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SEABOURN SQUARE
After throwing my laundry in, I was starving so I went up to the Seabourn Square, which I'd heard through the grapevine (Natalie), was the only place open at the time (3:30 pm). Seabourn Square is a new feature to Seabourn ships. Its an innovative "concierge lounge" with a library, upscale shops, outdoor terrace and coffee bar. Mixed in between are the computers and concierges in a relaxed, club-like atmosphere. After getting some finger sandwiches and pastries, I registered to use the ship's Wi-Fi (you can also buy Wi-Fi packages). This is also the place for those who aren't comfortable booking the land excursions through the TV. Here you can do it in person.

READ THE DAILY NEWSLETTER
It turns out that I didn't have to settle for the snacks at the Seabourn Square. If I'd taken the time to read my "Personal Guide To Seabourn Odyssey" -- a daily newsletter filled with all the restaurant times and the day's information including: port info, weather, currency exchange, dress code and phone numbers -- I would have known that my best option for food at 3:30pm was ordering off the 24-hour room service menu.



ROOM SERVICE
Just to be clear, there is no charge for room service – no matter how much or how often we ordered. Natalie and I used this treat the first night; we were both exhausted and just wanted to relax and enjoy our amazing veranda. The room service folks are amazing; never once did they not deliver what we'd asked for, even when our request wasn't on the menu. Depending on the time you place your order, it arrives within five to 30 minutes. The five-minute orders were snack time when Natalie would call down late in the afternoon for cheese, crackers, cherries and a cookie for me. However, most meals took about 30 minutes except for breakfast since you can fill out your order card the night before and request a delivery time.

DINNER
The first night, we ordered straight off the room service menu. I had prosciutto and melon, penne pasta with plum sauce and white and dark chocolate mousse for dessert. Everything was so good that I would have been quite happy to have that same meal every night. What's crazy is that I didn't learn until the very last day that guests can get food delivered from any of the ship's restaurants. A special touch: Each day those menus are placed in your room; food choices change daily except the room service menu.

DEPARTURE
It would have been a shame to just order room service for dinner each night because we would have missed out meeting so many wonderful people. We met our new best friends on the ship on the very first evening on the top deck, getting ready to depart. We were scheduled to leave at 5pm but we left Istanbul an hour and 40 minutes late because six passengers were stuck in rush hour traffic, coming from the airport. NOTE: These people got really lucky and they must have booked everything (air and transfers) through Seabourn, otherwise the ship would have departed without them and they would have been responsible for getting to the next port of call. TIP: No matter what cruise you take, always arrive in your departure city a day or two early so you don't miss the boat. Literally.

NEW FRIENDS
The good news about waiting is that we hung out on the deck longer than we may have otherwise and mingled. Our best friends were a character from New York City, traveling with his wife and stepdaughter and an Australian couple -- we enjoyed a number of meals with both. What's nice about being on a cruise is that there is never a bill to figure out or fight over with your new best friends.

PILOT BOAT
What was also cool about being delayed is that we were able to see all the other ships depart and the coolest was observing the crew of the pilot boat make the most of their time. As they waited around, they broke out a fishing pole and made a fire on the back of their ship – talk about having fresh seafood.

RESTAURANTS
There are four restaurants on the Seabourn Odyssey: The Colonnade, The Restaurant, Restaurant 2 and the open-air Patio Grill. My favorite was the Patio Grill not only because of the setting, food and casual atmosphere but the Portuguese maître d' and his staff were so friendly and hospitable.

MAKE RESERVATIONS
My other favorite was the Colonnade but it wasn't easy to get into. Therefore, my best advice is to make dinner reservations for the restaurants as soon as possible. The most difficult for us to get into were Restaurant 2 and the Colonnade. But that only goes for dinner because there's always room for breakfast or lunch and we never had a problem having dinner in The Restaurant, the main dining room on the fourth deck.

DINNER WITH THE CAPTAIN
We dined three times in The Restaurant; celebrity chef Charlie Palmer crafted the menu. We had dinner once with our new friends, once with Barry the cruise director (he's been all around the world and is a really nice English bloke) and finally with the Swedish staff captain. What an honor it was to be invited to dinner with the staff captain! The two other random couples that joined us were fascinating as well.

DRESS CODE
As you can see from the picture of the captain, he's wearing a tuxedo. The passengers on Seabourn tend to dress to kill at night as requested. Out of the seven nights we were aboard the ship, one night was designated black tie optional, three nights were casual and three were elegant casual. Elegant casual just means a jacket and button down for men. Only about half the cruisers wore a tuxedo on the black tie night.

