Saguenay Sail-in and Another Rainy Day

 Our next previously unscheduled stop was at the town of Saguenay. Not that Saguenay itself has much to offer, but the Saguenay Fjord, where the river cuts through the Canadian Shield to reach the St. Lawrence, turned out to be quite spectacular.

Our captain had mentioned that the scenic part of the sail would start at about 8:00 am and last until we arrived at noon. At 7:00 the foghorn was sounding, and we couldn't see anything at all in the pea soup. By 7:30 it was clearing and we had already entered the river. So we got dressed and went up to the Observation Lounge on Deck 10 to be able to see everything.

The Saguenay is known for wildlife, as, especially near the river's mouth, the mingling of the waters with the St. Lawrence stirs up a lot of krill that is the main diet of whales. Unfortunately, none showed up for us.

We reached the town to find that the Viking Star, who had been with us in Quebec, had arrived first and had prime spot at the pier, so we would have to tender in. And then it started raining. Again. 

We should maybe call this the 'dodging Hurricanes cruise'. Hurricane Fiona had changed our entire itinerary and continued to make a real mess of our weather, but the forecast was for improvement for the last half of the cruise. And now the internet has been down (hence the late post) because of Hurricane Ian down in Florida affecting the use of Seabourn's main satellite. It was actually quite amusing at breakfast to see that nobody was glued to their phones or tablets since the WiFi wasn't working.

As a result of the cold, wind and rain we never did go ashore, so we'll take the rest of this post to show you around the Seabourn Quest.

Considering her small size of 32,000 tons, Quest certainly does feel quite roomy. All the public spaces are large, many of them the full width of the ship, and with lots of windows and verandahs there always seems to be light coming in everywhere. We weren't sure if we were going to like the experience, but we will definitely sail on Seabourn again, although we'd like to try one of the larger ships next time.

Seabourn Square, the heart of the ship. This is where Guest Services,
Shore Excursions, the Library and the Future Cruise Sales are located, along
with comfortable seating, inside and outside, as well as a coffee bar.

The outside verandah at Seabourn Square. Probably
really nice in warm weather, although there are
heat lamps up above.

The Observation Lounge (set up for afternoon tea). There's
also a nice outdoor deck similar to Crystal Serenity,
so it was a popular place in the Saguenay Fjord.

For golfers, a small putting surface and
a swing cage up on Deck 11

The forward top deck lounging area - not used
much so far!

Looking down over the pool deck. The round glass
is over the midship spiral staircase. The staircase doesn't 
lead directly to any focal points of the ship such as a main lobby, unlike 
most ships we've been on, because there isn't really one here.

The Sky Bar overlooking the pool. For a small ship, there
are lots of outdoor seating areas.

At pool level there's the Patio Grill and Bar. During the day they
serve selection of hamburgers, salads and the like, and in the evening
it becomes specialty dining venue Earth and Ocean.
We haven't tried that yet, but will let you know how we
like it.

The Club. This is where the live band plays at
night. It is really nicely laid out, especially the upper
area near the bar, which has glass panels that
deflect some of the sound from the stage.

One of the secret spots that we'd heard about on
board. This small pool and hot tub area
behind The Club is, again, spacious, and would probably even
be nice in cooler weather. I think we'll try it out one
afternoon.

Looking up the Spiral Staircase.

The Restaurant, the main dining room. It
is really nice, and because of the sections
with high ceilings and the draperies, is
not as noisy as some shipboard dining rooms.

A final word about one of the things in particular that Seabourn does differently from any other cruise line we've been on, not just Crystal. We had to download the Seabourn Source app on our phones so we would have access to all the information we would need around the ship and in our onboard accounts. At first we thought this would be a pain in the neck, especially for Larry as he doesn't like carrying his phone around. We've found after a week that it is easy enough to navigate and - when WiFi is working - puts everything at your fingertips, including the daily events schedule called the Herald, your dining reservations and shore excursion tickets, and even restaurant menus for the day. Of course, the only downside is that when there's no satellite available for the ship and no access to anything, you have to rely on announcements and your memory for things you may have planned.

The evening's entertainment was provided by our Cruise Director, JP Almon. He's apparently been around theatre in New York for a long time, and will be leaving the ship with us in Montreal to head back there for his Christmas gig - playing Santa in the Radio City Music Hall show! And then, for a most unusual Daily Double of roles for an actor, in the new year he will be starring as Tevye in a production of Fiddler on the Roof!

By the time we left Saguenay, the rain and clouds were clearing out. We looked outside briefly after dinner, and the stars were shining.  After the show we looked again and although the night sky was still visible, we seemed to be sailing through a wad of cotton with the mist over the water. It sure looked odd!