Canceled Arctic cruise July 2023!

[purpleally]

Due to “deployment changes”. What in the he🏒 🏒  is that?????!!!!!
and, no, 10% on a future cruise is NOT going to make me feel better about this 

[SLSD]

16 minutes ago, purpleally said:

Due to “deployment changes”. What in the he🏒 🏒  is that?????!!!!!
and, no, 10% on a future cruise is NOT going to make me feel better about this 

Deployment changes---they are choosing to use their ships in a different way--for different itineraries.  This is probably due to delay of the completion of Pursuit and due to issues resulting from the war in Ukraine.  No one is sailing through waters controlled by Russia until further notice--maybe never.   This fact changes plans going forward.  No one likes it I am sure, but it is what it is.  

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by SLSD

[rallydave]

2 hours ago, SLSD said:

Deployment changes---they are choosing to use their ships in a different way--for different itineraries.  This is probably due to delay of the completion of Pursuit and due to issues resulting from the war in Ukraine.  No one is sailing through waters controlled by Russia until further notice--maybe never.   This fact changes plans going forward.  No one likes it I am sure, but it is what it is.  

 

The reason is exactly the NE Passage cruise that would have included stops in Russia.  That cancellation has had a waterfall effect  from eatery June 2023 and on.  We are booked on Pursuit on June 17 - July 16 and sue we will be on Venture instead of Pursuit so no notification as yet.and with identical ships no changes.  Better to be on a ship in service that the possibility of Pursuit delays and best case a new ship with the problems not yet sorte.

[cruiseej]

@purpleallyWhat specific cruise were you booked on? Did Seabourn offer alternatives for rebooking?

[Laylam]

12 hours ago, cruiseej said:

@purpleallyWhat specific cruise were you booked on? Did Seabourn offer alternatives for rebooking?

This was the email we received....

Dear Seabourn Guest: We are reaching out regarding your planned Seabourn Venture voyage booking(s): CXXXXX All of us at Seabourn are looking forward to the opportunity to welcome you on board for an ultra-luxury experience. Given the ongoing conflict and sanctions in Russia, we have committed to having no calls in Russian territory. Therefore, the voyages are being adjusted to exclude Russian content, which has also resulted in additional deployment changes. Our experienced teams have developed exciting new alternative deployments which we hope you agree will be compelling. As a result, we have regretfully cancelled your voyage. All guests will receive a 100% refund of all monies paid to Seabourn to the original form of payment, including non-cruise fare purchases such as Seabourn’s Flight Ease® air, pre- or post-voyage hotels, transfers and shore excursions through Seabourn, and onboard amenities such as gifts or spa reservations. In light of this change, we are extending to you a 10% discount off the cruise fare of a new booking on a future voyage of your choice (excluding World Cruises, Grand Voyages, Northwest Passages, and Inaugural voyages). Our new deployments offer exciting new opportunities for our guests to experience the wonders of Seabourn and turn phenomenal Seabourn Moments into lifelong memories: [etc, etc..'

[Laylam]

16 hours ago, purpleally said:

Due to “deployment changes”. What in the he🏒 🏒  is that?????!!!!!
and, no, 10% on a future cruise is NOT going to make me feel better about this 

I agree with you purpleally......no reasonable excuse was given for CANCELLING our cruise.  We are/were diehard Seabourn fans with over 250 days onboard.  We have rebooked an Arctic cruise on Scenic Eclipse instead.

[cruiseej]

7 hours ago, Laylam said:

no reasonable excuse was given for CANCELLING our cruise. 

 

You're right; they have not been very transparent with customers, as is all-too-often the case. What's clear is that the Venture's planned northeast passage voyage from the north Atlantic through the Russian Arctic to Nome needed to be eliminated. And that likely requires canceling some cruises before and after the passage, in order to put the ship in position for viable cruising. But what they haven't been honest about is explaining why this required shifting the Venture to take over the planned northwest passage trip from Greenland through the Canadian Arctic to Nome. Additionally, we've seen reports that passengers booked in the Antarctic 6 months later, in the winter 2023-24 season, have been shifted from the Pursuit to the Venture. Both ships were supposed to be in the Antarctic that season, so when I connect the dots, it points to the Pursuit being delayed by a year. Maybe there's some other explanation, but that's the only one which seems to fit the facts we know.

 

(We went through a similar experience last year on a planned Silversea cruise on the Silver Wind, which they were renovating; the project fell behind, and they merged some itineraries into the sister ship, the Silver Cloud; some people were switched without missing a beat, while others like us lost out and were simply canceled.)

