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

[SDuckers]

2 hours ago, SLSD said:

This is the reason we never do buffets----anywhere, anytime.  The very idea of it just totally grosses me out.  

 

Also, doe anyone know if when you order from your table at breakfast in the Colonnade if your waiter just grabs your selections from the buffet?  Or, are there other items (not on the buffet) that you can order.  If the former, I could not do that either!  Obviously, I have not had breakfast in the Colonnade---since we don't do buffets.  

We have often done breakfasts in the Collonade, and if you order off the menu rather than the buffet, the food is cooked to order (particularly if you order something like eggs benedict).

[fdnycruiser]

8 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We are doing our best to make the best out of this. Thank you all for the well wishes. We are sick but not very sick and thankful

for that. We have lots of good movies to watch and plenty of room service. 
 

My best ports for this trip are Iceland and Greenland but my husband is all about Bordeaux. Best case scenario is that we will miss day one of Bordeaux and I’m not sure what the odds are that we will both test negative on day two of Bordeaux, our first scheduled retest. I’m so upset for him but at least I know that we did the right thing by calling the infirmary this morning.

 

Quarantine leaves you in your cabin and they put a small table in front of your door for room service trays. They are out of small tables so the Covid numbers can’t be good.

 

Frankly, I am furious at the SB Covid policy that does not insist upon the spouse to be isolated with her husband, negative test or not. It’s hard to believe and it’s no wonder they are out of those small tables.

 

As for the buffet or not to buffet, there’s little choice if you’d like to eat breakfast or lunch. The restaurant has yet to be open before dinner hour. Oceania serves you in their buffet and regent won’t let you in or out without sanitizing your hands. No one says a word to passengers here on SB as they pass right by the hand sanitizers.

 

The crew is shaking hands with each other and with passengers. I could keep going with examples but suffice it to say, this is why I gave a shoutout early on about the handling of Covid.

So sorry to hear of you and your spouse getting Covid. I hope that you both get well sooner rather than later.  Seabourn must’ve changed their policy regarding isolation. I was on the holiday cruise on Ovation and I tested positive and she was negative. We were immediately separated and confined to our cabins for 6 days.  Ironically, a few days before testing positive, we were on a small, but full tour bus, where an obviously sick woman was coughing,sneezing etc with no masks ( which were required back then ). 
 

Anyway, you’ll be getting future cruise credits etc for your time in captivity. 

[braidmacd]

To fdnycruiser    Do you know Seabourn's exact policy these days as to cruise credits for days you are isolated in you cabin ?  We were one of the firsts to go through this (Ovation/October) and did receive cruise credit for every day we were isolated, wondering if this was still the case.

[kjbacon]

The current policy for those sharing a cabin is so wrong that it’s hard to believe. Yesterday morning when this started, my husband was sicker than I was so I asked what would happen if he was positive and I was negative. She told me that I would move to a different cabin and I was free to go as I pleased. She said I should wear a mask and that I’d be tested again on day 3 and day 5. I’m sorry but that’s just about the worst policy I’ve ever heard. I told her that I would stay with him anyway and well, the rest is history.

 

We were told that we would get future cruise credit for each day in isolation.

[Linda VH]

Am very sorry to hear you have Covid and wish you a speedy recovery.  My son tested positive here at home and I tested negative.  We both wore masks in the house and I quarantined at home for 5 days so as not to transmit any disease.  I never got sick.   I still wear a mask when I go out - too many people just don't care if they get someone else sick.

[rkacruiser]

On 7/26/2022 at 2:05 AM, kjbacon said:

the lobster thermidor,

 

This is a different presentation of Lobster Thermidor than I have experienced.  The Creamed Spinach also looks much different than what I am served when I am at Fleming's or a similar steakhouse.  Glad to know that they were good, however.  That cake looked delicious!!  

 

kjbacon, I regret that both of you have been infected.  The woman whom you described on your tour who was that ill ought to have been noticed by the crew and asked for the ship's medical staff to check her before she was allowed to be on the tour.  Doing so might have "ruffled some feathers", but, it would have been a prudent thing to do at this time.

 

On 7/26/2022 at 7:39 AM, SLSD said:

Like others, I am truly alarmed at your report.  The irresponsibility of the obviously sick woman is shocking.  Some people just don't care about others.  I know we see that all the time, but one would hope that our well educated erudite Seabourn passengers would be a cut above----obviously they are not.  

