New Seabourn survey

[Carolfay]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

Oh dear.  The writing may be on the wall, in view of HAL now being in charge of much if not all of what Seabourn does.  Hope not.

Much the same situation aboard Silversea, as Royal Caribbean is now calling the shots.

[lincslady]

Yes, seems to be  a general problem.  I am afraid it all goes back to the problem which started in 2020, which spoiled so much in everyone's life.  No income coming in for quite a time, and now trying to make up for it, which is probably easier on the large ship cheaper prices lines.

[Mahogany]

37 minutes ago, Carolfay said:

Much the same situation aboard Silversea, as Royal Caribbean is now calling the shots.

I didn't find that on two cruises on the Dawn last year. Yes, RCCL has been in charge for several years.

[BasandSyb]

The only things HAL hasn’t charged us for yet are the coat hangars and hair dryer.

[margbem]

7 hours ago, commodoredave said:

HAL is already working on the next survey for Seabourn. I’ve heard some of the questions will be:

1. Would you like more than 1 more meal per day?

2. Would you be willing to pay extra for a mattress on your bed?

3. Do you want the ship to visit more than 1 port?

4. Would you pay extra for gin in your martini?

5. Are you willing to wash your own dishes?

If you would like to suggest some more survey questions, please do so as there is no area that HAL is unwilling to explore to improve the Seabourn experience.

This reminds me of the Fascinating Aida spoof “Flights for 50p”. Available on Youtube!

[commodoredave]

3 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

The only things HAL hasn’t charged us for yet are the coat hangars and hair dryer.

Geez…you just gave them the idea to do it!!

[Vineyard View]

7 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

The only things HAL hasn’t charged us for yet are the coat hangars and hair dryer.

With their new all inclusive (other than specialty restaurants, high end liquor, and excursions) what is left to charge you for? Haven’t sailed them for years, but they sure are promoting their new inclusive model. 

[PrincessTraveller]

20 hours ago, commodoredave said:

HAL is already working on the next survey for Seabourn. I’ve heard some of the questions will be:

1. Would you like more than 1 more meal per day?

2. Would you be willing to pay extra for a mattress on your bed?

3. Do you want the ship to visit more than 1 port?

4. Would you pay extra for gin in your martini?

5. Are you willing to wash your own dishes?

If you would like to suggest some more survey questions, please do so as there is no area that HAL is unwilling to explore to improve the Seabourn experience.

A few others:

1.  Do you feel a railing on cabin verandah is overrated?

2.  Would you pay a premium for a certified life preserver?

3.  Would you be wiling to pay more to use the elevator vs stairs?

[BasandSyb]

8 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

With their new all inclusive (other than specialty restaurants, high end liquor, and excursions) what is left to charge you for? Haven’t sailed them for years, but they sure are promoting their new inclusive model. 

1/3 of the dining menu items are up charges (all venues including after paying entry to a specialty); a reluctance to provide water other than packaged at a price; drink prices which if your maths isn’t good tick over $15 with the added service fees and you pay in full. Having to continually sign for drinks with waitstaff seeking tips. Constant spruiking on board to sell you something. It’s all nickel and diming that detracts from the experience. How much is the administration costing them?
 

Tell me the cost, I’ll pay it just leave me alone onboard to have a holiday.

[Robisan]

Understanding that the survey was amenities focused on how they might be able to upcharge for ice cubes etc., the thing I'd be willing to pay more for is longer port calls and/or overnight port calls. All aboard at 20:30 (or later when possible) instead of 17:30 enables extended touring, perhaps even dinner in a local restaurant, with much less concern for missing the ship departure. Overnight even more so.

 

IMO the value of a port call increases exponentially with every additional hour there. I would sacrifice number of port calls per itinerary for length of time in ports. Indeed, my ideal itinerary would be a mix of longer port calls with sea days in between, since we enjoy both.

[Mahogany]

On 4/26/2024 at 11:11 AM, Mahogany said:

I didn't find that on two cruises on the Dawn last year. Yes, RCCL has been in charge for several years.

But I hate the 3-tier pricing system at SS.!

[BasandSyb]

Seabourn in our history of 20 years has been egalitarian, which we love and is why we had a philosophical issue when the Retreat was introduced. We still don’t understand or agree with it, but that’s us.

 

Thank you to those who received the survey and responded in support of our unique experiences at sea.

[2SailingNomads]

On 4/26/2024 at 2:38 AM, lincslady said:

Oh dear.  The writing may be on the wall, in view of HAL now being in charge of much if not all of what Seabourn does.  Hope not.

We are currently on Explora Journeys 1 and spoke to a TA who is sailing with us the other night, and who books a lot of SB cruises, about this and she basically said it is HAL trying to get feedback on the options they are considering as they are taking over more control of Seabourn.  Is that her opinion or does she know something I can not say but found her take interesting.  What happened to the refreshed Seabourn Nataly promised, undoing the Rick Meadows and Josh cheapening of the product?  

