How casual are the expedition ships?

[where-to-next]

We will soon board the Venture for an Arctic cruise, which includes a Seabourn supplied charter flight with a baggage limit of 23 Kg.

Allowing for cold weather clothing, we are going to be limited to the clothing we take.
I believe there are no formal nights, so will leave the tux at home. Would normally also take a blazer, probably not this time.

 

So how casual is the main dining room onboard the expedition ships? Jeans and polo shirts?
Or is there an expectation that you will still wear slacks and a proper collared shirt?

 

Will I be the only one fronting each night in a bright orange Seabourn jacket?

[sfvoyage]

We just got off the Pursuit, and everyone dressed casually.  No jackets, ties, gowns, etc.  Nobody was there to dress up and impress, and nobody cares.  It was an expedition voyage with an expedition crowd.  Jeans and short sleeve shirts are totally appropriate and acceptable anywhere any night.

 

We also had the 23 kg luggage allowance, but nobody reminded us about that and nothing was weighed or checked.  Several of us had luggage over the limit.  We just left our suitcases outside our room the night prior to disembarkation, and we never saw our bags again until we retrieved them at the airport after the chartered flight.  We flew on Qantas B737-300 aircraft, chartered exclusively for Seabourn.  YMMV, however, depending on the route and equipment.

 

Has anybody actually been subjected to the luggage allowance on a SB chartered flight?  If so, what did you have to do?  Remove or rearrange items, pay a fee...?

 

 

[sfvoyage]

22 minutes ago, where-to-next said:

We will soon board the Venture for an Arctic cruise, which includes a Seabourn supplied charter flight with a baggage limit of 23 Kg.

Please come back and let us know if the 23kg limit will actually be enforced for you.  I am also going on the Venture for an Arctic cruise in July, and so your data point will be most helpful and appreciated!

[where-to-next]

Thanks sfvoyage, without dress up clothes or shoes we should be well under 23 kg.

 

I will let you know if the weight limit is enforced. We disembark 11 July and fly with Edelweiss Air ( I think a Swiss charter company) from Longyearbyen to Edinburgh.

[mlk58]

Just a note that I took to heart the "it's very casual" advice for my Pursuit trip to Antarctica, and while I certainly wasn't inappropriately dressed, some of the other ladies were a bit more dressed up at dinner and I wished I'd brought some slightly nicer things for the evenings. My husband was happy to have his collared travel shirts and trusty navy travel blazer.

[TakingFlight]

20 hours ago, mlk58 said:

Just a note that I took to heart the "it's very casual" advice for my Pursuit trip to Antarctica, and while I certainly wasn't inappropriately dressed, some of the other ladies were a bit more dressed up at dinner and I wished I'd brought some slightly nicer things for the evenings. My husband was happy to have his collared travel shirts and trusty navy travel blazer.

I had a similar experience last month in the Arctic. I wished I’d brought some nicer clothes for dinner and my husband wished he’d brought his sport coat. 

[Nops]

On 6/3/2024 at 7:50 AM, where-to-next said:

Thanks sfvoyage, without dress up clothes or shoes we should be well under 23 kg.

 

I will let you know if the weight limit is enforced. We disembark 11 July and fly with Edelweiss Air ( I think a Swiss charter company) from Longyearbyen to Edinburgh.

We flew from Longyearbyen on Edelweiss Air this June. There was no weight check nor unfortunately was there any check of cabin baggage so we we were delayed while passengers tried to stuff oversized cabin bags into the overhead bins. There is no advantage to this as the bus to the hotel in Edinburgh has to wait for the last passenger any way.

 

Beware, the check-in area at Longyearbyen is small with three desks two of which were allocated to Seabourn. Add to this only one security scanner and all passengers arriving in a small window so you should be prepared for a long wait.

 

Having though about it I am not sure what Seabourn can do about this, it is simply a small airport in an isolated location. 

[kej1]

On our Pursuit trip from mid April til mid May in the South Pacific, the dress day and night regardless of venue was very casual.  The weather was very warm so there were very few men who wore jackets to dinner.  My husband did on occasion but no tie.  Often he wore a long sleeve button down shirt with a pair of nice slacks and was more dressed up than most.  I generally wore nice slacks and nice top or casual dress.  When we ate outside on the patio many men were wearing shorts and Hawaiian shirts as it was often quite hot and humid even when the ship was traveling.  So it was the most casual Seabourn cruise we’ve been on in terms of dress.  

[Covepointcruiser]

 

Was the air conditioning lacking on the Pursuit.     Husband is usually very comfortable with his blue jacket at dinner in the Restaurant as it is usually quite polar.     It would be a shame if the air conditioning is not up to snuff.   We are on an Antartica voyage.

[Hobar]

Just returned from Iceland & Greenland on Venture.  Although we didn’t have chartered flight so didn’t have weight limit issue, we were told of weight limit for our flight from Ushuaia to BA on Antarctica cruise on Venture last year but it was not enforced as nothing was weighed.  That said, we found the Venture inside temps rather cool/cold, so short sleeve would not be comfortable; found I had to wear sweaters day and evening.  My husband and nearly all men wore button down shirts with or without a jacket / blazer. Jeans on both men and women totally acceptable in the Restaurant. 

[dalliowner]

Was there complementary WIFI on the expedition ships as there is on other ships

[Woodrowst]

8 hours ago, dalliowner said:

Was there complementary WIFI on the expedition ships as there is on other ships

Yes.  

[dalliowner]

many thanks. it is unclear on website

[kej1]

16 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

 

Was the air conditioning lacking on the Pursuit.     Husband is usually very comfortable with his blue jacket at dinner in the Restaurant as it is usually quite polar.     It would be a shame if the air conditioning is not up to snuff.   We are on an Antartica voyage.

There was air conditioning. 

[grandma*knows*best]

Don’t worry.  The weight limit is not enforced and they don’t weigh carry on bags.

 

You should bring one nicer outfit, as we had special dinners (we did the Antarctica cruise last February) and most people dressed up.  A dress or nice pants for women, dress shirt and pants for men.

Edited August 19 by grandma*knows*best
Addition

[Hobar]

@where-to-next, don’t listen to @grandma*knows*best.  There’s no such thing as “should.”  Any such mandate is imposed only by the rare expedition passenger who judges others by what they wear.   

Edited August 20 by Hobar

[Woodrowst]

5 hours ago, grandma*knows*best said:

You should bring one nicer outfit, as we had special dinners (we did the Antarctica cruise last February) and most people dressed up.  

I am a bit confused.  I was on an Antarctica cruise on the Venture in January and do not remember any special dinners.  Actually they were all special, but none were labeled as such and had most people dressing up.  What type of special dinners are you referring to?

[jjs217]

I've done two Antarctica cruises with Seabourn.  Once was over Christmas and New Year's.  Both times, I didn't bring cocktail dresses, but I did bring nice outfits for evening - either a skirt and blouse, or slacks with a dressy top and cute shoes.  My husband always wore dress slacks with a long sleeve dress shirt and dress shoes.  That is what we are comfortable wearing in the evening in the dining room. People who ate in the Colonnade in the evening tended to dress down a little more.  I would follow the dress code recommendations on the web site.