johng75370

We did this in Sept 2021, when we went on Odyssey and there were only 80 passengers on board, and decided to stay on for the next cruise. The Seabourn Club/future cruise consultant onboard made all the arrangements, coordinated with our TA, offered a good fare comparable to what we booked originally, and got added OBC through the Amex Platinum and shareholder offers. It was an easy process and provided fair (but not super-discount) pricing.

I concur too, which is why I said in my post I hope this doesn’t happen. But when CCL has decided to sell parts of Seabourn piecemeal, some parts of it going to a competitor for the right price (and to fill a competitors gaps in the market) is not out of the question. Personally I hope this is just a slimming down, stops here, and they continue to make investments to keep the “hard product” best in class, as they did when they launched the Pride, Odyssey and more recently Venture.

Unless they got a great price for a 12 year old ship that is trying to compete against a number of newly built expedition ships. Without it competing in the expedition market there is nothing different about Quest than with Odyssey.

Surprised they sold just Odyssey instead of also selling Quest and Sojourn along with it. Could see Seabourn trimming down to just the newest ships, then merging with Crystal (so Crystal ends up with newer builds and expedition; and Manfredi was willing to spend a lot to try to get Endeavour). Hope this isn’t the case, but in thinking through why they sold Odyssey this seemed possible.

Don’t know if this topic has come up already, but I’ve been following Riverside river cruises who bought Crystal Mozart and are launching in April. They’ve mostly kept the names from Crystal (Waterside, The Vintage Room) and lightly renamed the Bistro (it’s named the Blue Bar Grill but they refer to it as the Bistro). Did New Crystal and Riverside both get rights to the old Crystal dining venue names, or are they generic enough that anyone could use them? They also have Symphony, Harmony, and Seahorse decks.

We were on Sojourn in December in a standard veranda, and the room was in good condition; some of the materials used (the small TV and cabinet for it) are looking dated style-wise but the room overall is well designed and well maintained.

@docpetey We’ve done 7 cruises since Covid (4 Seabourn, 1 Crystal, 1 Cunard Queens Grill, 1 Celebrity Retreat), and felt that all were not that far off their previous but had some minor changes on all (almost every hospitality business has changes over time). As smaller ships I feel like these issues get magnified on Seabourn, so the “risk” of your experience being impacted might be higher, but we’ve not personally had any serious degradation from what we were expecting. A couple other comments: - we sailed right as ships started coming back, and felt in those times on Seabourn (and Crystal) it was everything as before, and then some…really exceeded our expectations, and the staff were so genuinely happy to see passengers back. As time went on and all the ships relaunched it wasn’t as good with having a lot of staff turnover, new staff, changes in general. Supply chain issues hit at the same time, and maybe more “cost control” from corporate. I think that rough period has past, but the bad experiences people had during that period still linger. - We deeply value Seabourn and have future bookings in part because we always find on board both staff and other passengers we’ve enjoyed sailing with before (and new friends we meet); that part has not changed one bit. Seabourn hires, retains, and nurtures talent as all good organizations should.

Seabourn’s caviar policy is one of the reasons we keep coming back; wish there was red (salmon) available, but’s that’s a different issue. Two recipes we were introduced to on Seabourn that have become go-to’s are Eggs Royale with caviar, and Pom Moscovite (pic attached from recent voyage).

We’ve been on 4 SB cruises post-COVID, and thought the quality of speakers was very good (maybe not at the level of Crystal, but still very good). They have gotten better at showing on the website who the speakers are on each ship; you can check it out here: https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/conversations.html

We were recently in Japan, and any place where there was touching of shared items there was also an automated “glove dispenser” machine - made it much easier to make sure everyone was not using bare hands.

Over time they’ve gotten a lot better at how quickly they can serve caviar in the Obs Bar - they have some number of orders pre-staged there so they don’t have to specially order it. A few years ago (at least our experience) there could be some delay but more recently it’s been pretty fast.

As a couple in our (now) late-50’s having travelled on Seabourn for the last 7 years or so, one of the surprising delights is the friendships we’ve made with other passengers. Most surprising is how it has shown that age is truly a just a number; one of out best friends through Seabourn recently turned 80 (and we struggle to keep up with him!); some others even older. Like has been said here, quite an age range and it’s never made a bit of difference! Enjoy, have fun, and report back.

