Newbie Questions

[ernieb]

My DW and I will be taking our first Seabourn cruise on the Odyssey’s Panama Canal Passage on April 28, 2022. We have previously cruised primarily on HAL and most recently on Regent and Silversea. We have a few  questions about what to expect aboard the Odyssey. We will be in a penthouse suite, if that makes a difference.

• LAUNDRY- On HAL, we stay in a Neptune Suite and have unlimited complementary laundry and dry cleaning services. On Regent, there was no complementary laundry service, but there were self-service laundry rooms on each deck. What should we expect on the Odyssey? It looks like there are self-service laundry rooms but they may be very limited. Are there any Laundry/Dry Cleaning packages for purchase at reduced rates?
• DINNING- We normally enjoy specialized dining venues rather than the main dining room. It appears the only specialty dining venue will be the TK Grill. We particularly enjoy Italian cuisine and I see no Italian venues. Will we be able to enjoy a variety of cuisines including Italian?

 

This will also be our first Panama Canal cruise. Are there any experiences we should not miss.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Ernie

[zelker]

To get you started, this should help clarify what you can expect in your PH Suite:  

 

Cruise Suites | Luxury Cruise Ship Suites | Seabourn

 

Yes, there will be a variety of menu options.  We particularly enjoy The Colonnade's dinner options with various theme nights on the menu and there is seating indoors and outdoors.

 

Re: going through the Canal, the best piece of advice I can give you is to move around the ship during the transit including going to a lower deck when inside a lock ... don't just watch it from your verandah.  Also, the ships line up for the approach before daybreak and it's amazing to see all the tankers, freighters, etc. lined up on the sides waiting their turn to enter.  For your first time, I'd recommend getting up early so you can watch the ship enter and the best places to do that would be up front - either on the open deck in front of the Observation Bar (Deck 10) or on Deck 6 out by the hot tub.  

 

Enjoy!

[ernieb]

Thank you.

[wesport]

Laundry on Seabourn is $50 per bag.  The bags are somewhat larger than HAL. Laundry facilities are limited. If you want to do laundry you might have to do it during non peak periods. Like 2 am in the morning. I don' think Seabourn has laundry packages like HAL does. Don't remember too many Italian dishes in the Dining room, but the more casual Colonnade will definitely have Italian dishes. They seem to do theme nights. We truly enjoyed all the Thomas Keller nights in the Colonnade. You will enjoy the dining area outside the Colonnade. We ate there many evenings. You will also have a more casual dining venue around the pool. Earth and Ocean. You can find the menu website. Mostly steaks and seafood. Definitely try out the Thomas Keller Grill. We have always enjoyed the vibe. Not for everyone, but you have to try. 2022 will be here before you know it.  

[capriccio]

13 hours ago, ernieb said:

This will also be our first Panama Canal cruise. Are there any experiences we should not miss.

 

We have yet to sail on Seabourn (we hope to once the pandemic is over and cruising resumes) so I can't make specific comments about the cruise line or the ship but here's a comment related to the itinerary.  David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas documenting the history of the Canal is highly recommended reading.

[ernieb]

Thank you both for your very useful information.

[johng75370]

19 hours ago, ernieb said:

It appears the only specialty dining venue will be the TK Grill.

As you may have read already, two other dinner venues on board Odyssey are Earth & Ocean and the Colonade with special menus (usually a specific country theme each night, so there should at least one Italian night); worth checking out the sample Earth and Ocean menu.  

https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/experience/dining/earth-and-ocean.html

Also worth noting, you can have a special meal prepared by the chef with 24 hours notice, as a way to get to a complete Italian meal.  We’ve had Italian chefs on board and great Italian dishes and pasta seem to appear reasonably often.  

6 hours ago, wesport said:

We truly enjoyed all the Thomas Keller nights in the Colonnade.

If you like fried chicken, the Thomas Keller fried chicken night at the Colonade is by a wide margin the best I’ve ever had.  Reservations are required, so worth booking when they announce it.  

[tjcox9]

As both a HAL and Seabourn cruiser, I might add that the laundry service on Seabourn doesn't have as quick a turn around time as HAL does, at least in our experience.

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, johng75370 said:

f you like fried chicken, the Thomas Keller fried chicken night at the Colonade is by a wide margin the best I’ve ever had.  

 

Curious because I do enjoy fried chicken.  What makes the Thomas Keller edition so special?  

[zelker]

TK's BBQ ribs with all the sides are what stands out for us! 

