Review of Seadream II 01/15/11-01/22/11

[CFIGuy]

Just got back to reality (and piles and piles of laundry), but at least there is football on today. This was my first cruise on a small ship, and first cruise on a luxury or premium line. Will try to give as thorough of a report as possible. Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, please note, that for each area I will normally have a couple of suggestions for improvement. This does NOT mean that I didn't have an absolute blast on the cruise and I do plan on booking again. Just trying to give some constructive criticism.

 

Embarkation Day - San Juan

Arrive at the port area around 10AM. Had problems getting to San Juan, so ended up flying in the morning of the cruise (We had planned to arrive the day prior). Taxi fare was relatively cheap (and told to us before we got into the cab by a third party - dispatcher - this will be important later). Was a decent amount of traffic due to road closures for a festival. Went to Barachina (spelling?) since they had a luggage drop. Food was decent, prices were average, and service was good for the Caribbean. After lunch, walked around OSJ, and then retrieved our bags to go to the ship. We weren't very impressed with OSJ, so just sat at the port for about 90 mins prior to the cruise.

 

Port facilities at OSJ (and from I noticed upon departure at Crown Bay St Thomas) are very basic, almost bare. There were 5 chairs in the outer lobby at OSJ, nothing of note in St Thomas. This was one of the few areas I thought that there could have been some improvement. Possibly a couple of more chairs, some bottles of water, etc. The only reason why I mention this is because some of the larger cruise lines do this, and SDYC did it for all of the tender stops.

 

Boarding as all have mentioned was promptly @ 2PM. Once embarking via the gangway, you were on the pool deck. Multiple members of staff greeted us, and of course champagne and hand towels awaited our arrival. The check in process itself was about the quickest ever, maybe 5 mins, I think even less. And this was with the complication of us not having our cruise contract, since we booked last minute. For first timers, you should note that SDYC holds your passports for the week. My guess is that smaller ports require all of the passports to be hand inspected when the purser clears the ship(?)

 

From there, we were taken immediately to our cabin. We booked a guarantee and received suite 218. This is the forward most cabin (before staff cabins) on the left. Immediately next to our cabin was a door for crew to go through to a crew area. ALL crew were especially courtesy about opening/closing the door quietly, and noise was never an issue. The photos of the cabin pretty much say it all. Lighting in the cabin was great, the furniture was as well. Lighting by the sofa was on a dimmer, worked great for a night light in case you had to get up in the middle of the night. Never had a problem with the room temperature. Plenty of space for storage. We had a stereo system at the beginning of the week, it was changed out to an iPod dock on one of our last days. There was also a DVD player (never used) and TV (on for maybe 15 mins all cruise). The minifridge kept drinks cool and our stateroom attendant Babylyn stocked it with our preferences. The safe had a nice feature where you basically set the code once for the whole week. Bathroom was a little small, but the shower was a nice size and the three jets were great.

 

Some additional comments of Babylyn. She was great. Managed to clean our room and her timing was impeccable. Any small requests were met with ease. Laundry seemed to be back within 24 hours. Any items of clothing left out was folded when we came back to the room.

 

A couple of small improvements for the room: For the shower, possibly add a bench. As part of the online check in process maybe have a check off area for mini fridge preferences. Have beds made with one large comforter instead of two small (1 per person) comforters. Include ESPN International feed on TV.

 

To be continued...

[knotheadusc]

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

 

After living in Europe, where split duvets are common, I really came to appreciate them. My husband gives off heat like a furnace, so it's good to have my own blanket! But I know tastes differ.

 

Seems to me that SD regulars in the know make minifridge requests on the registration form on SeaDream's Web site. But I think your checklist idea is a good one for those who forget.

 

I wish I didn't have so many days to go before my next SeaDream cruise!

[CFIGuy]

A couple of random things about our sailing - 85 guests onboard, not sure if that did or did not include the 3 guests from the corporate offices onboard. Americans were the largest group on board (about 40%). Europe made up the majority of the rest of the guests with some Brazilians and some other countries also represented. Average age seemed to be about 45 and group seemed to be split about 50% of guests were with a group and 50% were couples by themselves. There was a changing of the captain halfway through the sailing, sorry I didn't capture either name.

 

The majority of the rest of the afternoon was spent touring the ship and checking out the facilities. I think that the highlight for my wife was a complimentary mini massage. With so many outdoor facilities (and being in port every day), none of the outdoor facilities ever seemed crowded. The only exception I can remember all week was after the beach party, the pool deck had every chair filled.

 

We got ready for dinner and met back in the lounge for cocktails. The appetizers were delicious and the passed food was nice as well. The introduction speech by Michael was short and sweet. He also included brief information on the next port - St Johns. Two things I liked about Michael's speech, first that it was short, second (and this goes for the entire week) you never felt like you were being sold something. On larger cruises, it seemed like you were always being sold something, and if you were crazy enough to go to a port talk it would be about their kickback jewelry shops, etc.

