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

[brunello22]

On 8/6/2023 at 11:11 AM, Earthtones said:

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!

We will be on this sailing as well (August 18).  Long time cruiser, but first time on Seabourn.  Can't wait!

[jondfk]

Just now, brunello22 said:

We will be on this sailing as well (August 18).  Long time cruiser, but first time on Seabourn.  Can't wait!

We were new to Seabourn in June if you have any particular newbie questions my memory’s are still fresh enough to help, ask away.

 

See you on the 18th!

 

[markandjie]

On 8/5/2023 at 10:13 AM, jondfk said:

I'll post daily or whenever something piques our interest and happy to answer any questions anyone has.

 

Thank you! We did a 14-day Alaska on SB 5 years ago, and just today finished a 7 day Alaska cruise on the Silver Muse. The experience in terms of focus on wildlife was stark versus what we remember on Seabourn (in that on Silversea there was very little focus on wildlife). Would love to know the size and staffing of the expedition team, as Silversea had nothing in that regards.

[jondfk]

Well, all aboard now and settling in.

 

Our plan to have lunch ashore and head toward the gangway about 1:00 worked perfectly.  Zero queue for security check, likewise US immigration which we are told can be epic in Vancouver.  6 free agents to complete checkin with SB.  Total elapsed time something like 10 minutes the vast majority of which was spent walking.

 

The only glitch, and ahem, I expect no sympathy here, was that we were upgraded from our original V4 to a PH, but nobody told us.  How did I figure it out? Well, the key didn’t have my name on it, looking at the paper slip I noticed the cabin number was up on deck 9, I knew there was little up there but PH.  It’s going to be slightly more difficult to register displeasure elsewhere…

 

Perhaps this is a bit of a nod from the gods balancing out experiences yesterday at the Pan Pacific.  We arrived slightly after 4pm to find an epic line for checkin, an hour later we finally had a key and headed off to the bar for a bite and a drink, 90 minutes later our luggage still had not made it to the room, the luggage spent more time between the curb and our room than it had on the flight from San Francisco to Vancouver.  As said perhaps some god took pity.

That’s enough for this first afternoon.

 

 

[TBfrPH]

Thank you @jondfk for doing this live thread.  When you have had a chance to do some serious relaxation, please consider posting a copy of the daily program, especially one from a sea day.  

 

We love live music and enjoy dancing to it, so would be interested to see how much of it we can do on Seabourn.  We've really enjoyed Princess Cruises in this regard.  On some trips, we were fortunate to have 5 different bands on the ship.  On sea days we'd start dancing at noon and kept going into the night.  We've been researching the higher end cruise lines to see if one might be right for us.  So far we're not encouraged after having read posts about Oceania, Viking, and Regent.  Other than being fed and pampered, there does not appear to be much to do.  We're hoping that Seabourn might be different.

 

Thank you in advance.

[SLSD]

24 minutes ago, jondfk said:

Well, all aboard now and settling in.

 

I knew there was little up there but PH.  It’s going to be slightly more difficult to register displeasure elsewhere…

 

 

 

Congratulations on your upgrade!  What a wonderful start to your cruise.  However, I have to tell you that we had a wonderful V2 on deck 9 on our wonderful Norwegian cruise in June.  We enjoyed it immensely.  It could not have been better.  

 

And thank you for doing a live report here!

[MBP&O2/O]

Our plan to have lunch ashore and head toward the gangway about 1:00 worked perfectly.  Zero queue for security check, likewise US immigration which we are told can be epic in Vancouver.  6 free agents to complete checkin with SB.  Total elapsed time something like 10 minutes the vast majority of which was spent walking.

