First Seabourn cruise TR where inflatable kiddie pools, Cerberus heatwave &"would you like some sparkling with your apple juice" happened ;)

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Something to note about Seabourn is that in general their categories are really about deck and location on the ship. Yes they have Penthouse suites and Owner’s Suites and Wintergarden Suites. But as an example a V1 and a V3 are the exact same room. The difference is deck and location on the ship.

Encore (and its sister ship Ovation) is a 100% Veranda ship so all rooms will have a balcony. Deck 5 (the lowest passenger deck on this ship) however has most of it’s balcony be the ship’s wall so it’s considered obstructed in that way. From most passengers this is not a problem. We’d consider a Deck 5 room in the future but most are forward location so that would be a consideration and as I will show later on the balcony with the full glass offers quite nice views. The ship is designed such that no rooms with exception to deck 11 (which are the Penthouse Suites) are located past basically mid ship (so all are basically mid-ship and forward).


So our room was located fairly mid-ship but also a bit forward. The rooms in that green color are V2. All of deck 5 is V1 but to give you an idea this is how many rooms are on deck 5.



As far as the difference our 639 room would correspond to room 543 if on deck 5

The 639 room location was perfect for us IMO. When we were in tendered ports you could feel and hear slightly the thrusters working when they needed to but no issues for us. Forward rooms, of which there are some high end ones, are subject to anchor noise so if you’re on an itinerary with a lot of tendering (such as ours was) that would be a consideration.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This next part is mostly me rambling (I mean what's new ) about our choice in Seabourn ultimately as well as sorta how the cruise line operates you can skip this if you want to go straight to room photos on the next post.

One thing that ended up drawing us to this level of cruising was what it had to offer. Don’t get me wrong it’s very pricey but our normal way of traveling is usually budget and frugal, this was not that. You can purchase spa stuff, high (think Dom Perignon quality) drinks and merchandise on board. On that note I never felt like they were trying to push sales on really anything, you can buy high end jewelry or liquor if you want and Seabourn branded (or not) items but nothing ever seemed like a push. I did see in The Herald events at the watch and diamond places but that's the only mention really.

When considering other lines we thought about extras such as wifi, specialty dining, drinks, etc. Seabourn used to charge for wifi but several years back included a basic one per person device (but honestly adequate for most people’s needs) internet. You can’t stream movies or music (unless these are pre-downloaded) but it worked for FB, messenger, normal internet, etc. It did however oddly block Google Chat. If you want a higher up level as well as multiple devices you can purchase upgrades. In addition I believe the very highest level rooms (which aren’t many anyhow) get the higher up. I can’t remember but I feel like a milestone benefit might also be the higher up internet. I do get some of the complaints about the basic because many of these passengers are booking long cruises such that having a wider breadth of a connection is wanted (perhaps working or needing to deal with things back home) but still generally speaking for having it included you’re likely to be fine.

With this cruise line there really isn't much you need to pay for onboard aside from excursions. Tips are neither required nor requested. You aren't barred from tipping but the general vibe I get from the many FB comments and now having been on board is most are very concerned about the Americans tipping habits as it can lead to a completely different product (just ask about tipping on the FB pages and you’ll get the UK, other Europe areas and Australians get going on American tipping culture). It does seem to be preferred if you do tip to do so discretely and not make a big show out of it and the ones most tipped are your room attendant and steward (you are assigned two people to take care of your room) with bar tenders as well.

Alternatively there is a Crew Fund that you can donate to which goes towards many of the more crew members you don't get to see. This can help pay for onshore adventures for them, party/supply type things and more. You will not find Seabourn advertising much at all about the Crew Fund and it seems intentional. You will however be recognized (not important to us) should you do so. I mention that to say they know who donates the moment you do it. No one needs to feel pressured to do the crew fund either. All of this is voluntary but it’s just you won’t see a 18% gratuity for bar tabs or daily gratuities added. And you won’t get better service if you’re tipping or even donating globs of money to the crew fund. We did end up doing a contribution to the crew fund late in the cruise. Our room attendant and host immediately thanked us verbally when they saw us later that day as well as we got an official letter from Seabourn in our room. I knew about the letter but I admit I was caught off guard by the actual recognition by the two lovely women (Julia and Patricia) assigned to our room.

