Seabourn just cancelled our Sailing with less then 24 hr notice!

[cruising kirby]

I appreciate that the new itinerary is very different to the one you booked, but as an Aussie I must say the ports are really good and quite different to the ones you would normally have on an Australian itinerary (most ships just cruise on the east coast).  I think you would be pleasantly surprised at how much you would enjoy them.  Even Kangaroo Island is bouncing back from the terrible bushfires and the area where the ship tenders is nowhere near the burnt area.  If your cruise finishes in Hobart, get a domestic flight to Melbourne (less than 1.5 hours), and fly to LAX from there. Hate to say it, but us Aussies do it all the time!!!!

[Joc123]

I can not see how it would take 50 hours to do LAX - Perth.

LAX - Sydney or Melbourne, (approx 15 hours) then on to Perth (approx 4 hours).

Coming back from Hobart is not a problem , you just have to get back to Melbourne or Sydney. It is a domestic flight but only 2 hours to Sydney, less to Melbourne.

Australians are used to long haul flights but travel to and from US is one of the shorter routes.

The ports of call will be lovely, probably a little more provincial and outback but magnificent scenery and if you like oysters you are in for a treat in Pt Lincoln. I hope they offer diving with the sharks excursion!

 

 

[Fletcher]

3 minutes ago, Joc123 said:

Australians are used to long haul flights but travel to and from US is one of the shorter routes.

 

 

 

As  Barry Humphries said, 'Living in Melbourne is great as you are only 24 hours away from somewhere really interesting.'

[frantic36]

6 hours ago, seabournbrad said:

We just received notification that Seabourn is changing the itinerary of our cruise so instead of picking up the ship in Singapore on March 22 we will have to get on it in Perth Australia. Right now Singapore Airlines is not allowing us to get a refund on our flight and flights to Perth from LAX business class are several thousand dollars more than our current flight. Seabourn has said they might pay for additional reasonable travel costs - but they could find it reasonable that we fly on a two stop 50 hour journey. If we do make it on the cruise they have offered a $2500 discount on future cruises. Or to have our money held as a credit for the future. What a mess!

 

This is the new intinerary - if anyone on this board has some comments on the ports I would be grateful to hear them: Brad

 

Sunday, March 22	Fremantle (Perth), Western Australia, Australia		8:00 PM
Monday, March 23	Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Tuesday, March 24	At Sea (Great Australian Bight)
Wednesday, March 25	Albany, Western Australia, Australia	7:00 AM	4:00 PM
Thursday, March 26	Esperance, Western Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Friday, March 27	At Sea (Great Australian Bight)
Saturday, March 28	At Sea
Sunday, March 29	Port Lincoln, South Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Monday, March 30	Adelaide, South Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Tuesday, March 31	Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Wednesday, April 1	At Sea (Bass Strait)
Thursday, April 2	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	8:00 AM	Overnight
Friday, April 3	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	Overnight	5:00 PM
Saturday, April 4	Burnie, Tasmania, Australia	10:00 AM	11:00 PM
Sunday, April 5	At Sea (Tasman Sea)
Monday, April 6	Hobart, Tasmania, Australia	8:00 AM

 

 

I live in Perth but can't help too much with hotels. Friends are staying in The Westin soon but I don't know it myself.

 

Bunbury if into wine if into wine is the place to get to Margaret River and surrounding wine region. Otherwise there is the dolphin centre but dolphins are wild so not guaranteed. 

 

Albany is a great place to just wander around and the newish ~2yo ANZAC museum is getting very positive reviews.https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g261671-d7275819-Reviews-National_Anzac_Centre-Albany_Western_Australia.html

 

or closer to town the West Australian Museum which has a full sized migration ship from early settlers.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g261671-d3604587-Reviews-Western_Australian_Museum_Albany-Albany_Western_Australia.html

 If you can get to Mount Barker or Denmark there are great wineries there.

 

Esperance haven't been in years the beaches are the main attraction because they are so white sand and blue sea but no sun loungers for hire. 

