Disembarkation "adjustment" and a puzzle

[BasandSyb]

We received email notification this morning that our May/June 2024 Scotland/Norway/Svalbard cruise on Venture has had an "adjustment" and will now end in Edinburgh and not Oslo. A charter flight from Longyearbyen to Oslo will now be a flight to Edinburgh. "Adjustment" is a fabulous euphemism!

 

While this is extremely frustrating in as far as we only altered our homeward flights 2 days ago and paid an additional $600 each for the privilege, now a further change will be required... the bigger puzzle is we simultaneously received an email about the current sale extension. Checking to see the current price for the Norway sailing, the website now shows a blank for the ship name on the cruise leg prior to ours and also the first half of our B2B. When searching on the normal Seabourn website (not using the email link), it won't show anything for Venture in 2024.

 

Website glitch or should I start a conspiracy theory 🤔

[caviarforme]

2 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

We received email notification this morning that our May/June 2024 Scotland/Norway/Svalbard cruise on Venture has had an "adjustment" and will now end in Edinburgh and not Oslo. A charter flight from Longyearbyen to Oslo will now be a flight to Edinburgh. "Adjustment" is a fabulous euphemism!

 

While this is extremely frustrating in as far as we only altered our homeward flights 2 days ago and paid an additional $600 each for the privilege, now a further change will be required... the bigger puzzle is we simultaneously received an email about the current sale extension. Checking to see the current price for the Norway sailing, the website now shows a blank for the ship name on the cruise leg prior to ours and also the first half of our B2B. When searching on the normal Seabourn website (not using the email link), it won't show anything for Venture in 2024.

 

Website glitch or should I start a conspiracy theory 🤔

Worrying - there are also no cruises for Pursuit after October 2023 (next month) on the website. I doubt an IT glitch - something is afoot!

 

Keep us up to date

[BasandSyb]

Now I’m starting to worry. We have bookends for our 4 month holiday - Pursuit in February and Venture in June. Hopefully it will be clear soon. Perhaps they are playing with a range of itinerary changes.

 

I don’t want to alter the air travel again until things settle.

[Nops]

Had same email, it ironically is a result for us as we will no longer need a flight from Oslo and will simply pick up our car in Edinburgh. Can appreciate that it might be a little more complex for our American and Australian cousins.

 

In my Seabourn account though the itinerary is unchanged. Seabourn must have been sending out changes overnight as we also had an enforced change to our upcoming Hawaii cruise.

 

As for Venture and Pursuit cruises I have accessed all 2024 cruises on the Seabourn website. I am accessing from France. The itinerary for the Scotland/Svalbard however is still unchanged with the return flight showing as Oslo. I would suggest that Seabourn is doing some major itinerary changes at the moment and that their IT is struggling to keep up.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Nops

[caviarforme]

Still nothing for 2024 on the UK site for either ship. The US site shows some for both, but not all cruises. 

NOPS - have you refreshed your French page to update any in your cache?

 

Seems to be possibly the awful SB IT

[Nops]

Ok I am now getting different results which suggests the IT is flakey. If you go into the booking system via the ship name there is nothing showing for the Venture or Pursuit after 1/1/24. If you look for itineraries then there are some Northern Europe expedition cruises available without a ship name. The Scotland/Svalbard itinerary on 25/5 is not accessible indeed when I try via my bookmarked page it says bookings are not being taken.

 

i think the most logical explanation is either an IT glitch or an outage while itineraries are being updated. I suspect that Seabourn would not want an itinerary publically available that has a completely wrong disembarkation port. Similarly the following cruise will need to be moved from embarkation in Oslo to Edinburgh.

 

I am sitting back in the French sun relaxing knowing that my TA will sort out any problems. Are you travelling on either ship.

[margbem]

2 hours ago, Nops said:

I am sitting back in the French sun relaxing knowing that my TA will sort out any problems. Are you travelling on either ship.

Nops - we are sitting in the Sawdon, Scarborough sun! 

[Woodrowst]

13 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

We received email notification this morning that our May/June 2024 Scotland/Norway/Svalbard cruise on Venture has had an "adjustment" and will now end in Edinburgh and not Oslo. A charter flight from Longyearbyen to Oslo will now be a flight to Edinburgh. "Adjustment" is a fabulous euphemism!

 

 

I am really sorry that you are going through this anxiety provoking and expensive situation.  It is a major reason why I have switched gears in booking air.  Previous to covid, I always made my own air arrangements and that was great.  Since cruising resumed post-covid, I have seen many cruise critic posters note embarkation/debarkation ports changes as well as date changes and even cancellations of the entire cruise.  So now, and for the foreseeable future, I make air arrangements through the cruise line.  The cost may be a bit higher (sometimes lower) and possibly have a bit more inconvenient routing (or not), but I know that the cruise line is now on the hook for changes.  This paid off when a cruise I took three months ago had its debarkation port changed from Istanbul to Barcelona.  The cruise line took care of rebooking the ticket with no cost to me. 

 

Please understand that I have great empathy for your situation and am not criticizing you for not doing what I do.  I only wanted to bring up an option for readers to consider.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Woodrowst

[Nops]

2 hours ago, margbem said:

Nops - we are sitting in the Sawdon, Scarborough sun! 

Hope you are enjoying the Anvil at Sawden, best fish and chips in the area.

[margbem]

2 minutes ago, Nops said:

Hope you are enjoying the Anvil at Sawden, best fish and chips in the area.

Not been since it was sold a few years ago. Used to love it!

