My husband and I just returned from our first Seabourn cruise. While we don't take as many cruises as many of you, we have been on six previous cruises with Regent. This trip we sailed from Venice to Istanbul and these are my thoughts:

THE GOOD

The Odyssey is a beautiful ship with wonderful public areas like Seabourn Square. We thought it was the perfect size at 450 passengers.

While the verandah cabins are laid out differently than those on Regent, we found them to be spacious and functional. There is no desk, but the table works fine for this purpose. The cabinets across from the end of the bed make for a tight space, but we just used them to store items that we did not access frequently.

The food and service with a few minor exceptions were outstanding.

Our pre and post cruise arrangements were handled flawlessly. Both hotels were lovely and our Seabourn Journey tour in Istanbul involved an excellent local guide for a very small intimate group.

Overall the shore excursions were well done and they kept the groups on the small side. Most of the guides used were interesting and well informed.

Onboard entertainment was varied and surprisingly good except for one corny comedian.

The ship sponsored evening concert in Ephesus was an incredible experience.

THE BAD

The spa is handled by Steiner and I thought their services were overpriced. No one offered to show me around and no one escorted me to my locker. My hot stone massage was nice but I did not choose to sign up for any additional services.

Restaurant 2 was a disappointment. I don't like the way you have to call for reservations for this alternative dining venue and many people had trouble getting in. We were approached by someone working there when we walked past on our first day and he made our reservation for us however. The tasting menu was an interesting dining experience, but we did not care for the food.

Due to rough seas that made it difficult to run the tenders we missed three island ports. On our first segment it was Cephalonia and it was replaced with a sea day. On the second segment we had to skip both Patmos and Chios. We ended up having extra time and overnights in both Kusadasi and Istanbul. The staff scrambled around and arranged excursions for Istanbul and the evening concert at Ephesus was moved up. Given our port intensive itinerary the schedule changes didn't bother us that much, but I heard that some of the passengers were very disappointed and were spreading rumors that it was really due to mechanical problems. I have no reason to think that was the case and I'm sure they have to be concerned about passenger safety.

The onboard lecturer was dry and boring compared to some we've had on our Regent cruises.

The bathroom could have benefited from a larger shower instead of a separate tub and shower.

We missed our free internet and this is why I didn't post any seamail.

THE CONCLUSION

We had a great time and we would highly recommend Seabourn to anyone. I think most Regent cruisers would find it a very pleasant experience.

Hi Sue

Interesting pretty much the same feeling I had when I went. Often we all see things differently.

I liked that storage cabinet at the end of the bed. Lots of storage and I really liked all that counter space. I think I am in the minority in that view as I have read others feel that it makes it too tight at the end of the bed. I really like the cabin and feel it works great.

Restaurant 2 and the way they do reservations was also something I think they could improve. Of course no included internet is hard to get used to for sure.

Overall a really great ship.

Hi Sue,
We just returned from the Seabourn Spirit and we also missed a couple of ports due to choppy seas. They substituted Catania for Valetta and Sorrento for Amalfi.
I enjoyed the tasting menu at 2 very much but I also wanted to get into the Indian night at 2 and I never cleared the waitlist.
We had a great time and the service was wonderful. However the triplets feel a little dated now and I'm ready to try one of the newere ships.
Since every day was a port day, there were almost no activities onboard during the day. Guess I'm used to all the activities on transatlantics on Cunard.
I did spend some time talking to Captain Dag on more than one occasion. What a great guy! He sent regards to all the LCT folk and Ngaire.

It was interesting that almost everyone we met onboard the Odyssey was a first timer with Seabourn too. The few people we encountered who had sailed on the smaller triplets were all complaining about the lack of intimacy and personal attention on the new larger ship! I guess it is all a trade off, but we thought the service on the Odyssey was pretty darned good.

I think a lot of Regent and Silversea guests are trying the new larger Seabourn ships that would not have liked the triplets. Those that are triplet fans may not like a larger ship. The size of the ship does change a cruise and we all like different things.

This probably accounts for all the first time Seabourn guests. Seabourn will have to pick up a lot of new guests to fill these larger ships and they wont all be from the loyal Seabourn triplet fans.