We have cruised on Regent, Crystal, Viking, Celebrity, Princess and Cunard and although our experience with Seabourn was very good, there was something about Seabourn that did not live up to all the hype. The plus points are excellent cabin sizes, good food, good service and staff (most of the time), excellent safety and security procedures and the all inclusive nature of the cruise. Seabourn Quest is a very stable and capable vessel and is well designed with lots of outdoor and indoor space, which meant that although the ship was full, it never felt crowded. The atmosphere was relaxed and fellow passengers were a pleasure to travel with. The Antarctic experience was amazing and well organised with an excellent expedition team, who were knowledgeable and experienced. The negatives were the inclusive wines for the first half of our 60 day cruise were awful. The premium wines were expensive and we felt disinclined to spend even more money on wine, when we had paid a small fortune for the cruise in the first place. The Seabourn shore excursions were overpriced and underwhelming. We cancelled most of them once we realized that we could do the excursions ourselves at a greatly reduced priced. The overland adventures to Macchu Pichu and Torres del Piene were excellent but very expensive. A handful of the staff were rude and unhelpful. The service was not always 5 star because there seemed to be insufficient staff in certain bar areas. Charging $189 for a 2 hour zodiac or kayak trip in Antarctica was outrageous considering the price of the cruise. They should be included in the cruise price. The Thomas Keller Grill restaurant was rather ordinary and the entertainment options on board rather limited. Crystal and Regent offer better value for money and better food and wine. We disembarked in Buenos Aires after 60 days onboard and were abandoned to total chaos, where we waited 2 hours in sweltering temperatures trying to find a taxi. We had 5 suitcases, limited luggage trolleys and were trying to queue with 10,000 other cruise passengers who had arrived at the terminal at the same time. Seabourn should have warned us about this situation as they knew that 4 other cruise ships were due to dock at the same time. A word of warning - book a car in advance through Seabourn (at an outrageous price of $100 for a 20 min journey into the town centre, which would cost $15 by taxi. Or book a car privately as BA cruise terminal can be a complete nightmare!!!! I would sail with Seabourn again but only if the itinerary was a good one. They are a good cruise line but not that good and you are paying top dollar! Read Less

This was our first time on Seabourn, but will not be the last. The suites are expansive and well appointed. Our only complaint there would be the ridiculously small TVs that are in the cabin. Public spaces are well done for this size ship. Th entertainment was excellent actually. The four singers and two dancers that were part of the Seabourn team were some of the best that I have seen on any Cruise line. The food was always top notch, we never had a complaint at any restaurant. Now the only complaint and it is minor. The Restaurant Wait staff always seemed a little out of sync. Many times throughout the cruise we heard "sorry we're a little busy", or " we'll be with you in a minute". Even at the signature restaurant The Grill, we waited quite awhile for any service. The maitre D finally came over and asked if we had any service yet.It wasn't awful just not what we expected from Seabourn, and we had this happen repeatedly. The clientele on our cruise was definitely well heeled, and well traveled, and tends to be older. This is NOT a cruise line for children. All in all it is a luxury experience well worth the cost. Read Less

I simply can't believe this is the same cruise line and even the same ship on which we experienced a truly magical trip to Antarctica. Whatever has happened to Seabourn in just 4 years? First, the good point (note the singular): the food has improved massively. Everything else however has fallen off a cliff - the style, the sense of being really spoilt albeit at huge expense , the quality of the whole experience - it's all gone. Let's gloss over being subjected to an entirely avoidable hurricane. We'll forget the force 9 that followed 3 nights later. Let's even pretend we didn't notice the fiasco at Quebec City, where the ship berthed in the wrong spot and total chaos ensued. Let's also not make too much of the complete breakdown in communication from both the bridge and the 'cruise director' that followed. Instead, we'll focus us a trip that cost more than my car that was poorly planned, appallingly managed and that we couldn't wait to be over. The itinerary was laughable, visiting a series of one-dog towns with nothing of any interest to see or experience. Pierre et Miquelon was a purported highlight. It wasnt. And as we arrived on a Wednesday every restaurant, bar and shop was closed. Nobody from Seabourn had thought to check. On a guided walking tour, the guide was reduced to pointing out where her auntie lived. Worst of all was the switch in emphasis to all-day boozing. Seabourn Square was always a quiet internet cafe and library. On this trip it doubled as an early risers' bar, with Irish coffee served at 10am to the same crowd who lurched through the days, gradually becoming more obnoxiously inebriated until they conspired to ruin every sailaway and afternoon tea in the formerly elegant Sky Bar by sinking endless cocktails and shouting a lot. I feel nothing but contempt and anger at Carnival for trashing what was one of the last bastions of refined and understated cruising, Seabourn. Shame on you Richard Meadows. Read Less

