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Alaska - on board


marazul
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On board now. Anyone else on board, feel free to add your comments here.

 

A few quick comments:

 

Embarkation went smoothly. Unfortunately, the luggage scanners at the terminal were not working so no one got their luggage until after the safety drill.

 

The jackets are quite nice. There was a jacket exchange this morning to get your correct size.

 

Jan is the CD and Sophie is the assistant CD.

 

Tonight is the formal night and this is a quote from the Herald:

"In all other venues, guests are welcome in Elegant Casual attire. Kindly note: jeans are not appropriate in the Main Restaurant after 6 pm"

 

This is a sea day and there are lectures, bridge and many activities scheduled every second of the day.

 

Everything else is up to the usual standards.

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More than a tad envious. I'd hoped to book an Alaska this year but work commitments have made it impossible.

 

Have a wonderful cruise and I look forward to reading more of your comments.

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Embarkation went smoothly. Unfortunately, the luggage scanners at the terminal were not working so no one got their luggage until after the safety drill.

 

Not entirely true. We had 3 of our 4 bags in our suite by 2:30 pm. The Director of Housekeeping delivered them to us personally. The 4th was outside our door when we left to go to the drill - we have no idea what time it arrived but it was before 4 pm.

 

Jan is the CD and Sophie is the assistant CD.

 

Judy is the assistant CD. (Sophie was the CD who disembarked yesterday in Vancouver.)

 

Tonight is the formal night and this is a quote from the Herald:

"In all other venues, guests are welcome in Elegant Casual attire. Kindly note: jeans are not appropriate in the Main Restaurant after 6 pm".

 

This was MUCH needed... we saw a few pairs of jeans last night in the Main Restaurant and multiple pairs of sneakers. Quite a few flannel shirts and what passed as dressy workout wear.

 

We were at a hosted table with 8 guests with a 7:30 pm seating time. At 7:45 pm, 4 of our 8 guests were still missing. They called up to their suites. 2 of the guests had lost track of time unpacking and came down closer to 8 pm. The other 2 never showed up despite RSVPing that they would attend.

 

Hopefully formal night will bring out the formal denim and flannel. :p

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Marazul and Jenidallas,

Thank you so much for take the time to fill us in on your Alaskan adventure. As you will be covering some new territory for Seabourn those of us soon to follow in your footsteps are grateful for your narratives. It is all very exciting.

 

I will be especially interested in how they handle the zodiac adventures vis a vis the way they did in Antarctica. Of course here the whole ship will not be going out on them as it is a paid excursion but still there will be logistics to work out to keep the tours on time. Luckily you have Jan there who knows how to run this operation.

 

And can you confirm that you are lucky enough to have Jes on board and that he will be there through our July 7 cruise?

 

 

 

 

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Not sure yet about Jes but will confirm tonight at dinner. Should have more scoop after. 😉

 

I understand (via eavesdropping) that a certain well-known travel agent and his group are onboard. One need only hear the name to know. Will be interested to see what special events they have booked. (We are on with Virtuoso ourselves and apparently the booking group had to be split up for our Voyager event in Juneau.)

 

My mom reports that the jacket exchange ran with great efficiency this morning.

 

We also have brand-new internet and wireless onboard information software as of June 1. Seabourn Source is free to all guests and provides free wifi access to The Herald, restaurant menus, shore excursion information, spa services, daily newspapers, and magazines. You also use it as a portal for paid internet (making it MUCH easier to log on/off). Unfortunately it is slower than ever... it seems they gave us this new toy without expanding the bandwidth. Typical!!!

 

In other sad news that I somehow missed... I was unaware that John Howell had passed away.

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Bummer!!! All zodiac and kayak explorations canceled! Here is the quote:

“While we respond to an operations related question raised by one of our regulators, our Ventures by Seabourn zodiac and kayaking shore excursions will be amended or canceled for our voyage. “

 

There are substitute excursions to the same areas, some involving food while on board, but, really, why wasn’t this settled beforehand? Major disappointment!

 

The news were delivered to the suites after dinner tonight. Will have to find more info tomorrow.

 

The formal dinner was very good. Everyone nicely dressed now that we have our luggage. About 20 percent tuxes. (I think.)

More later.

 

Yes, Jes is the chef. He came around to our table after dinner.

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Oh that is really a shame. You would think that given Seabourn spent two years planning for Alaska that these sorts of issues would have been resolved long ago. I will cross my fingers and toers that they at least get to offer "amended" versions (whatever that means). Can you tell me if at least you have been enjoying beautiful scenery? Also have any of the Ventures team members been out on the deck behind Seabourn Square for a period of time each day helping passengers spot wildlife? I believe there are some resident pods of orcas that hang out in the area where you cruised yesterday. Hope you got to see them.

 

 

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What a bummer!! As this is the first Alaska cruise, could it be that insufficient research/permissions/whatever was done in time?

 

Hoping things look up shortly.

 

From my experience with regulators, often the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. So you think you are good to go when suddenly another regulator or department of the same regulator pops up with yet another issue.

 

For example, when we were building a detached garage with a washroom .... the building department in our town said we could have the washroom but the Board of Health in the same town said we could not connect it to the septic. And that was last minute too.

