Just returned from Seabourn Odyssey- FABULOUS! FABULOUS!

My husband and I were on a 16 day cruise from Auckland to Sydney starting February 7th. It was absolutely AMAZING! This was our 2nd Seabourn cruise. IT WAS PERFECT! (We used to sail with Silversea- Seabourn is far Superior in every way. Seabourn is in a different class than Silversea- it doesn't even compare! ) Once you experience Seabourn you would never cruise on any other line.

The service on Seabourn was outstanding! By the 2nd day everyone called us by our names. I do admit that I am very friendly and made an effort to get to know the crew members and talk to them and always thanked them for their great service! Every crew member had the best attitude, always smiling and attentive. The crew members work on short contracts. Four months on – 2 months off. Most other cruise ships crew work 9 months on- 2 months off. So Seabourn crew are refreshed! One of our waiters told us he only takes 1 month off because he can’t wait to come back to Seabourn. You can tell they all love their jobs on Seabourn. It didn’t matter what department a crew member worked in- every person we encountered had the same GREAT attitude! You wonder how does a cruise ship get every crew member to be happy, smiling and treat their guests like they are the most important people they have ever met! THAT IS SEABOURN!

The food was FABULOUS! Chef Martin was the chef on board. He is truly fantastic! We would sometimes shake our heads and say how can food be this good every night and day! The food can rival any of the finest restaurants anywhere. We are from New Orleans and are accustomed to great food. Talking to many other passengers onboard they all felt the same about the food. We ate in the Main Dining Room – called The Restaurant- most nights. They waiters work in teams. They are polished and professional! The head waitress recognized us from our past cruise and we requested her team every night. She would make suggestions for all the different courses. If she felt there were 2 appetizers we should try, or even 3 desserts she would bring all of them out to us to try. The waiters have a tasting right before dinner, so they are able to explain to the guests about the food offerings that night. Every night I had a Mai Tai before dinner in The Restaurant. So there it was 1 minute after we arrived at the table- without even asking for it. Every course was plated beautifully. My husband loves fish and thought all the fish dishes were outstanding. The beef was tender and delicious. Always ask for double cuts. The filet double cut with Peppercorn Sauce was better than any steak restaurant we have been too. (It is available every night on the "Classic Menu".) They also had lots of Vegetarian dishes offered and were also outstanding. Chef Martin deserves a STANDING OVATION for the most amazing food!

We also ate at the Colonnade for dinner for two of their special buffet dinners. (Don’t miss those special nights) So many choices of salads and the quality of the salads made us shake our heads again. Beautiful displays, amazing service again. Wonderful entrees and a huge selection. Outstanding Flaming desserts! We loved sitting on the outside patio of the Colonnade. If it was cool outside they provided cashmere blankets. Then we dined there two other nights when we had late tours in a port. We also ate lunch there many days for their great buffets. Chef Felix- head of the Colonnade was a pure delight and prepared great dinners and buffet lunches there! The Manager of the Colonnade, Yelena was exceptional!

We frequently went to the Patio Grill for lunch by the pool- which has the most delicious hamburgers, fresh made pizza, and wonderful salads. The French fries are the BEST! They had a wonderful selection of ice creams and sorbets every day.

One day at lunch there is a “Market Galley Lunch”- where you go through the galley and food is set up there. Then in the dining room they set up all the salads, sushi and desserts. It was the most amazing thing you will ever see! As I went through the galley line- I made a point to thank every crew member for their wonderful service -even the dishwashers-

because it takes a full team to provide that kind of high quality service to their guests no matter what job that had on the cruise ship.

Also on the last night- they had a special "Good bye Buffet" by the pool. Are you kidding me?

One hour before dinner and there was the most Delicious Pre- Dinner Buffet with all the Chefs and Officers serving you!

Seabourn does not spare any money when it comes to food!

We used room service often to order Ice Tea or snacks. By the 2nd day they knew my usual order and I didn’t even have to ask what I wanted.

We love the idea of being able to dine without making reservations. (We did not eat in Restaurant 2- which does require reservations.)

Our Room Stewardess Bernadette was always so kind, with an amazing attitude. At night she took towels and made displays for us on the bed, or had handwritten notes waiting for us. Any request was granted! She was indeed a very special person!

We met the most interesting people. Most had sailed on Seabourn many times. The ones that were experiencing Seabourn for the first time all said they were now hooked on Seabourn.

We rarely made the shows at night, since we dined late and stayed at our table talking past the shows. We did go to see the Comedian, which we enjoyed. But I did hear the people who went to the shows enjoyed them.

