cruiseej

@AJCM I'm not sure why you wouldn't trust Seabourn in the future. All cruise lines make schedule changes, whether for dry-docks or for charters. It sounds like Seabourn notified you before you could have booked air travel (11 months prior to travel). And your email's junk filter isn't Seabourn's fault. I understand being disappointed that the itinerary you planned was canceled, but this also doesn't seem too unreasonable because they did it so far in advance.

We were just on a Seabourn cruise in June that stopped in Portovenere, and we took a Cinque Terre tour. There were two offered: one by public ferry, one by chartered boat just for Seabourn passengers. We took the latter. It should have been better than it was. The sound system on the boat didn't work great, so it was hard to hear to tour guides on the boat. The upper deck was outdoors and had great views, but the lower deck indoors was not as easy to see out — and unfortunately the boast was packed full. Worse, they should have said that people on top on the way out needed to be on the lower level on the way back, and visa versa — but they didn't. So many people were stuck on the inside lower deck both ways. The short stops in the three towns were okay, but we found them overrun by tourists, and not the charming, picturesque towns we had envisioned. In the end, I'm glad we got to see some of Cinque Terre, and I'm glad we took the excursion — but it wasn't the outstanding experience we had thought it would be.

I don't think so. It lists every AAA office within 50 miles of us. (When the page is working…which it is not currently.) Lucky timing. Seabourn is offering some significant discounts — up to 45% — on cruises through travel agents only, not listed on their website. I got an email from our TA listing many dozens of cruises in the next year which qualify for this promotional pricing.

Yeah, even when I bought it, a $3,000 investment didn't seem too bad, as I didn't think Carnival was headed for bankruptcy. But you clearly timed it optimally!

Included?! Ha! Seabourn lists the sub excursions as "starting at $999". That's per person. For a 45-minute dive. People have reported purchasing them for a bit less on some cruises, but they definitely aren't included.

Me, too! That's the question: do they? Were her marching orders to keep things afloat (figuratively!) while trimming costs and boosting the bottom line, without new resources like higher-cost amenities or the huge capital costs of a new ship. Or did they tell her to come up with a plan to push Seabourn to the top of the luxury market, with more resources available if she could demonstrate passenger loyalty and profit growth? Only time will tell.

I, on the other hand, bought in spring 2021 as cruising was about to resume. CCL stock was around $30 — far off its highest in the upper $60s a few years prior, so seemingly poised to move upward as the industry recovered. Instead, it sank to under $10! My three Seabourn cruises since then have earned back only a portion of my (paper) loss on the stock, so we need to keep cruising to get to break even! 🤣

I own a tux from 30 (are?) years ago. It still hangs in my closet for reason I can't explain, but it no longer fits. In the past decade, I've needed a tux once for a formal wedding, and I rented one — because I wasn't sure I'd need to wear one again in the next 10 years. So my answer to your question is that it' has nothing to do with ease of putting on a tux, but everything to do with owning a tux that fits. (Also, technically, a tux should have proper dress shoes, which for me would be an extra pair of size 13W shoes to pack, which is non-trivial.) Well, if you didn't read through the thread, you missed my posts which spelled out how the stated "dress code" is not very clear on a number of points — which is why there are ongoing and ever-repeating questions about the dress code. Also, if you read the post which started this thread, it has nothing to do with "me, me, me", nor or wanting Silversea to change its dress standards; it was a practical question about what was or wasn't actually required — which as I've noted isn't perfectly clear — from a passenger who is hoping to travel with carry-on luggage. It was a perfectly reasonable question. Then people layer their own opinions and sensibilities about the dress onboard Silversea, and we end up with an 11-page (and counting) thread. 😉

We're going on the Splendor next month in Iceland with my nonagenarian parents. I shared the video with them, and my mother immediately declared she needed to stop eating for the next month in preparation. 🤣

Yup, I get it. My point was that Seabourn has been doing it the same way for many years — successfully (we visited Flam on a Seabourn cruise pre-Covid) — but for this year's cruises, the port's rules changed, and they got caught short.

But they've now added the Endeavour, a 2 year-old purpose-built expedition ship.

@SLSD Well… the reason is that Flam changed the rules for cruise ships. Seabourn has been sailing there for years, but this year they got edged out when Flam reduced their daily capacity. (We also don't know how the bookings are handled, but certainly Seabourn is a smaller cruise line and may have less clout/less priority than larger competitors.) Also, I think it's only fair to note that Seabourn books many of their ports long before a season of cruises goes on public sale; it takes many, many months of planning to schedule every detail of cruises for every ship. Seabourn isn't unique in doing that. Silversea has certainly sold blocks for corporate and TA groups, and has cancelled entire cruises for corporate charters, upsetting many passengers.

I know she has the title of Seabourn President, but I doubt she has the power and clout to enact such a change. She doesn't even report to the President & CEO of Carnival, nor is she on the 20-member Carnival leadership team, which includes the heads of all their other cruise lines. Earlier this summer, after a 10-moth "listening tour" of his own, Carnival Corp. CEO Josh Weinstein reorganized the company to remove layers between the corporate office and cruise lines. But Seabourn is still run as a subsidiary of Holland America, and Leahy reports to the Holland America Line president. I don't think she could separate Seabourn HQ from Holland America.

That seems pretty old fashioned: people don't need a travel agent in their immediate area. For many years, we've worked with a travel agent halfway across the country because their small agency specializes in luxury cruise lines. We've never met in person, but have a great working relationship. When I check the Seabourn travel agent finder, it shows me lots of local agencies which are not luxury cruise specialists (such as every AAA branch within 50 miles!).

The ship will have a number of excursions in the morning, and they all get back to the beach location by 12:30. I believe the Caviar in the Surf event is usually about 12:15-12:30, and the lunch runs for at least 90 minutes. One of the times we were at this stop, we decided to do the train around the island. All would have gone well except the train had a mechanical problem. There was steady communication between the excursion operator and the ship. We got back about 30-40 minutes late, so the caviar in the surf event had just happened — but the Hotel Director, Restaurant Manager, and other Seabourn officers were there to meet our buses with caviar and champagne! And we went straight to lunch from there. If we hadn't previously been at the same beach for this event, I would have been a little disappointed, but they made the best of it and we didn't miss much. So I'd say barring unexpected delays, yo can easily use the morning hours for some touring on the island. Get back between 12:00 and 12:30, and you won't miss a thing. Amateur. 🤣 I think I had four the last time we were there! I skipped everything else on the buffet and concentrated on lobster tails.

I see that now; I thought that was just an underlined heading. In any case, I was replying to Mark's post which referenced the Setting Sail Guide document. In any case, I don't think either the Packing Your Cruise Luggage section of the website I referenced or the Setting Sail Guide PDF you linked jumps out to passengers as the place to look for a dress code. Why don't they put a "Dress Code" or "Attire Onboard" section under the main "Onboard" menu item on the website? Strangely, there are differences in wording between these two versions of the "Clothing Suggestions". As noted previously, the differences in attire suggestions on expedition ships is missing from what's on the main website. Another difference: in the PDF document for classic ships, it says "Silversea operates an on board dress code after 6 pm." That sentence does not appear on the web page, nor on the PDF for expedition ships. There are multiple grammatical mistakes in the PDF; do they have anyone who proofreads what they put out? Anyway, I've gotten way into the weeds again, and I just wanted to come back to my original point that the specifics of Silversea's "Clothing Suggestions" are not completely clear, and are not something new customers may even find — so it's entirely understandable why there are ever-recurring questions about the onboard dress standards. Those who are annoyed by the questions and discussions should just skip past them; those who answer the questioners should be mindful that it's not as straightforward as we might think it is (or should be). Okay, I'm done. 😀

It's not in the section of the website on the dress code, er, clothing suggestions. 😉 After you mentioned it, I did find the PDF file you referenced by Googling it, but I'm not sure where it's linked from the Silversea website, nor if it would be apparent to new cruisers to look there for dress code information. In any case, I'm not looking to quibble, only to point out that there is legitimate confusion about dress requirements because Silversea misses the opportunity to state a clear dress code if they want their passengers to respect their intentions.

This is another example of Silversea using imprecise language. The sentence starts with "women usually wear…" — which sounds like a suggestion rather than an edict. So for men, do they "usually wear jackets" or is it "jackets are required"? Why not say one or other other? And does that mean men must wear jackets even if dining outdoors at The Grill, which is casual on all other ships on all nights? If they just wrote it clearly and unambiguously, there wouldn't be so much chatter offering personal interpretations of what they mean or what they say. Meanwhile, my point to people who read and post on threads about dress code is that very little is completely clear. You can say "in our experience, most people…" or "for us, we like to wear…", but there are very few absolutes you can state from what Silversea says on their website.

