cruising kirby

Oh no! We have that charter flight at the end of our cruise. It’s a long flight. I can’t believe they don’t provide decent food and alcohol! Can you tell me if Qantas enforce weight restrictions on the checked luggage? Seabourn have told me it’s 23kg per person but I can’t find any reference to that on my documents.

I’m on the 15 May cruise from Guam. There are three excursions being offered in Rabaul. The paid option is Balanataman Hiking at USD145pp. The included options are Kopoko War and Colonial Experience and a nighttime tour Baining Firedance and Village Experience. Nothing else showing up for any other ports at this stage

I use Chrome and find I have to clear cookies frequently. That usually works

That was our strategy. We went to the Club around 7.30pm when the dinner crowd had left and we ordered a range of sushi dishes and asked they be served one or two at a time ( the tables are too small for much more than that). It was a leisurely light meal with only a few others doing the same thing so we had great service from an unhurried waiter.

We had sushi in the Club for dinner a few nights when on the Odyssey last December. It was an excellent light meal alternative for us.

APT are a very reputable company in Australia. As noted above they package cruises and land content, not just here in Australia but around the world. They are a luxury product and I can see how they would align with Seabourn. Having said that I’m a little sad about these developments…………….

Seabourn has blocked the sale of cruises from Singapore and Dubai in March/April for a few weeks now. Cruises from 21 April appear to be available to book at this stage. There is certainly something going on at Seabourn but nothing is released to guests yet. Clearly they don’t want to accept new bookings on affected cruises. Anticipate cancellations and/or itinerary changes as Seabourn makes adjustments for Red Sea issues. There is much speculation in social media but no one outside Seabourn knows the plans yet.

There appears no cheap solution unfortunately. The compensation for guests in each scenario looks to be significant for Seabourn (shortened or cancelled cruises, vastly changed itineraries, reimbursement of hotel/flight/visa costs etc). We just have to keep waiting (and worrying) until Seabourn decides to tell us what they have planned.

There is another scenario............................Cunard has a Singapore to Southampton cruise in March April that consists of a 17 night segment to Cape Town and a 16 night segment to Southampton. Its has 7 stops including an overnight in Cape Town and obviously a lot of sea days. So I guess its possible for Seabourn to take passengers from Singapore to Athens in the 36 nights it has available, even though the Encore won't travel as fast as the Cunard ship. It would mean a completely new itinerary but it might be preferable to taking an empty ship most of the way (and refunding pax most/all of their fare)?

Lets hope the Seabourn announcements are imminent. There is no way a cruise ship can risk the Red Sea for the foreseeable future with continuing escalation of hostilities.

Is that a full refund and 20% off a future cruise?

I can add Seabourn to the list of cruise lines that are due to cruise through the Red Sea on its Singapore - Dubai - Athens cruise in March/April 2024 I know this must be a time of great concern to all cruise lines. What I can’t understand is why they don’t make the very tough (financial) decisions now and re-route their ships so that all of us who are booked can make our plans. Surely their responsibility to keep guests and crew safe overrides anything else? The longer they wait the more we will speculate and try to find answers through communities like this, which only adds to the stress of the unknown. I think it is human nature to try and make sense of ambiguity and all of us are probably trying to weigh up the various possibilities as each day passes.

Unfortunately no one outside Seabourn knows the answers to your questions at this time. The reservations teams are maintaining that no changes are envisaged, even against the background of the very recent escalations in the Red Sea. Its not a problem of their making, but Seabourn must take action to protect its guests and crew so it seems unlikely that the Dubai to Athens sector will proceed exactly as currently planned. I guess we can't rule out that the Singapore to Dubai sector immediately prior won't change either, particularly given a potential diversion via Africa will take longer than the 18 days of the Dubai to Athens sector. As for compensation, refunds might be on the table but I think Future Cruise Credits and On Board Credit might be more likely. Lets hope that we don't have to wait too much longer to hear what Seabourn has planned for us.

Just spent 2 weeks on the Odyssey using the app. It works just fine. Every morning I would look at the days schedule, check out the dining options and my booked shore excursions and even pre ordered my morning coffee from Seabourn Square ( not that there was ever a queue but I am a technology convert). Embrace the change! It takes a little getting used to and some were still complaining about it after 16 days but I found it easy and useful. Could it do with some tweaking - yes! However we do everything on our phones these days so why not give this a go.

I will admit to being very nervous about further cancellations. I'm booked on the late May 2023 Vista cruise that is now the inaugural. I wish Oceania would release photos/videos of the Vista so we can see that the ship build is progressing well. I may have missed something, but the last visual I had was at the time the ship was floated out. Having been booked on two new ships pre covid that were not delivered on time, I worry that the lack of transparency means further delays to the Vista. It is so hard to plan with confidence.