Really excited!

[Rapunzal]

It's wonderful reading all these friendly listings, funny quips and a genuine feeling of comoradary! This will be our first time on Seabourn Pride, we are joining her on Dec 1 out of Barbados... We celebrated our 25 Wedding Anniversary in June and decided that we would "push the boat out" (sorry ;) ) to celebrate later in the year. We saw this cruise and decided that this was how we would mark our very special occasion! So keep all these wonderful threads coming, they make me anticipate it and look forward to this cruise even more.

Good wishes and happy sailings to you all!

Rapunzal :)

[SantaAna,CA]

Rapunzal, congratulations on your anniversary and I don't think you can make a better choice than celebrating on a wonderful Seabourn cruise. I'm sorry that I will miss you; I leave the Pride the day you get on it!

 

I hope you have the time of your life, I know you will.

 

Jane :)

[Rapunzal]

Thank you so much for your good wishes! I'm sad too that we won't get to meet! You will have "warmed the Pride" up for us then!!!! What do you think makes this cruise line special, I welcome your advice for what to bring (what not to bring) which tours to do and anything else you think will be of value to us!!

 

Yours in England

Rapunzal :)

[djaaay]

We went on our first Seabourn cruise on the Pride last Dec 2 out of Barbados. It was just wonderful. We met so many fun sailors and were absolutely spoiled by the wonderful crew and the food!! Hope you have a blast! If you have any questions about excursions or anything we'd love to help! We are taking our 2nd Seabourn outing in the Med on the Legend in Oct. Congratulations on 25 years.....that deserves a Seabourn cruise.

[Rapunzal]

Hi Djaaay,

 

Would love to hear about your excursion experiences aboard Seabourn Pride and anything else you would like to offer! What to bring to wear, etc., etc.,

 

Look forward to hearing from you!

Yours in England

Rapunzal:)

[SantaAna,CA]

Hi again, I just left you some dive shop info on the other thread about St. Bart's.

 

This will be my third trip to the Caribbean on Seabourn. I am the wrong person to ask about what to bring, because I bring.....everything. I am one of those silly women who love to dress for dinner in something different every night. Hey, I don't do it in "real" life, so this is part of the fun for me! In other words, I bring everything but the kitchen sink with me.

 

Seabourn is very special because of their crew. I have written to Seabourn after each of my cruises complimenting them on the people they choose to work on their ships. There is a no tipping policy on Seabourn, so you know they aren't being wonderful hoping you'll hand them money. They seem to pick people who have, in their personalities, a true desire to serve. I've never been anywhere where someone knew my name instantly, and was greeted everywhere I go. I also travel solo, and it can be intimidating sometimes, you know, being alone. Not on Seabourn! Every night I get a little printed invitation to a "hosted" table at dinnertime. And I never turn them down. The food is great, you can dine when and where you choose, and there are never crowds....anywhere.

 

The passengers are amazing also. Well traveled, nice, chatty, you'll love them. And of course, the ship itself. Beautiful. Don't miss the front of the ship at night, decks 7 or 8, with the stars and the moon and the sea. Lovely.

 

Oh darn, why am I not on for three weeks instead of just two! Then we could talk this all over in person!!

 

Jane

[cotto22]

Hi Rapunzal! Congrats on your Anniversary.We celebrated our 25th on Regent two years ago to Alaska. It was great.

We are trying the Pride for the first time out of Barbados on Nov. 10th, so I will gladly give you our impressions after we return. I am a little clueless as to what to bring to wear as well, so I hope you get some informed responses. So far, all I know is that there will be one formal night.

We have signed up for a couple of shore excursions that sounded fun-neither boring nor suicidal-. but who knows?

 

 

[GrannyLorr]

One tip I can give you about clothing, is if you are going on a LONG cruise, take clothes a couple of sizes too big! We have just purchased a "bigger" tux for hubby, as last cruise he was bursting out all over after 55 days! I started the cruise with "roomy" clothes so I was ok! :D

[SantaAna,CA]

I hear that! I wear my snug dresses the first week, my "more forgiving" ones are saved for later!!!

