Anyone currently on Encore this week?

[robertmartha]

We are boarding on Sunday and several postings on Seabourn Sailors grp on FB are not very positive in terms of staffing.

Strange because I have not seen any negative postings about the Encore...at all on CC.

 

Would luv to hear from anyone currently on board.

 

Bob from NY

[Mr Luxury]

10 hours ago, robertmartha said:

We are boarding on Sunday and several postings on Seabourn Sailors grp on FB are not very positive in terms of staffing.

Strange because I have not seen any negative postings about the Encore...at all on CC.

 

Would luv to hear from anyone currently on board.

 

Bob from NY

Encore was as perfect as you could get in August.

The glass half empty crowd would disagree I'm sure 🙄

[robertmartha]

TY Mr Luxury - appreciate your feedback (and I recall you posting very positively during your sailing).

 

I agree - always take comments and postings w/ a grain of salt but one never knows in the current environment if issues suddenly arise on a sailing for a reason.

3 more days of work till our first true vacation in almost 3 years !

[Mr Luxury]

Have a great time

[adoctor]

The Encore is in pretty good shape.(sailed in September, round trip Athens) The staff appear to be motivated and are well led with a good Captain and HD.

There are a few problems:

1 There appears to be an increasing number of Seattle instigated directives which are impacting on the Seabourn way. The ship(s) have been told to reduce their stock levels. This impacts replenishment. The wine selections, local sourcing of fish(Arctic Char every day is a little dull), and even shortages of fresh products during our 14 day cruise.

The challenge for the staff is to try and make these as invisible to the guests as possible but the good folk in Seattle are giving the ship an impossible brief.

2 Cost Savings;

You may notice excursion buses fuller than you remember. The gifts left on your bed at turndown once or twice per cruise instead of every night, a reduction in portion sizes at dinner.

The boarding packages have disappeared. Everything is now online or via the source. No Herald, printed tour info or tickets. Many of these are positioned as environmental initiatives. Green or just plain mean!

3 New staff.

A good core of well-trained staff remains. However, Seabourn are clearly struggling to recruit quality. Some new recruits unsuited to service and others with very poor language skills. This issue is impacting the whole industry but I would have hoped a quality operation like Seabourn would have been attractive to experienced cruise professionals. It appears not to be the case. Perhaps the T&C's have been trimmed for cost savings.

4 Conclusions.

I am sure you will have a great cruise.We certainly did but be aware some things have changed.On our cruise plenty of Americans, Brits and Aussies.A noticable number of ex Crystal loyalists. Enjoy your trip.

 

 

[robertmartha]

Thank you both !

 

Will post when I can next week - always like to pay it forward for those boarding in the upcoming weeks / months!