On this episode of Luxury Cruising, Dr. Krystal Sodaitis welcomes back guest Sherri to discuss her second luxury sailing with Seabourn, this time, aboard Seabourn Ovation in the Southern Caribbean. Sherri shares what brought her back to the cruise line after an unforgettable Mediterranean voyage, highlights the personalized service, all-inclusive amenities, Caribbean excursions, dining experiences, and explains why Seabourn continues to redefine luxury travel for active travelers.
What makes travelers return to the same luxury cruise line after their very first cruise experience?
In this episode of Luxury Cruising, host Dr. Krystal Sodaitis welcomes back Sherri, a retired attorney and avid traveler, to share her second voyage with Seabourn aboard Seabourn Ovation. After discovering luxury cruising for the first time during a Mediterranean sailing, Sherri and her husband chose Seabourn again for a Southern Caribbean adventure. Sherri discusses the seamless familiarity of sailing on Seabourn's sister ships, the spacious veranda suites, personalized service from attentive staff, and the truly all-inclusive experience that sets Seabourn apart. She also shares highlights from visiting St. Martin, St. Kitts, Grenada, Martinique, Barbados, and the British Virgin Islands, including Seabourn's signature "Caviar in the Surf" experience.
The conversation explores dining, wellness amenities, shore excursions, entertainment, and the moments that transformed a luxury vacation into a memorable and meaningful travel experience. For travelers considering Seabourn or luxury cruising in general, this episode offers an honest look at what keeps guests coming back.
Episode Highlights:
About the Guest:
Sherri is a retired attorney, passionate traveler, runner, and cyclist who enjoys exploring the world through both active land adventures and luxury cruising experiences. After initially believing she wasn't a cruise traveler, her first Seabourn voyage completely changed her perspective. She now seeks travel experiences that combine exceptional service, meaningful cultural exploration, and opportunities to stay active while discovering new destinations.
About the Host:
Dr. Krystal Sodaitis is a pediatrician, executive, and life coach for neurodiverse physicians—and the passionate host behind Luxury Cruising. She brings expert insight and honest excitement to every interview, helping curious travelers elevate their adventures at sea.
📍 Website: luxurycruising.net
📧 Email: luxurycruisingpodcast@gmail.com
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/krystalsodaitis
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Looking for the perfect spa experience: Spa table
[00:00:00]
Welcome back to Luxury Cruising. I'm your host, Crystal Sarditis, and I'm so happy to have Sherry back on the podcast. Sherry was initially on the podcast after her first time sailing Seabourn, and loved it so much she had to go back for more, and now she's back to tell us about her second sailing on Seabourn.
Sherry, please tell the audience anything you want them to know about you. Okay. Thanks for having me back. This is a lot of fun. I am 58. I'm a retired lawyer. I'm lucky, I got to retire about a year ago, pretty young. And, um, my husband and I are very active. We're runners and cyclists, and we love to travel the world.
Awesome. Okay. So, take us back. What made you decide on this ship, this itinerary? What went into that thought process? in May of 2024, we went on a cruise with Seabourn to the Mediterranean. Specifically, we did Greece [00:01:00] and Turkey, and it was our first cruise ever. We thought we were not cruise people.
I don't know. We maybe thought that cruises were a little too stodgy or too inactive, but we didn't know how to do the Greek Isles and not have to move every day and unpack, repack. So we thought maybe a luxury cruise would be the way, and indeed it was, and it was fabulous. And it told me that we are cruise people, it just has to be the right kind of cruise.
We really did love the Greek cruise with Seabourn. Typically in the winter we go skiing, but I had a really epic fall and tore my meniscus and had to have surgery, be off my leg for a long time. And so, long story short, I wasn't back to skiing yet and thought we could take a winter cruise.
That could be fun. Let's give it a try." And we've never been to the Caribbean, so we decided to take a Caribbean cruise. And after looking at all the options, [00:02:00] uh, we really didn't think we could beat the Seabourn experience, so we went back again on Seabourn. Awesome. And this time you were on Seabourn Ovation, right?
The first time we were on Seabourn Encore, and this time we were on Seabourn Ovation. They're sister ships. They're identical. Some of the art is different because both ships have a lot of beautiful art. But the spaces look almost the same to us. Yeah. And I have to say, there's something very comforting in going back on a ship that is almost a carbon copy of the one that you've previously been on.
