MBP&O2/O

Sometime ago I asked SB for a quote for 2 x b/c return flights from the UK to Vancouver. The price quoted was just shy of £1000 more than the airline was quoting for the exact same fully flexible flights! As a matter of interest, since then, the airline upped the price - same flights, same dates, - from £5k to £6k to £21k in a matter of days. They then came down to £6k but are rising again?? I presume that this increase would have been reflected on SB's system so it is always worth doing your own research, and monitoring flight prices. I used Google flights "price track".

Atlantic TRS's Sailors mantra June too soon, July they try, August they must, September remember Or so the 'experts' say .... 😏

We always used to fly in early and were charged a deviation fee, but our PCC used to reimburse us the same amount in lieu of no transfers. This PCC, Stefan, has sadly left SS and our new PCC is nowhere near as knowledgable, efficient, or accommodating .... to the point where I will not deal with said person.

Ooooh .... Bridge tours? That could be interesting ... see how much things have changed since I left!

Sometime ago there was a guy on the Silversea forum who openly admitted that he booked the Italian for every night ... purely so he had a table if the desire was there! He claimed he would cancel the reservation in the morning if he didn't fancy it that night!

I believe that one NCL ship did it some years ago. They had to alter course so as the wind was OK and then put out an 'all ships' warning stating that it was fireworks and not emergency flares. Fraught with problems in my (retired) professional opinion.

Look at Windy.com for a comprehensive display of wind, rain, waves etc ... and on the day look out of the window. Many years at sea have taught me to treat weather forecasts with a pinch of salt ... to put it mildly 😏

Whichever option you choose you may wish to consider keeping a close eye on your booking. So far, since I booked, the aircraft designation has changed from A330 to B77/300 to B777/200. No great issue in this instance, but American once did the same to me, but they left the pre-booked seats the same and when I checked the seat plan on of the two seats didn't even exist! Had I not been monitoring the booking it would have been an interesting experience at check in!

Looked at SB flights and they were charging me £1000 more than booking direct with the airline. That was for 2 x pax, UK to YVR with KLM via AMS. Biz Class, fully flexible fares.

Irritating at best. We now have to pack/transport similar items to these, and with airline baggage weight restrictions etc 🙄 Checking the SB website and the offer seems to have been discretely withdrawn. It would have been nice to have been told. And no, I don't know why the first post formatted like it did.

FYI... I have just contacted the Seabourn Shop and asked about ordering a jacket for 2023 and they say We are in the process of updating our webstore for Seabourn as they are no longer providing a complimentary All-Weather jacket for their Alaskan Cruise. This is why there is no obvious links to place your order. They have made the decision based on customer feedback that customers preferred taking and traveli their own jacket. "

We have an Odyssey cruise booked for Alaska and have booked various excursions. There were several Zodiac options direct from the ship, but I presume they will be shore based operators.

Art is a hidden passion. My family knows me as a die-hard sports fan...what most of them don't know is I've visited a few (ok, more than a few), of the world's best museums. Similar.... Once went to the Louvre to see what all the fuss was about ... thought it was so- so until I hit the Greco-Roman sculptures ... took my breath away. Next shoreside jaunt is Florence... they were closed when I last went there .. followed by Naples ... some amazing stuff there. On topic.. friend of mine has the cheapest camera phone he can afford and uses that. No sim card fitted. Personally I don't do beaches .... my camera case is attached to a military style tactical belt, which also has a empty pouch on it. .... unless I forget to take the dogs pooh bags out of it 🙄

Crossings done at all time of the year. Some good, some bad, and some awful, but we were not deviating for passengers benefit as time was money, and if it was safe then we put up with it. Attached is a colour chart showing how the colours are graded. This one happens to be for wind, but the colour scheme is the same for waves etc. Enjoy mother nature .. it will be fine. You will be on a southerly routing.....probably 🤐

Not on a cruise, but on a merchant ship with no doctor or, in fact anyone with any formal training,...our only radio officer died when we were in the miles away from anywhere zone. That caused major problems.

Today's wave map ... purple is the roughest 🤑 Never done one on a cruise ship but have done plenty on 'working' ships some of which were smaller than SS ships.

One insurance company I looked at ... via a ghost quote ... increased the premium by 30% due to a knee replacement which occured several years ago. This despite saying no problems, no medication, no follow up etc etc. The same company also charged 20% more for a three week holiday as opposed to an annual policy? Rip off merchants? This years issue is how to declare an undiagnosed condition which is under investigation...when they don't know what it is and any investigation is purely to rule things out! It is a nightmare.

Small ships. Definitely 'out of the box' ports where the big boys can't play🙂 ... in my experience at least. Back in the day I was offered a choice of the company's latest and largest ship or, the oldest smallest one they had. I took the latter. South America, West Africa, South Africa and up and down the East African coast. The 'big boy' traded between the Arabian Gulf and Northern Europe via CoGH ... et al. One port a month. Small is better for interesting journeys.

Loads of info on this post ..

Can't see much sympathy / positive feedback forthcoming on this one. 🤐

There was a complaint recently whereby someone on a 3000+ pax ship was saying several,passengers were unable to disembark in time to catch the bus for therir excursions due to the massive queues on board. People were queueing for over an hour! Smaller ships tend to be somewhat more efficient. A reverse scenario ... boarding. How long to process 4000 pax compared to 1000 pax? I have seen horror stories of people queueing up for several hours just to board. My last pre-covid cruise was less than 15 minutes from taxi to bar 😀 You pays your money and you makes your choice.

Silversea has indoor and outdoor seating at their buffet restaurant.

Yup! In my experience they may well do that. Drydocking is a major thing and a lot of preparation goes into it so they may well take their eye of the ball so to speak.

It wasn't because you are not escorted to a table ... nor did I infer that! It was a simple question ... not painting an arrangement. I asked if you were ... mainly because the Collonade has been described as being 'rammed' which I read as very busy. I know very little about SB and, having booked a cruise with them I am keen to learn.

Regarding comments about how busy the Colonnade can be, are you actually 'assigned' a table and taken to it ( a la Silversea) or is it a free-for-all?