Seabourn Sojourn staff assembled pier-side to welcome guests back aboard at St. Petersburg, Russia. The guests had been enjoying an evening of ballet and a gala event at the Catherine Palace. This picture was taken at approximately 11 p.m.!

Seabourn Sojourn Captain Hamish Elliott went home this morning … and he brought 450 guests with him! Seabourn Sojourn made her maiden call to Tyne port, near Newcastle in northeastern England. Tyne port is also near Sunderland where the captain calls home when he is not at sea. The ship held a plaque exchange ceremony with port officials to commemorate the ship’s visit to the port. Below are several photos of the visit provided to us by The Port of Tyne.

Port of Tyne Corporate Affairs Director Susan Wear presents a plaque to Captain Hamish Elliott. Photo by Port of Tyne.

Seabourn Sojourn pictured here at The Port of Tyne’s Northumbrian Quay. Photo by Port of Tyne.

Seabourn Sojourn. Photo by Port of Tyne.

Seabourn Sojourn Captain Hamish Elliott at the helm of the ship. Photo by Port of Tyne.

Seabourn Manager of Culinary Operations Bjoern Wassmuth and Corporate Traveling Chef Raj Adhikary recently held a tasting in the test kitchen at Seabourn’s Seattle headquarters of Hot Chocolate Sticks. Sourced from the world-famous chocolate mecca of Belgium, the treats look like speared chocolate truffles, but are meant to be stirred into a cup of hot milk to create delicious hot chocolate on the spot.  We tried them and they work, stirring up a rich, yummy cup!  They come in various flavors, but those tested were milk, dark and caramel chocolate.  This was just implemented on Seabourn Sojourn and will be featured aboard the rest of the ships soon. Stay tuned for more photos!

Three Squares: A lineup of the new Hot Chocolate Sticks.

Got hot milk? Raj Adhikary, Jafar Al-Shibibi, deputy director of purchasing, Bjoern Wassmuth and Christopher Prelog, director of hotel operations, sample the Belgian treats.

Seabourn Sojourn is fresh out of drydock in Genoa, where the ship underwent routine maintenance and updates – just in time for the start of its Europe season! The company also implemented several new energy-efficient initiatives, including the installation of LED lighting in all the suites and the application of low-friction, anti-fouling paint on the ship’s hull to help reduce drag and fuel consumption.

Captain Hamish Elliott made special arrangements for the crew to tour Seabourn Sojourn during drydock.  They donned their safety hats and boiler suits, and under the guidance of a deck officer, ventured below the ship to see what is normally hidden underwater. “Oohs” and “aahs” abounded as the crew saw the bow thrusters, anchors, ship’s bow, propeller shafts and all the other mechanics under the ship. It was a rare experience and one they will certainly never forget! Here are a few photos shared by Crew Purser Thomas Lyon.

A delicate balancing act

(Standing L-R): Emmanuel Olor, Antonio Baluya, Leoncio Basalo, D’Artagna Canata, Jerick Aguilar, Sharma Somananda, Belinda Smitheram, Stacey Lawrence, and Chucky Collado (Kneeling L-R): Restituto Caballas, Richard Perez, Lester Hiponia, Bobby Broughton and Erico Delos Santos.

Feeling a little small?

Up close and personal with one of the ship’s anchors.

All smiles: Guest Services Manager Belinda Smitheram, Cruise Director Bobby Broughton and Second Officer Suzanne Kelly

Our Seabourn culinary team has expanded the variety of menus served in our Patio Grill, the popular casual poolside restaurant on Seabourn Odyssey, Seabourn Sojourn and Seabourn Quest. Three new themed dinner menus have been added, supplementing the popular Surf and Turf menu. The new ones are Chop House, Al Fresco and BBQ.  Our world-class culinary team, led by Manager of Culinary Operations Bjoern Wassmuth, has created more than 40 new appetizing dishes for the new themes, such as Garlic and Herb Roasted Suckling Pig (Al Fresco); BBQ Beef Short Ribs (BBQ); and Fresh Salmon Cotelette (Chop House).

Also new in the Patio Grill is a selection of “pick and go” appetizers and desserts, allowing guests to choose from a selection of four of each, already prepared and beautifully plated. The eatery also now offers a different pasta and pizza creation every day.

Complementing the new dinner menus, Patio Grill will continue to feature a variety of grilled specialties, salads and sides for lunch, as well as daily specials celebrating 15 themes, such as West Indies, paninis, tacos, satay and more. The highly popular, freshly baked pizzas will also be available throughout the afternoon, as well as pastries in the morning.

Patio Grill has been a popular dining spot for our guests since it was first introduced on Seabourn Odyssey three years ago. The new dinner themes and dishes offer more choice and variety for guests, inviting them to return often and enhancing their dining experience when they sail on Seabourn.

