Our Experiences on 11 days of the Seabourn World Cruise Singapore to Mumbai

[travelinjones]

Finally, we are catching up after our 3-week vacation/cruise in Asia and we are putting together our thoughts to share on our Seabourn Sojourn cruise.

 

Here is part 1:

 

Summary:

We recently returned from an 11-Day Segment of the 2014 Seabourn World Cruise sailing from Singapore to Mumbai on the Sojourn, and had a fantastic cruise, enjoying a number of relaxing days at sea as well as port visits in Phuket, Thailand; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Cochin, Goa in India before disembarking in Mumbai.

 

Background information:

We are a married couple in our late 40s/early 50s currently living in the U.S. Midwest. We are frequent travelers for work and fun, and make use of frequent flyer miles and hotel points to explore the world. While we’ve sailed more than 500 days on eight different cruise lines, this was only our second Seabourn cruise, and first cruise on the Sojourn. (Our previous Seabourn cruise was last November on the Pride.)

 

We took this trip to celebrate our upcoming 15th wedding anniversary. We boarded the Sojourn after spending five fun-filled days in Singapore.

 

Travel to Embarkation Port

To get to Singapore we flew from Houston to Beijing on Air China’s “Forbidden Pavilion” First Class. We had a 12 hour layover in Beijing and took advantage of the 72-Hour Visa-Free Stay Program for transit visitors to get out of the airport. Due to our very early arrival we didn’t tour Beijing and instead booked a day rate at the Hilton Beijing Capital Airport Hotel. This hotel was a perfect place to recover from a 15 hour flight and to take a brief walk around the area outside of the airport. After another terrific flight on Air China, we arrived in Singapore, and were met by a hotel car outside of immigration that whisked us to our hotel in Suntec City within about 20 minutes.

 

Singapore Pre-Cruise Hotel information

We stayed at the Conrad Centennial Singapore hotel using Hilton HHonors Award Points. We found the hotel to offer excellent service and a terrific location for exploring Singapore. We particularly enjoyed the 31st floor Executive Lounge.

 

We had spent time in Singapore before, exploring the city by Hop-On, Hop-Off buses and boats, walking tours, riding the Singapore Flyer and heading to the Sky Deck of the Marina Bay Sands hotel.

 

For this trip, we wanted to dig a little deeper into Singapore culture. We ate our way through Chinatown’s Hawker stands and other food outlets during a Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour with Leo and Mindy of Food Tours Singapore. We took a walking tour through Little India with Carol of the Original Singapore Walks, we toured the Tiger Brewery (and enjoyed sampling the goods in the Tiger Tavern) and we visited the touristy Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel but were disappointed to find its third floor museum gone.

 

There are two cruise ports in Singapore now and both are active: the Singapore Cruise Center @Harbourfront across from Sentosa Island, and the newer Marina Bay Cruise Center that is a shuttle bus ride from the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The Sojourn was docked at the Harborfront Cruise Center.

 

Embarkation was quick and easy with bags being checked at an airline-like counter before heading on a lengthy walk to the ship. Check-in was in the hallway just outside the ship; it was well-staffed, super-fast and efficient.

 

Ship information

Since we were used to the intimate size of the Pride, we found this ship to feel significantly larger in size. We booked a Suite Guarantee relatively late and received Suite 434, which is on Deck 4 right next to the Restaurant. As we are both very tall, we greatly appreciated the higher ceilings throughout this ship compared to the “little sisters.”

 

We found the suite very comfortable but some might be bothered by a little noise some mornings going into port from the deck above.

 

While we were among the younger guests in this World Cruise crowd, we enjoyed the international mix of guests with the largest groups being from the U.S., Australia & New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The fellow guests were extremely well-traveled and interesting, and we enjoyed getting to know some of them through hosted tables by various staffers at dinner.

 

Despite being a 116-day World Cruise, only about 70 or so of the more than 425 guests were on for the full cruise, so there was no feeling of “not being in the club” feeling that one sometimes gets when sailing a shorter segment of a World Cruise on other lines.

