Itinerary Changes

[wulicny]

I understand that the Captains have the discretion to change ports of call during a sailing, due to weather, etc. However, two weeks ago, I booked a sailing on the SeaDream I (Nov. 6, 7-night) that was round trip St. Thomas to St. Thomas. Today I checked their website, and now that sailing is roundtrip from San Juan to San Juan, with no stop in St. Thomas. (There was previously no stop scheduled in San Juan).

 

Not that I have anything against San Juan, but we were looking forward to spending a pre-sail night in St. Thomas, doing some shopping, etc. San Juan just isn't the same. Does anyone know why this occurred? Does anyone have a contact at SeaDream to whom I can address my concerns? Is it likely to change back to St. Thomas in the ensuing 11 months?

 

I know, it's too early to freak out about it, but I know how disappointed my wife will be when she finds out. I would hate to have to cancel this vacation and find something new to do for our anniversary.

 

Thanks for letting me vent,

Bill

[wulicny]

My TA says that SeaDream changed to San Juan because people were having trouble getting flights in to St. Thomas. Is this the case for those of you sailing this winter from St. Thomas?

 

Bill

[Jim Avery]

We are scheduled for March 20th on SDI out of St. Thomas. Have not heard otherwise.

Jim

[Michele Dougherty]

I am on the 1/16 SeadreamI. We are flying in on American Airlines from Boston on a non stop. I am surprised to hear people are having trouble flying to St. Thomas. There are several flights a day from San Juan.

The non stop only operates in high season from Boston. I am not sure about the New York flight.

[captphil]

Bill, this may not be all bad. From experience you may want to wait a little before panicking. Seadream tends to take good care of their passengers. We had initially booked back to back cruises from Athens to Rome and Rome to Nice on SD1. After a few months I noticed (also on their website) that the second week had changed to Rome to Nice. When I enquired with SD they told me that they would be getting back to us through our travel agent. They in fact came back with a 25% reduction on both weeks and a $200 cabin credit. To be honest the ports were even better. About a month and a half later I noticed another change: Athens to Rome was now Athens to Istanbul and the second week was gone altogether. We were devastated sine we were celebrating our 25th anniversary the second week. Once again we were told that our travel agent would be etting in touch with us. This time they acknowledged causing us significant hardship for a second time and offered any other 14 day cruise at no cost. As you can well imagine we went from wanting to strangle someone to pinching ourselves to make sure this was really happening. It is at that time that we realized that we were dealing with a comany that valued their customers. We are now booked Nice to Rome and Rome to Nice for next September and are looking forward to booking with Seadream again perhaps in early 2006.

 

It is my understanding that on occasion full yacht charters modify intineraries. It is comforting to know that SD realize the impact on their customers and act responsibly. Just hang in there....you may be pleasantly surprised. Do, have yourself a great cruise....

[wulicny]

Phil,

 

Thanks for the info. Actually from my perspective , I did not mind the change, but my wife is not a Puerto Rico fan. However, I think I convinced her that the SeaDream would be worth missing St. THomas. Plus, we could take another trip to St. Thomas (long weekend, maybe) this summer.

 

We will be patient and see what happens.

 

Bill

[Zimmy]

We also just received notice from our travel agent that our January 2, 2006 cruise on SeaDream I, which was previously St Thomas to St Thomas, is now San Juan to St Thomas. The cruiseline will reimburse any non-cancellable airfare (which we have not booked yet), and they are giving us a $200 onboard credit. This does not jive with the theory that the change is because St Thomas is too hard to get to; there must be another reason. In fact, they are making it harder for us, since we need to fly to and from different ports, and one of them is St Thomas anyway. We were planning on spending the New Year's holiday in St Thomas, so I guess now it will be San Juan. We also had been planning to fly directly home after the cruise, but now we will need to extend the trip in order to get in some shopping days in St Thomas, and snorkeling in St John. For us, this is not as convenient as the original itinerary, since it is easier for me to take extra time before, rather than after, the cruise.

[wulicny]

... and today I get word that the sailing we were booked on has been chartered. So, they are giving us $685 off per person on the lowest available fare of another sailing, and a $200 per cabin credit.

