Disappointed

[mpfund]

My husband and I have just returned from a 14 day cruise of Northern Europe on SB Pride. Here are our observations.

 

Embarkation -- Terrific! The new system of early embarkation and more substantial food works well. For the first time (this was our 4th SB cruise) our bags were in the cabin before us.

 

Cabin attendant -- Just OK. We had communication problems (her poor English, my non-existent Portuguese). One day our suite was not made up until after lunch, and twice turn down service was not done before our return to the cabin about 10PM. When I tried to talk to her about the problems, she said she had 10 cabins and everybody was so old.

 

Ship appearance -- On the surface she looks great. But underneath she is fading. We had toilet overflow/leakage problems, key card problems and safe problems (problems with code and safe not bolted to shelf). We heard similar tales from other passengers.

 

Tours -- We only took 3 and had problems on 2. On the first tour, a tender port, tender tickets were handed out in random order, meaning that those on the first tender had to wait 50 minutes for those on the last tender to get to the bus, effectively shortening the tour. On another tour we were not scheduled to return until 2PM (all 3 tours that day had late scheduled returns) and were told the Sky Bar would be open for lunch. When we got back we were greeted with a few pieces of lettuce, 3 dried out hamburgers and one hot dog. There was only one waitress and one bar person to handle about 60 people.

 

Food -- Really wonderful. Had a special order one night that was great. It seemed to me that the portions were larger than usual.

 

Dress Code -- Really confusing On the first formal night, the Herald stated "A tuxedo or dark suit is required in the restaurant; elsewhere jacket suggested after 6PM. We thought SB had changed to "formal optional" sometime ago. When we mentioned this to the cruise director, she said she would change it for the next formal night. Didn't matter to us the first night as we had no intention of going to the dining room and had reservations at R2. On the second formal night the Herald simply stated "formal optional".

 

R2 -- No problem getting a reservation for the first formal night A few days before the 2nd formal night I requested reservations and was told we would be put on the wait list. It turns out that reservations are handled by some kind of lottery system, whereby you are notified at 6:15 on the day you requested if you have won or not. This represented an enormous problem for us, as not having a dress shirt/tie, my husband and I did not feel comfortable in the dining room and we did not relish eating in our cabin. As it turned out we did get a reservation (and R2 was half empty), but it was an unpleasant experience.

 

We have no problems following the rules, if the rules are spelled out in advance and are not changed mid-game. Unfortunately, our experience with the dress code and R2 reservations are a deal breaker for us as we feel we cannot be certain what rules will prevail once on the ship.

 

Finally, a note on the demographics of this cruise -- quite old! We are 68/73 and there were only a few younger and many more substantially older. I hope SB will consider the needs of a younger demographic -- what passengers will replace the old birds as they fall from the tree?

 

Because of the wonderful past experiences we've had on SB we hope to try one of the larger ships. Regrettably, the smaller ships are no longer on our agenda.

[JaneBP]

Thank you for sharing that. It's too bad there were so many issues. I was scheduled to be on that cruise, but ill health forced me to cancel. I hope the itinerary was interesting for you. Fingers crossed that your cruise on a 'Big' sister will be twice as enjoyable!

[AngieS]

I know I will probably be shot down for this but I do wish Seabourn would skip the formal nights! It is so hard to travel with suits and jackets and a really nice long sleeved dress shirt and good slacks on a man, especially when he is on vacation, can look just as good as a suit :) The world has gone so much more casual and I think most men these days do not enjoy putting on a suit with a tie, especially on vacation!

[mpfund]

Angie -- they have. It's called "formal optional" and their general literature states casual elegant is always OK -- just not on our cruise!

[Corony]

I understand that people may not want to get dressed up but we personally like to do that sometimes. That's why we have migrated to the larger sisters as we have the choice and also a younger demographic. We like the product mix offered by Seabourn and think their move to larger ships makes sense to continue servicing their longstanding and newer customers. Can't help but think the little sisters are a limited time offer. The condition of the ships isn't consistent with Seabourn's image.

[Spree75]

Sorry to hear about your experience. We were on the Pride in August and had a wonderful time in Northern Europe.

 

They must have changed things since we were on though. R2 was whoever got to the front desk first. Even if we couldn't get a reservation it was easy enough to find a friend who had booked a table and join them for dinner. R2 was happy to oblige more people at a table. And formal nights were formal optional no matter what they listed in the herald. I only brought a navy blue sport coat and wore that with a tie to 2 of the 3 formal nights in the MDR. I was definitely not the most casually dressed either...