[sfvoyage]

4 hours ago, cruiseej said:

But what they haven't been honest about is explaining why this required shifting the Venture to take over the planned northwest passage trip from Greenland through the Canadian Arctic to Nome.

 

IMHO Seabourn is protecting their high profit-margin and popular NW Passage voyage by reassigning it from the Pursuit to the Venture, thereby screwing Venture guests who, by the way, have also booked expensive voyages, which are perhaps neither as high profile nor as high profit margin for Seabourn (e.g. Arctic/Svalbard, in my case) as the NW Passage one.

  

[sfvoyage]

12 hours ago, Laylam said:

We are/were diehard Seabourn fans with over 250 days onboard.  We have rebooked an Arctic cruise on Scenic Eclipse instead.

 

Thanks for the suggestion; we will also be looking at alternatives.  Expedition cruising is very popular, and we are spoilt for choice.

 

Even though I didn't enjoy the on board experience on my one and only Silversea cruise a year ago on their old Silver Shadow - it was still good but not up to Seabourn standards based on my personal criteria, obviously - my agent told me the Endeavor expedition ship they have acquired from Crystal is a beautiful ship.

 

Also, Viking - albeit not at the same level as Seabourn or Silversea - has 2 new and state-of-the-art expedition ships, which include all their special toys without added charges:  

 

a fleet of zodiacs, kayaks, two high speed special operation boats with a 26-metre (85 ft) custom stern slipway, side bay doors with a gantry crane, and 2 Cruise Sub 7-300 yellow submarines

 

By comparison, Seabourn charges $999 per submarine ride and $199 per kayak ride before elite discounts.  (Actually, I may have read somewhere that elite discount does not apply for submarine rides.)

Edited July 20, 2022 by sfvoyage

[sfvoyage]

3 minutes ago, sfvoyage said:

 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by sfvoyage
duplicate post, cannot delete

[jsea]

3 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

Actually, I may have read somewhere that elite discount does not apply for submarine rides

That appears to be true (no discount) for our upcoming voyage on Venture.

 

Regarding Endeavor, we sailed on her to Antarctica with Crystal and loved it. The ship is fantastic and the suites are marvelous. The food was phenomenal, especially when you consider how far away we were from mainstream supply lines.

[sfvoyage]

14 minutes ago, jsea said:

Regarding Endeavor, we sailed on her to Antarctica with Crystal and loved it. The ship is fantastic and the suites are marvelous. The food was phenomenal, especially when you consider how far away we were from mainstream supply lines.

 

Good to hear about that; I will certainly look into Silversea Endeavor.  Regarding food, that is a big reason (THE most important reason being the outstanding SERVICE from the wonderful Seabourn crew members on board) that has tethered me to Seabourn all these years.  We are vegan/vegetarian, and Seabourn generally does a great job personalizing our food choices.  I was not impressed with the vegan/vegetarian food on our one (and only) Silversea cruise last year, but we are willing to try again.

[purpleally]

On 7/19/2022 at 2:30 PM, cruiseej said:

@purpleallyWhat specific cruise were you booked on? Did Seabourn offer alternatives for rebooking?

July 3. They did not. 
 

[purpleally]

On 7/20/2022 at 2:58 AM, Laylam said:

I agree with you purpleally......no reasonable excuse was given for CANCELLING our cruise.  We are/were diehard Seabourn fans with over 250 days onboard.  We have rebooked an Arctic cruise on Scenic Eclipse instead.

We looked at that but dates don’t work. Considering downsizing to Viking. Extremely disappointed in Seabourn is an understatement

[purpleally]

On 7/20/2022 at 3:22 PM, sfvoyage said:

 

IMHO Seabourn is protecting their high profit-margin and popular NW Passage voyage by reassigning it from the Pursuit to the Venture, thereby screwing Venture guests who, by the way, have also booked expensive voyages, which are perhaps neither as high profile nor as high profit margin for Seabourn (e.g. Arctic/Svalbard, in my case) as the NW Passage one.

  

Exactly!  This is a total screw job of current Venture guests in favor of $$$$$$

[Catlover54]

On 7/20/2022 at 12:34 PM, sfvoyage said:

 

Thanks for the suggestion; we will also be looking at alternatives.  Expedition cruising is very popular, and we are spoilt for choice.