 

:p Jane

[PittsburghJack]

Granny Lorr,

Tell your husband I too have two tuxedos...........size big and bigger!:D :D Jack

[GrannyLorr]

well Jack....my husband now has the same....big and bigger ...we had the "big" one let out all over a couple of weeks ago. When he brought it home and tried it on, it looked just as tight as before the alterations....he decided that it hadn't been altered at all....so took it back to the shop. They assured him they had improved it by an extra couple of inches! At this rate the "bigger" one also wont fit by the time we leave home!:eek: I can just see our last few formal nights.....room service, burgers, pj's! :p

Now I have been very fortunate with my clothes as having a heart attack and chain saw surgery caused me too loose enough weight that I now have plenty of room to expand again!! :D

[Rapunzal]

Thanks so much for all the replies! No wiser with what to bring, but I get the impression, hey bring it on!!! Dress up girl and knock 'em dead! am I right??? I can do that! To Jane (SantaAna) thank you so much, and so sorry we won't meet up :mad: I just know we would get on... Yes I live in England, very autumnal at the moment and as we had no summer to speak of, I'm soooo looking forward to some Barbados and Caribbean sun! We must stay in touch if you would like to??

 

I've replied separately to St Barts re diving!

 

I think you're all greaaaat! So looking forward to this cruise I can barely contain myself, anyone reading this who's joining the Pride on Dec 1st just look for the girl beaming from ear to ear and that will be me ;)

 

Love from England (leaves are falling)

off to watch the World Cup Rugby from France - very important match to us England -v- Tonga (bring it on!!!)

 

Love

Anne x (aka Rapunzal)

[djaaay]

Rapunzal, I checked your itinerary and I didn't have port calls where you are going so I can't help with excursions but there is a restaurant in Bridgetown that we particularly liked called The Tides (www.tidesbarbados.com). We had an incredible table right by the ocean that was so close the water spray just missed us. The food and service were good but the setting was so outstanding!! we stayed a few days at Accra Beach Hotel (www.accrabeachhotel.com), a moderate facility that I liked because the beach was pretty and a good location.

Hope you have the BEST weather and I know you will love your cruise!

[Rapunzal]

Good to hear from you Djaaay! We are departing Barbados and calling into St Barts, St Maartan, The Grenadines, Nevis, Martinique returning to Barbados. Great minds think alike clearly!!! We have booked a table at The Cliff and Tides! We're stopping for 5 days on our return to Barbados, never been before, don't have too long there, but long enough to see some sights!

 

Tell me what you enjoyed about your cruise with Seabourn? The more I read about the ship and the people who sail with her, the more I can't wait. Only sailed on one huge ship before this and its taken me 6 years to get my husband back onto the water!!! He hated it the first time around with almost 2500 people on board :(

 

So hoping that this cruise will change his mind about cruising, so that he can do his diving and I can enjoy lazing, the spa and being pampered!

 

Look forward to hearing from you!

Yours in England

Anne (aka Rapunzal):)

[PittsburghJack]

So glad to (see,hear,read) you're doing so much better. Shame us husbands get the "furniture syndrome" as we age. (Our chests drops into our drawers.)

Mrs. Jack says I'm full of it, and I'm afraid to ask what "it" is! Jack:)

[cotto22]

Rapunzal, our ports are different, so I am afraid my input on shore excursions won't help a bit. The excitement is starting to build, and I am wondering if I shouldn't try to shed a few pounds so I can gain them back come November 10th!

[Rapunzal]

:) I think from the sounds of the rest of you - I should lose around 14 lbs now for this cruise!!!! Is the food as exceptional as I hear it is?? What is breakfast like???:confused:

 

LOL Anne

(aka Rapunzal)

[tayl]

Rapunzal, Congrats on your anniversary. Like you, this is my first seabourn cruise and the anticipation is building! I'm so excited, that I think I've become somewhat obsessive! I don't know if you've been on some of the other boards, but the people here seem totally different. They're honest, funny,respect others experiences and truly want to be helpful to us newbies! Honestly, I've been on other cruises,and I'm not hard to please. So my real concern will be how I will adjust to life after Seabourn!

