Q – We love the San Juan round-trip itinerary announced by Sea Dream for next year. It also seems like a fantastic price given that the line is so highly-rated. We are concerned about, what others have described” as a “tired look” to the ships in terms of bedding and carpeting. We are in our late sixties, have sailed Royal Caribbean, and were wondering what you think of Sea Dream for us. In some ways it seems almost too good to be true in terms of size and what they are charging.
A – T
he truth is that we don;t know enough about you to render an accurate judgement. We would want you to fill out our cruise Profile and then follow-up with a discussion to determine if this is the best option for you. We can tell you that two cruise lines could not be more different than the one you have sailed and the one you are anticipating sailing. We spend a good deal of time qualifying guests who are considering Sea Dream. We would want to know how comfortable you would be in contemporary but smallish staterooms and a ship with only 100 guests when it sails full, The ships are not new. But they are regularly upgraded by their Norwegian owners. They will not win any design awards given their steady but boring contours. But the on-board service, the food, and the feeling that you are on your own private yacht, makes Sea Dream a viable option for those seeking a really excellent small ship experience.. We think of Sea Dream as a small ship but you have to imagine that their twins carry fewer guests than even the smaller size riverboats in Europe. Those who have owned their own yachts or who have friends who do are prime candidates for the Sea Dream experience. If you own a carpet store you may have some quality/design issues with the flooring in Sea Dream’s public space. But, given the excellent itineraries these ships are able to sail given their size, it is more likely you will be looking out rather than down. There are no bedding issues at all based on our latest CSI inspections.
Sea Dream tends to raise the price as a sailing gets closer. Their introductory fares are often, we would agree, extremely competitive with inclusive ships carrying five or six times as many guests. Sea Dream is among the one or two best values in contemporary small-ship cruising. We can tell you that the line has a significantly higher repeat guest statistic than many other of the top-tier lines.
