RADISSON SEVEN SEAS CRUISES                          Travel Report
United States, Bahamas, Mediterranean, Greece, Caribbean, South Pacific, South America, Africa, Seychelles, Amazon, Antarctica, Canary Islands, Arctic, Iceland, Greenland, United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Alaska, Russia, Asia, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand
HANSEATIC
Passenger Capacity: 170
Built: 1993
Length: 403 ft.
Beam: 59 ft.
Draft: 15 ft.
Decks: 7
Elevator: 2
Officers: German
Staff and Crew: 125; European
Wheelchair Access: Yes

• Itinerary: The ship cruises in both hemispheres and from pole to pole in 8 to 24-night voyages. Typical itineraries: Arctic, Antarctica, Iceland, Greenland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Baltic, Norwegian fjords, North Cape, Newfoundland, Labrador, the Northwest Passage to Nome, Alaska,  Russian Far East, Central and South America, South Africa, and the Seychelles.
• Cabins: 92. All cabins are outside with large windows, have individual temperature control and have a VCR, radio, and refrigerator. Cabins have double bed or twin beds, and bathrooms have shower/tub. There are four two-room suites with a walk-in closet. Bridge Deck suites have butler service and in-cabin dining. There are two wheelchair-accessible cabins.
• Dining: The main dining room, at the stern and with windows on three sides, has open single seating. The menu is European. There is also an alternative dining room. Casual breakfast and lunch are served in the lounge with indoor/outdoor seating. English tea is served in the afternoon. There is a light late-night buffet and course by course room service. Smoking is allowed in the dining room.
• Dress: Casual during the day. Smart casual at night, jacket and tie expected of men on two nights.
• Facilities and Activities: This is an expedition ship with a 1A1 Super ice classification. There is an observation lounge with a 180-degree span of windows that has a library, ocean charts, maps, and a radar monitor to follow the progress of the ship. There is a hairdresser, fitness center, sauna, pool, whirlpool, massage, and medical facilities. Evening programs include cabaret shows, an orchestra for dancing, a pianist, documentary and feature films, and lectures by naturalists and anthropologists. There is an open bridge visitation policy.  Announcements and daily agendas are in both English and German. This is an expedition cruise ship that focusses on nature and culture. There are four tenders and 14 zodiacs for landings. Naturalists accompany passengers on shore trips and recap upon their return. When needed, parkas and rubber boots are loaned to passengers in the Arctic and Antarctic; snorkel equipment is provided in the tropics. There often are wet landings and climbing in and out of zodiacs in remote areas, inappropriate for people who are not physically fit. Antarctic trips that traverse the Drake Channel often encounter a stretch of quite rough water.
• Typical Rates and Special Deals: Average rate per day for cabin is $820, for a suite is $1,190. If you book six months in advance you can get an early bird discount of $500 per person, and two or more cruises combined saves $500. Past passengers receive additional discounts. A third person is half price. Most shore excursions are complimentary. There is no tipping.

PAUL GAUGUIN
Passenger Capacity: 320
Built: 1998
Length: 513 ft.
Beam: 71 ft.
Draft: 17 ft.
Decks: 7
Elevator: 2
Officers: French
Staff and Crew: 197; European and American

• Itinerary: There are seven-night cruises from Tahiti to Rangiroa, Raiatea, Bora Bora, and Moorea.
• Cabins: 160. All staterooms are outside and 50 percent have private balconies. Others have windows or portholes (the lowest deck). Most cabins range from 200 to 249 sq. ft.; seven suites are 300 to 457 sq. ft. Staterooms have queen or twin bed (a few king), safe, VCR, direct dial phone, individual temperature control, refrigerator and bath with tub/shower
• Dining: There is single open seating with complimentary wine served with lunch and dinner. The menu is continental with emphasis on French specialties. The alternative restaurant operates on a reservations-only basis. A casual outdoor bistro grill at the pool serves fish, steaks, and Tahitian specialties. There is 24-hour room service. There is no smoking in the dining
• Dress: Casual during the day. Most evenings are casual, and for the captain’s dinner, men are asked to wear a jacket, but no tie required. There are no formal nights.
• Facilities and Activities: There is a retractable watersports platform aft for kayaking and water-skiing. A French spa has massage, thalassotherapy, aromatherapy, body wraps, facials, a steam room, and hair salon. There is an orchestra for dancing, an observation lounge with a piano bar, a main lounge/conference center with entertainment and lectures, a card room, small casino, connoisseur club that offers fine wines, liqueurs and cognac, fitness center, and outdoor pool. A library has books and videos about the art, history, geography, and culture of the islands and the life and work of Paul Gauguin. There is original art work by Ganguin on board as well as historic photographs and papers about the regions visited, and videos for private en suite viewing. Lectures feature naturalists, artists and experts on Polynesia. You can visit the bridge at any time, including evening hours. There are scuba excursions, and you can swim in a blue lagoon, feed swarms of fish while snorkeling over coral reefs, wander around villages and old native ruins, take a helicopter tour, or go on jeep safaris into mountains.
• Typical Rates and Special Deals: Fares range from $3,295 (cabin with porthole) to $9,695 for suites with verandas. Gratuities are included in the fare. Pre and post-cruise stays are available in Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea.

