Australia/new zealand cruisers,please post a review

[rols]

We're just back from Auckland-Sydney, as in just back, couple of hours ago.

 

That was quite the odd cruise (on Odyssea). Start by saying the staff were excellent, the ship was excellent and we met loads of nice people, great cruise, rather clueless captain.

 

We had rather assumed summer in NZ was going to be warm, it wasn't particularly. We arrived into a chilly 20C Auckland (we live in Singapore) and went shopping because we had pretty much nothing with sleeves on it packed. We boarded, trekked down the coast of New Zealand in temperatures a little higher, a little lower. Then we hit weather.

 

The captain told us we were leaving Dunedin to go to Oban slightly early because the winds were 'freshening'. They weren't freshening, they were howling. Seas got worse overnight and by 8am we were 25nM from Oban, doing 4kts in 30 foot seas and 50mph winds. Breakfast served less bacon and eggs than usual. The captain still believed that we would make it to Oban by 11 or 12, most passengers were pretty sure by 11 or 12 we would be very little closer to Oban but a lot sicker. The passengers won. Finally he holed up in a bay mid-afternoon and I think the entire ship went to catch up on sleep.

 

We rolled into Oban a day late and moored in the drizzle, it was pretty cool down there. Having lost a day testing sea-sick pills we unfortunately lost the cruising along Milford Sound which was the thing we were most looking forward to and headed out across the Tasman Sea.

 

The Tasman was kind, we cranked along and after 3 days at sea the captain duly announced at noon we would be in Melbourne at 8am only to revise that estimate, 7 hours later, to midday. That seemed like a rather extreme change, we were basically just not making it. The reception staff did a great job moving tours around and most of them went ahead but if you don't know 2 1/2 days out of 3 on the ocean when you are going to arrive you need to turn the GPS on.

 

Then we set off for Geelong, a short jump across a calm bay, 8 hours to cover what the ferry does in 4 .. and arrived 90 minutes late. Our tardiness finally felt a bit inexcusable.

 

Finally the captain mapped out the times of our entry to Sydney, timed perfectly to catch the dawn. We, rather unexpectedly given the rest of the cruise, sailed in an hour early and passed the sights in the dark. I'm fortunate that I've done this before but there were a lot of passengers taking flash photos which won't look too great. Early one day the whole cruise, this wasn't the day to be early.

 

Circling back, we loved the cruise. The staff were amazing as they always are and they made our vacation another incredible time. We are confused that Seabourn has a captain who drove a ship into a predicted gale, took a very long time to give it up and seek shelter, was constantly late into every port, even Geelong and finally by 30 minutes ruined a lot of people's chance to take photos of Sydney in the dawn, which is magical. There were certainly other passengers who had similar views and didn't expect 7am in port to mean .. sort of 9ish. Seaborn, perhaps David Bathgate is better suited to a different sort of shipping than cruising.

[alexandra cruiser]

and rather upset that you had to go thru such rough seas,missed ports,late arrivals,etc.

At least you liked the rest of it,but the weather does not sound as if cooperated at all.

Have been reading other cruise threads ,,and you re not alone.Others sailing at same time had similar complaints.

And most were on larger ships,but still lots of rough going.:(

[rols]

and rather upset that you had to go thru such rough seas,missed ports,late arrivals,etc.

At least you liked the rest of it,but the weather does not sound as if cooperated at all.

Have been reading other cruise threads ,,and you re not alone.Others sailing at same time had similar complaints.

And most were on larger ships,but still lots of rough going.:(

 

Oh really - I didn't look for other ships threads and haven't found any yet. The Dawn Princess was with us in port the day before, there was some comment that she had left a day early or was going a day late to avoid expected bad weather.

 

It was a shame to miss Milford Sound, but we were going to miss it as soon as the winds started howling. Once we realized the captain's "we'll be in about 2-3 hours late" was just a complete pipe dream and that we were going to get a sea day, we just settled in to enjoy it as much as possible. And I did prove I have a stronger stomach than I thought I did.

 

I'll write a proper review before I forget everything. I just got the online survey and wrote copious notes on that.

[alexandra cruiser]

he mentioned a few days of rough seas.But no mention of missed ports.

 

Missing Milford Sound would REALLY upset me too.A hi lite of trip, I read.

 

Look forward to your review.Not sure if larger ship would handle seas better,but then you have the long lines,etc.

