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

[Mr Luxury]

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. 

Perhaps that is why Regent is so much more expensive to sail on.

[MJN1]

55 minutes ago, Mauzac said:

 

Please don't be put off. 

I can only echo this comment.

Yes, I don't doubt that someone had a bad experience. Yes, the complimentary wines are not 3rd growth Bordeaux (but frankly the current ones on board are not bad and as we are cruising along Italy and Croatia one can easily buy some nice local wines and bring on board...).

We are now 5 days on board the Quest and the experience is as good as 3 years ago and in some aspects (additional breakfast option on the pool deck, afternoon tea service) even better. That the ship is only 50% full obviously helps, that the staff is mostly experienced is a big plus. Importantly, EVERYONE is smiling! 

Hope that the only lemon you will experience is the Lemon Soufflé....

[lincslady]

Surely the lack of French red wines is the 'rapport qualite/prix' as they would describe it.  You tend to get better quality and better tasting wines from the new world, and probably Spain and Italy than you would from French ones  for a similar not very high price.

[janecambridge]

22 hours ago, MJN1 said:

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.

We were on encore. Penthouse spa suite chosen as aft, deck 11 and only 5 cabins there. We were very happy with the size,  position and layout of the suite. Beautiful bathroom, lovely large aft balcony. This was a special treat to have such an expensive cabin. 
But on arrival in our cabin the luggage on the bed was not ours. My husband went to use the phone and it was broken. I was checking out the many storage areas only to find 2 pairs of crumpled swimming shirts in a cupboard. Another had receipts in. Clearly no cleaning had happened between occupancy. A cupboard door was broken and not shutting, the plug in bathroom sink was broken. There were numerous ‘extras’ for the type of suite missing. No welcome champagne and tired flowers. Overall a neglected cabin. 
It seemed ridiculous that you could only get certain cocktails in certain bars. Three times  we were given out of date conserves even though we had pointed the date each time. 
The food was nowhere near the standard we had expected. The colonnade TK menu was very poor.Worst meal, bar one. Many more small problems. 
Our second meal in T.Keller was a disaster. We ordered the chicken for 2, to be carved at the table. Also a wine pairing for this. The chicken arrived. One slice of the knife and blood. I said it was raw, told it wasn’t as it had been cooked for 36hrs. (In fact it isn’t- 45 mins). The carver insisted it was fine. We let him dish it up, to take a closer look. Blood swirling on the plate and a bloody bone with it. We refused and told him to take it away. Other people came up to us and had had the same problem. The sous chef came out and apologised. He suggested we go back on our final night. Eventually we saw the restaurant manager (Ali) and he said we would be well looked after if we returned. We did return at least expecting a replacement pairings wine for our steak. We got a ‘lollipop’ of frois grois in a posh box!! That was it. It is scary to think that someone with poor eyesight could have eaten that chicken. 

It was clearly a ship of repeaters and they were very spoilt. Quite a few saying how things had changed. 
I do have to say that the staff are some of the best at sea. 

[janecambridge]

 “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.”

 

That’s fine. I understand and to some point I agree, but majority of our problems was nothing to do with supply chains and restrictions. Staffing issues possibly, but those workers were some of the best we have encountered. 

[kjbacon]

1 hour ago, Mr Luxury said:

Perhaps that is why Regent is so much more expensive to sail on.

Our experience is the opposite. We are finding Seabourn far more expensive than Regent.

 

1 hour ago, lincslady said:

Surely the lack of French red wines is the 'rapport qualite/prix' as they would describe it.  You tend to get better quality and better tasting wines from the new world, and probably Spain and Italy than you would from French ones  for a similar not very high price.

We respectfully disagree with you. We very much prefer the old world wines, especially from the Saint Emilion region.

 

1 hour ago, MJN1 said:

I can only echo this comment.

Yes, I don't doubt that someone had a bad experience. Yes, the complimentary wines are not 3rd growth Bordeaux (but frankly the current ones on board are not bad and as we are cruising along Italy and Croatia one can easily buy some nice local wines and bring on board...).

We are now 5 days on board the Quest and the experience is as good as 3 years ago and in some aspects (additional breakfast option on the pool deck, afternoon tea service) even better. That the ship is only 50% full obviously helps, that the staff is mostly experienced is a big plus. Importantly, EVERYONE is smiling! 

Hope that the only lemon you will experience is the Lemon Soufflé....

Thank you for the well wishes and we always manage to enjoy ourselves. Hoping the ship is still not full. Breakfast on the pool deck sounds great! What dishes are featured? We have several stops in France, 2 days docked in Bordeaux, so we will have options but at the price we are paying? SB should be getting those provisions!

