Roland4

It is rather odd here on the ship. The Observation Lounge is all Christmas during the day, but walk back 30 feet the pool area and it's all older Top 40's music!!!

We were sitting in the Observation Lounge yesterday morning when we suddenly realized the background music was Springsteen singing "Santa Clause is Coming to Town"!!!!!

Bingo!! The first time a new or existing client walks in and says "I want to book the Crystal World Cruise in the Crystal Penthouse", "principle" will going flying out the window at the speed of light!!!

Hi Nancy! Happy to hear that things seem to be getting better on Quest. We took advantage of the 20% FCC they gave us and have booked Ovation for 12 nights Reykjavik to Copenhagen at the end of May next year. It goes to several places we have wanted to see, and if the last few Toronto Springs are any indication, it won't impinge on "swimming pool season"!!😁 Larry

Well, it could be worse. You could be living up here in Ontario! All alcohol sales are controlled by the provincial government, and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario is THE largest purchaser of beverage alcohol in the world! For all that, it is almost impossible for the average person to import wine from abroad without going through hoops within hoops, and then paying taxes that make it cost prohibitive! We have done tastings in vineyards all over the world. When they approach us to join their "Wine Club", we say we live in Ontario, and every time, be it California, Australia, New Zealand or Europe, they give a knowing nod and move on to the next person! Having said all that, we have never cared for any of the C wines. Given all the great wines available in the US, I am not sure why anyone would want to go out of their way to buy them!😁

Okay, to set the record straight, we paid full price for our cruise, and yes we were in a PH as we have booked this level of accommodation, and have always paid full price, for years. Not sure why this should matter to anyone, as, much like Crystal, once you leave your room everyone is treated equally, and as far as I remember, the only time I mentioned it, even onboard, was as a point of reference on my one post about COVID. Yes, I am a TA, mostly retired, and I am open about it because people like to talk about cruises and cruise ships. After 18 years in the industry, I am fairly well-versed, and I often get asked. As a matter of preference, I don't even carry business cards when we travel and politely, but firmly, decline when asked, and it does happen, to take on someone's business. Like nancygp, we heard about the status match offer AFTER we had made the final payment for this cruise, applied, and were given Diamond status based on our 40+ cruises totalling close the 450 days. Frankly all it got us was a discount on the two bottles of wine we bought. Oh, and a load of laundry! As far as "special service" for ex-Crystal guests, I can say with certainty every member of the staff I talked did not know the match programme even existed. I lost track of the number of double-takes we got when, after being welcomed back, we admitted this was our first Seabourn cruise!

I am not suggesting there have been no problems, as there obviously have been. I am suggesting that we have seen improvement in the general service levels since the beginning of the cruise. It apparently is not back to what it should be, but it appears to be moving in the right direction. And yes, I do believe in dealing with significant issues when they occur in the hope they will be corrected. If that means a little extra attention, I am fine with that. Beats "suffering in silence" any day. As a general comment, I don't believe in waiting to the end-of-cruise evaluation, then slamming "management" when they can't respond.

With all due respect to the OP, and as first-timers on Seabourn we have nothing to compare to, but are we on different versions of the Quest?? We had a very good Italian dinner in the Colonnade last night, and the best service of the trip this evening in The Restaurant. There was certainly no evidence of being short-staffed in the section we were seated in. All "the usuals", and they have been very attentive, were there. As far as COVID is concerned, I gauge it by the "stool outside the room" described by another poster on the Trans-Atlantic thread, and in going back and forth regularly on Decks 4/5/6/7, (we are on Deck 9) I have seen exactly one on Deck 7.