We did a similar itinerary to Don. Lisbon to Rome.
We stayed three nights in Lisbon. What a beautiful city. We also stayed at the Lisbon Marriott, which was very nice, and only $55.00 per night all in on Pricline!
We spent a day in Sintra, a beautiful town just outside of Lisbon. We did have a lot of communication difficulties. Not as many people speak English in Portugal as other European cities. I ordered pork in a restaurant and they brought me goat! Then they wouldn't take it off the bill.
We got to the pier around 1:30pm. A white glove tuxedo clad member of staff came out to meet the taxi and escorted us onto the ship (carrying all our hand baggage) and into the Amundsen lounge. If you get to Seabourn before 3pm, they always have you wait in there. They do your ID badge in there while you wait. While waiting, there is champagne and canapes. We met some nice folks who we ended up spending quite a bit of time with on the cruise. We were then escorted to our suite. The room steward brought two glasses of champagne and more canapes. She then offered us a choice of soaps, such as Hermes. There was a bottle of perrier jouet chilling on ice.
After the life boat drill we went up to the sky bar. For sailaway they had the Seabourn quartet playing, lovely.
That night we had dinner with friends, (C & W, whom we had never met before) of friends. We hung out with them more than anyone else on the cruise.
On the second night(formal night) we were invited to dine with the Captain. He was just charming. I was seated next to him so it was a lot of fun.
The food on the cruise was unbelievable. By day three, when we went to the verandah for breakfast, two cappuchino and a glass each of grapefruit juice and orange juice would appear at our table. We had wonderful filet mignon, lobstah etc...
On two nights we had flambe and speciality coffees under the stars. The weather was perfect. We loved rock n' roll under the stars too. We danced all night.
The casino was fun. There were only about a dozen people on the ship who liked to gamble, so I made some casino buddies. One afternoon we played ocean poker for hours. It was very fun. When I left the ship I had netted $60. Yeah!
The "Seabourn Experience" is a complimentary shore excursion offered on every cruise. The last one was a private concert in the evening at the library at Kusadasi- magical. This one was a private flamenco concert at an estate in the countryside on Palma de Mallorjca. At the end of the dancing the main dancer wanted to get someone up to dance from the audience. She made a bee line for my husband. He did such a great job that for days everyone kept stopping him to tell him to give up his day job!
We had a great time ballroom dancing every night.
The entertainment on this cruise was the best I have seen on Seabourn. The cruise director, Eric De Gray, is immensely talented. He did a concert of broadway favorites. His piece de resistance is the music from Phantom. He just blew us away with that. They also had a soprano on board. She gave a lovely afternoon concert of arias in the observation lounge during afternoon tea. The duo in the club (piano and vocalist) were new and the best duo I have ever heard. In addition, the Seabourn quartet were terrific.
As we disembarked, the Captain waited at the end of the gangplank and shook hands with every single disembarking passenger.
Chester bought me a lovely ring on board. It was our fifth wedding anniversary. It's such a small ship that when I went through the receiving line at the Captain's gala he said, "Ok, show me the ring." I love that kind of personal service.
That's all I can think of. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Welcome home (and back to reality :( ) Julie!

It sounds like you and Chester had a fabulous time!! Has he replaced the Electric Slide with the Flamenco in his dance repertoire?

Suzanne,
Denyse (doing much better!) and Chester are confirmed sliders! We did slide on the deck. We had a smogasbord of people learning it from him at the Rock n' Roll night. Believe it or not with all that dancing I lost a pound overall!

Julie, thank you for the report. It sounds like you had a wonderful cruise!

Julie - thanks for the review! Sounded like a fabulous time!

Masaki

Julie, you have me drooling. I have wanted to try Seabourn ever since I saw Sea Goddess I docked in Kusadasi years ago. What a magnificant sight that was, beautiful yacht. At least I can read your adventures and pretend I was there too. Thanks for sharing.

