First Seabourn cruise TR where inflatable kiddie pools, Cerberus heatwave &"would you like some sparkling with your apple juice" happened ;)

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Since most cruise ships don’t have pools with sanitizing systems for diapered kids, it’s not uncommon for parents to bring blow up pools for the pool decks or balconies.

Not on an ultra luxury cruise line but I haven't heard of on balconies either as there's not a whole lot of space once you're accounting for table and chairs (and foot rests in our case)

Babies and toddlers are not a common sight either. And if people saw the pool deck littered with blow up pools they'd take their $20K, $50K, $90K elsewhere and the line would suffer greatly in PR image. It's one thing to adjust to newer younger clientele like bringing a DJ to play some music from post 1970 instead of strictly live music featuring ABBA, it's another to have DIY splash pads.

I don't think the inflatable pools have ever been seen on Seabourn at least in recent years.

But I believe you if in your experience you've seen/heard elsewhere

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Most people don’t mind children in a typical adult environment -it’s parents that don’t properly supervise their children that bothers me.

Yeah there's a subgroup that don't want kids period but most are just hoping the ambience stays a certain way and by that mean even us Millenials are viewed sometimes as an issue but based on what I saw we were more well-behaved than some much older people passengers lol. There can be a sense of entitlement from some of the passengers for sure.

If you're the smoker smoking where you're not supposed to or the one who has had a few too many drinks it's going to bother other people too so not just kids.

There are is another smaller pool at the back of the ship but it's mostly sheltered. It is considered a "hidden" pool then there's another hot tub at the front of the ship. So a few other options for people but yeah. The day before I saw a girl probably 8 or 9 maybe 10 in the main pool and she was sorta swimming but not really in the way of others. I think it was the toddlers that was the biggest trigger for people but seeing them splash about was probably the main part.

Mostly I just felt bad for the toddlers in this situation

 

[john7994]

Yeah there's a subgroup that don't want kids period but most are just hoping the ambience stays a certain way and by that mean even us Millenials are viewed sometimes as an issue but based on what I saw we were more well-behaved than some much older people passengers lol. There can be a sense of entitlement from some of the passengers for sure.

If you're the smoker smoking where you're not supposed to or the one who has had a few too many drinks it's going to bother other people too so not just kids.

There are is another smaller pool at the back of the ship but it's mostly sheltered. It is considered a "hidden" pool then there's another hot tub at the front of the ship. So a few other options for people but yeah. The day before I saw a girl probably 8 or 9 maybe 10 in the main pool and she was sorta swimming but not really in the way of others. I think it was the toddlers that was the biggest trigger for people but seeing them splash about was probably the main part.

Mostly I just felt bad for the toddlers in this situation

Although, as a smoker who is very aware of where I am supposed to smoke - I am often bombarded by the passive / aggressive hand waving, sour faces, and infringement by those who don’t smoke into an area that is clearly labeled as smoking because they can’t find another place to stand or sit.

 

[oceanmarina]

May I ask since there was a heat wave, how was the temperature of the boat in the dining rooms , common areas and your cabin? With the high temperature, I’m sure you would want champion air conditioning!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Although, as a smoker who is very aware of where I am supposed to smoke - I am often bombarded by the passive / aggressive hand waving, sour faces, and infringement by those who don’t smoke into an area that is clearly labeled as smoking because they can’t find another place to stand or sit.

Yeah all I ask is someone stay in the designated areas.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

May I ask since there was a heat wave, how was the temperature of the boat in the dining rooms , common areas and your cabin? With the high temperature, I’m sure you would want champion air conditioning!

Everything was good on the air conditioning front. I was usually a little cooled when inside and when I had a sleeveless dress or in the case of one night a nicer sleeveless shirt for the evening attire I used my shawl I had brought.

Seabourn Square (the hub) was the chilliest, one night while we were killing time before our dinner reservation we ended up walking outside for a bit and we went through Seabourn Square to do it, our sunglasses fogged up due to the difference in a/c and humidity of outside. You probably would have wanted a jacket if you spent enough time in Seabourn Square if you weren't wearing a long sleeved shirt.

