Complimentary shore excursions

[ruby101]

I had read somewhere that Seabourn offered a complimentary shore activity every day of the cruise. We are booked on our first Seabourn cruise, on the Spirit and I started looking at shore excursions, but did not find anything complimentary. Have they stopped doing it? And if they have not, where can you have a look at them?

[JaneBP]

Complimentary shore excursions are not offered every day. They are unique, special events and I don't even think they are offered on every itinerary. Perhaps I am mistaken in this. Surely someone will comment. What is your itinerary?

A call to the Customer Service Rep for Seabourn should answer your questions.

[lincslady]

I had read somewhere that Seabourn offered a complimentary shore activity every day of the cruise. We are booked on our first Seabourn cruise, on the Spirit and I started looking at shore excursions, but did not find anything complimentary. Have they stopped doing it? And if they have not, where can you have a look at them?

 

Sadly, they are not now offered I think on any itinerary apart from sometimes in Ephesus when the ship is in late in the evening, when the concert is offered, and on the World cruise with several for full World Cruisers and one for each segment for segment cruisers. This has applied for a year or two now.

[Keith1010]

I had read somewhere that Seabourn offered a complimentary shore activity every day of the cruise. We are booked on our first Seabourn cruise, on the Spirit and I started looking at shore excursions, but did not find anything complimentary. Have they stopped doing it? And if they have not, where can you have a look at them?

 

I believe it is Regent who offers this. Most of the luxury lines do not. Either way if it is complimentary it is factored into the cruise fare as nothing is ever truly free.

 

Keith

[marazul]

However, whenever a shuttle into town is needed, it is complimentary.

[hoosier74]

I think Caviar in the Surf is also considered a complementary activity but I don't know if they do that anywhere but the Caribbean.

[Caroldoll]

and I think there are two events.

[Focused1]

We are on the final leg of the Sojourn World Cruise and there is a complimentary shore excursion in Barcelona.

[johnnycruise]

Seabourn formerly offered an "Exclusively Seabourn" complimentary shore experience on every cruise. This feature was discontinued 2-3 years ago and many regulars were not too happy about it, including me. Seabourn's official line was that the excursions were not always well-attended, but my opinion is that it was purely cost cutting. The few I enjoyed catered to well over 100 passengers.

 

You can still find these "experiences" on the world cruise, and in Kusadasi and a handful of tropical islands. And, there might be an "experience" on the Presidents cruise if there is a president on board.

[Keith1010]

Folks the question the poster had was does Seabourn offer a complimentary excursion each and everyday of the cruise. While Sebourn used to offer one special complimentary excursion one time on each cruise and still might offer something on selected cruises such as the World Cruise they do not offer something each day in port. The only cruise line I am aware of that now includes complimentary excursions in each port as part of the cruise fare is Regent.

 

Keith

[Wogong]

My husband and I have cruised on the Seabourn Spirit twice. The first time four years ago when we thoroughly enjoyed a complimentary excursion to a Bedouin Camp in Dubai at the end of our cruise which was fantastic. Last year we cruised again from Lisbon to Venice on the Spirit but a complimentary excursion was not included. On asking the cruise director his reply was they still offered complimentary excursions but only on selected voyages. We were disappointed but still enjoyed our cruise very much. They appear to be cost cutting not only on this but other little extras were also dropped, such as a parting gift on disembarkation.

[JaneBP]

>"They appear to be cost cutting not only on this but other little extras were also dropped, such as a parting gift on disembarkation.:

 

Do you mean that kit with the neck pillow and the recipe for the breadsticks?

[ruby101]

Thank you everyone for the information. I am sure we will enjoy our cruise whether or not they offer complimentary excursion. We sail out of Venice to Croatia.

[Wogong]

>"They appear to be cost cutting not only on this but other little extras were also dropped, such as a parting gift on disembarkation.:

 

Do you mean that kit with the neck pillow and the recipe for the breadsticks?

 

No first cruise we received a travel pack with a travel pillow and hand cleanser and a couple of other things can't remember exactly. The last cruise nothing!!!

[JaneBP]

No first cruise we received a travel pack with a travel pillow and hand cleanser and a couple of other things can't remember exactly. The last cruise nothing!!!

 

I for one, did not need even one of those disembarkation gifts. They were odd, and an unpleasant odor and weren't necessary. . It's also nice now we can have E-Docs and do not need any more leatherette luggage tags or folders.

OTOH, I do enjoy the Seabourn tote bag.

[Keith1010]

Remember about those complimentary gifts. Nothing is free on a cruise. You paid for them. The reality is that when things got more challenging in the luxury cruise industry between the various downturns in the economy and other catastrophic world events plus now with the sudden explosion in berths to sell, that placed increased pressure on pricing. So the choice was to keep giving out gifts offering complimentary excursions, etc. or keeping the price as competitive as possible.

 

Since many folks didn't really care for the free gifts and the pressures on pricing, pricing won out which makes perfect sense in this and the environment over the past 10 years.

 

Keith

[harbormaster]

Keith is exactly right. Everything "free" is built into cruise pricing.

On our recent Seabourn Sojourn segment 4 of the World Cruise, there was a complimentary shore experience "Kerala Cultural Experience" which was wonderful. There was one complimentary experience per segment of this particular World Cruise for all passengers.There also were World Cruise events just for the World Cruise group of passengers only.

For example, on the segment 5 going on now, there is "Tea in a Bedouin Desert in Sharm El-Sheikh" for all, and an "Arabian Nights Adventure in Dubai" just for World Cruise guests. Seabourn does these well and they are appreciated by the guests.

There also was Caviar in the Pool, not in the surf, on our segment. The surfboard and champagne and caviar were served right in the pool by tuxedoed staff. However, caviar was also available on demand whenever one wanted it, unlike some other cruise lines like Silversea that have cut back. We partook a few times on this segment in the bar before dinner.

On our segment, we also received the Seabourn bag and a Segment gift which was a lovely Thai porcelain enameled jar in a beautiful box. Apparently there was a gift for each separate segment.

However, Seabourn never has had a complimentary shore excursion every day in the years we have sailed them. They do run a complimentary shuttle where permitted in ports.

Regent does include some daily "free" shore excursions and pre-hotel in its prices. However, when one looks at the price increases that Regent has had in the past few years, it's easy to see that you are paying a hefty price up front for those excursions, whether you take them or not. You cannot opt out of the excursions on Regent. And now they have instituted what looks like a "class system" which separates them more from the Seabourn style of cruising.

We have enjoyed Seabourn, Regent, Silversea and Crystal, but there is a difference in "all inclusive" among them and it's good to go in with prior knowledge before booking.

Smooth sailing.

[johnnycruise]

Thank you everyone for the information. I am sure we will enjoy our cruise whether or not they offer complimentary excursion. We sail out of Venice to Croatia.

 

Ruby - you won't have a complimentary shore excursion, but you should have a marina day. Take advantage of it, because it's great fun!