sfvoyage

Do as you wish! In any case, "starving" was the word the spa staff used, and it's hard not to feel bad for them. This is likely an industry wide practice, Seabourn being in this case the enabler of policies set by its spa concession company (is it still Steiner?) None of us knows how much they make. If interested, Google gives some data (Glassdoor, Indeed, etc) for spa staff on cruise ships, but who knows what is accurate and up-to-date?

This "no basic salary" practice is nothing new. Quite a few years ago (6 or more), I was told by the spa staff that they receive no base pay. Other than free room and board, their only remuneration consists of a cut of the treatment price plus tips, and thus their pay is highly variable. In fact, they were bracing for "starving" on the following voyage (a crossing), because they said that some voyages typically attract a clientele who don't tend to patronize the spa. Slavery at sea comes to mind...

If you were referring to my post, it's various Seabourn officers including corporate chef Michael (ex Thomas Keller).

Seabourn owns all the TK recipes, so ultimately it will be Seabourn which will decide whether to keep or do away with the Napa burger etc.

When did you land at EZE? (trying to get a data point on transfer time requirement between landing at EZE and checking in for onward international connection)

What blog? In any case, I just spoke with my Seabourn Club rep, who informed me that the old way is still valid. So if you would like to bypass the new app, you can directly email CCLshareholderSBN@seabourn.com (not case sensitive). I used to email guestservices@seabourn.com and am guessing that email address should still work as well.

Please do not involve any third party apps for this exercise. All you need to do is take a screen shot of your most recent brokerage statement page showing your name, statement date, and ownership of 100+ shares of CCL. Black out any other information, i.e. account number, your account balance and other positions, etc. Email this screenshot to SB guest services with your booking code, and they'd normally post the shareholder credit onto your booking within a week.

Are you aware that there is an elevator up to the spa suites on the Ovation and Encore (but not on the 3 smaller ships)?

FYI, currently on the Odyssey, friends who were in 738 heard a lot of noises and asked to be moved. Other friends are in 747 and heard noises but declined an offer to be moved.

Thanks to the new mocktails, the bartenders now have more zero proof spirits to work with. You can just talk to them to create whatever you want. For me, most of the mocktails are still too sweet, because tonic water has sugar, the zero proof spirits themselves have sugar, some of the mixers have sugar, and not to mention the syrup. I just ask for the least sweet mocktail ingredient mixed with sparkling water and/or lemon juice.

That would explain it.

Two big bottles can easily fit on each of the 2 wall-mounted shelves in the shower, with room to spare for my own small bottle of face wash, at least on the Odyssey.

There are art classes on sea days at 10:00 and 15:00 with instructor Bette. First class was nice today. New in-suite dining menu rolled out today (Odyssey is the last ship to get this). Guest directory has restarted on this segment - on an opt-in basis as before, as it should be; delivery via email (default option) or printouts (upon request, but not in a booklet format). No welcome "designer" soap selection yet. No farewell gift (used to be pillow spray) for those who disembarked in LA yesterday. As mentioned previously on other threads, Zero @ Sea (mocktails), saketinis, and sushi at The Club were rolled out a few weeks ago.

A bit OT, but various MOL delegates (exclusively Japanese except for a Filipina who speaks fluent English and Japanese and is the de facto interpreter for the entourage this week) has been on board Odyssey frequently the past few months. They've been talking to staff, asking questions, and taking lots of videos, photos, and notes. I chatted with a few of them today and found out that the Odyssey will be renamed Mitsui Ocean Fuji, sailing around Japan initially and then expanding to international voyages. The ship will be bilingual, and so international guests are welcomed to book. We are very interested to try them out after the full conversion, depending on how well they can cater to vegetarian (vegan ideally) guests.

Yes, on the Odyssey-class and expedition ships, there is no Sushi Restaurant. Rather, there is a sushi counter at The Club, with a smaller menu - a few sushi items, no nigiri, salads, edamame, dessert, etc. Most guests go there and order sushi as happy hour appetizers; some linger and order enough for a light meal.

And that to me is a good thing, considering the exorbitant charges imposed by Thomas Keller on Seabourn for every single serving plate, utensil, piece of steak, etc. Glad to see that gravy train going away soon. I'd rather pay for quality than brand name. An exciting benefit would be the liberation of the outdoor deck behind TK Grill on the Encore and Ovation, which has been closed to comply with Thomas Keller's desires. What a waste of rare and prime real estate on the ship. Will be nice to have more outdoor dining space in the future. Having said that, I would have preferred an authentic and good quality pan-Asian restaurant. Asian cuisine is a weakness for Seabourn and apparently not an area of focus or concern for the brand.

The majority of the raw fish from Japan supplied to even the finest sushi restaurants around the world is frozen.

Very happy and excited about this!

Not that I am aware of, but I didn't explicitly ask. They did offer me a bottle of frei sparkling wine, which I turned down because I had frei NA wine before once (on Silversea) and it tasted like sweet grape juice. No thanks. If you know of any good NA wines, please share them here. Also, you can always special request them by emailing Seabourn guest services a couple of months prior to your cruise.

I meant to write "paid shore excursion". It wasn't that short. 🙂

His name is Kent, recruited from a Shangri-La hotel in the Philippines. He is still on the Odyssey but is now scheduled to leave in 2 days in San Francisco. He works in the Club, which features the new mocktail menu. If you want to enjoy them in the observation bar, you will need to ask them to bring it up from the Club.

That is a paid short excursion, at least a few years ago. The concert at night in Ephesus is an inclusive signature event.

I just met with the corporate manager in charge of F&B and this project in particular. (Odyssey is in Seattle today, and many corporates are on board, including Natalya Leahy.) Good news: they are already in the process of sourcing Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic and have also identified an unsweetened elderflower flavoring/essence. Regarding the first mocktail that uses egg white powder and is therefore unsuitable for vegans, they are sourcing a vegan egg white alternative.

zodiacs had been removed from the Odyssey earlier in the season.

This has happened before and in fact just happened again last week on the Odyssey - the zodiacs were removed from the ship. This is apparently due to some Alaskan regulations that zodiacs must be operated by certified American operators, and Seabourn expedition team members are of various nationalities, not only American. Something like that. That's why today someone reported on here that zodiacs (plus other items) were being loaded back onto Odyssey while she was docked in Vancouver.