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Short review Seabourn Encore


Tony & Trevor
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Short review of our Seabourn Encore cruise, 16 days from Sydney to Aukland.

We had a very enjoyable cruise but certainly no 'wow' factor

 

Embarkation. Very smooth and efficient.

 

Ship. Took a short while to orientate ourselves to the new ship compared to others in the SB fleet

 

Cabin. 907. We thought it might be slightly bigger than the other SB ships but difficult to assess

Stewardess very forgetful. She established a good rapport and was very friendly. However had to ask for a number of items. For example I had ordered apple juice for the fridge and I had to constantly remind her-took over 2 days. She forgot to leave the 'Herald' and dinner menus more than once. Cabin kept very clean.

 

Food and Service. Nothing really to write home about. Two excellent meals in TK and very good outside in the Collonade. MDR very slow and on the first formal night we had dinner with the Captain, the excellent Mark Dexter and his wife Debbie. Arrived at 7.30pm and still there at 10pm.

Some passengers were offered coffee and some not. We found excellent service outside in the Collonade by the 'old" SB waiters ( M & F ). Service by the newer members was somewhat dysfunctional and slow and we had for example to ask for the water glasses to be filled and asking for coffee. Patio grill was not good . Ordered steak and then had to wait well over 10minutes for mustard. The waiter said she had not worked in the grill before and couldn't find any. We found the appetisers and desserts not particularly good. No longer an ice cream bar in the Collonade. If you wish to have ice cream you have to order it.

TK, well pleasantly surprised how good this was after reading some reviews. However we found the bar area very busy as this was open to passengers who were not eating there and it was very difficult to find a seat. Food jolly good. Room service. Ordered french press and juice every morning at 6am and delivered always on time but on some occasions when we returned from a day tour the tray would still be there.

 

Bar service. Observation bar very noisy and packed in the evening and difficult to find seats where by comparison the club lovely and quiet and plenty of seats. Went to afternoon tea a few times but the tea was not good as they appear unable to boil the water and put tea bags in to 'mash' the tea. The scones and sandwiches lovely and tasty.

 

Tours. We only did one SB tour out of 16 days. We heard quite a few complaints from passengers that took the SB tours. We did our own tours which were much much less money than SB. No obligatory toilet / shopping/ eating stops etc

 

Entertainment. Very good but the usual types of shows.

Lectures. Very interesting and informative.

The retreat.

Went up for a nosey a few times and never saw anyone in. They have certainly cut down on deck space up there for the general passengers wishing to sit out in the sun terrace.

Passengers-freindly mixed bunch and one baby.

Disembarkation. Somewhat dysfunctional. Passengers disembarked according to the information given but many found the luggage had not been off loaded from the ship and some had to wait over half an hour or so.

 

Summary. Enjoyed it but no 'wow ' factor. Evidence of cut backs and the service is NOT impeccable as SB states. Would we go again with SB ? Depends, perhaps, but not on Encore again.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

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Sorry to read that this was rather disappointing, T and T, but not entirely surprised in view of what others have said. It does sound from quite a few reviews that staffing levels/competence are not up to previous standards, not only on Encore.

 

We certainly have no wish to go on Encore, but are thinking of one of the others sometime soon - maybe? It would be good to think that Head Office are reading these reports from long-standing SB enthusiasts, and taking notice and hopefully action.

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lincslady,

 

We found that the ship was quite pretentious. SB cruises as you are aware are not cheap and the cost continually is rising but the service is deteriorating.

 

We have sailed continuously with SB for over 10 years and as I mentioned we would not undertake Encore again and I think we would have to think carefully re future cruises.

 

 

Kind regards,

Tony

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Yikes! Thanks for the review. Guess I won't be trying Seabourn!

 

I've said in a previous post that I am totally unimpressed with the room décor on Encore. The room looks like a Courtyard Marriott or Hampton Inn with Ikea furniture, so cheap looking. The only upscale feature is the bathroom. Definitely not a luxury room by any means.

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Tony and Trevor,

"Pretentious" is a good way of describing parts of Encore, especially the Retreat. Who is Seabourn kidding? Themselves, possibly, but few others, I imagine.

What they CAN do is improve those service levels fast!

Happy and healthy sailing!

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Went to afternoon tea a few times but the tea was not good as they appear unable to boil the water and put tea bags in to 'mash' the tea.

 

Tony

 

 

Normally loose leaf teas are used for afternoon tea at the Observation Lounge. Do they use tea bags now?

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Seabourn have made the business decision to move in the direction of much bigger ships, not something we favour. From all the comments I have seen on this forum I am starting to wonder whether they will regret selling the Little Sisters. They did the smaller ships so well - perhaps Seabourn style does not translate so well to larger ships. We like Seabourn and will continue to sail Odyssey and Sojourn occasionally, but for most of our cruising we will be moving to Windstar and Silversea.

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Disappointing to hear that the service issues are being experienced on the Encore as well. Over on my Odyssey cruise last month everyone was saying that the proliferation of new staff on that ship, together with the apparent reduction in overall staff numbers, was due to all the experienced ones going to the Encore!!! Oh dear. My next cruise is on the Encore..............!

 

I might start looking around for Plan B, just in case. If the service that previously set Seabourn apart is not going to be offered in future, it isn't worth it to me to pay the Seabourn premium.

 

Come on Seabourn, lift your game, we want to stay with you!

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Having just returned a few weeks ago from the Quest, I too felt Seaborn has lost its focus on service. It's evident they are short staffed in housekeeping, bar staff and waiters. Staff runs around from venue to venue. They are harried and rushed. It's hard to get water and coffee refiled across all dining venues. Something so simple but very hard to execute on.

