Excursions on Pursuit South Pacifuc

[Nops]

5 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

Yes but many passengers were not happy as they were NOT able to make land on Pitcarin, Ducie or Henderson. 

What is your source?

[PaulMCO]

10 hours ago, frantic36 said:

 

 

I read the blog for Ducie and it stated they tried to go ashore but the swell was too strong so they did the zodiac tour. Experienced sailors know you can't guarantee a landing if there is a problem with swell or weather. At least the snorkelers and divers got a good experience and hopefully some on the zodiac trips.

 

I am on the 28/29 May Sailing so I have a vested interest in following the blog. I am hoping to snorkel but am sadly no longer a strong swimmer and had a scare a few years ago snorkelling so if we can't land I will just have to enjoy the zodiac trips and the ship. I'm glad to follow the blog as it helps with managing expectations.

 

Source is a passenger reporting on FB.

 

Read same.  Swell was Pitcarin.  Low tides was the other two as they could not find an acceptable landing spot through the reef.   Now swell is unpredictable.  Low tide -- come on...  This is first time for Seabourn.  I hope they learn from this, as we are booked for same all the way to the Solomons for 2025.

[frantic36]

2 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

Source is a passenger reporting on FB.

 

I avoid that source as I find them generally negative and why do I want to go into a cruise with a negative mindset?

[ewsr]

As I posted a while ago,  I signed up for Papeete to Honaria in spring 2025 (did so on an Antarctic cruise) but am not sure, partly due to the minimal description of the activities. I get that it’s an expedition, and not as planned as a regular cruise, but there is tons more info about Antarctica than there is about expedition cruises in the South Pacific. So I am really curious about what you folks taking this trip in  2024 think so please keep the comments coming! And for those doing also doing the Honaria to Darwin segment, how did that compare to the Papeete to Honaria segment? 

[kej1]

Will fill you in.  We are in French Polynesia now at the Brando resort and will be boarding Sunday.  If you look on the Silversea website you can find many of the activities in some of these ports.  I realize weather and tides can cause some cancellations but shame on Seabourn for not publishing some of them.  We get it in Antarctica but not all of these ports some of which Seabourn has visited in the past on their bigger ships.

.  I posted somewhere on this site what I from of the head of destinations  but all were maybes.  My husband is a big WW2 buff and didn’t want to miss certain things so we booked a private tour in Honaria ( Guadalcanal) and just today found a post on roll calls with a private tour company in Rabaul another place where he has specific things he’d like to see.  We love snorkeling, used to dive but haven’t in 4 years so didn’t meet their requirements, will do the submarine but want to do more.  Destinations told me repeatedly some would be posted before the cruise but as of yesterday nothing.  I am going to periodically post so see my start Papeete to Guam.  So far only talking about the Nrando where we have 5 nights pre cruise but will start on the cruise as we get going.  I likely won’t post every day as I’m involved with a number of tech cos and will need to work a couple of hours a day but will post as much as I can!

[Nops]

There is a blog of the current cruise of the South Pacific on the  Seabourn website. Very informative. Maybe answer some of your questions.

[moabkayaker]

We recently concluded the 25-day Stepping Stones of the Atlantic trip on the Venture starting in Ushuaia, and because (after the Falklands and South Georgia) this was new territory for them, we had no idea what excursions might be offered until just before a destination.  That said, they did a great job of providing several included options in each port (think Saint Helena or Tristan da Cunha) and we were not disappointed in any of them.  I think Seabourn does not want to "promise" excursions in places that they may have to cancel or substitute, since that just creates more headaches. We did have a layover day in Ushuaia between an Antarctic cruise and the next one, and booked a third party excursion that day, since Seabourn does not seem to offer excursions on change-over days.  Personally, I think one of the interesting things about the expedition travel is a bit of uncertainty combined with flexibility, and knowing that the best things that happen may be something substituted for the original. 

We're booked on Pursuit going across the Pacific west to east this August/September, and have seen many of the "possible excursions" listed, and are excited about these, as well as snorkeling and Zodiac, but know there are no guarantees.  