[tv24]

Glad to read that you had a good experience. You were traveling with some of the friends we made on earlier WC segments, such as Melinda and Duncan, George and Kyle, and Adrian and Lillian. Happy to read that you enjoyed the cuisine on board; I was one of the folks who had groused about the lack of spice and some of the execution. You can find my review on CC. Happy cruising!

[PaulaJK]

I hope that you will share some more details about your trip.

[travelinjones]

Glad to read that you had a good experience. You were traveling with some of the friends we made on earlier WC segments, such as Melinda and Duncan, George and Kyle, and Adrian and Lillian. Happy to read that you enjoyed the cuisine on board; I was one of the folks who had groused about the lack of spice and some of the execution. You can find my review on CC. Happy cruising!

 

Perhaps we should thank you for the good food!

[patnlcc]

Looking forward to the rest of your report, especially your thoughts on Mumbai where will will disembark in October from our Athens/Mumbai on the Odyssey.

[travelinjones]

Here's Part 2:

 

Activities

The onboard activities were fairly sedate with bridge, trivia, golf putting, shuffleboard, dance classes and needlepoint as examples. The art instructors – Sarah and Adele – were quite good; I enjoyed learning to make paper beads and ended up with a nice bracelet.

 

Guest lectures ranged in topic from photography to music history to lectures on India – some were of better quality and professionalism than others.

 

The gym and the exercise classes were well-attended on this cruise with an advanced sign-up of several days required to get into an exercise class. The gym was also quite busy each morning. On sea days, Assistant Cruise Director Sophie led Zumba classes in the Grand Salon. Supposedly the captain also led and/or participated in some of these. (We didn't attend Zumba but found Sophie to be an amazing host, entertainer and assistant cruise director. She was always out and about on the ship and on tours, interacting with the guests.

 

We missed (as did other cruisers) a good place to walk laps on deck. The best solution was back-n-forth half-laps on Deck 5.

 

We enjoyed the galley tour with Chef Graeme. The kitchens are spotlessly clean.

 

The Caviar in the Surf event took place in the pool rather than in the Indian Ocean but it was a very popular event, with the Captain and many of the officers braving the pool to toast the guests.

 

Seabourn Square was often crowded on sea days, but we loved the large selection of library books and the excellent espresso drinks served there. This was head and shoulders above the coffee on the rest of the ship. Espressos in the restaurants were okay, regular coffee left a lot to be desired. For breakfast, one of us took up having tea and the other always got cappuccinos.

 

If you are new to Seabourn and want to see what a daily schedule is like, copies of the Seabourn Herald from our cruise are posted here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/21/a-day-by-day-look-at-cruising-11-days-on-the-seabourn-sojourn/

 

Internet

The Internet service was impressive – the fastest we’ve ever had at sea. This was completely opposite of our experience on the Pride in the Caribbean last November. On the Pride, the internet service was so slow (even by cruise ship standards) that we completely gave up trying to use it.

 

For this cruise we purchased the 7-day unlimited internet package for $239 dollars – using it days 2-8 when we had the most days at sea. Then, we each used Seabourn Club Silver benefit of a complimentary 2-hour internet package for the remainder of our cruise. If we would have been on the cruise for longer than 11 days, the $400 unlimited package for the full cruise would have been a great deal for us.

 

We had great internet service in our suite – for our laptops, iPads and iPhones. We also accessed the internet from the pool area. Note: you can only be logged onto one device at one time per package

[travelinjones]

Looking forward to the rest of your report, especially your thoughts on Mumbai where will will disembark in October from our Athens/Mumbai on the Odyssey.

 

We will comment more on Mumbai disembarkation in detail in later posts.

 

In brief, getting a taxi out of the port area was chaotic, to say the least. If we did again, we would book a private transfer through Seabourn.

 

One very positive note: a new airport terminal recently opened in Mumbai and it is stunning ... see photos here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/11/photo-friday-mumbais-new-terminal-t2-at-chhatrapati-shivaji-international-airport/

[tv24]

Perhaps we should thank you for the good food!

