Venture is a beautiful small ship but Seabourn do need to have a rethink re what parts of a voyage in particular round the UK are "expedition" and which are not. We were cruising around Scotland where many of the places we visited and the tours on offer were the same as for the regular cruise ships. However, as all tendering was by Zodiacs (which hold 12 people) this did take longer for the transfers and life jackets were required and waterproofs most of the time. Getting on and off could be challenging in the rough waters and clothing had to be washed off afterwards to remove the salt water. Thankfully for Kirkwall it was finally deemed too rough and we actually docked. In the meantime the locals were bemused at our method of transport and our waterproof gear just to get to the port.

Most days we had regular tours in the morning and then in the afternoon the ship left so there could be Zodiac tours of the various islands which was the "expedition" part of the voyage. With the expedition team being responsible for the regular tours as well as the expedition tours they dominated the ship board airways with unnecessarily lengthy on board announcements. In addition you were required to attend or listen to daily briefings.

The expedition team (nearly 30 of them) had access to all the bars and restaurants on board in groups of up to 4 with other members hosting tables now and then. Read more