Queen of DaNile

1 hour ago, lorimay said:

We were on the same tour and found out last minute too. Destination services was already closed. Very frustrating because out tour yesterday was canceled too. When we got outside we realized they weren’t lying that it was too windy. We were blown down the pier. It will be interesting to see how the money works out. We had $300 in simply more credits. Took a sixth excursion so got the discount for all of them. Now we are below the threshold for the discount. 

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?

12 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

The upshot - do the Arctic first. The Arctic was - I hesitate to use “let down” as it wasn’t - just different. No shock and awe like Antarctica with the massive mountains. I think it would have been a good prelude to do the Arctic first.

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.

5 hours ago, where-to-next said:

We were rather disappointed with the lack of wildlife on our Svalbard cruise.

The only sighting of polar bears was at such a distance that I might have seen them but more likely was looking at white rocks. Certainly nothing like the images portrayed by Seabourn to promote these cruises.

 

Yes we did see Walrus,  Reindeer and a very obliging Arctic Fox that ran up and down the beach so everyone could get a photo. But overall, no comparison to Antarctica.  

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.

3 hours ago, lorimay said:

Tomorrow we will be in Heraklion. Came back to the room after the show at about 10pm to find a letter from Destination Services that our tour to Palace of Knossos had been canceled by the operator because of a strike. No alternative given. I think we will take a taxi into town and do a walking tour. We switched our tour in Bodrum to the gulet boat  I was glad to hear someone post that it's a good excursion.

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.

4 hours ago, dock said:

On Vista at present. 
Will do a review once I’m back home.

@Queen of DaNile, did the Gulet have some shade? 
 
We are booked on the tour, but am a bit ambivalent .

Thank you. 

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.

20 hours ago, lorimay said:

Apparently there have been a lot of issues with the excursions and the heat. We received advisories about three of our booked excursions. One was changed from moderate to strenuous activity, and the the other two had heat advisories. We are rethinking some of our choices. We found the heat so oppressive in Athens that it is dangerous, even drinking a lot of water.

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.

11 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Is refundable SBC given as cash onboard or refunded electronically ?

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?

25 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

The last price I saw, which was on another thread, was $25 fee for access to the spa terrace. Daily fee only when access desired. 

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.

On 2/21/2024 at 9:04 PM, nancygp said:

Pricing for the December 25 itineraries and early 26 are now on the website

 

nancy

Based on past history, when might they release the balance of 2026?  Seabourn will give us an a10% discount if we rebook a cruise by May 1 for the one we canceled yesterday. Would like to get something in the Arctic, if possible.

We are on the original CT to Las Palmas segment so losing four ports is a deal breaker for me.

On 3/8/2024 at 8:23 AM, Lenron said:

My cruise ends in Doha and I will need to get to my hotel. Are taxis easy to get? Would you need local currency? I also note that Uber operates in Doha.

Very easy taxi stand at the airport and they take credit cards. At the present time they are allowing Uber to drop off but NOT pick up passengers at the airport. We used Uber all around the city the rest of our stay and then back to the airport.

Check your booked cruise on line and click view credits. It may appear as Complimentary Shipboard Credit. Mine appeared the evening I submitted the request.

We recently booked this cruise because the last itinerary change created a lot of availability and they started offering cabins at 40% off to fill the space. When I saw the overnight in Istanbul, I knew that could be changed at any time. Been there before and would like to see more but if it doesn't happen, it won't be a surprise. We're getting to Europe on our own but letting Oceania handle the return, just as Mauibabes said.

Go ahead and make your plans with a reputable company that has a liberal cancellation policy.

Join the Roll Call for this sailing and we can share information more directly.

See you on board.

Yes, there is a clothes line in the shower on the R ships.

3 minutes ago, basor said:

Guess they just put them on for our 3 cruises but no matter, it wouldn't affect our enjoyment of our meals there.  Glad others are not going due too negative remarks so we can go more often!

Didn't matter to us. We enjoyed the food.

1 hour ago, basor said:

Certainly understand....we ate there 4 times during our 32 day Vista cruise last November and had tablecloths every time.  Perhaps they have changed.....I will check with some friends that recently sailed on Vista to see if they found the same.  Food is subjective but mushy asparagus is not subjective.

No table cloths on two nights on our TA in September 

Lovely Mike. Sorry we didn't get to meet you and Cathy on this one. Maybe next time...

Definitely opened at 7 AM on Riviera and sometimes a queue to get in. The dryers take 2x as long as the washers and are harder to claim. Sometimes if I did things later in the day and couldn't get a dryer, I'd either hang things on the line in our shower or come back at 7AM and be the first to grab a dryer.

Another question, Concierge says complimentary pressing of garments upon embarkation** but do they still use the Complimentary pressing cards to have things done after embarkation? Thanks.