BasandSyb

We are on the same trip and have received the barrage of emails which appears standard these days. However, not one was about a jacket. 

Seems a a bit hit and miss, but I’m sure it’s collateral we could well do without - will probably be overpacked as usual 😀

Hope the poor weather has exhausted itself.

Looking forward to your comments. We had our first Encore trip at Christmas. We have not been interested in trying the larger ships (we are tragics for the 3 little ships - heavy sigh), but the chance to getaway came up. We did have a lovely time and must do a review. I note the cruise reviews prior to ours had a lot of poor comments.

Overall, the decision to cruise on her again would be influenced by the itinerary (hot weather O class more deck space) and whether we were travelling with friends (O class). It was very nice and we loved the sushi addition. Some of the layouts were plus (Colonnade stations and second deck, TK Grill and bar, observation bar), some minus (MDR; the retreat; club bar - soon to be rectified). Was very surprised no USBs in the rooms (just a little thing) - thought they had been installed and crawled around for 15 mins doing a search on arrival.

Enjoy and please share your views.

OK. Time to stop now. I can't take it any more!! Very jealous of those boarding today.

Ahhh, just where we found her a few weeks ago and had a fantastic trip!

We have had free laundry for a number of years now and don't use it. Occasionally we "brave up" (or should that be give in to laziness) on long cruises and will put in a few testers - something fairly robust, but are always disappointed. Dry cleaning seems to be OK. It's a shame as I'm sure the staff below decks work very hard.

We predominantly wear cottons and linens. Problems are shrinkage (even older, well washed clothes) and fuzzed/pilling on the material - don't ask me how that happens. Once it's fuzzed, the whole finish of the fabric has been destroyed.

Jeans/pants/tops with 5% lycra/spandex comes back stretched and misshapen particularly around the knee area. I think its from stretching on the ironing presses - the stretch in the fabric reaches breaking point and is then steamed.

A number of items have come back with permanent marks like grease as it they have been caught around machinery - this never comes out.

So, a perk that is not a perk. We do meet some very nice people in the laundry (who usually have experienced the same thing). 

We usually book on board and watch the prices - the onboard Seabourn consultants have been very upfront with encouragement in this regard.  More often than not, we have cancelled and re-booked at a vastly reduced price. We have our favourite cabins so  by booking early we can secure our cabin and know it is available if we then cancel and immediately re-book. We have had price drops after final payment and received obc. I guess the only advice we have for the OP is to try and ensure some of the obc is redeemable. In that way you can withdraw the cash and use it as spending money for trips ashore rather than having to spend it on board. 

Hi SKP946 - We've tried probably 2 or 3 times acting on "deals" emailed to us by Seabourn. While we booked the cruise with them and asked about the air,  the credit wasn't able to be accessed by non-US customers, nor was there any offer adjustment (obc increase etc). So we tend to ignore this type of marketing now. Anyway, our experience has been we can do cheaper and better connected flights than those Seabourn Sydney quote -  even better on points 😉

Will be interesting to hear if any other Australians have been successful in accessing the air credit and if they did, if it worked out as any cheaper than booking yourself.

All true. The Manaus trip is usually a 3 day stop before heading back out of the Amazon. Also, the BA stop can be a difficult one, depending on the mood of the Argentinian government and whether the ship has managed a stop at the Falklands. They have delayed departures previously so a bit of wriggle room is useful - aside from many guests wanting to fly up to Iguazu Falls.

Hi, I don't know if things have changed of recent times, but for us (based in Australia) we have never been able to access the air credit, nor have we received anything additional for not being able to access it - and that's booking through Seabourn both air and cruise. It seems to be be a more common marketing tool for US customers. These days we stick with our TA who can do better deals. Good luck. Hope it works out for you.

Although this is not on thread topic, the TK steak we had on Encore two weeks ago was also dreadful. We avoid TK, but were roped into dinner there with another couple. I thought it was the knife at first, but I had difficulty cutting the steak. It was tough and tasteless. Other passengers at trivia made the same remarks a few days later. 

Just remember to verify once on board. They are having problems with the online booking system in terms of it not linking through and manual checks having to be done where possible. There were a few missed bookings on our recent sailing - they didn't show up at all.

Thanks DUHCAR for the tips. Have seen the little train and have therefore been considering just staying near the Sannominya Station somewhere. Considered the port area hotels, but as we will be in Kobe a few days prior, don't want to be hiking to the train station everytime we need to use it to see around the area. Connectivity from the port area seems mainly the local loop bus. We will be doing Kyoto and a number of other locations prior, so certainly won't miss it!

Thanks for the feedback.

Seabourn Sydney has just come back to me - the only information they can find at this stage is in line with your first post Emperor Norton - that it will be the Kobe Pier Terminal at 4-5 Shinkocho NOT Naka (the one with the Oriental Hotel on the pier). That's a shame as it would have been easier to stay at the Oriental prior to boarding!

Back to the drawing board with hotels...

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 10:51 AM, Emperor Norton said:

Time to pull the suitcases from hibernation and start packing for a little Sojourn. I have to Shanghai myself before heading off to a meet and eat with the king of cows in Kobe.

Hi Emperor Norton, we are hoping you might see this query although your thread ended in June.

Can you recall which cruise port Seabourn used in Kobe? Naka Pier (near the Oriental Hotel) or the Kobe Terminal? We are doing the same run this year and info on which of the two cruise terminals is more likely is not available. The Kobe Port Authority website doesn't specify either. We would like to book a hotel nearby the relevant one. 

Annoyingly, information on the terminals is contradictory. Some sources say smaller ships use Naka and others mention Kobe. We understand the exact terminal allocated on the day may change, but just want to check what the previous terminal was?

Any info would be appreciated. Cheers

Joc123 - thanks for posting the photos and menu. Looks inviting and we will certain try it all out in December.

I hope the plates are well warmed as the stoneware will go cold very quickly.

We just missed Earth and Ocean on our recent cruise, but will experience when next on in December. Looking forward to it as a long overdue evolution of the Patio Grill. Good to hear from Floris that it was enjoyable.

Yes, we all have a few first world problems from time to time. In our case we are thankful we have our health and are able to  experience as much as we do.  However, echoing Henry's recent post about Seabourn pricing... we are fundamentally consumers of goods. Sometimes you query the product - what you have paid vs what you are receiving OR weigh up your product knowledge vs what you are prepared to ante up for the next trip. No one likes being taken for granted as a customer. As with any business, decisions are made and in our opinion some of the more recent Seabourn decisions have not concurred with the direction we saw for the brand. Ultimately for us, if the cons start to outnumber the pros, we will vote with our feet. As we have with TK.

We have made comments on this topic previously since TK's introduction and our opinion has not changed.

It was dreadful during the roll out phase and now that it has been bedded in, "ordinary" would be our best description. We used to go once or twice a cruise as it was the done thing, but no more. We prefer more interesting food (salt/no salt doesn't worry us) The down home TK concept doesn't do it for us - it's a lot of fluff about a roast chicken, a grilled steak or a clambake which aren't even on par with the best we have had. We think it belongs on a classics menu in the MDR, not as a specialty restaurant or specialty night at the Colonnade. 

Yes food is very subjective. We normally cruise with friends in groups of up to 10 in ages ranging from 50 to 70, are all diamond members and share the same views about TK. So we do vote with our feet and don't go now. We wouldn't bother to gripe given it's subjective nature, but it is the knock on effect of TK that really ticks us off. The MDR and Colonnade menus have been dumbed down and narrowed as a consequence, while waitstaff seem to be either overworked and frantic in the MDR or swanning around at the TK Grill. I'm hoping we can wait this fad out! How long was his contact??

I know, madness. Either somehing has gone a bit wrong with the pricing algorithm or everyone has been waiting to book the new ship over Christmas.

 

I could get just as good a deal on flights to OZ from Heathrow so the air miles HK flights would be wasted.

 

On a serious note Seabourn need to be careful. If you charge a lot of money people arrive with extremely high expectations and they will leave angry and disappointed because Seabourn isn’t designet to function at that level. Im a huge fan of the product but it’s essential you feel like it was good value.

 

I’d hate to see loads of poor reviews based on over expectant campers.

 

Henry :)

Was going to suggest the SYD - AKL. We don't usually do Christmas cruises, but this year the planets have aligned for Christmas a deux. We could not believe the prices as they are much lower for the period than usual, so have booked a "local" cruise.