[BasandSyb]

Thanks Nops. May see you “out and about” on Venture. We are enjoying a lovely spring day on the Gold Coast with a gentle ripple on the ocean.
 

Appreciate the comment Woodrowst. We always organise our own air as we usually do more than just a cruise. Not sure I would in the future given some of the layover and routing horror stories I’ve heard. We also have airline preferences for our longhauls from Australia.

 

Good to hear it seems to be a combo of the rubbish website and updates rather than any sinister.

 

Am I the only one who uses other websites to search for cruises and only then navigate to the Seabourn site to check prices? Always looking for a longer cruise I need to see the pre and post cruises for possible extensions and also where the other ships are at the same time in case jumping to another is appealing. The Seabourn site is not terribly useful for this purpose (I’m try to be kind but get very frustrated).

What I need is a chronological list and maps. Seabourn provides a map but when you drill down on the cruise it disappears. The “map view” becomes a tedious running commentary about “verdant hills”. A cruise calendar would also be useful. Years ago they were published in the brochures - perhaps they still are but I don’t want more paper in our lives!

My control freak mind is obviously at odds with intuitive website design.

[Nops]

Looking forward to being out and about on the Venture. To reassure the cruise is available to book this morning.

[commodoredave]

20 hours ago, Woodrowst said:

Since cruising resumed post-covid, I have seen many cruise critic posters note embarkation/debarkation ports changes as well as date changes and even cancellations of the entire cruise.  So now, and for the foreseeable future, I make air arrangements through the cruise line. 

Sounds like a great strategy by cruise lines to make their air programs more appealing to customers!

[Nops]

I see that the itinerary on Seabourn.com is now correct although they state disembarkation with be in Leith whereas it will of course be Edinburgh airport. As my car will be at the airport I am seriously thinking of skipping the overnight hotel in Edinburgh on the way back.

 

Interestingly there is still no ship name by the itinerary but you can link to the itinerary from the Venture landing page, 

 

Also see that the price has increased somewhat from earlier in the year.

[BasandSyb]

Yes, I can see it now. Seabourn has no advice as of yesterday of the Edinburgh hotel which isn’t terribly helpful. We are trying to decide how many extra nights to stay before changing our homeward air travel. Having to change hotels might be the tipping point - that and a Facebook site my husband recently linked to called Scotland Travel Tips - sheesh! It seems everyone in the US is currently travelling in Scotland or intends to in the next 12 months (thanks Outlander!). BTW the site is hilarious - so many crazy questions - the locals who take the time to answer have so much patience. My sarcastic nature would take over. “We are flying into Gatwick, how long will it take us and what is the cab fare to Edinburgh”

 

We did several weeks in Scotland 20 years ago and will do 2 weeks prior to boarding Venture. Accommodation bookings are limited now for May 2024, so June in Edinburgh has the potential to be chaotic. You might have the correct plan Nops - grab the car and get out of Dodge.

[Nops]

Two recommendations. On the way to the cruise we are staying at The Bonnie Badger in Gullane, a fantastic small scale hotel with lovely food. About 20 miles from central Edinburgh but there is a very regular direct bus. Added bonus is lovely scenery and the nearby great town of North Berwick.

 

in Edinburgh we think that Tom Kitchens main restaurant is our favourite in the UK. Superbly cooked Scottish products.

 

[Dunnedg]

34 minutes ago, Nops said:

Tom Kitchens

‘Kitchin’

Edinburgh is always busy with tourists, not surprising given its history. Edinburgh Castle situated right in the middle of the city on the Royal Mile which leads down to Hollyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament building. For those interested in whisky, Johnny Walker Experience is fantastic. Recommend the ‘Journey of Flavour’ tour.

Definitely worth having a few days before or after the cruise in Edinburgh.

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, Dunnedg said:

‘Kitchin’

Edinburgh is always busy with tourists, not surprising given its history. Edinburgh Castle situated right in the middle of the city on the Royal Mile which leads down to Hollyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament building. For those interested in whisky, Johnny Walker Experience is fantastic. Recommend the ‘Journey of Flavour’ tour.

Definitely worth having a few days before or after the cruise in Edinburgh.

I like the Balmoral Hotel.

Not been for a couple of years.

[Techno123]

I really enjoyed our tour of the Royal Yacht too - very nice afternoon tea. Hopefully it's a bit easier to access now as they were upgrading the tram system when we last stayed so it was a bit of a night mare coming back to our motor home site on the bus 😂

 

Arthur's seat is also a lovely walk with great views over the city.

[Dunnedg]

9 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

I like the Balmoral Hotel.

Me too but having a daughter in Edinburgh I have a free room. Very useful during August for the Festival. 
 

[labonnevie]

11 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

I like the Balmoral Hotel.

Not been for a couple of years.

We were there in 2019, loved it.

Fabulous scotch tasting room, although we used it for gin and tonics. 

[BasandSyb]

Thanks for the suggestions will check them out. Kitchin had already made it to the list. It’s now confirmed as a must do.

[kandylandmo]

hi there everyone we are booked on the june 30 to july 12 cruise on venture, ending in edi via charter flight. does anyone have a sense of what seabourn is going to do with the charter flight? do we land in edi the night before our last day or do land in edi on the last day of the cruise? trying to figure out flights back to the states. if possible, we would love to leave edi on the last day of the cruise. thanks for your help!!

[BasandSyb]

Those details were on our Seabourn itinerary emailed to us with confirmation and with subsequent payments. Perhaps it's gone to your TA?

We end on Venture on 20 June fly that day, included accommodation overnight EDI and the "cruise" package ends on 21 June with an airport transfer.