Half-wilted flowers to and from Encore

Half-wilted flowers to and from Encore

My wife and I just returned from a Mediterranean cruise onboard Encore, and our impressions are verymixed.While a number of good features have been mentioned before, we are still shocked about how many things did go wrong. To mention just a few:

1. As we were the couple with the most sailed days on that cruise, we were sent a huge bunch (no, I won't use the word bouquet) of flowers to our cabin after the Seabourn Club party. About half of it was wilted. My wife said never before had she felt so insulted.
   
2. 
   We had booked one dinner at the TK Grill. We were seated at a table and wer handed our menus. After that -nothing for 14 minutes: No waiter turned up to take our order for food or drinks or even just mineral water. At the same time at a table nearby in an otherwise still empty restaurant , a waiter and two guests chatted amiably all the time without the waiter or any of his colleagues taking any notice of us. - Accordingly we left and promised never again to set foot into that venue.
   
3. At the Restaurant, my wife and I had doubts over the ingredients used in a dish styled Porcini Ravioli. When I had the chance to ask the two executive chefs who were on board at the time, they both firmly defended what the menu stated. It was only when I found out that the ravioli filling in fact contained not only the very expensive  porcini but also the much cheaper button mushrooms (and you could taste it) both executive chefs had to admit -in the presence of the Hotel Director- that they had been less than truthful towards the passengers.
   

4.How can Seabourn expect guests paying quite large sums of money to be happy with such an experience? It is a slap in theface of both the guests as well as all the other staff who offervery good service

P.S. Sorry I cannot get the numbering of paragraphs right with my electronic gadget

450+dayswith Seabourn

970+cruise days

Sorry to hear that you had a poor experience.

I would be tempted to drop a line to TK himself to let him know how things are not working with something that he is putting his name to.

I hate to hear about service standards slipping on Encore or any other Seabourn ship. The brand deserves to be protected and enhanced ALL THE TIME.

So who dropped the ball? Apparently lots of people. But as you were the most traveled Club members it is just terrible that you were overlooked at the TK Grill! And then that the executive chefs are making up porkies when they could, at that time and at worst, say they don’t know what’s in the ravioli.

The Hotel Director has some work to do...

Something else I hate to say but won’t overlook the chance to pose the question: the Encore is a third more passengers than the Odyssey class ships and so needs to be operated much differently. No excuses there for overlooking the top sailors or anyone else! Logically, and until things tighten up, you can expect more recognition on the smaller ships from senior officers. Which makes the smaller ships a safer bet for future bookings.

Happy and healthy sailing!

I have a very simple solution to long waiting times like that. I get up quietly, walk over to the water station, get a bottle of water, walk back to the table and start pouring it out into our glasses.

I guarantee you an army of people will come running. A quiet word to say we've been waiting for 15 minutes, there will be profuse apologies and we all carry on with our evening,

I have also cleared away the dirty main course plates after they have been sat in front of us for 10 minutes so that we could talk without the mess and get desert, (Colonnade buffet dinner).

It happens, someone drops the ball occasionally. The trick is not to stew and let it ruin your evening.

Henry :)

Solid advice for going for the water bottles. Wilted flowers......you are correct.....it is an insult.

So many little failures end up sending a good customer somewhere else. They deserve to lose you.

Everything you said....totally believable.

Now, I see they are down to a trio playing Club Lounge. Not a problem, as I have never enjoyed any of these artificial bands. Why bother?

Henry has written ! Good advice as usual, as this is our style . Human error is mostly forgivable . We are always in such a happy place when cruising with Seabourn , we will never let anyone spoil this.

Henry has written ! Good advice as usual, as this is our style . Human error is mostly forgivable . We are always in such a happy place when cruising with Seabourn , we will never let anyone spoil this.

:)

To put things into perspective there are far more examples of people going above and beyond than there are times when things have gone wrong.

It only takes one or two weak team members to let the side down. In most cases that means there won't be a second contract but unfortunately the current contract needs to be worked out first.

I think service is a 2 way thing. The more you put in the more you get out. For me it's easy, I sell stuff so dealing with people is second nature and I know how to push buttons. Quietly fetching that bottle of water was incredibly embarrassing for the waiter, particularly on Seabourn where there is a chain of command overseeing operations. Far more effective than raising my voice. A couple of well placed words in the right ear will usually work miracles. The more well known you are on board the easier it should be but sadly in this case something went wrong for you.

By walking out of the restaurant you gave the ultimate insult and in so doing sent out a clear message, the problem is you also missed out on the most amazing Ribeye steak :)

Let's hope normal service resumes on your next voyage. I'm looking forward to seeing how it feels on Sojourn again after Encore, which I have to say we enjoyed.

Henry :)

I probably wouldn’t have had such a strong reaction to these types of issues as most could have been resolved by speaking up or bringing the issue to the attention of the stewardess, Restaurant Manager etc. For all the times that I’ve thought “I will never return”, I’d have no where to go anymore and would have to stay home by myself [emoji846]

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I always go back to good old Eleanor Roosevelt and her iconic comment on complainers...."they would rather curse the darkness than light a candle." Yes, wilted flowers are unacceptable but I'm sure one word to the stewardess or head housekeeper would have brought a new bouquet immediately. Slow service in any to he restaurants should not be tolerated but the best time to address this is at the moment when a word to the maitre d' should resolve the issue. Why let some minor lapses fester and ruin one's cruise? Does anyone really think that there's another cruise line out there that is immune to these kinds of mishaps? I don't think so!

