Live from the Seabourn Quest, Montreal-Montreal, 9/22/22-10/4/22

[Vineyard View]

9 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

 

Overall, the ship comes across as still well-maintained, with very nice clean, simple lines, no fuss.

 

 

Love following your thread and pictures. QC has always been on our list to visit!

We will be on the Quest next Spring (first SB cruise) and after all the issues I have been reading it does sound as things are settling into what your expectations have been as seasoned SB cruisers. 
When we booked our cruise we were told the Quest had or is getting ready to go through a major dry dock.  Wondering based on this comment if that has already occurred or will be happening? 

[Catlover54]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Love following your thread and pictures. QC has always been on our list to visit!

We will be on the Quest next Spring (first SB cruise) and after all the issues I have been reading it does sound as things are settling into what your expectations have been as seasoned SB cruisers. 
When we booked our cruise we were told the Quest had or is getting ready to go through a major dry dock.  Wondering based on this comment if that has already occurred or will be happening? 

 

Other posts on CC indicated Quest was in a dry dock in Genoe until July 2021.

I don't know how often they do dry docks, but the ship does look clean and fresh, as opposed to like an old hotel with carpet spots etc. Crew were also painting parts of the outside the other day.

[Catlover54]

 

 

Direction Saguenoy earlier:

 

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by Catlover54
Dup

[Catlover54]

Viking Star shadowed us ( she was near us in QC too) but got the dock.  We got tenders.

 

The weather changed quickly from blue patches to a grey weather for reading and eating soup ( or on DH’s case slogging in the area  looking for photo ops) 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by Catlover54

[rkacruiser]

9 hours ago, travel4b said:

On the topic of enrichment lectures, two young bridge officers gave a talk in August that was very interesting.  The captain chimed in at the end and promised more in the future.  Perhaps you can suggest they follow up on that.

 

During the Statendam's final voyage for HAL to Singapore, a Third Officer, a Deck Cadet, and an Engineer Cadet were assigned the tasks of providing some talks during some of our sea days.  The sessions were very well attended, the young men were well prepared for their tasks and engaged in very informative Q&A's with the guests, and was a highlight of my cruise.  I would also encourage you to suggest more of those kinds of presentations.  

[jsiegel]

Another question about availabilty of items on the Quest.  Are milk alternatives available?  My travel companions prefer unsweetened coconut or oat milk.  I use almond milk.  My last Seabourn cruise pre-pandemic, did have almond milk.

 

Thanks, Jackie

[sfvoyage]

24 minutes ago, jsiegel said:

Another question about availabilty of items on the Quest.  Are milk alternatives available?  My travel companions prefer unsweetened coconut or oat milk.  I use almond milk.  My last Seabourn cruise pre-pandemic, did have almond milk.

 

Thanks, Jackie

 

There is usually plant-based milk such as soy and almond.  However, for specific and/or unsweetened versions, you should special request in advance.  (I always pre-order unsweetened soy milk.)

[Vineyard View]

10 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

Other posts on CC indicated Quest was in a dry dock in Genoe until July 2021.

I don't know how often they do dry docks, but the ship does look clean and fresh, as opposed to like an old hotel with carpet spots etc. Crew were also painting parts of the outside the other day.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the clarification over what I may have been informed. 

[Catlover54]

 

Apologies for delayed updates about Saguenoy.  We are now sailing to Baei-Comeau will be there soon 

Internet had been very poor all day yesterday in Saguenoy area (both our upgraded wifi and LTE) and unusable for posting, and died completely in our suite when we started sailing again in the evening 11PM, when it went out completely and stayed out.  An announcement said it is due to hurricane in Miami.  

It pretty  much stayed dead with error messages until now, though my phone continued to update emails coming in, slowly  (even SB Souce would give assorted complex error messages or advice for me to "check back when you are on board" -- I'm glad I had my paper version).

 

The day in Saguenoy (yesterday) started out grey, but fall colors were increasingly common.  

 

Courtesy DH:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

Then we had the slow, gradual, erie appearance of what turned out to be the Madonna, presumably  looking out for our safety on the Quest:

 

 

 

 

[CalmSea]

Woke up and ship's tv is down. I am on mobile data and is not affected. Let's see howvwell paperless communication work in this environment.

[CalmSea]

The CD just came on and explained that communicstion is down because of Hurricane affecting Florida. In that case, it may last a while! Hope the dinner menus will be posted in paper form as per the old days!

[DaveA]

Our continuing lack of Internet is a big problem. So many of the ship’s services are dependent on it. The TVs don’t work. The app can’t show menus or shore excursions. They can’t scan our boarding cards as we leave or return to the ship.

[Catlover54]

Viking Star continued to shadow us:

 

 

People from Quest tendered and then headed off on school buses to the nature  park, as the only official excursion, or they could DIY.  The weather got a lot drizzlier.

 

For those you did not take the school bus to the nature park in the afternoon after we arrived, and decided on DIY, businesses in the area the tender went to were almost all closed.  Ueber had no cars available (off season). The only real alternative was to take a hop on and hop tour that spent a couple hours going around the area -- on a one-way school bus that would run every half hour.

These were the potential stops:

 

 

However, the bus full loop is 2 hours one way, so you dared not spend too much time at any of the potentially interesting stops or you would not be able to go all the way around in time to catch the tender back to the ship (we did not get in until 1 and having to tender let to about a 2PM start time on shore)

 

The glass blowing stop was not blowing anything, but one could see the before and the after of how it works:

 

 

 

There was also other local art:

 

A teepee made of yield signs (!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

(More from Saguenoy yesterday):

 

One of the stops was a small air defense museum:

 

 

And of course there were churches, in various presentations:

 

 

 

 

Old train fans could see and climb into this:

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

Then it was back to the school bus shuttle to return to the ship:

 

 

 

 

 

I think Saguenoy would be a great place to visit on one's own, in summer, and in a car.

[Catlover54]

This could have been a perfect time for the Louis XIII Sidecar for only $219:

 

 

But DH and I were tired, so we settled on room service, despite its usual anticipated  problems (e.g., bringing two instead of one of an entree we ordered, and forgetting two items etc.), accompanied by our own wine, which was definitely a bit cheaper 🙂

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Just by the way, it's Saguenay.  Never been there, but it looks wonderful.

[Catlover54]

Thank you for correcting my Saguenay spelling Wendy!  Sincere apologies  for this and also in advance for other typos, grammar problems,  butchered French phrases, and accidental duplicate picture postings.  But I am happy that so far I have been lucky that no pictures have posted upside down, which has also  happened to me in the past) 🙂

 

We are now docked in Baei-Comeau, next to Holland America's Zaandam.  

Pax and crew from both ships have been streaming off the ship to walk into the village 1.2 miles away (more about that later with some photos), or to take the school bus shuttle (much more comfortable than the prior school buses we have been on).  There are also a couple excursions scheduled in the afternoon.

 

We sail at 6.  On the paper Herald I see the following scheduled for the evening:

 

5:45 Classical Caviar Sailaway (singers, caviar and champagne), poolside, weather permitting

 

6:30  A Conversation with Special Guest Speaker Colonel Gerald McCormack; Newfoundland and Labrador (I'm game to hear this, even though we are not in those areas)

 

6:30  cocktails and "guitar grooves with Carlos" in Observation Bar (this is a regular event)

 

8:45 jam session with The Trio (Club) 

 

9:30  Jewelry (Hubert) viewing in Boutique 

 

9:30 ** Citizen West* is the main Grand Salon entertainment, described as "Hot Hot Hot", Latin hits

 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Catlover54
Typo

[nancygp]

Lots to do this evening…looking forward to wonderful seabourn evenings soon

 

enjoy,

 

Nancy

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

Then we had the slow, gradual, erie appearance of what turned out to be the Madonna, presumably  looking out for our safety on the Quest:

 

I am pleased that you were able to see the Madonna!  Thank you for posting your photos.  For the camera I was using at the time I was there, I couldn't get such a good close-up as you did.

 

 

[Catlover54]

Day 7, Baie-Comeau

 

This little "replacement" port, a former mid-20th century planned "company" industrial town (with hierarchical housing arrangements), turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  We spent part of the morning walking around the old downtown after taking the  school bus shuttle SB had arranged to get there. There was not too much superficially  touristy stuff to see in the town itself this off time of year, though the history of the town is interesting in understanding how and why it became the way it is.  

 

The walk to/from port to the town is quite scenic, along an easy trail with a park that follows the sea, lined by quirky public art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many heads?

 

 

Inside view from a tunnel of wooden art:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

.  We also took a little side loop into the nearby woods to get additional views. DH was busy with his camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like to keep an eye out for birch trees

 

 

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

Old factory:

 

 

 

 

Children who visit the park had been asked to draw what they liked best about the park, and we were particularly impressed with this exuberant child's concept of the size, and of course importance, of ice cream cones:

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

We then spent some of the afternoon, which had turned gloriously sunny with a light breeze ( i.e., perfect walking weather), at a beautiful, rustic nature preserve, Point-aux -Outardes (40 minutes away by very tight school bus).

 

 

But first, on the way, we were alerted to the presence of moose, and passed this one, fresh and

delectably quartered, in a pickup: