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

[nancygp]

Larry,

 

glad you posted and I enjoyed following your trip!  I sure hope my upcoming quest cruise will mirror my recent experience on the ovation.

 

hope to see you again one day on the high seas.

 

Nancy

 

 

[Emdee]

12 hours ago, nancygp said:

Why am I not surprised about your statement!  this ex crystal cruiser will be back on seabourn later this month for a second SB cruise in 2 months.  We'll be on the quest and hope the service improves.  FWIW, I personally know the ex-crystal cruiser you’re referring to and value his opinion, the good and the bad. ALSO, CATLOVER has sailed on crystal in the past, most recently just over a year ago on the former crystal Endeavor…hum..2 very different experiences from former crystal sailors.

 

so looking forward to our next cruise and we anticipate a wonderful onboard experience 

 

Nancy

 

 

Yes and this ex Crystal cruiser is booked on 5 Seabourn cruises next year! 
But I am reconsidering the 24 day Quest itinerary in favour of a 14 day SS itinerary on the Endeavour in spite of SS not being my cup of tea! 
 

So many things have changed since the pandemic…including myself….so I am trying to go with the flow more.  

[Catlover54]

9 hours ago, nancygp said:

For clarification sake…NOT ALL previous crystal guests were or will be awarded diamond status…it was/is based on the number of crystal sailing.  We are thrilled to be awarded, not comped, Diamond status…our number of past crystal cruises equate to close to 300 days.  Crystal is NO MORE and Seabourn has exceeeded our high expectations.  FWIW, we booked our first seabourn cruise months prior to the crystal status match…turned out to be a great benefit.  We did not stay in a PH and the service throughout the ship was outstanding.  We treat people the way we want to be treated and you can’t put a dollar sign on that.  In addition, while the poster is a travel agent, I doubt he sailed at a discounted rate.  He sailed extensively on crystal over the years and many other lux lines.  I’m glad he had a great time like I did.  I have met the posted on a previous crystal sailing and we’ve been acquainted for many years.

 

correct, about different perceptions from guests on the same cruise….I’ve encountered this on every cruise I’ve sailed.

 

happy sails,

 

Nancy

You were on Ovation, as I recall, not the Quest or this cruise.  YMMV.  
Even within one line, ship service and ambience can vary and of course cruises and experiences vary, as I already noted when the travel agent now referred to ( I learn new things every day on these boards, LOL) asked if I was "on a different Quest" .

 

Even on Crystal, I loved the Endeavor, whereas I only liked the Serenity, and was not Diamond or anyone important there.

My status on SB ( including one bag laundry per person per week, yay!) was also earned and not comped.

 

 

BTW, DH and I are about the farthest thing away from being travel agents or anything close.

 

My TA just emailed me that she was told SB has kept many of  their better people on the newer ships ( Encore and Ovation, and now Venture). If I cruise SB again, that is where I will go, but I have many other options.

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Catlover54
Typo

[conchyjoe]

Just to clarify some of my previous posts which I have now re-read with the benefit of shore internet as we are now back home. I can now also pass-on some crew comments on various subjects.

 

As far as the catering was concerned in the first half of the cruise, it was generally excellent. Once the “Technical Difficulties” started (this is what the crew interacting with passengers were instructed to explain why some restaurants were simply closed due to the crew Covid outbreak).

 

Mid-level supervisors in all the restaurants are very much aware that many of the new crew they are being sent have little or no shipboard experience. In times past, Seabourn operated the “Seabourn Academy” where new hires spent three weeks in training.

This is no longer happening either because it is too expensive for the company or the ships are so short of crew that management cannot afford the delay getting them onboard ships.

 

The shortage of workers has been perplexing to me. I have a favorite little place in Palm Beach that serves hot dogs and just before our cruise they had a sign in the window that simply said “Closed due to lack of Staff” so this is not just a problem for cruise companies.

 

[CalmSea]

Wow, this thread still has legs. Let me just add to it by commenting on my fortunes or misfortunes with food services. First, let me make clear that I enjoy Seabourn because of the "Extra Effort" that they make to satisfy their guests. It became my expectation, and may be sometimes it is too much. 

 

First a success story. We usually avoid the Restaurant after the Captain's reception. As usual we went to the Colonade. But, there was lobster dish that I like on the main dining room menus. No problem. I will ask for it at the Colonade. I had done it several times before on Seabourn. This time around, when I asked for a dish from the main dining room in Colonade, the waiter said they had a set menu and only served those dishes on the menu. I insisted that I had done this before and asked him to consult his manager. After my appetizers, he came back and said they would make an exception. I got my lobster dish and it tastes especially good.

 

The next epsode also happened in the Colonade. I like having a french press coffee after dinner, and I ordered one. The waiter seem perplexed, and later brought an Americano. I told him that it is not a french press coffee and returned it.  After a long wait with no coffee, and my shared table mates were hinting they wanted to leave, I decided to leave. The senior waiter rushed over and apololized that the previous waiter did not know what a press coffee was, and had made another Americano. He said he could have one made from the main dining room as soon as possible. I thanked him and said there was no need. Then the manager came over. I explained that I was ennoyed not about not getting my press coffee, but that no one has explained to me why it was no coming. If they had explain to me that it was difficult to get press coffee in the Colonade, I would gladly take a regular coffee. Afterward, I thought to myself, "have I pushed the envelope too far by asking for a press coffee in the Colonade?"

 

This post is getting too long. Let me skipped my other adventures/misadventures and fast forward to the last meal in the Restaurant. First, a preamble. I knew that some sections of the Resturant had better service than others. But, I usually just let the Maitre D' seat us where ever he/she wanted. My attitude was that I didn't want to monopolized the good service, and I was willing to share some of the misery of bad services in the Restaurant with my fellow passengers. So, we had super fast meals that finished in less than an hour, and long ones that took over 2 and 3/4 hours.  But, on the last night, a look at the Herald warned me of upcoming problems. The traditional send off parade was scheduled too late. The staff will have littel time to rush back to their work station and galley, for the evening meal service. Moreover, the Restaurant was scheduled to open at 6:30 p.m. and I didn't think they would be ready. Well, we went to the Restaurant around 6:30, was first-in-line. The dining room was almost empty of staff. I only saw the manager and a few waiters. Of course, the doors did not open at 6:30 and we waited for quite a while. Once it opened, I was selfish this time and asked for my favorite table, where I was quite confident of receiving good service. After a long while, the manager came by and apologized for the slow service. He  said the galley was slow to get started. But, I came prepared with my smartphone. Afterall, it was election day in Quebec on Oct 3, and the polls would close at 8:00. I would have time to wait for the election results! BTW, even though the captain changed the itinerary so that I could vote, and Google says I could walk to my voting station in 1 hour, I didn't go and vote. My excuse was that I was in a very safe Liberal riding, and whehter I voted or not would made no difference. Back to food. Sure enough, the poll closed at 8. CBC projected the CAQ will win another term shortly after, and I was still waiting for my main course. We finished our very enjoyable and relaxing dinner after 9. We were in the dining room for over 2 and a half hour. But, what was the rush? We had a good time, and an enjoyable cruise. We started dreaming about the next one!

[Catlover54]

DH and I are now safely home -- but have Covid.

I had a doctor appointment scheduled today for a procedure, and self-tested for Covid to assure it would be appropriate to go there, but am positive, so will stay home ( fortunately with truly hot food and all the very sparkling water and good strong coffee I want, no chasing required! ). 🙂

So is DH, and he has  symptoms.
 

Oh well.  This is our first time with Covid, and though inconvenient,  we will recover.  We had evaded it for 2.5 years despite extensive travel and many cruises, and knew eventually we would likely get it, ultravaxxed or not. Maybe it is from the crowded school bus excursions, maybe from infected crew and other pax on the ship ( it's a bit early to be from the  airport return), maybe from ports,  it does not matter.  I do not 'blame' SB for our Covid, despite their multiple cases on the Quest, as  we knew the risks, and all lines these days have their packs of infections.

 

I will be sure and do another cruise  within the next few months, riding high on my recovery.
 

Happy sailing to all, be it on the Quest or elsewhere!  
 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Catlover54
Typo

[whogo]

Get well soon.

[highplanesdrifters]

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

[Catlover54]

I submitted an official CC review the day of our return, linked to below. It was processed surprisingly quickly.

 

Overall rating DH and I settled on is 3/5  ( comparing to other luxury lines experiences since Covid, and this judgment was mostly independent of the necessary hurricane rerouting issues) 

 

Apologies for the annoying typos (perhaps due to my Covid brain and fatigue), and for my "port review" sections not coming through for ease of CC's port tracking and search functions.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=691219&et_cid=3500453&et_rid=17464385&et_referrer=NULL

[ivyleaguegent]

On 10/4/2022 at 9:22 PM, Catlover54 said:

You were on Ovation, as I recall, not the Quest or this cruise.  YMMV.  
Even within one line, ship service and ambience can vary and of course cruises and experiences vary, as I already noted when the travel agent now referred to ( I learn new things every day on these boards, LOL) asked if I was "on a different Quest" .

 

Even on Crystal, I loved the Endeavor, whereas I only liked the Serenity, and was not Diamond or anyone important there.

My status on SB ( including one bag laundry per person per week, yay!) was also earned and not comped.

 

 

BTW, DH and I are about the farthest thing away from being travel agents or anything close.

 

My TA just emailed me that she was told SB has kept many of  their better people on the newer ships ( Encore and Ovation, and now Venture). If I cruise SB again, that is where I will go, but I have many other options.

 

 

 

On the hope that your TA is correct about Seabourn keeping the better staff on the newer ships and from what I have heard from recent cruisers on the newer ships we have booked a cruise at the end of March on the Ovation.  We also have a summer cruise in Europe booked on Regent.  We shall see which experience we enjoy more.

[SLSD]

28 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

I submitted an official CC review the day of our return, linked to below. It was processed surprisingly quickly.

 

Overall rating DH and I settled on is 3/5  ( comparing to other luxury lines experiences since Covid, and this judgment was mostly independent of the necessary hurricane rerouting issues) 

 

Apologies for the annoying typos (perhaps due to my Covid brain and fatigue), and for my "port review" sections not coming through for ease of CC's port tracking and search functions.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=691219&et_cid=3500453&et_rid=17464385&et_referrer=NULL

That is quite a review Catlover.  Thank you for posting all the details.  We are not complainers (even though we have had to be from time to time) and I agree with you that having to complain takes a lot of the joy out of a vacation.  We are still standing by when it comes to resuming cruising.  I just don't see a stellar choice right now.  We've cruised Silversea and find it rather bland.  We have not tried Regent, but think the ships are a bit too big for our liking.  This is just not a very good time.  We also have some worry about the financial viability of SB--and don't want to book too far in advance.  

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, ivyleaguegent said:

On the hope that your TA is correct about Seabourn keeping the better staff on the newer ships and from what I have heard from recent cruisers on the newer ships we have booked a cruise at the end of March on the Ovation.  We also have a summer cruise in Europe booked on Regent.  We shall see which experience we enjoy more.

And on the hope that your TA isn’t completely correct, I hope that SB will spread their better staff amongst their ships equally. It would seem the wise business decision to maintain loyal customers, as well as attract and keep new ones such as we are. 

[florisdekort]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

And on the hope that your TA isn’t completely correct, I hope that SB will spread their better staff amongst their ships equally. It would seem the wise business decision to maintain loyal customers, as well as attract and keep new ones such as we are. 

In today’s overheated employment market where it’s hard to attract *and retain* top talent, Seabourn might not have much control over this. If the only way to retain senior people is through offering them the unique experience of being part of the launching team of a new (expedition) ship, or offering them their first choice of ship, I’m confident they’d do it. Employees aren’t pawns you can just send somewhere, especially not in today’s world. 

[saminina]

If SB would begin to market as a nice, upscale line......which it is, all the better for those concerned.  I said this pre Covid and hole has been dug deeper.   At the very least, please stop the ULTRA luxury advertising.  I haven't considered SS, nor SB luxury for years.  And of cruises taken this year, SS has passed SB for my satisfaction.  

 

How many times need you mention H-L?   It's not a serious contender for the English speaking market.

 

[Vineyard View]

32 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

In today’s overheated employment market where it’s hard to attract *and retain* top talent, Seabourn might not have much control over this. If the only way to retain senior people is through offering them the unique experience of being part of the launching team of a new (expedition) ship, or offering them their first choice of ship, I’m confident they’d do it. Employees aren’t pawns you can just send somewhere, especially not in today’s world. 

That is certainly a point. And unfortunately probably valid. It is also one that as a consumer helps drive decisions on where and how to spend considerable funds. So I would add that consumers should not be pawns based on these corporate decisions, if the corporation chooses to charge the same amount of money for less than stellar expectations that are advertised, as a return on those monies spent, regardless of which ship the passenger sails. If that is the case, then as saminina points out, SB becomes an upscale line, at best, on the ships that the best employees choose not to work on? I don’t know, but it sure all has me wondering.  

[CalmSea]

22 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

I submitted an official CC review the day of our return, linked to below. It was processed surprisingly quickly.

 

Overall rating DH and I settled on is 3/5  ( comparing to other luxury lines experiences since Covid, and this judgment was mostly independent of the necessary hurricane rerouting issues) 

 

Apologies for the annoying typos (perhaps due to my Covid brain and fatigue), and for my "port review" sections not coming through for ease of CC's port tracking and search functions.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=691219&et_cid=3500453&et_rid=17464385&et_referrer=NULL

I just read your review. I agree with most of what you said, and your comments mirrored what my DW had been saying to me too. As for the rating, I would give the cruise a 4 out of 5. Despite the problems, we had a good time and will go on another Seabourn cruise again.

[indigosea]

On 10/5/2022 at 12:45 PM, Catlover54 said:

DH and I are now safely home -- but have Covid 

 

 

We have returned home and started COVID 2 days after disembarking Quest. We have had 4 shots and been on several trips avoiding COVID over past 2 and half years. We noticed many more little tables outside cabins towards end of cruise. Hardly ever saw a mask just a few crew. We have bad coughs and aching muscles and joints. I also have bad headache. But feel it was inevitable we would eventually get COVID. 

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, indigosea said:

We have returned home and started COVID 2 days after disembarking Quest. We have had 4 shots and been on several trips avoiding COVID over past 2 and half years. We noticed many more little tables outside cabins towards end of cruise. Hardly ever saw a mask just a few crew. We have bad coughs and aching muscles and joints. I also have bad headache. But feel it was inevitable we would eventually get COVID. 

Hopefully, you will recover quickly.  Like you, we avoided Covid for two and a half years, have had four vaccinations and recently contracted Covid two days after returning from a domestic driving trip.  Our cases were mild and resolved within a week with the help of the anti-viral Paxlovid.  It's hard to know exactly where you were exposed--whether on a ship or traveling in another way.  

[RetiredandTravel]

Thank you for the honest detailed review of your SB cruise.  It is very helpful in our planning of future vacations.  Unfortunately there are far too many recent reports of mediocre experiences on luxury lines given the price point.

Edited October 9, 2022 by RetiredandTravel

[rkacruiser]

9 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Unfortunately there are far too many recent reports of mediocre experiences on luxury lines given the price point.

Edited 9 hours ago by RetiredandTravel

 

The reports does make one wonder, doesn't it.  

 

But, in a way, one pays one's money and one does not always know what the experience of that will be:  be it cruising, buying a new car or condo/house, etc.  

[RetiredandTravel]

5 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

The reports does make one wonder, doesn't it.  

 

But, in a way, one pays one's money and one does not always know what the experience of that will be:  be it cruising, buying a new car or condo/house, etc.  

 

I agree rka one certainly isn't guaranteed a level of satisfaction.  We do have the ability , after research, to spend our vacation $$ on different venues.  We agree that luxury cruises are the best way to experience many geographies but the question is will we be happier with a larger mix of land based vacations.   Considering the prices charged we expect a high level of service and cuisine in addition to the ride and a nice room.

 

You are very familiar with the financial conditions of these cruise lines and I'm guessing a very experienced cruiser.  Do you think the financial condition of the cruise lines has had a significant negative impact on the "luxury" experience?  If so, is it temporary or what we should expect in in the future?

 

 

[rkacruiser]

16 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Considering the prices charged we expect a high level of service and cuisine in addition to the ride and a nice room.

 

Absolutely!  Some of the dining situations about which I have read, i.e. chaos at a server's station with servers yelling at each others and dirty dishes being stacked on each other on open drawers, I have never experienced anything like that on any other ship on which I have sailed including 4 Carnival cruises.  

 

19 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Do you think the financial condition of the cruise lines has had a significant negative impact on the "luxury" experience?  If so, is it temporary or what we should expect in in the future?

 

Who knows what Seabourn management has told the ships' management?  What I think is probably true, the micro-management from Seattle may be an issue (at least, it has been for HAL and there is that Seabourn/HAL connection in their building.)  

 

Staffing and training of staff may be more important issue as to the guest experience.  Many ports that I read from those on recent sailings on Cunard and HAL do not regularly report such issues.  Lapses in service at times?  That is to be expected for any service industry.  So, I think Seabourn's service issues are temporary.  As long as they hire Hotel Managers that will "crack the whip" and demand that the guests receive the best service and cruise experience possible.  

[mancunian]

I found catlover’s review very interesting as it largely mirrored ourcruise on Encore in March.  Other similarities were we were supposed to go to the. Canaries and Madeira and ended up in Southern Spain instead because of weather.  That could not be helped but sadly we then missed two ports there too.  we were all offered a free cruise if we paid our own airfare.   We declined the offer as we had not particularly enjoyed the ship and had a much better cruise on SS the next month.  We felt the food and service was much better and the general ambience and decor was nicer.  Someone said they found SS. bland.  Perhaps we are  bland too but know what we expect of a luxury line

 

 

[christraveller]

Those non SB chocolates left on your pillow seemed familiar. They are available in Canada at Costco.  Decent Swiss dark chocolate. 
 

welcome home!

[mcmarya]

Curiosity Question:  Has the Quest had Speakers/Conversationalists on board?