Crab and Avocado Cocktail

Smoked Halibut, Honey Mustard

Seabourn Sojourn Crew Purser Thomas Lyon sent us this great report from their visit to Pisco, Peru, earlier this month.

A group of Seabourn Sojourn staff members braved the parched landscape of Peru and took part in a Dune Buggy Tour in Pisco recently. The excited and sunblock-lotioned group left the ship just after lunch and headed to Arenero Park to begin their unique and exciting off-road excursion.

After receiving their safety and riding instructions, the crew boarded their dune buggy and experienced the thrill of going up and down the golden waves of sand, and discovered new routes as their driver took them to inaccessible areas in the middle of the hottest dunes. About an hour of exhilarating driving later, and the sand-swept crew stopped to try their hand at boarding the dunes. From boarding fast and furiously down the dunes to tracking all the way up again, everyone thoroughly enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Most of all, they were able to tick this fun adventure off their bucket list … done!

The group is ready for the ride of their lives!

Getting ready to conquer the dunes

Who’s having a great time?? We are! Veronika Tykalova, stewardess; Milena Mandic, stewardess; Ana Sofia Gulama Dos Santos, assistant housekeeper; and Tanya Edwards, vocalist.

I am Bruce Good, Seabourn’s director of public relations. I am currently sailing aboard Seabourn Sojourn on a Patagonian Passage East from Valparaiso, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It’s a region I’ve always wanted to visit, and I thought I’d blog from here to let you know what it’s like. Hope you enjoy it.

The first thing one notices is the penguins. Penguins in their thousands, packed densely onto every foot of space. And the sound of them…no, wait. No sound. No smell either. How odd. Because these are not Emperor penguins, nor Adelie, nor Macaroni nor Rockhoppers. These are souvenir penguins. Penguins in every size and material, from semi-precious stone to synthetic microfiber fleece. All pleading with endearing orphan eyes for you to take them home with you. They line Avenida San Martin from end to end, aggressively, competitively on display and on sale.

Ushuaia is an outpost. It clings tenaciously to the shoreline of its bay, encircled by looming sub-Antarctic peaks and buffeted by scouring winds. It is a political statement, a colonial capital bravely hoisting its flag at The End of the World. In fact its apparent main industry is Being There. The visitors who file along the avenue dressed in expeditionary haute couture have come to the Far Corner, and they want their proof. Arrayed between the penguins are T-shirts, ball caps, parkas and sweatshirts emblazoned simply with the name. Ushuaia. I was there.

Getting there is an accomplishment, no matter how you do it. Captain Elliott asked the pilot about the weather report, and received a dismissive laugh. “Those are written by people in Buenos Aires,” he said, “who don’t know anything!”  Winds in Ushuaia’s bowl of a bay bring new meaning to the word ” fickle.” They change velocity and direction with almost demonic whimsy. Within a short time after Seabourn Sojourn was made fast to the pier, the wind came around 180 degrees and began to intensify, snugging the ship against the fenders and singing in her riggings as flags ashore snapped flat out. Many of her guests went off to explore the surroundings on shore excursions—cruising the Beagle Channel on a catamaran, trekking in the wetlands around beaver dams, riding on horseback or on the quaint little Train to the End of the World. I made a survey of Avenida San Martin, the main shopping street, perusing the penguins, liquor stores, trekking gear vendors and duty-free electronics stores. At one PM, true to its word, the town’s retail community shut down for the obligatory siesta, leaving the visitors to seek a luncheon among the variety of eating establishments. I chose an atmospheric cottage off the street called Los Pionares, and contributed to the local economy for the fare of a plate of local King crab, al natural. While I was eating, the promised rain blew in, not hard but chilly and windblown. When I finished I snugged down my cap and zipped my collar, and trudged back down to the pier. Late in the afternoon I went forward to the Observation Bar to take a look at the town. The bay was lacy with ragged, wind-blown chop and the peaks stood out against the blue sky, their grey flanks above the tree line pied with hieroglyphic patches of snow, Stepping out onto the terrace, I ventured forward of the bar and was very nearly blown off the deck. I thought to myself that the captain was going to need some help getting off the pier.

At our appointed departure time, Captain Elliott did in fact come on the PA to say that we were effectively pinned to the pier by the wind, and that there were no tugs in Ushuaia to pry us free.

We would have to wait for the wind to abate, which was prophesied in the questionable weather report to occur a few hours later. In a short half hour, we heard the engines erupt into working frequency, and Sojourn began to churn away from the pier with bow thrusters jetting water under the pier and props muddying the bay aft. Captain Elliott told us later that he sensed a lull in the wind and decided to break for it, by the time he got everything underway, the wind had come around 180 degrees and was pushing the ship away from the pier before we got all lines free, and he had to reverse and push back in to get some slack in the lines. A ticklish exit masterfully handled.