[John117]

16 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

 

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.

 

I 100% agree and the reason I have complained vigorously to Seabourn on board and HQ since I returned home is that we cannot blame Covid for ever more or the current standard will become the new Norm. As one contributor suggested we need to "cut them a bit of slack" and I agree up to a point. But if they can only provide a much reduced service then they should advise passengers and allow them to cancel until they can meet the standards people expect.

[lincslady]

kjbacon - I am not by any means saying that I don't prefer French wines - merely that at the sort of cost the cruise lines are prepared to pay you are unlikely to get something really good to drink.  Especially anything from the Bordeaux area.

[frantic36]

3 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Our experience is the opposite. We are finding Seabourn far more expensive than Regent.

 

 

I guess it depends on the cruise. Our booking with Regent an 11 day Tokyo to Tokyo in 2023 is much more expensive on a per diem rate than our Seabourn cruises...even taking into account all the extras like excursions, which we probably won't use most of them, flights etc.

[Catlover54]

7 hours ago, janecambridge said:

We were on encore. Penthouse spa suite chosen as aft, deck 11 and only 5 cabins there. We were very happy with the size,  position and layout of the suite. Beautiful bathroom, lovely large aft balcony. This was a special treat to have such an expensive cabin. 
But on arrival in our cabin the luggage on the bed was not ours. My husband went to use the phone and it was broken. I was checking out the many storage areas only to find 2 pairs of crumpled swimming shirts in a cupboard. Another had receipts in. Clearly no cleaning had happened between occupancy. A cupboard door was broken and not shutting, the plug in bathroom sink was broken. There were numerous ‘extras’ for the type of suite missing. No welcome champagne and tired flowers. Overall a neglected cabin. 
It seemed ridiculous that you could only get certain cocktails in certain bars. Three times  we were given out of date conserves even though we had pointed the date each time. 
The food was nowhere near the standard we had expected. The colonnade TK menu was very poor.Worst meal, bar one. Many more small problems. 
Our second meal in T.Keller was a disaster. We ordered the chicken for 2, to be carved at the table. Also a wine pairing for this. The chicken arrived. One slice of the knife and blood. I said it was raw, told it wasn’t as it had been cooked for 36hrs. (In fact it isn’t- 45 mins). The carver insisted it was fine. We let him dish it up, to take a closer look. Blood swirling on the plate and a bloody bone with it. We refused and told him to take it away. Other people came up to us and had had the same problem. The sous chef came out and apologised. He suggested we go back on our final night. Eventually we saw the restaurant manager (Ali) and he said we would be well looked after if we returned. We did return at least expecting a replacement pairings wine for our steak. We got a ‘lollipop’ of frois grois in a posh box!! That was it. It is scary to think that someone with poor eyesight could have eaten that chicken. 

It was clearly a ship of repeaters and they were very spoilt. Quite a few saying how things had changed. 
I do have to say that the staff are some of the best at sea. 

 

". . . .I do have to say that the staff are some of the best at sea."

 

I assume you are not referring to the staff carver who  kept insisting that bloody chicken was just fine.

 

The tendency of many staff even on luxury ships to deny factual reality and treat pax like idiots is one of my biggest irritants when cruising.

Another is giving misinformation instead of saying " I don't know, let me find out for you" .  It seems to be something that staff, if they think they are too busy to correct a problem , have learned they can get away with. 

 

I would rather they just acknowledge that the customer is displeased, or that they don't know an answer, and act accordingly, instead of trying to pull a fast one.  

 

My favorite is when they insist that a refrigerator, or AC,  I know is broken is working just fine.  They then get confused and look for more creative excuses when I show them the mini-thermometer I carry with me that objectively measures temperature.

 

Fortunately most staff on luxury lines tend to be better overall , but I have not done SB since Covid yet (have done 5 other cruises since Covid though not SB, and soon I will also be able to use up my cruise credits on SB Quest, before they expire). I had originally signed up for a SB Venture cruise, thinking with a new ship the staff would be top notch (like they were when the Crystal Endeavor was released last year) , but then the itinerary was changed so much it did not work for us.

 

I will keep my fingers crossed that things improve in the next couple months, because we are past the point of no return on our Quest booking.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Catlover54
Typo

[John Cruise]

Fotunately Crystal is coming back.

👏

[Mr Luxury]

13 hours ago, John Cruise said:

Fotunately Crystal is coming back.