 

Don't expect to be called by your name either. It's clear with the big ship that personalized service is gone. Some of the corporate management really should spend more time on the ships. The service decencies are very evident. I've been a long time Seabourn fan and cheerleader so these shortcomings are sad to experience.

 

 

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Without the service, Seabourn will have trouble competing against the big ships with big suites, butler service and more. The competition has already heated up on these lines with the 'ship within a ship' concept, all inclusive and using more experienced staff within these suite areas.

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Is this evidence of cut backs or terribly poor planning and implementation of change at Seabourn? Encore has been in planning and build (and now service) for a long time. Is it too much to ask for advance hiring and training of new crew well in advance of Encore hitting the water? Why not put the new crew on the old ships for several months prior to launch of Encore, to train them side by side with the experienced crew. This is not rocket science...so either head office is desperately trying to save money or are simply inept at planning and launching a new ship. Either way, it's not good for Seabourn guests.

 

 

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Food and Service. Nothing really to write home about. Two excellent meals in TK and very good outside in the Collonade. MDR very slow and on the first formal night we had dinner with the Captain, the excellent Mark Dexter and his wife Debbie. Arrived at 7.30pm and still there at 10pm.

Tony

 

 

When you write "still there at 10pm", does it mean you think it was too long for a Captains dinner?

How long is dinner on a formal night normally on Seabourn? And how long on an informal evening?

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After about 300 days on Seabourn, with only one deviation recently to Regent (not to be repeated) we have today booked on another line for our early summer cruise rather than the Quest one we were thinking of! Maybe will be coming back for the autumn one if things seem to have settled down. Feeling a bit sad, but the service on this other line is fantastic, and other things are reasonably good too.

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Lincslady, what's the other line with fantastic service. We have been on Regent quite a few times and found the service fine but not as good as we were used to on Seabourn. Here's hoping their top management and their Carnival controllers get the message

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When you write "still there at 10pm", does it mean you think it was too long for a Captains dinner?

How long is dinner on a formal night normally on Seabourn? And how long on an informal evening by directionfinder

 

 

I personally feel that two and a half hours, far too long for dinner. Normally we try and avoid hosted dinners. Even on 'informal nights' one can have long waits between servings in the MDR. We mostly had our dinner outside in the Collonade and we were generally there for about one and a half hours and sometimes less. The waiters there we found, many of the 'old' SB staff, were very quick and most efficient with excellent service.

 

Kind regards,

Tony

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Lincslady, what's the other line with fantastic service. We have been on Regent quite a few times and found the service fine but not as good as we were used to on Seabourn. Here's hoping their top management and their Carnival controllers get the message

 

 

Don't laugh out loud, eliana, it is Saga, on the Pearl. Very much for Brits., tiny cabins, and mostly fairly elderly people, so not suited to everyone by any means. We are fairly ancient, so fit in well! The best things are being taken from your home in a chauffeured car - no airports - never needing to carry your heavy luggage, included insurance, and even the, to my mind, attractive colourings etc. on board. She was recently refitted with gentle colour schemes, to me in keeping with a ship and being at sea. Only 450 on board, and wines included (OK, not even quite as good as SB, more your £5 a bottle jobs).

 

But she does not compare of course with some of the luxury things about Seabourn - just a relaxing experience overall. Staff are all Filipino, exceptionally well trained and most have been with the line for years, so really know their jobs and smile a lot. You might not like it if you are under 65, however.:)

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Is this evidence of cut backs or terribly poor planning and implementation of change at Seabourn? Encore has been in planning and build (and now service) for a long time. Is it too much to ask for advance hiring and training of new crew well in advance of Encore hitting the water? Why not put the new crew on the old ships for several months prior to launch of Encore, to train them side by side with the experienced crew. This is not rocket science...so either head office is desperately trying to save money or are simply inept at planning and launching a new ship. Either way, it's not good for Seabourn guests.

 

 

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This is exactly what Seabourn did in 2009 before the launch of the Odyssey. Karl was in charge of training all new crew and many of them sailed on the triplets while in training so they would be ready when they were moved to the new ship.

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Don't laugh out loud, eliana, it is Saga, on the Pearl. Very much for Brits., tiny cabins, and mostly fairly elderly people, so not suited to everyone by any means. We are fairly ancient, so fit in well! The best things are being taken from your home in a chauffeured car - no airports - never needing to carry your heavy luggage, included insurance, and even the, to my mind, attractive colourings etc. on board. She was recently refitted with gentle colour schemes, to me in keeping with a ship and being at sea. Only 450 on board, and wines included (OK, not even quite as good as SB, more your £5 a bottle jobs).

 

But she does not compare of course with some of the luxury things about Seabourn - just a relaxing experience overall. Staff are all Filipino, exceptionally well trained and most have been with the line for years, so really know their jobs and smile a lot. You might not like it if you are under 65, however.:)

 

 

Oh dear,my commiserations

This does sound dreadful,I really don't know what made you make such a decision when there are many good lines that you could have sailed with.

I suppose it could be an age thing.

 

 

 

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Yes, Mr. L, no doubt in part an 'age thing'. However, we have tried Regent, Silversea and Seadream, all several times, and do not like being on bigger ships, of other lines, even if they have a 'ship within a ship'.

 

Apologies for mentioning a line which would be of zero interest to most readers here - however, it does reveal to me after a less than stellar SB cruise in the autumn and a very good one on Saga in January, that the quality of staffing is extremely important to us and from what I read here to many who have loved Seabourn in the past.

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Just two last things on this topic - Saga still have proper formal evenings, d j or suit required for men, usually 2 a week. Unusual nowadays.

 

They have a fantastic cheese trolley, with many choices in excellent condition every evening, and several cheeses also at lunch.

 

In other words, it is in many ways old fashioned British - apart from free internet!

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