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Jim Avery

By Jim Avery,
in SeaDream Yacht Club

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Jim Avery

Jim Avery

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So far, depart Athens Oct '13, Suez Canal transit with stops in Egypt, on to Mumbai, Singapore (dry dock in Singapore) then 18 voyages through April '14. to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, East Timor, North Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Vietnam Nam, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. Very interesting!

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DisneyJen "Live from...." Rare

DisneyJen

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With SDI in Costa Rica and SDII in Asia, it appears there will be a couple of months with no SD in the Caribbean. Opening for a third ship? How's that for speculation?

 

I can't imagine that they won't keep one ship in the Caribbean during the season. :eek:

 

Time will tell ...

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vandrefalk

vandrefalk

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I'm pretty sure SD I is relocating to the Caribbean in January 2014, so should be there til the crossing in April. Then SD II will rejoin in the Med in April 2014. Maybe they've figured we're getting a bit tired of the Caribbean?? Will be on board in another week or so, so we'll see what the additional ideas are!

Vandrefalk

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JES4845

JES4845

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Asia plans sound exciting based on what others of you have written. We have been there on land several times but not in recent years and never by sea. Kudos to SeaDream for keeping it all fresh and interesting with new itineraries. To the earlier question, my money (ha ha not my in the Caribbean in Nov/Dec and except for the two holiday weeks the other weeks are dead passenger-wise even with steep discounts. I agree that with SDI back to the Caribbean by early January they have that base covered even with the Costa Rica/Panama etc voyages just prior on SDI. Both will be back in time for a full Med or wherever schedule in the summer. Let's pool our pennies for group lottery tickets to finance it all!

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whatnot

whatnot

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I too got the email from my TA with a link to the brochure. Found it hard to read but what I saw looked very interesting. I agree with Vandrefalk that it is a very ambitious commitment. I don't think 20% off is enough to get me on that first voyage that has 2 stops in Egypt plus all the sea days! I would love to do a couple of the voyages but I think we'll wait before we jump on it. Maybe when we sail in the spring we'll have a better feeling for our schedule and what the Asia cruises are going to be like. Also hoping the onboard discount will still be there!

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Jim Avery

Jim Avery

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That's good news, JES4845! Cuz I've got another one to book in just over a week when I'm onboard -- and one to rebook! :D

 

I'd be interested in Singapore perhaps, but the hassle of getting there could be a deal breaker. . . . .

 

Vandrefalk

 

Hi V.

We agree, getting to the other side of the world is a hassle but we are most interested in this. Sort of like when our favourite twosome were the Sea Goddess I & II. They went everywhere. The good news about going to asia is you have many options besides US carriers. We have a personal problem paying more for airfare than for the cruise but that will have to be seen. And, for the prices quoted which seem fair for the SeaDream part, by the time you add air, you are looking at a substantial investment of travel budget (at least for us) and We, for two, would like some guarantee of adults only (not trying to start that war over), at least some of the voyages. The others could be labeled family friendly.:eek: OK, rant over. Want to do it, what do you all think??:D

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JES4845

JES4845

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We second the motion on adults only particularly with such a substantial investment of money and time going to Asia. We almost didn't go on SD again after our first voyage several years ago because there were kids when all the ads were about couples. Thankfully we have had "kids" of various ages (teenagers, younger, and early 20's) on most of our many voyages and we haven't had the serious problems several of you have encountered. If we ever did we would have to seriously re-evaluate another trip. Hopefully the cost and time involved in going to Asia will cut down on the kid factor. That said, SD should have couples/adults only. They say they "discourage kids" but can't (or at least won't) prohibit them. They have a lot riding on Asia and we are strongly inclined to go on a trip but "kids free" is fine with me/us!

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CDreamer

CDreamer

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A bit late to the party, but I just got the link to the brochure from my TA. Ambitious destinations, to be sure, but kudos to SD for listening to passengers' suggestions re: new itineraries.

 

Hopefully SD2 can cover all these destinations without too much of a hiccup since there are always "learning curves" when trying out new locations. That said, it sounds like there has been much thought and prep going into creating these new destinations, and it's good to know the ship will be going into dry dock before tackling these new Asian itineraries.

 

As Vandrefalk said above, it will be interesting to hear more about this once we're on board next month.

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vandrefalk

vandrefalk

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JES4845,

Do you have a lot of nights on SD? The reason I ask is that some guests and their TAs got some advance notice -- and I have no idea what criteria they used to do that. But my understanding is that the schedule/brochure should be posted in the first part of October. The electronic version is a bit hard to read, so I'll look more closely at it when it comes out in larger print (old eyes, you know) :D

 

Vandrefalk

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Jim Avery

Jim Avery

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JES4845,

Do you have a lot of nights on SD? The reason I ask is that some guests and their TAs got some advance notice -- and I have no idea what criteria they used to do that. But my understanding is that the schedule/brochure should be posted in the first part of October. The electronic version is a bit hard to read, so I'll look more closely at it when it comes out in larger print (old eyes, you know) :D

 

Vandrefalk

 

Yes, small print and using a zoom function seems to make the page disappear. Website glitch I guess. The prices are higher than equivalent time in the Caribbean but I guess that is to be expected. A lot will depend on what type of airfare is available as we get nearer and the airlines post schedules for those dates.

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