A First Fond Farewell for Odyssey

[SLSD]

4 hours ago, BasandSyb said:

Quick note - the FCC applies regardless of the worry free etc. if isolation is required.

And does this extend into the future for cruising commencing this summer and beyond?

[BasandSyb]

For the cases on board it will be a few weeks to come through. I’m sure there will be terms and conditions. At this stage it’s written advice of a forthcoming credit.

[Flamin_June]

Thurrsday 6th April, 8.30am, Savusavu.

Odyssey dropped anchor about two hours ago. The view from the ship to the bay with its small town, surrounded by jagged, jungle-clad volcanic peaks is Shangri-la like. Not a cloud in the sky, the blazing hot sun shoots shimmering reflections off the sea which bounce and flicker in the shadowed corners of our veranda.

Dravuni Island, with its softly-spoken,welcoming residents, was a chilled out little chunk of paradise. Long, gently curved beaches gave way to neat well kept homesteads, chickens and dogs wandered about the shady paths, beyond which coconut palms vied for space with shrubs and smaller trees. I followed a rough path, down through a tunnel of tall shrubs and leaves, tiny geckos skittering away from my feet among the dried leaves, tangled roots and rocks. And emerged onto a deserted beach. On the near horizon plumes of white churning surf crashed against the reef. The white sand of the beach gave way to sea smoothed rocks, the water beyond rippling with tiny fish, warm, inviting. A little further out some live corals, iridescent blue fish. We bought some shells, and couple of coconuts to drink. 

[Flamin_June]

At Sea. Good Friday. clocks moved forward an hour yet again. We are sailing to Samoa, the intense heat and humidity of Savusavu has been swept away by a cooling breeze and a rising swell. Formal night last night and approximately 70% - 80% of diners in the MDR had made some sort of effort though a few were admitted wearing what appeared to be tablecloths or gardening clothes. The Restaurant  was far from full however, with many choosing to dine outside. The previous night in the Colonnade was a bit of a zoo, I’m afraid, as dozens of determined and pushy passenger streamed through to the outside tables at about 6.45 and set about having a raucous evening with much loud talking over one another and braying laughter. It was rather like being in a pub. Perhaps they thought they were on P&O, in any case they were certainly over excited. The sudden influx was overwhelming for the wait staff and before long we witnessed the FB management team helping to serve dishes. One gentleman chose to dine in polo shirt, shorts and deck shoes with NO SOCKS. We  skipped dessert and left quickly to soothe our troubled souls with some after dinner cocktails. Today a languid atmosphere pervades as sun, sea, sound and sights soothe and smooth the spirits of all. By the way, The head chef in the Colonnade, a personable young man from Toulouse, is doing a great job and the quality of the food there has been rather good so far.

Tomorrow Samoa awaits.
“In Samoa, on the other hand, perpetual song and dance, perpetual 
games, journeys, and pleasures, make an animated and a smiling 
picture of the island life.  And the Samoans are to-day the gayest 
and the best entertained inhabitants of our planet”

Excerpt From In the South Seas
Robert Louis Stevenson
Sounds promising.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Flamin_June

[Flamin_June]

I should add that a couple of days ago Bevlyn went down with COVID, and Corne, Colonnade maitre’d, is also quarantined. Not sure how many crew are down, but some stand-ins are being drafted in from other posts here and there. Some passengers previously quarantined are due to be released and the people who were denied disembarkation in Fiji will also be going tomorrow. As far as I know, which probably isn’t very far, no new cases have have been reported among incoming passengers. Most people are doing their best to comply with mandatory mask wearing. Given that active crew numbers have been depleted and that there are extra passengers to service, every crew member deserves a medal. The bubbly, positive, can-do and will-do attitude and atmosphere that the crew worked so hard to  evoke and sustain inevitably went a bit flat in the initial aftermath of the contagion, but they all continue to step up to the plate.

[billichka]

47 minutes ago, Flamin_June said:

 As far as I know, which probably isn’t very far, no new cases have have been reported among incoming passengers. 

 

As my Wife and I will be boarding in Papeete (we fly out tomorrow for a week in Moorea prior to boarding) that is great to hear!  

 

 

[BasandSyb]

I think it’s about time they removed the seats around the observation bar and made everyone sit down. We normally go to the OB but haven’t for a week or so given the spread. A week in your room isn’t terribly appealing.

COVID is life, but let’s just minimise the risks for staff and cruisers!

