SLSD

So we need to be writing to the new president to let her know that every Seabourn cruiser deserves to be able to have breakfast and lunch in the Restaurant. We have just book our next Seabourn cruise which is 28 days. As far as I can tell, it is two 14 day cruises, but I am. not positive about that. I guess I had better start writing letters.

My suggestion is that you go to the TK Grill as soon as you embark and ask for a reservation. If there is no one at the TK Grill, go to the Seabourn Square and meet with one those representatives and ask them make you a reservation. I do believe (from personal experience) that a face to face request is more successful than telephone call to guest services.

Not a good report. But at least your waiter advised you. I read somewhere that there are very few passengers on your cruise. It that true? Disappointing that they cannot execute the recipes.

I find it disconcerting that Mr. SLSD and I were told in no uncertain terms that The Restaurant was going to be open at breakfast and lunch every day on EVERY ship. It was indeed open for these meals everyday on our cruise on Ovation. And, then I hear that this is not the case on other ships--and perhaps not on Ovation.

Markham, I always value your observations and opinions because I have read them for a number of years here on Cruise Critic AND I have met you in person and had a discussion or two. Your long voyage on Quest last year (or was it earlier this year?) sounds like it was very poor indeed. I don't blame you a bit for being very very down on Seabourn. I would be the same, I am sure. AND, all of your suggestions are good ones. Seabourn should hire you as a consultant--or, at the very least, listen to what you have to say. I am happy to report that our lunches in The Restaurant in June on Ovation were among my favorite meals on our cruise. I have no way of knowing if they were derivative of what was being offered in the Colonnade at the same time. I am STILL thinking about the Mongolian Beef wok cooked entree I was served. It was that good! I will add that the enjoyment of food (at least for me) is always enhanced by the atmosphere. While I enjoy dining on the veranda of the Colonnade, I can not stand dining indoors there and haven't dined indoors there (except for one evening) for a number of cruises. While the menu was short in The Restaurant for lunch during our cruise in June on Ovation, it was NOT as short as the menu offered at lunch in the Colonnade---AND it changed daily, which the menu in the Colonnade (paper menu from which you order) does not. I agree with you also about the TK Grill. We have had some good meals there---on Ovation, Encore and on Sojourn. Some of the service there has been obsequious. No need for that on a Seabourn cruise. In fact, I cringe a bit when the service is like that. All that is required is proper friendly service. Not hovering service or overly formal service. The food has always been ok in the TK Grill --except for a terribly over salted roasted chicken and a VERY mustardy Caesar Salad. All that being said, who needs a branded restaurant? Why should Seabourn be paying for that? I agree that the money expended on Thomas Keller could be divided among the other venues to improve them. Why not just serve exceptional food? I would love to see the TK Grill become an Italian restaurant of superior quality--no high profile chef's name needed. I would prefer Italian over Asian as I think it is easier to please more people with Italian. Or, bring in true Asian chefs--Thai, Japanese, or Chinese and have a go at it.

Breakfast is the ONLY room service meal I have ever enjoyed on a Seabourn cruise. And yes, I have ordered at other times (for example when Mr. SLSD was seasick and wasn't able to go to dinner). I was SO disappointed by that meal (way back in 2019) that I would not even consider ordering dinner again through room service.

I am a bit disappointed that Seabourn was only interested in marketing rather than their customers' experiences. However, enough was said outside of the A and B marketing goal that messages will be received.

On our recent (June) cruise, there were quite a few. But, my real point is this--if you bring the jacket--you can wear it in that venue.

Many men do wear a jacket every night in the main restaurant onboard. So--your husband could wear it every time you dine there and fit right in. My husband wears his jacket there whenver we dine in that venue. I love Portovenere!

JPH, get the chip off of your shoulder! Good grief!!!~ No one is saying that because you wear a tux you are "above yourself". I think the poster's comment is really asking if people are nice, if people are friendly--OR, are they all very wealthy people who don't like to mix and mingle with others they consider below themselves. Her question didn't imply that her husband would go to the MDR on formal night without a jacket. She was asking if there were other places to dine where a jacket would not be required/expected.

I answered the same survey you did. It was after answering the questions on that survey that I received an email asking me to participate in the zoom conversation. We were shown the EXACT same photos as were on the survey! There was really nothing more in depth. I was surprised by that. At first, I could not get my camera to work for the Zoom call. I was given aa few minutes to get it to work. Without being on camera, I would not be allowed to join in the conversation. Fortunately, I was able to get my camera turned on. It was a somewhat interesting group in that the other woman in the group made it quite clear that she had lived all over the world and been everywhere. She had no need for excursions and little interest in them. She changed her tune toward the end of the conversation, extolling the virtues of special excursions offered on Viking ships. The host never introduced a topic about excursions---but this is another area where the brave participants tried to turn the conversation to what they would like to see in terms of excursions on SB. Everyone wanted better excursions and smaller numbers of people on the excursions. This was not really a topic the host wanted to talk about, but she couldn't exactly ignore what was being said. There was an unseen observer for this Zoom conversation-- not on camera, but represented by a rectangle which said "Observer".

