Recent BTB Med Cruise

We recently returned from a very nice BTB cruise on the Odyssey -- Istanbul to Athens to Venice. The ship was pretty full with over 50 percent repeat passengers on the first leg and just under 50 percent on the second leg. As there had been much attention focused on the Istanbul embarkation due to recent events there I should note that while there was some apparent additional security at the port entrance we did not encounter any issues here and our embarkation net smoothly. Ironically it was at the second embarkation port, Athens, where problems were encountered. Due to a strike at the port we diverted to nearby Lavrion. As it was a small port it was likely not an option for big ships so I guess we were lucky though those joining the ship had to adjust their transportation and those of us in transit had a choice of a long (one hour) shuttle into Athens or wandering around this depressing little town.

The crew was very good -- we switched Captains midway going from Stig Betten to David Bathgate. The remaining key crew were with us through both legs : Heather Clancy CD, Stavros Mylonos new HD (came from Silversea), David was the F&B Manager, Colleen the GSM, Felipe in the Colonnade, Vindora in R2, Altin in the MDR, Bogdan the Bar/Public Rooms Manager and Jes was the Chef. And there were many familiar faces amongst the other crew and some great new, to us, crew members. I know some recent reviews have noted concerns of staffing reductions so let me say up front I never saw any gaps in service. From our perspective it was aways as efficient and warm as on our many previous SB cruises.

This was our favorite kind of cruise -- port intensive (no scheduled sea days), western Med ports and lovely warm but not too hot weather. Most were repeat ports but there were a few that were new to us even with all of the Med cruises we have done.

Over the next few days i will report my thoughts on the cruise by topic -- focusing on the hot button topics often thrashed around here -- children, smoking, TK, and dress.I will start with children.

As it was a June cruise we did expect there would be some children -- and we were not disappointed. On the first leg I was told there were 7 -- but frankly there were only two I saw repeatedly -- a little toddler girl and a boy in the 5 to 6 age range. On the second leg I don't know the official number but there were at least five -- the same little boy, two little ones usually in a stroller, and a preteen boy and his slightly younger brother. And i know this caveat will be ignored in comments posted by CC'ers in reaction to my post, but I will make it anyway. I DO like children.

As far as I could tell there were no programs set up by SB for the children but it could be they took place and I was unawares. None of these children were terrible and there were times I felt sorry for them as they had a lot of energy and there was no suitable place for them to expend it. The problem came from both the the parents/grandparents abdicating supervision and the crew being unwilling to enforce policies. The one little boy spent much of the cruise in one the deck 8 spas using it as his personal playground wearing his goggles to jump and dive and playing with his toys.Other passengers were basically unable to use this spa every afternoon. But frankly, more seriously, was the fact his mother was never around and it appeared his grandmother was his babysitter. Most of the time when he was in the spa and the pool she sat at a table off to the side periodically turning to look at him. On occasion she sat on the bench by the spa. Now I live in a state where sadly there are many child drownings every year. One thing that is consistent is that a child can drown very quickly and parents are told it is not enough to watch a chid in the water -- the watching must be active -- that means not reading a book, talking to someone else or drinking. Many an afternoon my husband and I sat up by the Sky Bar looking at the child playing in the water unsupervised just waiting for something terrible to happen. At one point when the grandmother was not around I mentioned my concerns for the child to a crew member who surprised me by agreeing they were also concerned but did not feel it was their place to say anything. I said if that was the case they might want to mention it to a supervisor.

In addition to this issue there was the matter of children in the Observation Bar late at night. NOw this really surprised me.On multiple occasions the toddler and this little boy were in the OB after 10PM. Each time they were yelling, crying and running around and pulling on the curtains.Of course, they were tired and should have been in bed. Poor Pierre, the wonderful pianist with his lovely soft voice, was often drowned out. I did ask the Bar Manager if children were even allowed in the OB at night and he said there was no prohibition.

If SB is going to go after the younger market with children they need to do a better job of providing an environment where they and the other passengers can enjoy themselves. And as with many issues -- child supervision, smoking, dress, etc. if I would fault the crew in one area it is that they are too afraid to speak up and ensure passengers follow SB policies. IMHO training in how to pleasantly approach passengers who breach policies has been lacking.

