I cancelled my Alaskan concierge cruise on the Wonder to go with Seabourn instead

[FrancisK7]

DCL Alaska cruises are crazy expensive for what you get. We priced out a deluxe family verandah room for one week with the usual three ports and it was about $16k-$17k.

We can get a Haven room on NCL for $20k for ten nights with six ports. We have more time in each port on NCL as well. It's a no-brainer.

We did the DCL Wonder to Alaska about 8 years ago, and it was lovely, especially for a first trip to Alaska, but the value just isn't there for us anymore. As a couple without kids, there is now way I'd be paying for DCL concierge rooms just for warm meals on my verandah knowing what else is out there.

NCL Haven was on my list of options because NCL does go to Glacier Bay, but for similar money, it looks like the food will be better on Seabourn than NCL.

NCL Haven was also cheaper than DCL Concierge.

I guess if Disney is bringing the Magic to Alaska it's because demand is there! Good for them if they can get away with what they charge.

 

[DCLMP]

Everything can be changed again with no financial penalty. FOMO is what made me post basically.

Does a verandah room on Seabourn offer more than concierge on DCL? Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if it did.

 

[DCLMP]

Nobody has ever suggested otherwise.

But that still doesn't mean that the two rooms are in any way equivalent. They just aren't.

I don't believe the poster ever said they were. They found better value in Seabourn because it had what they value most at a better price. Why is this so hard to understand?

 

[DCLMP]

For Seabourn all of it could be considered a concierge situation. That's what you get when you move up in categories. Regent for example has a butler with every room. Seabourn doesn't have a butler but I always felt waited on and my needs attended to. I didn't need a special room category to get that.


But you don't need that on Seabourn.

1) There is no set boarding time. For a very short time in the pandemic there was but it was never adhered to. Technically your boarding pass will have a boarding time but you can show up really at any time though unofficially not earlier than 12-12:30pm. Now that can be a con to people used to a PAT at 10:45am but they do it so they can turn over the rooms and other stuff. Your room is mostly ready by the time you board the ship, ours was both times and we boarded about 12:45pm the second time and closer to 1:45pm the first time (that was due to a 20 min shuttle necessary in Venice).

2) You don't choose activities or excursions based on your room. As soon as you put a deposit down on your cruise you can begin booking excursions and for Seabourn it's paid in full for those but easily cancelled. That might be a con to people because for DCL you don't pre-pay. Now excursions can get added as time goes on so they do recommend to keep checking if you are interested. In some cases it's not an added excursion but added space (meaning an additional coach, ferry/boat, tour guide, etc) has been added due to demand.

3) You don't need to get seats at in the Grand Salon earlier. There are majority of the time two shows per evening. You enter and sit where ever you want to, a crew member will be by shortly to ask if you'd like anything to drink, etc.

But that's not how it is for the luxury/ultra luxury market, in simplistic terms a larger room they can charge more sure but it's a small part of it because they are accounting for different "perks and amenities" as you put it. To give some examples for Seabourn there's no wifi charge, there's no additional food charge for any restaurant, all drink is included (sans high premium stuff like I mentioned), there's no gratuity, if you want a specialty coffee go get it but you won't pay an 18% gratuity on it like DCL. You don't pay for anything really (spa services of course are a 3rd party that's different). Now for Seabourn they don't include excursions except for Expedition cruises, Regent does, I believe Silversea has gone to a model where you can choose to have excursions included or not.

We all know that DCL charges what they charge because they can, same as any other company, practically speaking that's how it is. You're really stuck on the OP's exact example.

Exactly, but you're doing it from a standpoint of not having any information on Seabourn. DCL is more comparable to RCL in terms of experiences and ways of doing things. It's why there's a disconnect, to me, in what you're saying. Because the way that DCL operates isn't the same way that luxury/ultra luxury lines operate.

It's not that, it's the way you worded it.

Again this is because you're thinking more the main stream lines. And you're going highly stereotyping. You really think that DCL passengers don't gamble or wouldn't gamble given the opportunity? I kinda thought you were having some sort of issue with a casino as if it means a certain person goes there but that's your preconceived notion of what a casino means.

I opted to not do math and let google do it for me but the numbers that it reflects is

• The Seabourn Encore, a luxury cruise ship, has a space ratio of 67.25 or 1:66.8. When not sailing at capacity, it can be as high as 75.8. A space ratio above 39 is generally considered to offer plenty of space per passenger.
• The Disney Wonder has a space ratio of 35.4 or 1:48.57. When sailing at maximum capacity, this can be as low as 33.9.

In addition when they ordered Encore and Ovation they made the ship 30% larger approximately compared to the existing three sister ships but only increased passenger count I believe 20 or so percent thus Encore and Ovation, while being the largest of the current fleet, also have even more passenger space than the older smaller ships. If I had to give a comparison the very long term Seabourn passengers prefer the smaller ship (not the Expedition which is even smaller), whereas newer passengers prefer the larger two ones.

There is more space on Encore per passengers than the Wonder by a large amount. The casino won't attract a different clientele than Disney for the luxury/ultra luxury market. The luxury/ultra luxury market itself attracts a different clientele. Those are two very different mentalities. The OP mentioned they had been looking at Celebrity which is already a different market than DCL by far.

______
Truthfully I recognize I'm coming in hard here but it's because I don't want the OP to not have at least some information about Seabourn if the only other person mostly commenting is coming at it from a DCL perspective without knowing how very different it is for the higher up categories. It's why I said there's not really an overlap with DCL.

