Dubious advertising

[BasandSyb]

Yesterday as diamond members we received early access invitation advertising for certain regional 2025 sailings.

Upon opening each of the regional links within 20 minutes of the email landing, they were all marked as sold out, not even a wait list offer/mention.

Makes us question the purpose of the advertising. Trying to drive other sailings which will soon be emailed?

[Mauzac]

I had the same!  Every link was sold out, I agree.  What's the point?  The trouble is, it has a knock on effect of me not bothering to click on any links in marketing emails.  

[Nops]

I have been looking for expedition cruises in 2025 for a couple of weeks. Previously returned a blank page. For the period May to September 2025 now returns nineteen results. All our sold out. Fourpossible explanations;

 

1) SB has indeed sold all these cruises (unlikely).

2) Early booking is reserved for an "elite" group or TAs (possible but unlikely based on BASandSYBs thoughts above).

3) Like TKG change SB is rebranding (unlikely)

4) A problem with SB booking system (most likely)

 

Does suggest not very joined up admin from SB though

[BasandSyb]

Yes Nops we have been looking too. Perhaps you are right with booking system issues. The website is …politely, rubbish … potentially hand in hand with the booking system.

 

Very puzzling and agree with Mauzac about the proverbial boy who cried wolf - less inclined to click on a email next time for us. I usually use other websites with a better layout and “at a glance” itinerary info anyway rather than the Seabourn site when planning a trip.
 

They are smaller ships and given this the big worry is they are chartered and only had a few spare suites?? Have been caught with a charter previously and never again! There should be more transparency for booking those types of cruises.
 

Good luck in scouting for a trip.

[Covepointcruiser]

Quite a few Diamond members, it may be time to rethink loyalty.    The cabins set aside for Diamond member offers may well be sold out.

[JMB56]

I was once responsible for my company’s website.  If that website operated as poorly as Seabourn’s, I would have been sacked!

[cruiseej]

These cruises are NOT all sold out. There is NOT a problem with the website/booking system. As reported by fellow Seabourn cruisers on Facebook, if you call Seabourn — or your travel agent — you can get pricing and can book those cruises. I think they show as not available because they are visible to anyone, not just the Diamond members who received the early-access invitation. They wanted to show you the available itineraries and dates, and then have you inquire about pricing and availability. But they should have said so more clearly in the email they sent out!

[Robisan]

40 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

They wanted to show you the available itineraries and dates, and then have you inquire about pricing and availability.

I too was puzzled by this promotion. Having the landing web pages say "sold out" is perhaps not the most effective way of communicating this. 

[cruiseej]

@Robisan  I agree. All they needed to do is add a short note to the offer email: "The website will show 'Sold Out' for all these voyages during this special early-access offer, so the general public cannot book them yet. Please call Seabourn or your travel agent to get pricing and to book before these cruises become available to the general public."

[Sunprince]

I received the same email offer. I am NOT a diamond member. The links still showed as "sold out". So back to the original point...this was a useless email with no value.

[skybluewaters]

7 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

this was a useless email with no value...

 

...which describes 90% of the emails in my inbox.

 

No big deal

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, Sunprince said:

I received the same email offer. I am NOT a diamond member. The links still showed as "sold out". So back to the original point...this was a useless email with no value.

 

I'll respectfully disagree. From what other Seabourn customers have reported, had you called Seabourn or your TA to inquire about one of these cruises, you would have found there were indeed suites available for booking to those who received the email offer. So, not useless or without value.

[BasandSyb]

Agree with Sunprince. The point of an email is to communicate. This one did not show complete trip maps for many of the showcased cruises (on any device). Indicated sold out. The click here for dates and prices did not provide prices, merely an end date. The learn more didn’t drop down the full itinerary.

For me that equals a useless email.

 

Why would I then think to call Seabourn or my TA and waste their time further? Or refer to Facebook social pages for further information?

If our marketing and comms people put out product like this they would have had to fix it within 24 hrs with apologies, not follow it up with further “offers” today with similar broken links, sold out indicators and little real info.

[Mauzac]

Totally agree.  I have no idea what's going on with the marketing emails at the moment ... I received another email this morning and one of the cruises was of interest.  I clicked on it and it took me to the SB website, but only half of the ports loaded so I have no idea what the complete itinerary is.

 

Of course, there are ways of finding out through other methods, but I don't think SB are realising that decisions turn on a sixpence, who knows but the customer has tabs for other cruise lines open, and would just move to looking into another one, not SB.  

