jenidallas

The menu linked on the website is the standard TK Grill menu and there are usually a couple of daily specials.

The one wesport linked is not for the TK Grill but instead one of the four-course fixed menu theme nights in the Colonnade that are served family-style.  
 

In the past, there have also been Thomas Keller offerings at lunch in the Patio Grill (TK burger and Yountwurst hot dog, both excellent in my opinion) and on select nights at dinner in the MDR.  Others have recently shared that the TK MDR offerings were absent on some of the last sailings before the pandemic.  

I obviously received it as well as did my mother and husband.

I was being factious because of the “please hold this survey and questions in confidence” request that was tacked onto the end.  😂
 

Also, the survey we received was this week and was much more specific as to certain protocols than the one we received a couple months ago - 100% vaccination versus 95% vaccination, required testing, masks indoors, masks outdoors, requirements for children, social distancing measures.

The questions on this survey seemed exclusively focused on the go-forward policies for vaccination requirements (about half the questions) and onboard mitigation efforts (other half of the questions).  We were also asked whether we were already booked again on Seabourn (and when) and what our Club level was so I’m guessing they might be trying to assess their likelihood of losing or retaining certain customer subsets.

This reminds me a lot of the very slow response to the smoking policy because of a couple of high-value customers who smoked.  I’m hoping with new leadership Seabourn will be more proactive.

Rumor is that Seabourn may have deployed a confidential survey to some guests (perhaps those already booked on upcoming sailings) about whether they would be more or less likely to sail based on certain protocol standards (or if those would not affect their plans).  

Just a rumor... who knows with confidential things if they cannot be discussed?  😉

I'd hedge my bets by making a reservation for the TK Grill for that night in advance.  When you get on board, if the birthday evening does not conflict with an event in the MDR (e.g., chef's dinner, holiday), then you can always switch the TK reservation and request a special dinner in advance in the MDR. 

The only time I've heard of issues is if its requested at the same time as an event in the MDR or an embarkation/turnaround - or if they need to specially provision and won't have an appropriate port stop prior.  

10 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

Mandatory excursions? Forcing every passenger off the ship? I haven't heard even a hint of this before, and it seems highly unlikely.

I think it’s the thought that it will be mandatory to take an ship excursion in order to get off the ship in a particular port.  This topic is of interest to many of us and it will definitely be a decision factor for our upcoming Caribbean sailing as a go/no go point.

1 hour ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Has anyone paid the up charge to receive better wines on Seabourn.   I believe there is a charge per voyage.   Is this a good use of OBCs?   We’ve been able to drink the included wines in past but have they degraded since late 2019?

I’ve had a Silver package given to me and I thought the list was fairly dull.  The best “value” on there was Far Niente Dolce. The list of included wines was fairly short compared to the included list and most were recognizable winemakers/varietals that are no doubt purchased in bulk and easily provisioned for lists on ships across the Carnival fleet.  

 We’ve preferred to use our Seabourn Club benefit discount to order off the list, particularly the TK Grill list which to us had more interesting selections, but we also liked and had familiarity with a lot of the smaller US vineyards that a good portion of that list was sourced from.

I’m not sure anyone will have much perspective yet on whether the list has degraded since late 2019 since most of 2020 and all of 2021 to date has been out of commission.  😉

On 6/10/2021 at 2:22 PM, cruiseej said:

Does anyone know if once onboard they will allow multiple parties to come together for one boat?

 

Or do you need to be traveling in a group of 10 (or pay $3,000 for a private boat for two!) to do any of these excursions?
 

Does Seabourn Square take names and if enough people sign up, they hire a boat?)

Pre-Covid, the answer was yes to multiple parties being able to share a private excursion.  One party would need to make/pay for the reservation though and then had the ability to invite the number of others they wanted.  That cabin gets charged the full amount and is responsible for collecting shared cost from others should they wish to do so.

These tend to be popular with families or groups traveling together.  Occasionally someone will put a private group together on a roll call here on CC to use a Seabourn private operator, but frankly you can generally prearrange car or boat service on your own in advance with local operators at a fraction of Seabourn’s markup!

I’m not aware of Seabourn coordinating individual interest to join a private group but maybe that will change in the new environment?  I wouldn’t personally bank on them doing that… they are already on the hook for the cost of the coordinated excursions so their interest should be in filling those first.

