Dep. times... WHEN will Seabourn learn?

[M&PGermany]

Hello from hot Germany folks,

 

I was just comparing the Seabourn Greece itinerary with the one on Silversea's new Moon.😡

When will Seabourn learn that evening life in the Med region doesn't start at 5 or 6pm which is when Ovation is to leave port on most of the days. For Heaven's sake, who is planning their departure times? Silver Moon doesn't leave the Greek ports before 11pm on any single day. That gives us time to FULLY enjoy the day outside and maybe even have dinner at the destination. It's hot during the day but it's interesting and nice in ports when the sun sets. I don't want to be back on the ship by 4:30 or 5:30 in the afternoon. If they want to attract a younger clientele why not TRY to include later departures or 😱overnights?

Well it'll be our first Silversea this year, I guess. 

 

Any thoughts on that?

[markham]

I could not agree with you more!

 

We have BTB cruises with both in July, and Seabourn is this Saturday.

 

Here’s another relevant contrast. For Seabourn we cannot complete the health questionnaire, we cannot get our boarding passes and there is no where to upload our vaccination certificates. And we get daily reminders from Seabourn to do so!
 

Besides all this misery for checkin the Seabourn app and website doesn’t work now for tours and restaurant bookings. 
 

in contrast, the Silversea online facilities is a dream with full functionality that works all the time.

 

I don’t imagine there is any more to say about Seabourn’s customer interface. Checkin may be awful, and I am dreading the event.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[Hlitner]

18 minutes ago, markham said:

I could not agree with you more!

 

We have BTB cruises with both in July, and Seabourn is this Saturday.

 

Here’s another relevant contrast. For Seabourn we cannot complete the health questionnaire, we cannot get our boarding passes and there is no where to upload our vaccination certificates. And we get daily reminders from Seabourn to do so!
 

Besides all this misery for checkin the Seabourn app and website doesn’t work now for tours and restaurant bookings. 
 

in contrast, the Silversea online facilities is a dream with full functionality that works all the time.

 

I don’t imagine there is any more to say about Seabourn’s customer interface. Checkin may be awful, and I am dreading the event.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

We already have our digital boarding passes for late July cruises.  They were provided as a download to our SB Source app on our phones.  A boarding pass is also part of the Final Documents that are available to us as a download from our SB Online Account.  As to health questionnaires,  they are not too relevant unless completed in the last few days prior to any cruise since a person's health status can and does often change.  Now the issue of vaccination documents is interesting because we have no indication that SB will ever require us to upload any documentation.  They are clear that appropriate documents must be presented at embarkation or one could be denied boarding.  Uploading would not satisfy this requirement although I also wonder why they do not accept uploaded documents.  That being said I think most folks would be wise to travel with original hard copies of vaccination documents since it will certainly ease entry into various countries (including Greece and Barbados).

 

Hank

[markham]

We should be so lucky.

 

Up to date ipad and iPhone, safari and easy success with Silversea.
 

With Seabourn we hoped for more today when we accessed the old app and saw a new message that there was an update available. Did that. No improvement in any way.

 

With Seabourn today it is error messages about their system issues and/or we had screens freezing.  Is this a UK thing? A timezone matter? We have tried multiple times and heard plenty of apologies from Seabourn UK via our TA. 
 

What we do have is a summary of the itinerary in the final document after the registration. There is nothing where the heading under final documents say e-ticket and flight arrangement. The summary page at least has as our cabin number. We could also print our luggage tags from the website. Woo hoo. That is what we will take to the pier on Saturday. The Diamond Elite car service from our hotel to the pier can call ahead, I guess. 
 

Just miserable. And we have been using Seabourn systems since our first cruise with them in 2001. Never this frustrating.

 

Glad to be over this moan… Will be boarding our flight to Athens in just over an hour. Time for champagne. Cheers!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[SLSD]

22 minutes ago, markham said:

 Will be boarding our flight to Athens in just over an hour. Time for champagne. Cheers!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

In spite of all the website frustrations, I am sure it is going to be a wonderful trip.  I am excited for you and for everyone else who will be boarding on Saturday.  We'll be waiting for your reports!

[M&PGermany]

Hi markham,

 

I wish you a great cruise (!!!) in spite of the truly bad bad bad Seabourn website. Please tell Handré and Ross about it. They need to write to HQ. It has to be the worst of all Luxury cruise lines. Did you check out HAPAG-LLOYD's website. It's a winner! So many information, so easy to use and understand.

 

BUT, this thread is about Seabourn departure times from ports!

(I shall open a new thread about the website...)

