commodoredave

Hi all, I am a TA with clients on the 12/14 sailing. I see COMMODOREDAVE is using Coach Costa Rica for the same sailing. Wondering if you are at all open to sharing your ride with my clients from California. I have not contacted them yet, just wanted to see if you are open to it first. They will be arriving in CR on 12/13, and returning back to California on 12/15. Are you staying at the Marriott pre/post as well?

 

Adele

I'm afraid it won't work on the first leg as we arrive CR 12/12 and head to the Marriott Los Suenos on the Pacific coast. However, it might work on the return leg as we depart the ship in Puerto Caldera on 12/21 for the San Jose Airport hotel. We already have another couple sharing our transport, but Coach Costa Rica may have a large enough van for 6 people with luggage -- you'd have to check with them.

We will be doing our first SD cruise in mid-December and do not anticipate major issues with children in that timeframe. Having said that, we do not like rolling the dice on a luxury-priced cruise and will be more careful in future. Interestingly, while we deal with a major NA travel agency that sits on the advisory board of most luxury lines, our agent was not familiar with the issues SD has been experiencing with respect to children. We directed her to this CC thread and she was grateful for the info, and said she would now be more careful about booking her clients on SD during school holiday periods. So perhaps the best way to get our message across to SD is not directly, but through our respective travel agents who have much more clout than each of us do as individuals.

Reporting live from the Seabourn Pride in the North Sea where we have absolutely no children on board -- neither passenger or crew children. What a lovely adult atmosphere and experience. If our cruise in December aboard SD1 does not match this experience, we will be one-time SD passengers.

As someone suggested previously, I think the problem is that if SD management designated some cruises as "Children Welcome" and others as "Adults Only", most of the "children welcome" cruises would run 65% vacant. Many adults don't want to sail on a small luxury ship with children, but cruise lines don't want to give up the extra revenue (albeit small). So they would rather deceive loyal pax by not being honest about when and how many children will be sailing.

If I'm wrong, I hope someone in SD management will correct me.

Commodoredave; this proposal has previously been made (see quote)

Yes, I know -- I first suggested it on aug 23. I was only repeating it for the benefit of SD management.

IF SD management is reading this thread, there is a simple and elegant solution to the issue: Simply designate some cruises as permitting children, and designate others as adult only. Then we could all make choices that would make us happy and fill SD ships.

Has anyone tried Sea Cloud? Also, someone mentioned Windstar once they get the three small ships from Seabourn. I've been on 4 Windstar cruises and don't remember ever seeing a single child on them.

Children don't belong on SeaDream, but if Miami is not going to restrict them, management should at the very least designate certain cruises as "kids welcome" and "kids prohibited." We could then make informed choices about when we choose to sail with SD without the fear of wasting our money and being disappointed. If management fails to do this, I'm afraid they are going to drive away their best and most loyal customers. Even newcomers like me are beginning to regret my decision to give them a try.

Has anyone seen an increase in kids on Seadream? A friend just got off and told me there were 5 on board and lots of people complaining - one pooped in the pool? I think he was on Seadream 2[/quote)

 

If this keeps ups, they will have to change the name of the cruise line to "SeaPoop." :eek:

Have not changed my mind -- at least not on Regent! It seemed that there were too many "servers" walking back and forth waiting for someone to need to have something put on their plate on the Riviera. I ended up getting more than I wanted or were able to eat as I got tired of having to discuss each item I wanted -- how much I wanted and, in some cases, which piece I wanted. I really became frustrated when I could not dip my own marshmallow in the chocolate fountain and ended up with it drenched in chocolate when I only wanted a little. There is no sanitation there...... while waiting for someone to give me the drenched marshmallow, I could have dipped my fingers in the fountain if I were so inclined. I would also like to know why a passenger cannot open their own box of cereal and put it in a bowl. Is someone going to open the box - stick their fingers in the cereal and leave it there for someone else?

 

There are also items that you can serve yourself (mostly condiments). So, the problematic serving utensil that everyone with germs on their hands touches is there.

 

IMO, it takes much less staff to oversee the buffet (as they do on Regent) to insure that only utensils touch the food on the buffet (and they remove it if there is a contamination issue). The only solution I can think of regarding the "germy" utensils is having napkins available to hold them.

 

I find it interesting that passengers are concerned about a buffet on a luxury cruise line when they touch menu's, salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and other condiments in restaurants every day. Does anyone really think that these items are sanitized between each use?

 

This sounds a bit harsher than I mean it to be. Perhaps I am a bit tired of "rules" that do not make sense to me. If I ever saw someone contaminating the food, I would immediately notify someone. Please Regent....... do not take away our ability to have one spoonful of things on the buffet. If some passengers do not want to eat at the buffet, there are other options. It is interesting to read the opinions of Regent customers since Oceania customers seem to enjoy things the way they are.