• Itinerary: Typically from May to October there are seven-night cruises in the Mediterranean, Baltic and Aegean Seas to Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Greece, Turkey, and Scandinavia. In the winter in the Caribbean there are three to seven-night cruises that include San Juan, Barbados, Bequia, Grenada, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Barts, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Iles de Saintes, Antigua, Virgin Gorda, and St. Lucia, sometimes with stops in the Bahamas. A transpanama 10-night cruise calls at Ft. Lauderdale, Key West, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, San Andres Island, and Puerto Caldera. Transatlantic cruises between Lisbon and San Juan and between Las Palmas and Barbados run 9, 11 and 14 nights. Longest cruise is 19 nights from Rome to San Juan. One week segments can be combined into two or three-week voyages.
• Cabins: 177. All cabins are outside, with either a veranda or a sitting room. All cabins have queen-size beds that can be converted to twin size and a TV/VCR (featuring CNN), mini-bar, a bathroom with shower and very small tub, direct-dial ship to shore phone, safe and individual temperature control. Two owner suites feature a king-size bed, whirlpool tub, separate shower, balcony and large bay window. CD players are available to passengers to use. Most cabin stewards are European women. There are two wheelchair-designed staterooms. Elevator doors are 39.97 inches wide. Outside decks can be reached without assistance. Handicapped persons must be accompanied by a non-handicapped adult.
• Dining: There is a dining room with a sweeping view across the stern of the ship (jacket and tie required in the evening) with open dining -- eat when you want, where you want, and with choices of various size tables. The menu features European dishes, homemade breads, homemade ice cream, and freshly ground coffee. House wine is complimentary. Servers are waitresses, rare in cruise ships. The grill, seating 50, has buffet breakfast and lunch and at dinner features northern Italian specialty dishes and table-side dessert flambeaus, with violin and accordion music while you dine. Any dining room meal can be served in your stateroom during dining room hours, and there is also a 24-hour room-service menu. Afternoon tea is served in the lounge. Special diets can be arranged.
• Dress: Casual during the day. Evening resort wear for women and jackets for men most nights. One formal evening per week with most men wearing tuxedos and women wearing cocktail dresses.
• Facilities and Activities: The ship is built on the submerged twin-hull principle called SWATH (small waterplane area twin hull). Engines are in the hulls beneath the waterline so engine noise and vibration are minimized, and stabilizer fins on the front and back of each submerged hull reduce motion. This is a luxury ship with a five-story garden atrium, an outdoor pool, a lounge at the bow for daily lectures and for evening dancing and cabaret shows, a stage on the pool deck for outdoor entertainment, a casino with blackjack, poker, roulette and slot machines, a fitness room where you can work out while looking out at the sea, and an outdoor jogging track. A spa has steam rooms, sauna, whirlpool, massage, herbal wraps and a hairdresser. There is a laundry, dry cleaning, a book and video library, and an art gallery. Tying it all together is a circular brass staircase and glass elevators. A retractable marina between the hulls creates shelter for swimming, snorkeling, sailing, and windsurfing when the ship is anchored. The ship is frequently used by corporate and group charters, and a business center has audiovisual equipment, publishing facilities, fax and satellite communications services, and personal computer hook-ups. There are medical facilities with a doctor and a nurse on board. A grand piano is in the club room and a band for dancing in the lounge. Film can be developed on board. There is an open bridge policy. In June and July the ship has music festival cruises that go from Rome to Cannes, Edinburgh to Copenhagen, or Copenhagen to Stockholm with passengers able to attend the Royal Mediterranean Music Festival, the Royal Scandinavian Music Festival, the Royal Baltic Music Festival, and other concerts in ports along the way. There is a golf driving range with nets and a putting green. In May there are golf cruises with a golf pro on board who conducts golf clinics and passengers play courses in ports. A nice touch: bottled water and umbrellas available at the gangway to ensure your comfort ashore.
• Typical Rates and Special Deals: Back-to-back cruises can be combined with a 50 percent discount on the second week. No tipping. Pre and post cruise packages are available. Discounts for past passengers of $200 to $1,300 per person discount for early bookings at least 120 days ahead. Some Caribbean cruises and Panama Canal-Costa Rico cruises offer two-for-one specials.

