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Another Ovation viewpoint.

Dundeefruitcake

By Dundeefruitcake,
in Seabourn Cruise Line

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Dundeefruitcake

Dundeefruitcake

Posted
Posted

I have been moved to post by reading recent reviews of Ovation, some of which I do not recognise as the ship that we were on recently.

I appreciate that everyone has a different view and experience and we are relative novices as this was our second Seabourn cruise, the first being in 2018 on Ovation.

We heard few negative comparisons to previous cruises from experienced Seabourners and some even said it had improved.

 

We were on the same cruise as Fudge, but did not have the pleasure of meeting him, however  I concur with the majority of his comments.

Here are some of my observations in no particular order.

 

Ovation looked lovely and not “tired” as I had read in previous posts.

As many posters have said, ignore your boarding time and turn up whenever you want.

Our suite lived up to our expectations, there was a welcome champagne cocktail and canapés from our steward in addition to the bottle of champagne.

There were small Molten Brown toiletries, except for a larger bath and shower gel, which made sense. However, there is a very polite note that they are for use on the cruise and any extras will be charged to your final bill! Needless to say our room steward left some out for me on our final night.

There were no tote bags (apparently they missed the ship) and no note paper or pens. My husband was convinced that there was a pack of cards on our first cruise and went on about this for a few days! I’m sure if we had asked he would have been given some.

 

The entertainment in the Grand Salon lived up to our low expectations. The Seabourn Singers had great voices, but the production was cheesy and old fashioned. They repeated the Tim Rice show on our second Friday which was our last night so we had no show to go to.

The band (Music Machine I  think) were great and had a good repertoire, they were wasted in the club.

Neal, the pianist in the TK Grill is excellent and it is a nice spot for a pre dinner drink.

 

We ate in the Grille twice and had fantastic food. The steak was super tender and tasty and my husband enjoyed his veal.

 

Service in the Colonnade was patchy, very good if you were lucky enough to be outside, but poor and slow inside. Tea and coffee sometimes arrived after we had finished breakfast. Service in the Restaurant was generally very good. We had one very slow service and one very quick service.

I’m sure you all know that the chips on the patio at lunch are to die for.

 

The staff and crew were lovely and worked very hard and we could see evidence of them being well managed.

 

We had two Carambola beach parties, lobster on the first, but missing from the second. We  heard that there were no lobsters available.

 

We asked for paper copies of the Herald and they were delivered to our room each evening, most days there were maps and information about the next port.

 

One of our cases was missing on disembarkation and the Seabourn staff were unhelpful and disinterested. The label had come off and it was put in the wrong place despite our name being on a tag. So, disappointing service at the very end.


As I’m sure you will all agree fellow passengers were friendly and good company.

So, there we are, we had a super time and hope that we are lucky enough to return again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

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fudge "Live from...." Rare

fudge

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Dundeefruitcake said:

I have been moved to post by reading recent reviews of Ovation, some of which I do not recognise as the ship that we were on recently.

I appreciate that everyone has a different view and experience and we are relative novices as this was our second Seabourn cruise, the first being in 2018 on Ovation.

We heard few negative comparisons to previous cruises from experienced Seabourners and some even said it had improved.

 

We were on the same cruise as Fudge, but did not have the pleasure of meeting him, however  I concur with the majority of his comments.

Here are some of my observations in no particular order.

 

Ovation looked lovely and not “tired” as I had read in previous posts.

As many posters have said, ignore your boarding time and turn up whenever you want.

Our suite lived up to our expectations, there was a welcome champagne cocktail and canapés from our steward in addition to the bottle of champagne.

There were small Molten Brown toiletries, except for a larger bath and shower gel, which made sense. However, there is a very polite note that they are for use on the cruise and any extras will be charged to your final bill! Needless to say our room steward left some out for me on our final night.

There were no tote bags (apparently they missed the ship) and no note paper or pens. My husband was convinced that there was a pack of cards on our first cruise and went on about this for a few days! I’m sure if we had asked he would have been given some.

 

The entertainment in the Grand Salon lived up to our low expectations. The Seabourn Singers had great voices, but the production was cheesy and old fashioned. They repeated the Tim Rice show on our second Friday which was our last night so we had no show to go to.

The band (Music Machine I  think) were great and had a good repertoire, they were wasted in the club.

Neal, the pianist in the TK Grill is excellent and it is a nice spot for a pre dinner drink.

 

We ate in the Grille twice and had fantastic food. The steak was super tender and tasty and my husband enjoyed his veal.

 

Service in the Colonnade was patchy, very good if you were lucky enough to be outside, but poor and slow inside. Tea and coffee sometimes arrived after we had finished breakfast. Service in the Restaurant was generally very good. We had one very slow service and one very quick service.

I’m sure you all know that the chips on the patio at lunch are to die for.

 

The staff and crew were lovely and worked very hard and we could see evidence of them being well managed.

 

We had two Carambola beach parties, lobster on the first, but missing from the second. We  heard that there were no lobsters available.

 

We asked for paper copies of the Herald and they were delivered to our room each evening, most days there were maps and information about the next port.

 

One of our cases was missing on disembarkation and the Seabourn staff were unhelpful and disinterested. The label had come off and it was put in the wrong place despite our name being on a tag. So, disappointing service at the very end.


As I’m sure you will all agree fellow passengers were friendly and good company.

So, there we are, we had a super time and hope that we are lucky enough to return again.

 

Hi,

Shame we did not meet up, maybe on another cruise?

 

12 hours ago, Dundeefruitcake said:

I thought your report was well balanced and thoughtful.

