Trip Report (Long and short versions) on 14 day Greek Islands & Turkey cruise (April-May)

[AmateurGO]

I have just (finally) completed a rather complete trip report of our 14 day Aegean Sea cruise, (Athens to Athens via Istanbul) in late April and May.  The full trip report is at my personal web site (no advertising or such)  www.hammocktree.us/trips.html  and the Aegean trip is currently at the top of the list.  Warning: it is long with LOTS of photos.

For those with less time to read such reports, the short version  (the "Closing thoughts" in the full report) is posted below.  I suspect this may generate some "comments".

In General

This trip was both interesting and fun, as well as educational.  We learned a lot about Greek, Roman, and even earlier civilizations, and it did not even hurt our brains (well, not much, anyway).  We did get our fill of very old ruins of cities that were thousands of years old and it became somewhat difficult to keep them all straight (thus, one reason for this report).  After a while, seeing more ruins (restored or not) became somewhat like seeing yet another church in Italy or Spain.

The weather was definitely cooler and windier than we expected.  We seldom (ever?) needed shorts or T-Shirts and our somewhat waterproof windbreakers and rain hats came in very handy.  Perhaps the weather would have been better if we had gone two or three weeks later, but I am also sure that crowds would have been worse.  All of the local people that we met or talked to, the guides or otherwise, were friendly and welcoming and the towns in the Greek islands, especially, were amazingly clean and well maintained.

The Seabourn Encore

The Encore was a very nice way to visit the island and was comfortable and provided good service, but not “great” service.  My overriding thought was that the crew, with a few exceptions, seemed to think more highly of the ship than we did.  The almost complete lack of local foods, the attitude of the main dining room sommeliers, and the relatively bland seasoning of the dishes was a disappointment.  The lack of a printed “daily events” sheet until the last day was a definite problem.  While the Seabourn app should have provided very up-to-date information about excursions (times, meeting places, etc.) we frequently arrived at the named departure/meeting point to find no one there.  If the meeting place or disembarkation point changes from that printed on the tickets or in the Seabourn app, someone should be stationed at the original location to redirect people. 

 

In both the main restaurant and Colonnade, the servers sometimes seemed to forget that there were patrons there waiting for service.  Rearranging the silverware drawer or organizing bottles of cold water sometimes took precedence over actually pouring that water for the guests.  After a few days we did figure out which servers were providing the best service (Ludwig, Julin, Xhemi), but so did the other passengers, so getting a table in their section was a challenge.  Aimee, the Cruise Director was doing an excellent job in sometimes difficult circumstances.  For several reasons, we had the opportunity to talk (socially, not “business”) to her several times and she was always pleasant, friendly, and glad to spend some time with us, although I knew she had many other things to be doing.  The entertainers (the band, the dancers, and the singers) all worked very hard and put on good shows and were friendly whenever we met then “off-line”.   Other than at the official reception at the start of the cruise, I don’t think I ever saw or spoke to any of the ships officers.

 

To compare the Encore to our other cruise experiences…..  I really think that the Celebrity Beyond, in the Retreat/Suite section, provided a more luxurious feeling and better service.  There were some disadvantages of being on a huge ship, but also some advantages and the staff (butler service for every suite) helped get past the crowds.  Comparing the Encore to our Windstar cruise experiences is somewhat like apples and oranges.  The Windstar ships (the ones we have been on so far) are certainly not as modern and luxurious as the Encore or Beyond, but the crew and the overall experience is more friendly and personable for a much more social and fun environment.  As of this writing, we have reservations on one of the newer Windstar ships in September, so stay tuned.

[aliaschief]

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience.

[PaulMCO]

We got on Encore on the 30th and stayed for 3 weeks.  Have similar opinions about food and service.  We had to hunt out for great servers in the Colonnade and Restaurant and stay with them. 

 

Service and food in TK was abysmal.

 

Had no problem with the APP and the printed daily and menu was a welcome change.  It continued for the remaining 14 days.  There were alot of complaints about not have a paper version.