 

Do

I read that as separate / dedicated immigration channels per ship? That could be handy 🤞

 

We have an assigned check-in time of 1420 ... to be ignored I believe...but we will obviously need to be be on board and sorted by 1600 latest, possibly earlier, so with two other shops in port 🤞🙂🤞🙂🤞🙂

[jondfk]

6 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Our plan to have lunch ashore and head toward the gangway about 1:00 worked perfectly.  Zero queue for security check, likewise US immigration which we are told can be epic in Vancouver.  6 free agents to complete checkin with SB.  Total elapsed time something like 10 minutes the vast majority of which was spent walking.

 

Do

I read that as separate / dedicated immigration channels per ship? That could be handy 🤞

 

We have an assigned check-in time of 1420 ... to be ignored I believe...but we will obviously need to be be on board and sorted by 1600 latest, possibly earlier, so with two other shops in port 🤞🙂🤞🙂🤞🙂

No, a single immigration channel for (in our case) two ships.  We were fortunate that the other ship was an older RCCL with max capacity of 2500, I’m told three ship days are very challenging.

 

The split off occurs after immigration.

[jondfk]

On 8/6/2023 at 7:50 AM, 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.

 

An update here, standard well mixers are Canada Dry.  However, I saw a couple ask for and receive Fever Tree last night at Observation Bar, it did require a special trip to the store room, but the request was fulfilled.  There was some debate amongst staff as to whether Fever Tree was currently on board.

 

On the other hand my luck with the listed drinks from the menu continues to be poor.  Asked for a glass of port, none available, “maybe tomorrow after the new stock is unpacked” heard that a lot on Ovation, though my favorites never managed to get unpacked.

[jondfk]

12 hours ago, SLSD said:

Congratulations on your upgrade!  What a wonderful start to your cruise.  However, I have to tell you that we had a wonderful V2 on deck 9 on our wonderful Norwegian cruise in June.  We enjoyed it immensely.  It could not have been better.  

 

And thank you for doing a live report here!

At times I’m really quite dim.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how we scored such an upgrade yesterday.  This morning it’s so very clear, it’s a milestone anniversary for us, today in fact,.  We had let SB know when booking and that, undoubtedly, explains the upgrade, the very same thing happened to us 10 years ago on Princess.

 

In the case of Princess it was really quite clever since that first upgrade to a full suite led to us booking and paying for 9 more in the years that followed.  

[Dunnedg]

1 hour ago, jondfk said:

An update here, standard well mixers are Canada Dry.

Could be worse. I have seen Royal Club sometimes which is awful. A trick which sometimes works is to ask for low calorie tonic (Fever Tree, Refreshingly Light). It should bring a fresh tonic rather than a pour from a 330cl tin and less fattening as well.😀

Edited August 12, 2023 by Dunnedg

[Earthtones]

On 8/10/2023 at 10:26 AM, brunello22 said:

We will be on this sailing as well (August 18).  Long time cruiser, but first time on Seabourn.  Can't wait!

@brunello22 I must have counted sailings incorrectly. We'll be on the 9/1 sailing, which should be very similar to yours (Juneau to Vancouver). Have a fabulous trip and please post any tips you might encounter for Seabourn newbies!

[jondfk]

15 hours ago, TBfrPH said:

Thank you @jondfk for doing this live thread.  When you have had a chance to do some serious relaxation, please consider posting a copy of the daily program, especially one from a sea day.  

 

We love live music and enjoy dancing to it, so would be interested to see how much of it we can do on Seabourn.  We've really enjoyed Princess Cruises in this regard.  On some trips, we were fortunate to have 5 different bands on the ship.  On sea days we'd start dancing at noon and kept going into the night.  We've been researching the higher end cruise lines to see if one might be right for us.  So far we're not encouraged after having read posts about Oceania, Viking, and Regent.  Other than being fed and pampered, there does not appear to be much to do.  We're hoping that Seabourn might be different.

 

Thank you in advance.

Here’s the Herald for today which is a sea day en route to Ketchikan.

