Page 26 - Explore Magazine Summer 2018

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SERVICE WITH

A SMILE

Great food and wine, lovely destinations and service that goes above and beyond... Carolyn Hedley of
helloworld Hobsonville, was most impressed with her cruise from Rome to Barcelona on Seabourn Quest.

I have travelled with quite a few different around the pool and the Director of Guest gratuities either, so there is no additional cost
cruise companies, and I would definitely Services came and got us, addressed us by for those at the end of the cruise.
cruise with Seabourn Cruise Line again for a name (we hadn’t told him our names) and
number of impressive reasons you will read showed us to our cabin. This is the kind of Our first port of call was Bonifacio in Corsica
about below. service that Seabourn prides itself on. We and I loved it there. We chose a tour to the Old
were impressed. Town high up on the clifftop overlooking the sea,
We began our cruise by flying in to Rome on and a boat tour of the coastline. Next we visited
the same day as the cruise departed – which The cupboard and fridge the port of La Spezia in Italy to go and see the
is what we tell our clients not to do. We were famous Five Villages of the Cinque Terre. It was a
short on time so we opted to take the risk, in the cabin are stocked long day tour but well worth it and the time flew.
and when we arrived at Civitavecchia, the with your preferences in Our guides were great, and one of them was a
port of Rome, we had time to reflect on our Canadian who lives in the Cinque Terre, which
actions. We arrived very early at the dock alcoholic drinks, soft drinks worked out in our favour. At one point, someone
where people were still disembarking from and water – all-inclusive. hadn’t organised a permit to take our coach into
the previous cruise. We took a seat to wait. It one of the towns so we waited on the side of the
wasn’t that warm in Europe in April this year. Seabourn doesn’t expect road for this to be sorted out. Our guide knew a
The Seabourn staff soon noticed us sitting any gratuities either. friend with a taxi service so she came and got us
and took us through the barrier arms and right
there and approached us to see what we into the village. No other tourists got to do that
were waiting for. A bit later the Director of Our cabin was lovely and of a moderate size but so it was fantastic as we zoomed past our fellow
Guest Services came and greeted us and got very well laid out with a good-sized balcony, passengers as they walked down the hill.
us on board – fabulous! He showed us to a a walk-in wardrobe and plenty of drawers in
café where we could have something to eat the main part of the cabin – we didn’t fill them More Seabourn impressiveness: one morning
(the coffee was great as well), and asked all. The cupboard and fridge in the cabin are we had an 8am start for an excursion so on
us to make our way to Guest Services at stocked with your preferences in alcoholic the evening before we ordered a room service
midday when embarkation began. And it just drinks, soft drinks and water – did I mention this breakfast. I didn’t know what to order so I
got better: an hour later we were lounging is all-inclusive? Seabourn doesn’t expect any ticked a lot of boxes. The next morning at the

HELLOWORLD : EXPLORE : SUMMER EDITION