 

I'll agree with the you on the ship aging. We had issues with the toilets but in our case they wouldn't flush due to someone throwing something they weren't supposed to down the pipes. The elevators are tiny and extremely slow compared to the larger ships. Some of the latches on doors/dressers weren't working perfectly. Everything was minor though. Overall I think the ship has held up marvelously for her age.

 

Frustrating on the tours. We were lucky in that we had zero tenders the entire trip. The one ship tour we did take left 30 minutes late and got back 15 minutes late. I heard the Captain was annoyed with our tour guide since the ship was waiting for us to leave. From others I heard that tours stayed mostly on schedule.

 

I also agree with you on lunches on the ship. The timing is really odd and the hours of service are REALLY short especially at the Sky Grill. Otherwise food and service on our cruise was wonderful.

[claranda]

I must admit previous posts like these have put us off trying the smaller sisters, even though the timings/itineraries have sometimes been better for us. We started with the biggies and will stay with them, and I think it may be the same with a lot of people - particularly the younger ones.

[lincslady]

Sorry to hear about your experience - as a seasoned Seabourn cruiser you would know what to expect, and it didn't deliver. There must have been some problems with the onboard management apart from the obvious problems now arising on the small ships, expecially Pride.

 

We have a cruise coming up on one of the small ships, and I have to admit are wondering whether we will enjoy it as much as our recent ones on Sojourn and Quest. Have not been on one of the small ones for about three years now, and though we did enjoy the fewer numbers on board, are now used to enjoying in particular the Colonnade, Patio Grill and Square as compared with the noisy Veranda cafe and occasional Sky grill.

[margbem]

Sorry to hear about your experience - as a seasoned Seabourn cruiser you would know what to expect, and it didn't deliver. There must have been some problems with the onboard management apart from the obvious problems now arising on the small ships, expecially Pride.

 

We have a cruise coming up on one of the small ships, and I have to admit are wondering whether we will enjoy it as much as our recent ones on Sojourn and Quest. Have not been on one of the small ones for about three years now, and though we did enjoy the fewer numbers on board, are now used to enjoying in particular the Colonnade, Patio Grill and Square as compared with the noisy Veranda cafe and occasional Sky grill.

 

 

We have just returned from 10 nights on the Legend and had a wonderful time! Yes, the little sisters are showing their age but the food, service and company well made up for that. We had the best entertainment ever (our 4th cruise on the small ships), with 2 guest entertainers, a singer/comedienne/impressionist and a fantastic magician, Peter Mehteb.

Service was sometimes a bit slow at the Sky bar but we really enjoyed the whole cruise, excursions (we did two) and life on board. You can always find faults wherever you go in life and in the world. My philosophy is 'don't look for them' and they won't come and smack you on the chin!

 

You will have a fabulous time - look forward to it and enjoy it!

[JaneBP]

These posts just go to show that no one is 'throwing the baby out with the bath water' and fingers crossed, the 'next one' will have different demographics, ports, weather, and the same bread sticks!

[Les Picantins]

Fortunately this was not your first cruise with Seabourn so you know it is not the norm or it could have ended up being your last. We also had strange un-Seabourn-like problems on the Pride in Norway July 2011. It seems that once there are hiccups in the service here and there, our eyes open up to details we would normally overlook if we were otherwise having a fabulous time. The hotel manager really plays an important role organizing his team as it is a team effort.

 

I would not disregard the little sisters just yet. Keep in mind that you will find a younger crowd in the Caribbean as well as the Med. I have no clue about the demographics in Asia and South America, but would like to know.

[margbem]

It also seems that it is the Pride that seems to get the most negative comments and reviews. Nothing much negative is really posted about the Legend and the Spirit. We have only sailed these two so can't comment on the Pride.

[TLCOhio]

Appreciate your posting and all of the details. Our first cruise was in June 2006 on the Seabourn Spirit. Loved its small size, great service and personal style. It was a wonderful fun adventure for us in the Greek Isles and Turkish Coast. Hopefully, they will be fine-tuning some of these issues.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 106,666 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[wripro]

For one thing the Pride is the oldest of the triplets, four years older than the Legend. And has been mentioned itinerary definitely influences demographics. For some people it's worth the inconveniences of an older ship in order to get what is a truly unique sailing experience.

