So You Think I Was Cheerleading About The Seabourn Sojourn? Read What Others Are Saying!

I know it is hard to believe that a cruise line can get it pretty much all right, but the reality is that Seabourn Sojourn’s Maiden Voyage was about as near to perfect as it gets. I ended my rather analytical review as follows:  “I have been on a number of Seabourn cruises…and I am comparing this cruise only to my previous Seabourn cruises and my expectations…and the Seabourn Sojourn exceeded my expectations; and not just expectations for a maiden voyage, but for any voyage.”  But some readers think that just might have been a bit of hype.  It wasn’t…and I can prove it!

I previously reported that during President, Pamela Conover’s, Question and Answer session there was not a single complaint and that during my time aboard the Seabourn Sojourn…for the Inauguration and Naming Ceremony, the Charity Event and the Maiden Voyage (through Iceland)…I hardly found a flaw.  Then I heard the ratings by the guests was near “off the chart” with the average rating being 9.56 out of a perfect 10!

Similarly I reported that some of the little criticisms of the Seabourn Odyssey had been corrected:  The vibration is gone, the high tables in The Restaurant are history, the banquettes in the Grand Salon are lower and one Spa Villa has been converted to a beautiful pre/post treatment relaxation area for all spa guests to enjoy.

Cruise Critic (whose relevance in the luxury market is now fairly minimal considering the few posters and even fewer that sail more than a week at a time) has a few comments, but those are all very positive and consistent with mine.  An infrequent poster, Won2Go wrote, “Wow, Seabourn did a great job all round. The ship worked well without any obvious problems. The extra activities put on for this trip were wonderful: fireworks as we traveled along the Thames estuary, a Viking village re-creation in Iceland and a fabulous evening in Amsterdam. The staff were all very enthusiastic and did everything possible to please the guests.”

Cruise Diva (http://www.cruisediva.com/) has a blog post today:  A ‘Flawless’ Maiden Voyage For Seabourn Sojourn which quotes Seabourn Blog’s noting of comments from quite a few guests; each one raving more than the other.  The nicest of Linda Coffman’s comments was, “The consensus of emotions among guests and crew was a mix of elation and pride.”   Guests having “pride”…does it get better than that?

I ask you to pause…just for a moment…OK, just one more…

Now, if you had a choice between selecting a cruise line that performed at that level…with the expectations being so high and the critics waiting to pounce on any flaw…and any other luxury line, be it Regent Seven Seas, Silversea or whomever, what would the factor(s) be that would make you not put Seabourn on the top of the list of choices?

And there is the conundrum!  How do I honestly tell you how good Seabourn is and how I seek to provide my clients with that same level of service without seeming to be cheerleading?  Oh, such problems!

Anyway:  Now do you believe me?