Seabourn Encore: Athens to Singapore October 21st - November 27th, 2019

Updated: Feb 27, 2023

Captain: David Bathgate (Athens to Dubai), Kreso Volaric (Dubai to Singapore)

Hotel Director: Bozi Copic

Cruise Director: Ross Roberts (Assistant: Dave Resultan)

Suite #: 1031

We had signed up for back-to-back cruises, leaving Athens on Oct 31st arriving in Dubai on November 9th, then on to Singapore arriving November 27th, 37 days in all. It was the first time we had done a back-to-back & quite possibly the last! We selected this cruise because it covered regions that we had never visited (Arabian Gulf, Indonesia, India) and it included the bucket list destinations of Petra, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem as well as traversing the Suez Canal. In this regard the cruise served its purpose. However, maybe it was the number of ports that didn’t lend themselves to self-guided exploration; maybe it was the number of sea days (17, excluding the Canal itself) or, maybe it was the changeover of passengers in Dubai, and our not feeling the same bond towards them as with those that embarked with us in Athens, but it was not a cruise I would repeat. This is in no way a reflection on the Captains, Officers or crew who work their butts off and were all excellent throughout. Although service was noticeably slower when several crew went down with flu-like and/or stomach problems, (as did quite a few passengers, ourselves included), so much so that they had to draft in reinforcements towards the end of the second leg.

It seems ‘petty’ complaining about a 5-star, all-inclusive luxury cruise and it was certainly not without it’s highlights. The ship itself is beautiful and had a great vibe about it. The Seabourn Singers, Caroline, Kate, Stephen & Tom were quite possibly the best grouping we have encountered, indeed all the resident singers and dancers were very good. Javier's yoga classes were a bonus and 'made the cruise' for Gwyn. We enjoyed the company of many of our fellow passengers and hope to run into them again. We ticked-off some bucket list items & we are even glad that we have been to some of the places that we never want to visit again!

Places visited:

Agios Nikolaos, Crete

Haifa (Masada & Dead Sea), Israel

Ashdod (Jerusalem), Israel

Suez Canal

Al Aqabah (Petra), Jordan

Salalah, Oman

Muscat, Oman

Sir Bani Yas, UAE

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dubai, UAE

Doha, Qatar