We have been on multiple cruises ,first time on seaborne .I like the small ship ,the crew driving the ship ,especially the captain was very professional and competent .Our suite was very nice .Food in the main dining room was very average with a heavy emphasis every night on salmon and shrimp .Service was disorganized and poor taking up to 2 hours to eat .No obvious supervision .The Colonnade dining room was much better with themed meals each night ,much better service and excellent supervision by the maitre di .Coffee bar is excellent .Excursions are extremely overpriced .Entertainment is very average .One singer was fairly good ,comedian wasnt funny . Lecturers were of very mediocre quality to what we are used to ,often getting facts wrong . Ports were good ,better to arrange ones own tour with a local taxi etc ,more personalized and cheaper . Average age on the cruise was 80+and was mainly Americans . Read Less

Missed a prior cruise. Seabourn was good enough to let me apply that payment to this cruise. The cruise was very relaxing and a nice way to see some towns that would have been hard to fly to or drive to. Seabourn is very good about almost always providing you service exactly when you want it. You eat when you feel like it, not at an assigned time, check-in to the ship usually only takes a few minutes. The crew is amazing about remembering your name. This was my first cruise with sea days, two of them out of a ten day cruise. Overall, my wife and I found it very relaxing although I missed the opportunity to go onshore every day. Food options are excellent and portions of most items small which allows for a multi-course meal without getting stuffed. For internet addicts, you will be able to use your phone as a hot spot (if you have the US-Canada plan) during almost the entire trip thru the St. Lawrence Seaway, in all ports, and usually for about an hour or so when leaving or entering ports of the Atlantic. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary and dates. Also, we had never been on luxury cruise. The food was excellent. There was much variety. We never had to stand in line and never had trouble finding a place to sit. Sometimes, we had to wait to be served drinks or flag down a server. In the main dining room, the staff was not familiar with the seating arrangements. They carried tiny seating charts and sometimes went the wrong direction. Several times, the orders were mixed up or courses were missed. Getting on and off the boat for shore excursions was easy and organized. We booked our shore excursions from Seabourn and found them to be good, except for Halifax. The AC on the bus was broken and the windows were fogged up. It was raining inside the bus from the humidity. I would say to skip the tour to Lunenburg. Even though it is a UNESCO site, it was disappointing. There is also not much to do Gaspe. All the others ports, we enjoyed. The entertainment was quite good. The theater was never full. I would guess that the average age of passengers was 75-80. I would have preferred more diverse age groups as we are in early 60s. Also, with the size of the Quest, I felt the pitching and rolling much more than on a larger ship. Read Less

I chose this cruise based on itinerary and the belief that Seabourn was a top of the line cruise experience. We were able to secure an upgrade an ended up with a Penthouse Suite. The accommodations are excellent. The room far exceeded expectations. The bathroom was large with a separate room for the toilet which included its own basin. Very private and nice. There was a jetted tube and the lovely Molton Brown toiletries. Our cabin stewardess was wonderful. That being said the rest of the experience was not at all what we expected. From the wine selections to the food - very disappointing. The Thomas Keller restaurant where you could only dine twice was underwhelming. Lobster was under cooked. I only eat seafood and throughout the trip I always had to ask for something other than what was on the menu. The only fish they offer as an daily option is Salmon - my least favorite fish. The lobsters were unlike any I ever had before. I live in Miami and am used to fine fresh seafood. These were not either Maine or Florida lobsters. I don't know where they came from. Don't eat caviar yet found that those who do could get it any time they wanted. Why no decent fish available? They managed to find a piece of mahi once and a tuna filet. The Seabourn Square served the same finger sandwiches everyday. Mostly bread with very little filling. Same cookies and cakes at the Square and for tea. The coffee was always luke warm and so strong it was undrinkable. I finally learned to order a pot of hot water to dilute it. I head the same complaint from others that I mentioned it to as well. Unfortunately we took the last smoking voyage and paid the price. The observation bar with a wonderful piano bar could not be frequented after 8 p.m. due to the heavy smoke inside. We heard from many the same disappointments.They said not to judge Seabourn by this cruise. I swore this would be my first and last Seabourn cruise, but heard the reason this one was so lacking was because the top crew members had been transferred over to the new Encore. Just found an itinerary I like for the Mediterranean so may give them a second chance. I would never go on the Quest again. Read Less

