Seabourn Odyssey - 6 Stars or NOT

We have recently completed our first Seabourn cruise from Venice to Ft Lauderdale. Having travelled extensively on Celebrity and Princess before we had high expectations based upon the price we were paying and the general Seabourn marketing that we were in for a 6 star experience. How wrong we were.

The service we received was much worse than we had experienced on our previous cruises. We would order drinks and the waiter would forget we had ordered. We often had to wait 90 minutes to be served our main course at the restaurant. The food served was very often quite cool. We did express our feelings several times and ask to speak with a senior officer. We put our experiences down on the form provided near the beginning of the cruise but received no response. We wrote to the Hotel Director who couldn't be bothered picking up a phone to us, simply getting the Guest Relations manger to contact us.

We talked with may other passengers who were less than enamoured with Seabourn. And even one of the senior waiters said to us that Seabourn was controlled by the accountants and that there were far too few staff to properly serve the passengers especially as most cruises were 100% full. That was when we complained at lunch taking 90 minutes to serve!

Another time in the Colonnade, the Assistant Maitre-D asked how everything was. We had been waiting for an hour and twenty minutes at dinner to get our main course and we told him that things were not good. You should have seen the look on his face as he bolted away and we never saw him again! That is not 6 star service.

Charging a 100% or so premium over 4-5 star cruise lines Seabourn need to provide something much better than free drinks and gratuities and a slightly bigger suite. The small ships experience was very nice compared to bigger ships but overall it was worth in our opinion a premium of 50% not 100%.

We could add many more things to our list of poor Seabourn service but the purpose of this post is not to knock Seabourn - we did have some good experiences and there were some excellent staff on board. The purpose of this post is to ask the question ....

Is it just us who feel this way or do others think Seabourn's standards have slipped over the past year or two?

I am so sorry you had a bad experience. I got off my first trip on the Odyssey 9/19 and wrote a mostly glowing review about my trip. I was so impressed with the service on it compared with its competitors Silversea and Regent, but perhaps I just got lucky! Never had to wait 90 minutes to get a main course at lunch or dinner and food was not served cold unless it was supposed to be.

Everyone was "can do".

A big part of what you pay for on a luxury line is much more space per passenger, not just in suites but in public places, which is worth it to me, though good food and service enhance the experience. I have not sailed Celebrity or Princess, have done HAL a couple times, and found it too crowded though, of course, much cheaper. I have two more cruises upcoming on SB and hope I will have an experience like my first one, rather than like yours.

Will you be cancelling your 2016 SB booking and looking at another luxury line?

I am also sorry to hear your woes.

Having just stepped off Sojourn I would not have struggled to make direct contact with senior staff. I saw the Hotel Director several times each day wandering around and spoke on several occasions, sometimes at my initiation, sometimes his.

I saw the executive chef most days, again speaking on a couple of occasions.

I saw the captain most days and once agIn spoke on a couple of occasions.

The cruise director was seen and spoken to several times each day.

If I was suffering in the way you were all of the above could have been approached and spoken to directly.

IIs SB perfect? No. But compared to the mainstream cruise lines it works for us.

When comparing fares we take just under a Geand Suite on Royal Caribbean as the standard 300sq ft SB suite fits into the 180sq ft standard, 270sq ft Junior & 360sq ft Grand suite RCI / Celebrity accommodation. You then of course have to adjust for drinks, gratuities etc.

Henry :)

Sorry your experiences were so disappointing, NZbelle. Your comments are interesting and will probably provoke a good dialogue here. Our experience on SB was not so bad, but we did have issues. And six stars? I thought 5 was the upper limit! Sometimes I think SB and fellow PAX raise the expectations of first-time customers too high. That was certainly one of my problems. I had such great expectations (such as the often quoted, "Just ask and your special requests will be met"), and I think I set myself up for disappointment. Hopefully your next cruise will be better.

the star rating is depending on which author and which editor...

Berlitz is going to five stars with a possible plus + , i think Stern is going to six stars and i did not see a Fodors for years now.

My last experience on the Sojourn was of such a kind that i must agree in full with the downgrading of Seabourn by the Berlitz guide to a 4 +.

On that - announced as luxury - level small items do make the difference - like special canapes on parties otherwise said : it is very visible that the chef must struggle with his budget i do expect something else as Brie cheese and salmon mousse ( nothing else... just 2 kinds ) on a ship presented as luxurious.

Other example : poor quality of the cheese in Colonnade for lunch already cut in cubes and thinny slices - every day approximately the same ones.

Free drinks is for me not a synonym for luxury.

Yes i did cancel my further booking

What i found very good were the tasters as accompaniment with the drinks in the Club , the evening before the market dinner in the Colonnade;

that was also the only item that can be called "luxurious" - as a souvenit to the original triplets ??

I personally think the staff on the odyssey are some of the best SB has to offer. Interestingly we had one poor experience on our last cruise and left the table saying nothing to staff. Within two minutes of us sitting down in the bar afterwards the food and beverage manager was tableside asking if we had a problem with our dinner and what he could get for us as an alternative/ and or rectify things. Exactly what we are used to, the experience described by the OP is very strange and makes me wonder why if it were so bad he/she has booked another SB cruise?

Vistaman - As I pointed out on another thread a few weeks ago, no SB ship has been "downgraded" by the Berlitz guide to a 4+. In the new 2016 Berlitz Cruise Guide' Sojourn's rating was exactly the same as last year and remains at 5 stars and "Luxury".

Prior to the 2015 edition of the guide, the "Star Performers" were the top 10, in which for several years the three larger SB ships were ranked 6th, 7th, and 8th. In 2015, the guide changed to a top 5 system, thereby leaving the SB ships off of the list. Nothing changed in terms of the relative ratings of the SB ships compared to the competition.

While, like you, I am not at all happy with the issue of the MDR being closed for breakfast and lunch apparently at the whim of the Hotel Manager, it is not accurate to suggest that the Berlitz guide has lowered it's 5 star rating of the SB ships.

Cheers, Fred

Hi Henry,

Good to read that all was well with your Sojourn trip in the Med,thankfully you didn't ask the chef to get you Paw Paw fruit like you normally do as its not available in the Med but plentiful in eastern North America.

Vistaman - As I pointed out on another thread a few weeks ago, no SB ship has been "downgraded" by the Berlitz guide to a 4+. In the new 2016 Berlitz Cruise Guide' Sojourn's rating was exactly the same as last year and remains at 5 stars and "Luxury".

 

Prior to the 2015 edition of the guide, the "Star Performers" were the top 10, in which for several years the three larger SB ships were ranked 6th, 7th, and 8th. In 2015, the guide changed to a top 5 system, thereby leaving the SB ships off of the list. Nothing changed in terms of the relative ratings of the SB ships compared to the competition.

 

While, like you, I am not at all happy with the issue of the MDR being closed for breakfast and lunch apparently at the whim of the Hotel Manager, it is not accurate to suggest that the Berlitz guide has lowered it's 5 star rating of the SB ships.

 

Cheers, Fred

i am sorry - i read it - not in CC - but in another message on the internet

Hi Henry,

Good to read that all was well with your Sojourn trip in the Med,thankfully you didn't ask the chef to get you Paw Paw fruit like you normally do as its not available in the Med but plentiful in eastern North America.

Well It did take a while to come and he did have quite bed sunburn......

Video coming up in a minute...

Henry :)

The helpful 2016 Berlitz Cruise guide I just got is available on Kindle now and shows Seabourn Odyssey and Quest still at 5 stars. Hapag's Europa 2 and Europa are rated as 5 star plus, though of course some people may dislike other features of those ships and ambience despite the reported excellent service and food and passenger space.

In the section on small luxury ships, there is a chart that compares the features of the various competitors in this category.

I don't think there really is such a thing as six stars except where a cruise line like Regent awards itself that honorarium which means exactly nothing. Seabourn certainly does not do that.

All that aside a long discussion with the hotman should provide some improvement, unless of course, it's Vitor Alves, in which case things might actually get worse.

As the original poster, we were too late too cancel our next cruise without a big penalty. We have cancelled another booking for later in 2016.

We are not saying Seabourn is terrible, only that it doesn't live up to our expectations of superior service and 6 star or 5 star dining.

We agree about the canapés. Every night in the Observation Lounge they served the same old boring canapés. On celebrity they would always have a nice different choice of hot canapés and not just some cheese cubes, guacamole and corn chips every night. We did hear a couple complaining at the coffee bar in Seabourn Square that the choice of pastries, cakes etc never changed.

Thats strange the cakes are different every day except for the granny cake which is on most days??!

NZbelle - pity you did not try the Club bar for canapes; little trays of four different ones brought round each evening at about 6.30 onwards by a waiter/waitress, a plate for each person if so desired. This applies to all the ships, on all cruises, as far as I know.

NZbelle - pity you did not try the Club bar for canapes; little trays of four different ones brought round each evening at about 6.30 onwards by a waiter/waitress, a plate for each person if so desired. This applies to all the ships, on all cruises, as far as I know.

JFI - is caviar still freely available on request?

Thanks.

Oh brother.

But no worries... I will see if the Observation Bar pre-dinner snacks and if the cakes at Seabourn Square are "boring". And then I will report from our cruise which is only a week away now.

Happy cruising!

Oh brother.

 

But no worries... I will see if the Observation Bar pre-dinner snacks and if the cakes at Seabourn Square are "boring". And then I will report from our cruise which is only a week away now.

 

Happy cruising!

Well Markham, you're my last hope soI've got everything crossed that we hear positive reports from you!

Oh brother.

 

But no worries... I will see if the Observation Bar pre-dinner snacks and if the cakes at Seabourn Square are "boring". And then I will report from our cruise which is only a week away now.

 

Happy cruising!

Happy munching!

And please leave some for us!

JFI - is caviar still freely available on request?

 

Thanks.

MARIANH, not sure if lincslady has seen this so will answer on her behalf.

Caviar was still freely available on request as recently as 6 weeks ago.

I have heard that there were thoughts to restrict it as some people take the mickey with it, but no evidence of that so far.

MARIANH, not sure if lincslady has seen this so will answer on her behalf.

 

Caviar was still freely available on request as recently as 6 weeks ago.

I have heard that there were thoughts to restrict it as some people take the mickey with it, but no evidence of that so far.

Many thanks for the update. We are on the 21 November Odyssey. Promise not to overindulge. Well maybe just a bit!

Many thanks for the update. We are on the 21 November Odyssey. Promise not to overindulge. Well maybe just a bit!

I believe you!;)

On one of our Sojourn cruises last year, we were told that there was a party of four who were ordering caviar three times a day and not even finishing what they'd ordered.

We're on Odyssey quite soon after you, so save us some wine too please.

Have a wonderful time.

I am pretty sure that caviar is still freely available, though on our recent cruise not many people ordered it. We were on Sojourn, and the dining room was open for breakfast and lunch every day, although it was a port intensive cruise. We did notice, just on the first night, that if you came in later for dinner there could be a long wait. I am pretty sure this was just because it was the first night, and there were quite a few staff changes, so it takes them a while to 'gel' and get organised. I know it should not happen at all, but as far as I could see after that night there were no problems about slow service.

I have to say, again, that complaining about the unchanging canapes in the Observation Bar without managing to discover the completely changing little plates of canapes in the Club Bar seems a bit unadventurous to me. Both are pleasant venues to my mind; the Observation noisier and more 'chatty', the Club Bar quieter but just as enjoyable, with a pleasant quiet singer/guitarist playing for a while after 6.30.

 

We were on Sojourn, and the dining room was open for breakfast and lunch every day, although it was a port intensive cruise.

The inconsistency from Seabourn on this policy is almost as annoying as the dining room being closed!

Was your cruise longer than 7 days?

Linclady,

Funny I always thought the opposite. The Club always seemed much too busy and crowded before dinner but the Observation Bar with the pianist much quieter.