 

 

Any more Seabourn travelers out there who would fancy an evening stroll through Mykonos (or any other lovely place in the Med) instead of being back on the ship 5.30p LATEST?

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by M&PGermany

[Hlitner]

We cruise on many different cruise lines many of whom tend to leave port by dinner time.  But we have also been on quite a few cruises with lines that had late departures and even overnights.  On quite a few of our longer HAL voyages, there have been multiple overnights in places like Lisbon, Bordeaux, Venice, and several Asian ports.  DW and I are pretty adventurous travelers and will often stay ashore until late at night (and even travel to other places and overnight in a hotel) to take advantage of the late departures and/or overnights.  But we have always been surprised at how most cruisers will head  back to the ship before dinner and not venture out in the evening, even on overnights in ports that have decent restaurants and evening activities.  I think this goes along with the large group of cruisers who do not generally leave a vessel unless they are part of an excursion or private tour.  

 

DW and I would have preferred if SB had delayed some departures on the Greek Island cruises, but were still happy to book the Ovation.  We have done a lot of independent travel in Greece (and elsewhere) and are aware of what we are missing with such early departures.  On the other hand, we are delighted to enjoy our evenings on such a lovely vessel.  Since we also enjoy our nights ashore we have extended our visit to Greece so we can do some independent island hopping after our cruise (gives us the best of both worlds).   Others might want to consider that Pireaus is not only the embarkation/disembarkation port for the Ovation but a major ferry port where one can catch ferries to many of the Greek Islands.   

 

Hank

[M&PGermany]

Well, those who want to go back to the boat for dinner may do so - even if the departure is late in the evening.

 

Those who don't want to go back for dinner (or maybe have an early dinner on the ship and then go back outside for a walk through the pretty towns), however, don't have a choice if the departure is early.

[markham]

Well, well, well…

 

It turns out that my problems with these systems are known as such by Seabourn and that to avoid them all Seabourn had to do was let us know about them. Which they did not.

 

Our terrific TA has advised me just now: 

 

“
The Boarding passes wont become available until you have filled out the Health Assessment which becomes available 72hours before the ship departs, once this has been filled out Seabourn have advised your Boarding Passes will then become available.”

Anyway, we are in Athens and have a couple of days to enjoy until Seabourn makes it possible for us to complete their formalities. The cruise is this Saturday, after all.

 

Very disappointing customer service.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

 

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, M&PGermany said:

Well, those who want to go back to the boat for dinner may do so - even if the departure is late in the evening.

 

Those who don't want to go back for dinner (or maybe have an early dinner on the ship and then go back outside for a walk through the pretty towns), however, don't have a choice if the departure is early.

 

Exactly. We often (not always) end up going back to the ship for dinner because, well, it's been paid for and it will doubtless be a very nice meal onboard. 😉  So we often end up bypassing eating dinner ashore -- but it's always nice when we have the option to do so. And to have the option to go ashore to shop, walk, or have a drink in the evening.

 

I also like to see where we're sailing, so I do understand that sometimes leaving port at 5 or 6 pm gives us the opportunity to watch a nice sail away from a port that we'd miss if the ship left at 11 pm. That said, I'm often surprised that it seems most people are in their rooms dressing for and going to dinner rather than being in the observation lounge or out on deck for many late afternoon departures. (I've even gotten few dirty looks as I've returned to my cabin after staying out on deck during a sail away or sunset and thus not being "properly dressed" after 6 pm. But I digress… 😉 )

 

Back to the original point, I agree that it would be nice if Seabourn varied its port departure times when the sailing time to the next port is less than 12 hours, and sometimes under 8 hours. (For example, on the current cruises, Mykanos to Nafplion is about 120 nautical miles, or 8 hours cruising at a modest 15 nm/hour; Rhodes to Mykanos is 150 nm, or 9-10 hours.)

 

And I'll raise a separate, tangental issue regarding Seabourn's timing (apologies to @M&PGermany if this wanders too far from your original topic): why do nearly all the excursions go out first thing in the morning? On our upcoming Caribbean cruise, every excursion on every island -- 30 in total -- departs in the morning, most between 8 and 9 am. All those early morning departures makes getting up early to have breakfast and depart on time an un-relaxing rush for those of us who like to watch the evening show and perhaps have a nightcap in a lounge. Yet nearly all the excursions last between 3 and 4 hours and deposit people back at the ship in time for lunch -- after which there are no excursion options. Zero. It creates a morning breakfast rush, a late lunch rush, and an afternoon pool chair rush. Why not give passengers some options on some days to sleep late, have a late breakfast or early lunch, and go out on an afternoon excursion?

