HPSOV

We did the 14 night Anchorage to Vancouver. For seeing the scenery while cruising it doesn’t matter which side you are on. We were on the starboard side and mostly faced away from the docks when parked which was nice. 

We were on for 14 nights from June 18th this year and the deck was being worked on the whole time. Everything looked in good shape though. (Actually the deck looked fine, not sure what work they were doing).

Interesting responses! Honestly not the way I thought it was going to go. I wonder if it is a generational thing, I’m in my 30’s and have been brought up in a workplace where discrimination based on anything is a no-no. I wonder if everyone would be as happy if American Airlines decided all its cabin crew should be female? Or that it’s Pilots should all be men? Or if Apple decided that all its senior positions should be filled by men?

In Australian employment law it would be illegal if challenged. 

Anyway, I genuinely didn’t mean to start something, I just wanted to confirm if what I saw was correct (and I was wrong about the chefs). I’ll take it up with Seabourn directly and save my forum outrage for what brand of caviar and champagne are being served! 😉

On a recent Sojourn cruise I noticed the room attendants were always referred to as “Stewardesses” and were all female. Is this the case? Also at the last day farewell where the staff ‘parade’ around the pool deck the chefs were entirely male (maybe 10 male chefs and 30 female stewardesses were on parade).

If there is a female only room attendant policy (and maybe male only chefs) does that annoy anyone else? I don’t see how a company can have such sexist hiring policies in this day and age?

Still NF on Sojourn.

Currently docked in Juneau and dozens of cases of both NF and Montaudon are being loaded from the dock. 

RB is the travel industry rate balcony guarantee category used in lieu of OB which is the normal balcony guarantee category.

For a recent guarantee booking I had, SU appeared in manage my booking and I assume meant suite unassigned. This changed to my suite number when I was assigned one.

I don’t think you have anything to worry about.

Assigned V2 521 (Sojourn) 6 days before departure. I’m happy with that.

Be aware that some cruise lines, including Celebrity are using the Haydarpasa Port which is on the asian side of the Bosphorus.

I don't think so. It's a fleet wide policy. Policies aren't always dictated by a countries laws.

Where not limited by law I imagine policies are dictated by whatever they think will make them the most money and result in the least complaints. For an Asian cruise they would be crazy not to relax the smoking policy, or at least not enforce it.

Izumi was the only specialty restaurant I went to twice on Rhapsody (Giovanni's and Chops were both great, don't get me wrong). I wouldn't recommend the hot rock though unless you have young kids who mind find it fun, otherwise you're just paying to cook your own food (which is just fairly plain meat and veg). Everything else was great (the sashimi was a bit grainy, I imagine the fish had been frozen as this was on night 11 of the cruise). The rolls were all great.

On our recent Sydney-Newcastle-Brisbane cruise we had Telstra reception with 3G the entire way Northbound. Southbound the Captain said we would be travelling further out to sea so they could discharge the waste water and use the incinerator so the coverage was intermittent (generally had to go outside on the side facing land to get coverage).

The ship has a 'cellular at sea' service which works well for voice and text (at international roaming rates, make sure you have international roaming activated with your carrier), however we never managed to get any data through it (although the RCI website says GPRS data is available). The ship's wifi is slow and expensive but works if you're desperate.

I still wonder whether it's live, or just simulated. e.g. do you get grey skies and rough seas in a storm? Or is it just a 'happy feelings' screen saver kind of thing.

From what I've read the view is live from camera's on the ship, you can select which direction you wish to view. There are also microphones that pipe in outside sounds as well.

 

Just wondering - were you able to choose which suite you wanted or will that be allocated later ? We've been offered some good deals by TAs but only on a cabin guarantee basis i.e. we don't know which cabin until a couple of days before....thx :)

 

Angela, Sydney Australia.

Yes, all but one of the GS's were available, it wasn't a guarantee cabin.

I was recently in 8028 on Rhapsody and it definitely has noise issues, being under what was essentially a thoroughfare along the pool deck.

8023 looks like it won't be under the same thoroughfare, I think it will be under the space between the pool and the bar. There will be foot traffic going to the bar though, and all the pool games are played in that area too. Also that is the 'dance floor' area for the late night pool parties.

If you are at all sensitive to noise I wouldn't risk any cabin under the pool or Solarium area.

OP is correct, irons and power boards are confiscated. Kettle's I'm not sure, however I'm not sure why you'd want one when you can just go to the Windjammer or call room service if you need a hot drink.

