Nigella

We've had to book OB for a couple of cruises. It was a case of take a chance on OB or don't take the cruise at all. The risk paid off each time and we were very happy with our allocation, (V5 and V6) but as someone pointed out upthread, it's a lottery and I don't think we'd risk it in the future.

 

I understand that the above referenced seabournetraveller has gone on to his final port of call.

 

Not sure if I'm reading this correctly, but will just say that every time I board a Seabourn ship I have a brief moment of dread in the event that person and a horde of "heatens" may be onboard with us!

markham - I am not sure if your first sentence is ironic or serious - I remember Nigella saying she had had the same problem with dishes, and I honestly wonder why; to me it is more than likely that some dishes have to be pre-cooked, and then somehow reheated; I would not find that a problem, although hope the important meat and fish dishes are indeed specially cooked to order.

 

Lincslady, we did have a problem with some of the food in the MDR coming out with one half hot and the other half cold. The food was completely cooked, I should make that clear.

We discussed it amongst ourselves several times and the only theory we could come up with was that there was a problem at the pass when the food was plated and ready to go.

Either the pass heat lamps were not working properly on one side, so the plated food sitting there was being kept hot on one side of the plate but not the other.

Or, there were too many plates being placed onto the pass at one time and as a result some of them weren't positioned completely under the lamps.

As I say this is just our theory, we don't know for sure and weren't offered any explanation when we mentioned it onboard.

I'm not sure if this is the same thing that Emperor Norton is experiencing but it sounded similar.

I'd also like to add that apparently our chef left the ship somewhat unexpectedly on the day we disembarked. And I shall leave it there ! :)

 

The warm chocolate dessert arrived partially hot and partially ice cold.

Interesting development following our Odyssey cruise in December when it was the MDR proteins that were being served hot on one side and cold on the other!

Looking forward to reading your full review (hopefully with pics).

Also totally agree! I'm extremely interested in this.

The tickets are likely to be 'bulk' tickets, because SS will have contracted special fares with BA. Most likely, the fare basis will show 'BT' either as a stand alone fare basis or it will be found within a longer fare basis. Seating selection on bulk tickets isn't usually available until tickets are actually issued.

Thanks Jeff.

You have a point about the bacon. I use Helen Browning's back bacon which is bloody expensive so I'll be glad of a less pricey alternative.

I haven't tried those sausages from Waitrose. Your description of them sells them very well so I'll add them to my next order.

There's a fabulous butcher in the town near where my brother lives, so I stock up the UK freezer whenever I go to visit him. If I'm out of stock I do like the Waitrose Duchy Organics ones.

Snow here is almost all gone. Now it's just grey and chilly and horrible....

Good Morning Coolers!

Sophia, thoughts are with you.

Mysty, thanks for your pics. We very nearly took the same itinerary on Silver Spirit about 3 years ago. We weren't able to go ahead with the cruise so it's good to see your photos.

Jeff, does the air thingy cook bacon? I'm incapable of cooking it properly for some reason. Sticking it under the grill seems to be the best option but it's so messy and I'm so lazy that I can never be bothered.

Snow here too (England) this morning. Not much of it but it's chilly. I'm in semi-hibernation mode here in my little cottage but I'll need to venture out to stock up my fridge soon. Or an order for Ocado to deliver ;)

Humboldt Fog is one of our favorite cheese and readily available at fine food shops in the Boston area. I went online to the California maker, cyressgrovechevredotcom, and went through the steps as if to purchase. It looks like they ship to the UK, although they also say that they ship only by FedEx Overnight, so I'm not sure what the process is for long-distance. You can call or e-mail them. This cheese keeps very well, refrigerated and loosely wrapped. I took it to my in-laws, with several outstanding cheeses, for Christmas, and it was gone in a flash.

That's so helpful, thank you! I tried the usual suspects that I buy from for food imports but never thought to try the maker direct. I'll contact them to get shipping details.

Thanks again.

