Catlover54

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.

DH and I look forward to the new ports, as we have not been to them. Looking out our window, at the clear blue sky and minimal wind, you would not think that not that far away, there is such a mess.

". . . . Even the pool deck looks beautiful . . . until the passengers arrive and mess it all up, lounging in their various stages of decomposition, slathering themselves with toxic chemicals, gulping down 42 percent alcoholic beverages, gorging on huge platefuls of saturated fats, glued to their smartphones or tablets.. . ." LOL! But for the decomposing pax, there would of course be no point to the existence of a pool deck in the first place, and the chemicals being slathered on are designed to help slow, no matter how slightly, the dreaded decomposition. And as for the smartphones or tablets, we all know they are using them to read threads about SB voyages on CC. 🙂 But I hear you . . . . BTW, I agree to stay away from the Alhambra in the modern era.

Both the pool grill area and the Colonnade were very busy for lunch. We tried the latter, Mexican food was the theme in there today. I tried the beef fajitas (fine), tacos (ok), refried beans (excellent), rice (fine), and shrimp ceviche (it was basically just a couple thawed shrimp with a lemon slice, on a little greenery) -- I would pick everything except the ceviche again, if very hungry. Everything went quickly and smoothly, except for our beverage order, which arrived when we were done eating (one of the disadvantages of an efficient buffet). I eyed the hamburgers and mahi mahi special others ordered, and they looked pretty good (noted for future reference), and once again the salad bar looked nice, and fresh. Vegetarians and pescatarians should have no problems on the Quest.

DH created a new map showing the original cruise ports in black, and the new "gimme shelter" ports in red (to complement my post #63, which shows our new list) We are of course disappointed to miss 2 days in St. John's (and our expensive private photo tour there), and the other Newfoundland ports. Prior to booking this cruise to use our credits, we had booked a cruise on the Venture which would have included St. John's this year , (we have not yet been on the Venture), but that didn't work out either.

Excursion: "Hiking the Les Cascades Trail" Next we did our rescheduled excursion to a very nice nature enclave ( Mauricie Park). We were transported by an aged and somewhat bumpy school bus with very tight pitch upright seating (that's all that is available locally) , but fortunately we had room overhead for our packs and the trip was only an hour each way. Only a few leaves were turning in the park (we are too early in the season) but the loop walk, though shorter than the expected 2 hours in the brochure, was still invigorating (2.5 miles, 10 stories total elevation). It was paved part of the way, then had a series of stairs and dirt, with a few areas with rocks and roots. I rate the difficulty moderate. We had a warning when we started the hike, but fortunately we had no ursine encounters:

Day 3, Trois Rivieres againA beautiful, crisp morning dawned and it was warm enough that the early breakfast room service (which arrived 15 minutes after the requested 15 minute time range)could easily have been eaten on our pleasant sunny veranda pre-excursion.We had ordered one egg with an order of bacon as one entree, coffee, 1 bread basket, 1 grapefruit juice, 1 yoghurt and an order of Swedish pancakes.The waiter delivered four eggs instead of one, with bacon orders to match on two entree plates, plus the entree plate of pancakes ( so three entrees) , plus the other items. The tray was so overflowing that the bread basket (and what turned out to be its rockhard contents ) cascaded to the floor as soon as the waiter came in. After he left we realized there was only 1 coffee cup and no cream for the coffee, but since it was clear the waiter was stressed, we just let it go (as well as bread replacement) and prepared for our excursion. We will try and be more explicit and limited on future room service orders (if any) to avoid confusion and potential waste of food, and when we don't have early excursions, we will just eat breakfast elsewhere, order something cold to stash the night before, or skip it if the other venues are not yet open and/or if we don't feel like going public early in the day. The Restaurant offers table service breakfast 8-9, the Colonnade offers it 7:30-10, and the Patio offers it 8-9:30, none of which work for early excursions. A pleasant surprise was that the room service coffee this time was drinkable and so was the grapefruit juice, even though it was not fresh-squeezed but from a frozen mix. It would be nice to have an in-room coffee or nespresso machine, like we had on Silversea, Hapag-Lloyd, Crystal Endeavor, in the base veranda suite, but I was not realistically expecting one.

