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

[nancygp]

10 minutes ago, DaveA said:

We had a great check-in experience. In less than 20 mins from leaving our hotel we were in our suite on the ship! They had no interest in Verifly so I had wasted some time preparing that, but the inspection of our vaccination and COVID test documents was cursory.

 

Lovely lunch outdoors at Colonnade. All good so far apart from the very different itinerary that is emerging.

had the same great experience on the ovation last month and hope it will be the at embarkation on my upcoming quest cruise.

 

good luck with the weather and changing itinerary

 

Nancy

[cruisr]

9 hours ago, CalmSea said:

Just saw in on my Source App. We are spending 2 nights at Trois Rivieres (24,25 Sept) and 2 nights at Quebec City, and then directly to St John's on 27 and 28 Sept.

Trois Rivieres was probably the most boring port I have ever cruised to in all of N. America.

That was 8 years ago and maybe it improved but its sad that due to the weather you have to stay there.  It was probably a lot cheaper to stay there for 2 nights instead of 1 night there and 3 nights in QC which I love.

[Catlover54]

 

This was supposed to be the itinerary.  But we are skipping Havre Saint Pierre and Aux aus Meadows due to Fiona, and may also have to skip St. Johns etc after that (captain was uncertain). 

I hope this does not turn into just a St. Lawrence River  back and forth "cruise"  between Montreal and Quebec City, but I understand safety comes first.  Then come likely some FCC.

 

 

[Catlover54]

It oddly took us 40 minutes to get by Uber to the pier and out of the car -- only 1 mile! Delays were due to 1) the driver accepting the ride when he was not ready, then 2) getting delayed with construction, 3) then the driver had pause to stop "to go to the bathroom" ( but was gone a VERY long time),  and finally 2) a few minutes of "security" happened in the cab at the pier ( we had to show passports and electronic boarding passes through the window, and personnel looked in the trunk long enough to ascertain only suitcases were there ).

 

The actual boarding, however, was thankfully easy. We had a 1:40 assigned board time, we showed at 12:45 and no one cared as human  traffic was light.  We showed  passports 3 more times ( mine failed to electronically process because it was a  new issue , so there was a modest delay).  We were asked for Covid cards, and Covid test results within the last 3 days though no  one really looked at them  in detail.  No one asked for ArriveCan even though the SB instructions were to do them again if more than 72 hours in Canada had passed since we did the airline arrival version for Canada. Then they looked at electronic boarding passes again, and finally we were in our suites around 30 minutes from arrival.

 

I suggest having the e-boarding passes and the proofs  of 

Covid tests preprinted, and of course passports ready to go ( and not fumble with toggling from one e-record to the next on a iphone), so as to not hold others up.

[Catlover54]

The suite welcome champagne was Montaudon brut (retail around $44) , and a tiny bite of salmon mousse on a cracker came later along with the somewhat confused stewardess.  We then headed straight to the Colonnade cafeteria (yes) for a light lunch.  The dessicated pot roast and nursing home meat loaf were embarassing, but the parfait dessert was  good.  If I were a big salad eater I would have been fine.

 

The veranda suite is very clean, though it seems small after cruises on Crystal Endeavor, Celebrity PH suite, Hapag Lloyd, Silver Moon etc.  DH and I keep running into each other, but we will adapt.  There is a lot of storage despite what seems like small space (we had 2 large and 1 medium case, 1 rollaboard, and 2 backpacks). We had been on Quest multiple times before, I had just forgotten, compared with the other experiences.

 

SB Square personnel, though polite, could not handle our questions about the new tentative itinerary and referred us to Destinations ( the SB Source app erroneously showed the old ports but excursions for the different, old ports, so it was inaccurate).  We still await updates six hours later but know we may still be missinformed.  I know they are in a tough spot.

[Catlover54]

Before sunset, we had another good luck at Habitat 67.  It seems a strange place, with a good idea gone wrong.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

We had a late Thomas Keller reservation, so headed to the Club for cocktails first.  About 10 people listened to an uninspired trio playing a few standards.  

Dinner at TK, however, was *outstanding* from start to finish:  the tableside prepared Caesar salad, the Dover sole Meuniere, the ribeye, the service, the comfortable chairs, all were just perfect.  The previously routinely loud  music was quieter, and instead of music being from the 50's it was from later eras, more fitting to the majority of pax in their 60's and 70's.  A few pax nearby were absolutely plastered (rare on SB) and often hooted and enthusiastically swore very loudly, so we were happy when they left.

 

We go to bed only knowing we will be in Trois Rivieres tomorrow and the next day, and that no excursions will be offered the first day.  Then we have 2 days in Quebec City, so far with no excursions offered, so we will likely be on our own (easy enough in QC).  

 

DH canceled his scheduled massage that was supposed to be on a sea day and instead will be on a port day in QC, and the wine pairing lunch is still being offered when we are in port in QC so we are hesitant to sign up for that as well , unclear how many pax will be interested in missing out on a day in QC. We also canceled a private photo tour we had arranged in St. John's, to avoid penalty. 

 

After dinner, we noted the stewardess followed through on only half of our simple written requests from earlier (like more diet coke and some sparkling water for the fridge).  We will gently pursue her tomorrow for the remainder that is not yet done.  

 

What happens the second week of our cruise remains in limbo.  I understand that things  like Fiona (the storm of 50 years), can happen, we have just had bad luck with our timing .  We will make the best of things no matter what, but to eventually see half the ports we signed up for, we will just have to plan to make another trip.  If it starts in lovely Montreal, we will be ok with that.

[Catlover54]

We have started moving, quietly, most are sleeping.

 

My farewell view of Montreal:

 

 

[florisdekort]

5 hours ago, cruisr said:

Trois Rivieres was probably the most boring port I have ever cruised to in all of N. America.

That was 8 years ago and maybe it improved but its sad that due to the weather you have to stay there.  It was probably a lot cheaper to stay there for 2 nights instead of 1 night there and 3 nights in QC which I love.

The town itself isn’t great, but there’s a lot to do in the wider Trois Rivières area. Certainly not boring! 
 

As for “cheaper”, probably, but Seabourn Quest isn’t the only ship trapped in the river and docking space in Quebec City is limited, so I’m sure all ships have to share and no single ship can just dock there for 3 or 4 days. 

[kjbacon]

6 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

The suite welcome champagne was Montaudon brut (retail around $44) , and a tiny bite of salmon mousse on a cracker came later along with the somewhat confused stewardess.  We then headed straight to the Colonnade cafeteria (yes) for a light lunch.  The dessicated pot roast and nursing home meat loaf were embarassing, but the parfait dessert was  good.  If I were a big salad eater I would have been fine.

 

The veranda suite is very clean, though it seems small after cruises on Crystal Endeavor, Celebrity PH suite, Hapag Lloyd, Silver Moon etc.  DH and I keep running into each other, but we will adapt.  There is a lot of storage despite what seems like small space (we had 2 large and 1 medium case, 1 rollaboard, and 2 backpacks). We had been on Quest multiple times before, I had just forgotten, compared with the other experiences.

 

SB Square personnel, though polite, could not handle our questions about the new tentative itinerary and referred us to Destinations ( the SB Source app erroneously showed the old ports but excursions for the different, old ports, so it was inaccurate).  We still await updates six hours later but know we may still be missinformed.  I know they are in a tough spot.

I’m sorry to see that the improvements are slow to come on the Quest. We also had the frequent poor dishes in the Collonade and the very pleasant but unqualified reps in seabourn square. We started to joke with each other that we had to go to seabourn square so they could send an email for us. It’s most interesting to note that your cabin hostess might have been the same as ours. Most people we spoke with on our cruise had very good hostesses but we did not. They were very nice young ladies but rarely did a complete job on our cabin, whether forgetting to replenish our water or leaving basic tasks undone.

 

Best to you as you negotiate these next few days around Fiona. We thought the spa was very nice so maybe for one of the days in Trois Rivières, you could treat yourself to a massage and enjoy the steam room and sauna (which should be complimentary with the purchase of a massage). Pedro is an excellent masseuse and I thought the Thai Herb Poultice was the best. Quebec City is fabulous so 2 days there will be a good thing. We did the local hop on hop off bus and enjoyed it very much. We had a fantastic lunch in a cute little bistro called Q de Sac that I would heartily recommend. If all else fails, take good advantage of the included drinks! 🍹🍸🍷

[DaveA]

We ate in the main restaurant last night. We enjoyed all the food and wines but the service was very slow. The staff seemed overwhelmed, both in the restaurant and the bars. We find our veranda suite quite spacious.

Although the difficulty arranging (or not arranging) excursions for our revised itinerary is understandable, the lack of communication is poor. All excursions for the entire voyage have been removed from the app, and we have no indication when any will become available. Surely they could post a message in the app and a screen in Seabourn Square to save everyone asking the same questions? I guess we’ll have a wander around Trois Rivières this morning and see if anything is clearer by lunchtime.

[highplanesdrifters]

13 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

The dessicated pot roast and nursing home meat loaf were embarassing,

🤣🤣🤣

[Catlover54]

Day 2

 

This morning 9/23/22 , on arising, when we thought we would be  docked in Trois Rivieres for the next 2 days to wait out Hurricane Fiona, there were still no updates about excursions on the SB Source app.  We looked out the window and saw ocean and a land mass in the distance, and assumed we were there. 

 

We had asked to have  a written copy of the Herald delivered to our suite each day (the daily ship information schedule), after we boarded, when we visited SB Square yesterday.  We did indeed get a Herald, but we were surprised (and became concerned about our wine intake last night at Thomas Keller Grill), when it showed 

we apparently not only managed to have a surprise journey  to Charlottetown on the distant PE Island, but we even traveled back in time, to September 3!

 

 

[Catlover54]

It's one thing to have an itinerary change, but this was taking things to a new level.  

 

Upon recovery, having imbibed some of the awful room service coffee, frozen watery OJ, and very sour (though purple-colored) yoghurt, we checked online to see what to do today.  We had some ideas about taking an Ueber to a couple nature locations, but then realized  Ueber was not going anywhere (no cars).  We settled on walking into town (which was indeed Trois Rivieres), hoping to get into the Old Prison Museum.  Internet showed it would be open, but the sign there said "closed Fridays."  Next we tried the Military musuem, but that was also closed, so we settled on touring the outside, and an old protestant cemetery (pictures to follow).  The Pop Museum was open, but we skipped it, given the orientation.

 

As Cruisr noted above, the town is not very exciting (and did not seem to wake up until around noon), but there are a few cafes for tourists.  

 

We'd seen the complimentary wine list, (and sampled a couple as well),  and therefore decided to go to the nearby SAQ wine shop in town to load up on more drinkable wines for our upcoming journey instead of paying 2.5-3x for the limited (though nice) selection of premium wines on board.

 

Complimentary wine list for this journey:

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

We returned to the ship for a small late lunch at the pool (I was not in the mood to reattempt the Colonnade yet, given what was being served, and SB Source showed the main dining room would be closed for lunch).  We each ordered a hot dog (one regular dog and one Yountville dog, which I had fond memories of ), with fries, which we had fond memories of from prior Quest trips pre-Covid.  DH got some soggy fries, I got an empty container.  The buns were dried out and the dogs were stale and flavorless.  I had to wonder if my fond memories of Yountville dogs at the pool were confabulations.

We hope to make up for lunch at dinner tonight in the Restaurant.

 

An alternative we will try at some point  is Earth and Ocean (near the pool), or room service.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Catlover54
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[Catlover54]

 

[Catlover54]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Catlover54
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[Catlover54]

We were pleased to learn on a paper announcement in our room, when we returned, that the excursions we had signed up for (originally for early October), for Trois Rivieres and Quebec City, will now happen tomorrow in TR, and Monday in QC, respectively.

 

We were, however, less than pleased to discover that the stewardess had gone on a mad cleaning and discarding spree in our cabin:  we had left stacks of discretely sorted and organized cruise and other paperwork on top of the cabinets and tables.  Instead, everything had been removed to provide "clean" countertops (we eventually found the paperwork, all in one mound, stuffed into a dark cabinet, out of sight).  She had also removed (apparently discarded) items we had stored to save in cabinets that she presumably thought were worthless (like empty little plastic bottles, which we like to save to use on excursions instead of the huge and hard to navigate bottles SB provides).   She also decided to move my iPAD from one side of the bed to the other, folded and placed partially used clothing I had put out for breathing onto the floor of the closet all in one dense pile near the shoes, and otherwise redecorated our cabin (including the contents of nighstand drawers) to either her liking or what she thought we would appreciate, without asking. 

This has never happened to us on a cruise, e.g., the rearrangement of desktop contents and drawer setups, much less a SB cruise, in the past (the most I have seen is folding of clothing left on a chair or sofa, but never rearrangement and going into drawers). 

 

This was the countertop (previously full of little stacks of our carefully organized paperwork, hats, umbrellas, special items for grab-and-go, etc.)

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Catlover54
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[Catlover54]

We will have a firm but polite talk with the stewardess and also leave written instructions in case she has 'help' which cross-pollinates.

 

On the bright side, many of yesterday's unfilled requests were filled:  we got our diet coke, and sparkling water.  

We had asked for the pre-cruise ordered bottle of Baileys, and we did not get that on arrival, but instead today got a substitute (which costs less than half of Baileys retail, and tastes accordingly).

 

Oddly, we had asked for all the beer to be removed from our fridge yesterday (which it was), as we told the stewardess we do not drink beer and wanted space in the fridge for other things. However, today, our fridge was stacked with 6 new cans of beer (though a different brand), so we will again ask for them to be removed.  

 

Hopefully the room issues will get straightened out by mid-cruise or maybe sooner, and we look forward to the excursion tomorrow.  

DH is enjoying one of the hot tubs (his favorite is in the bow of deck 6) instead of going to the gym (the excuse is that we walked about 6 miles a day in Montreal, much of which was on hills,  and 4 miles today in Trois Riveieres, plus  we only had a very light hot dog lunch) 🙂

 

There is also a show tonight (9:30) with a woman doing Carole King covers.

 

Internet in the cabin was useless for us in the afternoon (spinning gears due to overload at a popular time) , as was LTE/5G, but as was the case on Quest and Odyssey several times  in the past, it was decent in SB Square (the only annoying thing there is the constant overhead assorted pop music, but for that I have earplugs). 

 

The ship does not seem crowded, but I am not sure what the head count is -- if anyone is on board and knows, please advise!  

 

Masks are not required anywhere (in or out) except in the medical center, though they are officially "recommended" (optional) and 2 thin surgi-maks were available in the cabin on boarding for mask-loving pax who forgot to bring anything.  Staff wear masks, though they are not uncommonly  below the snoot.

 I would say 95% or so of pax have chosen not to wear masks, and no one is sniffling or coughing (yet). 

 

So far, the F&B other than in TK, and service, are not at all as good as in the past, but it is early, and of course the main reason we cruise is for the itinerary (good F&B are just bonuses). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[markham]

To whom would you address complaints, if needed? Who is the hotel director? Also, who is the captain?

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[gabelle]

I am salivating on every word of your report, but also becoming more and more anxious about our decision to try Seabourn.  We board in Montreal on October 4😬

[nancygp]

Wow, your experience is the polar opposite of my cruise on the ovation last month. Was everything perfect, no and nothing is perfect.  I now some others on your cruise and they aren’t having all the issues you’re experience,  We’re on the quest next month and will keep an open mind and feel confident it will meet our expectations.

 

enjoy

Edited September 24, 2022 by nancygp

[conchyjoe]

18 hours ago, florisdekort said:

The town itself isn’t great, but there’s a lot to do in the wider Trois Rivières area. Certainly not boring! 
 

As for “cheaper”, probably, but Seabourn Quest isn’t the only ship trapped in the river and docking space in Quebec City is limited, so I’m sure all ships have to share and no single ship can just dock there for 3 or 4 days. 

 

[labonnevie]

3 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

We settled on walking into town (which was indeed Trois Rivieres), hoping to get into the Old Prison Museum.  

 

Complimentary wine list for this journey:

 

 

 

This appears to be the same list we were given on the Quest August 29th. 
There were other complimentary wines available, e.g. Caliterra Chardonnay from Chile, which was drinkable. Also some wines shown, e.g. Cardwell Cellars (actually Cardwell Hill Cellars) Pinot noir were not available (despite the owners, who we know, saying they shipped some to Seabourn weeks ago). Suggest you chat with the TK Grill sommelier to find what is available and recommended. 
The prison was not a big miss. It was on our walking tour and the guide spent an hour there, twenty minutes would have been sufficient. 

Edited September 24, 2022 by labonnevie

[conchyjoe]

We are on the same Quest cruise and have to say that everything has been pretty good so far and very much in line with our many previous cruises. Food so far has been good/excellent. The wine choices are somewhat limited but we managed to find a couple that were certainly to our tastes.

Crew for the most part have been fine and our cabin attendants have been great.

 

New very experienced Chef, Hotel Manager and Captain joined in Montreal. I doubt that we will see a repeat of some problems experienced on the trans Atlantic leg.

Pax mix is somewhat older than on our previous Seabourn or Silversea cruises.

 

So far, so good. Would prefer the hum and gentle movement of the ship as we cruise along but that is not to be at this moment.

 

I pray for the people in Cape Breton tonight, they are going to have a rough time.