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Seabourn pricing !

Able Seaman H

By Able Seaman H,
in Seabourn Cruise Line

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Able Seaman H

Able Seaman H

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I don't think it would be your best cruise ever Henry for various reasons

I sailed a lot with Silversea many moons ago and liked the Silver Shadow.

 

Sent from my SM-G955F using Forums mobile app

 

I get the impression she's showing her age a bit now. The one thing we like about Seabourn is everything being in good order. They try to nip stuff in the bud and obviously the new ships are just that, new !

 

Henry :)

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Hanoverian

Hanoverian

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Just to add closure to the thread we have had to move away from Seabourn on this occasion. We were offered an acceptable deal with Silverseas on Silver Shadow for a variation of the Ovation itinerary with some interesting overnight stops but felt it wouldn't be the best ship on which to try Silverseas for the first time.

 

Henry :)

We sailed on the Muse last spring, our first Silversea cruise. The ship itself felt "Seabourn-ish", quite beautiful, and the suite was just fine. We are primarily itinerary driven and would sail Silversea again if the right itinerary came along, but only in the new ships based on what we have read and what experienced Silversea guests told us on the Muse about the rest of the fleet. The service in general was OK , the food ranged from "meh" to quite good (one never quite knew what to expect), and the butler proved to be useful on several occasions. Far more a premium rather than luxury experience. I felt as if Silversea suffers from the same problem that several other lines seem to be experiencing - not enough seasoned staff. We are trying Oceania in three weeks and hope that it turns out to be our #2 favorite line.

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OceanPatter

OceanPatter

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Somewhat off topic, but wanted to mention that the 2019 NZ/Australia cruise (16 days) had significant price drops over the past three months.

 

In fact, a V1 is about $400/day (someone already noted this). Is a V1 on the Encore less desirable because of its forward location? Is it worth paying more for a V5/6 because of its mid-ship location?

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envirochick

envirochick

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Somewhat off topic, but wanted to mention that the 2019 NZ/Australia cruise (16 days) had significant price drops over the past three months.

 

In fact, a V1 is about $400/day (someone already noted this). Is a V1 on the Encore less desirable because of its forward location? Is it worth paying more for a V5/6 because of its mid-ship location?

 

 

 

Are you referring to the Dec 21, 2019 Holiday Aus/NZ cruise? I’m not seeing pricing anywhere near what you’ve quoted. Closer to $700/day.

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SKP946

SKP946

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Somewhat off topic, but wanted to mention that the 2019 NZ/Australia cruise (16 days) had significant price drops over the past three months.

 

In fact, a V1 is about $400/day (someone already noted this). Is a V1 on the Encore less desirable because of its forward location? Is it worth paying more for a V5/6 because of its mid-ship location?

Aren't the V1's on Encore and Ovation on deck 7 smaller? (245 sq. ft v. 302 sq.ft. for most of the remaining V's)

The V'2's on deck 5 are amidship (and also forward) however I note that on the Dec 21, 2018 Encore sailing all the amidship suites are priced the same, whether on deck 5,6,7 or 8. (On the Seabourn Australia website anyway) The cheapest suites are the V4's forward on deck 8.

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OceanPatter

OceanPatter

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Are you referring to the Dec 21, 2019 Holiday Aus/NZ cruise? I’m not seeing pricing anywhere near what you’ve quoted. Closer to $700/day.

 

I'm referring to the March 2019 NZ/Australia cruise, where the V1 is around $400/day. Pricing on this cruise has dropped consistently. Is there really much difference between a forward (V1) and mid-ship (V5) location on the Encore?

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Able Seaman H

Able Seaman H

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The V1 suites on deck 7 are a bit smaller and don't have a bath, only a shower.

 

On all other decks the V class suites are essentially the same, just in different positions.

 

There are 2 schools of thought when it comes to booking your accommodation. Some people are absolutely rigid in terms of where they want to be on the ship and pay a premium to achieve this. For my own part I am less worried and am happy to take a bit of a risk. The guarantee fares when offered are slightly less than a V1 but you won't get allocated your cabin until close to sailing date.

 

You will usually get offered chances to upgrade to a higher grade nearer to the cruise for less than the advertised fare difference and even if you don't opt to pay extra money it's rare to actually get a V1 but it could happen so don't go running to mummy or screaming on here if you do. Them's the rules :) Again, no right or wrong here but we usually leave it to chance and see what happens.

 

Travelling as we do with 3 in the cabin means we are usually allocated a specific cabin and there has been a bit of haggling in terms of the grade. We paid a bit more than the guarantee fare but were allocated a V5 or V6. One one occasion we took a penthouse suite upgrade offer for substantially less than the advertised price difference.

 

Have we ever had a "bad" cabin? No, not really but we are very easy going. In the past on deck 5 we have been woken by the anchor being dropped and the gangway being taken out of storage / deployed but I wouldn't say it ruined our cruise. Ultimately we paid less to be on board.

 

It will all come down to your own personal circumstances and aversion to spending money :)

 

Henry :)

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BasandSyb

BasandSyb

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I know, madness. Either somehing has gone a bit wrong with the pricing algorithm or everyone has been waiting to book the new ship over Christmas.

 

I could get just as good a deal on flights to OZ from Heathrow so the air miles HK flights would be wasted.

 

On a serious note Seabourn need to be careful. If you charge a lot of money people arrive with extremely high expectations and they will leave angry and disappointed because Seabourn isn’t designet to function at that level. Im a huge fan of the product but it’s essential you feel like it was good value.

