cruiseej

Yes, I was describing what I and other have described on Seabourn. Of course, in a traditional restaurant, all wines are "revenue wines", so a sommelier can service everyone. 🤣 As for the included wine list, I think they are reluctant to produce/share it at times because the inventory changes over time. A wine which is featured one night might be finished by the end of that night. A wine that they have only a few bottles of may not make a list because they know it's almost out. I think the wines they have in larger quantities, and may "push", vary from ship to ship and cruise to cruise. On our Sojourn cruise at starting the end of May, there were a lot of South African wines featured/pushed. Why? Probably because Sojourn had come from South Africa a few weeks earlier, and likely took on a large shipment of wine there. I'd bet that now, six weeks later, there are different wines being featured on that ship.

Well I think that's what the Sommeliers are primarily there for: customers who will pay for "revenue wine". I don't believe the Sommeliers are actually there to serve all customers; they're there to primarily focus on the people who will pay for the premium wines. That's not to say that, under the right circumstances (e.g. not too busy), they won't talk with you or help you if you're sticking with the included wines — but I think it becomes your waiter's responsibility rather than the Sommelier's to fetch included wines, including when you ask for an alternative to the nightly featured wine. I think this is one of the biggest failings of Seabourn at the moment: very inexpensive and mediocre- to low-quality included wines. On our recent Sojourn cruse with 6 couples, some new to Seabourn and some returning guests, the quality of the wine was probably the biggest gripe from everyone. We all wished Seabourn would add $10 or $20/day to the cruise fare and put that money towards upgrading the included wines. Of course, one can't expect $100 bottles of wine to be included, but a $20 wine instead of an $8 wine would make a huge difference.

I think the concept for new cruise terminals like this one is to build infrastructure for port-side electrical connections to ships, so their engines can be shut down or reduced to their lowest idle and they can run off electricity generated on land. And, over time, there will likely be cleaner natural gas busses if not electric busses, so bus pollution may decline as well. This requires all parties to "get it right", but it's definitely viable.

Cities/ports do have the right to restrict cruise ship traffic however they want. But there's a balancing act of turning away tourism revenue.

Or maybe the strategy is to increase the price, to see who will pay, and to be able to offer it at a "special discount" or even free to select passengers. Getting comped on a $120 dinner is nice, but getting comped on a $320 dinner — now we're taking! 🤣

Sure, what could go wrong with that? 🤣

I wonder how long that can hold as it seems more areas around the world are starting to rebuff large cruise ships from overrunning their cities and towns. Venice, Key West, Bangor (Maine), Flam (Norway) and others have cut back or disallowed large cruise ships. Small towns from Alaska to the Caribbean to Greek islands are overrun with tens of thousands of tourists from ever-larger cruise ships, and it seems inevitable there will be more pushback in the future. Meanwhile, the younger generation of cruisers who have tried cruising and liked it will be looking for new experiences and destinations. Can the cruise industry keep adding capacity and adding variety if they have fewer place to visit? I realize this isn't a short-term issue, and Wall Street mostly looks at the short-term, but I foresee problems down the road with the ongoing rapid growth of the cruise industry.

It definitely happens in the present day. I've seen some posts from people who have stayed on for an extra leg. What the price would be is determined on a case by case basis; one person's great deal could be an insufficient discount for another. And as noted above, re-arranging air travel on short notice is the biggest obstacle to doing so.

Hopefully they're getting this customer feedback — and hopefully you'll be able to deliver it directly in your focus group/interview. If they understand some loyal customers will explore other cruise lines over an issue like this, it should be something they take a close look at. It would be interesting to know — although we likely never will definitively — whether they are staffed up to 100% of the levels they intend on their ships, or if holes still exist that drive decisions like not opening the Restaurant to serve a relatively small number of passengers. Or if they are fully staffed, but have cut some staff positions in order to reduce their operating costs.

