Live on Sojourn's World Cruise

[PaulaJK]

I understand that different folk will have different expectations, experiences, impressions and opinions but I don't feel that someone who offers a negative opinion is de facto a complainer. Frankly, there have been too many similarly negative comments recently regarding SB that it is becoming concerning. Apparently you became concerned as you switched to Crystal.

 

We are going to be on board in March and I hope to be able to offer positive reports. Luxury lines need to present experiences perceived as 'luxury' by most of the people, most of the time.

[bizinsider]

I agree w/you on complainers. Poor choice of words.

 

I hope you can report some great things on Seabourn. We have friends who have sailed it (a year or two ago) who LOVED it.

 

We are skittish after Regent. Our biggest issue there was, quite frankly, the staff (our stewardess, excluded, because she was one of the best we ever had!) wasn't that friendly and didn't seem trained. The dining room was intolerably slow and unmemorable, though the steak restaurant was superb!) That's the one thing Crystal does very well and it is a consistency we have noticed and have come to expect.

[2SailingNomads]

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.

 

Agree 100% with you. We were on-board for the first segment, 34 days from LA to Sydney and have a different take on things, admittedly they may have changed for the worse since we disembarked on Feb 8th, and no doubt the longer you are on-board the more repetitive the menu will become and minor annoyances can become more annoying as time goes on – why we choose to only do 34 days even though we would have liked to stay on to Hong Kong or Singapore. Everyone has different experiences and likes so one person’s idea of great is another’s mediocre, and is always subjective. We found the food for the most part to be good, yes some of it was bland and on occasion we had over cooked fish, which we would return. The fruit started out decent but, especially at the Colonnade for breakfast was not very ripe and there were no berries toward the end, but otherwise we had no major complaints. No matter what, you will never have farm to table on a ship. Was it as good as on other cruises we’ve done, no but for us and others we associated and dined with on-board it certainly was not "bad". The service was, IMO, about comparable to other Seabourn cruises we’ve been on, there are always a few crew who are subpar, every cruise we’ve encountered a few, but luckily you can usually avoid them, and a lot of crew are exemplary. Then again some servers I wanted to avoid other passengers thought were very good and preferred them, so again different people have different perspectives. At the same time, there were some passengers who seemed to never like anything and some who were rather rude to the crew. Other than TV24 – who I spoke with a few times but have no idea how his tastes compare to mine - I don’t know who the posters are so I can’t comment on individual posts, but IMO things were not as bad as some posts suggest and nothing would make me even consider not taking my next SB cruise.

[shefinch]

Agree 100% with you. We were on-board for the first segment, 34 days from LA to Sydney and have a different take on things, admittedly they may have changed for the worse since we disembarked on Feb 8th, and no doubt the longer you are on-board the more repetitive the menu will become and minor annoyances can become more annoying as time goes on – why we choose to only do 34 days even though we would have liked to stay on to Hong Kong or Singapore. Everyone has different experiences and likes so one person’s idea of great is another’s mediocre, and is always subjective. We found the food for the most part to be good, yes some of it was bland and on occasion we had over cooked fish, which we would return. The fruit started out decent but, especially at the Colonnade for breakfast was not very ripe and there were no berries toward the end, but otherwise we had no major complaints. No matter what, you will never have farm to table on a ship. Was it as good as on other cruises we’ve done, no but for us and others we associated and dined with on-board it certainly was not "bad". The service was, IMO, about comparable to other Seabourn cruises we’ve been on, there are always a few crew who are subpar, every cruise we’ve encountered a few, but luckily you can usually avoid them, and a lot of crew are exemplary. Then again some servers I wanted to avoid other passengers thought were very good and preferred them, so again different people have different perspectives. At the same time, there were some passengers who seemed to never like anything and some who were rather rude to the crew. Other than TV24 – who I spoke with a few times but have no idea how his tastes compare to mine - I don’t know who the posters are so I can’t comment on individual posts, but IMO things were not as bad as some posts suggest and nothing would make me even consider not taking my next SB cruise.

