Impressions by Regent veterans of first-time Seabourn trip, Quest Sept/18

One more thing. The CD, Ross Roberts was great. He did a wonderful job of managing the ship as he should. But he was also a hoot to watch and a good entertainer. He's very personable, has a huge personality. I liked him very much, and I tend to detest cruise directors in general.

A couple of comments: I would not call tea on Seabourn a "high tea". Instead, it is just tea. I say this as an American who had experienced "high tea" in London. This is not what I am looking for on a SB cruise. Instead, it is tea served with the availability of little sandwiches and a few other tidbits. Mostly, we want a time to relax with a cup of hot tea and an opportunity to chat with our friends. The important thing is that it is at a particular time and you know what to expect.

In addition, we have never found the SB tenders to be uncomfortable. They have roofs, are not usually overcrowded, have excellent crew.

Based on what I am reading, there does not seem to be a compelling reason to try Seabourn.

Travelcat2, I think you are making a mistake if you make your judgment based on what you read here. We have sailed Silversea and much prefer Seabourn. Our views are subjective, but we are not choosing to sail any other cruise line at this point. We have thoroughly enjoyed Seaborn and plan to keep sailing with them. I'm not saying that everything is perfect, but we like what we have experienced and have very few complaints.

Based on what I am reading, there does not seem to be a compelling reason to try Seabourn.

Would you really make your future cruise decisions based on comments on an internet board? That’s a very interesting position

I like to make my own decisions and don’t for a minute believe everything I read on CC or any other forum for that matter so will be giving both Seabourn and Regent a try - along with my current “go to” line, Crystal

I don’t believe everything I read here as well. I have read many complaints about Regent and all of the luxury lines. People want to nit pick and make judgements all the time. Seabourn is an excellent line. We are not married to any luxury line although we have 35+ cruises on Crystal we are open to trying other lines as well. If you have not sailed them you really can’t pass judgment. We are doing the Explorer next year and we will make our own judgement, the good and the not so good from our experience..but hopefully all good. We shall see.

Travelcat2, I think you are making a mistake if you make your judgment based on what you read here. We have sailed Silversea and much prefer Seabourn. Our views are subjective, but we are not choosing to sail any other cruise line at this point. We have thoroughly enjoyed Seaborn and plan to keep sailing with them. I'm not saying that everything is perfect, but we like what we have experienced and have very few complaints.

No, I do not base everything on what I read on CC. There are some posters that have been on the Regent board for years - Wendy The Wanderer is one of them. I have read her comments for years and agree with her most of the time. She has cruised on Regent many times as well as the Paul Gauguin and she tends to see things the way we do (with exceptions - such as Regent's Mariner). I would not feel the same way about other posters that review a cruise line that we have not been on.

I can understand that you enjoy Seabourn and plan to keep sailing with them. This is how we feel with Regent (but have tried five other cruise lines). We have reached a high level in Regent's loyalty program so it would take a compelling reason to sail on another cruise line. One compelling reason is a "local" cruise on the West Coast that is inexpensive -- to take a quickie cruise for a week (which we did last month on a premium cruise line).

We enjoyed Silversea very much (only like the Whisper and Shadow) - Oceania a bit less but their ships (newer ones) are amazing - almost as lovely as Regent's Explorer. It isn't that we don't think that we would enjoy Seabourn as we likely would but cannot think of a reason to try them at this point. I never say never ....... if they have a quickie West Coast itinerary at the right time of the year (with low fares for a reasonably large suite) we may try them.

P.S. Seabourn had a liberal smoking policy for so many years that they were simply not on our radar. By the time they changed their smoking policy, we lost interest. There were other people that I cruise with that avoided Seabourn for the same reason. It may not have been a great idea to hold onto the liberal smoking policy well beyond the time that Regent, Silversea and Crystal implemented their limited smoking policy. And, while Crystal is not up for discussion on this thread, they had set seating for years which is not something that we care for (even their version of open seating - by reservation would be a reason not to sail on them). Additionally, their small suites are a bit of put off for people that book large suites.

BTW, we found out about that incident while sitting on a tender for half an hour, striking up conversations.

 

The reason we were sitting on the tender for half an hour, at the port, was that Seabourn had not yet cleared Canada Customs & Immigration after being in French, St. Pierre. Another tender full of excursioners like us came up after us, and floated around out there waiting, and finally a third tender arrived, bearing officials who had the paperwork that allowed us to get off the tender finally. Again, no kudos to Seabourn for bungling this badly. We're used to seeing Customs officials trooping into La Veranda for breakfast or lunch, guess the Canadians don't do this.

My wife and I were on the 3rd tender. There were Canadian Immigration officials on our tender. The Canadian Authorities told the Quest Officers that the ship was cleared, so tender #1 and #2 were sent to shore. Prior to tender #1 and 2 arriving at the dock, Canadian Authorities revoked the clearance as they were missing some paperwork, so the 2 tenders had to wait just off the dock.

The Canadian officials on tender #3 were dropped off at the dock with the final paperwork. Then tender #3 went back "in queue" about 30 feet off shore and allowed the passengers on tender #1& 2 to dock and go ashore. Tender #3 then docked again and offloaded the passengers.

So in truth, Seaborne was not at fault in this issue.

My wife and I had a great cruise. Highlights were the staff and the food in Colonade and Keller. Only negative was a couple disappointing (one poor) meal in the Restaurant, and the ship's walking tour in Quebec city was just fair.

Based on what I am reading, there does not seem to be a compelling reason to try Seabourn.

TC...If there is an itinerary that catches your eye I would recommend trying Seabourn.

Yes, it's been many years since we sailed Seabourn and we only took two cruises with them but bother cruises were very special in many ways.

This included itinerary, cuisine, special touches such as the hosted tables and going with the chef in port and then the chef offering to make dinner one evening for the two of us plus the two other couples who accompanied us, the service. Also whether a coincidence on both cruises we met several guests who we bonded with. In a few days we ended up dining with six to seven others and other than those who were couples none of us knew each other before the cruise. We have kept up with all of them ever since and visited some of them. On another luxury line that we took two cruises with maybe it was an exception but never bonded with any of the fellow guests.

I do value input on the boards and also when it comes to restaurants and hotels on sites like trip advisor.

In my case I take into account the overall summation of review or posts. In other words I go with the 80/20 rule. If 80% of the folks like something or 80% give it a so-so or even a negative comment I accept all of this as fact until I experience it myself.

I am reminded that I have been on the same cruise with others and not all the observations are the same. Sometimes I feel like I have been on a different cruise reading the comments and that applies to many cruise lines we have sailed.

Keith

Based on what I am reading, there does not seem to be a compelling reason to try Seabourn.

TC, I would definitely try it. Not sure how the large cabins are, of course. You would undoubtedly enjoy this line.

My wife and I were on the 3rd tender. There were Canadian Immigration officials on our tender. The Canadian Authorities told the Quest Officers that the ship was cleared, so tender #1 and #2 were sent to shore. Prior to tender #1 and 2 arriving at the dock, Canadian Authorities revoked the clearance as they were missing some paperwork, so the 2 tenders had to wait just off the dock.

 

The Canadian officials on tender #3 were dropped off at the dock with the final paperwork. Then tender #3 went back "in queue" about 30 feet off shore and allowed the passengers on tender #1& 2 to dock and go ashore. Tender #3 then docked again and offloaded the passengers.

 

So in truth, Seaborne was not at fault in this issue.

 

My wife and I had a great cruise. Highlights were the staff and the food in Colonade and Keller. Only negative was a couple disappointing (one poor) meal in the Restaurant, and the ship's walking tour in Quebec city was just fair.

Thanks for the background, that's interesting, makes me feel better about Seabourn.

