Cape Town to Singapore

Yes, Dhucar - on the advice of friends we did in fact use Tour Mandalay. The whole process was seamless. And while there are three ballon companies who fly over Bagan, the one with whom we were booked, Oriental Ballooning used a 8 person basket ( the other companies I believe use 16 person baskets.) This means there are only two people in each corner of the basket allowing for optimal viewing.

I am jealous of those who have spent more time in Myanmar. In a perfect world I would have also like to have visited Inle Lake and Mandalay. It of course that is the disadvantage of an ocean cruise.

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Great pictures Roxburgh and Chairsin!

We opted to stay in Yangon since we had never visited Myanmar before. The colonial sections of Yangon are beautiful but are badly in need of repair. We ate ( twice ) at the Rangoon Tea House which is located in one of the beautifully restored buildings. I highly recommend it...good food, drinks and desserts, as well as great atmospherics..

Two semi off the beaten path activities that we partook in were the Chinatown night market and the Yangon Circle train. Neither activities are for the squeamish or frail. The Circular Train takes about four hours without getting off at any of the frequent stops.

We exited about halfway at an immense outdoor market, beginning literally on the train platform. The heat was intense, as were the sights and smells. I’ve visited markets all over the world, but nothing quite like this. Myanmar is a dichotomy of extreme poverty and beauty, and that contrast couldn’t be more evident than in Dyan Ninh Gone.

We happened to see a taxi, and chose that as our return to Yangon instead of the train. We returned to the ship just before sail away at noon Monday...what an adventure and experience!

Yesterday we left Thilawa at around 11am and made our way down the river and into the Andaman Sea. Sojourn had to weave her way around the many fishing villages with nets strung between the huts/boats. Some, we were told by the Captain, had nets as long as 8 miles. Here is a photo of one of them:

Our last sea day and our last trivia which was won by the Baracudas. Our team came a distant second.

The weather is hot, the sea calm and the sky blue. A perfect day for cruising.

Overnight safari option out of Port Elizabeth was to Shamwari Game Reserve or Pumba Game Reserve and cost 1999 USD. Many people I spoke with yesterday did this privately. Out of Durban the overnight option is to Phinda Game Reserve for 2499 USD.

 

 

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Are those prices per person? I can't see any shore excursion prices yet for our 2019 cruise, too early. Do you know which Shamwari accommodation lodge Seabourn guests stayed in? What was the feedback?

Yes, prices are per person. I can’t say I recall speaking with anyone who went there.

We had a final sea day two days ago with finals of all of the competitions and an art show.

Then yesterday was Phuket and again all of the posters here seemed to find something different to productively occupy their day. We did a Seabourn tour to ride elephants. At the end of the riding portion there was a brief show where the juveniles performed some tricks. When they asked for a female volunteer I raised my hand. I was led to the center of the performance area and told to lie face down on a mat. Subsequently one of the elephants “massaged” my body from head to toe with its trunk. It was surprisingly gentle. This gives new meaning to the phrase “Thai Massage.” We the. All had the opportunity to feed the gentle creatures bananas. From there we watched how rubber sap is produced and then processed. And finally we visited a cashew factory and saw the labor intensive manner in which these nuts are shelled. And of course we all bought a selection of nuts in the shop. Their was also supposed to be an additional stop at a souvenir shop but luckily our bus revolted and after all passengers signed a statement noting we would not hold the company or guide liable for not taking us there as part of our tour (either that or we all now own a timeshare in Phuket) we were driven back to the port.

Before dinner there was another show of local dancers - this was the best of all. Then we retired to the Colonnade for a Thai dinner. While I hold no illusions that it was authentic it certainly was very good and the restaurant was full.

Today in Langkawi we also opted for a ship tour ( this puts us up to a new record of four for this cruise) . This was the bat cave and Mangrove boat tour. After a rocky start of getting all tendered ashore (some passengers seem incapable of reading their tour tickets and following instructions) well past the official start time we were bused about forty minutes away to the Kilim National Park where we boarded two small covered boats and set out to explore the river. We exited the boat to visit the bat cave and then continued up river where we encountered a good sized Water monitor, a viper camouflaged on a tree branch just above the water and best of all watched the aerial show of the two local varieties of eagles. Lastly we visited an aquaculture farm before busing back to the tender dock. It seems we have now been joined in this little bay by two other cruise ships - oh well. .At present we are awaiting a Caviar Sailaway party scheduled to begin shortly on this very sticky day. I would strongly recommend people on a similar cruises in this area to plan activities in the morning only!

