herradura6

Does Seabourn use a local vessel as a tender for boarding the Venture at Greenwich?

The photo posted by galeforce9 earlier is of the paddle steamer Waverley which is the last seagoing passenger-carrying paddle steamer in the world.

It was the Fairmont in March, but there may have been others.

It can take a little longer than 20 minutes depending on the time of day, the traffic and any roadworks.

One advantage of buying Seabourn air is that you can usually select your seats, even on BA business, soon after initial booking without an additional charge.

You do get noticeable larger bath towels in a penthouse suite.

For some time its been Seabourn policy not to open the MDR at lunchtime on seven day cruise segments.

There are also one or two other differences on seven day segments including the non-provision of a guest list and the lack of 'early-bird' coffee etc in the observation lounge.

The MDR was certainly open at lunchtime every day on a recent 16 day Odyssey cruise.

To get two free bags per week you both have to select the free laundry bag option as one of your benefits

One further clarification is that for gold and platinum members the laundry option gives one free bag of laundry every seven days or part thereof rather than just one bag every completed seven days.

The guest list is no longer published on seven day sectors - at least this was the case on the Odyssey in 2014.

The World Health Organization have a useful fact sheet on Chikungunya at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs327/en/.

I was a little concerned to find that Chikungunya is a problem in Singapore where we join the Odyssey on Sunday.

However, to give some perspective, so far this year in Singapore there have only been 20% of the cases there were in 2013 and Chikungunya cases are only 1% of the number of cases of Dengue Fever or Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, so hopefully we'll survive with few sensible precautions.

Indonesia may be more of a issue.

In May the faulty elevator was one of the two forward on the Odyssey. Never caused any personal delay.

The schedule on this page should show where the ship will dock:

http://www.sydneyports.com.au/port_operations/cruise_schedule

Perhaps the 'vibration' is suite location dependent? We certainly cannot recall being troubled by it.

"what's wrong with the Odyssey?"

Not a lot really! We were on the Odyssey for 18 days in May following the refit and found little to realistically fault.

The staff, food and wine available all compared extremely well with our experiences last year on both the Quest and Sojourn and overall it was possibly our most enjoyable Seabourn cruise.

On two occasions the wrong dish was served in the MDR but speedily rectified and the standard coffee is not very good in the Colonnade. I get round this by ordering a cappuccino which is usually excellent.

One of the forward elevators was out of service but I doubt that this really inconvenienced anyone.

The MDR was open for breakfast and lunch for the first 11 day segment but closed for the following 7 day segment in line with Seabourn policy.

Really a most enjoyable experience and we're looking forward to rejoining the Odyssey later this year.

We stayed at the Hotel Bucintoro for two nights pre-cruise two years ago at a very modest cost. Excellent location, we were very happy.

Last year we were on for 20 days and really enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the dining room a number of times as well as several very pleasant lunches. It did seem amazing that they kept the dining room open for both meals for so few guests. At breakfast, there was sometimes only one other table; at lunch, typically three or four. We are bringing friends with us for two weeks next month, and one of the things the four of us were looking forward to was a quiet breakfast where we could discuss our plans for the day. Oh well!

I understand that the dining room will still be open for breakfast and lunch on cruises of more than seven days.

We experienced the same situation on the previous 7 day Athens to Istanbul segment although the Restaurant was open for breakfast and lunch for the 11 days between Monte Carlo and Athens.

We were advised that it is Seabourn general policy not to open the restaurant for lunch and breakfast on 7 days cruises. 'Early-bird' coffee etc is also unavailable in the observation lounge on 7 day cruises.