Seabourn Square is a lovely area on the ship that is staffed 24 hours a day to help you with your tours, internet or general questions. They also had coffee, tea, desserts and ice cream all day long. My husband would go there every morning at 6:00 am for coffee and read newspapers. The staff there is so professional and helpful!

I want to personally thank some of the crew that made our cruise so special. Our stewardess, Bernadette. In the Restaurant, Anna, Bogdan, Marco and Lance who were exceptional and attentive waiters. Tarryn (I adored you) and Jill who greeted us at the door of the Restaurant and also The Restaurant Manager who was great! In the Colonnade, Jovan ( had my double ice teas waiting) and Anna ( who heated my croissants every morning) and Szilvester, Anthony, Luke, and Karlis. At the Patio Grill, Goran, Kevin and Venque. A special thanks to phone Guest Services- Lizanne, and Magali who answered all my questions everyday by phone.

If you are looking for 5 Star Experience, then Seabourn is the FINEST CRUISE AT SEA! As I said, once you experience Seabourn you will not want to go on any other cruise line. It still amazes me how they produce such a PERFECT experience for their guests.

My husband I and every night would go back to our cabin and say how can anything be so FABULOUS every day!

We can’t wait until our next cruise with Seabourn.

Thank you Seabourn- for the most wonderful 16 days of our lives!

Thank you for sharing your Seabourn experience with us. It is wonderful to hear all the positives. We were on the Odessey for 35 days November/December last year and second everything you have shared. Martin is one of the best chefs we have experienced on Seabourn and most of the crew you mentioned were also on our cruise and are exceptional. Love the Odessey!! Can't wait to get back on board.

Sounds like someone had a great holiday....good to hear!

So pleased you enjoyed Odyssey, we love all of the BIG sisters. Will soon be cruising on Sojourn, and can not wait.

Would you be so kind as to post this on the Review section, so that other people who do not look at the Seabourn site will see it and see what great crew they have.

Thanks again.

Just don't stand between her and the food in Colonnade.

Thank you for such a positive review. How many pounds did you put on? ;)

We are cruising on SO in one month and were today offered paid upgrades. £2000 was mentioned to my wife and she quickly declined, as we shall be happy to be onboard wherever we're put, unless our neighbours smoke on the verandah and that could happen anywhere.

Thanks once again.:)

Sorry, Dafne,but your review somehow does not ring true. I am a huge Seabourn fan (diamond club member), but this type of review actually puts people off,sounding like a 'puff' from someone paid by Seabourn or having a free cruise.

 

I hope I am wrong, but seriously do think about what you say - no cruise is entirely perfect. We do not cruise with any other line nowadays, but there is never an entirely perfect trip, IMO. If yours was completely perfect ,then you were unusually lucky.

We can all judge for ourselves and do, but why knock someone who's ha a wonderful cruise and takes the trouble to write all about it?

Very few take the trouble to document their experiences, without which our cruising lives would be so much poorer.

Why is it people are quick to believe something negative but suspicious when it's positive? We see so much complaining on these boards it's a pleasure and relief to see a rave.

Agree 100% wripro. Here's to the Greatest Cruise on 21st!

Sorry, Dafne,but your review somehow does not ring true. I am a huge Seabourn fan (diamond club member), but this type of review actually puts people off,sounding like a 'puff' from someone paid by Seabourn or having a free cruise.

 

I hope I am wrong, but seriously do think about what you say - no cruise is entirely perfect. We do not cruise with any other line nowadays, but there is never an entirely perfect trip, IMO. If yours was completely perfect ,then you were unusually lucky.

WOW!!! This makes me speechless.

Dafne……you are the type of fellow cruiser I would like to sail with.

lincslady…..you are the type of cruiser I would not want to sail with.

I love seeing people enjoy Seabourn. I was recently lucky enough to take my mother on the Odyssey. It was her first time. It was so nice to live the Seabourn experience through someone that was new to the product. Fortunately I am not as jaded as our fellow "Diamond Member" Lincslady and I hope I never become like that either.

WOW!!! This makes me speechless.

 

Dafne……you are the type of fellow cruiser I would like to sail with.

 

lincslady…..you are the type of cruiser I would not want to sail with.

 

I love seeing people enjoy Seabourn. I was recently lucky enough to take my mother on the Odyssey. It was her first time. It was so nice to live the Seabourn experience through someone that was new to the product. Fortunately I am not as jaded as our fellow "Diamond Member" Lincslady and I hope I never become like that either.

Well said,totally agree.

Good to read that someone has had a wonderful time.

Sad to read lincslady post

The OP does have an unusual style of writing a review albeit excitable.

It is funny, when someone feels so passionate about their experience that you would think I was paid by Seabourn or it was a free cruise. ( Wish it was, but it was not!)

