TK to Go, Solis the New Innovation.

[markham]

Frantic, I believe that our Quest Grand Voyage around South America this year was the nadir/pits/suspension wrecking pot hole of current and past Seabourn cruises. In my experience at least. Sojourn on its world cruise had better satisfaction levels- from what on saw when communicating with friends there. And they didn’t lose Internet for 9 days, and if they had their captain would have owned up to it daily until it was corrected. But I digress…

 

I fervently hope that our month on Sojourn’s 2023 world cruise will serve to restore my positivity!

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[lincslady]

Having been around when TK was first introduced I am pretty sure that it has cost Seabourn a bomb, as he insisted on everything  being done exactly as he wanted - a perfectionist and dare I say keen on the financial reward, though he was perfectly pleasant to have a few words with when he was on board.  Very like a great many of these much lauded Michelin star chefs, sadly, who can turn out to be understandably  obsessive about their ratings.  Almost certainly not a good idea for a cruise line to try to replicate a land based Michelin star restaurant, when the chef  may insist on installation of special ovens, and the suppliers of their favourite ingredients.  And asking for wine served in stemless glasses for casual dinners - did not go down well with many Seabourn regulars.

 

[Atlavon]

Agree! We just sailed with Seabourn Odyssey in March 2023 (Auckland to Sydney 12 days and Silversea Silver Dawn in September 2023 (Copenhagen  r/t 14 days) and the experience on Silversea was so much better in all aspects, most especially dining.  MDR was my brother in law’s favorite.  I found the quality much better across the board, from lunch buffets to every single restaurant. For now we will book Silversea and hope Seabourn catches up.

[markham]

What Atlantide offers and Seabourn MDRs don’t is a deep menu, sophisticated presentation and lots of service staff. Seabourn is (ahem) tight on all these counts. Without TKG a drain on the budgets we can hope the MDR will improve.
 

The most important things are that Seabourn improves its game and does so fast. Why? They don’t have time to faff about… look at today’s post about the LA to Auckland 32 day cruise on Odyssey. With the ship at 100 below its capacity and more crew than passengers, this cruise cannot be making money.

 

i hope I am wrong about the likely prospects.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[SDuckers]

On 10/19/2023 at 6:49 AM, frantic36 said:

 

My son cooks wonderful Indian food but I like it in very small increments over a year. So as I said before you can't please everyone. A restaurant focused on Indian would mean when I do long cruises it would be a place I would only visit once in a 30 day cruise if at all.

 

They do Indian in the Colonnade and you can order a special meal with friends which I have enjoyed. I think they need to be careful not to alienate people who like the clever simplicity of TK and Mediterranean fare.

And I don't care for Indian food at all.  If the specialty restaurant was 100% Indian cuisine, I doubt I would ever go there.  I also have always skipped the "Indian Market" nights in the Colonnade.  

 

This is the inherent danger in having the specialty restaurant specialize in only one cuisine.

[SDuckers]

On 10/19/2023 at 2:28 PM, cruiseej said:

Several people have questioned exactly when Solis will debut on the various Seabourn ships. Here is what Seabourn has planned:

 

 

So it's a month-long conversion on each ship, with the restaurant scheduled to open midway through at the start of the third week, with fine-tuning and finishing touches over the remaining two weeks. If you're unlucky enough to be on one of the ships during the first two weeks of the conversion, you'll miss out on both TK Grille and Solis. But there's really no other way they could do this without waiting for each ship to go into dry dock, which would be nearly impossible in a five month period. 

 

This is great info, thanks!  We will be on the crossing on the Ovation from April 12-26, so sounds like we will get to be among the first to test it out on that ship!

[cruiseej]

On 10/20/2023 at 4:50 AM, claranda said:

Solis looks as if it will be an interesting alternative, especially the fish, although the ‘meat’ section, with its two steaks and plain chicken (at least on the sample menu) is boring. Where is the lamb, the pork, the game?

All we have seen so far is a small sample menu. But Seabourn has shared that there will be 105 savory dishes, about 20% available every day and the others on a 7-day rotation. 

[cruiseej]

13 hours ago, markham said:

I would hope that Seabourn gets the message that their Colonnade and MDR dinners need the real upgrades.

 

Well, Seabourn announced this summer that they were rolling out two new recipes each week, which will total more than 100 new recipes per year. (Dover sole is among them, for those who loved it at TKG.) So it seems like the message was received and they have responded! Since it's a year-long process, it will take some time to judge how well these new dishes are received. 

