Seabourn Venture delayed until April 2022

[seattleskibums]

5 hours ago, Fletcher said:

I think if Seabourn wants the Venture to succeed in the expedition sector they need to rethink the predictable itineraries. ... There is so much competition in the sector...

You really hit the nail on the head.  Seabourn's "take it or leave it" approach on both pricing and itineraries eventually may result in more people "leaving it" than "taking it."  And considering our recent dealings with Seabourn, they also might be wise to give their Customer Service people a refresher course.

[Catlover54]

12 hours ago, M&PGermany said:

P.S:

 

I actually discovered there is a whole section dedicated to English speakers on their website.

https://www.hl-*****/social-media/experiencetv

 

 

 

...By the way, that's what I talk about when I talk about a website filled with interesting CONTENT (Seabourn, are you listening?) 😉 

 

 

 

 

I was a big HL fan too and would have been happy to continue cruising with them.  However, since July 2020, when they resumed limited cruises,  only German, Austrian, and Swiss residents are welcome on their ships, regardless of vaccination status.  It was true even when I was vaccinated early this year, and HL crew mostly was not (nor were the German pax required to be vaxed at the time) .  There are no plans to change this exclusion against non-Germans in the near future.  HL repeatedly says it is the German government that is dictating this, and the alleged logic they give is that people from those countires will 'have less of a distance to travel' to the ships and thus presumably be less likely to get infected (sic). They used this logic even when cruises were starting outside Germany.

Presently, they say that crew and pax will need to be vaccinated starting October 1, which is good, but foreigners are still unwelcome. Other Europeans like Vistaman from Belgium may be welcomed in October, but not Americans, unless they reside in one of the three countries noted. 

[M&PGermany]

7 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

I was a big HL fan too and would have been happy to continue cruising with them.  However, since July 2020, when they resumed limited cruises,  only German, Austrian, and Swiss residents are welcome on their ships, regardless of vaccination status.  It was true even when I was vaccinated early this year, and HL crew mostly was not (nor were the German pax required to be vaxed at the time) .  

I think all countries and cruise lines come up with their own regulations at the moment. It‘s a huge experiment for the whole travel industry. So far HL have done very well with no outbreaks on their ships. And in contrast to many other lines they have restarted cruising already in late summer 2020.

And Catlover  you‘re lucky! I won‘t be allowed to travel to the United States at all, being European. Regardless of any cruise line regulations. Regardless of being vaccinated. You can at least come to Europe. 😄 
 

Edited August 25, 2021 by M&PGermany

[Catlover54]

7 hours ago, M&PGermany said:

I think all countries and cruise lines come up with their own regulations at the moment. It‘s a huge experiment for the whole travel industry. So far HL have done very well with no outbreaks on their ships. And in contrast to many other lines they have restarted cruising already in late summer 2020.

And Catlover  you‘re lucky! I won‘t be allowed to travel to the United States at all, being European. Regardless of any cruise line regulations. Regardless of being vaccinated. You can at least come to Europe. 😄 
 

 

Yes, I am happy that as of June 27, 2021, I can finally go to Europe and visit my friends even though I can no longer invite them to join me on a HL trip  (at least for now)!  I only wrote my post in response to yours to alert that Americans cannot cruise on HL, indefinitely, wonderful though it is, until rules change. 

 I originally planned to go in September, after recovering from my Iceland trip, but then my main friends' small wine-making city suffered major damage in a flash flood with hundreds of people killed and destruction of the old family home,  so they have been busy with funerals and community cleanup (this is on top of my best friend dealing with cancer and chemo).  They were also at least finally able to secure vaccines for themselves in July, so at least some good things are happening there, and over time if we cannot get together on HL, maybe they could join me on SB, cruising outside the U.S., to get a break.  They greatly enjoyed SB in the past, (though they missed the ability to get hearty bread like on HL 🙂.

 

I totally agree with you that it makes no sense for the U.S. to bar vaccinated and tested European tourists from visiting, while others like important businessmen, or those with other special status, can  easily come here and be welcomed. 

The virus does not care about nationalities.

 

 

 

[M&PGermany]

Hanseatic Spirit was has been christened in an adventurous ceremony right in front of Helgoland island up in the North Sea just a few days ago. Nice video too.

 

 

[Catlover54]

15 hours ago, M&PGermany said:

Hanseatic Spirit was has been christened in an adventurous ceremony right in front of Helgoland island up in the North Sea just a few days ago. Nice video too.

 

 

Very nice, but it is like showing a hungry cat a fresh fish and then snatching it away, leaving her licking her mouth.

 

Now, in addition to being banned from HL cruising, Americans will likely be banned from even going to Germany and other countries in Europe -- after we just got permission a few weeks ago!

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-set-to-recommend-halting-nonessential-travel-from-the-u-s-11630270180?mod=hp_lead_pos1

 

[seattleskibums]

On 8/21/2021 at 9:01 PM, cruiseej said:

@seattleskibums Thanks for reporting back on your resolution with Seabourn, even though it wasn't a great one.  It seems all they might have needed to do is book you on the replacement cruise and roll the $2,000 extra you had already paid into a Future Cruise Deposit -- like one you could purchase onboard any cruise, ...  That would have given you four years to use it plus a 5% discount on whatever cruise you booked with it. You'd win, they'd win… oh well.

Even though Seabourn's unrealistic and rigid cancellation offer caused them to lose a couple of bookings from us, we wanted to return to let others know that they processed our refunds very quickly.  We received our money back on Friday.