 

Now I am feeling pretty good, because there are some nice other itineraries that will cost less (for us) than our original selection.

 

Bill :)

[captphil]

....and now all you have to do is hope they charter your second choice and you may get a freebee out of it. Keep your fingers crossed

 

 

 

... and today I get word that the sailing we were booked on has been chartered. So, they are giving us $685 off per person on the lowest available fare of another sailing, and a $200 per cabin credit.

 

Now I am feeling pretty good, because there are some nice other itineraries that will cost less (for us) than our original selection.

 

Bill :)

[cruisinsince75]

... and today I get word that the sailing we were booked on has been chartered. So, they are giving us $685 off per person on the lowest available fare of another sailing, and a $200 per cabin credit.

 

Now I am feeling pretty good, because there are some nice other itineraries that will cost less (for us) than our original selection.

 

Bill :)

 

Kind of sounds like what Radisson did for us. We were booked on the Diamond for this next July. The ship got sold and our cruise cancelled and RSSC gave us a $700 per person cruise credit. I just love the luxury lines, they do take care of people.

[lildan]

Hi All

 

Credit for a cancelled cruise may be ok but I would rather have the SD cruise....it is something that you have chosen carefully usually for a special reason...we have booked the back to back Nice to Rome to Nice cruise on SD1 for June this year and are really looking forward to it....if it got cancelled for some reason we would be really upset....I notice that there are still vacancies for this cruise so it could be a possibility....

 

also can anyone recommend a hotel in Nice for the night before embarkation....not the really expensive one's...maybe something 3* or 4*....

 

thanks

 

Helen

[cruisinsince75]

We are staying at the Beau Rivage for a post cruise in May and it wasn't too bad. It seems that nothing is cheap, but we are also there the day that the Monaco Gran Prix starts and the Cannes Film Festival ends, so we were just lucky to even find a room.

[rainbro]

The Hotel La Perouse was very nice. We stayed a couple of days prior to boarding SeaDream1. Great location, close to the port and easy walk to old Nice.

The terrace rooms have a nice patio with a view of the Med. RB

[lildan]

Don and RB ....many thanks for your recommends....will look up both hotels on the internet and see what is said about them.....

 

RB...on your SD cruise from Nice did you get to Pompei?....if so can I have some feedback....it's about the only organised tour I fancy during this cruise...cause we usually do our own thing....some tours can spend too long at places and we hate hanging about....

 

xxH

[lildan]

Don & RB - just a quick note to say that we've booked the Massena Hotel in Nice....the hotels you both recommended were full...so they must have been good. Again thanks.

 

Finally settled on the Massena 'cause it's near the old town so walking distance to the bars and restaurants. Also hope to do the Chateau in the morning before we board the SD1. Can't wait ...only nine weeks to go.

 

xx Helen

[Sea-hawk]

We had booked our cruise last fall for a March sailing in the Mexican Riviera. A few months prior, Seadream decided to charter out that cruise and offered to move us to another one on a different date. Since we were traveling with other couples who couldn't change their vacations, Seadream moved us to the Caribbean, which turned out to be a much better itinerary.

 

Upon checking in, we noticed that some of the islands had been switched around, and found out it was because the beach they used for the famous champagn and caviar splash in the surf, was lacking sand. No big deal.

 

Our departure from Saun Juan was delayed from sunset to 2 hours later to accomadate some late arriving passengers. It would have been nice to sail around the fort at sunset, but I could feel for those people who flew in the day of the cruise.

 

After being at sea for 2 hours and having dinner, we returned to San Juan because a crew member had had a heart attack. This was absolutely the right and only thing to do. (Thanks to the Doctor, he is doing well.)

 

This made it impossible to make it to Nevis the next day, so we went to St. Bart instead, which was actually a far better choice.

 

I guess my point is that nothing is set in stone, and one must be flexable. We have had many days at sea, on a variety of lines, but never had we had so many inexcapeable situations happen in such a short time. To the credit of the captain and his crew, we never felt inconvienced, or misinformed. It was smooth sailing all week long.:)