Is anyone here on the first leg of the World Cruise?

[SLSD]

I love to travel vicariously, so I want to know--are any of you on the first leg of the 2020 Seabourn World Cruise?  If you are, would you please post and give us a word picture of your experience?  Thank you!  

Edited January 4, 2020 by SLSD

[SLSD]

I just read in another venue that there has been a rather lengthy customs/immigraton check in Miami which included everyone having to leave the ship for several hours.  Is this correct?  If so, it sounds onerous.  

[rafinmd]

Delete, posted on wrong thread.

 

Roy

Edited January 5, 2020 by rafinmd

[saminina]

4 hours ago, SLSD said:

I just read in another venue that there has been a rather lengthy customs/immigraton check in Miami which included everyone having to leave the ship for several hours.  Is this correct?  If so, it sounds onerous.  

 

False.  The delay had nothing to do with customs/immigration.   Someone else can explain the reasons.   Customs/immigration was finished prior day in Key West.  Basically, luggage was not unloaded until aprox 11 AM.   No luggage and you were free to go about 9:35 AM.

Edited January 5, 2020 by saminina

[Isklaar]

5 hours ago, SLSD said:

I just read in another venue that there has been a rather lengthy customs/immigraton check in Miami which included everyone having to leave the ship for several hours.  Is this correct?  If so, it sounds onerous.  

Hi SLSD, not sure about immigration checks, but the ship was delayed out of Key West yesterday. I couldn't quite understand  the Captain's announcement but it sounded like they had done a routine stress test on a wire that lowers the tender and the wire failed the test. The ship was unable to sail as there would not be enough lifeboat capacity without that tender. So, we were delayed almost 6 hours until a replacement temporary lifeboat could be delivered. We watched it arrive to the dock just before 1130 pm. 
We arrived at port Miami this morning around 9.30, however bags were not all unloaded until around 11am so that is when we were able to disembark. Anyone who had kept their bags to self disembark was able to walk off the ship much earlier, as saminina said. Some guests who had morning flights out of MIA left the ship in Key West yesterday evening and travelled by taxi to Miami so they could make their flight.

[Isklaar]

I just heard from someone we met on board who said that some in transit guests had a problem today and were held ashore for two hours plus. Ship still in Miami too,

[markham]

Not true. Those of us in transit had to leave the ship for maybe 20 minutes to achieve a “zero count” on board. But since this occurred just before many of our friends who were embarking were just arriving at the hall we chose to stay there to see them. Lots and lots of Diamond and Elite members, and all the top officers of Seabourn were at the gangway onboard to greet the guests. 
 

We left Miami a couple of hours late due to the earlier late arrival, baggage and provisions loading, and more testing of equipment. We are to arrive in Key West in an hour or two.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

ps- something that does stick in my craw were many selfish passengers who simply would not and did not vacate their staterooms until after 9:30 which made the turnaround of staterooms very stressful for the crew. The usual request is to vacate by 8:00 but our neighbor ordered room service breakfast for 8:30. That’s taking the mickey. Anyway, the cabins were ready by 14:00, a good 90 minutes later than the cruise before. A heroic effort to restock the bars, clean and throw out a lot of rubbish for the WC guests who started to embark at 12:30. And a nice touch for those who are full world cruisers: the 60 odd who were hosted in a hotel the previous night were checked in for the cruise at the hotel so embarkation was a breeze.

 

[saminina]

Yes, we thought it strange how many people were having breakfast without bags in or near MDR.  Not nice.

[markham]

Pps- there are no new lifeboat delivered. The divot was repaired and the mechanism tested. This was conducted as part of a standard 5 year test program.

Key West arrival at  8:30 or so.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[frantic36]

Have a wonderful cruise markham with lots of other special people onboard.

 

Very sad to hear about some selfish people who seem to make it all about themselves. It is no big effort to get out of the room by 8am so the crew can start cleaning. There is always the Colonnade if they want a late breakfast after 8 and then wait to disembark there or in Seabourn Square.

 

Julie

[Isklaar]

Agree about those who insisted on staying in their room after 8am.
So unfair on the cleaning crews and stewardesses who are always very busy on changeover days. 