If the crew is too afraid to speak up I would speak up myself. I have done it many times, telling the neglectful parents to keep their kids quiet or take them to bed. I may get a dirty look but I usually also get compliance. And I would also talk to the hotman, telling him that I will report every crepe member who I see ignoring these infractions. It may sound harsh but no harsher than letting these unattended kids ruin my vacation.

We've only cruised with Seabourn once, and it truly was lovely, but the presence of toddlers and small children onboard made me leery of rebooking right away. Now the triplets are no more and they're moving on to bigger and bigger ships. Between these two issues, I'm just not sure how good of a fit Seabourn would be for us any longer.

I don't want to say Seabourn should ban children but they do need to find a better way to accommodate them. Some of you may remember Seabourn brochure that came out in September of 2014 included a blurb to the effect that during holidays and summer months they would be offering children's activities. I don't know whatever became of that. The second thing they need to do is upon boarding meet with the parents/grandparents accompanying children and make sure they are fully aware of the policies that apply to children on board and highlight the fact that they are responsible for full time supervision. And thirdly they need to train the crew to to be aware of what is going on and either speak up or go get a supervisor. Wripro I understand where you are coming from but frankly I really don't want to taint my lovely vacation from the unpleasantness that usually ensures when one tries to tell another person they are not effectively supervising their child. As I noted, on that first instance I did speak to a crew member.

Since smoking seems to be today's hot topic I will address that issue next.First of all I think we were very lucky that there were very few smokers on our cruise. James at the Sky Bar estimated 7-8 on the first leg. There may have been a few more on the second leg.

In the morning before breakfast we often sat outside Seabourn Square enjoying a cup of coffee. Most mornings there was one person out there smoking -- some mornings no smokers.In any event as we were on the other side and there was often a breeze it was a non issue.Other mornings we took our coffee up to deck 9 by the Sky Bar -- again the same thing -- either one person smoking or no one.

Our suite was on deck 8. We did not spend a substantial amount of time out on our deck but I was usually out there in the early morning to watch the sunrise and sail in. I only noticed smoke once -- and that was on the last morning when I could smell smoke from the person I saw directly below us two decks down. And even then the smell was not overwhelming -- and I am very sensitive to cigarette smoke.

Most afternoons we had a late lunch and idled away the couple of hours before sailaway sitting on the port side of the Sky Bar in the shade on deck 9. When a group of four of five smokers were seated around the tables on the other side of the bar if the wind was blowing in our direction we would get some whiffs of smoke. But again, it was never so bad as to drive us away.

As to the Observation Bar, which is where we often went post dinner, smoking was again a minor factor. There was often one person smoking -- we simply tried to sit as far away as possible. Only one evening do I recall it being an issue. (Frankly the bigger issue in the OB were the loud obnoxious heavy drinkers -- one evening they tried to turn into a virtual Karaoke bar. Maybe on the new big ships they will have a pub style venue for those who don't appreciate an elegant cocktail lounge environment with a terrific pianist and singer such as Pierre.)

So all in all I feel very lucky it did not put a damper on our enjoyment of our cruise. But as as been stated here in this day and age it should not be a luck of the draw.

Be watching for the policy to change in the next six months.

Glad to hear it was a great cruise, we're on the same itinerary starting in just under 5 weeks so looking forward to the rest of your comments.

We're just trying to figure out what what to do in various of the ports, so any comments you have about ports which are great for just getting off the ship and wandering around (Lavrion clearly isn't one) or must-do excursions, that would be very helpful.

Also waiting for your comments on dress code, not sure on a 2-week B2B med cruise it's really necessary to take the dinner jacket so was considering leaving it at home this time.

Chairsin,

I very much appreciate and agree with your idea that Seabourn should, at check-in, deliver guidance to parents of small children with dos and don'ts regarding shipboard behavior.

