SLSD

Not annoying at all. This is a message board and you are free to use it for what you need. I'm not in favor of telling people what they can post here. I hope you have a wonderful meet up and a great cruise!

Yes, they could. But, is it really an issue here?

And does it matter? I think two SB cruisers are trying to figure out how to meet before the cruise--not that easy when cruise critic does not allow private messages. I say we allow them a few posts to figure out how to do it. They would do the same for the rest of us.

I have wondered if kjbacon has done that. I would want to know what the real issues are---too few staff, some quarantined, not fully trained yet---etc. And he could also explain what is going on with provisions. I would want to know if somehow the provisions did not come through as expected.

The avocado should not have been served. And I agree, the shrimp cocktail looks sub par. it does sound like two things are going on---poor provisioning and staff issues. I can see why. you are disappointed.

Start a new thread! We will all enjoy it!

I totally agree and appreciate all that Shark B8 has shared with us.

Thank you for this recap---very informative and fair.

I will never darken the door of a gym on a cruise ship, but would LOVE to have a "spa menu" entree in the MDR every evening. And perhaps the same on the short menu in the Colonnade at lunch and even on the pool patio. Years ago, Silversea offered this and I ordered it for every meal in their MDR and never felt deprived and the food was great. I gain not a pound on that cruise. I KNOW I could pick and choose among offerings (and often do) but having a designated "spa" offering would be elegant and easy.

Good for you and others recognizing these people for who they are. We have only encountered a few of these people on SB. I remember a group of four or five who were rude to our tour guide in St. Petersburg and always wanted to end an excursion early when the rest of us were enjoying ourselves. So, I can just picture what you are talking about.

I thought that might be the case.

I'm not referring to menus, but how the food tastes and how the service is going in the dining room(s_). I read a comment in a SB Facebook group that said that the service was terrible in the MDR. I recognize that not everyone see things the same way: thus, my question here.

How is the cuisine on Venture. I recognize that you may not be center on food on an expedition cruise, but having heard very little about the restaurant choices and the experience with the food that others are having, I am curious.

I remember we sent back some very stringy inedible white asparagus which never should have left the kitchen in the first place. As it was a side dish--sending it back was not an issue. I've never sent back an entree--but did not eat the Beef Wellington I was served. It was lackluster. But, after having soup and /or salad which is more than I usually have at home for dinner, I was fine. I would not hesitate to send back items that were truly bad. Looking at recent posts, I am not at all surprised that some people are find this cruise to be an sub par for Seabourn and others are seeing it as mostly great. I think that is fairly common.

I think you are being sarcastic. At least I hope you are! Personally, I would welcome some vegetarian chili that was very tasty if the weather was cool. I am truly aghast that kjbacon's dining experience has been so below her expectations. In our cruising on SB, we have had a few dishes that we deemed inedible and we sent them back to the kitchen as soon as we realized that we could not eat them. On one occasion, a friend at our table had ordered the same dish and also sent the plate back. So--it does happen. We were not upset--just matter of fact about it. Mr. SLSD and I have been discussing food on Seabourn and I have come to the conclusion that we just don't expect the world and choose carefully. For example, I would never choose to eat Chinese food on a SB ship. First, I don't particularly like Chinese food and second, I've had a LOT of it as we have a family member who is Chinese. So, at least I know what good Chinese food is, and would not expect to find it on a ship. Of course that is no excuse for bad food of any kind on a SB ship. I think when it comes right down to it, I tend to order a lot of grilled Salmon and the tried and true. Its not that I am picky (I'm not) or not adventurous (I am), but just not expecting a lot from a cruise ship dining room. And yes, I often find the food to be over salted! But I am a home cook who uses a minimum of salt because I can taste it so clearly. We do have guests at our table who ask for salt--so I know that not everyone sees this the same way. The upshot is that I am disappointed to hear that the food has been below par for people who have high expectations. I hope future cruisers on SB will keep us apprised on food quality.

