MJN1

Good afternoon from Kotor. This has to be the most scenic port on this cruise. The sail-in into Malta is always beautifully serene. And nothing beats passing the raised Tower Bridge to the sounds of (wishful...) "Britannia rules...". But this is like a Norwegian Ford without the cold wind and Sound of Music on an Austrian lake in one. We had been here a few years ago, driving down from home along the beautiful Croatian "Jadranska Magistrale" Highway. Thus another "Sea-Day" for us and time for several snippets: "Earth&Ocean" has become our favourite dinner place by now. Being open now every evening, requiring no reservation, serving tasty food and not too big portions it is perfect given the current temperatures. Previously, as we avoided summer months, the only time to do so were relatively balmy evenings when the ship stayed in port till 10 p.m. unless you were really bundled up. A big Thank You goes to the Deck Dept. Our suitcase wheels had managed to get hold of the suitcase cover and chewed out several big holes. A clear case to discard the cover once back home. We asked our Suite Attendant if someone could put some duct-tape over the holes, so we could user the cover when going home. 48h later the cover returned, expertly stitched up: I don't want to start (another) debate on SB's tipping policy (which of the words NEITHER and NOR is so difficult to understand? 😘), but this is one of the reason why we love the crew fund! Before I am being written off as a SB cheerleader, four "wish-fors" (it is Whine-Wednesday today), recognizing that neither one is achievable: 1) The drinking water: yes, the Nordaq bottled on site water is better than what was tried previously. Yes, handing out thousands of plastic bottles daily is an environmental waste. Ditto shipping glass bottles from Switzerland. Yes, you can ask for mineral water, and we do now after trying hard for a week without, but do we miss turning on the tap in Salzburg. 2) The Air-conditioning: with 34°C (93° F) in the shade one does need it. Unfortunately the Gym feels like an Ice-box and when you sit at dinner at Earth&Ocean next to the door to the hallway you will be hit by an artic blast every few minutes. One can turn the setting in the room up or down a few steps, but there is no temperature setting and no OFF button. So why the suite at 22°C (72°F) sounds like comfy, a 10+/20+° (C/F) temperature difference makes it feel really chilly at night. We have thus also cancelled the next round of massages after our first experience. Which brings up 3) The Spa-Services: for us Europeans $500++ for 75min couple massage sounds a bit high (here goes the OBC in one step..). Yes, I do understand why this happens, i.e. you cover the full overheads of this outsourced operation. Unfortunately on top of this the nice ladies are underpaid and dependent on your tip and selling products, counter to SB's principles. 4) Co-branding with self-proclaimed gurus/experts/masters...: OK, this only riles my marketing mind and makes no real difference (except the waste of a nice restaurant space...), so I will leave it at this. As said above, I don't expect any solutions and try to live by what I remind my lovely spouse occasionally ("accept, appreciate and be patient")... However, if you ever travel on land in Europe (Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Germany and others) take a look at the Association of Young European Restaurateurs (JREdotEU). I hope they don't get too big, but sofar we always had exciting and interesting meals, with quality and not quantity (looking at you "whole chicken for two" after a quart of Ceasar's salad and followed by a pound of choco-fudge) being the critical factor on the plate. Anyway, Caviar at the sail-away party tonite will restore any emotional imbalances . 🥂

Unfortunately, Uber Eats could not guarantee timely delivery.

One or two scoops? 🍧🍦🍨

No refillable bottles on the Quest. No warning notice either. Shall we FedEx? 😘

Maybe, I should clarify "boring" used yesterday. We jumped on this cruise a it offered small town ports to simply walk around, planned no excursions, longed to see (after 1130 days) again the waves and sunsets from our balcony and looked forward to reliable food (and venue) choices. Sofar, ✔️ on all points and thus enjoyably "boring" on all fronts. The heat is a bit of a challenge, and does reconfirm our previous choice to stay away from the Mediterranean between mid June and mid September. But this does get compensated when we return on board and see that our perfect suite team have replenished the fridge.🥰 And the pool bar has found a solution to keep Jaegermeister at -18°C. 🥰 I would say SB is at it's usual ("boring") best!

Today is the mid point of this 11 days cruise, and I am afraid the snippets are becoming rather boring. We added our own "Sea-days" in Malta and Syracuse as we had been there before and 33°C (or more) where no incentive... We had dinners @ the Colonade (Chinese), Ocean and Earth and via room-service (very quick delivery and even faster pickup). Today we braved the heat in Crotone and walked around this rather quiet (did I say boring above) town? The only "complaint" sofar was that they keep the Jaegermeister bottle in the fridge instead of the freezer to serve it ice-cold at -18°C. This was duly reported on the "is there a little thing we can fix?" form and the F&B lady tracked me down after dinner the same day and promised me a Jagermeister surprise at that night's dance away party. As we don't imbibe a Jager daily we still have to find out about this at the next after dinner trip to the bars....

Klaus, a German. I think last name is Kabelitz.

😱 Thanks for this background. Pretty shocking experience and apparently no effort to turn desaster into delight.