Have a wonderful cruise! Please post a review after. I wish more people would post their thoughts in the review section.

[Cruisewoman79]

Oh you will have such a great time! I agree with all the posts!

We will be waving goodbye when you get on board (we will be the ones who are crying).

We loved our sailing on the Spirit athens to Istanbul and are excited about the Pride. Sorry I won't be able to tell you about our crazy excursions but who knows I might post while on board so watch for that.

You will fall in love with the crew and I agree the Seabourn passengers are the best.

We will celebrate our 25th in Sept 09, so we think we will book the Odyssey!

Enjoy

[Rapunzal]

Hope you have a fantastic cruise too and that for the congrats on our 25th! Yes, I agree, its fun to relive your cruise through a review and it also helps others.

 

Thanks again

LOL from England

Anne ;)

[GrannyLorr]

so you want to know about breakfast? wish I had a menu here to give all the details, but will have to go on memory!

There are two places you can eat breakfast, well three if you count room service. First there is The Veranda, where it is mostly a buffet selection, but you can also order off a menu. Then there is the Restaurant. We started our cruise having the buffet breakfast for about a week, then "discovered" The Restaurant. It was much quieter, probably only about 8 couples in that huge area at any one time. The whole 55 days we only had two staff serving us breakfast, Erik from The Netherlands and Andrew from South Africa. They soon knew exactly what we wanted every morning, usually before we knew, in fact our juice etc was on the table before we even arrived. I think they have spies to tell them when you leave your suite! Now the food........not being terribly "health conscious" back then, I would usually start with "swedish pancakes" (nice little crepes with berries) of course you were also offered doughnuts and pastries while you wait. Hubby tended to stick to fresh fruit, before he embarked on steak, lamb chops, eggs, etc etc. The last part of the trip, I was back to boiled eggs and "soldiers"....as Andrew was an ex Pom, he knew all about "soldiers". Anything you could imagine for breakfast is on the menu, and I know some people ordered "special" things, so "what you want is what you get". If we were leaving early on a shore excursion we always had room service, that as always great too.........so yes, start losing the pounds now!! :D

[GrannyLorr]

For any "Newbies" who are interested.....I have a very loooooooooooong thread all about our first cruise........at the top of the page you will see "Page 1 2 3 of 35"....well if you go to Page 13, there is a thread called "Granny at Sea"........there is also a link to my Blog from that cruise which has lots of pics........quite a lot taken on the ship.

[Winner]

For a really decadent (to me) treat, order lamb chops and fries for breakfast, either in the Restaurant or Veranda. The chops are tiny and delicious and you will become addicted to the french fries, as everyone is!

[Rapunzal]

Thanks GrannyLorr! Feeling hungry now! Sounds fantastic. I remember ordering Room Service on a Princess cruise and this pathetic little tray came with some warmish milk, a box of Kelloggs cornflakes and a banana! Lovely :mad: Needless to say we didn't do that again. Breakfast in the restaurant was okay, but room service left an awful lot to be desired!!! The more you all tell me, the waiting gets worse.. You sound as though you're a seasoned Seabourn sailor 55 days how wonderful!

 

LOL from Anne in England

[djaaay]

I never had breakfast in the restaurant but I think I would if it would ever be rainy or too cool or something. The Verandah is so lovely looking out on all that water. When you finish picking out your food to go to your table don't think the crew is taking your plate away from you....they are CARRYING it for you lol.....I really don't know how they manage to hire so many quality people with so little attitude, and yet have plenty of personality!!

 

Every person that I met was charming in their way and unassuming. Someone was always telling me about other passengers that were billionaires, or of the peer, or this or that but everyone just seemed like fun loving people. I never heard any bragging. Lot's of travel talk.

 

It is an older crowd and there were not any children on my cruise. I love to dress and plenty of that was done.

 

The food is really good at every meal. Really good.

 

One thing I am going to set as a goal is to meet everyone on this next cruise and to especially see if there are any CCs aboard. I know Jane the diver girl was on my cruise in Dec. and I never got the opportunity to talk to her. So beware everyone on the Legend Oct 13th if a southern talking blonde idiot insists on meeting you...it will be me!! lol