 

Port Lincoln we hired a car and went to Coffin Bay and did an oyster tasting tour. It was delicious and fun.

 

Adelaide has three main wine regions Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills with great food and wine in all these areas. I would suggest Adelaide Markets but they are closed on Monday. Adelaide itself is a lovely city to walk around.

 

Penneshaw KI. The area near there got badly burnt but if Seabourn put on a shuttle to Kingscote which is the main town  on the northern coast and people who did that in 2018 enjoyed walking around the town there. Nice green park areas and places to eat. Unfortunately places like Hansen Park Koala sanctuary got devastated by the fires but they are rebuilding.  I am not sure if the seal places or Admirals Arch are open yet.

 

Melbourne there is so much to see in the city and lots of food tours including coffee into the small side lanes. Queen Victoria Markets. Take the trip into the Flinders Ranges on the Puffing Billy Steam train. 

 

https://www.finder.com.au/best-places-to-visit-in-melbourne

 

Burnie they put a shuttle into the main visitors centre. You can walk around the boardwalk area and town but be aware it is hilly. I took one of the bus tours the centre sold that went to Hellyers Distillery and sampled some wares. It also went through some beautiful countryside.

https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/about/regions-of-tasmania/north-west/burnie

 

http://www.discoverburnie.net/Cruise-Ships/Tours/Burnie-Attractions-Bus

 

And Hobart is just lovely place to wander with the yacht harbour right there where the ship docks. The famous Salamanca Markets are only on Saturday. 

 

I hope this helps.

 

Julie

 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by frantic36

[frantic36]

6 hours ago, seabournbrad said:

but they could find it reasonable that we fly on a two stop 50 hour journey.

 

We have flown Perth to the States many times and I am not sure who you would be flying with that it would take that long? Virgin Australia has one stop in either one Melbourne or Sydney. Air New Zealand has a stop in Auckland. Singapore Air a stop in Singapore. I don't use American based airlines so I don't know what they do.

 

Admittedly some of these flights have long layovers ~ 8-10 hours but we used Novotel Airport Hotel in ?Sydney and Auckland and they were nice hotels with the Accor group if you have membership. It was nice to get a sleep in a normal bed and break up the flights.

 

Julie

 

 

[ab21au]

4 hours ago, cruising kirby said:

Hate to say it, but us Aussies do it all the time!!!!

that is so true, best part of 24 hrs or more to UK or east coast of USA. 

[rols]

4 hours ago, Joc123 said:

I can not see how it would take 50 hours to do LAX - Perth.

 

I assume he was saying that the flights to Singapore are non-refundable so they have to take those and that's already one stop and 24 hours (or similar) to get here, then they have to lay over again in Singapore and then fly to Perth. I don't quite see the 50 hours either but I could see it taking 35 including all the stops. 

[ab21au]

Further to the info Julie has given  ...  For those into wines, from Adelaide, we love the McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley regions better than Clare Valley. (Clare Valley is further from Adelaide also)
 

In 2018 we hired a car and went to Clare Valley. I found the Sevenhill Cellars to be very interesting (the first winery in Clare Valley) and their Shiraz (Inigo) I am still buying because I like it and find it good value. 
 

https://www.sevenhill.com.au

 

On subsequent days we went to Barossa and McLaren Vale using the tour company below, and the driver/guide was very knowledgeable and did everything we wanted. 
 

We did a tour and had lunch at Mollydooker Winery in McLaren Vale which was great. We particularly like and drink Mollydooker Wines. 

 

 http://www.cellardoortours.com.au/

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by ab21au

[frantic36]

11 minutes ago, rols said:

I assume he was saying that the flights to Singapore are non-refundable so they have to take those and that's already one stop and 24 hours (or similar) to get here, then they have to lay over again in Singapore and then fly to Perth. I don't quite see the 50 hours either but I could see it taking 35 including all the stops. 

 

 

Maybe that's what is meant, as we are going to need to do the same. Take our flight to Sydney since it was booked with points and then fly to Auckland much later the next day.

