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

[Emdee]

On 7/30/2022 at 12:48 AM, Fletcher said:

Or the Bombay duck I had in Mumbai.  Neither does the lobster thermidor in the TKG look anything like a lobster thermidor. My stomach is still heaving after I attempted to eat that slimy ocean of melted butter five years ago.

Since Bombay duck is a fish I should hope it didn’t look like a duck. I guess it could be an acquired taste but I love my Bombay duck crispy crumb fried! 

[Emdee]

On 8/27/2022 at 7:58 PM, Champagne Socialist said:

With the exception of the very smallest shrimps, most of what Americans would call shrimp are called prawns in the UK. The difference I was referring to is the dish: shrimp cocktail is an American dish made with cocktail sauce containing horseradish, whereas prawn cocktail is a British dish made with marie rose sauce and served over lettuce, often with lemon.

I am late to reading this review but wanted to mention that the shrimp look very much like the Atlantic cold water baby shrimp that are found in the area the ship was in. Sometimes called Matane shrimp. While small they are extremely sweet and quite different from the over large shrimp cocktail usually served in the Colonnade or on Regent Ships.  These large cocktail shrimp are usually farmed and not wild as the Matane shrimp are.  

[Emdee]

On 9/7/2022 at 12:53 PM, kjbacon said:

Had Roast Goose on the Regent explorer last Christmas and it was delicious. If you like duck, you’ll probably like goose.

Thanks for your review. We are booked on this itinerary for next year and now not sure DH will like it. We just did the SS expedition on Silver Cloud and he didn’t enjoy the zodiac part. 

We were on the Explorer with you and I know you met my DD and I think we briefly met as well. 

 

If  you enjoy Bordeaux wines I can heartily recommend a visit for their amateur wine festival. They have visits arranged including dinners and lunches at a number of established vineyards. It is about 4 days and a fabulous experience. Alternatively a drive through the Loire will give you both wine and chateaux. 

Happy Cruising! 

[kjbacon]

19 hours ago, Emdee said:

Thanks for your review. We are booked on this itinerary for next year and now not sure DH will like it. We just did the SS expedition on Silver Cloud and he didn’t enjoy the zodiac part. 

We were on the Explorer with you and I know you met my DD and I think we briefly met as well. 

 

If  you enjoy Bordeaux wines I can heartily recommend a visit for their amateur wine festival. They have visits arranged including dinners and lunches at a number of established vineyards. It is about 4 days and a fabulous experience. Alternatively a drive through the Loire will give you both wine and chateaux. 

Happy Cruising! 

Yes, I think I know who you are … how nice to reconnect and please give our very best to your lovely daughter!

 

The itinerary is very good on this sailing and we enjoyed the zodiac tours. Clearly, the ship was off its game during our trip and I can’t imagine they won’t be much improved in a year.

 

Thanks for the good tips for Bordeaux 🍷

[CanAmBrit]

I do hope the Quest’s issues are resolved fairly soon because we are onboard for 79 days in January.

We are also booked on the Quest’s Lisbon to Montreal trip next July and looking forward to meeting neighbours from Toronto unless the January cruise is a bust and we cancel!!

[Emdee]

22 hours ago, CanAmBrit said:

I do hope the Quest’s issues are resolved fairly soon because we are onboard for 79 days in January.

We are also booked on the Quest’s Lisbon to Montreal trip next July and looking forward to meeting neighbours from Toronto unless the January cruise is a bust and we cancel!!

We are on the Dover to Montreal segment next year. Doing two weeks on Ovation in January as a sunshine break and another trip on Encore in April hopping on from a TA on Regent Voyager. 

[CanAmBrit]

We hope to meet up with you on the Quest after Dover next year. Let us hope the Quest’s service difficulties are way in the past by that time.

[JodiandFrank]

We have just returned from spending 12 nights on the Quest (Montreal to NYC) and we thought it was wonderful!  The staff was as attentive as before Covid, the entertainment was pretty terrific (especially “Shades of Buble” and Karyn Grainger who were outstanding!), the trivia was FUN, the food was very good (often great), and our fellow passengers were outgoing and very friendly.  The Tours were just so-so (as before Covid) the one weak point with Seabourn we have found.

What really blew me away was this…. I mentioned to the ACD, Olivia, that we wanted to be on deck as the ship went under the Verrazano Bridge and entered NY Harbor passing Lady Liberty and docking in Manhattan at 47th Street.  She found out the times from the Captain and we shared the information with a few others.  I mentioned our excitement over this experience to the Captain and the next thing you know, the Captain announced it to everyone the day before and a lovely Continental Breakfast was set up for 4am and 50 other passengers joined us in this once in a lifetime experience!  Seabourn always goes the extra mile to make each cruise special for each us.  
Hugs, Jodi & Frank

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, JodiandFrank said:

a lovely Continental Breakfast was set up for 4am and 50 other passengers joined us

 

That is excellent guest service, indeed!  

[kjbacon]

It’s good to hear that things are improving. We had heard rumors that a new chef was brought in and they definitely needed one. I’ve looked at the menus on the app a couple times recently and the writing of them is much improved.

[Mr Luxury]

3 hours ago, kjbacon said:

It’s good to hear that things are improving. We had heard rumors that a new chef was brought in and they definitely needed one. I’ve looked at the menus on the app a couple times recently and the writing of them is much improved.

Fortunately a different experience from what you had.

[jsiegel]

On 9/12/2022 at 7:55 PM, JodiandFrank said:

We have just returned from spending 12 nights on the Quest (Montreal to NYC) and we thought it was wonderful!  <snip>  The Tours were just so-so (as before Covid) the one weak point with Seabourn we have found.

Hugs, Jodi & Frank

What tours did you do?  I'll be sailing on that itinerary soon and have booked a few tours and would welcome your opinion on the ones you did and/or if you heard from others of good or bad tours.  I have enough ship board credit to cover a few tours.

 

Thanks,  Jackie  (who does plan on being on deck at 4 a.m. as we sail into NYC)

[hoosier74]

Just FYI...I'm making an assumption here that the critics of Chef Bala did not go to his cooking demonstration, which BTW was the best I'd ever seen on any ship. any cruise line.

He has been with Seabourn for 14 years and is the chef who works with the TK organization to coordinate their services on board.  He shared with us that the TK menus are being reviewed and may be revised, soon.  Menus are standardized throughout the fleet (allowing for local variations, obviously) as is provisioning.  There certainly have been supply chain issues....HORRORS!!! we did not have Seabourn fries for two weeks!!!!

I know there was some criticism of his Indian food, which I couldn't comment on as I'm not a fan in general and didn't go to Indian Market, but perhaps you just don't like the food from Madras, where he is from.  Others thought it wonderful and the sample we got at the demonstration was very good.  

[travel4b]

22 hours ago, hoosier74 said:

Just FYI...I'm making an assumption here that the critics of Chef Bala did not go to his cooking demonstration, which BTW was the best I'd ever seen on any ship. any cruise line.

He has been with Seabourn for 14 years and is the chef who works with the TK organization to coordinate their services on board.  He shared with us that the TK menus are being reviewed and may be revised, soon.  Menus are standardized throughout the fleet (allowing for local variations, obviously) as is provisioning.  There certainly have been supply chain issues....HORRORS!!! we did not have Seabourn fries for two weeks!!!!

I know there was some criticism of his Indian food, which I couldn't comment on as I'm not a fan in general and didn't go to Indian Market, but perhaps you just don't like the food from Madras, where he is from.  Others thought it wonderful and the sample we got at the demonstration was very good.  

Actually, I'm a big fan of Indian food and several times ordered the chef's special in the Restaurant - as it often had an Indian twist.  The disappointment lay elsewhere.  Dishes that were missing key ingredients, e.g. a pear, arugula and fennel salad with no fennel, were not an uncommon phenomenon.  I twice ordered a Napa burger only to get a plain cheeseburger - not that they didn't have Napa burgers available.   I could give numerous other examples from our 24 days aboard.