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New Alfresco Dining Experience to Debut on Seabourn Ovation


LauraS
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Hmmm, Sounds very Thomas Keller (-ish) to me:-

"Earth & Ocean will take over dinner service at The Patio, Seabourn's poolside dining area, and menus will change each night. A common thread is dishes served in interesting vessels, such as long-handled iron skillets or Moroccan tagines, or with unique presentations. Final cheese and dessert courses will have a rustic flair and are designed to be shareable.Sample dishes include smoked bacon grissini and house-made artisanal country bread to start; meat brochettes, slow-cooked or braised beef brisket and Chinese-style filled bao buns as mains; and slow-roasted pineapples served with gelato and oven-baked camembert or brie served with a pot of honey pommery mustard and toasted rustic bread as finishing courses."

Mightn't be very intimate on the Pool Deck with other guests wandering between the tables to go to their rooms in the upper forward section, or are Seabourn going to declare it a "no-go" area in the evening as they have done with "The Retreat" 24/7 on Deck 12 ?

https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/news/news.cfm?ID=8551

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Any change to the tired and limited patio grill menu would please us. It's been such a wasted resource at night with very repetitive menus.

Will look forward to hearing more with an open mind. Hopefully it won't be too TK which we are well over.

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Here’s the proverbial cat among the pigeons:

 

Why not leave the Patio Grill alone and make the Colonnade into this themed restaurant. It can be alfresco for those who get to sit outside there. But the big benefit will be that the country themed dinners e.g. Thailand, Japan, Scandinavia which were mediocre at best would be ended. So the Colonnade kitchen could be put to better use.

 

That said, I would miss the great Indian, French, and Italian Market Dinners. And we always enjoy the TK Ad Hoc dinners. Shame if that all went away.

 

I like the Patio Grill as it is. Who does not like a good steak or grilled tuna? The small Patio Grill kitchens on Odyssey, Quest and Sojourn for sure are best suited for such simple fare. Then there is the sneaking suspicion (due to the nefarious Project SMART that has damaged the MDR wine service) that this is a cost-cutting exercise. Why grill expensive cuts if you can distract the punters with potentially cheaper food?

 

I know, I know... No one likes a cynic. But Project SMART upsets me and nothing about is beneficial as far as I am concerned. Quite the contrary.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Edited by markham
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Why grill expensive cuts if you can distract the punters with potentially cheaper food?

 

Love your sense of humor. With the exception of TK, we are eating from the same bucket of food as HAL passengers. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Take a simple thing like ice cream. Remember when it was made aboard ship and had a positive flavor? A few low usage items are still made aboard, so they proudly say nothing has changed. Reality is any popular flavor is supplied by San Bernadino. The cheapest of cheap ice cream that is the supplier to all cheap cruise lines (and Silversea). Same idea with the meat suppliers. When it comes to food, I trust Crystal above the others. Oh, I know....most folks top ice cream with sauce, so who cares about the underlying product. Like ordering top shelf booze and adding water or soda.

 

The Seabourn you know has left the building. I went through this with Silversea beginning in 2006 and watched it go deeper into the sewer each proceeding year until it reached bottom a few years ago. The number of loyal passengers on these lines is amazing.....and laughable.

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Perhaps Seabourn could use the (now) unused outside deck on 8 ( rear of TK Grill ) for this new dining experience:D

 

Ouch! We're booked on the Encore in September and love outside dining and were looking forward to using this area! It's not used at all? Even for cocktails?

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There are several outside dining venues on Encore. One is outside of the Colonnade and it is a larger area than on the smaller ships. There is also the Patio Grill (the subject of this thread) which is just changing its menu and perhaps it ambience. I think others are talking about a deck area outside of the TK Grill which is NOT being used (as of last September/October). You would think the TK Grill would offer dining on this exterior deck area, but we were told that Thomas Keller does NOT want his food consumed outdoors Go figure. This is a cruise ship.....

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There are several outside dining venues on Encore. One is outside of the Colonnade and it is a larger area than on the smaller ships. There is also the Patio Grill (the subject of this thread) which is just changing its menu and perhaps it ambience. I think others are talking about a deck area outside of the TK Grill which is NOT being used (as of last September/October). You would think the TK Grill would offer dining on this exterior deck area, but we were told that Thomas Keller does NOT want his food consumed outdoors Go figure. This is a cruise ship.....

 

I actually understand Thomas Keller not wanting to have his food consumed outdoors. Between the outdoor temperatures and the extra time it takes to deliver food from the kitchen the dishes would suffer.

 

Here's what I do not understand though. Why place the TK Grill next to such a premium outdoor venue in the first place? Put it somewhere else and allow that outdoor space to be utilized for food preparation less demanding.

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As I understood it on our Encore cruise last year, the deck area behind TK Grill is actually an extension of the Colonnade's terrace seating but is rarely used.

My wife and I were on Encore for 20 days in July/August last year in the Med. We used the terrace outside TK for breakfast and lunch, it was lovely and quiet with mostly only a very nice English family sharing it with us.:)

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Great idea to use this space for the Colonnade. I'm glad they are doing that now. It wasn't in use early last fall.

 

Wripro, I had not thought about food temp. As for me, I would rather eat outdoors and let the food temp suffer a bit.

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I love the idea of the new dining theme , when we were on the Encore we ate outside a lot.So this will be a new dining experience.I love TK dining and the bar next door it is terrific.Looking forward to being on the Ovation soon!

Seabourn does an amazing job.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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KIWICRUISER, You sound like you are on our same page. We loved the TK bar. It was quiet and comfortable. I look forward to the new Patio Grill experience--fully admitting that our one dinner there (ribs etc) was exceptional and enjoyable.

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As long as they keep somewhere casual to eat (without having to get dressed up).

Many times we have arrived back late from excursions and just want to sit down outside and relax with a beer to cool down, chat about the day and then some dinner and a reasonably early night (9:30) without the hassle of back to the room, shower, hair, make-up and back out to eat a late dinner at 9pm. We are on holidays!

Please don't refer me to room service as what is the point of travelling and being trapped indoors. It's lovely to enjoy being in port or the later sailaways.

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Great idea to use this space for the Colonnade. I'm glad they are doing that now. It wasn't in use early last fall.

 

Wripro, I had not thought about food temp. As for me, I would rather eat outdoors and let the food temp suffer a bit.

 

Which is why you do not have six Michelin stars.

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Love your sense of humor. With the exception of TK, we are eating from the same bucket of food as HAL passengers. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Take a simple thing like ice cream. Remember when it was made aboard ship and had a positive flavor? A few low usage items are still made aboard, so they proudly say nothing has changed. Reality is any popular flavor is supplied by San Bernadino. The cheapest of cheap ice cream that is the supplier to all cheap cruise lines (and Silversea). Same idea with the meat suppliers. When it comes to food, I trust Crystal above the others. Oh, I know....most folks top ice cream with sauce, so who cares about the underlying product. Like ordering top shelf booze and adding water or soda.

 

The Seabourn you know has left the building. I went through this with Silversea beginning in 2006 and watched it go deeper into the sewer each proceeding year until it reached bottom a few years ago. The number of loyal passengers on these lines is amazing.....and laughable.

 

Very interesting post. Maybe you could begin a thread on the topic of the decline of luxury cruise lines as they expand their customer base.

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suegrape, we will be disembarking on the day you join Ovation. I may not be posting a review for several days as I don't do much on the internet while vacationing. That may change, but I doubt it.

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