Seabourn Sojourn Food and Service

[Roxburgh]

Hello all,

 

I'am also on this cruise and share most of Jim's comments. Although all in all Ive been very happy with the level of service. The portions are indeed tiny! ( and I'm not a big person!). Yes, I know you can ask for seconds ( and our whole table did the night of the lobster, the size was frankly ridiculous), but I dont think that should be the norm.

 

One observation I have is, why all day do I need to walk on hallways littered with baskets of cleaning utensils, gloves and the like? Sorry , but its gross.

 

Not sure if Jim commented on this but unfortunately we're undera"noro virus" alert so we're being very vigilant and washing our hands non stop!

 

I think that the issue of portion sizes is a very personal one.

 

So ... personally ... I like the small portions on Seabourn because it means I can have an appetizer, sometimes two appetizers, a main and dessert. Normally when we go out to restaurants, the portions are so large that we may share an appetizer, the main is so huge that we leave food on the plate and dessert is out of the question.

 

Now I do appreciate that is me and that others have different expectations.

 

Are the hallways littered all day or just when the stewardesses are cleaning the suites?

[Host Dan]

I think that the issue of portion sizes is a very personal one.

 

So ... personally ... I like the small portions on Seabourn because it means I can have an appetizer, sometimes two appetizers, a main and dessert.

 

I feel the same way, but as you said, its a personal preference.

 

Host Dan

[sananda]

Jim in Florida - You haven't commented recently on the quality of service, only on the food. Has the service become any better? or is it still slow with numerous mix-ups and headaches?

[HappyFeet13]

We have been told that there is a "bug" on board (vomiting/diarrhea) that has affected some crew members and passengers. We have been urged to wash our hands often. Buffet services are not allowed. They are still set up as buffets, but the open portion of the food container faces the server, not you. You cannot serve anything to yourself, including bread, butter, etc. After meals, they appear to be using disinfectant to clean the tables. I do not know of anyone among the passengers who is sick or has been sick. It is possible that it only affected a crew member or two and that the Captain is being ultra careful. Since we don't know the extent to which this has reduced available staff, it would be unfair to criticize Seabourn for less than stellar service. For all we know, the staff may be working 18 hour shifts. I'll hold off on service comments for now. As to quality and small portions...only a person who has SEEN what I am referring to can know what I'm talking about. I went to "High Tea" the first day. The scones were yellow. They looked just like corn bread. Have you ever seen a yellow scone? And there was no clotted cream...they had whipped cream instead..like you'd put on an ice cream sundae. Have you ever seen whipped cream served for scones at high tea before? It is easy to say, "you can always ask for more", or "I prefer my portions small", but there are reasonable standards of what a "main course" is, and the Sojourn often provides much less. For example, TWO shrimp in a shrimp cocktail? Have you EVER seen a restaurant do that? Or THREE small scallops as a main course? Or, "Lobster" tails that could not possibly weigh more than 2 1/2 ounces? I have honestly never seen anything like it. Remember, I will put the positive in when deserved. I said that I loved the Chef's Special dinner the night before last , both for quality and for reasonably-sized main course. It was great. Maybe they are reading this thread.

[Winner]

Jim:

 

Instead of waiting for someone in Seattle to read this thread, I suggest, as others have, that you or a group of you, make an appointment to visit the Hotel Manager and present your issues. The Hotel Manager's job includes listening to unhappy guests. He does not have time, either, to read the CC boards to find unhappy passengers on his watch.

[MrsWaldo]

LOL..scones here are always yellow/light cream colour. If they were any other colour there might be a revolt. The yellowish tinge tells us there is butter in them ;) we rarely see whipped butter.

 

 

Love the norovirus anti spread strategies. After spending 10 days on an island that had norovirus as an endemic (with 10month old baby). Handwashing doesn't stop the spread, non communal food service will.

 

OTOH..2 prawns in a cocktail (not a shrimp here) :eek: 2.5 ounce tail....yummy but I'd expect 2, small and tender Aussie style lobster, much narrower not a main or med lobster

[Martita B.]

So sorry to hear of stomach "flu/bug" ~I'm recovering from this after 11 days in bed~this serious flu is all over Houston, Austin and thru' out Texas ~probably most Southern states. My Dr. prescribed several medications but it simply has to run it's "course" ~I certainly feel for those suffering aboard the ship and wish them all speedy recovers.:p I'm grateful I'm at home and not ill aboard....