This was a 14 day cruise from Montreal to Miami with a nice itinerary which we took on Seabourn to if it remained a premium line. Background: 70 yr. old married couple with over 400 cruising days on 12 different lines in the last 10 years or so. We were on Seabourn when it was an independent line, no Carnival. Best: The ship. Very attractive, clean, modern ship. Very sterile in appearances, but that can be a good thing. Worst: Port days. They almost never docked in any of the advertised ports. They either us in when all other ships just docked, or in the case of NY City, they took us to a dock owned by Carnival in Brooklyn, and bused for an hour each way to NYC. You definitely did not want to get outside of the immediate dock area in Brooklyn. The dock in NYC is 5 minute walk from where they docked which is where every other line was. The captain was strongly questioned on this when he did question and answer session at the end and he made no bones about it: I is much more profitable for Carnival to do it this way. Next worse would be the food. Ship: The ship is new, beautiful with lots of very positive aspects, especially the staterooms. The dining room is pretty bland in appearance and functionality. The other common areas are very nice. The traffic flow only works if the weather allows for comfortable use of the open decks; otherwise, passage between common areas requires walking down long stateroom hallways. Poor functionality on our cruise. Dining: Basically the only full service dinning room is the main dining room. There is a specialty restaurant, but getting into it even once is difficult and more than that is impossible without a bribe to the Maitre Di or wine steward of considerable size. That I am told works well, and the nature of the clientele is such that they are very accustomed to practice and actually enjoy it. Did not work well with a conservative Midwesterner. Given it was a 14 day cruise they allowed a free visit. I can tell you not to bother as it is no better than the main dinning room, just more food. Food in the main dinning room is highly variable, but certainly no better than any of the better "mass market" cruise lines. Limited selections and very average preparation was our experience with occasional surprises in both directions. Lunches had extremely limited choices at times, but food was equal to the evenings. Do Not Take This line for a dining experience. Dinning service: I think the best word i chaotic. You could be seated and given a menu and wait 30 minutes to see a staff member. Or, you could get a menu followed rapidly by a server for you order when you ask for the wine steward. There goes 30 minutes. It was rare they remembered who ordered what which was strange because they offer 3 courses even at dinner. If you dined with others this gave you something to joke about. BUT, they were all very pleasant. Stateroom: Very nice rooms. We had a standard balcony suite. Large modern and well designed. The showers were very tight and I only have a 32 inch waist. We would have much preferred just a nice shower and no tube. Stateroom service: Outstanding! Pools: Tiny, more for looks. Hot tubes: They use Bromine rather than chlorine so the 10% of us that are allergic to bromine were out of luck. Embarkation and Disembark were smooth. Entertainment: The guest entertainers were all very good and resident staff was also quite adequate, but nothing memorable. Read Less

