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Review of The Odyssey January 6th. Sailing


Nashna
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We have had a Seabourn Cruise on our radar for many years. Having sailed on all the major cruise lines, we were anxious to compare our Windstar, Azamara, Regent Cruise experiences to Seabourn. Everything we heard about Seabourn led us to believe that we would receive fine service. We anticipated excellent food and service. Unfortunately, many of our expectations were not met.

What did meet or exceed our expectations?

Embarkation - The Barbados Port left something to be desired as we waited in the drizzle for thebus to take us to The Odyssey. After a 10 minute wait, the bus finally arrived to take us to the ship. There was a mad dash to board the vehicle. Magically, when we arrived, Seabourn staff rushed out to meet the passengers holding large umbrellas. It was obvious that the Port of Barbados was responsible for the transfer to the ship...not Seabourn. Once we boarded, the embarkation process was perfect.

Stateroom Stewardess - At 2:00pm, we left the pool deck to go to our stateroom. Stephanie was there, greeting us with a huge smile. She was a delight from the first day to the last. She was constantly in motion. I truly felt that she needed a pair of roller skates. I have never seen hotel staff work so hard. Methinks Seabourn needs to hire more room stewards.

Cruise Director& Entertainment - Chris was the consummate host. He was always ready to greet us. When I asked Chris who I should complain to about an issue, he immediately contacted the person responsible (without telling me). We typically do not go to more than two or three shows during a cruise. We felt that the entertainment was first rate.

Fellow Passengers -We met some fantastic people on thecruise. I would guess the average age was 65. We enjoy small ships and the Odyssey presented us with lots of opportunities to engage with other passengers.

Ports Visited - We were pleased to revisit Martinique, Guadeloupe and Santa Domingo. On our previous cruises, we explored on our own and were not impressed with the ports. This cruise, we booked excursions and found the ports to be much more enjoyable. We toured the San Juan El MorroFort which was worthwhile.

 

Beach Day at St.Kitts - This day was certainly a highlight of the cruise. The Odyssey staff went way beyond to give us a fantastic BBQ and day at the beach. Perfect logistics, plenty of beach chairs, an amazing facility, lots of food and fun beach toys.

So wish this cruise had been better...

I can honestly say that after reading several negative Odyssey posts on CC, I assumed that those posters were just being picky. Actually, those people were just being truthful. As a 10-time Seabourn cruisersaid to me "something just seems a bit off on this sailing". For this first time Seabourn cruiser, that something was service.

Service Issues – Emilian Cygan is a new SeabournCaptain. The only passenger inter actionthat I saw him engage in was at The Restaurant one evening when he hosted a table. The Captain wasn’t the only newcomer to The Odyssey. Chris Harley,our cruise director was also recently promoted from the entertainment staff as was the assistant cruise director. Chris was very professional, the other two were awkward in their positions. It was obvious that a great number of staff members were new to Odyssey or Seabourn. The service in the Colonnade in the morning and during lunch was particularly bad. You could certainly tell the experienced servers from the new staff. The new staff got orders mixed, did not come back with beverages and were way too busy to smile. We finally gave up after four days and had all of our breakfasts in The Restaurant or via room service. A huge issue for my husband is Gluten Free options due to his Celiac Disease. This is where the service truly had an impact on our vacation. We have sailed on 10 different ships since his diagnosis. His Odyssey experience was one of the most frustrating. The very first day in The Colonnade he asked if there were GF rolls and was told that there were no rolls, but they did have toast. He also asked the dessert servers if they had anything he could eat besides ice cream. He was told no. Two nights later at dinner when he remarked that he would love a cookie, the waiter brought hima delicious GF one. Without asking, the waiter offered to have cookies delivered to our room the next morning. There were no cookies delivered that day, somy husband went to the square for coffee. They did not have GF pastry or cookies at the Square, but, promised to have them for him the next day. That night at dinner, the assistant restaurant manager inquired about our dinner as we were not able to eat the tough, dry chicken. We also told him of our issues with obtaining GF food and that we had not received the promised cookies. He promised to have the cookies delivered the next day. Well….no cookies the next day in our room or at the Square. By this time, I had totally given up on receiving pampered service…I just wanted service. We met with the assistant restaurant manager, David, again and he was truly upset. He informed us the next day that there had been some communication errors between the kitchen, room service and the restaurant. He also advised us that a meeting was held to ensure that the communication issues were corrected. They were. Every day, my husband would receive a plate of cookies. My husband also asked at his first Colonnade breakfast if there were GF muffins or pastry. He was told no. This was wrong information. David informed us that they certainly had both available. On Day 7,he was finally served the pastry which was the best he has had since his Celiac diagnosis. I truly believe the lack of experience staff contributed to the poor uninformed service.

