Blackduck59

Thank you, we have a friend on board who is doing the return trip. She said she would let me know if the presentation is played on the return trip. I don't think it will be. In the meeting I said if you are going to talk about "Canadian Icons" treat them iconicly. And since when is Winnie the Pooh a Canadian Icon. The bear may have come from Canada but the stories are definitely British. For now that episode is in the wake as we head for Montreal, our last stop.

So it was a hot day in Quebec City. What a lovely town. We walked from the ship to the funicular and rode to the top. There were many photo ops as we walked around. We were able to get a table for lunch in the Chateau Frontenac it was very good but definitely not a cheap lunch. We thought we would take the HOHO bus around the city and hop off at the stop closest to the ship. Unfortunately I misinterpreted the route and that stop is virtually at the beginning of the tour, Lynn started worrying about time and we ended up getting off quite a distance from the ship. It was hot, and we were trudging back when a pedicab pulled up. We asked how much to get back to the ship "whatever you like" was the reply. So we got in the pedicab and off we went, it was a first time for both of us. About 5 minutes later we were delivered right to the gangway, we gave him $15.00 and bid au revoir, money well spent, because we were pretty exhausted. It was a lovely day, we're just disappointed the HOHO didn't work for us because we missed the Citadel and most of the tour as a matter of fact.

We had a very satisfying meeting with Leonie Henry, the Hotel General Manager this morning. Lynn had already received an apology from head office by email and we received a card from the assistant manager. We were also surprised to find a nice bottle of wine in our room when we got in from dinner last night. We will enjoy it tonight now that we have met with Leonie and cleared the air. I believe that the offending presentation will be withdrawn immediately and they will look at better ways to portray 'Canadian Icons" in the future.

Exactly the point, they use part of the facilities from the Lido. The food is prepared literally 20 feet away and when we were dining Canaletto was far from full. They should be able to serve everything hot.

Yes that is the name of it. But it was shaped more like a puck than a dome.

Dinner in Canaletto tonight, Lynn found it difficult to select anything due to her tomato allergy. She eventually chose the anti pasto plate and Spaghetti with clams and prawns. She finished with the tiramisu. I chose the langostine and tomato soup to start. It was quite good but, they threw a whole langostine in it. The shelf was intact not scored or split in any way. Getting the meat out of that thing was a messy affair. I also tried the meatballs. For the main I had the veal. Desert was the Marsipan thingy. Everything was served at lower than optimal temperature. Once again if it wasn't included in our "have it all" fare we would have been disappointed to pay extra for Canaletto. I think the Pinnacle Lunch is good value but I wouldn't pay the tariff for Pinnacle Grill or Canaletto. The food is good in both venues but not worth the upcharge.

As things get closer we will start planning the road trip. I know there will be changes from the previous 2 plans. One definite stop is Phillip Island we want to see the Penguins 🐧. The cruise has a stop in Melbourne so we'll cross of some touristy things on that day, and have a proper few days in Melbourne during the road trip.

Sunset

Thanks Linda, we are looking forward to meeting as many people as we can who want to meet us. It's a long way off and hopefully people are home.

Sunset Saguenay River on our way to the St. Lawrence River.

We booked our down under cruise, 14 days on Westerdam starting in Auckland ending in Sydney. Embarkation is 16 Mar 2025.

So we have a meeting tomorrow with the general manager about the lame presentation yesterday. Of course it's at 1000 hrs on our day in Quebec City. Oh well, the issue is important.

We are in port today so lunch in the Lido. Of course I didn't see the "distant lands" station until after we ate 😟. I did however grab a serving of bread pudding with sauce, it was quite nice. Lynn got into the ccookies. We're just relaxing in Explorations Cafe now.

We had a nice greeting when we came alongside this morning with a group dressed in traditional Quebecios attire did a dance and had maple sugar on the go. We didn't venture far so hopefully others will have more observations to share.

We are alongside in Sagunay today, we took a cab to the pharmacy, the fare was under $8.00 CDN we gave him 10. We got some ibuprofen and Voltaren. I pulled my shoulder a couple days ago and it's quite painful. We walked back to the ship stopping at a few places. They had a fire going in one place and people were welcome to grab marshmallows and a skewer to roast them at the fire. It was a nice touch. Right adjacent there was a small "museum" of classic cars. There were 3 nice vintage cars and a collection of odds and ends. Romeo was a very personable man and the was a donation box. We bought a couple souvenirs and came back to the ship. The problem with my shoulder is causing grief for my photography, it's hard to maneuver and frame the shot. I'm trying to use the screen rather than the viewfinder and that is taking time to get used to.

Lynn is one happy camper this morning, she got a very good photo. This is one we will get printed large and framed. I'm very impressed with it.

As it turns out Mic the cruise director was not from Oz but the USA. I also get the impression that the presentation is a pre-scripted affair coming from the geniuses at head office. Whoever is responsible for this "presentation" were idiots from inception through production and all the way to distribution. Somebody along the way should have said "Check, check, check, how is this going to play to Canadians?" Yes the Maple Leaf is iconic in Canada but not because of maple syrup. The RCMP are not Duddley Doright, they are a modern effective police force dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria. The Red Serge uniform is iconic but is rarely worn. The whole thing is just a sorry show of incompetence.

We went to the Cantare show tonight, Lynn left early it was too loud for her. I stayed for most of it, I liked the set list but not necessarily the arrangements. Several people left mid show, I left during the final number (I don't know if they had an encore) I do know I could still hear them clearly as I approached Pinnacle Grill. Lynn was feeling a little peckish at around 2100 hrs no food anywhere, that's just not cool. 🤔

Funny thing they did have napkin rings tonight and they were gold. Dinner was quite good, we started with the shrimp cocktail (Lynn told them to hold the cocktail sauce), it was standard shrimp cocktail found in any decent restaurant. Lynn chose the sole which she liked. I had the pepper crusted beef and shrimp. The beef portion was so small I asked for more beef as soon as I saw it, it showed up some time later as a whole new plate. Lynn had the tiramisu and I asked for a fruit plate and a cheese plate. All in all a nice dinner, "Gold Gala" was probably a lofty name for an ordinary meal. I have yet to see prime rib or Beef Wellington. It's Canaletto for our final specialty dinner from our have it all fare.

Thank you for voicing your experience. In a customer service industry hacking a group of guests (especially when we share the world's longest un-defended border with that group) is not on. I'm glad you made your feelings known and more importantly action was taken. Unfortunately from what I can understand this presentation came from the geniuses at head office who thought it might be appropriate to poke fun at Canada while cruising in Canadian waters with paying guests who are Canadian.

Well our Australian cruise director just set Lynn of and I'm not very impressed either. The presentation was miles off the mark. Lynn literally walked out. It's probably not a good idea to misrepresent iconic Canadian things while sailing in Canadian waters.

We haven't met them yet but are aware they were aboard. We heard them briefly at the terminal in Boston while we waiting to board.

They have napkin rings? 🤔 Where are they keeping them because I haven't seen any. 😟

@CruiserBruce I checked the wine list there are 4 sparkling wines listed by the glass. The Prosecco and Domaine St Michele fit under the classic package. The French sparkling rose would fit in the premium package and the real champagne is $28.00 per glass.

We saw our first little person on the cruise at breakfast in the MDR, the young lad was quiet and very well behaved. After we finished our meal we went over and said hello, letting him and his parents know how much we appreciated his good behavior.