Martita B

[Mr Luxury]

Jim:

 

Instead of waiting for someone in Seattle to read this thread, I suggest, as others have, that you or a group of you, make an appointment to visit the Hotel Manager and present your issues. The Hotel Manager's job includes listening to unhappy guests. He does not have time, either, to read the CC boards to find unhappy passengers on his watch.

 

Yes,one does wonder if things are so bad why Jim and his posse have not been to see the Hotel Director.

Do you think that there are varying degrees of bad on the Sojourn at present?

[Mr Luxury]

LOL..scones here are always yellow/light cream colour. If they were any other colour there might be a revolt. The yellowish tinge tells us there is butter in them

 

Perhaps scones are a different colour in Florida.Maybe they have sun cream in them due to the climate.;)

[Prunella1]

Jim:

 

Instead of waiting for someone in Seattle to read this thread, I suggest, as others have, that you or a group of you, make an appointment to visit the Hotel Manager and present your issues. The Hotel Manager's job includes listening to unhappy guests. He does not have time, either, to read the CC boards to find unhappy passengers on his watch.

 

If you have read his postings on the roll call forum I get the impression that he is not that unhappy. I am sure if things were that bad other people would have approached the Hotel Manager by now.

 

Do hope that the sickness bug clears up soon, good to know the arrangements for the buffet service.

[Mr Luxury]

If you have read his postings on the roll call forum I get the impression that he is not that unhappy. I am sure if things were that bad other people would have approached the Hotel Manager by now.

 

So, believe nothing of what you read and only half of what you see.;)

 

These boards are great,so many differing views that you have to sift through everything and make up your own mind.

[Prunella1]

So, believe nothing of what you read and only half of what you see.;)

 

These boards are great,so many differing views that you have to sift through everything and make up your own mind.

 

 

Exactly, I am getting more cynical by the day unfortunately!

[HappyFeet13]

Some of you folks tick me off. The purpose of these boards and others like it is to share information from one who has been there before to one who hasn't. It is my opinion. I am here...you are not. When I comment that portions are very small, it is not helpful for someone to comment that "when I was on a different ship at a different time, and ordering my USUAL off-the-menu enormous order of escargot, I was ALWAYS satisfied with the portions. Harrumph!" I am a seasoned world traveler and do have a very wide basis of comparison. I hate that some very condescending people feel compelled to comment on something they know nothing about. I do not care who you are...scones are NOT supposed to be bright yellow, and clotted cream is ALWAYS served with scones at tea, NOT whipped cream. If you don't know what you are talking about, and are not on the Sojourn now, what value do your comments have to others who are planning to come aboard? As to getting a group, or going solo, to complain to the hotel manager, that is not what this is about. This thread is to report to you on what I (and some others) think about food and service aboard THIS ship at THIS time. If Seabourn is too busy to monitor these boards, they are idiots and deserve to lose the passengers they will undoubtedly lose if they don't get things fixed.

[Roxburgh]

Some of you folks tick me off. The purpose of these boards and others like it is to share information from one who has been there before to one who hasn't. It is my opinion. I am here...you are not. When I comment that portions are very small, it is not helpful for someone to comment that "when I was on a different ship at a different time, and ordering my USUAL off-the-menu enormous order of escargot, I was ALWAYS satisfied with the portions. Harrumph!" I am a seasoned world traveler and do have a very wide basis of comparison. I hate that some very condescending people feel compelled to comment on something they know nothing about. I do not care who you are...scones are NOT supposed to be bright yellow, and clotted cream is ALWAYS served with scones at tea, NOT whipped cream. If you don't know what you are talking about, and are not on the Sojourn now, what value do your comments have to others who are planning to come aboard? As to getting a group, or going solo, to complain to the hotel manager, that is not what this is about. This thread is to report to you on what I (and some others) think about food and service aboard THIS ship at THIS time. If Seabourn is too busy to monitor these boards, they are idiots and deserve to lose the passengers they will undoubtedly lose if they don't get things fixed.

 

If you don't want people to comment then don't post on a public message board.

[HappyFeet13]

Good idea, Roxburgh. I'm off this board. YOU tell them what's going on on the Sojourn. They are waiting with bated breath.

[ravenclaw]

Good idea, Roxburgh. I'm off this board. YOU tell them what's going on on the Sojourn. They are waiting with bated breath.