I understand planning port excursions is quite a complicated process with contracting local tour providers, but opening reservations for the TK Grill? That's just software, which does the same thing for every cruise. It's a little hard to understand why that would be backlogged.

Well, that would make me very happy! I hope that turns out to be what they're doing. And I'd give them kudos for listening the customer feedback and changing course.

I agree and disagree. 😀 Yes, I think it it was open every day, every cruise, some people might go there for breakfast on occasion. But how much planning does one need for where to go for breakfast or lunch? You're either driven by the timing of your excursion/touring/walking about plans for the port of the day, or if you have time flexibility, I think most people can make this decision before going to sleep in the evening, or in the morning after getting up. On our recent Sojourn cruise in the Mediterranean, we ate breakfast in the Colonnade daily, and had lunch there or at the pool grill depending on our timing and the weather. I believe that had the Restaurant been open for breakfast and lunch every day, it would have been something we would have considered on our one sea day. (Please don't take this as a vote against opening the Restaurant for breakfast and lunch! I think they should do so to the greatest extent possible, and for a prolonged time, to evaluate if the number of people who utilize this option justify the staff time and costs. Even if they've done so in the past, so much has changed in the Covid era, I think it deserves a fair trial now to see if more than a handful of passengers would utilize the Restaurant.)

The comedian I referred to (in Post #8 above) from our Sojourn cruise in early June was David Copperfield who branded himself as "Not the 'Illusionist' but the 'Unusualist' ". I should have remembered the name, but I think I tried to blank him out of my memory! He clearly had some talent, as he sang and played guitar, but his jokes were dated — particularly the way he addressed women. My wife and the other women in our group found his style offensive, and I think most of the men found him cringey at best. .

We had a British comedian on our recent Sojourn cruise whose 1950's-era humor about husbands and wives offended everyone in our group of 12. We didn't walk out simply out of politeness, but our comments definitely suggested that Seabourn not bring that comedian back. We probably should have left to make a silent statement — and get to the Club for a nightcap instead! We didn't attend his second show. (I'd have to dig out our Heralds to find his name.) And we thoroughly disliked the DJ, both in the Club and when he cranked out music on the pool deck. I've made the argument in other treads that if Seabourn is trying to modernize/update the music — as some have reported hearing from the executives in charge — they could absolutely do so with live musicians and no DJ. Trios can play Ed Sheeran or Luke Combs or Olivia Rodrigo or Taylor Swift instead of The Girl from Ipanema and Besame Mucho! 🤣 As for bringing a travel iron on board, I'd note that clothing irons are listed on Seabourn's web page about prohibited items. They clearly could have handled it more politely/gracefully, as you noted, but they were actually correct in telling you that it was a disallowed item. (And per the policy, such items are to be confiscated at boarding and returned upon disembarkation.) The fact that you've brought it in the past and not been caught doing so doesn't weigh in favor of them allowing you to continue to do so when there is a company policy against it. (I believe irons are actually prohibited by most cruise lines, as noted in this article.) Finally, regarding boarding in Venice, I haven't read of any cruise ships which handle check-in at the port in Fusina. I believe they are building some sort of cruise facility building there to enable security screening and baggage handling, but I haven't heard that it's yet open/functional. Seabourn is at the mercy of the local port authority for those issues, and likely for the flow of shuttle busses as well.

