After I boarded a cruise ship at Lengthy Seaside Pier earlier this yr for a 19-day solo journey by way of the Panama Canal, I wasn’t fairly certain what to anticipate. I’d traveled on different cruise traces earlier than and had lately toured one in every of Seabourn’s different ships. So when the model invited me to expertise Seabourn Encore—with its all-suite accomodations and quietly opulent eating rooms—I knew it could be an entire different degree. However almost three weeks at sea, three meals a day, day-after-day, eating with strangers or alone…Would I overlook the right way to discuss to folks? Would I costume up for dinner each evening?
At dwelling, my consuming routine is unpredictable at greatest—hurried breakfasts (or extra possible, only a latte), bird-like lunches, and hangry takeout orders punctuated by the occasional ceremonial dinner or restaurant blowout. The concept of sitting down for 3 civilized meals a day—all on my own—was laborious to fathom.
After checking into my room—unpacking three weeks’ value of bags right into a walk-in closet, I turned on the obligatory ship security video and poured myself a glass of the chilled Montaudon champagne ready for me. Alicia, one in every of my suite hosts, popped in to say hi there with a smoked salmon canapé on brioche and a rundown of the laundry and housekeeping routine. Sure, I may get used to this.
Beginning to really feel extra at dwelling (and peckish), I introduced my laptop computer out to the pool deck, related to the ship’s Starlink web, and ordered grilled pink snapper and a salad. A couple of minutes into modifying a narrative for our subsequent challenge, the ship’s bar supervisor Alfredo appeared with a tray of the cocktail of the day: a citrusy, spritzy concoction of Aperol and vodka. Don’t thoughts if I do.
I closed my laptop computer and took a chew of fish: fastidiously seasoned, crispy pores and skin, off to a powerful begin. On the deck above, a trendy couple round my dad and mom’ age caught my eye. The girl, wearing an outsized tan blazer and darkish denims like me, smiled and waved. After I waved again, she walked down the steps to say hi there. “Kat?? I’m Sandy Fenton.”
A buddy had talked about that her mother Sandra, a longtime journey author and host of the podcast Let’s Discuss Journey would even be on this voyage. 20 minutes into my first solo meal, right here she was, warmly inviting me to hitch her and her husband, Stew, for lunch or dinner, “any time!”
Whereas an opulent buffet is served every day beginning at 6:30 A.M. within the ship’s Colonnade, I opted out of social breakfasts and took morning meals in my suite. I knew I might be crossing time zones and wanted to remain tethered to my group again in New York. Ticking my breakfast order off a door hanger earlier than mattress every evening helped me keep anchored to their schedule.
Every morning, I scrambled away from bed to let in a smiling, astoundingly nimble room service attendant who would unfurl a crisp white tablecloth over my glass eating desk because the solar eased as much as the horizon. I’d perch on the couch, blurry eyed and in my jammies, watching them set polished silver and goblets of juice and ice water.
Onboard roastery apart, I discovered myself oddly homesick for my at-home espresso routine—a each day dance of grinding espresso, warming milk, and feeding the 2 insistent cats on the middle of my universe. So after the primary day, I pivoted to tea, alternating by way of the galley’s fairly packets of sencha, Moroccan mint, Darjeeling, and English breakfast in an effort to create a brand new, barely much less jittery, little rhythm.
I am not a lot of an egg lady lately, and whereas I sampled just a few of the fancier choices alongside the way in which—delicate Swedish pancakes, lox on a crisp bagel, and soothing steel-cut oats swirled with honey and cream—most mornings, I stored issues easy. Entire wheat toast with butter and Marmite. Plain yogurt. Recent fruit: grapefruit, berries, or most frequently pineapple, unwaveringly candy and completely ripe. In Puerto Vallarta, our first port cease, I ended into the grocery store to purchase just a few native scorching sauces to convey dwelling. Halfway by way of the journey, I ditched the memento plan and began sprinkling them over my morning fruit for a spicy-salty pick-me-up. This turned a part of the ritual.
I rapidly got here to relish the quiet formality of those early solo meals. My roomy, wood-paneled suite—bigger than my first three New York Metropolis flats—opened onto a large balcony the place I’d end my tea and scroll by way of my inbox because the ship glided by way of the Pacific.