I think it all depends on expectations and possibly how often you have sailed on SB. We have been sailing on SB for 14 years and have between 40 and 50 cruises with them under our belt. Having done half of both the Odyssey and Quest WCs our expectations were high. "Not bad" is not something I would ever associate with SB. Having said that we had a cruise on the Spirit in October and that was wonderful. Such a shame the small ships are going although we do prefer the amenities on the larger ships.

[2SailingNomads]

I did not write "not bad", rather I wrote not "bad" as some of the comments - not yours - imply the food might be. And while we can all remember the good old days of whatever, say 1st class airlines 30 years ago, or coach 50 years ago when you wore a suit to get on a prop plane that took 8 hours from NY to Florida, things do change over time and SB has different management now than 14 years ago and like all corporations profit unfortunately trumps quality when it can get away with it w/ out losing all the clients.

[frantic36]

Okay I have been on this ship only since Sydney but I must be sailing on a different Sojourn.

 

The fruits at breakfast have consisted of slices of mango, plums, nectarines, oranges, kiwi fruit, papaya, different melons and one day even star fruit. Maybe not as many berries in the bowls but they are not in season here so harder to find. The Barramundi we had yesterday for dinner was perfectly cooked. My husband had one fish meal early in the cruise that was not great but since then all good. I checked with some English and American friends we have made and they have enjoyed their meals and they also have many Seabourn cruises under their belt. Is everything perfect all the time.....no......but it has been a lovely cruise so far.

 

For others who may go to Burnie we did a little three hour scenic tour organised at the tourism place and saw lovely scenery and got to taste some good single malt whiskey but maybe it would be no good to whiskey experts.

 

Kangaroo Island we hired a car and again saw great scenery, went to a national park where we saw multiple koalas in the wild, one was low down sleeping in his tree and looked close enough to touch......but we resisted. Other people went to the seal bay area and saw many mother and baby seals playing by sliding down rock slides, suckling and being adorable. In fact it has confirmed that this is an place we will come and stay for a few days as we couldn't get to see all we wanted to in one day.

 

I know the weather is cooler and overcast most of the time as we are crossing the Bight but the sun is breaking through and I am looking forward to the rest of our voyage.

[2SailingNomads]

Okay I have been on this ship only since Sydney but I must be sailing on a different Sojourn.

[...]

.

 

Very glad to hear all is well. As I said there were some minor issues but overall we were very pleased as we always are on SB. Enjoy!

[rl787]

I think Mr L summed it up well.

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.

We are on a ship that does not have a fully stocked 24/7 supermarket on board, they order in advance and in general provide us with a good standard of food whilst on board.

It is probably not to everyone's taste but generally of a decent standard.

[tv24]

I will run the risk of being labeled a complainer. But I do want to report the following, which I swear is true. A couple of days ago, we met with Chef Graeme Cockburn to plan a party,and he encouraged us to order a special dinner for just the two of us. Since my partner is from Oklahoma, we ordered a traditional American dinner, fried chicken with country cream gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans. The next night in the MDR, after appetizers from the menu, our special dinner arrived. The chicken was in the form of McNuggets, chopped pieces consisting of meat and bone, incredibly dry and overcooked. The chicken nuggets were in a big bowl with no garnish. The mashed were in a tiny bowl, again no garnish. We waited for a few minutes for the gravy, but they brought only enough for one person. Waited another five or so, then enough gravy. Unfortunately it was a thin brown liquid that I swear was consomme or chicken broth. About 20 minutes later the assistant Maitre D' came by to ask how it was. We did register our unhappiness, and asked him where our green beans were. He brought them about 10 minutes later, just in time for dessert. But with one taste we could tell that they had come from some frozen packet. By the end we felt as though we had been punished for ordering a special dinner off-menu. Sorry to file such a sad report, but I remained a bit stunned by it all.

