johnny Black included and some others of the same level.

I do know that they had Glenmorangie, Macallen and Glenlivet when we were on Soujourn.

There are times when I have been grateful to be on a ship's tour such as the time we went to the National Park in Sri Lanka and were pretty late getting back to the ship. It was there and waiting.

It really depends where you are and how far away the tour takes you. We don't generally do tours in Europe and there have been places where we have done private tours. However, I have generally found Seabourn tours to be pretty good and it isn't all about the money.

First, in the interests of full disclosure, I like to eat well but I am not a 'foodie'. Give me a nice steak and fries/chips or lamb chops and I am a happy camper.

With the exception of TK where we try to make a number of reservations, one every 6 days or so, our practice is to decide where to eat based on the daily menus and what we fancy. Sometimes that is the MDR, sometimes it is the Colonnade and sometimes the Patio.

We do like to eat outside so the Colonnade and Patio are preferred choices for breakfast and lunch.

Some of the themed dinners at the Colonnade are very good, some less so. In my experience, the Indian Market is usually outstanding. On our last cruise they even had an Indian guest chef and his dishes were amazing. One of the problems with the themed dinners is that they sometimes sacrifice authenticity for the sake of our western palates.

If trivia is popular then at 1.00pm you may have 100+ people making a rush for lunch. In those circumstances we find that the MDR is a very good solution as the vast majority head for the Colonnade or Patio.

Breakfast in the MDR is supremely civilized. I don't know why we don't do it more often.

Roxburgh--would you say early or late October. I've seen SB planning cruises for both. It does appear that there are few voyages in the Eastern Mediterranean during the early autumn in 2020. Possibly charters the rest of the time? I think it is the Odyssey in that area at that time.

Generally both work. Early October you will probably have better weather. We took one in late October (16 days) and probably had three rainy days in all. Weather is definitely cooler and there are a lot fewer tourists around.

In my opinion, October is the best time for the Med.

Book a Med cruise during the summer and you are likely to encounter kids, kids, kids. But always remember it's not the kids' fault. It's their self serving, selfish parents who put their won needs above those of their kids that are to blame. If the parents in the family of 28 would act as responsible guardians they wouldn't allow that kind of behavior. This is why I would happily stay home instead of causing the Med in the summer.

I'm not even sure the kids enjoy it that much. They would probably be happier at a Club Med which is set up for them and offers age appropriate activities.

We really liked the TK Grill. We ate there six times on a 36 day cruise which, I think, was the right number. It made a nice change from the other venues and the food and service was always excellent.

We were not big fans of R2 and we think that TK is definitely a step up from that.

Important to remember that TK is but one of four options on the ship. If it is not your thing then there are other choices.

Roxburgh, the area around Ullapool was stunning. Of course, everything always looks better in the sun! The difficulty is that if you want to see it independently, it is quite hard to do. The town is very small. There is little in the way of car hire or local tour companies. Seabourn seemed to bus coaches and guides in from Inverness, an hour away, for both Oban and Ullapool. They were not local to the area and sometimes, from our experience in Oban, had difficulty with knowledge of what we were seeing, despite extensive briefing notes.

 

In Ullapool, I was very fortunate to secure the hire of a local taxi firm, following a recommendation from a Cruise Criticer who’d been on Seabourn to Ullapool in June.

 

The lady and her husband live in Ullapool. Her local knowledge, working of my brief, was excellent. We had a fabulous seven hours with her.

 

I would have done the same in Oban but there were only two car hire places. One was fully booked out and the other was closed because it was Sunday. The tourist office put me in touch with a new guide but he wanted about £380 for the day upfront, even if we didn’t make it in, so that’s why we went with the Seabourn tour.

I'm loving your reports although they are making me a little homesick for Scotland.

I'm surprised that they would bring in coaches from Inverness to Oban. For one thing, Glasgow is closer but Oban is quite big and has a well developed tourist industry.

Many of the places up the West Coast are small and have a very limited tourist infrastructure. That, of course, is part of the charm but it is also a challenge if you want to see a lot.

I am very tempted by this cruise. Not so much for Rothesay or Oban which are easy visits from Glasgow but very much for places like St. Kilda, Ullapool, Orkney and Shetland which are harder to access. And, of course, there is the rest of the itinerary.