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

jsiegel · September 24, 2022

On 9/23/2022 at 2:38 PM, Catlover54 said:

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.)

My last cruise was on the Celebrity Flora and our stewardess moved things around and hid a few things. I find that very annoying. If they want to show that they have made up the room, the made bed should be sufficient. As I'll be boarding as you are leaving, could you share the name of your stewardess and if we have the some one I can ask her to leave things where they lay (or lie?) I do wonder if their supervisors look for things like cleared counters, hence the removal of items.

Jackie

Covepointcruiser · September 24, 2022

Catlover54, the Nespresso machines can be found in all but the basic V1-V5 cabins/suites. We have never bothered with the machines and prefer the coffee in the Seabourn Square? We have many friends on the Venture right now and it is supposed to end in St. John. What happened to your cruise on the Venture? We had some semi rough seas on the Venture so I expect she can handle them. The current cruise is supposed to end in St. John.

Catlover54 · September 24, 2022

42 minutes ago, jsiegel said:

My last cruise was on the Celebrity Flora and our stewardess moved things around and hid a few things. I find that very annoying. If they want to show that they have made up the room, the made bed should be sufficient. As I'll be boarding as you are leaving, could you share the name of your stewardess and if we have the some one I can ask her to leave things where they lay (or lie?) I do wonder if their supervisors look for things like cleared counters, hence the removal of items.

Jackie

Team Retha/Lucy. Retha (the main person) now knows better, because talked to her. A reminder when you board would not hurt, of course.

I am sure she meant well.

Catlover54 · September 25, 2022

2 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Catlover54, the Nespresso machines can be found in all but the basic V1-V5 cabins/suites. We have never bothered with the machines and prefer the coffee in the Seabourn Square? We have many friends on the Venture right now and it is supposed to end in St. John. What happened to your cruise on the Venture? We had some semi rough seas on the Venture so I expect she can handle them. The current cruise is supposed to end in St. John.

No Nespresso machines on Quest veranda suites. I am glad to hear they are on the Venture.

I have been disappointed in coffee at SB Square, as has DH, though I know others love it. It is strange (maybe it is just that I like my coffee very, very strong. Maybe I am going at the wrong time. I also don't like going early in the morning and listening to the loud blasts of the machines and at the same time looking at a bunch of sleepy unhappy facies of the people waiting (or worse, listening to chatty people that early in the morning). Some of us just need caffeination first thing in the morning before we become civilised.

We had a Venture cruise booked in a nice layout PH that would have started in St. Johns, done a couple Canadian maritime ports, then Bermuda (never been) , and then ending in Caribbean. Instead (likely due to Omicron furor) it morphed into just starting in St. John's, skipping the maritime ports, and then hightailing it to the Caribbean and spending all the time there, so we canceled (been there, done that, and I was not interested in wearing masks on excursions in high humidity heat, as the hot moisture triggers my asthma). But we hope to try out the Venture at some point.

Ross4356 · September 25, 2022

CatLover54, enjoying your post. A question for you? Is The Main Restaurant opened for breakfast and lunch by during your cruise?

Mr Luxury · September 25, 2022

9 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

Team Retha/Lucy. Retha (the main person) now knows better, because talked to her. A reminder when you board would not hurt, of course.

I am sure she meant well.

Seabourn crew always mean well.

I find that because guests are different and want different things that I give clear instruction to the stewardess on our first meeting

Never had a problem.

Everything just how I like it.

Catlover54 · September 25, 2022

8 hours ago, Ross4356 said:

CatLover54, enjoying your post. A question for you? Is The Main Restaurant opened for breakfast and lunch by during your cruise?

It is open for breakfast 8-9.

So far (including today), it is closed for lunch (we are now docked in Quebec City).

So lunch venues are the pool deck (burger, hamburger, fish of the day, salad bar) or the Colonnade buffet (plus the option to order a simple entree like a burger or grilled fish while sitting down), or of course room service.

I don't know if The Restaurant will be open sea days (SB Source only gives you one day of restaurant at a time). Pre-Covid, at least on some ships, it was open for lunch for an hour, and on others I was on (Caribbean, Australia) it was closed at lunch even on sea days, except for a very special galley's lunch .

Generally there frankly were very few people who wanted a quiet, calm, full-service sit-down, formal lunch (as we did when there was no excursion, to get away from the din and overstressed staff in the Colonadde at lunch, especially when weather was too wet to sit outside). It had previously been explained to us that a better use of SB staff is to put them elsewhere during that time, give them off time, etc., i.e., as one of several F&B things that help with cost-cutting in the long run.

nancygp · September 25, 2022

The restaurant was open for lunch only on sea days several weeks ago on the ovation. I believe we went twice during the cruise and there were very few guest there…seems like a waste to be open for lunch

Nancy

Edited September 25, 2022 by nancygp

SLSD · September 25, 2022

1 hour ago, nancygp said:

The restaurant was open for lunch only on sea days several weeks ago on the ovation. I believe we went twice during the cruise and there were very few guest there…seems like a waste to be open for lunch

Nancy

We love lunch in the MDR. It is true that there are seldom very many others there, but for some of us it is perfect. Our least favorite place is lunch in the Colonnade as we don't do buffets and the menu from which you can order is very limited at lunch there. It just goes to show that not all SB cruisers like the same thing.