👏

That's a good thing but we will have a long wait to see what sort of cruise line the new/old A&K ships will become.

Stay tuned

Edited June 26, 2022 by Mr Luxury

[MJN1]

On 6/25/2022 at 10:10 AM, janecambridge said:

We were on encore. Penthouse spa suite chosen as aft, deck 11 and only 5 cabins there. We were very happy with the size,  position and layout of the suite. Beautiful bathroom, lovely large aft balcony. This was a special treat to have such an expensive cabin. 
But on arrival in our cabin the luggage on the bed was not ours. My husband went to use the phone and it was broken. I was checking out the many storage areas only to find 2 pairs of crumpled swimming shirts in a cupboard. Another had receipts in. Clearly no cleaning had happened between occupancy. A cupboard door was broken and not shutting, the plug in bathroom sink was broken. There were numerous ‘extras’ for the type of suite missing. No welcome champagne and tired flowers. Overall a neglected cabin. 
It seemed ridiculous that you could only get certain cocktails in certain bars. Three times  we were given out of date conserves even though we had pointed the date each time. 
The food was nowhere near the standard we had expected. The colonnade TK menu was very poor.Worst meal, bar one. Many more small problems. 
Our second meal in T.Keller was a disaster. We ordered the chicken for 2, to be carved at the table. Also a wine pairing for this. The chicken arrived. One slice of the knife and blood. I said it was raw, told it wasn’t as it had been cooked for 36hrs. (In fact it isn’t- 45 mins). The carver insisted it was fine. We let him dish it up, to take a closer look. Blood swirling on the plate and a bloody bone with it. We refused and told him to take it away. Other people came up to us and had had the same problem. The sous chef came out and apologised. He suggested we go back on our final night. Eventually we saw the restaurant manager (Ali) and he said we would be well looked after if we returned. We did return at least expecting a replacement pairings wine for our steak. We got a ‘lollipop’ of frois grois in a posh box!! That was it. It is scary to think that someone with poor eyesight could have eaten that chicken. 

It was clearly a ship of repeaters and they were very spoilt. Quite a few saying how things had changed. 
I do have to say that the staff are some of the best at sea. 

😱 Thanks for this background. Pretty shocking experience and apparently no effort to turn desaster into delight. 

[MJN1]

23 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Breakfast on the pool deck sounds great! What dishes are featured?

 

[John117]

14 hours ago, John Cruise said:

Fotunately Crystal is coming back.

👏

There were quite a few ex Crystal staff on Quest including the Hotel Director and Collonade maitre d and some said they really wanted to go back if they started up again. 

[LouChamp]

Unfortunately times have changed which is why we are debating whether to cruise right now. Its so subjective and we respect that. In the interim we are dividing our time between our two homes and will hopefully and based on health decide what to do. All the best to everyone!

[Hlitner]

I am not sure we agree with those who think we should cut SB some slack, except less than excellence, etc.  We view SB as a "luxury" cruise line that always strives for the highest quality onboard.  This is what we have always received on SB and it is what we expect on our future SB cruises.  If SB cannot maintain their very high standards than they should warn customers and give them the option to cancelling with a full refund.  

 

On our most recent SB cruise (27 days on the Ovation in March-April) we were generally impressed and happy with just about everything onboard.  Perhaps our biggest complain (and one we heard from others) was the denials and even deception practiced by SB in keeping folks in the dark about the COVID problems aboard (numerous) not to mention the deception from SB in refusing to acknowledge itinerary changes until the last minute (a story unto itself).

 

As to cuisine, we thought it was up to the usual SB standards which is to say it was very good (generally not great).  As to TK, our 4 meals in that venue were all excellent with the Dover Sole being the usual star.  Interestingly, friends of ours who did order the chicken (for 2) were very disappointed with the preparation (they said theirs was like rubber).  As a note, we seldom order chicken in a good restaurant since it is something we routinely eat at home.   I do think TK could benefit from more frequent menu changes or perhaps several decent daily specials.  