 

:)

While I see the potential for better sanitation when people cannot touch the utensils in the buffet line, DW and I much prefer taking our own portions as on Regent. Staff always shuffle out too way much food, even when we ask for a small portion or just a taste. It is very annoying.

I didn't "see" the post you quoted. I agree that some people like dining with officers for "show" but that is not usually the case. We have known some of the men and women on Regent ships for many years. We met one G.M. when he was Food & Beverage Mgr. We met a H.R. Manager a long time ago - she is now on Oceania. We dined with her one night on the Riviera. These hard working men and women do not have a lot of extra time to chat with people - except at dinner. We are not "selected" to have dinner with them....... we nag them (well, sort of -- we nag Paul Reynolds -- love to tease him on CC because he doesn't read it:-)

 

Certainly do not expect everyone to be as interested in Regent and the people who work on the ships as we are. Some of these people feel like part of our extended family and we look forward to seeing them - it is part of our cruising experience. It is a bit sad to learn that passengers dining with officers are being judged. Just do not understand that way of thinking.

I'm not judging anyone; neither was Responder. Just stating facts. Some people genuinely enjoy the company of officers or staff, others do it for the "show" part as you refer to it. I've been fortunate enough to be seated with many officers/staff (including Mark Conroy on Regent) on many different cruise lines. Most were good company; some were dreadful. Frankly, I normally prefer the company of other passengers.

Not looking to start a war, but I sure would like someone to explain the mystic of dining with officers. Maybe a better bottle of wine....maybe more attentive service. But in reality, the officers are employees, just like other employee but better paid. I know this is part of a luxury ship's culture, but why?

 

I've been sailing for more years than many of you are in age and I just don't understand it.

Quite agree with you. Sometimes one can glean some useful information from an officer, and on occasion some officers can be amusing. Otherwise, it's probably more the snob appeal of being "chosen" to dine with an officer.

My hubby and I have cruised on many "floating cities" over the years - but since we started sailing our own boat 5 years ago - the big boats just don't quite do it for us anymore. We often are gazing at charter sailboats at ports (even visiting the marinas to talk to fellow sailors) and wishing we were on them. We did try to get a few other sailing mates to charter out of the Grenadines this winter, but no one is able to afford it, and I don't fancy doing it on my own as I do enjoy the aspect of larger cruises, and the many people we met onboard and have made long lasting friendships with over the years we've cruised . So, now I'm looking at Windstar as a possible inbetween sailing option (won't have to cook <lol>). Tho' I doubt we'll have any heeling like we would with a sailboat. Correct me if I'm wrong <lol>.

 

So, reading this thread has made me feel more comfortable with perhaps going ahead with booking our trip. All depends on how our present search on land here goes for our next sailboat (upgrading, we have '2 footitize') and if we can afford a trip down south (I will find away - had no winter break last year - and felt cheated).

 

Just curious if there anyone here that also owns a sailboat like ourselves and enjoys the pampering of a larger sailboat with Windstar?

 

Anna from Montreal aka FatCatAnna - The Trials and Tribulations of a Diabetic

There will be no heeling like a sailboat on Windstar as the ship has computer controlled sails and ballast. It is more of motor yacht with sails (that power the ship alone about 10 - 20% of the time) than a sailboat. Star Clipper is another option and it is more of a sailing experience -- you even get to help pull up the sails.

As someone who has been sailing since 1981, has captained 8 bareboat charters in the BVI, and owns a 27-ft boat, I like both Windstar and Star Clipper. But Star Clipper will give you more of the feel of being on a sail boat, while Windstar will be more luxurious.

Thanks to you and Commodoredave for all your help. Yes, I believe I will move on to the Regent board after consulting a little more with my in-laws.

Best of luck to you and your in-laws. Whatever you choose, I'm sure it will be a wonderful and memorable trip.

Again, you do not have to bring a lot of luggage to have a suitable Seabourn wardrobe.One 50 LB bag per person will hold everything you need for a cruise

(except maybe a world cruise)including tux. So you can have you cake and eat it too. No need for either or. And yes, Lincslady, while alas not required a tie is a nice( and certainly no one can claim that takes up too much space in the luggage).

If one has to lug that luggage to half a dozen hotels and homes, up staircases, on to trains, and squeeze it into trunks of cars with the bags of friends, then a 50 lb bag is "weigh" too much. We started travelling light a long time ago have never looked back or bad.

