What hotel chain would Seabourn compare to?

[zentraveler]

For me after one Seabourn cruise and many, many of the hotels mentioned - the Four Seasons.

 

 

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[JPH814]

I am a loyal Marriott person and have stayed at their full range of properties from Fairfield inn and Courtyard to Renaissance and Ritz Carlton. When comparing the cabins and service to the hotel room and service, I would say a regular Seabourn Veranda Room compares to a Ritz Carlton. Very nice accommodations,upscale amenities and excellent, personalized service.

 

It is impossible and unfair to compare the entire experience of a cruise to any hotel. Rarely does a hotel stay for a week (or more) include 3 meals a day, entertainment and activities. You would need to compare a cruise to an all inclusive resort hotel to encompass the dinning room, lounges, entertainment etc.

[wripro]

I am a loyal Marriott person and have stayed at their full range of properties from Fairfield inn and Courtyard to Renaissance and Ritz Carlton. When comparing the cabins and service to the hotel room and service, I would say a regular Seabourn Veranda Room compares to a Ritz Carlton. Very nice accommodations,upscale amenities and excellent, personalized service.

 

It is impossible and unfair to compare the entire experience of a cruise to any hotel. Rarely does a hotel stay for a week (or more) include 3 meals a day, entertainment and activities. You would need to compare a cruise to an all inclusive resort hotel to encompass the dinning room, lounges, entertainment etc.

 

And lets not forget the fact that a cruise includes transportation from one place to another, the ability to see many places without unpacking and moving from one of these "comparable" hotels to the next. It's not even apples to oranges, it's apples to watermelons.

[JPH814]

And lets not forget the fact that a cruise includes transportation from one place to another, the ability to see many places without unpacking and moving from one of these "comparable" hotels to the next. It's not even apples to oranges, it's apples to watermelons.

 

 

I started going down that road but stopped. I do agree with you that the experiences in total are not comparable. But that does not seem to be the point of the original post. I don't think someone was asking to compare the value and experience of a ten day cruise with a ten day stay at a hotel.

 

I do think you can make a comparison of a hotel room/amenities/service to the same aspects of a cruise.

 

 

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[Mr Luxury]

Any cruise line can have an off cruise and I think it's unfair to judge a line by one experience. I have had poor stays at Four Seasons hotels, the Connaught in London, even a Singita property in South Africa. That does not mean I will condemn them and shun them in the future. I look at the overall experiences and judge by those. And, in fact, you simply cannot compare cruise lines to hotels. What's next? Is Seabourn more like AaRolls Royce, a Mercedes, a Lexus or a Honda?

 

 

Hopefully not a Honda Henry

 

 

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[Jim Avery]

And lets not forget the fact that a cruise includes transportation from one place to another, the ability to see many places without unpacking and moving from one of these "comparable" hotels to the next. It's not even apples to oranges, it's apples to watermelons.

 

And I have yet to see ANY hotel changeover 200+ suites, clean all common areas, and re stock the dining areas/bars for at least a week of full house service all in a very few hours.:eek::D:D

[Joc123]

Disembarked the Sojourn this morning, experienced more disappointments than ever before on Seabourn, and we were certainly not alone.

 

Is there something wrong with Sojourn? Our last 2 cruises were on Sojourn and were ordinary. It seemed to us it was not a "happy ship". That makes a big difference to the cruise experience.

[wripro]

My last cruise on the Sojourn was fine.

[Mr Luxury]

So was mine

 

 

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[Joc123]

Happy for you. Ours were just a bit "off" - maybe it was us not them 😄

[csto]

The Sojourn Christmas cruise was a disappointment. The decorations were cheap and few. Sadly, the cruise director left after 2 days due to illness and replacement Sophie joined towards the end of the cruise. The assistant cruise director was clearly stressed and there were few celebrations/parties. The New Year's Eve party which was good stopped just after midnight. Following several passenger complaints a deck party was held on the last night of a 16 day cruise. The holiday spirit just seemed absent.

 

Food was average with some meals excellent and others not. I found some of the Thomas Keller dishes fantastic. I will remember the Hudson Valley Foie Gras for a long time. The chef's tasting menu on New Year's Eve was not good. I recall one passenger saying as I was leaving the MDR the best part of the meal was the sorbet. A special order meal was very good.

 

Service was good in general. Many new staff members joined in Singapore or Dubai - the previous cruise. Although very nice, they did not yet have the Seabourn refinement. I am sure they will eventually. Drink orders were frequently wrong, long waits for service in the lounges etc. The restaurant staff were very good as usual.

