Seabourn vs Ritz review

[wineasmusic]

Just got back from an April 15-26 Lisbon to Barcelona Cruise on the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection Evrima.  First, who are we?  Long time Seabourn cruisers.  I identify as a foodie with lots of really good wine experience.  TL:DR The Ritz has done a good job of creating a differentiated product.  This means some will like it better and some less so.  We loved it and it is now our first choice if there is an itinerary that interests us.

 

The Ship, er sorry, yacht.  A really lovely space.  They have done a lot to make it look less like a ship and more like a resort.   The observation lounge is huge and provides a space for nightly dancing and higher energy partying.  An unfortunate design compromise does not allow a view straight forward however.  The living room has lots of couches and chairs allowing you to park close to the musicians to just listen or completely across the large room to hear them but still be able to converse comfortably with folks.  We had 5 great musicians on board who rotated around the venues (even in the main dining room one night).   3 areas on rear decks and 2 in front allow sunning on loungers.  Not much shaded lounging though.

 

At 300 people it is intimate, yet still has 4 restaurants, and sometimes 5. 3 of the restaurants have outdoor seating.  The main dining room menu changes every 3 days, so make sure you rotate around the different restaurants to prevent menu fatigue.   Food is definitely a standout.  I spoke to a lot of repeat cruisers who said the food did not used to be this good.  Ritz seems to have improved a lot over time.  With so few passengers they run food service like land-based restaurants.  The food is made "a la minute" and reservations are required for dinner.  Your cabin steward can make reservations, but I found it easier to do it myself on the app.  You can only use the app when on the ships wifi though.  There was a huge selection of included wines listed on the menu.  They would offer a different white and red each night, but occasionally what I was eating needed a different choice to properly pair and they were always willing to open my request.  They had a great Som and assistant who were very knowledgeable and helpful.

 

The crew seem really happy working on the ship.  They had enough time to visit and they and the passengers seemed to really enjoy that.  We had only 170 on this cruise, can't tell what it would be like on a full cruise.  

 

Our room was a standard room, very nicely appointed and looking less like a ship room with cool indirect lighting around an attractive ceiling.  The balcony was large with good furniture.  One comfy high back chair in the room.  Why only one?  The bathroom had 2 sinks and the largest shower I've ever seen on a cruise ship.  The toilet was in a roomy privacy stall.  Included hair dryer.  Fridge with mixers and our choice of wine or liquor.

 

A new 400 pax yacht launches in Sep and another in 2025.  I hope they then start covering more of the world than just Caribbean and the Med so we can cruise them more.  We really enjoyed it!

D2

 

[markham]

Interesting. It’s great you found a new first choice home - and with a brand probably few of us vets have considered (vs Silversea, Cunard, and Regent).

 

Please discuss the value you received and enjoyed relative to Seabourn: price per day, enjoyment of deck space, social program and professionalism of Management (which is so useful when problems arise that deserve attention before and after a cruise).

 

Thank you.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[Cantara24]

Thanks for this, we are looking for alternatives, Explora is on our list and maybe Ritz should be also ... the kiddo aspect of Ritz has been a concern for us.

[wineasmusic]

3 hours ago, Cantara24 said:

Thanks for this, we are looking for alternatives, Explora is on our list and maybe Ritz should be also ... the kiddo aspect of Ritz has been a concern for us.

There were a couple of kids on board, but I only saw them a time or two.  They seemed to spend most of their time at Ritz Kids program.  School was not out for kids yet so I suspect our cruise had fewer than a summer Caribbean itinerary.

[wineasmusic]

5 hours ago, markham said:

Interesting. It’s great you found a new first choice home - and with a brand probably few of us vets have considered (vs Silversea, Cunard, and Regent).

 

Please discuss the value you received and enjoyed relative to Seabourn: price per day, enjoyment of deck space, social program and professionalism of Management (which is so useful when problems arise that deserve attention before and after a cruise).

 

Thank you.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

I did not do a direct compare for price, but it feels like it was more expensive than Seabourn.  That said, the food was way better, the pouring wines way better, the room a little more comfortable.  Lots of open decks and you have 2 decks you can walk all the way around the ship for exercise.  I enjoy listening to musicians more than the shows so I preferred this setup (personal preference item).  They do have trivia.  They have a concierge desk in the living room so it is like Seabourn Square.  This is a differentiated product so there are lots of things that are personal preference.  Chatted with the Hotel Manager a number of times in passing.  A very enthusiastic responsive guy and very available to the guests.