[Sunprince]

11 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

I'll respectfully disagree. From what other Seabourn customers have reported, had you called Seabourn or your TA to inquire about one of these cruises, you would have found there were indeed suites available for booking to those who received the email offer. So, not useless or without value.

Why is the effort now on me to call Seabourn or waste my TAs time to clarify promotional pricing for cruises I might not book? I want to be able to peruse the offers at a leisurely pace and then contact my TA if anything is of interest.  If a company cannot get a simple email link correct, then that actually is a disincentive me to take any further action.  And if the email links are problematic, then Seabourn should simply put the offer in the body of the email as a list.

[Nops]

SB puzzle me. We have been on five cruises and have three booked in next seven months. They never reach out to me pro-actively. My only source of information is through the website or my excellent TA. I was specifically looking at Greenland expeditions following another CC thread. Mauzac is absolutely correct, I had another lines website open at the same time if this has the information I want and the itinerary/price is right then it is only my residual loyalty to SB that keeps me onboard (no pun intended).

 

My wife and I like the SB product but sometimes it only needs a small nudge to change that. The website is the shop window of SB, if they cut corners on this what other economies are being made that we are not aware of. 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Nops

[BasandSyb]

We are the same. We can travel in 2s, 4s up to 12 of us on a particular itinerary - whoever sees something interesting and is available. It’s not necessarily SB of which we are all diamond members. You are correct Mauzac/Nops we have multiple tabs open - what is a better itinerary - date - dept/arrival port - price - inclusions. Where is easier to fly into for Australians and what can we package around it coming and going.

 

Have thought for quite sometime that the SB website is not informative nor intuitive. We search elsewhere first and then compare. Other websites list the particular cruise, you can then try and find it on the SB website or at least provide a date and region to your TA. There are so many cruises I find elsewhere but the search engine on SB won’t bring it up. I need to do a broad regional search then a page trawl… and then find it’s a grand voyage or other ridiculous category and therefore not showing but in a different list. Very frustrating and geared toward pretty pictures than usefulness. Our starting point is usually VTG for a complete list of dates and B2Bs as we do long trips.

 

SB if you are listening a survey of website users might be timely - a sample size of more than 300 - what device they use - how they search - and a focus on age related responses insightful. Can we put those cookies and file history to work with some useful suggestions? Why else are you collecting them? 
 

Nops - still waiting to hear which Edinburgh hotel next June! We are doing a further 3 days and don’t want to be in a tour group hotel, will book elsewhere soon as it will be high season and can’t wait any longer.

[Mauzac]

@Nops  As far as SB reaching out to you... I wonder if that's because your preferences on your account on the SB website is set to 'no marketing emails'.  ?

I have mine opened up to emails because they can be quickly deleted (much like the ones that aren't working at the moment!)

[Nops]

17 minutes ago, Mauzac said:

@Nops  As far as SB reaching out to you... I wonder if that's because your preferences on your account on the SB website is set to 'no marketing emails'.  ?

I have mine opened up to emails because they can be quickly deleted (much like the ones that aren't working at the moment!)

Well that is my fault must have left that unchecked from the time I set up account. Thanks your help, hope I will not come to regret it!

[BasandSyb]

We have one account checked and the other not so we don’t get two sets.

[gsutiger2]

I'm interested in a cruise for early 2024. The website says Sold Out. Is this concrete or worth putting in a call? Not sure if Seabourn does waitlists.

[markandjie]

4 hours ago, gsutiger2 said:

I'm interested in a cruise for early 2024. The website says Sold Out. Is this concrete or worth putting in a call? Not sure if Seabourn does waitlists.

 

Two things:

 - never hurts to ask your TA

 - there's a website called *****. You can sign up for an account and search their inventory and if it shows available there then it should be available

[gsutiger2]

Your right, a call can make a difference. Proved worthwhile. 

[saminina]

On 10/20/2023 at 6:00 AM, Nops said:

The website is the shop window of SB, if they cut corners on this what other economies are being made that we are not aware of. 

 

Many are quite obvious.  Do you expect SB to send you the list?

[Nops]

7 hours ago, saminina said:

 

Many are quite obvious.  Do you expect SB to send you the list?

My point was about the quality of information on the SB website, I looked at a cruise in 2025 that stated "sold out". This was not the case. I love doing my own research but to do so am reliant on the source material.