Noon Moments, Afloat and Ashore
Even on a completely “working vacation”—Seabourn’s Starlink connection is nearly annoyingly dependable—most afternoons onboard had been way more serene than my atypical at-home scramble. Our Panama Canal itinerary included loads of at-sea days, leaving me ample time to lunch onboard. I went again greater than as soon as for my day-one poolside particular—grilled catch of the day—and a crisp glass of white. Different instances, I ordered shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, or a uncommon New York strip au poivre to take pleasure in within the quiet of my suite between calls. On days after I had extra time, I slid into the jewelbox of a sushi restaurant on Deck 8, ordered gyoza, a miso salmon bento, or a plate of crab maki and an icy scoop of yuzu sorbet or a refreshing inexperienced tea and sake cocktail.
In Huatulco, Mexico, I wandered into city on a Wednesday between video calls and had ceviche on the seashore with my ft within the sand, watching native households splash within the surf. After lunch, I picked up some colourful Oaxacan textiles within the mercado, and waved at just a few acquainted crew members additionally having fun with just a few hours of free time on land.
In Puerto Vallarta, I signed on for a catamaran tour to Yelapa, crossing the Bahía de Banderas within the morning mild whereas the crew handed round café de olla, pastries, and contemporary fruit. After we docked within the sleepy fishing city, I sipped an infinite michelada beside the city’s trickling waterfall and met Thim and Trevor, fellow Seabourn vacationers from Southern California staying on for a fair longer voyage—all the way in which to Lisbon. We bonded over seafood suggestions and by sundown, Thim and I had been moseying down Puerto Vallarta’s sculpture-lined Malecon and pulling aside garlicky grilled lobster, the cathedral’s belltower chiming overhead in celebration of Palm Sunday.
On Seabourn, it’s frequent to obtain printed invites to dine with others on board. Senior crew members, entertainers, and different passengers are eager on preserving this retro ritual, utilizing it each to make new pals and to reconnect with outdated ones.
One morning early within the journey, I participated in slightly noon “Seabourn Dialog” within the Grand Salon, hosted by Chris Harley, the ship’s cruise director. After we chatted by way of just a few of my “meals editor-approved” journey suggestions and I shared some SAVEUR updates, a number of friends—largely longtime SAVEUR readers and adventurous meals lovers—got here as much as say hi there. An effervescent grande dame in sparkly eyeglasses and a blonde pixie reduce rolled up on a motorized scooter to introduce herself with a delicate Bronx accent. “I’m Annalee,” she instructed me. “I’m retired now, and I dwell in Palm Seaside, however I labored within the restaurant enterprise in New York. Thanks a lot for bringing this journal again.”
A pleasant couple from Texas, Paul and Barb, couldn’t wait to inform me about their favourite unsung barbecue spot. Marcel, a widower from Basel, Switzerland, touring solo for the primary time in years, requested if I’ve but made it to his hometown to eat at chef Peter Knogl’s 3-Michelin starred Cheval Blanc—I haven’t, however promised Marcel I might look him up after I lastly do.
A couple of nights later, I used to be seated subsequent to Marcel at a solo traveler dinner. He instructed me in regards to the early days of his hometown’s now splashy artwork honest, his beloved late spouse, and their many pleased years of cruise journey. His relaxed heat gave solution to Swiss precision when it got here time to order wine. After a little bit of forwards and backwards, the somm introduced us with a Bordeaux, incomes a happy nod from my new buddy.
Again in my suite, there was an invite to hitch Paul and Barb for dinner at Solis, Seabourn’s ultra-luxe Mediterranean restaurant; just a few days later, the pinnacle of visitor companies rang to ask if I’d like to hitch Annalee for dinner within the ship’s major eating room. My dance card has by no means been livelier.
Halfway by way of my journey, I had definitely settled right into a rhythm. I stored up with my early morning wakeup calls; I borrowed a mat from the gymnasium and began closing out every workday with some solo yoga on my balcony—besides on the times after I skipped out on health in favor of a scoop of amaretto gelato. And I used to be making pals extra rapidly than I’ve in years.
