Caribbean?

Just back from 7-night Caribbean on Celebrity. It was OK. Wondering what quickie Caribbean’s on Seabourn are like. Is it the usual passenger mix/vibe, or is it noisier, younger, more of a party crowd, etc.? Thanks.

Linda

We were on a 14 night Caribbean some years ago. It was lovely and very civilized. Totally different experience than Celebrity

I was on a Seabourn Odyssey Caribbean cruise last January and it was civilized fun. I don't know what you are looking for, but I saw everybody enjoying it. Not Carnival type of fun, mind you.

I was on a Seabourn Odyssey Caribbean cruise last January and it was civilized fun. I don't know what you are looking for, but I saw everybody enjoying it. Not Carnival type of fun, mind you.

Looking for “civilized”.... We seemed like misfits on Celebrity as we don’t need or like loud “fun;” we like peace and thoughtful conversation. We weren’t interested in drinking all day, gambling, ear splitting music, and/or having inane, shouted (have to shout over the music) conversations in the very crowded pool. It seemed like all of the activities were geared around alcohol. (We are not teetotalers by any means).

We were thinking may be the Caribbean brings out the adolescent in cruisers. Thinking we’re just getting old and cranky and wondered whether we would find the typical Seabourn atmosphere on a Caribbean itinerary. Thanks for the reassurance.

Linda

Looking for “civilized”.... We seemed like misfits on Celebrity as we don’t need or like loud “fun;” we like peace and thoughtful conversation. We weren’t interested in drinking all day, gambling, ear splitting music, and/or having inane, shouted (have to shout over the music) conversations in the very crowded pool. It seemed like all of the activities were geared around alcohol. (We are not teetotalers by any means).

 

We were thinking may be the Caribbean brings out the adolescent in cruisers. Thinking we’re just getting old and cranky and wondered whether we would find the typical Seabourn atmosphere on a Caribbean itinerary. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

Linda

You are not old and cranky..you just have good taste.

You may well have been loyal to Celebrity and you also may well have moved on. We all do as our tastes evolve. Time for a new home.

Once you experience the relative luxury and calm of Seabourn (and I might add some of the Silversea) ships, I wonder if you will ever go back to Celebrity or any of the other very large mass market ships.

Enjoy! Life is too short to put up with that Celebrity “experience” you describe.

Happy and healthy sailing!

We outgrew Royal Caribbean and have friends who swear by Celebrity but when we got them aboard Seabourn for lunch they were blown away by the difference. On Seabourn everyone gets the red carpet rolled out rather than a select few.

The passengers are also quite different, it's all about conversations rather than getting drunk together. There are celebrations and dancing, more so on our last cruise with Cruise Director Ross Roberts who was great fun, but at no point does the tannoy announce the next "must attend" event.

This was our Seabourn Sojourn Caribbean holiday over Christmas and the new year.

vWEwoHP5Pkc

Also on Seabourn you don't need to chase suites, the standard cabin is around 300 sq ft compared to 180 sq ft on a standard Celebrity balcony cabin and features separate bath / shower, his & hers / his & his / hers & hers sinks, walk in wardrobe and dining area.

All your drinks etc are inclusive other than a selection of very high end beverages (think Louis XIII cognac) and a selection of premium wines to go with the dozen or so included wines.

Henry :)

And you meet nice people like Henry and his family.

Henry does make a good video.

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We outgrew Royal Caribbean and have friends who swear by Celebrity but when we got them aboard Seabourn for lunch they were blown away by the difference. On Seabourn everyone gets the red carpet rolled out rather than a select few.

 

The passengers are also quite different, it's all about conversations rather than getting drunk together. There are celebrations and dancing, more so on our last cruise with Cruise Director Ross Roberts who was great fun, but at no point does the tannoy announce the next "must attend" event.

 

This was our Seabourn Sojourn Caribbean holiday over Christmas and the new year.

 

vWEwoHP5Pkc

 

Also on Seabourn you don't need to chase suites, the standard cabin is around 300 sq ft compared to 180 sq ft on a standard Celebrity balcony cabin and features separate bath / shower, his & hers / his & his / hers & hers sinks, walk in wardrobe and dining area.

 

All your drinks etc are inclusive other than a selection of very high end beverages (think Louis XIII cognac) and a selection of premium wines to go with the dozen or so included wines.

 

Henry :)

Good summary. We have quite a few days on Seabourn (best cruise so far, Antarctica), so agree completely. We will be on again in October for 18 days and are taking along one of our daughters and her husband: they may be too young for Seabourn - we shall see.

