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

[nancygp]

16 minutes ago, conchyjoe said:

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

We did several Canada/NE  cruises on crystal, slightly different than the current former itinerary.  We found the pax mix to be somewhat older than other itineraries..I also suspect my upcoming quest cruise will be the same and now we are early and mid/late 60’s! 😂 merely an observation and not casting a negative tone,

 

glad all is well and safe/smooth sails.

 

Nancy

[lincslady]

Catlover - I  hope you have had a word with the Housekeeper about your stewardess.  I have never experienced  anything like this about any  room attendant we have had  on any cruise line, even the pretty average ones.  I would be very annoyed.  

 

If all the included wines on the list are available, I could certainly find a few to enjoy - maybe I have simple tastes, liking wines like the Oyster Bay and Rhones from Guigal, but have always said, like many others, that none of these are 'fine wines' by any means.  

[conchyjoe]

27 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Catlover - I  hope you have had a word with the Housekeeper about your stewardess.  I have never experienced  anything like this about any  room attendant we have had  on any cruise line, even the pretty average ones.  I would be very annoyed.  

 

If all the included wines on the list are available, I could certainly find a few to enjoy - maybe I have simple tastes, liking wines like the Oyster Bay and Rhones from Guigal, but have always said, like many others, that none of these are 'fine wines' by any means.  

They have Oyster Bay - maybe for a few more days at the rate we are drinking it!!

[conchyjoe]

3 hours ago, markham said:

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

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

The Captain is Jeroen Schuchmann and the HD is Roland Rheum (sp). The latter has been with SB for many years and previously with SS.

[conchyjoe]

8 minutes ago, conchyjoe said:

The Captain is Jeroen Schuchmann and the HD is Roland Rheum (sp). The latter has been with SB for many years and previously with SS.

 

8 minutes ago, conchyjoe said:

The Captain is Jeroen Schuchmann and the HD is Roland Rheum (sp). The latter has been with SB for many years and previously with SS.

That is not the right spelling of his last name. Something like that. Fortunately being in a premium suite we had a nice 30min chat and he seems to know his stuff.

[markham]

conchyjoe,

 

Thank you for the information. It helps me dimension who might be our senior team and set the tone on our cruise this January.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[TheBaron777]

13 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

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:

 

 

 

 

Oyster Bay is a $9 bottle.....(and cat p*&s IMO).....I believe Carnival use it as deck cleaner on their older ships.....shame on you Seabourn, SHAME - one redeeming point, the Montaudon is semi-decent.....better than the old Nicki-Fueey anyway....IMO....."Ultra-lux" ? 

 

Here's hoping that this list gets all dolled-up ahead of the WC 6th Jan departure on Sojourn !

[lincslady]

41 minutes ago, TheBaron777 said:

 

Oyster Bay is a $9 bottle.....(and cat p*&s IMO).....I believe Carnival use it as deck cleaner on their older ships.....shame on you Seabourn, SHAME - one redeeming point, the Montaudon is semi-decent.....better than the old Nicki-Fueey anyway....IMO....."Ultra-lux" ? 

 

Here's hoping that this list gets all dolled-up ahead of the WC 6th Jan departure on Sojourn !

Oh well, at least those of us with unrefined tastes can go on enjoying it (until it runs out, which does tend to happen).

[CalmSea]

I am also on this cruise. It started on the wrong note. The taxis driver picked us up from home and dropped us at the Science Center. We noticed hat we were at the wrong pier only after we paid him and he was off. So embaraasing for a local who should know the old port well. So, we dragged our luggage and walked to the correct pier. Boarding was a breeze. We arrived about 1 hour early, and they didn't ask about our scheduled boarding time at all. The last Seabourn cruise we took was on the Quest from Iceland to Montreal in 2019. So, it feeled like a B2B with a 3 year pandemic break.

 

Since there have been much discussion about tbe quality of the Quest experince after the pandemic, our experience so far has been good but not perfect. On our first night, we ate at the Restaurant. The service was about the same as before. We had an excellent fillet mignon, but only a so-so scallop and shrimp pasta. For the second day, the breakfast loaded croissant from the pool side was excellent. For lunch, as usual, we explored the town, and came back just before the Grill closes, and ordered fish of the day, and the fish was very good as usual. For dinner, we ate pool side again, and had a very good sea bass and steak. So far, quality of food was about the same as before. As for service, I think some staffs are still green, and made minor mistakes. I don't plan on remembering all their mistakes, because it will just degrade  my enjoyment of the cruise.

[DaveA]

We too enjoyed an excellent meal at Earth & Ocean yesterday evening. This was the Seabourn experience we had pre-pandemic. We continue to find wines from the complimentary list to our liking. Service is patchy in the main restaurant and Colonnade when busy, but it hasn’t been a big issue for us.

[DaveA]

Revised itinerary showing in app. Saguenay, Baie Corneau, Sept Iles, Havre St Pierre, Gaspie and back to Montreal a day early on 3 rd Oct. Not much of a Newfoundland cruise😩

[kjbacon]

1 hour ago, DaveA said:

Revised itinerary showing in app. Saguenay, Baie Corneau, Sept Iles, Havre St Pierre, Gaspie and back to Montreal a day early on 3 rd Oct. Not much of a Newfoundland cruise😩

I understand the itinerary changes with Fiona but why will it end a day early?

[Catlover54]

Today: (formal night -- looks like the old  Sir Tim Rice show is planned)

 

And the new itinerary:  (actually we do NOT get in early, we still terminate 10/4 as originally planned, we just have another day in Montreal)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Catlover54
Format

[nancygp]

41 minutes ago, kjbacon said:

I understand the itinerary changes with Fiona but why will it end a day early?

The cruise is Not ending a day early…it arrives in Montreal on October 3rd and overnights there

 

Nancy

[Catlover54]

 

It is a beautiful sunny day (still in Trois Rivieres), but more on that later.

Dinner in the Restaurant (MDR) , open 7-9, offered the menu shown below last night, and it was very good (almost up there with our TK dinner the night before).

We came at 7:05, and were seated after standing in a short line.  We finished our third course, dessert, at 9:05, in time to rest a little (all that eating is exhausting !) and then go to the show, which started at 9:30. We were very happy with all of our food (salmon appetizer, beet appetizer, Asian duck, and chicken cordon bleu).  Service was very slow  and a bit disjointed ( e.g., 40 minutes to get the appetizers, but fortunately the wonderful perfect crispy baguette pieces (the best bread I have had on the ship) and the SB famous breadsticks, plus the wine we brought, kept us going while waiting for the first course.

The only thing we disliked was the homemade SB faux “ sparkling water” which did not sparkle, was lukewarm, and tasted odd (this is not new post-Covid, I had just forgotten about the now not so new homemade sparkling substitute on SB). However, when we asked for normal bottled sparkling water to replace it , it was easily done, within 15 minutes.

 

 

[Catlover54]

The show at 9:30 was packed with eager customers, and the Ohio-born singer Suzanne O Davis, wearing a beautiful colorful partially sparkling dress, enthusiastically sang Tapestry Carole King covers, accompanied by the ship musicians ( guitar, sax, keyboard, drums).  

Our stewardess apologized for her overly exuberant  cleanup history and she readily agreed to stop removing our things going forward . Markham,  I did not want to go straight to the HD ( and maybe get her into trouble) without first giving her a chance to make things right.  

DH had his birthday, and SB had the dining room staff make a chocolate cake, and also had the stewardess drop off a bottle of wine ( though nothing special, as it was from the complimentary list which we can order any time, $15 retail, it was nice to have recognition).  She also hung Happy Birthday decorations in the room. The cake was very good, but big, so the wait staff said they would send the rest to our suite.  We planned to eat the rest after the show, but sadly it never arrived.

Lesson learned was to bring your own leftovers to your suite.

 

I have previously done special celebrations on SB, and they have always come through with the decorations and preparing a special dessert.

 

 

[Catlover54]

Day 3, Trois Rivieres again

A beautiful, crisp morning dawned and it was warm enough that the early breakfast room service (which arrived 15 minutes after the requested 15 minute time range)could easily have been eaten on our pleasant sunny veranda pre-excursion.

We had ordered one egg with an order of bacon as one entree, coffee, 1 bread basket, 1 grapefruit juice, 1 yoghurt and an order of  Swedish pancakes.
The waiter delivered four eggs instead of one, with bacon orders to match on two entree plates, plus the entree plate of pancakes ( so three entrees) , plus the other items. The tray was so overflowing that the bread basket (and what turned out to be its rockhard contents ) cascaded to the floor as soon as the waiter came in.  After he left we realized there was only 1 coffee cup and no cream for the coffee, but since it was clear the waiter was stressed, we just let it go (as well as bread replacement) and prepared for our excursion.  We will try and be more explicit and limited on future room service orders (if any) to avoid confusion and potential waste of food, and when we don't have early excursions, we will just eat breakfast elsewhere, order something cold to stash the night before,  or skip it if the other venues are not yet open and/or if we don't feel like going public early in the day.

The Restaurant offers table service breakfast 8-9, the Colonnade offers it 7:30-10, and the Patio offers it 8-9:30, none of which work for early excursions. 

A pleasant surprise was that the room service coffee this time was drinkable and so was the grapefruit juice, even though it was not fresh-squeezed but from a frozen mix.  It would be nice to have an in-room coffee or nespresso machine, like we had on Silversea, Hapag-Lloyd, Crystal Endeavor, in the base veranda suite, but I was not realistically expecting one. 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Catlover54
Typo

[Catlover54]

Excursion:  "Hiking the Les Cascades Trail"

Next we did our rescheduled excursion to a very nice nature enclave  ( Mauricie Park). We were transported by an aged and somewhat bumpy school bus with very tight pitch upright seating (that's all that is available locally) , but fortunately we had room overhead for our packs and the trip was only an hour each way.

Only a few leaves were turning in the park (we are too early in the season) but the loop walk, though shorter than the expected 2 hours in the brochure,  was still invigorating (2.5 miles, 10 stories total elevation).  It was paved part of the way, then had a series of stairs and dirt, with a few areas with rocks and roots.  I rate the difficulty moderate.

 

We had a warning when we started the hike, but fortunately we had no ursine encounters:

 

 

[Catlover54]

 

 

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

DH created a new map showing the original cruise ports in black, and the new "gimme shelter" ports in red (to complement my post #63, which shows our new list)

 

We are of course disappointed to miss 2 days in St. John's (and our expensive private photo tour there), and the other Newfoundland ports.  Prior to booking this cruise to use our credits, we had booked a cruise on the Venture which would have included St. John's this year , (we have not yet been on the Venture), but that didn't work out either.  

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Catlover54
Typo

[Catlover54]

 

Both the pool grill area and the Colonnade were very busy for lunch.  We tried the latter, Mexican food was the theme in there today.  I tried the beef fajitas (fine), tacos (ok), refried beans (excellent), rice (fine), and shrimp ceviche (it was basically just a couple thawed shrimp with a lemon slice, on a little greenery) -- I would pick everything except the ceviche again, if very hungry.  Everything  went quickly and smoothly, except for our beverage order, which arrived when we were done eating (one of the disadvantages of an efficient buffet).  I eyed the hamburgers and mahi mahi special others ordered, and they looked pretty good (noted for future reference), and once again the salad bar looked nice, and fresh.  

Vegetarians and pescatarians should have no problems on the Quest.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

19 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

DH created a new map showing the original cruise ports in black, and the new "gimme shelter" ports in red (to complement my post #63, which shows our new list)

 

We are of course disappointed to miss 2 days in St. John's (and our expensive private photo tour there), and the other Newfoundland ports.  Prior to booking this cruise to use our credits, we had booked a cruise on the Venture which would have included St. John's this year , (we have not yet been on the Venture), but that didn't work out either.  

 

Thanks for posting this, it really shows graphically what's going on.  Sorry you're gong to miss Nfld, Saint Pierre et Miquelon and Cap-aux-Meules.  We enjoyed all these ports.  That being said, Saguenay will probably be wonderful, and all the north shore.  and as we've seen here from postings, there is some spectacular country to be explored.  And an extra day in Montreal!  

 

BTW, those poor people in Atlantic Canada are being hammered very badly.  Hundreds of thousand without power, and some homes swept away.  So you're well off enjoying that calm St Lawrence River. Enjoy!

[Catlover54]

6 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Thanks for posting this, it really shows graphically what's going on.  Sorry you're gong to miss Nfld, Saint Pierre et Miquelon and Cap-aux-Meules.  We enjoyed all these ports.  That being said, Saguenay will probably be wonderful, and all the north shore.  and as we've seen here from postings, there is some spectacular country to be explored.  And an extra day in Montreal!  

 

BTW, those poor people in Atlantic Canada are being hammered very badly.  Hundreds of thousand without power, and some homes swept away.  So you're well off enjoying that calm St Lawrence River. Enjoy!

 

DH and I look forward to the new ports, as we have not been to them.

Looking out our window, at the clear blue sky and minimal wind, you would not think that not that far away, there is such a mess.

[Astride]

1 hour ago, Catlover54 said:

Day 3, Trois Rivieres again

A beautiful, crisp morning dawned and it was warm enough that the early breakfast room service (which arrived 15 minutes after the requested 15 minute time range)could easily have been eaten on our pleasant sunny veranda pre-excursion.

We had ordered one egg with an order of bacon as one entree, coffee, 1 bread basket, 1 grapefruit juice, 1 yoghurt and an order of  Swedish pancakes.
The waiter delivered four eggs instead of one, with bacon orders to match on two entree plates, plus the entree plate of pancakes ( so three entrees) , plus the other items. The tray was so overflowing that the bread basket (and what turned out to be its rockhard contents ) cascaded to the floor as soon as the waiter came in.  After he left we realized there was only 1 coffee cup and no cream for the coffee, but since it was clear the waiter was stressed, we just let it go (as well as bread replacement) and prepared for our excursion.  We will try and be more explicit and limited on future room service orders (if any) to avoid confusion and potential waste of food, and when we don't have early excursions, we will just eat breakfast elsewhere, order something cold to stash the night before,  or skip it if the other venues are not yet open and/or if we don't feel like going public early in the day.

The Restaurant offers table service breakfast 8-9, the Colonnade offers it 7:30-10, and the Patio offers it 8-9:30, none of which work for early excursions. 

A pleasant surprise was that the room service coffee this time was drinkable and so was the grapefruit juice, even though it was not fresh-squeezed but from a frozen mix.  It would be nice to have an in-room coffee or nespresso machine, like we had on Silversea, Hapag-Lloyd, Crystal Endeavor, in the base veranda suite, but I was not realistically expecting one. 

 

In-room coffee would be so nice! About 6 years ago, I was on a lenghty Crystal cruise & brought a one-cup coffee maker with me. CC did not have in-room coffee at the time & restricted the use of electrical appliances. I asked my stewardess if I was permitted to use it & she sent the ship's Chief Electrician to inspect it. He took it away to test it & later returned it telling me it was safe to use. I used it once but found it was too messy to clean up afterwards. I didn't want to mix the coffee grinds with the recycling stuff in the wastepaper basket.

[kjbacon]

3 hours ago, nancygp said:

The cruise is Not ending a day early…it arrives in Montreal on October 3rd and overnights there

 

Nancy

That’s a great solution! Montreal is a beautiful city with plenty to see and do.