 

[john7994]

This next part is mostly me rambling (I mean what's new ) about our choice in Seabourn ultimately as well as sorta how the cruise line operates you can skip this if you want to go straight to room photos on the next post.

One thing that ended up drawing us to this level of cruising was what it had to offer. Don’t get me wrong it’s very pricey but our normal way of traveling is usually budget and frugal, this was not that. You can purchase spa stuff, high (think Dom Perignon quality) drinks and merchandise on board. On that note I never felt like they were trying to push sales on really anything, you can buy high end jewelry or liquor if you want and Seabourn branded (or not) items but nothing ever seemed like a push. I did see in The Herald events at the watch and diamond places but that's the only mention really.

When considering other lines we though about extras such as wifi, specialty dining, drinks, etc. Seabourn used to charge for wifi but several years back included a basic one per person device (but honestly adequate for most people’s needs) internet. You can’t stream movies or music (unless these are pre-downloaded) but it worked for FB, messenger, normal internet, etc. It did however oddly block Google Chat. If you want a higher up level as well as multiple devices you can purchase upgrades. In addition I believe the very highest level rooms (which aren’t many anyhow) get the higher up. I can’t remember but I feel like a milestone benefit might also be the higher up internet. I do get some of the complaints about the basic because many of these passengers are booking long cruises such that having a wider breadth of a connection is wanted (perhaps working or needing to deal with things back home) but still generally speaking for having it included you’re likely to be fine.

With this cruise line there really isn't much you need to pay for onboard aside from excursions. Tips are neither required nor requested. You aren't barred from tipping but the general vibe I get from the many FB comments and now having been on board is most are very concerned about the Americans tipping habits as it can lead to a completely different product (just ask about tipping on the FB pages and you’ll get the UK, other Europe areas and Australians get going on American tipping culture). It does seem to be preferred if you do tip to do so discretely and not make a big show out of it and the ones most tipped are your room attendant and steward (you are assigned two people to take care of your room) with bar tenders as well.

Alternatively there is a Crew Fund that you can donate to which goes towards many of the more crew members you don't get to see. This can help pay for onshore adventures for them, party/supply type things and more. You will not find Seabourn advertising much at all about the Crew Fund and it seems intentional. You will however be recognized (not important to us) should you do so. I mention that to say they know who donates the moment you do it. No one needs to feel pressured to do the crew fund either. All of this is voluntary but it’s just you won’t see a 18% gratuity for bar tabs or daily gratuities added. And you won’t get better service if you’re tipping or even donating globs of money to the crew fund. We did end up doing a contribution to the crew fund late in the cruise. Our room attendant and host immediately thanked us verbally when they saw us later that day as well as we got an official letter from Seabourn in our room. I knew about the letter but I admit I was caught off guard by the actual recognition by the two lovely women (Julia and Patricia) assigned to our room.

Very interesting anecdote on the tipping ...

 

[john7994]

Something to note about Seabourn is that in general their categories are really about deck and location on the ship. Yes they have Penthouse suites and Owner’s Suites and Wintergarden Suites. But as an example a V1 and a V3 are the exact same room. The difference is deck and location on the ship.

Encore (and its sister ship Ovation) is a 100% Veranda ship so all rooms will have a balcony. Deck 5 (the lowest passenger deck on this ship) however has most of it’s balcony be the ship’s wall so it’s considered obstructed in that way. From most passengers this is not a problem. We’d consider a Deck 5 room in the future but most are forward location so that would be a consideration and as I will show later on the balcony with the full glass offers quite nice views. The ship is designed such that no rooms with exception to deck 11 (which are the Penthouse Suites) are located past basically mid ship (so all are basically mid-ship and forward).

