CoSec

Many thanks for the recommendation, Mauzac. Helpful. 

As I understand it, we are required to have evidence of a negative Covid test ( PCR or antigen (which I think is what we in the UK know as lateral  flow or rapid antigen test))  taken in the three days before embarkation ( in Italy), and that the test has to have been medically observed.  I am concerned to know what the test result evidence needs to show (apart from my name, perhaps passport number and that it was negative) in order to comply with Seabourn’s requirements.  Has anyone from the UK experience of using a UK based test provider whose documentation or certificate Seabourn has accepted. I have in mind testing companies such as XPress, Boots, et al

It is several years since we sailed with Silversea, in the days before the Silver Muse class ships and inclusive shore excursions were introduced.  We shall be sailing on Silver Moon later this year and are impressed by the number of dining options available.  
 

I am sure this question has been asked many times before, so apologies for asking again, but is it necessary to book ahead to eat in any of the restaurants and dining venues other than La Dame and, in the evening,  for the Japanese restaurant and, I think, Silver Note?  Are the rest open seating on a turn up basis?  If any booking is required for any restaurant is it advisable or necessary to book ahead of boarding, or will there be scope to do so on board?

As to included shore excursions is it necessary or advisable to book before boarding?  If so, how far in advance, and do thy typically fill up quickly with finite limits?

Thanks, markham. Good to hear. 

All travellers arriving at Athens airport are potentially subject to random COVID testing at the entry gates, irrespective of any test or vaccine certificates they may have.  Has anyone travelling to join a Seabourn cruise ship at Piraeus experienced this?  If so, how long does it hold you up in having the test and waiting for results before you can exit arrivals?

Absolutely, Adolfo.  Last time I sailed Silversea one could book ahead without paying and only be charged once on board if you failed to cancel a booking within the time allowed.

Thanks, Marazul and sfvoyage for your helpful replies

Thanks, Hank.  That’s reassuring.  

If anyone is on Ovation or has recently travelled on it, I wonder if they could answer a query for me.  If you book excursions before sailing you have to pay in full for them at the time of booking.  In the past, i have found that, once onboard, any balance of OBC that one doesn’t otherwise spend during the cruise has been applied towards refunding, via one’s credit card,  any amounts previously paid for the excursions booked before boarding. Example: prepaid excursions $500,  OBC of $750.  If purchases made whilst on board are, say, $400, the balance of $350 is refunded to you on your credit card at the end of your cruise as effectively being used towards offsetting the amount spent on excursions booked before boarding.  I am aware of course that unused OBC would otherwise be written off (so, if only $100 paid on excursions before boarding, in the example given, $100 would be refunded and the remaining $250 of otherwise unused OBC would be written off).   I recently spoke to Seabourn UK office to check that this was still the practice and initially received conflicting answers, including one saying OBC cannot be used in this way.  Eventually, I think I got a final answer: it’s at the discretion of the onboard ship accounting personnel.   So, my query is, what is Ovation’s current practice on this?

Thanks for the replies. Yes, sailing on 3 March. It was Seabourn UK office, apparently, that informed our agent. Very much looking forward to the voyage.

Hi, we are going on a 14 day Caribbean cruise on Odyssey in March. We have onboard credit on this sailing, which we haven't had for several years. It appears that, since we last had it, policy has changed and now if one books and pre-pays for excursions before sailing Seabourn will not then refund the payments out of your obc on the ship (which they did last time). Must say this seems mean. Obviously, the risk is that one waits to use the obc until we sail, only to find tours are no longer available as they are fully pre-booked. In some of the ports of call there are very few on offer Has anyone any experience as to how likely this is to be the case on such a Caribbean voyage?

Many thanks for the helpful feedback, Shellback2014 and DCTraveller244. Would also be interested to hear the views on the excursions requested by LittleRedJohn.

Hi. We are contemplating the Odyssey sailing on 6 January from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, transiting the Panama Canal This has a lot of sea days ( a goodly number being consecutive and of course the Canal crossing is a sea day as well) compared to what we are used to (hitherto we have been many times with Seabourn in the Med when sea days are rare). Would be interested to know what to expect (if anything) on a Seabourn cruise with so many sea day on those days. Second question: what are the views of those who have done this voyage before as to ports of call

Consider Seabourn. We have travelled with both Silversea and Seabourn. Seabourn ships are better, the vibe much more upbeat and the customer age profile closer to yours, with better excursions in terms of quality and just overall. Silversea scores well on food and the standard of their core entertainers, but Seabourn we think has a clear edge when it comes to overall cruise experience. We would be happy to sail Silversea again, but our preference would still be Seabourn.