[highplanesdrifters]

1 hour ago, moabkayaker said:

We recently concluded the 25-day Stepping Stones of the Atlantic trip on the Venture starting in Ushuaia, and because (after the Falklands and South Georgia) this was new territory for them, we had no idea what excursions might be offered until just before a destination.  That said, they did a great job of providing several included options in each port (think Saint Helena or Tristan da Cunha) and we were not disappointed in any of them.  I think Seabourn does not want to "promise" excursions in places that they may have to cancel or substitute, since that just creates more headaches. We did have a layover day in Ushuaia between an Antarctic cruise and the next one, and booked a third party excursion that day, since Seabourn does not seem to offer excursions on change-over days.  Personally, I think one of the interesting things about the expedition travel is a bit of uncertainty combined with flexibility, and knowing that the best things that happen may be something substituted for the original. 

We're booked on Pursuit going across the Pacific west to east this August/September, and have seen many of the "possible excursions" listed, and are excited about these, as well as snorkeling and Zodiac, but know there are no guarantees.  

See you onboard.

[BillK400]

On 4/8/2024 at 4:29 PM, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Good call Nops.  I forgot to look at Voyage Tracker.  Here's a link for others, can be a bugger to find.

 

https://www.seabourn.com/en/us/experience/voyagetracker/index.html

Found the tracker but not the blog/log? The ship is identified as to location and it provides a link to voyages but no blog/log for the current cruise or location.

[kej1]

So far on our pursuit cruise from Papeete to Guam, we have done all third party excursions, most of which are offered on all non expedition ships.  Some paid, usually at least one included.  These could easily have been published in advance as they are fairly typical.  Yes can be canceled like any excursion due to weather and in fact the snorkeling trips on the first day were ( they were third party and not complimentary).  I talk about it in my write up on this message board.  
 

Niue was supposed to be our stop today but it was canceled.  Evidently the expedition team couldn’t get in touch with the local exclusion providers.  Too bad as we will miss the whales.  Instead we are going to Pago Pago tomorrow with two third party excursions - a village visit ( complimentary) and a snorkeling one (must pay).

 

For some of the stops you can look on other cruise ship lines like SS and they will list some of the activities.  Also Google works well.  I organized a WW2 sites private in Guadalcanal, Honaria  as that was a must for my husband.

[highplanesdrifters]

20 hours ago, BillK400 said:

Found the tracker but not the blog/log? The ship is identified as to location and it provides a link to voyages but no blog/log for the current cruise or location.

 

We all know how excellent Seabourns websites are..Ha ha.   It can be a bugger to find depending on your device.

 

Try this:

Bottom of page click on Explore Voyages. 

 

 

Should pull up a menu. Click on preferred ship.  FYI, some ships have nothing.

 

 

Click on year and it should pull up their different voyages. 

 

 

Hope this works.

[BillK400]

32 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

We all know how excellent Seabourns websites are..Ha ha.   It can be a bugger to find depending on your device.

 

Try this:

Bottom of page click on Explore Voyages. 

 

 

Should pull up a menu. Click on preferred ship.  FYI, some ships have nothing.

 

 

Click on year and it should pull up their different voyages. 

 

 

Hope this works.

When I go to the page the only choices / Links I get at the bottom of the page are Expeditions and Special Offers. Nothing for Explore Voyages such as shown in your post/screen pic. Thanks for your help.

[highplanesdrifters]

2 minutes ago, BillK400 said:

When I go to the page the only choices / Links I get at the bottom of the page are Expeditions and Special Offers. Nothing for Explore Voyages such as shown in your post/screen pic. Thanks for your help.

 

I'm not surprised. You've probably already done so, if not perhaps try a different browser or device. 

[wine-wine-wine]

52 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

I'm not surprised. You've probably already done so, if not perhaps try a different browser or device. 

If you are using a phone or tablet you can often request the desktop version of a website site. Just tried it on my iPhone- helped a lot with the Seabourn site. 
 

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-switch-desktop-version-mobile-site/

 

https://fix-iphones.com/how-to/how-to-quickly-view-a-desktop-version-of-a-site-in-safari-on-iphone-or-ipad/

 

Hope this helps! 

[BillK400]

57 minutes ago, wine-wine-wine said:

If you are using a phone or tablet you can often request the desktop version of a website site. Just tried it on my iPhone- helped a lot with the Seabourn site. 
 

https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-switch-desktop-version-mobile-site/

 

https://fix-iphones.com/how-to/how-to-quickly-view-a-desktop-version-of-a-site-in-safari-on-iphone-or-ipad/

 

Hope this helps! 

Thanks for your help. I was able to access the log/blog from the webpage (using Chrome). On the map page showing the location of the ships, it shows 3 parallel lines (I think also referred to as a 'hamburger") in the upper left of the screen to access the ship and voyages rather than "Explore Voyages" at the bottom of the map page.