QC was very crowded with tourists that day. The Queen Mary arrived that afternoon (in my recollection, the ports are starting to blend together already.) It was also just before a very contentious provincial election and there were protesters marching around the city, with lots of police presence and closed streets. That's the main problem with Quebec City--it's far too popular with cruise ships and tourists in general.

A couple of comments: I would not call tea on Seabourn a "high tea". Instead, it is just tea. I say this as an American who had experienced "high tea" in London. This is not what I am looking for on a SB cruise. Instead, it is tea served with the availability of little sandwiches and a few other tidbits. Mostly, we want a time to relax with a cup of hot tea and an opportunity to chat with our friends. The important thing is that it is at a particular time and you know what to expect.

 

In addition, we have never found the SB tenders to be uncomfortable. They have roofs, are not usually overcrowded, have excellent crew.

Yes, of course you're right about tea. Oceania is the only line that comes close to a real high tea, at least on their larger ships. The presentation is beautiful, the offerings sumptuous. Regent is somewhere in the middle--fancier than Quest, but probably still not high tea in your definition.

As for tenders, perhaps the Quest-class tenders are different than the ones you have experienced? They were definitely the worst we've experienced, which includes Regent, Paul Gauguin and Azamara.

Thanks, Wendy, for sharing your cruise with us! We were fortunate to have great weather, which among other things, perhaps made a difference in our experiences. But glad to hear that overall you enjoyed Seabourn. I'm excited to return to either S or Regent!!

Thanks, Wendy, for sharing your cruise with us! We were fortunate to have great weather, which among other things, perhaps made a difference in our experiences. But glad to hear that overall you enjoyed Seabourn. I'm excited to return to either S or Regent!!

Thanks Bonnie, yes, I believe good weather makes a huge difference. You really lucked out--when we arrived in Montreal a couple of days before the cruise, it was in the high 80's. After our very hot summer we had hope, but the weather in September can fall off a cliff quite quickly, and that's what it did.

Yes, of course you're right about tea. Oceania is the only line that comes close to a real high tea, at least on their larger ships. The presentation is beautiful, the offerings sumptuous.

Slightly off topic, but how would you compare Oceania food to Seabourn?

We have cruised twice on Seabourn and are considering an Oceania cruise next year on the Riviera.

Slightly off topic, but how would you compare Oceania food to Seabourn?

 

We have cruised twice on Seabourn and are considering an Oceania cruise next year on the Riviera.

Riviera is a beautiful ship, stunning. The Observation Lounge is very large and lovely. But we found the ship not as social as we like, and attribute that to the lack of included liquor. Some people buy the liquor packages, but many don't so the only time that the bars are well-populated is for happy hour or the Captain's special events.

If you're used to Seabourn, get a Penthouse, at least. The standard balcony cabins are small. I've heard that the large suites are amazing.

Riviera is a beautiful ship, stunning. The Observation Lounge is very large and lovely. But we found the ship not as social as we like, and attribute that to the lack of included liquor. Some people buy the liquor packages, but many don't so the only time that the bars are well-populated is for happy hour or the Captain's special events.

 

If you're used to Seabourn, get a Penthouse, at least. The standard balcony cabins are small. I've heard that the large suites are amazing.

thanks for the suggestion. We plan on booking a PH suite. Happy Travels!

If booking Odyssey, Sojourn or Quest, standard suites are 300 sq.ft., which I do not call small. Plus balcony, for those above deck 4 - which are of course less expensive. There are a few smaller suites on the new ships, I believe. All have a bath and separate shower, and walk in closet.

Wendy was referring to the standard balcony cabins on Riviera, not Seabourn. We really liked the standard balcony cabin on Quest.

On 10/9/2018 at 2:30 AM, lincslady said:

If booking Odyssey, Sojourn or Quest, standard suites are 300 sq.ft., which I do not call small. Plus balcony, for those above deck 4 - which are of course less expensive. There are a few smaller suites on the new ships, I believe. All have a bath and separate shower, and walk in closet.

Yes, as David said, the Quest suite was great.