[Chairsin]

We were on the Pride in May for the Rivers of Western Europe and found very little amiss.Yes there was once a problem with the plumbing when passengers flushed that which should not be flushed but other than that I did not notice much other than a little wear and tear around the ship. We encountered rough seas the first few days and I do not recall anyone complaining about water leakage( an issue that some have previously mentioned).Our only real problem was with Captain(long story). The service was outstanding and the food quite good.We only went on one tour -- we usually don't go on any but we had a large ship credit to work off.The only problem I noticed there was that our guide's accent was so heavy it was hard to understand her.I don't understand the formal night issue -- if you don't want to wear a tux ( or dark suit) on formal night you can always dine in a restaurant other than the MDR.And if a sportcoat is too much for you there are some very nice uber casual lines like Windstar.

 

We have been on the Quest and found both pluses and minuses. While may go on another big ship in the future when there is an itinerary not available on the little ones given a similar itinerary we would definitely chose the little over the big. But everyone has different likes and needs and now with two classes of ships Seabourn seems to have something for most everyone.

[Smartcookie]

My husband and I have just returned from a 14 day cruise of Northern Europe on SB Pride. Here are our observations.

 

Embarkation -- Terrific! The new system of early embarkation and more substantial food works well. For the first time (this was our 4th SB cruise) our bags were in the cabin before us.

 

Cabin attendant -- Just OK. We had communication problems (her poor English, my non-existent Portuguese). One day our suite was not made up until after lunch, and twice turn down service was not done before our return to the cabin about 10PM. When I tried to talk to her about the problems, she said she had 10 cabins and everybody was so old.

 

Ship appearance -- On the surface she looks great. But underneath she is fading. We had toilet overflow/leakage problems, key card problems and safe problems (problems with code and safe not bolted to shelf). We heard similar tales from other passengers.

 

Tours -- We only took 3 and had problems on 2. On the first tour, a tender port, tender tickets were handed out in random order, meaning that those on the first tender had to wait 50 minutes for those on the last tender to get to the bus, effectively shortening the tour. On another tour we were not scheduled to return until 2PM (all 3 tours that day had late scheduled returns) and were told the Sky Bar would be open for lunch. When we got back we were greeted with a few pieces of lettuce, 3 dried out hamburgers and one hot dog. There was only one waitress and one bar person to handle about 60 people.

 

Food -- Really wonderful. Had a special order one night that was great. It seemed to me that the portions were larger than usual.

 

Dress Code -- Really confusing On the first formal night, the Herald stated "A tuxedo or dark suit is required in the restaurant; elsewhere jacket suggested after 6PM. We thought SB had changed to "formal optional" sometime ago. When we mentioned this to the cruise director, she said she would change it for the next formal night. Didn't matter to us the first night as we had no intention of going to the dining room and had reservations at R2. On the second formal night the Herald simply stated "formal optional".

 

R2 -- No problem getting a reservation for the first formal night A few days before the 2nd formal night I requested reservations and was told we would be put on the wait list. It turns out that reservations are handled by some kind of lottery system, whereby you are notified at 6:15 on the day you requested if you have won or not. This represented an enormous problem for us, as not having a dress shirt/tie, my husband and I did not feel comfortable in the dining room and we did not relish eating in our cabin. As it turned out we did get a reservation (and R2 was half empty), but it was an unpleasant experience.

 

We have no problems following the rules, if the rules are spelled out in advance and are not changed mid-game. Unfortunately, our experience with the dress code and R2 reservations are a deal breaker for us as we feel we cannot be certain what rules will prevail once on the ship.

 

Finally, a note on the demographics of this cruise -- quite old! We are 68/73 and there were only a few younger and many more substantially older. I hope SB will consider the needs of a younger demographic -- what passengers will replace the old birds as they fall from the tree?

 

Because of the wonderful past experiences we've had on SB we hope to try one of the larger ships. Regrettably, the smaller ships are no longer on our agenda.

 

My guess is that the demographics of a cruise has more to do with the length than of anything else. Once you hit 2 weeks, it's only retired people or Europeans onboard, and Seabourns clients are mostly American. Americans who are working can't take 16 days or more off from work (which is the minimum you'll be away for a 14 night cruise), or their businesses will impload. ;)

[frantic36]

I would not disregard the little sisters just yet. Keep in mind that you will find a younger crowd in the Caribbean as well as the Med. I have no clue about the demographics in Asia and South America, but would like to know.

 

 

I have done two Pride trips in the last two years in Asia and though it still might be to small a sample to be sure, on those the demographics were younger. The cruises were 14 & 15 days in length. We are in our early 50's and we found quite a few around our age. Also the older people were all interesting to talk to with great life stories. I think the itineraries appeal to an adventurous soul. The only downside is you have to put up with more of us Australians as the flights are easier for us.:D

 

Julie

[Roxburgh]

My guess is that the demographics of a cruise has more to do with the length than of anything else. Once you hit 2 weeks, it's only retired people or Europeans onboard, and Seabourns clients are mostly American. Americans who are working can't take 16 days or more off from work (which is the minimum you'll be away for a 14 night cruise), or their businesses will impload. ;)

 

Interesting comment which I largely agree with. My guess is that a good proportion of Seabourn's clientele are retired. However, there will be also a good proportion who are working or self-employed. Contrary to the urban myth, there are Americans who get more than 4 weeks holiday a year (I used to get 23 days). Whether they take them or not is another matter altogether.

 

Your comment about Seabourn's clientele being mostly Americans got me thinking. So I grabbed the passenger lists from our recent cruise (there were two 7 day segments) and looked at the breakdown of nationalities. While Americans were the largest group, at no time were they a majority.

 

For segment 1., Venice to Athens, the nationalities broke down as follows:

 

Americans: 178 (40%)

Brits: 131 (29%)

Aussies/Kiwis: 46 (10%)

Canadians: 36 (8%)

Others: 56 (13%)

 

For segment 2., Athens to Istanbul, the breakdown was as follows.

 

Americans: 202 (45%)

Brits: 81 (18%)

Aussies/Kiwis: 50 (11%)

Canadians: 36 (8%)

Others: 79 (18%)

[stamfordian]

Americans: 178 (40%)

Brits: 131 (29%)

Aussies/Kiwis: 46 (10%)

Canadians: 36 (8%)

Others: 56 (13%)

 

For segment 2., Athens to Istanbul, the breakdown was as follows.

 

Americans: 202 (45%)

Brits: 81 (18%)

Aussies/Kiwis: 50 (11%)

Canadians: 36 (8%)

Others: 79 (18%)

 

Oh boy - are you in trouble! Categorising Aussies and Kiwis as a single homogeneous group is as bad as asking a Canadian which part of the US he or she is from!

[mpfund]

Chairson, if you'll carefully read my post, you will see that we did not mind not eating in the MDR on formal night, but that we were disconcerted to find that we might not even be able to eat in R2 due to their lottery system of allocating reservations. On previous SB cruises we simply made R2 reservations 48 hours in advance and all we well.

[Roxburgh]

Oh boy - are you in trouble! Categorising Aussies and Kiwis as a single homogeneous group is as bad as asking a Canadian which part of the US he or she is from!

 

It was done in the interests of brevity :eek: Perhaps I should have said 'Antipodeans' :eek::D

[Chairsin]

Sorry, I misread that part of your post.

[wripro]

I would have complained to the hotman about the lottery system for reservations at R2. Seabourn's policy is 48 hours in advance first come first served.

[mpfund]

Wripro, I was going to complain, until Reception told me it was he who decided the lottery winners!

[redheadednancy]

I know I will probably be shot down for this but I do wish Seabourn would skip the formal nights! It is so hard to travel with suits and jackets and a really nice long sleeved dress shirt and good slacks on a man, especially when he is on vacation, can look just as good as a suit :) The world has gone so much more casual and I think most men these days do not enjoy putting on a suit with a tie, especially on vacation!

Angie, Bob doesn't take ties, he commits just to a white dinner jacket and bow tie on warm climate cruises. Otherwise, he like another poster, just takes a blazer and it is more than appropriate on everything we have been on. A two week cruise is short and you can get by. It is true that Seabourn doesn't seem to get their act together on getting information on dress out. We have found that on EVERY cruise in the last few years. They list one thing on website, one thing in documents and issue something else when you board. I think a lot of it is preprinted information and no one does a cross check. Usually on one formal night we often eat somewhere else or have it served in our cabin. Again, we are on much longer cruises....but I seem to remember years ago we took shorter ones and did the same things EXCEPT on transatlantics. They have tended to be dressier.