Odyssey: A lesson in contradiction

[Host Dan]

Hello all!

 

I just disembarked Odyssey in Los Angeles after a 3-week Panama Canal cruise.

 

My intention was to create a travel-logue on board, towards the end of the cruise.  I was shocked and disappointed to find out that the log-in link to CC was blocked by SB's IT dept.  This was verified by an officer, after she tried to log on to the CC site, called someone in IT and was told of the block.  Too bad.  I was ready, willing, and able, (at the time), to go in-depth with observations, crew comments, and other general issues.  Now, after a hectic flight home, getting re-acclimated to home life, etc., I don't have the time or desire to write a full review.  (Could this be the reason SB decided to block CC on board?)  One can only speculate.  I wondered why there were no more (ship side) on board travel posts after April 14, from the ships.

 

I will post a few observations from the 3- week cruise.  Please post any questions you may have, and I'll be glad to

respond on this thread.  

 

Jan Stearman, cruise director.  What can I say about Jan?  Only that in my years of sailing SB, I feel Jan is the very best at what she does.  Her interaction with guests, confident demeanor, and just plain professionalism shined through most of this cruise.  (I say most, as Jan was laid up for about 6 days.   James, the ACD, took over beautifully, in Jan's absence.)  Hat's off to Jan!

 

The constant scraping of paint and varnish.  The constant smell of paint.  The condition of deck 5 aft. (Garbage on the floor, staining, and just unkept) was not acceptable.  This was a huge annoyance throughout the journey.  What did they do when in dry-dock?  The ship should have been sparkling.  Far from it.  The public bathrooms, (off the Club especially), were in need of a deep clean.  Some were even "gross".

 

The breakfast and lunch in the Colonnade were consistently good.  The food in the restaurant was mediocre at best.  Entree's seemed to be "convention" quality, and not up to par for a luxury experience.  The food was on par to any mass-market cruise.  This is not the Seabourn way, IMHO.

 

Trivia with Jan and the entertainment staff was brutal (in a good way.)  It seemed like most of the passengers participated.  I was part of a small group (4 to 6 people at any given time).  Most groups had 10 players.  I was part of the Bar Fly team.  We won.

 

The Thomas Keller Grill was hit-or-miss.  The tableside Caesar salad was delightful.  the entrees were either excellent, or just plain bad. No in between.  We dined at TK 3 times.  Dined at Earth and Ocean and Patio Grill.  Not memorable.

 

I did not participate in any SB shore excursions, but heard quite a few complaints.  Swim with the Dolphins, great experience, but not told that if you want photos of the experience, its going to cost $300 per person.  This was not disclosed up front.  A couple was left behind on a city tour.  (They were right on time for the motor coach, but the guide forgot to do a head count).  Overall the feedback from the Shore excursions were not good.  Especially the fact that the tour operators and official shore ex. were not vetted.

 

Of course I met some wonderful people on board.   A shout out "hey" to one of our fellow CC members, she knows who she is!  Making new friends is never an issue on SB.

 

The on board entertainment staff was excellent!  (when not in quarantine for COVID).  Some of the guest performers were Roy Tan, excellent pianist and artist, and Lou Gazzara, American Idol finalist on season 2 of the show.  They both were very approachable, very talented and very down to earth.  The lecturer was excellent throughout our Panama Canal voyage, and beyond.

 

There is a lot more to report, and I'll try to answer any questions anyone might have.

 

Sante!

 

 

[SLSD]

34 minutes ago, Host Dan said:

Hello all!

 

I just disembarked Odyssey in Los Angeles after a 3-week Panama Canal cruise.

 

My intention was to create a travel-logue on board, towards the end of the cruise.  I was shocked and disappointed to find out that the log-in link to CC was blocked by SB's IT dept.  This was verified by an officer, after she tried to log on to the CC site, called someone in IT and was told of the block.  Too bad.  I was ready, willing, and able, (at the time), to go in-depth with observations, crew comments, and other general issues.  Now, after a hectic flight home, getting re-acclimated to home life, etc., I don't have the time or desire to write a full review.  (Could this be the reason SB decided to block CC on board?)  One can only speculate.  I wondered why there were no more (ship side) on board travel posts after April 14, from the ships.

