Joc123

Thank you so much Globeman for taking the time to write this post. It did make me a little nervous. But I am hoping that with "normal" water conditions and a staff that has a couple of months under its belt, the kinks will be ironed out. This is our first time on a river cruise. you know what they say, "You only have one chance to make a first impression" :) Im sure we will enjoy it. And if we dont think its completely fabulous. we will go back to Seabourn cruises.

 

One thing is certain, the people on this board are very generous with their information and wisdom and I truly appreciate it. This bodes well for the character of river cruisers so Im sure we will meet some nice people

We have just returned from our first river cruise - Uniworld SS Catherine. I know this is a different ship but we have sailed Seabourn for many years and we were nervous about river cruises. All I can say is Uniworld is as good as, and better in some ways than Seabourn. This is something I didn't ever expect to say. The food and wine was much better (Seabourn has gone down hill lately IMO) and the crew were incredible. The tours were better and the the vox box is a great idea. It allows you to wander off and still hear the guide. As the tours are included, there is no pre booking and you can decide in the morning if you want to do something on your own. On 3 of the 8 days, there were optional tours (for an extra fee) and these had to be booked the night before. The suite is on the small size ( Seabourn are much larger) and the furniture seems to be too big for the room, but maybe that is just personal taste. That is all I could fault. As far as entertainment, really there was not much, but we didn't miss it. All in all, Uniworld gives Seabourn a run for its money, but at heart, I'm an ocean girl. Having said that, we are looking at another river cruise if the dates are right. I hope you enjoy your trip - it's lovely to have the choice.

Hi Rod -

 

Sort of thought that is what they offered. Pretty much the same as Scenic.

 

I was interested in finding out exactly how "all inclusive" Uniworld was going to be - and it seems they still have some things that aren't "included".

 

Still a great product (I have enjoyed my cruises with them in the past) but I do think people need to be aware of the levels of "inclusiveness" when they book.

 

Fran

I have just returned from the SS Catherine on her first trip on the Rhone. You can purchase extra tours on some days if you want to - there are still included tours on these days. All drinks are included all day and night ( champagne for breakfast if you want it) but if you want vintage wines you can purchase them. We found the wines very good, and if you don't like the one on offer, you can request another one.

Spa services are extra but I think that is the same on most ships.

Having sailed Seabourn and Silversea I found Uniworld to be first class - ship, crew, food, wine and tours, could not fault them

OK, so this is my only gripe - and it isn't a big deal. (I have never gone hungry!!)

 

1. The fruit in the suite be ripe enough to eat

 

2. The fruit not be taken just as it is ripening

 

3. The finally ripened fruit not be replaced with fruit not ripe enough to eat

I could not agree more. We love fruit but have never been able to eat any that has been left in our room.

Thanks for your note, JOC123. Happy to report that we had a lovely time in your home town. Took the excursion to Cleland Park where we got up and personal with a koala and lots of wallabies and roos. Then visited the terrific Tandaya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, the Art Gallery, and the South Australian Museum. Loved the cafe/resto area at the end of Rundle St. where we had a perfect Indian dinner, the antidote to the blah ethnic food on board the ship. And perfect weather. You should be proud of your home.

Tv24,Thank you for your kind words. We love living here and often wonder why people don't come to visit - most just do the east coast. We went down to see Sojourn, it has been 2 months since we we were on the Quest and we are going through withdrawals - lol! It was quite a strange feeling seeing her and not being allowed to get on board.

The food situation is disturbing. We were very disappointed with the food on Quest, but put it down to being in Antarctica and no fresh food markets near by. We were on Spirit in Sept. (Chef Graeme) and loved the food, but on Quest, too many Asian menus which where the same no matter which country they were supposed to be from - very bland. The beef was tasteless and the pork, more often than not, tough. I hope this is just a hiccup and not the norm. We will be on Legend in August ( our farewell to the little ships) and I really hope things will be better by then.

tv24, what a pity you could not find anything to do on Kangaroo Island. I don't know what tours Seabourn offered, and maybe you are one who likes to do things on your own, but a little research would have shown you that KI is an outback / wilderness experience rather than shopping malls. There are plenty of private 4x4 tours available going to the Chase National Park where you would see wallabies and koalas, then go to the beach for a walk through colonies of wild fur seals, visit Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch just to name a few sights.

I see today you are in Adelaide (my home town) and once again, we are a small town -not Sydney or Melbourne, but in own way we do have plenty to offer. I admit, we are not looking our best at the moment, but we have just experienced 13 days of over 40C and then 2 days of flooding rain, but today the weather is perfect. Enjoy!

GeneBK, lucky you to be having such good weather and to be able to get on the ice a day early. We found the Captain and the expedition crew did all they could to give us as much time possible on the ice - weather was our major problem. It really is a wonderful experience and to be honest, I can't wait to do it again. Is the ship full this trip and if so, do you find it crowded? Hope you continue to enjoy the trip.

I will put something together... the food was horrible and the one excursion we went on was unacceptable... I did speak with destination services who said that they would get back with me, but never heard from them... we had a sushi special order that I would not have even given my worst enemy... same for the crepes suzette... same food almost every night in another variety... tasteless... as for maintenance, the pipe on our PH veranda, had no paint on top and the woodwork in the pool area needed to be refinished... I could go on and on but for what we paid, we expected a lot more!!!! the cabin was lovely and was cleaned as needed... no problems there... the special request was not done on the night we requested and had confirmed and no one told us prior to sitting down... a call to our cabin would have been nice so that we would have known prior...

Please don't give Ronnie a hard time. We have just returned from the Quest Antarctica cruise and although we loved it, had some of the same problems. We had peeling paint on the pipe on our PH veranda, the metal partitions were held together with gaffa tape ( no idea why), the veranda furniture was rusty and badly pitted. The food was the worst we have had on Seabourn but we put it down to our itinerary - not many fresh farmers markets there. We will not give up on Seabourn but hope this is not a sign of the times. We did however have a bad experience with Silversea and cancelled our next booking with them so I know how he feels.

Joc123 and TPAtravelfan did you do any of the other shore excursions during the cruise?

Were there any highlights of these which you think shouldn't be missed?

In Ushuaia we did the train at the end of the world tour. IMHO I wouldn't bother doing this - too much time spent in the prison museum and there is not much to see. The train ride was OK but you could easily do this on your own. In Punta Arenas we booked Magdalena by speedboat but it was cancelled due to bad weather. We then went to Magellan Penguin Reserve. It was good, but be warned, it can get very cold. In Puerto Chacabuco we did Northern Patagonia and Coyhaique City. The drive through the Andes is not to be missed. It is a long time on the bus but the landscape is beautiful. I heard the Unesco Churches of Chiloe was not good. We did the city tour and it was ordinary. Different people like different things but I hope this helps.

was ordinary.

Different people like different things but I hope that helps.

How did the ship handle the Drake Passage? Were many passengers seasick?

I thought the ship handled the Drake very well, but I'm one of the lucky ones who doesn't suffer with seasickness. It was smooth going down but very rough on the way back. There were a few less people in the MDR one night but I didn't hear too many people complaining about being unwell. A lot people were wearing the patches for the whole trip so I guess that helps.

I thought Seabourn were only taking 300 odd for these sailings

 

TPAtravelfan thanks for your update.

You seemed to have had the same expectations of what we have of these sailings. I would like to think Seabourn will be fine tuning each sailing.

We cant wait to meet Seabourn for the first time early Jan

I must admit we thought they were only having around 300 on board for these trips and was surprised when they announced there were 455 passengers. This would include the expedition team and lecturers but even so, it was more then we expected. It did make the ship feel crowded because we were inside a lot of the time. We spent most days in the O Lounge (sad to say, chair hogs are alive and well) and the crew were always offering hot chocolate, hot cider and things to eat. I think this is a tough itinerary for the crew because there is very little down time for them but they were wonderful as usual.

There have been 3 formal nights and I would say it was about 50/50 tux, dark suit. Some of the women were in long dresses, but most were in cocktail dresses. The rest of the time the dress code seemed to go out the window. I'm not sure why people do not understand no jeans after 6:00pm. It doesn't really upset me, but it seems a simple enough instruction.

The weather has been cold, in fact, today is the first time we have been able to sit outside since day 2 of the cruise. This means that the inside spaces are more crowed than usual, especially at breakfast and lunch. To manage the overflow, they open restaurant 2. They have installed overhead heaters in the patio grill and outside the colonnade but with the wind chill, they are not much use. We did have dinner at the patio one night, just to say we did it. The temp was -2C. The wine was well chilled that night!

Not sure about walking on deck 5 because it has been too cold - we have had wind, rain, fog and snow!

You can spend as much time as you want on the ice, but most people will come back within the hour. The only thing is, you can not board the zodiac until your colour group is called and they rotate the order each day.

Happy to answer any other questions, but the Internet is very slow.

I am currently on the Quest and feel I should answer a few questions.

First of all, this is not an expedition ship - never has been, never will be, so if you want the full experience of several ice landings and zodiac trips a day choose a different ship. It is, however, a great hybrid cruise - part luxury part expedition which suits me and most on board. Some had expected more but I'm not sure how they thought the Quest could suddenly become something it clearly is not. The crew have been great and Robin West and his team are very experienced and have handled changes of itinerary very well. The landings have always been weather permitting so I really don't understand why people are so upset. Getting people on and off the zodiacs has been very smooth and well organised but there will only be one landing a day - weather permitting. You are on the ice for about 1 hour, but you can come back sooner if you want.

It is true, we lost about 36 hours due to a medical problem. I can not believe people have complained about having to back track to get the patient to the nearest airstrip. Be warned. This is not like cruising the Med. There are no hospitals nearby so if there is a medical incident it will mean time will be lost and in fact, could mean the trip is over!

This has been everything I wanted and more. For people who are packing for this trip, be warned, there a lot more resort casual evenings than usual. I am wishing I had not brought so many dressy tops. Can you believe that is another thing people are complaining about? Guess you just can't please some people, but for me, this is great!

Does anyone know where on the Seabourn website or elsewhere you can rent the boots, specify Parka size and buy clothing?

 

Edit: found the website.

The website is shiptoshoretravelor.com/seabourn. We bought the package and are very happy with it.

So have we, our first cruise.Are you folk buying clothing on the Seabourn web site or shopping at home? I'm really not sure how cold (and maybe wet in the Zodiacs) it is likely to be. Would be great to hear from someone who has done it before

We decided to get our clothes from Seabourn web site because we are not used to cold weather - we never have snow. We had it sent here rather than the ship to make sure it fitted. It arrived yesterday, looks to be good quality and it fits. I now wish we had ordered more socks!