Seabourn Pursuit Review

[calm down dear]

Just back from 2 weeks in Chile. We have many Seabourn (and Silversea) cruises but this was our first expedition cruise and overall we really enjoyed it and booked another. The ship seemed spacious and the staff and expedition crew really engaging with a wide variety of talks. This being cruise critic I can venture some critical points, but as I said we have booked again, lets start : Food - there are 2 venues , the restaurant and colonnade - they are in essence exactly the same menus as the "normal ships" with the exception that instead of the odd Keller night in colonnade you get a short "earth and ocean" night. This is a great mistake as many of the colonnade themed nights were poor and literally the place was empty, this was no good as the restaurant isn't designed for so many. Many evenings staff were switched to try and meet demand. The issue is copying the normal collonade menu eg "olde England" isn't appetising and the classics so tired (have they changed in 10years ? do they have a glut of chocolate pots?). The earth ocean nights also were such random offerings that didnt work. The restaurant has close tables and very few near a window it also only opened at 7 and had a huge queue. It closes at 9 and we like to dine at 8 - we often had to wait and only once got a "good" table. The pre-dinner drinks could be had in 3 different bars but it always seemed a bit of a zoo 630 to 730 and I would say staffing levels seem to be lower, sushi in club was a nice touch but it often took ages and quality perhaps so-so. My usual annoyance you had to specify fever tree tonic and san pelligrino constantly (and they never save Damian in explorer) remembered and it seemed always to be stored "out the back". Many times had the "normal water" the taste was poor and sparkling barely so. The food in the restaurant was no different to normal Seabourn, always passable and some very good dishes, service at times haphazard and do think if they opened a little earlier it would smooth out the service (and of course have colonnade with better food.)

I had always wondered whether people in the top suites were treated any differently. I can say with certainty the answer is no (which is good!). We were offered 3 days before boarding a very attractive price to take the owners suite at the front. It was nice but balcony unusable in the wind and they tied up all the furniture for the entirety which was annoying and we were not allowed our curtains to be open at night "bridge says it distracts them!" - on occasion I forgot and opened them at 1030pm and in 15 mins we had a knock at the door and our poor steward hurried in ! Only once did we get a nice table in the restaurant, we did notice some seemed to be always in a certain place but we assumed they were in the queue at 7pm sharp !

The entertainment on board was ok and everynight at 930 in the discovery centre there was always an act. We had Aimee as CD - she was with us on the transatlantic in autumn so knew us, she said on expedition she is very much ships publisher but also sings 1 or 2 times a week - all the usual announcements (eg "reminder trivia today is at 3pm in club with Aimee and at 4pm Merel will be in discovery centre talking about seals") were all done by expedition team not Aimee.

What did we hear people complaining about ?- not much in the shop, not much in the way of "entertainment", some couldn't get their heads round the zodiac excursions and timings were more a guide than a guarantee (oh but I have a 430pm massage I thought we'd be back by now, can we go back?), lack of "shopping" ashore. A few less mobile didnt realise every ashore trip was on Zodiac and yes it wasn't the same as a normal tender.

Happy to take questions - oh and very casual dress code - most in evening wore sweaters, lots of jeans, no one scruffy all very nice and informal.

 

[frantic36]

49 minutes ago, calm down dear said:

Happy to take questions - oh and very casual dress code - most in evening wore sweaters, lots of jeans, no one scruffy all very nice and informal.

 

 

Thank you for your review. We are sailing Pursuit in a couple of months and it will be hot and humid weather. I definitely won't be taking jeans due to the heat. Loose and lightweight evening clothes, including silk dresses,  and hiking shorts & tops for the day.

 

I am surprised re the complaints by passengers as it is an expedition cruise. Do you think it is lack of insight from their TA that they don't understand how things would work? I do suspect that because of the number of expedition staff required the crew cabin situation would mean a reduction in normal crew. I would be curious as to how much entertainment they would have on the Silversea and Ponant expedition ships?

1 hour ago, calm down dear said:

This is a great mistake as many of the colonnade themed nights were poor and literally the place was empty,

 

I hope they change this soon as I agree the themed nights in Colonnade are not good, apart from Indian,  and I wish they would revamp this fleet wide.

