Live on Sojourn's World Cruise

[Mr Luxury]

After 45 days on board the Sojourn WC it has not been the best SB world cruise ever to put it mildly. Quite a few bad ports, a lot of indifferent food and wine, a lot of staff not up to SB standard and now for the last two weeks no newspapers at all, the excuse being they can't get the part for the printer or anybody to fix it!!! Despite two days stop in Sydney and two days in Adelaide we are no further forward. It seems SB just don't care about their diamond members! Roll on Hong Kong!

 

Hi Shelagh,

 

Sorry to hear that it has not been up to par.

I am not surprised to hear about the food which was not up to much at Christmas and New year,

I thought that it was just a bad Chef that nobody knew.

 

Do you have Grahame Cockburn as Chef on this trip.He is normally not bad at all,

Is there a lot of Veal on the menus and Beef tenderloin?

 

I do wonder if corporate head office is not meddling too much with things

 

Chin up!

 

Regards to Larry

[Mr Luxury]

shefinch - having met you, and knowing you are a glass half full rather than half empty person, I am sad to read that the current WC is not as good as it should be.

 

Perhaps a good thing that Seabourn is switching to Grand Voyages rather than a full blown world cruise.

[Mr Luxury]

We're concerned too, we're taking the HK to Singapore segment.

 

Perhaps the food will improve after the guests throw the chef from the ship whilst at sea.:)

[Nigella]

Perhaps the food will improve after the guests throw the chef from the ship whilst at sea.:)

 

Taking the veal with him into the drink !

[Mr Luxury]

Taking the veal with him into the drink !

 

Veal in brine?

 

Don't give them any more ideas what to do with Vealmageddon.

 

I hear that the Veal breadsticks are a real treat.:rolleyes:

[CruiserKit]

Shelagh,

Are you getting off in Hong Kong or continuing on? I am boarding in Hong Kong and getting off in Mumbai. I hope you will still be on board.

Kit

[wripro]

I wish they could clone chef Jes and put him on all the ships!

 

Sorry to hear the WC is not up to par, Shelagh.

[PaulaJK]

These are disappointing, if not depressing, comments re: the WC. If SB is not delivering in an across the board way on what is the big gig, I see no reason to anticipate that Grand Voyages or shorter cruises [such as your holiday one] will be any better. Usually WC have some special events. What about this one?

Guest performers? Any talent in the bands or cast.? I gather from your note that there is not much pizazz in the culinary dept.

 

There are simply too many interesting cruises out there [sB, read the blog of Crystal's WC] with entertainment and exciting cuisine [Think Oceania] for SB to not deliver. It will not stay competitive which it needs to do with that new ship in the works.

 

Obviously my distress at reading these comments is magnified by the fact that we are holding SB tickets !!

[kiskadee]

After 45 days on board the Sojourn WC it has not been the best SB world cruise ever to put it mildly. Quite a few bad ports, a lot of indifferent food and wine, a lot of staff not up to SB standard and now for the last two weeks no newspapers at all, the excuse being they can't get the part for the printer or anybody to fix it!!! Despite two days stop in Sydney and two days in Adelaide we are no further forward. It seems SB just don't care about their diamond members! Roll on Hong Kong!

 

When we were on the Quest in November--- Barcelona to Rio-- we had several days with no newspapers and the same excuse was given that the printer was broken. It was the most disappointing cruise we were ever on as there was very little to do and we had quite a few days at sea. One of the activities was needlepoint at afternoon tea! There were no dance classes and one day there was Zumba where one person attended. The cookery demonstrations were the exact ones I have seen so many times and the lectures were not very interesting

We had thought of going on the cruise to S Africa but I have read so many negative comments about Sojourn we are now having second thoughts .

[shefinch]

Hi Shelagh. We sailed with you and Larry, Debs and Mandky quite a few years ago. We are booked on the HK to Mumbai segment and were really concerned to hear your comments about your trip so far, particularly in relation to the staff , food and wine. Can you provide us with more details please? Thanks Diane

Hi Diane,

Sorry didn't wish to alarm you or anybody else. With regard to the food, the beef has been excellent, the lamb and duck inedible, a lot of the food in the MDR has been cold. The fruit in the Colonnade at breakfast has in the main been dreadful, hard and unripe. We have resorted to buying some when ashore. The wine which has never been good seems even worse particularly the reds. They bought some in New Zealand one of which was particularly good. After a week it had all gone. With regard to the staff all the old timers are running round trying to keep everybody happy but there are too many new untrained staff who are not up to SB standards.

[shefinch]

Hi Shelagh,

 

Sorry to hear that it has not been up to par.

I am not surprised to hear about the food which was not up to much at Christmas and New year,

I thought that it was just a bad Chef that nobody knew.

 

Do you have Grahame Cockburn as Chef on this trip.He is normally not bad at all,

Is there a lot of Veal on the menus and Beef tenderloin?

 

I do wonder if corporate head office is not meddling too much with things

 

Chin up!

Hi John,

Yes Grahame Cockburn is Chef on board and as you say usually very good.

There is a fair amount of veal and beef tenderloin on the menus but no more than usual. We think it is definitely down to head office and just the general Holland Americanisation of everything!

[shefinch]

Shelagh,

Are you getting off in Hong Kong or continuing on? I am boarding in Hong Kong and getting off in Mumbai. I hope you will still be on board.

Kit

 

Hi Kit,

No we're getting off in Hong Kong so we won't see you. What a shame! After all these years!

[shefinch]

I wish they could clone chef Jes and put him on all the ships!

 

Sorry to hear the WC is not up to par, Shelagh.

 

Yes chef Jes was excellent Henry! It is a shame that things are not as they used to be on SB.

Going back to the food, the pizzas are truly terrible too!

[shefinch]

These are disappointing, if not depressing, comments re: the WC. If SB is not delivering in an across the board way on what is the big gig, I see no reason to anticipate that Grand Voyages or shorter cruises [such as your holiday one] will be any better. Usually WC have some special events. What about this one?

Guest performers? Any talent in the bands or cast.? I gather from your note that there is not much pizazz in the culinary dept.

 

There are simply too many interesting cruises out there [sB, read the blog of Crystal's WC] with entertainment and exciting cuisine [Think Oceania] for SB to not deliver. It will not stay competitive which it needs to do with that new ship in the works.

 

Obviously my distress at reading these comments is magnified by the fact that we are holding SB tickets !!

 

Sorry Paula. do not wish to depress or distress anybody by my comments.

There have been a couple of WC events so far, just two for us half world cruisers.

There is talent in the entertainment section. We have a lovely Assistant CD, Sophie, who is a very talented singer, as well as Heather and David E. There is a very good girl saxophonist in the band. On the whole the entertainment hasn't been too bad.

[shefinch]

When we were on the Quest in November--- Barcelona to Rio-- we had several days with no newspapers and the same excuse was given that the printer was broken. It was the most disappointing cruise we were ever on as there was very little to do and we had quite a few days at sea. One of the activities was needlepoint at afternoon tea! There were no dance classes and one day there was Zumba where one person attended. The cookery demonstrations were the exact ones I have seen so many times and the lectures were not very interesting

We had thought of going on the cruise to S Africa but I have read so many negative comments about Sojourn we are now having second thoughts .

 

Yes I have heard that that cruise was not that good either although I have also heard that it was extremely good. There is a rumour that newspapers for Diamond members are going to be discontinued or possibly sent electronically into one's suite although knowing how long everything takes to download one wonders how that is going to work too! We had already booked 40 days Singapore/Singapore on this ship in February 2015 prior to coming on board! Perhaps we will feel less "jaded" by then!

[tv24]

tv24, what a pity you could not find anything to do on Kangaroo Island. I don't know what tours Seabourn offered, and maybe you are one who likes to do things on your own, but a little research would have shown you that KI is an outback / wilderness experience rather than shopping malls. There are plenty of private 4x4 tours available going to the Chase National Park where you would see wallabies and koalas, then go to the beach for a walk through colonies of wild fur seals, visit Remarkable Rocks, Admirals Arch just to name a few sights.

I see today you are in Adelaide (my home town) and once again, we are a small town -not Sydney or Melbourne, but in own way we do have plenty to offer. I admit, we are not looking our best at the moment, but we have just experienced 13 days of over 40C and then 2 days of flooding rain, but today the weather is perfect. Enjoy!

 

Thanks for your note, JOC123. Happy to report that we had a lovely time in your home town. Took the excursion to Cleland Park where we got up and personal with a koala and lots of wallabies and roos. Then visited the terrific Tandaya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, the Art Gallery, and the South Australian Museum. Loved the cafe/resto area at the end of Rundle St. where we had a perfect Indian dinner, the antidote to the blah ethnic food on board the ship. And perfect weather. You should be proud of your home.

[tv24]

After 45 days on board the Sojourn WC it has not been the best SB world cruise ever to put it mildly. Quite a few bad ports, a lot of indifferent food and wine, a lot of staff not up to SB standard and now for the last two weeks no newspapers at all, the excuse being they can't get the part for the printer or anybody to fix it!!! Despite two days stop in Sydney and two days in Adelaide we are no further forward. It seems SB just don't care about their diamond members! Roll on Hong Kong!