However, my husband got too warm under the very plush duvet and he requested our room stewardess if he could have a thinner blanket. There was one other blanket but wouldn't have fit him. Our room could have been made to be colder (it was already cool) but it would have been too cold as we found out lol. Just one of those cases where the blanket you have is too thick and you just need a thinner one.

From what we understand she (the room stewardess) had to check with the tailor and later on that evening we got a thinner blanket in place of the duvet that looked like they had quickly sewn an edge on. It wasn't one of the normal blankets they had with like a silk edging.

 

[princesscinderella]

On your way in and out they have a table with bottled water for you and you can place your used one off to the side when you come back.

Can someone tell me do other cruise lines do this (assuming that other like levels do) or do they make you pay for bottled water on the ship which you can then use for excursions (or refill your own bottle)? We've been wondering what other lines do in this case.

View attachment 782765

Okay real talk---these water bottles kinda sucked. Seabourn is trying to be less wasteful (they’ve gone to slightly bigger bottles of shampoo and body wash for example) and have removed single use water bottles. But these…these were just not that good. The cap design meant water could get up in it so when you unscrewed it water often would spill out so you kinda had to hold it away from you at first.

In your room they had 3 bigger sized of these bottles as well and would replace those as you used them. It was very nice to have these provided for you, I can respect what they are trying to do and we absolutely needed them for this trip given the heat we would be experiencing.

Great trip report so far . I love all the pictures and detailed descriptions. I have only sailed on DCL and NCL and they don’t provide water bottles for guests to take on excursions. You can buy a water bottle package onboard the ship where DCL includes a nice cooler bag with it. Most people bring a reusable bottle with them and fill them up with water on the pool deck on DCL where they have self serve soda/coffee/water/tea stations. On NCL I can’t remember where we would fill our bottles but we had the unlimited drink package so I think we would just get glasses of water from the bars and fill them up that way. When returning to the port both would usually have a beverage available to grab while waiting to get back onboard. They offered hot chocolate on our recent DCL sailing since we were in cold Iceland.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Great trip report so far . I love all the pictures and detailed descriptions.

Thank you glad you're enjoying it!

I have only sailed on DCL and NCL and they don’t provide water bottles for guests to take on excursions. You can buy a water bottle package onboard the ship where DCL includes a nice cooler bag with it. Most people bring a reusable bottle with them and fill them up with water on the pool deck on DCL where they have self serve soda/coffee/water/tea stations. On NCL I can’t remember where we would fill our bottles but we had the unlimited drink package so I think we would just get glasses of water from the bars and fill them up that way. When returning to the port both would usually have a beverage available to grab while waiting to get back onboard. They offered hot chocolate on our recent DCL sailing since we were in cold Iceland.

Ahhhhh okay this makes sense. That's really nice that DCL gives you a cooler bag for the water bottle package, then it becomes a souvenir . I love that you got hot chocolate after your Iceland adventures probably the perfect end to a long day!

Until your comment it never even dawned on me there were no self serve stations on the ship other than I believe in the Colonnade for breakfast at least a place where you could pour your own juice IF you wanted to. A few spots near pools or in the case of one space that was never used (probably because it was too hot) the sun terrace to get pop in a mini fridge but other than that all what you listed glasses of water included (aside from that table I put a picture of when leaving the ship for the ports) you'd just ask someone or they'd ask you what you want and then get it for you. I guess we got used to that real quick since I didn't even think about how we never really got our own stuff lol.

One thing we had to get used to in Europe was "sparkling or still" for water. We are still water peeps and had no idea how popular sparkling was elsewhere. Always on the ship the question too was sparkling or still. Did you experience that on your recent travels?

 

[john7994]

Thank you glad you're enjoying it!

Ahhhhh okay this makes sense. That's really nice that DCL gives you a cooler bag for the water bottle package, then it becomes a souvenir . I love that you got hot chocolate after your Iceland adventures probably the perfect end to a long day!

Until your comment it never even dawned on me there were no self serve stations on the ship other than I believe in the Colonnade for breakfast at least a place where you could pour your own juice IF you wanted to. A few spots near pools or in the case of one space that was never used (probably because it was too hot) the sun terrace to get pop in a mini fridge but other than that all what you listed glasses of water included you'd just ask someone or they'd ask you what you want and then get it for you. I guess we got used to that real quick since I didn't even think about how we never really got our own stuff lol.