I have to start out by saying this was our 5th Seabourn Cruise and our second Montreal to Ft. Lauderdale cruise with Seabourn. We did the same cruise last year with near perfect fall like weather in very port. This year's weather was not our friend. It was in the 30's to 40's, cold and rainy most of the time in Canada all the way down to our first day and night in New York. Yet, we loved both cruise because we were on Seabourn. We were greeted, Seabourn style on a cold Thursday afternoon at the port of Montreal (always under construction) and issued inside the main lounge to register and pick up our key cards. "Champagne sir?" "But of course." Less than 10 minutes to sign in and off to the Main Restaurant for lunch while we waited for our room to become available. Seabourn ships are always on one long continuous cruise so the restaurants are always in "full service mode" serving main courses everyday. While some passengers are getting on or off that day, others were staying on and this was just another day on the ship. At 2pm we made our way to our room to find our bags waiting for us. Our room stewardess arrived within a few minutes to introduce herself and of offer us a 'welcome aboard' glass of champagne. Ninety percent of the suites on the 3 Seabourn ships are exactly the same so we love the familiarity of arriving in same room cruise after cruise. After 76 days sailing on Seabourn My wife and I have our 'preassigned storage spaces' (and the suites have copious amounts of storage including a walk-in closet). We choose Seabourn first for the food because, at home, my wife and I eat the best quality (and most healthy) food possible. I battle migraine headaches and avoid any and all spicy food and only eat unprocessed - high quality foods, both of which I can get on Seabourn. Their chiefs are always willing to cook my food any way I ask. This year we had the great pleasure of eating in the new Thomas Keller restaurant and what an event it was. Arguably the finest meals we've ever had, including the best lamb chops and salmon ever. The service was unpretentious and absolutely top notch. We were worried about loosing Restaurant 2 but the Thomas Keller Restaurant is a fabulous addition to Seabourn. Also, there were several times we were able to order Thomas Keller items in the other dining venues. One example was ordering THE BEST Thomas Keller buttermilk fried chicken in the Colonnades Restaurant one night. We regret eating too much chicken that night! The second reason we choose Seabourn is for their service which is second to none. We now have 90 days on Seabourn and have had only excellent service. The staff learns your name by day 3 or 4 and we are now seeing our favorite people from cruise to cruise. One of our favorite staff members, Tammy, was recently promoted and is charge of the Bar staff (which is a very big team). Her staff did a fantastic job on this cruise. The third reason we love Seabourn is there various forms of entertainment throughout the cruise. The ships carry a max of 425 passengers but the entertainment consists of; 2 different (and excellent) lounge singers with bands, a production company style group, 2 or 3 guest performers, and local performers who come on board for 1 or 2 shows during the cruise. Couple this with the "Rock the Boat" deck parties and the dance till late with the wifie to a live band every night. The main lounge is never pack nor does it have a bad seat but the entertainment never disappoints. What we love most is the consistency Seabourn offers. As I said in my title, the weather kind of sucked but we loved this cruise. We ate well, were treated well, were entertained while being on an excellent ship. The weather outside was frightful, but inside it was so delightful - (sorry ;). We have our first Oceania 7 day cruise coming up in December. I'll report back on how it compares. Read Less

I am not a frequent cruiser. However, the purpose of taking cruises was getting away from home to have some relaxing time and enjoyment. Service, food and pleasent surrounding became the major. Seabourn Quest is a small ship. Comparing to other luxury cruises, Silversea and Crystal I took before, there are not that many public area to explore in Quest. All dining facilities or bars have 2 to 3 hours set hours. Only Square has longer hours to get limited snacks, tea and coffee. Otherwise need to use room service. For us, sitting in the cabin, might as well stay home. Overall appearance of the facilities in the ship were so plain and boring. Don't talk about any interior design. If there were no chandeliers in MDR, with all white curtains, you would think you were in a huge cafeteria dining hall. Such so unappealing, there were very few people used it for breakfest and lunch. We usually would like to have breakfest and lunch in MDR in other ships, but not Seabourn Quest. Overall, the service was good B+ , very professional but lacking personal touch and warmess. We were the one extending ourselves to try to know the staffs and set up some human communication with them. Also staffs in dining always try to be attentive and interrupt the conversation constantly. It was very annoyed and would not happen in any upscale fine dining restaurants. Dining was disappointed. MDR, B, rating, inspiration menu was better than classic, still not inspired enough and creative. Every other day, with Thomas Keller special giving some varieties. Thomas Keller grill C+ we are never the fan of Thomas Keller, especially his bristro style restaurant. Nothing exceptional. Especially the deserts, his nightly special desert in MDR even better and more elegant than the Grill. I will prefer the old restaurant 2 menu than the grill. Colonnade overall C- the choice of breakfast was limited but okay should be B. The lunch hot food buffet was like cafeteria food and not appealing. I tried a couple times and gave up to order daily special or go for cold buffet. The dinners in Colonnade were the worst experiences. Thomas Keller special night remind me Keller's Ad hoc diinner I had but worse. The Japanese night even unbelievable bad. Used fish and chip batter to be tempura batter. Giving two pieces of whole steak with salty soy sauce as teriyaki beef dish. Completely no hint of Japanese favour and called it Japanese dinner night. Poolside Bristro, C, always the some old things everyday. When you had excursion at shore and came back late after lunch time, it was the only place you could have hot food. Nothing worth to mention. Afternoon tea, C, the place setting was nice. Using Mighty Leaf tea that is my favorite at home. But using the same sandwiches and sweets as Square everyday. Only difference was you could not get Might Leaf tea in Square or other places through out the ship. Other eating facilites only served ordinary brand tea bags except room service if you can know the name of the tea for request. One thing was very interesting. By 4:40, staffs already started to collect all unused settings. Looked like it would help to improve the clean up efficiency and killed the atmosphere of afternoon tea. Square, D rating, same sandwiches and sweet everyday, so boring. Entertainment C- , only two outside preformnces for 3 nights were excellent in 10 days cruise. The solon's trio was good. The in-house entertainment were below average. Did not get that much entertainment in the ship. There were few Shore excursions were attractive. However, you paid triple amount of money for 3 hours kayaking if you did yourself. You only got 45mins kayaking time. The hiking in national park in Gaspe only one hour and did not match the description of the excursion. It was so ordinary as we were hiking in the county park behind our home. Fitness center was so small. Worse than some small hotels. Going to walk at shore to have some excercise better than using such small fitness center. I can say the ship does not care to give any one exercise oppertunity or does not think we need excercise. Overall experience did not match our expection of Seabourn would offer. It was so average. Read Less