Would it be appropriate on other lines? Maybe not. But Seabourn is a premium brand and selected by people who want to escape from their cares. Speaking for myself, the last thing I want to do is administer lessons in common sense to children and parents who pull up short in that department. I mean, really... Why don't they rent a hotel room with a pool for a week

in a resort where they can discharge their energies far more anonymously?

In time, and if you are correct about a change in smoking policy coming down the 'pike in a few months, Seabourn won't have to remind smokers that the Observation Bar is off limits to lighting up- a problem noted on another thread.

I don't know what anyone can do with those who flout the dress standards guidance. My own plan is to ignore these people. No small talk generally and no seating by my party in a dining area anywhere near them.

Happy and healthy sailing!

rols - definitely DJ not needed any more - though no doubt nice on a long cruise or TA. I would suggest that even a suit is not necessary, dark sports jacket, preferably with tie on formals, is sufficient and is probably what the majority of men will wear. And is OK for other evenings, of course.

A shame that rules about children should be needed, but a rule that - say- no children under a certain age in the bars after, say, 8 p.m. should be made. I imagine that the staff who do not like to remind passengers about smoking are perhaps new ones; they should always be told that if they are worried they should get someone in a supervisory position to come and explain what they are. I agree that Seabourn is a bit different to some other lines; some actually encourage children at certain times of year, but Seabourn does not provide anything special for them except occasionally, and then probably has to use the card room for activities. Not ideal.

Rols,

I will take a detour from the hot button topics and address the ports as you requested.I should not my experience may be of limited help to you as we rarely do ships tours. Instead we prefer to hike around on our own, maybe try a local restaurant and in a few ports take a private tour.

Istanbul --We have been here on four previous trips and it is one of our favorite cities.We arrived two nights re cruise as we were just there last September. Sadly tourism was down about 70 percent according to the manager of our hotel. We did take a food walking tour to the Asian side with the wonderful Culinary Backstreets (we used them for another food tour last fall -- can't say enough good things about them).Embarkation was easy.

Myrina --New port to us. Pretty little place with ruins of an ancient castle up on a hill with great views. There is a beach on the far side of the town but we, as is our usual M.O., walked and explored to get as much exercise as possible.

Cesme--Also a new port for us. Did not look like much from the ship but once we tendered in we could see a pretty little gussied up port area with some upscale shops and cafes. We walked to the castle in the center of town and then hiked up the hill leading out of town.

Bodrum -- This was our third visit here so we had already visited the key tourist sites. We would have taken a gullet boat trip for the day to explore the little coves along the coast of tho very scenic part of Turkey but there was Shopping With The Chef that morning. We rode on a bus over half an hour to the other side of the peninsula to a town where a weekly market was held and had a great time. By the time we returned we could have taken an afternoon trip on the water (because we were in port until late evening) but after a lovely lunch at a wonderful little quiet waterfront cafe we decided to walk back to the ship instead (there were shuttle buses).

Rhodes ---Our second visit here. We got info from the tourist info office on a walk along the water. This took the better part of the morning then on our way back we walked the moat of the castle and briefly through the very crowded old city.

Santorini-- I had arranged private wine tour with a guide who was an oenologist. In Santorini all ships us local tenders -- we were lucky to get on the first one going to the base of Fira. We then walked up the donkey path and met our guide by the cable car. We had a terrific day learning about their unique viniculture and tasting Assyrtiko at the three top wineries -- Venestanos, Argyros and Gaia. We finished with a lovely lunch at a little cafe on the southern end of the island and amongst other local specialties enjoyed my favorite dish of theirs -- warm fava bean puree.

Spetes -- What a pristine picturesque place this was but there was not a lot there. We walked one direction around the town and harbor to the lighthouse and them back past the town in the other direction.

Athens( Lavrion) -- You already know my thoughts on this place. In retrospect we should have taken the long bus ride into Athens.

Monemvasia-- We were last here over ten years ago and remembered a magnificent hike up to the ruins of the monastery high about the little town on the this rocky peninsula. SB did run shuttle bus from the other side of the peninsula to the entrance of the car free old town but -- you guessed it -- we walked. Sadly after many dead end trails up out of the town we discovered the trail to the top and the ruins has been closed off. Not sure why.

