jondfk

We also received our response same day, sent a letter listing both sailings this summer, both credits showed up later the same day. Couldn’t ask for more.

I’ll give a perspective from the other side of the “get out of the room” curtain. We sailed B2B on Regatta in September. The handful of back to backers (~18) were to be the last group off, routed through Customs and Immigration and reboarded. That being the case we were ask to remain in our cabin until the prescribed time 9:30 as I recall which gave us a glimpse of the chaos of changeover. Stewards, butlers and all available staff were scurrying here, there everywhere. Guests dragging luggage would have been very problematic. Boy those folks work hard, still our room was fully tidied during our brief absence, amazing.

Same here only a delete and reinstall solved the problem.

I'll confirm what's already been written, our personal cruise consultant (yes, cruise critic I know, we should be using your favorite travel agent) likewise suggested a mid-September release. We are keen to book the next leg on one of sailings which is the last currently released, he promised to reach out to me in the pre-release period (usually 2 weeks or so) to gather our input so he can secure space the moment it is officially released.

We board (Ovation) in two weeks and very much hope the situation is somewhat better than described on Sojourn. We (meaning I) don't need especially fine wine, but some regional variety and something in keeping with the character of the luxury promise is appropriate. It would be short sighted indeed to drive me to the harder part of the bar menu for satisfaction, I'm fully capable of enjoying a good scotch, bourbon or vodka in place of wine, which will undoubtedly cost SB more. It's amazing how shortsighted the decision making can become particularly when only one type of beans are being counted.

Reading the OP's comments brought back a few memories from our first O cruise in April of '22. Our first meal or two in the GDR were acceptable, not great, but acceptable. Things when bad on night 3 or 4 when we, seated at a table for 2, were chained to an adjacent table for 10, nothing could happen until the large table made their selections. No course could arrive before the matching course at that table. No big deal you say, well it becomes one if they want 6 courses and we 3. Dinner took hours (and hours). Not wanting to repeat the experience we had a discrete word with one of the mangers on the way out. The problem was absolutely and completely solved for all of the subsequent nights. What can you learn about me from this experience. Well, first, I'm probably too patient, rather than have my own meal drag on for hours driven someone else's preferences I should have spoke up sooner. On the other hand, speaking out that night, firmly but politely, did solve the problems for the balance of our sailing. We still laugh (and yes, seethe a little) thinking back on that early O meal, but we do accept that problems that aren't raised can't be solved. Should there be problems, ideally not, but unfortunately they do happen and have to be dealt with.

Notwithstanding the corrections on cost I’ll add my vote for NJ Transit from Penn station. Service is frequent, luggage is accommodated, and there are no questions related to traffic other than the ride to Penn station from the pier.

Happy to follow your experience, we're onboard for 14 days in August and always enjoy a first hand account. Especially eager to hear the names of any exceptional crew. Happy sailing.

I have flown with them a few times, mainly within Germany. Fairly usual low cost airline, unremarkable is every respect. As I recall flights operated on time and were quite full. As you note Lufthansa owns them, and provides behind the scenes services but you’ll usually interact with staff wearing their uniforms. In smaller airports checkin etc may be at the Lufthansa counter, or may be done by employees wearing LH uniforms. I can’t honestly recall weather I got UA FF miles or not.

What a great post, also a fan of Anker products in terms of quality and reliability. I’ll add that less techie minded folks might look for the term “GaN” when looking for a high power charger. I won’t go into what GaN is just say it’s the latest semiconductor technology for high power handling. Newer IPhones and iPads charge very quickly using such technology, presumably the same is true for latest Android devices though I’m not expert there. As suggested elsewhere, pay attention to which socket you use for what, most GaN chargers have one port that delivers max power, plus 3 or 4 lower power sockets. Also, maximum power is divided over the number of sockets in use, so if you’re trying to get a quick charge of your phone, have it be the only thing plugged into the max socket (for example).

Perhaps, but the sales pitch for Varo was pretty strong and there was never a word of shortage mentioned. There was no reluctance to say that word with regard to Diet Coke for example (we were asked to conserve that until reaching Honolulu).

One quirk in our experience is a reluctance to stock club soda. We’ve ask for it on each of our 3 sailings since the restart with varying levels of success. It seems the powers that be have instructed stewards and butlers to push the bubbly Varo water which would be fine if the bottles actually sealed to trap the gas, but they don’t. On one sailing our request was politely but quite firmly refused. The solution was obvious, we pulled a few from the self service tray set up in the lounge for lectures. On the other two sailing the crew acquiesced after we had stocked up a six pack or so. An unnecessary frustration.

Well, speaking only for myself I’ll say, when Covid hit and we were sent to quarantine I was mighty glad for our direct booking, there was no doubt we were the responsibility of the cruise line (Princess in that case). Met dozens of others at Travis who struggled to book travel home because their travel agents couldn’t do a thing. Worst case scenario, sure, but reason enough for me. Our upcoming Norway sailing on Ovation dropped significantly, though not 25%. One phone call to our PCC at Seabourn had us upgraded from V1 to V4 and an $800 obc. Couldn’t have been easier.