Edited September 25, 2022 by SLSD

nancygp · September 25, 2022

16 minutes ago, SLSD said:

We love lunch in the MDR. It is true that there are seldom very many others there, but for some of us it is perfect. Our least favorite place is lunch in the Colonnade as we don't do buffets and the menu from which you can order is very limited at lunch there. It just goes to show that not all SB cruisers like the same thing.

Let me further clarify..we do like the quite atmosphere of the restaurant at lunchtime and like being served at our table. The reason I mentioned it might be a waste is due to the almost empty restaurant and the staff might be better utilized in the colonnade

nancy

SLSD · September 25, 2022

44 minutes ago, nancygp said:

Let me further clarify..we do like the quite atmosphere of the restaurant at lunchtime and like being served at our table. The reason I mentioned it might be a waste is due to the almost empty restaurant and the staff might be better utilized in the colonnade

nancy

I understood what you are saying and generally agree. On the other hand, some cruisers like us are very low maintenance in almost every way. For example, we never order special meals just for us (nothing wrong with doing that), order caviar maybe twice in a 28 day cruise, etc. I think it is a very nice thing to provide the MDR occasionally for lunch for those who enjoy it. It's not the formalness of the meal that we like, but rather the sereneness of the atmosphere when spending time with so many people a lot of the time. It's just another luxury item that some of us crave---different from what others might enjoy. Not surprisingly, we. never go to the Colonnade for breakfast either, preferring the MDR, room service, or perhaps breakfast on the pool deck when we finally get to enjoy that. Basically, we don't even want to see a buffet!

Edited September 25, 2022 by SLSD

nancygp · September 25, 2022

choice is good! Everyone has different wants, needs and priority’s.

FWIW…we have sailed exclusivity on lux lines for 18 years. While it’s great for those who love caviar, it’s readily available on seabourn…we aren’t big caviar fans and my husband ordered it twice in 14 days. We don’t special order for 2 and never did on crystal unless we were dining with our friends, on our recent ovation cruise, the restaurant MD, F & B manager as well as the hotel director initiated and encouraged us to special order in advance anything we might desire…we didn’t see a need to do that yet greatly appreciated all the offers to do so.

happy sails to you one of these days,

Nancy

Edited September 25, 2022 by nancygp

SLSD · September 25, 2022

21 minutes ago, nancygp said:

choice is good! Everyone has different wants, needs and priority’s.

FWIW…we have sailed exclusivity on lux lines for 18 years. While it’s great for those who love caviar, it’s readily available on seabourn…we aren’t big caviar fans and my husband ordered it twice in 14 days. We don’t special order for 2 and never did on crystal unless we were dining with our friends, on our recent ovation cruise, the restaurant MD, F & B manager as well as the hotel director initiated and encouraged us to special order in advance anything we might desire…we didn’t see a need to do that yet greatly appreciated all the offers to do so.

happy sails to you one of these days,

Nancy

Thanks Nancy--hopefully we will sail in 2023. I think you understand what I am saying. Luxury is different things to different people. LIke you, we find many on the menu to provide choices for us. I respect those who love having a special meal made from them. For us, serenity is luxury.

Catlover54 · September 25, 2022

Self-portrait of DH in hot tub in bow of deck 6.

ivyleaguegent · September 25, 2022

15 hours ago, Ross4356 said:

CatLover54, enjoying your post. A question for you? Is The Main Restaurant opened for breakfast and lunch by during your cruise?

On the Montreal to NYC cruise in early September the Dining Room was not open for breakfast or dinner.

lincslady · September 25, 2022

Surely open for dinner - do you mean lunch?

Covepointcruiser · September 25, 2022

Catlover54, the Nespresso machines are available on the Quest, just not in the basic category staterooms V1-V5. We also had the machines in our Suite on the Sojourn and the Ovation. If you book the Penthouse level or above you will have the coffee machine and a hot water kettle.

Lots of us don’t need them so your stewardess may be able to find an extra.

Catlover54 · September 25, 2022

Day 4, Quebec City

Quebec City ( QC ) welcomed the Quest early today. We will be here until tomorrow night. It is Sunday and thus relatively quiet in the shopping districts.

For those who have not been here, it is a very photogenic walkable city, especially if you are ok with some hills (and is also a great place for foodies:)).

Paw prints are always a good sign:

We got lucky with the weather:

CalmSea · September 25, 2022

So the Captain decided to get back to Montreal on Oct 3, so that I can vote in the Quebec election.

notjaded · September 25, 2022

Can someone give an update as to the effect of the hurricane on the Quest itinerary? Thank you.

Catlover54 · September 26, 2022

10 minutes ago, notjaded said:

Can someone give an update as to the effect of the hurricane on the Quest itinerary? Thank you.

See post #63 (picture of the new port list) and #70 I posted ( DH's graph/comparison of the old and new).

The obvious idea is to avoid the Atlantic and where Fiona causes trouble. It makes sense -- we had beautiful weather today, though a little rain is forecast.