Meeting on Odyssey regarding children and dress code (Mrs. Conover answering guests)

As suggested I hereby post my report on this meeting in a separate thread:

Yesterday I attended a meeting that was organised to present a petition to Mrs. Conover by a guest and about 30 people were present during this "event".

I have been asked to write something on the Seabourn Board by the gentleman who asked quite some guests to sign this petition. And I agreed to this, though I don't completely agree with some opinions. I'm just a messenger.

The subjects were:

1. Rumours about extended facilities for children from age 1 up

2. the dress code

Mrs. Conover had to answer a lot of questions and remarks about the above.

Bottom line is:

Seabourn will not try to attract more children, will just try to deal with the children while on board in a better way, so they will disturb the other passengers less than was the situation during last summer and over Christmas. The rumour that restaurant 2 would be converted in a playground is not true according to Mrs. Conover.

Seabourn will just not ban children completely. That is not an option.

Many guests present have a problem with this and said they will not sail on Seabourn again if this is the case. They would like Seabourn to have "children free" ship(s) - at least a few.

The second subject, the dress code, was also received negatively by many of the present guests, though not all of us spoke up of course and not all were attending the meeting.Some do want a lot more formal nights and complained again about dress codes that are not followed.

Mrs. Conover mentioned again that there will be no formal nights in a one week cruise, one in a 8 to 13 days cruise and 3 in cruises of 21 days.

She also said that some people want less formal nights instead of more and that not everybody can be pleased at the same time.

She thanked everybody for their care about Seabourn, but was very firm in her statements.

I hope I have given you a good report on the meeting (of course I am a foreigner..., but they asked me to do it).

I enjoyed listening to Mrs. Conover and she had quite a rough time. We may lose some guests I think, but gain a few others. In my opinion there will always be issues like the above and for instance the smoking policy, reserving tables or not by some guests, the service that is not stable all the time, etc. etc.

One of the guests thanked Mrs. Conover for taking the time to answer the questions and then she left us saying that the meeting with about 200 travel agents there after that she feared before, now seemed a piece of cake to her! That says a lot about this unexpected meeting, doesn't it?

Marja

(Just arrived in Sydney)

We just arrived in Sydney after a spectacular sail-in with commentary on the open deck interrupted by the inevitable camera-toting helicopter of the news bureaus. The views are among the best, along with Rio, Istanbul, NYC and Hong Kong- all vibrant and forward-looking ports with great histories as a back drop.

Also, and this relates to the title of this thread, I spoke with Seabourn Nail and others who attended the meeting with Pamela Conover since I did not attend myself. As outlined above, and as I understand it, the session was productive and helpful. Pam Conover is so well regarded and well spoken that everyone understands the issues as she sees them.

Thanks "Nail", I think a lot more people, who are interested in the future of the triplets, will find your post very interesting! AND the Dutch are doing very well in the Olympics--they skate real good! Don

Oh dear! The slippery slope ..... !

Further to my comments on the Odyssey WC site, I know some people agreed with me about not just having one formal night on any cruise, but making it two or more because of the hassle of packing dinner jacket and black shoes, and - vis a vis children - I am sure that the triplets would recruit people from Regent and Silversea also if Seabourn did at least a few adults only cruises - they have both had lots of complaints from people who prefer to cruise without children on board.

Anyone agree or particularly disagree?

lincslady,

Thank you. Prefer cruises without young children.

Kind regards

Tony

Seabourn will just not ban children completely. That is not an option.[/color][/i]

 

Many guests present have a problem with this and said they will not sail on Seabourn again if this is the case. They would like Seabourn to have "children free" ship(s) - at least a few.

Is there any cruise line that offers "children free" ships

Further to my comments on the Odyssey WC site, I know some people agreed with me about not just having one formal night on any cruise, but making it two or more because of the hassle of packing dinner jacket and black shoes, and - vis a vis children - I am sure that the triplets would recruit people from Regent and Silversea also if Seabourn did at least a few adults only cruises - they have both had lots of complaints from people who prefer to cruise without children on board.

 

Anyone agree or particularly disagree?

I still don't see why, on the larger ships, the dining room could not be formal for one or two nights per week while the other restaurants remain elegant casual. That way, everyone is catered for.

is there any cruise line that offers "children free" ships

p & o

p & o

Yes,

Artemis and Arcadia

Doing well by all accounts,catering for the British passenger that hates children.:D

Re reply from Lord and seapenarth.