I know that we pay a premium price to sail Seabourn, but after this past week, I find "problems" such as those listed petty and out of touch with reality. A sense of entitlement is never a positive attribute. I encourage you to put problems such as these in perspective and be grateful that you are able to enjoy each day on a wonderful cruise.

I know that we pay a premium price to sail Seabourn, but after this past week, I find "problems" such as those listed petty and out of touch with reality. A sense of entitlement is never a positive attribute. I encourage you to put problems such as these in perspective and be grateful that you are able to enjoy each day on a wonderful cruise.

Vouch!! +++++++

I have a very simple solution to long waiting times like that. I get up quietly, walk over to the water station, get a bottle of water, walk back to the table and start pouring it out into our glasses.

Able Seaman - I thought it was only we who had done that, and we've only done it the once (and it wasn't on Seabourn either, it was on the other S-line). Indeed we have never seen such motivated staff before nor since. Given the service we received for the rest of that cruise, it's tempting to do it on the first night every time!

I was on the same Encore cruise in question here (the one mentioned by Gercru) . We had impeccable service at the Thomas Keller Grill---two times. We went first as the guest of new friends who had made a reservation for four--and then again on our own reservation. I would not have hesitated to flag down a waiter if the wait had been too long. I also like the idea of going to fill water glasses myself. It sends a message.

We enjoyed this cruise. We are first time Seabourn cruisers, but have sailed on the smaller Silver Sea ships. Even though the Encore was larger, I did not see huge differences in service or experience. We rather enjoyed the choices for dining.

I WOULD like more shade on decks and do agree with many that The Retreat was a wrong step for this all inclusive cruise line.

It is too bad that someone chose to deliver a mostly wilted bunch of flowers.

We did find the staff of the ship to be eager to please and the vast majority of them were exceptional when it comes to service.

(I did dislike the ersatz music in the Club, but really enjoyed Suzanne Jade in the bar at the Thomas Keller and the duo in the Observation Bar.)

We were on this same cruise! Loved Thomas Keller Restaurant and only wish we could have gone twice. Agree that the duo in observation lounge was pleasant to listen to. Also, agree that more shade is needed by the pool. The service was very good and aimed to please. My only negative was that disembarking was unorganized. Seabourn should come up with a better plan as they pamper you for 2 weeks then leave you high and dry!

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Crepe, What exactly did you experience on disembarking that bothered you? We had a very smooth experience. While all four of our bags were not together---they were easy to find with the tag/number system. We had made private arrangements for transfer to a hotel and our driver was there waiting for us---ahead of schedule.

Did you arrange for transfer with Seabourn? Or, had you made private arrangements?

Another thing that helped us was an excellent travel agent. She had sent us pages and pages of our itinerary (which I had printed out) which even told us what time we should disembark and what time our driver would be there for us. It worked smoothly.

I am interested in hearing what your experience was.

We used seabourn transfer to the airport. We stood in line on the ship waiting to disembark at 8:15 and at 8:40 they finally let us off to find our luggage in a large room. No porters were around to help so we had to get our heavy luggage and look for our transportation (outside) to the airport which was a bus. Then, no one was there to help us load our luggage into the bus! We had to put them in ourselves! We made our flight but with no time to spare!

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We were in the dining room eating breakfast at 8:15am. There was an announcement that the disembarkation was slightly delayed. We exited at 9am.

Next time, you might think about getting private transportation (your travel agent can arrange it) to make things go more smoothly. We were picked up by a driver who loaded our bags into the car. We did have to roll them out into the parking lot where he was waiting. It was a very short distance.

We stayed an extra night in a wonderful hotel in the countryside outside of Rome (about 30 minutes from the airport) as we thought the connection (a flight boarding at around 11 am) would be too tight.

We used seabourn transfer to the airport. We stood in line on the ship waiting to disembark at 8:15 and at 8:40 they finally let us off to find our luggage in a large room. No porters were around to help so we had to get our heavy luggage and look for our transportation (outside) to the airport which was a bus. Then, no one was there to help us load our luggage into the bus! We had to put them in ourselves! We made our flight but with no time to spare!

Seabourn, like all other ships are in the hands of local officials when it comes to port clearance. They can not let you off the ship until cleared to do so by the government officials.

Where in the world were you that you were not plagued by mafia like porters demanding extortion money so they could wheel your easy glide suitcase to the waiting transport? Nowhere in America that's for sure :)

Your issue is with the port, not with Seabourn. If I could offer some advice don't book onward flights too early. Allow plenty of time for the rush to die down. When we get off the ship our luggage is easy to spot because there is very little else in the hall. If we wanted porters there are lots available because the mad rush has ended and the new arrivals aren't there yet.

Henry :)

I agree. While for obvious reasons we are encouraged to disembark in a timely manner, I've never understood the mad rush to leave as soon as possible. If you've booked an early flight - don't.