 

So sad that I pretty much have to agree with Shefinch. I am a first-time Seabourn passenger and have been on the Sojourn now for over 45 days. I was very, very excited about my first luxury cruise, but unfortunately it has been disappointing, mostly because of the food. Don't get me wrong...there are many small touches with the ship and the service that I adore, but not the food. I intend to write a long, balanced review after Hong Kong. I promise to not ignore the things that have delighted me.

[Joc123]

Thanks for your note, JOC123. Happy to report that we had a lovely time in your home town. Took the excursion to Cleland Park where we got up and personal with a koala and lots of wallabies and roos. Then visited the terrific Tandaya Aboriginal Cultural Institute, the Art Gallery, and the South Australian Museum. Loved the cafe/resto area at the end of Rundle St. where we had a perfect Indian dinner, the antidote to the blah ethnic food on board the ship. And perfect weather. You should be proud of your home.

 

Tv24,Thank you for your kind words. We love living here and often wonder why people don't come to visit - most just do the east coast. We went down to see Sojourn, it has been 2 months since we we were on the Quest and we are going through withdrawals - lol! It was quite a strange feeling seeing her and not being allowed to get on board.

The food situation is disturbing. We were very disappointed with the food on Quest, but put it down to being in Antarctica and no fresh food markets near by. We were on Spirit in Sept. (Chef Graeme) and loved the food, but on Quest, too many Asian menus which where the same no matter which country they were supposed to be from - very bland. The beef was tasteless and the pork, more often than not, tough. I hope this is just a hiccup and not the norm. We will be on Legend in August ( our farewell to the little ships) and I really hope things will be better by then.

[Nigella]

Thank you to shefinch and tv24 for your 'live' feedback, as it were.

 

Thinking back to our last Seabourn cruise, I can't remember much about the food. Which is probably not a good sign.

 

It's terrible that they're not even getting the pizza right. As for the staff, well I'm sorry but after 45 days they should have no excuse to not be up to standard. How much time do they need to take to be trained? Unless they're just not capable of reaching those standards.

 

I'll take the next 3 weeks before we board to lower my expectations slightly.

[Nigella]

Veal in brine?

 

Don't give them any more ideas what to do with Vealmageddon.

 

I hear that the Veal breadsticks are a real treat.:rolleyes:

 

Just told my husband 'vealmageddon' and he laughed so hard he says he'll buy you a drink (!) if we're ever on a ship together in future. I told him you're partial to Chateau Giscours.....:cool:

[Nigella]

Gosh, I apologise in advance for being a board hog today, but those of you who are joining the WC in Hong Kong, do you have your suite allocations yet?

Our TA is excellent and has called Seabourn a couple of times to chase it up but still nothing.

I don't know how they work inventory on a cruise ship. I'm assuming that those of you who are on board longer than us will get your allocations first, then we'll be at the back of the queue.

[bizinsider]

This is a disturbing threat. We just booked the Quest for a Baltic cruise. Crystal, our preferred cruise line, was booked solid. The Quest, for some reason, had plenty of rooms.

 

Now, perhaps, we know why! I'm thinking we may now seek to find any cancellations on Crystal and cancel this cruise if we can find rooms on Crystal (which is next to impossible, though our agent did find one two days ago which we let pass by.)

 

With Crystal, we've always had great cruises. Yes, the ships are bigger but the crew, in general, is hard to beat. I always assumed it was because it is owned by a Japanese company, which has high standards.

 

I'm leery of anything Carnival-owned, and based on the comments on this board, so are some of those on the WC!

 

Reminds us of the time, a few years ago, we veered to Regent b/c of the itinerary, we noticed two differences: Crew friendliness and food. Based on what I'm reading here, the food, which was once great (except the pizza) is now not so much; and the crew isn't what it once was.

 

When you pay top dollar, you expect smiles, warmth and a well-trained, well-oiled crew.

 

Just my 2 cents....

[barcrab]

We are Crystal cruisers too and are trying the Quest in April. We love Crystal, but thought it would be fun to try one of Seabourn's newer ships.

 

This thread is VERY disconcerting in regard to food and service!

I had always heard the two lines were on par in this regard.

[Mr Luxury]

We are Crystal cruisers too and are trying the Quest in April. We love Crystal, but thought it would be fun to try one of Seabourn's newer ships.

 

This thread is VERY disconcerting in regard to food and service!

I had always heard the two lines were on par in this regard.

 

Don't be too alarmed at what you read on CC

Out of a half dozen that post bad things there will be another 438 that have had a great time.

I tried The Serenity and thought that the only food of note on board was at Silk Road,I am sure that the other 900 enjoyed the food in the other restaurants.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Mr Luxury

[bizinsider]

Took no chances, found a room on Crystal, cancelled Seabourn. After the Regent experience, I didn't want to take another chance. But I do hear you on the complainers. Can never please everybody!