A review of Seadream Yacht Club by Ralph Grizzle*

...SMALL IS SWEET

SeaDream I & II photo gallery CLICK HERE (opens in a new window)


SeaDream was the only cruise line to rank as one of Conde Nast Traveler's top travel experiences, but will the company's twin ships, both more than 20 years old, top your list?
 
In 2006 readers of Condé Nast Traveler ranked Seadream Yacht Club as one of the top 100 travel experiences worldwide. In fact, Seadream was the only cruise company to be included in the ranking. The other 99 winners were all hotels and resorts.
 
Readers also ranked SeaDream "World's Best Small Passenger Shipping Line," and the company achieved the highest overall score for all cruise companies — large or small.
 
"It's lovely to get such recognition, especially when you're a company that essentially in its history has not been not an advertiser with anybody," Larry Pimentel, president and CEO of SeaDream Yacht Club, tells The Avid Cruiser. He barely pauses before adding that SeaDream also scored 100 percent in both service and cuisine, the "first time," he adds, "that's ever happened in the context of Conde Nast."
 
No doubt that SeaDream has had lots of worthy praise heaped upon it, but the only cruise line to be included in the top 100 travel experiences? How can it be? To find out, I flew to Barcelona to board SeaDream II this past spring to answer the question: How can a cruise company operating two small ships, both more than 20 years old, outperform — and exclude — all others?
 
Welcome Aboard

My itinerary, from Barcelona to Nice, would stop in some of the Mediterranean's most idyllic ports — St. Tropez, Cannes, Portofino, Villefranche, among them. Transporting me and nearly 100 others would be the SeaDream II, the former Sea Goddess built in 1985 and operated in other lives by Cunard Line and later by Seabourn Cruise Line. Before launching the company in 2001, SeaDream's owners invested in major upgrades for the vessel (and her twin SeaDream I), and they continue to make improvements.
 
Boarding time for SeaDream II was at 2 p.m. I passed through security at the Barcelona terminal, handed my passport to SeaDream II's purser and, after receiving a squirt of antibacterial soap dispensed by staff, stepped aboard the open gangway onto the ship at 2:05 p.m.
 
It was an impressive embarkation, and not only for its ease. One of the lovely Thai masseuses handed me a cold towel to refresh my face and hands. A waiter stepped over with a glass of champagne. The captain, the activities director and the hotel manager greeted me and others. Theirs was an exceptionally warm and well-executed greeting, a precursor of the service and hospitality that would come to define SeaDream II during the week.
 
What was surprising about the service and hospitality was that none of it seemed contrived or given begrudgingly. "Can I take you on a tour of the top deck," Zoltan, who Conde Nast should rank as world's friendliest bartender, asked me on my first day after he had poured a glass of champagne. Later that same day, when I excused myself for devouring a bowl of nuts by noting I had missed lunch, Zoltan insisted on giving me a menu and set a place at the bar for me to have a SeaDream salad of greens, mozzarella, advocado, pesto sauce and pine nuts.
 
When the bar crowd was still hanging out at 2 a.m. one night, Zoltan disappeared for a few minutes and returned with two giant bowls of popcorn. "He doesn't have a game face," says Jim Moskos, a SeaDream regular from Toronto. "Or if he does, you don't see it. He seems to really love what he does."
 

SeaDream Staterooms
SeaDream I & II are more than 20 years old. Both have had extensive refits, but they still lack some of the features of modern ships. Staterooms, which measure 195 square feet, have no balconies, for example, though in fairness, most passengers spent their time on the upper decks, lounging in Balinese beds that were in some respects better than balconies.
 
On several nights of our cruise, the lovely Filipino room stewardesses prepared the beds for couples to sleep under the stars. (A nice touch is that SeaDream also provides custom-embroidered cotton pajamas, convenient for sleeping outside.)
 
Also, stateroom baths are not as big as on new ships, though it must be said that SeaDream II's bathrooms were wonderfully appointed, with marble surround, three showerheads and Bvglari amenities.
 
There was no wireless internet, but those who brought their own laptops, or borrowed one of the several made available, got fast wired internet access in their staterooms for $35 per day.
 
Two terminals are available in the library for those who prefer not to burden their vacations with electronic gadgetry. The cost at the terminals is $5 for the first 10 minutes of internet access; and $3 for each 10-minute packet thereafter. Upload and download speeds were blazingly fast for a ship.
 
Counter Cruise
Some of the other passengers who I talked with during my cruise thought of themselves as non-cruisers. Therefore, it was a surprise to learn that many of these same people also were frequent SeaDream repeaters. Some had cruised more than half a dozen times, significant when you consider that SeaDream was only six years old when I cruised.
 
SeaDream seeks to differentiate itself from traditional cruise vacations. The company's slogan — "It's Yachting, Not Cruising" — suggests a relaxed experience. Also, cruising is an indoor product, says the company's Pimentel; yachting is an outdoor product.
 

