Are Seabourn ready for 6* cruising - Our worst cruise ever!!

[SLSD]

20 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Onboard SB right now.

 

So many rough edges, so many gaps and lapses in execution.  Reminds me more of an Azamara or Oceania experience than what SB promotes as their product.

 

And not just talking about a waiter not remembering your preferences from night to night (which I personally view as true nit-picking).

Which ship are are you on?  I'm guessing what you are seeing is a reflection of staffing issues.  

[John117]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

Onboard SB right now.

 

So many rough edges, so many gaps and lapses in execution.  Reminds me more of an Azamara or Oceania experience than what SB promotes as their product.

 

And not just talking about a waiter not remembering your preferences from night to night (which I personally view as true nit-picking).

As the OP for this thread I would be very interested to know what ship you are on and if your experience is in line with ours? (I do hope you do not have all the issues we had)!!  We have never been on Azamara or Oceania but what we experienced fell very far short of what we had on Viking August 2021 and Silversea November 2021 not to mention Encore March 2022 (which wasn't great either but not as bad as our most recent trip on Quest).

[highplanesdrifters]

On 6/17/2022 at 7:18 AM, fudge said:

Its quite disappointing reading these reviews of recent sailings. Like most people we have not cruised since the pandemic broke.

Our next sailing is with Silversea next Friday, I will be doing a live blog.

We love Seabourn, we have a cruise booked this December so hopefully the points people have made will be ironed out by then.

 

 

Love the lives.  Where are you going?

 

Ooops nevermind, saw your reply.

Edited June 18, 2022 by highplanesdrifters

[RetiredandTravel]

3 hours ago, rucrazy said:

We have often found that one’s experience on a cruise  is a reflection of the Hotel Director, Head Restaurants Manager, and Head of Housekeeping direct influence upon the crew in their individual departments, this influence can go a long way in shaping the cruise experience for a traveling guest. 
Over the years we have noticed it can fluctuate greatly from ship to ship within the same brand.
 

 

Agreed.  The management on the ship is key to the moral and performance of the entire ship.  I've  read several luxury trip reports post Covid and poor service appears to go further than the ship management in that there appears to be a high percentage of new employees who aren't trained correctly.  Especially as ships are reintroduced.  This is also a management issue but more at the corporate level.   Multiple people (many loyal clients) have reported very poor experiences on the luxury ships.  Just not acceptable at the price point.  We've been trying to figure out which line best fits us and have come to the conclusion to make the itinerary the top priority.  Maybe a higher mix of land based trips until this is sorted out.

 

Thank you fudge look forward to your report.

 

 

[travel4b]

I was sorry to read this discouraging review. We have been onboard Sojourn for the last two weeks. Since this was her restart I had prepared to lower my expectations. I’m happy to report all is beyond well!  Seabourn has brought on a core team of enthusiastic veteran staff who have apparently been on the various ships as they have returned to service. In my opinion it has helped smooth out the (few) rough edges concomitant with a lot of new staff.  Dining is as good as ever - maybe even better. Entertainment was been top notch, too. Matt is a great addition to a deep bench of talented Seabourn cruise directors.  The whole crew seems genuinely excited to be back at sea. 
 

This is our second post-COVID cruise. I’ve been reading a number of disturbing reviews online - from Seabourn to Silversea and onward - recently.  It cuts across all cruise lines, generally regarding service levels.   I also know, as a business owner, that complaints rise to the surface much faster than complements. It seems to just be human nature. Personally, I’m thrilled to be back onboard. 

[frantic36]

13 minutes ago, travel4b said:

I was sorry to read this discouraging review. We have been onboard Sojourn for the last two weeks. Since this was her restart I had prepared to lower my expectations. I’m happy to report all is beyond well!

 

Thank you for this encouraging review. We will be onboard Sojourn in just over three weeks and looking forward to it. Like you I am just planning to go with the flow as even some of our favourite hotels we have stayed in within our own State are suffering from issues with less experienced staff. 

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

[Thenagers]

2 hours ago, travel4b said:

I was sorry to read this discouraging review. We have been onboard Sojourn for the last two weeks. Since this was her restart I had prepared to lower my expectations. I’m happy to report all is beyond well!  Seabourn has brought on a core team of enthusiastic veteran staff who have apparently been on the various ships as they have returned to service. In my opinion it has helped smooth out the (few) rough edges concomitant with a lot of new staff.  Dining is as good as ever - maybe even better. Entertainment was been top notch, too. Matt is a great addition to a deep bench of talented Seabourn cruise directors.  The whole crew seems genuinely excited to be back at sea. 
 