One thing we had to get used to in Europe was "sparkling or still" for water. We are still water peeps and had no idea how popular sparkling was elsewhere. Always on the ship the question too was sparkling or still.

Sparkling or Still - Also a thing in finer dining restaurants in the US. My first encounter though, was also in the Middle East. I got "sparkling" - but did not understand "still" - which made me think it was "distilled"

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Sparkling or Still - Also a thing in finer dining restaurants in the US. My first encounter though, was also in the Middle East. I got "sparkling" - but did not understand "still" - which made me think it was "distilled"

haha okay while we didn't think distilled I could absolutely see where you could get that. I guess we don't eat in enough fine dining here...well except we're moving on up when we go to Vegas but even a $180 for 2 people bill they didn't ask sparkling or still..that might not be fine dining enough if we're looking at some Disney restaurants including on their ship.

 

[princesscinderella]

Thank you glad you're enjoying it!

Ahhhhh okay this makes sense. That's really nice that DCL gives you a cooler bag for the water bottle package, then it becomes a souvenir . I love that you got hot chocolate after your Iceland adventures probably the perfect end to a long day!

Until your comment it never even dawned on me there were no self serve stations on the ship other than I believe in the Colonnade for breakfast at least a place where you could pour your own juice IF you wanted to. A few spots near pools or in the case of one space that was never used (probably because it was too hot) the sun terrace to get pop in a mini fridge but other than that all what you listed glasses of water included (aside from that table I put a picture of when leaving the ship for the ports) you'd just ask someone or they'd ask you what you want and then get it for you. I guess we got used to that real quick since I didn't even think about how we never really got our own stuff lol.

One thing we had to get used to in Europe was "sparkling or still" for water. We are still water peeps and had no idea how popular sparkling was elsewhere. Always on the ship the question too was sparkling or still. Did you experience that on your recent travels?

Yes we too got sparkling or still in our travels. My 2 of my 3 kids don’t drink soda but love sparkling water so we always have it in our house. They love the soda stream and making it themselves too. I like both but my husband prefers still water. When we studied abroad in Italy in college we first came across it but there it’s called naturale or frizzante.

The self serving drink station is unique to DCL I believe, it’s very convenient.

 

[john7994]

haha okay while we didn't think distilled I could absolutely see where you could get that. I guess we don't eat in enough fine dining here...well except we're moving on up when we go to Vegas but even a $180 for 2 people bill they didn't ask sparkling or still..that might not be fine dining enough if we're looking at some Disney restaurants including on their ship.

Definitely have encountered fine dining experiences in Vegas with the sparkling or still at the Cosmo- so maybe? I just don't think it is as catchy in the US as potentially elsewhere. When I encounter it here in the US, I always think "upcharge"

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes we too got sparkling or still in our travels. My 2 of my 3 kids don’t drink soda but love sparkling water so we always have it in our house. They love the soda stream and making it themselves too. I like both but my husband prefers still water. When we studied abroad in Italy in college we first came across it but there it’s called naturale or frizzante.

The self serving drink station is unique to DCL I believe, it’s very convenient.

I used to drink sparkling water but it was years ago and it was always flavored. I think I got sick of it so I haven't had it in a very long time.

I could see the self serve being convenient as well.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Definitely have encountered fine dining experiences in Vegas with the sparkling or still at the Cosmo- so maybe? I just don't think it is as catchy in the US as potentially elsewhere. When I encounter it here in the US, I always think "upcharge"

I too would think upcharge since still is the norm and readily available everywhere here in the U.S.

Now I'm wondering if there would have been an additional charge in Greece for sparkling as still in various cities was a charge (I think maybe just a Euro or two) but it was bottled water they were giving you and usually in a large enough bottle to share so there's that.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Once done with Afternoon Tea we headed back to the room to get ready for the change over in dress code since we had the first timers cocktail right at 6pm followed by the get together for that TA company a 6:30pm.

Like I mentioned earlier the cocktail and get together were quite nice. We actually stuck around a bit longer than most did for the get together despite how hot it was we just had fun chatting it up.

