Odyssey Panama Canal Holiday 2015 review

We started cruising with Seabourn 3 years ago, and now have just over 100 days onboard. This was our first time on Odyssey.

Captain was David Bathgate, HD Daniel Putzhammer, CD Sophie Tehrani.

We travelled in a group of 4, with my brother and his wife. Our ages range between 45-53 years old. The demographic on this cruise was older than our previous Christmas/NY cruises. We found our fellow guests to be friendly, interesting and well travelled, as usual. It was good to see many familiar faces from last year’s Cape Town round trip. There were approximately 5 children onboard.

I’ve been hesitant to write this review as I know there will be some who wish to dismiss my concerns. This review is based on my/our own experience. I acknowledge that there were guests we spoke to on board who were very happy with food and service. Before shooting this messenger though, perhaps other posters may recall that there have been a number of less than favourable reports about Odyssey recently.

For food and service, at these prices, I expect both to be very good to excellent most of the time. I’m fully aware that food is subjective, that slips happen from time to time and I don’t expect perfection.

Let’s start with the positives.

Included wines. I found 2 white and 2 red wines that were more than adequate for lunchtime quaffing purposes. I continued to enjoy Sananda’s $4.00 bottle of rosé!:p We tend to select from the wine list at dinner. I find that SB does go for the safe option when choosing wine producers, and this is especially true when it comes to the choice of wines from Burgundy. Our main home is just outside the town of Beaune in Burgundy so we’re very familiar with the better producers and I would like to see SB try some of the smaller producers rather than going for the commercially well known names. We like to try wines from all over the world but our favourites are the Premier and Grand Cru whites of Burgundy and the wine list choices were somewhat disappointing in this regard.

MDR opening times. The MDR was open daily for breakfast and lunch, only for one hour each time though. There was often considerable demand for tables in the Colonnade and longer opening hours of the MDR may have alleviated this. This was mostly a very hot weather cruise, with high humidity and although I like to dine outside as often as possible, there were many days on this cruise when the outside temperatures were too hot to make for a pleasant dining experience so I would have welcomed later opening of the MDR for lunch.

Our Suite Attendant was just the best ever. Quick, thorough, great attention to detail and unobtrusive. Toiletries were replaced in a timely manner. She was great.

Pool deck bar service was excellent, with the usual frequent serving of drinks such as fruit punch, sorbet treats, margaritas and various other cocktails. Requests for specific choices were met quickly. Cold towels, SPF, glasses cleaner offered regularly.

Thomas Keller food . We found to be very good. The quality of ingredients was better than regular menu items, presentation was nice too. I’m not a frequent burger eater, but the Napa burger was very good indeed.

I will post some TK menus and write more about how the concept was working on this cruise in a separate post.

Smoking. There were a few smokers, but we had no issues with balcony smokers, nor did my brother and his wife. The only place I noticed the smell of smoke was on deck 5 aft out by the pool, and the people smoking stayed in the designated smoking area there.

Colonnade coffee at breakfast. Much more consistent than previous cruises. It’s still not really to my taste but at least it as pretty much the same every day.

The not so positives.

Internet. Was awful and has been discussed already, did see an improvement in the last couple of days.

Food. The first night we were pleased to see TK menu in the MDR. We ordered all 3 courses from it. The server then returned to the table and informed us that both the starter and the dessert weren’t available. He then went off to get menus so we could make an alternative selection. We’d already chosen our wine for the dinner from the wine list and it had been opened and tasted. This happened a few times on different evenings. I’d like SB to improve communication between kitchen and restaurant floor so that servers are able to inform diners of unavailable items before they start to choose from the menu.

Food often arrived lukewarm, served on cold plates. Sometimes one half of the plate and the food would be warm to hot while the other side was cold. This was only a problem in the MDR, we didn’t notice this at all in The Colonnade.

The menu choices have been reduced. In MDR, Seabourn Classics are still available but the daily menu now has only 4 appetisers and main courses. Patio Grill has no plated appetisers at lunch. The only appetiser option is a salad which is plated on request by a crew member. At dinner, the plated appetisers have been reduced to two from four. The protein main courses reduced from four to three. Desserts reduced from five to four. No pizza in the evening.

In all three venues we found it difficult to get red meat cooked as ordered. It was frequently served well done when medium was requested, although it also arrived half cooked to medium and the other half rare.

Fish was served overcooked to the point of being rubbery, also I had Dover Sole that was full of bones.

There seemed to be very few vegetables plated and I soon learned to make an additional side order. Proteins (except the TK items) were of poor quality, chicken breast that was watery and mushy, overcooked fish, even the beef wasn’t as good as usual although I had an excellent filet mignon at the beginning of the cruise.

Overall I was very disappointed by the food as I always found it to be very good on previous SB cruises. Some of the quality and presentation reminded me of Brakes Bros food, as served in chain pubs in the UK. I will say that the desserts were generally excellent, although I’m not sure to what degree they’re pre-made.

The service was inconsistent. Many crew just weren’t attentive, seemed to be lacking initiative and there was very little of the intuitive, anticipatory service that many of us are familiar with, and that Seabourn still markets strongly.

I’m getting depressed writing this so will sum up.

This cruise was lacking in so many areas and just didn’t feel like a luxury cruise. This is our second disappointing SB cruise in 3 months, on two different ships and different crew and officers, and it’s clear that SB is no longer such a great fit for us. We thought the experience on Sojourn in September was mostly due to it being a 7 day cruise and while it wasn't up to previous standards, it was much better than this Odyssey cruise.

We didn’t take advantage of the future cruise deposit this time, although we do still have one from a previous cruise. We’ve decided to leave SB for a while, and sincerely hope that this is a simple ‘au revoir’ and not a permanent goodbye. I’m quite sad about this. I liked the SB product a lot, I love being at sea, and I can’t see an alternative cruise line that appeals.

Over the next several months I’ll be following posts here closely and hoping to read better overall comments.

More to follow about TK menus, concept etc.

Thanks, Nigella. The feeling I get from your report on the food is that quite a bit of the problem might be due to the integration of the TK menus; reducing the number of dishes on the regular menu, etc., and possibly both galley and waiting staff not being at home with it yet. Should not happen, if current passengers are having to pay a lot of money to be 'guinea pigs'. Maybe a lot more shore based training was necessary before trying to introduce this concept - but no doubt the bean counters do not want to have staff being 'unproductive' and having to employ more to sort it out. Do you think this might be the case? I also understand that computerised ordering is being brought in; did you find that to be happening?

When we first cruised on the brand new Sojourn I remember asking wait staff if they now had computerised ordering, and they said that, sadly, they did not.

Nigella, Thank you for your review. Would also like to hear about lectures and entertainment.

It seems to me that there is a significant deterioration afloat...sadly...and it cannot all be laid at the feet of the TK introductions. There seem to be several reductions in selections and rather consistent errors in preparation. SB continues to struggle w. Keeping alternate dining venues open, pushing everyone into the Colonnade, like it or not.

Nigella is not alone in posting concerned or negative comments about recent cruises, particularly Odyssey. We,too, have more than 100 days on SB and hope that this line/ship a rights itself.

Thank you so much for your review Nigella.

I do believe that there have been some posts suggesting that the food was improving now, however your take on the way your dinners were ordered, cooked and served sounds "memorable" for all the wrong reasons.

I think they are using i -pads for the ordering?? A restaurant in our home town tried this for a while, and it was not a success and was dropped. There is no room for manoeuvre so guests special requests cannot be recorded.

We have been on two Seabourn, two Oceania and one Regent cruises. I believe that Oceania is the best fit for us, with certainly the most delicious food, but Seabourn is the most luxurious in every respect and we enjoyed both previous cruises enormously. With a future cruise deposit waiting to be used up we have booked Sojourn for a week in September. We in the UK cannot cancel without losing our deposit so we would be reluctant to do so. I am banking on the hope that in another eight months these problems will be sorted.

Thanks again for the review.

Thanks, Nigella. The feeling I get from your report on the food is that quite a bit of the problem might be due to the integration of the TK menus; reducing the number of dishes on the regular menu, etc., and possibly both galley and waiting staff not being at home with it yet. Should not happen, if current passengers are having to pay a lot of money to be 'guinea pigs'. Maybe a lot more shore based training was necessary before trying to introduce this concept - but no doubt the bean counters do not want to have staff being 'unproductive' and having to employ more to sort it out. Do you think this might be the case? I also understand that computerised ordering is being brought in; did you find that to be happening?

 

When we first cruised on the brand new Sojourn I remember asking wait staff if they now had computerised ordering, and they said that, sadly, they did not.

Hi lincslady. I'm really not sure what the reason is for the issues.

With regard to food quality, I can't help but wonder if the budget has been blown setting up the TK deal, and in order to offset that they've made cuts in the quality of ingredients being purchased.

I feel that there are fewer crew, although I don't know that for a fact and have no idea of actual number. It appeared that there were a lot of crew running around like headless chickens, especially in the MDR.

I've never taken any notice of the ordering system previously, so I'm not sure if there have been changes. The order taker wrote the order by hand with a pen, they have a form with tick boxes to complete. I did notice someone using a tablet-like device at the stations, and the order appeared to be entered into a touch screen monitor which was on the station.

We started cruising with Seabourn 3 years ago, and now have just over 100 days onboard. This was our first time on Odyssey.

 

 

We didn’t take advantage of the future cruise deposit this time, although we do still have one from a previous cruise. We’ve decided to leave SB for a while, and sincerely hope that this is a simple ‘au revoir’ and not a permanent goodbye. I’m quite sad about this. I liked the SB product a lot, I love being at sea, and I can’t see an alternative cruise line that appeals.

 

 

More to follow about TK menus, concept etc.

Thanks for your review, Nigella. I would like to suggest you read a review written by Catlover54 of Hapag Lloyd's Europa2. Apart from valuable information on the high quality offerings, the report is balanced enough for somebody considering this cruise ship. You find the thread within CC's Luxury Cruising category. She also wrote a review summary in Members' Reviews. Also, it is very entertaining.

Nigella, Thank you for your review. Would also like to hear about lectures and entertainment.

 

It seems to me that there is a significant deterioration afloat...sadly...and it cannot all be laid at the feet of the TK introductions. There seem to be several reductions in selections and rather consistent errors in preparation. SB continues to struggle w. Keeping alternate dining venues open, pushing everyone into the Colonnade, like it or not.

 

Nigella is not alone in posting concerned or negative comments about recent cruises, particularly Odyssey. We,too, have more than 100 days on SB and hope that this line/ship a rights itself.

Hi Paula. We have friends who were on Sojourn and they also reported some issues, although not to the extent we did on Odyssey.

The lectures were good. We had Steve Wozniak talking about his experiences at Apple and how he 'Grew Up Geek'.

There were interesting lectures about the countries we visited, Mayan history, geography, culture and so on.

We also had a speaker we enjoyed last year. His name is William Gurstelle. I very much enjoy his talks, he makes science interesting to non-scientists like myself. There were also talks about the music of the countries we visited, the speaker's name was Karen Hansen. I was told that she's William Gurstelle's wife but I'm not sure if that's true.

We don't go to the shows so I can't comment, although with Sophie as CD I'm sure that they were enjoyable to those who do like them.

The entertainers were a very mixed bag. There was a pianist, David Howarth, who I think we saw on Sojourn in 2014 on the Hong Kong to Singapore segment, you may remember him? There were two comedians, one was terrible. The other was called Lee Bayless, he was sharply observant and very funny indeed. There was also a magician, I didn't see his shows.

The pianist in the Observation was very good, I enjoyed his selections during Afternoon Tea.

The band were great, although I didn't care too much for the singer.

Sorry. My mistake. I thought I had read that i-Pad were used. Obviously not. J

Sorry. My mistake. I thought I had read that i-Pad were used. Obviously not. J

I think I read earlier this year that they were being trialled. They weren't being used by the order takers, wish I'd asked them about it now.

Same for us re: deposits and cancellations as we use a UK based TA, but even if we booked in France it would be the same. I believe it's EU-wide?

Nigella - I am sure you are right in suggesting that the TK concept will be costing a great deal, and could account for a reduction in spending in other parts of the food department. Although the name Thomas Keller is very well known in the USA, I don't think the rest of the world are going to be too bothered about him and his dishes, which is rather sad if it means the rest of the meals are not up to the previous standard.

Thanks for your review, Nigella. I would like to suggest you read a review written by Catlover54 of Hapag Lloyd's Europa2. Apart from valuable information on the high quality offerings, the report is balanced enough for somebody considering this cruise ship. You find the thread within CC's Luxury Cruising category. She also wrote a review summary in Members' Reviews. Also, it is very entertaining.

I believe Nigella was on board with reading my Europa2 blog, but expressed concern about the overwhelming presence of Germans and as she is sociable, thus missing out on things, even though the main topics are presented bilingually and many Germans can speak English. DH, who understands no German at all, felt the same way. Though he loved the stellar food, space, visual beauty of the ship, and good service and would cruise with me on Europa 2 again, he looks forward to SB.

I have done only one SB trip, two weeks on the Odyssey in September, but very much enjoyed it especially compared with recent SS ( though food was excellent then, it was not quite as stunning except in R2 as on the E2). However, they were just starting the TK experiment, so I hope that has not compromised the dining too much. Nigella's review is troubling. We will be on the SB Quest late July Copenhagen-Dover ( sticking with it even though the E2 has a similar routing in July to Norway we could jump to instead). If the food is not good, we will be cancelling our April 2017 Epicurean cruise on the Quest Barcelona to Dover and moving to E2 for that approximate route. But I like to be optimistic!

Hi Nigella,

I am sorry you had a disappointing cruise. I embarked in LA as you disembarked. The other person to disembark in LA was the your executive chef due to "family issues". We now have Chef Rajat on board for a while and then Chef Pascal is to take over from him.

We have eaten in the MDR and in suite for dinner last night and our meals have been cooked to our specification. Medium rare for beef and last night my chicken breast was plump and delicious, though on the cool side because we didn't order course by course so it had cooled down.

My husband has had the fish special every lunch time at the Colonnade and they looked and he said they were delicious. They came served with a nice choice of vegetables which I agree with you, I wish they would do this more with the MDR at night.

With regards to the Thomas Keller meals we have only had a little experience with them as yet. My husband enjoyed his two appetisers he tried but I was underwhelmed by my chèvre and olive clafoutis entree. We have also had the issue of TK entrees not being available as we tend to eat around 8.30pm. I have been told by another guest that TK has stipulated that to maintain quality he will only allow 60 covers of his entree to be served. But I have not confirmed this with any senior officer as yet.

However I have not suffered in the least having Chef Rajat's food. The other night I had linguini with lobster butter and seared scallops that was truly delicious :-)

I haven't noticed any orders taken with IPads but I wasn't looking for this.

We also have a wonderful stewardess who does two room services a day. Yesterday she wasn't able to complete until closer to lunch time but that was because the crew had a very long crew safety drill so perfectly acceptable and understandable in my opinion.

Internet is still not great though we are very close to the equator and in the middle of the Pacific so maybe this isn't helping.

The weather has been too cool for us as yet to use the pool areas.....but coming from Perth we are used to much warmer weather. Some braver souls then us out there, but I must try this Napa burger so I will toughen up and try the Patio Grill.

We are on for another 50 days until Fiji so I will try and comment at times throughout the cruise.

Julie

Nigella, Thanks for the info re: the lectures. They sound very interesting.

We have sailed w. Sophie and she is great but the entertainers do not sound inspiring. We usually attend shows since we are neither casino nor big bar folks,so they and the lounge music are important to us.

Jay 23, I,too, thought that I had read that the waiters were using electronic pads to take orders. Perhaps this was on another SB ship??? Anyway, we just disembarked another line which had been using them for the past month. Obviously the expertise of waiters varied but most seemed very comfortable. Our waiter was a wiz kid at this. This system did allow for temperature of cooking,etc. It also allowed for variations of every sorts e.g. I'll have the fish but with the veggies from the beef dish. You could also add sauces, no onions please,etc. Pretty impressive to this non techie. What did depress me a bit is that the line is planning to switch to ipad menus, at least in its top end specialty restaurant.

Hi Nigella,

 

I am sorry you had a disappointing cruise. I embarked in LA as you disembarked. The other person to disembark in LA was the your executive chef due to "family issues". We now have Chef Rajat on board for a while and then Chef Pascal is to take over from him.

 

However I have not suffered in the least having Chef Rajat's food. The other night I had linguini with lobster butter and seared scallops that was truly delicious :-)

 

[my cuts to your quote]

 

Julie

We have cruised with Chef Rajat and he is an outstanding chef, very present and very personable.

If you are lucky, he will do an Indian night at the Colonnade. He did that with the other Indian chefs on our last cruise with him and it was truly the finest Indian food I have ever eaten ........ and I know my Indian food!!!!

Nigella - Thank you for donning the nomex and posting your view. At the end of the day passengers shouldn't have to worry about chef roulette and it seems to be this is an ongoing issue.

frantic36 - Do you know when Pascal is joining, Auckland perhaps?

I am not posting very often, but thought I would also add my views on this cruise. I am in total agreement with Nigella. We have also cruises on Seabourn for three years. Our first cruise was on the Odyssey in 2012 and we were blown away by the food and service co pared to Regent and Oceania that we had previously sailed. We also had dinner several times with a couple that was Platinum and on their 12th Seabourn cruise. They had the same impressions.

While we did not have the same problems in the MDR, probably because we found our favorite server after a couple of nights who looked after us very well, the cutbacks are very obvious and disappointing. In addition to the lack of choices in the MDR, we particularly missed the pre dinner buffet in the Observation Bar that we had previously enjoyed. While we are aware of the health concerns (though agree with a fellow guest that those present a convenient excuse because they would only apply to cruises in the US), substituting shrimp and tuna tartare with guacamole and chips was particularly disappointing. We raised this with the F&B manager during the cruise and he indicated there would be more variety in"tapas" once they received corporate approval (for a few appetizers?). While there was more variety later on, it was mostly along the lines of cheese and sausage rolls, and nothing at all on some nights. Passed appetizers for the sail away party was something with either ham or cheese. The buffet selection at breakfast was the same every day.

We were not too impressed with the Thomas Keller offerings, not better that Seabourn entrees(at least on previous cruises). We did not try the family style dining as it does not appeal to us at all.

Entertainment was pretty sad most of the times, although the pianist in the Observation Bar was excellent.

It also seemed to us that there was a reduction in the crew; they were working very hard as always, but seemed more stressed. Our room stewardess was also brilliant.

With respect to lines at breakfast, that is probably due to cutbacks in hours also at the Colonade. Breakfast is always very late,sometimes not until 1/2 hour before a scheduled excursion, so if you want to order something for breakfast, you really have to rush. At disembarkation day, breakfast was scheduled for 7 am, while immigration was supposed to begin at 7:15. No wonder there was a line back to the pool deck by 6:50.

I don't think that bringing the "suits" onboard at the end really did accomplish much as it seems to me that the suits are responsible for the apparent budget cuts and reductions while the crew has to bear the ire of the passengers.

Unlike Nigella, we did book another cruise because we liked the itinerary and believe it will likely sell out. However, it is not until summer 2017, so we have plenty of time to evaluate developments until then. I made perfectly clear in my post cruise survey that further business is predicated on seeing a return to the old Seabourn.

We were on the previous Odyssey cruise, December 3 - 12.

We noticed a "grey suit" in the Restaurant, going from station to station and never making eye contact with guests. We spoke with him one night in a bar. He was on board to help with the new ordering system, both to get it to work correctly and get the waiters to use it correctly. He was hoping to be able to leave soon, but was worried that it would take some more time!

The waiters did not carry i-pads with them. The pads were on the stations and the waiters either wrote down orders or remembered them, and then entered the orders into the system. We do not know how or how much modifications could be entered into the system.

In terms of food, we were generally quite satisfied. Breakfast and lunch in the Colonnade were very good, and not crowded; we were always able to find a table outside. As Julie said, the fish specials were wonderful. The first day, the Restaurant had some trouble with our low-sodium request. We began to order the night before, and everything, including soups and sauces, was made to our specification. Service was slow in some stations, but not the hours of delay reported elsewhere. Wine service was excellent; good selection, quick, attentive, and pleasant. Water glass refills required direct requests in both Restaurant and Colonnade.

The most disappointing meal was in R2. With a day's notice they could not provide low-sodium foods, even though the hostess confirmed that that was our dietary need. Service was slow, and food came out cold, and then overcooked.

Overall, we were very pleased with our cruise, and have our next one booked, and a future deposit.

Sorry to have misled with the title of this post. Really intended to address just the i-pad, and then decided to add our opinions. :)

Peter & Ann

I'll generally add our agreement to Nigella's comments. We had a great time (although 32 days is probably a bit much for us) but felt that the focus and state of training of much of the kitchen and waitstaff weren't what we had come to expect from our previous (albeit limited) experience on Seabourn. There were a few relatively serious glitches like the evening that we were at a table for eight and one entree was undercooked, two were cold, and one didn't show up at all. Four out of eight is not what you pay for on a luxury line. Then there was the evening we were at a hosted table and the waiter refused to allow my wife to move to the empty seat next to me and told her she had to remain where she was (at the other end of the table). I didn't know about it until later but still doubt that the F&B director enjoyed my "delayed" reaction.

I never did crack the code on ordering steak. I prefer medium rare but if I ordered that way it came out medium-medium well more often than not. If I ordered rare it usually came out as ordered. Didn't have that problem with lamb - just beef. I also thought it a bit odd that for 31 days if you ordered a ribeye steak in any venue, that's what you got but on the last night in the Restaurant, you got 3 slices of ribeye. If they were running out, they should have changed the menu description or "86'd" the item when it was gone.

Mixed reviews on Keller. Some of the offerings were excellent, some good, and some missed the mark. The ribs were better than I expected. As others have noted, the Keller "experience" seemed to take money, time, and energy away from the rest of the food quality, prep, and service. I'm still not sure how they ran out of oranges nine days after leaving Florida on the first (Caribbean) leg.

All-in-all however, the food was good - just not inspired or particularly special.

No internet experience other than listening to the complaints. Janet Wozniak partially solved the problem for her totally connected husband by buying a local data SIM card at every port where one was available. Apparently everyone else "embraced the suck." I did like the iPads set up as news readers in the Square; they were OTS for a while after the system changeover but came back on line and made keeping up relatively easy.

Sophie was great as CD but even better as an entertainer. Meredith also was excellent and in great voice. Unfortunately the rest of the entertainment we saw (both production staff and guests) suffered by comparison, ranging from barely mediocre to slightly better than average. The speakers we heard were all very knowledgeable but unfortunately some of them lacked basic presentation skills and were almost painful to listen to.

Again, my whining above notwithstanding, we had a wonderful cruise (and made a deposit for an open booking in the future). Most everything was very good to excellent but we just didn't feel it was quite "Seabourn."

We were on this cruise some positive aspects other very negative.

We found service excellent in the bars, the restaurants and in our suite. It was often very slow in the restaurant but we attribute this to the kitchen staff.

The food in the colonnade and patio was fine but we have serious issues with the restaurant which we only went to for dinner. We have never liked restaurant 2 and avoided it this cruise. The choice in the restaurant was not like it used to be - a choice of three starters, then two soups, then two salads, then a sorbet, then four entrees and then cheese and finally four deserts. We were limited to one starter (which included only one salad) three entrees and occasionally a Keller dish, and three deserts including cheese. A major cut-back by SB and a major disappointment. The quality of the ingredients left much to be desired, little vegetables, and the cooking was often poor.

Lecturers were fine including Karen Hansen, but the entertainers apart from the card magician, ranged from poorish to attrocious.

The cruise directors were immature, inexperienced and much too young for the rather older age profile of the guests.

On a positive side we appreciated the painters and the bridge director and never had a problem of finding somewhere to sit in any of the dining venues, lounges or bars.

I should like to add that the breads at breakfast in the Colonnade were outstanding and the deserts there and in the MDR were very good. Maybe the same chef.

Overall it seems to me that since management of Seabourn has been handed over to Holland and America the emphasis has been on cost cutting and short term profit. In the long run this could be detrimental as many of Seabourn's long term guests might decide to cruise with the other luxury lines. Particularly as most guests on this cruise were longstandin Seabourners.

We too were on this cruise and mostly agree with the comments from others. We usually ate in the MDR except for the TK rib nights, the couple of market dinners, a few nights at the patio grill, and a visit to R2 which, unlike other posters, we do enjoy. Like Nigella, our first night in the MDR did not go well, the waiter was inexperienced and overall service not the typical Seabourn experience. After that we always sat with a server we knew from a prior cruise and never had service problems.

With the food however, we had issues periodically, as others mentioned it was not always delivered hot, unfortunately lukewarm was sometimes the case. It is true they were implementing a new tablet (I don't think it is iPad based as the tablets looked thicker than an iPad) ordering system and this caused issues both for the wait staff and the kitchen. During lunch at the beginning of the rollout some waiters would bring the tablet to the table but after a few days we observed they reverted to paper to take the order and would then go back to the station and enter it on the tablet. I heard from several of the staff that the tablets did not always allow them to enter an order exactly as it should be sent to the kitchen and at least in the beginning the printer in the kitchen was limited to 100 characters for free form instructions on an order. On more than one occasion I saw it take 3 tries for an order to come from the kitchen correctly, and that was at lunch when it was a lot less busy than dinner. I know the waitstaff were frustrated with the kitchen.

Many of the staff were excellent but some seemed - as noted by others also - to not be able to look around and see that something needs attention, as one time a waitress filled the water glasses at two tables near us but failed to look over and see my glass was empty.

We did like that almost every time we had lunch at the patio grill they had a fish entree, which was usually cooked perfectly. I thought the pizza at the patio grill was better in the past, and the selections were more limited both for lunch and dinner.

The bar service was very good, the bar tenders all attentive and fun to talk to. Complimentary wines definitely are improved, and although we often order off the revenue list, when we did not or at lunch or before dinner we never had a problem finding several to choose from.

Our stewardess was good - no issues with the job she did - but she never did anything to personalize the experience like others do: no notes, no towel animals, etc.- we never felt like we had a connection with her unlike most of our prior ones.

More than a few of the port selections, especially on the Canal segment, were very disappointing for Seabourn. This was something we heard many others also comment on, and while we did not take any of the ship's tours, the feedback we heard from those who did was often not positive.

Overall we enjoyed the cruise but feel the quality was not what we experienced on our prior cruises, and if this was our first SB cruise would probably not be as loyal as we have been. Let's hope that things improve.

 

Many of the staff were excellent but some seemed - as noted by others also - to not be able to look around and see that something needs attention, as one time a waitress filled the water glasses at two tables near us but failed to look over and see my glass was empty.

 

.

This little scenario sums up what makes any restaurant service less than good. In my view this is down to the restaurant head waiters, or whatever they are titled on the ship. It is the head waiters who should be noticing empty glasses, and uncleared tables when they have been overlooked by the waiters. J

This little scenario sums up what makes any restaurant service less than good. In my view this is down to the restaurant head waiters, or whatever they are titled on the ship. It is the head waiters who should be noticing empty glasses, and uncleared tables when they have been overlooked by the waiters. J

I was concerned that it would sound petty, especially in the context of the other issues we had, but it drove me quite mad constantly having to ask for more water.

I understand that there can be a short period of waiting for glasses to be refilled, of course I do, but sitting there for more than 10 minutes while crew members were walking past empty handed just gazing round did my head in. As did trying to catch someone's attention. I nearly stooped to waving the empty glass in the air above my head. Nearly.

My husband wants to make a more official complaint to Seabourn. I've completed the post-cruise questionnaire but he wants to write to them separately too.

Can anyone suggest the best point of contact? Should I just email to Seabourn Club or write a snail mail to Seattle?

To Julie (frantic) and anyone else reading who is currently onboard. Glad to see the update about the chef change and that food at least seems to be much better now.