This was our first time on Seabourn and we were extremely pleased. Both embarkation and disembarkation were quick and went smoothly. The ship is on the smaller side compared to the average cruise ship, but it was immaculate, and very well maintained. Our cabin was large enough that my husband and I had separate areas to read or relax. The bathroom had a shower and a tub with Molton Brown toiletries.They had 2 small shops, a small casino, a library/computer area, bars, and an outside deck with a swimming pool, hot tubs and plenty of loungers. The restaurant was very pretty or you could also eat at the Patio which was outdoors by the swimming pool or at their buffet style restaurant, which was kept so clean. We never had to wait for a table. I can't say enough about the food. We did not have one bad meal in 10 days. Wait, we did not have one mediocre meal in 10 days. Every meal we had was outstanding, served professionally and always with a smile. They changed their choices daily producing gourmet at every meal. They offered good wine with dinner, and top shelf liquor throughout the ship. Their entertainment was very good, but limited. They have a piano player, a 3 person band, and a group of singers that performed in the theater in the evening or elsewhere around the ship. They were very talented, and a joy to listen to. They brought a comedian on board as well as 2 lecturers. Even though the entertainers were very good, we would have liked more options. Most importantly, we have never had better service on any of our 27 cruises. All of the officers, staff, and crew were pleasant, courteous, warm, helpful, and always professional. The officers mingled with the passengers when they could, as did the entertainers. The entire staff helped to make our vacation a very positive experience. I can't say enough about them. Quebec City, Halifax, Charlottetown, Bar Harbor and Boston were great ports. I recommend shore excursions in the smaller cities in between. The citizens of Saguenay were so happy to have us visit. They were voted the best cruise port for a reason. Baie-Comeau and Gaspe were too small to just roam around for the afternoon. Overall, it was a GREAT cruise. Read Less

We have taken 10+ cruises and although this was not the worst, it was subpar in bang for the buck. They charged for Wi-Fi. there is a one quality restaurant but the food choice is fixed differently each night. Because of weather we spent two days at sea not being able to get into ports but the Casino was not open except in the evening. When I complained, I was told that it was not staffed because we were supposed to be in port. Shows were good for a small ship but no up to the standard that we have seen on Regent. They claim that it is all inclusive but tipping is expected. Shore excursions are extremely expensive. We paid $250pp for a tour of Bar Harbor and a lobster bake. It turns out the there was a rainstorm that made the national news but they would not cancel because Seabourn claimed that this was the choice of the shore operator and they had nothing to do with it. As a result we were unable to make it up Cadillac mountain or see anything because of the downpour. We got a typical 1# lobster dinner that could be bought on the island for $18. We were charged $175 and $150 for transport from our hotel to the ship and from the ship to the airport both of which were a 10-15 minute ride. Cabin was the same size as on Regent but more space on the veranda and less in the room. This was my first and last with Seabourn. I have already booked a cruise with Regent (my favorite) for next year. Read Less