[BillK400]

I will be on the Pursuit in about 6 weeks. This will be our first cruise on any Seabourn ship. We have taken expedition cruises on Silversea, Hutergruten, and some other small ship lines, and am surprised that the food offering sounds so uninspiring on Seabourn, I expected better. We don't expect and very rarely attend evening entertainment on any type of cruise we take so the 'lack of entertainment" is not an issue. We enjoy the lectures/presentations by the expedition staff more than any theater show. I am also surprised by passengers not realizing the 'realities" (in my estimation they are benefits) of expedition cruises such as Zodiacs, need for flexibility in excursions - relax and enjoy!, no shopping (thank god!!!), etc. Maybe some have more $$ than sense to research the cruise they will be taking.

[markandjie]

4 hours ago, calm down dear said:

The pre-dinner drinks could be had in 3 different bars but it always seemed a bit of a zoo 630 to 730 and I would say staffing levels seem to be lower

 

We learned on our time aboard Venture that apparently they did not design the ship with sufficient crew cabins so they are constantly on the verge of being understaffed, even with a full crew complement. Sounds like this will be a perpetual nit on otherwise excellent ships. 

[kej1]

Thank you for the review.  We leave for our first Pursuit cruise next week.  30 days from Papeete to Guam.  We have done some cruising but more travel by land.  Most of our cruises have been on Seabourn which we have enjoyed - Antarctica, Greenland ( both on the Quest) and a few others.   This will be our first on the new expedition ships although two of our previous cruises ( pre Covid) were expedition on the Quest.

 

We don’t care about the entertainment so that’s not a big deal.  We do care about the food,  we don’t expect Michelin star food but have usually been able to find things we like on the menus and have also ordered some good special meals in the past.  We have never been fans of the Columnade as it’s very much a cafeteria atmosphere and I’ve never cared for buffets and the theme menus we have on occasion tried were poor.  We also prefer to eat a bit later so the dining situation doesn’t sound ideal.  That’s too bad.  If they have overflow in the MDR why wouldn’t they on such a small ship allow people to sit in the other restaurant or outside and order from the MDR if they would like?  That seems like it could be a natural adjustment even if the atmosphere is poor.  Warm weather cruise could be nice to eat outside but not the themed typical colunmade dinners.
 

Anyway good to know and will be prepared to have relatively low expectations on dinner which is a shame given it’s supposed to be luxury!  
 

Zodiacs we expected but no shore excursions other than submarine and kayak have been published.  I realize in places like Antarctica that makes sense but competitors like Silversea and Penang  have their excursions published in this part of the world for even browsers to see.    Because my husband is a WW 2 buff and has certain things he really wants to see we have arranged a few private tours in advance ( all cash when you arrive and can cancel in advance).  So that has been disappointing.  I know it’s new to Seabourn but the tour options seem pretty std on other lines and it would be nice to plan.  I am told by Seabourn we won’t know anything til the night before each day.  Again made sense in Antarctica but even on our Greenland trip on quest in 2018 they had excursions published in advance.  I know things can change based on weather, etc but if other lines can do it for their expeditions in this area Seabourn at their pricing and luxury advertising should be able to do the same.

 

Despite all of this we are very excited to go on this trip and will “ go with the flow” and have a positive attitude once we get on board!  Thank you again for the review,  I will write one as well after our trip and if time along the way.

[kej1]

Ponant not Penang!  Auto correct😎

[saminina]

7 hours ago, calm down dear said:

What did we hear people complaining about ?- not much in the shop, not much in the way of "entertainment", some couldn't get their heads round the zodiac excursions and timings were more a guide than a guarantee (oh but I have a 430pm massage I thought we'd be back by now, can we go back?), lack of "shopping" ashore. A few less mobile didnt realise every ashore trip was on Zodiac and yes it wasn't the same as a normal tender.

 

Yes, the lack of shopping ashore is a real problem.  100 days on expedition ships and there have zero shopping ashore opportunities.   Sounds like the list of complaints come from one or two.  Hard to believe too many board with so little knowledge of the product.

 

Filed review of Quest trip a few minutes ago.  Same thoughts as yours re food and service.

[calm down dear]

5 hours ago, markandjie said:

 

We learned on our time aboard Venture that apparently they did not design the ship with sufficient crew cabins so they are constantly on the verge of being understaffed, even with a full crew complement. Sounds like this will be a perpetual nit on otherwise excellent ships. 