The prices on the Club Members listing are really good, it's just getting the first cruise in at a reasonable price to qualify for the club members discount that's the killer. I really like the idea of the small ship environment and going into smaller ports.

Sounds like an absolutely wonderful time. Congrats on your 5th anniversay and the ring, what a nice surprise.

Someday......

KarenM

Karen,
They have reduced most of the Carribean cruises for the rest of the year to $2298.
Also, ANY carnival corp cruise counts. You could take a three night cruise on Carnival or HAL or Princess for $399 and qualify. The first time I sailed on Seabourn I had FORGOTTEN (very freudian) that I had done a three night Carnival cruise out of Long Beach and didn't get the club price! We got a nice upgrade so I'm not complaining.
On this cruise we docked in every port since the ship is so small. It was nice not having to tender in.

Julie, thanks for the wonderful review.. Congrats on your anniversary and many more....
keep doing that mashed potato you two.

Julie, it sure sounds like you had a great time! The personal service and attention sounds wonderful! Happy Anniversary! Can you post some photos for us??

Julie, I loved your review..... your cruise sounded magical. The service on Seabourn sounds hard to beat. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Pam

Thanks Julie - I loved reading your review!!

Julie...your review makes us even more anxious for our Seabourn cruise in December. I am always amazed they learn your name so quickly...and even after several years you'll find a crew member who recognizes you the moment you board - don't know how they do it!

I'm looking forward to caviar in the surf!

Okay, now I have to add Seabourn to my list of must-dos! Thanks for the review.

Great review, Julie! Thanks for posting.

Loved the review, Julie. Thanks! Rock and Roll under the stars? Oh, I'm so jealous!!

Thanks much, Julie! Sounds like you had such a lovely time. And congratulations on 5 years of marriage! Would love to see pictures if you have some!

Julie,

Thanks for the information about qualifying for the Club discount. I am really surprised that would work but what the heck, it sounds like it would be worth it if that's the game plan. Now you really got me thinking. I didn't realize that HAL was part of Carnival Corp. and I thought they spun off Seabourn or did they just let it operate separate.

Great tip, again, thanks.

KarenM

Excellent review Julie. One of these days I hope to try Seabourn.

If it weren't for those darn little (French) balconies??? I am looking at SS too - Oceania not for us many reasons - water being at top of my list - soooo bad --- $$$$$ for water I think NOT -

Joanna, I agree with you about the water, ridiculous to charge for that. No one can drink the tap water on these ships, it's really rank. The bottled water is a necessity, not a luxury.

I'm really thinking about booking a short but sweet cheapie cruise on HAL or Princess (Carnival is a no no for me)to be eligible for the Seabourn Club Discount. Our Crystal cruise was great but...next! Seabourn is the goal, heck everyone needs a goal.

KarenM

This is really wierd. I have been snooping around at pricing of one of the itineraries on this Club Discount sheet, the one called Caribbean Yacht Havens I departing November 11th, Fort Lauderdale to Bridgetown on Seabourn Pride. The club price is shown as $2298 for 7 days.

http://www.seabourn.com/PlanYourCru...lubmembers&Sec=SigSavings&Club=1

I went to http://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=21353 and they list the November 11th departure date from Ft. Lauderdale to Barbados but for a 14 days cruise with the suite price of $4,595.

It sounds to me that you can get the 14 day cruise on Vacations to GO for the same price as the Club Discount IF it was shown as a 14 day cruise. The 14 days is actually $300 less than if you booked the 2 segments at the Club Discount....if it was on the Club Discount list, which is isn't for the November 18-25 segment.

The only thing I can figure is the Nov. 18-25 segment isn't part of the Club Discount program.
What do you think? Maybe they are charging full price for the second segment?

KarenM :ohmy:

I can't add $2298 and $2298, sheesh, it's not $300 less, it's $5 less. Time for a nap.

KarenM

Karen: Sometimes you just go with the cruise you love - right, wrong, or too much $$$