Brooklyn to Bayonne on QM2 and Serenity

[Roland4]

9 hours ago, USC Adventurer said:

Hello Roy, thank you for the update and what it felt like getting back on serenity after such a long absence, your room looks terrific. The food looks fabulous and you sound very happy. Can you walk into town from where the serenity is docked or do you need to take a taxi or is there any transportation from the ship to the main part of Quebec, actually I am booked for the same cruise from Quebec to New York City next October so I got a year to wait but I’m looking forward to it very much. I would love to get out to an authentic French restaurant in Quebec and have some authentic. , actually I am booked for the same cruise from Quebec to New York City next October so I got a year to wait but I’m looking forward to it very much. I would love to get out to an authentic French restaurant in Quebec and have some authentic French onion soup I hope I can do that when I’m there , my cruise will be overnighting in Quebec. Just like your cruise is doing now. Cheers have a wonderful day. 

When we were in Quebec off of Serenity two weeks ago we did a foodie walking tour. A five course meal over four hours, at four different restaurants. The second stop was at a restaurant in the Old Town, near the port, called Archibalds, where we had the most increible french onion soup we have ever had! If you go nowhere else, go there!!!🥣🥣

[USCAdventurer]

did you have tradtional french onion soup?  was it great?  what was the name of the restaurant?  was it easy to get to from the ship?

[Roland4]

4 minutes ago, USC Adventurer said:

did you have tradtional french onion soup?  was it great?  what was the name of the restaurant?  was it easy to get to from the ship?

If you are directing this to me, re-read my post above. It is about a ten minute walk from the pier that is directly in front of the Old Town. 

[USCAdventurer]

I don’t know how I missed it but I reread your post and now I have the name of the restaurant. That sounds wonderful Archibald’s for French onion soup. Thank you.

[rafinmd]

Day CS1, Friday, October 6, 2023, Leave Quebec, Crystal Serenity

This was the official turnaround day for Queen Mary 2.

I slept until about 5:30 and went up to Deck 13 to catch the sunrise about 6:45.

My first morning was a bit strange as there was an issue getting Cruise Director Raphel’s morning update on my TV and after my Butler (Tristan) worked for a while he put in a call to the tech crew.  At times there were up to 4 of them working for about an hour until the issue was finally solved.

Lunch was my normal Grilled Ham and Cheese with additions from the Marketplace.  (Waterside was closed for the port day).  

Pier 102 is about 1 ½ miles upstream from the center of town and we were docked next to Sky Princess.  I was undecided about going in to town but did decide to leave about 1:30.  The shuttle was provided by the port and as far as I could see the pickup point was midway between the ships which was a fairly long walk.  As I got off I noticed a very long line to board the return shuttle and was dreading the idea.  I walked up to the ferry terminal and as I got there discovered that I had actually been on the Princess Shuttle.  There was a very nice shuttle back to Serenity, comfortable as opposed to a school bus, and I was easily able to get on the first shuttle which dropped me right at the gangway.

I went up to Afternoon Tea in Palm Court for tea and a scone.  Unlike Old Crystal where waiters came around with trays of items from various categories (sandwiches, pastry, scones) they now delivered everything at once on a tiered caddy.  Violinist Nadia Matiunina provided the music.

At 5 we had my first old school Muster Drill since 2020, actually going down to our stations following the Emergency Alert signal.  My station was in the Galaxy lounge.

All aboard was 5:30 and we were due to leave at 6.  I went down about 5:40 and the gangway was still out.  One couple arrived about 5:45 but we still waited (not sure why).  It was just about 6 when an officer stepped out and gave the signal to leave.  A crane removed the gangway and we let the lines go about 6:05, and we rotated around to face the ocean.  Louis sang at 6:10 (For those new to me and Crystal, the Crystal tradition is that at sailaway “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong is played over the PA system, and “Louis sang” is kind of my shorthand for a departure.  I stayed on the Promenade deck until about 6:30 when we passed Pier 22 and I got one last look at QM2.

There were 7 of us at the shared table.  My choices were Vegetable Soup, Braised Beef Short Rib, and Strawberry ice cream.

The featured entertainment was James Fox presenting the music of Billy Joel accompanied by the show band and the Crystal Ensemble of Singers.  As it has always been it was a fabulous show although it was way too close to my bed time when it ended.

As my parting shot it is wonderful to be at sea on a Crystal ship once again.

 

I am discontinuing adding the direct links to Reflections and Menus to these posts.  They can be accessed through a listing in my blog in a more organized manner.

 

Reflections:

 

https://morethangetaways.wordpress.com/programs-canada-2023/

 

and menus:

 

https://morethangetaways.wordpress.com/crystalmenus2023/

Roy

 

[USCAdventurer]

roy,

thannks for the wonderful report from serentiy.  your pictures of the food are fabulous.  i could almost reach out and grab a tea cake and the short ribs looked great too.  they are a favourite of mine.  sounds like you are settling in very well.  look forward to more of your posts.

[Jim_Iain]

Roy -

Loving the food photo's and picking up you really enjoy Ice Cream (I'm much the same). 

 

The bread looks much more inviting on Crystal than the round rolls on Cunard.

[JusttheTwoofUs]

Regarding the 3 tier caddy, it comes apart, so if you are only interested in the offerings on 1 or 2 tiers, they can just leave those trays, rather than the whole caddy.

 

Phyllis

 

 

[Texas Tillie]

And the caddy at tea is not new to the new Crystal. It was being used on the old Crystal. Think it might have started after the return from the Covid shut down, but not 100% sure to that as I'm not a tea person. 

 

Patty

[BWIVince]

5 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

And the caddy at tea is not new to the new Crystal. It was being used on the old Crystal. Think it might have started after the return from the Covid shut down, but not 100% sure to that as I'm not a tea person. 

 

Patty

I was just about to say the same thing…. They rolled out sooner on Serenity though — IIRC they rolled out after the 2018 refit as part of the new service in the reconfigured Palm Court.

 

Vince

[TER777]

1 hour ago, BWIVince said:

I was just about to say the same thing…. They rolled out sooner on Serenity though — IIRC they rolled out after the 2018 refit as part of the new service in the reconfigured Palm Court.

 

Vince

It was before Covid on Symphony. I don’t recall precisely when. 
It’s also possible to decline all food (hint, send the plate away) or request just one particular sandwich or the like. 

[Roland4]

17 hours ago, USC Adventurer said:

I don’t know how I missed it but I reread your post and now I have the name of the restaurant. That sounds wonderful Archibald’s for French onion soup. Thank you.

When looking from the ship to the left, the street between the pier and the Old Town does a sort of S-turn and it is just at the top of the S, where the tour buses unload.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Roland4

[Txcotn]

1 hour ago, Texas Tillie said:

And the caddy at tea is not new to the new Crystal. It was being used on the old Crystal. Think it might have started after the return from the Covid shut down, but not 100% sure to that as I'm not a tea person. 

 

Patty

It was there before Covid, I definitely remember it on WC 2020 and maybe in 2019.

[2bobs]

The caddy was definitely in use during our Barcelona - Lisbon - Lauderdale BTB in late 2019.

Too much good food too hard to resist that close to our old-folks dinnertime!  (So we skipped tea one or two days)   Bob & Bob

[Ibis]

Roy, so glad you are finally back on Crystal! It’s been with great pleasure we have followed you each day on QM2 during your “approach” to Serenity! Had a good chuckle over your comparison of the ham and cheese in Princess Grill with The Trident Grill. Having been fortunate enough to have experienced both of those venues for lunch, I’m with you, I give that one to The Trident:-)

 

In anticipation of our upcoming time on Serenity, would it be possible for you to share a photo of the revenue wine list for Champagne and sparkling wine? It would be greatly appreciated and also add to the fun of planning our return to Crystal! It’s been a long time since September 2019 and the occasion merits celebrating.  Thanks in advance, but don’t worry if not possible.  Just slow down and love every minute you are there. Thank you for taking many of us along with you👍

[AtA]

14 minutes ago, 2bobs said:

The caddy was definitely in use during our Barcelona - Lisbon - Lauderdale BTB in late 2019.

Too much good food too hard to resist that close to our old-folks dinnertime!  (So we skipped tea one or two days)   Bob & Bob

Yes it was there on that trip. Honestly I find it wasteful as much of it doesn't get eaten. I go to tea for 1-2 sandwiches and 1-2 scones plus tea. I don't need or want all the other stuff and from what I can see, most other people don't either. Personally I wish they'd come back with the old way of bringing just what we wish to partake of. 😞

[Sweetpea711423]

Hi.  I have a question regarding the afternoon tea service that might seem a bit odd.  It looked to me like there was whipped cream on the tray for the scones rather than clotted cream.  This surprises and greatly disappoints me.  I remember even at the Bistro, where they usually had scones available for some portion of the day, they always also had tins of clotted cream.  My husband and I are big clotted cream fans, and this was always something for which we gave Crystal high marks. We really wouldn't bother having scones (or afternoon tea at all) if only whipped cream is offered.  Please tell me that I'm wrong, and that clotted cream is still offered.

[rafinmd]

1 hour ago, Ibis said:

In anticipation of our upcoming time on Serenity, would it be possible for you to share a photo of the revenue wine list for Champagne and sparkling wine? It would be greatly appreciated and also add to the fun of planning our return to Crystal! It’s been a long time since September 2019 and the occasion merits celebrating.  Thanks in advance, but don’t worry if not possible.  Just slow down and love every minute you are there. Thank you for taking many of us along with you👍

I'm not sure if this will help but I tried to add as much contrast as I could so I hope you can get something out of i:

 

 

 

 

 

Roy

[techteach]

Under Meritage it lists the Phelps Insignia, 2018, $350.00. That is not unreasonable for that wine. I think we paid between $275.00 - $300.00 when it was released. It is a beautiful wine.

[Ibis]

Roy, thanks so much for your efforts! Plenty of contrast and could read it quite well. On the other hand, it seems we may have to decide to be happy with the included options 😔. Good to know this in advance and we really appreciate your help. It is a bit surprising the wine list for purchase isn’t a little more extensive but I’m sure we’ll make out just fine! Looking forward to hearing more about your continuing adventures! Enjoy and thank you again.

[TER777]

2 hours ago, Ibis said:

Roy, thanks so much for your efforts! Plenty of contrast and could read it quite well. On the other hand, it seems we may have to decide to be happy with the included options 😔. Good to know this in advance and we really appreciate your help. It is a bit surprising the wine list for purchase isn’t a little more extensive but I’m sure we’ll make out just fine! Looking forward to hearing more about your continuing adventures! Enjoy and thank you again.

That wine list does look a bit odd. Some wines I had on Symphony in September don’t show on it nor are there obvious replacements. 

[Keith1010]

5 hours ago, Ibis said:

Roy, thanks so much for your efforts! Plenty of contrast and could read it quite well. On the other hand, it seems we may have to decide to be happy with the included options 😔. Good to know this in advance and we really appreciate your help. It is a bit surprising the wine list for purchase isn’t a little more extensive but I’m sure we’ll make out just fine! Looking forward to hearing more about your continuing adventures! Enjoy and thank you again.

There are many other wines on board that you can purchase.  There is an extensive list but it would be very time consuming and very challenging to photo.  You could see if on board guest services might have it. Some of the wines on that list might not be available at the time of your sailing.  

 

Not sure if you ever do this nor where you are sailing but sometimes it's fun to either bring on board wine when you embark or pick up something local in port.

 

But there will be lots of other choices for purchases on board.

 

Keith

[crickette]

3 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

...   You could see if on board guest services might have it. ...

On OC, there was a wine list at the Bistro bar that you peruse during the day whilst enjoying a coffee.  Then order it, and it would be ready/decanted for your dinner enjoyment.

Edited October 8, 2023 by crickette

[USCAdventurer]

roy,

thanks for your saturday comments.  i've forgotten to mention this to you in the past, but the photos are perfectly clear on the cc posts but on your blog, the photos are blurred.  would you  have any idea why that' is happening?

the food looks delivious.  i love lamb chops and the roll looked very good too.  sounds like your heading into some rough seas on sunday.  hope you won't miss a meal...heh heh heh!

[rafinmd]

13 minutes ago, USC Adventurer said:

roy,

thanks for your saturday comments.  i've forgotten to mention this to you in the past, but the photos are perfectly clear on the cc posts but on your blog, the photos are blurred.  would you  have any idea why that' is happening?

the food looks delivious.  i love lamb chops and the roll looked very good too.  sounds like your heading into some rough seas on sunday.  hope you won't miss a meal...heh heh heh!

That's strange because the photos on Cruise Critic are just links to the photos on the blog.

 

Roy