• Itinerary: There are 7 to 16-night cruises with departures in August, September and October from Nice, Venice, Istanbul, Athens and Rome with transatlantic voyages in October and April. Other cruises typically go between Bermuda and Ft Lauderdale, between Ft. Lauderdale and South America, and between Ft. Lauderdale and Los Angeles. There is also a Panama Canal/Costa Rica voyage.
• Cabins: 206. All are outside, are 301 to 1,173 sq. ft., and 90 percent have balconies. All have individual temperature control, king-size beds (can convert to twin bed), walk-in closets, full-size bathtub and separate shower, VCR, refrigerator, safe and telephone. There are 19 cabins that are interconnecting. Four cabins are wheelchair accessible.
• Dining: There are two restaurants -- the Compass Rose and the Portofino Grill. There is open, single seating with complimentary wine at dinner, the menu leaning toward Italy. There is also 24 hour room service.
• Dress: Casual during the day. Resort wear or jackets for men at night. The ambiance is luxury without pretension, but a tux would be appropriate on formal night.
• Facilities and Activities: There are a number of gathering places on board. The two-tiered Seven Seas Lounge with walls of glass overlooking the water has the look of a sophisticated 1930's night club. The Galileo has a piano bar. The Connoisseur Club has leather chairs, port and cigars. The Navigator Lounge has a harpist. There is a pool, two whirlpools, a casino, a small boutique, a library with books, videos, and computers with internet access. A health club and spa have aromatherapy, seaweed and mud wraps, massages, herbal, thalasso and hydrate therapies, steam rooms, sauna, a juice bar, and salon services. There is an electronic and radar display to track ship position or you may visit the bridge. There is a golf pro, driving cage and putting green on board. Golfers are offered greens privileges at clubs on many of the cruises.
• Typical Rates and Special Deals: Fares start at $4,595 for a typical 16-night cruise. Gratuities are included in price. You can save $1,500 per person if you combine two or more cruises totaling at least 15 nights, or $1,000 if 14 nights or less combined. Past travelers save an additional 5 percent.

• Itinerary: There are departures from Bombay, Dubai, Aqaba, Athens, Istanbul, Venice, Monte Carlo, Lisbon, Rouen, Edinburgh, Stockholm, London, Copenhagen, Singapore, and Darwin. Major cruise areas are India, Scandinavia, Russia, the Red Sea, Mediterranean, and Baltic.
• Cabins: 107. Cabins range from 183 to 398 sq. ft. All cabins are outside, 10 have balconies, some are non-smoking. There are 10 suites. Beds can be converted from twins to queen-size. All have air conditioning, TV/VCR, telephone, and refrigerator. Most have picture windows, but some have only portholes. All have private bath with shower; some have small tubs.
• Dining: There is open seating, with dinner service from 7 to 9:30 PM on most nights. Breakfast is in the dining room or on deck. There is also an outdoor cafe and grill, afternoon tea in the lounge and 24-hour room service. All alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are complimentary throughout the ship except for premium wines. There is traditional cuisine and specialty Asian foods with hot-spiced soups for those who dare and vegetarian selections.
• Dress: Casual during the day. Resort wear or jackets for men at night. A tux would be appropriate on formal night.
• Facilities and Activities: Popular spot is the observation deck with floor-to-ceiling windows. There is a show lounge, pool and whirlpool, fitness center, sauna, and small casino with slot machines, roulette, and blackjack. Services include massage, hairdresser and a library with 600 videos and 2,000 books. Entertainment includes a jazz/dance band, nightly cabaret shows, and a pianist. There is a guest lecturer on each cruise. There are golf cruises with a golf pro on board who conducts golf clinics and passengers play courses in ports. Children under age 12 are not accepted. Watersports facilities include jet skis, snorkel equipment, waterski boat, and windsurfers. The bridge is open to guests during daylight hours. There is a medical clinic with a doctor and nurse. A 120-passenger tender, Tiny Flower, has bow landing capabilities for shore landings.
• Typical Rates and Special Deals: On Asia itineraries, airfare, shore excursions, pre and post-cruise stays, beverages, and gratuities are included. In Europe, shore excursions are extra. Special savings are available on an 11-day all-inclusive Burmese cruise in November with fares from $4,645 to $7,325. You can save $250 to $1,050 by booking at least 120 days before departure, $1,000 per person if you combine two or more cruises, and $1,500 per person if you combine two or more cruises totaling at least 15 nights.

Radisson also offers a bridal registry where friends can buy spa treatments, scuba diving and other treats as wedding presents for the bridal couple.