Not-quite-live from the SB Quest, Barcelona to Dover, 4/15/17-5/1/17

[Catlover54]

SIlly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

lincslady,

Sailing to Portland and then back to France is indeed odd sequencing given we end in Dover.

We had to present ourselves for face to face passport control on board at 7 am today but will then not need to do it last day in Dover

 

Very cold here 35-40 degrees and windy on way to Minternes and Rude Man

 

 

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[lincslady]

I don't think you are going to see paella being cooked, or kids playing in the surf today! We have had some great weather recently, but sadly today is pretty cold, and windy too here, up in the Midlands.

 

At least you have done your dreaded entry into the UK already. I still wonder why the itinerary was changed, there must have been some reason.

 

Hope the trip you are doing will be worth while and interesting.

[English Tim]

I am currently sitting on the beach with my grandchildren on Weymouth beach. We can see Seabourn Quest and a Holland and America ship a mile away at Portland. We're sheltered from the northerly wind so it's quite pleasant in the sunshine.

[Catlover54]

I am currently sitting on the beach with my grandchildren on Weymouth beach. We can see Seabourn Quest and a Holland and America ship a mile away at Portland. We're sheltered from the northerly wind so it's quite pleasant in the sunshine.

 

 

 

Hi English Tim! It is the HA Rotterdam you see next to the Quest.

We just returned from an excursion to the Minternes estate and gardens ( absolutely lovely on a crisp day like this, so we walked a mile in the woods and gardens, so much is in bloom). The 93-yr-old Lord of the manor graced us with a welcoming intro speech and tales about his ancestors. Tea and scones were served before we had to clear out for the HA group, then drove on to the Rude Man chalk figure and a tour of Portland ( photos later).

SB luncheon in the packed indoor Colonnade ( too cold to eat outside and MDR had just closed) was British- themed, with fish shepherds pie, steak pie, peas, roast beef, cabbage, all hearty and filling

 

 

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[English Tim]

Hi English Tim! It is the HA Rotterdam you see next to the Quest.

We just returned from an excursion to the Minternes estate and gardens ( absolutely lovely on a crisp day like this, so we walked a mile in the woods and gardens, so much is in bloom). The 93-yr-old Lord of the manor graced us with a welcoming intro speech and tales about his ancestors. Tea and scones were served before we had to clear out for the HA group, then drove on to the Rude Man chalk figure and a tour of Portland ( photos later).

SB luncheon in the packed indoor Colonnade ( too cold to eat outside and MDR had just closed) was British- themed, with fish shepherds pie, steak pie, peas, roast beef, cabbage, all hearty and filling

 

 

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The two ships in Portland Harbour, taken from outside the Verne Prison (castle like building high above you). The rude chalk man is the Cerne Abbas Giant.

 

 

My lovely wife at Minterne Gardens

 

[ab21au]

Catlover54, love your photos and running commentary of your cruise. Thanks.

[Les Picantins]

Your posts are the perfect remedy for CWS. Thank you :)

[Catlover54]

I just finished a fluffy buttery croissant with honey, eaten while looking out at scenic villages, forests, verdant fields, cows and vacation homes lining the banks of the Seine just 100 meters or so from our veranda, gently floating by as we head for Rouen from where we will be doing an excursion to Honfleur. But first, some more DH photos from yesterday's time near and in Portland:

 

 

 

Minternes:

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

Minternes gardens:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

The old church near the Minternes car park:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

In Portland we saw contrasts of old and new on our driveabout, before a local band saw us off complete with cannon firing at our gin and tonic sailaway in the Club

 

Our guide told us that in early June 1944 there were so many military vehicles in the harbor that reportedly one could have just hopped from one to the other pretty much all the way to Normandy without touching water. Then two days later, the solid mass of military hardware had dissipated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

 

 

SB lady singers doing an ABBA number in the club at sailaway. Waiters were busy serving canapes, assorted gins and other drinks

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Our views just before dinner last night:

 

 

 

Looking up the spiral staircase on the Quest:

 

 

 

 

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[Camillus112]

Thank you, thank you, your photos are amazing!

[Catlover54]

Odds and ends:

 

 

1. Last night main ENTERTAINMENT was an amazingly energetic and talented musician as well as watercolor and charcoal artist named DAVEY HOWE (daveyhowe dot com), who so far IMHO has been the best original entertainment event of the cruise. He is a Brit, in his 40’s, trained originally as a classical trumpeter and then self-taught piano, later branched off into painting watercolors (including of the SB Quest trip to Antarctica), and also does charcoal sketches which he showed at his performance. He performed an eclectic and humorous collection of jazz, rag-time, classical (e.g.,a creative improvisation on Bach’s Toccata and Fugue), and “Great Balls of Fire", on combinations of trumpet, piano, toy trumpet, fox horn, garden house, shower hose, and he even played music on an aluminum walker leg! He hams it up quite a bit, and ended with a duet with the talented SB band keyboardist where both of them were at one point on the floor reaching upwards and playing with one hand, legs splaying heavenwards. An excellent, highly caffeinated performance.
   
2. Today on the way to Rouen cruising down the Seine we had lovely views, (photos to follow), enjoyed the MDR at lunch, and all seemed perfect until we had a little glitch in SB service that was anything but luxury: DH disappeared in the gym and I retreated to my bubble bath to soak, with my D-DAY audiobook playing off my iPhone, and the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. While bubbling, still mellowed from my coq au vin lunch with pinot noir and sacher torte in the MDR, I was listening to a little story of how Americans and Germans who were fiercely firing at each other stopped for a bit as both sides of young men gazed in amazement when an oblivious French woman stepped out into the firing zone to retrieve eggs from chickens, at her Normandy farm house where the battle was going on. Enemies stared at her in awe, and each other, no one firing, and when she was done collecting her eggs, soldiers resumed warring. Right around that time in my book as I was pondering the irony and sadness of such a situation, I heard the doorbell on our cabin go off, twice But as I was naked in the tub, and had a DO NOT DISTURB sign up, I ignored it. Then door knocking and pounding started. Finally I heard someone let herself into my cabin and she firmly yelled “Hello, laundry.” I yelled through the bath door for her to put the laundry on the bed but she started saying something I could not hear over my audio book (it was hard to reach it easily to shut it up), something about “trousers”. I told her I was in the tub but her accented and excited and rapid talk about “trousers” continued, so the conversation then went something like this:
   

Me: “I’m sorry, I can’t hear what you are saying, I am in the tub.”

Her: “ [unitelligible]“trousers not there" {unintelligible]

Me: “Let me turn off the audio on my book so I can hear you, give me a minute to reach it”

Her: “I will wait for you outside until you are ready to come to the door”

Me: “I don’t want to get out of my tub, and I don’t want to come to get dressed to come to the door to talk to you. I just want to hear what your urgent issue is when the DO NOT DISTURB” sign is up that made you decide to come into the room.

Her: [unintelligibe] — but not leaving or apologizing!

Me: [my audio is off now} “Please leave the laundry on the bed, if you have it”

Her: “ I don’t have the laundry yet. You marked that you added a pair of trousers to the list, but they are not there. I could not reach you yesterday to talk about the problem. You must have been on a excursion, so I could not reach you, but I must talk to you in person about the trousers.”

Me: “Did you try and call me or leave me a note at the door?”

Her: “No, I had to talk to you in person about the missing trousers”

Me: “I prefer to sort it out after I have left relaxing in the tub and am more ready to discuss trousers. What is your name?”

Her: “Natasha. They will leave your laundry on the bed later today. . . . .Pause (apparently concerned I asked her name). Sorry to disturb you.”

Me: “Next time you want to reach me, call me or leave me a note at the door first. Please do not come in when the DO NOT DISTURB” sign is posted and then expect me to leave the bathroom to come talk to you.”

It is not at all clear what she had in mind once she penetrated my room after I was not answering the bell or knocks. If I was asleep, was she going to roust me from the Egyptian cotton sheets, or pull me away from DH, if I were with him, to talk about his missing trousers? Were we to search together for the trousers? Did she really think it appropriate to charge in, as if with an emergency, to discuss a discrepancy in her laundry count? Once she realized I was in the tub, would it not have been appropriate to apologize and leave?

It made no sense. It’s as if she had a list of things she had to check off and she was going to do them by hook or by crook, without using any executive judgment. It has since made me a bit afraid to do anything private when the DO NOT DISTURB SIGN is up, as it may not mean what it says. Perhaps I should place a physical barrier near the door? I plan to report this to the hotel manager, even though the cruise is almost over, and I don’t like making issues out of things, it just too bizarre.

3. Our 4:30 SB excursion was then to Honfleurs, which was bad timing as all the museums were closed, it was too late for lunch, and not late enough for a proper dinner (nothing till 7), so we briefly did a guided walking tour of the lovely port and beautiful church and then strolled around. We arrived back late at the Quest 9:15 but the Colonnade was still open for us for “Baltic” evening. Waiters were running ragged but it took 20 minutes to get even water (many people were running but each in charge of something different and not totally able to take responsibility to just deliver water to hydrate us post-excursion, as there was confusion, though all were polite). Eventually we did have some good food, steak tartare and borscht (I had to pursue getting bread other than the dried out stale white bread they offered, e.g., something dark with the borscht), and we finally had them make up a French cheese plate for the room to take back with us to eat with left-over Easter bunny chocolate rabbit ears and a fine left-over Italian wine we had saved (one of Pradeep’s suggestions), and it was very nice.

P.S. Laundry had meanwhile arrived, and the missing trousers were there.

[Catlover54]

A few of my iphone snaps from yesterday before DH sorts the main new piccies:

 

 

Drifting by the bridge near ? Rouen

 

 

 

Honfleur:

 

 

 

 

St Catherine's sanctuary, a gorgeous wooden church from the 15th century in shape of an upside down hull

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

It was cool all day with hail at one point off our veranda

 

 

 

Wine, cheese, and Easter bunny in our late night suite (after the steak tatare and borscht in the Colonnade):)

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Here we are on our way to Monet's beautiful Giverny Gardens:

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

A bit more SERVICE COMEDY continued this morning prior to our excursion to Monet’s Giverny Gardens. Skip this and move on to the pictures if this is TMI about potential service problems (and I do want to emphasize that in general service has been good, and very good to excellent to even inspiring in the MDR -- all must be compared with other luxury lines).

We had ordered room service with a variety of items including coffee and an "egg over hard" as we have done before, with 2 bacon portions for the 6:30-6:45 window. To date breakfast room service had always arrived either later in the window or up to 10 minutes beyond so we were surprised awake when the bell rang around 6:20, when we were still asleep and not ready.

Feeling glazed, after the waiter set things down and left, we failed to see there was once again no coffee pot, and we had two hard-boiled eggs (which DH detests) instead of the one ordered over hard. DH was half awake and annoyed (unusual, as I am usually the AM crankpuss pre-coffee), so while he started in on the bacon to prevent its getting cold, I got dressed to get some "early risers" coffee to bring back from the somnambulist center ( aka the Observation lounge starting at 6:15 AM) so as to invigorate the tone of our suite.

DH went back to bed to rest more post-bacon and a little coffee at 6:40, and I was quietly sipping the lounge coffee in the semi-dark room on the bed when to my surprise at 6:55 I heard the door clicking open (the DND sign was still on the door), no doorbell ring or knock, and there was the breakfast waiter in our suite entryway with an over hard egg and two more portions of bacon (i.e., another 4 slices), keen to set it down, apparently letting himself in to do a makeup delivery. I had not called to do a make-up delivery so presumably the kitchen had found a stray plate with bacon lining around they needed to do something with. He seemed stressed and overworked.

Forty minutes later, when we were quadruple baconized (or octuple if you count all 8 strips), so as not to waste them, someone from room service called as they typically do when they want the tray back, perfunctorily asking if room service was ok. I told him "not quite" and summarized the comedy of errors. Instead of initially apologizing, in a defensive tone the caller fixated on trying to defend that the time of delivery was acceptable, ignoring everything else I said about the room service. I think he just wanted to check a box that he had called to see if everything was fine. I did not want to argue and simply said I had to get ready for the excursion.

Later in the day after our excursion I spoke to the very helpful Guest Services Manager Marcella Selling in her office, particularly about the privacy issues with the “where are the trousers" lady Natasha, and about other staff who had come into our room at various times during the cruise (usually erroneously to try and deliver things to other people) without allowing enough time for us to react to the doorbell. I was encouraged that Marcella listened empathetically, took notes, and assured me that she would look into the busting-in problem, and that that is not how their staff are trained.

We had returned to our suite to find a note from our stewardess stating she regretted the desired Italian wine would not be ready until 10PM. However, we had not ordered any wine (stewardess was obviously confusing us with others). I had noted this at SB Square, stating someone is going to be missing some wine and maybe they should be notified, They said they would take care of it. Later in the evening, I got another note from the stewardess again expressing further delays about the wine -- that I had never ordered.

At times the right hand does not seem to know what the left hand is doing.

So it was time to go drink.

[Catlover54]

Govern Gardens were beautiful, so much in bloom, but very crowded (and it's not even summer yet). Our guide struggled valiantly to educate us about Monet, but mostly we slowly filed through overly large crowds of people, e.g., gaggles of Japanese girls taking selfies on bridges, Russian women doing mini-movies in front of tulips, French girls doing panoramas of bedrooms holding everyone else up, and don't get me started on the dogs. We filed single file through Monet's house and briefly looked at reproductions of furniture and paintings, nudged from behind.

We had one hour free after the tour and twenty minutes of that was spent in the line for the laidies' rest room with four stalls. I gazed enviously at the men's room as I waited, which also had four stalls and four urinals I could see, half of them empty, and was tempted to go transgender for the day (hey, I'm from CA where we have 57 genders so why not!), after a man came out and, looking at all the unhappy women wasting time in the laidies' toilet line, proudly said "This is a good day to be a man." I had to agree with him but toughed it out.

[Camillus112]

Oh, this is better than Netflix. I'm only sorry that my entertainment has been at the expense of your well deserved wellbeing. I do hope that from now on you get it right and I get bored from your letting us know how perfect it's been.

[Catlover54]

Govern Gardens were beautiful, so much in bloom, but very crowded (and it's not even summer yet). Our guide struggled valiantly to educate us about Monet, but mostly we slowly filed through overly large crowds of people, e.g., gaggles of Japanese girls taking selfies on bridges, Russian women doing mini-movies in front of tulips, French girls doing panoramas of bedrooms holding everyone else up, and don't get me started on the dogs. We filed single file through Monet's house and briefly looked at reproductions of furniture and paintings, nudged from behind.

 

We had one hour free after the tour and twenty minutes of that was spent in the line for the laidies' rest room with four stalls. I gazed enviously at the men's room as I waited, which also had four stalls and four urinals I could see, half of them empty, and was tempted to go transgender for the day (hey, I'm from CA where we have 57 genders so why not!), after a man came out and, looking at all the unhappy women wasting time in the laidies' toilet line, proudly said "This is a good day to be a man." I had to agree with him but toughed it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Catlover54]

Here we are on our way to Monet's beautiful Giverny Gardens:

 

 

 

 

 

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Ok, I confess these are the actual Giverny chickens DH photographed and not us SB pax with pompadours :)

 

 

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