View attachment 781523
So our room was located fairly mid-ship but also a bit forward. The rooms in that green color are V2. All of deck 5 is V1 but to give you an idea this is how many rooms are on deck 5.

View attachment 781524

As far as the difference our 639 room would correspond to room 543 if on deck 5

The 639 room location was perfect for us IMO. When we were in tendered ports you could feel and hear slightly the thrusters working when they needed to but no issues for us. Forward rooms, of which there are some high end ones, are subject to anchor noise so if you’re on an itinerary with a lot of tendering (such as ours was) that would be a consideration.

Love all this additional information - I think the only reason cruising has not been in my past, nor likely for my future, are all these tidbits on what to do / not to do .... I overthink enough on vacations, but I can't imagine being comfortable with making a few "wrong" choices which end up bothering me throughout the trip.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Very interesting anecdote on the tipping ...

Two things that get the most attention on those FB pages is dress codes and tipping I only commented once on the subject on one of the FB pages on a post complaining about the frequent tipping questions just to say I appreciated the questions because as an American we have a harder time trusting "no tipping". People do still tip it's just a very strong opinion mostly from non-U.S. passengers that they do not want the line to go the way of American tipping culture where tips are doled out so much to so many people and/or added onto the fares.

It is however understood that you still need to tip your tour guides if you do excursions.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Marking my spot to read later!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Love all this additional information - I think the only reason cruising has not been in my past, nor likely for my future, are all these tidbits on what to do / not to do .... I overthink enough on vacations, but I can't imagine being comfortable with making a few "wrong" choices which end up bothering me throughout the trip.

I actually asked a question about our room location back when it was reserved just not yet paid for in a deposit because there were what appeared to be employee service entrances or elevators several rooms up (that big white space). I wondered if noise was an issue and was assured it was not.

There have been some people who booked high level rooms complaining about anchor noise but the deck plans do denote which rooms are especially subject to them. The trade off is the room and often quite large balcony.

I too often overthink on vacations so I can relate. I would say with it being a smaller ship there's less errors you can make. On those mega ships I don't even know how one begins to figure out where you want to be. I did know mid-ship is best if you have concerns about motion sickness so I did want to stay closer to that if I could. The only main condition was I would not do a room without a balcony and we used our balcony every single day. On very cold climates this isn't as important but a large window is needed at that point, I'd still like a balcony but maybe not to Antarctica (which costs a down payment on a house )

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Marking my spot to read later!

Welcome Julie!

Catch up whenever you can, I know you're busy

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Okay back to us getting into the room, we walked in with such excitement and immediately took some photos before we wrecked ahem I mean made our room our home


Walking through the decks I honestly didn’t see anyone decorate their doors, just wasn’t really done here, not that I expected it but I know that’s talked about a lot on these Boards.





The flowers in that vase were switched out daily.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Okay so this shower is actually quite small in the end. I imagine many women shave over in the tub. I was able to shut off the top shower head and use the handheld to do so but originally was thinking I’d need to use the tub. That would actually be a suggestion we have to make the shower bigger…but it does have a tub which I know some passengers do use and separate tub on a ship is not quite as common.



Not the best photo of the tub admittedly but it’s a good sized one.




The walk in closet was very spacious



I uh definitely used the majority of the hangers. Luckily my husband was fine with folding his day and excursion shirts to put on the shelf above the top hangers. He used one or two of the drawers and I used the rest.

This cabin has plenty of storage. From where the tv is, the liquor and mini fridge area to the vanity mirror to the storage against the wall (where I stored my shoes except tennis shoes which went into the closet). All 4 of our suitcases went under the bed.

 

[GAN]

I have not heard of it but we actually do plan on being back in London (and actually exploring it) next spring. Looking it up I could see this being very helpful. I wonder if Citymapper could have worked for Athens...spoiler alert transit there is a hot mess (literally and figuratively). With our train trip next year I know we were going to use the Eurail app but I think this app you mention would also be good to have.

Thank you for the mention

You’re welcome! Loving the trip report as I’ve been going back and forth on a Med Cruise for a several months.

 

[GAN]

Love all this additional information - I think the only reason cruising has not been in my past, nor likely for my future, are all these tidbits on what to do / not to do .... I overthink enough on vacations, but I can't imagine being comfortable with making a few "wrong" choices which end up bothering me throughout the trip.

Yes. Agreed -extremely helpful!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You’re welcome! Loving the trip report as I’ve been going back and forth on a Med Cruise for a several months.

There is sooo much you can do in the Med area we just did a tiny part of it-ours was called Adriatic & Greek Treasures . We knew we wanted to do Greece so that helped out. I think it's easier to sorta figure out what are you thinking you might want to see most--is it a particular country, is it certain scenery or historic sites, etc. Although you may already have an idea of where you want to go

If I could do it over again I would try not to do July (nor August either), while it's normally hot in the summer this heatwave that hit southern Europe was breaking all sorts of records and it's expected that heatwaves will become more common. Most of our days in each port were 100-110+ degrees (Sicily though we didn't go there was hitting 118 degrees but the Acropolis was also hitting that too) and as I'll explain later on this really impacted Athens touring. Now being that hot isn't as expected but just putting that out there.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

For Seabourn dining venues:

The Colonnade that serves breakfast and lunch as a buffet, in the evening it becomes a table service rotating each evening themed dinner.

Sushi which has been such a hit on Encore and Ovation (the only ships to have a dedicated restaurant) that they are bringing it to one of the bar/lounge places on the other ships at least to order sushi. It's open for lunch (bento boxes and cooked food) and dinner (sushi, etc).

TK (Thomas Keller) Grill (basically a 50/60s style American steakhouse) which is there their specialty restaurant that requires a reservation but does not cost extra. You can book this anytime once you’ve put your deposit down. They have more availability on board as well. This is supposed to be a 1 time guaranteed per 7 day cruise. Open for evenings.

The Restaurant which is generally considered the main dining area. During Formal Night this is the only dining venue that carries that dress code, the remainder are Elegant Casual. Open for evenings.

The Patio that serves late breakfast and lunch buffet out in the main pool area. For the evenings this turns into table service place called Earth and Ocean where it’s a rotating daily menu and additional tables are set up closer towards the pool.

In Seabourn Square (considered the hub of the ship) there is a coffee spot and small café with a few sandwiches as well as cookies and muffins and small desserts that is open until 6pm I believe and reopens later on around 8 or so pm.

In addition they have 24hour room service (which is in the process of being revamped fleetwide). In the evenings you can order from The Restaurant and opt for a course by course delivery if you want. I know some people do this on Formal Night for example when they want the food offered but don’t feel like dressing up.

After taking some photos we decided to head off to the Colonnade for lunch. Originally the plan had been to check out Sushi which does bento boxes that are only served for lunch but they were not open for embarkation day. Gelato is heavily featured on Seabourn ships and we had an amazing cinnamon vanilla one. We were too hungry and I didn’t take pictures

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Our carry on luggage was delivered to our room first and then eventually our checked luggage.

My husband went off to the laundry room to iron his shirt for the evening attire (there is a self service complimentary laundry room with detergent provided, several irons and a steamer) and as I was unpacking I couldn’t help myself and availed myself to one of the robes and one of the slippers

Back home I live in slippers especially in the wintertime so it was very easy to slide right into living in the slippers on the ship. They were very plushy ones. We both used the robes a lot too.

When my husband came back from ironing he told me a passenger had told him about 20 people had missed the Venice pick up due to the Italian airport strikes. I don’t think Venice airport was the main one impacted but Rome and Florence were for sure.