Edited April 28 by 2SailingNomads
Correct grammar

[Vineyard View]

18 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

1/3 of the dining menu items are up charges (all venues including after paying entry to a specialty); a reluctance to provide water other than packaged at a price; drink prices which if your maths isn’t good tick over $15 with the added service fees and you pay in full. Having to continually sign for drinks with waitstaff seeking tips. Constant spruiking on board to sell you something. It’s all nickel and diming that detracts from the experience. How much is the administration costing them?
 

Tell me the cost, I’ll pay it just leave me alone onboard to have a holiday.

Thank you for taking the time to itemize these differences. That seems crazy to me, and if I wasn’t prepared upfront with all the advertising, it would be a huge turn off….(choosing appropriate wording on this one). 
I sincerely hope HAL doesn’t gain too much control over the SB product. What you describe with HAL sounds more like Carnival. 

[commodoredave]

On 4/27/2024 at 5:10 PM, Mahogany said:

But I hate the 3-tier pricing system at SS.!

Right now there’s Port2Port which includes air, Door2Door which does not include air, and Essential which is the lowest fare based on later booking. How would you change it?

[whogo]

On 4/27/2024 at 3:22 AM, BasandSyb said:

1/3 of the dining menu items are up charges (all venues including after paying entry to a specialty); a reluctance to provide water other than packaged at a price; drink prices which if your maths isn’t good tick over $15 with the added service fees and you pay in full. Having to continually sign for drinks with waitstaff seeking tips. Constant spruiking on board to sell you something. It’s all nickel and diming that detracts from the experience. How much is the administration costing them?
 

Tell me the cost, I’ll pay it just leave me alone onboard to have a holiday.

Thanks for introducing me to the word spruik, BasandSyb. Seabourn is a much better experience. I do not paint as dark a picture of Holland America as you do. Ice water has always been served in the restaurants and is available for self service in the buffet. A shake of my head has always been enough to deter the nightly offer to sell me a can of water or the occasional photographer's intrusion.

 

Yes, there are a lot of up charge items on the menus. Clearly identified, I have never had a waiter mention one, much less push one. Yes, it is a nuisance to sign for drinks, an every other day occurrence for me, much worse for a serious drinker or those who are trying to get the most from their 15 drink per day drink package. Up charge items are as easy to avoid on HAL as are the sales pitches on Seabourn for Tanzanite seminars, footprint analysis, Swarovski binoculars, and the Didaj showcase (whatever that might be). 

 

 

 

 

[purpleally]

I said no to their nonsense options

[2SailingNomads]

6 minutes ago, purpleally said:

I said no to their nonsense options

Us too.  No how, no way.  We now sail also on Regent and Scenic that do not make you pay (OK Laundry is not included on Scenic but they have more choices for dining on a small 250 pax ship than Seabourn has on the 600 pax E-class ships) for what Seabourn currently includes.

 

The reason we chose Seabourn for our FIRST and next 16 cruises was the all inclusive aspect of it.  Yes we did not get laundry until we got to a certain level and had to pay for internet but as a Diamond member  (and not far from Diamond Elite) I totally resent the idea of taking those away and offering me drink / tour / airfare packages.  I don't want your "free" tours, we book our own - have taken a few Regent ones and a very mixed bag.  1 was amazing; 2 were decent and 2 were "why did we do this" bad.

 

I really hope this goes NOWHERE and if it does I think a lot of long time Seabourn folks will vote to go else where.  

[JSC77]

I’ve had many sailings on Seabourn, starting with Legend and most recently on Ovation. I did not receive this survey last week. From the comments here, I’m angry about the tone of the survey, but I think I would be angrier if I had to answer the questions you are all describing! I agree with 2SailingNomads, I believed we could expect more from Natalia. 

[highplanesdrifters]

I also said no to the rediculous options.

[skybluewaters]

13 hours ago, JSC77 said:

I did not receive this survey last week.

 

I, too, thought that I hadn't received the survey, but it turned up in my spam folder.

Now that I think about it, my spam filter did a good job with this email.

[JSC77]

When I saw this topic I did check, and the survey was not in my spam folder. 

[Dusko]

Well, I just received a promo email from Seabourn with details of two events. There’s the ‘Sail to remember’ promo offering a discount on certain voyages (not unusual) and the ‘More moments to remember’ promo with some OBC.  In the latter there is a complete section detailing all the good things that Seabourn offers as standard.  Nothing has been deleted or changed from the current (in my humble opinion) excellent Seabourn experience.  It would seem that the results of the survey were “don’t change anything, we’re affluent and prepared to pay the price” and they listened. Oh we of little faith.😉

[lincslady]

I think it is rather early days to think SB has already made any decisions following the survey.

[MJN1]

On 4/28/2024 at 4:11 AM, 2SailingNomads said:

  What happened to the refreshed Seabourn Nataly promised, undoing the Rick Meadows and Josh cheapening of the product?  

Maybe book and ask Natalya directly!  See the latest SB e-mail: "Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to sail with our leadership executives and experience luxury at sea.

Toast to the inaugural season of Solis with Natalya Leahy on her President's Cruise as you explore the enchanting charm of Turkey and the captivating islands of Greece in unparalleled style and comfort.

7-Day Turkey & Greek Isle Gems » Istanbul to Piraeus (Athens) | Seabourn Encore Oct 27, 2024