I think that is right - our two cabin stewards had 18 to look after which they said was more than the other ships. Bearing in mind 6 of these they had were the largest on board - our room was often not serviced until around 1pm. They reported living conditions for them as "much better" what they didnt like at all was extremely limited ability to get off the ship at all. Antarctica they said was great once, not 8 times. The bar service was simply a function of not knowing where the guests would go to but do think understaffed but to counter they did move people and also resorted to trays of pre-made cocktails as a sort of theme which were often good but if you wanted something else well, you waited.

[calm down dear]

5 hours ago, kej1 said:

Thank you for the review.  We leave for our first Pursuit cruise next week.  30 days from Papeete to Guam.  We have done some cruising but more travel by land.  Most of our cruises have been on Seabourn which we have enjoyed - Antarctica, Greenland ( both on the Quest) and a few others.   This will be our first on the new expedition ships although two of our previous cruises ( pre Covid) were expedition on the Quest.

 

We don’t care about the entertainment so that’s not a big deal.  We do care about the food,  we don’t expect Michelin star food but have usually been able to find things we like on the menus and have also ordered some good special meals in the past.  We have never been fans of the Columnade as it’s very much a cafeteria atmosphere and I’ve never cared for buffets and the theme menus we have on occasion tried were poor.  We also prefer to eat a bit later so the dining situation doesn’t sound ideal.  That’s too bad.  If they have overflow in the MDR why wouldn’t they on such a small ship allow people to sit in the other restaurant or outside and order from the MDR if they would like?  That seems like it could be a natural adjustment even if the atmosphere is poor.  Warm weather cruise could be nice to eat outside but not the themed typical colunmade dinners.
 

Anyway good to know and will be prepared to have relatively low expectations on dinner which is a shame given it’s supposed to be luxury!  
 

Zodiacs we expected but no shore excursions other than submarine and kayak have been published.  I realize in places like Antarctica that makes sense but competitors like Silversea and Penang  have their excursions published in this part of the world for even browsers to see.    Because my husband is a WW 2 buff and has certain things he really wants to see we have arranged a few private tours in advance ( all cash when you arrive and can cancel in advance).  So that has been disappointing.  I know it’s new to Seabourn but the tour options seem pretty std on other lines and it would be nice to plan.  I am told by Seabourn we won’t know anything til the night before each day.  Again made sense in Antarctica but even on our Greenland trip on quest in 2018 they had excursions published in advance.  I know things can change based on weather, etc but if other lines can do it for their expeditions in this area Seabourn at their pricing and luxury advertising should be able to do the same.

 

Despite all of this we are very excited to go on this trip and will “ go with the flow” and have a positive attitude once we get on board!  Thank you again for the review,  I will write one as well after our trip and if time along the way.

We would say food is *exactly* the same as the larger ships including menus and execution - which was generally passable and sometimes very good. The weather was not conducive for outside dining so that area was not open. Our view is that on this ship the colllonade needs to be a more popular venue as the main restaurant has limited capacity - that's not to say some of the themes eg Thai had terrible food, on the contrary it was good but there was hardly anyone there.

Your point on tours / ports is a potential issue - they do emphasise that they sort of make it up on the day which to be fair was often because swell or wind made zodiacs problematic so ship would move to somewhere more sheltered etc. Even on more major ports the timings of arrival and departure were changed night before but there were a couple of days where there were some excursion choices.

[calm down dear]

7 hours ago, BillK400 said:

I will be on the Pursuit in about 6 weeks. This will be our first cruise on any Seabourn ship. We have taken expedition cruises on Silversea, Hutergruten, and some other small ship lines, and am surprised that the food offering sounds so uninspiring on Seabourn, I expected better. We don't expect and very rarely attend evening entertainment on any type of cruise we take so the 'lack of entertainment" is not an issue. We enjoy the lectures/presentations by the expedition staff more than any theater show. I am also surprised by passengers not realizing the 'realities" (in my estimation they are benefits) of expedition cruises such as Zodiacs, need for flexibility in excursions - relax and enjoy!, no shopping (thank god!!!), etc. Maybe some have more $$ than sense to research the cruise they will be taking.