I spent a uncommon drizzly day out and in of the recent tub within the Retreat, the ship’s reservations-only spa deck. Tucked into a non-public cabana, Sandy, Stew, and I sipped inexperienced juice cocktails and shared steak sandwiches, burrata salad, and fries. And the evening earlier than our canal passage, I used to be formally welcomed into the cool youngsters’ membership: I returned to my room to search out an invitation to a non-public afternoon cocktail and caviar social gathering in Annalee’s forward-facing room—an Proprietor’s Suite that afforded sweeping views of our passage.
As we made our means by way of the canal’s large locks, I chatted with a gaggle of pals our host had gathered up alongside her personal solo journey. I met two extra New Yorkers there (a younger private damage lawyer touring along with his sassy mother), and a pair of no-nonsense New Englanders—an IT skilled from Kenya and a private-label root beer producer from New Hampshire, two lovebirds who’d met years in the past on a Jamaican scuba diving journey, every on their very own solo trip.
As I used to be leaving, Annalee despatched me off with a honeysweet ataulfo mango and a jar of pink peppercorn honey—treasured items from her shore tour from Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.
I dined once more that evening in Solis—this time with Sandy and Stew, by then my shipboard mother and pop. We shared a watermelon salad, white bean cassoulet with grilled child artichokes, a effervescent pot of bouillabaisse, and the showstopping Cocotte Lutée Grand-Mère, chef Franck Solis’ ode to his grandmother’s tarragon hen, baked till silky and tender below a flaky, golden pastry lid.
Annalee and I had bonded over a shared, New Yorkery sense of journey and early on agreed we’d discover Cartagena (the second-to-last cease of our journey) collectively. I had come ready for this explicit port, having reached out to meals stylist and SAVEUR contributor Mariana Velásquez, who splits her time between New York and Colombia. Mariana has impeccable style, so I knew her listing of neighborhood cafés, ice cream outlets, eating places, and boutiques can be priceless.
Seabourn’s tour coordinator organized for a non-public switch to take us on a scenic tour previous the huge Castillo San Felipe de Barajas and into Cartagena’s vibrant El Centro. Alongside the way in which, our driver identified the house of the late Gabriel García Márquez and the grand outdated partitions of the Charleston Santa Teresa lodge earlier than dropping us at our first cease: Nia, an elegant bakery-café beneficial by Mariana. Annalee ordered brioche with ardour fruit jam and butter; I opted for a croissant full of guava paste and salty costeño cheese. We sipped our espresso and soaked within the native vibe, snapped images of the pastry and gelato instances, after which wandered the flower-lined Previous City streets, popping into Mariana’s favourite clothes and design outlets alongside the way in which.
Finally, Annalee noticed a black-and-white straw hat on a avenue vendor’s cart and requested our driver to assist her coordinate a purchase order. She struck a pose, pulling the broad brim down over one eye, and requested me to take a photograph to ship to her son and granddaughter. Because the tropical afternoon warmth started to beat down, she additionally purchased us a pair of chilly, younger coconuts from one other vendor and we loaded again into our blissfully air-conditioned van.
The evening earlier than we arrived in Miami, again on the pool deck, Annalee and I tapped our toes to at least one final evening of dwell music, caught up with a few of our onboard buddies, and promised to remain in contact. Sunburned and sleepy, I skipped the formal dinner, wrapped myself in a gown, and ordered caviar service to my room—an off-menu, IYKYK tip from Sandy—because the solar sank past my balcony. Later, I wandered again out to the pool deck, remodeled for the night into Earth & Ocean, the ship’s most intimate and low-key restaurant. I crunched away at a Belgian endive salad studded with blue cheese, walnuts, and apples, then tucked right into a soothing bowl of strozzapreti with spicy sausage and smoked tomato. In 19 days at sea, it was one of many solely dinners I spent alone. I didn’t thoughts in any respect.
To mark this voyage’s finish, SAVEUR’s editor-in-chief Kat Craddock hosted a day of cocktails and dialog aboard Seabourn Encore in Miami, this voyage’s ultimate port of name. Learn the occasion recap right here.
