CLOU

My statement was too blanket but I did state that it appears to be the case for my United tickets in June, business class, and American has announced that it is initiating this policy, although I believe some travel agencies will be approved and tickets issued by those agencies will qualify for miles. Still, it is something to keep in mind when booking. This has never been an issue before when we have booked through Seabourn, always on United or United partners.

Another FlightEase issue to be aware of that is new. If you book through FlightEase you wll not get credit for the miles in the airline's frequent flier program. We discovered this for our upcoming flights on United to Lisbon and home from Amsterdam. Since my husband and I have lifetime Gold status, we do not need the miles to qualify for that level of elite status but we will not get the actual miles, which we never seem to use despite having hundreds of thousands. I had heard that American was going to this model, but I did not know that United had already done so. Since we tend to go out at least one day before the cruise, and stay at least one day after the cruise ends, we do not get the FlightEase benefit of transfers to and from the airport. Also, since at least this time, the prices listed on the Seabourn website matched what I could get for myself online, the only benefit for me going forward using FlightEase is to be able to book early but not pay until the cruise payment is due. This allows one to book and continue to see if the price goes down. In my case this time, I booked ten months in advance of the flights and the prices did nothing but go up.

Often, even quicker than the phone is the airline lounge if there is one and you have access.

I am an experienced enough traveler to know that the airlines are my main point of contact and I always research what later flight options are available in case I am delayed. Plus, I always go out a day early. However, since FlightEase is supposed to get involved if there are issues getting to the ship on time, I thought I should know how to contact a representative.

Thanks for the info, Johng. As pointed out, I do not expect Seabourn to make me financially or emotionally whole, but only what to do about a missed connection, which could be due to many things, not necessarily and airline screw up. I will make sure I have the FlightEase direct phone number for Enroute Travel Services before my trip.

I have another FligthtEase question. We have booked through Seabourn before when it was the same price or cheaper than we could get on our own. Now, since it is online, it is very easy to compare flights and prices. This time, we got a great business class fare ten months in advance. I was able to monitor it until we had to pay in full, and it never went down. My question is that this time we have a connection heading to Lisbon. We are arriving the day before, so we have wiggle room for any snafus. However, since we booked through Seabourn, if we have any issue with the connection, I believe they are responsible for making sure we get to our final destination. My question is, if there is an issue, who do we contact? While I am from the east coast, both my travel agent and Seabourn are on the west coast, and our connection time in Europe would be before either office is open on a Monday morning in the western US. We travel enough that we know we can talk to the airlines to reschedule, but I was wondering if there was a FlightEase protocol. Thankfully, we have a direct flight home, so no issues.

Thanks for all the info. I understand the point about the small tables.Also, if we were to have sushi for dinner it would beat dinner time, after 7:30 at the earliest for us, so I imagine the pre-dinner drinks crows would likely be done. Perhaps will try it as a snack one night and see how it goes and decide if we think it is worth trying for dinner.

We have enjoyed having dinner in the Sushi restaurant on the larger ship. We have not been on the smaller ships since they started serving sushi in the Club. We will be on the Quest in June and I was wondering if anyone can tell me what hours sushi is served in the Club. Also, does anyone know if people have sushi dinner there or do people treat it more like a pre-dinner snack. Any info would be appreciated.

I am hopeful for our June cruise. That cruise is on the Quest, so the smaller ship. Plus, it is more our style of cruise, to Europe, which will have more interesting ports. We do our own exploration and we are looking forward to the ports of call, most of which we have been to before either off a cruise or on a land based vacation. I will report back.

We are just off the Ovation but were only on for one week. Our reaction was a little different, although I am not sure it has much to do with Covid. I do think there may still be supply issues. Food is very subjective and we found it a bit lacking, especially at lunch. The cold foods and salads were virtually the same every day and the chafing dishes for the most part were not particularly appealing. Getting a wine other than the featured wine of the day was treated like a big ask, and some of the wait staff only knew one or two of the wines available. I don't know about wine at dinner because we had a large shipboard credit and bought reserve wine each night. More on that below. At breakfast there was hardly any fresh fruit, other than bananas. Lots of canned fruit. When there was fresh fruit, some of it was tasteless. Dinners in the main dining room were for the most part acceptable, with one notable exception, but nothing special. We did enjoy sushi and TK was the same as always, although there was a problem with our reservation, which they claimed we canceled, which we had not. Looking forward to Solis. One plus is a new program if you like to buy reserve wine. Rather than the old silver or gold package, if you sign up for the package now, which is free, after you spend a certain amount of money you qualify for a free bottle up to a certain amount. If you don't claim it and spend more on wine, you get a larger credit. Since we bought wine every night with our ship board credit, we ended up with a $200 credit on our last night. We found staff to be pleasant, but a little less attentive than normal with a couple of exceptions. One of the being our stewardess who was wonderful. Another subjective issue was the cruise director. we did not care for Loula. Of course, the only real interaction with here was at trivia. Trivia was a lot of fun with various teams winning and all seeming to enjoy it, but it went on for well over an hour, once close to an hour and a half. That's too long and I think part of it was due to Loula's personality. Still, as I said, a matter of personal taste. We thought the ship was in good shape, and it wasn't a bad cruise, we just in general things had gone downhill. This was our 13th Seabourn cruise, so we have some experiences to compare to. We have three more booked. I was not so disappointed as to consider cancelling, just a little let down. We will see what June brings. There was

So, in the past, under preferences, I was able to choose both my Seabourn club benefit choices as well as other preferences, such as how I want the beds configured, pillow choice and in room bar set up. Now, under the preferences tab, the website lets me pick one benefit choice each for me and my husband, but it won't let me select the second one to which I am entitled. If I uncheck the laundry benefit, it lets me select a different benefit and then select laundry again, but it won't save both choices. It only saves the laundry choice. I know I can go the Seabourn Square and tell them when I board but I was trying to take care of things in advance. As to the bed configuration, pillow choice, or in room bar set up, I don't see any way to choose those at all. When I go to preferences in under the Manage my Cruise tab, instead any options, I am prompted to log in again, but then it won't even let me do that. One again, I know I can take care of these things when I board, but I would really like to make sure that at least the bed is set up correctly, and even the correct pillows are there. I know I can contact my TA, and I will do that, but I am wondering if anyone has had more success than I have.

There is a charge for reserving BC seats on BA in advance on transatlantic flights. I think it was just under $150 per ticket. Not sure if that was for each direction. However, if you have status on American Airlines you can book for free, but not until you first book the flight. Once you finish the booking process you can go to manage your flight on the website or app and book seats for free.

We will definitely use the laundry and the wine discount, especially since we have large unboard credit. It's the other two choices that we are unsure about.

Internet is now included, we usually don't take ship's excursions, and my upcoming cruise is only one week long so one bag of laundry will probably be all we need. So, I am struggling to figure out what Seabourn Club benefit to select other than laundry and the wine discount. Can someone tell me what the Serene Spa Area is so I can decide if it worth getting a day there. Thanks.

I can’t remember. Is there still a formal night in the Caribbean? It’s not a big deal because my husband wears a sports jacket to dinner most nights on a cruise anyway, and I can always wear a nice sundress. But, my husband thinks they did away with formal nights in the Caribbean and I didn’t think so.