[Emperor Norton]

I will run the risk of being labeled a complainer. But I do want to report the following, which I swear is true. A couple of days ago, we met with Chef Graeme Cockburn to plan a party,and he encouraged us to order a special dinner for just the two of us. Since my partner is from Oklahoma, we ordered a traditional American dinner, fried chicken with country cream gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans. The next night in the MDR, after appetizers from the menu, our special dinner arrived. The chicken was in the form of McNuggets, chopped pieces consisting of meat and bone, incredibly dry and overcooked. The chicken nuggets were in a big bowl with no garnish. The mashed were in a tiny bowl, again no garnish. We waited for a few minutes for the gravy, but they brought only enough for one person. Waited another five or so, then enough gravy. Unfortunately it was a thin brown liquid that I swear was consomme or chicken broth. About 20 minutes later the assistant Maitre D' came by to ask how it was. We did register our unhappiness, and asked him where our green beans were. He brought them about 10 minutes later, just in time for dessert. But with one taste we could tell that they had come from some frozen packet. By the end we felt as though we had been punished for ordering a special dinner off-menu. Sorry to file such a sad report, but I remained a bit stunned by it all.

 

That almost seems like they went out of their way to disappoint. I never had any issues with special orders via Chef Jes. The last Chef I experienced overall wasn't as good as Jes, but did an excellent job of BBQ ribs with mac 'n cheese given they didn't have a wood fired pit.

Edited February 21, 2014 by baychilla

[medroots]

Okay I have been on this ship only since Sydney but I must be sailing on a different Sojourn.

 

The fruits at breakfast have consisted of slices of mango, plums, nectarines, oranges, kiwi fruit, papaya, different melons and one day even star fruit. Maybe not as many berries in the bowls but they are not in season here so harder to find. The Barramundi we had yesterday for dinner was perfectly cooked. My husband had one fish meal early in the cruise that was not great but since then all good. I checked with some English and American friends we have made and they have enjoyed their meals and they also have many Seabourn cruises under their belt. Is everything perfect all the time.....no......but it has been a lovely cruise so far.

 

For others who may go to Burnie we did a little three hour scenic tour organised at the tourism place and saw lovely scenery and got to taste some good single malt whiskey but maybe it would be no good to whiskey experts.

 

Kangaroo Island we hired a car and again saw great scenery, went to a national park where we saw multiple koalas in the wild, one was low down sleeping in his tree and looked close enough to touch......but we resisted. Other people went to the seal bay area and saw many mother and baby seals playing by sliding down rock slides, suckling and being adorable. In fact it has confirmed that this is an place we will come and stay for a few days as we couldn't get to see all we wanted to in one day.

 

I know the weather is cooler and overcast most of the time as we are crossing the Bight but the sun is breaking through and I am looking forward to the rest of our voyage.

 

A tale of 2 Sojourns? I must agree with Frantic36's impressions. We have taken 2 previous full world cruises, in addition to many, many other cruises, and are currently having a delightful time aboard Sojourn. We've found the crew to be professional and charming, and still maintain their excellent level of service. The food has been excellent, with only one mishap early on with some too-dry fish for us (promptly resolved). The fruit at breakfast has been plentiful and fresh, and the Colonnade has served us grilled vegetables upon request as well. I have noted at least a few berry hoarders among the guests, however. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

We've also noticed a marked improvement in the quality of complimentary wines aboard, including several good local wines normally unavailable for export from New Zealand and Australia.

 

We found the port of Burnie interesting, with the local museum featuring a Da Vinci Machinery exhibition that is currently traveling the world. We thought Kangaroo Island was lovely, and we took an excursion that featured wine tasting at 3 vineyards. We haven't been bothered by the weather, which has been blessedly cool but not uncomfortable, because we know it will be heating up soon enough.

 

I will attempt to attach a photo of Kangaroo Island below. Regarding those with unpleasant experiences on this same cruise, I can only conclude that they have different tastes. For us, we've found the cruise consistent with previous experiences and expectations and have booked additional cruises.

Edited February 21, 2014 by medroots
typo

[Nigella]

Interesting further reading. Thanks to all who contributed.

I'll wait and see, just 3 weeks to go.

Now if only we could get our suite number confirmed....