 

There is much good that occurs in our society.  There is too much that is not good as well.  This situation is just another example of that.  It's disappointing.  

[SLSD]

kjbacon,  I'm hoping that today has been ok for you and your husband and that room service has come through with something a little special.  

 

I agree that the staff might have been able to stop this woman if better protocols were in place--and stronger admonitions about responsibility.  From afar, I fear that Seabourn is timid in its Covid response because they don't want to ruffle feathers or discourage cruisers.  Contrary to what they may think,  their inaction discourages cruisers as well.  

Edited July 27, 2022 by SLSD

[travel4b]

54 minutes ago, SLSD said:

kjbacon,  I'm hoping that today has been ok for you and your husband and that room service has come through with something a little special.  

 

I agree that the staff might have been able to stop this woman if better protocols were in place--and stronger admonitions about responsibility.  From afar, I fear that Seabourn is timid in its Covid response because they don't want to ruffle feathers or discourage cruisers.  Contrary to what they may think,  their inaction discourages cruisers as well.  

Agree, and the poor crew is caught in the middle.  I don't envy them.

[kjbacon]

Thanks all, your kind thoughts are appreciated. The room service team is doing a great job for us and has been more than willing to do that little extra. We are trying to eat a little healthier than we might on a cruise in the hopes of mending sooner rather than later.

 

We feel like we have a serious version of bronchitis and on day 3, it’s hard to picture a negative test on day 5 but we are hoping. Bordeaux was one of the ports that we chose this cruise for and we are already guaranteed to miss the first of the 2 days. We certainly wouldn’t have boarded in Barcelona but would have waited to board in Dover.

 

For breakfast today, we had a very nice platter of fruit, low fat yogurt, and granola. The red bag is what we return the plates in, marked cautiously “biohazard” in bold black letters. The bench outside our cabin door is where the exchange takes place.

 

As far as the overall situation, the policy of allowing an intimately direct exposure to Covid to be out mingling with other passengers (like I described earlier) should change immediately and should never have been in effect. It makes no sense.

[SDuckers]

I honestly would want to go spit in the face of the lady who went out on the excursion with you all, having been exposed and obviously symptomatic.  But you are right, Seabourn should never have let her leave her cabin.

[fdnycruiser]

On 7/26/2022 at 7:45 PM, braidmacd said:

To fdnycruiser    Do you know Seabourn's exact policy these days as to cruise credits for days you are isolated in you cabin ?  We were one of the firsts to go through this (Ovation/October) and did receive cruise credit for every day we were isolated, wondering if this was still the case.

That was the policy in January when we were isolated. They also gave some credit to everyone on board because of the service disruptions with crew being sick too. 

[kjbacon]

Yesterday, we treated ourselves to a shorex to the balcony for sail away and while it wasn’t as good as our day in Cartagena, it was better than our day in Valencia with everyone’s favorite sick woman.

The room service team continues to do a great job for us. They offered to scope out lunch for us because it’s hard to order from a buffet setup that you can’t see. They also offered to pick up dinner from 2 different venues and we enjoyed that benefit last night. For appetizers, we had an Hawaiian noodle soup from Collonade and seared scallops from E&O, both were very good.

We split the venue on main courses too with Peking style Duck from E&O with a side of the worlds best hot sauce and a roasted Hawaiian style beef tenderloin from Collonade. My husband said it was the best beef dish he’s had on the ship and my duck was delicious too. It was a great meal.

Today will be a repeat of yesterday and we will try our best to keep it cheerful as we watch Santander, Spain from our balcony. Sunrise is beautiful this morning.

 

We are supposed to speak with several people today including Destination services  to ensure that we will be given flexibility with our scheduled shorex, given the uncertainty of the Covid.

[lincslady]

Pleased that you are being so well looked after in the food department - being spoilt with lovely choices must help a bit with the tedium of restriction in movement.  Full marks to restaurant staff.

[frantic36]

1 hour ago, kjbacon said:

 

We are supposed to speak with several people today including Destination services  to ensure that we will be given flexibility with our scheduled shorex, given the uncertainty of the Covid.

 

I am sorry you also got sick and hope you feel better soon and test negative soon.

 

We went through the Guest Services Manager when we were uncertain whether we would be able to do the private cars we had booked. I ended up cancelling the day before Tangier as I decided by the time we had our test and got our result it would have been a rush to do the drive to "The Blue City" which was 2 hours away. They refunded our money straight away onto our cruise account. We weren't concerned that it wasn't straight back to our bank account as we weren't desperate for it and are used to similar happening when we stay at hotels and they take a bond.