[brittany12]

 

all these comments about SB's inadequacies strike home. There are others, too. And long as we're doing the comparisons with Silversea and their new Moon, they have this new program they heavily promote where they actually feature local food and authentic dishes on the ship. Imagine featuring real Greek olives and Greek food in all the restaurants every night of the Greek Island cruise. No need to stay in town for lunch or dinner if one does not want to. Last time we were there - summer of 2018 - there was not a real Greek olive to be found on the ship for use in a real Greek salad we had to make ourselves. Our waiter had to go off and buy a bottle of Kalamatas for us to use daily.

[cruiseej]

8 minutes ago, brittany12 said:

Imagine featuring real Greek olives and Greek food in all the restaurants every night of the Greek Island cruise.

 

Yes, another good point, @brittany12. I wouldn't necessarily expect all Greek food all the time on a cruise around Greece, but I would like some genuine tastes (and sips) of Greece while sailing there.

 

I have made this comment before on Seabourn cruises we've been on: why don't they do more to reflect where we're sailing, at least some of the time, in the menus and drink selections. I think Silversea's new S.A.L.T. program is a significant advance in that direction. As we consider cruises going forward, that would be a significant plus for Silversea in our decision making, all other things being equal (which, of course, they never are 😉). 

[M&PGermany]

12 hours ago, cruiseej said:

And I'll raise a separate, tangental issue regarding Seabourn's timing (apologies to @M&PGermany if this wanders too far from your original topic): why do nearly all the excursions go out first thing in the morning? On our upcoming Caribbean cruise, every excursion on every island -- 30 in total -- departs in the morning, most between 8 and 9 am. All those early morning departures makes getting up early to have breakfast and depart on time an un-relaxing rush for those of us who like to watch the evening show and perhaps have a nightcap in a lounge. Yet nearly all the excursions last between 3 and 4 hours and deposit people back at the ship in time for lunch -- after which there are no excursion options. Zero. It creates a morning breakfast rush, a late lunch rush, and an afternoon pool chair rush. Why not give passengers some options on some days to sleep late, have a late breakfast or early lunch, and go out on an afternoon excursion?

 

Thank you for your comment! I couldn't agree more.

 

Last year we went on Hapag-Lloyd's Europa 2 (again), where quite a few excursions started after lunch. City tours, biking trips, you name it... why would they need to start at 8am? Well, they have to if the ship is leaving port at 5pm. Totally boring.

Seabourn's excursions and scheduling need to be more innovative, more exciting !!

Travellers behave different now compared to 25 years ago.They have more individual requirements. No innovation here from Seabourn's side.

 

Hapag Lloyd: Much more innovative! ......You want examples?

- Late risers breakfast (and I mean a FULL breakfast) 'til 12:00 at "Sansibar".

- Lot of excursions starting in the afternoon.

- Cruises where travellers VOTE for their next stop (lot of fun!).

- Europa2's 8-day cruise from Mallorca (leaving Palma on 30/7)  includes: a seaday, late departure from ports, a DAYTIME SWIMMING STOP (tender/zodiac operation) on the Island of Formentera, an OVERNIGHT in Ibiza, which is THE place for going out late.... everything is so thought-trough. It's a bit of everything and not the same in and out every day.

 

WAY TO GO FOR SEABOURN!

[dalliowner]

One of the advantages of morning departures , especially  in hot  climates like Greece is it can get very hot at lunchtime  , also you tend to avoid a lot of other tours from hotels etc. When we are in Greece it was lovely leaving a site just a a load of other coaches were arriving.

[M&PGermany]

Yes, I'm not arguing against early tours. I'm promoting MORE choices. More creativity.

[brittany12]

a lot has to do with the local  port charges each ship has to pay at the various stops. Anchoring off shore or at the few docks where they exist, location. Arrival time, how long in port, etc.  If the ship can even be allowed there with so many others.These decisions are made many months in advance and probably cannot be changed. Money again intervenes in cruise line decisions and SB's. But yes --- an appeal to SB to get more modern in what it offers and how its all done. So many good ideas here waiting to be acted upon.

[M&PGermany]

12 minutes ago, brittany12 said:

a lot has to do with the local  port charges each ship has to pay at the various stops. Anchoring off shore or at the few docks where they exist, location. Arrival time, how long in port, etc.  If the ship can even be allowed there with so many others.These decisions are made many months in advance and probably cannot be changed. Money again intervenes in cruise line decisions and SB's. But yes --- an appeal to SB to get more modern in what it offers and how its all done. So many good ideas here waiting to be acted upon.

 

Agreed. But money shouldn't be a problem considering what LUXURY cruise line Seabourn currently charge for the Greece itineraries.