Okay, I’ll chime in, recognize that mine is from the perspective of a person who had the worst sort of early COVID experience, we were onboard Grand Princess in February 2020 landing us in 8 days of shipboard quarantine plus 14 days more at Travis we are forever changed. Adjustments: 1. Never again will I leave any Rx medication at home. Frequent traveler I, prided myself on carrying nothing extra, one extra day in my pill box was the norm. When packing for our Grand cruise DW asked “what should I do with my extra pills, I replied toss ‘‘em in, we’re driving to the pier plenty of space”. Brilliant decision, one I didn’t mirror. 2. Once on board, we will never again work the wardrobe backwards assuming it’s okay to get home with a “perfect” suitcase of 100% dirty clothes (the contrary would suggest overpacking, right?). Nope, there’s no promise you’ll get home on time, better to have a few extra things. 3. Likewise we grab a few non perishable items to keep in the room. When the worst happens there is no way, despite best intentions, the cruise line or hastily assembled quarantine staff can deliver even the most basic expectations without glitches. Onboard Grand we were missed for 3 meals, at Travis 5 more. Best to hoard just a little. 4. Travel logistics, even before COVID we had given up same day arrivals, now we allow even more time. For the cruise I happen to know you are asking about we will arrive in Copenhagen 48 hours before boarding. Too safe? I refer you to last summers air challenges. We don’t have time for every possible failure, but do have room to recover if things don’t go exactly right. If this all makes it sound as though we’re prepping for doomsday and can’t possibly enjoy our cruises, not so. We’ve found that employing our lived experience removes questions and doubt and allows us to more fully enjoy.

Fortunately, lots of folks look at the nearby elevator lobby and conclude they should stay away. I won’t tell ‘‘em the truth if you don’t…

We’ve been in 8042, 8044 and 8046. Partially under the lavs on deck 9 which means limited traffic and no dragging chairs or carts. The same cabins opposite side are under waves which can, but isn’t necessarily a problem.

Indeed

I too will have an opportunity to compare. First and second sailings with SB this year, first with Viking early in the new year…

Following this with interest. Handling certainly does vary line to line, the very idea that officers would give up their cabins to avoid having joining pax's denied boarding is let's say surprising. Does make we wonder how wise it is to book ships full on these itineraries with small ports / limited shoreside services. Perhaps there's still a bit of learning to be done on that front. As to sharing of information, I'm reminded of our first sailing back, which was with Oceania last April from Papeete. At the time Tahiti still required pre flight testing of 100% of arrivals, perhaps that made people over comfortable. Oceania never said a word about masks or covid, but tray stands started to appear outside doors about halfway across, by the time we arrived in Los Angeles, still no word about C onboard, certainly no numbers shared, but we watched as 44 people were taken off by bunny suits which is a fairly large fraction of the 652 aboard. At least as many departed with hacking coughs. Communication seems better on SB at least as described here.

Polo by a mile here. Toscana has never been remotely close, they may share a kitchen but front of the house differs by a mile. All of our experience is on Regatta this far.

@Flamin_June I too am throughly enjoying your reports which are both reassuring as we anticipate our first SB voyage and well written as a general commentary. Keep at it please!

I can’t speak for Seabourn as our first sailing is 9 weeks away, however, we have done this on other lines. The process is quite easy, though you would need quite extraordinary luck to avoid a change of cabins. As to whether you’ll manage a good deal by doing so, I think every situation is different with differing policies line to line. One thing that’s clear is a cabin that’s unbooked a few days before sailing is about to make $0 in revenue. In our experience on other lines a discount of ~35% from what might have been available 60 days earlier is in the range. Premium cabins are both less available and less discounted than mainline rooms.

Reading this thread with high interest as our first, and second SB cruises rapidly approach. The positive is we have no SB reference point, so are likely to be impressed by the service that remains, the negative is our expectations were forged in deep Covid when the promises and expectations set by SB were referenced to the pre closure experience. We would be unlikely to return were there no lunch in the dining room, since we detest the buffet, however "elegant" on the other hand we are unlikely to realize the reduction in offered entree's having no reference point. We do question our decision to book two SB cruises in quick succession, retrospectively it would have been far smarter to give just one a try and decide on future loyalty based on experience more than hype. On the other hand we had our first sailings on O coming out of the shutdown and were powerfully impressed, surely SB has to be even better we thought. Things like the lack of name recognition and a vastly less number of MDR lunch offerings (or indeed the entire closure of the MDR at lunch) would leave us wondering what we paid a considerable premium for, especially given our limited consumption of alcohol. Still, we've elected to keep the planned sailings on Ovation in June and Odyssey in August. Whether we will from there become repeat SB guests will have everything to do with our experience and perception of value, mind you we can afford to sail SB, the definition of value however is quality of the experience weighed against the price paid. Seabourn sets high expectations with their pricing. Here's hoping they exceed for these first timers. There have been positive, pre boarding surprises, like the call we received this week from our SB cruise consultant reviewing our cabin bar requests right down to the brand of root beer the Mrs. would prefer - that feels like genuine luxury - but it also sets expectations that the carefully collected details will be delivered onboard.

Personally, I couldn't care less how many courses the table next to us order, and even whether or not they waste their meals. In my mind, the food is there, it's prepared, so try as much as you like. My peeve however is when the wait staff shackle me to the adjacent table's course selection and pacing, meaning not bringing my meal out rather letting the adjacent table set the pace of play. They want 5 courses - fine but bring my main with their soup/salad or whatever. Don't make me wait for them to finish two courses just to save yourself a trip to the kitchen. Yes, it happens, not often, but it does. Similarly, no one should be rushed to order. Likewise, a table that has screened the menu in advance and is ready to go shouldn't be slowed while an adjacent table ponders the myriad choices. Take all the time you need, but again, don't tie me to their process.

For a different reason, I was given an official (meaning from SB) special requests form. included is a box for CPAP? Followed by a box asking distilled water required? It seems as though Seabourn are both ready and willing to assist. Internally, I think SB call the form an “SR”. Jon