Laylam

26 minutes ago, Khareef said:

................................................So maybe the future of CCL ain't that bright with the amount of debt they have, but I would say Seabourn is pretty safe.

I hope so.

14 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Spill the beans on what it has to offer in all departments.

Only if you have the time 😁

Captain Torry Sakkariassen, and Maitre d Manfred ??? are ex-Seabourn (and didn't sound optimistic about Seabourn's future). 

Dining experiences, produced by 38 Chefs from 15 different countries ...

ELEMENTS - the main restaurant featuring Italian, steak and seafood

KOKO's - Asian fusion restaurant and sake bar

SUSHI @ KOKO's - "A wonderfully authentic Japanese experience" bookings required

NIGHT MARKET@ KOKO's - alternating between Indian, Asian, Mediterranean and Indonesian.                                                          Seating for 10 only and must be booked.

LUMIERE -Contemporary French fine dining and Champagne Bar bookings required

AZURE BAR & CAFE - Relaxed all-day grazing

YACHT CLUB - Grill restaurant and bar, serving breakfast and lunch

CHEF's TABLE @ ELEMENTS, by invitation only, featuring an 11 course degustation matched to fine wines

SCENIC EPICURE - Culinary Masterclasses

IN SUITE DINING A comprehensive 24-hour menu

We haven't been to all nine bars (yet) but the Scenic Whiskey Bar features more than 100 varieties of whiskey.

1 hour ago, SLSD said:

Bumped?  Was your Seabourn cruise cancelled?

Yes!!  I think those who had booked on Seabourn Pursuit where given our places on Seabourn Venture.

On 7/12/2023 at 12:35 AM, SLSD said:

I'm searching now for our next cruise.  I'm open to most itineraries beginning with January 2024 as we have several  domestic trips scheduled for the rest of 2023.  We would be most comfortable with what we know (Seabourn), but are open to looking at Silversea, Regent and possibly the new Crystal.  Mr. SLSD doesn't want to do Antarctica (I know) . We prefer at least 14 days and 21 would be even better.   If there is an itinerary you think is fabulous out there--would you share with the rest of us?  

I would suggest adding Scenic Eclipse 11 (better designed than Scenic Eclipse 1) to your list.  We are Seabourn Diamond members, but having been "bumped" from an Arctic trip on Seabourn Venture, we  booked with Scenic Eclipse.  Two days in and we are enjoying it very much.  I think you would find the dining a little more exciting.

35 minutes ago, Sapphic Seafarer said:

Hi all!!

 

I am wondering if Seabourn holds any LGBT+/ Friends of Dorothy meetups on each sailing. Any information you can provide is appreciated! 

Yes, I am sure they are on all sailings.

2 hours ago, bitob said:

Everyone uses a butler differently. Our butler gets to know us well. He knows what snacks and drinks we like. He deals with laundry and other special services. If there are issues in cabin he deals with them. It all happens instantaneously 

on seabourn we get issues deal with twice a day when stateroom attendants do service 

 

 

Small example. I’m an over packer. I needed more hangers. I called guest services and was told the stateroom attendant would bring at evening turndown service. So my clothes were thrown over a chair for the day.  A butler would have brought those hangers in 5 minutes 

 

room service is also different. You are in the queue. Butler serves you at a time you choose

 

many more examples 

Thank you bitob, that helps.  You say the butler gets to know you well, is that from an initial questionnaire or is he always poking his head around the corner?  I hope it is the former.  I'll let you know how we find the experience

3 hours ago, bitob said:

Spot on nancy

standard suite will do next time

we do miss not having a butler but we’ve been on sb before so we knew we would adjust. Guest services very responsive. 

 

all else is fine. Service, food, fun trivia, great itinerary 

I am curious as to what you miss when you don't have a butler?  Our next cruise is on Scenic Eclipse (thanks to Seabourn bumping us from the Venture) and it will be our first experience of having a butler.

