frantic36

That is definitely something my husband and I would sign up for.🙂

We have a stop in Picton next year and have organised a private tour. It took a lot of time and research as I was surprised how costly the cost of a private transfer was and then you had to pay for tasting per person. Thankfully I found someone but it still cost NZ$900 for 6.5 hours but there will be 8 of us. Last time we were in Picton in 2013 we had a lovely lunch and wine tasting at Herzog, they no longer do lunch. We were also supposed to have a tasting at Cloudy Bay but CB cancelled the day before. The substitute winery was a reasonable and lots of others enjoyed it. This time I made sure I booked Cloudy Bay privately and well in advance. I had to book two tables of four as they don't do big tables. I think Cloudy Bay as much as Seabourn might try is not ever likely.

Okay. I disagree, probably because I know not everyone has easy choices.🙂

We enjoyed our Sojourn cruise in September and so are looking forward to our WC segment coming up. I will be able to confirm when we board in January your questions about Cast, HD, CD and F&B. See you in February.

Thanks for this and it is what I plan to do when I have an overnight in Darwin later in the year. Our January cruise though has so many sea days and Hawaii and other small ports won't work. It's fine though as I have budgeted to do my nails on the ship and after learning the reality won't begrudge the added gratuity.

This talk is all very interesting if US or even Europe/UK based but I'm going to jump in with a different perspective as someone coming from Perth West Australia. I have only used Flight Ease one to fly international and won't again because the contracted airlines mean my flights become long and tedious even more so then previous flights I arrange myself. For example my Perth to Miami return flights earlier this year were multiple flights with some short connections on mainly US airlines. When my return flights got changed they were even worse and I had to spend time on board ship finding a suitable alternative. Seabourn did come to the accept my itinerary but I needed to push. My preferred airlines are Singapore, Qatar, Eva or Emirates which sadly Seabourn doesn't contract with. I am using a flight credit with Seabourn mid next year but that's because it is a domestic flight and I'm comfortable with the product on short flights. Only frustratingly it seems I can't choose seats yet and that is one of the first things I usually do. I do know planes and seats change but I always check for that.

No. It is only in the Spa as they are a seperate entity to Seabourn.

I encountered this in September. I had given the technician a large Euro tip and then got hit by a 22% gratuity to my account. When I queried it I was told that the Spa Corporate had decided to automatically apply it to all treatments due to some not tipping or tipping only 10% which is more like what us Australians and I think UK tend to do. I do usually tip more like 18% but I will admit since I think the Spa prices quite high and then to have 22 or 18% added on top of that I don't tip extra anymore. If the tip is the only way the staff get paid I would be appalled. When I get my nails done in Perth I pay around AU$60 and no tip required but onboard I pay US$90 + 18% tip. Unfortunately because we have to travel so far I take longer cruises so I need to get my nails done at least once per trip. It might be a first world problem but it is sad the subcontract Spa owners have decided to go this way.

It's 1.20pm here. I would be finishing lunch somewhere. If a port day it would be a local restaurant and a sunny sea day would find me out the back of Colonnade with a glass of French Rose.

You had to walk to the port gate which was about 400+ metres. Seabourn nor other cruise ships have any sway with the port authorities on this. I have read complaints on the Regent board about this as well. The shuttle went to United Nations Square Casablanca which is fairly central.

I totally relate to this sentiment after having a almost four hour wait to go through LAX customs and usually try to fly into or through SFO. We are boarding a cruise in LA this January so have to go through LAX and are hoping we have a better experience . We went to Lord Howe last October arriving on a Saturday. On Sunday afternoon the weather became very windy and cloudy and we saw the last plane to arrive or depart until the following Friday. I was very impressed with clients at our resort who ended up stuck until Friday as some had business or family commitments delayed but maintained a great attitude. We still managed to do lots of hikes but the low cloud cover stopped planes landing.

I'm curious why they said this since a few on this thread have said they have applied it the old way within the last week? This would imply that this has changed within the last few days.

I am confused, do you need five star in Sydney or Brisbane & Gold Coast? If Sydney we have stayed Langham which is excellent and are soon to stay in Fullerton which has good reviews. We stayed in Spicer's in Potts Point last year which was lovely but not right in town. Many restaurants and if reasonably fit not an arduous walk into the city. I have friends in Brisbane that could help with suggestions for Brisbane & Gold Coast.