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Are those prices per person? I can't see any shore excursion prices yet for our 2019 cruise, too early. Do you know which Shamwari accommodation lodge Seabourn guests stayed in? What was the feedback?

We stayed at Shamwari for 3 nights last year as part of a land trip. Cost was £2100 for two people. You can easily book it yourself and you can be picked up from and taken back to Port Elizabeth at extra cost by Shamwari drivers. We stayed in Bayethe Tented Lodge. We have friends who have also stayed in Long Lee Manor there. Both excellent. The game drives are something we will never, ever forget. Majestic and awe inspiring.

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We stayed at Shamwari for 3 nights last year as part of a land trip. Cost was £2100 for two people. You can easily book it yourself and you can be picked up from and taken back to Port Elizabeth at extra cost by Shamwari drivers. We stayed in Bayethe Tented Lodge. We have friends who have also stayed in Long Lee Manor there. Both excellent. The game drives are something we will never, ever forget. Majestic and awe inspiring.

 

 

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Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

Advice from various wildlife charities advise against going on elephant rides etc in places like Thailand. The animals are often badly treated and their family groups broken up. By opting for these excursions you are colluding with this sad practice.

Advice from various wildlife charities advise against going on elephant rides etc in places like Thailand. The animals are often badly treated and their family groups broken up. By opting for these excursions you are colluding with this sad practice.

Yes, we totally agree. We learned this on an overnight stay at the Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai. Heartily recommend this place for a truly life-changing experience. They are part of the solution, not the problem.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/elephant-nature-park-chiang-mai/index.html

Advice from various wildlife charities advise against going on elephant rides etc in places like Thailand. The animals are often badly treated and their family groups broken up. By opting for these excursions you are colluding with this sad practice.

I'm glad you raised this, there does not seem to be enough awareness about it. Its disappointing that Seabourn continue to offer these excursions.

What about Addo Elephant reserve? Is this a good place?

What about Addo Elephant reserve? Is this a good place?

Addo is in South Africa. It is a National Park and the third largest in the country. The elephants there live in their natural environment and are wild. African elephants are not domesticated in the sense that Asian ones can be.

The tour that we took to Addo was excellent.

I am also sensitive to ethical issues when it comes to the treatment of animals and changing their behavior. In fact I did some research prior to booking this tour and nothing I could find raised concerns. The elephants appear to be humanely treated - but no I don’t know this for certain and it is a matter of personal choice. To me riding an elephant is no different than riding a camel or horse.

In any event the next day we were in Georgetown on Penang. Next to Bagan and Cape Town it was my favorite part of the trip. If you go there don’t miss the recently installed steel sculptures on the sides of buildings that depict the history of the area in comical fashion. You can get a map and do a self guided walking tour through the historic area and try to see all 52 (we managed about 40in three hours). There are also some fun painted murals as well. And we also encountered a display of hundreds of balloons painted by school students and hung from a series of wooden arches.

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I agree with Chairsin, Georgetown was one of the better ports on this cruise.

The care given to preserving the colonial architecture coupled with the street art sculptures, I think there were 50 at least, distinguishes Georgetown from other ex colonial settlements around the world. Kudos to Malaysia.

Alas, but all voyages come to their conclusion and so must this one. I enjoyed everything about this cruise, the food, the ports and of course the other passengers we met .

Today begins voyage part two for us as we continue on to Hong Kong!

When we were in Georgetown we took a tour which involved visiting the Kek Lok Si Temple as well as two colonial era mansions. This photo is of one of the monks at the temple painting Chinese characters onto plates:

After Georgetown it was Kuala Lumpur which was bustling, lively and very hot and humid. Our tour in KL took in the Central Market, a Chinese Temple, Chinatown, the Petronas Towers and a Pewter factory. Rather than a photo of the Petronas Towers (yes, I do have one), I rather like this one.:

After KL, it was on to Singapore. Last night we went to the night zoo. I had the ISO cranked up on my camera and managed to take a couple of half decent shots:

And so ends a memorable cruise. Lots of sights and sounds in exotic ports and a good group of people on board; both crew and passengers. I suppose we are fortunate that some of the relentlessly negative commentators on here were not with us.

So we are now at the Crown Plaza, Changi Airport for our flight home tomorrow.

But never fear, we have already booked our next cruise and are delighted that some of our friends from this one have also booked it. We just need to get one other couple to bite the bullet and it will be fun, fun, fun.

Thanks for all the great posts!

 

But never fear, we have already booked our next cruise and are delighted that some of our friends from this one have also booked it. We just need to get one other couple to bite the bullet and it will be fun, fun, fun.

Thanks to Roxburgh, Chairsin, Kevnzworld and all others who posted!