We took our family on the Artemsis two years ago. Lovely brat free cruise

but dumpy ship.

Lord what makes you think the British hate the brats?

Kind regards

Tony

Re reply from Lord and seapenarth.

 

We took our family on the Artemsis two years ago. Lovely brat free cruise

 

but dumpy ship.

 

Lord what makes you think the British hate the brats?

 

Kind regards

 

Tony

Oh,just an informed opinion Tony.;)

Having filled in numerous CRB forms when I worked for the NHS-which all were lost by Personnel or rather should I say the PC HR-puts you off the little darlins.

I do feel that Mrs C may be making a big mistake in trying to attract more brats. I thinks some passengers will seek other cruise lines.

I wonder if fellow sailors think there is much differance in British, opposed

to North American brats!!!

Perhaps too contentious to say

Snow finally thawing

Kind regards

Tony

Having filled in numerous CRB forms when I worked for the NHS-which all were lost by Personnel or rather should I say the PC HR-puts you off the little darlins.

 

I do feel that Mrs C may be making a big mistake in trying to attract more brats. I thinks some passengers will seek other cruise lines.

 

I wonder if fellow sailors think there is much differance in British, opposed

 

to North American brats!!!

 

Perhaps too contentious to say

 

Snow finally thawing

 

Kind regards

 

Tony

In the OP's report, she said that "Seabourn will not try to attract more children". It is just that Seabourn does not intend banning them altogether.

So you take your choice. "Dumpy ship" with no children or Seabourn with the possibility of a few depending on time of year. The two Seabourn cruises I have been on had no children on-board so it hasn't been a problem for me.

Still it may be some consolation to know that, in a few years, some of the "brats" may be contributing their taxes to the NHS, social security and other services which, with any luck, we will be benefiting from.

Can Seabourn or any cruise line that does substantial business in the U.S. legally ban all children?

Can Seabourn or any cruise line that does substantial business in the U.S. legally ban all children?

absolutelry not !!!! (unfortunately:mad:

absolutelry not !!!! (unfortunately:mad:

i meant absolutely; sorry !!

Still it may be some consolation to know that, in a few years, some of the "brats" may be contributing their taxes to the NHS, social security and other services which, with any luck, we will be benefiting from.

Don't tell me that you are moving from Arizona to the UK, to take advantage of all that.

We are full at the moment with many nationalities taking advantage of our free health system and anything else that they can scrounge.

Can Seabourn or any cruise line that does substantial business in the U.S. legally ban all children?

Is the law different for the US from the UK? For some time now P and O have had these childfree ships - obviously only part of the fleet, and I believe they are very popular (don't want to travel P and O myself).

It would be so nice for those of us who prefer to be without children on board to know beforehand that this would be the case - either by a ship or specified cruises on the line being childfree (If it was just one ship there would obviously be limited itineraries). Would this be legal or not??

I know Renaissance used to advertise child free ships. On the triplets, Seabourn "discourages" bringing children although they don't expressly ban them. Not sure about legality, though.

Wouldn't this be age discrimination (although the Federal, State & local governments all define the "protected class" differently)? At a minimum a line would have to show a legitimate, non-discrminatory business reason for imposing such a ban.

I do not think it would be a legal issue,many hotels in the Carribean have adult only resorts.

My last SB cruise was a child free trip.It was lovely.The last time we sailed on Silversea it was a nightmare.16 children were on the ship.This was over our Labor Day but the children were all from Europe.I went to the spa for a facial and had to trip over 4 little girls in the waiting area.They were on the floor and not one mother said anything.They took over the pool which is quite small and ran up and down the halls.We complained as did many others but we were told it was up to the parents to control their children.

So remember our labor day is still summer holiday for others.

Don't tell me that you are moving from Arizona to the UK, to take advantage of all that.

We are full at the moment with many nationalities taking advantage of our free health system and anything else that they can scrounge.

Nope, as a dual citizen, UK/US, and having worked for a number of years in the UK, I plan to claim my pension there just like the rest of you.

Wouldn't this be age discrimination (although the Federal, State & local governments all define the "protected class" differently)? At a minimum a line would have to show a legitimate, non-discrminatory business reason for imposing such a ban.

Wouldn't applicable law be where the ship is registered?

Hi

I am not sure why everyone is up in arms about children onboard Seabourn, from experience all the children I have met on board have been very polite, well behaved and no trouble.

It is some of the adult passengers that can cause problems:D

At the end of day no cruise line can be all things

deb