We did "AND" but on different days, as the again badly functioning wardrobe is already causing all our clothes to shrink significantly! Afternoon Tea is now no longer a buffet, but a tray service covering everything from small savory sandwiches to the usual scones. And in addition they served Crepe Suzette yesterday 😋

I can only echo this comment. Yes, I don't doubt that someone had a bad experience. Yes, the complimentary wines are not 3rd growth Bordeaux (but frankly the current ones on board are not bad and as we are cruising along Italy and Croatia one can easily buy some nice local wines and bring on board...). We are now 5 days on board the Quest and the experience is as good as 3 years ago and in some aspects (additional breakfast option on the pool deck, afternoon tea service) even better. That the ship is only 50% full obviously helps, that the staff is mostly experienced is a big plus. Importantly, EVERYONE is smiling! Hope that the only lemon you will experience is the Lemon Soufflé....

Still happy and content on board. Mask use dropped to nearly zero as of Day 3 (yesterday) and entering the fully packed and boisterous Observation lounge for pre-dinner drinks requires our courage after having been conditioned to avoid noisy crowds for so long. Today is Sea day and thus time for Trivia... Q 1: have you ever wondered what lurks behind the air vents in the ceilings 🕳? Q 2: do they ever vacuum 🧹 up there? The vent cover in the wardrobe fell off yesterday 🤪 but here is a more enjoyable picture 😃....

Yeah, A.I. or IT's lack of attentoon to details. The special Events (e.g. Sommelier Dinner etc.) also show the wrong DAY for the date. It does correct once you click on it.

Sorry, I can't find your review /posting for that cruise? What happened to you on which ship and when? While I can find (always) some faults, our current Quest cruise is VERY enjoyable.

FlyerTalker - thanks for the hint, we are slowly figuring out where to find what on the App versus the TV.... One of the (for us) new improvements is the "healthy" breakfast now available at the pool deck. It offers less sugar muesli, a nice selection of fruits and yoghurts, daily changing selection of open sandwiches (like avocado and other toppings) and Tajine eggs (with any additions). Due to the dish size they serve it with 3 eggs (so much for "healthy" 😘), but will cut down to two if asked (and I am sure they will fry you just one egg in a normal pan if you ask). So one can now spend basically 13hours uninterrupted from breakfast over lunch to dinner at the pool deck.... 🍓🥑🥐🥚🍵🧋🍔🍕🍟🌭🍺🍪🍹🥂🍽🍷..... Walked around the little town of Rab yesterday and joined the captain's welcome party before dinner. Without the Herald printed at least one guest apologised profusely for not having gotten the message of "formal" night, but no one got upset. We had a marvellous dinner with a lovely couple, followed by a VERY lively time with the band in the club till quite late. Today one could cover the sights of Vis Island in less than 1h and we now face the difficult calories choice 🤔 of Afternoon Tea at 4pm or the sail-away party at 17:00.

Gloves are a good idea. We saw others using their socks double-layered to warm their hands....

This will not be a detailed daily blog, but just top-line observations from a 11 days Ravenna-Ravenna cruise. We only booked this cruise on a whim over a weekend end May (after 3 years on land) and had read recent postings with some trepidation. We arrived at the port 15min after the assigned 1 p.m. boarding time (difficulties getting a taxi in downtown Ravenna at lunchtime) and were in our suite 10 (yes, ten!) minutes later. Off to the Spa to book the planned massages and then a Napa-Burger and a cold Peroni at the pool deck before 2 pm. Relax - all is more than fine! Back in the suite to unpack, meet the very experienced (500days+) suite attendants, follow the new safety drill protocol (drop by at muster Station, watch the safety video in your suite), get the list of complimentary wines from Guest services and all is set for life in paradise.... Dinner in the MDR as good as before, but sofar guests seem to be reluctant to join others at one's table. The only thing to get used to is that the Herald and thus the detailed daily schedule is now available only via the SB App (and on TV). Before you ask, the ship seems to be only half full and masks are only recommended when moving around the ship, especially in crowded areas (compliance was about 50% today in a really full tender). Back to bliss on Deck7 aft now...

You can also choose any (longer) massage you like and they will deduct the value of this massage from the invoice.

We booked next week's Quest cruise only three weeks ago on a whim triggered by a regular SB e-mail. We have in the past always used a US agent as the published US$ fares were usually better than the ones based on the Euro or GBP. However, this time - to our big surprise - the GBP based fares on SB's website were significantly cheaper. And thanks to a posting several months ago we found "Her Majesty's" TA and the booking was favorable completed over a weekend simply via a few e-mails. Their follow-up since then has been absolutely splendid. And for the first time ever, SB tried to entice us thereafter with an up-sell "upgrade" to their top-suites.

Cruisemom42, many thanks. We will look at organizing our own excursion to Butrint.

Many thanks, very helpful!

We have some 7h in this port end June. Any suggestions what we "must" see or do there? I have found very limited reviews on CC, primarily suggesting a trip to an old Roman city nearby and/or being critical of the roads and beaches there. Any one who has recent experiences to share or recommendations? Any advice is much appreciated! MANY THANKS!

Help , please as I am confused on the Covid test requirements: The SB website says in one place "supervised test 3 days before departure required". Another one says "negative test if required by country for entry" and "SB does not require anything beyond what is required by the country of departure". We just came back from two weeks in Italy and there was no test required if fully vaccinated. So what do we need to get on board in Italy?