31 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

It sure makes it seem you either need to arrive 3, 4 or more days before a cruise , or arrive day of embarkation; arriving 1 or 2 days before seems problematic, even though that's typically what we do before  a cruise. 

That’s how we are reading it too which makes it very confusing.  We can’t safely ensure we can get from Texas to Barbados in the same day for a cruise departure (especially in December), so we have to assume we are overnighting somewhere.  Right now it seems like Miami is a safer bet and then straight yo the ship, but it’s a shame for the island to miss out on that revenue!

I think for us the deciding factor is going to be what the visit restrictions look like for the other islands and whether we will also have bubble requirements.  If we do, this may not be the year that we dip our toes in the cruise waters. 

I’ve resigned myself to feeling anxious about any upcoming travel plans for the foreseeable future.  
 

It’s shocking to me how quickly things are returning to pre-pandemic normal, at least where I am in Texas.  I’ve been sick (in and out of the hospital) since January so most of my public trips this year have been in health care settings. I was completely unprepared for my first field trip out of the house today to vote in a local election and then stop off at a local grocery/takeout to pick up dinner.  I saw no masks today... not at the voting site, not at the culinary establishment, not at patio gatherings we passed in the neighborhood driving between locations, not walking in/out of shops.

I am very hopeful that we are reaching the end of this and that as restrictions end (and hopefully case counts continue to decline), we’ll see the restrictions around travel get easier to navigate.  But I no longer feel like I have the context to process the increasing cognitive dissonance I feel between all of the testing requirements and decreasing public actions.  I can’t imagine my anxiety abating until I overcome that.

1 hour ago, Navis said:

 

In any event, I just checked it again and the “coming soon” page for traveling by sea has been slightly undated. It now has a very light cover page behind it that says “protocols for cruises requiring fully vaccinated passengers.”  Thought that was interesting as it appears Barbados may be thinking of adopting separate requirements based on ship vaccination requirements. 

We aren’t booked until December and are hoping that by the time we hit the penalty phase that we’ll have a good idea of what the process will be.  Right now our flights have us getting in the day before and returning to the US the same day we disembark.

I am fairly confident that Seabourn will be cancelling the Australia/NZ sailings, but I am hopeful that they are in the process of lining up the replacement itineraries for these sailings before they announce the cancellation.  I tend to assume these days that any announcements are timed so that they minimize the impact on share prices.  

4 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

Are the complimentary wines the same at TK as the rest of the ship?  Regent offers slightly better complimentary French wines at the French specialty restaurant.

 

 

Yes. It’s the paid list that is not.

19 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I would appreciate a bit of clarity with this post.  On other cruises other than Seabourn, if I order a bottle of wine and don't finish it, that bottle will "follow me and be served wherever I am" when I ask for it.  Would that be an unusual situation on Seabourn?  

Not unusual at all.

9 hours ago, markham said:

I have always thought the Retreat was a waste of valuable deck space on a ship that could always use more of it for recreation for everyone, as well as a challenge to the original and simple all inclusive luxury and egalitarian concept of Seabourn.

We are in agreement on this. I think with the emphasis on more social distancing that came from the pandemic, Seabourn would be wise to remove the cabanas and convert this to a public use space to allow for more sun loungers.  That in turn could allow for more patio tables on the pool deck as those seem to always be in high demand and it could also expand access for Earth & Ocean.

7 hours ago, bohaiboy said:

News to SB, what is TK and the Retreat?  Will be on the Quest for a 24 day cruise in Feb.

 

TK is the Thomas Keller Grill... they have a separate wine list with interesting selections and some good values particularly on US wines.  On the larger ships (Ovation/Encore) the TK Grill has a bar area where one can enjoy pre-/post-dinner cocktails even if not dining in the restaurant that night. On the smaller ships, the bar is very limited so one could order a bottle there bit there but there isn’t room to enjoy it.

The Retreat is the pay-per-use private cabana deck on the large ships.  It’s not well-utilized on many sailings but one of the features is a separate includes premium wine list that includes unlimited Krug and one unopened bottle per cabana. On disembarkation day they also do an open preview with Krug on pour for those who come take the tour and listen to to pitch to reserve a day (or the entire cruise).  We used it a couple of times on Ovation as we were gifted a day for our honeymoon and then used extra OBC credit to enjoy another day with friends, but I doubt we’d do it again as the premium wine was the primary value proposition from our perspective.

I think it’s important to also remember that a lot of Seabourn Club members use one of their benefit choices for the wine discount.  Also OBC gets used by many for wine purchases - so the discounted values are likely baked into the prices.  
 

I’m going to guess that a bean counter somewhere at corporate has tracked statistics on which wines get purchased by which passenger groups and the list prices have those the discounts considered.  Anyone who is thinking that Carnival Corporation doesn’t have the metrics down to that level is not thinking the pricing strategy through.

The TK wine list has some real gems with more reasonable markups.  A secret some don’t know is that you can order a bottle off the TK list pre-dinner and have it served elsewhere.  And I know there are a lot of Retreat haters, but you get a complimentary bottle of Krug as well as Krug by the glass.  Just like the bottle of champagne in your suite, there is no requirement to open/drink that before you move on to by the glass.  When we enjoyed the Retreat, our Krug always got saved for another evening.

Keep in mind that there is a time requirement (I seem to recall 90 days) so if your proof is shares is dated for a gap period longer than when your cruise starts), they won’t apply it.

Example - I own 100+ shares today but if I mailed in my proof on 5/22, it would be too early from my next cruise when is in December.  I won’t be able to mail in my proof until the latter half of September.

23 hours ago, jill1349 said:

Jenidallas, thank you for the information.   Personally I like early or pre-dinner shows so the timing sounds good.   I was not sure when to make our TK reservation so decided to do it the first night at sail-away time.   

We try to do our first TK night on sail away nights too.  The main dining room seems to always run a bit slower the first night while they get to know new passengers, sort out preferences, and for the crew to fine tune their interaction with any changeovers that occurred that day. 

12 hours ago, jill1349 said:

Good day all, we are taking our first Seaborne cruise in August and very excited.   My question is about the nightly entertainment.   We will be on the Ovation (Greek Islands).   Do they normally do two shows a night and about what time are the shows.   I understand it likely will vary by cruise and maybe daily depending on when the ship leaves port but are they normally say around 6 and 8 p.m. or more like 8 and 10 p.m.

On Ovation and Encore, usually yes.  Depending on the port schedule, I recall that sometimes it was early like 6:30 or 7 (so you could catch dinner after) and then the normal time for the smaller ships which is like 9:30/9:45-ish.  But it varies... sometimes there is entertainment that is just pre-dinner (like the Captains welcome or an opera sail away) and sometimes it is only post-dinner. 

In this regard, the Seabourn ships are different than what you'd see with entertainment on a larger cruise line.  Its not often that you'll have to make "either/or" choices like you would there (e.g., "either I see this particular show or I enjoy a certain dining venue" or "either I watch the one-night only show for the comedian or I get to see this musical revue") because the relative size of the Seabourn ships means there are not typically competing major programming options.  The only time we ever have to think about timing is when we are pre-booking our Thomas Keller Grill reservations or if we are thinking about a spa treatment that might bump into trivia or a pre-dinner event.

I think the toughest thing about the vaccination requirement is going to be confirming that people actually ARE vaccinated.  We have seen pressure away from having a formal vaccine passport and right now the only proof anyone has is the little white card.

A travel agent who I tangentially know today was posting on his social media with links to Ebay and Etsy sellers with blank vaccine cards.  He suggested that those wanting to cruise but not be vaccinated merely purchase one of these and look to the completed vaccine cards others have posted on Facebook or Instagram to figure out how to fill theirs in so they could resume their normal life as if vaccinated.  He had quite a few responses from anti-vax individuals who were jumping onboard to do exactly what he suggested.

That is the kind of nonsense that is going to quickly ruin it for the rest of us.  If the only thing someone needs to do is lie about their vaccine status to jump right back into the fray, then how the heck do we ever return to normal?  This is where having some kind of validated public record (like a vaccine passport) makes sense - we can confirm that jenidallas did in fact get the Moderna shots 1 & 2 at this location on these dates from these serial number vials administered by this provider.  Of course this is all on my vaccine card, but if anyone can print and forge one, how do we move ahead safely?

5 hours ago, SLSD said:

One more question.  Are you among those anxious to go on the first cruises offered, or, are you waiting to see what happens going forward?

We are not anxious to be on the first sailings but do have a speculative booking for the holidays.  We are waiting to see a number of things including what the embarkation and disembarkation requirements are in Barbados, what the safety precautions are (things like masks while sunbathing or only being able to take ship excursions will be deal breakers for us at this point, but we might be willing to mask for indoor events where social distancing can’t be maintained or to take an occasional shore excursion in a restricted port).  We are lucky that there will be a month’s worth of Barbados sailings before we hit our first penalty so we have time to wait.  
 

We are vaccinated and continuing to practice safe health measures here in Texas.  I wish we could say the same for many others we know here... in many public places, it looks like there was never a pandemic.  No masks, no social distancing, and few getting vaccinated.  Thankfully that is not OUR social circle but we are seeing it in action very close to home.

I would cost Seabourn more to mothball their ships until every country reopens (e.g., Australia and UK) than to restart even with some loyal passengers unable to sail yet.  Starting back with two ships in places welcoming ships seems like a fairly safe restart move with plenty of room to make adjustments along the way.

This isn’t related to the day rooms (directly), but we overnighted at the Hilton the last time that we disembarked in Barbados.  There were also a number of guests from our sailing that had day rooms.  Check-in was a zoo and and many of the day room guests were still waiting to be accommodated past noon.  it seemed that once a wave of embarking guests checked out that they started accommodating day room guests about 30 minutes later.  The backlog was bad enough that the lobby coffee shop ran out of baked pastries and sandwiches from everyone trying to grab a bite to eat as the hotel wouldn’t even open up room charges for other venues until guests were assigned to rooms.
 

Those of us who had overnight rooms, even with higher Hilton HHonors status waited and waited.  I’m not certain what time our room was finally ready - we were having an early dinner with friends who were continuing on the next leg so we finally left our bags with the bell desk around 3 to go meet them.

it seemed like the Hilton was trying to get a double turn out of the rooms - clean quickly and use as a day room and then turn again to overnight guests.  This is not an uncommon practice for international hotels that have late arrivals and early checkouts, but knowing how many folks were waiting to be accommodated left a bad taste in my mouth.

I doubt we’ll try the Hilton again, especially if there are other embarkations/disembarkation in port..  We had better disembarkation room luck at the Courtyard by Marriott.  Although there is less to do there, we were able to get rooms immediately.

On 4/26/2021 at 4:34 AM, Mr Luxury said:

Twice baked goats cheese souffle is the one that I'll always remember.

My favorite and a special request I’ll make for a pre-order treat.  When they offer it on the menu, I have a salad and two soufflés as my entree and I’m a happy girl!

Has there been any talk yet of how Barbados (and the cruise lines) plan to handle departures?  We have a December sailing booked out of Barbados but do not have the luxury of arriving a week early to quarantine and retest as required on the front end or to do the same on return.  

Our travel agent told us that the cruise lines were “working on it” and they might either have a same-day “direct to ship”/“direct to airport” transfer protocol or a ship designated overnight hotel for those who cannot fly on the same day but I haven’t been able to find any discussion about that topic.

We’ve got 9 months so obviously a lot can change, but we are trying to grab award flights while they are available.

I'm also hopeful that Seabourn will require vaccines for all guests and staff, not just for the July Greece sailings.

I just browsed the website and see that there are now more details on health/safety protocols.  

COVID-19 Guest Protocols | Seabourn

This section gives me pause:

We’re working with local authorities, destinations and tour operators so that the enhanced health and safety measures on board are maintained ashore. We will follow the health protocols for every port we visit. There may be a reduction in the capacity of excursions and tour vehicles. Only shore excursions that comply with our prescribed protocols will be permitted, with strict adherence required of all guests and denial of re-boarding for any guests who do not comply.

If we are required to take Seabourn's shore excursions in order to disembark in ports, we will not likely sail until that restriction is lifted.  One of the things we like about cruising is having the freedom to occasionally sleep in and explore the port at our leisure (enjoying a local lunch at a shoreside bistro, visiting shops that interest us) or to arrange our own specialty excursion that meets our personal interests (often a local food tour or cooking class).  We don't find the ship organized shore excursions to often be of interest to us - either they are too short or too structured for our liking.

This has been our concern all along for the initial return to cruising and we may sit things out until that eases if it is truly the case.