 

We continue to believe that the earlier cruises (after the COVID restart) benefited from SB only needing to staff 2 or 3 ships.  It seems obvious that now having to spread the experienced crew over the entire fleet has resulted in service related "issues" we assume is due to the recruiting of new less experienced staff.  This too shall pass (as those folks gain experience) but one can question whether paying passengers should suffer the results of undertrained staff.  Another issue we noticed on our Ovation cruise were some staffing issues caused when too many crew were laid up or quarantined with health/COVID issues.  This is something not acknowledged by SB, but is pretty obvious when one's favorite, waiter, CD, bartender, etc. disappears for about a week.   On our cruise, apparently the forward Deck 5 cabin area was near full (of full) for much of the cruise (we only know this from information learned from some of those who were quarantined).   We (and other passengers who brought this up in conversations) could have benefitted from better communication (re COVID) which may have helped convince others to practice even more caution.  Keeping COVID info from passengers does nothing more than generate the "rumor mill" and give many others the feeling of security.  We spent nearly every evening crowded into the Observation Bar (and having a great time) because, at the time, we had no idea of the extent of COVID cases on our cruise.  By the time we became aware of the extent of the COVID problem we assumed the harm had been done (those who were going to get sick were already sick).

 

Hank

 

 

[mancunian]

Sadly I have to agree with the poster and also Janecambridge.  We were on Encore in March -  I think on the cruise after Jane.  We had a couple of years ago had a cruise on Odyssey which we enjoyed however we did not enjoy this at all.  

 

It was not five star cruising, never mind six.  I classify the food and service roughly on a level with HAL with whom in the past we have cruised on many occasions.  In fact HAL I would classify as better on food.

 

 There is just insufficient choice and some meals were poor.  I had my worst steak ever which I was not able to cut in Colonade and our only other dinner there had yorkshire pudding which I could have kicked round the deck four times and would not have broken.   We were also dismayed that they had gone back to self service buffet where other ships had not.   We took this matter up with the assistant beverages manager and he said if you are uncomfortable please ask a member of staff to serve you.   So we decided to only go there for breakfast so we would wrap up and with a few other brave souls eat outside and be served.   We always had to ask for butter and milk.  My husband did not ask for toast but got it anyway,  but on another occasion when he asked for it he did not.   I asked for a small portion of berries with my yoghurt and got a large plateful of every fruit on the buffet.   He served my husband one day with his first cup of coffee but wandered off without asking me.   This was not a new waiter but apparently a returning one.  He was not busy and spent too much time chatting.

 

We did enjoy our two meals in TK, and loved the bar there and I think went most nights as the service was excellent and we liked the pianist/singer.  The main dining room less so.  Actually it was not lack of staff but rather too exuberant.  We were near the kitchen and everybody passing felt they should enquire if we liked our meal and would we like another drink.  On one really bad night my husband was asked six times by five different staff if he would like another drink.  Overkill and very intrusive.  The food was better than Collonade but not really what we were expecting.

 

I think guest relations  were a bit iffy it just dependedwho you got.   One girl was terrible and definitely should not be doing that job.

 

We thought we got on well with our cabin attendant until next to the last day when our cabin ceiling started to leak.  One of the housekeeping supervisors came and was lovely, got the plumbers who said the ceiling would have to come down.  She found us another cabin, told us to finish ourpacking and go for dinner and someone would move us.   When we got back cabin in total disarray, our stuff had not been moved.  My husband went down to see about changing the key and getting help to move.  He had recently had an op for a broken top of arm and I am disabled so on this occasion we did need help.   He unfortunately got the unpleasant person who said no way would they issue a new key on the last full day (so we had to remain in the new cabin until 8 am the next morning.  She was not helpful about assistance but he stood his ground on that.   In the meantime I was sitting on my rollator awaiting his return when our previously friendly cabin steward stuck her head in and said these things happen and we just have to get on with it your new cabin is unlocked and the door open you should move along.    After his insistence another supervisor came along and helped.

 

Since then we have been on two Silversea cruises.  What a difference.  Good food, variety of places to eat.  Caring helpful staff.  A lovely Arts Cafe which is also a bar and they bring your choice to the table.   A personal thing but I preferred the decor and generally thought a much better ambience.    A really great butler who sorted everything and never went to guest relations at all.    Our second choice is Oceania whose food and choices are definitely better than Seabourn

[madera1]

On 6/16/2022 at 5:58 AM, margbem said:

We just disembarked the Quest, having done the same two weeks. We had a great time, thought the free pour wines were excellent on the whole, and found the food to be very good. The chef appeared in the main restaurant at least four times after service, so probably around 9pm. 
 

There definitely needed to be more input from the entertainment staff and we also found the air con not cool enough but after asking about this it was made colder.

 

We ate once in TK and cancelled our second visit there. Just doesn’t do it for me, I’m afraid. Wish they would ditch him or at least change the menu.

 

We ate breakfast in the Colonnade each day and apart from the totally disgusting corned beef hash, really enjoyed all the fresh fruit etc. My biggest gripe is that the tea is not made with boiling water so it never brews!

