Catlover54

Not at all a "dumb" question. I have a a picture of the size of the water you get in the suite (and which is regularly distributed in the dining rooms), and what is often at the gangway. The smaller one is what is available for you to grab when you leave the ship. I find even the little one too heavy, and with it's fat mouth (and my faint tremor) I land up wetting my face when I drink. Plus it tastes poorly for my preferences. Post is not sending now due to overloaded internet, will try later. So I bring lightweight small plastic battles from Badoit or single serving Diet Coke light plastic bottle shapes, and comfortable narrow openings, and refill them from diet coke cans or Perrier on board (or similar waters whose taste I like) and take to shore to sip throughout the day. This is why I was a bit miffed that the stewardess early in the cruise pulled my bottles out of my cupboard and tossed most of them (some I had with me survived) 🙂

DH's favorite hot tub in the bow was closed today due to rain. But the bathtub in our suite (which has both a tub and a shower) was available, as were the tubs at the pool. I like that SB suites still have bath tubs, which I'm a fan of after a lot of walking on cruises. The trend on higher end cruise lines is away from having a shower and tub except in the top suites, and instead just having a big shower, which is what most (especially younger) people want. There are also two sinks, and there is plenty of storage, it is all just on open shelving (no closed drawers). The bath towels are a bit thin for a luxury line, but the stewardess can and does bring extras when I want them. Products are Moulton Brown, as they have been for a few years. Everything works well in the bathroom (nothing is broken, even the tub plug does not leak), and we have had no surprises like clogged toilets, leaky ceilings, or broken AC. We knew from prior experience the bed would be a bit hard, so we had had our TA advance request a topper to soften it up, and it was already on the bed when we arrived. Overall, the ship comes across as still well-maintained, with very nice clean, simple lines, no fuss.

The show tonight was singer Jo Rochel, accompanied by the ship's band. This UK mezzo in a sparkling red jumpsuit energetically belted out a variety of popular tunes, from Motown to Moon River. She also described how, for 18 months of lockdown, she had lost all her income and worked as a delivery driver for online goods to make a living (and showed some photos of her doing just that). Again, the show was well-attended, and well-received despite an initial nervous start. Earlier I had gone to SB Square to ask if we would have any enrichment lectures this cruise. The staff person asked, "What do you mean, enrichment?" I tried to clarify what "enrichment" is, but he was still confused. Finally when I said "like a teacher talking to students", he got it, and said we would have a talk on 9/28 and 9/30. The Herald later announced we will have a talk tomorrow morning, 9/27, while at sea, 10:30. We do not get into Sagounoy until noon. Other than the school bus trip to a nature park and interpretive center (one hour one way), no excursions have been added, so we decided to just DIY in town, especially since it will likely be rainy. While I was at the Square people inquired about the boutique and the casino, which were of course closed since we left Montreal late at night because per laws they cannot be open while in port (and the little sailing time we had was at night). I don't care about the casino and the store, but some pax do. This art piece at MOBA was called "The Long Arm of the Law":

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: And BTW at the bigger ranch (successful asteroid interception):

Various women in "agony": This one was called "Until blue in the face" (but could be renamed, "Uncaffeinated morning cruiser") 🙂 Surprisingly, the next one was painted by an apparently clairvoyant artist 30 years ago:

QC was gray and a bit windy, but we still managed to walk about 5 miles (slowly), about half of it up and down steep hills and steps (be careful, especially on the "breakneck" steps). There are many boutiques with tasteful clothing and gift items (very few with just souvenir T shirt items), for those who like to shop. I love the narrow winding streets and European atmosphere. We also had an excellent sit-down, calm lunch at restaurant Echoud. And, as planned, we also toured the Museum of Bad Art (admission free, donations welcome), and loved so much of the "bad" art, everything from depictions of people as drainpipes to an ode to ladies' underwear. Think Magritte on steroids. It provided good laughs, and I highly recommend it to people with a sense of the absurd. Some street scenes (from DH:) SB excursion:

We returned to our suite after a rainy day of interesting self-guided touring of Quebec City (more on that when our premium internet is better) and to our surprise and delight, found this Nespresso machine and paraphernalia waiting for us! The two pitchers contained hot water, plus there were 2 kinds of sugar, 10 baggie packets of misc. tea, and 2 cups and spoons. Unfortunately there were no coffee capsules or coffee of any kind to go with the Nespresso coffee machine (when I had inquired about the possibility of getting a Nespresso machine, as Covepointcruiser suggested, even though I was not entitled to one as a mere V3 deck 6 suite booker, I admittedly had not *specifically* also asked about getting coffee to go with the machine). Later, we thanked the assistant stewardess we saw in the hall for securing the coffee machine and asked if we could also get some coffee capsules to go with it. She instantly replied that unfortunately they were "out" of coffee capsules. I then cheerfully said that not having coffee for the coffee machine kind of defeated the purpose of having a coffee machine. She smiled and quickly said she would check again and. depending on what she found, she would let me know, and I could then decide whether or not to keep the machine. When we came back from dinner, misc. coffee capsules previously "out" had miraculously appeared. SB service comes through! Tomorrow, we will test it out.

