review Odyssey Buenos Aries - Manaus Feb 11 - Mar 3 2011

[clarky]

This was our second cruise on the Odyssey, the first being a 21 day cruise in the Med not long after her maiden cruise. On that cruise it was apparent that the crew and officers were still adjusting to the larger ship. We were also interested to see if Seabourn food and service was as good as we remembered. We sailed on Silversea in September for 27 days and found the food and service to be far below that of Seabourn.

 

We arrived at the terminal in Buenos Aires about 20 minutes early and waited in the terminal until 2.00.p.m, the time for boarding. This was the first time on any Seabourn cruise that arriving early we needed to wait in the terminal. Many passengers were grumbling as most are not used to waiting but as the boarding time does state 2.00p.m. you can not really complain. Not sure if this was anything to do with the officials in BA or a new Seabourn policy but we did need to be bused to the ship so perhaps it had something to do with having the buses ready. For any other people taking this cruise it is probably good to know that early boarding in BA may not be possible.

 

I won't go into detail about the ship and it's facilities as many posters have gone into this several times but I will comment on the condition of the ship at the time of our cruise.

 

The food and entertainment were the best we have experienced on Seabourn and we have never been disappointed in the past. The food in the main dinning room was excellent and many nights I had a problem deciding between so many great options. Our food was always cooked perfectly and the presentation was superb. The colonade was wonderful for lunch with a different theme every day and also in the evening ( I appreciate that you no longer need a booking to dine there in the evening). From Asian to Brazilian the food was always diverse and wonderfully cooked. The soups were a highlight for me, both in the Colonade and the main dinning room. Of course being in this part of the world the beef (which is sourced locally) was the best I have had. We ate at the Patio grill a couple of nights and the Nigerian shrimp were the highlight there, big and juicy and with a garlic butter sauce that had us coming back for more. We love the Two experience and we ate there on three nights. I have my favourite menu and always make sure to book a night they feature that menu. So for us a 10/10 for food.

The wine was very good on the first part of the cruise with good variety and quality, something I think Seabourn has dropped the ball on a bit in the past. Unfortunately they had an issue with replacement wine not arriving in Rio for re-stock, apparently it is shipped out of Fort Lauderdale and did not arrive in time. The hotel manager Gunter had a contact in Natal (not a large booming city, more a holiday destination) a former Bar Manager on Seabourn now lived and worked there and he bought up as much wine as he could and delivered it to the dock in Natal. Some of the wine was really awful so if you had a favourite wine they had not run out of you just stuck to that.

 

The entertainment again was the best we have experienced. They had a wonderful duo from Great Britain who had come second in a show something like American Idol. They were fresh and young and fantastic and everyone I spoke to really enjoyed their shows. The four singers they had on board were excellent and along with their production shows also sang in the Observation lounge one night. Claudia who sang in the Club lounge was also great. Andre' the cruise director did a show and this also was excellent. We also had a violinist give two performances as well as a flutist. They had a comedian give a show but I found him to be old school and boring, I don't think he went down that well with passengers. We also had local shows bought on aboard before we left port in Buenos Aries and Rio and Salvador De Bahia. These were fantastic, from Argentinian Tango in Buenos Aries to Carnival in Rio along with Samba dancers in Salvador. Can not say enough about the quality of the entertainment and the hard work of the Cruise Director and his staff. We won Team Trivia so I may be biased but the Entertainment team were the best on this cruise.

 

The crew gave excellent service and after 20 days they do get to know you. It also helps when you recognize crew members from your previous cruises. Unlike the small ships where you get to know all the staff and they get to know you, on the big ships this just does not happen but if you are a regular at Seabourn Square for coffee or at the club bar those staff do get to know you well and remember your name. The extent to which the crew go to help is sometimes still a surprise, an example of this is my husbands search for a watch battery. We had been warned not to wear expensive watches in South America and taking this advice my husband packed on old Seiko watch which had worked faithfully for many years. He checked it was working before he left and packed it in the case to don when the time came. When the time came it has stopped working and after trying several shops in a few ports could not find the right battery for the watch. Having a conversation with the captain on day and the topic of watches came up and my husband mentioned his problem, the captain then insisted that he have the port agent at the next port find one for him. Also on speaking with Gunter the Hotel Manager a few men (my husband being one of them) were asking many questions about the ship and my husband suggested that in place of a tour of the engine room perhaps the Chief Engineer could hold a Q & A talk. The next day at sea in the Hearald was a Q & A hour with the Hotel Manager and the Chief Engineer. This was well attended by passengers and the Captain was also on hand to answers questions. The questions from passengers were far ranging from how many toilet rolls do you need to order to what sort of engines the ship had. This showed us that the crew and captain really do listen to passengers.

