Seabourn Quest Review

Excessive tendering and poor dock location contributed to a subpar experience.

Review for Canada & New England Cruise on Seabourn Quest
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MinniePearl20007
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Sep 2015

A sad omen for our cruise occurred when we heard an announcement on the PA system from the captain, "All Staff, Code Oscar" indicating a passenger overboard. Within the first few hours of the cruise, a passenger was overboard (reportedly a suicide). Of course that is not the ship's fault, but the event started the cruise off on a very sad note. Much less serious but detracting from the cruise was the fact that at almost every port, the Quest was disadvantaged in our docking or anchoring. Other, larger ships got the preferred slots. The ship had to tender passengers to the port (sometime long distances -- twenty minute trips each way) far more often than indicated in the cruise brochure. The ship even had to move mid-day in Saguenay from its dock position and revert to tenders because another ship (The World) moved into our place.

And in Quebec City, where the ship overnighted and spent two days, the ship was relegated to a remote dock in an industrial area where many of the cabins (including ours) faced a truly ugly industrial site with smokestacks spewing noxious fumes, making outside activities impossible. We could not use our balcony at all because of the bad smells.

And travel into the old city of Quebec involved a shuttle (sometimes blocked by a drawbridge) rather than a short stroll passengers on the other cruise ships could do. Notably, a Crystal ship was in the preferred docking position. Seabourn needs to do something to ensure better access to the stops on the cruise as the tendering and dock locations detracted from the experience. As others have noted, the staff is first rate and very kind. The food was overall very good, but only in a few instances was it noteworthy. It was more like Country Club food than restaurant food, for the most part.

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