 

Dinner was inside tonight, and can't really say I have any complaints about dinner on any of the nights. Service was impecable. The dinner choices were elegant, while not over the top. I dread going to a restaurant where the use the almost ridicuolus terms to describe an item, and I end up feeling like an idiot when I ask what the item is. That was not the case here. Going back to service, I could list all of the waiters that we liked, but it would be probably 75% of them. We just didn't rotate through the entire staff. I can honestly say that we did not run into a rude member of the staff all week. Suresh was the head chef this week, and he made sure to visit to see if we liked the meals. The wines served with dinner were nice, and flat or sparkling water was also included complimentary. Every night after dinner, coffee (including specialty coffee), tea or after dinner drinks were offered.

 

A couple of small improvements for dining: 3 of our 7 nights were indoors. Would have preferred another night outdoors, although I am sure I could have requested it. With the outdoor theme, would have liked the curtains to be open in the dining room to admire the view, but maybe this is to minimize sea-sickness. I will mention an Indian themed dinner later in the week. Would have liked to also seen some Filipino selections on another night possibly, reflecting the large Filipino crew. The complimentary white wines seemed to heavily favor the Chardonnay, just a note, as my wife and I don't like them. Last thing would be to add fresh berries to the breakfast menu. I asked this as a special request most mornings, and I noticed quite a few others did as well.

 

After dinner, started our routine of a drink at the Top of the Yacht with Roland who is a character, and probably our favorite crew member on board. He is now home for some much deserved rest though. We would then retreat down to the Piano Bar where Zoltan, Edguardo, & Snezana took care of us. I do have to admit that my wife and I are not nightowls, and with the exception of St Barts, we were in bed by 11PM every night. Only recommendation for the bar would be a after dinner drink list in the evening, and a similar list for daytime/pool hours and another for cocktails in the evening.

 

Of course, upon returning to the room we had our famous pajamas lying out, and were ready to get to bed after our very early start from Orlando (4:30AM) that morning.

 

Will try to start on day 2 today, but got day 1 finished while my son was taking his nap.

[Reunionmama]

Looking forward to the next chapter! And thanks for the tip about pre-stocking the fridge.

[DisneyJen]

Wonderful start to your review!

 

The split duvets can be replaced with a single duvet or, as we prefer, the bed can be made in the English style ... flat sheet, blanket, flat sheet. Perhaps this is something else that can be added to the preboarding checklist.

 

We always let our room stewardess to make our bed in the English style and, as expected, it is not a problem!

 

Looking forward to more of your report!

[vandrefalk]

CFIGuy -- So you're the ones that took our cabin on the 15th :) Concur with your assessment -- almost never heard the crew using the door and Babylyn was absolutely fabulous! However, believe you can request what you want in the mini-fridge -- I know they changed some things out on our first cruise and we've always had what we wanted after that. Also think you can make pillow and duvet requests.

 

I think the lack of chairs, refreshments at embarkation is due to port rules? SJU is very, very picky about what/where you can be before boarding starts (and even pickier about getting you off the ship if your cruise ends up in SJU!). :mad:

 

You can usually get a table outside with enough notice -- but SD is careful about having everyone outside if there is wind or anything -- believe they try to have as many dinners outside as possible, but want you to be comfortable (and not have your lettuce go flying around!).

 

Agree totally on the crew -- unfortunately, Roland has left SD (unless he changed his mind last week ;)), but he was a blast. Did you get to see his flair bartending and juggling? He's very, very good. All the crew are fantastic -- I'll say a bit more when I finish my report on our cruise.

 

Glad you had a great time -- it's a very special environment and we have become truly addicted!

 

Vandrefalk

[CFIGuy]

So, onto day 2...

 

We arrived at St Johns early in the morning, and got off the ship in good time. We decided to secure a rental car on-shore. We would have done this through SDYC, but this was one of the only areas where I thought that they massively overcharged. It did take us three rental car agencies, or 5 mins to find one with a Jeep Liberty (upgraded car) for $85 versus about $200 onboard. Bottles of water are available at the gangway, which is a very nice touch. We drove across the entire island and saw a lot of fun views. I have to say our favorite beach was Maho Beach - no facilities and very small beach, but perfectly clear water and nearly empty beach. As we stepped into the water, stingrays swam right by us. Also, multiple sea turtles, tons of fish, etc. Visited some of the other beaches on the island, but this would be our recommendation. If you are looking for a beach with facilities, I will have to say that 1000 other reviews are correct about Trunk Bay being where to go. One very nice thing for every island was having a map of the island available at reception for no charge. And it was actually a useful map, again versus the jewelry shop map onboard the larger ships (good for nothing other than shopping). You could tell that we were first timers when we were just standing on the dock waiting for our tender back. Someone did eventually come over to show us the shaded area with refreshments for waiting (very nice touch). Once back onboard, we did get room service poolside, as our lunch onshore was a $7 bag of chips (ouch!). I would have prefered that possibly hamburger or hotdog would be listed on the 24 hr room service menu, but you definitely won't starve. Cocktails were outside tonight, and what a difference this makes. Just the views, open air, more room, the views (again) make it so nice. Also, I am sure that the smokers onboard preferred this. Please note, smoking is allowed onboard, but only in outdoor areas. For an American, it will seem like a higher percentage of passengers smoke, but I never found it to be an issue, and most were overly courteous.