Yeah, there is, because the first time you learn little things about the ship or little tips about how things work that then the second time you already know. For example the Encore and Ovation have a coffee bar in the area that's called the Seaborne Square. they kind of think of it as like your town square of the ship.
And my husband [00:03:00] figured out on the first cruise that you can order the coffee on your app, and then it's ready for you when you go pick it up, and the lines aren't very long, but you don't have to wait in a line. I love that. You have a mobile order. I am all about the mobile order, and the fact that you can-
do a mobile order on a ship, bonus. Yeah, bonus. Also, things like both ships have a sushi restaurant, and this was so fabulous. We're getting seated and served by the assistant manager at the sushi restaurant on the Ovation. And I say to her, "You look really familiar to me."
I said, "I know it's probably just that you remind me of somebody, but by any chance, were you previously on the Encore?" She remembered us too, and she was at the sushi restaurant on the first cruise we took, and she took such good care of us. She was fabulous. I love that. I love when that happens.
it happened to me only rarely [00:04:00] that we get the same, server from a different ship. But it's always so fun when we do. So tell us, um, about your room. What kind of room did you get, and what did you think of it? We had the veranda room, which is the same kind of room that we, um, had on the first cruise.
we think that's plenty of room for us. It's like a king size bed, a seating area, a balcony. You know, all of Seabourn's, rooms have balconies, and essentially most of the rooms are veranda rooms. It's one thing I really like about Seabourn. All the rooms are great, so you never have this thing where some people are treated better than others 'cause they have you know, better room.
Most everybody has the same kind of room, which is fabulous. It also has a walk-in closet. It has a bathroom with a double sink, a big tub, and a shower, and they have wonderful bath products for you to use. So everything about the room is, I think, wonderful. [00:05:00] I couldn't want more in a room. I love the upgraded bath products.
it makes you just feel so good when you, like, come out of the shower, and it either is very soft, it makes your skin really soft, or it makes you smell extra good. I love the upgraded bath products. And they put in all varieties so that, you can choose from all the different scents and, uh, have a different bath product every day if you want to.
which makes me wanna mention the room attendants. I don't call them butlers 'cause they're not, like, right there like a butler would be. But each room has a specific person, actually on this cruise it was two people, assigned to the room. They told us I think they had 10 rooms to care for, and they were so attentive.
They ask you what drinks you want stocked in the room. If you wanted a different bath product, they could get it for you. Every day they greeted us, asked us [00:06:00] what we were going to do, wished us a good day. they were just terrific. That's so awesome. Yes. That's so awesome. Any other amenities come with the room?
y- so one of the greatest things about Seabourn, and I think a lot of people know this, but I wanna make sure, um, your listeners do, it's a truly all-inclusive. So the only things that aren't included are the spa and excursions. And maybe some really high-end liquor. Like, if you want a really special $200 bottle of wine, you're gonna need to pay for that.
But everything else is included. So, like, if my husband wants a bottle of 12-year scotch in the room he can get that. I can get a bottle of white wine, bottle of red wine. we can tell them, oh, we'd like sparkling water and Diet Coke, and they just stock us all up. There are robes and slippers and like I said, the walk-in closet is so nice, because there's [00:07:00] plenty of room, plenty of hangers.
You can just get there, unpack hang up all your clothes, put all your clothes away, and then your suitcases, everything is out of your way, not taking up space in the room, which is terrific. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. I love that they have a robe and slippers. It's nice- Yes ... to have slippers.
Nice. Yes, definitely. Beautiful. So how was the ship decor? Just remind us of how that class of Seabourn ship is decorated. It's really beautiful. a lot of fine art on the walls all over. Upgraded everything, wood and granite and, um, beautiful fixtures.
Everything about the ship is truly, really beautiful. Nice. So tell us about the food. Where did you eat, and how did you like the food? We really like the food. Um, the Colonnade is where you have your breakfast every morning. You can order breakfast [00:08:00] in your room, but we really like the other guests.
That's one of the things about the Seabourn experience too, because everybody's happy. And I'm a friendly, outgoing person, and so I may just say, "Oh, the weather's beautiful today," and no one ever acts like, why are you talking to me?" People engage with one another. People say, "Do you wanna sit with us?"
