Cruise review - Seabourn - The Pride, 7/29/2010 to 8/10/2010 Shanghai, China to Kobe, Japan

I want to be clear about one thing ... we have placed a $1000.00 deposit for a future cruise on Seabourn. I am in the hospitality business and this review will sound very critical about what some might consider trivial. Overall, we had a fabulous time, ate well, drank more than we should, met some of the most interesting people, and were served by a staff that appreciates their guests.

Our Cabin - Who wouldn't be happy with the size and the amenities in the cabin? We are first time Seabourn cruisers who had placed a reservation for a GTY Suite ... and we were "gifted" a balcony suite on the 6th level ... one of the more expensive rooms. Upon entering the suite, the promised champagne was on the coffee table along with a rather sad spray of orchids. The flowers were changed 4 days later, which was 8 days past their prime. Our requested liquor was not in the room and we were informed by our stewardess that it would not be possible to have it stocked until after the ship had sailed. She did call someone and within 30 minutes, the bottle of Jack Daniel's and the bottle of house chardonnay that were ordered arrived. On both bottles, a green sticker was placed on the label, indicating that they had borrowed these bottles from one of the bars on the ship ... the color coding is a method to insure that the bottles stay on the bar where they were issued. In the rush to please, they didn't realize that the bourbon bottle had been previously opened. Yes, it could have been contaminated ... but I decided to chance it! We ran out of Chardonnay day two and had to bring it to the attention of the staff 36 hours after we ran out. It was replaced right away, and in fact ... by the time we left the ship ... there were 4 bottles of chardonnay in the mini-fridge! Point is, we shouldn't have had to tell them that it needed to be replaced. There were 2 engineering issues in the room ... the shower rod was pulled away from the ceiling and one of the stoppers in one of the sinks would not open to allow the waste to drain. Both problems were fixed as soon as we mentioned them. There was a sock behind the curtain leading to the balcony left by a previous guest ... The lone sock was placed in the trash ... this housekeeping issue was not reported. The bed is GREAT, the TV channel selections are far above any that I have seen on any other cruise line, the bath products are SUPERIOR, and who wouldn't be happy with Frette linens! We never heard our neighbors on either side, so the problem of noise must have been corrected during the recent re-do. Only one 110 outlet and that is in the vanity area. I hear people talking about not paying the extra for a Juliet balcony ... but we LOVED it. I am not sure if it was Seabourn or the Tourist Agency for the individual ports, but there was always arrival or departure entertainment. Our location on the ship was facing almost all of the entertainment ... so we never had to go on deck to enjoy it ... We felt like we had box seats at a theater! The robes that were in the closet were "cold climate" robes ... that really couldn't be worn in the heat & humidity of an Asian Summer. The stewardess had the habit of leaving the bath stopper in the middle of the tub lying on its side ... small issue, but I was always afraid of stepping on it when entering the tub. Also, I am surprised that there are no grab bars that are convenient to allow stability as you enter & and exit the tub. We had to ask for our soap to be replaced ... and this was done so by a stewardess that was assigned to the cabins across the hall. I heard of others on the ship having baths drawn and rose petals strewn around ... we never saw any of that. Read more