NATALIE'S TAKE ON THE DRESS CODE
The women were dressed casual chic. For example, a pair of capris and a nice top or a maxi dress. The weather was hot so of course, many wore shorts or short summer dresses, but all were quite modest, in keeping with the elegant nature of the ship. For the black tie optional evening, some women wore elaborate gowns, while others simply wore a cocktail dress. Dinner each night was pretty formal and most women wore dresses to dinner. A wrap or pashmina is also an essential; the evenings can get cool outside and so can the air conditioning inside!

FOOD QUALITY
I asked countless passengers how they were enjoying the cruise and what they liked best. Everyone, with the exception of a couple with a small child, said they loved it. What everyone seemed to love best was the food; I was surprised to hear that -- many of the passengers aboard the ship were wealthy (and I mean wealthy) and to hear these rich, typically high-maintenance travelers rave about cruise food was almost a miracle!

NOT FOR KIDS
Back to the couple with the small child: It was their own fault since they should have known better than to bring a child; Seabourn does not cater the younger generation. There are no kids programs whatsoever. I don't recommend bringing young children. However, I met a group of teenagers from Texas and they loved being on the cruise so keep that in mind. There are plenty of other cruise lines that are geared towards kids but Seabourn is definitely not one of them.

CRUISE CROWD
Actually, I was shocked not only to see teenagers but couples in their 30s and 40s. I was expecting the crowd to be really old but it wasn't. In fact, I read that the seven-day voyages in the Greek Isles and along the coast of Turkey carried nearly 40 percent more first-time guests than Seabourn's average and the guests averaged 10 percent younger than the line's norm. FYI: Most of the passengers were American but there were people from all over the world.

BARS/CASINO
In addition to the ships four restaurants there are plenty of places to meet friends for a drink. The ship has six bars: The Observation Bar, The Sky Bar, The Patio Bar, Seabourn Square, The Grand Salon and The Club. And they also serve alcohol in the small casino.

ENTERTAINMENT
There was a fair amount of entertainment on board the ship but I really had no idea (until I later read the brochure) because each day I was in port and at night, I was usually on the opposite side of the ship where all the action was taking place.

NO CRAZY DISCO
First of all, there's no crazy disco or after hours partying. Seabourn's entertainment doesn't compare to huge cruise ships that have nightclubs and Las Vegas- and Broadway-style shows. On Seabourn Odyssey, the venues are much smaller and more intimate. The Grand Salon hosts movie nights, cabaret performances and entertainers while the different clubs have live music and dancing.

SAMPLE OF A DAY'S ENTERTAINMENT
Here's a scan of our first day and night's entertainment options. The highlights were an afternoon bridge game, guest lecturer on Istanbul (5pm), after dinner dancing on two different decks, a late night (9:30pm) piano man and a comedian.

SPA
I also didn't make it to the spa (it's expensive). But Natalie did and here's what she wrote about it: The Spa at Seabourn is a two-deck health spa and salon and features seven treatment rooms, saunas, steam rooms and fully-equipped gym. The spa menu is extensive though the prices are a bit steep. But after a day in the hot sun, after a shore excursion, sometimes the spa is just the perfect thing; it was quiet and relaxing though nothing out of the ordinary. But back to those steep prices; when a 50-minute bamboo massages sets you back $169, I wonder just how much business the spa actually does. The Sweet Surrender package (three hours worth of treatments) runs an extraordinarily high $799. Sure, many passengers aboard the ship may be able to afford these price tags but that doesn't mean it's right.

POOL
There was so much to see and do during the day that I rarely hung out on the sun decks. The ship has two outdoor swimming pools and six outdoor whirlpools. One day, they opened up their unique marina that features a “sea pool” and all types of complimentary water sports.

EXCURISIONS
Obviously, like all cruise ships, the Odyssey offered every kind of excursion available at each port. The best was the special outdoor concert at Efes, which was free and exclusively for Seabourn guests; we'll get to that next week when we cover all the cruise destinations from Turkey to Greece.

BOOK YOUR SEABOURN CRUISE
To book your Seabourn Odyssey cruise, call your travel agent or Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391, or visit their website.

VIDEO
Here's a four-minute Johnny Jet video of my trip on Seabourn Odyssey. We also have all the Johnny Jet videos ever made on YouTube.


NEXT WEEK
Next week some of the major stops on the Aegean Sea!

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*PLEASE tell us what you think of this week's newsletter! Note: This trip was sponsored in part by Seabourn.





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