EuropeCruiser73 Posted August 22, 2021 #1 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Hello fellow CruiseCritic members. I am in the lucky situation to currently be on SD II, having embarked yesterday from Venice. So far the experience is truly awesome! We have been on SD 10 years ago, and it is still a very refined ship. The cabins are nicely renovated with new Nordic design and overall upgraded. Also there is a new front of the yacht area on deck 6 where the forward large bed used to be. There are now two couples hot tubs there. It feels to me as if the bed area has been reduced a bit to make the space. Service is amazing. We are lucky that this cruise is lightly booked, so it really feels like a private yacht. So, if anyone wants to know anything about current SD cruises, feel free to ask in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
back1817 Posted August 22, 2021 #2 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Would love to see photos of the newly refurbished cabins and the new hot tubs. We're scheduled for PBI-SJU departing January 30th on SDII. Our third SD cruise-can't wait!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbwinn Posted August 22, 2021 #3 Share Posted August 22, 2021 (edited) Thanks for the post. We are scheduled to sail on SD II October 2nd. Appreciate any and all reports. Edited August 22, 2021 by kbwinn Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiki_Man Posted August 22, 2021 #4 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Thank you for the update. Who are the senior staff onboard? Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuropeCruiser73 Posted August 25, 2021 Author #5 Share Posted August 25, 2021 Here's a picture of the new "beach club" with two twin hot tubs on deck 6: More to come 😉 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YachtCruiser Posted August 25, 2021 #6 Share Posted August 25, 2021 1 hour ago, EuropeCruiser73 said: Here's a picture of the new "beach club" with two twin hot tubs on deck 6: More to come 😉 Wow ! 😎👍🏼 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piratelooksat45 Posted August 25, 2021 #7 Share Posted August 25, 2021 New chaise loungers look comfy! Have a great trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbwinn Posted August 26, 2021 #8 Share Posted August 26, 2021 How often during the cruise are you tested after the first Covid test to board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuropeCruiser73 Posted August 26, 2021 Author #9 Share Posted August 26, 2021 2 hours ago, kbwinn said: How often during the cruise are you tested after the first Covid test to board? Once at boarding and once during the cruise (48 hours prior to arrival). I originally have been a bit concerned about the tests but they turned out totally ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuropeCruiser73 Posted August 26, 2021 Author #10 Share Posted August 26, 2021 I don't have a great picture of the new cabin, but here's the new center part with a huge TV and you can see the new cupboards. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJNS Posted August 27, 2021 #11 Share Posted August 27, 2021 Hi EuropeCruiser73! We’re traveling on the Seadream II Athens itinerary departing September 14th so I really appreciate you taking the time to post about your voyage. I was hoping you could describe the in-cabin entertainment options on the newly installed tv. I wouldn’t usually care about such a thing but we’re trying to decide how many books to pack in the event of an unfortunate breakthrough infection confining us to the cabin. Oh and it’s our first time sailing with Seadream so we’d love to hear any pro-tips you have to offer. Thanks 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuropeCruiser73 Posted August 28, 2021 Author #12 Share Posted August 28, 2021 On 8/22/2021 at 5:42 PM, Tiki_Man said: Thank you for the update. Who are the senior staff onboard? Cheers Captain MacLeod Club Director: Jaime Hotel Director: Jaime Maitre d: Eric Executive Chef: Alistair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuropeCruiser73 Posted August 28, 2021 Author #13 Share Posted August 28, 2021 19 hours ago, KJNS said: I was hoping you could describe the in-cabin entertainment options on the newly installed tv. The TV has both live TV and streaming options. There are basically 10+ live TV channels like news (MSNBC, BBC, Fox, etc), some special interest channels (HGTV, Travel Channel) and two movie channels (Prime). In terms of streaming: This is basically replacing the old DVD library they used to have. You can now choose from something like 100+ different movies streamed directly to your TV. There should be plenty of options there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabosal1 Posted August 28, 2021 #14 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Anyone know if SDI has these updated amenities? We've been hoping for better tv options for a long time and will be on SDI in January. Don't really care one way or another about the shampoos, etc. Just seems to be added work for housekeeping staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beanjar Posted August 28, 2021 #15 Share Posted August 28, 2021 Hello i am interested to know where you boarded in Venice as larger cruise ships have now been banned from entering. Also are there any British guests. If so did they have to quarantine on entering Italy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuropeCruiser73 Posted August 28, 2021 Author #16 Share Posted August 28, 2021 2 hours ago, Beanjar said: i am interested to know where you boarded in Venice as larger cruise ships have now been banned from entering. I just wrote a little review where I covered the boarding in Venice. In short, while big boats have been banished, SeaDream can still sail to/from the city. The only restriction, as I understand it, is that they are required to use two tugs while passing the city. I heard that there was an issue with another cruise ship some