Harry Lake I subscribe to Vogue , Marie Claire, Style and various other on-line fashion websites and you are so wrong with this. Heels of various heights are in though kitten heels is very popular lately. If you don';t wish to wear heels that is fine and I understand some people can't but to claim it isn't fashionable is so ludicrous. I am into kitten heels lately but I also have some higher ones for occasional wear when I know I will be sitting down most of the time. For context I had bilateral bunion surgery, have had issues with Morton's Neuroma and Planter Fasciitis over the years so I do have some concept of pain and difficulties.

Agree. I for one do appreciate people who are unwell whether with colds, flu or Covid staying away until they are less likely to be contagious. I try to avoid crowds and the theatre as seem to easily pick up respiratory bugs.

So as per the website and @hoya68 only Grytviken is open for landings. When we landed there in February there were Elephant & Fur seals and penguins to see on land so hopefully there are still some there. In fact we weren't able to get into the graveyard to see Shackleton's grave because there was a small colony of Elephant seals obstructing the path and deemed unsafe. I agreed as those guys are big and could inflict some damage. It was interesting to walk around all the old whaling station stores where they still had things on shelves. Also the church was interesting. I posted a postcard from the Post Office which arrived in Perth about April 😀.

I hope the phone call will be enough. For our Chilean one as long as we had a date a ship itinerary that showed arrival and departure dates that was good enough. Good Luck.🤞

@ysolde I do sympathise as being Australian we had to apply for a Chilean Visa for our cruise at the start of the year and it was as onerous as what you are dealing with. We also had to have proof we were financial so we scanned a recent bank statement from one account. Had to do a passport photo etc. The hardest part was it took many weeks and I had to make a few calls to their consulate. I live on the West coast of Australia and their consulates are on the East coast. I'm glad we persevered though as Chile was worth it. We also visited Brazil and it was even better than Chile.

The Pearl Luggers Museum is in town near Town Beach. I will have to check if it is on the local bus route as I usually visit on a land trip. I have meant multiple times to go to the museum but either timing doesn't work out for open hours or I get too busy. It is fairly small. If the pearl farm excursion is with Willie Creek the farm is a distance out of town. It was quite a few years ago I did it on a land trip. If it is Willie Creek if you check their website they give a good description of timing and distance.

Thanks for the clarification Mr L. Some other friends currently on Odyssey have been on there quite a few weeks and they are getting to experience some of the new dining concepts being tried out by Pascal and Michael Sandalov. Also a presentation on Solis with fresher mediterranean menus. As you say nothing is set in stone as yet so all speculative. My friends have had a great trip though I haven't heard anything for a few days so hopefully things are still good.

I guess things can change depending on who is senior staff? We also enjoyed Colonnade in September for the few sea days we had. We usually eat ashore but I understand on a transatlantic you don't have that option 😄. Friends who have been on Odyssey for a Grand Voyage currently have been very happy with lunch offerings and had great senior staff in charge.

That's a fair comment. I have arrived to Civitavecchia after 2pm and found people were just getting cleared because there had been an outage portside with computer terminals.

Next year in Tokyo we will board our first Regent cruise. I plan to take a taxi to the ship as I prefer not to do bus transfers even though they will be included. We will plan to board after midday. We are in a PH not a named suite so would there be any delays in boarding? If it is likely a problem we will just have lunch before we board as we usually do when we board Seabourn. I am not used to this many passengers boarding so am curious how it will go. Julie

Mr L if what Isr45 was told is correct this is not one ship one class but an even worse type of class segregation. So if correct I hope your TA isn't successful. At least with the Retreat when I have used it at times we had to vacate by 6pm because they were setting up for cocktail parties. Including one for that Face group that a few contributors on this board use. I don't use it. So if converted into suites those groups won't get to use that area at all.

At the end of each of our Quest Grand Voyage segments, there were three, this happened. Many trivia groups had a final lunch. The MDR was open quite often in the middle segment because we had quite a few sea days, more than expected due to bad weather. We had about 20 or more dining there but I attribute that to the cold and the fact that for awhile we had to have windows in the Colonnade blacked out due to regulations. The concern was bird strike if they got confused by lights inside. The MDR had curtains drawn but because of the large space didn't feel as oppressive. The first and last segments had very few diners in the MDR because we had more port days and people even on sea days didn't use it so much.