Discover the European coastline on this boutique cruise
Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner and pals would have loved this ship. White-coated waiters serve Caesar salad and Lobster Thermidor in The Grill by Thomas Keller, a dark-shuttered restaurant with sexy banquettes and a soundtrack of era- appropriate American classics. At the bar, the Rat Pack Manhattan is shaken into frosty glasses. There are blackjack tables at the casino and tented cabanas with Bollinger on tap in The Retreat, for VIPs wishing to hang with their own rat pack.
Seabourn’s newest boutique cruise ship, Seabourn Ovation, squeezes a lot of glamour into 12 decks. Renowned hotel designer Adam D Tihany (The Beverly Hills Hotel, the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas) has worked some serious magic on the interiors, which are richly jewel-like and as plush as those on a private yacht, with polished-mahogany details, a cream-and- midnight-blue colour scheme and a dazzling elliptical staircase that connects the decks.
Above: Lisbon, Portugal. Image credit: Instagram.com/dy_ellie
Lisbon, Portugal. Image credit: Instagram.com/giannis_agiotis
We begin our journey on the ship’s first ever cruise in beautiful Lisbon, Europe’s current ‘it’ city. The Portuguese capital is experiencing an influx of new residents from middle Europe and undergoing a massive regeneration while still — at least for the moment — retaining its slightly run-down charm.
There’s a gleaming new cruise terminal, and the embarkation process is impressively well- organised. A few hours later, we’re partying with ship-made gin and tonics (the barman adds his own quinine powder) as we sail away from Lisbon towards our first destination in Spain.
There’s barely time to unpack before dinner, although our steward volunteers to do it for us. All of Ovation’s staterooms are spacious suites with outside verandas and deckchairs, full baths and walk-in wardrobes. A clever glass table doubles as a desk, and the cocktail cabinet comes complete with all the accoutrements to mix one yourself.
Our fellow cruisers, about 600 of them, are a smartly dressed bunch of varying ages. I overhear one gentleman announce that he’s 97, but there are also a few teenagers and some guests in their 30s and 40s. This is not a cruise ship for younger children, as it doesn’t offer the child-friendly activities that some of the bigger ships provide.
The Grill by Thomas Keller, restaurant. Image credit: Instagram.com/seabourncruise
It is, however, nirvana for adults. The ship features five restaurants, 24-hour room service, a nightclub, a casino, a spa, shops, a pool deck and a private retreat. A Grand Salon hosts performances and enrichment lectures, and there’s a coffee shop and juice bar as well as a library. Three watering holes serve up superbly crafted cocktails: Observation Bar, a lounge with a circular bar under a curvaceous skylight; Sky Bar; and Patio Bar.
The Grill by Thomas Keller restaurant is a coveted dining space. As with most food and alcohol on the ship (with the exception of some specialty wine and liquor), eating at the three-Michelin-starred chef’s restaurant is complimentary. However, the ship restricts reservations to make sure every guest has the opportunity to dine here at least once. The main restaurant, with its Murano glass chandeliers, is equally gorgeous. Our favourite restaurant, however, is Sushi, an authentic Japanese sushi bar, with bento boxes for lunch and glisteningly fresh sushi and sashimi at night. The Observation Bar also serves an excellent afternoon tea every day featuring cakes, pastries and scones.
The heartbeat of the ship is Seabourn Square. Here, guest-relations staff are on duty 24/7 to assist with anything from advice on shore excursions to spa bookings. An extensive collection of tours is available in each port (all for an extra charge), such as wine tasting in France’s Medoc vineyards by private helicopter and a UNESCO tour of Bordeaux.
San Sebastián, Spain. Image credit: Instagram.com/gopikaem
We choose a mixture of self-guided and group tours during the cruise. One frustration is that you spend so little time in port. But given that time is limited, it’s important to distil the experience in each place down to what’s vital to see. On the big-plus side, cruising gives you access to places you might never have discovered by land.
We know little about our first port, Gijón, a popular beachside resort in summer — a bit like Spain’s version of Bondi. It’s a cold and grey spring day, though, so we retreat from the windswept beach to the narrow streets, surprised by the city’s cache of colourful Art Deco buildings and immaculate plazas.
In Bilbao, we visit the Guggenheim. This Spanish Basque city was reinvigorated when Frank Gehry’s whimsical, titanium-clad building opened in 1997, transforming it from fading port city to art-world hub. We explore the old quarter and stop for lunch at Café Iruña, a nearly 120-year-old bar that opens onto a grand Moorish-fantasy restaurant.
We arrive in opulent San Sebastián, the Spanish city known for its gastronomy, Parisian-style façades and magnificent setting on a spectacular curve of bay. We head for the cobblestone streets lined with tapas bars, where counters are buried under small plates of scrumptious delicacies — pintxos — while overhead a forest of hefty legs of jamon drip fat into little paper cones.
Bordeaux, France. Image credit: Instagram.com/pl.cent
In France, we dock for two nights in Bordeaux, the elegant city famous for its imposing, ornate 18th-century façades, excellent restaurants and centuries-old wine trade. On our first day, we opt for an organised bus trip to the nearby village of Saint- Émilion, a gorgeous, hilly, 13th-century town notable for its premium Merlots.
On our second day, we arrange our own walking tour with Franck and Benjamin of Insol’Eat Bordeaux, two locals who host guided walks combining history and food. It’s a great way to see the city in a short time, as we drop into various providores to sample local cheeses and canelé, a kind of chewy rum baba.
Bordeaux is buzzy and youthful, full of cyclists and people lingering over coffees on the terraces of grand cafes. We don’t have time to try any of its legendary restaurants or visit the curious new La Cité du Vin, the world’s largest cultural centre devoted to wine. As we sail along the wide Garonne river towards our next port, La Rochelle, we pass the bulbous gold-and-glass building, which is supposed to represent wine swirling in a glass as well as gnarled grapevines.
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Our fellow passengers will continue on to Amsterdam, but we reluctantly hop off in La Rochelle to take the fast train back to Paris. If we have to leave the ship, at least the weather is beautiful, and the pretty seaside holiday village is beckoning.
Seabourn Ovation is the fifth ultra-luxury vessel to join the Seabourn fleet in the past decade. It’s the second of two ships designed for the line by hospitality-design icon Adam D Tihany. Visit: seabourn.com