Cape Town to Singapore

Don’t have this problem on SS. Sommelier, Asst Sommelier, and lots on wine stewards.

What Seabourn offers that is far superior as far as I am concerned is their international staff. They are in the main far more outgoing, friendly, confident, and resourceful than the staff we encountered on Silver Whisper last fall. Maybe it was something about “that” cruise, but the feeling was flat. The only warmth and depth of relationships I found were with 3 assistant Maitres d’Hotel, our butler, and in the Bar a Filipina server and the bartender.

We are not happy with the Sojourn MDR wine service and I have made my explanations. And the internet in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean was fair at best and less satisfactory than on Quest in Antarctica the previous month. But between Whisper and Sojourn we have little to discuss. The Whisper is tired, the Panorama Bar and La Terrazza especially. Sojourn’s (and Odyssey’s and Quest’s) space per passenger, layout eg 5 jacuzzis vs 2, far more outdoor space and seating for dining and recreation, and that social life vibe (where are Silverseas’ senior officers and does Silversea have anyone like CD Sophie and such a wide range of activities?) makes Seabourn our ongoing line of choice.

So we are counting on a far more satisfactory MDR wine service on our next cruise which is on Odyssey!

Happy and healthy sailing!

So the absence of a running track on Seabourn doesn't sway your choice of line [emoji16]

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Nope. The only jogging I do is outside the Observation Bar after 18:00 when I pass across the open deck forward and look down on the Signature Suite balconies and hoping to get a glimpse of you. And sometimes check whatever antics may be undeway in the forward jacuzzi on deck 6.

I have also been know to sprint down to the Sky Bar on deck 9 when Sophie has a sailaway party. Also love them poolside caviar on deck parties!

Happy and healthy sailing!

What Seabourn offers that is far superior as far as I am concerned is their international staff. They are in the main far more outgoing, friendly, confident, and resourceful than the staff we encountered on Silver Whisper last fall. Maybe it was something about “that” cruise, but the feeling was flat. The only warmth and depth of relationships I found were with 3 assistant Maitres d’Hotel, our butler, and in the Bar a Filipina server and the bartender.

 

We are not happy with the Sojourn MDR wine service and I have made my explanations. And the internet in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean was fair at best and less satisfactory than on Quest in Antarctica the previous month. But between Whisper and Sojourn we have little to discuss. The Whisper is tired, the Panorama Bar and La Terrazza especially. Sojourn’s (and Odyssey’s and Quest’s) space per passenger, layout eg 5 jacuzzis vs 2, far more outdoor space and seating for dining and recreation, and that social life vibe (where are Silverseas’ senior officers and does Silversea have anyone like CD Sophie and such a wide range of activities?) makes Seabourn our ongoing line of choice.

 

So we are counting on a far more satisfactory MDR wine service on our next cruise which is on Odyssey!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

You should try one or mot legs of the WC as the CD is Fernando, very amazing, the HD is Norman, and the staff is amazing. We find the food better, and the service very good. Plus the Pommery and Monopole champagne is far better than Seabourn Nicholas. The Whisper has been updated and is going to undergo another extensive drydock this fall. After nearly 500 days on Seabourn I am not sure we will return.

What Seabourn offers that is far superior as far as I am concerned is their international staff. They are in the main far more outgoing, friendly, confident, and resourceful than the staff we encountered on Silver Whisper last fall. Maybe it was something about “that” cruise, but the feeling was flat. The only warmth and depth of relationships I found were with 3 assistant Maitres d’Hotel, our butler, and in the Bar a Filipina server and the bartender.

 

We are not happy with the Sojourn MDR wine service and I have made my explanations. And the internet in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean was fair at best and less satisfactory than on Quest in Antarctica the previous month. But between Whisper and Sojourn we have little to discuss. The Whisper is tired, the Panorama Bar and La Terrazza especially. Sojourn’s (and Odyssey’s and Quest’s) space per passenger, layout eg 5 jacuzzis vs 2, far more outdoor space and seating for dining and recreation, and that social life vibe (where are Silverseas’ senior officers and does Silversea have anyone like CD Sophie and such a wide range of activities?) makes Seabourn our ongoing line of choice.

