texanaust

3 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

So is it DJ's from now on or still a dance band on board?

Both, it just affects the trio I believe.  

I think I mentioned this previously, but Handre said SB was getting a full-time DJ to replace the trio on all the ships.  It is supposed to be implemented this summer but with the new CEO who knows.  The impression I got was that the genre of music was to be modernized skewing more towards the 80s,90s,00s.  

As for Belinda King, I think we are stuck with her for a while.

Sunrise over the Kimberley during covid.  Cruise 'ship' had 9 passengers onboard.

My vote is for Britannia Club.  The $4k savings can go towards a future retreat cruise.  There is a reason BC often sells out before PG and QG.  Is it PG minus or Britannia plus?  Regardless, it is one of the more popular choices with Cunarders.

Alternatively go all out for QG! 

7 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

I'm the same,

I went to one once many years ago and ticked that box.

Don't ever need to do it again.

I'm not a buffet sort of guy.

If you are not a buffet sort of guy (same here), where do you go for lunch?  Onshore?  Apart from sushi, there is no option on SB for a waiter served lunch.  I am excluding of course the burgers, hotdogs and fish of the day served in the Colonnade.  This was true on Sojourn and Encore last summer for 5 weeks.  

I sure hope the Restaurant is open on sea days this summer on our voyage around Iceland.  

On 3/5/2023 at 5:54 AM, Mr Luxury said:

I like 8.30 onwards but I generally go to the TK bar and end up eating at TK mostly as early diners have gone by then.

You must have been lucky on Encore.  We were allowed one meal per week at TK, no exceptions.  Arriving early or late, waiting for cancellations, the answer from the female maitre'd was always a firm NO. 

Probably the first consistent NO in over 20 years of sailing on Seabourn.

20 hours ago, SLSD said:

I do think it is possible to become a bit jaded.  I'm not suggesting that this is an issue with any of you--but is something to consider.  

This.  I don't know how people spend months on Seabourn or (insert cruise line) and don't become jaded.  I was well and truly sick of Encore after three weeks last summer.  That being said, I think it was a combination of the guest makeup (mostly one weekers) and a deterioration of the main dining room food (and lack of opening at breakfast/lunch). 

However, we did a SB suez canal 18 night several years ago and could have stayed on for another 18, so it really depends.  

8 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

Handre is indeed land based and in charge of Entertainment and talent booking at corporate HQ

He regularly visits all of the ships now.

Yes, I know.  I was on Encore last summer while he was organising the Jonathan Antoine concert.  We need a few HD's moving over to Corporate too. 

Josh spending a week onboard with his family was a start, but I doubt he truly understood what makes Seabourn so special to its long time repeat passengers.  Only someone that has spent years onboard the ships would have that qualification.

1 hour ago, Mr Luxury said:

The important stuff happens at sea thankfully.

The land based stuff is just stuff. 

They could use more of their 'sea' staff like Handre at Corporate HQ making decisions.  

14 minutes ago, 2SailingNomads said:

Josh was a bean counter obviously what his tenure brought. Hopefully new leadership will restore Seabourn to what we knew it to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, a Holland America insider is not what Seabourn needs.  I am afraid SB will lose even more of its special touches as it transitions to a small ship version of HA.  Hopefully I am proven wrong but time will tell.  

4 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Just wanted to take a moment and encourage folks here to review the prices of their bookings from time-to-time. 

With the current promotional period end date today, I took a peek at the voyages I have booked and found a 2024 voyage I had booked exactly one year ago today in 2022 has decreased in price by 11%.  So, I filed my claim and received an updated booking confirmation today at the lower price.  The only thing I'm waiting on now is how SS plans to handle the refund.

This only applies to Door to Door fares correct?

19 hours ago, drron29 said:

Yes I also enjoy the steaks at the grill because I can cook it just the way I like it. Nearly raw!

Correctly done steak for drron's profile photo.  

5 hours ago, drron29 said:

Well these are the 2 steaks I had in atlantide on the Dawn. not too thin for me.

Your steaks look better than what I had on the Moon.  The taste was okay, but the thickness was similar to a minute steak.  It won't stop me sailing on SS but the steaks are definitely superior on Seabourn.  

The steaks are too thin in Atlantide.  No possible way to cook them med-rare.  Also our butler was terrible.  He asked so many times for us to write a recommendation/review that I had to sit down with the HD to discuss the issue. 

Apart from that, I really liked Silver Moon especially the Salt Bar with Afzal as the bartender.

Not in the Med, even on sea days.

On May 18th last year I received an email from SB that in part stated,

"We are excited to soon be introducing Inclusive Air to our guests. This will mean that when a guest books a Seabourn ultra-luxury voyage it will truly be “all-inclusive”. These new, fully inclusive fares will be available for the U.S. and Canada markets on 2022 and 2023 Mediterranean and Northern Europe voyages. Booking a Seabourn experience for our guests will now be even easier for you."

Of course feedback is given and things change so who knows what they are planning and when.  I was also informed in mid-2022 that the Club would have a full time DJ starting mid/late 2023.  I have no idea if those plans are moving forward either.  

2 hours ago, tiger97 said:

Hi everyone,  we’re boarding tomorrow for a short trip to Melbourne. 
This is our first cruise with Cunard, and we’re pretty excited!

