Do we get what we pay for on Seabourn?

[hoya68]

9 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

When I want Michelin star cuisine then I go to Michelin star restaurants.

I live in London so I'm not disappointed.

I choose Seabourn or Silversea if I want a vacation at sea For all that they offer.

I've generally had good food and sometimes great food.

I have never gone hungry and always had a wonderful vacation at a price point that I think is exceptional value.

To quote Oscar Wilde: "A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

 

[Mr Luxury]

19 minutes ago, hoya68 said:

To quote Oscar Wilde: "A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

 

Poor old Oscar,

What a way to go

[Ithikan]

23 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Poor old Oscar,

What a way to go

Yes, he died alone and far too young - a famed poet, novelist and dramatist.  He used language and a finely honed aesthetic to impact the arts of his time as well as his own, and future, generations.

Reportedly his final quip:  "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death.  One or the other of us has to go."

[Mr Luxury]

Just now, Ithikan said:

Yes, he died alone and far too young - a famed poet, novelist and dramatist.  He used language and a finely honed aesthetic to impact the arts of his time as well as his own, and future, generations.

Reportedly his final quip:  "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death.  One or the other of us has to go."

Yes indeed,I love that quote.

And then he exploded from every orifice apparently.

[tv24]

JPH:  Thanks for this as it has been fun to think this through.  I do believe that Seabourn is a good buy for a cruise vacation for those of us who like alcohol.  One can definitely get a better buy on a mass market cruise line, but that is a totally different experience.  My comparison point is to how we like to travel, a long-term stay in a major city in a tourist apartment, just getting to know one place.  That is a better buy that Seabourn, but again, a totally different experience, in the end not really comparable.  But again, it was fun to think about all of this.

[Techno123]

We have yet to sail on one of the very large ships (and possibly never will as we enjoy the ambience on ships which have significantly less than 1000 passengers). I like the concept of all inclusive (well not completely in Seabourn's case) BUT I am not faithful to one cruise company and look at itinerary and cost when making a decision.
 

Our recent cruise on the Ovation was very good but not fabulous (I was totally wide eyed and impressed by our first cruise on the Odyssey (and probably our second and third) but now we have a few cruises with different companies under our belt we are able to compare more accurately 😁). I certainly heard many more complaints on the Ovation cruise than I have heard before.

 

 

[Khareef]

17 hours ago, Techno123 said:

We have yet to sail on one of the very large ships (and possibly never will as we enjoy the ambience on ships which have significantly less than 1000 passengers). I like the concept of all inclusive (well not completely in Seabourn's case) BUT I am not faithful to one cruise company and look at itinerary and cost when making a decision.
 

Our recent cruise on the Ovation was very good but not fabulous (I was totally wide eyed and impressed by our first cruise on the Odyssey (and probably our second and third) but now we have a few cruises with different companies under our belt we are able to compare more accurately 😁). I certainly heard many more complaints on the Ovation cruise than I have heard before.

 

 

Care to articulate more about these complaints? And among the different cruise lines you tried so far, which one you enjoyed the most?

[Techno123]

@kareef the complaints we actually overheard included

the food was cold

the braised meat was tough and chewy

the chicken was dry

the service was slow

 

However we also saw the restaurant managers and the executive chef go to other tables and were apologising but for what I don't know. We were approached by the Colonnade restaurant manager to  give us a time for a meeting to discuss our complaint when the waiter came running over and said 'wrong table' so what the couple on the table next to us had complained about I don't know but they didn't look happy. (Even less so as she hadn't got the right table!)

 

Re other cruise lines, I don't think any are perfect (well I used to think Seabourn was 😁). We have tried Seabourn, Regent and Oceania for Ocean and Crystal and Avalon for river and have enjoyed all of them. As I said in the last post, we are not loyal to a particular cruise line so we also have a cruise planned on the Silver Nova and I do like the look of the new Oceania ship.
 

We tend to choose cruises with not too many sea days but like to have a variety of active entertainment on the sea days not just sitting down activities. The Herald appeared to have a lot on offer but when you looked closely it was a lot of the same type of thing. I have to say we sailed on the little Regent Navigator before Christmas and there was plenty on offer to keep us occupied and they still have the sports deck which has been taken over on the Ovation by the Retreat. I know that isn't important to everyone but it is to us (hence why we like port intensive).
 

We have no interest in rowdy evening entertainment so could always find something to enjoy in the evening on all of the ships we have sailed on.

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Techno123

[2SailingNomads]

On our recent- disembarked last Sunday after 21 days - Ovation cruise many, many things had gone back to the old great Seabourn that we have spent over 400 days on.  However there were multiple food issues, mostly around main courses not even barely warm and have to be sent back, including one night in the TK Grill.  A member of a couple we were traveling with had specific allergies and many of his dishes he couldn't eat for various reasons.  A former F&B Manger for Seabourn who we knew well had 3 rules: 

It has to be what was ordered

It has to be in a reasonable time

It has to be served HOT

Too bad he is no longer with Seabourn ...

And have no idea who the F&B person was as they never introduced themselves nor were obvious unlike the 2 Bar Mangers who were always around and helping out.

 

[arzz]

I start this with the admission that I have not cruised since 2019 but we have recently booked a Seabourn cruise for late fall. I have over 500 real sailing days on Holland America and have enjoyed many fabulous itineraries on that line. 
 

I have 66 days on Seabourn in my history and as we left the real world in 2019 for the skewed world of the pandemic DH and I were unequivocally sold on Seabourn as our cruise line of choice. 
 

Nonetheless when looking at itineraries Holland America still has experiences to savor that are not offered by Seabourn. So this week I priced one of those itineraries in a Vista Suite which is probably most comparable to Seabourn's veranda suite.  Turns out the per diem on Holland America came out to be about 20% higher than what we are paying for our late fall Seabourn cruise!  
 

The Holland America product does not really compare to what we receive from Seabourn and Holland America charges additional fees for mandatory gratuities on top of the cruise fare. 
 

No question that on Seabourn we get what we pay for … and more. 

[Techno123]

@2SailingNomads is Mrs 2SN the lovely deck walker? 😁

[2SailingNomads]

7 hours ago, Techno123 said:

@2SailingNomads is Mrs 2SN the lovely deck walker? 😁

Yes, that is her...

[Techno123]

3 hours ago, 2SailingNomads said:

Yes, that is her...

Patti and Ian - it was lovely to meet you both 😁

[2SailingNomads]

6 hours ago, Techno123 said:

Patti and Ian - it was lovely to meet you both 😁

Same here.  We thought you were staying on for the next segment and sent you a message on the Source app to get together for dinner but never saw you again, too bad we didn't meet sooner as we enjoyed your company.  Next time...  And hopefully you can bring your bike on the next one 🙂

[Techno123]

@2SailingNomads no, unfortunately we had to get off in Copenhagen 😢 and Source messaging doesn't work away from the ship Wi-Fi  but we did make our 10:10 flight so that was a huge positive.

 

I asked the Captain about the bike but he never got back to us. How was Iceland? Looks like the weather on the current run up the Norwegian coast is pretty bad - they couldn't dock in Alesund yesterday.
 

We enjoyed meeting you too so fingers crossed we meet again.