“the Big One”! World Cruise on Sojourn

[shark b8]

And the candied applewood-bacon thing is just….decadent.    

 

(“bacon”…”pork belly”….potato, potahto)

 

 

 

[Mauzac]

That looks just my sort of starter!

 

The beef stroganoff was a 'Daily' on Odyssey end of last year and it was delicious.  😋.  

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, shark b8 said:

(hee hee hee). My diabolical plan is working.  Once I get the both the proletariat and the bourgeoisie worked up about beets, my movement steathily shifts to a horizontal revolutionary action against Brussels sprouts.  They are, after all, the only two known foodstuffs obviously & directly attributable to Satan.  Mrs Sharkbait really didn't like the Brussels sprouts at TKG tonight.  One battle at a time.  Eaters of the world, unite!

I wish to state that I like Brussel Sprouts especially with pancetta 

[lincslady]

I will swap mine with you, for the beetroot.

[cadburysmom]

You may have my beetroot as well...never met a Brussels sprout I didn't like

[DTtravelers]

3 hours ago, shark b8 said:

(hee hee hee). My diabolical plan is working.  Once I get the both the proletariat and the bourgeoisie worked up about beets, my movement steathily shifts to a horizontal revolutionary action against Brussels sprouts.  They are, after all, the only two known foodstuffs obviously & directly attributable to Satan.  Mrs Sharkbait really didn't like the Brussels sprouts at TKG tonight.  One battle at a time.  Eaters of the world, unite!

 

Hi again shark b8.  

 

You are indeed diabolical!  Just when the status of the ongoing WCBS (World Cruise Beet Saga) starts rising to the level of "The Luggage Story"...  a new wrinkle.

 

First, your assessment of Brussels Sprouts is dead on, but only if any of the following are true:
1. They came from a bag
2. They were steamed
3. They were boiled
4. They are raw

 

But there is one exception: if they are cut from a fresh stalk, halved, coated with good olive oil, Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, then roasted on the barbeque, their flavor is completely transformed, and they can actually be tasty.

 

Now, back to beets:

 

Not to mess with your mind, but when you make one of your daily treks to Seabourn Square and secumb to the (for some of us) addictive Grandma's Cake, you are most likely eating something made from beets: it's likely where at least some of the sugar comes from.  Just saying.

 

Happy Cruising!

DT

[SLSD]

On 3/21/2023 at 6:21 AM, shark b8 said:

Including today, 14 out of the next 20 days are sea days.  Might be a little quieter than usual ‘round these parts.

Shark b8, I continue to read some scathing reviews of the World Cruise in another venue.  I am very disappointed for those sailing with you who are so unhappy.  Evidently, many small cutbacks have made the trip not the usual Seabourn experience.  I'm sure you have heard some of the complaints.  Is it possible that you are concerned with other aspects of the cruise and are not bothered by many small cutbacks?  I'm just trying to assess what we might find when we sail in June (on a different SB ship). 

Edited March 23, 2023 by SLSD

[shark b8]

3 hours ago, SLSD said:

….scathing reviews of the World Cruise in another venue……I'm sure you have heard some of the complaints……possible that you are concerned with other aspects of the cruise and are not bothered by many small cutbacks? 

 

Actually, I haven’t heard such complaints, but I’ve been pretty busy with The Beet Resistance.  If you can let me a know a couple of specifics, I’ll happily address them.  Seems like Seabourn-life as usual to me.  (But my reply may have to wait, right now we’re out the door in Broome)

[SLSD]

24 minutes ago, shark b8 said:

 

Actually, I haven’t heard such complaints, but I’ve been pretty busy with The Beet Resistance.  If you can let me a know a couple of specifics, I’ll happily address them.  Seems like Seabourn-life as usual to me.  (But my reply may have to wait, right now we’re out the door in Broome)

I think  people look for different things in a cruise. Some people who have cruised many many days with SB are upset if things they really loved about the cruise line change.  I understand that.  I am not being critical.  It might be a food item that they loved which is different now--and not to their liking.  It might be that the quality of the food is perceived as not as good as before--or less consistently good.  In the case of what I have read, it's a lot of little things that seem to add up to a change in SB and affect their overall experience.  

 

There are things that people have loved about SB cruises that I have never even tried on our cruises.  An example would be the snacks provided in SB Square.  I don't drink coffee and don't  eat between meals (except for tea), so I have never tried the goodies in the case. If there was an item carried in the case which was particularly loved and then changed--I would not know it. 

 

  We DO go to tea and I try to limit myself to one little cucumber sandwich or one tiny piece of Grandma's cake.  If tea was discontinued, I would be disappointed.  So--I guess to an extent--I can understand someone counting on a particular thing and then being very disappointed.  

 

Caviar could be discontinued and I would never bat an eye--since we only order a couple of times each cruise.  We just never think to do it.   

 

I understand that Carnival is in financial distress and that there are cutbacks (no more jackets given out for Alaska cruises) of all kinds.  I'm sure the cruise line is trying to make cuts that will not be noticed by most people.  But, the people most likely to notice are people who cruise on SB a lot--especially people who take the World Cruise and other long cruises.  

 

I have noticed that none of these things seem to phase/faze you--Shark b8.  

Edited March 24, 2023 by SLSD

[goaliedad30]

I will echo Shark B8 that it feels like things are back to essentially normal. Sometimes it might take a little longer to get a water by the pool, but overall, the staff is still awesome, the food has been uniformly excellent, and at least for Goaliemom and me, we've chalked up the occasional glitch to "we're here for 5 months ... Nothing is perfect for 5 months!” 

 

They've gone out of their way to accommodate her vegan dining preferences, and just a couple of nights ago, some friends organized a family style Indian dinner for 10 of us in the Restaurant ... Expertly prepared and served.

