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Sojourn low score


maggie.1008
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I have been on all the premium and luxury cruise lines. I am very excited about my 14 nt.. Alaska cruise on the Sojourn this August. This will be my first Seabourn cruise and my expectations are very high.

When reading the CC reviews about the Sojourn it has a 74 % rating. That is very low. Celebrity rates higher than that. I understand not to put too much faith in the reviews but it has the lowest of all Seabourn ships.

Anyone who has been on the Sojourn this year can let me know why it is rated so low. Many thanks, Heather

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I can't help with 2017 but i don't think the lower score is just this year. It was about the same when we went on the Odyssey in 2015. It was still the same in 2016 when we went on Sojourn. I loved both ships. There was no qualitative difference between years or ships as far as I could see. Perhaps it's something to do with the cruise types and areas? I know the Quest is popular because of the adventure cruise aspect. We're off to the Caribbean at Christmas on Sojourn by then according to most reports we'd be better off on a tramp steamer. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

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Hi Heather,

We will be on the same Alaska cruise with you as you may know from the roll call. We were on Sojourn last October/November for 17 days and found her to be a Seabourn worthy ship. The personnel was great and service was outstanding. It is my understanding that many of the same personnel will be on the Alaska schedule. I did a quick read through of the reviews and found them to be sort of a mixed bag. Most of the severely negative ones were from first time Seabourn cruisers and were also first time reviews, which I tend to disregard as having been written by a person who became disgruntled about something. I also tend to think that when people sail for the first time on a more expensive line and it doesn't quite meet their expectations, they may post a very negative review because they don't feel they got bang for the buck. The Cruise Critic reviewer give Sojourn a 5 and I would too. Last fall was our 4th Seabourn cruise and we've never been disappointed. Looking forward to Alaska!

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IIRC Sojourn had problems with chefs and being the seeming training ground for new staff for some time hence why it scored lower than Odyssey and Quest.

 

Of course no ships immune. My cruise in Odyssey had. A corporate chef on board as the chef that was supposed to be on was sent home from a previous port.

 

 

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We have been on the sojourn three times and consider them the three finest cruise experiences we've ever had. Admittedly, the last was a few years ago but it's hard to imagine the standard slipping that significantly. I think you'll have a wonderful time.

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My cruise in Odyssey had. A corporate chef on board as the chef that was supposed to be on was sent home from a previous port.

 

 

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Our cruise group of 6 were on Odyssey for 21 days with the chef who was sent home on disembarkation day. I'm going to stick my neck out and say I'm certain that you really did do better with the corporate chef. ;)

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Never underestimate the influence of a hotel manager.

 

 

 

Believe me, I don't. After Karl left things were never the same. Also the powers allotted to Maitre'd's were vastly different between the wee and the big ships.

 

 

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We have sailed on all the Seabourn ships apart from Quest. Maybe we have just been lucky on Sojourn but our sailings on her were amongst the best. Their have been the occasional problem but nothing is perfect and we had a great time. I am looking forward to my sailing on her next month.

 

Julie

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When reading the CC reviews about the Sojourn it has a 74 % rating. That is very low.

 

If you think that is poor, Regent's new Explorer, for all of its bells and whistles, has managed to work its way up to a 63% rating. We have sailed on both ships and do not feel either deserves those low scores. We will be sailing again with both ships.

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I did a quick read through of the reviews and found them to be sort of a mixed bag. Most of the severely negative ones were from first time Seabourn cruisers and were also first time reviews, which I tend to disregard as having been written by a person who became disgruntled about something. I also tend to think that when people sail for the first time on a more expensive line and it doesn't quite meet their expectations, they may post a very negative review because they don't feel they got bang for the buck.

 

I think a lot can be explained by the review posted by brittany12 where there is a comparison of a January 2017 trip with an April 2017 trip. It seems there were problems on Sojourn earlier. We took a 21 day Trans Pac trip on Sojourn in May and found it to be a great experience.

 

There were SB company staff on board who seemed to be assessing, evaluating, instructing. So corporate must have felt they needed to intervene and/or prepare for Alaska.

 

As first time SB cruisers we got a lot of feedback and advice from the experienced cruisers and they did not seem to find anything out of the ordinary SB experience. Satisfied customers do not do a lot of posting - only those with issues will complain via CC. For our first SB cruise our expectations were met in fine fashion by the Sojourn. The couple of minor issues we had on board (21 days something will go wrong) were taken up directly with Seabourn - along with the kudos to the specific outstanding staff we met. Seabourn is now our favorite cruise line.

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I can't help with 2017 but i don't think the lower score is just this year. It was about the same when we went on the Odyssey in 2015. It was still the same in 2016 when we went on Sojourn. I loved both ships. There was no qualitative difference between years or ships as far as I could see. Perhaps it's something to do with the cruise types and areas? I know the Quest is popular because of the adventure cruise aspect. We're off to the Caribbean at Christmas on Sojourn by then according to most reports we'd be better off on a tramp steamer. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Sent from my SM-T713 using Forums mobile app

We are also going to the Caribbean Christmas but on the Odyssey. Don't think there are 2 Seabourn ships in the Caribbean then?

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We are also going to the Caribbean Christmas but on the Odyssey. Don't think there are 2 Seabourn ships in the Caribbean then?

 

Odyssey and Sojourn are both in the Caribbean at that time. Sojourn is going into dry dock mid December (and will have R2 conversion to TK) and then is in the Caribbean for Christmas/Holiday.

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From the most recent Cruise Critic list of upcoming refurbishments. As you can see, quite a bit more will be done besides just converting R2 to the TK Grill ...

 

Seabourn Cruises

 

Ship: Seabourn Sojourn

Dates: December 2017

Details: Restaurant 2 will be replaced with The Grill by Thomas Keller. Public areas and suites will get a refresh, and the Spa and Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil program will be added.

 

 

We'll be on Sojourn at the beginning of August so will be anxious to see what kind of shape she's in. That said, we've also considered booking the Panama Canal cruise which is the last one before the refurb and are now rethinking that as we're afraid things might not be up to normal Seabourn standards ... apparently it's not uncommon to experience issues on any cruise line immediately prior to and following refurbishments/drydocks. Thoughts?

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Which is why I wrote 'dry dock AND R2 conversion'. :rolleyes:

 

 

Dry dock can mean any number of things. I was just adding specifics to clarify in case anyone was interested - I know I was. BTW, nothing sarcastic about my posting at all so really no need to "roll your eyes" was there?

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