Pool Towel Issues – Three days in a row, towels were not available by the pool or on deck 9 after 400pm. Pool attendants did not seem to care as they shrugged their shoulders and explained that “we called 30 minutes ago”.

Food Quality - We sailed on Princess last year and experienced their new enhanced suite class dining. The food quality, selection and taste were superior to Seabourn. I expected to be blown away by the food on Seabourn...I was not. In the Colonnade on several nights the menu consisted of one salad, fried chicken or ribs and desert. This Thomas Keller menu was served family style. The Restaurant was fantastic for breakfast. However, service and food quality went downhill for dinner. One entree, (a Thomas Keller chicken dish), was so dry that it was inedible. I was offered a different entree and declined because the desert sounded amazing. Unfortunately, it was not. The steaks were ordered medium and served well done. The salad and soup options were meager. My husband’s GF pizza in the Patio came out totally uncooked…even the cheese was not melted. After sending it back twice, the chef came out to inform us that it was a pre-cooked frozen pizza crust and he cooked it for 10 minutes at 250 degrees on the plate it was served on. Anyone who has ever cooked a frozen pizza knows that this time and temp won’t cook the pizza. After we gave the chef instructions, my husband received a properly cooked pizza the next day.

 

Would we sail on Seabourn again?

 

 

I’m not sure. Once management became aware of our issues, there was a concerted effort (by Peter) to smooth over our complaints. However, even if we did not have the GF and food quality issues, the service simply wasn't great. I know from past experience that when a cruise line brings new ships intoservice, it can be a drain on older ships as their top staff may jump to the new ship. Several first time Seabourn cruisers that we met onboard indicated that they would return to Silversea or Oceania. While we had many enjoyable moments on the Odyssey, it could have been so much better.

Edited by Nashna
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Thanks for taking the time to review your recent experience on the Odyssey. We cruised on her early last year and had some similiar issues, particularly with inexperienced staff. Senior staff on board were most apologetic and did explain that Seabourn was in a time of "transition" with the new ship being released and new staff being trained.

 

It is disappointing to hear your reports that service challenges continue.

 

Our Encore cruise in September 2017 was completely different, service, food etc was up to the usual high standard.

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Unfortunately, the meals in the MDR were not great. One night, everyone at the four person table next to us sent their fish back. The fish was so tough, they needed to cut it with a knife. One of the gentleman at the table was a fisherman who frequently cooked Wahoo. He asked the waiter to ask the chef to cook it rare. The fish came back 30 minutes later overcooked and tough again. The four left the MDR to go the The Colonnade without eating their entrees. We met this foursome several times over the 12 days. One couple had been trying to convince the other couple for years that they needed to try Seabourn. That couple was embarased and kept apologizing to the other couple for the Seabourn's poor food and service.

I was served a dish that featured a hot sauce. When the waiter poured the sauce, it had congealed in a big glob as it was incorrectly served cold. The waiter came back with the hot sauce, scraped the cold congealed sauce off to the side and poured the properly hot sauce on the dish...not exactly a fine dining experience.

We had an excellent meal at the Thomas Keller restaurant. I actually expected that type of service and quality in the MDR. I just weighed myself. I lost two pounds on the cruise...this is a first for me.

The Executive Chef on Seabourn is Tom Goetter. He is 29 years old. I'm not sure he is seasoned enough to handle this kitchen.

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A fair review. We also experienced similar issues on our Odyssey cruise last year and agree that it's mostly due to new staff with lack of experience and, more crucially, inadequate training and supervision during that training.

 

Agree that the newly promoted Chris Harley is an excellent cruise director who could give the legendary Handre a run for his money!

 

Edit: MDR was a mixed bag. If we dined at a hosted table it was mostly very good with prompt service and hot food. Other times it was glacially slow and glacially cold too.