Now I am curious and have to ask what this next cruise is going to be since everyone is so well-travelled.....?

Thanks so much to all for such an interesting thread - sharing your experiences with beautiful photographs.

Thanks to all who have provided great commentary and photos from this cruise. I will be on next year and your feedback has been very helpful with my plans. It isn't always convenient to interrupt your holiday to report on cc, so your collective efforts have been most appreciated.

More thanks to everyone, enjoyed some very evocative photos. We will be joining Sojourn in 16 days time with appetites well and truely whetted.

We will be on the sojourn next year for the 36 day from singapore to cape town. How was the internet? How much for a 36 day cruise?? I am thinking of doing the unlimited since it can be so slow. Any advice??

Thanks all. Very much enjoyed. I always enjoy these threads where there’s lots of contributors, or over a repeated segment the posting continues. You learn so much.

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I just want to add a few thoughts about the Seabourn 'experience'.

Although Seabourn have recruited a lot of new staff, I thought that they managed to maintain a generally high level of quality and service. Roberto, of course, was his usual 'superstar' self but the other experienced wait staff were also very good and you could see that rubbing off on the 'newbies' most of whom wanted to do well.

Despite some of the reports of teething problems with the wine service, we had no problems. We had brought a number of bottles on-board and we also bought some wine off the premium list. There were no mix-ups in our case. We found the sommeliers (Kesani, Jo, Calvin, Philippe) to be more visible than on previous cruises and they seemed to have more time to chat.

Overall, the food was very good. From time to time there was something that didn't work for me but you run that risk everywhere. I liked the TK Grill although the portions tended to be huge. I think we ate there 5 or 6 times in all and they were all good.

We ate at all the restaurants and the standard was high. Bringing a guest chef on board was a nice touch and we thoroughly enjoyed his cooking.

Entertainment was excellent. For me, Ben Mills was the highlight singing rock and roll classics that we all knew and loved. Not often an entertainer gets called back for an encore on Seabourn! I also enjoyed comedian Steve Stevens. We had seen him before and some of the jokes were the same but they were still funny. Other acts too were of a high standard; the classical pianist, the illusionist, etc..

Sophie, our CD, was as lovely as ever and Claudio held court at the Observation Bar ably assisted by Garnett. In the mornings, Mercy could be guaranteed to be bright and cheerful as she operated the toast machine. Antonio was F&B manager and he was very present in all venues.

Our stewardess was Aleksandra who was a delight. She worked closely with Naome (spelling?) and the two of them often helped each other out. Smart!

Not many negatives for the naysayers on here I'm afraid. There were a few problems early on with Destination Services and overful buses but that seemed to be sorted out by the time we got to Myanmar. In terms of the condition of the ship there are clearly problems with the decking around the pool. They did try to fix them but failed miserably. A job for dry dock I think.

I'm glad you raised this, there does not seem to be enough awareness about it. Its disappointing that Seabourn continue to offer these excursions.

Yes, I feel the same way. In order for the young elephants to perform tricks, they are severely abused. Obviously, they won’t mistreat the elephants in front of the tourists. The rule seems to be if there are elephant shows, stay away. The baby elephants are usually taken away from their mothers. It’s heartbreaking.

Maybe if you bring your own wine on board you will have good wine “service”. You won’t need to discuss with a (food) waiter what is the “wine of the day” and what alternatives there may be - in terms of how they taste and if there is supply. Ditto if you buy revenue wines; of course a real sommelier will chat, sell to you, and pour for you. Not so easy to get refills and glasses cleared if you are counting on just your waiter (who has the same number of tables as ever) to do wines, too. That is what we found to our dismay!

Which leaves me where this new “service” started on day 19 of our 55 day cruise: cold. That was when a waiter offered red wine for our fish starter and, when asked, said they only offered one chardonnay as well.

The former ambiance of the MDR and its group of wine servers backed by sommeliers has been cut back. What underpins this project, anyway? Does anyone see improvements for their table? This is a dumbing down... There is no other way to put it.

If you google the AAA Diamond classification for restaurants you will see what a 3 Diamond restaurant is. The Sojourn MDR is now 3 and no longer 4. Only the TK Grill has a discrete and comprehensive sommelier service which makes it 4 star or higher and I am sure that Thomas Keller would never let it be squandered with such interference, dumbing down “wine of the day for you?” and cost-cutting.

All has been recorded on our post-cruise survey. Guest Services and senior Hotel officers told me that the crescendo of complaints had been building for weeks. They expected, and now will be seeing, a lot of harsh feedback.

Happy and healthy sailing!