Not a newbie sails Odyssey August 11, 2023. Alaska: Glaciers, Fjords & Inside Passage

[jondfk]

I hadn't intended to do another Live From after my posting my newbie experience on Ovation back in June sailing to Norway.  However, there seems to be some interest in sharing my thoughts as an experienced, one sailing, Seabourn passenger.

 

To save you looking up the details posted prior we are retired mid 60's experienced cruisers.  Nearly 30 voyages on Princess including the one on Grand at the very start of the pandemic which landed us in quarantine at Travis AFB for 14 days.  We haven't enjoyed the evolution of Princess towards larger and larger ships, with more and more people and more and more nickels an dimes (especially the changes announced this week).  We don't say never again, but are focused on smaller ship brands.

 

We sailed thrice last year with Oceania, a total of 34 days, all on Regatta.  Loved them all.  I promised on my Ovation thread to minimize direct comparisons, and I think I stayed true to that objective.  Looking ahead we have a first Viking Oceans voyage booked in February '24 and additional voyages on Regatta in April and September.  In January '25 we will sail Oceania's newest, Vista, through the panama canal.

 

This was actually our first cruise booked with Seabourn back in the darkest days of the pandemic, booked in, I believe April of '21. At the time everything was being cancelled and we expected this likely would as well, but here we are.  A bit later the Norway / Ovation sailing caught my eye and we slid that in front as our first SB experience.

 

Unlike Norway we allowed SB to arrange air for us this time.  RT with Air Canada from Vancouver.  The flights, both ways, have changed twice since booking our SB agent has been right on all changes keeping surprised to a minimum.  I know, we should be using your favorite travel agent, but thus far we have chosen to keep control of our travels for the most part which has been quite helpful through a period of maximum unpredictability.  I do have recommendations for high end agents to assist when things settle down more fully - but - having flown a bit more than 5 million miles, and spent nearly 3000 nights in hotels over my professional life I'm quite comfortable with details that might stymie others.  

[jondfk]

We fly to Vancouver from San Francisco a day ahead, as mentioned with air arranged by SB.  We would have liked to have them do it all, we wanted a room at the Pan Pacific, but the SB block was sold out.  Just as well, we booked it ourselves in an upgraded category for just a bit more than half what SB would have charged.  Though SB booked our flights we don't get transfers since we don't have a hotel booking with them, a bit strange in my opinion, but hey, taxis leave on demand right?

 

I wrote extensively describing our worst 60 minutes on Ovation as the first lunch in Colonnade just after boarding.  Lesson learned, we don't plan to make our way towards the ship until after finding lunch with a goal to board closer to 2:00 than 12:00.  Hopefully we will experience nothing but calm through the process.  We are fortunate that rather than two mega ships joining us boarding that day we are joined by only one other ship at Canada Place an older RCCL ship with a pax count closer to 2500 rather than 5000.  Lucky us.  

 

We are told to expect epic delays learning US customs, hopefully a late start allows the queue of early birds to wind down.

[jondfk]

I'll post daily or whenever something piques our interest and happy to answer any questions anyone has. I don't post food porn (I find it rude and distracting when the next table is taking photos of their food) or menus (since these are simple to see on Source).

 

As I said we booked very early and watched for subsequent promotions.  At some stage we were upgraded from a V5 suite to a V1 with no increase in price and a small bit of OBC.  We are CCL shareholders and were impressed to have our shareholder credit applied the same day we sent the request by email.  

 

Finally, DW can't drink alcohol for medical reasons, I imbibe a bit the included cost of liquor seems quite steep given that only one enjoys.  We were amazed a the shortages present on Ovation and quite disappointed at the quality and variety of included wines (and the absence of any sort of list of what was actually available).  It's my hope that the scarcity problem has resolved with a more major home port and a few months more time.  I'll admit that the "pandemic shortage", "short staff", "supply chain" excuses have all run a bit thin for me.  Budweiser beer, Jamesons Irish, and Baileys are all available in the rather small mid-range grocery store nearest my house, there's no reason Seabourn (Ovation) should have run out of any of these - but they ran out of all.  Expect a full report on this point as it's a sticky one for me.

 

As said, any and all questions are welcome.  The only thing I won't respond to are protest from Seabourn old-timers telling me how it's supposed to be, how it always was, or how they just can't possibly believe what I write.  I'll attempt to be factual, but what I'll report will be our own experience, nothing more.  I do have one reference point for SB and will note differences, improvements or deficiencies versus that baseline.

[jondfk]

Okay, that's enough for now, barring any requests prior, expect my next report after we board on Friday.

[CalmSea]

2 hours ago, jondfk said:

but hey, taxis leave on demand right?

 

And it is a flat rate of cdn 38 from YVR to downtown.

