Lisacope

I just returned from my first Seabourn cruise after having sailed previously on Celebrity, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. I am sure it's not a fair comparison - this was our first cruise on a luxury cruise line but we were simply blown away. The service, the food, the crew, and the ship (Ovation) were all fantastic. We applied for a future cruise credit - now to pick another one!

17 minutes ago, wyattsaunt said:

I just returned from a Greek islands cruise 8/14-8/28 on the Ovation. I’m from the US.  The experience on the ship was wonderful. Travel to and from Athens was hellish.

There were no restrictions anywhere on the ship. No masks required for passengers; crew had to wear them, entertainers didn’t.  No social distancing. There was dancing and singing. Seabourn excursions were encouraged but not required to go ashore.  Masks were required while riding on the bus, in stores, museums and restaurants.  You needed a copy of your vaccination card to enter some, but not most, venues.

A Covid test was required within 72 hours in addition to the one required at the pier upon embarking.  On the ship, complimentary testing was required every Friday, which could be used for the flight home.

 

it was such a pleasant, positive experience!

We are boarding the Ovation on Sept 11 - what do you mean by travel to and from Athens was hellish?

Hi we are going to be on the Sept 11th sailing of the Ovation - our boarding time is not until 4:20pm - we have a half day tour that I think we can stretch out until 2:00pm, after that I think we will be dropped off at the pier - given that we will still have time to kill - is there anything nearby? A cafe would be great but at least a bench in the shade would be fine

When did you get your boarding time? I am on the cruise following yours on the Ovation

11 hours ago, HRPro said:

We are sailing on Ovation departing September 4, and have been assigned to Group C with an embarkation time of 1:40. However, our flight into Athens arrives that morning at 7:50 and we have a Seabourn group transport since we booked our flights through Seabourn’s Flight Ease.  Even allowing for extra time at the airport due to COVID protocols, we are likely to have a long wait before our boarding time. How will Seabourn handle this—will we be asked to wait at the airport for a later shuttle to take us to the pier or will they transport us and then have to wait at the terminal?  Since assigned boarding times are a new procedure, I would be interested in anyone that has sailed or will be sailing soon sharing their experiences.  I hate to be sitting at the airport waiting on a later shuttle, but it would help just knowing what to expect.  This will be my first  time sailing with Seabourn, and like everyone we will be anxious to get on board.  We usually do not fly in the same day as the cruise, but due up COVID protocols it seemed easier to do that this time, but now we may have long waits either at the airport or terminal al before we can board.

 

Any information or advice would be much appreciated.

 

Susan/HRPro

Our Sept 11-18 cruise is our first on Seabourn! Please tolerate some more newbie questions - 

1) How do you know which night is dress up night? I'm guessing for a 7 night cruise there is only one

2) We have some OBC that I would like to use for shore excursions - do the shore excursions fill up quickly? It looks like I would have to book them on the ship to use the credit? 

4 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I think @Lisacope meant September. There is a September 11-18 sailing of Ovation, and she also referenced the 14-day September 11-25 cruise, of which September 11-18 would be the first half.

Yes - thanks for your correction - I am on the September 11-18 sailing - only 61 days to go!

Hi - my husband and I will be on the Aug 11-18th sailing on Ovation to Greece - I created a roll call thread but there has been very little activity. I am wondering if there is another roll call (I am on the 7 day cruise but there is also a 14 day cruise which is from Sept 11-25th) I should be on? Or maybe the cruise is way underbooked because of the virus concerns? I am trying to figure out shore excursions and I was hoping to at least find someone to share a private tour on Crete

5 hours ago, mraven said:

Another pricing question. US booking. Sebourn site says cruise is eligible for Welcome Aboard Special Offers, which includes internet minutes, 300 OBC, Combo-Cruise pricing and additional 5% savings with a club membership. 

 

I get the same final price if I'm logged in or not, so this implies the 5% is reflected in the price because (even if it's your 1st cruise with them), you'll be a club member when you book. That's a real cheesy way of promoting a discount.

 

Note, when logged in, I do get another 5% off when I apply a Future Cruise Deposit, but that's not what the site is referring to. At least  I hope not.

Don't know if this is helpful - I got the internet minutes and the OBC you are talking about

10 hours ago, markham said:

It almost goes without saying that you will be very much at ease on Seabourn as will your new friends. There is no nickel and diming, just people relaxing and imbibing and eating fine fare. And a lot of relaxed conversation. It’s easy if you let it be. Ok, a few people may stand out when they make a fuss or otherwise make a nuisance of themselves (you know, rudeness to staff, how much money they have and their politics), but then I imagine they could do with a pre-embarkation session on good manners…
 

Welcome to Seabourn!

Thanks! I don’t think there is a roll call for the cruise yet - maybe I should start one!

2 hours ago, Neverlookback said:

100% Agree!  The price is measurably higher, but the space, quality, personal attention and lack of mobs of people make it our preferred choice.  Don't demand perfection, but in comparison to the 3,000+ capacity boats it's truly a wonderful vacation.  We are on the 7/17 thru 8/7 on the Ovation also.  Enjoy!

I’m excited about the higher standard for the food! And the cabins seem pretty nice!

51 minutes ago, robertmartha said:

Lisacope

 

Congratulations...very jealous! When are you sailing?

Believe me - after taking a Seabourn cruise.....you will NOT be able to go back 😂t to a mainstream line

We took our first Jan20 before everything started shutting down and it is what has gotten me thru these past 15 months (thinking about the amazing trip we had). We just finished paying off our home mortgage and now those funds are earmarked each month for our next Seabourn cruise !

 

I keep dropping hints to my wife about an October Greece sailing 😉

 

Bob 

Thanks Bob! We are doing a 7 day Greek Isle cruise in September! A luxury cruise has been in my sites for awhile but the combo of timeframe/itinerary/ability to travel had not lined up until now! 