 

Even though I didn't enjoy the on board experience on my one and only Silversea cruise a year ago on their old Silver Shadow - it was still good but not up to Seabourn standards based on my personal criteria, obviously - my agent told me the Endeavor expedition ship they have acquired from Crystal is a beautiful ship.

 

Also, Viking - albeit not at the same level as Seabourn or Silversea - has 2 new and state-of-the-art expedition ships, which include all their special toys without added charges:  

 

a fleet of zodiacs, kayaks, two high speed special operation boats with a 26-metre (85 ft) custom stern slipway, side bay doors with a gantry crane, and 2 Cruise Sub 7-300 yellow submarines

 

By comparison, Seabourn charges $999 per submarine ride and $199 per kayak ride before elite discounts.  (Actually, I may have read somewhere that elite discount does not apply for submarine rides.)

 

Note that Viking expedition does not "charge" for the toys, but people in higher cost suites got priority for the excursions, leaving quite a few lower level cabin guests unable to get on many excursions and just having to stay on the ship, *when the ship was near full* (I am getting this second hand, from some of the reviews).  

[sfvoyage]

4 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

 

Note that Viking expedition does not "charge" for the toys, but people in higher cost suites got priority for the excursions, leaving quite a few lower level cabin guests unable to get on many excursions and just having to stay on the ship, *when the ship was near full* (I am getting this second hand, from some of the reviews).  

 

I was wondering how Viking handles the demand, and if each passenger is guaranteed one slot per voyage, etc., with the understanding that rides may be cancelled due to weather and sea conditions. 

 

Would be interested to understand the system...  For instance, after the priority reservation period for premium suites, do remaining time slots open up to other guests on a first-come first served basis?  And if your time slot gets cancelled due to weather, do you get on a waiting list?

 

Probably better to go on the Viking board to pose this question, I guess.

[JSR]

We too were on a 2023 Arctic cruise which was cancelled in 2022 and moved to 2023. This was going to be our first Seabourn. I’m looking into Silversea as well. Done with Seabourn for now. We were not going into Russian waters just Norway. No excuse except it didn’t sell well. Luckily there are many cruise lines, cruise ships and destinations. 

[loriva]

18 hours ago, purpleally said:

July 3. They did not. 
 

We were scheduled on the same sailing.  At least you were notified by Seabourn.  I just saw a refund on my credit card and then went looking, could not find my booking anymore, and then called Seabourn who told me about the cancellation.  We were not offered any alternatives, just that new itineraries would be posted in mid-August.

 

The rationale from Seabourn does not make sense for the Artic/Svalbard sailings.  I wonder if this has anything to do with the rumors that CCL is looking to sell Seabourn?

[purpleally]

16 hours ago, loriva said:

We were scheduled on the same sailing.  At least you were notified by Seabourn.  I just saw a refund on my credit card and then went looking, could not find my booking anymore, and then called Seabourn who told me about the cancellation.  We were not offered any alternatives, just that new itineraries would be posted in mid-August.

 

The rationale from Seabourn does not make sense for the Artic/Svalbard sailings.  I wonder if this has anything to do with the rumors that CCL is looking to sell Seabourn?

Wow, to not get notified!  Seabourn told our TA.

There is no rational to dump all of us from the Arctic sailings.

I think we should have been offered alternatives instead of a lousy 10%

Not waiting til mid August, booking on another cruise line

Really, really wanted to sail on the Venture but not after this

[Covepointcruiser]

Seabourn did give you your money back.   You can book another voyage on Seabourn and get 10% off.    That is your alternative.    Take the money and book another cruise, at least you have a twelve month warning and plenty of time to look around.

[rallydave]

5 hours ago, purpleally said:

Wow, to not get notified!  Seabourn told our TA.

Absolutely correct

5 hours ago, purpleally said:

There is no rational to dump all of us from the Arctic sailings.

The rational reason is that because of the war in Ukraine, stops in Russia on the NE Passage can't occur so that cruise cant occur.  Plus from a post on Seabourn Sailors Pursuit has been delayed until September 2023 so Seabourn had to make a business decision regarding how to handle the situation.  Changing Venture to do Iceland/Greenland would still mean many of the then existing cruises wol d have been cancelled and Pursuit for the cruises that remain is mostly booked so the Venture cruises were cancelled and people there got 100% back plus 10% savings on future cruise.  Yes they could have given a bigger credit however normally when a cruise is cancelled for operational reasons only a 100% refund isprovided

5 hours ago, purpleally said:

I think we should have been offered alternatives instead of a lousy 10%

Any alternative was likely close to fully booked and would bear no semblance to the cancelled cruises and when substituting, cruise lines generally simply accept what you paid for the new cruies.  Now you get 10% more off

5 hours ago, purpleally said:

Not waiting til mid August, booking on another cruise line

Really, really wanted to sail on the Venture but not after this

Not usually a cheerleader but, have to correct some of your comments and confirm others  See above.