Yes, the cheese being served on board is Humboldt Fog -- one of my favorites cheeses. A bit of cheese trivia -- the ash line in the middle of the cheese separates cheese made from the morning and afternoon milking of the goats. The texture of each is quite distinct. And the other cheese Markham mentioned is Maytag, not Mayfair, blue cheese. Perhaps the Mayfair cheese is something served in certain London restaurants [emoji6]?

I'd never heard of Humboldt Fog until it was served on Odyssey a couple of weeks ago. It's one of the nicest cheeses I've ever eaten. Bearing in mind I spend most of my time living in France, a country whose cheeses I adore!

It was so perfect served with the TK bread and honey.

I've tried to track it down in Europe without any success so far, I'd be happy to pay huge import charges for it, that's how much I love it.

Nigella - so sorry - I forgot that you posted them. I have read your comments re your cruise avidly and certainly don't ignore you! We are due to cruise Odyssey in September and are taking our sons and wife/fiancee as a 60th birthday celebration for me. We have sailed the triplets six times and have bored them often with our praises of Seabourn! We are slightly alarmed at some of the negative comments coming out now regarding food and service. We so want this cruise to be perfect. Our eldest son in particular is a real foodie and we have always found the food excellent. Only a couple of not so good meals in our 54 nights on board so all this discussion about falling standards is worrying.

Hello margbem, no worries at all. I just thought I may be on your Ignore List and you wouldn't have seen my post. I'm sure Markham will post more when there's time to do so, but I thought you'd like to see what the menus were like on our cruise.

(Thanks to Emperor Norton for copying it, although I realised too late that I could have copied it myself. Doh!)

We enjoyed much of the TK food, although I sometimes found the menu descriptors a little complex. I'm looking forward to reading about other poster's impressions of it.

Henry, I can't use the quote feature - again.

It dawned on us on one of our flights home that all of our 'big' holidays since 2012 have been on Seabourn. We've had some short breaks and a week in Italy last year, but otherwise we've probably overdone it on Seabourn for such a short period of time. What you wrote about your Thailand trip with shorts and t-shirts is pretty much something we realised we need to. Shorts, flip flops, a destination with good local food, just back to a simple holiday like we enjoyed years ago.

I'm really hoping to see more positive reviews across the board in the next few months. Lately, Odyssey in particular has been the subject of negative reports from posters that I trust so I hope it changes soon. I'm sure it will change soon. :)

I'll be interested to read everyone's posts from Encore and hopefully not long after she launches, we'll be booking another SB.

Thanks again for your wonderful videos !

Markham - would it be possible for you to post some menus? Not necessarily whilst you are on board - don't want to use up your valuable internet time!

I posted Keller menus here :

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2299205

I'm assuming that 'margbem' has me on Ignore for some reason, so perhaps someone could copy and paste my post over to this thread so that 'margbem' can see it. Thanks!

 

Even if you're an old old man of 31 or more,

:D

That one will go over many heads!

I was hoping the dinner dance was a one off on the Legends final TA. Sad to see it - like the block party persists.

Yup, we had the block party too.

I very much hope the food situation has improved by the time you board in a couple of weeks. I always find your reports amusing, although I think your dry humour is missed by some readers. ;)

Is this from Manchester airport? (Guessing so from your location. If not disregard what I've written!)

I haven't flown with Thomson or done a Thomson cruise, but I fly out of MAN very frequently.

My boarding pass often doesn't show Fast Track, but when you go to bag drop the person there will make a note of it on the boarding pass. If they don't, ask them to do so if you're entitled to it.

Fast Track at MAN it often doesn't seem to make much difference how long you're in the security queue, but depends on the terminal you're leaving from. Can be a lot quicker from T2 for example.

For the lounge they can see on the BP that you're in premium seats and are ok to enter the lounge.

Nigella - many thanks for the menus.

 

If, as you believe, the Ad Hoc menu will be in restaurant 2, maybe each night or every other, on reservation, then the Colonnade can revert to being no reservations, and its former menus. This would be a good move.

 

Could still mean that there is less choice in the MDR in the 'normal' menu, and if you want to eat the TK menu you might perhaps need to dine early, if this strange idea of only 60 portions each evening is adhered to.

Good morning lincslady.