[cruiseej]

4 hours ago, brittany12 said:

If the ship can even be allowed there with so many others...

 

All the ships are in port -- berthed or anchor offshore -- during the daytime. And ships arrive in ports in the morning. So whether a Seabourn ship leaves at 5 pm or 10 pm doesn't affect the arrival of another cruise ship; they next ships will be arriving at 6-7 am the next morning.

 

Now, it's possible they pay more to have the port crew and pilots work in the evening for a late departure, so it is possible that leaving at 5 pm saves them money. I'd hate to think that's why they deny their customers a more robust experience. And why can't Seabourn do it if other cruise lines do? 

 

4 hours ago, M&PGermany said:

City tours, biking trips, you name it... why would they need to start at 8am? Well, they have to if the ship is leaving port at 5pm. Totally boring.

 

And even that's not always the case. Many excursions are 2.5 to 4 hours long. Even with a ship departing at 5 pm, and all-aboard at 4:30 pm, they can offer tours which depart at 12:30 or 1:00 or 1:30  which get back in time. 

 

I agree with @dalliowner that there are advantages to morning tours, and see nothing wrong with th majority being morning tours. I just think there should be some afternoon options. 

 

On a Regent cruise we took to Alaska (when they were just testing out included tours) we were able to take a morning tour, have lunch on the ship, and take an afternoon tour on one day; on another, we skipped lunch but were able to do two tours back-to-back. Of course, most people won't do that in most places if they are paying for each tour, but in some special places, it's great to have that option. (But going back to my original post, I think there would be more interest in the option of an occasional afternoon tour instead of, rather than in addition to, a morning tour very day.)

 

[jenidallas]

16 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

(But going back to my original post, I think there would be more interest in the option of an occasional afternoon tour instead of, rather than in addition to, a morning tour very day.)

 

We are in the camp that would probably do more tours if there were afternoon options. We like to get a later start, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and experience the color of a port when it has sprung to life.  
 

We are also in the camp that will stay out in a port into the evening hours, including enjoying a local dinner or a post dinner moonlight stroll.  When we have overnights, it is not out of the question to take a longer sojourn away from the ship.

[SLSD]

I am an early riser, but Mr. SLSD is not--and he would love later tours and we would both enjoy evenings in some of the ports.  

[Covepointcruiser]

I am happy with the Seabourn departure times in Greece.   I love being at sea and the feeling of being on a cruise after a day in port.   I am also glad that most of the ports require tendering so we won’t be stuck in a steamy port next to container ships.   If we want to be on land we take a land trip to enjoy dinners and entertainment on land.   We are paying for Seabourn and enjoy our times at sea.

[cruiseej]

10 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I am happy with the Seabourn departure times in Greece.   I love being at sea and the feeling of being on a cruise after a day in port.

 

I understand and basically agree. I wouldn't want all departures at 11 pm; I like cruising away from somewhere we've just visited, and watching the sun go down at sea. But having one or two departures per cruise well into the evening allows some people to eat ashore, or go ashore to walk in town or browse shops after dinner. And even departing at 7 pm instead of 5 pm in the summertime allows a late-afternoon drink ashore before coming back to the ship, or a later excursion, and still preserves the ability to watch sail-away and the sunset.  In short, just mix it up a little, as travel distances permit.

[marazul]

I may have to look at Hapag Lloyd. Especially if they require everyone to be vaccinated. 

 

 

 

[M&PGermany]

10 hours ago, marazul said:

I may have to look at Hapag Lloyd. Especially if they require everyone to be vaccinated. 

 

 

 

 

I don't work for Hapag and I think they are overpriced (with basically no alcoholic drinks included) BUT the experience is unlike any other. Great schedules, excellent (if not the best) ships and service. Especially love their fitness coaches, yoga teachers, golf instructors and biking guides plus highly experienced lecturers and expedition leaders. Would recommend it to anyone willing to spend a small fortune.

 

They just launched their 3rd expedition ship HANSEATIC SPIRIT a few hours ago... haven't tried any of their new ones, but they look great!

 

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by M&PGermany

[SLSD]

7 hours ago, M&PGermany said:

 

I don't work for Hapag and I think they are overpriced (with basically no alcoholic drinks included) BUT the experience is unlike any other. Great schedules, excellent (if not the best) ships and service. Especially love their fitness coaches, yoga teachers, golf instructors and biking guides plus highly experienced lecturers and expedition leaders. Would recommend it to anyone willing to spend a small fortune.

 

But isn't this a primarily German cruise line with German being the primary language onboard?  And, isn't smoking prevalent on this line?  I think I read that somewhere.