We left at 8.05 because I had misplaced my car keys and was searching for them, I had let my stewardess know just prior to 8 that I would just take a couple more minutes to find my keys.

We chose the MDR for breakfast and were seated by 8.10am.  After breakfast we were told it was ok to wait there, and as we waited we saw lots of people leaving from deck 4 rooms much later than 8am!  
 

Friend we met onboard still claiming that some in transit guests were held ashore for a couple of hours. I'm wondering if those guests made a mistake and disembarked at 9.30 in error only to find they were unable to reboard until those who were leaving the ship had actually left ? 
 

Markham, if you get the opportunity could you find out what the object was that we watched being unloaded from a shipping container that arrived one a huge truck  at around 1130pm on Friday evening? We were told by crew that it was a temporary replacement before the divot could be fixed. Seems we were misinformed but now I'm intrigued to know what it was!
Enjoy Key West today, and of course the rest of your cruise. 
 

 

ps car key was in my suitcase😳

[cruiseej]

We were on the cruise that ended in Miami, too. The objects being loaded in Key West from a tractor-trailer truck, which I assume had been driven down from Miami, were the inflatable lifeboats that can supplement the tenders which are the primary lifeboats. I popped out on Deck 5 and captured these pictures of the canisters being brought onboard and brought up to the storage racks on Deck 5.

 

 

 

Here's an online image of how these canisters become lifeboats:

 

As for the waiting process to disembark in Miami, I don't think there's any good excuse for guests who didn't leave their suites by 8 am -- BUT I will say that communication to passengers about this was poor. Well, non-existent. Some people likely heard that we would be three hours late arriving into Miami and assumed there was no rush to leave their suites because turnover was going to be late. (I inquired at Seabourn Square the night before just to make sure we were still expected to leave our suites at 8 am.) I was very surprised that there was no shipboard announcement at 7:45 or 8:00 asking guests to vacate their suites and relocate to common areas of the ship. Many people knew to do this, but it certainly wasn't made clear what the protocol was. The cruise director didn't make any announcement until about 8:45 or 9:00, as best I recall.

 

There was other miscommunication as well. We all received cards at our suite Friday night telling passengers who had flights before 2 pm to NOT put out their luggage for pickup their night before, and carry it off themselves in the morning. We had a 1:45 flight, and had booked a Seabourn bus transfer, so I asked in Seabourn Square whether the bus transfers would still take place upon arrival, even though it would be later than originally planned. The person there made a phone call to check and told me to go ahead and put our luggage out because the card didn't apply to those who had booked Seabourn transfers to the airport. Huh? It didn't mention that at all! And this was at 10:58 pm; she even joked that I had two minutes to get my luggage out! (And then told me to take my time and just call when it was ready for pick-up). So after planning not to put our luggage out Friday night, we scrambled, changed clothes, re-arranged a few things in our luggage and carry-ons, and put it out in about 15 minutes as they were collecting it around the ship.

 

Then on Saturday morning, we wished we had just kept our luggage, so we could have walked off once the ship docked; instead, we waited with most of the passengers for about 90 minutes for the luggage to be taken off, increasingly sweating about whether we'd make our flight. (Fortunately, once we were released, and made it through the mob trying to disembark, we got to the bus and it departed fairly quickly, so we made it to the airport 90 in time to get our luggage checked in for our flight -- but I had contemplated ditching the bus and paying for a cab because the timing got tight.)

 

They also botched (in my opinion) our release from the ship once disembarkation was allowed. The cruise director had said several times to wait in public areas until the the port staff had all the luggage off and organized, and that we would then be called by our color coded tags. That would have been orderly and fairly quick. Instead, she came on the PA and said "good news, you're free to disembark" -- so everyone simultaneously proceeded to Deck 5 to disembark. There was instantly a huge crowd trying to get off; people arriving a few minutes later via elevator had hard time getting off the elevators because the hallway was jammed. It took perhaps 10-15 minutes to get off, but it surely could have been better handled if they called people by their exit group instead of sending everyone at once.