 

Guess you never really know what s going to happen.Would you go on another Seabourn cruise?:confused:

[rols]

 

Guess you never really know what s going to happen.Would you go on another Seabourn cruise?:confused:

 

Abso-freaking-lutely. We booked a some-time-in-the-future cruise on-board and I think it won't be long before we settle on when exactly it will be. We had some fun with the weather, the captain made some interesting choices but it was still a Seabourn cruise, the staff were incredible and we had a super, super time. We love cruising Seabourn and we find the more often we cruise them, the more people we know on-board from the last time.

 

Seabourn is not a perfect product, but it's a bloody good one. We will most definitely be back on board within a year.

[alexandra cruiser]

some of the cruisers that went (or are going soon) would let us know how their cruise went.Hopefully,with better weather and no missed ports,etc.

 

Anyone else??;)

[yojimbo]

I am on the Odyssey now. We had a fairly smooth crossing and perfect weather for cruising Milford Sound......and Doubtful and Dusky.

 

Food and service on the ship are first rate........we have sailed several times on the little sisters, but this is our first time on one of the bigger Seabourn ships.

 

The staff organized a nice Super Bowl party in the grand lounge yesterday........hot dogs, hamburgers, wings, chips, beer, etc.

 

We are dining in Restaurant 2 tonight.......Yelena is the manager there and she does a great job of making a special evening.

[alexandra cruiser]

and so glad cruise is going well,so far.

 

If you can, any little detail re.shore exc.,ship info,etc.would be greatly appreciated.I took the Sojourn to Norway and loved the experience(ex.smoking prob,which I will NOT GO INTO HERE).

 

So much depends on seas and weather. Worried the 300 passenger ships would not do well in rough seas,but HATE the thought of the mass market ones just to avoid that.

 

Looking forward to your posts,THANKS:)

[rols]

I am on the Odyssey now. We had a fairly smooth crossing and perfect weather for cruising Milford Sound......and Doubtful and Dusky.

 

Food and service on the ship are first rate........we have sailed several times on the little sisters, but this is our first time on one of the bigger Seabourn ships.

 

The staff organized a nice Super Bowl party in the grand lounge yesterday........hot dogs, hamburgers, wings, chips, beer, etc.

 

We are dining in Restaurant 2 tonight.......Yelena is the manager there and she does a great job of making a special evening.

 

Milford Sound, Superbowl .. I'm happy we used up all the bad luck a couple of weeks ago (and it was still a great cruise). Yelena is SUPER. If you like company at dinner she does a really good job of finding people to make a table, she is a gem.

 

If you see Janis or Tabitha on the pool deck and their Champagne-pouring hands are getting weak, please tell them Mr King and Miss Lim would be eternally grateful if you kept your glasses full, for sure they kept OUR glasses full.

 

Enjoy, it's a truly lovely piece of the world and how better to see it eh.

[yojimbo]

We are in Timaru today. Very windy and a bit chilly. They had trouble settin up the gangway, so we were delayed 1/2 hour getting off the ship........not a big deal

 

Yelena took great care of us last night in Restaurant 2. Carmelized banana dessert was the best so far on this trip. Emma looks after us at breakfast in the Colonnade each morning. Sean is tending bar on the pool deck. Jon is usually at the bar in the club.

 

We had cocktails in the observation lounge last night before dinner. Pierre was on the piano. Quite a crowd in there

[alexandra cruiser]

thinking about Feb.for our cruise(not till 2016 now).But thought it was summer and would be warm,no?

 

How is the entertainment?We loved the Sojourn singers and dancers.

 

Is it better to do the cruise from Sydney or Auckland?or no difference?Have to stay at least 1 day pre and post cruise,MINIMUM. Like to do more,but vacation would be just TOO LONG.\

 

Are you taking any shore exc.with ship or on own?;)

[alexandra cruiser]

Looking forward to reviews.

 

Also, how far in advance did you book?

 

Not sure if Dec 2015 better,or Feb.2016?

 

Price seems lower for Jan.,not sure WHY?

[Buccaneer_1]

Probably a bit late in posting this but here goes.

 

It's all about the weather in New Zealand's South Island. We were on the same cruise as yojimbo and in 18 days all I can recall is about an hour's drizzling rain when we were in Wellington. The rest of the days were near perfect.

