Seabourn Quest

Excellent itinerary and cruise line to visit Antarctica. Great staff and service. Would continue to travel with Seaborn. Crossed Drakes Passage, with out any drama.

The end of May cruise in the Baltic was an excellent choice!  Seabourn delivered a wonderful itinerary of visits to Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Finland and Denmark.  This cruise is designed for the adult world traveler who wants to spend extended time in Russia (3 days).   We enjoyed the larger than normal veranda cabin, excellent food, and attentive staff.  The ship was almost full at 435 passengers resulting in a 1:1 traveler to staff ratio. Open dining and Thomas Keller Grille restaurant with all inclusive beverages made everyone happy. We enjoyed the Serenity room at the spa, making us very relaxed after touring.  We were two couples traveling to visit these countries mostly for the first time.  We decided to arrange independent travel and not use the ship excursion offerings.  We planned a pub crawl in Stockholm, biking tour in Tallinn, three-day with concerts in St. Petersburg, and foodie tour in Helsinki.  Luckily we had perfect weather the entire trip in the 60s and 70s with no rain.  While we visited many of the popular sites they were not overcrowded at this time of year.    One final tip:  for those considering considering this wonderful trip, my husband and I paired this experience with a series of audio interviews offered at the Rick Steves "Audio Europe" Scandinavia/Baltic website: www.ricksteves.com.  In particular, Rick Steves dives deep into the differences between these wonderful nordic countries.  

The suites are wonderful (huge walk in closet, separate living area from bedroom - very well appointed & thoughtfully laid out).  Service was exceptional (they made cheese danish for my dad everyday because he happened to mention he liked them).  They all seemed to know our names.

The best part of the cruise was how accommodating Seabourn was for my many dietary needs.  I was disappointed that we arrived late into Edinburgh and therefore had a very limited amount of time in port especially since we were docked in Leith and had to take a shuttle bus to Edinburgh.  The shuttle bus did not start immediately and ran every 30 minutes. In other ports we also had to use shuttle buses because the docking place was not near the city.  Unlike tenders that run more frequently, the use of shuttles decreased the time we had in the city.  The excursions from most of the ports were good although the excursion from Antwerp to Ghent didn't account for the amount of time it would take in traffic to get back to the ship and we arrived after the dining room had closed for lunch.  The in excursion in Oslo didn't take into account the time at which the shop and snack bar at the Lillehammer ski jump opened and we had to wait.  It was a waste of time and we weren't supposed to stop there.  The guide on this excursion wasted time trying to decide whether to proceed with the stop in the sculpture park because it was raining.  She ultimately decided to proceed and it was fine but the time that was wasted in both of the first two stops resulted in less time at the Viking Museum than ideal.

Our cabin was very nice, just as we requested.  I like the fact that you are not nickel and dimed.

We have traveled with Seabourn three types already and so far they are at the top of our preferences for future cruises. This cruise covered an area we wanted to see and overall they did not disappointed us. Same top service than before, right boat size and a great combination of passengers to interact with. An unexpected last minute upgrade to Penthouse level. Weather was great and we had a great time.