Nydri -- Not my favorite port. We were given some misinformation by the tourist office about a walk around the harbor to a lighthouse. We soon ended up walking along a not so safe road so we turned back. The town itself is pretty junky IMHO.Some people took a tour to a nearby waterfall -- had there been a trail or pathway we would have walked there. With thunder storms threatening we took the tender back -- passing by the once Onassis owned Skorpios Island.

Corfu -- This was our third visit. We keep saying we would like to come back sometime and spend some time pre cruise as we haven't explored the island. Main reason-- it is usually a SWTC location as it was on this day and Jes was in his element (we shopped with him here two years ago). After SWTC we went on a long walk to the windmills and had lunch at our favorite little cafe (I showed our waiter pictures of us with him the last two years and he gave us a glass of ouzo). Then we returned our favorite organic gelato place ( Muka, Muka -- some of the best gelato I have EVER had) and walked back to the ship. (Yes, there is a shuttle).

Dubrovnik -- Unlike our last time here we docked this time at Gruz Harbor some distance north of town. Luckily I had arranged for a private tour.First we hiked the walls from Mali Ston to Ston (the longest continuing walls after the Great Wall of China). This is narrow climb with over 600 steep steps up before it levels off for a ways before it descends into Ston. But our efforts were rewarded with great views of the salt ponds below in Ston (the reason the walls were built). From there we continued up the Peljesac Peninusla -- the famous wine producing area of Croatia where we were on the trail of the Palvic Mali wines which are believed to be the antecedent of our zinfandel.

Primosten -- You will have to tell me about this place as we only saw it from the water. With choppy seas the Captain canceled this port of call and turned this into a sea day. It did look interesting from the ship.We were treated (love it or hate it) to Caviar in the Pool.

Venice-- So strange not to dock at San Basilio as we did last time one one of the small ships. At least we were the first ship in the morning and i enjoyed watching the lovely sail in from our balcony. After we disembarked we took the train to Rome.

Hope this is on some help.

...WESTERN Med ports...

Rols,

I will take a detour from the hot button topics and address the ports as you requested.I should note my experience may be of limited help to you as we rarely do ships tours. Instead we prefer to hike around on our own, maybe try a local restaurant and in a few ports take a private tour.

 

...

 

Hope this is of some help.

Very helpful and incredibly kind of you, thank you so much. We also prefer getting off the ship and meandering around the ports to organised tours so your experiences are very relevant.

We'll look up Culinary Backstreets, love Istanbul but never tried that and were looking for something different to do on our pre-cruise day. You've given us some good ideas for Santorini and Corfu and more. My wife has never been to Dubrovnik, I remember it fondly from the days it was in Yugoslavia and I think that's a place a private tour might make a lot of sense.

Now we're really looking forward to this ...

Rols glad to be of help. Thanks for overlooking all of the typing mistakes

Stamfordian -- so glad that all of your recent fish&chip consumption down Cornwall way has not dulled your keen sense of geography. My humble apologies -- of course it was the EASTERN Med.

We'll look up Culinary Backstreets, love Istanbul but never tried that and were looking for something different to do on our pre-cruise day.

I second Chairsin's recommendation for Culinary Backstreets. We did a fabulous tour with them in Barcelona last year and I'm thinking of using them for Athens this fall. I really hope their city list expands further as they seem to "get" what makes a great food tour (something item to do in most cities) and veer off the tourist path to show you places you might not venture on your own. Their blog has also been a great planning resource for me in the past!

We'll look up Culinary Backstreets, love Istanbul but never tried that and were looking for something different to do on our pre-cruise day. You've given us some good ideas for Santorini and Corfu and more. My wife has never been to Dubrovnik, I remember it fondly from the days it was in Yugoslavia and I think that's a place a private tour might make a lot of sense.

Culinary Backstreets Barcelona Review

My humble apologies -- of course it was the EASTERN Med.

Fortunately, of course, it sounds as though we should have the admirable Scottish skipper David Bathgate in charge once we board so all will be fine.