 

Dinner was again in the dining salon, and the choices were once again excellent. They seemed to have a lot of lamb on the menu, which I loved, because I normally do not have lamb at home. Compared to American portion size, the mains were slightly smaller, but I know that I personally don't normally eat 3 or 4 courses, so I appreciated the smaller main.

 

Another night of drinks with Roland, Edguardo, Zoltan, & Snezana at the two bars. And another early night. The next day would bring Marigot St Maarten, as Saba was too windy. FYI - Michael said that he would doubt if they would make it to Saba much if at all this season because of weather/winds. Sounds like Nevis is what the new captain likes for the alternative.

[CFIGuy]

Couple of small additional notes before day three... Hand Sanatizing dispensers were onboard in multiple places and we used them frequently. I have had the Norwalk virus before abroad (although not on a cruise ship) and it was miserable. There was some nice apparel for sale onboard, including some Nautica gear for a reasonable price. I liked the fact that they didn't take away from the public space by adding a botique. The library/computer area was beautiful with enough books and magazines onboard to kill someone. I only used the internet briefly to check one sports score, and it loaded ESPN fast enough. And even though I wrote my name in the log, I guess they didn't care about my 1-2 mins of usage.

 

So, onto day three. Day three brought us to Marigot. My wife and I had been to St Martin many many many times, so we weren't the most enthusistic about the port, but figured it was a good reason to stay onboard. After having breakfast, and doing a 1 hr stroll around Marigot, we headed back to the ship. We spent the afternoon reading and taking a dip in the pool, before we took a dip in the ocean. I don't know what makes it so exciting, but a lot of people had an absolute blast just swimming off of the back of the ship, ourselves included. I don't believe that any water sports were offered today because of leaving port early for St Barts.

 

When we departed St Barts, we passed Phillipsburg, and saw at least 5 ships in port. So it was a busy day on St Martin. We arrived in St Barts just after sunset, and for those who have never been to St Barts, you can't imagine the wealth there. I have never seen so many yachts, and yachts that were so large ever. We happened to be 'parked' next to the largest private yacht in the world, named Eclipse. If that wasn't enough, the owner's other large yacht Luna was on the other side. We have a very delicious dinner under the stars, and decided after dinner and post dinner drink to head into town. We happened to wander upon Baz Bar, and had a fun time there. I would recommend Baz Bar for a more chill place to go for a drink. If you are more in the mood for a party, go to the Strand Restaurant/Bar. The club is on the lower level, but the party starts in the restaurant from about 10PM-1AM. We happened to meet some crew members there, and we all had a fun time, and all barely made the last tender back.

 

This was our night to sleep under the stars, and like many others, this night was short lived. I think partially from our night of partying. One thing to note for both sleeping under the stars, and sleeping in your cabin is that because the distances between ports are very small, the ship would typically leave port very early in the morning. This is a smaller ship, and you will notice when you are sailing. It didn't bother us, but it was noticeable. I did notice some people with the seasick patches behind their ears. I would recommend this for those who get seasick.

 

Will try to get to day 4 tonight. My first day back to work killed me, and tomorrow I have to work some extra hours, so taking it easy tonight. Any questions from anyone?

[JoAnne B]

After your first SD you may never need to request the minifridge contents again.

 

My first trip I requested coke light (European port) and Amstel light. Last fall I opened the fridge for the first time and broke out laughing. It was stocked full of, you guessed it, coke light and Amstel light.

 

We're on SD withdrawal. Since my accident last fall and multiple surgeries there is no cruise in sight until the fall crossing. A year without SD is a loooooong time!

[Dorinda]

Dear CFIGuy - just found your posts today and have enjoyed reading them. We are looking forward to our first SD cruise in April. Hope you find time to write a bit more!

 

Cheers -

Dee

[JoAnne B]

I believe windows on ome side of the dining room are fake, which is why the drapes are never open. Unless I have my ships mixed up.

[kittysuki]

thinking of taking our son and daughter in law in their early 30's and of course that makes us almost 60! Right or wrong age group? And do they have scuba tanks etc on the ship or excursions for scuba? Have only gone on large ships so am a newbie at anything smaller than Azamara. thanks.

[ctbjr1309]

thinking of taking our son and daughter in law in their early 30's and of course that makes us almost 60! Right or wrong age group? And do they have scuba tanks etc on the ship or excursions for scuba? Have only gone on large ships so am a newbie at anything smaller than Azamara. thanks.

 

I don't think that for adult passengers there is a right or wrong age group. As long as you and your son and DIL are there to have fun, meet interesting people and relax you'll all have a great time.

 

No scuba tanks on ship. Depending on ports, there are excursions for scuba divers.

[nikita]

I am enjoying your review. We are considering a cruise on this ship so will be very interested to hear more. Thank you!