 

I would love to write, "You're welcome," but I seriously doubt if my comments have had any effect at all. Still I am so glad that you had a good cruise.

[brucory]

Thanks for the review,

 

It stirred memories of our Seabourn cruise and has me contemplating another :D

 

Loved seeing the menus on your blog link as well. YUM! :D

 

:D:D:D

[travelinjones]

Here's Part 3:

 

Service

Seabourn excels at service like no other line, and the staff on this cruise were pros at anticipating your needs and make sure that you were having a terrific cruise.

 

Our room stewardess was fantastic and the bar staff outdid themselves. If you were out by the pool, they were by constantly with cold towels, ice water, frozen fruit and any number of special beverages, as well as bringing you whatever else you might want to order.

 

Like all of you regular Seabourn cruisers, we had some favorite staffers that really made our cruise special (link to their photos here:) http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/05/02/11-spectacular-staffers-who-made-our-cruise-on-the-seabourn-sojourn-special/

 

We are curious to know if any of these folks are your favorites as well?

 

NOTE: Likely, there was a ship full of favorite staff members -- it probably all depends on where your suite is and the places on board that you frequent as to your favorites.

 

Ports & Shore Excursions:

 

Phuket: There were 6 ships in port, causing us to tender from Kalim Bay which made the tour drive times a bit longer. We took the Thai Gastronomy at the Blue Elephant excursion through Seabourn; while expensive (compared to other tours) it was a fun and informative day of hands-on cooking lessons after a market tour. Plus, we ate what we each cooked (after tasting the chef's version. And, we are putting those cooking lessons to use at home. Lots of photos here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/19/thai-gastronomy-at-the-blue-elephant-cooking-school-in-phuket-part-2/

 

Colombo, Sri Lanka: We took the 4.5 hour “Life and Lore of Colombo” tour through Seabourn which covered all of the highlights of the city. This was a very enjoyable port. It was a Friday near the end of the school term so there were students in uniform touring every where we went which was a bonus. Photos here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/22/experiencing-the-life-and-lore-of-colombo-sri-lanka/

 

Cochin: was our first port in India and there was a painful wait through the immigration process before getting off the ship, most of which seemed to be due to poor organization on the part of Seabourn. Once off, we took the “Old Cochin” tour which allowed us to see the fishing nets, key churches, the Jewish Quarter and the Spice Market. The ship docked at a port on an island - a bit of a ride into town. The day of our visit the Prime Minister of India was in Cochin for a political rally related to the upcoming elections. Photos here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/27/exploring-the-sights-of-cochin-india/

 

Goa: This port was very welcoming to the ship. Here we took our own tour with a taxi driver at the port. We visited the historical sites in Old Goa and then visited a nearby beach were we enjoyed a cold Kingfisher. This was another favorite port. There were police with riot sticks at the port by the taxi line, and we had to have a discussion with a Tony Soprano-type taxi leader to get the taxi we wanted, but it all worked out well. Goa is the smallest but richest state in India and was part of Portugal until 1961. Photos here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/05/01/touring-goa-india-by-taxi/

 

Happy to answer any questions. We will cover Dining and Disembarkation in Mumbai in a future post.

[Ravenscroft]

I've really enjoyed your posts.

 

We disembarked Sojourn in Singapore the day you embarked. I've not yet had time to read your blog in full, but a quick look at the '"11 Spectacular Staffers" page and I can tell you that we named several of your favourites on the post-cruise questionnaire for their extra special service.

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of your blog.

[jenidallas]

Some of your favorites are some of my favorites too. I *believe* your Seabourn Square barista is Martin? (His charming blonde cohort was also a gem on my two Sojourn trips last year.)

 

I adore Sophie and hope that she makes it up to the rank of Cruise Director in the future. I know from a couple of dinners with her that she also loves that Seabourn keeps her together with Claudio (who is a fabulous bartender). From what I understand, it's unusual in the cruise industry for a line to work to keep long-term couples on the same ship and (thus) happy with their assignments!

