secoma4

I understand Cunard is also not stopping at Egyptian ports. Probably a Carnival decision.

Our experience, over nearly 200 days, is that the mattresses are great. Never occurred to me they are hard. I'm sure that if you had an issue they will address it. Make reference to it in you registration details which you need to complete online. There is a section for special requests. You would generally complete this about 3 months prior, but can most likely do it now if you are booked. With pillows there are choices. Just ask the room steward when you arrive.

The format of the "initial" Encore cruises is similar to that for the Quest, which we joined for the "Inaugural" after it had done 2 "pre-inaugural" legs in the Med. As I suggested at the outset, it seems Seabourn's expectations as to the delivery date for Encore have not been met, leaving them in a position where they had to either reposition to Asia (HK, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam etc) or Australia/NZ for the European winter season. They have chosen the latter.

This has meant the pre-inaugural legs, which are used to bed the ship down, are Athens to Dubai and Dubai to Singapore - itineraries which are regularly done in getting ships to and from Asia/ Australia. .

We have done these itineraries but like others, would not consider the leg which spans Xmas/New Year. There are probably many who would find this time suits them.

Like others we paid our $400 and received advice of the pending offer for the Inaugural cruise which was received over a week ago. At that time Seabourn advised that the pre and post itineraries would follow. We decided to book the Inaugural cruise (Singapore to Bali), notwithstanding the poor itinerary, on the basis of what was provided on the inaugural Quest cruise.

And today further itineraries and pricing have been released. So we have also booked the next leg.

It will be interesting to see how bookings go for the various itineraries.

B-to-b. Good to get some feedback from someone who has visited the other ports, although I think it says that with Fruttuoso you only view it from the boat for 10 mins.

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We will be on the same cruise. We've been to Cinque Terra (stayed 3 nights in Varnazza) and also Portofino (twice we stayed and once on a cruise).

You can walk to Portofino from Santa Marguarita if you wish, take the local bus, or the ferry. There is no need to do a tour. Once you get there everything is close. There are plenty of small restaurants on the water for coffee or a meal.

I think we will go to Portofino again. By local ferry, which is regular and easy to find. Santa M is also worth a walk around.

Can't comment on the other places indicated.

The cruise ships are required to provide passenger lists, which include passport details, to the port authorities ie Customs. People within these organizations, the n association with traders, can be very resourceful!

Yes

We went to Qarqartoq in 2012 and if the other ports are similar there may not be much beyond the port/village. Having said that, it was an interesting port of call with great photo opportunities. On the other hand Iceland is fantastic for excursions beyond the immediate locale.

Quest does a leg through the Caibbean on its ways to and from its Antarctic/South America itineraries.

Nothing. Silversea need to react to ongoing poor reviews.

Probably a reaction to the poor reviews they have been receiving on forums like this.

Hi rols

If you think that the weather won't be an issue you only have to look at the 2 cyclones hitting Queensland and Norther Territory today. And then remember that Cyclone Tracy destroyed Darwin on Xmas eve 40 years ago. So the cyclone season for that part of the world is Dec to Feb. Indonesia might not get it quite as bad, but since the cruise continues on to Sydney it will definitely be in the zone. Just a matter of luck as to whether it coincides with the worst of the weather.

Why sail to Canada then back to Italy if it's a refurb of some sort? Quest usually then goes down to South America and Antarctica. Maybe it's just that the itineraries aren't out. I think Seabourn are publicly releasing itineraries for Encore on Monday (23 Feb) so future Quest itineraries could follow?

My guess based on what I see from our points balance is that you only get a credit for hard cash spent ie whatever you hand over at the end of the cruise.

