frantic36

Lola we have to be a bit careful I think with what we say. I can say for some reason a number of years ago she didn't sail on Seabourn for awhile and but then returned where she was comparatively low key for a short time but this has now changed to current standards. Hopefully in the future she will calm down again or have another break from Seabourn.

Thank you for your interesting and informative review as I will be touring Japan with Regent next year. On Seabourn you also need to put a card in the slot to keep on lights but we use a different plastic card and leave it in. We always switch off all lights when we go out anyway. I'm not sure if it is the same on Regent but a regular may be able to let us know.

They actually tried that a few years ago and it made the restaurant feel cold and more like a school canteen. It would not be great environmentally to scrap hundreds of tables to do this fleet wide and replace them with design tables. And which design do you pick as people will complain they are either too plain, too embellished etc?

We do the same. We much prefer to have an insulated bottle as we prefer to travel to warm climates and find it much nicer to have cool water to drink. The plastic bottles tend to let the water get warm very quickly and I didn't find it refreshing.

I have read this a few times as a reason to go early to the ship but I don't understand it. On my many travels I always ask if they have a locked area they can store our luggage after check out time and only once have I been told no. So we get our luggage stored and go out for a last explore and lunch before returning to pick up our luggage and head to the ship. I have lots of luggage because I like choice and don't pack light. I do understand in your case because of the transfers you had no other option but to go then.

I needed to do a like and a giggle emoji. I have heard Peppi is quite effervescent so pepsi works 😁. I hope you and DH had a good trip home. Will talk soon but we are away for a week this Monday and internet will be spotty but will chat soon.

I have heard great things of Peppi so hope you have a great trip. You and your chocolates will be a great hit 🙂. I have sent an email.

I too remember the Charlie Palmer and agree it went on too long. Charlie's menus were fine but if you sailed frequently or long cruises it wasn't so great. It was interesting when the Chefs had that interlude between Palmer and TK to see what they created. I hope you have a great cruise. We are sailing as well in August but at the end for Keith's birthday. One day we may get to sail together again. 🙂

Monemvasia is truly lovely. We opted to walk around by ourselves but found the bus ride over the causeway to be efficient to get to the town itself. We climbed up to the ruins of the Byzantine Church but you do have to be reasonably fit as it is a good 20-25 minute steep walk. Wear good shoes with grip as coming down the old steps and paths are slippery due to age, but the path does go all the way to the church. It was worth it to us to so the old painted frescoes on the church walls and signage included English. As Marazul mentioned the town itself is lovely to walk around and enjoy lunch. We met the cafe owners dog who was very friendly and we love dogs. Julie

Well said. It was an excellent game yesterday in The Ashes. My husband enjoyed watching it.

Exactly. I got my husband to use WhatsApp on our last cruise and we found it so useful when onboard the ship. We are in a penthouse on Regent on our cruise so will have the WiFi for both but useful to know it is only Concierge and above or status if we do future cruises.

That is what I find interesting on forums like this, it is fine to have different likes and dislikes. Though my opinion is always right 😂, only joking.

Interesting analogy. I have accidentally swallowed sea water but my dirty martinis don't taste like that. It is more like a quick sharp taste that mellows.

I enjoy a dirty martini but I prefer savoury to sweet flavours. Maybe the bartender has a cheeky sense of humour and added too much brine?

Totally agree. I would like to do a TA at some point but with the domination of Thomas Keller on Seabourn we are looking at Regent or Silversea to have more choice of menu. I keep hoping they no longer have a contract with TK.

Our pricing for next years Regent cruise is more per diem than our Seabourn cruises and we in Australia don't get included air. As I said there are a couple of ports I am looking to do private tours after reading reviews of Regent tours in places like Kyoto so it is awash really.

😢 Thank you. Another well written though sad post. You're right about not understanding how people can perform these atrocities, and, though not on the same scale of atrocities, they still occur.

I think river excursions are uniformly better but having sailed on Crystal ocean ships before I had problems with some of their excursions as well. Same with Silversea excursions which is why I usually do my own. I am sailing on Regent next year Tokyo - Tokyo and I will carefully vet their offerings and select the more strenuous or look to do our own.

I have done both and enjoyed both but the Hypogeum is definitely a must see. As cruisemom42 said you do need to preplan with booking the Hypogeum as they are strict with only I think it was 10 people per visit. You also have to book well in advance by a few months especially when travelling in peak season. We did the two on seperate visits. The war tunnels was interesting and the guides gave a good history of the strategic part that Malta played in WW2. We did find the pace a little slow for us but we would use the time to either go looking at some of the side exhibits or study the large strategic Map that was used in the planning of attacks. The tour was only about 1-1.5 hours I can't remember exactly. We did St John's Co-Cathedral first and bought our tickets at the church as soon as it opened.We then went to watch the firing of the cannon on the battlements. We did this before we did the War tunnels as it is in the same area and it is at 12 Noon precisely, in photo 2 you can see the soldier checking his watch for correct timing.

I have had some good experiences with Seabourn but always more hiking or more strenuous ones. For example when we stopped in Melilla last year we chose the walk around town which included exploring the siege tunnels and castle. It was marked most strenuous and it was, lots of steep stairs and walking but it was a great experience. One older lady joined us but there was two guides and one guide helped her go up and down the stairs. We all got a good work out that day. This was a Sunday so the tour with Seabourn was the only way to get into those siege tunnels. There was just a standard walk around town and unfortunately the guide from the feedback I heard was quite weak and there were lots of complaints. I have found only doing the ones that are difficult if not impossible to arrange on my own is usually best. Organising private or with others in a small group of no more than 2 other couples always works best. I think this applies to most cruise lines.

Isklaar, I agree the towels have gotten scratchy over the years. I will say for our first few weeks on Quest this year we got some lovely larger, fluffier towels so I thought they must have changed them. Then the older ones returned, then the new. I hope they are soon transitioning to the newer towels.

Thank you for mentioning Afar Magazine. I have just checked them out and they provide lots of interesting discussions and useful information.

Our three are all on Sojourn mainly because the itineraries appealed to us as we haven't been to places like Hawaii, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt etc. It helps that we like the ship as well.

I for one find it very awkward when there are large groups standing outside my door for quite awhile. It would be fine if it was 15-20 minutes but I have had a few occasions when it has gone on longer and I want to go to the club and I have to exit my room and I feel uncomfortable that these people may now think it rude that I didn't want to introduce myself to my neighbours. You might think why don't I just join in and I have tried a few times but generally it just feels forced and uncomfortable to me.

He is a delightful man. He was quieter and engaged less when we first met him a number of years ago but that was early in his career with Seabourn but has become more confident and outgoing. We have 3 cruises on Sojourn in the next year and are hoping to sail with Hamish and his lovely wife Gail for at least one of them.