We actually met a British couple the next day who missed Venice due to the strikes. They figured since they had been to Venice before they could fly in the day before and spend just 1 night there. What they ended up doing is flying into Dubrovnik, Croatia (our first stop was Vodice, Croatia) and hire a private car to get to the ship in Vodice so they only missed a portion of the cruise. Part of the reason we flew in as early as we did was because of potential issues, it would at least give us an extra day to make it. There are no guarantees though but we figured an extra day could help.

Quick robe selfies before going back inside, it was still decently hot out

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We watched our safety video in the room and as instructed several times you did not need to bring your life vest when you checked into your muster station which needed to be done by 4pm.

Once that video was done we figured we check out the sail away party and see the ship a bit after checking in for our muster station. Sail away was 5pm or so IIRC.

Almost as we were leaving we get a ring on our door and it’s our main room attendant Julia with some mimosas, oops I drank some before getting in a photo

She gave us a quick rundown of the room including the lights (even as tech advanced as we are we still struggled with what lights went to what but it sorta became the inside joke, I had heard about this from other people on the FB pages ahead of time), gave us a bit of what she and Patricia would be doing and to just let us know if we need anything to let them know. We could write notes and place them on the bed if we don’t physically catch them. She then gave us the reminder about the safety video/muster check in.

After that we went to the Grand Salon which was on our deck and was our muster station. It took all of a second or two to check in and we were free to do as we please.

At the Sail Away event we were immediately were met with drinks and friendly smiles


We stuck around a bit while the CD introduced himself as well as the entertainment then headed back to the room.

 

[Living42Day]

Hmmm...never thought about the alcohol thing with respect to being able to carry out your "duties". However, I would feel 100% comfortable even having a slightly buzzed Mackenzie in charge of getting everyone off of that plane!! You get to know people's personalities around here after awhile. I think if we voted on which DISer to put in the exit row...before this even came up....I would have picked her!

Yeah, the only reason I brought it up was because I had mentioned being buzzed in the exit row another thread maybe at the beginning of summer (it was after coming back from a funeral, hard trip so we rewarded ourselves with a margarita). There were a couple posters who implied I was an alcoholic and that I should not be drinking in the exit row and I was responsible for everyone's safety. I had to look back because the comment about consuming a bottle of wine and upgrading to exit row seats reminded me of that interaction. I didn't realize OP in this thread was the one who had made the comments until I looked back today. It was just kind of a funny thing to realize after the fact that the person chastising me back then was fine doing the same thing himself.

I won't derail any further

And since you brought up drinks you probably would have been glad too given your inebriated state. And def. being in an exit row you take on the duty of helping in case of an emergency probably should care more about bags being in the way.

 

[dvcgirl67]

There is sooo much you can do in the Med area we just did a tiny part of it-ours was called Adriatic & Greek Treasures . We knew we wanted to do Greece so that helped out. I think it's easier to sorta figure out what are you thinking you might want to see most--is it a particular country, is it certain scenery or historic sites, etc. Although you may already have an idea of where you want to go

If I could do it over again I would try not to do July (nor August either), while it's normally hot in the summer this heatwave that hit southern Europe was breaking all sorts of records and it's expected that heatwaves will become more common. Most of our days in each port were 100-110+ degrees (Sicily though we didn't go there was hitting 118 degrees but the Acropolis was also hitting that too) and as I'll explain later on this really impacted Athens touring. Now being that hot isn't as expected but just putting that out there.

I couldn't do that kind of heat for touring a city with a lot of outdoor sites. Maybe when we were younger....in our 30s, but not now. I have customers who are doing a week in Rome/Naples and I think maybe Sorrento on a tour and the idea of touring Rome in 90+ degree heat....nope. Rome is like a city that is an outdoor brick oven. However, I did hear about a cool trip that another customer took recently....and that was chartering a catamaran for a week in Croatia. I think I could do that in the heat. She did say that Split and Dubrovnik were packed with hot and sweaty tourists, but the other part...visiting tiny islands and towns sounded very cool.