 

[CalmSea]

I am glad to see that Michael Burke, the singer and guitarist is still on board. @TBfrPH, if you are into ballroom dancing, go to the Club at 6 p.m. and tell Michael you like some ballroom dancing music. He is very talented. He said he played in the band in the Cunard line before, and knows about the ballroom dancing music.  There will be other passengers requesting other songs too, so you may not be able to dance to every song. As I said elsewhere, it was the first time we danced to guitar music, but we find it quite enjoyable. We found the 10:30p band music not as suitable for ballroom dancing, but of course, it depends on what kind of dancing you like.

[brunello22]

1 hour ago, Earthtones said:

@brunello22 I must have counted sailings incorrectly. We'll be on the 9/1 sailing, which should be very similar to yours (Juneau to Vancouver). Have a fabulous trip and please post any tips you might encounter for Seabourn newbies!

Will do!  Enjoy your cruise!

[jondfk]

Well, it pains me to write this report, but I’ve promised to share our actual experiences both good and bad.

 

 First, some good, we throughly enjoyed our first night at Observation, great, attentive and witty service, this carried over this morning to the Patio bar.  As I mentioned my preferred drink wasn’t available but I was promised restock by tonight.

 

Thinks skidded down hill when we moved to the restaurant.  We were seated and a very attentive assistant waiter provided water bread and wine, he asked us to wait for his partner for guidance on the menu, the only problem was, the waiter never arrived, meanwhile more tables were seated, and the poor assistant was very quickly overwhelmed.  Eventually he made it back around to take our order which was challenging since he had to compare the menu to the tablet to enter orders.  The challenge intensified when food started to be ready and he had to leave to carry plates.  Eventually a bar server was dispatched to assist and by the time dessert rolled around an assitant from the adjacent section started to fill in taking orders etc.  Not a great experience.

 

Breakfast offered a second chance and a second major fail.  We arrived at 8:30 to find a substantial line waiting to be seated.  No tables available we were told, the limited staff was trying to reset tables, a mad scramble for coffee cups, butter and side plates.  Couples were seated slooowly as tables could be reset.  Finally they gave up setting tables and just sat us at a bare table.  The pastry tray arrived with 4 very tired looking donuts and nothing else.  Water arrived, but oops, no water glasses.  Coffee arrived but oops, no coffee cups.   The comedy goes on and on.  The waiter was visibly angry we had been seated “I have nothing for them” he remarked to the manager.  
 

I find myself angry and stunned at the level of service this first two meals.  We experienced a few gaffs on Ovation in June but nothing remotely like to complete disarray of these first two meals surely it has to improve, at least one hopes.

 

 

 

[CalmSea]

This level of service is not acceptable.

 

Just a question, being a sea day, is the MDR open for breakfast?

[robertmartha]

jondfk

 

Hoping you see this before dinner tonight - when you arrive at the restaurant - ask to sit in Cristos' section (if available) - you can seriously tell the maitre'd  about your experience last night as well - and state he comes highly recommended from prior cruisers. Sounds like the one disappointing night we encountered - we were a party of six - seated next to a wait station - I asked if we could be moved to an open 6 top a few tables down - was told we could and the wait staff moved us. Never saw a waiter after that. Had to flag down the Manager who was completely mortified - who took our order but then it was a hodge hodge of wait staff serving us...the table they moved us to obviously did not have a waiter assigned to it.

[skybluewaters]

@jondfk I hope you speak both to the F&B manager and to the maître d’ regarding these totally unacceptable experiences. I would also be tempted to email Seabourn CEO Natalya Leahy, who apparently is taking a hands-on approach and just might be able to address this situation.

 

I'm sorry you've had to put up with such horrible service and hope that things will turn around soon.

[jondfk]

29 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

@jondfk I hope you speak both to the F&B manager and to the maître d’ regarding these totally unacceptable experiences. I would also be tempted to email Seabourn CEO Natalya Leahy, who apparently is taking a hands-on approach and just might be able to address this situation.

 

I'm sorry you've had to put up with such horrible service and hope that things will turn around soon.

