frantic36

Not all passengers but sadly quite a few fitted this description on our Quest Cruise also. We experienced it on our cruise last year on our 7 day segments mainly. We hoped it was an aberration but sadly found some people, even those on this whole voyage and older than us who displayed very pushy behaviour. For example I had one man on my first evening having a drink at the Obs Bar who told me he was originally from Sydney but now lived in the USA and asked where I was from. He then proceeded to ask why Western Australians thought we were so special to keep our borders closed and that no-one would wanted to visit us anyway. Now maybe he thought he was being funny but since I had never met him before it was a weird way to introduce himself. I ignored him from then on. Others seemed to think their needs more important and if you were talking to destination or guest services staff but stopped to get paperwork to confirm information they would push in and start asking their questions expecting you to then wait while they got their answers. Since it only took me about 30 seconds to get my paperwork they got told by me to not be so rude. Having said that the Grand Voyage was one our best cruises for meeting some very lovely people, from people we had never met before, people we had sailed with prior but lost contact with, people we knew fleetingly but got to know and enjoy their company more and old friends we kept in touch with over the years. Hopefully you are also experiencing meeting some nice people in the mix. Flamin_June I have been enjoying your descriptive posts of your cruise and you have inspired me to finish my blogging of the Grand Voyage which got delayed due to socialising to much then flu, not Covid on my return home. Julie

They were offered most sea days on the Grand Voyage. There were a couple of days they were suspended for I'm not sure what reason. I know for some or all of the last segment a friend was disappointed the focus was on crafts not painting with the new instructor. They were allowed to paint but the tuition wasn't there.

We have just come from a 79 day cruise around South America and Antarctica and as far as i know we never got Covid. However in the last week I contracted a flu virus and was tested multiple times and it was never Covid. I have underlying lung issues so I did all the avoid crowds, wear masks at times, walk stairs and avoid lifts. This flu bug was/is nasty and even though I got an extra flu jab in Australia prior to going on the cruise it didn't protect me from northern hemisphere winter flu. I think Covid is still a problem for the less protected but I got it last July in Rome but this nasty flu bug I am still recovering from this March has had way worse symptoms. As an ex-nurse I am all for people vaccinating and protecting themselves. I only mention it to have a different view point. When we go to Europe again in August I will still make sure I have a booster prior to travelling because I still believe you have to do what you can to protect yourself. Which includes things like extra Vitamin D, zinc, C, etc.

Thanks @shark b8 it is one of our hidden gems in Western Australia. Like many things in our large State it suffers from the problem of being far away from anywhere else.

Don't believe everything you read especially on this board. Both @shark b8 reporting from Sojourn and myself currently on Quest have been reporting some glitches but generally great cruises and I am reading similar on other cruise lines. I will respond to a complaint about Quest posted today once I can respond appropriately.

Well yes of course that goes without saying.😁

😊And this is why I think would be an idea to maintain variety. Encore because of the layout in the club and various other reasons is my least favourite ship. I would sail on her but only with an exceptional itinerary or a great price if I wanted a get away.

No you won't. There will be some wearing very casual clothing but the majority will dress up including cocktail wear at times. The exception to this was on the Antarctic segment when many wore more expedition type clothing even in the evening.

I hope you are wrong about selling the Sojourn & Quest as I prefer them to Encore and Ovation. I am hoping it is simply they can have two ships in each class of ship for variety.

On Quest at the moment and we have two bands that take it in turn to perform on Club Deck 5 apart from a long break from about 7-9pm for dinner. They also have short breaks ~10minutes which is actually good as it gives a chance passengers to chat without background music. There is a jukebox available for use in those breaks. In the Obs Bar there is a piano player Filippe who is also a very good singer.

Natal, Brazil We did a Seabourn tour to visit a school in the poorer district for Capoeira dancers. This was a community project and allowed people from all ages but mainly young people to learn an active dance style. They also got to compete in various places in Brazil. From the joy of the participants it was obviously something they loved doing. There was also a more traditional costumed dancers That ended with a fire expert. I must admit my first thought was this was an extreme way to get rid of unwanted hair... Natal itself was a surprisingly large city and with beaches and history like the large fort at the entrance to the port it would have a lot in it to explored if I ever returned.

Recife continued. That afternoon they brought onboard some local dancers and singers who were costumed in Carnival costume. I have to say the main singers were pretty tough as their costumes were very heavy looking and the performance was on Deck 8 pool area at around 3.30pm when it was still very hot. We got to enjoy watching various forms of local dance and costume... And then came some Fevre dancers Who was joined by a puppet replica they named Captain Sybe in honour of our Quest captain.

Recife, Brazil This was a gritty but interesting port stop for us. We had read about some sculptures by Fransisco Brennand that had been placed on a spit of land in celebration of the 500th year anniversary of Discovery Day in Recife. The first trick was organising a boat to take us over o the spit and making sure he waited for us. For 20 Brazil Real this was achieved though we did help out a local to get back to the mainland with his bike on return. The sculptures were interesting though not all the ones we had read in a blog were still there. We then walked into the old town area. It was a very hot day again so it was difficult to think and plan though we had a vague notion of finding the large puppet's museum, These puppets are used in the Carnival Parade. While we were looking for this we spotted a building that many South American tourists were taking photos in front of. It was a Gallery dedicated to Fevre the local dance that incorporates energy, freedom and a small umbrella. The exhibits were in Portuguese and English and since we love dance, very interesting. As well as photos on the wall there was a perspex floor in which were displayed various Carnival teams awards and banner flags. This exhibit was up on the third level which also gave us an opportunity to get some views across the river to the new part of town. After our visit we continued our search for the Puppet Museum, which was thankfully close by. In the museum were various models of famous people and characters from Brazil as well as the rest of the world. And yes the Queen usually wore a three strand pearl necklace not two but that's a minor detail. After a quick bite to eat we headed back to the ship and cool air-conditioning.

I don't think we paid more than other tours but you're right sadly some goes to him and I wish they would end that contract.

Probably not. Certainly some of the hikes they have listed that are more nature based might be more "Mindful Living" but I don't do those as my husband and I prefer to take our own hikes. Maybe it is a silly marketing tool but they didn't seem to charge anymore for it and most cruise lines seem to like to do marketing. The rare times I book a ship tour I base it on whether the description interests me and isn't something I can easily do myself.

We did a tour in Natal, Brazil that was designated a mindful living tour, it was to see a Capoeira School that is based in one of the poorer districts on the outskirts of Natal. Whether it was designated Mindful Living because it was supporting a school group that got children and adults of all ages involved in learning a dance skill I'm not sure. But the tour guide mentioned a few times how much they appreciated the support of tour groups like ours. It was one of the best tours I have been on with lots of joy from the dance participants and also from fellow passengers. None of the passengers were up to doing the flips but some did reasonable kicks. Some other tours are things like hikes if I remember correctly in the Mediterranean.

This is what we find we enjoy. Often we are either catching up with friends or enjoying talking to each other and we tend to eat late so we end up missing the show. Sometimes we enjoy the dancing on deck in fine weather and we have had some good musicians in The Club for dancing after the show. We even had the Saxophonist do some good jazz solos some evenings in The Club, but I wouldn't want that often.

Onboard Quest at the moment. The stated time is 48 hours before a tour though once I cancelled 24 hours before a kayak because I was getting cramps in my feet and they were able to fill it from the waitlist so we were refunded. For things like trips on planes & hotels for Seabourn tours like Iguazu Falls the cancellation date I think is ~ 30 days or maybe more.

Buzios, Brazil 28 February This was another place it was easy to walk around and even have a swim. Buzios was made famous by Bridget Bardot holidaying there in the 60s and since then other celebrities have also stayed there.To honour BB the residents put up a statue of her alongside the beach boardwalk. While tracking down her statue I came across this wonderful sand art that someone had made... The only issue was it was a very hot day so after wandering around and doing some shopping I found a lovely restaurant for lunch that had air conditioning inside. There we enjoyed a shared starter of a calamari salad and then a local fish with mango sauce that was delicious. After relaxing and enjoying our meal we farewelled the lovely man who served us and returned to the ship.

That was a rumour but no sale actually happened. Carnival still own Seabourn.

There are no night lights actually in the bathroom so we tend to leave that light on but as Mauzac pointed out the sensor lights near the bed and dressing table that stays on long enough to allow you to get to and from the bathroom.

Same for me. I ask for input but I enjoy the research and planning.

At the top the area was very crowded especially around the statue. This was surprising to me being a Monday. I guess it is always crowded. We were lucky as the sky was quite clear when we arrived but after awhile the clouds rolled in. We were leaving so it wasn't an issue for us. Thankfully for others the clouds only lasted a couple of hours. Our guide pointed out the statue is covered in multiple small triangular shaped marble tiles in order to facilitate curves. The wait to get the return train was only about 10 minutes. We then went for lunch where we got to try a typical Feijoada lunch which was delicious. In the stew was slow cooked beef and pork pieces and a local sausage. The grain was Faro, and the green was like a Savoy Spinach. The orange slices helped cut through the richness of the sauce. Our final stop was a walk along Copacabana Beach which was much quieter than the day before but still interesting to people watch. There was a group of young people doing tightrope walking on some stretchy rope. We also saw young men diving at the rocks area and hauling themselves up to the top by a rope. It was a wonderful two days in Rio and our guide and driver were excellent.

Day 2 Rio Again our guide Ana was waiting promptly at 8.30am and we headed off to explore Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer. We purchased both tickets prior. Sugar Loaf we got the fast pass VIP and this was wonderful as we didn't have to queue and got through quickly. The Cable car was excellent and Ana made sure I was positioned near the window so I could get photos. This enabled me to capture a phot of two climbers who were going up Sugar Loaf the hard way. The views from the top were wonderful and gave an impression of how far the city sprawled. It also gave us an opportunity to more easily watch the landing of planes at the domestic airport. The runways were very short though Ana reassured us only once in recent history did a plane end up teetering on the edge and there was no serious injuries or loss of life. We also got to see how those climbers had progressed on our cable car ride back down the mountain. Then we took the train to Christ the Redeemer. Unfortunately no VIP entry here and the wait was long, probably a good half hour, at least we could read about some of the history and check out countries flags while we waited. The train ride itself was interesting as you travel through the national forest that was replanted with indigenous plants after the land was bought from the sugar cane owners.