14-28 July, 2018 Barcelona to Barcelona cruise.

Julie, thanks.

I've noted your comment about the pool deck feeling crowded, others have said the same. I usually gravitate to deck 5 aft but do like to spend some time at the pool deck also. So, a crowded feeling there will be a problem for me, especially as we have 4 sea days on our cruise.

But apart from that, does the ship feel crowded elsewhere? Any problem finding a table in the Colonnade, for example?

Also, I can't get my head round the numbers of crew to guest ratio. Does it feel as if service is less than on the O class ships, due to the different ratio? I can't see how the service can not be affected adversely but hope it isn't!

Which wine service system are they using? The old one with specific wine waiters, or the new one where the waiters are doing combined role?

Sorry for all of the questions, no hurry to answer them. I can hound you for replies when your cruise is over:')

Julie thanks for the update. Glad you are having fun.

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On the Encore and Ovation, is there still a lone hot tub in the bow on deck 6 like on Odyssey class, or a hot tub similarly relatively isolated?

The lone hot tub is on deck 7 on the Encore and Ovation if my memory serves me correctly.

Thanks Julie,

I am doing the same itinerary on Encore in August,thanks for some tips.

The bridge tours are interesting if you haven’t done one before.

 

 

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Julie please keep posting, we are also on the same itinerary in August and still haven't err decided what to do at some, well any, ports.

You're the second poster I've seen saying TK grill is a) fully booked and b) they lost your online reservations so I'll definitely be printing mine out. I think we booked for the second night as the ship only leaves port at 11pm so we figured that wouldn't be a formal night. I wish they put this information on the itinerary.

I do hope we'll manage to find Mr Luxury on board and put a face to the screen name.

Thanks for the excellent updates on your cruise Julie.

We are doing the same itinerary on the Encore August 18-September 1. Can you tell us anything about having lunch at the Splendido in Portofino? We've been to Portofino before, but went in a different direction. We've read that the view from the hotel terrace is lovely. Any observations/recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks for the update frantic Sounds like you all are having the usual great time. ;)

Do you know who was the First Officer when you did the Bridge tour, George B. by any chance? We did bridge tours on the O-class and little sisters but not yet on the E/O ship. When we did the Odyssey one it was rather interesting since they had "fixed" the vibration issue (not if you sat on a stool at the Sky Bar when doing 16+ knots ) yet on the bridge they had at least 10 "vibration" monitors...

I'd also be interested to know which wine service they are using on the Encore. We actually - despite reservations - found the new one to be OK on the Sojourn. Since we know what we like we simply asked for it, just as we did under the old system when presented with the wine de jour that we were not interested in.

Looking forward to your next update.

2SN

Julie, great review thank you!

We are on the Ovation for the month of October, Portovenere is one of our stops. Do you mind sharing your private tour info? I’ve always wanted to visit Cinque Terre, not sure I want to book the cruise tour. Thank you,

Jennifer

 

Hi Jennifer, I usually organise the tours but this one was organised by someone I met on our roll call. I will ask him the name of the company when next I can see the organiser. I will say we were lucky on the day and the seas were pretty calm so some people we met just caught the little ferries between starting from Portovenere. There is also a train that goes between the coastal towns.

 

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We board the Encore on July 28. Could you please identify the captain and cruise director. LittleRedJohn

Captain Volaric Kreso who seems very nice when I have seen him around and his 5pm reports are informative and short, which I like.

Chris Harland was assistant cruise director on the previous segment but has now taken over as Cruise Director as Ross has gone on holiday and Ross will then be going to Quest. Chris also seems nice but I haven't got to know him so much as Ross is such a big personality.

Julie

On the Encore and Ovation, is there still a lone hot tub in the bow on deck 6 like on Odyssey class, or a hot tub similarly relatively isolated?

Catlover, the hot tub is on Deck 7. My husband has taken to going there early in the morning to relax and start the day quietly. He is relaxing there at the moment at 6.35am watching as the ship is preparing to dock in Livorno.

Julie

It sounds lovely, Julie. DH loved the deck 6 Quest hot tub privacy, but it was also a great place to meet mellow pax who joined who were sociable but not rambunctious.

Julie, thanks.

I've noted your comment about the pool deck feeling crowded, others have said the same. I usually gravitate to deck 5 aft but do like to spend some time at the pool deck also. So, a crowded feeling there will be a problem for me, especially as we have 4 sea days on our cruise.