 

Having read some of the Ovation posts its clear to me that most issues on all cruise lines are so subjective, for example the food, internet, suites, dress codes,excursions,guides, state of the ship, guests on the ship Etc Etc.  We have only been cruising since 2000 so fairly inexperienced.

We have only sailed with Seabourn, Regent and Silversea no other cruise lines.

We dont have a favourite cruise line it really depends on the itinerary and of course the price.

We are fairly "half glass full" people so minor issues dont bother us really, If we have any issues we will try and fix them on the ship, I dont see any point in getting off the ship and complaining on cruise critic, its too late then.

If the cruise was a complete disaster then we would vote with our feet and not go with them again.

Overall yes cruising has changed since we began however, we are sailing with Regent in September Vancouver, Alaska and Japan, then April next year with Silversea and looking at Xmas 2024, so we have not been put off by any Issues as yet.

 

12 hours ago, Dundeefruitcake said:

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

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margbem

margbem

Posted
Posted

I am really glad that you enjoyed your Ovation cruise, dundeefruitcake. Who knows, we might even have met during the one week that we crossed over on board!

I think the bottom line for us was that we had a couple of issues which weren't resolved to our satisfaction and, coupled with that, because we have been cruising with Seabourn for fourteen years, we know what it used to be like. All the little things added up to cause our dissatisfaction. Fingers crossed for our Encore cruise in September!

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Mr Luxury

Mr Luxury

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, nancygp said:

Someone who just got off the ovation said there are no more galley lunches on this ship…posted on another site…is,this true?

 

Nancy

You can get room service if you're hungry Nancy 😁

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margbem

margbem

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, nancygp said:

Someone who just got off the ovation said there are no more galley lunches on this ship…posted on another site…is,this true?

 

Nancy

No galley lunches on our recent two week Ovation cruise.

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margbem

margbem

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, nancygp said:

Thanks for replying.  Do you know why there wasn’t a galley lunch?

 

Nancy

Sorry, no. Never heard it mentioned but we didn’t have a sea day at all so I imagine that’s why.

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SLSD

SLSD

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'm probably the only person here who does NOT like Galley Lunches!!  First, buffets are not my preference ever,  and I really dislike seeing that much food. To me, it looks like a clean out of the refrigerators and freezers.   We HAVE done the Galley Lunch a couple of times and I feel like such a party pooper with just three small servings of three items on my plate.  We have vowed to not do the Galley Lunch again.   Am I the ONLY one here who doesn't like them?  Surely not.  

Edited by SLSD
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Vineyard View Great Review Rare

Vineyard View

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, SLSD said:

I'm probably the only person here who does NOT like Galley Lunches!!  First, buffets are not my preference ever,  and I really dislike seeing that much food.  We HAVE done the Galley Lunch a couple of times and I feel like such a party pooper with just three small servings of three items on my plate.  We have vowed to not do the Galley Lunch again.   Am I the ONLY one here who doesn't like them?  Surely not.  

We are absolutely not buffet fans. Never have been. That said, Viking has a well done set up, including made to order. We will try Seabourn when on board if that is what is offered, but we rarely are on ship for lunch during port days. 

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nancygp

nancygp

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, Mahogany said:

Sorry, I meant "sea" not "port" days in my post. So, Nancy, do you think the Covid precaution for galley lunches has been lifted?

I figured you meant sea days.  I was on the quest in October and they had their first galley lunch since Covid.

 

nancy

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SLSD

SLSD

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, Flamin_June said:

Galley lunches are too much of a feeding frenzy for us, always avoid them.

Or, as one of our SB friends calls it--"feeding at the trough."

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Mauzac

Mauzac

Posted
Posted

I love galley lunches, I love seeing those 'behind the scenes' in the galley we don't often get a chance to see.  

We had two or three on the Grand Pacific voyage last Autumn and enjoyed each one of them

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SLSD

SLSD

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Mauzac said:

I love galley lunches, I love seeing those 'behind the scenes' in the galley we don't often get a chance to see.  

We had two or three on the Grand Pacific voyage last Autumn and enjoyed each one of them

I enjoy the behind the scenes part (and have taken several galley tours which are sometimes offered), I just don't enjoy seeing all the disconnected dishes displayed.  It just isn't appetizing to me.  I may be way out in left field here.  I love good food and especially enjoy savory foods, but like curated menus.  

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Mr Luxury

Mr Luxury

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, SLSD said:

I'm probably the only person here who does NOT like Galley Lunches!!  First, buffets are not my preference ever,  and I really dislike seeing that much food. To me, it looks like a clean out of the refrigerators and freezers.   We HAVE done the Galley Lunch a couple of times and I feel like such a party pooper with just three small servings of three items on my plate.  We have vowed to not do the Galley Lunch again.   Am I the ONLY one here who doesn't like them?  Surely not.  

I'm the same,

I went to one once many years ago and ticked that box.

Don't ever need to do it again.

I'm not a buffet sort of guy.

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florisdekort

florisdekort

Posted
Posted

The Galley lunch is back on all cruises - as long as there’s a sea day. We don’t go as buffets are not our thing, but applaud Seabourn for having these, as it’s a unique chance for behind-the-scenes crew to shine. 

 

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texanaust "Live from...." Rare

texanaust

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

I'm the same,

I went to one once many years ago and ticked that box.

Don't ever need to do it again.

I'm not a buffet sort of guy.

 

If you are not a buffet sort of guy (same here), where do you go for lunch?  Onshore?  Apart from sushi, there is no option on SB for a waiter served lunch.  I am excluding of course the burgers, hotdogs and fish of the day served in the Colonnade.  This was true on Sojourn and Encore last summer for 5 weeks.  

 

I sure hope the Restaurant is open on sea days this summer on our voyage around Iceland.  

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