I think a big part of the problem is that this actually isn't true! The dress code is anything but clear. Seriously… follow me here… Go to the Silversea web site and find where the dress code is posted. I'll wait… Ah, you can't! Because Silversea does not post anything called a dress code. When you poke around, if you're diligent enough, you may find the information they provide. It's on the General Information page, buried under the heading for "Packing Your Cruise Luggage". So it's understandable that many new-to-Silversea cruisers likely never even find this information. Then look at what Silversea actually says. First, as I said, there is nothing called "Dress Code". Instead, all you'll find is "Clothing Suggestions – Shipboard Attire". Well, "Suggestions" is quite different than "Code". The text then talks about what is "appropriate" clothing for men and women for each of the three categories of evenings. "Evening attire falls into three categories: casual, informal and formal. On casual evenings, pants, blouses, skirts and casual dresses for ladies; open-neck shirts and slacks for gentlemen are appropriate. On informal evenings, ladies usually wear dresses or pantsuits; gentlemen wear jackets (tie optional). Appropriate formal evening wear for ladies is an evening gown or cocktail dress; gentlemen wear tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits. Tie is required." So the only thing stated as a firm requirement is a tie, for men, on formal nights! Then things fall apart even further. The "Clothing Suggestions" section continues: On formal nights, guests may dine in La Terrazza and choose to dress informal; dresses or pantsuits for ladies, jackets for gentlemen (tie optional). This option also applies to Seishin on board Silver Spirit, Kaiseki on board Muse, Moon and Dawn. Dining at The Grill and Spaccanapoli is optional casual all nights. Following dinner, all guests are free to take advantage of any or all public spaces, however, jacket is required. So SALT Kitchen and La Dame, in addition to Atlantide, are formal on formal nights (which is contrary to what some have posted in this thread). Next, this states that a jacket is required in any public spaces on the ship of formal nights. So even if you dine at Hot Rocks in shorts and a polo shirt, you need to change to put on a jacket to go to a bar or theater, according to what Silversea has posted — even though posts in this thread state that the dress code only applies to the restaurants. Additionally, there is no mention in the Silversea language about Formal nights actually being "Informal/Formal Optional" on 7 night cruises. Additionally, there is no mention of different rules applying for expedition cruises, including the lack of formal nights and a jacket being optional on informal nights, even though one-third of Silversea's current fleet is expedition ships. The Silversea statement also says: "Casual wear is appropriate for daytime aboard ship or ashore and consists of standard sports outfits as worn at five-star resorts." But I think almost everyone agrees that jeans and shorts are acceptable clothing during the day — despite this not being what SS says. There is no mention of jeans not being allowed; in fact, the word "jeans" does not appear in the document. So it's left up to the reader to decide if nice jeans are or are not "pants" or "slacks". Note that what's posted on the Silversea website does not match the language often printed in Chronicles aboard the ships. So my point is that Silversea's dress code is not clear, especially to new passengers. It would be easy to correct the discrepancies, close the loopholes, make clear the intent, and replace "suggestions" with "Our Dress Code". Yet despite this being an ongoing topic of strife both here and on FB, Silversea has chosen not to. Longtime passengers who think the rules are clear should understand that they are not — and that the fault lies not with new customers who understandably have questions, but with Silversea for not making them clear.

But you'd be okay eating all the food they showed in one day? 🤣

Flying from another city isn't a problem with a deviation. But I believe I've read that there is a time limit relative to your cruise. Staying an extra week isn't a problem, but multiple weeks might be. Hopefully someone here knows the specifics and will jump in. Or better still, maybe ask your TA to check with Silversea. Might as well get the answer straight from the authoritative source. 😉

It is not possible to pay for extra luggage for the charter flight. This was from the flight info for our Silversea cruise in December:

I agree — but they're unlikely to have as many satellites servicing remote northern and southern areas of the planet simply because there isn't as much demand for service there. And yes, performance will also depend how much bandwidth the cruise ship is paying for, and how many people on the ship are trying to do things online.

A travel agent can make a booking for you for 3-4 days before a deposit is required. I don't know for sure, but I thin during that time window, you could check FlightEase. Of course, your cruise would need to be within the next 11 months, which as far into the future as there are flight schedules. And keep in mind that many flights showing currently may be changed by the airlines closer to the time of travel — but at least you'd be able to see what comes up and what the pricing is currently.

I think this is a key for tempering expectations, particularly on the expedition ships which spend a large part of their cruising year in the far north and far south of the planet, when're StarLink has limited (or no) exposure.