CalmSea

Just to add to the above post. There is a recent FBI warning against using public USB charging ports, which includes those available in hotels. I agree bringing one's own charger is the way to go now.

1 hour ago, DuffyMcfluffy said:

First sailing is May 11.

Yes, I was wondering. I cannot find the May 11 cruise on Seabourn's website, but it is listed on third parties sites.

Seabourn will have to be very nimble to deliver on this promise. The Alasaka cruise season starts on May 19, which is already passed the 30-day pre-order cut-off date. Their web site is also not yet ready  for pre-ordering Alaska jackets. There is also a possible supply chain problem. Is Seabourn going to be able to get enough jackets in time? I hope this promise does not turn into a PR nightmare for Seabourn.

9 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Cruiseej this is really valuable information. I honestly thought there would be outlets by the bed, and hadn’t considered that we would need an extension cord. Thank you 

Cruiseej's post rings a bell! I remebered searching for US outlets for the adaptor for my laptop and even considered unplugging the TV because that US plug was closest to the table. Then I found a CC post that says that there is another US outlet hidden behind the wet bar. A Google search found the thread.

From reading the thread again, there seems to be some variation in configurations. The posts seem to imply that there is at least one US outlet, but none at the bedside.

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Wow. Well that sure seems like something that Seabourn could/should rectify, but good information to have. That would be frustrating as DH needs cpap outlet and we need additional for phones, etc. 

We didn't bother to report the non-working outlets, because we could get by. I am  sure that if we reported the problems, they would be fixed quickly. But, even when all outlets are working, there is still essentially only one US outlet, because we are not supposed to plug in any power hungry device to the shaver outlet.

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you. Now I just need to find adapters that support multiple USB C. Appreciate the responses here

I was on the Quest last September and found only one working US outlet; the one in the bathroom does not work with my electric shaver. I will bring along some EU adapters for my next cruise in June. As for USB outlets, the Quest has USB-A outlets and, in my cabin, not all of them are working. You may want to consider bringing some USB-A to USB-C cables, as a backup.

7 hours ago, florisdekort said:

Always book on board and/or use FCDs. You get the promotion of the moment (like Suite Life) plus 5% off. 
 

 

In the case of the OP, after the first cruise, the extra 5% Seabourn Club discount may apply for some cruises.

In 2019, on the Quest from Reykjavik to Montreal, there was ballroom dancing in the Club, and also ballroom dancing lessons in the Club too. In 2022, on the Quest again, there was dancing in the Club, both ballroom and disco. As for ballroom, there were couples doing cha cha, swing, foxtrot, waltz and rumba. The trio would also accept requests for any particular style of dance music. Even with a DJ, I guess you can still ask for special dance music.

Sorry to hear that you were booked with Transat. Maybe they will change the flight again when closer to the departure date. But, you still need to have a plan B.

56 minutes ago, Astride said:

Thank you. I will try to get a later flight on another airline.

For most airlines, if they changed the timing of your flight, you can change to another flight with no change fee. I am more familiar with Air Canada. For AC, you can do it directly on their web page, as long as you have not yet officially accepted the proposed change. AC has several non-stop flights between YVR and YUL, and mnay 1-stop ones. Also, they often change the timing of their flights again closer to the date of the flight (1 to 3 months beforehand), and you have another window to change flights.

I just want to fill in some details about my recent experience on the Quest whose itinerary was vastly affected  by hurrican Fionna. When I got on board, I asked to switch our prepaid excursion with the non-refundable OBC's. It was done the next day, and all my OBC's were then listed as refundable. At that point, my booked excursions had not yet been cancelled,  because they were for ports in the later part of the itinerary, which had not yet been changed. A couple of days later, the whole itinerary was changed, and all our excursions were cancelled. I noticed that all the refunds to the OBC were listed as refundable. So, the net result seemed to be that  my non-refundable OBC had suddenly became refundable. I didn't know whether this behaviour was normal or whether accounting had giving up tracking refundalbe vs non-refundable OBC's at that point, because of the massive number of cancelled excursions for the whole ship. 

We did managed to scramble and booked some excursions which used up all the initially non-refundable OBC's. So, I didn't managed to cash in any of the non-refundable OBC's. 

One thing I learned from reading the postings on this board regarding excursions and OBC. I would pay for my excursions before the cruiise. Once on broad, I  would go to the Square and asked  to change the excursion charges to whatever OBC I had. Whatever I had paid beforehand now became refundable OBC's. In my experience, if an excursion was cancelled for whatever reasons, I got back refundable OBC's, even though it had been changed and was now paid for by non-refundable OBC's. I wonder whether that is Seabourn's usual practice, but it may be the better way of using up OBC's.

On 11/17/2022 at 7:20 PM, saminina said:

Recently spent time on Silver Moon.   MDR open every day for breakfast/lunch.   Lunch often at 50% capacity.  To me, it's a big deal.  Also, wider hours than SB.....if/when they open.

Silver Moon has so many dining options. Which one is the MDR for breakfast/lunch?

32 minutes ago, SLSD said:

Two things you might do:  1.  Ask. your hotel for a later check out time.  2.  Ask Seabourn for an earlier arrival time.  