 

[madera1]

We were on the Quest the first week of June and had great service.We found wines we enjoyed and the server would get us our preferred wine each night. I am not a big breakfast eater but thought the selections in the buffet area was plentiful. We often would go upstairs and get special coffees before heading to breakfast. The Restaurant was practically empty every evening. We did see the chef on several days. 

[skybluewaters]

2 minutes ago, madera1 said:

My biggest gripe is that the tea is not made with boiling water so it never brews!

 

Many tea connoisseurs prefer not to use boiling water for green or white tea.

With black tea and with herbal tea the use of boiling water is recommended.

[margbem]

7 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

 

Many tea connoisseurs prefer not to use boiling water for green or white tea.

With black tea and with herbal tea the use of boiling water is recommended.

Totally agree. My husband only drinks herbal infusions but when you can put your hands around the teapot and hold it something is badly wrong!

[cruising46]

On 6/16/2022 at 2:52 AM, John117 said:

We tried to book a cruise around 6 weeks out and managed to reserve a guaranteed suite but flights were not available to book.  This was supposedly linked to the move of embarkation from Venice to Ravenna. (didn’t Venice ban cruise ships from 1^st August 2021? Why was this a surprise 9 months later?) After another week and calls to Seabourn and TA we were advised that flights could now be booked but the only “included” flights involved a change and some very long stopovers. We were offered a cruise only fare and then quoted a fare for the flights and transfers. The flights were with Easyjet so not a great 6 star start but at least we got Gatwick flights which is easier for us. The fares we got were considerably more than those available direct from EJ so our transfers were very expensive.  In normal times we would have taken the cruise only fare and sorted out our own flights and transfers but we decided there were too many Covid problems so went with the Seabourn package.

 

4 weeks out we were told we would need a medically observed Covid test before leaving home. This was supposedly a government requirement but no-one could tell me which government. I emailed Seabourn guest relations for confirmation but I still await a reply. So we had to pay the £70 plus the train fare to go up to Gatwick airport and have the test done even though this was quite clearly a Seabourn requirement introduced after we had paid the full fare.

 

Our flight was slightly late into Bologna but clearing immigration and collecting the luggage was very quick. Unfortunately, there was no Seabourn representative waiting for us. We searched the airport for an hour to no avail then started to make some calls. The ground agents phone kept cutting out but after 4 short interrupted calls I managed to get the message across and as if by magic a young lady appeared holding a Seabourn label.

Eventually after a 2.5 hour delay we finished up with a private transfer which was quite fast (160km/hr for much of the distance) and we were soon on board.

 

We met our suite attendant and her assistant and were given our customary glass of champagne (lukewarm! And no canapés) and sorted out the drinks for the room. My wife asked for some slices of lime for the mini bar but after 3 days some lemon appeared but never any lime. We also called room service for the lime but that didn’t work either.

 

We had a few suite issues such as the air-con failing to cool the room, the shower valve wouldn’t turn far enough to allow a warm shower one of the sinks wouldn’t run away and the balcony divider rattling but these were quickly fixed by guest services (the balcony divider was fixed by me with 2 cocktail stirrers). Then our minibar fridge packed up on day 12 but within 4 hours we had a new fridge

 

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 wine selection was poor and even further reduced from our cruise on Encore in March. No French or South American Red wine. We were advised that some local wine had been taken on board but this was never publicised. On day 12 I got another list and it was reduced even further by 1 red. We tried some of the local Slovenia and Croatia wines brought on board but definitely not to our taste (even the supposedly better quality ones brought on on our second week of the cruise). Warm champagne was served on several occasions in the bars and even by room service. We ordered a $115 bottle of wine from the Head sommelier one evening but she never returned to check we were happy with it and topping our glasses was left to the wait staff.

 

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 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. 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?)

 

 

.

I ISad that you had the experience you did.

 

I travel solo and cruised on 3 Seabourn Cruises and one booked for November.  

 

With the exception of one incident on the last cruise the service, food, beverages, entertainment etc. have been outstanding.

 

On the last cruise I had a minor medical issue.   I wa prescribed some meds.    When I got home my doctor said the the treatment I received would be exactly what she would have recommended.  

 

I am still looking to my Seabourn cruise out of Athens in the fall.

 

 

[Vineyard View]

On 6/24/2022 at 9:42 AM, 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. 

100% agree on the wine list. We’ve been seriously looking at SB and honestly expected a very different offering than this. 

[Mr Luxury]

I never worry about included wines on a ship.

Why drink poor wines when you can buy decent quality wines from the wine list.