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We are currently on Sojourn and generally happy with the service levels, although the amount of brand new staff is noticeable. With Ovation being launched in 4 months’ time, I guess it is to be expected (although slightly disappointing).

 

We are very happy with the food quality on Sojourn. Our meals in the Restaurant have all been outstanding, we love the TK Grill and contrary to Nashna we also enjoy the TK “sharing” nights at the Colonnade, especially the ribs night and the fried chicken night. Lunch at the Patio is lovely.

 

Everything added up we are having an excellent time and Seabourn is definitely our new line of choice.

 

Floris

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Nashna,

 

I appreciate your patience and the detail you offer from your your Odyssey review. It certainly seems that the chef (29 years old?!) and many many wait staff let you and your husband down! That is “not Seabourn” and therefore is inexcusable.

 

I have to think that the Ovation launch is harming Seabourn’s staffing and standards. This is a shame! And we have never had a Seabourn captain who was missing in action as we have always found them voluble and cheerful. (This reminds me of our first Silversea cruise on the Whisper where we only saw the capt, HD and F&B mgr at the welcome party and never again to speak of.)

 

Clearly Seabourn needs to settle down and get the palaver with their second new ship in 18 months over and done with. At that time Seabourn will be almost twice the size in passenger capacity. That is some challenge but that was their choice! The brand needs a lift fast and the management needs to attend to the passengers. (The marketing hype of the Encore’s Retreat and original lack of passenger laundries accompanied by their ludicrous excuses that passengers did not want them in the first place are all cautionaries.)

 

I am sorry for all of this and hope you take up the chance to sail with Seabourn again. Please do insist that head office addresses your concerns. I hope that they extend for you a cruise credit for a future voyage.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Edited by markham
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Was the captain’s young girlfriend still onboard?

 

She was on the December 27th sailing (along with two of her friends) and seemed to be quite the distraction for him. We summized that she is some type of “Instagram/social media model” as we frequently spotted her on the dock or ashore having her friends shoot photos of her in her outfits (designer resort wear with matching hats, purses, and heeels which changed 3-5 times daily). I was particularly amused watching her repeatedly doing the “Baywatch fake run” over and over on Beach BBQ day as her friend snapped photos. She’d stop and check the photos and then go back to shoot more while trying to get the perfect hair bounce.

 

Whenever we saw the captain out and about, she was always close by and taking selfies of the two of them. He’s definitely smitten.

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We did not have the experience you did with food... we thought it was very good throughout (but we also like the Thomas Keller dishes in all the venues). Service was spotty in the Colonade and we had difficult getting drinks in the various bar venues unless we went directly to the bar to get them.

 

Our suite stewardess was the best we’ve ever had on Seabourn. And the Seabourn Square staff was also the best we’ve ever experienced.

 

I was told they would have a sizeable crew changeover on 1/6 and another on the next sailing. A few of our past Odyssey favorites have moved over to Encore and others want to go to Ovation. I was told by a couple of crew members that they were applying to go to the Ovation because it was considered a perk to get to open a new ship and that many who planned for a continued future in hospitality wanted that opening experience on their resumes.

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Sorry to hear of your not so perfect cruise - but not entirely surprised. I feel sure the main problem was the number of new and inexperienced staff on board in the catering department - both in general and in particular with your husband's dietary needs. Those who have only been with Seabourn for a few weeks would not have found out about all the dietary options.

 

It is a pity that Seabourn have not done the obvious, and taken on more new staff than were actually needed and given them training onshore - what happened to the 'Seabourn Academy'? Either penny pinching or possibly due to difficulty in getting new suitable staff, with so many new small luxury ships coming on the scene. It is all too reminiscent of before Encore came onstream.

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Was the captain’s young girlfriend still onboard?

 

She was on the December 27th sailing (along with two of her friends) and seemed to be quite the distraction for him. We summized that she is some type of “Instagram/social media model” as we frequently spotted her on the dock or ashore having her friends shoot photos of her in her outfits (designer resort wear with matching hats, purses, and heeels which changed 3-5 times daily). I was particularly amused watching her repeatedly doing the “Baywatch fake run” over and over on Beach BBQ day as her friend snapped photos. She’d stop and check the photos and then go back to shoot more while trying to get the perfect hair bounce.

 

Whenever we saw the captain out and about, she was always close by and taking selfies of the two of them. He’s definitely smitten.