 

Jim in Florida

 

sorry to see you leave this forum as found your posts informative and well balanced. Like others before you, you're not the first to get "off" this board after coming under repeated challenges to the veracity of your CRITICal on Cruise CRITIC of all places !

Some of the responses to your posts are well presented, (ie. meet with the Hotel Mgr.), but some can't handle the truth as their dream job is to write marketing brochures for Seabourn. If you decide to contribute any more posts in this particular forum and be a "regular", it's a good idea to purchase and wear a cheerleader outfit, structure your comments accordingly and you too can amass hundreds of post counts. ;)

[Mr Luxury]

We never did find out the reason why Jim did not have a quiet word with the Hotel Director.

 

Never complain on these boards whilst on the ship when you can actually have something done about little problems that do occur from time to time on any ship.

 

Jim,thank you for posting your experience of the Sojourn,whilst being on the Sojourn.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

[sananda]

Way to go cruise critic regulars. You've driven away another Seabourn non-believer. Jim is absolutely correct. Posting what a great cruise line you think Seabourn is and expressing open disbelief that anyone could think anything else has no bearing to someone currently on board. This thread was about poor quality service and food. It was not about whether Jim was enjoying the cruise overall. Maybe he was really enjoying the entertainment or excursions, etc? What relevance does positive postings on a roll call thread have with the subject of food and service? Just because you feel comfortable acting like a diva ordering off menu food items that you enjoy, can you tell me what that says about the on menu choices? To me it says there was nothing on the menu you wanted to eat. Sounds similar to what Jim described.

 

The regulars here need to pull their heads out of the sand. Why do so many first time Seabourn cruisers feel that other luxury cruise lines and vacations do a much better job? Why is Seabourn falling in the rankings of all the travel publications? Why is Seabourn the only Carnival brand that had fewer passengers in 2012 than 2011? Why is Seabourn the only Carnival brand that loses money? Why do most Seabourn cruises fail to reach capacity? Most are only 50-60% occupied. Seabourn under Carnival has big problems. Just because this board has attracted a conclave of enthusiastic cruisers with lofty opinions of Seabourn doesn't mean that Seabourn's reputation hasn't suffered of late. There are a lot of people posting on other boards that describe Seabourn as "Meh, nothing special".

[Prunella1]

Way to go cruise critic regulars. You've driven away another Seabourn non-believer. Jim is absolutely correct. Posting what a great cruise line you think Seabourn is and expressing open disbelief that anyone could think anything else has no bearing to someone currently on board. This thread was about poor quality service and food. It was not about whether Jim was enjoying the cruise overall. Maybe he was really enjoying the entertainment or excursions, etc? What relevance does positive postings on a roll call thread have with the subject of food and service? Just because you feel comfortable acting like a diva ordering off menu food items that you enjoy, can you tell me what that says about the on menu choices? To me it says there was nothing on the menu you wanted to eat. Sounds similar to what Jim described.

 

The regulars here need to pull their heads out of the sand. Why do so many first time Seabourn cruisers feel that other luxury cruise lines and vacations do a much better job? Why is Seabourn falling in the rankings of all the travel publications? Why is Seabourn the only Carnival brand that had fewer passengers in 2012 than 2011? Why is Seabourn the only Carnival brand that loses money? Why do most Seabourn cruises fail to reach capacity? Most are only 50-60% occupied. Seabourn under Carnival has big problems. Just because this board has attracted a conclave of enthusiastic cruisers with lofty opinions of Seabourn doesn't mean that Seabourn's reputation hasn't suffered of late. There are a lot of people posting on other boards that describe Seabourn as "Meh, nothing special".

 

I don't see too many posts on this thread being unduly blinkered about Seabourn, just people like myself who have an upcoming cruise on the Sojourn being concerned about his comments, and whether in fact the food and service is really bad. On the roll call thread he said the service was superb, so that is in direct contrast to the comments on this thread. He also said that he would not be sailing Seabourn again but on the other thread he gives the opposite impression, so all in all I am confused.

 

For someone who is so obviously not a Seabourn fan, you sure do spend a lot of time on this forum

[Chairsin]

While I don't agree Jim should have been told to stop posting I also don't believe that those suggesting this unfortunate food/service situation might be addressed by speaking with the Hotel Manager are in denial about the problem.Seems to me a reasonable suggestion that he is certainly free to act on or not. Just posters offering a possible remedy to his problems.

