Newbuild - Seabourn Encore

[London-Calling]

There is a slide-show here. She's looking good!

 

https://youtu.be/Z4eZj6oYvXA

[tv24]

Seabourn certainly has beautiful ships. This appears to be an updated version of the Sojourn.

[Able Seaman H]

Not much new on there.

 

Keen to see progress shots of the build to see how things are going and to make sure my suite is ready on time :)

 

Saw some shots just before Christmas and there seems a lot of work to do. I'll probably pack a cordless screwdriver just in case they need a hand :)

 

Henry

[cwisleman]

Learned last night Restaurant on Encore will only seat 250 (current ships seat 400). Unfortunately the TK menus are not going over well. Staff concerned they may have to go to two seatings in Restaurant.

[markham]

Cwisleman,

 

Re Encore, who told you about that 250 number? Who said anything about 2 sittings? And what are the capacities of the Colonnade, the TK restaurant and the sushi restaurant?

 

Who told you that the TK menus are "not going well"?

 

Do you happen to have insider information from Seattle head office, possibly John Delaney himself?

 

I look forward to these responses as clarifications to your post.

 

Thanks.

 

Happy sailing!

[jenidallas]

I was guessing John Delaney since that is also where he got the information that both ships would be based down in Australia/South Pacific.

 

Having The Restaurant be much smaller than it currently is seems like it would require a much different design, especially in terms of galley sizing/location, if they are going to shift passenger loads that much.

 

That said, I would love to see Seabourn offer dinner in a window beyond 7 pm to 9 pm. Even a 6:30-9:30 expansion would be wonderful in my book!

[Able Seaman H]

250 covers does sound low for the restaurant although I appreciate the additional dining options will swallow up a number of guests. The interesting thing will be to see what happens at times like Christmas and New Years Eve when traditionally everyone wants to eat in the main dining room.

 

One option would be to serve similar meals in both the dining room and the colonnade thus spreading the load, in particular placing pre-booked tables so as to fill gaps.

 

I've just overlaid the deck plans from Sojourn and Encore accepting that the Encore plan is still a bit vague and it didn't look as though they had lost 40% of the capacity. If that is the case then it puts a lot of pressure on the other venues.

 

I would have expected a modest increase in the main dining room or at least holding station with additional areas taking up the extra capacity. The sushi restaurant is going to be a niche volume as per R2 at the moment 30-40 covers? the colonnade might be able to swallow up good volume, hard to say what TK is expecting, 60 or so?

 

To guarantee everyone a Sushi TK restaurant experience on a 7 night cruise they would have to seat 86 guests each. I am of course assuming single seating.

 

I'm leaving the patio out of it as weather often stops play. I'm also ignoring in room dining because we've never done it. When you look as good as we do why hide yourselves away :)

 

We will see what happens in December. I will of course be throwing together a full review with video. We will be looking for the positives and approaching the cruise as a new venture rather than trying to hammer a square peg of previous experiences into the round hole of a new class of ship.

 

We never cruised the triplets so in many ways we are Seabourn's perfect target market. Moved from mainstream lines onto Sojourn in our mid 40's now trying Encore. 60 plus days under our belt so the Seabourn ethos obviously agrees with us.

 

We also have a number of sea days during our month on board as well as 2 festive occasions so a pretty good test drive.

 

Henry :)

[cwisleman]

Cwisleman,

 

Re Encore, who told you about that 250 number? Who said anything about 2 sittings? And what are the capacities of the Colonnade, the TK restaurant and the sushi restaurant?

 

Who told you that the TK menus are "not going well"?

 

Do you happen to have insider information from Seattle head office, possibly John Delaney himself?

 

I look forward to these responses as clarifications to your post.

 

Thanks.

 

Happy sailing!

 

I would rather not tell you who told me this for fear of causing the person a problem. I think the comment on two seatings was more frustration than fact, but probably something that has been discussed. Delaney did tell us that the new ships would be doing short 1 to 2 week itineraries based in South Pacific, so they are probably assuming passengers will not want to pack much in the way of jackets and gowns. I just double checked my source and counted number of seats shown in the Seabourn deck plan for the Restaurant on the Encore. It is tedious, but I came up with 292, so I guess they figure some tables will not be totally occupied in real world. BTW the Patio Grill will be named the TK Grill as things now stand. You can ask Restaurant Manager how many TK meals they are serving. Not sure on size of new TK Restaurant, but Colonnade is being expanded to two decks. Restaurant 2 will now be a sushi restaurant.