[PaulaJK]

We agree re; the spectacular staff and mentioned several of them on our post cruise survey. It was truly impossible to list every crew member who was a positive influence during our cruise. Great staff/crew !!!

[wripro]

They are truly what makes Seabourn Seabourn.

[Willem Ruys]

Some of your favorites are some of my favorites too. I *believe* your Seabourn Square barista is Martin? (His charming blonde cohort was also a gem on my two Sojourn trips last year.)

 

I adore Sophie and hope that she makes it up to the rank of Cruise Director in the future. I know from a couple of dinners with her that she also loves that Seabourn keeps her together with Claudio (who is a fabulous bartender). From what I understand, it's unusual in the cruise industry for a line to work to keep long-term couples on the same ship and (thus) happy with their assignments!

 

Maybe you MISUNDERSTAND. It's not at all unusual, at least in Holland America ships, where I know probably 15 couples who work in the same ship ranging from 3 Masters with Guest Relations Manager wives and a Chief Engineer with his Culinary Ops Manager wife, to 2 Hotel Directors with Guest Relations Manager wives, to a Hotel Director with Spa manger wife, to a Hotel Director with an executive Chef husband, to several bar staff couples, shop couples, etc etc.

[jenidallas]

Maybe you MISUNDERSTAND.

 

I don't think I *MISUNDERSTAND* when I reference the cruise industry as a whole... have heard lots of accounts of Carnival and Royal Caribbean type ships separating couples. I am glad you felt the need to veer off the topic of the lovely Seabourn Sojourn staff (and other nice trip related sharing) to YELL at me though.

[frantic36]

Here's Part 3:

 

Service

Seabourn excels at service like no other line, and the staff on this cruise were pros at anticipating your needs and make sure that you were having a terrific cruise.

 

Our room stewardess was fantastic and the bar staff outdid themselves. If you were out by the pool, they were by constantly with cold towels, ice water, frozen fruit and any number of special beverages, as well as bringing you whatever else you might want to order.

 

Like all of you regular Seabourn cruisers, we had some favorite staffers that really made our cruise special (link to their photos here:) http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/05/02/11-spectacular-staffers-who-made-our-cruise-on-the-seabourn-sojourn-special/

 

We are curious to know if any of these folks are your favorites as well?

 

NOTE: Likely, there was a ship full of favorite staff members -- it probably all depends on where your suite is and the places on board that you frequent as to your favorites.

 

Ports & Shore Excursions:

 

Phuket: There were 6 ships in port, causing us to tender from Kalim Bay which made the tour drive times a bit longer. We took the Thai Gastronomy at the Blue Elephant excursion through Seabourn; while expensive (compared to other tours) it was a fun and informative day of hands-on cooking lessons after a market tour. Plus, we ate what we each cooked (after tasting the chef's version. And, we are putting those cooking lessons to use at home. Lots of photos here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/19/thai-gastronomy-at-the-blue-elephant-cooking-school-in-phuket-part-2/

 

I totally agree the wonderful staff on Seabourn truly enhance our cruises. I recognise quite a few from our trip on Sojourn earlier this year.

 

Thank you for the detailed description in your blog of the Cooking Class. You have solved a dilemma for me of what to do next year when we are in Phuket on Sojourn as we have visited Phuket a few times.

 

Julie :)

[travelinjones]

Part 4, Dining

 

We’d heard a lot of comments about the food on the Sojourn on this board, many of them somewhat negative.

 

We decided to keep an open mind, as the food was one of the highlights of our first Seabourn cruise on the Pride with Chef Jes last November.

 

Here’s the thing – we liked the food on this cruise as well as our last.

 

If you are curious, you can view the dinner menus for our 11 nights on board here: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/30/11-days-of-menus-from-the-seabourn-sojourn-world-cruise/

 

For breakfast we either dined at the Colonnade, or the Restaurant, or just grabbed a latte/extra shot and a slice of Grandma’s cake to go from the Seabourn Café on mornings that we were heading out on tours. The breakfast menu in the Restaurant seems a little staid, but we found that if you wanted an omelet with lots of vegetables and salsa on the side, you just had to ask. The regular coffee, we agreed with others, left a lot to be desired. We either switched to tea or ordered a cappuccino with an extra shot.