They are engaged and she is not as “young” as you are assuming. She has a masters degree and worked for 14 years in Florida before returning to her home in Europe. She also works on the ship teaching art classes.

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They are engaged and she is not as “young” as you are assuming. She has a masters degree and worked for 14 years in Florida before returning to her home in Europe. She also works on the ship teaching art classes.

 

I must admit that the Captain's attention was directed towards his lady friend everytime I saw him. She certainly provided the passengers with a fashion show as we would see the two taking their daily stroll around the ship. Her outfits were stunning. If I recall, there was at least one water color painting class onboard. There was no introduction of the instructor in The Herald, so I'm not sure if she conducted the class.

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This all sounds so familiar from about a year ago when Encore launched and poached crew. Plus I think there is a big crew change at the end of the year as well. I don't know what the solution is other than rigourous training and an over-abundance of staff and strict management oversight.

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What is short sighted by corporate Carnival/Seabourn is that there were many 1st time cruisers on that voyage who will not return to Seabourn. The demographics of the first timers are just what Seabourn needs to fill their ships in future years...almost retired, love to travel and looking forward to having the time to go. A frequent topic of conversation with fellow cruisers in the later portion of our cruise was which line to try next. I was totally prepared to put down a future cruise deposit on Seabourn prior to sailing. By the end of the cruise, I decided to refrain from committing to Seabourn. Perhaps, we will give Seabourn another chance. However, I will certainly consult the CC boards before booking.

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I was part of Nashna's roll call group in this sailing and for the same and different reasons agree with Nashna's review. I submitted my review to the CC Review Section and will post the link when published. Just to provide an inkling.... we many times had to flag the wine servers... in a luxury cruise?

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As I’m currently on Sojourn (and will be for 57 more nights), can you elaborate please? The service is excellent and very different from the complaints voiced here regarding Odyssey. If anything, our wine glasses are refilling too fast and I’m in a continuous state of semi intoxication [emoji16]

 

Floris

 

That's good to hear Floris as we will be boarding Sojourn in a few weeks ( Capetown).

I sailed on the Encore's first cruise. The staff was an All Star one , all poached from the other three ships.

Anyone that's experienced a Seabourn staff change mid cruise knows how disruptive it can be to service. I had that happen on Quest a few years ago.

I hope I don't experience that in Capetown or Singapore.

There's really no excuse, but there are reasons. Adding a new ship requires a quick ramp up of employees to fill the vacancies created by Ovation.

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I must admit that the Captain's attention was directed towards his lady friend everytime I saw him. She certainly provided the passengers with a fashion show as we would see the two taking their daily stroll around the ship. Her outfits were stunning. If I recall, there was at least one water color painting class onboard. There was no introduction of the instructor in The Herald, so I'm not sure if she conducted the class.

 

She conducted one class on our sailing but we did not attend so cannot comment on it. And yes, her outfits were stunning... she dressed like the models in the marketing brochures! She seemed very pleasant and friendly... we were just amused by the regular photo shoots and know enough social media fashion/travel bloggers to assume that was her genre.

 

 

The captain was fairly visible on our sailing, but never without her near.

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Nashna, it is unfortunate that the Odyssey continues with "hit and miss" service, which represented my experience from our pre-Xmas (early December) cruise. As described in my review, some things, and some meals, were top notch; other things, not so much.

 

Yet as another poster wrote, I also urge you to take your very detailed and balanced report and send it to Seabourn head office. HQ needs to be made aware of these continuing issues so hopefully the necessary attention can be focussed toward improvement. In addition to my wife and I completing our surveys, I also emailed HQ. The response was specific (not generic) and it addressed the actual concerns raised.

 

We will try Seabourn again...as on balance there was more good than bad (in our opinion). Yet by identifying themselves as "luxury", Seabourn needs to consistently meet that standard.

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Nashna (and others), I feel your pain. As long time Seabourn cruisers, we clocked up our 100 night Seabourn milestone on our recent Encore Bali to Sydney Cruise (16 Nov - 4 Dec). It may be many more cruises before we notch up another Seabourn night.

 

Encore is a beautiful ship with excellent spaces and rarely felt crowded. She has excellent potential but failed to live up to the expected Seabourn experience on our recent cruise. Some very poor service, general “hit and miss” service and food issues have us looking elsewhere for our future cruises. I have now booked a 36 night cruise on the new Viking Ocean line which is drawing excellent reviews on Cruise Critic and other blogs.