The information about Ad Hoc being in refurbished R2 was told to us by two different crew members who said it would be every night. Yes, this does mean the Colonnade will revert to how it was and I think that will be a positive thing. In the meantime I don't know when it's being rolled out to the Colonnade on Sojourn and Quest, so the information I've given applies only to Odyssey at this point. Perhaps we have Sojourn and Quest current guests reading who can let us know the situation there.

For the MDR, I don't know about 60 portions as we weren't told that, but certainly if it's true it will be necessary to dine earlier.

For the normal menu, I can't see SB increasing the number of choices back to previous levels. I'll be asking them for clarification about that point when I write to them about the issues we had on Odyssey and will report back.

We've never had much of a problem with smokers on Seabourn, but others have and unfortunately it's all down to the luck of the draw. You can avoid designated smoking areas on the ship, but you can't know in advance if your neighbours are smokers or not.

Our recent cruise had very few smokers and I only noticed the smell of smoke in two outdoor spaces, both designated smoking areas.

I'm trying to avoid getting into a heated discussion about different regions and local smoker's habits, but I would say that in my experience, on the itinerary in your CC sig, it's possible there will be smokers on that cruise. But nobody can say for sure.

For J.P and Nigella, tell us more on your likes and interests, then we can help spend your money for such needed future trips. Lots of good, interesting options to consider!! Many skilled folks on these boards who like to offer suggestions and ideas.

Thanks Terry!

We're taking a break from cruising so will be looking at land-based holidays this year. We're having issues co-ordinating our work schedules to get time off together. We're lucky to have our main home in a very beautiful area of France and with my parents in law living on the riviera I suspect we'll be staying close to home for our travels this year. I certainly feel that there are many areas of the UK that I haven't visited yet, so most of our travel is likely to be long weekends in the UK and France.

By the way, I did Cape Town - Cape Town round trip on a different cruise line in December/Jan 2014-15. I imagine you're all set regarding your plans but if not, most of the ports are places where you do need some tours organised. We visited Port Elizabeth, East London, Richards Bay, Durban, Mossel Bay and Maputo. I'm guessing your itinerary is quite similar.

Laylam, that experience on disembarkation sounds horrible.

Thanks for the information about Guest Care. At the moment my husband is adamant that we won't be sailing with SB again. I believe he can be convinced to return, but SB will need to reassure him that the food issues in particular have been/are being addressed. Hopefully they can do that!

Sorry for the long post? Not at all, I appreciate all these details.

 

We've been to most of these ports before and I'm already dreading the heat and humidity. But since it's part of the deal in this part of the world, so be it. We've earmarked a few SB tours for consideration:

 

Manzanillo: Magical Pueblos

Fuerte Amador: The Shaping of Panama

Cartagena: A Walk Through the Old City

 

It sounds like you took the Cartagena walking tour and given your comments, maybe I'll try to line up our own guide. We've been before so I was looking for easy! If you heard any comments on the other tours, I'm all ears!

 

I've lined up private guides for Cabo, Guatemala and Punta Arenas so we're good to go there. We'll probably grab the shuttle to Tapachula from Puerto Chiapas, though sticking around the terminal and enjoying a cold beer at the palapas is appealing! Did you tender over to San Blas? We were there years ago and I bought a pair of wooden stick men that were exquisitely whittled by a old man for $1 each. They are still amongst my fave travel purchases.

 

We're hoping for a good lecturer for the canal transit.

 

Thanks again for your super informative post Nigella.

I'm glad that it was helpful. All of these ports were new to us.

I seriously underestimated the heat and humidity, or at least was surprised by it. I expected it in Cartagena, San Blas, through the canal and in Panama itself, but expected it to ease somewhat after that. At least it wasn't quite as bad as Singapore. It didn't actually ease until we arrived in Cabo where I was too cold ! :D

It does sound as if you're pretty much all set, but I'll ask my husband if he heard anything more about the tours. We took the 'Panoramic Drive' tour in Cartagena, which turned out to be more walking than sitting in a bus, thankfully. But I do believe that the walking tour would be much more in depth.