I booked the Calebrity cruise impulsively, about 2 weeks before sailing , as an offer came through for a balcony cabin that I couldn’t refuse. It amounted to about as much for a week on the Equinox as a day can cost on Seabourn. We had never tried Celebrity before. As I noted above, it was OK. A friend who goes on Celebrity said that Caribbean cruises are a “different animal,” so I was wondering if a short cruise on the Caribbean on Seabourn has the same atmosphere as the usual European/Middle East/South America adventures. Thanks for the information.

Linda

We are looking forward to Seabourn. But it is a bit off putting that the other lines are negatively portrayed as loud everywhere. Every line has an adults only area even Carnival and Disney. Celebrity and Princess both have excellent included adult pool areas as well as the area for the party hardiers.

Again we are looking forward to a small ship experience with a very nice suite. Cheers to the differences.

Good summary. We have quite a few days on Seabourn (best cruise so far, Antarctica), so agree completely. We will be on again in October for 18 days and are taking along one of our daughters and her husband: they may be too young for Seabourn - we shall see.

 

 

 

I booked the Calebrity cruise impulsively, about 2 weeks before sailing , as an offer came through for a balcony cabin that I couldn’t refuse. It amounted to about as much for a week on the Equinox as a day can cost on Seabourn. We had never tried Celebrity before. As I noted above, it was OK. A friend who goes on Celebrity said that Caribbean cruises are a “different animal,” so I was wondering if a short cruise on the Caribbean on Seabourn has the same atmosphere as the usual European/Middle East/South America adventures. Thanks for the information.

 

 

 

Linda

A 10 day Celebrity cruise in the med in August is a very different cruise to a 10 day Med cruise in October. We liked the former and loathed the latter.

Some have said that holiday time shorter cruises with all lines can attract kids and a more party vibe. Thankfully we did not have many kids on board our recent Seabourn cruise.

We can recommend Seabourn based on an August med experience - it is expensive but you do get a better suite and better included food. You also get a lot more space around the pools, no queues to get on board, better service and responsive management. But none of the restaurants on board matched Murano on Celebrity.

We can also recommend Star Clippers which we have sailed on in the Caribbean over Christmas - the rooms are small but the experience and conversation was exceptional.

might be useful to run specific searches on the cruise reviews for the Caribbean noting the time of year.

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We are looking forward to Seabourn. But it is a bit off putting that the other lines are negatively portrayed as loud everywhere. Every line has an adults only area even Carnival and Disney. Celebrity and Princess both have excellent included adult pool areas as well as the area for the party hardiers.

Hmmm... as far as we can recall, none of the ships we sail on have adult only areas. Which luxury lines are you including when you say that?

Hmmm... as far as we can recall, none of the ships we sail on have adult only areas. Which luxury lines are you including when you say that?

I think the comment was aimed at mainstream lines rather than Seabourn etc.

Royal Caribbean has their Solarium area for example which is still over crowded but theoretically not with under 18 year olds.

The question of children on Seabourn is a well worn path on this forum. Generally speaking there are very few kids on board. The highest density will generally be found on Med cruises, particularly shorter Med cruises then possibly the Christmas & New Year cruise depending on itinerary but even that one won't have huge numbers.

Humour filter ON:

Of course given the age demographic on Seabourn anyone in their 20's, 30's, or 40's will be seen as children by the bulk of the guests :)

Henry :)

I too would be interested in hearing about cruisers' experiences on the shorter (7 day) Caribbean cruises with Seabourn. I have taken two cruises so far with SB, and both were 2 weeks long. I found the atmosphere to be mature and civilized, whilst also extremely fun and enjoyable. However, definitely NOT party boats which I appreciated.

I wonder if the 7 day Carib. cruises, even on SB, would attract a younger crowd who might want more of a partay-partay atmosphere??? SB used to offer some longer 10 to 12 day Carib. cruises in previous years which I think might be too long for the younger folks, but for the 18-19 Carib. cruise season, they are just going with the 7-day voyages.

Any thoughts on this from experienced SB cruisers???

I too would be interested in hearing about cruisers' experiences on the shorter (7 day) Caribbean cruises with Seabourn. I have taken two cruises so far with SB, and both were 2 weeks long. I found the atmosphere to be mature and civilized, whilst also extremely fun and enjoyable. However, definitely NOT party boats which I appreciated.