 

Those are the special touches that make us appreciate Seabourn.

 

To some extent, if you've decided you're happy, or decided you're unhappy ... You're right! We're happy!

Edited March 24, 2023 by goaliedad30

[florisdekort]

9 hours ago, SLSD said:

Shark b8, I continue to read some scathing reviews of the World Cruise in another venue.  I am very disappointed for those sailing with you who are so unhappy.  Evidently, many small cutbacks have made the trip not the usual Seabourn experience.  I'm sure you have heard some of the complaints.  Is it possible that you are concerned with other aspects of the cruise and are not bothered by many small cutbacks?  I'm just trying to assess what we might find when we sail in June (on a different SB ship). 

What other venue? I haven’t met a single unhappy person onboard. Very confusing.  
 

Sure, everyone has their own little “issues” (from beets to cookie recipes to the piano player) but none of that makes for a bad cruise. I’d very happily do it all over again! 
 

The people who are never going to be happy, on any cruise line, are the people who want everything to remain as it was on their first few cruises. Things never do. I fondly remember my father complaining almost ever day in the 1980s and 1990s how everything was so much better in the 1950s and 1960s. This is no different.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by florisdekort

[mieu]

Some people are happiest when they’re complaining.

[SLSD]

3 hours ago, florisdekort said:

What other venue? I haven’t met a single unhappy person onboard. Very confusing.  
 

Sure, everyone has their own little “issues” (from beets to cookie recipes to the piano player) but none of that makes for a bad cruise. I’d very happily do it all over again! 
 

The people who are never going to be happy, on any cruise line, are the people who want everything to remain as it was on their first few cruises. Things never do. I fondly remember my father complaining almost ever day in the 1980s and 1990s how everything was so much better in the 1950s and 1960s. This is no different.

 

 

Hmm... I typed a response--thought I posted it--and it disappeared.  I'm not trying to be critical of anyone posting anywhere--just trying to glean a balanced picture of what to expect when we cruise SB this summer.  As I know you realize, different cruisers have different expectations.  The fact that some are very unhappy does not mean that there are not others enjoying every aspect of their cruise.  

 

The other venue is one where you post as well.  You probably just haven't read the entire thread I'm referring to.  Once again, I am not discounting anyone's experiences or expectations.  

Edited March 24, 2023 by SLSD

[shark b8]

Back from (very hot, steamy) Broome.  While I think the complaint-question was posed to me, I’m not sure I can add much to the thoughtful responses by SLSD and goaliedad and florisdekort.

[shark b8]

9 hours ago, SLSD said:

 …….I have noticed that none of these things seem to phase/faze you--Shark b8.  

 

This zeroes in on my own personal brow-furrowing with all this - if one of these desperately unhappy cruisers can specifically identify a “thing” as mentioned above, I’ll be more than happy to discuss it.  Easy to place a “thing” accurately on one’s personal phase/faze meter, out to as many decimal points as required - tough to do if one doesn't know what the “thing” is.  The more it appears to be just a generalized unhappiness, the louder the pings on my suspicion-radar:  suspicions that some of these folks (and we’ve all met a few, right?) just aren’t happy unless they’re miserable.  And if that’s the case, well, I don't know how productive it is to try to talk it out, highly unlikely one side can be very persuasive to the other.

[florisdekort]

My recommendations would be to stop obsessing about other people’s opinions, relax and make your own memories, as well as to not spend too much time defining your expectations and then constantly measuring everything on board against those. Chill. Go with the flow. You’re on holiday. Life on Seabourn is pretty damn spectacular still, despite whatever may or may not have changed. Just my 2 cents! 

[SLSD]

14 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

My recommendations would be to stop obsessing about other people’s opinions, relax and make your own memories, as well as to not spend too much time defining your expectations and then constantly measuring everything on board against those. Chill. Go with the flow. You’re on holiday. Life on Seabourn is pretty damn spectacular still, despite whatever may or may not have changed. Just my 2 cents! 

Not obsessing.  I expect to have a great time, but taken aback sometimes at the disappointment of others.  Mostly, I hate it for them. 

[shark b8]

29 minutes ago, shark b8 said:

….I don't know how productive it is to try to talk it out, highly unlikely one side can be very persuasive to the other.

 

Can’t remember where I heard this one:  “You cannot reason someone out of a position they were never reasoned into.”

Edited March 24, 2023 by shark b8

[shark b8]

So…..Broome.

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

(for the other benighted folks from the “colonies” 😉, 4.3 meters is just over 14 feet) 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by shark b8

[shark b8]

At the Crocodile reserve.  Our humorous guide poses with the Monster from Down Under.  We got to hold them, my 18” guy peed on my hands, possibly for scoffing at the “Monster from Down Under”.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

We’re told these guys have an astonishing 1,600 psi power in their jaws clamping shut.  They appear to be considerably less successful grasping food thrown in front of them.

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

[shark b8]

When I was a teeny tiny shark, my favorite thing in the world was crocodiles.  (Up until the dinosaur-revelation, for, I suspect, most little boys).  Anyway, when my parents had the singularly horrible duty of moving the family cross-country (twice) they had to fight the two-little-boys boredom in the car - we called it “the guessing game”, other friends said they called it “20 Questions”.  One person thought of a person, place, or thing - and the others traded questions to narrow it down and triumphantly figure out the chosen thing.  Well.  When I was about 5, my favorite thing in the world was crocodiles.  So whenever we played this game, and I got to be the one who decided on the “thing”……my older brother, in his evil ways, would always ask his very first question, with a sigh and an eye-roll…..”IS IT A CROCODILE?”    I would cry and run away. 

[shark b8]

(Possibly explains some things)