Couldn't get much worse ship's-officer inclusion-wise

[Alipius]

During the April 2019 Shanghai to Kobe, not one Officer came down to dinner during the 18 days. 

 

Heck: not even an Engineer..... (The highest ranking 'crew' we came across there was the Assistant Cruise Director, David: he was a total delight.)  

 

The Captain, Tim Roberts, lovely fellow though he is, was only seen when needs be at a function in the red-room along with the set-patter: and not once did see him 'around the ship' or even at the Galley Lunch (but he must have been there, surely!)    It truly was a surprise to finally see him near the gang-way as we 'disembarked'.

 

The Cruise Director I saw only at functions where he had to be: he's a cabaret fellow and doesn't seem to do 'off stage'; and not once did I see him 'around the ship' or,  again, even at the Galley lunch, except to do the: 'Three Cheers for the Cooks'.  (The food was indeed pretty good!)

 

Puts you off a bit and sort of let's you know what they think of us and they are actually running the place you're on so you can't help think; anyway, after 250+ days it now helps me to manage my money

 

 

[lincslady]

This sounds strange - did the Captain never host a table on  a formal optional night, or indeed any night?  Most unusual.  Ditto for other Officers, and the Cruise Director?

[Isklaar]

Who was your CD? 

[Mauzac]

We were on a cruise with Tim Roberts, Captain, earlier in the year and he was very visible.  In fact more visible than any other Captain we've sailed with.  He was many days in the Colonnade lunching, at the (often dreaded) Block Party, round the ship at different venues, on the pool deck and obviously at oranganised dos.  We had a chat with him in the corridor in passing, interesting chap

 

Ditto the Cruise Director and his two assistants, we dined with all of them and got to know them quite well, also very visible. 

[cuddles115]

I was on the Odyssey in March.  The captain , etc. save for his noon talk ( which BTW was unintelligible because of poor speaker on the ship and his accent), welcoming speech, and hosted tables was invisible. I thought it was a new Seabourn proclamation. Never saw the top echelon. I guess it was beneath them.

[Mauzac]

48 minutes ago, cuddles115 said:

I was on the Odyssey in March.  The captain , etc. save for his noon talk ( which BTW was unintelligible because of poor speaker on the ship and his accent), welcoming speech, and hosted tables was invisible. I thought it was a new Seabourn proclamation. Never saw the top echelon. I guess it was beneath them.

 

 

Strange, I found completely the opposite, different peoples perceptions I suppose, and we were March too. 😀

[Sunprince]

This sounds more like my experience on Silversea, not Seabourn. On SB, the officers are usually present and greet you personally upon embarkation and disembarkation. The CDs are always visible. On SS, the CD would not even acknowledge us, was mainly invisible except for introducing the evening show and stood around in his casual dress (jeans) on disembarkation day ignoring departing guests (it was only the sommelier who was standing alone at the bottom of the gangway to say goodbye....she looked like a lost sheep all by herself).

[saminina]

27 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

This sounds more like my experience on Silversea, not Seabourn. On SB, the officers are usually present and greet you personally upon embarkation and disembarkation.

 

Exactly.....you couldn't have more different approaches on intermingling officers/passengers.   It's been this way forever.

Edited August 28, 2019 by saminina

[wesport]

The only time I sailed with Tim Roberts was 28 days on Holland America's Prinsendam.  He was always visible. Always having lunch by the pool, on the dock welcoming passengers back on the ship, and at many meet and greet functions. He really left a positive impression . The Prinsendam had 800 passengers also. Somewhat bigger that Seabourn's ships. 

[Isklaar]

32 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

This sounds more like my experience on Silversea, not Seabourn. On SB, the officers are usually present and greet you personally upon embarkation and disembarkation. The CDs are always visible. On SS, the CD would not even acknowledge us, was mainly invisible except for introducing the evening show and stood around in his casual dress (jeans) on disembarkation day ignoring departing guests (it was only the sommelier who was standing alone at the bottom of the gangway to say goodbye....she looked like a lost sheep all by herself).

 

Agree.

 

 

[Isklaar]

I sailed with Capt Roberts on Sojourn a couple of years ago and he was a delight, always visible and ready for a chat with any guest.

I wonder if there was something going on during OP's cruise?