This is our second post-COVID cruise. I’ve been reading a number of disturbing reviews online - from Seabourn to Silversea and onward - recently.  It cuts across all cruise lines, generally regarding service levels.   I also know, as a business owner, that complaints rise to the surface much faster than complements. It seems to just be human nature. Personally, I’m thrilled to be back onboard. 

So glad everything going well on Sojourn! We board next Sunday. I am beyond excited. 

[johng75370]

14 hours ago, travel4b said:

Matt is a great addition to a deep bench of talented Seabourn cruise directors.

We sailed with Matt last year when he was ACD on Odyssey, and delighted to hear he’s now CD…he made such a positive impact on us enjoying that cruise.  Glad you’re in great hands with him!

[janecambridge]

Our first and last Seabourn cruise this year.

We have been fortunate to use many different companies and Seabourn have been the only one we will not be returning to, despite our $1000 each fcc  in apology. If I could I would transfer it to any of you. 

[kjbacon]

We are less than one month away from our first Seabourn cruise so I’m just about speechless after reading this. We will be on Quest for 38 nights in a very large suite and I feel like we are about to experience our most expensive mistake ever. We are reasonably good at making lemonade out of lemons but …..

[MJN1]

4 hours ago, janecambridge said:

Our first and last Seabourn cruise this year.

We have been fortunate to use many different companies and Seabourn have been the only one we will not be returning to, despite our $1000 each fcc  in apology. If I could I would transfer it to any of you. 

Sorry, I can't find your review /posting for that cruise? What happened to you on which ship and when?

While I can find (always) some faults, our current Quest cruise is VERY enjoyable.

[frantic36]

1 hour ago, kjbacon said:

We are less than one month away from our first Seabourn cruise so I’m just about speechless after reading this. We will be on Quest for 38 nights in a very large suite and I feel like we are about to experience our most expensive mistake ever. We are reasonably good at making lemonade out of lemons but …..

Friends have just got off a Odyssey cruise a few days ago and apart from a few very minor hiccups they had an enjoyable cruise and they will complain if they think standards have dropped.They don't do cruise critic even though they checked it out a few years ago. 

 

I do hope that you find all is well.

 

I am also boarding our cruise in 2.5 weeks and am going with a wait and see attitude rather than looking for fault. After 2.5 years of border closures and lock downs I am ready to explore the world again.

[lincslady]

kjbacon - I am sorry you are - understandably - having misgivings about your first SB cruise.  All the cruise lines have had glitches recently, for obvious reasons, and have needed to recruit new, sometimes raw, staff.  The standard of service depends at present on sufficient of the 'older' staff to supervise newbies, and an efficient Hotel Director.  All the time the new staff are getting better, I am sure, and it does sound as if recent cruises on Quest have been pretty well up the very high standard of old.

 

In the past SB has been my go to line, rather than say Regent or Silversea.  It is just slightly more casual than Silversea, and from my fairly recent Regent trip, with much more friendly and intuitive staff.  I would be surprised if you did not find the staff in Seabourn Square extremely helpful and friendly, if you do have any problems.

 

I will finish by saying - I wish I was going to be on your cruise!  Could do with being pampered for a while.

[kjbacon]

We’ve done 2 post Covid cruises (Regent and Oceania) and had a marvelous time on both, despite the expected challenges that we flowed with. Covid or not, can anyone tell me how in the world there are no French reds (our primary drink) on board? If we have to buy our own when we dock in Bordeaux, we will, but hopefully SB will provide like a 5 (let alone 6)* cruise should.

[frantic36]

8 minutes ago, kjbacon said:

, can anyone tell me how in the world there are no French reds (our primary drink) on board?

I am curious, having read many recent threads which ones said they can't get French reds onboard?

[firsttimers68]

5 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We are less than one month away from our first Seabourn cruise so I’m just about speechless after reading this. We will be on Quest for 38 nights in a very large suite and I feel like we are about to experience our most expensive mistake ever. We are reasonably good at making lemonade out of lemons but …..

I've recently been on Seabourn Encore, in a very large suite and I have to say the trip was amazing. A few minor glitches, and I do mean minor. We had a brilliant time. Wonderful staff, food, fellow passengers. It's a shame when things go wrong, but considering the times we have been through, it is understandable. Personally I am just glad that we can cruise again. I am sure your trip will be great. 

[sfvoyage]

Another data point:  friends currently on Sojourn are reporting that all is well, normal excellent standards.

[John117]

3 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We’ve done 2 post Covid cruises (Regent and Oceania) and had a marvelous time on both, despite the expected challenges that we flowed with. Covid or not, can anyone tell me how in the world there are no French reds (our primary drink) on board? If we have to buy our own when we dock in Bordeaux, we will, but hopefully SB will provide like a 5 (let alone 6)* cruise should.

This was the included wine list. We tried most but apart from the Oyster Bay not many were to our taste. We also tried the Chateaux shown which was $115 but again it was not the best and certainly not worth the money.

[Catlover54]

On 6/16/2022 at 1:52 AM, John117 said:

. . . . .

 

 

The other problem we had was the servicing of our suite. Our suite attendant was based on deck 7 but we were on deck 5. We had no chance to interact with her as we never saw her. We resorted to communicating by leaving her notes. We had several nights when our room was not serviced at all or not done fully, room service dishes were still in our room some 5 hours later, the glasses we used during the afternoon weren’t washed up etc. We always put the service card on our door when we left the cabin but of course out stewardess didn’t see it as she spent all her time 2 decks away. I raised this problem in the comments form after 3 days but never had a reply from guest services until day 10 when I received a phone call. After the first 7 days we were visited by a new suite stewardess and her colleague who were taking over our suite. Most of the suites they have to look after are on deck 9. This seemed to improve things but we still had a few minor glitches like being 1 towel short, and getting down to our last toilet roll and running out of tissues. We also found a large piece of broken glass just under the bed which had probably been there since we embarked. Fortunately, our feet were just too small to step on this. We understand some cabin attendants had over 18 suites to look after.

 

Room service was variable. Warm champagne, portion of caviar for one instead of 2.  Breakfast orders were a bit of a joke and it was a lottery as to what turned up. The coffee was undrinkable sludge and normally cold. How can they deliver an odd number of certain items when you order 2 portions.

There were quite a few “new” staff who obviously needed some more training. Seabourn admit they are training staff but why should I have to participate in it and pay a large sum of money for the privilege?

 

The choice of food at breakfast has been cut quite dramatically with a poor selection of fruit, yoghurt and cereals. Yoghurt now comes in a small glass bowl or a large bowl for you to serve yourself. It was generally very runny and tasteless. It could take in excess of 20 mins for an order of fried eggs to arrive so don’t cut it fine if you are on a tour. Coffee was another issue and even the “French press” coffee was variable.

. . . .

 

The Restaurant was never open for breakfast or lunch so the choice of dining venues was reduced. On Keller nights in the Collonade a reservation was required there too reducing the choice of dining options. Earth and Ocean was also closed some nights if the CD had arranged some on deck entertainment.

 

The grill was slightly better on this trip (compared to Encore in March) but not great and the pisco sour was really good as was the Dover Sole.  I asked for my steak to be well done and it was but it was practically incinerated. They don’t seem to appreciate the concept of butterflying the beef and prefer to burn it to get to well done. The fries and veg were acceptable at best. We have tried the deserts before and weren’t impressed so gave them a miss (except for one order to test them and I didn’t eat that either).

 

The service in the restaurant was so bad one night as our regular waiter wasn’t there.  Different types of butter were just dumped on the table with no explanation of what each pot was, bread was dumped on our plate without asking what we would like, wine was spilt on the table and down the glass and not mopped up, our order was not taken for 20 mins, food served from wrong side, fish overcooked…. And so it goes on.  We spoke to the Maître d who accepted all our comments without argument. On the way out we were met by the food and beverage manager so we briefed him on our problems again

 

On Seabourn we used to have a problem deciding which restaurant to go to as we liked almost everything on the menu. This time we searched for something we might eat and changed the side dishes to suit us as the recommended ones were pretty bad. This was definitely the worst food we have experienced on any cruise (Viking, Cunard, Regent, Silversea, Seabourn and several river cruises). This includes the three other post Covid cruises taken since August 2021

 

We never saw the chef in the restaurant. He seemed stay in the kitchen so the poor wait staff had to take all the bad comments.

 

The water provided in recyclable bottles we didn’t like so we managed to get enough Evian and filled our own bottles for going ashore.

 

The group of Entertainment staff spent time in the bars drinking on occasions. They were not performing as one of the team was ill. They have not performed in 10 weeks since being employed. They also made themselves at home in the hot tubs and swimming pool

 

They have installed Night lights under both bedside cabinets and the dressing table which can’t be switched off.  They come on automatically as you walk past and stay on for about 10 seconds. They produce an excessive amount of light and this normally wakes your partner if you try to visit the bathroom in the night.

 

We understand our cruise had 280 passengers on week one and 250 on week 2 so not exactly crowded. The cruise following ours they think had 183 passengers.

 

Management of tenders and groups was a problem. We sat on a tender for 25 mins one day waiting for a group to board.

 

Our return transfer was by coach at a much more sedate pace with a Seabourn rep on board. We were dropped off at the bus station but received no help as to where to go to check in. This might not seem such a problem but Bologna airport is quite small and if I tell you our coach took 10 mins to negotiate the airport entrance road mainly due to the drop off car park being full and cars being abandoned and suitcases unloaded all along the road you will realise how busy the airport was and that some help would have eased the journey.

 

So, in summary In case you think we waited until we got home to complain I can assure you that we had meaningful discussions with the Hotel Director “Harry” who accepted there were problems and they would “get fixed”. Unfortunately, not in time for our cruise!!

 

If Seabourn don’t have enough competent staff to give the service they advertise, which it would appear was the case on this cruise, then they should not have started up so many ships. The present service level will destroy their reputation as a 6* cruise line.

 

We will definitely not be returning to Seabourn in the near future until they sort themselves out and get back to where they were pre pandemic (if they ever do under new owners?)

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your very detailed review, and for supporting your opinions with specific factual reports.

The most important thing you wrote, to me, is "many of these are small issues and on their own would not have spoilt our holiday. The problem was they appeared almost every day. This was basically 3/4* service and food but at 6* prices."

That is what is key.  If other "luxury" lines are similarly duping passengers, SB will get away with this long term.  If there is nowhere to run for luxury at sea (at least not on an English-speaking line, excluding Hapag Lloyd's luxury German or German/English ships), some people will just do land trips or stay home.

 

We cruise primarily for itinerary (DH in particular wants interesting photographs in port), and just want a ship without crowds and lines, and a comfortable cabin that is adequately cooled and without daily battles dealing with broken things and trays not removed.  Nice food (at least 1-2 dishes, somewhere) is a bonus, preferably without having to deal with a scrum at a long line buffet.  We think of these as easy to satisfy *for the prices*.  SB usually did this (other than on some voyages with comical service), and hope we will not be disappointed when we reboard her in September.

 

[kjbacon]

Thank you for posting that wine list, John.

 

That selection is shockingly bad for serious red wine drinkers. Regent’s red wine selection puts that to shame. 

[SLSD]

Just a note,  we have found the Clarence Dillon Clarendell Bordeaux, France to be pleasant and palatable.  I do find it disappointing that no Reds from France are offered---also none from Italy.  

[johng75370]

1 hour ago, kjbacon said:

Regent’s red wine selection puts that to shame. 

Of course keep in mind that the complimentary wines offered can vary from voyage to voyage.  For reference, here is a recent posting of what is offered on Regent: 

 

Seems odd that there is only one Bordeaux blend, and it’s offered for the Pool Grill.  

[RetiredandTravel]

There certainly are more Red wines on the Regent list but the quality of the Seabourn Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Rioja are far superior.  This seems to be a very abbreviated list of Reds by Seabourn, hope its a one off not a trend.

 

The Regent Bordeaux listed at the pool is a $10 wine, I'm sure if you asked for it in Compass Rose they would get it for you.

[Mauzac]

20 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We are less than one month away from our first Seabourn cruise so I’m just about speechless after reading this. We will be on Quest for 38 nights in a very large suite and I feel like we are about to experience our most expensive mistake ever. We are reasonably good at making lemonade out of lemons but …..

 

Please don't be put off.  We SB cruised in February this year and despite masks and testing, we found the standard just as good as ever, possibly even better given the circumstances (pandemic) because everyone was just so pleased to be onboard.

 

We have a big SB cruise coming up end of September and we are excited and more than positive about this cruise.

I think you have to remember that those posting about problems are just a very tiny percentage of SB cruisers.  You probably wouldn't know about any problems without this forum, and may well (hopefully) go off on your cruise and have a fantastic experience.  

I just know - from many SB cruises - that what annoys or upsets some people just doesn't register with us.  We are in different times and as long as SB work hard to make everyone's cruise something special (which I feel they do) all will be well.

I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it all is with supply chains, restrictions, staffing issues etc and personally I am happy to cut them a bit of slack.  The world has changed.

[FlyerTalker]

14 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Thank you for posting that wine list, John.

 

That selection is shockingly bad for serious red wine drinkers. Regent’s red wine selection puts that to shame. 

 

The Montessa was surprisingly good - probably the best of the reds on the included list, and much nicer than the Nine Hats, which seems to be the most pushed red.