[phil09]

Flamin_June – hope you don’t mind if I add a bit to your most excellent thread.  

 

We are also on Odyssey boarding in Sydney on March 21^st.  My wife self-tested Covid positive a few days ago and has another two days in isolation.  My test the same morning was negative and since zero symptoms have come forth but we try to stay apart in the cabin as much as possible and I avoid groups staying separated a few feet when around people.  She has been treated with very well and anything she has needed has only been a few minutes away after a phone call to Guest Services or request to our Suite Hostess.  Our hostess has – or had at one time – I think four cabins with an “isolator”.  We told her yesterday she needed to be drawing hazardous duty pay!

 

We don’t know the full count, but I have walked the length of Deck 6 where we are the last four afternoons with the number of “tray tables” outside cabins going as high as 10 but down to 8 today.  Don't know how many on the other decks, but deck 6 does have the highest number of cabins compared to the other decks.  Hopefully that is a sign of overall improvement on the ship.  Mask wearing is actually better that I would have thought with so many past their “sick and tired of Covid” point.  

 

Overall we are in 100% agreement with FJ’s feedback on how the cruise in progressing.  We are only on our second Seabourn cruise, but we have been very happy.  There are a couple of little cost-cutting things we didn’t see last trip but those are pretty minor to us.  From what we see every day, the Officers and crew are giving this cruise everything they have to make it wonderful.  Will be interesting to see the passenger changes coming up in Papeete then a couple weeks later in Honolulu.  

 

Thanks again Flamin_June – we are enjoying your cruise reports.

[Flamin_June]

Apia, Samoa, 8th April, 16.45.

The ‘perpetual song and dance’ Stevenson wrote about started at about 07.45 this morning, as we were woken by loud drumming, harmonious singing and music; Odyssey had docked to the starboard side. Unfortunately our suite is on the starboard side. More unfortunately, the loudspeakers that amplified the music, drumming and singing of the gay and smiling Samoans, massed on the quayside to welcome us, were just beneath our suite. Even more unfortunately, after a few hour-forward nights, our body clocks were still under the impression that it was 05.45. While the Samoans may still be the gayest inhabitants of the planet, as Stevenson claimed, and one hopes that they are, the Flamin-Junes were certainly among the grumpiest. Drawing both sets of curtains and burying our heads beneath our six feather pillows (thanks, Mr Meadows) did little to diminish the volume of that joyous welcome. We had planned to rise at our leisure, take a relaxed breakfast, and the stroll about the town at a stately pace, but our plans were thrown into much disarray by the suddenness of our awakening; so much so that I forgot to take my medication, a consequence of which is that the subject may be prone to ill-humour and fits of anger. So we spent the best part of the morning snarling at one another in the 33 C + heat - though I think I was chiefly to blame - until I remembered to take the wretched pills, after which peace and love reigned. We made it as far as the end of the market stalls, set up on the quayside, without strangling each other, and bought some tortoiseshell earrings, two woven coasters,  a shell bracelet and a coconut shell fridge magnet magnet in the shape of a turtle.

Back on board before the morning tours returned we actually managed to find a table in the shade on the pool deck, where we shared a delicious burger and fries and some Fijian beer. The harbour offers splendid views of the small town with its backdrop of green peaks, and a stiff breeze coming off the sea was pleasantly cooling, but may portend a rough passage across the international date line tonight. While it may be Saturday again tomorrow, we hope everything else will be different.

[Flamin_June]

Pago-Pago, American Samoa, 8th April 08.15 am 

It is Saturday morning again, but Groundhog Day stops there. Slept like a baby as we sailed into the harbour. A, who was awake, says it was spectacularly beautiful, and the welcoming singers and dancers were mercifully located just beyond the aft end of Odyssey. 
It is spectacularly beautiful now, the quayside and harbour seemingly surrounded and enclosed by steep hills barely a few hundred yards from where we are docked. They rise above us, myriad shades of sunlight dappled green, palms, trees, scores of different leafy textures, a few white and dark feathered birds soar between their shadowed hollows, and above a cloudless blue sky. It rained last night and the rain has freehned up the air and cooled the burning heat of yesterday. I was told by another passenger that the temperature hit 106 F, 41 C,  It was sapping. Today will be kinder.

[Flamin_June]

Easter Sunday, 08.45.Pacific Ocean.