 

Oh, and I do think you are quite wrong about the occupancy rate of the ships -- as is normal the repositioning and transatlantics are not full but most of the others according to my T/A have been over 80%. And certainly the three I have sailed on have been either completely full to almost full(the Nov/Dec Rome to Lisbon had about 180 passengers as I recall). And yes, I will admit that some of those occupancy rates have been boosted by discounting. That however is more a reflection of the economy and glut of capacity than some perceived loss of Seabourn's luster.

[wripro]

In December the scones were delicious (and yellowy), far too good for my good. And there was clotted cream though not Devon cream.

[lincslady]

Jim in Florida - I have believed every word you have said, and am sad if you don't want to post any more, and I am a big Seabourn fan. There are undoubtedly sometimes problems on board, and we have experienced them (only occasionally) and I do feel that they should be aired.

 

I have found that I prefer to wait until I get back home after a cruise to give an overall impression on what it has been like, but that if you are not happy on board you should tell the Hotel Manager at the time, which might result in improvements. But certainly let management know after you are home what your overall impression was if it was not good.

[sananda]

For someone who is so obviously not a Seabourn fan, you sure do spend a lot of time on this forum

 

Why do I bother posting here? I'm trying to be helpful for people considering a cruise on Seabourn. This site is not like Travelocity, the Lonely Planet, USAToday travel boards, AMEX travel boards, etc. On those sites, people post their travel reviews and leave. You get a good representation of positive and negative reviews. Cruise Critic seems to be frequented by cruise enthusiasts that want to reminisce about their past experiences. Many, many people have described the numerous shortcomings of Seabourn on this site. Then the Seabourn defenders come out in full force, drive the individual away and shove the negative comments out of the active threads. This has happened time and time again over the past year. Scroll through the back posts to see for yourself.

 

When you search with google or bing for cruise reviews, the first site listed is cruise critic. If you had never visited, you might not realize that you should treat this site as a unified review. I am here to tell people to also look at the USAToday review, the AMEX travel review, Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast Traveller, the Wall Street Journal, etc. These other sites, both in the professional reviews and the posts on their boards reveal a very consistent picture about Seabourn, that differs substantially from what people post here. Namely, Seabourn lags behind its' competitors, especially in terms of service. May favorite comment comes from the Wall Street Journal's review, "Seabourn is to luxury travel as Olive Garden is to Italian food."

[sananda]

Oh, and I do think you are quite wrong about the occupancy rate of the ships -- as is normal the repositioning and transatlantics are not full but most of the others according to my T/A have been over 80%. And certainly the three I have sailed on have been either completely full to almost full(the Nov/Dec Rome to Lisbon had about 180 passengers as I recall). And yes, I will admit that some of those occupancy rates have been boosted by discounting. That however is more a reflection of the economy and glut of capacity than some perceived loss of Seabourn's luster.

 

Your evidence is anecdotal. Go to the investors section at the Carnival website and download the yearly corporate report. The official numbers that Carnival reports are clearly in contrast to your personal beliefs. Some people believe that these numbers might actually be overstated. After all, these executives are trying to sell more stock. People on this board need to stop making flimsy excuses for Seabourn. Even though the economy is bad and there is a glut of capacity, every other line owned by Carnival managed to increase profits, occupancy rates and total number of passengers for the year. Seabourn is the problem child / diva of Carnival.

[mariners]

Jim in Florida, I appreciate the time that you are taking to comment on your cruise. As we are not on the ship, we cannot comment on your comments as to whether we are having the same experience or something different. I truly hope that you will keep posting.

 

My apologies for somewhat hijacking this thread but I have to respond to sananda because of his numerous negative comments on Seabourn. (This is not in response to your specific Seabourn cruise sananda.)

 

I decided to search a variety of sites and read reviews from both "professionals" and "passengers". Interpretation of those reviews must also depend upon the reader. The majority, not all, but the majority of reviews that I read view Seabourn as a luxury cruise line where service typically excels as does the food and the overall experience. I am not any cruise line's cheerleader and am quite happy when people post their personal experience on a specific cruise. However, I wonder why someone continuously posts "put downs" rather than stating to check out reviews from different sources. I think that I am, perhaps, someone who is more of a glass "half full" person than you are and you seem to be drinking your "half glass" more empty each time that you post. I hope that you will experience cruises in the future on whatever line brings you more joy and is a better fit for you.