 

PROS OF OUR CRUISE.

 

The beautiful new ship, our V5 suite, The superb TK Grill, TK Bar (with Daniel, the best barman at sea), The excellent and consistent Restaurant (breakfast and dinner), Sushi Restaurant (Wow), Handre, outstanding Cruise Director, and some hard very working experienced staff.

 

THE CONS

 

The Colonnade - service was very poor at times with orders missed or not delivered, 30 + minute wait for eggs at breakfast, raw boiled eggs delivered (happened twice on same day as the repeat order was also delivered raw - I gave up and had scrambled eggs from the hot box), sauces delivered with the wrong meal course, toast repeatedly not cooked as requested. We gave up on Colonnade breakfast after 5 days and moved to the excellent and elegant breakfast service in the Restaurant - thanks Mario and Carolina.

 

Patio Grill - An enigma. Served very good casual food options in a nice setting but the service was abmismal at times. Drink orders not delivered, long wait for wine with evening meal and then no refill, empty water glasses not refilled - to top it off, on one night I finally flagged down the Head Barman who refilled my water glass, turned on his heel and walked away leaving my wife’s water glass empty - this on a table for two - go figure.

 

And yes, I did quietly and discreetly discuss our service issues with Assistant Maître D’s, filled in an extensive mid cruise survey and completed a long, thoughtful and balanced post Cruise survey - no acknowledgement, no contact, no apology, nothing.

 

We love (loved !!!) Seabourn, but feel the rapid expansion with Encore and Ovation nearing launch have stretched staff resources beyond breaking point.

 

Will we return ? Who knows ? But for now it’s Hello Viking Ocean and perhaps other Cruise Lines.

 

I will continue to monitor The Cruise Critic boards and watch for improvement. I do hope Seattle is tuning into the plight of their long time and new cruisers.

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Aussie Cruise Nuts we are feeling much the same. We have nearly 300 cruise nights on Seabourn and will soon be on Sojourn. We are hoping like heck it will be a better experience than our last, so fingers crossed.

 

We are planning our next 6 week cruise with several other couples at the moment - all long time Seabourners and having the same conversation about whether to stay or go. We have been seriously considering giving Viking a try, but while my head is starting to connect the dots, my heart is not yet ready to let go. I think I may be out voted.

 

We are hoping for a significant improvement on this next trip, in the food department in particular. The introduction of TK concurrent with the two new ships is something that should have been well planned to ensure the fleet wide experience did not suffer.

 

We have a similar experience of raving about Seabourn for years. A friend cruised this last October and while they were kind in their feedback to us, we could tell they were underwhelmed.

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It's disappointing to read this review. Thanks to Nashna for taking the time to write it.

 

We experienced very similar issues in December 2015/January 2016 on Odyssey. I'm a big fan of Seabourn but after that cruise I was rather reluctant to try them again. I did communicate directly with Seabourn about the problems (not just via the questionnaire). Their response was reassuring and, let's say, appropriate. I waited some months and then had a wonderful cruise on Quest in October 2016.

We had an overall very good cruise recently on Sojourn during Christmas and New Year, but much to my own surprise I am keeping an eye on what other lines are offering. Keen to try Viking Ocean and will be watching closely Scenic Eclipse and the new Ritz Carlton ships once they're operational.

Have even thought about giving Silversea another try. :o

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It's disappointing to read this review. Thanks to Nashna for taking the time to write it.

 

We experienced very similar issues in December 2015/January 2016 on Odyssey. I'm a big fan of Seabourn but after that cruise I was rather reluctant to try them again. I did communicate directly with Seabourn about the problems (not just via the questionnaire). Their response was reassuring and, let's say, appropriate. I waited some months and then had a wonderful cruise on Quest in October 2016.

We had an overall very good cruise recently on Sojourn during Christmas and New Year, but much to my own surprise I am keeping an eye on what other lines are offering. Keen to try Viking Ocean and will be watching closely Scenic Eclipse and the new Ritz Carlton ships once they're operational.

 

 

I am a Seabourn fan too, but later this year will be on the Scenic Eclipse and also Viking Orion. I will let you know how they compare with Seabourn!

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