The show at 9:30 was packed with eager customers, and the Ohio-born singer Suzanne O Davis, wearing a beautiful colorful partially sparkling dress, enthusiastically sang Tapestry Carole King covers, accompanied by the ship musicians ( guitar, sax, keyboard, drums). Our stewardess apologized for her overly exuberant cleanup history and she readily agreed to stop removing our things going forward . Markham, I did not want to go straight to the HD ( and maybe get her into trouble) without first giving her a chance to make things right. DH had his birthday, and SB had the dining room staff make a chocolate cake, and also had the stewardess drop off a bottle of wine ( though nothing special, as it was from the complimentary list which we can order any time, $15 retail, it was nice to have recognition). She also hung Happy Birthday decorations in the room. The cake was very good, but big, so the wait staff said they would send the rest to our suite. We planned to eat the rest after the show, but sadly it never arrived.Lesson learned was to bring your own leftovers to your suite. I have previously done special celebrations on SB, and they have always come through with the decorations and preparing a special dessert.

It is a beautiful sunny day (still in Trois Rivieres), but more on that later. Dinner in the Restaurant (MDR) , open 7-9, offered the menu shown below last night, and it was very good (almost up there with our TK dinner the night before).We came at 7:05, and were seated after standing in a short line. We finished our third course, dessert, at 9:05, in time to rest a little (all that eating is exhausting !) and then go to the show, which started at 9:30. We were very happy with all of our food (salmon appetizer, beet appetizer, Asian duck, and chicken cordon bleu). Service was very slow and a bit disjointed ( e.g., 40 minutes to get the appetizers, but fortunately the wonderful perfect crispy baguette pieces (the best bread I have had on the ship) and the SB famous breadsticks, plus the wine we brought, kept us going while waiting for the first course.The only thing we disliked was the homemade SB faux “ sparkling water” which did not sparkle, was lukewarm, and tasted odd (this is not new post-Covid, I had just forgotten about the now not so new homemade sparkling substitute on SB). However, when we asked for normal bottled sparkling water to replace it , it was easily done, within 15 minutes.

Today: (formal night -- looks like the old Sir Tim Rice show is planned) And the new itinerary: (actually we do NOT get in early, we still terminate 10/4 as originally planned, we just have another day in Montreal)

We will have a firm but polite talk with the stewardess and also leave written instructions in case she has 'help' which cross-pollinates. On the bright side, many of yesterday's unfilled requests were filled: we got our diet coke, and sparkling water. We had asked for the pre-cruise ordered bottle of Baileys, and we did not get that on arrival, but instead today got a substitute (which costs less than half of Baileys retail, and tastes accordingly). Oddly, we had asked for all the beer to be removed from our fridge yesterday (which it was), as we told the stewardess we do not drink beer and wanted space in the fridge for other things. However, today, our fridge was stacked with 6 new cans of beer (though a different brand), so we will again ask for them to be removed. Hopefully the room issues will get straightened out by mid-cruise or maybe sooner, and we look forward to the excursion tomorrow. DH is enjoying one of the hot tubs (his favorite is in the bow of deck 6) instead of going to the gym (the excuse is that we walked about 6 miles a day in Montreal, much of which was on hills, and 4 miles today in Trois Riveieres, plus we only had a very light hot dog lunch) 🙂 There is also a show tonight (9:30) with a woman doing Carole King covers. Internet in the cabin was useless for us in the afternoon (spinning gears due to overload at a popular time) , as was LTE/5G, but as was the case on Quest and Odyssey several times in the past, it was decent in SB Square (the only annoying thing there is the constant overhead assorted pop music, but for that I have earplugs). The ship does not seem crowded, but I am not sure what the head count is -- if anyone is on board and knows, please advise! Masks are not required anywhere (in or out) except in the medical center, though they are officially "recommended" (optional) and 2 thin surgi-maks were available in the cabin on boarding for mask-loving pax who forgot to bring anything. Staff wear masks, though they are not uncommonly below the snoot. I would say 95% or so of pax have chosen not to wear masks, and no one is sniffling or coughing (yet). So far, the F&B other than in TK, and service, are not at all as good as in the past, but it is early, and of course the main reason we cruise is for the itinerary (good F&B are just bonuses).