 

There is one rather big problem on board the Odyssey which I'm not sure will have a quick fix. The water in the bathrooms coming out of the taps is brown! I attempted to have a bath one afternoon and it soon became apparent this was not an option. The water was so brown that I had no desire to bath in it and when I let the water out a very oily brown ring was left in the bath. Also all our white clothes had very streaky stains from using the laundry rooms on board. House keeping came to collect the stained clothing and had it laundered in the ship laundry at no charge to us and it did come back white. The question of why the water was brown and what they intend to do about it came up in the Q & A talk. The captain answered the question and his answer was; The pipes and tanks that hold the water are corroding from the chemicals they need to add to the water to make it safe for us to use in the bathrooms. They were aware of this problem before the Odyssey went into drydock and replaced large portions of the piping but have now discovered it is a much more wide spread problem than first thought. He assured us that the water is tested daily and it was safe to use and that Seabourn is aware of the problem and are working on a solution. He could not give a time frame on when the problem would be resolved. We never brush our teeth in tap water while overseas but many people had been and even after the captains reassurances of the water being safe I would not recommend brushing your teeth with that water. The same tank and pipes are also on the Sojourn so I assume if they are not replaced the same thing will happen. I can't remember if they have installed different tanks and pipes on the Quest. The water was fine on our first Odyssey cruise so for those on the Quest and the Sojourn it should not be a problem yet but for those going on the Odyssey in the near future I would recommend that you get any whites including underwear laundered by the ship and not brush your teeth in the water from the tap, as for a bath forget about it. If I knew of the problem before I would have asked my TA to get me an on board credit to have my whites laundered by the ship. As it was they did the laundering of whites at no charge but I would rather have not had to ring housekeeping every time I wanted my whites re-washed by them because of stains. Also we noticed that it was worse if you were the first to use the laundry that day. Having said this about the water this cruise for food, entertainment, crew and passengers was the best we have experienced.

 

We booked many of the ships tours and some were better than others. It was acknowledged that they do have problems finding good tour guides who speak good English. The walking tours were too slow for us and after our first walking tour which we abandoned we canceled the next one we had booked. The dune buggy tour in Natal was good as were the tours in Rio where doing your own thing can be daunting. The highlight was the complimentary Jungle Dinner Party in Anavihanas. Eating with your feet in the sand always puts people in a party frame of mind and all the passengers and crew really had a good time.

 

We are going to experience the Sojourn in October for 43 days and I hope to be taking a few baths but if I can't I will hope that the food and entertainment, crew and passengers are as enjoyable as we have just experienced on the Odyssey.

[alfa]

Hi Clarky,

 

wonderful to read your post on the Odyssey (my wife's yacht)

 

A bit of a worry about the water though. Surely they haven't put in steel pipes in lieu of copper or plastic ?

 

On the positive side, if food was better than the last we got together, mate, am I going to gain the kilos ! Better start running now !

 

Great news about the colonnade not needing bookings anymore, another positive change from our last experience.

 

Due to go on Sojourn in 8 days where I hope to post a positive review, but we have had a rough start so far with the change in itinerary.

 

Take care fellow ozzie :)

[markham]

What a terrific and much appreciated review with all the details! I especially liked your kudos for Handre, the cruise director, who is just excellent in that role.

 

We were on the Ft Laud to BA segments and now it's time for the verdict on the entire circumnavigation. You've had the last word. Clearly Capt Dexter runs a superb ship!

 

Regards

[ITravelNow]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We will board the Odyssey tomorrow - we'll avoid the water and take care with the laundry.

 

We'll enjoy all that wonderful food too! :)

[Spree75]

How bad is the water discoloration? My partner and I will be on the Odyssey in October for an Istanbul to Athens cruise.

 

You mentioned that you couldn't take a bath because of the brown residue. Does that mean you wouldn't want to take showers either or was the brackish quality of the water only noticeable when it was allowed to gather in large amounts (ie washing machines or baths)? What about drinking water for meals or at any of the bars/cafes? Do they only use bottle water or is there discoloration here too?

 

Thanks for your reports!

[clarky]

Spree 75,

 

There is bottled water in your cabin and we used this to brush our teeth. Something we always do when we are overseas. The water at all dinning and drinking venues is bottled water so do not worry. The water was fine in the shower and as you mentioned it was only noticeable if the water was allowed to sit, such as when you ran a bath or did laundry with whites/light clothing. I'm sure some guests never noticed the water problem. If you did not use the laundry facilities and did not try and run a bath you may never have noticed but on longer cruises where the laundry is used with regularity more guests would be affected. They may have solved this problem by October.

[Spree75]

Clarky,

 

Thanks for the response. First time on Seabourn... actually first time to take a cruise and serious water problems would definitely affect the trip. I'm more of a shower person anyways so I probably won't notice anything.

[shefinch]

We have just left the Odyssey in Fort Lauderdale (an hour ago!) after a wonderful cruise and just wanted to reassure embarking passengers that the water was a much better colour after Manaus!! Actually we cleaned our teeth in the brown water all the time we were on board (35 days) and never suffered any ill effects.

[clarky]

Shefinch,

 

Glad to hear the water situation got better after Manaus. Despite the water problem which the Captain acknowledged was an unresolved issue that they were working on, this was one of our most enjoyable Seabourn cruises.