That's a very good, informative synopsis of Seabourn. Thanks for writing that. Something to look forward to in the future when I'm sailing without a college student.

 

[John VN]

Does a verandah room on Seabourn offer more than concierge on DCL? Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if it did.

Searched for Seabourn Verandah Suite Perks and DCL Concierge appears to provide less as expected

 

[Kwami]

I don't believe the poster ever said they were. They found better value in Seabourn because it had what they value most at a better price. Why is this so hard to understand?

It isn't. It's clear that you skipped a lot of the discussion.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wanted to give some new information. It looks like starting in October Seabourn is updating/refreshing their loyalty program. While it won't affect the OP given it would be their first sail with them and your level is obtained after you've completed your sailing here's a brief overview:



So like I mentioned we're Silver with 22 club points (19 sailed days and 3 other points) so with us this wouldn't have made any difference as our first cruise we were at 9 points after sailing it (7 day cruise plus 2 other points) but still.

The other change is related to the wifi and laundry. For the wifi it now does affect us netting us the streaming package without additional costs because we're Silver:


Note for the laundry it's free self-service laundry for everyone and at the Silver level one of the benefits you could choose is 1 free bag of them doing laundry for you which carries on through the remaining member levels. Now they are allowing Gold and Platinum to have the benefit without the 1 bag limit.

The major change is one that won't affect the OP for many years to come (it's in regards to the comp cruises based on sailed days). Lowering the threshold for meeting the loyalty level gives me the impression they want people to at least "feel" more appreciated when they are more "green" to the brand, I say that because many of these people are already very high up, Diamond and Elite members and they er um well aren't getting any younger to put it as kindly as I can.

 

[DCLMP]

It isn't. It's clear that you skipped a lot of the discussion.

No I think I have a pretty good understanding of what's important to OP in terms of value and what they are looking for. You are obsessed with room size which is irrelevant to the OP.

 

[Kwami]

No I think I have a pretty good understanding of what's important to OP in terms of value and what they are looking for. You are obsessed with room size which is irrelevant to the OP.

Again, you seem to have misread or not understood what I wrote.

 

[DCLMP]

Wanted to give some new information. It looks like starting in October Seabourn is updating/refreshing their loyalty program. While it won't affect the OP given it would be their first sail with them and your level is obtained after you've completed your sailing here's a brief overview:

View attachment 984196

So like I mentioned we're Silver with 22 club points (19 sailed days and 3 other points) so with us this wouldn't have made any difference as our first cruise we were at 9 points after sailing it (7 day cruise plus 2 other points) but still.

The other change is related to the wifi and laundry. For the wifi it now does affect us netting us the streaming package without additional costs because we're Silver:
View attachment 984198

Note for the laundry it's free self-service laundry for everyone and at the Silver level one of the benefits you could choose is 1 free bag of them doing laundry for you which carries on through the remaining member levels. Now they are allowing Gold and Platinum to have the benefit without the 1 bag limit.

The major change is one that won't affect the OP for many years to come (it's in regards to the comp cruises based on sailed days). Lowering the threshold for meeting the loyalty level gives me the impression they want people to at least "feel" more appreciated when they are more "green" to the brand, I say that because many of these people are already very high up, Diamond and Elite members and they er um well aren't getting any younger to put it as kindly as I can.

A company wanting loyal customers to feel more appreciated and not less is rare these days. We ate at Palo last week and the server asked us if it was our first time in Palo. I told him we had eaten there many times and he still tried to charge us for the meal and then we had to get it straightened out with the manager.

Not a big deal, but a poor way to acknowledge a customer who has sailed with you 34 times.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

A company wanting loyal customers to feel more appreciated and not less is rare these days. We ate at Palo last week and the server asked us if it was our first time in Palo. I told him we had eaten there many times and he still tried to charge us for the meal and then we had to get it straightened out with the manager.

Not a big deal, but a poor way to acknowledge a customer who has sailed with you 34 times.

Oooh ouch yeah that bites.

Don't get me wrong the very high up in level folks are not happy about the comp cruise aspect to it because it's now much harder to obtain the free 7 or 14 day cruise plus it's now restricted at the lowest room category unless you pay for the upgrade whereas it used to be based off the category you booked the most and many of these long term cruisers aren't doing the lowest level, they are pretty upset about it and truthfully I would be too.

But they are also people who are typically older and older and the line has a large swath of people who high up in levels but also aging. So to me it makes sense that they need to pivot and redirect in getting people into the loyalty program who will then continue to sail Seabourn for the years to come (and are younger to begin with) especially given the more competition there is now in the luxury/ultra luxury market.

Realistically I can't personally get upset about the comp cruises because we're way too far off (and were even before) from earning it and if we ever get up there in points the program may be different by then.

There was a survey that floated around which gave hints that they were trying to figure out as a brand what mattered most to their passengers and I know many mentioned laundry (as in I think they wanted better perks for the level they were in) so that's not surprising they added that. Also the passengers it's really not uncommon for people who sail this line to also do work while they are on it so including the streaming wifi for Silver and above (it was included in highest up levels and highest up room categories already) which is what you'd need to have to allow a VPN to work also isn't surprising for me. For our purposes the normal included wifi was adequate but I'll take having streaming included. I think them also moving their fleet to using Starlink has helped. Previously on our 2023 cruise Google Chat was blocked by the ship's wifi, our 2025 cruise (which was with Starlink) it was not blocked.