 

I wonder if the 7 day Carib. cruises, even on SB, would attract a younger crowd who might want more of a partay-partay atmosphere??? SB used to offer some longer 10 to 12 day Carib. cruises in previous years which I think might be too long for the younger folks, but for the 18-19 Carib. cruise season, they are just going with the 7-day voyages.

 

Any thoughts on this from experienced SB cruisers???

Wondering about the same. Any thoughts ?

Thinking about taking a 14 day cruise in the Caribbean next March (2x 7 day voyages)

I have the same concerns about taking a Caribbean itinerary. I don't mind a party atmosphere for Rock the Boat and other similar deck events, but would not want the whole ship given over to it. We love civilized. Will a 7 day SB Caribbean cruise (since that is all that is offered) be what we had on our Baltic and our Western Med. itinerary in terms of demeanor of passengers?

We did a Caribbean Cruise on the Seabourn Odyssey in November 2017 and were pleasantly surprised at how diverse the group on board were .

We had a 92yo New York lady who told the bluest jokes and on the other hand we had a large number of couples in their late 20s early 30s who mixed in with some of us older folks ( We are 59 and 60) . No big party animals on board but lots of fun loving individuals like ourselves.

Seriously considering booking a December 2019 pre Christmas 14 day cruise. The cruise is offered as two 7 day cruises and a 14 day.

Wondering does this mean two days of beach BBQs with caviar in the surf?

Anything else different in the Caribbean cruises v med cruises?

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We did a 14 night Caribbean earlier this year. Some passengers were on for one week so we had a change of passengers in the middle. We had two beach barbecues, one on Mayreau in the first week and one on St Kitts in the second. Both fabulous.

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...We had a 92yo New York lady who told the bluest jokes ...

Wondered where my mother in law had disappeared to..:evilsmile::evilsmile:;p

We did a 14 night Caribbean earlier this year. Some passengers were on for one week so we had a change of passengers in the middle. We had two beach barbecues, one on Mayreau in the first week and one on St Kitts in the second. Both fabulous.

 

 

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Thanks for confirming. Sounds good and positive food for thought on whether to exercise an option on a cruise.

So we booked our first Seabourn cruise a year out from the February, 2017 sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale. It was a 19 day affair which, in the end, was probably about a week too long for my bride. Still, we had a very grand time, and especially loved meeting new friends, many of whom came from the UK.

What we discovered along the way was that although this had initially been marketed as a 19 day cruise, somewhere along the line Seabourn broke it up into different cruise sections (or perhaps they always do but our now-fired travel 'specialist' didn't think to suggest this). I am trying to explain to distinguish different experiences at different stages of the 19 days.

The first longer leg of the cruise was calm and stately and reserved and quite fun. There was some sea days, lots of reading and chatting with people and feeling our way into a new kind of cruising and, to us, a new ship. We had lovely cabin not far from the Square and found our rhythm. The pool area was never so full you couldn't find a lounger. We tend to prefer shaded spots and were able to find those. When people got up to leave they usually but not always tossed their towels aside but staff would be attentive and clean up seating all the time. No one was leaving a book on an lounger all day and never showing up which, of course, would be rude.

Someone in their mid-60's would probably have been among the youngest 50 passengers.

This changed in the last leg which was clearly a 7 day cruise. So it felt like we booked a 12 + 7 day cruise without knowing it. As we moved into the last 7 days, the passenger average age dropped. There were 30-somethings sunbathing but no children. And I came to understand that week long cruises tend to be different in other ways as well.

At no point did the Odyssey turn into a party boat, and the rhythm continued to move along. Children would be massively bored on a Seabourn cruise; even our 20 year old would go crazy. And I suspect travel specialists and the people at Seabourn who discuss reservations with call-ins speak to this issue with regularity.

Tom504, We have also taken a Seaborun cruise that morphed into two separate cruises---a 14 day Baltic segment and a 7 day St. Petersburg finale. While there were quite a few holdovers from one segment to the next, the vibe of the cruise totally changed.  All the holdovers were talking about it.  I've posted about it---but some were not complimentary of my comments.  We loved both parts of our cruise.  It wasn't an age group change at all---just different people.  

We will be sailing our first 7-day cruise after around 10 lengthier cruises...I am sort of concerned...  I can understand that 7-day cruisers want to make the most of their short stay in the ship, and most of these cruises are port intensive, giving them less time to savor all the ship's amenities.  I can foresee an underlying hurried vibe, which would seem stressful to me.  I will post comments next May.