AA-Flier

Just got off the Mainer this week.

Great cruise, crew were well trained, and they met all requests with a smile.

Ship's condition was good.

The Quest has had self-service laundry since its launch. The larger ships had the laundry facilities added.   

I just got back from AMS, and gave 3 hours to get to plane, and just made it.

Long slow lines at all points.

Everyone should realize that a medical emergency on an Antarctic cruise cuts all the passengers time in Antarctic considerably. The ship has to detour to the only landing strip available, the person transported to shore, and then the ship needs to get back to the cruise.- this can take away a minimum of a whole day out of your time in Antarctica. Not requiring vaccination is a bad mistake for a cruise going to a remote area with medical facilities that are far away and limited.

What is missing is a history of actually delivering a cruising product at the quality of SS and SB. It is one thing to describe what should happen, but to actually deliver can be difficult. Some of the ports that Atlas has on their itineraries (like Antarctica) require an expedition staff that has knowledge of what can be done to make the cruise be what the guests expect.

Just found an article on Atlas vaccine policy:

Atlas redeploys World Navigator Egypt/Greek Isles for inaugural summer (seatrade-cruise.com)

Looks like they are having crew vaccinated and will require passengers to also be vaccinated, look at the end of the article.

Seabourn just suspended all ship operations for 30 days starting March 14, also current cruises underway will end by March 22.

See Seabourn web site for details.

You should consider a hotel near Kyoto Station, you can get a bus pass for unlimited travel in Kyoto for approximately $5.00 per day, a lot of busses start and terminate at the station. For planning check out this link - https://www.insidekyoto.com/kyoto-itineraries

To answer a few questions and try to do a review.

The offer letter of compensation came from Roberto Martinoli, SS CEO.

Conditions on the ship are much, much better. Frank Sansone Director of Guest Relations is now on board, and he talking to passengers about the problems.

I think the cabins turned out very good, they have an updated color skeme, very large HD TV, integrated headboard, and LED lighting. The rainihead shower has good volume. The only two things that I see as negatives are both related to the shower 1) the shower drainage does not keep up with the amount of water generated from the rainhead fixture 2) The glass on the shower enclosure should have been wider, the shower opening is actually wider than the bathroom door. It is very hard to take a shower without getting water on the main bathroom floor.

The update on the public areas are great. I asked passengers that had been on the ship before,what they thought - very positive comments,the only negative regarded some barrel chairs in lounges that used to be couches, they wanted the couches back.

Things are getting better. We still have electrical and plumbing outside staff on board, but they are making progress.

I think one of the troubling aspects, is that the passengers are being required to be SS quality control on the cabins. It was apparent that the hotel management had no idea on the condition of the cabins. Just before we were able to see the cabins the hotel manager said he expected that "minor adjustments would be needed".

Compensation started at $1000 off a future cruise, then increased to $2000, and today they offered a refund of 1/2 of the fare. Over 80 passengers signed a letter to SS management asking compensation rather than future cruise credit.

As reported, the ship was late out of dry dock, but that was not the big disappointment. On arrival all passengers were taken to the theater, and waited for an hour. We were then told to go to the cabins to get life jackets. Most cabins were a disaster. Trash all over the floors including screws, mental parts, plastic bags. Bathrooms with missing mirrors, tiles,and generally so filthy that they would be unusable. We were then called to the emergency drill. After the drill, we we told to go to dinner. Ship sailed at 9:30 PM while at dinner. We finally got back to the cabins at 10:00. Electrical crews and plumbing crews working in the halls. Trash piled throughout the ship. Got the cabin where we could sleep in it a little after midnight.

The crew and passengers were crying with the conditions. To be clear, the crew was doing all they could, this was a management decision that put passengers on a ship that should not have sailed.

Will post more later.

My wife and I on the first cruise out of Lisbon May 20, hope it all gets finished in time.