We recently booked the cruise on Silver Whisper from Copenhagen to Southampton, commencing 26 August. Yesterday our agent sent us our "tickets", consisting simply of a black and white photocopy of a Silversea cruise ticket and a copy of a basic eticket for the air journey. Oh and four luggage labels from the agent ( Sovereign), not Silversea, for us to fill in with details of the cruise line, cruise etc. No pre-printed luggage labels with suite number on and no general luggage labels. Also nothing whatsoever about our itinerary including information as to the transfer from airport to ship. On the My Silversea website, I see I could if I want to ( I don't) download and print 118 pages of a coloured Travel Journal document. Is this now the new Silversea approach: no labels and no printed travel documents? We last sailed with them in 2014. We mostly go with Seabourn and get printed Seabourn luggage labels with suite number as well as decent general luggage labels and printed itinerary, transfer instructions and excursions documents all in an impressive folder. It is still 7 weeks till sail date and we booked three weeks ago, so hardly a last minute thing for Silversea to arrange.

Thanks for the feedback.

So, booking required every evening for The Colonnade, not just Thomas Keller evenings? How have people found this working out in practice? Our preferred venue is The Colonnade.

Sorry to be a bore, as I know this has been addressed on other threads, but just what should we expect on Sojourn in the Med in June by way of the impact of the Thomas Keller affair? My wife and I have been travelling Seabourn since 2011 and this year we are taking our three children with us to celebrate my 60th and retirement. Obviously they are all in their 20s. Our great delight on previous cruises was to dine outside in The Colonnade. No booking required. As far as I can gather the TK affair will mean that dining in The Colonnade is by reservation only every other night. More ominously it will be a take it or leave it menu where we all have to have the same thing. Worse, half the party are vegetarians and TK is carnivore driven. As far as I can make our there is no vegetarian option inTK. We had noted on earlier cruises that the veggie offering was poor but at least if you asked they would attempt something. So is it to be our expectation that because Seabourn have teamed up with a vanity chef directed at an essentially US based audience who may have heard of him that a key enjoyment of our vacation will only be available every other day? If so how does that square with a 5 star service offering for ALL customers . It all sounds very old hat and lagging behind the trend, now that informal dining and customer satisfaction rather than star chef self regard has become the thing ( at least in London).

Help. Trying to make sense of what I am reading in other threads about the advent of Thomas Keller dining. Am I correct that what is now being offered is an every other day fixed set menu reservation only in The Colonade? If so, this is for me a seriously retrograde step. I hate the whole booking idea, which is my main "beef" with Silversea. So now one won't be able to pitch up and, if necessary, wait for an outside table ( one of the highlights of a Mediterranean summer cruise) even if there are empty ones, because they may be awaiting guests. Moreover, if there can be no substitutions on the set menu ( which is what I think people are saying), where does that leave our family party of 6 next summer for a special birthday with two vegetarians? At a stroke our option to eat outside, which is the main attraction of the Med cruise, is halved either because our table will now be allocated by a booking system and/or because we have no menu choice. This is progress? Shutting down choice? If I am correct in my interpretation of what I have read, then it's another nail in Seabourn's coffin for us. And why do this? I hope I am wrong in my understanding.

In five years, it has never worked. The whole in suite TV/entertainment offering is looking/feeling rather dated. But not a major issue for us, so it doesn't detract.

Thanks for all the positive feedback. Very much looking forward to it. Just have to be patient now. Not sure all this online pre-booking of dining is really that good a thing, though. Seabourn seem to manage on a first come first served basis that means table use through an evening is maximised rather than tables being left unused waiting for bookings to arrive. A happy half way might be the ability to book for a couple of nights only per leg when on board. But we shan't let it spoil things.

Ok. We have sailed with SS only once before, on Whisper in 2014. We normally do Seabourn. However have just booked Silver Wind for Tower Bridge to Tower Bridge via Reykyavik (24 nights) for July/August 2017. Since booking I have seen a number of very negative reviews about the ship on Cruise Critic. Obviously things can change between now and then, but are these just an unrepresentative cluster or indicative of a basic underlying problem, I wonder? I note the ship offers smaller veranda suites/balconies) than on Whisper ( and SB) too. That said, we have very much chosen the cruise for the itinerary and I am hoping the smaller, possibly cosier, feel will chime well with it - or am I being over-optimistic. It has to be said that SS itineraries seem much better than SB offers for the most part.

As to dining reservations, the previous experience on Whisper and some commentary on these boards would indicate that we need to book the whole cruise well ahead, but I find (and found) that rather inflexible and on a cruise of 24 days ( on Whisper it was just seven) rather daunting and somewhat off-putting. Dare we risk just waiting and seeing what we can get day by day?

Just putting this out there in the hope of getting a rounder view than a possibly very much personally driven, excoriating review might offer.

If it's 21 days it's more likely Odyssey is it not as that does 7 day legs?

All, thanks for the helpful tips and suggestions. Cape Sounion sounds worth serious consideration. We have been to the Acroplis museum: stunning. Helpful as well to know about what goes on aboard for those staying on for the next leg.

For the first time in our 4 years of Seabourn cruising we are doing a back to back, with the first leg ending in Piraeus. We have embarked here and also disembarked, but not continued aboard. Any general tips or observations on what it is like on a "changeover" day where one is staying on, and specifically any ideas about what to to do in Piraeus? We have "done" central Athens and whilst we could just stay aboard we are not sure what that would be like on such a day and the times we have ended a cruise at Piraeus we have been moored alongside a multi-storey car park, so the ambience of a day aboard....?