Live from Quest, Barcelona to Montreal, July 22 to August 29

[Sunprince]

On 8/19/2022 at 5:42 AM, kjbacon said:

The “always available” menu in the MDR on Regent has better choices and more interesting dishes than the entirety of SB combo of menus.

I have to agree with this! 
 

 

On 8/19/2022 at 5:42 AM, kjbacon said:

The meal was good but we were just too cold.

 

On 8/19/2022 at 5:42 AM, kjbacon said:

Dining with icebergs is awesome but we were just too cold.

 

On 8/19/2022 at 5:42 AM, kjbacon said:

We were just too cold to stay for dessert

Are there heaters on the deck? It would seem essential for this itinerary. Our biggest complaint with our 25 day Regent cruise last April/May was that there was no outdoor heating.  Seems a big oversight when the weather is cooler.  

[saminina]

5 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

So I take it there is no more steak, lamb or salmon on the ship??    I would think passengers living aboard for 20 or more days might welcome less rich and fancy foods.    Vegetarian chili sounds wonderful in a cool climate and chicken parm. is one of our favorites.   Was that calf liver that was offered?

Your thoughts might appeal to a few people......maybe very few.   It's a fact that chicken parm served aboard SB hardly resembles what is served in a decent land based restaurant.    A restaurant a bit more upscale than Dennys, Applebees sort of place.

 

It's good to see more than one or two people sharing their opinions about food.   Subjective as expected,  it's a programed management decision to feed you what you are being served.  Little to do with Covid, logistics or whatever other excuse some might wish.

 

Yes, plenty of heaters at both outside dining venues.

[kjbacon]

On 8/19/2022 at 6:48 AM, SLSD said:

kjbacon,  It sounds like you have enjoyed portions of your Seabourn cruise (excursions with the expedition teams) but not the food.  And you are so right, everyone is different in what they are looking for in a cruise.  While we have never had any difficulty getting into the TK Grill, and have dined there many times, it is not really our favorite venue.  On a cruise of three weeks, we might order steak once or twice during the entire time and I seldom have ordered lobster that was worth writing home about.  I don't think I've ever seen fish cakes on the menu.  Being from the food industry, I'm sure you are way more focussed on this aspect of your trip.  I think I remember you saying that you find Regent fits your expectations more closely than Seabourn.  Are all the Regent ships larger than the SB ships?  I think that most of them are.  Am. I correct about that?  Does the size of the ship (number of passengers) factor into what you are looking for?  We are trying to figure out if we should try other lines once we resume cruising.  So far, we have only sailed with Seabourn and Silversea.    For some reason, we had never been tempted to try Regent.  

We have absolutely enjoyed many things about our SB cruise, lots of good stuff here.  For example, the expedition team is fantastic and our shorex with them were amazing. There is no such thing as a one size fits all cruise line and each person should choose their favorite based on what they like.

 

We find regent to be a better fit for us. The ships are bigger and there are more restaurants and bars offering much more variety and higher end offerings. As an aside, the only bars that are open before 6pm on our current sailing are outside! There’s also more activities that we enjoy and we very much prefer the piano bar in the observation lounge to have a piano player instead of a guitar player.

 

We love shorex and prefer the regent method of having them included. We prefer the flexibility of being able change our minds on our shorex at the last minute if need be. Another issue is that there is NO flexibility with the restaurant hours. On regent, if there’s early shorex in a particular port, they open a venue early to accommodate (or stay open later as the case might be). There’s other nuances but I’ve droned on long enough lol so that’s my two cents!

 

On 8/20/2022 at 3:07 AM, Mr Luxury said:

Butter in the MDR

Thermidor in TK although you can have the lobster served hot or cold with or without sauce or butter.

All you have to do is ask.

No menu is set in stone.

 

Thank you for this helpful suggestion. We had our last TK Grill last night and our meal morphed into a very tasty surf and turf.

We share the artichoke with aioli that looked better than it was.

 

We had to get the decadent chocolate cake and add fudge sauce with a side of vanilla gelato.

 

Today is our second sea day en route to Canada. Yesterday, we visited the casino and made our donation! Today, we are looking forward to several lectures from the expedition team.

