stan01

Thanks for the time to post and the information. Fortunately, Flight Ease (at least for US based Seabourn customers) does not work that way (which sounds awful I agree)! We get access to a booking web site and can choose our own flight arrangements on any carrier, can check multiple airports, can book outbound and return on different carriers, and can get seat assignments when the airline allows that. In this case, because it is a transatlantic Flight Ease gives us a lower cost. For example, when i went to AA website they would not even book a round trip or multi-stop ticket across the Atlantic; had to do a one way ticket US to Europe and another one way ticket from Caribbean to US. Thanks all for the info, sounds like we will go ahead and book soon and take our chances with airline schedule changes.

Many threads on this over the years I know. Specifically we have decided to use Flight Ease for premium class tickets on our transatlantic in Nov 2024, flying from US to Barcelona and back to US from Barbados. When should we book this? I know if we book now we'll get the reservation in the class of travel we want but the Seabourn site warns the fare could go up before final payment unless we ticket it early and at that point it becomes non-refundable. In the meantime there's a decent chance the airlines will change the schedule before the final payment is due. Should we book now (there are some fares we like that are cheaper than purchasing from airlines for one way tickets) or wait until June or July? Should we have them ticket if if we like the fare? We are very unlikely to cancel the cruise. Maybe its a question to call Seabourn and ask.

Some internet tough love, please don't take this the wrong way. How would your kids behave in the pool area and on the pool deck? There will be up to 900 others who want to sunbathe, take a dip, sit in the jacuzzi for a bit, and enjoy the ocean air. If a group of kids is making a lot of noise, splashing water, and running around the pool deck that detracts from other people's vacation that they have paid a lot of money for. Explora does not have adults only spaces nor do they have kids pools. If your kids would take a dip in the pool and sit in a deck chair reading a book or playing a video game with earphones on while you are nearby then I'm sure they'd be welcome. If on the other hand they are going to be left alone for hours with squirt guns expecting the ships crew to watch them and terrorize the ship ... well you can see why the other 900 people might not be happy. I'm being a little dramatic I know, but I'm sure this post will get a few likes and at least one person will reply that "this is exactly what happened to us" when a small group of kids took over pool area with no other place for adults to go.

I'm hoping no change for E&O, its an informal experience by the pool whereas Solis is still intended to be reserved in advance and the premier dining location on the ship. The Solis outdoor dining area is only on Encore and Ovation which had a little used patio area similar to that of Colonnade one deck down (extra deck on these ships). Sojourn and Quest do not get an outdoor Solis area. Since it is booked in advance, my guess is they will only book to the indoor capacity in case of bad weather they won't want a lot of disappointed passengers. They either will move people outdoors in good weather, if desired, and leave indoor tables empty or will accept more walk ins to fill the tables. Or maybe a little of both, time will tell. If Solis proves to be very popular (I think it will) there may be some customers who want to eat their much more often than once a week. Some people might even want to eat there every night so Seabourn will have to manage that.

I would not put too much into ratings so I'd skip right over that part. These are subjective experiences for each of us, and if cost was not a factor I'd be making different decisions on many things I do. The luxury and near luxury cruise space is getting very competitive with Regent and SS adding capacity while keeping their older ships, and Viking Ocean and Explora adding massive capacity. At the higher cost and smaller ship space Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons are coming in with entry level products that start to be price comparable to suites on SS and Regent. Carnival's $28B of COVID debt is going to seriously impact their ability to let Seabourn compete. We'll have to see what happens. Carnival eventually selling Seabourn to A&K instead of them building more ships for Crystal as promised isn't off my radar. These are businesses and the business decisions are going to drive what happens. For us, for the time being we are going to focus on our price point and try to get the best value. I guess if we eventually find out we have to spend more we'll see what happens.

I think it will be OK, there's plenty of room and may get some people to enjoy the table service in Collonade in the evenings. The TK/Solis staff should be available too if TK is closed.

I would call if you can't make them online and see what they say. The login protected part of Seabourn's website has been flaky for a long time.

I am surprised at how many likes I have (seven and counting), not sure if that means people agree or they are acknowledging a strong opinion 🙂 For Explora and Ritz Carlton: I do wonder if the shorter 6-8 day itineraries are going to attract a lot of families with children along with a younger demographics of people whose jobs don't permit longer vacations. These ships are not set up with areas for families, and if a poorly supervised group of kids takes over the pool area(s) it really would detract from our experience. Nothing against kids, just that these ships are not set up to handle them in a separate area where other passengers won't be disturbed. Of course some parents are very watchful of their kids and would not allow them to disturb others. But if the kids are disturbing others the crew seems unable to do anything in our experience.

Yes, the itinerary for Quest has not been released yet. Ship is in Bali in Nov 2025 so with loss of Odyssey they are not doing South America in 2026. Ovation is in Caribbean, Encore is in SE Asia (twice per year Red Sea passages planned), Sojourn is on a Rim of Fire world cruise (no Red Sea passage).