As I said all the friends we made and people we talked to on that cruise felt the same way we did- all thought it was Fantastic!

Okay- if there is one area they can work on- it is the slow internet. However, if I had problems logging off or it was extremely slow, I could call Guest Services and they would credit me for the problems I had with the internet. They just want to make you happy!

I am the kind of person- that would not let the slow internet define my whole experience. I felt grateful and also felt blessed that I could afford to go on Seabourn. I am a positive person and very appreciate of all people do for me. So when I have crew members treating me like royalty, I let them know. And I also want Seabourn to know that they have a training program for their crew that is the best in the cruise industry!

We even met one day an officer on the ship that goes from ship to ship on Seabourn making sure all their high standards are met with the crew.

If you have an open mind then a cruise can be perfect. Our first SB cruise was such a surprise, and pretty close to perfect - the overall experience was slightly marred by problems produced by our TA and a linked stay at the end of the cruise, not by SB itself. We knew we'd found a cruise line we would want to travel with again and again.

On our last SB cruise one or two small problems arose - but the way SB dealt with them was perfect.

We do not set our expectations that high that minor inconveniences detract from our overall experience. While the style of the OP's post is perhaps a little excitable (at least from this side of the pond!) none of the content sounds unlikely or unexpected. If one chooses to be excited by good service then that will only add to a positive experience.

So, thank you for posting your review. And I wish you many more happy Seabourn cruises.

We were on this same cruise along with two other couples who are close friends. We all felt as Dafne did that this was a marvelous experience. The food was incredible, the service amazing (we also loved some of the same restaurant people - Anna especially), and can't wait to return to Seabourn. As mentioned, the Chef's Market lunch was fantastic and the last night "Crew on Deck" pre-dinner appetizers were a meal in themselves.

We were fortunate to have very good weather, especiallly crossing the Tasman Sea. We plan to post a review on the curise critic board as well.

We only had two complaints about our trip which we have expressed to Seabourn. The first was the policy of allowing smoking on the verandas. The was a problem for all three couples in our group as there were times when we could not enjoy our veranda because someone nearby was smoking. As other cruise lines have banned smoking on all verandas,we hope Seabourn will change their policy.

Our other complaint was the self-service laundries. Four machines for 450 people is inadequate for a cruise of this length this far from home. Most guests traveled before and after the cruise as well. It was a constant battle to get a machine. As we ate dinner early, we found the best time to find an empty machine as at about 8:30 pm after we finished dinner. Not what we wanted to do at that time.

Overall our first Seabourn cruise exceeded our expectations and Dafne did not exagerate.

We were fortunate to have very good weather, especiallly crossing the Tasman Sea. We plan to post a review on the curise critic board as well.

Please do that - more people read the reviews there than read reviews in posts here. Also, human nature being what it is, people with issues about cruises/hotels/etc tend to post about them more often than people who had a great time - so some balancing reviews are always good.

As mentioned, the Chef's Market lunch was fantastic and the last night "Crew on Deck" pre-dinner appetizers were a meal in themselves.

Never had the Crew on Deck pre-dinner appetizers. The Galley Lunch was a novelty the first time we had it, but has become a bit routine. The last 3 we had, and they were on different widely-separated cruises, were absolutely identical down to the food presented and the location of each chafing dish. I hope they update the formula at some point and freshen it up a bit.

We only had two complaints about our trip .... The first was the policy of allowing smoking on the verandas.

 

Our other complaint was the self-service laundries. Four machines for 450 people is inadequate

Well we weren't as fortunate with the weather when we did the NZ->Aus trip as you were, but have been lucky with smoking thus far, I'd like to see that policy changed however before we get a suite next to a smoker. The laundry machines are ever in short-supply and when one breaks down it's a nightmare. However given Seabourn has a laundry service from which they make money, I've never seen their motivation to fix this unfortunately.

Have they turned the awful muzak on the pool deck off yet? I complain about that caterwaul every cruise.

Why is it people are quick to believe something negative but suspicious when it's positive? We see so much complaining on these boards it's a pleasure and relief to see a rave.

Because reality happens. Humans are imperfect. Ergo anything run by humans will have issues. To say that a cruise was perfect indicates either low standards, or not paying attention or ignoring issues or perhaps someone did find the chicken teeth. It's not that such a thing can't happen it's just reality dictates otherwise and the chance of perfection is rather rare. (See Thomas Kellers comments on perfection).