[johng75370]

56 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

What makes the Thomas Keller edition so special?  

if I knew I would try to recreate at home 🙂 

The chicken was very moist, skin very crisp, flavors just right; obviously tastes vary but for me it just hit all the right notes.  I saw a show of his where the chicken was specially stored for 3 days to get the skin tight and meat softer - this may have been a similar process.

 

The other parts were great too; salad; grits; Cowgirl Creamery cheese, strawberry shortcake.  Probably leaving out other parts, but overall it was great!  Again, one person’s opinion but I have had it a couple of times and both times it exceeded expectations. 

Edited February 6, 2021 by johng75370

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, johng75370 said:

if I knew I would try to recreate at home 🙂 

The chicken was very moist, skin very crisp, flavors just right; obviously tastes vary but for me it just hit all the right notes.  I saw a show of his where the chicken was specially stored for 3 days to get the skin tight and meat softer - this may have been a similar process.

 

The other parts were great too; salad; grits; Cowgirl Creamery cheese, strawberry shortcake.  Probably leaving out other parts, but overall it was great!  Again, one person’s opinion but I have had it a couple of times and both times it exceeded expectations. 

 

Thanks for your reply and description!  Seabourn just has to be in my future if I am able to cruise once again.  

[wesport]

Seabourn turn around for laundry is a full two days as mentioned previously.

[alidor]

Agree about the chicken.  It is literally the best we have ever had!  The Lobster Thermidor is very good also...

[ernieb]

I noticed the “Referral Coupon” thread. Does anyone know if that is still available and might be something we could take advantage of?

[wdpmd]

As far as I know, they are still available.  They give you a shipboard credit of $300 or $400.  Can't remember which.  There is no penalty.  If you want one give me a shout at wdpmd@yahoo.com and I'll send you one.

 

Dave

[zelker]

In the past it was $400 but unless you still have some of those coupons to share, the new guest referrals are now $250 per stateroom.  Also, if you (the newbie) is already getting OBC from Seabourn, they generally don't allow you to have both so you'll want to double-check on that (you can pick whichever is higher).

[ernieb]

Thanks, I am getting a higher OBC. But it was a nice thought.

Ernie

[zelker]

2 minutes ago, ernieb said:

Thanks, I am getting a higher OBC. But it was a nice thought.

Ernie

 

Double-check with Seabourn - now that I think about it, I think it depends which coupon you get because I think the new $250 ones are combinable (for sure the old $400 ones were not).  Tell them a friend wants to sponsor you with the $250 new referral coupon and can you combine it with your OBC?

 

It's all done electronically now by the way - no need to do it via mail like with the old system.  Let me know if you need one - barb dot h at comcast dot net

[ernieb]

Thanks, I’ll do that.

[tv24]

On HAL we too travel in Neptune class and love the laundry service.  But that is probably the only feature of HAL Neptune that exceeds the basic Seabourn Verandah experience, so be prepared to be wowed.  We have enjoyed 2 very long Seabourn cruises in which we were our own washer women and believe me, no problem getting access to the self-service machines.  And here is a tip:  Order a glass of bubbly to make laundry day pass by in a blur.  I understand Seabourn will deliver to the laundry room.

[jdk-atlga]

On 2/7/2021 at 8:36 AM, alidor said:

Agree about the chicken.  It is literally the best we have ever had!  The Lobster Thermidor is very good also...

With celiac and required gluten free, they were also able to make a very good GF version of the fried chicken. It was definitely a special treat. 

[sunshineocean13]

On 2/9/2021 at 5:51 AM, jdk-atlga said:

With celiac and required gluten free, they were also able to make a very good GF version of the fried chicken. It was definitely a special treat. 

That's great to know! I'm celiac, and have appreciated the excellent job Seabourn does accommodating my diet, but I always figured the fried chicken was out of the question.

 

Also, to clarify, the TK rib and fried chicken nights are held in the Colonnade, not in the TK Grill. You need reservations for the TK nights in the Colonnade, but they're easy to get if you make them when it's announced. Reservations for TK Grill are sometimes easy to get onboard, other times not so much, in my experience.

 

You can stuff a lot of clothing into the $50 laundry bag, especially if you roll the clothes tightly!

[ernieb]

Does the $50 laundry bag also cover dry cleaning?

[sunshineocean13]

56 minutes ago, ernieb said:

Does the $50 laundry bag also cover dry cleaning?

No, just laundry. We've never paid for dry cleaning so I haven't paid attention to prices. We had free dry cleaning for our last cruise, the 2020 World (or should I say the half-2020-World).