Burger King is a chain of fast food hamburger restaurants in the United States.

Right before the pandemic hit, we were getting ready to book another Seabourn cruise. We were changing travel agents and I was planning to use an agent who is a close friend of one of my friends. When I told her that we prefer Seabourn and would be looking to book another cruise with them, she said "Oh, you don't want to do that. Seabourn is pretentious." I spent some time telling her that we had been on quite a number of SB cruises and do not find the line pretentious AT ALL. Needless to say, we didn't book with that agent--and never will. We''ll be using another agent who is very familiar with SB.

You can also send out items just to be pressed if they arrive wrinkled in your luggage. This is for the lazy among us who do plenty of laundry and ironing at home, but prefer to let others do it when we are vacationing.

I agree with you. Cruise ship dining rooms are mass catering. Considering that--I think they do quite well. And yes, I have read that one of the Regent ships has a huge vibration issue.

I've been disappointed for kjbacon as well. First, she and her husband had to deal with Covid and then the understaffing/provisioning issues--and food which has been a disappointment to her. Thank goodness some of the excursions have met her expectations. While we have never considered Regent, I spent some time looking at their website and its restaurant offerings. It appears that it would be quite a different cruise with them. The decor of the ships is glitzier--for want of a better description--and there certainly are more dining venues. I can see that if this is what you enjoy, Seabourn could be a disappointment. I'm not sure Regent is what we are looking for and I am hesitant to try it. I can only face so much rich food before it all becomes too much for me. At the same time, I would also be disappointed with understaffing and provisioning difficulties. I remember SB running out of something fairly basic on one of our cruises. It was an item I ate everyday--it may have been oatmeal! One of the staff told me that they would go to a grocery store in Prince Rupert and buy what they needed. This is probably not possible on kjbacon's itinerary.

We have never had an item damaged with the ship's laundry service. My husband tends to wear woven cloth shirts (vs. knit shirts) and they have all come back in perfect condition. Perhaps we have been lucky as well.

I would pack assuming you are going to let the ship's staff do your laundry. We used the ship's $50/bag laundry deal before we qualified for a free bag. The bag does not look that large, but holds a LOT of clothing.You can cram it in. My husband and I managed to put every single piece of clothing/socks/underwear etc into the bag that needed washing. I think it is a great deal---and much better than trying to do it yourself onboard the ship. Who wants to spend time doing that while on vacation when the ship's staff will do it for you? It comes back folded or hung and ironed beautifully. Now, I do understand that there are some items of clothing that you do not want washed and dried by the staff. Be discriminating about that. Don't send silk or delicate items. Send everything else. Some things need to be hung to dry. I have items like that and do not put them into the laundry bag. But, for a 12 day cruise with three nights in a city before the cruise, we might send out the laundry bag two times. Spending $100 to have someone else do your laundry makes good sense to me when you are spending as much as you are spending for the cruise. It is a drop in the bucket. One caveat---read the laundry form closely and fill it out properly. You have to count each piece and tally it in the right category. If you miscount pairs of socks, you will hear about it and your laundry will be sent back to you unwashed until you get the count right. Don't ask me how I know this. This happened to us on Sojourn. When we were on Ovation, they didn't care about the count.

I think change is difficult for many cruisers. The cruise lines are NOT alike! Their food is not the same --among other issues. I think when someone really likes a particular cruise line and gets very comfortable with it, it is hard to assess a different line on its merits without comparing it to others. None of this excuses poor service, bad food, or anything of the like--but I hope I would be able to enjoy another cruise line without comparing it to Seabourn on a daily basis.

This sounds a bit like what I do. I look in my pantry to see what is there and decide what I can make from it to use it up! Perhaps there has been instruction from above for the chefs to do the same. It's called use what you have. I'm not saying that this is a good thing on a cruise, but would certainly go toward husbanding their resources.

We have also never talked to Seabourn, except on a ship. I hope things have not changed and even TAs are having difficulty. It sounds like that may be the case.