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We had dinner with the Staff Captain last night. He joined in Kodiak having come over from Holland America with several years of experience in Alaskan operations. One of the reasons they did the Kodiak stop on the last leg was to clear some of the hurdles early. It's always quite difficult up here to get the necessary clearances and sometimes even to get the pilots to agree to the routings the ship would like to take. (In the realm of "it's a small world after all", the Staff Captain knows one of our family members who happens to be the Chief Pilot for this region of Alaska.) It's apparently a very tight maritime community up here so at least Seabourn was smart to bring on the HAL officers who've sailed this region for years for the first season.

 

 

It's too bad that this snag is affecting so many plans but it's always the risk I know that I run when booking an inaugural sailing/route. I feel like the staff had too many things to knock out the last few days - US Coast Guard clearances in Kodiak, turning the ship after a long voyage to immediately welcome on all of corporate for a day show (where they did all-day "previews" including giving tours, offering samplers of dining, and running the Tim Rice show THREE times in a day), also passed the extensive US agricultural inspections, and then had to entertain 400 of those guests overnight to Vancouver only to flip the ship again, bring on Ventures staff and get ready for Alaska!

 

 

I'm personally wowed that things are running as smoothly as they are.

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Sorry to hear the zodiac and kayak excursions aren't happening at the moment. :( Sure hope they get things straightened out before your sailing is over.

 

Glad to hear Jes is onboard - he is "quite" the presence in the galley. Oh, and makes a mean breadstick! LOL

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Hi jenidallas, Thanks for the update. The poor crew, the timetable over the last week sounds quite exhausting. I hope everything gets sorted out quickly.

 

I am also feeling very all you passengers onboard. Like Roxburgh, after building a few houses have experienced the last minute glitches when another department decided to put their two cents in when interpreting a rule.

 

Julie

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Here is what the Ventures specialist told me. SUB has had all permits for several months. On the day we sailed, the “regulatory agency” withdrew the permit for SB to use its own zodiacs and kayaks. They have been unable to source the same equipment locally. It could still happen, but not holding our breath.

 

In the meantime, they have arranged for a catamaran to cruise in (more or less) the same areas. At a lower price.

 

Today's George inlet seafest got canceled. The bus took everyone to the restaurant, they sat us down at the tables and then announced that the catamaran broke down. Most people chose to leave without the meal and got a full refund. A few stayed for the meal and got a partial refund.

 

All else is well.

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Most people chose to leave without the meal and got a full refund. A few stayed for the meal and got a partial refund.

 

Did you stay for the meal? If so, I'm curious how it was. We were with the group who left. (Sidebar: We were among those told that the meal would be at the end of the tour. I had checked that with Seattle before booking and had asked again onboard. As such, we'd had lunch shortly before the tour expecting that we would not be eating until late afternoon!)

 

 

I was impressed that Seabourn had everything sorted out by the time we got back to the ship. This is the most on top of things I have seen the staff in Seabourn Square in a long time. They were my major complaint on my last sailing and by and large the center of all my issues. For those who may remember my list of issues with the botched "wine cruise" on Odyssey last fall, this has been a 180 in terms of responsiveness!

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Did you stay for the meal? If so, I'm curious how it was. We were with the group who left. (Sidebar: We were among those told that the meal would be at the end of the tour. I had checked that with Seattle before booking and had asked again onboard. As such, we'd had lunch shortly before the tour expecting that we would not be eating until late afternoon!)

 

 

I was impressed that Seabourn had everything sorted out by the time we got back to the ship. This is the most on top of things I have seen the staff in Seabourn Square in a long time. They were my major complaint on my last sailing and by and large the center of all my issues. For those who may remember my list of issues with the botched "wine cruise" on Odyssey last fall, this has been a 180 in terms of responsiveness!

 

Jen,

we must have been on the same bus going back. I have exactly the same comments you have - from the timing of lunch to the efficiency of the staff.

 

Added comment on the zodiac issue - the staff all say what I posted before. The only thing they will not disclose is the specific regulatory issue or the agency that issued it. There will be a hearing in 10 days to resolve it.

 

And on to the catamaran this pm which will follow the same route the zodiacs would have taken.

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Hi! We will be on board in a few weeks, so I will follow this thread. One quick question: do you feel the jackets fit true to size/large/small? Thanks!

 

 

 

On board now. Anyone else on board, feel free to add your comments here.

 

A few quick comments:

 

Embarkation went smoothly. Unfortunately, the luggage scanners at the terminal were not working so no one got their luggage until after the safety drill.

 

The jackets are quite nice. There was a jacket exchange this morning to get your correct size.

 

Jan is the CD and Sophie is the assistant CD.

 

Tonight is the formal night and this is a quote from the Herald:

"In all other venues, guests are welcome in Elegant Casual attire. Kindly note: jeans are not appropriate in the Main Restaurant after 6 pm"

 

This is a sea day and there are lectures, bridge and many activities scheduled every second of the day.

 

Everything else is up to the usual standards.

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According to friends of mine on board the jacket runs big. But there is a jacket exchange as there was in Antarctica. Also note the light lining does not zip out.

 

Jenidallas and Marazul,

 

I really appreciate your reports and positive attitudes. This clearly was an issue that came at Seabourn from out of left field but I am reassured by your comments that Seabourn is keeping the passengers informed and trying to develop an acceptable plan B.

 

Can you tell me a little about the scenery, if any you have enjoyed from the ship, and if you have seen much marine life so far?

 

 

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