And so I like going to the Colonnade for breakfast, and almost every morning we sat with someone else outside and enjoyed the weather and enjoyed speaking to people who are well-educated, who are world travelers. You can find common interests to talk about or ask them what other cruises they've been on, what other luxury ships have they liked.
So we always had breakfast on the Colonnade.
is the
Colonnade a buffet, or is it sit down and you're served? Good question. It's a buffet, and it's a lot. It's [00:09:00] anything you can imagine. In fact, one of my favorite things to do every morning was go see the juice guy, because every day he was making a different fresh fruit juice that would really just be fruit.
So it would maybe be a mix of cantaloupe and mint or raspberry and lime he was very good at coming up with Usually it was just two different fruit flavors, but freshly made right there for you and every day something different. That sounds delicious. I love fresh juice. It's great.
Yeah. Uh, there were fresh fruit, fresh breads, hot dishes, cold dishes, um, omelets. You name it you can get it at breakfast. And that's really a part of the fun, too, And it's not like a buffet where everything's been sitting out. no, you're seeing them put it out fresh as you come in and get your breakfast.
So the Colonnade is where a lot of people have [00:10:00] breakfast. Some people have lunch. If you're off the boat, you're not gonna have lunch on the boat. But the Colonnade has dinner, too, but we did never go to there for dinner. The main dinner restaurant is, I think, called The Restaurant, and it is a large, beautiful space.
Think of, um, a top restaurant that you would go to. And you can be seated alone, or there's an option to say, "We would like to sit with somebody else," and then other people who've said the same thing, they'll match you together. Or if you let the ship know, like, "I'd like to, sit with one of the, entertainers one night," or, "I'd like to sit at one of the captain or assistant You can ask for that, and of course they can't accommodate everybody, but they try their best to.
And so you can really ask for that kind of camaraderie type of a treatment, or you can have, you know, a little corner of your own if you want. And the food there is [00:11:00] a set menu, um, that changes regularly. There's always a special, and everything's delicious. Everything that we've tried at The Restaurant is terrific.
I already mentioned the sushi place, and the other main uh, food venue is called Solace, and it's a Thomas Keller, uh, inspired restaurant. He worked with them. And, I just find Solstice though a little heavy. I think it's French themed, and everything on the menu there just seems a little heavy.
But many, many people love it. And you can only go there once during seven days. If you're on for a 14-day, you can have two reservations, but it's the only place that requires reservation. Everything else you can just walk in. Nice. Very nice. Yes. and I love that you
can choose to sit with other people
who have also chosen to sit with other people
'cause then that just is a clue that they wanna engage and they wanna talk and I love that [00:12:00] And I'm sure that's an option on many cruise lines, but you don't hear that much anymore. Most people wanna be just in their little two-top or their four-top. And of course you can be.
Um, but I think it's a great benefit to be able to say, "You know, we've sat alone now for three nights in a row. let's find somebody else." And I mean, it can be somebody who's just completely different from you, from a different country, different age group. Y- and you learn so much from just talking to other people.
The other food that I wanted to mention is there is an afternoon tea on Seabourn. I don't think it's every day, but it'll say in your weekly schedule which days. And it's at 4:00 every day in what's called the Observation Lounge, and it's on the front of the ship. And it's a beautiful space where you can look straight out at the ocean, and it really is like a [00:13:00] traditional English tea with all of the little delicious finger sandwiches and scones and clotted cream and whatever kind of tea you wanna order off the menu.
And again, all of this just included, so why not do it?
Yeah. I love afternoon tea
What other sort of service or amenity aspects of the ship really stood out for you? I mentioned my husband and I are very active, and so one of the things that we really like is there's a very nice fitness center on the Seabourn, well, on Coronation.
It has stationary bikes, treadmills, ellipticals weight machines. There's the mats and, like, Swiss balls dumbbells. I mean, you can pretty much do a full workout of any type, strength or cardio, any kind. And every day they have some classes. So there's a guy who's [00:14:00] the trainer, and he'll do a yoga class or a Pilates class.
I did at least one yoga and one Pilates and the reality is most people are on vacation. They're not exercising. And so a couple of the classes, it was just, it was me and another woman, and it was great because then you're basically getting a personalized class just for you.
Yeah. Were those also included? Yes. Yeah. Now, if you want a personal training session, that's more like a spa treatment kind of thing. But if you just wanna go to the class, there were at least, I think, two classes every day, usually something in the morning and something in the late afternoon or early evening.
Nice. Very nice. Yes. So where did you go? I know you said the Caribbean, but what islands did you go to, and did you do any activities or excursions? Yes. I think where we went is called the Southern Caribbean, and we started in St. Martin. And then we went [00:15:00] to, um, British Virgin Islands, then St.
Kitts, Martinique, Grenada, uh, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados is where we ended. So we hit six different places and it was a seven-day cruise, and we had one day fully at sea. So we did, two Seabourn excursions, and one that was just a freebie. But Seabourn either owns or I guess lease beachfront property on St.
Kitts. And they have this special thing that they do every time they're on St. Kitts where they do caviar in the sand. And they literally have the caviar in the surf. That's it, caviar in the surf sounds better than caviar in the sand, doesn't it? Caviar in the sand sounds a little gritty.
But they actually hold the food board in the water, and you go into the surf, and you get your glass of [00:16:00] champagne and your caviar, and it's a big production, and it's really fun. And now that I've done it, I don't think I'd need to do it again, but it's something special. Yeah. To me, that is one of the quintessential Seabourn sort of events.
I was curious if they had it and if you did it. Yeah, it definitely sounds much more extravagant than, like, the reality of it is sort of like you're trying not to get the surf, the salt water in your champagne or on your caviar. And so it's like, this sounds really cool, and then the reality of it is, like, it's fine.
You know what? It was actually super fun. Everybody's laughing because we're all adult people, and you can get champagne and caviar on the boat any time you want. It's included. It's something they advertise. You want champagne and caviar at midnight in your room? You can get it. You want it out by the pool?
You can get it. But people act like they've never had it, and this is the only place in the [00:17:00] world you can get it, and it's like, you know, a feeding frenzy. It's like when you drop the little, um, m- pellets in the water for the koi, and they all come. That's exactly what it was like when they pulled that out.
Like, everybody acted like we were little koi fish going after the little pieces of bread. And it's super funny. and it's just something they do. And the surf was a little bit up when we were there, so they had about 10 people surrounding the thing so that they could keep it steady.
So it was quite the production. But on that beach, they do a full setup. They have a full bar set up all day, and you can get any drink you want, and they do a big lunch production. So it's worth going over to St. Kitts and doing that event because they don't charge you anything extra for it.
So it's really a fun day. Yeah. And I've been to St. Kitts. It's beautiful. The beach, the water is beautiful. So even just to go for the beach [00:18:00] barbecue must be fun. And I'll just tell you, everywhere we went, it was just gorgeous.
When we were on British Virgin Islands, we went to Jost Van Dyke, which is just a beautiful beach, um, with all these little beach bars and, what's not to like about that? We did another excursion on Grenada where we actually went on kind of a half-day cultural and history tour of Granada, and I thought that was really interesting.
We went to a fort, that was built in the 1800s, and we went to a garden where all the fruits and vegetables they grow there have some kind of medicinal property. And we had a guide who took us around and showed us and explained what everything was. and that was very, very interesting.
I really enjoyed it. Yeah. That sounds absolutely cool. Anything else with the excursions
that you can think of ?
The only thing that I would say about the [00:19:00] excursions is they were, on this Caribbean cruise, I thought the excursions were a lot less interesting than they were when we were doing the Greek cruise.
And I mean, maybe it's just because of the area. Maybe the Greek islands, with all their history and, um, mythology, have more interesting excursions. But I think Seabourn could do a little bit more with having some active excursions. There really wasn't anything like go hike for a day. And, there's really nice hiking on those Caribbean islands, so I think they could add some of that.
I think that they're underestimating the interest of people. The average age is, like, 75, but people in their, 50s, 60s, and 70s are a lot healthier these days than inactive, and I think they could do with some more active excursion offerings. And so, uh, if you can't find those, of course, what we [00:20:00] do is we book our own excursions.
And so we had a day where we just booked a hiking through GetYourGuide or Viator. We had another day where we were on Martinique, and we just hired a guide through GetYourGuide, and she was lovely, and she took us all over the island, and it was just the two of us, and it was very affordable, and we really enjoyed that day.
Yeah, that sounds exactly right. Sometimes you've just gotta go off on your own, and as long as you get back to the ship on time, you're all good. That's right. Yeah, most of the guides who meet you at the port understand that. They've got their day figured out. They know how to time everything to get you back on time.
Yeah. Awesome. How was the entertainment on board? I thought the entertainment on the Greek cruise was pretty good. I thought the entertainment on this cruise was pretty lame. The joke that I kept saying with another couple that was about our age was, "Play something that's from this century anything.[00:21:00]
Something even last century that was, say, from the '90s." Yeah. No. Not happening. Was it that they just had, like, a band that was playing oldies music? Or- Yeah ... did they have production- Yeah ... shows, dancers, singers? they had a magician, who was kind of interesting. He wasn't so much a musician as a guy who was very good at sleight of hand, and very good at numerology, because he did a lot of things with cards that sort of you know, makes your head explode, like, how did he do that?
There was a violinist who was quite good. but the bands that played, it was almost always, like, yacht rock type of sound, which I like. But mix it up. You know, on the Greek cruise, there were several nights of the week that there was a kind of a disco. It started maybe after dinner, maybe 9:00, and they really played music that's for dancing.
And [00:22:00] except for the very last night, there wasn't anything like that. The last night of this cruise, they did a disco on the deck around the pool area, and it was the most well-attended thing that they'd had. So I don't understand why they don't do that more often. A lot of the music was just somebody playing the piano, which is beautiful and calming.
I'm just saying they could mix it up. Yeah, absolutely. And, like, the last night, people are packing and getting ready. You wanna move that disco to the middle of the sailing. Yeah, or have two of them, so- Yeah ... yeah. That's the only thing. I really just thought the entertainment was just kind of blah.
Yeah. I did go to see the violinist. We did go see the card guy. They were interesting. But I think Seabourn does everything else so well, that's an area where I think they are lacking, so. Yeah. Anything else about
the trip
or the ship that you wanted to share? um, another [00:23:00] thing I'll mention that was very nice is my birthday was just, about a week before the cruise, so our agent told them that we were on the cruise and we were celebrating my birthday.
And of course, just in our room, they had a small cake that was decorated. They had thrown, uh, rose petals in the bathtub and filled the bathtub with rose water. And then that night at dinner, they also brought me a little special treat, and it was just such a nice touch, uh, especially because they go beyond on everything else.
It was just really well done. So overall I really don't have bad things to say about Seabourn at all. I think it's a great experience. That's awesome. I love that. Well, Sherri, the last time you were here, I asked you about your definition of luxury, and you said that it meant being greeted and treated as if it mattered to that [00:24:00] person that you were there, and that you chose that experience for your vacation Did this experience on Seabourn Ovation meet that definition of luxury for you?
Yes, it did. I think especially if you think about the way that the woman who's the assistant manager of the sushi bar remembered us, the way that our room attendants greeted us every day and asked us what we were gonna do or asked us if we had a good day. Um, the birthday celebration. I mean, all of that made me feel as if Seabourn really does care that we've chosen them.
And so yes, it did. Yes, it very much did. I love that. That's great. So what's next? What trips, luxury or otherwise, are you planning? We just got back from two weeks in Japan, and we went with a company called Boundless Journeys. It was our first time to go with that tour group, and it was phenomenal.
[00:25:00] They do a very nice tour. They mostly do walking tours on land. And we got very lucky in Japan. We got to see the cherry blossoms, and we walked on the Nakasendo Trail, which is a trail that was established in the shogunate days between Kyoto, the capital, and Edo, which is now called Tokyo. We walked through forest and you'd come upon a shrine, and you'd come to these little villages and stay in the ryokans and these little traditional inns.
It was very well done, and so I'm really liking Boundless Journeys, and I may take another trip with them. Awesome. Yes. Yes, something active. Glad your knee is better and feeling well enough that you can take that kind of trip. That's right. Yes, a hiking trip was nice, and next year we're gonna go back to skiing again.
We liked the Caribbean cruise, but we sort of decided that we like to be a little bit more active than laying on the beach every [00:26:00] day, so, I think we probably won't go on a cruise like that again, but we would definitely go on another cruise that is to probably more of a historical area like the Greek Islands were.
Yeah, or Northern Europe or maybe even South America. Yes, Absolutely. Awesome. Well, Sherry, thank you again for being here and telling us about your trip on Seabourn Ovation. I really, really appreciate it. And to the listeners, thank you for joining us once again. And until next time, I wish you safe and luxurious cruising.