jsiegel

Viking1966. I hope you don't mind me chiming in with my experience.

We had a better experience in The Restaurant last night. They had already noted that we wanted a faster section and we asked that we be served our courses when we finished and not wait until our friends were finished.  That worked well for all of us.  

We've had room service for breakfast twice and both times they delivered on time and accurately though the almond milk for my coffee curdled when added. Didn't know almond milk would do that. 

We walked by Earth and Ocean last night and they were open, despite the menu delivered to our cabin stating they would be closed. There were only 4 tables dining there. It's scheduled to be open today but heavy rain is threatening. We may give it a try if they are indeed open.

As a side note, when using the ship's wifi I can't get to these boards. I do have an eSim fo Canada, so I use that when I can get a signal.

Jackie

19 minutes ago, Viking1966 said:

Jackie

I would recommend arriving early for dinner, skip the Cap reception.  Communicate upon your arrival your expectations for dinner. 

We plan on doing that as one can get champagne or a drink anywhere, anytime (within posted hours) and hors d'oeuvres right before dinner is too much food for us. I don't want to miss the twice baked goat cheese souffle tonight.  Our dining companions eat multiple appetizers so we'll be asking the wait staff to serve us the next course without waiting for them.  Our friends are agreeable to this, we'd done this successfully on another cruise line. 

It's a good thing I now do get a paper Herald as they haven't been updating the electronic version on The Source.  Our arrival to Quebec was pushed back two hours because we couldn't leave Trois Riveres on time due to traffic on the river.  This is what the Herald says as of 1:30 p.m. after being in port for several hours. And the arrival time mentioned is incorrect.  We docked at 9 am

Our experience last night in The Restaurant was awful. We were seated a little after 7 pm. Our water glasses were filled and bread brought over and then we waited and waited and waited for our order to be taken.  Eventually the waiter appeared and took our orders. It was after 8 pm before our appetizers were served.  They were small and quickly consumed and we waited another half hour before our mains came. In the meantime they were turning tables around us, people who arrived long after us finished their desserts before we received our main courses.  We did not finish until 9 pm. We did complain and they stated the kitchen couldn't keep up. 

We wish we had the option to try out Earth and Ocean but it continues to be closed.  Tonight is formal night and we anticipate slowdowns in service again and we have an early excursion tomorrow so don't want to be still eating dinner at 9 pm.  The menu in the Collanade tonight is very limited, only three choices for appetizers and two for the main courses. Is that normal? I believe on our last Seabourn cruise in the before times there were more entree options.

Other than The Restaurant, we're impressed with the service and friendliness of the staff in the other venues. 

Jackie

Regarding the Quest, I am happy to report that when we returned to our cabin after dinner, both the next day's Herald and the menus were on the bed. Relieved as the Source version was incorrect for yesterday. It showed a menu for Earth and Ocean that sounded good but when we went there they were not open for the night. The paper menu for the next day does show them closed, as does the online version. 

Jackie

We were kicked out of our AirBnB at 11 am so went directly to the pier to drop off our luggage. They weren't boarding yet but they invited us inside while they finished setting up. They started boarding at around 11:30 am and we were on the ship by 11:45.  This was in Montreal on the Quest.

Jackie

Boarded the Quest today and asked for paper Heralds and menus.  The Seabourn Square agent said No, not done. I said I save them and mark them up. He referred me to the stateroom TV or a copy posted in Seabourn Square. Later I asked our room steward. He will see what he can do. I'll report back the outcome.

Jackie

2 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Typically most major carriers will just automatically kick into a $10 per day international plan in Canada without having to enable anything. 

How I wish that were the case for our carrier.  They embargo international roaming for 90 days after starting with them and we arrive on day 84.  We've asked if they could implement it earlier and we didn't get a definitive answer so we're going to assume the phones won't work.  They also don't support wifi calling.  So, if you travel internationally, Ting Mobile may not be a good choice, despite the cheap plans.  Not stated up front.  Live and learn.

3 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Was there 3 weeks ago-- Uber works great. No need to prebook an expensive black car if you don't want to. It was CA$38 from the airport to our hotel downtown.