 

By the way we are booked on the June 18 Iceland/Greenland cruise and had we been cancelled, we  would have accepted the change do to the conditional out of control of Seabourn and found another cruise to book.  IMHO not the end of the world and while the circumstances were not well conveyed by Seabourn,, after understanding what happened and why the change. strongly believe Seabourn made the right decisions for the company and the customers.

Edited July 23, 2022 by rallydave

[2SailingNomads]

On 7/21/2022 at 5:03 PM, purpleally said:

We looked at that but dates don’t work. Considering downsizing to Viking. Extremely disappointed in Seabourn is an understatement

We recently returned from the Scenic Eclipse - not an expedition cruise, rather Lisbon to Bergen - but it was very good.  Ship is beautiful, and the crew, at least restaurant / bars crew are all some of the best ex-Seabourn and we knew most of them and to say they were glad to see us was an understatement.  Not to mention the head chef and corporate hotel manager.  Service reminded us of from our first cruise on the Legend 400+ sailed days ago - albeit without David E.  Will say the butler was close to retiring and not of much use.  Food was excellent and ALWAYS HOT which has been an issue for years on Seabourn. On Seabourn food is delivered to a station and can sit there for more time than needed depending on where the in-charge people are and by the time it gets there, especially given the kitchen often messes up the order - why is beyond me - warm at best.  

 

I remain a loyal Seabourn cruiser but will return to Scenic in a heartbeat for the right itinerary, especially so long as so many of the ex-SB crew remain with the company.  (I heard more than a few stories as to why they moved over - time will tell if that remains the same)

[cruiseej]

9 hours ago, rallydave said:

Not usually a cheerleader but, have to correct some of your comments and confirm others  See above.

 

@rallydave But wouldn't you concede that Seabourn was not very transparent with its customers, especially those who had eagerly booked the first season one cruises on its newest ship? Sure, I think everyone understands that the situation with Russia meant that the planned Venture northeast passage cruise wasn't going to happen. But no one expected that to disrupt other Venture cruises in Norway/Svarlbad. The real issue here is that the Pursuit is (apparently) delayed — and Seabourn still hasn't even said so publicly. So they tried to couch it in language about Russia and "redeployment", rather than being honest and straightforward about them replacing Pursuit with Venture, and being empathetic about disrupting some customers' plans while providing a smooth transition for others. And if Pursuit is delayed until September 2023, why have they also been switching customers on Antarctica trips in  December-January from Pursuit to Venture? I don't know why they can't just be upfront and honest with their customers about the issue at play and how they have adjusted itineraries as a result. Instead, they unnecessarily piss off a lot of loyal customers.

[rallydave]

12 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

@rallydave But wouldn't you concede that Seabourn was not very transparent with its customers, especially those who had eagerly booked the first season one cruises on its newest ship? Sure, I think everyone understands that the situation with Russia meant that the planned Venture northeast passage cruise wasn't going to happen. But no one expected that to disrupt other Venture cruises in Norway/Svarlbad. The real issue here is that the Pursuit is (apparently) delayed — and Seabourn still hasn't even said so publicly. So they tried to couch it in language about Russia and "redeployment", rather than being honest and straightforward about them replacing Pursuit with Venture, and being empathetic about disrupting some customers' plans while providing a smooth transition for others. And if Pursuit is delayed until September 2023, why have they also been switching customers on Antarctica trips in  December-January from Pursuit to Venture? I don't know why they can't just be upfront and honest with their customers about the issue at play and how they have adjusted itineraries as a result. Instead, they unnecessarily piss off a lot of loyal customers.

ABSOLUTELY agree with you. Meant to say that in original post but forgot. 
 

Even had to piecemeal the entire story from different posts plus a look at the NE Passage itinerary. The last piece of the puzzle came from a Facebook post on seabourn Sailers about pursuit being delayed until September 2923. 
 

put that all together and thought it best to post above what I believe to be the whole story. 
 

unfortunately most companies mistakenly are not transparent and that is a real shame.