We also really want to visit Sicily and would like to go when it's beach/swimming weather. DH finally got his dual citizenship with Italy and so he's itching to get that new passport and visit the town where his family comes from....Licata, Sicily. Which also happens to be the town that broke the European record in the last couple of weeks with respect to temperature.

Did it feel a bit cooler being out on the ship when you were at sea? I would imagine at least there would be a breeze.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I couldn't do that kind of heat for touring a city with a lot of outdoor sites. Maybe when we were younger....in our 30s, but not now. I have customers who are doing a week in Rome/Naples and I think maybe Sorrento on a tour and the idea of touring Rome in 90+ degree heat....nope. Rome is like a city that is an outdoor brick oven. However, I did hear about a cool trip that another customer took recently....and that was chartering a catamaran for a week in Croatia. I think I could do that in the heat. She did say that Split and Dubrovnik were packed with hot and sweaty tourists, but the other part...visiting tiny islands and towns sounded very cool.

We also really want to visit Sicily and would like to go when it's beach/swimming weather. DH finally got his dual citizenship with Italy and so he's itching to get that new passport and visit the town where his family comes from....Licata, Sicily. Which also happens to be the town that broke the European record in the last couple of weeks with respect to temperature.

Did it feel a bit cooler being out on the ship when you were at sea? I would imagine at least there would be a breeze.

It was doable but it did affect some things if talking about the cruise itself like walking tours (we did two total) where you could tell as much as the tour guides were in it and trying to give the best experience they could their plan was find shade, then talk and so then you got a tad less specialized information, like maybe before you would have gotten right up to the statue on the square but instead a shady spot a tad aways was done then talking about the statue.

We were all reminded to bring water and keep ourselves hydrated and to be careful with the heat. We wished we had done it it just didn't work out but people were taking in beach time when they could. I'm sure the waters were still quite warm but probably a welcome break. Also one of the events they normally have around the pool was moved inside and split between two bars/lounges.

Basing off of the tours while our cruise did seem (and def. had people talking) how the age was skewed so young (young being relative as in there were 40s and 50s along with teens and some young children) our tours still had some people older who went out in the heat (older being 60s and 70s though I'd say most were in their 40s and 50s.

It sorta felt marginally cooler on the ship at sea. There was a breeze but it was mostly a quite warm one. It could be because we went mostly close enough to land and being in the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. At night on the balcony felt pretty nice. While I could get away being in dresses my husband in slacks wasn't as comfortable outside even at night unless we were on our balcony where he could wear shorts.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Eventually we got ready for dinner. For Seabourn most venues after 6pm are Elegant Casual and we did try to stick with this. For the most part I saw people adhering to this though I didn't pay super attention to this.

For dinner we decided to do The Restaurant.

All dining venues are open seating, come when you want. This was so nice to have. No assigned times though dining venues did typically have a shorter opening window than other lines (not sure just surmising this). There is another time aside from TK Grill where a reservation is required which is TK night at the Colonnade for dinner but you can only make that once on board. It’s a popular event from what I hear but we didn’t stress about doing it. The Colonnade can seat quite a lot so seating wouldn’t have been an issue.

For dinner they have a red and a white wine that rotates daily and by venue. You can always ask for whatever wine or cocktail or whatever you want and there’s a good amount of liquor included. Seabourn is not a booze cruise kind of line but the alcohol is free flowing and they will always ensure you have your drink adequately replenished.

Meals typically come with apps sometimes automatically brought out and sometimes ordered by each person sometimes in addition to the apps automatically brought out then entrée then dessert but you can order whatever you want, you want two salads go for it!, you want two desserts go for it!

Bread service is also common though I didn’t take many pictures of that.

The waiters are very attentive in ensuring our plate settings are correctly set up for whichever course you're on either by removing or adding plates or adjusting silverware. We also found the hostesses would be super apologetic for a several minute wait while they set up a table as if this would be an issue for us lol. We're chill kind of people so no this wasn't a problem.