 

Our embarkation arrival time is marked as 15:00. Would it be rude to arrive a little earlier? Say 14:00? Or is this a bit uncool?

Thanks for your advice!

I would think 2pm would be fine.

16 minutes ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Never heard of upsell  offers by email on Cunard.  
Think if one wishes to upgrade, and the stateroom is available, then one pays the price of the upgrade as it was on the day of one’s original booking.  
A gift of an upgrade is a rare occurrence.  Usually just one level above one’s booked stateroom.

Okay, that is unusual given all of Carnival's other brands do this.  Even Seabourn has sent out multiple upgrade emails on each and every cruise I have been on.  

How does Cunard sell its unbooked staterooms/suites?  Do they send out upsell emails prior to the cruise directly to passengers or via TA's?  How far in advance could one expect to receive an offer?  What is the best upgrade/upsell that you have received?  Thanks:)

23 hours ago, saminina said:

Who knows?  If you want a decent meal on SB go to TK.   IMO, the food sucks in other venues.   It's really that simple and am saying that after two days on board Sojourn.

I hate to say it, but I (mostly) agree.  The problem is getting more than one reservation at TK even on a non-full voyage.  The TK restaurant manager on our last cruise refused reservations even at 6pm when no one was dining.  So much for Seabourn 'exceeding guest's expectations' in this regard. 

We ended up doing a lot of special orders as a result...

9 hours ago, 2SailingNomads said:

Currently on Sojourn, today is a sea day and MDR open for both lunch and breakfast.  

Seabourn does read CC, so definitely a positive development.  

Are SS going to have one (other than reduced dep and 2 cat upgrade) and what date do they usually launch it?  Several cruise lines like Seabourn already have their sales up and running.

1 hour ago, Isklaar said:

 

I must have missed it, and am almost afraid to ask, but could someone tell me more about 'the music changes due nexrt year' ?
 

Seabourn will be eliminating at least one of the bands in the Club and replacing it with a professional DJ.  I believe a guitar player (electric) will also be added.  The music (play list) will be modernized to reflect the current onboard demographics.  I've been told more rock, pop, and dance music.  There will also be the ability to request songs via the SB app and/or other portable devices.  

9 hours ago, calm down dear said:

Day 14 : Athens arrival. We were berthed by 2am - why we needed to leave delightful spetses at 430pm I have no idea. Suites had to be vacated by 8am which I thought was earlier than normal but can’t recall. Colonnade was rammed with leisurely breakfasters and their luggage, people were able to disembark from about 830 but we didn’t until 915 as we had a booked taxi and were all most last off - there seemed very few indeed left onboard but maybe they were on tours.

14 days was plenty, my reflection was “not the same”, by no means awful and to use an English word, it was fine. Service was not the same, there are definite shortages and I think some of the SOPs have been adjusted to save costs - rarely offered top-ups and some of the annoyances became frustrating as no one ever seemed to learn preferences like before - except where we sat at breakfast who knew my tea etc 

I especially detested the colonnade experience (except though at night on Keller night where it’s not a buffet) but the sushi restaurant was a boon, the patio was too cold generally for us and I don’t go on holiday to eat cheap burgers. I think it outrageous that mdr closed everyday for breakfast and lunch for the price we paid.

Food and wine were good to very good, true the included wines did have a couple of shockers but we always found something and in my view you don’t need to go to the (very marked up) premium list  ~ we did but only due to some generous obc. Getting servers to leave water or wine at table was impossible and getting new pours difficult. We never got a window table ever despite requests.
Cabin - we had standard veranda- spacious and we were well looked after by the 2 stewardesses.

So despite now being gold members did we put down a deposit for new Seabourn cruise …. No. Frankly the service now seems run by accounting eye not a guest experience eye - as I said by no means awful but we were pleased to get off.

Back to Silversea next year and let’s see.

Thank you for your reporting on the Encore.  We spent three weeks onboard over the summer and your experience was very similar to ours.  Although we had a good time, we were also well and truly ready to depart at the end of three weeks.  The service, food and overall experience were just not up to the Seabourn standards of 20 years ago let alone pre-covid.  

Your comments about the Colonnade are spot on.  We dined at the Sushi restaurant way too much as a result of trying to avoid both the buffet and 'cheap burgers' on deck.  I hope you didn't try to get more than one reservation at TK per week...We asked and were firmly told NO multiple times.  Even when we turned up at 6pm (with the restaurant empty until 6:30pm), the maitre'd was adamant they were full.  This was in stark contrast to Sojourn where if they were empty early on, you were welcome to dine.

Personally I don't think the casual buffet dining aspect is going to change much as I feel Seabourn is moving to more of a Windstar model-Slightly down market, more casual and more of a party atmosphere.  It will still be a good experience, but one needs to adjust their expectations accordingly.  With the music changes due next year, Seabourn should become even more lively!  But at a minimum, I hope they consider improving the lunch menu in the Colonnade for those of us who do not wish to have a burger or buffet.

Well the word I was given was the deal was off, but that was about six weeks ago.  It was a SB insider that many of us know and like on these boards. 

Whatever the case, it might be best if Seabourn can get out from under the umbrella of Holland America.  I for one don't care if the Saudis purchase Seabourn if it means an improvement to the current offerings.  Something needs to change but I doubt it will can happen while Carnival is still the owner.