But apart from that, does the ship feel crowded elsewhere? Any problem finding a table in the Colonnade, for example?

 

Also, I can't get my head round the numbers of crew to guest ratio. Does it feel as if service is less than on the O class ships, due to the different ratio? I can't see how the service can not be affected adversely but hope it isn't!

 

Which wine service system are they using? The old one with specific wine waiters, or the new one where the waiters are doing combined role?

 

Sorry for all of the questions, no hurry to answer them. I can hound you for replies when your cruise is over:')

Hi Isklaar, I think the pool area crowds will depend on the type of people on the cruise. We chose to have a sea day yesterday and even though we didn't use the pool area we walked past it a few times. It certainly appeared less crowded then the previous segment. We were in Bonifacio, Corsica with a tender required and the tender ride was choppy, so a few other people might have chosen not to go in because of this.

With regards service we have not had a problem. On some cruises I would wonder if it is because we are well known to the crew, but on this cruise we only know about 4 -5 crew so it isn't familiarity with us.

With regards Colonnade at lunch time, as this cruise is so port intensive we have usually eaten ashore. The twice we have eaten on the ship we dined at the Colonnade and it was busy but we go down the inside stairs to Deck 8 and dine outside the TK Grill area. They have a few salads set up and the waiter arrives promptly to organise drinks and will take orders for the pasta and fish of the day. I also have no problem going up and down the stairs to help myself from the buffet.

The first day we dined there on the first segment there was only a few ship officers. Yesterday as well as the Captain and another officer we had about two other couples join the area. It felt a bit like we had our own private yacht.

Wine service has been with a wine waiter initially for recommendations, though sometimes they take a little time to appear if there are a lot of people turning up at the same time to dine. After that both wine and food waiter can pour. We have also been drinking the revenue wine and apart from the the first night service being a bit slow, have then had good service from the sommelier or assistant sommeliers.

I hope this is helpful.

Julie

Thanks for the update frantic Sounds like you all are having the usual great time. ;)

Do you know who was the First Officer when you did the Bridge tour, George B. by any chance? We did bridge tours on the O-class and little sisters but not yet on the E/O ship. When we did the Odyssey one it was rather interesting since they had "fixed" the vibration issue (not if you sat on a stool at the Sky Bar when doing 16+ knots ) yet on the bridge they had at least 10 "vibration" monitors...

 

I'd also be interested to know which wine service they are using on the Encore. We actually - despite reservations - found the new one to be OK on the Sojourn. Since we know what we like we simply asked for it, just as we did under the old system when presented with the wine de jour that we were not interested in.

 

Looking forward to your next update.

2SN

Hi Nomads :),

I agree with your other post, it was lovely meeting you both on that previous cruise. We are off to Lucca today with the other couple we met with you. I'll say Hi for you.

Sorry, neither of us can remember the officer's name but he was very personable and informative.

Julie

Quick update on ports...

Portovenere - as I mentioned earlier the tour was organised by a lovely gentleman on our roll call so I will get the company's name from him.

Gianni our driver was waiting at 8.30 to meet us. Luckily we had no problem getting off on one of the first tenders soon after 8.15am.

We drove to Manarola which is a small Cinque Terra town where we wandered the at this time, quiet town. Our organiser had mentioned he would enjoy doing a small hike on the paths on the terraced area and Gianni made it happen. It was interesting walking through the terraced vines. One sight that gave me a chuckle was seeing solar panels placed on the flat rooftops of the mausoleums in the cemetery. As Gianni explained it was practical, as flat surface areas with good exposure for sunlight was hard to come by.:D

We then caught the ferry to Vernazza. It was wonderful to see the Cinqua Terra towns from the water and the trip itself between towns wasn't long. There was a delay though with docking as we had to wait in a queue of two other ferries. It was only about a 10-15 minute delay.

Vernazza was a much bigger town to explored subsequently also much busier. Because of this I prefer Manarola, though it might have been the time of day we visited. Luckily Gianni had called ahead to reserve a table for us at a restaurant overlooking the bay as we saw many people turned away. There were lots of restaurants in the side streets though.

The six of us enjoyed our meals of stuffed mussels, fresh anchovies with lemon infused oil, octopus casserole, congolese (clams) with spaghetti, fresh pesto with pasta.....a speciality of the region and delicious......and tortellini with Bolognese sauce.

The original plan was to go to Corniglia, which is similar to the others, but we ended up going to San Bernidino which is a tiny village on one of the highest places in Cinque Terra. The roads were windy but for me the view was worth it as you looked out over the scenery.