time ago and since then they have toughened regulations. Here's a picture of SeaDream 2 passing in front of the Hilton Molino Stucky on her way to the terminal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare knotheadusc Posted August 29, 2021 #17 Share Posted August 29, 2021 Ooh! We stayed in a fabulous suite at the Molino Stucky the last time we were on SeaDream. It was the only room left in the hotel and my husband was using Honors Points. Got fantastic views of the canal before we connected with SeaDream in Rome. Great shot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ronrick1943 Posted September 11, 2021 #18 Share Posted September 11, 2021 Photos look great, looks like they did a little work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swixpat Posted September 13, 2021 #19 Share Posted September 13, 2021 I am looking at a cruise end Oct this year that has a number of Italian stops. On the Seadream website they write that all tours in Italy currently are in bubble format. Would that mean that I have to book a paid excursion to get on land at all and cannot even step off ship to look at the local towns in Italy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabosal1 Posted September 15, 2021 #20 Share Posted September 15, 2021 We took a Caribbean cruise in June (on Windstar) that had bubble format, and, yes, we could only get off ship if we were on one of their excursions and no wandering off was allowed. Maybe Europe is different but we weren't too happy being corralled like kindergartners. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swixpat Posted September 17, 2021 #21 Share Posted September 17, 2021 Thanks cabosal. That is exactly what i was afraid of. It requires more thinking, maybe the swimming will be enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuropeCruiser73 Posted September 19, 2021 Author #22 Share Posted September 19, 2021 On 9/13/2021 at 12:28 PM, swixpat said: I am looking at a cruise end Oct this year that has a number of Italian stops. On the Seadream website they write that all tours in Italy currently are in bubble format. Would that mean that I have to book a paid excursion to get on land at all and cannot even step off ship to look at the local towns in Italy? I have no idea what the Covid protocols at the end of October will be in Italy but I can confirm that on our cruise, because Italy was only allowing organized excursions to exit the vessel, we had proactively substituted an Italian port with a Slovenian port (which allowed independent exiting of the ship). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWhit Posted September 27, 2021 #23 Share Posted September 27, 2021 On 9/19/2021 at 11:34 AM, EuropeCruiser73 said: I have no idea what the Covid protocols at the end of October will be in Italy but I can confirm that on our cruise, because Italy was only allowing organized excursions to exit the vessel, we had proactively substituted an Italian port with a Slovenian port (which allowed independent exiting of the ship). A quick question - did Sea Dream let you know prior to cruise departure which ports would allow independent exiting and which ones required bubble excursions? We have a cruise coming up in November that goes to several Caribbean ports. Obviously requirements are always shifting, but it would be nice to know a week or two ahead which ones we could do independently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabosal1 Posted September 29, 2021 #24 Share Posted September 29, 2021 On 9/27/2021 at 7:38 PM, DWhit said: A quick question - did Sea Dream let you know prior to cruise departure which ports would allow independent exiting and which ones required bubble excursions? We have a cruise coming up in November that goes to several Caribbean ports. Obviously requirements are always shifting, but it would be nice to know a week or two ahead which ones we could do independently. We had a Caribbean cruise in June (Windstar) which was to make numerous stops, and all excursions were to be in the "bubble format. It originated and ended in St. Martin. Two days before embarkation we were informed that, since all of the crew members were not vaxxed (all passengers were), we would probably miss some of our stops. (We were told prior that all crew & passengers were vaccinated). We missed ALL stops (St Barth's, Antigua, Anguilla, BVI's) and only had two excursions (corralled and masked) on St, Martin. We now are booked for the Caribbean on SD in January, but are worried about the various island's protocols and access and, especially, whether SD can guarantee crew and passengers all vaxxed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWhit Posted September 29, 2021 #25 Share Posted September 29, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, cabosal1 said: We had a Caribbean cruise in June (Windstar) which was to make numerous stops, and all excursions were to be in the "bubble format. It originated and ended in St. Martin. Two days before embarkation we were informed that, since all of the crew members were not vaxxed (all passengers were), we would probably miss some of our stops. (We were told prior that all crew & passengers were vaccinated). We missed ALL stops (St Barth's, Antigua, Anguilla, BVI's) and only had two excursions (corralled and masked) on St, Martin. We now are booked for the Caribbean on SD in January, but are worried about the various island's protocols and access and, especially, whether SD can guarantee crew and passengers all vaxxed. Ouch !!! Hope you got your money back! I called SeaDream and they had not really started looking at the Caribbean requirements yet. Right now if I had to guess, I would say BVI stops will require a guided excursion, and also maybe St. Bart's (France). Hoping Saba ( Dutch) and the Puerto Rican stops (Vieques and Culebra) will allow independent access. Edited September 29, 2021 by DWhit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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