 

I’d hate to see loads of poor reviews based on over expectant campers.

 

Henry :)

 

Was going to suggest the SYD - AKL. We don't usually do Christmas cruises, but this year the planets have aligned for Christmas a deux. We could not believe the prices as they are much lower for the period than usual, so have booked a "local" cruise.

 

With regard to the quote above from Henry...this is very true. Many of the regular posters of the Seabourn fan club on this site are excellent levellers for when things go awry. Yes, first world problems.

 

However, it is true that you do get a very sour taste in your mouth when you've paid over the odds because you want to do a certain itinerary at a certain time and things start to niggle. We have been in that situation. An experience can be coloured by so many things - needing a break and you haven't quite unwound from work / paying over the odds and helping trainee staff / past wonderful service experiences not living up to memories. As point in case the recent review on this Seabourn post of the person on the Vikings route vs other CC regulars on board at the same time.

 

You never know what the other cruisers point of reference is.

 

Henry, have a wonderful Christmas cruise. I'm sure you've done that itinerary previously and will enjoy.

 

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Able Seaman H

Able Seaman H

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We won't be cruising this Christmas due to the pricing. Instead we are saving a lot of money and taking a land based holiday in Thailand.

 

There are some cruises on Seabourn that offer superb value for money but on this occasion the price premium for a Seabourn cruise was just too glaring to ignore. Our whole trip staying in Small luxury Hotels of the world accommodation will cost less than the first person fare on Ovation. A lot less :)

 

So Father Christmas will be able to fund a new carbon road bike for me, a trip to Cartier for Mrs Able Seaman and Emily's first years accommodation at university :) :)

 

Henry :)

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rols

rols

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X2

 

Way to prioritize. Especially the university.

 

you really confused me with the "X2" as X2 is actually a chain of resorts in Thailand and I thought you'd guessed where the Able Seaman and his family were going. :confused:

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Able Seaman H

Able Seaman H

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Had a missed call from number 2 travel agent yesterday saying cabins were now available and prices were coming down.

 

 

Price down from £8,500 per person to £7,300 per person. Still expensive by about £800 but moving in the right direction.

 

 

 

Too late for us as we are booked elsewhere now but I can't help feeling something has gone wrong when there is such a huge swing in pricing. People are going to get very upset when they discover they paid £4,000 or more too much for their basic cabin and ultimately Seabourn have lost out on our business breaking a chain that has held together for 5 years.

 

 

Henry :)

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Roxburgh

Roxburgh

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Had a missed call from number 2 travel agent yesterday saying cabins were now available and prices were coming down.

 

 

Price down from £8,500 per person to £7,300 per person. Still expensive by about £800 but moving in the right direction.

 

 

 

Too late for us as we are booked elsewhere now but I can't help feeling something has gone wrong when there is such a huge swing in pricing. People are going to get very upset when they discover they paid £4,000 or more too much for their basic cabin and ultimately Seabourn have lost out on our business breaking a chain that has held together for 5 years.

 

 

Henry :)

 

That is why I monitor the pricing.

 

Prices for our suite on our upcoming cruise have come down by around 20% since we booked. Needless to say our excellent TA has made sure that what we are paying the reduced price.

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rols

rols

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Had a missed call from number 2 travel agent yesterday saying cabins were now available and prices were coming down.

 

Too late for us as we are booked elsewhere now but I can't help feeling something has gone wrong when there is such a huge swing in pricing. People are going to get very upset when they discover they paid £4,000 or more too much for their basic cabin and ultimately Seabourn have lost out on our business breaking a chain that has held together for 5 years.

 

 

Henry :)

 

The pricing for V3 has remained the same, $10,599. However the V1s and V2s which were originally shown as sold out have now become available and that's where the reduction of lowest available fare has come from. So less of a price drop per-se than an availability change.

 

My only theory here would be some people cancelled around the 90 day mark before full payment and Seabourn has recycled those cabins into the mix a week or so later.

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Able Seaman H

Able Seaman H

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The pricing for V3 has remained the same, $10,599. However the V1s and V2s which were originally shown as sold out have now become available and that's where the reduction of lowest available fare has come from. So less of a price drop per-se than an availability change.

 

My only theory here would be some people cancelled around the 90 day mark before full payment and Seabourn has recycled those cabins into the mix a week or so later.

 

Ah, I see. If I'm honest I struggle to see the value between many of the V grades. A basic cabin and a Penhouse suite are very different beasts but the same cabin on different decks or different parts of the ship? I'm not so sure. Is it really worth paying £1,500 more for next door, identical size, layout, soap, toilet paper, bed, pillows and amenities?

 

Anyway, have a great cruise if you're going to be onboard. I hear too many stories on here where Seabourn fail to honour price drops to hand over my money on the basis I'll get the best deal come what may.

 

We're all booked up for Christmas and New Year in the beautiful Krabi Province, just sorting out a rather nice suite for Bangkok pre Christmas & working out a way to keep the girls out of all those shops...... :)

 

Henry :)

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SLSD

SLSD

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Our TA told us that IF the price of our cruise drops, we should expect OBC. We are trying a veranda guarantee for the first time on our next cruise. I tend to agree with Henry that it doesn't really matter where we are---we will still have a great time.

 

On this topic, we met a wonderful couple from Australia on our last cruise who had a HUGE OBC due to a price drop. They were concerned about being able to use it all--but ordered fine wines and shared them with us at dinner.

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