[lincslady]

I had been rather surprised to read some people's good reports about chef Graeme; he as I recall was one chef we did not think much of. They do vary, but most others have been more to our liking. I felt that he thought he was terribly important - maybe the people working under him, who would have made this obviously awful special dinner, are not as co-operative as they might be? Anyone any thoughts?

[Mr Luxury]

I will run the risk of being labeled a complainer. But I do want to report the following, which I swear is true. A couple of days ago, we met with Chef Graeme Cockburn to plan a party,and he encouraged us to order a special dinner for just the two of us. Since my partner is from Oklahoma, we ordered a traditional American dinner, fried chicken with country cream gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans. The next night in the MDR, after appetizers from the menu, our special dinner arrived. The chicken was in the form of McNuggets, chopped pieces consisting of meat and bone, incredibly dry and overcooked. The chicken nuggets were in a big bowl with no garnish. The mashed were in a tiny bowl, again no garnish. We waited for a few minutes for the gravy, but they brought only enough for one person. Waited another five or so, then enough gravy. Unfortunately it was a thin brown liquid that I swear was consomme or chicken broth. About 20 minutes later the assistant Maitre D' came by to ask how it was. We did register our unhappiness, and asked him where our green beans were. He brought them about 10 minutes later, just in time for dessert. But with one taste we could tell that they had come from some frozen packet. By the end we felt as though we had been punished for ordering a special dinner off-menu. Sorry to file such a sad report, but I remained a bit stunned by it all.

 

My question to you regarding this meal is,

Why did you not ask to see the Chef whilst the meal was on your table so that he could see how poor you perceived the meal to be.

 

Have you done anything about it since?

[lincslady]

Agree with Mr.L here. As a corollary to my previous post, we have in the past asked for a 'special' of something which does appear on the menu, such as escargots. No problem. However, after being asked for suggestions by a Maitre'd one evening, I suggested that they might try to introduce some old fashioned casserole dishes, such as boeuf bourgignon or coq au vin. We were offered coq au vin for the following evening - what arrived was edible, but was just chicken breasts in a red wine; no relation to the old French bistro dish of long marinated joints off an older bird. Understandable, but not the same thing at all. The chefs/cooks on board are usually well able to make the dishes on the menu, but do not seem to be trained to do any others.

[Mr Luxury]

The chefs/cooks on board are usually well able to make the dishes on the menu, but do not seem to be trained to do any others.

 

I am not surprised by this.

 

It does rather seem that the galley is a factory that is controlled by corporate head office and the Chef is not wholly responsible any more.

[Cisleman]

Have been using sea days since Adelaide to catchup on my recent photos - so for a change of pace from food issues here is a link if anyone is interested.

[Tony & Trevor]

Originally Posted by lincslady

The chefs/cooks on board are usually well able to make the dishes on the menu, but do not seem to be trained to do any others

 

Quite agree.

 

We have tried twice to have a special meal made by chef. Both disasters!

 

Captain Dexter is British and we arranaged for him a 'English meal'

Welsh Rarebit,

Meat and potato pie,

Jam roly poly with custerd.

 

Nothing like it. The Rarebit was served on very thickly cut bread ( half a loaf. The pie was mince meat on top on very thin pastry and the roly poly was just like a swiss role with no custerd. Last year we tried again. This time Lanacashire hot pot and Jam roly poly again. The hot pot was lamb chops with mashed potato. And we had to apologise to our American dinner friends particularly for the roly poly that gave us all indegeston and nothing like we would have at home. We all had agood laugh but what amazed us was that if you asked for anything-deviating from the normal menu, that was specially prepared it was pretty awfull.

However apart from the 'special requests' we have found the food excellent. Just back from South America/ Antarctica and Seabourn was truly excellent. A surreal resplendant cruise. Well Done.

 

Kind regards,

Tony

[Nigella]

Originally Posted by lincslady

The chefs/cooks on board are usually well able to make the dishes on the menu, but do not seem to be trained to do any others

 

Quite agree.

 

We have tried twice to have a special meal made by chef. Both disasters!