 

An Indian visa was required for the Port Blair stop. After being told embarkation would be denied without this visa, we then found out on board that over 10 passengers did not have the visa but still allowed on the cruise.

Per the guest service manager, the "ship's agent" gave permission for people to sail as long as they stayed on board in Port Blair. Well, I can assure you after visiting Port Blair, staying on board was no great hardship. There was a great deal of frustration over this double standard.

 

I enjoyed the trip and we visited some fantastic places. The overland tour to Bagan was very memorable and well organized. I hold Seabourn to very high standards and on this cruise they were just not on their A game as usual - B at best. However, I will still continue to sail with them

[SFO_FT]

Have done 4 SB of 14-30 days each. Two on Odyssey (outstanding) and two on Sojourn (disappointing). There's something in the DNA of the Sojourn that just doesn't work. Always feels a bit disaorganized. Management oversight quite lacking. Once a ship or hotel goes off the rails, it's really hard to get it back on track. We avoid the Sojourn as a result.

[markham]

I am very disappointed to read that Sojourn has not been delivering since Dubai or Singapore. We joined in Monte Carlo in early Nov and disembarked in Dubai in early December and were very pleased with everything about the ship after the first week or so when I then figured some new staff were bedding down.

 

But in mid-Jan I heard that Sojourn was losing luster, so much so that Michael (who was much engaged with the Thomas Keller restaurant opening) moved across to Sojourn, presumably to sort things.

 

To me this shows that the stress of adding 600 passengers to Seabourn's Odyssey class ships that total 1350 continues to be a challenge.

 

Our next cruises are on these smaller ships as we prefer their size, layout and more generous deck space. Less style possibly but more of a traditonal cruise ship for longer voyages especially.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[lincslady]

We got off Sojourn in Monaco in early November, having for the first time been disappointed in the staffing. Experienced hands told us that she had had the largest loss of experienced staff due to Encore coming on stream, and they were pretty unhappy at having to try to train up new staff and knowing that passengers were not as happy as usual. I am surprised if by now it is not all gelling well together, and hope that it soon will. Previously we had liked both Quest and Sojourn equally - we did find Odyssey had some vibration problems which have not been mentioned recently, and did not enjoy her as much overall.

[wripro]

I hope they get the issue settled before Sojourn gets to Alaska.

[oregon50]

Sojourn.....home of the least admired HD.

[markham]

Which of the Sojourn HDs would that be?

 

Happy and healthy sailing?

[Dusko]

I'm getting rather nervous. We are booked to join Sojourn in Singapore on March 4. This will be our first Seabourn cruise and reading from the preceding posts we may not have spent our money wisely. Too late now!

 

 

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[Thecat123]

I'm getting rather nervous. We are booked to join Sojourn in Singapore on March 4. This will be our first Seabourn cruise and reading from the preceding posts we may not have spent our money wisely. Too late now!

 

 

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We haven't sailed as much as others here have sailed with Seabourn. Only 21 days on the Quest a couple of years ago and recently our 7th Jan sailing for 28 days on the Sojourn. We did hear of some complaints from a couple of passengers who had sailed from Dubai to Singapore where we boarded but we thought every thing was fine

The Cruise Sales Specialist was always talking to different passengers every time I walked past and we even made a deposit for a future cruise while we were on board so we thought everything was good

We found Jason the Hotel Director and everyone very friendly and approachable

Sophie the Cruise Director was excellent, even bought her CD :)

Edited February 15, 2017 by Thecat123

[markham]

Yes, from my November cruise I fondly recall the cheerful and capable HD Jason (and I wrote as much then on CC). That's one reason for my question to oregon50.

 

Of course, Sophie is wonderful- charming, vivacious and so talented as a singer performer. I only wish she had performed at the Encore launch party when both ships were in Singapore on 7 January in lieu of the non-singing singer Sarah Brightman...

 

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[lincslady]

Dusko - I would truly be surprised if you did not enjoy your first Seabourn experience. The few glitches noticed recently on Sojourn have been noticed most by the seasoned Seabourn fans - people on our autumn cruise who were on SB for the first time thought everything was wonderful. I am afraid we all get a bit blase and perhaps sometimes expect too much when previous trips have been pretty well perfect.

[wripro]

Which of the Sojourn HDs would that be?

 

Happy and healthy sailing?

 

I know who my vote goes to. Initials VA.

[tv24]

I know who my vote goes to. Initials VA.

 

Plus one.

[markham]

Plus 3

[oregon50]

I know who my vote goes to. Initials VA.

 

I knew you would say it.