[cruising kirby]

If the speculation about an expanded Colonnade and a reduced main dining room turn out to be correct, it sounds as though Seabourn is making a specific decision to make their new ship more "casual". I am not unhappy about that, as I love the Colonnade and the outdoor Patio Grill, in preference to the main dining room. However it does seem a significant shift away from the relative "formality" of the 3 current ships. I will watch the developments with interest and can't wait for the reviews of those lucky people who will be on board in the in first season.

[markham]

Cwiselman,

 

With all due respect, I did not believe for a minute the 2 sittings assertion, and I don't believe that there will be anything like 292 seats in the MDR of Encore. The deck plan on the website is anything but final; it's been sitting there for months now and such deck plans are only meant to represent general layouts of facilities.

 

Further, and when John Delaney reveals more details, we will finally know how Encore will accommodate its 604 guests across the 5 dining venues. And extend to all that Seabourn advantage much coveted by Crystal etc of "dine when you want, when you like, and with whom you choose". Seabourn would be mad to

try to fool their guests with substandard facilities.

 

Hopefully everything will settle down soon... It can only be a matter of weeks - or maybe a couple of months - for proper details on Encore to be available from Seattle; the rest is mere hyperbole. Then there is the bedding down of TK within Quest's R2 soon, the first of the conversions that include kitchen and dining room specifications to support the exacting requirements for TK. On that score I am very optimistic as I have enjoyed some TK meals in the Colonnade already.

 

Happy sailing!

[cwisleman]

Didn't mean to upset you. Hopefully you are correct.

[wripro]

It's not just curiosity, but speculation that killed the cat.

[Sunprince]

Cwisleman,

 

Re Encore, who told you about that 250 number? Who said anything about 2 sittings? And what are the capacities of the Colonnade, the TK restaurant and the sushi restaurant?

 

Who told you that the TK menus are "not going well"?

 

Do you happen to have insider information from Seattle head office, possibly John Delaney himself?

 

I look forward to these responses as clarifications to your post.

 

Thanks.

 

Happy sailing!

 

Take a chill pill man...why are you so upset at someone who is posting speculative information. I would suggest waiting until Seabourn confirms the details before getting so excited.

[markham]

Hey man,

 

Before you start pushing your meds you might bear in mind that good health is always better than medicating problems that get away from you.

 

That's why it's important to aim for clarity, in this case facts and primary references, when opining about Encore. Even you seem to understand that.

 

Happy sailing, man!

[lincslady]

Sorry, off topic but I don't want to start a new thread.

 

Markham - I don't know if you are still on board Odyssey (if you are it would be nice to get reports!) but I was pleased to see on the SB blog the piece about guests and staff giving a big helping hand to Fiji when you were there. A nice feelgood story.

[Emperor Norton]

Hey man,

 

Before you start pushing your meds you might bear in mind that good health is always better than medicating problems that get away from you.

 

That's why it's important to aim for clarity, in this case facts and primary references, when opining about Encore. Even you seem to understand that.

 

Happy sailing, man!

 

We only have what cwislemans source stated. Well we did, until you jumped all over him because it seems his source was stating things you don't agree with. At the end of the day people talk to all sorts of different Seabourn employees and hear all sorts of different rumors. It's interesting to read them and see what comes to fruition and what doesn't.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Emperor Norton

[wripro]

If I'm going to spend my time speculating about what might or might not happen it will certainly not be about whether the Encore will have two seatings. jmo.

[Emperor Norton]

That's what makes things interesting is that different things are of interest to different people at different times.

[markham]

A couple of reponses and thoughts:

 

Yes, we are still on Odyssey and no one I have spoken with about Encore has said that Seattle is planning on a 250 or 292 seat MDR for the 604 passengers that ship will look after. The Odyssey class ships have 400 seater MDRs for 450 passengers with the rest looked after in the Colonnade, R2, Patio and room service. As I said earlier, Seabourn would be mad limit guests to a choice of 2 sittings - another incredible assertion - and we have no information about the seating of the other restaurants on Encore. Again, that's why it's useful to know who said what and why.

