Snippets - Live from the Quest

[MJN1]

20 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

I can only manage one. 

I'm not greedy you know 😁

Unfortunately, Uber Eats could not guarantee timely delivery. 

[MJN1]

Good afternoon from Kotor. This has to be the most scenic port on this cruise. 

The sail-in into Malta is always beautifully serene. And nothing beats passing the raised Tower Bridge to the sounds of (wishful...) "Britannia rules...". But this is like a Norwegian Ford without the cold wind and Sound of Music on an Austrian lake in one.

 

We had been here a few years ago, driving down from home along the beautiful Croatian "Jadranska Magistrale" Highway. Thus another "Sea-Day" for us and time for several snippets:

 

"Earth&Ocean" has become our favourite dinner place by now. Being open now every evening, requiring no reservation, serving tasty food and not too big portions it is perfect given the current temperatures. Previously, as we avoided summer months, the only time to do so were relatively balmy evenings when the ship stayed in port till 10 p.m. unless you were really bundled up.

 

A big Thank You goes to the Deck Dept. Our suitcase wheels had managed to get hold of the suitcase cover and chewed out several big holes. A clear case to discard the cover once back home. We asked our Suite Attendant if someone could put some duct-tape over the holes, so we could user the cover when going home. 48h later the cover returned, expertly stitched up:

I don't want to start (another) debate on SB's tipping policy (which of the words NEITHER and NOR is so difficult to understand? 😘), but this is one of the reason why we love the crew fund!

 

Before I am being written off as a SB cheerleader, four "wish-fors" (it is Whine-Wednesday today), recognizing that neither one is achievable:

1) The drinking water: yes, the Nordaq bottled on site water is better than what was tried previously. Yes, handing out thousands of plastic bottles daily is an environmental waste. Ditto shipping glass bottles from Switzerland. Yes, you can ask for mineral water,  and we do now after trying hard for a week without, but do we miss turning on the tap in Salzburg. 

2) The Air-conditioning: with 34°C (93° F) in the shade one does need it. Unfortunately the Gym feels like an Ice-box and when you sit at dinner at Earth&Ocean next to the door to the hallway you will be hit by an artic blast every few minutes. One can turn the setting in the room up or down a few steps, but there is no temperature setting and no OFF button. So why the suite at 22°C (72°F) sounds like comfy, a 10+/20+° (C/F) temperature difference makes it feel really chilly at night. We have thus also cancelled the next round of massages after our first experience. Which brings up

3) The Spa-Services: for us Europeans $500++ for 75min couple massage sounds a bit high (here goes the OBC in one step..). Yes, I do understand why this happens, i.e. you cover the full overheads of this outsourced operation. Unfortunately on top of this the nice ladies are underpaid and dependent on your tip and selling products, counter to SB's principles.

4) Co-branding with self-proclaimed gurus/experts/masters...: OK, this only riles my marketing mind and makes no real difference (except the waste of a nice restaurant space...), so I will leave it at this.

 

As said above, I don't expect any solutions and try to live by what I remind my lovely spouse occasionally ("accept, appreciate and be patient")...

 

However, if you ever travel on land in Europe (Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Germany and others) take a look at the Association of Young European Restaurateurs (JREdotEU). I hope they don't get too big, but sofar we always had exciting and interesting meals, with quality and not quantity (looking at you "whole chicken for two" after a quart of Ceasar's salad and followed by a pound of choco-fudge) being the critical factor on the plate.

 

Anyway, Caviar at the sail-away party tonite will restore any emotional imbalances . 🥂

[Mr Luxury]

Lovely pictures of a favourite port for me.

I would imagine that it was different during WW2 

It was where the Germans serviced the U Boats

[MJN1]

😋🥂🥰

[MJN1]

Apparently everyone on board read my comment about Earth&Ocean being our favourite dinner place yesterday and showed up for dinner. The place was PACKED. They asked the SB destination expert and her guest to vacate their table after the appetiser to accommodate other guests and we waited more than 1h for our main course 🙄.

Took the tender into Vodice today. Nice, clean, small town to wander around for about an hour. Beautiful islands vista from the balcony. 

Here just a few more pics from yesterday's sail away. Unfortunately the video does not load to give you the vibe of the band.

 

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

On 6/29/2022 at 6:49 AM, MJN1 said:

Anyway, Caviar at the sail-away party tonite will restore any emotional imbalances . 🥂

 

Good that you got it before it ran out.  And the executive chef had to run to get replacement.

[MJN1]

FlyerTalker-great invisible cloak! Didn't know you are on board. Yes, we did get seconds after they found another tin. 

 

Beautiful, dark blue sea as we sailed out from Vodice last evening:

followed by a nice dinner at the MDR. Couldn't resist another caviar order (being less humble as Mr. Luxury...), Ms. liked her escargot, me the sole. Service good as always.

Last breakfast at the Patio today. We still need to determine why bed- and bathroom are not in perfect order when we have finished breakfast at home, as it magically happens here every morning without fail.🤔

2min walk into Kotor's well kept and "living" old town, a real jewel.

Now the dreaded suitcase bed-sheet has appeared, so we better fortify ourselves with the satays  at the Colonade.

[Isklaar]

Oh no, the dreaded suitcase bedsheet is such a depressing sight! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and lovely photos. Have a good trip home.

[margbem]

5 hours ago, Isklaar said:

Oh no, the dreaded suitcase bedsheet is such a depressing sight! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and lovely photos. Have a good trip home.

On our recent Quest cruise our (lovely!) stewardess got ours at the end of the week but we were staying on! It was quickly put back under the bed.

[MJN1]

Packing nearly completed it was time to say and wave good bye to the wonderful SB staff yesterday afternnon, who seemed to outnumber the guests on deck by far.

Dinner at the MDR with CC-roll-call members, Kate&Scott: hope your flights work as planned and have a safe trip home!

With this good night from the SB Quest (the disembarkation Review will follow tomorrow)!

 

[MJN1]

The last day didn't start well at all. CD John had the great idea to wake all up at 7 a.m. by making his announcements via the speakers in the cabin. Yes, we need to vacate the cabin by 8 a.m., but I don't need one hour for that... 🥱 

Arriving at the Colonnade an elderly lady way flat on the floor I front of the elevator with one staff trying to assist. It took well over 10 min for the request for the stretcher team to go out via the Trannoy system,  followed 5min later by the request for the medical team. Don't these folks have pagers and can be summoned immediately?

Most pax were assigned to buses going to the various airports and Venice. We thus leisurely made our way down to the gangway after 9.15 a.m, but found the line stretching all the way through the MDR.  The poor lady was parked next to the gangway and nothing moved. What a bummer to be sent to the hospital instead of going home. We hope she will recover quickly!

We had asked the evening before whether we need to order a taxi to go to downtown Ravenna and were assured taxis would be there and local staff could call more anytime. Yeah, zero taxis outside the luggage area. We were told to go to the taxi line and the taxis would arrive "soon". After 15min of nothing, we found a nice girl at an information shed, she suggested she would call also and found us one arriving in 15min. So finally off to the garage to pick up the car.

The Quest is scheduled to go on a 10days charter with a Spanish Supermarket group, we for a visit to San Marino.

Content and safe sailing to everyone (and apologies to Markham to adepting his line!).

[MJfromCA]

Thank you, MJN, for the helpful posts and photos! I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise (at least until disembarkation). We'll be on Quest for the first time next year, so it is promising to hear some good words about her return to service.

 

-- Another MJ