[highplanesdrifters]

@wineasmusic Thanks for posting your review. Were there any enrichment lectures? How did you feel about excursions offered?  Thanks.

[wineasmusic]

1 hour ago, highplanesdrifters said:

@wineasmusic Thanks for posting your review. Were there any enrichment lectures? How did you feel about excursions offered?  Thanks.

Excursions just like Seabourn.  We had a famous pickpocket on board who did 3 shows.  One was just for fun and really showed how exposed we are as tourists.  The other two showed us things we could do to protect ourselves better.  He was great, really entertaining and you learned valuable lessons.  They had events and activities, but was more laid back than Seabourn.  We were busy enough I never found time to crack my book somehow...

[saminina]

Thanks for the interesting review.  Not sure how a self described foodie could have tolerated SB the past few years.  I've done a pretty deep dive on the product without boarding and decided it to not be a temptation at least for this year, or next.

 

Wonder if Sebastian is still running the wine program.

[highplanesdrifters]

1 hour ago, wineasmusic said:

Excursions just like Seabourn.  We had a famous pickpocket on board who did 3 shows.  One was just for fun and really showed how exposed we are as tourists.  The other two showed us things we could do to protect ourselves better.  He was great, really entertaining and you learned valuable lessons.  They had events and activities, but was more laid back than Seabourn.  We were busy enough I never found time to crack my book somehow...

 

Pickpocket show.  Who knew.  Sound interesting and Informative. 😀

[Sunprince]

I’d like to try a Ritz Carlton yacht cruise, but for us, it offers a few challenges. For example - we don’t cruise anything less than 14 days and preferably 21 days or longer.  Currently the longest cruise offered is 13 days and they are all transatlantic. Also, the per diem price point is much higher than SB, SS and Regent. So as lovely as their ships, food and wine might be, I feel they are targeted to a certain clientele that wants a short cruise on a luxury product, similar to their land based hotel average nights, meaning I don’t think many people stay in a Ritz Carlton hotel for 20 or more nights as we would on a cruise. 

[frantic36]

8 minutes ago, Sunprince said:

 For example - we don’t cruise anything less than 14 days and preferably 21 days or longer.  Currently the longest cruise offered is 13 days and they are all transatlantic.

Fully agree. I get their marketing emails. Though the ship is very tempting I would only do it if I was over in the Med and wanted a fill in for two other holidays as a chance to try their product.

[wineasmusic]

1 hour ago, Sunprince said:

I’d like to try a Ritz Carlton yacht cruise, but for us, it offers a few challenges. For example - we don’t cruise anything less than 14 days and preferably 21 days or longer.  Currently the longest cruise offered is 13 days and they are all transatlantic. Also, the per diem price point is much higher than SB, SS and Regent. So as lovely as their ships, food and wine might be, I feel they are targeted to a certain clientele that wants a short cruise on a luxury product, similar to their land based hotel average nights, meaning I don’t think many people stay in a Ritz Carlton hotel for 20 or more nights as we would on a cruise. 

You can do a back to back.  Several folks were doing that.

[2SailingNomads]

On 5/5/2024 at 3:14 PM, Cantara24 said:

Thanks for this, we are looking for alternatives, Explora is on our list and maybe Ritz should be also ... the kiddo aspect of Ritz has been a concern for us.

We just disembarked Explora yesterday. I wrote some first impressions on the Explora board and will post more in a few days.  It's a good product and a nice ship (great outside areas) with very good food and crew but with some quirks in the overall experience.  Also suffers from mostly 7 day itineraries, we did 2 9 day B2B segments.

[chuckncole]

CURIOUS, do you get Marriott/Ritz points for the money/ days spent on the Ritz YACHTS?

 

[wineasmusic]

4 hours ago, chuckncole said:

CURIOUS, do you get Marriott/Ritz points for the money/ days spent on the Ritz YACHTS?

 

I got 127k Bonvoy points for an 11 day cruise.

[Mahogany]

7 hours ago, wineasmusic said:

I got 127k Bonvoy points for an 11 day cruise.

Wow! I know you used to get 10 points/US$ but thought it was only 1:1 now. Tell me your 11-day cruise wasn't $127,000!

[wineasmusic]

17 hours ago, Mahogany said:

Wow! I know you used to get 10 points/US$ but thought it was only 1:1 now. Tell me your 11-day cruise wasn't $127,000!

I guess I did not realize how big a number that was.  They must have been running a bonus promotion or something.

[Globalia]

On 5/8/2024 at 9:11 AM, frantic36 said:

Fully agree. I get their marketing emails. Though the ship is very tempting I would only do it if I was over in the Med and wanted a fill in for two other holidays as a chance to try their product.