 

On sea days, we often ate lunch in the Restaurant or Colonnade, but for a late lunch on port days or pool days, we loved the shaded tables at the Patio Grill with a turkey burger and those naughty, addictive French fries. After we heard a tour guide in Sri Lanka describing himself as "naughty" for ordering his espresso heaped with whipped cream, we starting thinking about all of the "naughty" food and drinks we were consuming on Seabourn. Here's out list: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/04/24/7-favorite-naughty-pleasures-on-the-seabourn-sojourn/

 

Evenings we always ate in the Restaurant or Restaurant 2.

The shrimp, scallops and lobster were particularly good on this cruise; the vegetarian pastas and tarts were always rich and delicious. Sometimes the fresh salad greens seemed a bit limited, but overall the food was top quality.

 

Our two meals in Restaurant 2 (on day 1 and day 4) were fantastic. We especially enjoyed the Crisp Sea Bass Bronzini and the Barbeque Glazed Short Rib with Seared Foie Gras on night 4. Some foodie friends that we made who were on the full cruise from L.A. said they wished that Restaurant 2 had more than 7 different menus to rotate throughout the entire world cruise.

 

There was no overabundance of veal or any other single food item on the dinner menus, and the Madras-style shrimp on Day 11 had a fiery heat to them that shocked. Yes, we like spicy food.

 

The servers were all well-trained and could advise as to food preparation. We enjoyed some of the included wines more than others; it was never a problem to have the wine you liked.

 

So why all the complaints about the food?

 

Perhaps the food was better on our cruise than the earlier segments. Frank, a charming Frenchman who is a chef from corporate was still on-board and asking how we and others enjoyed the food.

 

Perhaps we have different tastes and expectations than other long-time Seabourn cruisers who miss something they enjoyed in the past.

 

Perhaps the menus were repeated too frequently if you were on the cruise for 116 or even 35 or 50 days. (Some other lines make a point of never repeating an exact menu on a world cruise.)

 

Bottom line: we maybe had 2 dishes out of 33 meals that were not our favorites, but we still enjoyed them, and that’s much better odds than we generally find dining out in fine restaurants.

 

We continue to think that the food is a highlight of cruising on Seabourn.

[secoma4]

Thank you for your review. We enjoyed this leg on the Sojourn very much, especially the Phuket excursion to the Blue Elephant Cooking School. My husband would also recommend the excursion in Colombo, Sri Lanka to the elephant orphanage on the Viceroy's train. It was wonderful to see so many familiar staff on the Sojourn from our cruise last year.

[Dmgmd50]

The menus look good to me. Much better than our last Silversea cruise. Looking forward to returning to Seabourn.

 

Thanks for posting them.

[Able Seaman H]

Glad you enjoyed your trip. A very similar experience to ours on sojourn over Christmas and the New Year.

 

It is indeed Martin in the Square Coffee shop, a man after my own heart when it comes to the body beautiful :)

 

I also enjoyed my food on-board, as you say possibly a case of differing tastes and / or expectations.

 

Henry :)

[patnlcc]

Am eager to read about your disembarkation in Mumbai as we will be doing the same in October.

[travelinjones]

Am eager to read about your disembarkation in Mumbai as we will be doing the same in October.

 

Sorry for the delay. Will post shortly.

[travelinjones]

Part 5, Disembarkation:

 

Does anyone ever want to get off a Seabourn cruise? We did not, and wished that we could have stayed on to Venice as many other guests did.

 

When flying out of Mumbai, most flights to Europe and the U.S. depart between 11 pm and 3 am. As we were disembarking the Sojourn in Mumbai around 9 am in the morning, and our flight wasn’t out until 3:30 am this next morning, Mr. Jones booked us at the JW Marriott on Juhu Beach, where he had stayed on a prior business trip to Mumbai.