Lincslady, as I said at one point SB talked about instituting programs for children but I have no idea if they ever did. Are you aware of these having been implemented? But even with such programs it is still up to the parents to supervise them and ensure they have activities to keep them occupied and out of mischief, (or at least keep them from disturbing the enjoyment of other passengers.)

And Markham, ding, ding, ding, you with the prize for unearthing the common thread of my posts on this cruise -- which will continue when I post my observations on that very flammable topic "dress." The common thread on all if these is why have any policies or rules relating to any of these areas, be it smoking, children or dress, if no one sees to it that PAX adhere to them? To my way of thinking SB's biggest asset may be their downfall in this area. The crew members are just so nice and charming that they don't want to potentially offend anyone. I will be the first to say I don't want the friendly, engaging nature of them to change but I do know that either they are not being trained in how to gently tell a PAX they are in error or they are not bring given the supportive backup they need in such situations to protect them when there is backlash from a PAX none to please with being caught out.

Thanks for the great review! We are ready to go! You travel as we do. Love shopping with the chef!

Chairsin - I know that in the past SB have -possibly occasionally, possibly more than that - done a sort of children's programme which involved staff having the children in the card room for activities. Obviously not a very good solution, and the Bridge players were not happy. I suspect it no longer happens - maybe some of those who were affected can comment.

Chairsin - I know that in the past SB have -possibly occasionally, possibly more than that - done a sort of children's programme which involved staff having the children in the card room for activities. Obviously not a very good solution, and the Bridge players were not happy. I suspect it no longer happens - maybe some of those who were affected can comment.

Currently on Odyssey and there seems to be some sort of children/teen activities based in the card room. Last week there were a few young uns but no special program. Haven't noticed bad behavior or issues in late bars, haven't been to the spa so can't report on that. Card games (if any) are in conference rooms-- or at the pool.

Today has been all about rebooking flights and such, SSquare folks have been helpful and they've stopped charging for Internet for the moment. Very sad, so unfair to all the lovely Turkish people who have been so welcoming.

Lincslady and Jozi thanks for the feedback on children on board. It was not a big deal and certainly did not keep us from having a good time but it again goes back to if you have rules enforce them -- otherwise why bother.

And with that segue I will just briefly touch on dress on board -- not because I really want to but because it continues to be an issue that cruisers ask about. As you all know SB has significantly relaxed the dress code in the last few years. And yet even with these new very simplified, lenient guidelines there continue to be those who chose to ignore it. So yes, there were many nights in the MDR when men were allowed to dine in jeans ( yellow, grey, tan) and wear collarless shirts. I also observed many people in the Colonnade at breakfast in bathing suits and coverups (or not so "coverups") even though that is specifically not allowed. And so as with smoking and children the crew seemed disinclined to say anything. So be it. Didn't ruin my cruise but I will never understand people who think rules are meant for everyone but them.

Oh, as Rols asked about formal nights let me say that I was pleasantly surprised as to how many people put in a good effort. I would say on the first one over 30 percent of the women, myself included, wore long gowns and many of the rest in dressy cocktail dresses. As to the gentlemen, maybe 20 percent in tuxes or dinner jackets, 30 percent in suits with ties (including my DH) and the rest in sport coats-- about half or more of those with ties.

Chairsin, I have been enjoying the 'details' of your cruise. Could you comment on The Club entertainment........and whether the MDR was open for lunch.

BTW, on our last trip we also noted folks in bathing suit cover ups at tea...an oxymoron conceptually.

PaulaJK

Well I was going to launch into TK and dining and general next but I will happily take another detour to answer your questions.