 

Interesting. I reported on CC about a SB cruise in real time a few years ago.  Much to my chagrin, Mr. SLSD mentioned that I was doing this  to the CD (who was filling in for Ross at the time).  When we got back to our suite that evening, Cruise Critic had been blocked (it had been available earlier throughout the cruise) . We had a work around ---gogoduck  

 

Disappointing that  you encountered unclean restrooms.  Clearly not acceptable.  Did you report the unclean restrooms to the Hotel Director?

Edited May 25, 2022 by SLSD

[highplanesdrifters]

Oh my!  Thanks for your report. How sad that they are blocking CC.  Sailing soon and prepared for hiccups, but not for prepared for the conditions you have experienced. Thanks for the heads up.

[Host Dan]

19 minutes ago, SLSD said:

 

Disappointing that  you encountered unclean restrooms.  Clearly not acceptable.  Did you report the unclean restrooms to the Hotel Director?

No I did not.  

[lincslady]

That sounds awful, Dan.  Almost completely opposite to what Seabourn has been like up to now.  I can only associate it with  lack of trained staff, mainly due to covid, as as happened on other lines, and fewer of them, or maybe the prospect of SB being 'taken over' by the Saudis, with lack of morale amongst the Officers and staff.  If the deal has not yet been done, you would think Carnival would want to present a good image of the line to them.  Sad for Jan Stearman, who is a lovely lady and great CD.

 

It will be interesting to read your views, highplanesdrifter.

[markham]

About Jan and Ross for that matter, we all know that the shipboard staff are terrific, talented people. The same cannot be said for much of what head office mandates, sadly, and we saw this on the cruise preceding the MIA to LA cruise when we were on Ody post dry dock. The condition and cleanliness of the decks with rust and worn treads on deck steps etc was shocking to me.

 

Come to think of it, HAL ran Seabourn operationally for way too long. Who likes a rotating menu of one week at Earth and Ocean and 2 weeks at Colonnade when your cruise is longer? Who is enthused by the same menu at TK Grill likewise? Who appreciates these boring port schedules eg a 4 hour only stop in HK that I recall a few years ago on Sojourn. And what about those creative menus on Silversea’s Muse class ships with 8 restaurants including one that offers dishes from the locale? Who can defend those unpadded, narrow and ancient weather-worn deck chairs we last saw on Odyssey? Nothing on Seabourn shows investment favor luxury - as of a few years now.

 

I just hope that the anticipated investment by a new owner is done quickly and the 5 ships’ hardware and software get attention asap. If Carnival cannot/will not invest in them, well, someone else has to do so to keep our business. Then the excellent shipboard staff will be dealing with an appreciative customer base, as it should be.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[highplanesdrifters]

1 hour ago, lincslady said:

 

 

It will be interesting to read your views, highplanesdrifter.

I'll do what I can to post some during trips. I always appreciate when folks post and have been remiss in posting semi live in the past.   We leave on Sunday for SS Cloud Southampton to Tromso. Last minute booking. Gotta do something with those FCC's before they disappear.   August we will be on Seabourn Venture, Svalbard/Greenland/Iceland.  October, SS Wind, Puntareanas/Valparaso.  So..there will be a lot to compare and contrast. These are not normal times, every cruise is different as is every cruise line.   I'm expecting a lot more bumps in the road so if we get some smooth sailing, yahoo!

 

@SLSDdo you mean duck duck go?

[ernieb]

We were also on the MIA to LAX Cruise. It was our first on Seabourn.

While we were very impressed with the crew and their continuous attempts to make the pax happy and comfortable, we were disappointed with a number of issues:

• We agree with Dan that the condition of the ship was  not what we expect of a luxury ship. This may be due to the fact that we normally only cruise on the newer ships in the fleet. One can probably not expect a 12 year old ship to compete with a ship that is only 1 - 2 years old. However, we should be able to expect a ship recently out of dry dock to be in the best condition possible.
• We were disappointed with the dining experience. While we generally  found the food to be adequate, there was very little we found to be exceptional. We dined in the TK Grill 5 times. The Caesar salad, Dover sole and lamb chops were very good. Other items were acceptable but not very memorable. There were always items on The Restaurant menu that we found acceptable, however very few that we really desired. We were impressed that we could request a special dish that would be prepared with 24 hours notice. However we were frustrated by the inability to make that request with knowledge of what would be included on the menu we might prefer. We were also disappointed by the limited dining venues. We are accustomed to about 4 specialty restaurants in addition to the main dining room. Due to these items we will probably return to Regent or maybe even HAL for our future cruises.
• We did participate in 4 of the SB shore excursions. While the objective of the excursion was normally fun and interesting, we were disappointed by the amount of bus travel on 2 of the 4 and particularly on one 4.5 hour excursion with at least 3 hours of bus travel that was not mentioned in the description. I also got in significant trouble with my wife due to a “Luxury Sailboat Ride” that wound up being much rougher than my wife appreciated.
• We were also disappointed with the personal laundry facilities. We are used to having a laundry room on each floor rather than only 2 rooms for the whole ship. They were also not particularly comfortable without even a chair on which to sit.