 

If there is a long layover in Changi airport I can recommend using the transit hotel in Terminal 1 for the pool or even Terminal 2 & 3 though they seemed more basic but they are fine for a sleep and shower. 

[cruising kirby]

52 minutes ago, ab21au said:

Further to the info Julie has given  ...  For those into wines, from Adelaide, we love the McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley regions better than Clare Valley. (Clare Valley is further from Adelaide also)
 

In 2018 we hired a car and went to Clare Valley. I found the Sevenhill Cellars to be very interesting (the first winery in Clare Valley) and their Shiraz (Inigo) I am still buying because I like it and find it good value. 
 

https://www.sevenhill.com.au

 

On subsequent days we went to Barossa and McLaren Vale using the tour company below, and the driver/guide was very knowledgeable and did everything we wanted. 
 

We did a tour and had lunch at Mollydooker Winery in McLaren Vale which was great. We particularly like and drink Mollydooker Wines. 

 

 http://www.cellardoortours.com.au/

 

And don't forget even closer are the magnificent Adelaide Hills wineries!!! The Lane, Shaw and Smith, Golding Wines, Longview, Nepenthe etc.  So many wineries accessible from Adelaide.....................................

[frantic36]

27 minutes ago, cruising kirby said:

And don't forget even closer are the magnificent Adelaide Hills wineries!!! The Lane, Shaw and Smith, Golding Wines, Longview, Nepenthe etc.  So many wineries accessible from Adelaide.....................................

 

 

I agree we love Adelaide Hills wines and the views are beautiful.

[Two4Sea]

5 hours ago, Joc123 said:

I can not see how it would take 50 hours to do LAX - Perth

 

Thorough computer searches will give you all the possible trips even if they are not realistic. From Google's ITA Matrix the slowest flight from LAX to Perth arriving on April 22 is:

-LAX to Nadi Thu, Mar 19 Fiji Airways 811 Dep:11:00pm Arr: Sat 4:45am, 10h 45m flight

-Layover in Nadi Sat, Mar 21 3h 25m

-Nadi to Melbourne Sat, Mar 21 Fiji Airways 935 Dep:8:10am Arr:12:30 pm 5h 20m flight

-Layover in Melbourne 23h 35m

-Melbourne to Perth Sun, Mar 22 Qantas 475 Dep:12:05pm Arr:1:10pm 4h 5m flight

Total 47h 10m. The fastest one that came up was 21h 35m.

The price is cheap, it's missing the connection in Melbourne by 25 minutes that makes this so long.

 

More seriously, for those looking for flight choices, https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ seems to have all the schedules in one place. You do have to read and use all the buttons to get its full benefits but it will then quickly give you a realistic picture of what's feasible.

 

Bill

[cruising kirby]

6 hours ago, Joc123 said:

I can not see how it would take 50 hours to do LAX - Perth.

LAX - Sydney or Melbourne, (approx 15 hours) then on to Perth (approx 4 hours).

Coming back from Hobart is not a problem , you just have to get back to Melbourne or Sydney. It is a domestic flight but only 2 hours to Sydney, less to Melbourne.

Australians are used to long haul flights but travel to and from US is one of the shorter routes.

The ports of call will be lovely, probably a little more provincial and outback but magnificent scenery and if you like oysters you are in for a treat in Pt Lincoln. I hope they offer diving with the sharks excursion!

 

 

Good suggestion, or try Air NZ.  LAX Auckland Perth.  Then home Melbourne or Sydney via Auckland to LAX

[seabournbrad]

We just received notification that Seabourn is changing the itinerary of our cruise so instead of picking up the ship in Singapore on March 22 we will have to get on it in Perth Australia. Right now Singapore Airlines is not allowing us to get a refund on our flight and flights to Perth from LAX business class are several thousand dollars more than our current flight. Seabourn has said they might pay for additional reasonable travel costs - but they could find it reasonable that we fly on a two stop 50 hour journey. If we do make it on the cruise they have offered a $2500 discount on future cruises. Or to have our money held as a credit for the future. What a mess!