Things Radiance has over Rhapsody

-Dedicated movie theatre

-Putt putt mini golf

-Half size basketball court

-Gyro stabilised pool tables

-English Pub

-Rita's Cantina

-Samba Grill

-Packets of chips (crisps) at the Park Cafe

-Toddlers water slide and pool

If those things are important to you or the kids then that might sway your decision. Otherwise the features and layout are nearly identical.

People often mention that Rhapsody is smaller, which it is when you look at the tonnage (78000 vs 90000), but I found it felt bigger when onboard. It's wider than Radiance, and only marginally shorter, so I found most of the public areas felt bigger. I sailed on Radiance first, and was a little hesitant about Rhapsody as everyone raves about Radiance and Rhapsody was older. However I ended up preferring Rhapsody.

Rhapsody has been updated more recently than Radiance, however the only notable difference was trendy sinks in the bathroom and iPad's in suites (the iPads's don't serve any real purpose though).

Having been on both I would pick based purely on price, itinerary and availability of a cabin that I wanted.

Everyone I've spoken to has raved about Chef's Table, so I will give my not so rave review. The host spent most of the evening telling us how exclusive, premium and fine dining the evening was, this made me feel exactly the opposite. I prefer understated, I don't need someone telling me how much I am enjoying myself.

Similarly the chef went to great lengths to tell us how incredible the food was, when I found it fairly unimpressive. Don't get me wrong, it was nice, but not amazing (as I was continually reminded it was by the chef and host).

The company was great though, we made friends we kept in touch with for the whole cruise.

I will say the food in Chop's, Giovanni's and Izumi's was very good, I would go to each of those at least once on any future cruise I do, whereas I will not be going back to Chef's Table.

It was Illy brand coffee when I was onboard a few months ago. Perhaps this is done for Australian cruises? Alaska may be different.

I booked a GS on a 10 night Rhapsody cruise for $2400pp about a month ago. Now they want double that, even a balcony is now $2900pp.

RCI wins the award for random pricing.

I was wondering how does Pullmantur compare with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Is Pullmantur considered a luxury brand like Azamara or a massmarket brand like Carnival?

Pullmantur 3.5 star

RCI 4.0-5.0 star

Celebrity 5.0-5.5 star

Azamara 5.5 star

Avomine (promethazine) is what I have used and is available at pharmacies in Australia. It is in a similar class of antihistamines to Bonine.

Having just returned from a cruise I will share some info on international data roaming, apologies if it is common knowledge but it was new to me. I know phones/internet are the last thing some people want on a cruise, but for those who want/need to stay connected here it is.

I purchased an international data pack from Telstra prior to the cruise, $85 for 300mb.

I had the following reception-

Noumea- 3G

Lifou- 3G

Isle of Pines- 3G

Port Vila- EDGE (slower than 3G)

Champagne Bay- EDGE

Luganville- EDGE

Mystery Island- No reception

I also had reception while transiting between some of the ports. The 3G speeds were very good, and the EDGE speeds were useable (faster than the ships internet). Compared to the ships internet at $100 for 208 minutes (of painfully slow internet) the data roaming was great value and allowed my phone to stay connected the entire time I was in port/coverage. 300mb was sufficient for the 6 port days with reception for iMessage/Whatsapp, Facebook, Email and some web browsing.

I have just returned from the cruise so will answer my own question.

Yes the cabins under the pool deck suffer from noise. Basically anyone walking on anything but tippie toes results in some noise into the cabins, but 'heavy footed' people and running children cause a loud noise in the cabin. The layout of the deck chairs basically funnels everyone over the cabin, and it is used as a thoroughfare to get from the main elevators mid-ship to the Windjammer at the front. The deck chairs are also rearranged at 5am every morning. The night-time pool parties weren't an issue as I was up on deck not in the room.

Having said all that by about day 4 I was so used to the noise it didn't bother me anymore, and I am quite noise sensitive. For a future cruise I would prefer a balcony on Deck 7 to a Junior Suite on Deck 8 (unless it was under a quieter area like the spa perhaps).

What I am saying is that cruises a long time ago had drinks included with the cruise and slowly that was taken away. Now the same thing is starting to happen with the food.

Don't forget how much cheaper cruises are today than they were a long time ago. There are still cruises available today that include all drinks and very high quality food, if you're prepared to pay the fare (Silversea, Crystal, etc). Overall cruising today is incredibly good value compared to the good old days, even after paying for your drinks and specialty restaurants.

I was paranoid about sea sickness as I get car sick as a passenger (but never air sick), so took Avomine (which you can buy in Australia) the night before my first (and only) cruise and for the first couple of nights. I then stopped and didn't have any issues with sea sickness.