 

So we are counting on a far more satisfactory MDR wine service on our next cruise which is on Odyssey!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

You should try one or mot legs of the WC as the CD is Fernando, very amazing, the HD is Norman, and the staff is amazing. We find the food better, and the service very good. Plus the Pommery and Monopole champagne is far better than Seabourn Nicholas. The Whisper has been updated and is going to undergo another extensive drydock this fall. After nearly 500 days on Seabourn I am not sure we will return.

I will have to agree with markham's assessment of cruise lines. There were things we liked with our Silver Shadow cruise in January but the overall feel of the cruise we still prefer Seabourn. We will try Muse and an expedition cruise or maybe a unique itinerary on Silversea but it won't be a first choice.

I agree that the Pommery is better then NF but the Monopole was not to my palate. The champagne served is not one of the main requirements for my choice of cruise line.

We are very lucky to have a chance to sail either of these cruise lines.:)

Julie

Wonderful pictures Roxburgh!!! :)

Have just returned home and completed the feedback questionnaire. Roxburgh, very balanced review. We also concurred with many of your comments Markham. A quick 20 cents worth from us:

MDR - frantic and chaotic at best with the changed practice. Did settle down after a week or so, but helped by us requesting the same table, and all drinking the same wine. Add to this some crazy practice of unlocking a single bottle of whatever at a time and your waiters are running from one end of the restaurant to the other searching for product and `off the floor` for other guests. We drank the same wine throughout. Usually ate and sat in the same places each day and staff had to run from the Colonnade / Pool Grill / MDR searching every time. On the occasions when the lovely staff had prepared for us, they were given a single bottle (usually opened and 2/3s full for 4 people). Someone elusive always had the key to the cupboard and couldn`t be found.

Food - much better than our previous Quest experience when the MDR was dreadful. The MDR was outstanding on a number of occasions. Still don`t think much of TK although the Sojourn preparation was miles ahead of our Quest experience. Continued to be irritated by 6 different staff in TK asking how our meals were - just one please! They could sure re-distribute some to the MDR to help out their colleagues. Guest chef was excellent. The Indian market the best we have had on Seabourn. Chinese and French nights were dreadful.

Sommeliers - as mentioned were extremely chatty this trip - probably because the wait staff were covering some of their previous duties. We did note how they went AWOL off the floor frequently for long periods of time. Perhaps looking for the elusive key to the booze cupboard.

Entertainment - welcome to the 21st century Seabourn. Ben Mills and 5 O'clock Somewhere were outstanding. Won`t comment on the troupe as we find this entertainment contrived and repetitive when you have a few Seabourn years under the belt. The trio Lujeanne, Devin and Sylvain were wonderful and could have been used more. Robin and the band were also good. The dance party playlists are getting a bit tired and in the same order as several of our last cruises - we play a `guess the next song` now - it`s great when we are wrong and a new one is slipped in.

Internet - appalling. Over 20 minutes to send a two para text only email - daily, no matter what time. We also tried multiple locations on the ship before giving up. Seabourn needs to sort this out. So many lines are offering a superior product and including it - not providing it as a `perk`.

Claudio in the Observation Lounge is an efficient machine. Love CD Sophie, so it was great to join with her again. Staff as always were superb. Appreciated Antonio and Stefan addressing issues swiftly, but unfortunately many were out of their control such as the multiple provisioning issues. Just in time doesn`t work when mixed with transport, port and customs vagaries.

An enjoyable trip. A few annoyances. A few hiccups. We do believe Seabourn is continuing to dumb things down. However, the wonderful staff help us overlook this with their efforts. Hopefully Seabourn won`t go too far.

Ok. I’ll add a few thoughts as well. We are still on the Sojourn so it’s been interesting to see how things have evolved.

The wine service seems to have become more efficient. It’s difficult for the waiters to fulfill every wine special request, so I feel for their predicament. They try to make it more efficient by offering a red and white of the night, hoping most guests will drink one of the two. We, like many, prefer a specific wine which has to be located somewhere which probably affects someone else’s service.

We’ve found the food to be really good, the best I’ve had on any ship in fact.

The WiFi sucks, Seabourn needs to address it and install a modern system with adequate bandwidth.

The service and ship are great. There are always a few issues and hiccups on any cruise, that being said there have been relatively few on this one,...but we still have 27 more days...

For those that are curious, the pool decking still hasn’t been repaired....

Onward to Java!

Regarding the pool deck, that's a long old time... there were two or maybe three attempts at repair during our cruise embarking in January!