Our Quest Cruise - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[CLOU]

We were on the Quest from Lisbon to Amsterdam, June 11-22.  We have been on about 15 Seabourn cruises, having jumped ship from Regent when it started including excursions.  I am sad to report that has this been my first Seabourn cruise, I would likely not book another.  Sorry for the long post but I thought I would provide details.

The Good.  Certain specific crew members, including our room attendants, certain wait and hospitality staff int he restaurants and club, and the director and assistant director of guest services (more on that to come) were extremely personable, efficient and a pleasure to deal with.  Also, we enjoyed the food in Solis and the sushi in the Club.

The Bad.  I know food is subjective, but other than in Solis and sushi in the Club, we found the food mediocre at best and sometimes downright bad.  All meat came out medium to well done, no matter how it was order, all the soups were tepid at best, and much of the food did not resemble what was advertised.  For example, the cheese course listed four cheeses including a cheddar cheese and a bleu cheese.  Instead what was served were four non-descript white bland chesses, likely all the same.  A mushroom salad was a plain green salad that required a microscope to find any specks of mushroom.  Worse, Seabourn used to aim to please and accommodate reasonable modifications.  Twice I asked for an ingredient to be left off – both times it could easily have been done including leaving out an ingredient placed in the bowl before the soup is poured in.  Both times it arrived with the ingredient included.  Luckily this was just a taste preference and not an allergy situation.  A requested butterscotch sundae was actually prepared with caramel sauce. These are just a few examples.   Basically, it appeared no attention was paid to individual orders at all. 

As for service, with a few notable exceptions it was generally lacking with many people who didn’t seem to want to be there working.   We realize gone are the days when those of us who are only on for one segment are recognized and addressed by name (a nice but unnecessary touch), but at least in the past, everyone acted as if they were happy to be of service. When you are paying the prices of a luxury cruise line, part of what you are paying for is a certain expected level of service.  Now, we were on only one segment of the Grand Europe cruise where approximately ¼ of the passengers had been on the ship for quite some time, so perhaps the crew had already bonded with their favorites.

The Ugly.  We had a maintenance issue in our cabin which was not only an annoyance but potentially dangerous.  It took two visits to Seabourn Square, a complaint through the source app, and over 24 hours for anything to be done, when a simple fix was in order.  An attempt to order two box lunches was met by two separate Seabourn Square people providing us with incorrect instructions (which we questioned both times), and eventually resulted in only one box being delivered.  To give credit where it was due, when these issues were reported through the app, the guest services director and assistant director visited us, apologized and gave us a monetary credit, which we did not request.  The worst issue was that the shuttle stop in the town of Rouen was moved between day one and day two.  Because we took an early taxi in on day two, we had no idea.  After waiting for an hour and a half of waiting, two calls to the useless in port agent, and a call from shore to ship which went directly to the bridge instead of guest services, we walked to a stand and took a taxi back.  Back on the ship, Seabourn Square again claimed ignorance of any change in the stop and the onboard tour manager claimed he had ridden it both days to and from the same stop.  However, fellow passengers later confirmed to us that indeed the stop had been moved.  Perhaps and agent should have been posted at the old stop to redirect people.

While on board, we considered canceling our cruise already booked for next year.  For the time being, we have not cancelled, and we are hoping this cruise was an aberration.

 

 

[Covepointcruiser]

You were actually given a box lunch to take off of the ship??   Thought that was disallowed by the ports many years ago.

[tv24]

Unfortunately the Rouen shuttle bus issue has been symptomatic of a lack of accurate and timely information about shuttle buses in many ports, coupled with illegible maps.  It has been so bad that when we actually get accurate information, it is a cause for wonder and celebration.  There has been a stream of PAX going to Destination Services complaining.  I don't want to go on because this subject depresses me.

[CLOU]

Yes, I was given a box lunch. I must admit I didn’t even think about the issue of bringing food into France. I did it on one previous cruise, in Canada. Not an issue there either.

[Covepointcruiser]

Wow, that’s go to know.

[CurlerRob]

On 6/30/2024 at 6:24 PM, Covepointcruiser said:

Wow, that’s go to know.

 

It varies widely by country. Usually there are announcements made on all cruise lines when taking food off the ship is prohibited, but you should be sure to inform yourself.

 

In some countries, you will be subject to immediate fines if not detention - "I didn't know" will not help you. 🍺🥌