Had my start date wrong - it's 7 Jan 2017. Here's the itinerary

10-DAY SINGAPORE - BENOA (DENPASAR)

0 01/07 SAT SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE midnight

1 01/08 Sun At Sea (South China Sea)

2 01/09 Mon At Sea (Java Sea)

3 01/10 Tue Semarang (Borobudur), Java, Indonesia 07:00 17:00

4 01/11 Wed Surabaya, Java, Indonesia 09:00 18:00

5 01/12 Thu Probolinggo, Java, Indonesia 09:00 18:00

6 01/13 Fri Celukan Bawang, Bali, Indonesia 08:00 18:00

7 01/14 Sat At Sea (Bali Sea)

8 01/15 Sun Slawi Bay, Komodo , Indonesia (1) 07:00 16:00

9 01/16 Mon Benoa (Denpasar), Bali, Indonesia (2) noon overnight

10 01/17 TUE BENOA (DENPASAR), BALI, INDONESIA (2) overnight

NOTE (1) = Access to Komodo Island is restricted to shore excursion participants.

On each segment a small booklet of all passengers is produced. This is usually done when you are onboard. You are given the option not to be listed. All that is shown is name and where you live (generally town or state and country).

Raffles is across the road from Fairmont. Taxis are everywhere.

Well, the first offers are out for those who asked (paid a deposit) for this cruise. What was initially indicated to be a late 2016 sailing is now 2017. The itinerary is a 10 day segment from Singapore to Bali, 3 sea days and stops in Java. Departure date 8 Jan 2017.

It seems that Seabourn must have been a bit jammed with the final delivery date, with "late 2016" being too cold for a Med inaugural, then having to get the ship to a warmer climate enroute to Australia.

It would be interesting to know how much consideration has been given to the weather conditions that will prevail in that part of the world in January. This is true cyclone season for the region. Apart from being hot and steamy rain on most afternoons is almost guaranteed.

There will be a couple warmup legs as the ship is relocated from Italy to Singapore. Then the inaugural cruise is understood to be followed by a segment ending in Sydney.

The indicative pricing seems high, but no doubt as bookings are (or are not) received Seabourn will announce more realistic prices aimed at filling the ship.

It will be interesting to see where the interest does from.

A couple options. If you have a mobile number use that or the ship's number. And for an address you just put the ship and port.

You are correct. If you book excursions in advance you can't use your credits. But it's not often excursion are booked out before you board.

If you only want to log on, download, respond to emails etc you could probably get by with a couple Platinum Packages. (Depending on which Seabourn Club Category you are you may have an entitlement anyway, which each person can take up). But remember to log off! If you want to spend time "surfing", staying online whilst replying to emails etc, then the Diamond Package is better.

Agree. The overnight to Luxor is the highlight. Food is not an issue as Seabourn ensure that if they are providing meals they are ok I think our tour to Luxor was actually operated by A&K. Hotel was excellent as was the food.

Javier. Have you sailed on Ponant to make the comment they are "certainly an excellent alternative"?

The itinerary and timing are probably the reasons the cruise you are looking at might not seem popular.

Timing wise, this is the European holiday season. Everything will be crowded, so those who have flexibility in when they cruise will probably try to avoid this period, particularly for short cruises when the chances of a number of children being on board increase.

Itinerary wise, it seems to me that the ports are not great. Civitavecchia means you are having to travel some distance to get to and from the port. Its a port with not a lot else going for it as a tourist destination. It's not one I would choose to have at both ends of the cruise. 2 nights in Barcelona is ok - if you haven't been there before. The other ports (except La Joilette) are resort / boating destinations which will be crowded.

We have about 200 days on Seabourn and took a Silversea cruise to Alaska because it was the only smaller ship (and supposedly comparable to Seabourn) option. This was about 5 years ago.

The ship was nice (but no Seabourn Square).and otherwise similar to the Oddysey class ships, albeit a bit older. We had no real complaints about the food, service or entertainment. The one thing to be aware of is that Cruises to Alaska are generally during US school holidays and there were quite a few kids on board. The ship did not have facilities for this number of children.

I would go with Seabourn if the option was available but would not be deterred from sailing with Silversea again if it was an itinerary that Seabourn was not covering.