As it happens we met the F&B manager in the elevator yesterday, when he passed through the dining room at lunch I asked that he come over.  We had a short conversation focused mainly on breakfast, he said he had been advised and discussed the food service with the chef, I told him in no uncertain terms that the food itself was fine it was the service that completely failed.  An apology was offered, I suggested he might pass through either during dinner this evening or at breakfast to judge whether the service was to his expectations.  Time shall tell.

 

Distinctly different from Ovation where his equivalent was visible 3 meals a day.

[TBfrPH]

5 hours ago, CalmSea said:

I am glad to see that Michael Burke, the singer and guitarist is still on board. @TBfrPH, if you are into ballroom dancing, go to the Club at 6 p.m. and tell Michael you like some ballroom dancing music. He is very talented. He said he played in the band in the Cunard line before, and knows about the ballroom dancing music.  There will be other passengers requesting other songs too, so you may not be able to dance to every song. As I said elsewhere, it was the first time we danced to guitar music, but we find it quite enjoyable. We found the 10:30p band music not as suitable for ballroom dancing, but of course, it depends on what kind of dancing you like.

Thanks for the tip @CalmSea.  We love ballroom, and we do it to all kinds of music, including contemporary songs, even some hiphop songs.  

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, jondfk said:

Well, it pains me to write this report, but I’ve promised to share our actual experiences both good and bad.

 

 First, some good, we throughly enjoyed our first night at Observation, great, attentive and witty service, this carried over this morning to the Patio bar.  As I mentioned my preferred drink wasn’t available but I was promised restock by tonight.

 

Thinks skidded down hill when we moved to the restaurant.  We were seated and a very attentive assistant waiter provided water bread and wine, he asked us to wait for his partner for guidance on the menu, the only problem was, the waiter never arrived, meanwhile more tables were seated, and the poor assistant was very quickly overwhelmed.  Eventually he made it back around to take our order which was challenging since he had to compare the menu to the tablet to enter orders.  The challenge intensified when food started to be ready and he had to leave to carry plates.  Eventually a bar server was dispatched to assist and by the time dessert rolled around an assitant from the adjacent section started to fill in taking orders etc.  Not a great experience.

 

Breakfast offered a second chance and a second major fail.  We arrived at 8:30 to find a substantial line waiting to be seated.  No tables available we were told, the limited staff was trying to reset tables, a mad scramble for coffee cups, butter and side plates.  Couples were seated slooowly as tables could be reset.  Finally they gave up setting tables and just sat us at a bare table.  The pastry tray arrived with 4 very tired looking donuts and nothing else.  Water arrived, but oops, no water glasses.  Coffee arrived but oops, no coffee cups.   The comedy goes on and on.  The waiter was visibly angry we had been seated “I have nothing for them” he remarked to the manager.  
 

I find myself angry and stunned at the level of service this first two meals.  We experienced a few gaffs on Ovation in June but nothing remotely like to complete disarray of these first two meals surely it has to improve, at least one hopes.

 

 

 

No tables available?  This sounds like they need to use the Restaurant for breakfast as well.   I am assuming you were breakfasting in the Colonnade?  

[CalmSea]

4 minutes ago, SLSD said:

No tables available?  This sounds like they need to use the Restaurant for breakfast as well.   I am assuming you were breakfasting in the Colonnade?  

I just checked the Source. The MDR is opened both for breakfast and lunch today.

[SLSD]

7 minutes ago, CalmSea said:

I just checked the Source. The MDR is opened both for breakfast and lunch today.

That's great news.  But which did Jon try to be seated at?  It doesn't really matter if the service was not there.  Disappointing news.  

[jondfk]

1 hour ago, SLSD said:

No tables available?  This sounds like they need to use the Restaurant for breakfast as well.   I am assuming you were breakfasting in the Colonnade?  

Who me?  You know I would only be in Colonnade if the Restaurant was closed.

 

No tables available means no tables set for breakfast, laid out for dinner and the changeover is quite daunting if you have no staff on duty.