[Isklaar]

Just to chime in about excursions, in the past Seabourn has kept a dining venue open longer if needed to accommodate late returning  excursions. It's usually been the Colonnade.  I wonder if new policy is in place or if this issue is affecting Quest only on this particular itinerary .

 

kjbacon, thanks for continuing to post. I am enjoying reading your perspective. 

[kjbacon]

7 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

Just to chime in about excursions, in the past Seabourn has kept a dining venue open longer if needed to accommodate late returning  excursions. It's usually been the Colonnade.  I wonder if new policy is in place or if this issue is affecting Quest only on this particular itinerary .

 

kjbacon, thanks for continuing to post. I am enjoying reading your perspective. 

Thank you.

 

Reading your post makes me wonder if the fact that they are so understaffed is the reason the restaurant hours are so short and inflexible. Makes sense. Everyone from the top down is quite open about how understaffed they are (not that anyone could pretend otherwise at this point). SB should never have oversold this cruise but we are going to reserve our final decision on this line after our December cruise with them.

[kjbacon]

11 hours ago, Sunprince said:Are there heaters on the deck? It would seem essential for this itinerary. Our biggest complaint with our 25 day Regent cruise last April/May was that there was no outdoor heating.  Seems a big oversight when the weather is cooler.  

Yes, many heaters and lots of blankets. One cold night earlier it was fine but this most recent one wasn’t! Direction of the wind maybe?

[Isklaar]

1 hour ago, kjbacon said:

Thank you.

 

Reading your post makes me wonder if the fact that they are so understaffed is the reason the restaurant hours are so short and inflexible. Makes sense. Everyone from the top down is quite open about how understaffed they are (not that anyone could pretend otherwise at this point). SB should never have oversold this cruise but we are going to reserve our final decision on this line after our December cruise with them.

 

It could be staffing, it could be a local decision (i.e. onboard management), it could be a fleet-wide new strategy. 

I've been so disappointed for you, it's clear to me that you've been trying to make the best of this cruise.  

 

 

 

 

[travel4b]

Just now, kjbacon said:

Thank you.

 

Reading your post makes me wonder if the fact that they are so understaffed is the reason the restaurant hours are so short and inflexible. Makes sense. Everyone from the top down is quite open about how understaffed they are (not that anyone could pretend otherwise at this point). SB should never have oversold this cruise but we are going to reserve our final decision on this line after our December cruise with them.

In fairness to Seabourn this cruise was sold out awhile back as it’s a unique itinerary for the line and I’m sure at the time they didn’t anticipate the understaffing. However…….the shortages on this specific cruise still puzzle me. We have been on two other SB cruises this year that were only half full and had more crew than passengers, so it doesn’t seem that the staff shortage is company-wide.  From comments I read online things seem normal on the other SB ships. 

[Isklaar]

9 minutes ago, travel4b said:

In fairness to Seabourn this cruise was sold out awhile back as it’s a unique itinerary for the line and I’m sure at the time they didn’t anticipate the understaffing. However…….the shortages on this specific cruise still puzzle me. We have been on two other SB cruises this year that were only half full and had more crew than passengers, so it doesn’t seem that the staff shortage is company-wide.  From comments I read online things seem normal on the other SB ships. 

 

Is this The Route of the Vikings cruise? If so it's always a sell out well in advance (we have tried to book it several times in the past) and it's always one of the more expensive itineraries. As you say, it would appear that the understaffing was unexpected. Clearly, I'm not onboard, but it seems that there are provisioning problems also. 

[SLSD]

27 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

 

It could be staffing, it could be a local decision (i.e. onboard management), it could be a fleet-wide new strategy. 

I've been so disappointed for you, it's clear to me that you've been trying to make the best of this cruise.  

 

 

 

 

I've been disappointed for kjbacon as well.  First, she and her husband had to deal with Covid and then the understaffing/provisioning issues--and food which has been a disappointment to her. Thank goodness some of the excursions have met her expectations.  