We are at sea now for three days on our way to French Polynesia. Today marks the halfway point of our journey, so it would be a good time to offer some critical reflection, so far; which I will try to do over the next few days. In the meantime: Pago Pago. I was chatting to one of the locals and remarked that it was much cooler today. He looked at me as if I might be in need of pity and remarked “You think it’s cool? Where do you live!? This is too hot for me!”. The temperature had dropped to a mere 34 C, with a humid but welcome breeze. I strolled around in the noonday sun without a care in the world, bought some odds and ends in the various shops, was given a t shirt and bought some cuttlefish flavoured snacks. Our sailaway was interrupted by a couple of intense but brief monsoon like downpours and today is cloudy, we are in thick mist at the moment, and the sea is choppy.

[Flamin_June]

So, the wine thing. 
We drink red wine, so I can’t comment on the white situation, though I believe there is some passable Aussie Sauvignon Blanc, and I did have Rose (with a cute accent) one night which was quite drinkable, if anonymous. It has been mentioned by a fellow passenger, whose opinion we trust, that some white offerings could be used as paint stripper, however.

I like a fine wine, but we are perfectly happy with a decent vin ordinaire or vin de table, as we drink wine with our evening meal every night. It is a bit of a misnomer for Seabourn to claim there are fine wines poured each night, but one can usually find something acceptable. Currently there are a number of options that weigh in at 14% or 14.5% which I find too strong or too sweet for everyday quaffing, so we don’t touch those. We have managed to find a Californian Cab Sauv, Raymond, I think it’s called, 2020, which is ok and at 13.5% fairly safe, and a 2021 Bordeaux at a quaffable 13% which is pleasantly nondescript. There is some  Californian 12.5% Pinot Noir going round which will do in an emergency, but is a touch too petillant and does not cope well with being carried over to the next day.

In short, for us, the poured wine offering is ok but the choice is limited, and I am not sure what will happen when the ones we like run out.

As I mentioned earlier, our FB manager was out buying wine in Noumea, but I think he was limited to two dozen cases. 
I did pick up a bottle of 2019 Medoc (also with a cute accent) in Noumea which we are saving to have with a fillet steak one night.

Alexia, the assistant sommelier in the Colonnade, who is first class and will go far if she continues with Seabourn, spotted the Raymond early on and ordered 24  extra bottles for the Colonnade, but they are running out, or have run out, and she put us on to the Bordeaux. 
I concur with BasandSyb  that the wine offering could be better and has been better in the past. Perhaps it will improve once we reach Papeete. Whether it is cut backs or supply issues or both, I can’t say for sure but I can say there are staff on board who know their stuff and are trying their best. I always felt that Seabourn operated on the principle that at least 50% of their passengers wouldn’t know a fine wine if, to borrow a phrase from Frank Zappa,  it bit them on the behind, so they could get away with a few pig’s ears among the poured offerings. 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Flamin_June

[SLSD]

6 minutes ago, Flamin_June said:

So, the wine thing. 
 Whether it is cut backs or supply issues or both, I can’t say for sure but I can say there are staff on board who know their stuff and are trying their best. 

 

I read in another forum that the wine delivery that was supposed to go to your ship went to Sojourn instead.  Do I have this right?  

 

[Flamin_June]

1 hour ago, SLSD said:

I read in another forum that the wine delivery that was supposed to go to your ship went to Sojourn instead.  Do I have this right?  

 

Yes, I read that too. I heard also that supply shipments were held up by customs and excise somewhere over an issue with duty payments, so, one does not know for sure. There is a certain amount of cloud and smoke that seems to float across transparency. Try finding out from any member of staff what the exact situation is with COVID quarantines - you will get only vague answers, or ‘we don’t knows’. I would like to know things for sure, but I understand why sometimes it is necessary to keep the lid on firmly to stop things boiling over.

[SLSD]

3 minutes ago, Flamin_June said:

Yes, I read that too. I heard also that supply shipments were held up by customs and excise somewhere over an issue with duty payments, so, one does not know for sure. There is a certain amount of cloud and smoke that seems to float across transparency. Try finding out from any member of staff what the exact situation is with COVID quarantines - you will get only vague answers, or ‘we don’t knows’. I would like to know things for sure, but I understand why sometimes it is necessary to keep the lid on firmly to stop things boiling over.

Hmmm... I think I would want transparency.  