8 hours ago, mnocket said:

Interesting.  We're going to Iceland in Sept.  Jet lag on the day of our arrival is concerning me.  Our flight lands at 6am, which will be midnight for us.  It's unlikely we will get much if any sleep on the plane due to the timing.  My thinking was to book the Blue Lagoon for the following day when we would be semi-recovered from jet lag.  Your suggestion says otherwise and I'll have to reconsider.  My plan was for arrival day to be a down day, but it does pose a problem as to what to do for the 9 hours between landing (6am) and when our hotel room will be ready (3pm).  My thinking was to have a lazy breakfast and then do a walking tour which departs right across from our hotel.  I'm not sure if this is preferable to catching a bus to the Blue Lagoon or not.  It's certainly simpler.  Now you've got me reconsidering🤔

You might like to take into consideration that the Blue Lagoon is only 20 minutes by car from the airport and 50 minutes from Reykjavik.

8 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

As of recently, the Expedition ships have done away with formal nights. 

Phew!!  Very pleased to hear that.  Thanks florisdekort.

Dusko, I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I also have a query about expedition cruises,  In particular those that occur over Christmas in the Antarctic.  We have already decided that a suit/tux won't be in our luggage and are wondering if that excludes us from too much fun.  I'd particularly like to hear from those who have done an Antarctic Christmas cruise, rather than start yet another Dress Code thread.

Just now, SLSD said:

It IS mystifying.  We have also seen them being made when we took a galley tour.  That doesn't mean a mix was not being used.  I think the breadsticks are just Ok.  Not really worth the calories for me.  

It is April Fools Day here

On 2/23/2023 at 11:34 AM, Laylam said:

We booked an expedition cruise while on Odyssey last month,  We have a FCD but we were told it wasn't combinable with the Promo fares.

I followed up on this and it was because we got a 35% discount with a "Book Onboard and Save 35% on your Seabourn Expedition" that it wasn't combinable with the 5% FCD.

On 3/1/2023 at 11:53 AM, SLSD said:

Not being the the UK, I've always been attracted by itineraries that include it, but haven't taken one yet.  I am curious about Iceland.  I'm not entirely sure I have a desire to go there.  Should I?  Would some of you who have been there tell me why I should want to go?

https://adventures.is/blog/10-reasons-why-you-should-visit-iceland/#:~:text=In Iceland you can explore,isolated areas of the country.

19 hours ago, florisdekort said:

There is an arts & crafts person on board that hosts 2 get togethers a day, painting and other crafts, at 10 am and 2 pm. And Cruise Director Ross hosts a needlepoint social at 4 pm on most days. There’s mahjong on the program (un-hosted). And from memory I have indeed seen bridge lessons advertised occasionally. 

16 hours ago, markham said:

On Quest there is a robust Bridge program, judging by the numbers in attendance during the Miami to Buenos Aires segments (which included some bad weather cancelled landings days in Antarctica). Now that we are in the warmer climes with fewer sea days I am not sure.

 

The earlier segments’ art classes were well attended, often twice a day. There are far fewer participants now overall, and that may be due to better weather for deck time, but also the instructor brought/has the wrong type of paper for watercolours. In the meantime some made Carnevale masks.

As an aside, we are now in hot Rio and have our first overnight since Lima. Consensus among us is we certainly would have enjoyed an overnight in beautiful Buenos Aires a few days ago too since much was closed on our single day there. 
 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Thank you both.

Markham or florisdekort, are there Art or Bridge Classes on your cruise?  There were none on our last 2 cruises.

On 2/23/2023 at 4:59 PM, MightyQuinn said:

 

Wow Laylam, how disappointing. I wonder if that's unique to expedition cruises since our experience was different. We booked an ocean cruise during the Suite Life Event and got the 15% discounted promo fare.  We then applied our FCD and got a further 5% reduction.  There was no issue in combining both discounts. 

Your post made me curious, so I checked the T&C of our FCD to see if there were any restrictions on combinability.  The only reference was ... "the 5% savings discount may be combinable with any public fares that may be applicable to the cruise the guest selects".  If you booked on board, I assume (!!) you would have been quoted a public fare, so I'm surprised you weren't able to use your FCD.

Thanks MightyQuinn. I'll follow that up.

7 hours ago, MightyQuinn said:

 

The Suite Life Event includes the following:

1) up to 15% discount on ocean ships and up to 25% discount on expedition ships if booked by Feb 28, 2023.  Promo NV

2) up to $2k shipboard credit which ended yesterday Feb 21, 2023.  Promo ZH

If you have FCD, there would be an additional 5% discount off the Suite Life reduced fares.  If not, as Nancy said, 15% Suite Life is better than 5% FCD alone. But you could always gamble and wait until you're onboard Seabourn, purchase FCD and see what offers are available then.  SB seems to have promos of some kind or another quite often.  If your planned cruise is way in the future, you may be able to grab another attractive offer and also apply FCD.
 

We booked an expedition cruise while on Odyssey last month,  We have a FCD but we were told it wasn't combinable with the Promo fares.

11 hours ago, saminina said:

 

Corporate has dictated no purchases on land to fill inventory gaps.   Extremely unSeabounish.

.

10 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

 

I wasn't aware that this was a corporate decision.  What is your source for this information? 

Thanks

10 hours ago, saminina said:

Senior staff on board.

I have just watched a "Shopping with the Chef" video in Papeete, on the World Cruise.  Surely this is filling in inventory gaps

We have been on Odyssey twice in the last six months.  September 2022 in Alaska and most recently in January, Sydney to Auckland.  The ship was in great shape and the crew was as hard working as ever, delivering the experience we have come to expect....and then some!!

I should mention the above recipe was posted by Host Dan back in 2005.

Twice Baked Goat Cheese and Garlic Soufflé

Serves 4 portions

Ingredients:

1/2 oz butter

1/2 oz flour

2 each garlic clove, minced

nutmeg

3,2 oz goat cheese

2 each egg white

1,5 each egg yolk

2,7 oz milk

1 oz grated parmesan

1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation:

Warm the milk with the garlic and a little nutmeg.

Mix the butter with the flour and bind the milk to a sticky mass.

Blend in the cheese.

Remove from the heat and blend in the egg yolks.

Season to taste.

Whisk the egg whites with a little salt to help it stiffen.

Slowly fold in the egg whites to the cheese mass.

Fill into molds which have been brushed with butter and dusted with flour. Place in a water filled baking sheet. Bake firstly in a hot oven for 50 minutes at 250 F.

Remove from the molds and place in individual serving shells. Pour sour cream around and grated parmesan on top of the soufflés.

Place the soufflés back in a 450 F hot oven for a few minutes, until hot.

On 9/13/2022 at 11:57 AM, DTtravelers said:

We recently completed a 14 day Alaska cruise (Aug 12-26) on Odyssey, and am happy to report that everything was as good as ever.  All departments were hitting on all 8 cylinders.  I cannot think of a thing worth grumbling about (well, okay... no English Bacon).  We have already signed up to repeat this same cruise next year with our family. 

 

But I am sad to hear that it is taking a while to get the Quest up to speed.  We spent 43 wonderful days on her in late 2019.

You only have to request English Bacon to receive it.  Although only American bacon is on the room-service breakfast menu, my husband crosses it out and writes "English" and gets it every time.

On 9/6/2022 at 9:45 PM, CalmSea said:

Please keep us informed whether SS let you board without a test. We are scheduled to board the Quest in Montreal on September 22.

Sorry for the delay in replying, I have had trouble with the internet.

YES, YES, YES, YOU DO NEED TO HAVE A COVID TEST!! 

As we turned up without one we were sent upstairs to a testing site.   Within 15 minutes we had our negative results.  We were lucky, Seabourn Odyssey was the only ship in port (and it is only half full) so the testing site wasn't busy.

9 minutes ago, jeffbrig said:

So I put all our information into veriFLY, including vaccine and covid test results. My wife did ArriveCAN on her phone, and it reused stored info from our flight entry, which did not ask for test results. We'll see what happens tomorrow... 

Thank you jeffbrig, our second application also reused stored info and then stated we didn't require a pre-boarding test.  I got my husband to read it as well, in case I was misreading.  I have since asked, at a testing site near the port, if it was still a requirement and they said to check with the ship.  As Seabourn doesn't require a test (as from today), we haven't had one  Hopefully we will see you onboard, otherwise we will be waving from the pier!!

31 minutes ago, jeffbrig said:

I think we are on the Odyssey with you tomorrow. 

YES, looking forward to it. We might be the ones you see being scolded for not having had a pre-boarding covid test!!  I am interested to know if you were also told you didn't need one, during your pre-boarding ArriveCAN application?