 

While we have never considered Regent, I spent some time looking at their website and its restaurant offerings.  It appears that it would be quite a different cruise with them.  The decor of the ships is glitzier--for want of a better description--and there certainly are more dining venues.  I can see that if this is what you enjoy, Seabourn could be a disappointment.  I'm not sure Regent is what we are looking for and I am hesitant to try it. I can only face so much rich food before it all becomes too much for me.   At the same time, I would also be disappointed with understaffing and provisioning difficulties.  I remember SB running out of something fairly basic on one of our cruises.  It was an item I ate everyday--it may have been oatmeal!  One of the staff told me that they would go to a grocery store in Prince Rupert and buy what they needed.  This is probably not possible on kjbacon's itinerary.  

[Isklaar]

2 minutes ago, SLSD said:

I've been disappointed for kjbacon as well.  First, she and her husband had to deal with Covid and then the understaffing/provisioning issues--and food which has been a disappointment to her. Thank goodness some of the excursions have met her expectations.  

 

While we have never considered Regent, I spent some time looking at their website and its restaurant offerings.  It appears that it would be quite a different cruise with them.  The decor of the ships is glitzier--for want of a better description--and there certainly are more dining venues.  I can see that if this is what you enjoy, Seabourn could be a disappointment.  I'm not sure Regent is what we are looking for and I am hesitant to try it. I can only face so much rich food before it all becomes too much for me.   At the same time, I would also be disappointed with understaffing and provisioning difficulties.  I remember SB running out of something fairly basic on one of our cruises.  It was an item I ate everyday--it may have been oatmeal!  One of the staff told me that they would go to a grocery store in Prince Rupert and buy what they needed.  This is probably not possible on kjbacon's itinerary.  

 

I agree.

For me, I have enjoyed reading the posts from kjbacon, especially as they're new to Seabourn but for the actual experience, very disappointed for them.

 

We have looked at Regent but I already know that the ships (except Navigator)are too big for me, and yes, too glitzy. I guess I could get past the decor but ship size is a major stumbling block. 

It does show that although there are many similarities between Seabourn, Regent and Silversea, there are important differences too. 

[Fletcher]

19 minutes ago, Isklaar said:

 

I agree.

For me, I have enjoyed reading the posts from kjbacon, especially as they're new to Seabourn but for the actual experience, very disappointed for them.

 

We have looked at Regent but I already know that the ships (except Navigator)are too big for me, and yes, too glitzy. I guess I could get past the decor but ship size is a major stumbling block. 

It does show that although there are many similarities between Seabourn, Regent and Silversea, there are important differences too. 

I too like @kjbacon's  style, though I'm not that concerned or interested in the food.  I always regard ships as mass catering propositions, not restaurants, so maybe I go with lower expectations than some.

 

Regarding Regent, I have only sailed on the Vibrator, sorry I meant the Navigator, and generally had a great time sailing from Montreal to Iceland via various Canadian stops and Greenland which was a real eye-opener.  I liked Regent's relaxed approach to dress code (no formal nights) and in certain regions I like the included tour programme.  But I agree with @Isklaar above about the size and decor of the newer RSSC ships.  They also lack any kind of forward-facing outside observation deck which is a huge no-no for me. For us, no general-use cruise ship does it better than the Quest and, I presume, the Sojourn which we're on next month. 

[SLSD]

31 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

I too like @kjbacon's  style, though I'm not that concerned or interested in the food.  I always regard ships as mass catering propositions, not restaurants, so maybe I go with lower expectations than some.

 

Regarding Regent, I have only sailed on the Vibrator, sorry I meant the Navigator, and generally had a great time sailing from Montreal to Iceland via various Canadian stops and Greenland which was a real eye-opener.  I liked Regent's relaxed approach to dress code (no formal nights) and in certain regions I like the included tour programme.  But I agree with @Isklaar above about the size and decor of the newer RSSC ships.  They also lack any kind of forward-facing outside observation deck which is a huge no-no for me. For us, no general-use cruise ship does it better than the Quest and, I presume, the Sojourn which we're on next month. 

I  agree with you.  Cruise ship dining rooms  are mass catering.  Considering that--I think they do quite well.   

 

And yes,  I have read that one of the Regent ships has a huge vibration issue.  

[PaulaJK]

Regent Navigator is an old ship which has her fans although once was enough for us. We have very much enjoyed Mariner and Explorer. Once onboard, the glitz becomes invisible. The MDR and variety of restaurants is very attractive. Two of the specialty restaurants rotate being open for lunch and the MDR always is. You are not limited to outdoor dining or drinking during the day. In this regard, I think that SB needs to catch up with its competition.

 

i have very much enjoyed jkbacon’s informative posts and photos. The emphasis has been on the positive which makes the negative evaluations very relevant.

 

Vegetarian chili is a non starter as the chef’s special. One can always order lightly. 

[topkatz]

The CD has arranged for a "Meet & Greet" on 22 Aug. It's titled in the Herald as "Online Seabourn Enthusiasts" (corp would let them use CC or FB in the title). It's at 5:00 PM in The Club Aft Terrace. Hope to see some folks face-to-face then.

[rkacruiser]

11 hours ago, Fletcher said:

Regarding Regent, I have only sailed on the Vibrator, sorry I meant the Navigator, 

 

🤣     I once seriously considered a cruise on this ship until I began to read many reviews.  Decided that this ship was not for me.  

[kjbacon]

You are all correct that the Regent ships are bigger and glitzier than SB. We think the Quest is gorgeous and are not as drawn to the glitz as some others. We have not been on the Navigator aka the Vibrator because my travel agent refuses to book it for us lol I’ve tried a couple times.

 

We had a very nice sea day yesterday. I had a great facial and should mention again that the spa is very nice. I have been a big fan of Dr. Andrew Weil for many years so that was a draw for me. I would love to see some spa cuisine worked into the menus. That would be a very welcome and much needed freshness to these menus.

 

We enjoyed talks from the expedition team and made another donation to the casino. We were invited to join one of the members of the expedition team at his table, which was very nice, so we had dinner in the Restaurant. Place cards were at the seats so I wasn’t able to sit with Jack, not a setup that appealed to us. 
 

For my appetizer, I had a smaller than main dish sized portion of tagliatelle with mushroom ragout. It was delicious but dry, so frustrating!

 

Jack ordered the Arabic spiced lamb loin and he said it was very good. My main was the halibut (a very nice step up) and it was delicious but unfortunately overcooked.

 

Since we aren’t the night owls on board, we excused ourselves before dessert.

 

We are very excited to explore St. Anthony today and also excited for the good weather report. 
 

Good morning, Canada! 🇨🇦 

 

 

[cruiseej]

3 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Place cards were at the seats so I wasn’t able to sit with Jack, not a setup that appealed to us.

 

@kjbacon A suggestion for any future hosted meals you might attend: my wife and I always share different food choices when we dine out — so we like to sit next to each other at hosted tables, even though that's not their normal system. So we show up early and explain to our host or to the hostess who is seating us, that we would like to sit next to each other. (One time I switched the cards myself when none else had arrived, but I prefer to be upfront about it.) We make sure most of our conversation is with others at our table, not each other, which satisfies their goal of the mixed seating. 

[skybluewaters]

On 8/21/2022 at 1:36 AM, kjbacon said:

Thank you for this helpful suggestion. We had our last TK Grill last night and our meal morphed into a very tasty surf and turf.

 

Brilliant idea!  Btw, what was the cut of beef in your surf and turf?  I believe TKG only has a rib eye and a New York strip as their beef entrees, but this doesn't look like either of those. 

 

Thank you for all your effort in providing this useful blog, and enjoy the remainder of your cruise!

[Covepointcruiser]

I can’t understand why Seabourn Square is not open!!??   We have always enjoyed all the offerings there including Coffees and any missed drink we wanted.    It did close down around dinner.   There is certainly an indoor venue for drinks during the day.   Don’t know how anyone would have missed it as it is always a great lounge to visit to enjoy the scenery.

[Covepointcruiser]

I would not be happy with what kjbacon calls dry pasta.   In our “Italian” neck of the world the pasta served was over sauced!   Do you have proper Italians in Moline?   Pasta is often served with Parma and a little olive oil.   Gravy is used sparingly

[rkacruiser]

14 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We have not been on the Navigator aka the Vibrator because my travel agent refuses to book it for us lol I’ve tried a couple times.

