Quest Eval

[shepsm001]

Just got back from the Quest Hong Kong to Singapore 1/9/10. Fantastic magical trip. Actually a bit life changing. Things seem a little different now. There is so much to cover, I thought I'd break it down into parts. The first part is the ship and passengers.

 

As a preface, my wife and I have been on many cruises. Did everything in the Caribbean and Europe. Started on the Tropicale (25K tons). Last cruise was on the second sailing of the Carnival Freedom (115K tons I believe) to Russia. Really like the new big ships, so much to do. I'd become a bit jaded about smaller older ships and it showed in my mental evaluation of the Quest.

 

Let me say first, as noted above, I had an absolutely fantastic time. With that said. I think the ship itself is so, so. For the most part, the food was nothing special. The buffet restaurant was too small, did not have a good variety and the quality was just OK. You will find something to eat. The strength of the buffet is the rear veranda which has nice views and of course is open air. They have something special, though, which is a smoothie bar at breakfast which is real nice. Great OJ. Real good Almond croissants. As I said, you will find something to eat. Lunch is OK. Little in the way of munchies in between and after dinner.

 

Nice looking formal restaurant. Food is uninspiring. Service was OK. Fish restaurant was OK. Nice setting. Only ate there once. Lobster tail was just OK. Steak restaurant. Prime C. Ate there twice. Nice setting. The best filet mignon I ever ate! Had it twice. Huge, Better than anything I have ever had at any steak restaurant anywhere. Bad service the second time and my waiter had very bad breath. My first filet was undercooked and I had to wait till 10:15 PM to get it replaced! Do you really want to chow down at 10:15 PM???? Again, a mixed bag.

 

The showroom is a single level and can't remotely compare to the new mega ships. Modest but good entertainment. Sue the cruise director actually did Elvis and got away with it! Could always get a chaise at the pool as this is an older crowd. Gym is sub par but functional. Common areas are OK. Room, balcony on top floor was nice but again a mixed bag. The shower is miniscule and if you're over 150 pounds you cant soap up without opening the shower curtain and dangling your deriere outside! Really should this be happening? Nice bed. So so cabin service. It never dawned on our steward that we didn't want the comforter tucked in at night. We would untuck it and he would keep tucking it in. Balcony was functional but does not work in conjunction with the HVAC. It also was small. The size of the ship is mandatory on this cruise or we would never have made it to downtown Saigon or the downtown area of Bangkok. Both docks are in very ugly container ports. Cest La Vie. If you walk off on your own, they will try screw you (more on this later).

 

 

Ah ha! So why do I say we had such a fantastic time? It was because of our fellow passengers! They made the cruise and this is why one should take a smaller ship. Far more passenger interaction. We made friends for a life time and I am teary eyed now. Love you Maxine and Phillip, great memories. And there are others! Could not ask for more.

 

That's all for now. Will go over the ports later which of course help this to be such a fantastic cruise. Bless you all and have a good night and a good cruise (whether your going or have come back).