With regard to the quote above from Henry...this is very true. Many of the regular posters of the Seabourn fan club on this site are excellent levellers for when things go awry. Yes, first world problems.

However, it is true that you do get a very sour taste in your mouth when you've paid over the odds because you want to do a certain itinerary at a certain time and things start to niggle. We have been in that situation. An experience can be coloured by so many things - needing a break and you haven't quite unwound from work / paying over the odds and helping trainee staff / past wonderful service experiences not living up to memories. As point in case the recent review on this Seabourn post of the person on the Vikings route vs other CC regulars on board at the same time.

You never know what the other cruisers point of reference is.

Henry, have a wonderful Christmas cruise. I'm sure you've done that itinerary previously and will enjoy.

Included wifi - whatever would this leave them with to offer their loyalty members as "perks" - another bag of washing?

The retreat wouldn't do it for us.

If you have booked a GTY there is a chance they might move you to a verandah. However, if you have done a normal booking you have probably been allocated a room and that will be it. Similarly if your TA has slotted you into one of the available oceanviews that will be it.

Seabourn oceanviews are good. Depending on the itinerary and friends on board you may not miss the verandah at all. In fact this area is the most stable for seasickness sufferers.

I have just disembarked the Odyssey and we had the best food on board for some years. The earth and ocean was fantastic, lunches in the colannade had excellent choice and much more flavour. Even the MDR was improved. To be honest our poorest night, ( which was not bad by any stretch), was TK.

Excellent news, very encouraging as we are on again in a few weeks. Will look out for the chef. It does make a difference.

Agree that Azamara does food very well, as does Regent.

Our last 3 years cruising on Seabourn has seen (in our opinion) declining menus and variety and also on one cruise absolutely tasteless food which was remarked on by most guests. Another thread had someone mentioning the "pork" cruise - we have had several "lamb" cruises. We love the stuff, but when it starts to overtake other choices on a 35 day cruise it becomes monotonous. Lunch is a particular disappointment. It doesn't take much imagination to inject a bit of salad variety - particularly noticeable on longer cruises.

We recently did Paul Gauguin (310 guests) and they nailed the food in every way - particularly lunch which was 12-15 x freshly cooked hot dishes (not sloppy bain marie type), 12+ salads plus the ability to make your own, both hot and cold soups, fresh sushi, a live food cooking station, a hot roast/baked fish or specialty like suckling pig specially carved/served, more a dozen sweets and a proper cheese board together with 6 or more varieties of crackers - not a token 3 varieties of small cheese slices, fresh fruit, freshly made specialty filled sandwiches/rolls and an enormous range of beautiful fresh breads and rolls from around the world, specialty coffees, ice creams. Of course the usual a la carte menu is also available. Every day was a new delight.

If they can do it for 310, Seabourn should be able to better it for their passenger numbers.

The Australian site doesn't seem to have changed, but boy is it well overdue. Whoever has laid it out has no idea about the type of information a cruiser would be seeking. You can't do a general trawl for new itineraries or even check back to back cruises from an overall cruise calendar. I don't know how many times we have not been able to find our known cruise in the drop down "destinations" categories! Basic stuff.

These days we hunt for our cruises on that large US last minute site - which in our opinion has the best layout of any website - we then ring our agent for a price and don't bother dealing with the Seabourn website until we have to do the online paperwork (and I note we aren't the only ones who share the fun there).

And what is it that onscreen pages won't print these days - are we so focussed on apps that no one sits at a table with a pen and paper working through information anymore? OK, I'll call it. We are clearly over the hill.

And next year the public holidays for Golden Week coincide with the abdication of Akihito and the enthronement of Naruhito - potentially providing two long weekends and a 10 day break. So the number of people moving around at the end of April beginning of May will be substantial. We ended up booking our air travel for this trip a few months ago in case things got tight. This also played into our decision to base ourselves in Osaka rather than Kyoto as we are going in early to do some day trips.

Well said Markham.

Florisdekort, you are continuing to play into our thoughts as to why we have avoided the larger ships so far, but will give Encore a go at Christmas.

More noise in the MDR? Terrific :o!

We find this area on the O ships to be very noisy and impossible to have a larger table conversation - and we both have perfect hearing!! Would hate to think of the difficulties for people wearing aids.