First time on Seabourn, picked because Silversea's Australia-New Zealand cruise was sold out. Will return to Silverseas. Encore is a fine-looking ship, the biggest, at 600 passengers, in Seabourn's fleet. The problem may stem from the size and the tough task of taking some of your best people from other ships and putting them on Seabourn. Basically, there were too few cabin attendants and too few wait staff in most of the dining areas. An exception was Seabourn Square, manned by fine baristas, always smiling and joking. Embarkation was about as usual, a bit of wait, but on a fully booked cruise, to be expected. The itinerary was good, as were some of the lectures on navigation and tips on what to look for. The highlight was Milford Sound, truly spectacular and very reminiscent of the fjords of Norway. The Encore's own shore excursions were plentiful and handled well. We also did some of own with private agencies. All in all, I was disappointed, considering the hefty price. My hope is Silverseas does not make the same mistake with the Muse. They've been wonderful so far with Silver Wind (one cruise) and Silver Whisper (two cruises).