From what I have learnt from the cruise marketplace, RC cruises is particularly targetting (amongst the general market) (a) affluent new-to-cruise customers in the c. 35-50 year age bracket and happy to add kids to the mix and (b) where knowingly such a demographic, especially from the US, only get and take shorter holiday breaks than say Europeans and Aust/NZ and so many 7 day attractively designed cruise programs have particular appeal.

[frantic36]

19 hours ago, Globalia said:

customers in the c. 35-50 year age bracket and happy to add kids to the mix and (b) where knowingly such a demographic, especially from the US, only get and take shorter holiday breaks

 

For a period of time we had to sail during the Northern Summer School holidays on Seabourn so have sailed on some B2B short cruises with many children. Having said that though some of the worst behaviour I have seen on those 7 day cruises were groups of adult friends travelling together. It is why we now, since we can, avoid 7 day cruises at that time. 

 

I'm a Marriot member so I will try them at some point out of curiosity.

[Hlitner]

Thanks for the excellent review :).  We will add Ritz to our personal "watch list" for some future bookings.  That being said, a quick glance has given me the impression that SB can be a lot less expensive (sometimes only about half the price of Ritz) which we factor-in to our cruise decisions.  It is less about being cheap but more our philosophy of looking for good value, be it a higher-end luxury line or mass market product.  I am curious to see if Ritz starts offering some longer itineraries and promotions on voyages, once they add the new ship....oops, meant "yacht."

 

Hank

[stan01]

 

RC and Explora both encourage children but they don't have adult only pool areas.  Shorter 7 day cruises attract families, groups, and partial charters plus back to backs are a little disruptive for people staying on board.  It's not a problem until it is a problem.  We'll try to stick with 14 day minimum cruises for these reasons, fine with the "retired" demographic that comes with it at least for Americans.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, stan01 said:

 

RC and Explora both encourage children but they don't have adult only pool areas.  Shorter 7 day cruises attract families, groups, and partial charters plus back to backs are a little disruptive for people staying on board.  It's not a problem until it is a problem.  We'll try to stick with 14 day minimum cruises for these reasons, fine with the "retired" demographic that comes with it at least for Americans.

Good point about back to backs being a little disruptive.  But that is only an issue with turn-arounds in a USA port (perhaps also in the UK).  In most of the world, a back to back is handled as just another port day for those continuing the cruise.  The problem in the USA, is a CBP requirement to "zero out" the ship.  Not a biggie for back to backers who plan on going ashore for a few hours, but a real hassle for those of us who might want to spend the turn-around day on the ship.  

 

My problem with shorter cruisers is that the onboard atmosphere is somewhat different than we find on longer cruises.  For those of us who enjoy socialization with other passengers, short cruises can be a minor annoyance since some new-found friends may quickly disappear at the end of segment.  I should also mention that one cruise line's "back to back" is another cruise line's segment.  Most longer cruises are simply made up of multiple segments.  If one takes a 110 day World Cruise, it will likely consist of more than half a dozen "segments" where some cruisers disembark and some others embark.  World cruisers would not generally think of their cruise as a back to back to back to back, etc :).  

 

Another issue with back to backs (or segments) can be the repeating of entertainment (especially production shows).  We recently completed a 35 day Oceania cruise that consisted of 3 segments (no repeated itineraries).  Most of the Production Shows were repeated on each segment.  On a cruise line like O, where the Production Show is generally the only live entertainment (from 9:30 to 10:15) it does create the dilemma of either seeing the same show, 3 times, or perhaps spending more time in a near-empty bar (with no entertainment).  Of course, there are also those cruisers who simply go to their cabins at 9:30.

 

Hank

[2SailingNomads]

Ecplora DOES have an adults only pool. On our 18 day cruise we only saw 2 very well behaved young girls.  Biggest issue is the 7 day segments they are selling.

[saminina]

On 5/10/2024 at 1:21 PM, Mahogany said:

Wow! I know you used to get 10 points/US$ but thought it was only 1:1 now. Tell me your 11-day cruise wasn't $127,000!

10 points per dollar if staying in RC hotel and would assume it's same for their boat.   Depending on Marriott status and co branded credit card used 26.5 points per dollar is attainable.

 

At 10x per dollar, I'd say OP got a very good deal. 

[saminina]

Whoa......looking at the Yacht website, it is 5 points per dollar spent when booking thru their own channel.  True Marriott form.....gotta read the fine print.