Not only can you sleep outside, but both vessels carry an abundance of toys that make SeaDream an active outdoor travel experience: personal watercraft such as Wave Runners, kayaks and Sunfish Sailboats. Zodiacs pull skis and Banana boats. Passengers snorkel and dive from an "inflatable island"
 
On the ground, Hummer mountain bikes are available free of charge; Segway demonstrations are available for $49 for 45 minutes (the bikes can be taken ashore when tendering; the Segways cannot).
 
Captain Terje Willassen hikes and bikes with passengers. During my cruise, eight of us hiked from Portofino to Santa Margherita, a 3.5-hour hike. The captain does not soft-pedal his hikes. "When the captain says it's a walk, it's a hike," said one passenger. "And when he says it's a hike, it's a trek. He keeps a mean stride."
 
A less-strenous walk also offered at not cost was with Jes Paskins, executive chef on SeaDream II. In St. Tropez, during what is called a Crew Shoreside Casual, we walked with Jes and Dutch pastry chef Gerben Land to sample regional specialities and purchase fresh local foods to complement lunch and dinner back on board.
 
Equally impressive were the late-night departures. In St. Tropez, Cannes and Santorini, we sat down to dinner on the upper decks as other ships sailed away. Typical departure times were around midnight during our cruise. As you might expect, dress was casual; tuxedoes and formal dress simply aren't seen.
 
The itinerary also is casual. While the captain's job is to get passengers between the published embarkation and disembarkation ports, what he does in between is up to him. When several big ships were in Santorini last summer, the captain announced that the Greek island would be unpleasantly congested with tourists, so he steered away to a quieter island and returned to Santorini the next day when no ships were in port.
 
In Port Vendres, France, ours was the only passenger ship in port. In fact, it would be hard to imagine a bigger ship being able to enter the harbor (though Oceania and possibly others make calls here).
 
Cycling the waterfront, I stopped to watch fishermen roast freshly caught sardines on an open fire. They invited me and other passengers to dine with them. The villagers could extend a warm welcome to 110 cruise passengers in a way that they likely could not do for a few thousand.
 
Recalling the day while he sat sipping a Corona at the Top of the Yacht Bar, Paul, an Australian traveling with his wife, talked about the "authenticity" of the experience. "You're lucky to have a day like that once in a lifetime," he said. "But to have it on the first day of our cruise is something spectacular."
 
Simply The Best?
Similar episodes would follow during our week on board, and what became clear was that SeaDream does indeed offer a top-notch travel experience.
 
After sailing on SeaDream II, I'm better qualified to answer the question I posed at the outset of my cruise, and that was: How do SeaDream's twin yachts, both more than 20 years old, outperform all others — at least to readers of Conde Nast Traveler.
 
There were aspects of my cruise that were not unique to SeaDream, and you could argue that other cruise lines do the job as good as or better than SeaDream.
 
Open-seating dining, the quality of the cuisine, and the fact that alcohol and gratuities are included mirrors what you'd expect on small luxury ships.
 
SeaDream's ability to get into small ports, its wide expanse of deck space and its marina with all of the toys reminds me of a ship that sailed along beside us during much of the week: Windstar Cruises' Wind Surf, a special ship in its own right.
 
But there are some areas where SeaDream stands apart. The company's late nights in port combined with outdoor dinners appears to be unique. And while at least one other cruise line offers opportunities to sleep under the stars, SeaDream makes a luxury experience out of it, even down to the custom-embroidered pajamas.
 
Seabourn Cruise Line offers something similar to the Crew Shoreside Casual, but SeaDream takes it one step further with the Captain's hike.
 
Nearly all cruise lines claim excellent staff and cuisine — they better; their reputations depend on it, but SeaDream II really did shine in these areas. The crew exhibited a friendliness and enthusiasm that went beyond what their jobs required. They had a sort of spirit.
 
Moreover, wtith 94 crew members, the 110-passenger SeaDream II boasts a nearly one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio.
 
Should SeaDream should be the only cruise company in Conde Nast Traveler's top 100 travel experiences? My feeling is that several other cruise companies qualify for the list. That's not a knock on SeaDream, but rather a vote for cruising over other forms of vacation. After all, can you think of a hotel that can take you from one destination to another while you sleep? I can't.
 
Nor is SeaDream perfect for everyone. Families traveling with kids are welcomed, but SeaDream is an adult-oriented experience. That said, families do charter the SeaDream vessels, and both yachts are chartered on a regular basis. 

The important question, however, is this one: Will SeaDream make your list of top travel experiences? Only you can answer that.

* Ralph Grizzle - Writer & Author has been on more than 100 cruises and writes the best cruise blog: The Avid Cruiser



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