[robertmartha]

Johdfk - will be following along. We sailed on the second sailing (southbound) this season and the memories of that fabulous cruise are keeping me going thru this summer till we board Ovation in November 😉

If you are open to/for a Restaurant waiter recommendation - ask to sit in Cristos' section - he and his team were fabulous. We sat in his section the second night and asked for him/his section every night after.

 

Will be interested in your perspective and observations.

 

Bob from NY

[jondfk]

42 minutes ago, robertmartha said:

Johdfk - will be following along. We sailed on the second sailing (southbound) this season and the memories of that fabulous cruise are keeping me going thru this summer till we board Ovation in November 😉

If you are open to/for a Restaurant waiter recommendation - ask to sit in Cristos' section - he and his team were fabulous. We sat in his section the second night and asked for him/his section every night after.

 

Will be interested in your perspective and observations.

 

Bob from NY

Thanks for the tip, invaluable!  We will ask about Cristo.

 

I’ll return the favor, if still aboard in November, as for Lee from Scotland, a more responsive service team you won’t find.
 

Jon

[robertmartha]

Jondfk - TY so much ! 

Appreciate the recommendation  - 

can't wait to follow along if/as you are able to post. We were very early in the season and saw very little wildlife .... from recent posters and following along on instagram looks to be very active now. We were very fortunate with the weather as well - drizzled on embarkation day and just one morning when we did the rain forest hike 😉..other than that we had fabulous weather. If you can - definitely try to do the zodiacs and kayaks - the expedition teams were amazing. 

[JMB56]

I would be very interested in your analysis of the wine offerings.  We sail to Antarctica on Venture at the end of November (our first Seabourn cruise). We certainly are not ‘wine snobs’, but he idea of drinking £5 plonk each night does concern me.  I guess that’s what the OBC is for.

[CalmSea]

3 hours ago, JMB56 said:

I would be very interested in your analysis of the wine offerings.  We sail to Antarctica on Venture at the end of November (our first Seabourn cruise). We certainly are not ‘wine snobs’, but he idea of drinking £5 plonk each night does concern me.  I guess that’s what the OBC is for.

Can you download and see the menu of the Club in your Seabourn Source app? Since I had booked a cruise on the Odyssey for next year, I can see the Club menu. For complimentary wine, it lists 2 champagne, 3 whites and 3 reds. The list seems to be the same as the one I saw onboard the Odyssey in June. I have no trouble asking for those wines in the restaurant.

[MBP&O2/O]

Interesting to note there are no 'mixers' shown on the lists? Have we an idea as to what Tonic is available? Thanks.

 

[JMB56]

48 minutes ago, CalmSea said:

Can you download and see the menu of the Club in your Seabourn Source app? Since I had booked a cruise on the Odyssey for next year, I can see the Club menu. For complimentary wine, it lists 2 champagne, 3 whites and 3 reds. The list seems to be the same as the one I saw onboard the Odyssey in June. I have no trouble asking for those wines in the restaurant.

The Club does not show on the app in relation to my upcoming Venture cruise … just the Restaurant.

[CalmSea]

6 minutes ago, JMB56 said:

The Club does not show on the app in relation to my upcoming Venture cruise … just the Restaurant.

On the right of Gourmet Dining, click on View More.  The Club is under Lounges heading. See whether it let you download the Club. Below the Lounge section is the Wine section, where you can download the wine selections.

[JMB56]

21 minutes ago, CalmSea said:

On the right of Gourmet Dining, click on View More.  The Club is under Lounges heading. See whether it let you download the Club. Below the Lounge section is the Wine section, where you can download the wine selections.

I see it now, Thank you very much!

[Earthtones]

Thanks! I'll be on the southbound portion of the sailing following yours and will be avidly following your posts! 

I'm a Seabourn newbie, and, in fact, this is my first return to any cruise since I swore I was not a cruise person almost 20 years ago--but currently unable to think about anything else because I'm so excited!

[jondfk]

4 hours ago, CalmSea said:

Can you download and see the menu of the Club in your Seabourn Source app? Since I had booked a cruise on the Odyssey for next year, I can see the Club menu. For complimentary wine, it lists 2 champagne, 3 whites and 3 reds. The list seems to be the same as the one I saw onboard the Odyssey in June. I have no trouble asking for those wines in the restaurant.

I’ll snap a photo of the Club (and Horizon) menus while on board, I will caution you that the menus on Ovation were advisory, what was actually available varied considerably.

 

An example, I routinely drink Jamison’s Irish, Ovation ran out early in the sailing.  No problem I thought I have a mountain of onboard credit, the menu shows Green Spot Irish as an upgrade choice, but nope, not even the extra money could yield an Irish.  
 

Still, I’m happy to post whatever menus are in play.

 

[jondfk]

3 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Interesting to note there are no 'mixers' shown on the lists? Have we an idea as to what Tonic is available? Thanks.

