CraftyEC

We have done two TAs on Quest. We booked early, and then watched prices. As the prices dropped (before rising again) we got our agent to contact Seabourn and upgrade our suite. We went from an Ocean View to a V5 Veranda. On the second we went from a Veranda V2 guarantee to a V4.

There is a bit of motion crossing the Atlantic, but the worst we ever experienced was early one morning going into Casablanca - we hit really bizarre high waves and the ship lost HUGE amounts of crystal in the dining rooms and bars, and significant numbers of shower doors! We crawled (not possible to walk, even holding on to the walls) to the bathroom and wedged ours with a towel. The whole episode was decidedly strange, but only lasted a few minutes. ANY ship would have had problems.

Heather Clancy is the current cruise director, and will be on-board until July, I believe. I recommend to go to her show if you get the opportunity. She is a professional opera singer (mezzo-soprano) and sings both classical opera and musical theatre with skill and panache. And she has an amazing array of high heels!

The captain is Captain Geir-Arne Thue-Nilsen who is, along with being a skilled captain, a fine photographer. His wife is also currently aboard and she is also extremely nifty with the Canon!

The Hotel Manager is Guenter Steinbrunner, who received a long-service award during the last cruise. Standards remain very high under his direction, of course.

The Food and Beverages Manager is Daciano Da Silva. Food is delicious as ever, with good use of local produce when possible (obviously not on a nine sea-day stint on our final leg!)

I have been on one shopping with the chef trip, where we went to a fish market and the chef bought a fairly large quantity of fresh sardines, but despite checking the menus in all venues we could find no evidence that they featured at any point, which was disappointing.

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We are about to sail this week and have had confirmation that we have OBC for both Carnival stockholding and a referral coupon.

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I do love the idea of adding "member of the Seabourn Advisory Board" to a CV!

I'd also like to know what happened here. No cruise is ever perfect but a 'never again' for Silversea is fairly rare.

 

I don't think we will hear. Note the number of posts this contributor has made on Cruise Critic. A lonely One.

We were all new members of CC once, and had to make a first post. They did say that they have cruised Seabourn previously and are returning to it. Obviously they did not have a good experience on Silversea. I have seen the occasional review or post about Seabourn which has been entirely negative. That tells me that someone had an on board experience which did not match their expectation and that they did not enjoy. I do not disbelieve them or believe that they have any underhand motive in posting their impressions.

I hope they have many more happy times on Seabourn.

Thank you for you more uplifting spin on Oceania, Wripro! We will embark with a relaxed attitude and be prepared to enjoy a different experience. All will be fine, I'm sure.

If you have an open mind then a cruise can be perfect. Our first SB cruise was such a surprise, and pretty close to perfect - the overall experience was slightly marred by problems produced by our TA and a linked stay at the end of the cruise, not by SB itself. We knew we'd found a cruise line we would want to travel with again and again.

On our last SB cruise one or two small problems arose - but the way SB dealt with them was perfect.

We do not set our expectations that high that minor inconveniences detract from our overall experience. While the style of the OP's post is perhaps a little excitable (at least from this side of the pond!) none of the content sounds unlikely or unexpected. If one chooses to be excited by good service then that will only add to a positive experience.

So, thank you for posting your review. And I wish you many more happy Seabourn cruises.

I haven't a clue either but since I am on Sojourn now I can make enquiries of the club representative and revert.

 

Happy sailing!

You too! Hope your cruise is going well.

It would be kind to satisfy my curiosity, but I will be able to live with the disappointment if you can't! And I can try asking next week ...

Please note my initial disclaimer, that this post is a little tongue in cheek rather than an earnest concern!

I was looking at some documentation prior to my imminent cruise and noticed again that our level of Club Membership entitles us to 'membership of the Seabourn Advisory Board' and it occurred to me that I had never seen mention of this in anything other than Club literature. So, a trusty Google search yielded only two sources of information: more references to the Club information (as stated above) and a couple of threads on CC in fall 2012, when, I believe, this was being introduced, which contained some discussion and no real information (magazine subscriptions were much more popular as a discussion topic!)

So, my question is, some two and a half years later, when SB are still stating this as a benefit of Club membership, what is exactly the Seabourn Advisory Board? Does it actually exist / do anything / provide any information / offer a forum for feedback to the cruise line?

Just wondering ...

We will be on the 3/31 transatlantic cruise on the Quest with you! We had booked the cruise staring in Manaus like you but canceled that leg because six weeks was a little too long....

Are you sailing on from Barcelona, then? We are sailing from Manaus to FLL and then Barcelona, and that is 29 nights. With an overnight in London and one in Manaus pre-cruise we will be away for 31 nights. Bliss!

Regarding your review, thank you for that. I very much hope that you were just particularly unlucky on your Oceania cruise as others have praised the food. However, just on this thread I am accumulating negative review :(

Oh well, it will beat sitting at home in the rain and cold, I'm sure.

Must go and do something more constructive towards the packing ...

Kevnzworld, I've just spotted you on our roll call, I thought the name was familiar! I think you may be taking a tour with Gil Serique too. So, hopefully we will meet up before the cruise is too far underway.

As I wrote, we booked a fairly last minute Oceania Caribbean cruise a few months ago to try it out, because they have a few itineraries ( Tahiti ) that are pretty good. That was a complete no go. Not for us.

Next up, Seabourn for a month.

Well, we're about to do this, in reverse. We are about (next weekend) to embark on a 29 night Seabourn cruise, which we know we will enjoy.