Headed for the bright lights.

Pity about the name…

A prom queen amongst the linebackers.

In the local shops, lingerie and baby shoes, go figure.

Pinned by the wind.

On Sunday, Seabourn Sojourn approached Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan. The strait was discovered, of course, by Ferdinand Magellan, who believed it was the long-sought passage westward to India. It was of limited value to sailing ships, however, due to strong contrary currents and limited fetch for tacking into the wind. As for the wind, it greeted us at Punta Arenas in all its notorious strength. The waters were whipped by gusts in the range of 50 knots, and although the sun was brilliant, the chill was penetrating. The picture of the tug escorting us to the dock tells the story. Captain Elliott carefully brought the ship alongside, although it required some extra muscle from the tugs to get her snug to the fenders. Once there, he also used extra lines to secure here against the gale blowing straight on her beam. At last the gangway was secured and those of us participating the 11-hour tour to Torres del Paine National Park sprinted to the coach for the airport.

Torres del Paine was a big part of why I chose this itinerary. I had gazed at pictures of the massif for years, and it was one site I really wanted to see before I shuffle off this mortal coil. The Torres (Towers) are granite peaks that rise sheer against the sky, surrounded by lower but equally impressive black shale peaks called the Cuernos or Horns. The derivation of the name Paine (pron. PIE-nay), like a lot of things Chilean, seems to be the subject of some controversy.  The most logical explanation seems to be that the word means “blue” in the native Mapuche language, and refers to the river of that name that feeds several lakes in the massif. The towers themselves are pink granite.

Our quest began with a flight from Punta Arenas airport over the flat wetlands to Puerto Natales, at the mouth of a huge glacial valley. We were 28 souls on the brilliantly painted motorcoach, as we turned up this valley and drove by broad pasturelands nestled between smooth, rounded hills of glacial moraine dotted with beef cattle and sheep. At their tops, the hills broke with tilted strata of rock obviously thrust up above the reach of the ancient glaciers. At one point, our guide spotted a condor in flight, and we stopped to watch it. To our surprise and delight, it continued to glide directly toward us, and finally began to settle into a pasture just off the road. At that point, we noticed several others already on the ground, and it became apparent that they were homing into some sort of carrion, which is their sole source of food. We stopped the coach, quietly got out and snapped pictures of a rare close encounter with a whole flock of Andean condors. Our November visit is prime time for condor sightings, since it is early lambing season in the region, and the quantity of lambs that die shortly after birth provide a bounty for the birds. Further on, we saw a Buzzard Eagle flying on the ridge, another bird that takes advantage of carrion for food.   A bit further on we came across the first small herd of guanacos. These handsome animals are the largest of the wild South American camellids. They are protected here and largely indifferent to vehicles of people. We had a number of opportunities to observe and photograph them at close range throughout the day, including one instance where they were grazing along with a few rheas, one of South America’s native ostriches. We entered the Torres del Paine National Park and moved ever closer to the massif. However the clouds were being coy with us, engaging in a sort of meteorological Dance of the Seven Veils, revealing just enough to keep us excited, but not everything. After pausing at the requisite photo locations for “insurance shots” in case the weather deteriorated, we repaired to a lovely restaurant on a lake island for lunch. A repast of barbecued lamb (no surprise, but delicious), potatoes and vegetables, accompanied by a nice Chilean wine followed. We then headed back toward the massif. A stop was made for a short walk to a rushing cascade, and we made one last pass by the veiled massif. It was magnificent even in its reluctance, but the clouds would not relent. We started back down the valley toward our Sojourn “home.”  Again we passed through the soft, feminine undulations of the moraine valley, so different from the polished, muscular granite walls of the fjords.  If you had asked me whether I would have been disappointed had I not been able to see the towers before I went, I would have said yes. So I went and the towers were next to invisible, was I disappointed? Perhaps a little. Do I regret the trip? Absolutely not. We saw an amazing amount of wildlife, some astonishing scenery and spent some unforgettable time in the presence of the massif itself.

A windy morning in Punta Arenas.

Our “jumbo” plane to Puerto Natales.

Andean condors’ picnic on the lawn.

Guanacos at Torres del Paine

The elusive Cuernos del Paine

Getting the shot

I am Bruce Good, Seabourn’s director of public relations. I am currently sailing aboard Seabourn Sojourn on a Patagonian Passage East from Valparaiso, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It’s a region I’ve always wanted to visit, and I thought I’d blog from here to let you know what it’s like. Hope you enjoy it.