 

This is the new intinerary - if anyone on this board has some comments on the ports I would be grateful to hear them: Brad

 

Sunday, March 22	Fremantle (Perth), Western Australia, Australia		8:00 PM
Monday, March 23	Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Tuesday, March 24	At Sea (Great Australian Bight)
Wednesday, March 25	Albany, Western Australia, Australia	7:00 AM	4:00 PM
Thursday, March 26	Esperance, Western Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Friday, March 27	At Sea (Great Australian Bight)
Saturday, March 28	At Sea
Sunday, March 29	Port Lincoln, South Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Monday, March 30	Adelaide, South Australia, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Tuesday, March 31	Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island, Australia	8:00 AM	6:00 PM
Wednesday, April 1	At Sea (Bass Strait)
Thursday, April 2	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	8:00 AM	Overnight
Friday, April 3	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	Overnight	5:00 PM
Saturday, April 4	Burnie, Tasmania, Australia	10:00 AM	11:00 PM
Sunday, April 5	At Sea (Tasman Sea)
Monday, April 6	Hobart, Tasmania, Australia	8:00 AM

[seabournbrad]

I want to thank everyone on this board for the information on the ports and flights. I don't want to spend more on flights than I already did nor do I want to make more than one stop - when I look for fares flying business they are more than $2K per ticket more expensive - and I'm sure our return flight will be worse - Seabourn has said they are willing to consider paying the extra expense - but I can't imagine that they would to this level. In addition since my tickets currently are non-refundable to Singapore I'd be looking for a direct flight to Perth on Singapore Air - However, what if they deny me boarding on the ship in Perth because of being in Singapore. At this point I think I am going to be looking to try and receive a refund from Seabourn - again I really appreciate everyone's advice and recommendations.

[Two4Sea]

Have you considered Premium Economy? We used to use it all the time on British Air and are moving back from business the next time because of being able to sit side by side. Look for the 2 seat sets for privacy. Air New Zealand has LAX-Perth via Auckland in 25 hours for US$2146.

 

Bill

[ab21au]

5 hours ago, cruising kirby said:

And don't forget even closer are the magnificent Adelaide Hills wineries!!! The Lane, Shaw and Smith, Golding Wines, Longview, Nepenthe etc.  So many wineries accessible from Adelaide.....................................

That is so true, I forgot about the Adelaide Hills. 

[dalliowner]

If Seabourn cancels your cruise and reimburses extra expenses , I wonder if they consider Travel insurance as one of these. It is not  a cheap thing as we get older.

 

 

.

[alwaysonaship]

This is where we stayed in Perth and highly recommend it. Great location , bug rooms, and super breakfast. 
 

https://www.comohotels.com/en/thetreasury/offers?utm_source=tc_google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=treasury&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4sjyBRC5ARIsAEHsELG8r0a-kcNp8yNTJf9ZSVSsMSGddU93sxUUiUbL-uHjvekm5-87e8saAvB1EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[westmount]

I’m sure it’s different for everyone, but although it took some time with the help of Seabourn staff, my flights from Singapore were changed to flights from Perth, Expedia was great in helping getting a refund from the great Raffles hotel in Singapore, and travel life goes on. If people are reasonable, and ask nicely, the airlines and hotels will do what they have to do during this crisis. It was not easy making changes from the Indian Ocean, but so far, everyone has been very helpful and while I could have had to pay penalties etc, so far, so good. 
Everyone wants us travellers back, so if you ask nicely, things can work out very nicely. If you are nervous about travel right now, as we all should, cancel and rebook for next hear, but if you want to go, don’t be afraid. 

[buchhalm]

On 2/23/2020 at 10:39 AM, Two4Sea said:

 

 

 

.... for those looking for flight choices, https://matrix.itasoftware.com/ seems to have all the schedules in one place. You do have to read and use all the buttons to get its full benefits but it will then quickly give you a realistic picture of what's feasible.

 

Bill

Excellent website!

Thanks for this.

It goes into my little red book!

🙂