We got back to Portovenere with about 40 minutes to explore the area before the last tender back to the ship.

A really enjoyable day. As I mentioned as the seas were calm some managed to just catch ferries independently. No guarantees though.

More later as I best get organised to go enjoy visiting Lucca.

Julie

Chris Harland was assistant cruise director on the previous segment but has now taken over as Cruise Director as Ross has gone on holiday and Ross will then be going to Quest..

 

Julie

Noooooo - we loved sailing with Ross previously and it would have been great had he been there for our trip - never mind I'm sure Chris, or whoever else they switch in by then, will be great.

Of course the important information is .. who's the chef going to be.

Hi Isklaar, I think the pool area crowds will depend on the type of people on the cruise. We chose to have a sea day yesterday and even though we didn't use the pool area we walked past it a few times. It certainly appeared less crowded then the previous segment. We were in Bonifacio, Corsica with a tender required and the tender ride was choppy, so a few other people might have chosen not to go in because of this.

 

With regards service we have not had a problem. On some cruises I would wonder if it is because we are well known to the crew, but on this cruise we only know about 4 -5 crew so it isn't familiarity with us.

 

With regards Colonnade at lunch time, as this cruise is so port intensive we have usually eaten ashore. The twice we have eaten on the ship we dined at the Colonnade and it was busy but we go down the inside stairs to Deck 8 and dine outside the TK Grill area. They have a few salads set up and the waiter arrives promptly to organise drinks and will take orders for the pasta and fish of the day. I also have no problem going up and down the stairs to help myself from the buffet.

 

The first day we dined there on the first segment there was only a few ship officers. Yesterday as well as the Captain and another officer we had about two other couples join the area. It felt a bit like we had our own private yacht.

 

Wine service has been with a wine waiter initially for recommendations, though sometimes they take a little time to appear if there are a lot of people turning up at the same time to dine. After that both wine and food waiter can pour. We have also been drinking the revenue wine and apart from the the first night service being a bit slow, have then had good service from the sommelier or assistant sommeliers.

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Julie

Very helpful Julie, thank you so much for taking time out on your cruise to reply.

I'm glad that the area outside TK Grill. has been opened up at lunch time, I wasn't aware of that but it sounds like a very pleasant spot that was somewhat space wasted previously.

Also glad that the wine service seems more efficient after its initial rollout on Sojourn.

Again very much appreciated information, thank you!

Your description of lunch on your tour from Portovenere has made me hungry for a return to Italy, sounds amazing.

Enjoy Lucca today.

Fish of the Day for lunch! Tell more, maybe share an example of what fish is on offer and how is it prepared. Fish at lunch is one of our favorites.

There is almost always a fish of the day for lunch at the Patio Grill and often at the Colonnade on the O class ships. Usually the fish offered at the Patio is simply grilled and ranges from sea bass, dorade, salmon, swordfish etc. It is usually served with steamed vegetables. My husband has this most every day. One day we were headed there for lunch and while walking across the pool deck my husband said to me he was in the mood for most any fish EXCEPT swordfish. Of course as soon as we could see the blackboard with the specials we could see that the day’s special was swordfish. As soon as we sat down the waiter came up to us and told him not to worry - he overheard my husband and he called the kitchen downstairs and arranged for them to bring up a portion of salmon for him. Another example of wonderful personalized service on Seabourn.

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Hey Frantic,

WOW your meal at Vernazza sounds great! So glad to hear all is continuing to go well w/ the cruise. I know we could have been there...:(

I am quite enjoying your musings as I like the perspective of a seasoned Seabournite on the newer ships. Please keep the musings coming!

We are considering extending our honeymoon by booking a 12-night more port-intensive Ovation sailing *before* our Odyssey transatlantic. Reading about the differences in the ships is helping us make up our mind between this front-runner and a couple other options (Regent, Azamaza, or doing 24-day back-to-back on Odyssey) but I’m leaning toward trying our Ovation in her inaugural season.

There is almost always a fish of the day for lunch at the Patio Grill and often at the Colonnade on the O class ships. Usually the fish offered at the Patio is simply grilled and ranges from sea bass, dorade, salmon, swordfish etc. It is usually served with steamed vegetables. My husband has this most every day. One day we were headed there for lunch and while walking across the pool deck my husband said to me he was in the mood for most any fish EXCEPT swordfish. Of course as soon as we could see the blackboard with the specials we could see that the day’s special was swordfish. As soon as we sat down the waiter came up to us and told him not to worry - he overheard my husband and he called the kitchen downstairs and arranged for them to bring up a portion of salmon for him. Another example of wonderful personalized service on Seabourn.