First about the tenders. Once the ship has been cleared at the port and the announcement has been made, you are free to go to the tenders. You do not need a ticket. Occasionally, you are asked to wait until passengers on early excursions have tendered to the port. As far as formal nights go, there are other restaurants for dining---Earth and Ocean around the pool (my personal favorite restaurant on the ship), The Colonnade, and the Sushi restaurant. I don't believe you would be turned away from the TK grill without a jacket--but most men would be wearing them there as it is an elegant restaurant (even though it is an American style steak house). You could also order Room Service. Are some guests above themselves? A few are --just as you would find on any ship, but the vast majority of Seabourn cruisers are friendly people who are not above themselves.

I agree with you Markham. Was it worth my time? I was paid $200 for the hour so it wasn't a total waste. I was very disappointed that there was no Ad hoc conversation. Participants (including me) tried, but were asked to only speak when called upon to answer a question. By the way, the dress code was brought up by one of the participants in an attempt to have a conversation. Several others chimed in. It was the most lively part of the experience.

I was a bit puzzled about the narrow scope of the questions. One of the questions was about the idea of intuitive service vs authentic service. I did not get called on for that particular topic and the participates who were called on seemed a bit confused about what authentic service might imply. I do not know exactly how the six participants were chosen. Among the six, I think I was the participant who had sailed with Seabourn the most--and, of course, I have not sailed nearly as much as many of you here. Several of the participants had only sailed with SB one time--one man's itinerary had been to Antarctica--so he had no knowledge of SB outside of that most rarefied and different experience. I have to admit being a bit puzzled about the makeup of the group---four men, two women. I wonder if SB thinks that it is mostly men who make the decision about which cruise line to sail with. One of the least effective aspects of the experience was the photos shown. A significant amount of time was spent looking at collages of photos and telling which photos appealed to you. It seems such a odd way to gather information. Were the participants typical Seabourn cruisers? That is hard to say. The fact that SB did not choose any truly longtime SB cruisers who had cruised over many many cruises was probably not an oversight.

Your viewpoint is the same as ours. We pack differently now--much lighter with an aim toward having laundry done onboard. We love that we qualify for that now. Like you, my husband dressed in full business attire for 40 years. He still has that attire and has updated it. He has NO desire to bring it to Europe or any other port around the world. He WILL bring sports coats and his wonderful bow ties. He will bring dress pants. He will be well dressed every single night--and I will follow suit. Maybe if we were just flying from London to Copenhagen or London to Rome, it would be different. We are faced with multiple flights, traversing huge airports, and we are committed to traveling light. We met a friend on our recent cruise who looked great without a sports coat. This man work all black and looked every bit as sharp as my husband did in his conservative sports coat.

It IS interesting that every dog mentioned has been a small white dog. I have other information as to identity--not names or anything like that--but cannot post it here.

Service dogs are never carried around. That is a dead giveaway.

Definitely put on a shirt--not maybe...

IF we ever meet you on a SB cruise, I will ask you to talk up seersucker suits to Mr. SLSD. He would look great in one. But, he is a Texan who went to college with guys from SC and THEY wore seersucker suits. I think that is where his aversion comes from. I adore seersucker suits. If Mr. SLSD had one, I would insist that he bring it on a cruise.

There was NOT an opportunity. Each of the six of us in the conversation really had to be called on for our input. Several of us broke in a few times to interject a comment and were asked to wait to be called upon. I would have brought up the issue, given any opportunity.

I think we would all like Mr. Luxury and enjoy meeting him . I've been trying to get Mr. SLSD to add some seersucker summer suits to his wardrobe for DECADES. (We celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary yesterday). He just won't do it. He thinks they are an affectation of the South--and we are Southerners! I want to add that we always dress as per dress code--just on the low end of the Formal Night code. Mr. SLSD will always bring a sports coat. He never travels anywhere without one (or two).

Well, I absolutely love men in bow ties and Mr. SLSD always takes several. I wish someone else on the zoom conversation would show up here as everyone always hears something different over an hour's conversation. The subject of the destination team ad excursions also came up. Everyone seemed to be in favor of better excursions with smaller groups. There was one man in the group who wanted more active excursions.

I just completed an hour long marketing Zoom Conference with Seabourn's research firm. No one asked or suggested that what was discussed should be confidential. The researcher asked a series of questions and showed a series of photos to elicit comments and reactions. There were six people included in the conversation, plus the host---four men and two women plus a female host. The upshot is that most everyone is in favor of asking Seabourn cruisers to dress well, but casually and comfortably instead of in more formal clothing. In other words, none of the six (me included) spoke up for continuing formal nights and other dressy occasions. There was a lot of talk about things like intuitive service, what the term luxury cruise means to you, etc. etc. The other cruisers had all been on a number cruise lines in addition to Seabourn that are not luxury cruise lines--lines like Disney, Carnival, Oceania, Viking, etc. Several, like me, had been on both Seabourn and Silversea. One had cruised with Regent. It was an interesting experience, but I am not at all sure how useful it was for Seabourn. And, there was no opportunity to mention dogs on board. Of course I did manage to stress that it was important to me that there be plentiful lunch options other than buffet as buffets do not say luxury cruise to me.

I've noticed that Sea Dream does quite a few charters. We are always getting brochures about cruises with them from the University of Texas alumni group.

What is so "fancy pants" about lunch in the Restaurant? You just order from a menu and dine in an uncrowded atmosphere.