 

Having prior experience with intense Mumbai traffic, he tried to arrange a private car from the hotel to pick us up. The ship could not, however, confirm the exact arrival port location even a few days before the Sojourn was to arrive in Mumbai, and drivers need a special permit that supposedly takes up to 7 days for them to drive inside the pier.

 

The Seabourn shore excursion staff advised that you could either take taxis from inside the pier, or take a shuttle bus to the pier gate to meet other taxis or a pre-arranged ride. Taxis – we were told – might cost $30. Since we didn’t want to drag luggage from the pier onto a shuttle just to get out of the port, we decided to get a taxi inside the port, and forgo the private car.

 

Those taxi drivers inside the port gates, however, wanted $140 for a tiny un-air-conditioned taxi. As Mr. Jones got into an intense negotiation, finally one of the taxi “leaders” inside the port area said he that he would take us to his brother, outside the port, who would take us for $70. We had to pile into one cab to go to the gate, where we were shocked that all of our bags had to be dragged inside a little office, where they were sent through an X-ray machine while several guys manually crossed each guests name off of a pre-printed list. (All of this was after we had already cleared the immigration process inside the port after collecting out luggage.)

 

Once through this inefficient process, the first driver helped us carry our bags outside of the port gate, where we had to stand on the side of a busy street with bags waiting while the other driver could pull up. There were swarms of drivers trying to find guests, taxis, traffic and children begging. Finally, we got the bags into car # 2. (By now we had figured how that those taxis inside the port had been required to pay some kind of a “tax” to get into the port, hence their high rates.)

 

Our Lesson Learned: Take a private transfer arranged through Seabourn if you are departing in Mumbai. Or, arrange private transfer and arrange to have them meet you outside the “Green Gate” at the port – just know that you will have to first transfer your bags from the cruise terminal where you collect them, to the Green Gate by first putting them on a shuttle. (There were porters to assist with the lifting and loading of luggage, but it was a painfully inefficient process.)

 

Perhaps someone who has had a better experience disembarking in Mumbai can explain their secret?

 

It took our driver about 75 minutes to reach our hotel where business executives and Bollywood stars like to hang out. The JW Marriott has strong security with every car being searched and sniffed by a dog before you can reach the entrance. Once inside, then hotel is a Zen-like oasis. We checked in about 10:30 am. Tired from the morning’s events, we decided to forgo the tourist sites. Instead, we took a nap. Later in the afternoon, we ventured out of the hotel complex, and visited a nearby Starbucks. In the evening, we took advantage of the “Taste of Punjab” culinary event at the cook-to-order stations at the main restaurant in the hotel. It was terrific India food, some with spice that would blow your head off.

 

After dinner and another nap, we headed to the Mumbai airport just after midnight. (It’s a strange, watching the front desk scurry at midnight as everyone is checking out and heading to the airport.) Perhaps they schedule flight departures when traffic is a little lighter; it only took 20 minutes to get from the hotel to the airport.

 

The new Mumbai international terminal is stunning, and since we were flying First Class on Lufthansa, we got through security pretty quickly. As a nice surprise after a long day, we had the upper deck first class section virtually to ourselves on our flight to Frankfurt. There we connected to another flight to Chicago. If you collect frequent flyer miles like we do, we highly recommend Lufthansa First Class as a fabulous way to use them.

 

If you are interested, here’s a look around the JW Marriott Juhu Beach hotel: http://www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/05/05/a-look-inside-the-jw-marriott-hotel-mumbai-india/

 

Final thoughts:

Our cruise on the Seabourn Sojourn was a fantastic experience.

Let us know if you have any more specific questions on the destinations.

[patnlcc]

Your comments are very helpful, thank you. We are staying in Mumbai for a few days and our flight back to London is at 1pm. I reckon we should leave plenty time to get to the airport. I've read that none of the airlines have individual lounges in the new Terminal 2 - is this correct? We are flying British Airways First -using airmiles.