 

We did find the other PAX on Seabourn to be extremely friendly. We made new friends and enjoyed our interaction with almost everyone. We were very impressed with the entertainment, particularly Roy Tan and Lou Gazzara. 

[SLSD]

5 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

 

@SLSDdo you mean duck duck go?

Yes  Sorry, it's been a while. 

[CwazeAndCwaze]

So VERY similar to our experiences.

Thank you, Dan.

Scott

[travelwell]

Ouch, Seabourn and Regent were our favorite cruise lines pre Covid. We have had 4 Regent cruises canceled during covid. We have a 30 day Seabourn cruise in February that is paid in full. We are so looking forward to this cruise. We have a unique itinerary before and after this cruise so we are not able to cancel.

 

I have wondered why CC is so quiet on the Seabourn board. Now I know. I am watching the Regent board light up with live experiences and issues being addressed. I expect minor issues on any ship  but not wide spread issues and certainly I expect transparency.

 

I do hope others post their experiences. That includes Scott. I do not think at this time you will get much push back. I personally want to know experiences. If problems were told to management was it fixed? If this type of experience becomes consistent I will have my high volume, luxury travel agent check into it. 
 

Dan, thank you for your review 

 

Lisa

[Fletcher]

I am following this thread with a little apprehension as I'm on the Sojourn for a 21-day Med trip in September.  As some of you may remember, I always post up a 'live' journal and hope to do the same as usual.  

 

On my last foreign trip I was staying at the Sofitel in Cartagena, Colombia, and they had blocked TripAdvisor because (they said) guests posted negative comments and asked for perks like free dinners in exchange for deleting their posts. 

[yogi bernard]

So Seabourn or Crystal. Or is it a toss up? up?

[Mr Luxury]

3 minutes ago, yogi bernard said:

So Seabourn or Crystal. Or is it a toss up? up?

Crystal is no more.

[yogi bernard]

No more what? Expensive? Luxurious?

 

I had always heard it was the nest, so if I'm going to do this thing I want to do it right.

 

 

[galeforce9]

Time to get my future cruise deposits back 

[Host Dan]

3 minutes ago, yogi bernard said:

No more what? Expensive? Luxurious?

 

I had always heard it was the nest, so if I'm going to do this thing I want to do it right.

 

 

Crystal Cruise Line is no longer in business.

[yogi bernard]

OK. So in dolphin-speak, Crystal is not.

 

That's too bad.

 

Thanks for the clarification Host.

[Xerxes10]

Dan, Did SB also block other social media like FB and IG. Couldn't someone who wants to post live from a cruise use one of these?

[Host Dan]

11 minutes ago, Xerxes10 said:

Dan, Did SB also block other social media like FB and IG. Couldn't someone who wants to post live from a cruise use one of these?

Sure they could.  The difference is that CC already has a broad, worldwide audience in place.

[cruiseej]

20 minutes ago, Host Dan said:

The difference is that CC already has a broad, worldwide audience in place.

 

I am sure there are many more followers of the two Seabourn groups on Facebook than people who follow the Seabourn forum here on CC. I'm surprised they would bother to block a specific site on an ad hoc basis. I can only say I've posted to CC on every Seabourn cruise we've been on.

[CabinBoy2020]

16 hours ago, ernieb said:

We were also on the MIA to LAX Cruise. It was our first on Seabourn.

While we were very impressed with the crew and their continuous attempts to make the pax happy and comfortable, we were disappointed with a number of issues:

• We agree with Dan that the condition of the ship was  not what we expect of a luxury ship. This may be due to the fact that we normally only cruise on the newer ships in the fleet. One can probably not expect a 12 year old ship to compete with a ship that is only 1 - 2 years old. However, we should be able to expect a ship recently out of dry dock to be in the best condition possible.
• We were disappointed with the dining experience. While we generally  found the food to be adequate, there was very little we found to be exceptional. We dined in the TK Grill 5 times. The Caesar salad, Dover sole and lamb chops were very good. Other items were acceptable but not very memorable. There were always items on The Restaurant menu that we found acceptable, however very few that we really desired. We were impressed that we could request a special dish that would be prepared with 24 hours notice. However we were frustrated by the inability to make that request with knowledge of what would be included on the menu we might prefer. We were also disappointed by the limited dining venues. We are accustomed to about 4 specialty restaurants in addition to the main dining room. Due to these items we will probably return to Regent or maybe even HAL for our future cruises.
• We did participate in 4 of the SB shore excursions. While the objective of the excursion was normally fun and interesting, we were disappointed by the amount of bus travel on 2 of the 4 and particularly on one 4.5 hour excursion with at least 3 hours of bus travel that was not mentioned in the description. I also got in significant trouble with my wife due to a “Luxury Sailboat Ride” that wound up being much rougher than my wife appreciated.
• We were also disappointed with the personal laundry facilities. We are used to having a laundry room on each floor rather than only 2 rooms for the whole ship. They were also not particularly comfortable without even a chair on which to sit.

 

We did find the other PAX on Seabourn to be extremely friendly. We made new friends and enjoyed our interaction with almost everyone. We were very impressed with the entertainment, particularly Roy Tan and Lou Gazzara. 

I was on the same cruise with you and, in fact, am still onboard until tomorrow in Vancouver.  I agree with you and Host Dan. I posted on the Crystal board about the totally unacceptable situation with my cabin. The problem was rectified to my satisfaction one week into the cruise.
 

I agree the condition and design of the ship is disappointing. The low ceilings and heavy curtains and clunky shades on the windows in public spaces are depressing.  The constant cleaning/maintenance on deck 5 made it frequently unusable for walking.

 

I, too, wished for more variety in menus and dining options. IMO the food was better than a recent cruise on Azamara, but just barely. 
 

The crew were overall excellent. Many were genuinely kind, worked hard to please, and eager to chat. That’s one reason I cruise. Also many nice guests onboard. 
 

I did just two SB excursions. One in Costa Rica to a Andalusian horse ranch was excellent. Another in Chiapas for a cooking demo and lunch was fun. 
 

Maybe the Saudis will inject some much needed cash and improvements into this line. It would be great if they bought the Crystal ships as well!

 

Bill

[FlyerTalker]

59 minutes ago, CabinBoy2020 said:

The constant cleaning/maintenance on deck 5 made it frequently unusable for walking.

 

Yes, skip the cleaning and the maintenance.  Then we can have more postings like:

 

On 5/25/2022 at 9:37 AM, markham said:

The condition and cleanliness of the decks with rust and worn treads on deck steps etc was shocking to me.

 

 

Some complain that there's uncleanliness.  Some complain that there's too much cleaning.

 

Guess you can never please everyone.

[Catlover54]

3 hours ago, Host Dan said:

Sure they could.  The difference is that CC already has a broad, worldwide audience in place.

Not only that, but:

 

1.  Many pax deliberately do not use Facebook, for a variety of reasons, and 

2.  For at least two luxury lines where I saw fresh Facebook posts that were the least bit critical of the experience on the line, ( not SB)  they were quickly shut down when the rah-rah moderators took down the posts or closed the thread, noting the FB forums they set up are for basically for happy talk about cruise enjoyment , not for criticisms and negative commentary ( especially when a lot of people chimed in on the negativities).  What was left was so skewed to happy happy happy that I wondered if it was real.

Cruise Critic also censors but allows *criticism*, within reason.

 

I wondered if there were no live reports because very few are on board and those on board who might post are too worn out to post .  Or perhaps on the ships they blocked because there are internet connection issues, with people posting pictures and even video, making it harder to use for others?

[saminina]

Have been on for eight days.   Always access to CC.  I've never been so happy to get off a ship.   

Some satisfactory aspects, but too many unSeabournish things.   That, plus government induced aggravations wear on me.