I thought the luggage valet service was only available from/to the US. Besides, why should I pay a few hundred dollars to ship a tux to and from the ship when I will only be wearing it once or at the most twice. If I am going directly to the ship and then home, I bring my tux. But when I have other stops along the way, I leave it at home. However, I would be happy to borrow yours if we are on the same sailing.:)

Yes, I understand the economics of paying for excursions one does not use -- what I was asking was what made the excursions inferior (not "up to your standards") relative to other excursions you have done. If the excursions offered were simply not of interest to you, no explanation solicited.

 

As for the excursion experiences and preferences of my in-laws: they have not cruised enough to develop any.

 

Thanks for your help.

Good question. Regent offers some excursions that are free, and others than require a supplemental fee. Many of the former were not of interest to us and were inferior to what we could arrange locally. In some cases, the supplemental fee excursions were of interest to us but were far more expensive that we could arrange through local providers. As a example, on our cruise to New Zealand we found a good number of people who shared our disappointment with Regent's excursions and together we booked private tour mini-fans to take 8 or us to places we wanted to see at a fraction of the extra cost that Regent wanted.

I stand corrected - but please admit that you are in the minority - even among Seabourn clientele - who would have their suits custom made to these specifications. Too often I have seen this attempted with less custom designed suits and it look rather silly.

Yes, I have seen too many men wear pin-stripped or checked suit jackets as sports jackets and they do look terrible. As I travel a lot on business, I have learned to pack smart and do some mix and match where it makes sense. I still enjoy wearing a tux, but on our next Seabourn cruise we will be spending 2 weeks before and after the cruise travelling, including 5 days in London on business where I need my suit. So the tux will stay at home this time.

I keep hearing this "use the suit jacket with grey or beige slacks". Nothing looks dorkier than a jacket - designed to be part of a suit - worn as a blazer with contrasting slacks.

A tux is no more difficult to bring than a suit if you will only wear it once. What is a pain is the shirt - at least with a suit you can wear colored or striped shirts with different ties to give some variety so one suit can be worn several times. A tux needs a formal shirt and rarely can you re-wear a formal shirt without it being laudered, starched and pressed. .

I beg to differ. I had my solid navy blue suit specifically made so that the suit jacket could double as a sports jacket and I doubt you or anyone else could tell the difference. As I usually combine cruises with business travel, the suit is essential. It can be worn to meetings and out to dinner ashore, while the tux cannot. In contrast, the tux occupies more space than the suit (because of the shirt, extra tie, etc.) yet is used just once or twice. Simply not a good decision when one wants to travel light.

I know you posted this months ago, but my in-laws have recently started thinking about a Regent cruise, and have asked me to do a little research for them.

 

If you would share what has caused your disappointment with Regent excursions, I would appreciate it. Obviously this sort of info plays into the choice of cruiseline my in-laws will eventually make.

 

Thanks!

If your in-laws feel more comfortable taking all their shore excursions with a cruise line, then they will get value from Regent. Our problem is that we didn't find the excursions offered in every port were up to our standards and interests, so we ended up booking private tours in some ports. And if we had been somewhere before, we just wanted to walk around town. Since there are no rebates for not taking the ship's excursions, you end up paying for something you are not using. And if you take your own excursion, you end up paying twice. So for frequent cruisers like us (59 cruises to date), the Regent value proposition just doesn't work. However, having said that, we love Regent in every other way.

duplicate

But men do look so handsome in their tuxes and the atmosphere is more special on formal nights when everyone dresses up a bit more than every other night. I don't understand the reasoning that tuxes are heavier these days to pack; if so, go the black suit or jacket and dress pants route. Women still dress up; indulge us and do so too for one or two nights.

It's not that tuxes are heavier to pack, it's that it is an extra large item to pack that gets little use. I am much better off bringing a dark blue suit -- I can also use the suit jacket with grey or beige slacks on informal nights, and I can use the suit ashore.

So far the only one we are locking in on is the Canopy Tour. Hope it is like the canopy scenes in "Medicine Man".:eek::D We have enjoyed Zip Lines in the past but the last one we did in St. Martin was a SeaDream excursion and was what I imagine Seal Training might include.:eek: Lois was covered with bruises and we were both very dirty after the Survival course.:eek: Not interested in that experience again. Otherwise, show us a beach or the Pool Deck.:D

Thanks Jim. I'll have a look at the canopy tour. Don't think we'll be doing any zip lining as DW does not enjoy it as she usually spills her wine. :eek:

Does anyone have any advice, preferences or tips on the ship's shore excursions for Costa Rica? We will be 4 people sailing on the SD1 Dec 14 departure.

You would know.:p

Yes, and one of them was the captain.:eek: