After I boarded a cruise ship at Lengthy Seaside Pier earlier this 12 months for a 19-day solo journey via the Panama Canal, I wasn’t fairly certain what to anticipate. I’d traveled on different cruise traces earlier than and had lately toured certainly one 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 a complete different stage. However almost three weeks at sea, three meals a day, every single day, eating with strangers or alone…Would I neglect learn how to discuss to folks? Would I gown up for dinner each night time?
At house, my consuming routine is unpredictable at finest—hurried breakfasts (or extra probably, only a latte), bird-like lunches, and hangry takeout orders punctuated by the occasional feast or restaurant blowout. The concept of sitting down for 3 civilized meals a day—all on my own—was arduous to fathom.
After checking into my room—unpacking three weeks’ value of bags right into a walk-in closet, I turned on the necessary ship security video and poured myself a glass of the chilled Montaudon champagne ready for me. Alicia, certainly one of my suite hosts, popped in to say good day 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 house (and peckish), I introduced my laptop computer out to the pool deck, linked to the ship’s Starlink web, and ordered grilled purple snapper and a salad. A couple of minutes into modifying a narrative for our subsequent subject, 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: rigorously 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 good day. “Kat?? I’m Sandy Fenton.”
A pal had talked about that her mother Sandra, a longtime journey author and host of the podcast Let’s Speak 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 staff again in New York. Ticking my breakfast order off a door hanger earlier than mattress every night time helped me keep anchored to their schedule.
Every morning, I scrambled off the 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 day by day dance of grinding espresso, warming milk, and feeding the 2 insistent cats on the heart of my universe. So after the primary day, I pivoted to tea, alternating via 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 a couple of 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 saved issues easy. Complete 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 finished into the grocery store to purchase a couple of native scorching sauces to carry house. Halfway via the journey, I ditched the memento plan and began sprinkling them over my morning fruit for a spicy-salty pick-me-up. This grew to become a part of the ritual.
I shortly 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 residences—opened onto a large balcony the place I’d end my tea and scroll via my inbox because the ship glided via the Pacific.
Noon Moments, Afloat and Ashore
Even on a completely “working vacation”—Seabourn’s Starlink connection is nearly annoyingly dependable—most afternoons onboard have been way more serene than my strange 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 a couple of acquainted crew members additionally having fun with a couple of 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 recent fruit. Once 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 an excellent longer voyage—all the way in which to Lisbon. We bonded over seafood suggestions and by sundown, Thim and I have 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 buddies and to reconnect with outdated ones.
One morning early within the journey, I participated in just a little noon “Seabourn Dialog” within the Grand Salon, hosted by Chris Harley, the ship’s cruise director. After we chatted via a couple of of my “meals editor-approved” journey ideas and I shared some SAVEUR updates, a number of friends—principally longtime SAVEUR readers and adventurous meals lovers—got here as much as say good day. An effervescent grande dame in sparkly eyeglasses and a blonde pixie reduce rolled up on a motorized scooter to introduce herself with a mild Bronx accent. “I’m Annalee,” she informed me. “I’m retired now, and I stay 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 number of nights later, I used to be seated subsequent to Marcel at a solo traveler dinner. He informed me in regards to the early days of his hometown’s now splashy artwork truthful, his beloved late spouse, and their many joyful years of cruise journey. His relaxed heat gave strategy to Swiss precision when it got here time to order wine. After a little bit of backwards and forwards, the somm offered us with a Bordeaux, incomes a happy nod from my new pal.
Again in my suite, there was an invite to hitch Paul and Barb for dinner at Solis, Seabourn’s ultra-luxe Mediterranean restaurant; a couple of days later, the top of visitor providers rang to ask if I’d like to hitch Annalee for dinner within the ship’s predominant eating room. My dance card has by no means been livelier.
Halfway via my journey, I had definitely settled right into a rhythm. I saved up with my early morning wakeup calls; I borrowed a mat from the fitness center 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 buddies extra shortly 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 night time earlier than our canal passage, I used to be formally welcomed into the cool youngsters’ membership: I returned to my room to seek out an invitation to a non-public afternoon cocktail and caviar get together in Annalee’s forward-facing room—an Proprietor’s Suite that afforded sweeping views of our passage.
As we made our manner via the canal’s large locks, I chatted with a bunch of buddies 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 night time in Solis—this time with Sandy and Stew, by then my shipboard mother and pa. 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 rooster, baked till silky and tender underneath 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 record 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 resort earlier than dropping us at our first cease: Nia, a classy bakery-café really useful 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 photographs of the pastry and gelato instances, after which wandered the flower-lined Outdated City streets, popping into Mariana’s favourite clothes and design outlets alongside the way in which.
Ultimately, Annalee noticed a black-and-white straw hat on a road 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 night time earlier than we arrived in Miami, again on the pool deck, Annalee and I tapped our toes to at least one final night time of stay 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, reworked 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 remaining port of name. Learn the occasion recap right here.