There are many reports that SB doesn't look at your appointed arrival time. May be it is just an attempt by SB to space out the arrivals and is not enforced when there is no queue. So, the third thing the OP might do is to check out at the usual time and go to the terminal. Most likely your party can checked in without delay. If, unfortunately, you have to wait, just take it easy. I suspect you will be onboard sooner than the appointed time in any case.

14 hours ago, nancygp said:

You’re welcome.  Earlier this year, I looked at booking an Alaska cruise for next summer.  We had yet to sail seabourn but had one booked.  I decided to book a silversea (1st timer) Alaska cruise instead as the pricing was significantly lower and I liked the itinerary.  I’m thrilled that the SB cruise is part of the reduced pricing promo and will cancel the SS Cruise.  We’ve sailed seabourn twice this year, first time seabourn sailors  and it’s a great fit for us.  We sailed crystal exclusively for 18 years.  As crystal ceased operations early this year, not sure when we would have sailed seabourn.  I’m thrilled that we will now sail Alaska on seabourn.  We’ve been to Alaska several times on crystal and always find new things to do and look forward to a few new ports.

 

nancy

 

ps.  We were on the quest shortly after you and thoroughly enjoyed our cruise

@Nancy. Yes, we were on the Quest and had some problems. I was glad to read your posts that those problems seemed to be solved during your cruise.

Regarding Alaska cruises in 2023, you may be interested to know that there is an  extra 5% Seabourn Club discount for some of the early season ones.

2 hours ago, wesport said:

For those that have re fared their cruise, did you have to pay the additional deposit if you had the last sail of $500 deposit?

I didn't have to pay any additional deposit for refaring.

The Black Friday Sale is live on Seabourn's site. It is 15% off.

Thanks to Nancy, I checked the price of the Alasaka cruise that we just booked, and there is a healthy price drop. My TA has just refared it with the new price.

21 hours ago, twochromic said:

Well, currently on Sojourn, 2 days into the T/A.

The app? Not yet ready for prime time. It cra**ed out several times at embarkation day in Lisbon, so the painfully added boarding passes were not always available. But I had a printed copy for that eventuality, mistrusting sob that I am. However nobody actually looked at them. Just the passports.

However, now 90% of the guests wander round with their cellphones in hand -- just like a bunch of teenagers. I had hoped to get away from that by booking a SB cruise, but, alas....

It is precisely because 90% of the guests are wandering around with cellphones in their hands that SB should continue to develop and to mprove the Source App.

On our recent cruise on the Quest, we had all but one of our breakfast in the Colonade. It was never crowded, except on disembarkation day. On the other days, I noticed a lot of room service breakfast. Maybe that was why the Colonade was not busy except for the last day. Most times, there was no line up for food. Even when there was a line, it was usually with only a couple of people ahead of me. We did try breakfast in the dining room once, and there were, maybe only 3 tables with guests. Service at breakfast at the dining room was excellent, at the Colonade, just so so. However, we still decided we prefered the Colonade for breakfast.

Yes, we are all paying for keeping the dining room open for breakfast/lunch. As a consumer, we want the best value for our money. As a business, SB wants to provide an attractive product at a competitive price. So, it is a business decision for SB. Is it better to cut back on services somewhere in order to keep the prices down, or is it better to maintain the same service and let the prices rise? Whatever SB does, there are risks involved. We, as consumers, actually have the final say. We can decided where to spend our money.

Regarding Galley lunch: We were on the Quest that departed Montreal on September 22 and there was a Galley lunch. I was told that this was the first Galley lunch on the Quest since covid. We had Galley lunch before and knew what to expect. However, despite the impressive display of food, it is not my favorite. I hated lining up, and especially on this cruise, when I knew that there were some covid cases on board. Once I picked up my plate, and with the encouragement of the staff controlling the line-up, I skipped to the last food station, the one serving cold seafood. After saying this, let me add that the food was very good, and the service at the Galley and at the table were excellent.

9 hours ago, JPH814 said:

Interesting. I just got off 12 days on the Quest and had absolutely no flyers in my cabin for the so or the boutique.  
 

As for the need for  reminders?  That is just silly.  

Thanks for starting this thread. I think the Source App is a step in the right direction. As usage of smartphones become more common, the future is with app like this. However, currently, the Source App is still work in progress. I wish Seabourn/HAL has an IT person monitoring cc. We can then report bugs and make suggestions for improvement or for adding new features.

2 hours ago, dalliowner said:

when I look at the cruise critic forum page  , it goes to the first post  on that page and not the last post ( it could be 6 pages away ) anybody have idea how to correct this. It has only happened recently.

It happens to me when I am not login. After login again, it goes to the last post.

2 hours ago, Lk2324 said:

We were trying to book a future cruise onboard this morning and we were told that there isn’t anyone working in the future cruises desk at all today.  Is this normal on the last day of the cruise?  

Was there a Seabourn Club representative working at the future cruise desk yesterday or the day before? If the answer is yes, my guess is that he/she is quaranteed because of Covid. I doubt that Seabourn has a spare representative that can work on the future cruise desk.