 

I had a travel agent who refused to book me on a cruise line.  "RKA, you won't like it.")  She retired.  Her replacement did book me.  I liked it.  

 

14 hours ago, kjbacon said:

For my appetizer, I had a smaller than main dish sized portion of tagliatelle with mushroom ragout. It was delicious but dry, so frustrating!

 

More sauce was needed from what I see in your photo.  Otherwise, it looks good.  I have found on many ships that the pasta that I order require more sauce to suit my palate.  I request it and I am served it.  

[SLSD]

31 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I had a travel agent who refused to book me on a cruise line.  "RKA, you won't like it.")  She retired.  Her replacement did book me.  I liked it.  

 

 

Right before the pandemic hit, we were getting ready to book another Seabourn cruise.  We were changing travel agents and I was planning to use an agent who is a close friend of one of my friends.  When I told her that we prefer Seabourn and would be looking to book another cruise with them, she said "Oh, you don't want to do that.  Seabourn is pretentious."  I spent some time telling her that we had been on quite a number of SB cruises and do not find the line pretentious AT ALL.  Needless to say, we didn't book with that agent--and never will.  We''ll be using another agent who is very familiar with SB.  

[kjbacon]

Yesterday was not a great food day for us with the continuing missteps from the food and beverage team getting worse or maybe just getting old. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were riddled with mistakes and long waits but I must say that huge trays of caviar served by handsome waiters at sail away helped.

 

We are early risers so we prefer an early breakfast. Since we were in desperate need of something different for breakfast, we waited for the Patio to open. Initially, I was thrilled because the tagine special was Eggs Basque, a spicy and saucy Spanish dish that is one of my favorites. And indeed, the chef’s description on the chalkboard was eggs with tomato sauce, peppers, onions, and chili’s. Worth the wait, until it finally arrived.

 

I told the server that she must have brought me the wrong order because there wasn’t any tomato sauce. She took it back but then returned with it because the chef said the tomato sauce was on the inside. The inside. Ok, so I cut into it.

 

Nope, not there either. As many things are on this ship, it was under seasoned and over salted so I didn’t eat much and enjoyed some fresh fruit instead. Jack got the loaded croissant special. You decide if it’s a cut above or below Burger King.

Saint Anthony is a beautiful and friendly little town.

 
 

 

 

The weather was beautiful and we decided to hang out by the pool bar for lunch. The time was right for me to try the famous Napa Burger so I ordered it medium well, no French fries. A half hour later, it arrived with the blood dripping over the lettuce and soaking into the bun with the side of French fries that I asked not to have.

 

Sailaway was another fun party with plenty of caviar, champagne, and Carlos on the guitar.

 

We met some of our fellow cruisers and posters at a special get together that was initiated by one of the posters on this thread. He did a fantastic job organizing with JP and creating a great way for us to get acquainted. I will defer to him as to whether or not he wants to be anonymous.

 

Dinner in the Collonade was Chinese night and was one of the worst meals that we have had on the ship. The appetizers and soup were just ok and the main course was flat out poor. It was called Szechuan Chicken and described as coming with cashew nuts, stir fry vegetables, and flat noodles.

 

Limp, no spice, no veggies, a few broken cashews, not stir fried, and garnished with micro greens instead of something appropriate like scallions. Everyone loves noodles so we gave it a try but it was absolutely tasteless. We came back to the cabin and ate our saved collection of turn down chocolates.

 

Since this is my critical post, I’m going to share something that I have been holding back for a month now. The menus are a rambling hot mess that don't accurately describe the actual dish, written by someone who either doesn’t know the correct culinary terms or who is trying to wow everyone with lots of big words. The food and beverage team seriously needs to get their act together across the board on all counts.

 

Today is Saint John’s and we are looking forward to a great hike and getting my positive attitude back. The last of the moon and the first of the sun over Newfoundland are stunning this morning.

 

 

 

 

[Fletcher]

53 minutes ago, kjbacon said:

Jack got the loaded croissant special. You decide if it’s a cut above or below Burger King.

 

 

And what, may I ask, is a Burger King?

Edited August 23, 2022 by Fletcher