The new TK menus across all Seabourn restaurants

Having had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Keller and dining at the French Laundry and Boucheron on many occasions, this addition and change at Seabourn is viewed very favorable in my household. It has the magic to entice us to try Seabourn again.

It has the magic to entice us to try Seabourn again.

Would you really come back to Seabourn just because of this?

What drove you away in the first place?

Pity for us as well, as we like spicy flavorful food of the world.

We're the same. . This is something that we already find rather disappointing, and were hoping the changes would address this.

That's a pity to hear they are dialing down the spice... a good deal of the Seabourn food is already lacking in that arena.

Such is the curse of the bold flavor loving Texan ...

s/

your fellow sufferer.

Would you really come back to Seabourn just because of this?

What drove you away in the first place?

Charlie Palmer[emoji3]

Charlie Palmer[emoji3]

:D

I believe that Charlie Palmer and SB had just parted company when we first sailed with SB, so I missed the excitement of his cuisine ;)

I hope karaoke queen comes back to reply because I know that she's a regular on Silversea. We went the other way, left SS for SB. I can't see us ever returning to SS...

In reading posts across these forums, often folks state that they have departed a particular line because they were so displeased by ____________ [casino, dining, room size, service, entertainment,etc.] I don't find this surprising as such reactions inform hotel, vacation cities, restaurant,etc decisions.

I really am uncertain as to how much influence the consultation of a star

chef ultimately has upon a menu. Charlie Palmer was 'hot' in NYC when he consulted w. SB. His chef de cuisine would then spend up to a week twice a year on one of the ships fine tuning line chef's preparations. This is not at all similar to owning one's restaurant and determining one's seasonally inspired menu. Already [per reports here] Keller's 'spice' is being reduced....and Keller's food is not spicey in the sense of Mexican hot....more fragrant. When flying long hauls one always receives a menu which has an article about their star chefs...and ??????

Would you really come back to Seabourn just because of this?

What drove you away in the first place?

We did a Seabourn cruise over the holidays. Loved the party atmosphere and really enjoyed the experience. What we didn't like was some of their operating procedures. Specifically, tenders service (if you didn't book their excursions, you had to wait to leave the ship). Having to pay up front for shore excursions and then ending up with $$$$ in ship board credit (they were gracious enough to cancel/credit us and then re book them all, but it was still a hassle). Another big negative was, the ship was cleared late by customs officials. Once the ship was released for debarkation, they tried to hold us on the ship, even though we were long past our departure "color coded" ticket time and we had private transportation. You never want to end anything on a negative note.

I think the dining experience on Seabourne definitely needed something. Hopefully this change will be well received in the long term.

You mentioned that I cruise SS a lot now. We are always open to new luxury experiences. After doing 30 segments on Crystal, we got tired of the same offerings and wanted to do something fresh. Fortunately, we've seen a lot of the world and now it's about ambiance, fine dining and luxurious surroundings. There are positive things to draw from each of these lines. Next year, we are going to try Regent for the first time. Depending on itineraries, we are hoping to fit in a Seabourne cruise in the near future. Another thing we have discovered, once you cruise on smaller ships, you are less likely to move back up to the larger vessels. The intimacy that you get with fewer passengers on board is a significantly different product.

We did a Seabourn cruise over the holidays. Loved the party atmosphere and really enjoyed the experience. What we didn't like was some of their operating procedures. Specifically, tenders service (if you didn't book their excursions, you had to wait to leave the ship). Having to pay up front for shore excursions and then ending up with $$$$ in ship board credit (they were gracious enough to cancel/credit us and then re book them all, but it was still a hassle). Another big negative was, the ship was cleared late by customs officials. Once the ship was released for debarkation, they tried to hold us on the ship, even though we were long past our departure "color coded" ticket time and we had private transportation. You never want to end anything on a negative note.

 

I think the dining experience on Seabourne definitely needed something. Hopefully this change will be well received in the long term.

 

You mentioned that I cruise SS a lot now. We are always open to new luxury experiences. After doing 30 segments on Crystal, we got tired of the same offerings and wanted to do something fresh. Fortunately, we've seen a lot of the world and now it's about ambiance, fine dining and luxurious surroundings. There are positive things to draw from each of these lines. Next year, we are going to try Regent for the first time. Depending on itineraries, we are hoping to fit in a Seabourne cruise in the near future. Another thing we have discovered, once you cruise on smaller ships, you are less likely to move back up to the larger vessels. The intimacy that you get with fewer passengers on board is a significantly different product.

Thank you for coming back to answer my questions.:)

I do remember you from the SS board when I was on there regularly also, but that's some time ago. I don't tend to read the Crystal board very often, so I wouldn't have remembered you there. I understand that you would want to do something fresh.

The problems you had regarding the tenders on Seabourn no longer exist. We've never had to wait for the SB excursions crowd to disembark before us. I wonder if this was the routine on the smaller ships. I've only cruised on the big sisters and as I say, this doesn't happen now.

You do still pay upfront for excursions which I agree is somewhat irritating.

I'm not sure that the dining experience on Seabourn will have improved since the bigger ships were introduced, I have no basis for comparison. Lots of the Seabourn old timers do now seem to be happy with the newer ships.

It's so subjective, of course. I find the dining generally good to very good on SB, but not what I really consider to be a fine dining experience.

The changes detailed in this thread have in no way made me feel very positive about the new dining, but I am trying to keep an open mind and make the most of it when we board in about 6 weeks.

Have you ever had a Seabourn hamburger (with fabulous french-fries, too) that was NOT delicious? I haven't!

I was going to same the same thing. As long as they don't change the fries, they can call the hamburger anything they'd like!