[BasandSyb]

FJ, we are enjoying your blog very much and don’t want to divert this onto a side issue in what otherwise is an annoying grain of sand in a pearl of a trip. A couple of brief comments.

 

Agree with the paint stripper analogy for the whites and that Raymond is one of very few in our opinion drinkable reds - when available. The continuing issue is that as soon as you are poured a glass of something you consider okay you are then advised it’s finished. The products to our taste ended day 1. Then struggling to find something else a stray bottle of something passable gets pulled out and you are told there’s only one or two left then it’s gone. Since day one we’ve been asking for a list to get some idea of what is/was at some point available.

 

Two things seem to be occurring. We have a ship stock of random lot ends and the various products that are on board seem to be lurking in bits and pieces at different bars or in cupboards to be found days later. Find this very puzzling, when stock monitoring and tracking systems are so advanced these days. We have crew disappearing between bars, searching out product which is a waste of their time, particularly as it appears there are considerable staff shortages at the moment.

 

Final comments on this topic - poor product choices, previous porting in Australia doesn’t seem to have been taken advantage of, staff have also been confused and frustrated, as mentioned we have given up and purchased our own and acknowledge the difficulties the ship has in securing supplementary product in this part of the world from small islands. It’s just getting a bit tedious having the same conversations each night at dinner to find something, mind you, it’s also been the most common conversation starter with new acquaintances.

 

 

[Flamin_June]

Thanks B&S, your input is very welcome, it always adds to have a different voice and a different viewpoint. I think I’ll hide the Medoc when we take it to dinner - don’t want to get bushwhacked 😄

[BasandSyb]

Be afraid, be very afraid! 

[billichka]

1 hour ago, BasandSyb said:

acknowledge the difficulties the ship has in securing supplementary product in this part of the world from small islands.

Our first day in Papeete today and we discovered the Carrefour supermarket.  One normally finds this supermarket brand in France so, not surprisingly, there was a huge variety of French wines for sale at various price points.

 

If Seabourn hasn’t sent supplies of wine to Papeete for changeover day on the 15th then hopefully they will be able to stock up from local suppliers whilst they are in port.

 

We are off to Moorea tomorrow where we will stay in an over water bure until we board Odyssey on Saturday!

[BasandSyb]

Fabulous. Enjoy. We have done the Paul Gauguin cruise line in this area 8 times and when staying on land always hit the Carrefour - pate, cheese, baguettes at 1/5th the price of home! Forget the cholesterol for a few days. The wine is also great although more expensive given import duties. Can’t go too wrong.

so jealous. Have a great time in Moorea.

[Mr Luxury]

5 hours ago, Flamin_June said:

Yes, I read that too. I heard also that supply shipments were held up by customs and excise somewhere over an issue with duty payments, so, one does not know for sure. There is a certain amount of cloud and smoke that seems to float across transparency. Try finding out from any member of staff what the exact situation is with COVID quarantines - you will get only vague answers, or ‘we don’t knows’. I would like to know things for sure, but I understand why sometimes it is necessary to keep the lid on firmly to stop things boiling over.

Loose lips sink ships.

[BasandSyb]

And the truth will out. Subterfuge always ends with red faces. In cricket parlance - always best to play a straight bat (unless you are HQ engaged in conspiracy theories about where the next demand for a cruise credit is going to come from) 🙈🙉🙊

 

[Flamin_June]

Easter Monday, Pacific Ocean, 16.00

The choppy seas continue today. Yesterday the misty start gave way to sunny periods, with a humid breeze fanning the seas. Today the breeze picked up, 20 - 25 knots, the swell increased to 2.5 meters or more. We are currently enveloped by thick cloud and rain, which we have been rocking our way through for the last half hour or so. The weather looks to be the same tomorrow, with rain and possible thunder storms, but should be clearing up by the time we dock at Raiatea. The galley lunch, transformed again to an Odyssey poolside and Colonnade food festival, happily took place while the clouds more or less parted, with just a very short shower to remind us where we were. Fortunately my plate was empty at the time, and served as an impromptu umbrella.

As I write we have broken through the rain into bluer cloud-filled skies and calmer waters, though the sea retains its troubled, cold, metallic grey hue.

One last whine about the wine: last night we met a happily sloshed Aussie couple whose opening conversational gambit indeed concerned the calamitous wine situation; later while dining in TKG, we were offered a 2016 Italian red, Chianti I think. I was surprised by the date, as I have never known a complementary wine on Seabourn to be more than two or three years old. I should have tried it, I suppose, but immediately thought this might be something that had been found lurking at the back of a cupboard, so we stuck with the Bordeaux.