 

Captain Dexter is British and we arranaged for him a 'English meal'

Welsh Rarebit,

Meat and potato pie,

Jam roly poly with custerd.

 

Nothing like it. The Rarebit was served on very thickly cut bread ( half a loaf. The pie was mince meat on top on very thin pastry and the roly poly was just like a swiss role with no custerd. Last year we tried again. This time Lanacashire hot pot and Jam roly poly again. The hot pot was lamb chops with mashed potato. And we had to apologise to our American dinner friends particularly for the roly poly that gave us all indegeston and nothing like we would have at home. We all had agood laugh but what amazed us was that if you asked for anything-deviating from the normal menu, that was specially prepared it was pretty awfull.

However apart from the 'special requests' we have found the food excellent. Just back from South America/ Antarctica and Seabourn was truly excellent. A surreal resplendant cruise. Well Done.

 

Kind regards,

Tony

 

Hot pot made with lamb chops? As an adopted Lancastrian, I must object. And mashed potato :eek: I'm not sure what I'd call that. Well I am, I'd call it 'lamb chops with mashed potato' not hot pot.

Rarebit on half a loaf! Take a loaf of Warburton's next time ;)

 

Even I could serve up your menu and it would be edible.

I was thinking about asking them to make a shepherd's pie and sherry trifle one evening on our upcoming cruise but I wont bother.

We've found that when they do British themed cuisine it's usually ok, although a bit predictable, and if Jes is the chef, the fish and chips is spot on. But obviously that's on the normal menu.

 

Glad you had a great time on Quest. Is a review forthcoming?

[Nigella]

Have been using sea days since Adelaide to catchup on my recent photos - so for a change of pace from food issues here is a link if anyone is interested.

 

Amazing photos, as ever.

Who would think it, rhino in Sydney :D

Loved the animal and bird pictures as usual, the wombat, the two kookaburra ones and the Tasmanian devils being favourites.

Keep them coming please!

[Emperor Norton]

Okay I have been on this ship only since Sydney but I must be sailing on a different Sojourn.

 

...

 

Possibly. I've found that unless you're eating off someone elses plate you don't know what the food - beyond what you alone were served is like.

 

As an example: The last time I set foot on a Regent ship I was sitting with some relatives. I and one other at the table ordered a chicken curry dish. The chicken on my plate had a mushy/spongiform consistency from too many freeze/thaw cycles, it was also freezer burned. The curry seemed to be almost ketchup like in taste. When I mentioned this to the waiter the other person who had the curry stared at me like I was crazy. After the waiter left we swapped plates. The only complaint I could find with their dish was the curry wasn't as hot as I'd like. They took one bite of mine, and then returned it to the dish.

 

Same table, same dish but two completely different experiences.

[Laylam]

Have been using sea days since Adelaide to catchup on my recent photos - so for a change of pace from food issues here is a link if anyone is interested.

Great photos - thank you!

[sassyw]

We have been on the WC since LA and are having a ball! Except for some bad weather which is not Sojourn's fault, we feel the food, most or the entertainment and service is wonderful How LUCKY we are to be able to travel to interesting places and to enjoy this wonderful experience!!!!

[tv24]

My question to you regarding this meal is,

Why did you not ask to see the Chef whilst the meal was on your table so that he could see how poor you perceived the meal to be.

 

Have you done anything about it since?

 

As I wrote, we did make clear concise critical comments to the Assistant Maitre D' who promised to pass them along to the chef. One of the servers stopped by and stated that he was surprised by the appearance of the food that he had to serve. He also promised to relay our unhappiness in a future meeting of the staff. As for now, I have decided to focus on the positive element of this cruise, of which there are very many.

[lincslady]

I think the so-called Lancashire hotpot answers some of the riddles about poor specials. They would almost certainly not have neck of lamb on board - it is only used for slow cooking dishes after all. Also they almost certainly would not have a recipe for it.

 

However, the Head Chef should always be asked by the maitre'd or the passenger if he can provide the dish, and should give an honest answer. Better this than the disappointment of a dish done very badly.