Sojourn - Caribbean: When your vacation plans get trumped

[Emperor Norton]

On my cruises (line agnostic) I've found the Restaurant (or equivalent) to be slow at best for breakfast (Regent still wins with ~45-55 min for a toasted English muffin).

 

I now prefer the Colonnade, though this time it took changing sections a few times to find a section to my liking.

 

For in the restaurant we found the service good the first two sea days and comically bad the third and and painfully slow the fourth.  The staff for the last two sea days was different the first - I think they were left to their own devices and I don't believe they were ready for that.

[Emperor Norton]

While In Miami we stayed at a hotel that close to Wynwood so we could walk to a few breweries and see some of the local street art.  The hotel was geared more towards business travelers than say a Ritz property.  This lead to an interesting breakfast offering that I was shocked to see as even Embassy Suites provided solid plates/silverware.  Other locations for this chain also provided ceramic plates and metal silverware.  This location however...

(Yes those are plastic utensils and paper plates).

The rest of the breakfast offerings

 

 

 

What I believe to be powdered scrambled eggs (which seemed eerily similar to the scrambled eggs in the Colonnade) and pre-made Western omelets

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, Emperor Norton said:

On my cruises (line agnostic) I've found the Restaurant (or equivalent) to be slow at best for breakfast (Regent still wins with ~45-55 min for a toasted English muffin).

 

I now prefer the Colonnade, though this time it took changing sections a few times to find a section to my liking.

 

For in the restaurant we found the service good the first two sea days and comically bad the third and and painfully slow the fourth.  The staff for the last two sea days was different the first - I think they were left to their own devices and I don't believe they were ready for that.

Emperor Norton,  I absolutely love having breakfast in the Restaurant on sea days, but sadly have experienced some truly abysmal service--not only slow, but wrong items delivered.  The cure seemed to be finding a good waiter who served at breakfast and requesting him each time.  This worked for us until they closed one side of the Restaurant at breakfast.  I DID complain and I am not a complainer.  There has to be a solution--maybe it involves all of us who love going to the MDR for breakfast making the shortcomings known to the appropriate people each time it happens and asking for better.  My husband likes the Colonnade, but I'm a serene atmosphere white tablecloth person myself.  Please keep us updated on this.  

[Isklaar]

3 hours ago, Mapu said:

Our breakfast service the last morning was painfully slow. The hostess was doing triple  duty clearing and setting tables as well as seating guests. There were at least 10 servers but obviously the kitchen was slower than normal. We did have breakfast in the dining room one other morning and the pace was relaxing not nearly as slow.

I would suggest that you fill out the 'Feedback' form on Seabourn Source. That should not be happening, but in my experience they do respond to complaints made on board. 

 

[saminina]

3 hours ago, Emperor Norton said:

While In Miami we stayed at a hotel that close to Wynwood so we could walk to a few breweries and see some of the local street art.  The hotel was geared more towards business travelers than say a Ritz property.  This lead to an interesting breakfast offering that I was shocked to see as even Embassy Suites provided solid plates/silverware.  Other locations for this chain also provided ceramic plates and metal silverware.  This location however...

 

 

(

The nice thing about staying in a Hampton Inn following a Seabourn cruise is that you will be accustomed to the rough and tough bathroom tissues.  It's easy to walk away from the Hampton breakfast as nothing served should be tempting to a human.

Any Hampton using ceramic plates and metal utensils is not following brand standards and can be penalized by corporate.

 

Newly instituted maximum working hours for crew is not going to help getting breakfast faster.    It does help provide a happier crew.

[Emperor Norton]

Mea culpa: It was a Double Tree (also by Hilton) that had the actual silverware/plates.

 

It's nice to hear hours have been limited for the crew.  The loss of crew (numbers - there seemed to be less about than on previous cruises) however doesn't escape notice - though the Secret Squirrel earwigs in the Restaurant are kind of funny.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Emperor Norton

[Emperor Norton]

I can at times be very pedantic. Especially so when it comes to things that are ingested. A little example of this is when asked as to whether I want my martini up or on the rocks. The issue is that once you take Mr. Martini out of the martini glass and serve him in a rocks/old fashioned glass (with or without rocks) he is no longer a martini - ergo it's a pointless question. Granted this is just annoying that's all.

A slightly different issue comes to menu items. Dish names have meanings. A Caesar salad for example should use only the hearts of the romaine - not the whole head. So when orders a Caesar they're expecting hearts of romaine in a Caesar dressing. They're not expecting onions and apples in addition to the dressing and whole hearts of romaine. There's a few problems with the that. The issue is one of allergens. If Seabourn is going to make up their own definitions for items that differ greatly from what most would to expect they need to call out those additions on the menu.

