Food news from the Quest

I will start off with the bad news: market or galley luncheon has been canceled due to American health codes and will not be served for this voyage and future voyages. So we just got the word today from home office.

On the Chef Keller front: Oct 25 starts the Chef Keller dishes in the main dining room. One appetizer, one main course and one dessert item will be served nightly. In Colonnade; there will be two theme nights with Chef Keller dishes provided. After the dry dock in April; Chef Keller will take over Restaurant 2. Also they will offer Chef Keller hamburgers and hot dogs? don't know where they will be served?

But that is the latest from the ship after talking to the food director. By-the-way also a new Captain came aboard and first port he decided to skip, so two days at sea....

While the galley lunch was spectacular and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it did appear to me that there was so much unused food and "way over the top" in reality.

Did you miss Charlottetown? We missed this port a few weeks ago when Geir-Arne was captain. It was so windy on the deck at the time I could understand the problem he would have had attempting to dock.

Thanks for the news about Thomas Keller dishes; great to hear they will be available as of Oct 25 on the Quest. If you have a chance, can you kindly ask if a Thomas Keller vegetarian choice for starter and/or main will also be available nightly at the MDR?

Good news about the Thomas Keller additions.

Did you miss Charlottetown? We missed this port a few weeks ago when Geir-Arne was captain. It was so windy on the deck at the time I could understand the problem he would have had attempting to dock.

Yes we did miss Charlottetown. After talking to the staff; sounds like nobody has ever stopped there so far this year...

Thanks you for posting the 'news'.

How is the cruise otherwise?

How is the cruise otherwise?

Things are running up to Seabourn standards. Handre is doing his typical CD stuff, making all the passengers feel good. No fall colors this year due to warm weather. On a downer note, staff is still bumped about the death that happen on board last week...

Thanks for giving us something to anticipate on the Quest in November!

How is the entertainment? Who plays in The Club? Are there guest entertainers?

Yes, due tit he warm weather here in NJ we do not yet have trees showing their colors. But we are grateful but the spectacular weather.

I will start off with the bad news: market or galley luncheon has been canceled due to American health codes and will not be served for this voyage and future voyages. So we just got the word today from home office.

Is this ALL future voyages or just those with the US ports? It definitely makes sense for US ports due to health codes.

How is the entertainment? Who plays in The Club? Are there guest entertainers?

 

Yes, due tit he warm weather here in NJ we do not yet have trees showing their colors. But we are grateful but the spectacular weather.

I assume they are the same entertainers as were on a few weeks ago. They did 4 shows in 10 days on our cruise and they were fabulous. They were also in the club at various times. The singers were very talented. I heard good and bad reports of the comedian but I guess comedy is a personal taste thing. We did not go to the comedian shows.

The singer/guitarist in the club (Chris I think his name was) was also very good. The pianist (John) very friendly, nice guy.

Thanks for your reply.

We are off the Quest this morning. We will not sail on seabourn again- having done over 100 cruises on other lines- we were not impressed at all with seabourn.

There was a string sewage smell for 5 days.

Flowers in the dining room for 4-5 days then nothing for the rest of the cruise.

Food warm , waiters disorganized and often got orders mixed up.

We were very disappointed in the overall experience.

I assume they are the same entertainers as were on a few weeks ago. They did 4 shows in 10 days on our cruise and they were fabulous. They were also in the club at various times. The singers were very talented. I heard good and bad reports of the comedian but I guess comedy is a personal taste thing. We did not go to the comedian shows.

 

The singer/guitarist in the club (Chris I think his name was) was also very good. The pianist (John) very friendly, nice guy.

The pianist - John? Australian, small stature?

If so, delightful person.

We are off the Quest this morning. We will not sail on seabourn again- having done over 100 cruises on other lines- we were not impressed at all with seabourn.

There was a string sewage smell for 5 days.

Flowers in the dining room for 4-5 days then nothing for the rest of the cruise.

Food warm , waiters disorganized and often got orders mixed up.

We were very disappointed in the overall experience.

Interested to hear which lines do impress you.

We are off the Quest this morning. We will not sail on seabourn again- having done over 100 cruises on other lines- we were not impressed at all with seabourn.

There was a string sewage smell for 5 days.

Flowers in the dining room for 4-5 days then nothing for the rest of the cruise.

Food warm , waiters disorganized and often got orders mixed up.

We were very disappointed in the overall experience.

If you get a minute, please post a review. It would be helpful to other cruisers, including me. Thanks.

We much prefer Oceania , crystal, azamara and celebrity.

How great that we all have choices.

I don't know about anyone else but I dislike flowers on a dining table,if there are any I ask for them to be removed,they just get in the way.

We much prefer Oceania , crystal, azamara and celebrity.

Well, it wouldnt do for us all to be the same.

The pianist - John? Australian, small stature?

 

If so, delightful person.

Yes, that's him. A genuinely nice guy.

We are off the Quest this morning. We will not sail on seabourn again- having done over 100 cruises on other lines- we were not impressed at all with seabourn.

There was a string sewage smell for 5 days.

Flowers in the dining room for 4-5 days then nothing for the rest of the cruise.

Food warm , waiters disorganized and often got orders mixed up.

We were very disappointed in the overall experience.

Unfortunately this is very true, we've also been on the Quest recently in New England and experienced a lot of issues in the dining room. The current chef is a complete fail.

We are used to fine dining but not especially picky - almost each night we had to send back dishes. Burned food, overcooked food, tasteless food, food that made you sit on the toilet all night long, it was really a disaster. Tables were dirty and flowers wilt.

We addressed our issues to the Maitre, the Chef and the Hotel director, they all tried their best, but the current staff on the Quest just cannot do it.

Seabourn today has nothing in common with "Yachts of Seabourn" as it was 5 years ago. HAL HQ even didn't care to reply to our complaints.

Interesting enough: In the just release Berlitz Cruise Guide 2016, none of the Seabourn Ships is in the top 5 anymore, Soujourn even downgraded to 4 Star. Coincidence? I don't think so...

Who was the Chef onboard your cruise?

The chef on the 10 day Montreal to Boston cruise, which we just got off , was John Pugh.

He announced at a cooking demonstration ,that he was self taught and learned from his grandmother at an early age. He has no formal training

Honestly, the food was no better than RCCL, OR CELEBRITY.

WE have done 100 plus cruises,on many lines, and this was about the worst for service in the dining room. My water was never refilled unless I searched for someone and flagged them down. Mistakes made many times, orders forgotten.

We will not sail on seabourn again.

Also- the sewage smell was disgusting. It went on for at least 4 days, on the pool deck, the 10 th floor observation bar and many public areas.

Our best experiences have been on Azamara, Oceania, and celebrity. Some so these ships, half the price.

I am not surprised with the 4 *rating.

So many I talked to said they only sailed seabourn because it is what they like and met all their needs. They don't know what they are missing!

Has anyone else sailed RECENTLY on the Quest? We are booked on the Quest for the 14 days Western Europe cruise next April-Mayand I am concerned about the last 2 extremely negative posts about the quality of the food right now. We sailed on the Quest nearly 2 years ago and the food in the MDR, while not Michelin level, was usually very good. And the service was excellent. Has something happened, is there a new chef who has not got things under control or is it possible are these 2 posters who are way off the mark? Or with an axe to grind?