We did tender to San Blas, I didn't see the man making the wooden sticks but there were some beautiful fabrics by the ladies. I bought one and plan to put it into a frame in my office here in England. I'll turn up the heating thermostat and remember this trip. The people there were so friendly, and were very happy with a much simpler life than we know. The kids were charming and polite, even while using their laptops!

There was a tour to a coffee plantation in Mexico and one in Guatemala too in addition to Costa Rica, if you're interested in visiting one. We chose to visit the plantation in Costa Rica because I wanted to see some of the interior countryside and I wasn't disappointed.

How's the internet now Cliff? Any chance you can upload some pictures, especially wildlife, for those of us who are now back home and freezing? :D

Thanks so much for your review Nigella and for the additional comments by 2SailingNomads. We're doing the same Panama Canal cruise B2B with the transpacific crossing from Fiji in a little over a month, so I must say the observations about food and service on Odyssey are a little concerning. Nevertheless, it appears from current reports that things are improving so we're hopeful.

 

Do you have any comments about the ports and lecturers on the PC cruise? Who did the PC transit commentary? Did you take any shorex or hear any reports from those who did? We usually don't take ship tours but we have considerable OBC and are planning on shorex in some ports. Would love any feedback, positive or otherwise.

Yes, the current reports sound more encouraging, I do believe SB will sort the issues out.

I don't know who did the PC transit commentary. It was our first transit and I'd have liked more information than was given, however the vast majority of guests onboard had done the transit before and were quite knowledgable when I had a question on the day.

The ports were a mixed bag.

We were told by locals in three ports that temperatures were around 10 degrees C higher than expected for the time of year, with humidity to match. Blame El Nino!

I'm usually too lazy, I mean busy;), to arrange our own excursions so we do tend to go for the SB ones. They are usually ok, but don't go into much depth so you get an overview but that's all.

We did a tour of Cartagena's old town which was wonderful with great architecture, but it would have been better if we'd organised our own tour there. We had a gentle walk around the old town area, and then to the marine museum. I didn't learn very much about Cartagena and would have liked to have spent longer at the naval museum and more in depth talk about it.

The canal itself was amazing, of course.

The next port was Fuerte Amador, it was a tender port and we stayed on the ship.

We took a ship tour to a coffee plantation from Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It was a small co-operative about 90 minutes' drive from the port. I knew nothing about coffee production prior to this so I found it interesting and our guide there was very engaging. First time in Costa Rica, what a stunning country it is. A very popular tour there was a wildlife tour to the mangroves, great for bird spotting as well as monkeys and sloths, according to guests we spoke to.

The next few ports were great for those who don't mind longer excursions and have an interest in Mayan history.

We didn't disembark the ship in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala or in Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. These ports were both a fair distance from any place you could go and walk around and the tours were very long. There was a port shuttle bus in Puerto Chiapas, to the nearest town which is Tapachula. There was a small charge for the bus, $10 I believe.

Huatulco, Mexico was the next port. This was a beach day for us. It's a very cute resort. The ship docks right next to a beach in a lovely bay.

Next was Manzanillo, Mexico. Not much to see in the town, didn't do any tour here.

Finally was Cabo San Lucas. We spoke to guests who'd done a ship whale watching tour that they very much enjoyed. There was also horse-riding and parasailing available here as ship's excursions. The town was very touristy and itself didn't have much to offer except bars. Gorgeous location to anchor though.

I should add that many of the resort ports were very busy of course, as it was during the holidays.

Super long post, sorry! Probably not much help to you. If there are any tours on the SB website that you've seen and are curious about, just ask and if I heard any feedback about them from other guests I'll let you know.

Was R2 still operating during the TK trials on Odyssey? If so, was it the same tasting menus as before?

Yes, R2 opening hours and menus were like before. The menus have changed a little since our last cruise which was in September 2015, but not very much.

Well, well, well.

 

The testimony shows Ryan to be a phoney after all!!!

 

I rest my case.

 

Happy sailing from the good ship Seabourn Odyssey, now one day from Nuku Hiva!

If they run out of coffee before Bora Bora, don't hold any of us responsible!!