 

We certainly understand the mechanical issue which cause the delay was no one's fault, and that the turnover in Miami was going to be an especially hectic one because of the start of the world cruise; I felt bad for the staff who had to compress their normal turnover schedule into fewer hours under great pressure. I was just a little surprised that they missed some opportunities to communicate better and handle the offloading better.

 

 

[SLSD]

6 hours ago, cruiseej said:

We were on the cruise that ended in Miami, too. The objects being loaded in Key West from a tractor-trailer truck, which I assume had been driven down from Miami, were the inflatable lifeboats that can supplement the tenders which are the primary lifeboats. I popped out on Deck 5 and captured these pictures of the canisters being brought onboard and brought up to the storage racks on Deck 5.

 

 

 

Here's an online image of how these canisters become lifeboats:

 

As for the waiting process to disembark in Miami, I don't think there's any good excuse for guests who didn't leave their suites by 8 am -- BUT I will say that communication to passengers about this was poor. Well, non-existent. Some people likely heard that we would be three hours late arriving into Miami and assumed there was no rush to leave their suites because turnover was going to be late. (I inquired at Seabourn Square the night before just to make sure we were still expected to leave our suites at 8 am.) I was very surprised that there was no shipboard announcement at 7:45 or 8:00 asking guests to vacate their suites and relocate to common areas of the ship. Many people knew to do this, but it certainly wasn't made clear what the protocol was. The cruise director didn't make any announcement until about 8:45 or 9:00, as best I recall.

 

There was other miscommunication as well. We all received cards at our suite Friday night telling passengers who had flights before 2 pm to NOT put out their luggage for pickup their night before, and carry it off themselves in the morning. We had a 1:45 flight, and had booked a Seabourn bus transfer, so I asked in Seabourn Square whether the bus transfers would still take place upon arrival, even though it would be later than originally planned. The person there made a phone call to check and told me to go ahead and put our luggage out because the card didn't apply to those who had booked Seabourn transfers to the airport. Huh? It didn't mention that at all! And this was at 10:58 pm; she even joked that I had two minutes to get my luggage out! (And then told me to take my time and just call when it was ready for pick-up). So after planning not to put our luggage out Friday night, we scrambled, changed clothes, re-arranged a few things in our luggage and carry-ons, and put it out in about 15 minutes as they were collecting it around the ship.

 

Then on Saturday morning, we wished we had just kept our luggage, so we could have walked off once the ship docked; instead, we waited with most of the passengers for about 90 minutes for the luggage to be taken off, increasingly sweating about whether we'd make our flight. (Fortunately, once we were released, and made it through the mob trying to disembark, we got to the bus and it departed fairly quickly, so we made it to the airport 90 in time to get our luggage checked in for our flight -- but I had contemplated ditching the bus and paying for a cab because the timing got tight.)

 

They also botched (in my opinion) our release from the ship once disembarkation was allowed. The cruise director had said several times to wait in public areas until the the port staff had all the luggage off and organized, and that we would then be called by our color coded tags. That would have been orderly and fairly quick. Instead, she came on the PA and said "good news, you're free to disembark" -- so everyone simultaneously proceeded to Deck 5 to disembark. There was instantly a huge crowd trying to get off; people arriving a few minutes later via elevator had hard time getting off the elevators because the hallway was jammed. It took perhaps 10-15 minutes to get off, but it surely could have been better handled if they called people by their exit group instead of sending everyone at once.

 

We certainly understand the mechanical issue which cause the delay was no one's fault, and that the turnover in Miami was going to be an especially hectic one because of the start of the world cruise; I felt bad for the staff who had to compress their normal turnover schedule into fewer hours under great pressure. I was just a little surprised that they missed some opportunities to communicate better and handle the offloading better.

 

 

It sounds to me that there were some unexpected issues.  Late arrival to Miami being one of them.  I am so glad you made your flight.  I can identify with anxiety about that kind of thing.  

 

[cuddles115]

7 hours ago, cruiseej said:

We were on the cruise that ended in Miami, too. The objects being loaded in Key West from a tractor-trailer truck, which I assume had been driven down from Miami, were the inflatable lifeboats that can supplement the tenders which are the primary lifeboats. I popped out on Deck 5 and captured these pictures of the canisters being brought onboard and brought up to the storage racks on Deck 5.

