Seabourn Cruise Line Sojourn

In-Room Dining Overview

A door tag was available to order breakfast the night before, and delivery times offered were 15-minute blocks between 7 and 10 a.m. Menu items mirrored most of what was available at The Restaurant and the Colonnade: A large selection of juices, fresh fruits (including assorted berries), cold cereals, hot cereals, yogurts, various compotes and plates of smoked salmon and cream cheese, assorted cold cuts and cheeses. The hot offerings included various omelets, eggs any style (including eggs Benedict or with salmon), sides of meat, hash browns, corned beef hash or grilled tomato, French toast, pancakes and waffles. All the ship’s breads and pastries were available, along with various spreads.

The 24-hour Room Service menu presented a selection that included such starters as roasted tomato soup, chilled shrimp cocktail and prosciutto and melon with bread sticks and parmesan. Entrée items included Caesar salad with grilled chicken or garlic shrimp, pan sautéed salmon, rosemary roasted chicken breast, grilled New York sirloin, and club sandwich; most of these came with vegetables and fries. Desserts included white and dark chocolate mousse, ice cream, fruit plate, cheese plate or home made cookies.

But wait, there’s more: Each evening, that night’s menu from The Restaurant was available, the same hours the venue was open (7 to 9 p.m. on our cruise). This encompassed a list of seven starters and five entrées that changed nightly, plus desserts.

Presentation

Our meals were brought into the cabin on an oversized tray, and the server quickly set up the table, covering it with linen. Large plates were used for most items, covered in plastic lids for delivery. Salt and pepper was in grinders, milk for coffee was in a pitcher, preserves for toast in jars—all fairly classy.

Food

Breakfasts were delivered right at the requested times, and exactly as ordered. Coffee was hot and strong, the bacon juicy and not too crisp, the omelet was hot, and poached eggs on toast were delicious, the yolks mostly firm but still runny. A fruit plate was ripe and beautifully presented, with a few items we don’t usually see on most cruise ships: blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.

Dinner was a treat, ordered off the menu from The Restaurant one evening when we didn’t feel like dolling up. The time from order (by phone) to knock on the door delivery of the meal took just 21 minutes. As an appetizer we ordered the salad of confit duck and frisee, a scrumptious, light starter with the slivers of duck woven into the greens with nuggets of preserved apricots and pistachios. Our entrée was the pan sautéed port tenderloin, and this too was spot-on: a modest cut of meat, perfectly done with just a hint of pink, served on green apple coulis with braised red cabbage, green beans and roasted potatoes. All in all, a fine repast in the privacy and quiet of our cabin.

Drinks

Our minibar was pre-stocked with Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Club Soda, Tonic Water and a couple Becks beers in cans—all were restocked as needed. But we were also offered a pair of spirits when we first boarded, 1-liter bottles we never opened. And when we ordered dinner in we were asked what kind of wine we wanted; a full bottle was delivered from the list of complimentary wines.