@SLSD Again, I wasn't in any way questioning or doubting that this is what the restaurant manager told you. 😀 But since it seemed to never have happened consistently across all the ships in the weeks that followed, per passenger reports, I'm just guessing it was not a done-deal new policy which was instantly reversed. I think it's more likely that the restaurant manager you talked to hadn't gotten correct information. After all, the restaurant manager is under the F&B director who is under the hotel director, who reports up multiple levels of higher executives in the corporate office. It's possible they were considering a change, testing a change, or that the message just got twisted being passed down the ranks. Or… maybe the shipboard directors/managers had pushed for such a change and someone thought they had been given the go-ahead from corporate, when in fact it hadn't been finalized and approved. Or… maybe the change is coming, but is not yet implemented due to staffing shortages or other logistical reasons. We'll probably never know what went on behind the scenes, but we'll see over time whether the outcome is a change to open the Restaurant for three meals a day or not. It will be interesting to see if the focus group or interview you'll be participating in will give you the opportunity to raise this and any other issues you want regarding services on the ships — or if they'll just be getting your reaction to some new changes they're considering/planning. (For instance, included excursions to compete with Silversea and Regent, or included air, which was rumored in the past). I hope you do have an opportunity to raise the issues you want, but sometimes these things aren't open-ended. (I wish I could get on their interview list, since there are a few issues I'd like to raise with them, too! 🤣) I imagine they'll ask you to agree to confidentiality if they're running any new concepts by you, but if you're able to post anything about the flavor of the conversation, even if not the specifics, it would be interesting to hear about.

@SLSD I don't doubt that that is what you were told, but it's more likely that you were misinformed because the person who told you was misinformed. It seems less likely that they changed the policy to open the Restaurant for breakfast and lunch and then reversed that decision almost immediately. There have been other cruisers who have reported here and on FB since your cruise that the Restaurant has not been open every day; I just don't think there was a fleet-wide change and then reversal. I'd guess they have criteria for when they open the Restaurant: passenger load may be a factor; ports may be a factor; staff levels may be a factor.

The brochures, although we almost all think are too much, drives increased sales and revenue. It wouldn't make sense to cut them unless/until their market research shows that they can cut without impacting sales. The fake leather document holder and luggage tag holders drives increased costs. You would actually even think about switching cruise line based on whether they send pre-cruise documents in fake leather holder? Are you just being facetious, or serious? We all choose our cruise lines based on those which resonate the most with us, so if that's a criterion that would lead you to choose who to cruise with, I guess you have your answer. Understanding that every cruise line needs to increase profits to pay back the enormous debts they accumulated during the Covid shutdown, this seems to me like an easy choice. I'd rather they save the money here than cutting back somewhere on staff or food or drink that I'd care about much more. (Nor would I want them to charge me more for them.) I'd note that both Silversea and Seabourn, Regent's two biggest competitors in the luxury cruise market, have eliminated fancy pre-cruise document packages as well. I would still label all three as top luxury cruise lines, even without the plastic document pouch or luggage tag holder. 😀

@caviarforme That's great that they are providing boat transit directly from Fusina to St. Mark's without requiring people to bus to the old cruise terminal and then catch their own transit to the heart of their city. This wasn't happening in the early days of the cruise ships being exiled to Fusina last year, so it seems the cruise lines are adapting and finding ways to make things work better. Out of curiosity, what kind of boat did they have for this transfer? A chartered vaporetto, or a smaller boat? Was it exclusive to Seabourn, or shared by multiple cruise ships in port that day?

I thought that this past year, it was a maximum of 50 pounds for checked luggage (one or two bags, your choice), and a carry on. But there was some confusion over whether the 50 pound limit was total checked or per bag (e.g. up to 100 pounds). Hopefully someone who was on Venture in the Antarctic this past year will post a definitive answer. (We were on a Silversea Antarctica cruise this past winter, and we were definitely and clearly limited to 50 pounds total checked luggage per person — but Silversea flies smaller planes to a smaller airport in southern Chile than Seabourn does flying into Ushuaia.) And they sometimes revise the rules between seasons as the cruise line and their charter providers review what did and didn't work well the prior season. As for the carry on, I don't think I've seen anyone report that the measurements of their bag was checked, nor weighed, but you should assume it may be a smaller or slightly older jet which has smaller overhead compartments instead of the ones on the latest model jets; large rollaboards may have to fit in sideways instead of wheels first, and anything too big may not fit.

I wouldn't feel hurt or slighted at all! Other than perhaps uber-elite passengers, I don't think you can find any meaning in the boarding time you've been assigned. In fact, in the two years since Seabourn resumed cruising post-Covid and implemented these boarding times, no one I've met or talked to on our three cruises or online about the boarding times has been able to explain — or even discern — what rules or algorithm they are using to assign people to boarding time slots. Nor why they send multiple emails and sometimes change the boarding time once or twice. What new information do they have between a week in advance and three days in advance which would require changing anyone's boarding time? My guess is that your cruise has Group A at 13:00, Group B at 13:10 and Group C at 13:20. Of course, everyone wants to be first, but everyone can't be first, and it really doesn't matter. On our most recent cruise two months ago, we were happy to be traveling with 5 other couples; we had the most nights on Seabourn in the group, but we just became Gold level. Three other couples had one or two prior Seabourn cruises. Two couples were new to Seabourn. We were all in the same class of suite, all adjoining on the same deck. Yet we received three different boarding times among us, and one of the new couples received the earliest time slot, and ours wasn't the earliest. Go figure! 🤣 Because we had booked a van from our hotel to the port, we naturally arrived at the same time — and it was no problem, as there was no queue, and no one asked for our boarding pass document. After dropping off our luggage and checking in in the cruise terminal, we received a small laminated group number for boarding, base don our time of arrival. I think we were group 8, and we had about a 10 minute wait until we were called to board, probably about 1:30. Within minutes, we had visited our suite to drop off carry on bags, stopped to talk to a hostess at Thomas Keller to square away a night when we could all dine together (which hadn't been possible to book online in advance), and found two adjoining tables outside at the back of the Colonnade for lunch and wine (not necessarily in that order) — it was all smooth and perfect!

@JPH814 The Seabourn Club benefits shows (currently, and from what I remember in the past) that the 5% past passenger (Seabourn Club) savings is available on some but not all cruises — "select sailings" in Seabourn's parlance: @SLSD This is what I was referring to above when I wrote the 5% Seabourn Club/repeat customer/laoyalty discount is offered on some cruises and not others. (I suspect cruises which are selling well do not allow the Club discount.) @JPH814 When you look at your specific cruise on the Seabourn website, try starting a booking so you can see pricing for the suite level you're interested in. It will show whether the 5% Seabourn Club discount applies. For example, I just picked a cruise at random from next August, and you can see that it shows the 5% Club savings is available: But checking several other August 2024 cruises, the 5% Club savings is not shown. Our most recent Seabourn cruise two months ago was booked under a promotion last year which qualified for a 5% discount for being a Club member, which could be combined with a 5% discount from a future cruise deposit we had previously purchased, and the promotion allowed an additional 10% discount for full prepayment; all three discounts could be combined. While we were onboard that cruise in June, we booked a cruise for next year; it was a promotion with a surprisingly big 30% discount for expedition cruises — but the terms of that promotion did not allow us to get the 5% savings for being Seabourn Club members; it also did not allow us to use a future cruise deposit for the normal 5% savings. Neither of our bookings exactly describe your cruise, but hopefully serve to illustrate that which discounts are available, and combinable, under a particular promotion do vary. As @CalmSea wrote above, we just ask our TA to dig into the details to find out what discounts do and don't apply.

I think the 5% discount for past passengers has been for certain select cruises, not for all cruises.

@markham The poster was asking if Seabourn had a customer advocate, or a way to communicate with the corporate headquarters about their bad experience. I agree that having a travel agent to intercede on your behalf is worthwhile, but that's not the issue here. Why did you blame them for seeking the help of a third-party, when that wasn't what they were asking about?

Well, the way things are headed, Alaska and Antarctica may be warm weather cruises within a few years! 🤣

This is what we experienced on our recent Sojourn cruise. And we did not like having the DJ instead of the live trio in the Club. I can play recorded music in our suite; what' really special to us is the live musicians performing live. If their goal was to broaden or modernize the music repertoire, I'm all for that — but live musicians can play music from any era, however they direct. We did not enjoy the DJ playing nearly al disco music — and loud — in the Club. I hope they will change this.