 

I do take exception to the officer non availability (in you on line blog).  We saw Captain Dave every day in the morning for coffee.  Several times, we talked for upwards of 20 minutes  ( we are both horse owners).  Executive chef was visible throughout the day.

 

But in the end we cruise for the ports we can visit, and Seabourn has one of the best itineraries for a medium sized ship.  You do not get into these small Turkish and Greek ports with a large Celebrity type vessel.  We were lucky also in Santorini as being the only ship in port.  Cable car was empty.

[cruiseej]

12 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

We were lucky also in Santorini as being the only ship in port.

 

Wow, that's got to be a pretty rare experience nowadays. Congratulations!

[PaulMCO]

1 minute ago, cruiseej said:

 

Wow, that's got to be a pretty rare experience nowadays. Congratulations!

It makes negotiating with shopkeepers easier  🙂

[AmateurGO]

PaulMCO, yes, the main reason I choose this Seabourn cruise was the itinerary: it hit all the big-name islands as well as several small, less known, ones.  We were also the only ship in the Santorini harbor on the inside of the caldera, but I overheard some comments that sounded like there might have been another ship docked/anchored on the other side of the island.  There were definitely more people in town than just from the Encore.  

Perhaps we were just on a different schedule than the ship's officers, but we didn't see anyone other than at the official reception type events.  On other cruises we have been on, the captain (or sometimes, the "Hotel Manager") would frequently be at the boarding platform, welcoming guests back to the ship from the tender or dock as we returned from excursions.  Of course, this might be another effect of being on a "large" ship.

[Utopia1]

It sounds like Seabourn did not meet your expectations - how unfortunate.

I guess I'm brainwashed because I am so pleased with Seabourn cruises. 

The ship and weather rank highest followed by itinerary  when I select a cruise.  I have cruised extensively and enjoy seeing how the various ports have changed over the years.

[skybluewaters]

22 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

Service and food in TK was abysmal.

 

Could you please elaborate?  In particular, was it the menu choices, the quality of food, the preparation of the dishes or something else that informed your opinion?  I've never had a bad meal at the TKG, so I'm curious as to why you had such an "abysmal" experience. 

Thanks. 

[Utopia1]

1 minute ago, skybluewaters said:

 

Could you please elaborate?  In particular, was it the menu choices, the quality of food, the preparation of the dishes or something else that informed your opinion?  I've never had a bad meal at the TKG, so I'm curious as to why you had such an "abysmal" experience. 

Thanks. 

 I have had many delicious dinners with great service in TK.   I'm trying hard to think of a negative experience---- but I can't. 

[PaulMCO]

34 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

 

Could you please elaborate?  In particular, was it the menu choices, the quality of food, the preparation of the dishes or something else that informed your opinion?  I've never had a bad meal at the TKG, so I'm curious as to why you had such an "abysmal" experience. 

Thanks. 

Visit 1 -- Steak was over done (medium rare and received medium well).    Wrong sides served.  No effort to rectify.  Complained on mid cruise  survey, no response. 

 

Visit 2 - Service was extremely slow.   Mains were both good. Meal took 2.5 hours. Caesar salad was incorrectly made.  Nobody supervising the assistants.

 

We thought the staff was new and poorly trained, example being the Caesar salad something very basic. We had similar issues in the Restaurant on day 1 and last day of cruises, extremely crowded and the service staff was overwhelmed.

 

We were on Odyssey 8 months earlier and TK was by far the best food we have had on a cruise in a long time.

[lincslady]

The Caesar salad story rings a bell.  I had one, on my first visit to TK, years ago, and it was made by a sweet girl I already knew well from the Colonnade, who  had obviously just been told how to make it that day.  She was very nervous, and it was awful.  I know most people find TK great, but this sort of glitch does happen sometimes.  TK apparently insisted that the salad is made in front of you, with quite a few ingredients, and this only works if well trained staff are making it.