I do think there are many who dont realise the ship is much smaller and that, for example, the CD isn't front and centre and the things to do are all talks and the evening act is well not much. I think some didnt enjoy that zodiac getting on/off did require some confidence and could be wet/windy and some didnt enjoy that but there were no other options. Whilst there is a small pool area, the weather not conducive. The lounges though were good.

[calm down dear]

3 hours ago, saminina said:

Yes, the lack of shopping ashore is a real problem.  100 days on expedition ships and there have zero shopping ashore opportunities.   Sounds like the list of complaints come from one or two.  Hard to believe too many board with so little knowledge of the product.

 

Filed review of Quest trip a few minutes ago.  Same thoughts as yours re food and service.

I think the majority on board were new to expedition although not Seabourn and whilst the concept of zodiacs etc you can easily get your head around until you actually do it you realise quite a lot of faffing around getting kitted up (parkas, waterproof trousers and life jacket quite bulky), big boots, stairs etc and the getting on/off did require a degree of confidence - its not like getting on a tender. You go to the landing platform which is virtually level with the water, a zodiac comes alongside, you step up onto a small wooden box, you step one foot across onto the side tube of the rubber zodiac which is a bit bouncy/slippery and then immediately one foot down into the craft, you must immediately sit and scoot down the side of the craft. Once underway you need to lean in and hold a piece of rope - it is bouncy (and fun!) but yes when pouring with rain (as it often was) some didn't like - I think because some didnt have good gloves or warm undergarments - the side of the zodiacs you sit on are chilly and bear in mind some zodiacs are 90mins or more. There absolutely were people who thought there would be other stuff to do.

[adoctor]

The Earth and Ocean evening in the Colonnade on the Pursuit last year was probably the worst food I have ever experienced on Seabourn. As the ship was new I put it down to teething problems. A shame to hear its not improved overmuch. The food and service in the MDR however was consistently good.

On Quest later in the year so looking forward to trying Solis but as a great TK fan I am holding my breath.

 

[highplanesdrifters]

@calm down dear

 

So sorry your expedition wasn't up to snuff.  I followed it from afar and looked like the weather Gods were not on your side. Fiords do to tend to be cloudy and rainy and angry seas the norm in that area. We were in Antarctica followed by a C2C at the time and knew people on that trip. 

 

It shouldn't be, but always a bit shocking that folks do not know what kind of trip they booked and what will or might happen on it. We have had the same issue in the past.  On a SS Wind South America expedition, a group of less than mobile people were up in arms and wanted special tours just for them.  They often complained about uneven ground, walking to far to the bus, or not being able to climb the bus stairs. Zodiacs were not even an option for them.   Crazy.

 

You have been kind to tell us about the ship, service and food.  Would you consider commenting on the excursions and expedition staff? Were there good lectures, how was the Expedition Leader?

 

Thanks again for posting.

[calm down dear]

3 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

@calm down dear

 

So sorry your expedition wasn't up to snuff.  I followed it from afar and looked like the weather Gods were not on your side. Fiords do to tend to be cloudy and rainy and angry seas the norm in that area. We were in Antarctica followed by a C2C at the time and knew people on that trip. 

 

It shouldn't be, but always a bit shocking that folks do not know what kind of trip they booked and what will or might happen on it. We have had the same issue in the past.  On a SS Wind South America expedition, a group of less than mobile people were up in arms and wanted special tours just for them.  They often complained about uneven ground, walking to far to the bus, or not being able to climb the bus stairs. Zodiacs were not even an option for them.   Crazy.

 

You have been kind to tell us about the ship, service and food.  Would you consider commenting on the excursions and expedition staff? Were there good lectures, how was the Expedition Leader?

 

Thanks again for posting.

Hi - you misunderstood we enjoyed it and booked another - I was merely pointing out some aspects. The weather was a bit atmospheric but in all honesty it was down to what you wore. The expedition leader was Dom and the expedition team were good - some were better speakers/presenters than others but all gave interesting talks. There were in general 2 or 3 lectures a day. The only “excursions” were in the two ports - Punta arenas and Puerto Montt - they were the “usual” Seabourn type a bus, sightseeing etc, all other days except sea days were 1 or 2 zodiac tours and landings. You were off ship about 2 or 3 hours each time. Hope that helps but happy to take questions.