Thanks but we may have phone issues, we changed carriers and they may not have enabled international roaming for us yet so we can't rely on a phone app for transportation.  Seems the cost is the same for a taxi, apparently a set price from the airport to the old city.

We arrive in the Montreal airport at night, around 10 pm. Where there plenty of taxis waiting for fares? Or should we pre-book a ride to the historic district near the cruise terminal? We fly in on Sunday.

Thank you,

Jackie

We arrive in the Montreal airport at night, around 10 pm. Where there plenty of taxis waiting for fares? Or should we pre-book a ride to the historic district near the cruise terminal? We fly in on Sunday.

Thank you,

Jackie

Another question about availabilty of items on the Quest.  Are milk alternatives available?  My travel companions prefer unsweetened coconut or oat milk.  I use almond milk.  My last Seabourn cruise pre-pandemic, did have almond milk.

Thanks, Jackie

I received the apologetic correction too this morning.  Now we have to decide if we are going to cancel our PCR covid test at the drug store.  It's free but it's in the next town over and we have better things to be doing the day before we leave.

Jackie

Despite getting an email this morning "Important Notification" stating that a covid test is required, when I did the "Protocol Lookup" this morning on the Seabourn website, it does finally state that a covid test is not required if you have been vaccinated for my sailing leaving in one week.  

5 minutes ago, nancygp said:

I just checked the health protocols on seabourns website and they were updated today!  Probably since you posted!  
 

https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/health-safety.html

 

Nancy

I noticed that too, but then when I go to the protocol lookup, for my cruise leaving October 4th, it still states a covid test is required and the page is dated Sept. 22, 2022.  We've got our covid test scheduled and will keep it regardless, but I'll also keep checking if they update the "protocols" for our sailing.  It will be one less thing to worry about if they update it.

Jackie

We embark on October 4th but so far Seabourn has not updated their website and they still show the  Covid testing requirement.  I've got my vaccine card (just got the new booster) at the ready with my passport.

Jackie

Can someone currently onboard the Quest let me know if they have stevia available or if we should bring our own packets.

Thanks,  Jackie

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

Is anyone familiar with the cruise terminal in Montreal?  We've just received our embarkation time and it is for 2:40 p.m. and we have to vacate our AirBnB by 11 a.m.  Will we be able to drop off our luggage before noon?  

Thanks,   Jackie

Is anyone familiar with the cruise terminal in Montreal?  We've just received our embarkation time and it is for 2:40 p.m. and we have to vacate our AirBnB by 11 a.m.  Will we be able to drop off our luggage before noon?  

Thanks,   Jackie

On 9/12/2022 at 7:55 PM, JodiandFrank said:

We have just returned from spending 12 nights on the Quest (Montreal to NYC) and we thought it was wonderful!  <snip>  The Tours were just so-so (as before Covid) the one weak point with Seabourn we have found.

Hugs, Jodi & Frank

What tours did you do?  I'll be sailing on that itinerary soon and have booked a few tours and would welcome your opinion on the ones you did and/or if you heard from others of good or bad tours.  I have enough ship board credit to cover a few tours.

Thanks,  Jackie  (who does plan on being on deck at 4 a.m. as we sail into NYC)

Thank you.  My husband is relieved.  When we sailed to the Galapagos post-Covid the staff had to fill your plates, absolutely no self-service.  We'd also cruised in the past during noro outbreaks where again, no self-service.  I really don't mind but he likes to decide how much or how little of items go on his plate.  Of course, the situation could change if health protocols warrant it.

Jackie

Question for recent or current Quest sailors, is the Colonnade for breakfast and lunch self-serve or must you have a crew member fill your choices at the buffet for you?    

Thanks,

Jackie

I emailed Guest Services on July 8th with a simple question, I just wanted confirmation on where the embarkation pier was for an upcoming cruise.  I didn't get a reply (other than the auto reply) until August 2nd.  The person responding did apologize for the delay.   Luckily the answer confirmed what Google Maps told me and the AirBnB we had already booked is a very short walk to the pier.

Jackie

Where does Seabourn dock when embarking or disembarking in New York City?  I'm trying to figure out the most convenient airport for flying out from there.  JFK,  LaGuardia, and Newark N.J. are all options for direct flights out.

Thanks,  Jackie