SLSD

We are still trying to decide on our next cruise. One of the itineraries we are considering is a Northern Europe cruise next June---on the Ovation. This would be one of the earlier sailings of this ship. What do you think? Are we foolish to sail on such anew ship before all the bugs are addressed?

I think this is a cautionary tale and good advice: don't base a cruise on a desire to see a particular port--because it may not happen.

Sduckers, How did you like the Odyssey?

Thank you Markham. We are considering a much longer cruise and thought saving a few dollars and getting the same amenities might be a good idea.

We recently sailed on Encore and were in a V5 suite--number 751. We were quite pleased with it. We are currently looking at booking a future cruise with a V3 suite--number 711. I understand that the two suites share all the same amenities---with the difference being that the V3 suite --711 is forward while 751 was midship.

I have a question for experienced cruisers. What differences are we likely to notice being forward rather than midship? We do like the 7th deck and like the proximity to the 7th deck hot tub deck.

We have just finished a 10 day Encore cruise and I am happy to say that we saw no misbehavior onboard. However, we saw some very rude behavior from a Russian passenger on one of the excursion buses. He had mistakenly sat in the front seat of the bus which was reserved for the tour guide. He refused to move when this was pointed out to him by the guide and said rude things to her--treating her like dirt. We were all appalled.

I did cringe a bit when a poster said that this was more likely on a 7 day cruise. Seaboard is expensive---and a 7 day cruise is a real splurge and luxury for many ---and many of these people are well educated, genteel people. Let's not throw the 7 day cruisers under the bus because of a few bad apples.

We recently sailed on Encore and were able to eat at the TK Grill twice. Here's how it worked. Some friends we met onboard had made a reservation for four--and invited us to join them. We did. Then, we had our own reservation for two. We enjoyed that as well. I would not say that the food at the TK Grill is any better than at the MD. The ribeye steak was very tasty, but tough--not surprising for grass fed beef. My husband had a special---a chicken pot pie and loved it. I had Eggplant Parmigiana the second night---it was just ok. The ambience was nice though. We did ask the staff to turn down the volume of very loud canned music. They did and the ambience was improved.

We are just home from a cruise on Encore. We found the bed to be VERY comfortable. I checked and it already had a topper on it.

We had great pizza in a cafe at the base of the steps of the cathedral (black and white marble one) in Amalfi.

We disembarked at Civitavecchia just a few days ago. Our travel agent had arranged for a car to pick us up and transport us to our hotel. This worked very well. We only had to roll our bags a very short distance from the terminal to the parking lot.

We took a Seaboard tour at Taormina which included the wonderful village of Catellmola which was up on top of high cliffs and a short distance from Taormina. While our guide was very knowledgable, I feel that he did not do the entire promised tour--as he did not walk the group to the amphitheater in Taormina. It is a charming town--but very busy with tourists.

If we have another trip to this port, I would definitely want to spend more time in Castellmola which has lovely narrow streets and spectacular views.

We thoroughly enjoyed afternoon tea each afternoon on Encore. I don't recall if the waiter had on gloves or not, but he did come around with a rolling case with scones and our order for tea was taken and delivered. The waiter asked me if he could bring other items to me from the buffet. I preferred to go and pick them out myself. I loved the crustless cucumber/cream cheese sandwiches and the smoked salmon on toast.

We were in the dining room eating breakfast at 8:15am. There was an announcement that the disembarkation was slightly delayed. We exited at 9am.

Next time, you might think about getting private transportation (your travel agent can arrange it) to make things go more smoothly. We were picked up by a driver who loaded our bags into the car. We did have to roll them out into the parking lot where he was waiting. It was a very short distance.

We stayed an extra night in a wonderful hotel in the countryside outside of Rome (about 30 minutes from the airport) as we thought the connection (a flight boarding at around 11 am) would be too tight.

Crepe, What exactly did you experience on disembarking that bothered you? We had a very smooth experience. While all four of our bags were not together---they were easy to find with the tag/number system. We had made private arrangements for transfer to a hotel and our driver was there waiting for us---ahead of schedule.

Did you arrange for transfer with Seabourn? Or, had you made private arrangements?

Another thing that helped us was an excellent travel agent. She had sent us pages and pages of our itinerary (which I had printed out) which even told us what time we should disembark and what time our driver would be there for us. It worked smoothly.

I am interested in hearing what your experience was.

Our recent Seabourn cruise went to Gozo. I recommend seeing the Citadel (a medieval walled city) in the city of Victoria. It was beautiful.

I was on the same Encore cruise in question here (the one mentioned by Gercru) . We had impeccable service at the Thomas Keller Grill---two times. We went first as the guest of new friends who had made a reservation for four--and then again on our own reservation. I would not have hesitated to flag down a waiter if the wait had been too long. I also like the idea of going to fill water glasses myself. It sends a message.

We enjoyed this cruise. We are first time Seabourn cruisers, but have sailed on the smaller Silver Sea ships. Even though the Encore was larger, I did not see huge differences in service or experience. We rather enjoyed the choices for dining.

I WOULD like more shade on decks and do agree with many that The Retreat was a wrong step for this all inclusive cruise line.

It is too bad that someone chose to deliver a mostly wilted bunch of flowers.

We did find the staff of the ship to be eager to please and the vast majority of them were exceptional when it comes to service.

(I did dislike the ersatz music in the Club, but really enjoyed Suzanne Jade in the bar at the Thomas Keller and the duo in the Observation Bar.)

I was on the Encore and loved this moment with the passing ships. It was exciting and made everyone smile. I looked down several decks from our veranda and saw a line of the ship's officers taking photos. The staff was talking about how much fun it was to pass a ship they used to work on--and shout and wave at their friends. I probably have a photo somewhere of the Odyssey. (I think my husband took one). I'll try to find it. We are just home from this cruise aboard the Encore and had a great time.

I was a passenger on Encore when the Odyssey passed us. It was great fun. Many many people were out on the deck. The Odyssey sounded its horn. There was a lot of waving and shouting. I was out on our veranda at the time and looked down several decks to see many of the ship's officers and other employees taking photos. It was an event!