[markandjie]

5 hours ago, markham said:

What Atlantide offers and Seabourn MDRs don’t is a deep menu, sophisticated presentation and lots of service staff.

 

Every cruise can vary. Our experience dining on the Muse in Alaska in August was very disappointing.

[Robisan]

I would rather they skip the peacocking, faux-sophistication of table side preparation and devote those resources to in-kitchen food quality/presentation and general service. Multiple entrees for two requiring table side prep, at the expense of individual dining options and other service generally, is a poor substitute for just bringing well composed plates of each individual's dining choice fresh and hot from the kitchen.

 

Generally happy to move on from TKG. While I enjoy steakhouse dining the meals can hit heavy, affecting sleep and thus are not terribly compatible with early morning, port intensive cruises. The new concept looks fine if well executed, but obviously not a fan of multiple entrees for two on a limited menu.

[Covepointcruiser]

I remain disappointed in the removal of TK and the TK Colonnade dinners.    I hope something similar if offered in the Colonnade.   Glad our March cruise won’t be impacted.   It’s nice that some on this thread are happy, the rest of us are disappointed.

[SLSD]

6 hours ago, SDuckers said:

And I don't care for Indian food at all.  If the specialty restaurant was 100% Indian cuisine, I doubt I would ever go there.  I also have always skipped the "Indian Market" nights in the Colonnade.  

 

This is the inherent danger in having the specialty restaurant specialize in only one cuisine.

We are the same.  We have never gone to the Indian night and would not go to an Indian specialty restaurant.  I might go, but my husband does not like Indian food at all.  

[Mauzac]

5 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I remain disappointed in the removal of TK and the TK Colonnade dinners.    I hope something similar if offered in the Colonnade.   Glad our March cruise won’t be impacted.   It’s nice that some on this thread are happy, the rest of us are disappointed.

 

So many have been calling for the end of TKG for so long!

 

I will miss it, because I've never had a problem with it, but I'm also excited by Solis, there's many dishes on the menu that appeal to me 

[mieu]

10 hours ago, markandjie said:

 

Every cruise can vary. Our experience dining on the Muse in Alaska in August was very disappointing.

Similarly, we sailed Silversea’s Silver Moon last December, and our biggest disappointment was their food, with the exception of their specialty French restaurant. While Silversea’s Atlantide offerings are certainly deeper than Seabourn’s MDR, the execution of their dishes was consistently uninspiring. We don’t expect haute cuisine on a cruise, but we’re generally pleased with Seabourn’s cuisine, and enjoy TKG for its ambience, food execution, presentation, and service.

[SLSD]

I have no interest in table side preparation.  It's all theater and does nothing for the enjoyment of our meal.  I know some people feel differently about this.  Also, Mr. SLSD and I seldom order the same entree, so dishes for two won't work for us.  Dishes for two seem to harken back to a time when men ordered for their wives.  Mr. SLSD used to TRY to do that for me--as he had seen his father do it.  No thank you.  

[hoya68]

21 hours ago, markandjie said:

 

Every cruise can vary. Our experience dining on the Muse in Alaska in August was very disappointing.

Our experience on the Silver Cloud in Antarctica last year was beyond disappointing... it was terrible in almost every respect. Never again 

[saminina]

Not satisfied with SS or SB food?  There is an alternative line on the scene if food is a primary influence on booking.

 

We began sailing SB towards end of Charlie Palmer era.  So many were so happy to be rid of Palmer.

I typed "be careful what you wish for" and a year later many were unhappy with Restaurant 2.

We liked Palmer and 2 much more than TK. 

[markham]

For those who were unhappy with the Muse Atlantide perhaps the Atlantide chef was sub-par. That can happen but is regrettable. We have sailed on a Dawn a few times since our pre-Covid Muse foray and have been very happy. At least Silversea makes an effort with their menu depth and more comprehensive and numerous dining room service staff. Seabourn makes no such menu depth or service attentives effort. Each Silversea ship of roughly the same size as Seabourn ships will have more senior chefs eg at the Silversea Atlantide, SALT and La Terrazza restaurants. Seabourn will have a single executive ship.

 

About the Cloud this dinosaur is a nonstarter. It is uncompetitive on virtually all counts vs Venture. Its day passed by many years ago even though it was in the expedition business with interesting itineraries well before someone at Seabourn got religion. Over and done for us despite its usually cheaper pricing. The trade off of quality for price escapes us.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

 

[cruiseej]

8 hours ago, hoya68 said:

Our experience on the Silver Cloud in Antarctica last year was beyond disappointing... it was terrible in almost every respect. Never again 

 

5 hours ago, markham said:

About the Cloud this dinosaur is a nonstarter. It is uncompetitive on virtually all counts vs Venture. Over and done for us despite its usually cheaper pricing. The trade off of quality for price escapes us.