 

About Fiji, a core group of loyal Seabourn passenger spearheaded a campaign, thereby achieving ship and Seattle cooperation, to sponsor a fund drive and a clothing drive. Within days of this inspiration and some focused emails, many passengers and crew pulled together for a terrific result: in Suva, our third Fiji port, a check for $25,800 was presented by Captain Bathgate, HM Stephane, CD Handre, Chef Rajat, GS Ana, Sophie and Annabelle, with those key passengers, to the Red Cross, along with thousands of dollars worth of the ship's food provisions and the clothing. $5000 of that was the Carnival match, orchestrated by John Delaney. This was a perfect "Seabourn Moment", one which no one attending the ceremony will forget! And I expect you will see more about this soon on the Seabourn website.

 

Today we are in Pago Pago. This cruise has been a wonderful experience.

 

Happy sailing!

[frantic36]

The new Encore does look like a lovely ship and we are looking forward to getting on board her at the end of the year.

 

Markham I am pleased to hear the donation collection went well. When we disembarked in Fiji I was told at our hotel more about the devastation and losses. Not just from the cyclone but also from the tidal surge. This not only took lives but also many peoples possessions which they have little or no money to replace them with. My DH and I emptied our suitcases of more things as they were wanting anything even long sleeve clothing.

 

 

 

Sorry, off topic but I don't want to start a new thread.

 

Markham - I don't know if you are still on board Odyssey (if you are it would be nice to get reports!) but I was pleased to see on the SB blog the piece about guests and staff giving a big helping hand to Fiji when you were there. A nice feelgood story.

 

lincslady I know for myself it was difficult to use the internet in my room and I had to go to Seabourn Square to deal with emails etc. Or be lucky and find a time period when the internet traffic was light. So therefore I think people are using their time to deal with other emails or enjoying the cruise rather then posting on Cruise Critic.

 

I have quite a bit to do now I am home, so won't have time to write anything more for a few weeks and might post my thoughts on some of the interesting ports of call then. Mind you to me all the ports are interesting in their own way.

 

Julie

[Sunprince]

Hey man,

 

Before you start pushing your meds you might bear in mind that good health is always better than medicating problems that get away from you.

 

That's why it's important to aim for clarity, in this case facts and primary references, when opining about Encore. Even you seem to understand that.

 

Happy sailing, man!

 

As for "clarity", I am not pushing anything on anyone, nor do I have any "meds" for you. This is a forum for people to post their thoughts and experiences. If you are going to get so uptight and jump down someone's throat for a simple post then perhaps this is not the right place for you to spend your time. If you are really interested in the seating capacity of the Encore, then count the seats on the deck plan. Although not entirely accurate, it will give you an idea...and btw it is more than 250 seats in the MDR.

[markham]

You stll don't get it, do you. The deck plan is only indicative of facilities planned, not of specifics such as the number of seats in the MDR. I said this a few posts ago but apparently you have a different opinion... That's fine for you but hardly instructive for anyone else given the other facts: Seabourn is a one seating line, the current 450 passenger ships have 400 MDR seats and Encore will have 604 passengers. Wouldn't that alone suggest a MDR of 400+ with proportionately larger Colonnade, Patio, TK and other dining venues?

 

I hope this helps you understand the bigger picture. Anyway, the details on all these numbers will be released in time showing the capacities of all the restaurants. They will, of course, reflect the larger passenger number of 604 by accommodating those passengers in Seabourn style.

 

Happy sailing!

[lincslady]

Markham and Julie - thanks for your reports. I appreciate it is a pain doing internet on stuff on board, I don't do it myself! Just think it would be nice, when you are both home and have time, to have different views on this trip to the one we have been entertained with so far.

 

Enough off topic stuff - back to Encore.....

[secoma4]

Mmmmm... All very interesting. Maybe once consideration is given to the venue where the safety drill will be held, some idea of the size of MDR will be obtained. Unless there is going to be a larger venue, which doesn't seem likely.

[jenidallas]

As the ships get larger, it seems entirely possible that the safety drills who'll move to multiple locations as on larger vessels with the theatre and other public venues also providing possible lifeboat staging areas.