We have booked an Oceania 14 night cruise in November, largely itinerary-driven, but also to try a new line. I'd be interested to know what you disliked about it so much?

We enjoyed our last cruise, which was our first on Celebrity, which went to Iceland / Faroe Islands and Norway, but it just wasn't the same as Seabourn! However, we do like variety (our land-based holidays vary from self-catering cottages to luxury hotels and most points in between) and are even trying another line in the summer, as my elderly MIL wants to try a cruise and we're going for something which sails from a relatively nearby (2 hours) port and with which we feel she would be comfortable. If she enjoys it she may want to try another line. We know that that cruise will be NOTHING like Seabourn, but it hasn't been chosen for us to enjoy the luxury, but to introduce her to cruising in a style which she can afford.

According to Facebook all inaugural Encore sailing are sold out, and it on the Seabourn site they all seem to be so, being listed as 'call for availability' in all categories.

As I suggested above, look at the 'sticky' thread, request a coupon and submit it to Seabourn at least a couple of weeks before you sail.

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That is correct. As far as I am aware the only credit with which it can be combined is that for Carnival stockholders.

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Please explain about referral credit in some detail. I, too, have just booked my first Seabourn cruise and do not understand how this works and how to put in place, Many thanks.

Thanks for letting us know about the credit! This is our first Seabourn cruise. Please let me know what we need to do to get the refund.

On this (Seabourn) section of the forum you will find a 'sticky' thread at the top called (something like) 'Referral coupon thread - the only one' which will explain this arrangement.

Basically anyone who has sailed on Seabourn can provide a coupon for any new Seabourn client prior to their first cruise, which gives $400 on board credit to both the new cruiser and the referrer (on their next subsequent cruise). If you post on there, asking for a coupon, someone will offer you one. You then send this to Seabourn prior to your cruise and you should receive the OBC. The referrer will then receive their credit toward their next booking.

Everyone wins!

Will this be your first Seabourn cruise?

If so you may be eligible for a referral coupon $400 on board credit

If not you will be eligible to offer one!

Either way the $400 OBC is particularly handy for the unlimited internet access package, we find!

The Antartic on the Quest is on our bucket list - and pretty close to the top, getting closer :)

We are being 'caught' by this. Daylight Saving Time starts at the end of March in the UK, and so for a couple of weeks the UK / US time difference is altered. We are flying to Brazil (Manaus) via Miami and we have a pretty tight transfer time (just over 2 hours) because of this 'missing' hour. We will do some very careful packing of our carry on bags as we have concerns about the luggage all going with us - and I don't think American Airlines are going to chase the ship down the Amazon with any lost suitcases!

Our concern is based on our experience in January, when even with six and a half hours (transit from New Zealand) in LAX our suitcases did not make the flight to London and were returned to us (four cases in three deliveries) over four or five days.

CraftyEC, your cruise sounds very interesting, I will take a look at it. We recently did the BVI's with Windstar - spent a lovely morning in Jost van Dyke on the beach a short walk from the tender stop. Its a very sleepy place - one hour was fine. Next time I think I will try the shared taxi to the Soggy dollar which is usually waiting when you get off the tender. They are lovely islands.

Yes, we are very much looking forward to it. Not long to wait now - must get into preparation mode! Still waiting on a suite allocation, but that doesn't bother us. I still check most days, just out of curiosity!

Currently 15 days out, and I have just checked but no suite assignment yet. That doesn't concern me, but I will check every couple of days.

We will be happy with any suite, any deck, accessible or not. The alternative would be not sailing and that has to be a LOT worse!

Off to check the site ... [emoji18]

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Is it from last year they asked

 

 

Yes it was and they had guessed correctly.

Both questions answered in one post.

 

Happy to help

 

Next question please.

Well it is showing 'it is from last year' - a statement, and not 'is it from last year' which is a question. I just think it's not helpful anyway if people pick up on little things, it just seems snarky on what is a really friendly and helpful forum.

Found this thread by using the search function.

 

It is from last year. Does any know if the Phillipino band will be on the Legend next week?

 

Hope so.

Yes they should be.

 

Your guess is correct 2014 was last year.

Errrm, it doesn't seem that LongTimeTvlr said anything about guessing anything. I'm sure it was not your intention, but your response comes over as a little snide. Which detracts from the valuable information you have provided! :)

Thanks for that information, it is greatly appreciated. I'm not the best with 'hot' although I have managed Brazil before. I will take my trusty neckerchief - one that is filled with water-retaining crystals - which helps greatly.

We haven't decided re Bridgetown, but will take your advice into account.

Castries we will take the SB Aerial Tram tour. We looked at doing it independently or with Viator, but transport to the park isn't included and others said that was very costly by taxi.

Most Van Dyke we just plan to look around, and possibly walk to White Bay if it isn't too hot. That's just a morning stop.

Guadeloupe we are taking the SB tour.

No plans for St Barts yet, other than a bit of people-watching!

Again, thanks for the advice [emoji4]

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We will be on this year's Quest trip from Manaus (Amazon) through the Caribbean to Fort Lauderdale. This is, in effect, a repositioning cruise as we will then sail back to Europe (Barcelona).

It will be our first ever trip to the Caribbean. Not being great beach lovers, we've often wondered if we would enjoy a trip to those parts. This way we can do it as part of a much larger experience, and if we like it we can go back for longer!

Apart from that it doesn't seem to be an area where SB sails very much. But plenty of other lines do ...