An unsuspecting passenger could be served that salad, not pay attention, eat a forkful and have some unpleasant to fatal results (the Seabourn allergy tracking system at least from I've seen has flaws). So please, think of your passengers and if you must add random ingredients to dishes no one would expect them in, call them out on the menu.

To end on a positive note: I don't know who was responsible for the toaster during breakfast in the Colonnade but whomever he/she/they are - kudos. That's the first time in 11 Seabourn cruises I've been able to have an English muffin toasted a proper golden brown. Also the poached eggs for the Benedict - again the first time in 11 cruises the eggs didn't taste of vinegar. So thank you people working the Colonnade breakfast.

[Emperor Norton]

Our second day in Miami was spent walking around Wynwood viewing the art (including the Wynwood walls) as well as sample some of the local micro brews.

 

The first thing we came across was the setup for a I believe charity event for/run by? Gloria Estefan.  There was a nice classic just sitting there begging to have its picture taken so I obliged and even captured a somewhat relevant corporate mascot in the process.

 

 

 

Even the local overpasses were interesting (more so at night)

[Emperor Norton]

One of the local buildings

 

Apparently Solo is now making cups in "Grotesque Gulp" sizing.  Who knew.

 

Even the parking garage looked nice.

 

Will this be the submersible on the new exploration ships?

 

For the man/woman child in you - the drifter big wheel.

[Emperor Norton]

Apparently this artist likes modern Mustangs and old Corvettes.

 

 

 

What a Christmas tree in Miami may look like.

[Emperor Norton]

Don't stare at this for too long

 

Even the portas are covered in art

 

Eventually we did arrive at one of our destinations

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

They had an interesting take on a corporate clown

 

A cat that caught a rather large bird

 

Worlds smallest bamboo "forest"?

 

New Orleans gives you a year and a day for the above ground crypts before your remains are shoved to the back to make room for someone else.  Wynwood apparently gives you art a year to live on the walls.

 

Why not another classic car?

[Emperor Norton]

Eventually we found our way to our first brewery.

 

 

We had 18 or so beers to sample (all pours were sample sizes and all beers were shared between 5 people).

 

 

Interesting cask re-purposing

 

 

Edited December 13, 2019 by Emperor Norton

[Emperor Norton]

For one of the beers (Laces) they let patrons decorate some shoes

 

 

 

Here there be dragons (or perhaps just bling'd out gators)

[Emperor Norton]

True story

 

 

I liked this breweries solution to providing water

 

Hoppy Holidays

 

[Emperor Norton]

The third brewery had a bit of a geek/nerdish bent to it

 

 

Yes, that is a lightsaber umbrella holder

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

On the way to the fourth and final brewery we passed a bar (restaurant?) that had this...thing.  I'm not sure if it was meant to draw people in or scare them away.

 

The final brewery

 

 

 

All photos from Miami (pre-embarkation)

[Emperor Norton]

Embarkation, 28 November 2019.  I can't find the Herald from that day.  I've attached the menus in PDF format from the day.

28thEOroommnu.pdf 28thRTKmnu.pdf

[Emperor Norton]

I know Diamond has their own check in line, but I don't think I've seen a separate waiting area before.

 

There was a nice view of the waterfront from the ship.

 

What a partial balcony suite may look like

 

 

 

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

Any idea what this thing does?  It lives on the bit of plating between decks 10 and 9 ahead of the observation bar.

[Emperor Norton]

Upon boarding I like to drop my bags in my suite and head onto the deck for something cool and refreshing

 

After what I think was the fastest muster drill ever (overall the instructions seemed shorter and somehow everyone was there on time!) it was time for sail away.

When in Miami...

 

 

 

[Emperor Norton]

All images from embarkation day

[Emperor Norton]

Herald and Menus from the first sea day.

29H_FB.pdf 29H_IP.pdf 29M_REO.pdf 29M_TKC.pdf

[Emperor Norton]

The first sea day (29 Nov-19) I didn't take many pictures.

I'm not sure what they expected to be plugged into the liquor cabinet.

 

A proper Hendricks Martini in the Observation bar.

 

Yarr...

 

I was disappointed to see they've returned to using the powdered "bar mix".  I don't think I've seen anyone other than Seabourn use this stuff.  I thought it was supposed to have gone the way of the dodo when their mixology program was introduced.  To add insult to injury they're no longer making their own Bloody Mary mix and instead are using the premade stuff from Tabasco.

 

 

[saminina]

1 hour ago, Emperor Norton said:

I was disappointed to see they've returned to using the powdered "bar mix".  I don't think I've seen anyone other than Seabourn use this stuff.  I thought it was supposed to have gone the way of the dodo when their mixology program was introduced.  To add insult to injury they're no longer making their own Bloody Mary mix and instead are using the premade stuff from Tabasco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you found a real bartender on board?