Perhaps people are tired of those who lie via either omission or taking after cartoon ostriches and burying their heads in the sand. (I can think of at least two uber brand cheeleaders who fit this mold). Case in point there's a poster on CC that has a very high noise:signal post ratio who has more pull on a particular cruise line than those actively sailing it do. The people on board complained to the staff on the ship about certain issues. The staff ignored them. Then the influential CC poster called corporate - problem solved. Yet this person has never seen anything wrong with a cruise they've been on (because as they've attested to - they willfully ignore it and won't post about it) and think that they experience what the average passenger does.:rolleyes:

If the OP found the chicken teeth, more power to them and may they continue finding them.

First, I think vacations are to be enjoyed, not evaluated constantly while in progress. We pay to enjoy ourselves & are not paid to write detailed reviews of microscopic detail. I prefer high level opinions good & bad about hotels, restaurants, & cruise lines.

Emperor Norton, I think I share your views about at least one of the posters you reference.

The difference for me is that I don’t think this poster really has the ear of the cruise line’s management.

If you were a member of management of that cruise line, would you want that poster cheerleading for your product?

In my opinion, this poster is harming the image of the brand for which he/she is cheerleading.

As someone who is using these boards in an effort to decide if I want to take a cruise and which cruise line I want to take, I have eliminated one cruise line for fear of being on the same ship with that cruise line’s cheerleader. I think I would abandon ship if he/she were on my cruise. I don’t think that’s fair, but personalities of CC posters do influence my opinion of cruise lines. I do wonder how well the personality of the CC board for a particular cruise line mirrors the on-board personality of passengers and whether that should matter.

Hehe, if we're thinking of the same person then yes, I agree they don't have managements ear. There is another poster for a different line that I believe does.

The OP doesn't miss a chance to besmirch Silversea in any of her recent posts, and that sullies the Seabourn review (especially when you read the OP's posts of yesteryear that extol the praises of the now jilted mistress Silversea).

Also, the continuous food gluttony talk (double cut filet steaks, 5 appetizers, 11 salads, biggie size fries, 7 desserts, 3 pints of ice cream, etc.) makes me nauseous ... similar to countless RCCL or Carnival threads about how many deliciously defrosted lobster tails one can eat in a single sitting.

The Seabourn I know is not about excess. It is a great cruise line, but always with room for a bit of improvement.

The review is, as a fellow poster suggests, a "puff" piece.

If I was researching sailing on Seabourn for the first time by checking out the reviews I would tend to dismiss both the enthusiastic over the top ones and also those that describe the trip from hell. I'd look to the middle of the road ones which were balanced and positive - the ones that point out the good things and also the misses. Then I'd look for trends. I've no doubt that dafne describes how she feels but her views would be of limited value to me. I'd do the same if I was researching a hotel or a grocery shop. But I am glad she had such a wonderful cruise.

So jimmyw9 says he is left speechless? Ha! I will believe it when I see (and don't hear) it...

We were on Sojourn for 2 weeks with jimmyw9 before he finally left in HK. It was yap, yap, yap and then voila peace was restored. Better late than ever, I say.

We are on Sojourn for a few days yet until Singapore. It is also a wonderful experience, especially since HK, just like Odyssey.

Happy sailing!

I fear it is 'dafne's writing style which is, to me as as slightly reticent Brit, a bit off-putting. I notice that she also put this report on the Silversea forum, which naturally brought forth a few comments.

oh yes - it's getting brutal over there :)

The OP doesn't miss a chance to besmirch Silversea in any of her recent posts, and that sullies the Seabourn review (especially when you read the OP's posts of yesteryear that extol the praises of the now jilted mistress Silversea).

 

Also, the continuous food gluttony talk (double cut filet steaks, 5 appetizers, 11 salads, biggie size fries, 7 desserts, 3 pints of ice cream, etc.) makes me nauseous ... similar to countless RCCL or Carnival threads about how many deliciously defrosted lobster tails one can eat in a single sitting.

 

The Seabourn I know is not about excess. It is a great cruise line, but always with room for a bit of improvement.

 

The review is, as a fellow poster suggests, a "puff" piece.

Exactly!

It's hard to miss the caviar omission from Sally (aka dafne).

The review is, as a fellow poster suggests, a "puff" piece.

Wow, what a tough crowd. The feedback on what makes a good post seems to be; “If you can’t say something bad, don’t say anything at all.” I hope my mother isn’t able to see this.

Wow, what a tough crowd. The feedback on what makes a good post seems to be; “If you can’t say something bad, don’t say anything at all.” I hope my mother isn’t able to see this.

I don't think people are saying a review has to be full of "bad" just that a review that's 100% good is suspicious. If you recall an opposite review of the OPs (CarolDolls on the Pride) that was fairly negative, people jumped over that far more than this. So it would seem people want the duct tape: a light side, a dark side bound together with a common glue.

How sad!