I bit the bullet and booked the Greek Isles  cruise on Ovation - I was happy with the price I paid. I’m feeling confident that the cruise will happen but also have contingency plans should it not. This will be our first “luxury” cruise and I am worried we won’t be able to go back to standard lines

I’m looking at a Seabourn cruise and I got a few quotes from a few different TAs - it looks like the fare is the same no matter the agency? Is the only difference between agencies is the OBC or other perks?

Just now, Jim_Iain said:

They will mail you the link in a week or so.   You could also call Captain's Club and see if they can assist.

 

Thank you - that's perfect

While onboard the Silhouette I purchased a photo and chose the option to download - are they going to email a link to access the picture? I took a pic of the screen that said to go to http://photos.celebrity.com but I think you have to be on their web to get to it

I was on this sailing as well and I thought the ship looked quite beautiful

For me it depends on the itinerary. My family and I did a 12 day med cruise on the Equinox a few years ago and it was fantastic - the best cruise I have ever been on. The ship was beautiful and the service and food were wonderful - we were in Aqua class. It  was very port intensive so we only had two sea days and they were welcome down time. We just got off the Silhouette (the first trip after dry dock!) which was a 9 day southern Caribbean with 3 sea days (two at the beginning) and I found it a bit boring. Again - we were in Aqua class - I think the food and service in Blu were again excellent - but there isn't much beyond the pools which were very crowded and the bars. There is no sport court or outdoor areas where you can do many activities and the indoor activities are just not for me. 

We are lucky enough to be boarding tomorrow! Can someone offer thoughts on boarding time? Obviously they won't be disembarking leaving passengers - is 11 too early? We have purchase the specialty dining package so we would like to be able to make reservations fairly early.

9 hours ago, Hatteras51 said:

The Atlantis is only about a 10 - 15 minute walk from the port. You should have time to get back to the ship and grab a bite to eat. Trikes is great, one of our favorites. 

Thank you!

Hello fellow cruisers! We have the afternoon tour planned with Aruba trikes (The pickup time is 1:30pm, drop off is around 5:30pm, actual tour is from 2pm-5pm) and we are also interested in doing the Aruba Atlantis Submarine which lasts an hour and 45minutes and starts in Oranjestad at 11:00am - It looks like we will have enough time, just wanted to make sure.

Here is my mini review:

I too spent Thanksgiving week on the Allure. We were two groups of families of 3 and RC gave us a huge OBC for booking the cabins together – this just showed up on our account when we checked it! The ship is truly beautiful and all of the spaces are so well designed. It was obvious that there was a noro outbreak, the constant cleaning made that clear, but no one in our party got sick.

Some highlights included:

- The entertainment. There was a jazz quartet in the Jazz club that was awesome. We popped in there 3 times. The comedian was funny and we enjoyed that. Mama Mia was also fantastic.

- Having a Starbucks onboard. This was really great – most cruise ship coffee is pretty awful and I am truly a coffee snob.

- The ship is really beautiful and it would be really difficult to experience all of the activities and entertainment.

- We somehow became platinum which was rather mysterious to me – we have done maybe 3 RC cruises in the past, do they also include our 3-4 celebrity cruises in the total? We got a bunch of unexpected discounts because of this.

- Our self-planned shore excursions. With assistance from the cc boards, we had a great time ashore.

o We did the Tru Bahamian Bites of Nassau tour in Nassau. This was fun and a great way to spend the few hours we had in this port. This was so much better than buying touristy crap

o Beach/Snorkeling tour with Captain Bob Cass in St. Martin, this was a nice small group which got us to several beach and snorkeling spots, swimming with the turtles was so cool!

o A day “pass” at the Emerald Beach resort on St. Thomas. We called them the morning we got to the island and got a reservation for a “day room?”. What a great deal – they charged us about $30 per person and we had a room in the hotel, beach towels, loungers in the shade, coupons for BOGO drinks, and couple of free activity coupons that we used to paddleboard. This was a beautiful, very clean private beach that was only a few minutes from the ship. It was awesome to have all of the amenities of the resort with a room to shower and change in. This was a fantastic deal as many of the resorts that we called were charging 60-95 per person for the same thing.

A few minor lowlights:

- The service was not especially personal, our stateroom attendant never introduced himself and although he did a fine job there was not the same feeling of attention that we have experienced in the past. We had an issue with stateroom charges because I had made some bookings prior to sailing and we then switched some cabins around. Although I called ahead of time, and then checked in with guest services after boarding, this never truly got resolved.

- The constant barrage of hard sell from the spa, the for-pay restaurants, retail outlets and the beverage package was truly annoying and difficult to ignore.

- The food was such a mixed bag – I think the Samba Grill was the best meal we had, and Chops was pretty good but the variety and level of food in the main dining room and the WJ was mediocre.

So everyone is in the right room... however, all of the reservations I made through the cruise planner are still on the original rooms, so now I am off to call Royal Carribean so a 16 year old doesn't get my massage...

The daughters are both under 18 - that's why we didn't book the rooms that way. We are three cabins in a row, we want to put the kids in the middle cabin, will Royal Caribbean let us do this now? If so maybe I could talk to the TA? If not, it is a trip to guest services after boarding?

Hi all-

We are 2 families of 3 with 3 cabins together between us - right now, it is booked as

Me + my daughter, Other Mom + their Daughters, and the two Dads

when we get on the ship we want to swap cabins so it is

Me + hubby, the two daughters , Other Mom + Other Dad

I am sure this is quite common, will it be possible to swap the rooms before embarkations so the right people line up with the right rooms and get the right room keys or will it be possible to do this once we are on board?

We have OBC's on all of the rooms, how do we keep track of this?