 

On the weather note we were in Franz Josef a few years ago on a road trip and did the chopper flight to the Fox Glacier at around 0830. Not a cloud in the sky, powder snow to your waste and you could see forever. Saw Mt Cook as clearly as you can imagine. By 1130 they'd closed down operations because of heavy snow and overcast you could hardly see the next street through. It's a real luck thing sometimes.

 

Back to the cuise. We got to the top of Milford Sound and the extended lunch and many wines on deck as we steamed south to Stewart Island via 2 more fjords was one of those days you want to repeat.

 

Stewart Island was bright and sunny. We were too late booking the onboard pelagic tour described above - and that was 2 weeks prior to the cruise so bear that in mind. We did book independently with Rakiura tours and 4 of us did theirs in a small boat.

 

Bet the Seabourners didn't see the great white sharks circle and go under their boat. Never thought there were that many albatrosses in the world and we spotted the three penguin types by being able to go close inshore on a couple of the islands. Recommend them thoroughly and have done so on another travel website.

 

Did the Seabourn train trip in Dunedin which was great as it pulls up next to the dock. If you do this on your own you have to get the 14kms into town on your own although there was probably a Seabourn shuttle.

 

In Timaru the town bus company does a NZ$25 2 hour tour of the town and for us Australians takes in the Phar Lap memorial. Didn't think there was a lot to see but the driver, who will advise about the tour on the shuttle into town, made it seem so with his chat and insights. As above a bit windy but not raining. Some nice coffee shops at the bottom of the main street near the shuttle stop.

 

Akaroa, another near perfect day. Very colourful and very, very touristy but a nice walk around town. Didn't tour just hung out for a while before a late lunch on board.

 

Wellington was full of the audience for the Wellington 7s and I'm sure great photos were taken. No tours but the cable car is a must and easy to get to. The better halves thought the shopping was pretty good and MasterCard are probably grateful we went judging by the list of numbers they've sent me.

 

Picton was one of the highlights. We booked the Marlborough Icons tour directly through Marlboroughtravel.co.nz. who Seabourn use. Driver took the 4 of us to 3 wineries, a chocolate factory and to lunch in Havelock (at our cost) but great fish and chips. Framingham the best of the wineries but Cloudy Bay is a must in the area and with their being closed to large tours that day they treated us well. Highlight was the 3 hour cruise on the Marlborough Sound with the extended stop to eat fresh green mussels, pulled from the sea and cooked before us. If you ever though green mussels were a bit big and a bit tough and you weren't sure you liked them you HAVE to do this tour to appreciate what a food of the gods they can be. Who'd have thought I could have eaten 24 of them in a sitting and with the sauvignon blanc from Framingham to accompany - heaven (and a very calm sea).

 

Tauranga is all about the Rotorua hot springs further inland and hobbit tours but if you've done the former and have no interest in the latter the walk around Mt Mwanganui from the dock (7 kms as we had 2 enormous Princess ships hogging the closer to land docks) is well worth doing. Once again weather dependent. The ship actually docks in Mwanganui and not Tauranga so presumably there was a shuttle. Having driven through both towns before I'd stick with the former. Nice beach if you're inclined and close to the docks but the other side of the narrow peninsula.

 

That's about it in a nutshell except to say that after 14 Seabourns, 10 small and now 4 large this was probably the best crew we've had on board. Food, as always was great if you overlook the very occasional imperfection. I think you notice things like that the longer you're pampered which is why I think 15 to 18 days is about my limit for a cruise. Free wine list with an abundance of Aus and NZ wines was much better than most.

 

It's all about the weather. Good luck with that when you do your tour.

[alexandra cruiser]

made a copy of your post to refer back to,about shore exc.esp.Lots of good tips.

Now planning Jan 2016,so have awhile before schedule out to book.

 

Looked at lots of cruises,but this seemed best for us.Love Seabourn,and the bigger ships after Sojourn to Norway.

 

Now I ll just have to HOPE for good weather.

 

PS.taking a Scenic river cruise and hear MANY Aussies will be onboard,,my TA said they can be "real party animals",haha.We ll see.:)

[alexandra cruiser]

Looking forward to reviews.

 

Also, how far in advance did you book?

 

Not sure if Dec 2015 better,or Feb.2016?

 

Price seems lower for Jan.,not sure WHY?

 

Any others (besides the ones above)have more opinion re this cruise.

 

And anyone know the answers to above 3 questions??:confused: