Seabourn entertainment and staff

If you have cruised the mainstream cruise lines before with the likes of P&O, RCCL etc don’t go expecting the same level of entertainment onboard a Seabourn ship! Entertainment is much more low key but there are still lots of activities to fit in and keep you busy should you wish to do so.

The entertainment team consists of The Cruise Director (Ross on our sailing), the assistant Cruise Director and and handful of singers and dancers, 6 in total.

There’s no theatre on board but the Grand Salon is the area where the main evening entertainment is provided. During my time on board there was a couple of musical shows from the entertainment staff in the evening and 2 comedians which I have to say were excellent. The entertainment was good but I personally would have liked a little more.

Other venues in the evening are The Club which has pre/post dinner music with a live band, when the music finished, about 11pm, there was a jukebox for you to select your music to dance the night away to, and in The Observation bar Jamie would play the piano every evening. There was also other events like Name That Tune etc. This seemed to be the venue to go to for pre dinner drinks and nibbles.

The main shows were very popular, most people retired to bed after this leaving maybe a handful in the bars after. After 10 o’clock this ship does become very quiet with a handful keeping the bartenders up until the early hours but as with any cruise line this will depend on the crowd on board.

During the day there were several guest speakers talking  on various topics Brexit was one topic, along with cooking demonstrations, dance classes and more competitive golf tournaments on the putting course on deck.

The Sail Away parties were very good and had a good turnout. These varied from local grecian folkloric dances coming on board to the entertainment staff singing classical and musical songs while we sailed out of Montenegro. I have to say this was a hair on the neck type moment for me with the scenery and music. Other sailaways included the Caviar sailaway party.

There is also a small casino on board but this very rarely had more than 5 people in on an evening but competitions are still held if you wish.

The crew

Now I have to say the crew onboard were amazing perhaps it is no surprise but this was the best service experience I have ever received, the attention to detail was second to none and  the ‘nothing is too much trouble’ attitude really came through.

It started at the top with the Cruise director, his name was Ross, a young guy from Nottingham who had only been with Seabourn for 12 months. A funny guy who entertained everyone but who took time out to literally speak to as many guests as he possible could, and not just a quick hello I would often see him around the pool deck introducing himself to new guests and reacquainting himself with the regulars, easily spending half an hour talking to them. One little old lady, who was traveling by herself, had the privilege of meeting Ross every afternoon around the pool deck to play Backgammon.

The waiters and waitresses were so pleasant always looking to make sure you had everything you needed, your glass topped up, even down to coming around with suncream and cleaning your sunglasses.

Within 4 hours they knew my name, what I liked to drink and even the time I would have my first beer in the afternoon! One gentleman’s particular favourite drink wasn’t available on board so the crew got off in port to go find him what he wanted!

As I’ve mentioned before Seabourn gets a lot of regular guests and you can see why. The day we boarded you could see the staff had remembered the guests by name and still knew what they liked. There were hugs and kisses, it really was like friends had come round to stay rather than another group of guests had joined.

You definitely aren’t just another customer on Seabourn and I guess this explains their philosophy of ‘there aren’t any passengers on Seabourn ships just guests who come to stay’.