Lovely ship, nice cabin, great itinerary, good guest entertainers, cuisine not inspiring, but didn’t go hungry, port historian was a gem, not much active to do on board, (certainly can’t count on relaxing in the solarium). We met many very nice and interesting folks on board and enjoyed our cruise in spite of a few disappointing things.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Smooth, and we got to drop backpacks in our cabin right away.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
In the Seaview Cafe; The bakery was outstanding, the salad options very good. Plenty of fresh fruit. The rest...meh. Nothing exceptional. In the main dining room, the service was cheerful but excruciatingly s-l-o-w! The food was just “OK”, nothing memorable. Not even the lobster that was covered in some sort of hot sauce...
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Activities? No climbing wall, no mini golf, no shuffle board. Bingo? The BEST “activity” was the port talk by Dominique, the local historian, guide, and speaker who was a very informative, entertaining wealth of information. She was very gracious to spend time answering questions even after her presentations. SHE gets 5 stars!!! the Weather in the northeast wasn’t conducive to outdoor pool activities. The solarium was lovely...HOWEVER...on our 14 day cruise we had access to ONE lounge chair on only ONE day on which to put our belonging to actually use the pool and hot tubs. The MAJORITY of the chairs were occupied from sun up till closing by books, folded towels, snoozing fully dressed guests who used the solarium to nap, not use the pools. People saved chairs all day, leaving belongings on chairs when they left for hours- meals etc... There was NO monitoring of the solarium by staff, no recourse for anyone who wasn’t up at sunrise to claim a chair for the day. A sign asking people to be considerate and not save (monopolize) chairs was ignored and not enforced. This is an all too common problem on cruise ships and it is very disappointing that the cruise lines don’t come up with a solution so that ALL guests have an opportunity to enjoy the solarium.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The guest performers were a treat! Really enjoyed Kenny James, Revoice and the Beatles group.
Children's Programs
We didn’t bring any with us (happy seniors) and evidently not many others did either.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our cabin steward, Krevon, was OUTSTANDING!!! Cheerful, friendly, super efficient and thorough! We had a problem the first couple days with excessive noise- ALL NIGHT LONG- from the cafe above us and Jo-Anne with the guest relations team dealt with it quickly and stopped 85% of the racket! She followed up with us several times to make sure the noise was being controlled. Our waiters in the dining room were engaging and fun, but slow. Not sure why our table was still waiting for appetizers when the tables next to us were being served desert?
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Recent update was lovely, spa like in its decor, colors and piped music. However, no library, no game room for folks to gather and play cards or games, no dedicated space for captains club members to retreat to, have coffee or just visit.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Pretty typical size. New decor is light and cheery. Very comfortable, convenient layout. Plenty of storage. Bathroom was very nice, especially the roomy shower with glass doors. Cabin was clean and well maintained by our steward. Probably the nicest cabin we’ve had. Only potential problem is that it is below the seaview cafe and the first couple nights it sounded like full scale remodel and a foot stomping barn dance going on above us. Jo-Anne and the guest relations staff was understanding and helpful in bringing some quiet during sleeping hours.
Ship tip
It’s a beautiful vessel, one well suited for guests who are looking for a leisurely voyage, not a particularly active onboard experience. If you like keeping active, you might want to consider a different ship.
Wonderful historic city! Did a walking tour one day, that morphed into a narrated into a two hour narrated bus tour. Then we walked more. The next day we did an excursion to the basilica of Sainte Anne de Beaupre, the Montmorency falls and a copper museum and art gallery. Still more to see and do there!
Beautiful country! Nice area near the boardwalk, pier, historical area, churches and interesting people. We did an excursion to the Highland Heritage Museum that was both fantastic and disappointing. Fantastic because our guide was fun and very informative, the hour drive there and hour drive back offered beautiful views of the landscape, but the hurried 50 minutes we had to visit the museum was TOTALLY inadequate. This place is a living museum with a visitor center and informational movie, buildings and exhibits and artisans and interpreters who would have been happy to share their knowledge, and about a mile of walking around the grounds. But 50 minutes ONLY let’s you walk up the steep hill, quickly glance into some of the exhibits, and hurry back to the bus, definitely NOT an excursion worth the price. It WOULD have been well worth the price if we’d had even one hour more to actually experience the museum.
I know what you mean about the lounge chairs. In the padt what I have done is that if no one returns to the chair in a reasonable amount of time, I would put the book and the towel on the ground and habitate the chair. If they wanted to be rude. I too could be rude as well. Most times no one reyurned or if they did they never said a word.
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