Salf777

Thanks. We are not expecting an over the top luxury experience. We are looking for a smaller more intimate better than main line cruise. We like the retreat in Celebrity but with changes they have made and trying to make it more Royal Caribbean we don’t find the value there any longer. Also to pay those prices to go to Costa Maya and Cozumel aren’t what we are looking for. What appeals to us are the smaller ports and smaller ship. I also thank you for saying this. Some of the comments I read on here when people ask similar questions are as if you are walking into a royal palace. People ridicule people for asking if certain dress wear is ok like why would you even think to wear that on a ship like this? I’m not saying I’ll wear ripped jeans or shorts I just ask so I follow the rules and respect the lines policy. Someone mentioned a type of shirt in one post and you would have thought they committed a sin! I was getting concerned it was to stuffy for us

Thank you! we will be in St Kitts so thank you and looking forward to that

So I have booked my first Seabourn cruise and am very excited and have been reading almost all of the posts on here and have a few more questions please 1. WiFi- we aren’t in penthouse and I’m not concerned about days in port as I have an international plan on my phone so can always get access to what I need. Only one sea day on our journey so not to concerned. Does the Ovation have starlink? If I wanted the upgraded internet do you purchase onboard? I can’t seem to find pricing in the app 2. I have seen in videos they do things like caviar at the pool, do they announce or post these events so we can be sure to be onboard? 3. Excursions- I see a lot of excursions and we are doing a Yacht Harbors cruise and I don’t see like any thing like a day at the beach. We have done our own non ship excursions but I don’t particularly care for those just in case they get back late 4. Retreat or not? I know there are many opinions on this. I actually prefer a pool than a hot tub that the retreat has and we do The Retreat on Celebrity or Haven on NCL because we don’t like to deal with finding chairs or deal with chair hogs at the main pool. Does this happen on Seabourn? 5. Is there anything that’s a must do as soon as boarding? Like book dining or can we do all that prior on the app? 6. Boarding process. Does boarding get crowded? As mentioned we have only done Retreat on Celebrity or Haven on NCL and there was priority boarding and very easy. I am hoping with only 300 suites it shouldn’t be too bad. 7. Lastly I know the subject of dress code is a time bomb. I see some saying elegant jeans are ok for men some saying not. Some say a polo shirt is acceptable and some not. I have seen some downright rude comments to people asking about jeans or polo shirts who are obviously just trying to get some advice. Is this the norm? We are looking for a more upscale experience but don’t want to be ridiculed should I not wear a jacket and tie every night

Ok so while we are on this subject are like Tommy Bahama button down shirts acceptable? They are very nice but sometimes nice designs and not a “traditional “ button down. Also like the Robert Graham shirts with nice designs that are meant to be worn not tucked in but are very nice

Thank you. We just don’t want to end up putting an employee in an awkward situation if we aren’t dressed properly. Plus there are rules and if we choose to sail with them we want to follow those rules it’s their ship. I just read so many conflicting remarks

Sorry I have tried to read thru the posts but see a variety of different answers. Just booked our first Seabourn sailing. On vacation I don’t like to wear a jacket every night, is a jacket required for dinner (not formal night)? I of course will be wearing slack and a button down shirt but I see some people saying nice jeans are acceptable and others saying you shouldn’t wear nice jeans. I always try to look decent but it is a vacation so I prefer what we call country club casual. We usually also enjoy formal night getting more dressed up, but curious if there are options for dinner if you don’t want to participate?

Hi there first time cruiser on Seabourn sailing in January 2025. Not certain what this referral credit is if someone could explain and help. I would appreciate it especially if it’s OBC or something like that

Thank you for this. As far as entertainment we generally don’t go to shows. We enjoy our dinner walk the ship a bit and go to our room and sit on the balcony. We are a little boring LOL! I have learned thru my years of traveling that asking or discussing something nicely and not “complaining “ or yelling that being nice goes a long way. We realize these people work hard and everyone can have an off day. Plus getting angry or aggravated only ends up ruing my day. Even with the missteps we had recently at celebrity we didn’t get annoyed we were still on a beautiful ship in beautiful locations it’s just we don’t feel the value for the money any longer. So thank you expectation's will be kept in check

Thank you for this. As long as the food is good we don’t need so many restaurants like Celebrity has. We found recently that it seems service has gone down hill. There were butlers for all Retreat suites then they took them away then bought them back. We don’t really need a butler just someone who we can ask for water or soda in the room and coffee in the mornings. After these changes back and forth at celebrity the staff was confused. Our stateroom attendant told us he had to charge us to leave extra water (my wife has a condition where she needs to drink a lot). Went to the retreat lounge as was told it could be left. Saw the stateroom attendant and he said he hadn’t heard from the retreat yet. Took 2 days to get water in the room. One bar served a champagne she liked by the glass for an extra fee. The other retreat bar said we had to buy the bottle they have changed so much the staff doesn’t even know the rules yet. But what we found appealing in watching a Seabourn videos is the extra things they do, food at the pool deck parties etc. we were recently on a celebrity cruise and took a private tour to Jost Van Dyke. On the beach Seabourn had a section set up with chairs for their guests things like that add so much. We also love being on the ship and enjoy sea days just lying by the pool and seeing the scenery. We are very much looking forward to this. We looked at other lines and don’t want to sail where I have to wear a jacket every day to dinner. I like to be more casual on vacation (nice pants and a button down shirt)

Thank you and I wasn’t referring to wearing jeans to dinner I meant if we were walking around the ship exploring also I had looked wrong it said Venture and Pursuit included some excursions

So have recently been sailing on Celebrity in their Retreat. Due to recent policy changes at celebrity have decided to try Seabourn. Celebrity premium drink package now charge $2 for a glass of wine that was included a month ago (it’s a $19 bottle of wine), no more onboard credit or very little, no included gratuities, and many other changes. So we looked and watched some videos and book a sailing on the Ovation, which is actually cheaper than a Celebrity sailing and we have heard great things about Seabourn so a few questions for you experienced people please 1. Do we need to rush and make dining reservations when available or are they usually all available 2. Any must do restaurants? 3. What is the dress code we don’t dress like slobs but like a casual look (sometime even nice jeans with a nice button down shirt) 4. We are in a V4 veranda suite, does that include bottled water, soft drinks, WiFi. 5. How is the WiFi? 6. I see it says most excursions are included, are these just like basic tours and are the good? Do they have for a charge excursions? We prefer more active Lastly any advice you can give to a first timer appreciated. I know a lot of this can be found on the web but I find talking to experienced cruisers gets me better real advice so thank you

So you’re saying if I move up to an H5 category I will get unlimited bottled water and unlimited Wi-Fi? It might be worth it if I need those two things wouldn’t you think?

Hi we are in a Haven Penthouse my confirmation says HE? Don’t know if that’s H5 or higher?

Ok so now I’m really confused. We have the free at sea package with unlimited “open bar” does that include bottled water. From what I read I thought not. So if I have that package how much does it cost to upgrade to a package that includes the bottled water? Trying to avoid the carton water Thanks all this is awesome

That’s what I was thinking and just read about the upgraded beverage. I assume that we would have to both upgrade? So I guess I have to figure it out. From what I read to upgrade it’s $29 per person per day? That would be let’s say $60 per day and on a 10 day cruise an extra $600 for bottled water. Might just be better off buying them individually but then again I do like a specialty coffee so I have to figure it out. Thanks so much for the input been a long time since I sailed NCL