[cruiseej]

8 hours ago, frantic36 said:

They refunded our money straight away onto our cruise account. We weren't concerned that it wasn't straight back to our bank account as we weren't desperate for it

All refunds and credits, once you board, go into your shipboard account, which is then settled to your credit card as a charge or credit at the end of the cruise. It reduces the number of credit card transactions they make, each of which costs them money. And it avoids any problems constantly processing credit card transactions via satellite Internet connections which can be spotty.

[frantic36]

10 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

All refunds and credits, once you board, go into your shipboard account, which is then settled to your credit card as a charge or credit at the end of the cruise. It reduces the number of credit card transactions they make, each of which costs them money. And it avoids any problems constantly processing credit card transactions via satellite Internet connections which can be spotty.

 

Very true. Also for us there is the issue of foreign transaction fees with our bank, so one final transaction works better for us.

[cruiseej]

15 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

Also for us there is the issue of foreign transaction fees with our bank, so one final transaction works better for us.

 

I'm sure they do it this way because it's better for them — but it's nice that it happens to be better for you as a customer as well. 😉

[Frank5]

How many stars would you give the quality of the food and service in the main dining room?

[tryber]

16 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Yesterday, we treated ourselves to a shorex to the balcony for sail away and while it wasn’t as good as our day in Cartagena, it was better than our day in Valencia with everyone’s favorite sick woman.

The room service team continues to do a great job for us. They offered to scope out lunch for us because it’s hard to order from a buffet setup that you can’t see. They also offered to pick up dinner from 2 different venues and we enjoyed that benefit last night. For appetizers, we had an Hawaiian noodle soup from Collonade and seared scallops from E&O, both were very good.

We split the venue on main courses too with Peking style Duck from E&O with a side of the worlds best hot sauce and a roasted Hawaiian style beef tenderloin from Collonade. My husband said it was the best beef dish he’s had on the ship and my duck was delicious too. It was a great meal.

Today will be a repeat of yesterday and we will try our best to keep it cheerful as we watch Santander, Spain from our balcony. Sunrise is beautiful this morning.

 

We are supposed to speak with several people today including Destination services  to ensure that we will be given flexibility with our scheduled shorex, given the uncertainty of the Covid.

 

The Peking duck looks amazing.  I hope that shows up on the menu when we have our first Seabourn cruise in September.

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, tryber said:

The Peking duck looks amazing. 

 

Agree.  But, it does not look like the Peking Duck that I had in Beijing.  

[Fletcher]

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.

[kjbacon]

10 hours ago, Frank5 said:

How many stars would you give the quality of the food and service in the main dining room?

To be fair, we only ate there once before our isolation. The service was excellent, an easy 5. The food was good and similar to all the food on the ship. I’m not sure where good falls on the number scale. For us, not great, but some dishes have been better than others but I think one issue we are dealing with is that the food is so similar across all the venues.

 

7 hours ago, tryber said:

 

The Peking duck looks amazing.  I hope that shows up on the menu when we have our first Seabourn cruise in September.

The Peking Duck was one of the better dishes we have had on the ship, even if it was not absolutely authentic.

 

We had some great scenery on our way out of Santander, Spain.

This morning, we are enjoying sunrise on our way inland to Bordeaux.

We had dinner from the restaurant last night and the best dish was the appetizer we both had, grilled figs with prosciutto and Roquefort. Wish we had both ordered a double of that!

We are seriously hoping for this to be our last day in isolation. We want to go to Bordeaux so much tomorrow!

[travelwell]

Hoping the next pictures will show you both out of your suite and enjoying life on this cruise. Thanks for taking the time to tell us about your experience.

[kjbacon]

18 hours ago, travelwell said:

Hoping the next pictures will show you both out of your suite and enjoying life on this cruise. Thanks for taking the time to tell us about your experience.

Thanks so much but so such luck. We both tested positive this morning and after the initial disappointment, we realize we are luckier than most. Beautiful view, plenty to eat and drink, lovely accommodations.

 

Docking in Bordeaux was quite an event and entertained us all morning.

Dinner last night was a mixed bag but the shrimp spring roll with a pickled vegetable salad was a very good dish.

 

Today, we will enjoy some more great people and dog watching in beautiful Bordeaux. Hoping to be sprung tomorrow!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I remember that view, although they were just building the tram when we were there.  Great that you have a positive attitude--hang on!