 

We've taken two cruises on the Silver Cloud, in Greenland five years ago and in Antarctica last winter. Both were great cruises! The ship was in good shape, the suites were nice, the expedition crew was outstanding, the rest of the staff was great. And the food was good — probably a notch below Seabourn, but not by a huge margin.

 

We're booked on our first trip on Venture next fall, and I fully expect it to be a beautiful, better-designed and overall nicer ship. But we're happy with our cruises on the Cloud. 

[ejincali]

On 10/19/2023 at 4:46 PM, marazul said:

Bummer! We will be on Ovation during the conversion period with the "go live" in the middle. I hope it actually happens as scheduled or we will miss the whole thing. 

I wonder if the TK Bar will be open during the period when the restaurant space is closed for the change over.

[texanaust]

On 10/24/2023 at 3:33 AM, markandjie said:

 

Every cruise can vary. Our experience dining on the Muse in Alaska in August was very disappointing.

 

And yet we were on the Muse in early September and the dining was far superior to our Ovation cruise just a month before.  So much so that we cancelled a 25 night Seabourn and replaced it with a similar itinerary on Silversea.

[SLSD]

I do think it is time to move on from what Thomas Keller thinks is special cuisine.  We are vacationing in Santa Fe New Mexico at the moment and have had some truly wonderful food.  Of course cruise ship dining is more akin to hotel catering than what a restaurant (which serves maybe 100 people per night) can provide, but I have been wowed by some Mediterranean cuisine here.  I have been so impressed that I am still thinking about it several days later and making additional reservations.  We're talking about pasta  made fresh that evening and fish and meat dishes that made me swoon.  I experienced nothing like that last summer on Ovation.  We are not expecting Seabourn to match small restaurant pinnacles of perfection, but we do expect updated  modern menus and care in preparation.  

Edited October 26, 2023 by SLSD

[mieu]

15 hours ago, SLSD said:

I do think it is time to move on from what Thomas Keller thinks is special cuisine.  We are vacationing in Santa Fe New Mexico at the moment and have had some truly wonderful food.  Of course cruise ship dining is more akin to hotel catering than what a restaurant (which serves maybe 100 people per night) can provide, but I have been wowed by some Mediterranean cuisine here.  I have been so impressed that I am still thinking about it several days later and making additional reservations.  We're talking about pasta  made fresh that evening and fish and meat dishes that made me swoon.  I experienced nothing like that last summer on Ovation.  We are not expecting Seabourn to match small restaurant pinnacles of perfection, but we do expect updated  modern menus and care in preparation.  

We love dining out, but don’t evaluate a

fine dining experience based upon the inclusion of updated modern menus. Rather, we’re impressed with dishes that are conceptually sound and creative, utilize stellar ingredients, and are executed with expertise and finesse. We live close to the Napa Valley in CA, and are very familiar with the cuisine and dining experiences offered by Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc. While Seabourn’s TKG isn’t 100% perfect, we much prefer it over Keller’s Napa Valley restaurants.

[SLSD]

7 hours ago, mieu said:

We love dining out, but don’t evaluate a

fine dining experience based upon the inclusion of updated modern menus. Rather, we’re impressed with dishes that are conceptually sound and creative, utilize stellar ingredients, and are executed with expertise and finesse. We live close to the Napa Valley in CA, and are very familiar with the cuisine and dining experiences offered by Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc. While Seabourn’s TKG isn’t 100% perfect, we much prefer it over Keller’s Napa Valley restaurants.

Perhaps suggesting a preference for a modern menu is only a way of asking for some lighter, rather than heavier fare.  And yes, creative offerings made with stellar ingredients would be part of that.  

[Mr Luxury]

On 10/23/2023 at 6:15 PM, SDuckers said:

And I don't care for Indian food at all.  If the specialty restaurant was 100% Indian cuisine, I doubt I would ever go there.  I also have always skipped the "Indian Market" nights in the Colonnade.  

 

This is the inherent danger in having the specialty restaurant specialize in only one cuisine.

The Indian Market evening is one of the most popular on Seabourn.

Those of us from the UK are not so fussed about it because we have Indian restaurants on every street corner bit I understand that many from the US love it because it is something a little different.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Mr Luxury