 

 

 

Here's an online image of how these canisters become lifeboats:

 

As for the waiting process to disembark in Miami, I don't think there's any good excuse for guests who didn't leave their suites by 8 am -- BUT I will say that communication to passengers about this was poor. Well, non-existent. Some people likely heard that we would be three hours late arriving into Miami and assumed there was no rush to leave their suites because turnover was going to be late. (I inquired at Seabourn Square the night before just to make sure we were still expected to leave our suites at 8 am.) I was very surprised that there was no shipboard announcement at 7:45 or 8:00 asking guests to vacate their suites and relocate to common areas of the ship. Many people knew to do this, but it certainly wasn't made clear what the protocol was. The cruise director didn't make any announcement until about 8:45 or 9:00, as best I recall.

 

There was other miscommunication as well. We all received cards at our suite Friday night telling passengers who had flights before 2 pm to NOT put out their luggage for pickup their night before, and carry it off themselves in the morning. We had a 1:45 flight, and had booked a Seabourn bus transfer, so I asked in Seabourn Square whether the bus transfers would still take place upon arrival, even though it would be later than originally planned. The person there made a phone call to check and told me to go ahead and put our luggage out because the card didn't apply to those who had booked Seabourn transfers to the airport. Huh? It didn't mention that at all! And this was at 10:58 pm; she even joked that I had two minutes to get my luggage out! (And then told me to take my time and just call when it was ready for pick-up). So after planning not to put our luggage out Friday night, we scrambled, changed clothes, re-arranged a few things in our luggage and carry-ons, and put it out in about 15 minutes as they were collecting it around the ship.

 

Then on Saturday morning, we wished we had just kept our luggage, so we could have walked off once the ship docked; instead, we waited with most of the passengers for about 90 minutes for the luggage to be taken off, increasingly sweating about whether we'd make our flight. (Fortunately, once we were released, and made it through the mob trying to disembark, we got to the bus and it departed fairly quickly, so we made it to the airport 90 in time to get our luggage checked in for our flight -- but I had contemplated ditching the bus and paying for a cab because the timing got tight.)

 

They also botched (in my opinion) our release from the ship once disembarkation was allowed. The cruise director had said several times to wait in public areas until the the port staff had all the luggage off and organized, and that we would then be called by our color coded tags. That would have been orderly and fairly quick. Instead, she came on the PA and said "good news, you're free to disembark" -- so everyone simultaneously proceeded to Deck 5 to disembark. There was instantly a huge crowd trying to get off; people arriving a few minutes later via elevator had hard time getting off the elevators because the hallway was jammed. It took perhaps 10-15 minutes to get off, but it surely could have been better handled if they called people by their exit group instead of sending everyone at once.

 

We certainly understand the mechanical issue which cause the delay was no one's fault, and that the turnover in Miami was going to be an especially hectic one because of the start of the world cruise; I felt bad for the staff who had to compress their normal turnover schedule into fewer hours under great pressure. I was just a little surprised that they missed some opportunities to communicate better and handle the offloading better.

 

 

I hope this was the only glitch (although big time) that you had on your cruise.

[tv24]

And we wish bon voyage to the World Cruisers!  This is something that we looked at closely, as did some friends, and we all concluded that the ports were not our cups of tea.  But we will dream and scan CC for reports.

[lincslady]

Is there any way to read the latest posts without scrolling through the many 'quotes' which include multiple photos?  Interesting the first time; not so much and time consuming after that.  I am not very computer literate, so maybe someone can advise.  (The most irritating are, of course, on the Crystal site.)

 

If not, dare I suggest posters do not quote them in their replies?

[cruiseej]

13 hours ago, SLSD said:

It sounds to me that there were some unexpected issues.  Late arrival to Miami being one of them.  I am so glad you made your flight.  I can identify with anxiety about that kind of thing.  

 

 

12 hours ago, cuddles115 said:

I hope this was the only glitch (although big time) that you had on your cruise.