We were pleased to learn on a paper announcement in our room, when we returned, that the excursions we had signed up for (originally for early October), for Trois Rivieres and Quebec City, will now happen tomorrow in TR, and Monday in QC, respectively. 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.)

We returned to the ship for a small late lunch at the pool (I was not in the mood to reattempt the Colonnade yet, given what was being served, and SB Source showed the main dining room would be closed for lunch). We each ordered a hot dog (one regular dog and one Yountville dog, which I had fond memories of ), with fries, which we had fond memories of from prior Quest trips pre-Covid. DH got some soggy fries, I got an empty container. The buns were dried out and the dogs were stale and flavorless. I had to wonder if my fond memories of Yountville dogs at the pool were confabulations. We hope to make up for lunch at dinner tonight in the Restaurant. An alternative we will try at some point is Earth and Ocean (near the pool), or room service.

It's one thing to have an itinerary change, but this was taking things to a new level. Upon recovery, having imbibed some of the awful room service coffee, frozen watery OJ, and very sour (though purple-colored) yoghurt, we checked online to see what to do today. We had some ideas about taking an Ueber to a couple nature locations, but then realized Ueber was not going anywhere (no cars). We settled on walking into town (which was indeed Trois Rivieres), hoping to get into the Old Prison Museum. Internet showed it would be open, but the sign there said "closed Fridays." Next we tried the Military musuem, but that was also closed, so we settled on touring the outside, and an old protestant cemetery (pictures to follow). The Pop Museum was open, but we skipped it, given the orientation. As Cruisr noted above, the town is not very exciting (and did not seem to wake up until around noon), but there are a few cafes for tourists. We'd seen the complimentary wine list, (and sampled a couple as well), and therefore decided to go to the nearby SAQ wine shop in town to load up on more drinkable wines for our upcoming journey instead of paying 2.5-3x for the limited (though nice) selection of premium wines on board. Complimentary wine list for this journey:

Day 2 This morning 9/23/22 , on arising, when we thought we would be docked in Trois Rivieres for the next 2 days to wait out Hurricane Fiona, there were still no updates about excursions on the SB Source app. We looked out the window and saw ocean and a land mass in the distance, and assumed we were there. We had asked to have a written copy of the Herald delivered to our suite each day (the daily ship information schedule), after we boarded, when we visited SB Square yesterday. We did indeed get a Herald, but we were surprised (and became concerned about our wine intake last night at Thomas Keller Grill), when it showed we apparently not only managed to have a surprise journey to Charlottetown on the distant PE Island, but we even traveled back in time, to September 3!

We have started moving, quietly, most are sleeping. My farewell view of Montreal:

We had a late Thomas Keller reservation, so headed to the Club for cocktails first. About 10 people listened to an uninspired trio playing a few standards. Dinner at TK, however, was *outstanding* from start to finish: the tableside prepared Caesar salad, the Dover sole Meuniere, the ribeye, the service, the comfortable chairs, all were just perfect. The previously routinely loud music was quieter, and instead of music being from the 50's it was from later eras, more fitting to the majority of pax in their 60's and 70's. A few pax nearby were absolutely plastered (rare on SB) and often hooted and enthusiastically swore very loudly, so we were happy when they left. We go to bed only knowing we will be in Trois Rivieres tomorrow and the next day, and that no excursions will be offered the first day. Then we have 2 days in Quebec City, so far with no excursions offered, so we will likely be on our own (easy enough in QC). DH canceled his scheduled massage that was supposed to be on a sea day and instead will be on a port day in QC, and the wine pairing lunch is still being offered when we are in port in QC so we are hesitant to sign up for that as well , unclear how many pax will be interested in missing out on a day in QC. We also canceled a private photo tour we had arranged in St. John's, to avoid penalty. After dinner, we noted the stewardess followed through on only half of our simple written requests from earlier (like more diet coke and some sparkling water for the fridge). We will gently pursue her tomorrow for the remainder that is not yet done. What happens the second week of our cruise remains in limbo. I understand that things like Fiona (the storm of 50 years), can happen, we have just had bad luck with our timing . We will make the best of things no matter what, but to eventually see half the ports we signed up for, we will just have to plan to make another trip. If it starts in lovely Montreal, we will be ok with that.

Before sunset, we had another good luck at Habitat 67. It seems a strange place, with a good idea gone wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67

The suite welcome champagne was Montaudon brut (retail around $44) , and a tiny bite of salmon mousse on a cracker came later along with the somewhat confused stewardess. We then headed straight to the Colonnade cafeteria (yes) for a light lunch. The dessicated pot roast and nursing home meat loaf were embarassing, but the parfait dessert was good. If I were a big salad eater I would have been fine. The veranda suite is very clean, though it seems small after cruises on Crystal Endeavor, Celebrity PH suite, Hapag Lloyd, Silver Moon etc. DH and I keep running into each other, but we will adapt. There is a lot of storage despite what seems like small space (we had 2 large and 1 medium case, 1 rollaboard, and 2 backpacks). We had been on Quest multiple times before, I had just forgotten, compared with the other experiences. SB Square personnel, though polite, could not handle our questions about the new tentative itinerary and referred us to Destinations ( the SB Source app erroneously showed the old ports but excursions for the different, old ports, so it was inaccurate). We still await updates six hours later but know we may still be missinformed. I know they are in a tough spot.

It oddly took us 40 minutes to get by Uber to the pier and out of the car -- only 1 mile! Delays were due to 1) the driver accepting the ride when he was not ready, then 2) getting delayed with construction, 3) then the driver had pause to stop "to go to the bathroom" ( but was gone a VERY long time), and finally 2) a few minutes of "security" happened in the cab at the pier ( we had to show passports and electronic boarding passes through the window, and personnel looked in the trunk long enough to ascertain only suitcases were there ). The actual boarding, however, was thankfully easy. We had a 1:40 assigned board time, we showed at 12:45 and no one cared as human traffic was light. We showed passports 3 more times ( mine failed to electronically process because it was a new issue , so there was a modest delay). We were asked for Covid cards, and Covid test results within the last 3 days though no one really looked at them in detail. No one asked for ArriveCan even though the SB instructions were to do them again if more than 72 hours in Canada had passed since we did the airline arrival version for Canada. Then they looked at electronic boarding passes again, and finally we were in our suites around 30 minutes from arrival. I suggest having the e-boarding passes and the proofs of Covid tests preprinted, and of course passports ready to go ( and not fumble with toggling from one e-record to the next on a iphone), so as to not hold others up.

This was supposed to be the itinerary. But we are skipping Havre Saint Pierre and Aux aus Meadows due to Fiona, and may also have to skip St. Johns etc after that (captain was uncertain). I hope this does not turn into just a St. Lawrence River back and forth "cruise" between Montreal and Quebec City, but I understand safety comes first. Then come likely some FCC.

Modavie service at lunch (90% full) was excellent, as was the food. We did not have dinner there. The dinner menu online is similar (though no boudin noir at dinner :)). I don't know if service would be worse due to crowding. I could spend the entire week eating my way through the choices there. You can book on Open Table.