I awoke on Thursday, November 10 and pulled aside my drapes to reveal a panorama of tall, heavily forested granite islands gliding by just outside. The forest was dense and multicolored, with a wind-whipped, wiry character very different from the tropics. But beneath the ceiling of fog and ragged clouds it was beautiful, and mesmerizing to watch. Now and then we passed the corral of orange buoys and metal frames that marked a salmon farm near the shore of a distant island, the only signs of mankind in the panorama. Shortly before noon we came to Puerto Chacabuco, the port for the Aysén region of Chile south of Puerto Montt and Chiloé. It has the look of an outpost in the mostly wild surroundings, but clearly busy and focused on commerce. I had selected a five-hour excursion called “Patagonian Nature in Depth” which took us to a privately owned nature reserve near the town. Other choices included excursions over the nearby Andes passes to the Simpson River valley and even a horseback ride in the Simpson Valley. After a short tender ride to the dock, where we were met by a basking harbor seal, we boarded coaches for a short 15-minute ride to the park. The Aikén del Sur Park is owned and operated by a private company that specializes in eco-tourism in this region. They maintain the trails and facilities and employ the rangers and guides, who are excellent. A brief orientation alerted us to the fact that while it’s easy to think of the surrounding forest as “virgin,” because it is virtually unmarked by human endeavor, it really is second-growth that replaced the climax forest that once towered to an average height of over a hundred feet here. The interim was a result of a government policy in the 1930s that allowed clear-burning for agricultural purposes. This idea resulted in catastrophic wildfires that decimated over 50 percent of the native forest in Patagonia. This huge region still supports fewer than .8 people per square kilometer, so the forest is still untamed even though not truly untouched. Our guides led us in small groups along a two-kilometer trail through the forest, criss-crossing clear streams and pausing occasionally to learn about the trees and other plants, their characteristics and in some cases medicinal uses. Many of the trees were in full bloom, and the meadows were dusted with buttercups that attracted bumblebees the size of small birds. Out-sized rhubarb plants with leaves several feet across likewise had sprouted conical towers of reddish blossoms. We came to a 65-foot waterfall called “The Old Man’s Beard,” and paused for photographs. Finally we climbed to a saddleback overlooking a lovely lake between looming forested headlands. A steady, chill wind swept blowing showers down from the mountains behind us and sent us scurrying into the warmth of the nearby lodge, where fragrant, spit-roasted lamb and Chilean wine awaited, along with a festive folkloric show. Sated by the feast and entertained, and invigorated by our afternoon in the Patagonian wild, we returned to Chacabuco, the tenders and our waiting Seabourn Sojourn. That evening’s departure was even more dramatic than the morning’s entry had been, with steep granite slopes rising from the pewter-tinted fjord into veils of soft grey clouds, tracked on their lower slopes by silvery waterfalls and on their upper shoulders by trailing ermine-tails of snow.

Bruce Good, Seabourn’s director of public relations, is currently sailing on a 14-day Patagonian Passage voyage aboard Seabourn Sojourn. He will be blogging throughout his cruise and sharing his experiences as he explores the beauty of South America.  Here is his latest post; stay tuned for more updates!

We anchored at Puerto Montt about 7 AM today. The day was gray and threatening, but oddly perfect for this location. The town appears to be a real workaday port. They do ship a lot of fish our of here, but quite a lot of it is trout and salmon from the nearby lakes, notably Llanquihue,(pronounced roughly Yankee-way) which is South America’s largest at 877 square kilometers. Puerto Montt was founded by an arranged immigration of 200 German families in 1856. The Chilean Catholic church arranged for the president, Manuel Montt, to invite the Germans from Kiel, because the local population was made up mainly of fishermen who were not clearing or planting the land. Once here, however, they discovered that the volcanic soil and poor drainage made agriculture unproductive on the coast. They did begin industriously clearing the virgin forests of the huge alerce trees, the same as the sequoias of North America. This straight-grained, durable wood leant itself to the split-shake shingle industry and thus the predominant building style with typical German-style shingle facades which are seen everywhere. Harvest of alerce is now forbidden by law. I took a tour which climbed from the port to the higher plateau, which was handsomely cultivated for agriculture and dairy grazing, and elsewhere covered with golden swaths of blooming gorse (also imported by the Germans.) We visited Puerto Varas, on the shores of Llanquihue, a resort town that has on occasion views of snow-capped Osorno volcano across the lake. That’s the rumor, anyway. I may have glimpsed its big toe under the drifting clouds. Nevertheless the town is charming, and I did take pictures of its red-roofed cathedral, built out of the alerce wood, and an early harvest of cherries, strawberries, lettuce and English peas that some enterprising gardeners were hawking in the street. Then we continued up the lakeshore to Frutillar, another atmospheric little German settlement, with a colonial museum showing a working watermill and gardens. Below is a picture of a Seabourn guest sheltering under a huge leaf in the garden, looking like an elfin queen. Back on board, we were entertained by a spirited folkloric troupe of young people dedicated to preserving the local music and dance.

Puerto Varas' cathedral

garden fresh

Frutillar waterwheel

Elfin Queen