You're about to discover the seven things you absolutely need to know about
Seabourn Encore. I'm Gary Bembridge, and this is another of my
tips for travellers. I'm currently on board
Seabourn Encore, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to tell you seven
things that I think you need to know about the ship.
Seabourn Encore is the first of two ships that were a new class of ship for
Seabourn. They have the Odyssey class of three ships and now they
have the new Encore class. Seabourn Encore being the first one and Seabourn Ovation
the second. These ships are quite a bit bigger than the Odyssey class. The
Odyssey class take 458 guests, and Encore take 600 passengers, so it's over 30%
more passengers. Being a bigger ship, the Encore has more space,
more facilities and more choice. Let's talk about that in a bit more
detail. There's a lot of dining options on board Seabourn Encore. The Restaurant
is the main dining room, and it is open for dinner, it's a waiter service
and it has multi-course meals, and of course vegetarian options. It's
also open sometimes for breakfast and lunch, which varies based on
the itinerary. One of the most popular venues is The Colonnade. The Colonnade is
the more informal dining venue. Breakfast and lunch are always a buffet, with lots
of stations and really good food, and in the evenings it's normally a sit-down served
meal. These are normally themed around different countries. Some evenings
it will be more buffet style, so for example on the Indian evening
that was a self-service. The patio is also incredibly popular up by the pool.
At lunchtime they serve informal stuff like hot dogs and
hamburgers and in the evening it becomes a little bit more formal
with a waiter service menu and a wide range of good food. One
of my favourite places is Sushi. This is a relatively small space and
when I was on Encore, it was staffed entirely by Japanese. Incredible sushi and
sashimi as you would expect by the name. You can go as often as you like. It's
open most days for lunch and dinner, and it's included within the fare. If you are
ever on it on board, I recommend you go early in the
cruise because it is really good and you're probably will want to go back. The
Grill by Thomas Keller, who is a celebrity chef in the United States, is
their main speciality restaurant. It's modelled on a 50s / 60s steakhouse.
You can expect things like Lobster Thermidor and steaks. It's all served
with a little bit of theatre. A really great venue. You're
allowed to go once per cruise and Seabourn recommend that you book it before you go
on the cruise to make sure you get the day and time you want. In terms of other
dining options, there's complimentary room service which has
breakfast and lunch, and in the evenings you can order from the
restaurant menu and have it served in your cabin. Afternoon
tea, which is a great experience, is served up in the Observation Bar
with sandwiches, cakes and scones. The next thing you need to know
about Seabourn Encore is some of the big flagship facilities
they offer, and there are probably two of these that are worth noting. The first of
which is called Seabourn Square. This is something that all Seabourn ships have
and it's something that they're very proud of. Seabourn Square is a large space
on Encore, and it's really the hub and the heart of the ship. In here you
have Guest Services, Shore Excursions, Future Sales and
a coffee shop in here. There is small library with guide
books and newspapers printed out from all around the world and also
available on electronic devices where you can read the papers. It's a popular
venue. It's a place that people head to during the day, as places
to sit both inside and outside. It's a nice
space with a really good feel and if you want to know what's going
on and to meet, greet and see passengers, then Seabourn Square is definitely
the place to be. The other big thing that Seabourn are very proud of is The
Retreat. The Retreat you do have to pay for. It has 15 cabanas with
a television and a refrigerator stocked with beverages. The
Retreat can hold up to 30 guests and, at the time of recording, it
was $149 dollars on a port day and $249 on a sea day. What's important about
that price is the price is per suite and two of you are included within that price.
The next thing I'd like to talk about are bars and lounges. Premium drinks, soft
drinks, alcoholic drinks, wines and champagnes are included within the
fare.The main places to go are The Club which is, as the name would suggest,
an evening spot and this is kind of the late-night place
on board. There is often dancing before and after dinner, and you'll often
find live music played in here. This is also where the casino is. It's not
a massive casino, but you have a few machines and a couple of tables.
Probably the nicest bar, in my view, is the Observation Bar right up on
the top of the ship on deck 11, right in the front of the ship. You
have great views as you're sailing along, and it has a circular bar, great seating
and it's a really nice space. This is where they have Afternoon Tea. On the
pool deck you also have a bar there on deck 9 and there's also another bar a little
bit up on deck 10 as well. So, a selection of bars and lounges spread across the
ship. The next thing I think you need to understand is all about wellness and
Spa and fitness. What facilities do they have on board? There is a pool, a
pretty decent sized pool. up on Deck 9. This is the main pool and you also have
another smaller pool on deck five. This is a real find, it's just behind The
Club. A lot of people forget it's there. It's great on
sea days because you're at the back of the ship sailing. It's a really nice
space. I really like the pool on Deck 5. There is a Spa, it's a pretty big
Spa with a salon, barbershop and, of course, the treatment rooms. You have
a fitness centre with a space outside where people often stretch after they've
done their workout classes. They also offer classes, which are normally included within the
fare. In terms of activities and fitness, there's also a marina which
is opened based on where you're sailing in the world where they're able
to open it in port. From the Marina you can do various water
activities off the back of the ship. The next thing I'd like to talk about is
what is there to do on board? What is there to do in terms of
entertainment and activities? First of all, the key venue is known as the
Grand Salon. This is where the shows are held every evening. Each evening
you'll have the Seabourn Vocalists perform a show or have
various guest artists on board. Every evening there will be some sort of
entertainment in the Grand Salon, and around the ship in the key venues like
in the Observation Bar and in The Club
you'll have live musicians playing. If you like to play cards there is a large
Card Room. Like on many cruises, you'll
have a range of activities that the entertainment team run. So, that might be
a golf putting competitions, trivia quizzes, competitions and the usual kind of stuff
that you would normally find on board a cruise.
There's also things like
the Captain's Welcome Party, on one of the days you'll have a
caviar evening, for example on the cruise we were on we had a Caviar
and Champagne Evening also you have, weather permitting,
a party out on the deck. There's normally a series of parties and
events happening across the cruise. The next thing you need
to know about are the cabins, or suites a Seabourn calls them.
They call their ships "all- suite ships" and on Seabourn Encore 100%
of the Suites have a balcony or veranda (depending on which what you want to call
it). The Suites themselves are pretty big and certainly when I posted
pictures when I was on board, a lot of people commented about the size. I was
in a pretty mid-range cabin, one of the
veranda suites and that's one I want to
talk about because that's what the bulk of the Suites are on board.
These suites are pretty big, they're very comfortable and plush,
because it's a premium ship the quality of things, like the bedding, is
high. The bathroom is fantastic with twin basins, and I had a bath
and separate shower, and there are Molson brown toiletries. There is a
big interactive television with movies on demand. You
have a minibar, which can be stocked pretty much with anything that you want,
because drink is included within the fare.
Seabourn Encore does have, although it didn't actually have one when
it left the shipyard, is a guest laundry. You can send your stuff
away to be laundered, but there is a guest laundry that was installed not
long after the ship set sail on its maiden voyage.
Seabourn Encore is a beautiful ship. It holds 600 passengers and if you're
looking for luxury with lots of choice, take a look at Seabourn Encore or its
sister ship, Seabourn Ovation, because you have
a relatively small ship but choices on board. I have many more videos about cruising and
about Seabourn, so why don't you watch another one of those right now?