[commodoredave]

On 4/5/2024 at 10:20 AM, markandjie said:

 

We learned on our time aboard Venture that apparently they did not design the ship with sufficient crew cabins so they are constantly on the verge of being understaffed, even with a full crew complement. Sounds like this will be a perpetual nit on otherwise excellent ships. 

Maybe some crew can share cabins with solo sailors so they can avoid the single supplement.🤩

[highplanesdrifters]

18 hours ago, calm down dear said:

Hi - you misunderstood we enjoyed it and booked another - I was merely pointing out some aspects. The weather was a bit atmospheric but in all honesty it was down to what you wore. The expedition leader was Dom and the expedition team were good - some were better speakers/presenters than others but all gave interesting talks. There were in general 2 or 3 lectures a day. The only “excursions” were in the two ports - Punta arenas and Puerto Montt - they were the “usual” Seabourn type a bus, sightseeing etc, all other days except sea days were 1 or 2 zodiac tours and landings. You were off ship about 2 or 3 hours each time. Hope that helps but happy to take questions.

 

Glad you had a good time and want to do another!

 

If you have time could you comment on the expedition part - zodiac tours and landings.  What did you see on the cruises and what did you see and do on the landings?

 

Except for Quest, which I consider expedition lite, Seabourn is relatively new to the full expedition game.  We were on the first Venture sail and they did a  great job.  With so much competition for expedition leaders and staff always nice to know how they are currently performing.

[calm down dear]

59 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Glad you had a good time and want to do another!

 

If you have time could you comment on the expedition part - zodiac tours and landings.  What did you see on the cruises and what did you see and do on the landings?

 

Except for Quest, which I consider expedition lite, Seabourn is relatively new to the full expedition game.  We were on the first Venture sail and they did a  great job.  With so much competition for expedition leaders and staff always nice to know how they are currently performing.

Certainly - on our landings we had some walks to see a glacier or through woodland - these were not that arduous but some didn’t like the very rocky/pebbly/slippery “paths” - I would say no more than 3-4km round trips. Our zodiacs were all to get close to glaciers / fjord cliffs / inlets. We saw lots of birds and sea life. 

[Covepointcruiser]

Was this in Greenland?   In Greenland several long and arduous hikes were included as part of the landings.   You did not have to take the hikes but if you are looking for something strenuous they are available in Greenland.

[Covepointcruiser]

On 4/5/2024 at 8:37 AM, adoctor said:

The Earth and Ocean evening in the Colonnade on the Pursuit last year was probably the worst food I have ever experienced on Seabourn. As the ship was new I put it down to teething problems. A shame to hear its not improved overmuch. The food and service in the MDR however was consistently good.

On Quest later in the year so looking forward to trying Solis but as a great TK fan I am holding my breath.

 

We really enjoyed Earth and Ocean on the Venture.   It was perfect when we wanted something quick and light.  We were usually content with the smoked chicken salad and the baked Brie.    Hope they don’t ever plan to eliminate it on the Expedition ships.

[calm down dear]

4 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

We really enjoyed Earth and Ocean on the Venture.   It was perfect when we wanted something quick and light.  We were usually content with the smoked chicken salad and the baked Brie.    Hope they don’t ever plan to eliminate it on the Expedition ships.

Well except Earth and Ocean is not a separate dining venue like the larger ships it is only ever one of the "theme" nights in Collonade so you can hardly plan - in 16 days it appeared twice and the menu is wildly random items, yes like you we enjoyed but we were with I would say less than 20 others each time. We spoke with the FB mgr and the Maitre D about how they need to adapt and not copy the bigger ships - they agreed and said they keep raising it.

[Covepointcruiser]

We had Earth and Ocean 4 times on our 14 day Greenland Venture cruise.   It’s good that it is indoors because we would not want to eat outdoors in the Arctic!

[calm down dear]

On 4/18/2024 at 6:07 AM, Covepointcruiser said:

We had Earth and Ocean 4 times on our 14 day Greenland Venture cruise.   It’s good that it is indoors because we would not want to eat outdoors in the Arctic!

Yes but I suppose my point was the E&O is not a separate venue, I do think the expedition ships need to rethink dining on these ships.