The ship is well maintained and the crew were very much better than average. That being said if unusual things came up then the service fell down, even after speaking with the manager of guest services. I had two major issues with the ship 1) the shower is way to small especially if someone is bigger than a small child/person. Nothing the crew can do to change that design flaw. I hope in their new ship someone corrects this, 2) The HVAC in our stateroom whistled and made a constant noise, like you would find in a motel room air conditioner (really annoying). That's when I found out there was no on/off switch. I called guest services and asked for assistance. The ultimate work around was for engineering to manually turn it off (some where they have the capability). The agreement was off at 9PM and back on at 7AM. This happened at best half the time. I made at least 4 calls to guest services to have it turned on or off. I also had the opportunity after filling out a on board survey to speak with the manager of guest services about the situation and he said he would take care of it. It didn't happen same problem some times off when it should have been on etc. I finally just gave up. Very disappointing, my expectations were not met. Some of the stops seemed like a waste of time for what was there. Fix the design flaw of the showers being to small, at least on the next ship Change the HVAC to not make the cheap motel sounds install on/off switches to each stateroom Perhaps more sea days avoiding marginal destinations. Something also needs to be done with the reservation system for Restaurant 2, when we called for a reservation we were informed that we would have to wait for 7 days? we called on day 2 Now I don't know what the system is or if people are just calling and making blanket reservations for every evening but something is not right here. I listed a lot of negatives but I also want to emphasize the positives. super maintained ship, knowledgeable staff, very good restaurants and food quality excellent. Overall a delightful cruise. It comes down to expectations and perceived value. This is a upper end cruise line and therefore more expensive where one naturally has a high expectation level. Even being back home and having a few days to think about it I'm not sure if the value threshold has been met. I gave a rating of a 3 because the cabin issues were really annoying. If it wasn't for that I for sure would have given them a 4 star or perhaps a 5 star. Read Less

We are experienced cruisers, but had never tried Seabourn due to their smoking policy on verandas, but we liked the Montreal to Boston itinerary and decided we would take a chance. We arrived at the ship around 11:30 am and waited 30 minutes or so before they started check-in. By that time there were a number of passengers there, so there was a line for check-in, but it went relatively well. We were told that the cabins were not ready, so we had to carry around our carry-on bags for a couple hours. We later learned that there was a place to check bags, but Seaborn did not provide information on this. Overall the food, service and cabin were exceptional, the best of any ship we had ever been on. We mostly ate dinner in The Restaurant, where we had outstanding service from Guillermo. We also enjoyed Restaurant 2 very much, but could not eat there but once as they quickly booked up for the entire cruise. We ate one night at the Colonnade, which is the buffet area but provides "sit down" table cloth service most nights. Food there was good and although the service was good, it was not nearly as good as the other two dining venues. Loved our cabin size with seating area, walk in closet and beautiful bathroom. Lyndiane did an excellent job taking care of the cabin. Downsides were the lack of activities during the sea day and that the shows did not start until around 10 pm which, given the port intensive nature of the itinerary, often was just too late for us. One of us is prone to motion sickness so the smaller size of the ship does provide more sea motion. Also, while we did not run into a smoking issue, the Seabourn policy is out of date from a safety and health perspective, so why should we take a risk with a smoker ruining our vacation...... We enjoyed the itinerary and overall the ship, but given the issues and costs we will be highly selective in sailing with Seabourn again. Read Less

We boarded in Montreal and the process was fairly smooth. The cruise staff helped those who were not able to board on their own (pushed wheelchairs, carried luggage,helped with umbrellas). The cabins were very large,walk-in closet,bathroom with 2 sinks,tub and separate shower. The ship is only 2 years old and very well appointed. The central square contains a coffee bar, library, many computers, and all the cruise service staff was located here. The spa and salon is very comprehensive and the exercise/fitness area is the best we've seen. All the equipment a fitness junky would ever need. Free classes in yoga,tai-chi, and pilates were offered. The lecturers on board were very good and lectures were also available on cabin televisions.The in-room tv's had lots of movies, ship info, and plenty of channels of entertainment and news. The food is very good in the buffet and service was impeccable. The main dining room food is very gourmet and service can be spotty or slow. The ship also has 2 other dining venues--the poolside Patio Grill which is open for lunch & dinner and mainly is a chop house, and Restaurant 2 which offers "small bites".Wine,beer,and spirits are of the highest quality and always complimentary. Room service is efficient and dinner can be served in courses if preferred. Entertainment is typical for a smaller ship (a small band,a singer,piano player,a few dancers,etc.)The on-board activities were the usual bridge lessons,trivia games,crafts. There is absolutely nothing for children. Shore excursions were handled very well and the ship had local tourist personnel passing out maps and info about the towns for those who wanted to explore on their own. Because of the storm we had to miss a few ports and spend 5 days at sea. The staff was superb at filling our empty days with more lectures and extra galley and bridge visits and cooking demos. Because there were only 420 passengers, disembarkation was a breeze. Of course we were disappointed not to go to the ports we missed (Martha's Vineyard and Charleston) as they were a big reason we chose this cruise.However, hurricane Sandy changed our schedule. But Seabourn offered us a BIG discount on our next cruise with them. Nice touch. Read Less