Still open bridge policy?

[jsiegel]

It's been a number of years since I've cruised Seabourn.  Is there still an open bridge policy where you can be on the bridge almost any time other than entering and leaving ports?  I'm considering a Seabourn cruise and that would be incentive for my husband to book.

 

Jackie

[rols]

as far as I know there has never been an open bridge policy on Seabourn. They usually have one tour per cruise but that's the only time you're allowed on the bridge. 

Interestingly enough this came up the other week as they are considering an open bridge policy on their new exploration ship. 

[SLSD]

On our recent cruise, there were at least two bridge tours.  They announced one--it filled up quickly.  We were too late, but I pressed for another tour---and I guess others did too--because we had a second tour.  There may have been more for all I know. 

 

And roll is correct.  There was an announcement that the new expedition ship, Venture, will have an open bridge policy (always at the discretion of the captain).  

[markham]

I have cruised with Seabourn for many and there was never an open bridge policy. Of course, there have been head office directives about visits which for some years meant there were no visits at all. But for many years there have been numbers controlled supervised visits offered by bridge via Seabourn Square and as publicized in the Herald.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[jsiegel]

On the Legend we were able to go onto the bridge at any time.  Really cool.  The officer on duty even allowed my husband to sit in the captains chair and then the captain showed up.  He decided to test my husband to see if he deserved sitting there.  He passed by looking at the radar and determining where we were.

[frantic36]

I started sailing on Seabourn on the Pride in 2010 and there wasn't an open bridge policy at that point. Maybe it was earlier than that or dependent on the Captain of the ship?

[Chairsin]

Another who in 18 years on Seabourn has never seen an open bridge policy. I know that in addition to advertised bridge tours or bridge tours by invitation to a select group of passengers there have been a couple of occasions where when the Captain found out about my husband’s background and invited him to  the bridge for a private tour. And as noted while there may well have been a cruise or two where a Captain announced an open bridge I must say that in a post 9/11 world this would be surprising. Could it be jsiegel’s husband assumed there was an open bridge, wandered up there on his own and they were kind enough to accommodate him?

[Kate-AHF]

Windstar has an open bridge policy.  So, one could have been on the Legend and experienced that, just not while the Legend was with Seabourn.  No open bridge policy I've been aware of since 2006.

[jsiegel]

I remember now that there wasn't an open bridge policy but we were staring in the windows of the bridge one afternoon and the officer of the watch saw us with our faces plastered to the glass and came out to invite us in.  And yes, Windstar did have a open bridge policy so we took advantage of that (and noticed the password to the navigation computer was taped to the monitor 😁).  

[florisdekort]

When we sailed Quest all the way from Montreal to Buenos Aires late last year there was an announcement on most sea days that the bridge was open to all from 1 pm to 3 pm (or something similar).  On all our other Seabourn cruises it has just been one or two organised tours per cruise. 

[princeton123211]

I think things have tightened up significantly with the larger ships. Back in the day the three small Seabourn sisters had a semi-open bridge policy. Officially you weren't allowed but pretty much any of the masters would allow you to go if you requested from them in person (the fastest method) or put in a request from the pursers desk (would take a day or two). They usually didn't say no unless the ship was navigating a busy area. 

 

Now its done with preorgranized tours which we found to be interesting but not nearly as fun as visiting the bridge on your own.