After we finished that we decided to go to the Colonnade for dinner which was doing a Spanish themed night.

Bread service

The butter on the right was a tomato based one and it was amazing. My husband does not do butter on his bread ever but he couldn’t help having multiple dippings of it.

For apps we both got the caesar salad; poor picture quality as the sun was setting right where/when I'd be taking a photo


For dinner I got the goat cheese tart which was part of the Spanish night and my goodness was this delicious


My husband got the grilled New York cut striploin steak as part of the normal evening offerings and he was not impressed with it (and again we’re not fussy people). Later on we would hear from other passengers yeah the Colonnade isn’t the place to order a steak.


For dessert I had the crema catalana


My husband had the chocolate pot de crème

 

[princesscinderella]

Once done with Afternoon Tea we headed back to the room to get ready for the change over in dress code since we had the first timers cocktail right at 6pm followed by the get together for that TA company a 6:30pm.

Like I mentioned earlier the cocktail and get together were quite nice. We actually stuck around a bit longer than most did for the get together despite how hot it was we just had fun chatting it up.

After we finished that we decided to go to the Colonnade for dinner which was doing a Spanish themed night.

Bread service
View attachment 783958
The butter on the right was a tomato based one and it was amazing. My husband does not do butter on his bread ever but he couldn’t help having multiple dippings of it.

For apps we both got the caesar salad; poor picture quality as the sun was setting right where/when I'd be taking a photo
View attachment 783960

For dinner I got the goat cheese tart which was part of the Spanish night and my goodness was this delicious
View attachment 783961

My husband got the grilled New York cut striploin steak as part of the normal evening offerings and he was not impressed with it (and again we’re not fussy people). Later on we would hear from other passengers yeah the Colonnade isn’t the place to order a steak.
View attachment 783962

For dessert I had the crema catalana
View attachment 783964

My husband had the chocolate pot de crème
View attachment 783965

The bread dipping trio looks delicious. One night on our Disney cruise they had liverwurst as the bread dip and my kids were daring each other to try it , we weren't fans and looked as unappetizing as it tasted.

 

[john7994]

Once done with Afternoon Tea we headed back to the room to get ready for the change over in dress code since we had the first timers cocktail right at 6pm followed by the get together for that TA company a 6:30pm.

Like I mentioned earlier the cocktail and get together were quite nice. We actually stuck around a bit longer than most did for the get together despite how hot it was we just had fun chatting it up.

After we finished that we decided to go to the Colonnade for dinner which was doing a Spanish themed night.

Bread service
View attachment 783958
The butter on the right was a tomato based one and it was amazing. My husband does not do butter on his bread ever but he couldn’t help having multiple dippings of it.

For apps we both got the caesar salad; poor picture quality as the sun was setting right where/when I'd be taking a photo
View attachment 783960

For dinner I got the goat cheese tart which was part of the Spanish night and my goodness was this delicious
View attachment 783961

My husband got the grilled New York cut striploin steak as part of the normal evening offerings and he was not impressed with it (and again we’re not fussy people). Later on we would hear from other passengers yeah the Colonnade isn’t the place to order a steak.
View attachment 783962

For dessert I had the crema catalana
View attachment 783964

My husband had the chocolate pot de crème
View attachment 783965

Starting to think this was all a dream you had

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

After dinner we decided to catch the Stevie Wonder tribute show in the Grand Salon. I actually saw a couple of the younger kids (maybe 8-10 year olds) there and they seemed to have fun during the show.







This was a pretty good show, their changing of dance routines was seamless and their spunk showed. Singing was very good.

After the show it was back to the room and more night balcony time and off to bed.

Next day was Kotor, Montenegro!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The bread dipping trio looks delicious. One night on our Disney cruise they had liverwurst as the bread dip and my kids were daring each other to try it , we weren't fans and looked as unappetizing as it tasted.

Okay yeah no. I'd probably be like "can you remove that from the table" as it'd probably affect my appetite

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Starting to think this was all a dream you had

We've been wistfully thinking about being back on the ship ever since we left. And it's really funny you say a dream because my husband told me a few days ago he had the most vivid dream of us being back on a cruise ship and for a second he truly believed we were ....well if only we were *sigh*