Entertainment -- For us our number primary entertainment on Seabourn is eating and drinking and conversing with our fellow passengers and the crew. So the formal entertainment programs are usually of little interest. We want to maybe three shows in the lounge -- one with the crew doing an Irish Pub theme and another with a magician. Both were okay. There was also a comedian and we almost skipped the show -- glad we didn't as we laughed so hard tears were rolling down our faces. But then the best of all we went to two performances (sorry, won't demean them by calling them shows) where Heather sang a number of arias. As I have stated before she has an amazing voice (she is classically trained) but for those not "into " opera she tried to make it very accessible. I was upset to hear one person when asked if he was going to hear her sing said he did not want to listen to some woman screeching. The downside to these performances is that they were predinner so you had to get dressed early and his cut into the afternoon

There was a rock the boat -- usually I enjoy this -- not so much this time. There of course was trivia -- even without sea days we managed five games. For those keeping score (Stamfordian) we finished last, second to last and then won three times in a row (thank you Keith and Anne for joining the team and providing some Brit knowledge to our US/Aussie team). We never went to the Club in the evening as I don't like the layout. Instead after dinner we usually went to the Observation Bar and listened to the terrific Pierre sing and twinkle the ivories while we sipped a Sauternes.

And as a preamble to the next topic, the MDR was never open for breakfast or lunch. This was two seven day Med cruises without a single planned sea day so many folks were on shore all day. We had breakfast in the Colonnade every morning -- I never noticed it being crazy busy. We always managed to find a table outside. On the days when we did not have lunch on shore we had lunch in the Colonnade once and all other times sat on deck one in the shade by the Sky Bar with lunch from the Patio Grill. The advantage was it is open until 4. This was especially convenient on tendering days as you could stay ashore until the early afternoon and then have a simple late lunch on the ship.

PaulaJK

 

Well I was going to launch into TK and dining and general next but I will happily take another detour to answer your questions.

 

Entertainment -- For us our number primary entertainment on Seabourn is eating and drinking and conversing with our fellow passengers and the crew. So the formal entertainment programs are usually of little interest. We want to maybe three shows in the lounge -- one with the crew doing an Irish Pub theme and another with a magician. Both were okay. There was also a comedian and we almost skipped the show -- glad we didn't as we laughed so hard tears were rolling down our faces. But then the best of all we went to two performances (sorry, won't demean them by calling them shows) where Heather sang a number of arias. As I have stated before she has an amazing voice (she is classically trained) but for those not "into " opera she tried to make it very accessible. I was upset to hear one person when asked if he was going to hear her sing said he did not want to listen to some woman screeching. The downside to these performances is that they were predinner so you had to get dressed early and his cut into the afternoon

 

There was a rock the boat -- usually I enjoy this -- not so much this time. There of course was trivia -- even without sea days we managed five games. For those keeping score (Stamfordian) we finished last, second to last and then won three times in a row (thank you Keith and Anne for joining the team and providing some Brit knowledge to our US/Aussie team). We never went to the Club in the evening as I don't like the layout. Instead after dinner we usually went to the Observation Bar and listened to the terrific Pierre sing and twinkle the ivories while we sipped a Sauternes.

 

And as a preamble to the next topic, the MDR was never open for breakfast or lunch. This was two seven day Med cruises without a single planned sea day so many folks were on shore all day. We had breakfast in the Colonnade every morning -- I never noticed it being crazy busy. We always managed to find a table outside. On the days when we did not have lunch on shore we had lunch in the Colonnade once and all other times sat on deck one in the shade by the Sky Bar with lunch from the Patio Grill. The advantage was it is open until 4. This was especially convenient on tendering days as you could stay ashore until the early afternoon and then have a simple late lunch on the ship.

Hello Sharon,

We are enjoying your review and seeing what you both got up to,it seems an awfully long time since we were on board but it's only been 11 days now since we all disembarked.

We appreciated the invite to join the TEAM and were glad to be of a little help in the victories.Speaking of that I had to get one of the prizes out today as it has been pouring down here today and the umbrella did me proud.

Regards

Keith and Anne

Hello Chairsin, thank you for taking the trouble to do such detailed reporting. It has jogged me to ask a general question which is are the "shows" in the "theatre" after dinner? We are going on the Soujourn very soon.

MM

Keith and Anne,

Nice to know our prizes are coming in handy.

Miss Merry,

The shows are in the Grand Salon. Lucky you -- I now have to wait another six months for our next cruise. Where are you off to?