At least on Sojourn in December it was still live music at night in the club - Larisa and the Band, who were great. Would be fine to have DJ part of the time, but would hate to see the live Band go away.

Thanks for hitting the nail on the head! They have an email list from the open deposit program which is the same as a list of their most interested/excited pent-up-demand-filled future customers - yet no contact other than confirmation of the deposit. Sharing some of the design details (arch drawings, for example) would be a good first step to fill the awkward silence. Happy we did the open booking and looking forward to the relaunch - just surprised about this part of it,

I have not seen SWTC offered since they restarted last year, including our Caribbean voyages last month and last year. Hoping they bring it back. In terms of the Herald, not sure exactly when it’s available the night before but the cabin attendant would leave it during the evening service.

From our recent Seabourn experiences (11 days on Sojourn earlier this month, and 3 voyages last year) I would agree that the overall experience and food is comparable to pre-pandemic. Staff was as great as ever. However we did feel on this last voyage that something was off when it came to provisions. There was no strawberry jam the entire voyage (neither for breakfast or for afternoon tea to go with the scones), which on previous sailings would have been corrected quickly by the ship staff getting it at one of the stops (or making some) - instead, we bought some a few days in after we realized the ship was not going to despite it being requested. Likewise we made a special request ahead of time for kombucha which previously was taken care of but not this time. The small “gifts” that would appear occasionally at turndown before now were just once at the end (the gold bookmark). All relatively minor, but taken together left us a sense of cutbacks and cost savings. We had a great time as always, and made a future cruise deposit while onboard, but with the glowing reviews of friends on Silversea and Regent, the return next year of Crystal, and other new lines launching, it seems like Seabourn is not trying to remain competitive at a time when they need to be. That may be because Carnival has already decided not to compete in the luxury space and is making Seabourn’s financials look better to a prospective buyer by cutting wherever they can. Another small nit: they used to list upcoming speakers on the website under “Seabourn Conversations”; now they only have a few listed. Is it that they are not booking speakers, or is there no one managing the program well enough to be bothered posting them? Seeing these cutbacks but not seeing any corresponding additions makes it feel like cost-cutting, pure and simple.

If you zoom in on the picture and look below-and-to-the-left of the HAL funnels it says “Noordam”. I checked on marine traffic and it shows HAL Noordam in Auckland. Nice picture!

There is Molton Brown bar soap provided, and instead of the choice of other soap (which I really liked) they now have multiple types of Molton Brown shower gel to choose from (I think 4 types). I used to like the sea loofa one, and since they stopped providing it I’ve bought it on Amazon and taken it with me onboard (if you’re looking for some it’s listed on Amazon as “Baudelaire Exfoliating Soap, Sea Loofa Bath Soap & Body Soap”).

I’ll second that…we tried Cunard (and Queen’s Grill) for the first time this year and were blown away with how great the dining experience was. As to Seabourn we’ve not seen a huge change from pre-pandemic, except that we think the amount of salt varies too much depending on the chef in charge. Last year on Seabourn we found most meals to be way too salty for our taste, but on a recent sailing had no such issues. Perhaps what we found last year with the salt was also that they were not making meals to order, and/or using too many components prepared ahead of time, because the kitchen was unable to provide us with lower salt on request except if we ordered the day before.

Yes, to me there is a clear trend towards less focus on what you wear in public on a cruise. But I think it is tied to the “other trend” where people (for many good reasons) don’t want the hassle of bringing significant amounts of luggage with them. Can’t count anymore how many people we’ve met onboard who are proud of only bringing a roller bag each, or sharing one suitcase. We struggle and bring usually too much luggage, but it gives us a chance to dress each night as we like to on a cruise; couldn’t do it with minimal luggage.

Could mean the Vintage Room, assuming they bring it back.

I think the issue is they marked the deposit as "New Guest" regardless of whether you were a Crystal Society member. No doubt they will have a way to reconcile if you were a CS member and therefore due the full $500 per cabin.

I was hoping to get a low numbered deposit, but apparently Keith grabbed the first 1700 or so 🤔

Was relieved to see my favorite shipboard dog is still on Sojourn.

Currently on Sojourn in Caribbean, and on formal night was pleasantly surprised to see a good mix of tuxs and suits. The only change (if I recall correctly) is that formal dress is now ONLY required in The Restaurant; I believe before it applied to other areas.