I think one big difference is the variety of top tier suites. SS has more choices for larger suites than Seabourn especially on newer ships if that is important. For us the ship is a resort, so we enjoy sea days and sometimes even stay on the ship when it is in port. Inclusive shore excursions like on Regent and some SS fares are not a good value for us. We do not enjoy competing for dining reservations or planning where we will eat months in advance, so for that we prefer Seabourn. We often travel in balcony suites so for us a ship where passengers who pay more get preferred access to dining reservations is not to our benefit. We enjoy the Seabourn ships and are not concerned about the interior decor. We prefer not to go on 7 day cruises, even if back to back to extend. It's a different experience for us with big changes in the vibe on board and possibly more kids. Seabourn is doing more of their Caribbean cruises as 7 days based out of Barbados which we do not like; we'd rather board in Miami and go out for 14 days. We are happy that the tux and gown expectation is mostly just on Cunard now. We do not wish to travel with many large suitcases. I do understand that others miss this formality and feel disrespected if others do not dress up to their preference. I think the tough love answer is "get over it". We've been on both SS and Seabourn, and will go on both again. Likely will not go on Cunard Queens Grill again. We also enjoy Seadream even though the ships are now 40 years old it is a fabulous experience for us. We have not been on Regent yet; they just seem a lot more expensive for us. We are watching Explora but so far its not clear to us that it is a superior product to Seabourn or SS but they will have a large fleet of ships over the coming years. Maybe we'll try Ritz Carlton. I think Four Seasons will be out of our budget.

Current version of Seabourn website says women (not men) can wear elegant jeans on elegant casual night. Men wear slacks on elegant casual night. https://www.seabourn.com/en/us/packing-list Not sure if that's another Seabourn website/IT error or intentional. Personally we find it easier to pack slacks than jeans anyways especially when travelling to warm climates (Caribbean in winter, Med in summer).

It seems right now it is variable and not predictable. We've seen and heard of open on sea days only, seldom or never open, and open most days. I think it determined by the discretion of the chef and hotel manager. There's clearly less waiter and bartender staff on board than in the past and they are rushed. I don't think that's what people want to hear ...

You'd want to check with your travel agent or Seabourn. We've found that information about Flight Ease arrangements is hard to come by and we've had to call to get details in advance. We aren't the type of people who accept "trust us, its all taken care of, you don't need to worry" so we ask questions and have them explain to us what will happen. That said, you may still be more than six months away from disembarking in Montreal so Seabourn might not have all the details arranged yet and you may need to check back in again about 30 days prior to get more information.

Haven't stayed at AKA but its Brickell location is great for a 1-2 night pre cruise stay. Walking distance to dozens of restaurants. Another choice is the Four Seasons Miami (in Brickell) which has a very large elevated pool deck with views of the city and out over the bay. We would not want to stay in Coral Gables for one night, would prefer to stay closer for a short hop to the port.

Yes, explanation is that it is a data entry error if Quest is showing Miami as a tender port on embarkation day.

This was well hidden, never knew it existed!

Did you book it as two 12 days, or one 24 day voyage? If two twelve days yes default would be one reservation for each leg. If it was booked as 24 days you'd get three. Doesn't hurt to call your travel agent or Seabourn and see what they will do. Or book another time on the afternoon you embark. On a 12 day cruise they will have a lot of capacity available since passengers only got one reservation in advance.

Received email with subject: "Announcing the Collection, Seabourn's New Invite-only Cruising Experience" With a link to a somewhat expensive 10 day trip Lisbon to Barcelona on Venture, then also some shorter Med cruises. We typically do not take 7, 8 or 10 day Med cruises (too far to fly for a short trip, more children on board, back to backs take away a day of enjoyment). There isn't a lot of information about this, anyone know what the advantages of a Collection cruise are beyond a normal Seabourn cruise?

I would arrive around 12:00-12:15. There may be a little queueing but not too bad, get checked in, and have a seat in the waiting area for a bit. You should be on board between 12:45 and 13:00. Suites should be available when you board. Then you can go find some food. Remember its a small ship with about 450 pax maximum so boarding is pretty quick once they get going. If you arrive at 13:00 you'll probably walk right on board. Enjoy your trip!

Sky Bar is not open in the evenings (my recollection is it closed about 5:00 each afternoon but the hours varied a lot it often closed early. The Observation Bar is very close to 918 as well (one floor up and down the hall). Great for early morning coffee or after dinner drink; very busy for happy hour before dinner. Sky Bar is also next to the starboard smoking area which may make it more or less desirable to passengers with different preferences about that.

The Seadream ships are now 40 and 39 years old, there's really no way to compare them to a brand new ship if that's important to you. There's only so much refreshing that can be done. I'd be interested to read your view of the service, food, and "ambience" on Emerald though upon your return. We like mix of "luxury casual" on Seadream that is unlike any other cruise line we've been on.

The PH suites are large and have more room to maneuver, what do you need? Do you need a roll in bathroom and shower, or mostly extra space to maneuver a wheelchair? There is a step up into the bath. The larger suites with roll in showers are 550, 664, 665, 1012, 1132, and 1191 per the PDF layout on the website.

Get them Wi-Fi packages and they'll be fine when they don't want to join grandparents and parents (or any other teens who happen to be on board which is likely if this is during a school holiday).

If you want to be polite to your travel agent call Seabourn to get the quotes because they are the ones with the archaic IT system forcing their employee to sit on the phone for 20-30 minutes giving manual price quotes. We asked for quotes on 9 cruises Friday, each with a PH and V2. The lady who helped us was very nice and efficient (US customer).

The cruises aren't sold out. They aren't available to the general public since this is a pre-release for Club members. You have to call. In the US I called Seabourn and they gave me the pricing. Not sure what access travel agents have (they may have to call Seabourn and provide your Club number). The good news is that some of the prices at least from our observation were pretty good. The bad news is that Seabourn's website needs some work. The good news is Seabourn's website is a little better than sister company Cunard's website, which is a relic of 2001.