[cuddles115]

2 hours ago, Mauzac said:

 

 

Strange, I found completely the opposite, different peoples perceptions I suppose, and we were March too. 😀

I don't want to be confrontational and if Alipius had not started this thread, I would have forgotten completely about the  indifference of the ship's officers. Yes, I did mention the problem at great length on the comment card and NO, I didn't get any response from Seabourn. I certainly don't expect them to be bosom buddies with me and vice versa. In the same vein,  I don't expect the gregarious captain on Gilligan's Island( a blast from the past!!). But, the only time I saw the captain other than the above was in the TK Grill with a female companion(NOT a passenger). My next cruise is in November  and I would hope that the officers will be more visible.  I plan on a Caribbean voyage in March and will not be on a Seabourn ship to avoid similar situations next year.

[Mauzac]

1 hour ago, Isklaar said:

I sailed with Capt Roberts on Sojourn a couple of years ago and he was a delight, always visible and ready for a chat with any guest.

I wonder if there was something going on during OP's cruise?

 

 

 

47 minutes ago, cuddles115 said:

I don't want to be confrontational and if Alipius had not started this thread, I would have forgotten completely about the  indifference of the ship's officers. Yes, I did mention the problem at great length on the comment card and NO, I didn't get any response from Seabourn. I certainly don't expect them to be bosom buddies with me and vice versa. In the same vein,  I don't expect the gregarious captain on Gilligan's Island( a blast from the past!!). But, the only time I saw the captain other than the above was in the TK Grill with a female companion(NOT a passenger). My next cruise is in November  and I would hope that the officers will be more visible.  I plan on a Caribbean voyage in March and will not be on a Seabourn ship to avoid similar situations next year.

 

I just don't know why your cruise was so different to ours!    I hope your November cruise works out better for you.🙂 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Mauzac
misttake in quoting

[rols]

7 hours ago, Isklaar said:

Who was your CD? 

I'm assuming Ross Roberts as it was on our trip into Shanghai and pretty sure he didn't get off until Kodiak. He certainly wasn't invisible during our 2 week leg, he was everywhere, saw him on deck, at any and every event, at trivia, greeting guests getting on and off at port, up at tea most days doing needlepoint and chatting to any and everyone who stopped by,we wondered when the guy ever got a break. Similarly Dave his assistant was always running around and he stopped for a chat many times. Yvonne, the other ACD, less so, but she was there. 

The captain, he was less visible. We did see him a little and he attended the events he had to attend and always seemed a little uncomfortable speaking and ran off afterwards. 

There were definitely officers in the main dining room every night hosting tables, lots of them. To the point we noted on our comment card that we saw many hosted tables and never received one invite the whole cruise, despite always enjoying them and indicating at the start of the cruise we'd be happy to receive some. 

[SLSD]

35 minutes ago, rols said:

To the point we noted on our comment card that we saw many hosted tables and never received one invite the whole cruise, despite always enjoying them and indicating at the start of the cruise we'd be happy to receive some. 

We received only two invitations to hosted tables on our 23 day cruise even though we had indicated that we would be happy to receive invitations. On previous SB cruises, we had received many many invitations.  Perhaps there were so many solo travelers that space was limited for others.  

 

 I think we were on the leg (Kobe to Vancouver) right after you.  Too bad we could not meet.  Maybe on another cruise someday!  

 

But I agree, Ross Roberts was everywhere until he departed the ship in Kodiak.  He always left a smile on our faces.  We did have a different captain and he was everywhere as well.  

Edited August 29, 2019 by SLSD

[tv24]

I cannot deny the experience of other passengers.  But in my experience, the presence and availability of top staff on Seabourn has always been notable.  Cruise Director, Assistant Director, Captain, Hotel Director, etc., very often out-and-about.  We've had long chats with the Cruise Directors.  And have had dinner invites.  This is not a super-important issue for us as we enjoy the company of fellow passengers and don't depend on interactions with cruise officers.  But still, we've had ample opportunity.  On the other hand, on other lines, more mass-market (Cunard, HAL, Princess) we see the officers only at special functions when there are huge groups of passengers and crew around.

[Thecat123]

A couple of years ago we had Tim Roberts as captain for about 3 weeks Singapore to Singapore on the Sojourn and we thought he was the most visible along with other officers we have ever had. We joked each morning there seemed to be a "staff" meeting with all the officers along with Tim, who were sitting on the stools in The Colonnade having breakfast

[dalliowner]

I have found most officers seem to prefer to eat in the Colonnade , most probably for something a bit lighter to eat.

[lincslady]

Regardless of generally  being around the ship, I had always thought that the Captain, and other Officers, were actually supposed as part of their job to host tables on formal nights.  This has always been the case on our many Seabourn cruises.  I am sure some of them do not enjoy it, but I really thought it was expected of them.  (And we always actually said 'no invitations please' when arriving at the ship, as being slightly deaf we do not enjoy them).  

[Isklaar]

8 hours ago, rols said:

I'm assuming Ross Roberts as it was on our trip into Shanghai and pretty sure he didn't get off until Kodiak. He certainly wasn't invisible during our 2 week leg, he was everywhere, saw him on deck, at any and every event, at trivia, greeting guests getting on and off at port, up at tea most days doing needlepoint and chatting to any and everyone who stopped by,we wondered when the guy ever got a break. Similarly Dave his assistant was always running around and he stopped for a chat many times. Yvonne, the other ACD, less so, but she was there. 

The captain, he was less visible. We did see him a little and he attended the events he had to attend and always seemed a little uncomfortable speaking and ran off afterwards. 

There were definitely officers in the main dining room every night hosting tables, lots of them. To the point we noted on our comment card that we saw many hosted tables and never received one invite the whole cruise, despite always enjoying them and indicating at the start of the cruise we'd be happy to receive some. 

 

 

I'm also assuming Ross but it would be good if the OP came back to the thread to confirm.

Ross was CD on our Sojourn cruise a couple of years ago that I referred to earlier in the thread. As you noted for your recent cruise, we found that he was absolutely everywhere during our cruise, he was a bundle of energy and very chatty to guests.

You've just reminded me though, we didn't receive any invite at all to a hosted table during our Ovation Holiday cruise last December/Jan but we did see lots of hosted tables in MDR.

 

 

[DavidTheWonderer]

Not that I am criticizing, but personally I don't care if the ship's officers are around and about or not.  However, for those for whom it is important, perhaps you could consider Azamara.  Not a "luxury" cruise line but the officers are highly visible all the time.

[Cornet]

I confirm that Ross Roberts was the Cruise Director from Kobe to Kodiak, he left us to attend a Cruise Directors conference that I think was being held in Seattle. New CD for 7 nights called Jim and then Jan  Stearman took over in Vancouver.

Ross was highly visible around the ship at all hours of the day, he is very approachable and friendly and a great entertainer. The show ‘Strictly Dancing with the Stripes’ was the funniest thing we have ever seen on a Seabourn ship. Ross resplendent in green tights became Michael Flatley in Riverdance and the Grand Salon was in uproar.

 

 

[markham]

Our Shanghai to Vancouver (2 segments for 41 days) was terrific and certainly up to Seabourn standards in every way. We had 4 dinners in the MDR with captains Roberts and Elliott (with wife Gail) and three times with HD Peppi,  and in those cases we invited them to join, which they happily did, for our own and our friends’ special occasions.

 

As ever, Seabourn’s senior officers spent lots of time on deck and in the public rooms ensuring they were highly visible and, in any case, always available should you want to arrange a meeting. That would include Ross and Jim, cruise sales/club representative Liesl and Bar Manager Sean. We could not ask for anything more!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Edited August 29, 2019 by markham

[Mauzac]

1 hour ago, Cornet said:

I confirm that Ross Roberts was the Cruise Director from Kobe to Kodiak, he left us to attend a Cruise Directors conference that I think was being held in Seattle. New CD for 7 nights called Jim and then Jan  Stearman took over in Vancouver.

Ross was highly visible around the ship at all hours of the day, he is very approachable and friendly and a great entertainer. The show ‘Strictly Dancing with the Stripes’ was the funniest thing we have ever seen on a Seabourn ship. Ross resplendent in green tights became Michael Flatley in Riverdance and the Grand Salon was in uproar.

 

 

 

Ross Roberts 'cook-off' against the Executive Chef Lyndsey was absolutely hilarious too.  I won't spoil it for anyone but needless to say the play on the Thomas Keller menu also had the Grand Salon in hysterics!  

[Mark56]

Wouldn’t bother me either way. The captain and officers are there to give excellent service and their primary job is to run the ship safely.