Yes, there is an upgrade available. We are on Quest (Canadian Autumn, so just in Canada, and due to hurricane just on the St Lawrence Seaway and mostly sitting in ports). We had just the "free" internet (and our cellular through Verizon) the first few days. At popular times, it was impossible to do anything from our mid-ship deck 6 suite, a bit better in SB Square. So yesterday we bought the enhanced version for $199.50, "unlimited", to last the rest of the cruise, to see what would happen. At the popular pre-dinner time, we still could not do anything at all with it from our suite, but had acceptable servce in the Square. Because the free wifi can be overloaded at popular times, in the smaller port of Trois Rivieres, the cellular service was also overloaded. But this is par for the course, just plan accordingly (e.g., do bigger things like posting pictures, if you do that, or working, in less popular times). For many years, in my experience, Odyssey and Quest had so-so internet at popular times, and it was worse in some suite locations (my worst experience was a PH suite far in the bow). Of course, other luxury lines also have problems (other than Celebrity, where I was very impressed with Internet on the Edge). I am still quite happy to have internet at all when on a cruise!

Terrific news! Common sense and courtesy should of course still prevail (e.g., I certainly hope that people with respiratory symptoms, whether from Covid, flu, or another virus, do not travel to crowded airports or on cruises when in their infectious period, or go on excursions with tight spacing if they get sick on board , though of course some will anyway).

We have not yet attempted (though DaveA had success as he posted), because so far we like sampling the variety of interesting daily special offerings in The Restaurant for dinner (3 there so far, plus 1 in Colonnade on French night, have been to our liking, so we are batting 4/4 at dinners, despite service not being ideal). We probably will try for again later in the cruise, to sample other things this time around and reenjoy the stellar service and friendly, unrushed but efficient staff. Maybe I am misremembering prior cruises (possibly too distracted by the previously loud music, not at all too loud this cruise), but I think the TK Grill food (which we had the first night of the cruise) was even better than on previous SB sailings (same courses we usually get), and service, as before , was excellent there. BTW of the 3 dinners we had so far in The Restaurant, the best service was when we went for a late dinner, e.g., 8:30, when the plan was to skip the 9:30 show because dinner with the 3 courses we typically get there would obviously take longer than an hour. I don't have enough of an "n" to say that is going to be a pattern, e.g., dining late to get better service, and we also had a different server. Plus, you have to be ready to miss the beginning of a show, but not everyone goes. People who like to dine earlier than the 7 PM opening time for The Restaurant, Colonnade, and Earth and Ocean have to go for the TK Grill, which opens at 6.

I am glad you are enjoying them. The better ones (though sometimes delayed) are often from DH (he cruises primarily to have digital photographic opportunities). More will be forthcoming!

Day 5, Quebec City part 2 The CD came on the loudspeaker at 8AM (heard only in the hall after the bell , or if you turn the TV on to the bow camera), to give a short speech about QC . He also noted that at 4:30 the navigation officers will discuss the impacts and challenges that Fiona had on this voyage. Finally he reminded that there is a show tonight with young singer Jo Rochell (described as "one of the UK's leading piano bar entertainers." All this information was also in the Daily Herald, which I am happy to receive in paper form each evening, per my request. Tomorrow we will be in Saguenoy. One excursion is posted on SB Source, a trip to a scenic park. Weather is getting a bit wet, so it may be a good day for some museums. We hope to, among others, get into this "Museum of Bad Art" (art "so bad it has to be seen"): I'm not sure how much street art, always a delightful aspect of walking in QC, will be out today in the drizzle (some from yesterday): Not far from QC is also a copper museum and family run center for copper craftsmanship: A bit outside QC, the beautiful Basilica of Sainte Anne de Beaupre's copper adorned door (posted earlier on this thread) was also created by that same family, and has an interesting history. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

We have the same interest

Once again, dinners (yesterday, escargots and sea bream in Colonnade on French night, and tonight coq au vin chef special in The Restaurant) have been very good. The addictive crispy French baguette with sweet butter continues to threaten the integrity of my 'girlish' figure (😳). Unfortunately The Restaurant has remained closed at lunch, so we will have an early heavy lunch off the ship in a highly regarded French restaurant before more touring, to take care of both breakfast and lunch needs (other than my mandatory morning coffee). The stewardess is much improved (no more removal and hiding of my personal items), and is researching with her supervisor whether or not a Nespresso machine could be found for me. The SB website indicates Nespresso machines are only available in the "Owner's Suite and above" (it says nothing about any veranda suites having them) but maybe they can still make it happen if there is a stray lying around. Tonight's scheduled entertainment was "Let's Dance!" Entertainment crew and the band inspired about 20 or so septuagenerians, including a couple with hearing aids, to gyrate to songs such as Abba's "Give Me Give Me Give Me a Man After Midnight" and "Gonna get some hot stuff baby tonight." It was indeed entertaining, and the band and singers (including the CD, who did an Elvis number) are quite talented.

Glory: Montmarcy Falls near QC: (people can walk on a bridge over them)

Fauna: (this and latest courtesy DH)

Flora: (margarites)

We are starting to get a bit of fall colour:

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.

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:

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

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.

French bread or baguette, when they have it, with sweet butter.

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.