 

 

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Thank you for sharing. We will look forward to this.

Greetings from Bandol...

Happy Cruzer the description from Chairsin re the fish is exactly right. If we are onboard the ship at lunch this is usually what my husband has as well, the fish special of the day.

Isklaar, I am happy to help and thanks for your patience as I sometimes take awhile to reply.

Jenidallas, Having had friends who were on Ovation for quite awhile she does sound like a lovely ship so I think Ovation is a contender for your extended honeymoon :). The Club here on Encore is better then it was on the inaugural but still feels a bit disjointed. Apparently this was changed on the Ovation and when Encore goes into dry dock next year it will be altered to be the same.

Addendum to Portovenere - Last time we visited we stayed in Portovenere. The walk up to the Citadel is steep but the views are great. The church of Saint Peter is also a lovely church to visit, with its classic black and white stone striped facade. Again there are many steps but not to steep. Otherwise just wandering the town and is lovely.

The speciality of the region is a lovely fresh pesto that is a light green due to the amount of cheese and pine nuts. You can have it at lunch somewhere or buy a jar in town. That is what friends of ours did, along with some fresh buffalo mozzarella. They brought it back to the ship and enjoyed it for lunch with fresh bread and tomatoes.

Julie

Civitavechia - As we have been to Rome a few times and we joined our roll call tour organiser for a day out. The plan for the day was a visit to Tarquinia, Civiti di Bagnoregio (the small town on the mountain top) and a wine tasting.

Tarquinia - we arrived around 9am so only a few food shops were open. We walked around the town which was well sign posted to see various buildings. We opted not to visit the museum as we had a lot planned for the day, including the wine tasting.

I have visited the museum before on a Seabourn tour and it is very interesting place. It is over ? three levels and again there are many steps involved. People with mobility problems chose not to visit but walked around the town, which they enjoyed.

Civita di Bagnoregio is an amazing walled semi-abandoned village perched on a high rock stack. This description is deceptive as access to the town is via a very steep long bridge.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/italy/galleries/italy-best-beautiful-villages/civita-di-bagnoregio/

If you can make it it is a lovely town to visit and may disappear one day as it is perched precariously. One of our group needed help to access the town and it took a bit of effort on our part to flag down and get the small red cross buggy to help take them up the bridge. We noticed this buggy taking a few disabled ?Italian visitors, so maybe this can be arranged beforehand with a tour company?

Our visit to a small wine tasting was at Cantina Stefanoni in the town of Montefiasconi. There had been a slight miscommunication as the tour operator thought they were just driving us to a wine tasting we had arranged. So this was organised by them at the last moment. We were not disappointed.

The wines were made by a small boutique local producer and were very pleasant. My favourites were the sparkling and a white wine. Others enjoyed the red but it was still young but improve with cellaring. The tasting was supervised by the grandson of the original producer and he was a lovely young man, Francesco. He also put together platters of salami, smoked ham, cheese, breadsticks, bread with their homemade olive oil. The olive oil was also delicious but not for sale as produced only in small quantities as wine making took up too much time.

We all enjoyed the wine tasting and lunch. The additional fee of €30 per couple was well worth it. All three couples bought two bottles of the white Foltone wine as it was very pleasant and at €5/bottle a bargain.

Our driver had a bit of a fast drive to get us back to the ship but we made it with half an hour to spare. As we had been on for the previous segment we didn't need to repeat the Muster drill which we were all happy about.

Julie

“....As we had been on for the previous segment we didn't need to repeat the Muster drill which we were all happy about.

Julie

I thought one has to repeat muster on each segment of a SB BTB cruise (at least we did) — is this new?

“....As we had been on for the previous segment we didn't need to repeat the Muster drill which we were all happy about.

 

Julie

I thought one has to repeat muster on each segment of a SB BTB cruise (at least we did) — is this new?

The policy changed a couple of years ago. You now need to attend only 1 per every 30 days, at least that was what we were told.

“....As we had been on for the previous segment we didn't need to repeat the Muster drill which we were all happy about.

 

Julie

I thought one has to repeat muster on each segment of a SB BTB cruise (at least we did) — is this new?

That's what I thought J