The Avid Cruiser - Fall 2007 - (Page 11)

Counter Cruise: SeaDream Yacht Club n 2006 readers of Condé nast traveler ranked Seadream Yacht Club as one of the top 100 travel experiences worldwide. In fact, SeaDream was the only cruise company to be included in the ranking. The other 99 winners were all hotels and resorts. Readers also ranked SeaDream “World’s Best Small Passenger Shipping Line,” and the company achieved the highest overall score for all cruise companies — large or small. “It’s lovely to get such recognition, especially when you’re a company that essentially in its history has not been not an advertiser with anybody,” Larry Pimentel, president and CEO of SeaDream Yacht Club, tells The Avid Cruiser. He barely pauses before adding that SeaDream also scored 100 percent in both service and cuisine, the “first time,” he adds, “that’s ever happened in the context of Conde Nast.” No doubt that SeaDream has had lots of worthy praise heaped upon it, but the only cruise line to be included in the top 100 travel experiences? How can that be? This past spring, I boarded SeaDream II in Barcelona to answer the question: How can a cruise company operating two small ships, both more than 20 years old, outperform all others? SeaDream was the only cruise line to rank as one of Conde Nast Traveler’s top travel experiences, but will the company’s twin ships, both more than 20 years old, top your list? I Welcome Aboard SeaDream II is the former Sea Goddess, built in 1985 and operated by Cunard Line and later by Seabourn Cruise Line. Before launching in 2001, SeaDream’s owners performed major upgrades on the vessel (and her twin SeaDream I) and continue to make improvements. SeaDream II is exquisitely small, topping out at 110 passengers, and thus can get into ports that big ships can’t. “Some of the tenders on the big ships carry more passengers than we do,” jokes Captain Valter Berg. Indeed, from Barcelona to Nice, SeaDream II dropped anchor in some of the Mediterranean’s most idyllic ports — St. Tropez, Cannes, Portofino, Villefranche, among them. Back in Barcelona, boarding time for SeaDream II was at 2 p.m. I passed through security at the terminal, handed my passport to SeaDream II’s purser and, after receiving a squirt of antibacterial soap dispensed by staff, stepped aboard the open gangway onto the ship at 2:05 p.m. It was an impressive embarkation, not only for its ease but also for its warmth. One of the lovely Thai masseuses handed me a cold towel to refresh my face and hands. A waiter stepped forth with a glass of champagne. The FALL 2007 Photos courtesy of SeaDream Yacht Club and Ralph Grizzle Avid Cruiser

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Avid Cruiser - Fall 2007

The Avid Cruiser - Fall 2007 Contents The Poop Deck Cruising, Back to Back At The Piazza SeaDream Yacht Club Regent’s Seven Seas Voyager The ‘New’ Crystal Symphony Bay of FUNdy Long Weekend Getaway Silversea Cruises: Silver Whisper Cruising Southeast Asia ‘Awesome’ Alaska Sacred Moments In South Georgia Two Years With A Princess Of Days Gone By

The Avid Cruiser - Fall 2007

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