Queen of DaNile

I believe they'll still honor the discount. I used some non-refundable(different from the SM excursion credit) to get the discount and when that excursion was cancelled, they put it back on my account and the other excursions still reflected the discounted amount. Hope that makes sense?

Thanks. Good advice but too late for me. I did South Georgia and Antarctica 12 years ago on a true expedition ship, long before everyone started going there. Three landings a day amongst hundreds of thousands of penguins and all kinds of pinnipeds is hard to top. Think I'll switch our deposit to another expedition where there's a chance for more variety.

Thank you. You've confirmed my fear...that the abundance of wildlife that looks amazing in the promo literature is far from reality.

A general question to those who have done this or a similar itinerary to the Arctic. Were you satisfied with the amount of wildlife you saw? Yes, I read the disclaimer that wildlife sightings are not guaranteed but my concern goes beyond that. My interest is in wildlife and having done 3 weeks on an expedition ship to South Georgia and Antarctica where there is an abundance of wildlife, I'm starting to rethink if the Arctic is for me. We did three zodiac landings a day and there was always plenty to see. The Seabourn Arctic video is lovely but hiking and gazing at moonscape-like landscapes is not for me. The birding looks great but it did not show much in the way of land or sea mammals. While this may be a bucket list trip, and I'd like to do it, I also want to manage my expectations. Thanks for any words of wisdom.

The Greek tour guides were on strike (sometimes) earlier this month. Riviera switched ports and went to Bodrum and then Crete to work around the problem. Knossos is easy enough to do on your own but NO shade. Agree with you that the aft elevator arrangement on Vista is ridiculous.

Lots of shade. There was a large covered area in the rear and they lowered some sun awnings from the mast if you wanted to lounge in the front. Daria was an excellent guide and the whole experience was lovely.

We disembarked Riviera last week in Istanbul and the heat was oppressive. We had anticipated the heat (and the crowds) and used our SM credits to book excursions that involved going out on small boats in several ports. If you're interested and there is still availability, the Gulet sail around Bodrum might be a possibility when you're there. That, and the private catamaran in Santorini were the best Oceania excursions we've ever experienced.

Thanks for your posts from a fellow Floridian. Trying to decide between Atlas and Seabourn for the Arctic in 2026 so this thread is very helpful.

I got cash back this past Tuesday. If you don't ask for it while on board, they will send you a check (rather quickly).

One or two Spa treatments would eat up that credit in a heartbeat! Enjoy.

Thanks for the reminder about the pressing cards. Does that have a 3 day turn around as well?

Correct. We recently paid $25.pp per day on Riviera.

"Shore Excursion Package This package is available on voyages with at least seven port days and provides flexibility to custom-design a collection of excursions by selecting the exact number of excursions desired. Choose from a wide variety of excursions and save 25% off a la carte prices when a minimum of shore excursions is reserved, based on the number port days on your voyage."

This past February we requested permission to disembark the evening of our overnight in Laem Chabang to stay in a hotel because of our early morning flight. The affirmative response took a few days because my TA said they actually had to get the answer from the ship. Also keep in mind that once it's on record that you're disembarking early, they will close your account (and internet access) early as well. If you have refundable OBC coming back to you, make sure the accounting is correct a few days before you plan on disembarking and get the cash if you don't want them to send a check. Because they cut off our internet service early we were not able to use Whatsapp to contact our driver to let him know we were boarding the shuttle to get to the pick up area. Luckily the front desk let us use a house phone to message him.

Thanks for all the info. May just take the plunge for 2025.