 

Yes, it was an excellent cruise, and the delay out of Key West into Miami was the only significant glitch we experienced. As for the delays in Miami, for the most part it was a straightforward issue of safety (having enough viable lifeboats) over schedule, which we and other passengers understood and took in stride. In my post above, I was only noting that once they were improvising, clear communications to passengers fell short.

[markham]

I have to agree with the posters above that the disembarkation announcements re luggage handling, leaving suites by 8:00 and when the disembark when the luggage had been offloaded was lacking and poor. I too could not believe the “you can all disembark now” because the crowd was anxious and the bottleneck that developed was completely predictable. The former orderly way by color tags would have made things less fraught.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[saminina]

Well, now you have a real hotel manager running the show and a qualified CD.

[whogo]

23 hours ago, cruiseej said:

We were on the cruise that ended in Miami, too. The objects being loaded in Key West from a tractor-trailer truck, which I assume had been driven down from Miami, were the inflatable lifeboats that can supplement the tenders which are the primary lifeboats.

I took this video of a life raft inflation demonstration (It took only seconds to delete the photos from the above quote). Quit watching when the video goes sideways:

 

[markham]

Saminia,

 

Normally I would let this go. But then I remember there is more to CC than harsh, unfair and unkind remarks and innuendo.

 

Here is my opinion...

Teresa is a consummate professional, kind and detail oriented, and we have known her since our days on Legend.  Emma is young, keen, talented and fun. They were a delight to sail with as our HD and CD.

 

Anyway, Emma and 3 other Cruise staff are now assisting Handre who will be leaving in Cape Town for a position in Seattle. Luca is our new HD. All is good.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

[SLSD]

23 minutes ago, markham said:

Saminia,

 

Normally I would let this go. But then I remember there is more to CC than harsh, unfair and unkind remarks and innuendo.

 

Here is my opinion...

Teresa is a consummate professional, kind and detail oriented, and we have known her since our days on Legend.  Emma is young, keen, talented and fun. They were a delight to sail with as our HD and CD.

 

Anyway, Emma and 3 other Cruise staff are now assisting Handre who will be leaving in Cape Town for a position in Seattle. Luca is our new HD. All is good.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

Handre is leaving for a position in Seattle?  I'm sure that will be great for Seabourn and for Handre who, no doubt, would like to be able to stay home. He will be missed onboard ships.  He was a memorable cruise director and a truly wonderful man.  I'm sure he does not remember us from our Baltic cruise summer before last, but please give him best regards from Susan and Josiah.  What a fine cruise director he is.  

 

I do agree with you Markham that there is no need here to be unfair and unkind.  Thank you for your always even handed commentary.  You are not one to let a true slip up by Seabourn go by, but you are a  glass half full person--and I appreciate that. Have a great time on this leg of your journey!

[Joc123]

Handre going to Seattle?

 

Sad for us but I hope he will be happy in his new position. What  he will be doing?

We sailed with him in October and we are also doing the last leg of the World Cruise (Sydney - San Fransisco). When asked if he would still be onboard for that leg he wouldn’t answer yes or no, so we thought then something was happening. IOHO he is the best CD ever but I guess there are only a certain number of years one can spend at sea.

Please wish him all the best from Ron and Jocelyn 

[2SailingNomads]

On 1/6/2020 at 7:03 PM, markham said:

Saminia,

 

Normally I would let this go. But then I remember there is more to CC than harsh, unfair and unkind remarks and innuendo.

 

Here is my opinion...

Teresa is a consummate professional, kind and detail oriented, and we have known her since our days on Legend.  Emma is young, keen, talented and fun. They were a delight to sail with as our HD and CD.

 

Anyway, Emma and 3 other Cruise staff are now assisting Handre who will be leaving in Cape Town for a position in Seattle. Luca is our new HD. All is good.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

Agree Teresa is one of the best and long time ones 🙂  And glad she came back "home"

[markham]

I just spoke with Handre and conveyed your good wishes! And yes, he remembers both of you couples.

 

Handre will officially be Senior Manager of Cruise Programming which means he will be in charge of all entertainment. Great fit for him. He will, of course, visit the ships periodically, so hopefully you will meet up. And who knows more about the possibilities, opportunities and players than he does?

 

Happy and healthy sailing!