Bon Voyage Guests on Seabourn?

[ITravelNow]

We'd like to invite friends to join us for a drink before we sail on the Legend. We've been able to do this on Regent and I wonder if any of you have done the same thing on Seabourn? I've sent off an email to headquarters and will call my agent in the morning - just thought I'd gather some information from all of you "in the know!"

[blackbird71]

We'd like to invite friends to join us for a drink before we sail on the Legend. We've been able to do this on Regent and I wonder if any of you have done the same thing on Seabourn? "

 

Officially it is a no no, which I found strange, both Regent and Silverseas allow guests onboard with advance notice. I always laid it to a silly Carnivale dictated rule....

[LaPaloma]

prior to 9/11, you simply made arrangements in advance and it was no problem. I is simply not done now. Life has changed..too bad for all innocent folk...but we are in different times.

[ITravelNow]

Thanks for your advice...just received an email from Seabourn...no guests allowed. It's a shame, it would be such a wonderful marketing opportunity - our guests wanted to tour the ship to see what "such a small ship" is like.

 

We've hosted guests on all of our Regent cruises at either the embarkation point or somewhere along the way - Honolulu once, S.F. another time.

 

I'm sorry Seabourn isn't more hospitable. :(

[LaPaloma]

I would disagree about Seabourn's hospitality! It is a matter of safety precautions that they have established and do not bend with. I am all for all of the safety problems we have to endure in travel today...it is not fun for those enforcing them either.

[ITravelNow]

I'm certainly in agreement about security. I wouldn't invite anyone I considered unsafe to be my guest.

 

On Regent they require passport information to clear guests. They use the same caution that is used in clearing passengers.

[blackbird71]

FYI from Silverseas

 

https://www.silversea.com/silversea.aspx?id=628

 

BON VOYAGE PARTIES / VISITORS ON BOARD

Please have your travel agent contact Silversea’s Special Services Department if you would like to make arrangements for a Bon Voyage Party and/or to have visitors board the vessel at your embarkation port. Requests must be made in writing no later than 14 days prior to departure. For security reasons, visitors for embarkation day must be pre-registered with Silversea. For visitors during the cruise other than embarkation day, guests can make arrangements on board. Silversea may limit the number of visitors permitted on board and this policy is subject to change without notification.

 

IMHO Seabourn has just false security on this issue.

[jgn]

On our last cruise in October we asked if a past Seabourn couple could board while we were in Portland, Maine. Answer was, they could if we had their passport numbers and they were approved by ? Obviously, we did not have their passport numbers and no amount of cajoling had any effect. It wasn't worth the bother. Turned out, they gave us the best tour of Portland you could ever imagine, ending up at their condo with a lobster role lunch. Seabourn charged 400 something for a far less inclusive tour, and no lobster lunch included, either! This couple were on the "pirate" cruise in Indian Ocean with us and we really didn't think it would be a problem for them to come aboard to say "hello" to a lot of crew they knew. But no, it didn't happen.