 

I’ll keep an eye open.  On Ovation mixers varied bar to bar and day to day.  Mostly Canada Dry and Schweppes.  If you’re hoping for something better, like, for example Fever Tree, I saw none.

 

[MBP&O2/O]

I was hoping for Fevertree ... keeping fingers crossed but not optimistic 🤞🤞

[skybluewaters]

If you're keen on tonics, you might be interested in the "Ship Made Tonic With Gin" cocktail which is listed in the "Celebrity Cocktails" menu of The Observation Lounge bar.  The tonic is made onboard using raw quinine powder. 

 

Regarding Fever Tree tonic, I have asked for it several times pre-cruise via the Preferences section of the Online Registration, but have always gotten Canada Dry or Schweppes in my mini-fridge instead, which is just fine.

[DTtravelers]

On 8/5/2023 at 11:17 AM, CalmSea said:

And it is a flat rate of cdn 38 from YVR to downtown.

Or…. As another option you could take the light rail for $3.50 each.  26 minutes so it will get there before the taxi.  Did this last week.  Just tap your credit card.  Note that the station downtown is about 3 blocks from the cruise terminal….   Not a bad solution if you don’t have a of luggage.

Sunny and 75 here in Wrangell today.  No, I am not making this up!  🙂

 

Have a great trip!  

[CalmSea]

14 minutes ago, DTtravelers said:

Or…. As another option you could take the light rail for $3.50 each.  26 minutes so it will get there before the taxi.  

Don't forget that there is an additional YVR surcharge of $5.00 in the direction from the airport to downtown.

 

Last June, when we disembark at Canada Place, the place was a chaos, with two other ships disembarking at the same time. We did took the 5 minutes walk to Waterfront station and took the Canada line to the airport, and with no surcharge in going this direction. However, one has to know how to get the correct entrance. The closest entrance to Waterfront station from the cruise terminal takes you to the wrong line.

[melissab723]

We just got off of the Odyssey in July and you're in for a great time. The crew was AMAZING and there are so many of them that I want to tell you about, but here's just a few. Make sure to check out Michael in The Club. We became fast friends with him and he's such a warm and likeable guy, plus he's a great musician as well. Then there's German who's part of the wait/bar staff. He'll put a smile on your face no matter what. And last but not least, the guys from the Venture team. Luke, Ryan and Ian were such a pleasure to get to know. They went above and beyond to make sure we were getting the most out of our wildlife experiences, and even though all of the guys on that team are so knowledgeable, those three really made our trip special. Hope you're okay with me being jealous of you right now because you're about to have such a great cruise!

[jondfk]

Well, packing is all done, if we don’t have it, we don’t need it (or more likely I’ll be dispatched to find it at the first port of Ketchikan), I know just where the Safeway is!

 

Flight checkin starts in about two hours, fingers crossed all of the data entered works as intended and we manage TSA Pre.  
 

As it happens we will be celebrating our 35th anniversary early in the cruise, we’re hoping the menu from the current voyage repeats with veal piccata the second night, our big day, it’s just what we would have asked for if we had another day or two for the special request.  We have a sense of what to expect as my Birthday landed during or June sail on Ovation.

 

Its been just six weeks since we disembarked in Copenhagen too soon for DW but about right for me haha.

 

[SLSD]

31 minutes ago, jondfk said:

Well, packing is all done, if we don’t have it, we don’t need it (or more likely I’ll be dispatched to find it at the first port of Ketchikan), I know just where the Safeway is!

 

Flight checkin starts in about two hours, fingers crossed all of the data entered works as intended and we manage TSA Pre.  
 

As it happens we will be celebrating our 35th anniversary early in the cruise, we’re hoping the menu from the current voyage repeats with veal piccata the second night, our big day, it’s just what we would have asked for if we had another day or two for the special request.  We have a sense of what to expect as my Birthday landed during or June sail on Ovation.

 

Its been just six weeks since we disembarked in Copenhagen too soon for DW but about right for me haha.

 

Happy Anniversary!  We'll be celebrating our 48th anniversary next summer aboard Sojourn.  We're going to ask for slow roasted lamb shanks--or maybe steaks---or maybe fried shrimp---or...  

 

Enjoy your trip.  At least you don't have very far to fly.  THAT is a blessing!

[margbem]

On 8/6/2023 at 3:50 PM, MBP&O2/O said:

Interesting to note there are no 'mixers' shown on the lists? Have we an idea as to what Tonic is available? Thanks.

 

I had a couple of seriously bad G&T’s on our Ovation cruise in February. Tonic from a can that had been open a while ☹️ I learned to ask for the gin in the glass, two ice cubes (or it was full of ice!), a slice of lime and tonic on the side. They gave me a bottle of Fevertree each time then. Perfect!