Earlier today we learned that three of the Ventures zodiac trips that we had booked for the coming days had been cancelled. Apparently the French Polynesian authorities will not allow any of Odyssey’s own zodiac excursions to take place. This policy will not only apply to Seabourn, but to all other ships/lines in their territorial waters. We spent a jolly couple of hours rearranging our plans and booking alternative trips, but there was very little left and we have had to make do with a visit to the coach driver’s brother-in-law’s hand made shoe insole manufacturing plant, followed by a home cooked lunch of locally bought microwaveable ready meals and a beachside demonstration of apron tying.
Only joking. We have in fact booked onto various catamaran and outrigger trips with snorkelling, dolphin watching and warm crystal clear waters teaming with rainbow coloured fish on offer.

To further compound the catastrophes we have faced today, we find that there is nothing on any of the menus in any of the venues that we fancy. In more than a decade of sailing with Seabourn we have never had an in suite dinner, so tonight will be a first. 

[Flamin_June]

Tuesday, 11th April, 14.00, Pacific Ocean

After a rocky, creaky, wave thudding, swaying, sea spraying kind of night the sea has calmed to a deeper blue. Earlier the sky was filled with grey and white streaks of altostratus clouds, now a mostly empty pale blue with half-hearted cirrus scattered above, a few grey streaks near to the horizon and distant cumulus dropping beneath the distant edge of the endless ocean.

Last night we had cheeseburgers from room service, but despite their arrival at more or less the allotted time I can only give them 4/10 for an effortless lack of effort. We had asked for one without a bun to be medium, and one with a bun to be medium rare, but of course they arrived the wrong way round, luke warm, no dressing, the meagre handful (and I am talking about a small child’s hand) of fries were of the standard supermarket frozen oven baked variety, not the mighty Seabourn fries we all know and love, also luke warm, dried out and withered. The side orders of indescribably unspeakable coleslaw - thinly shredded, sweet, interspersed WITH CURRANTS resembling dead flies, were thankfully tiny, not so much a side order, more an afterthought. It was abysmal. All washed down with a delicious 2019 Medoc.

In 21 nights this has been the only notable fail where one wants to say “We are paying tens of thousands of dollars to be on board and expect better than this.”

 

[Flamin_June]

I promised a mid-term review, so as we proceed slowly beneath a cloudless sky upon a benign and placid sea gently cooled by a mild breeze in a warm and balmy 27 C, last nights cheeseburger well and truly out of my system I feel I can pronounce without undue prejudice.

Yes the ship is showing her age, there are scuffs and bruises, scratches and patches here and there. No doubt if one’s first experience of Seabourn was on the Encore or Ovation, one would find the O class ships underwhelming and dated. Thus it was when the O class first came on the scene, people we spoke to, who had sampled them first and then went on to the little sisters, invariably found the Pride, Spirit and Legend disappointing. Whereas, as much as I like the O class, nothing can match the thrill and fun of the little ships. For those who have come to know and love the O class, there is a sense of bittersweet melancholy to see the sheen tarnished by age, but, like meeting an old lover years later, there is still a quickening of the heart, a fond remembrance of good times shared. And in fact, she still cuts a fine figure compared to all those obscene and obese mass market floozies cluttering up our ports and harbours.

The officers and crew have been marvellous. Bending over backwards to fulfil wishes and fix things where they can. Engaging. Uplifting. And let’s not forget that this is an absolutely sold out sailing, that staffing levels have been depleted by quarantine, that there have been as many sea days, always tougher for the crew, as there have been port days. 
My main gripe is that what I thought was an extended journey, not necessarily a grand voyage, has also been marketed as two week segments. So, as Markham commented elsewhere there has been a certain amount of repetition in the menus, in the events, and I suspect, there has been a certain amount of discount selling. Not that I  am in a position to complain too vociferously. Where standards have dropped has been in the quality of the passengers. A degree or two of graciousness and good manners, of politesse, of flair and style and dress sense, of wit and charm and vivacity, has been lost, replaced by more than a hint of pushyness and avarice, narcissism, disregard of others, poor manners, appalling dress sense, entitlement, status-checking, polyester and bad haircuts. Perhaps it is just my age, perhaps it is just the Easter holiday crowd.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Flamin_June