CanuckCruizer

DaKahuna - Peter Ritz sounds like our cup of tea, so hope he is still on the ship then. Our App isn't showing any entertainment yet and it does not have the 10 day menus - only 7, so waiting for that to happen. I wonder if it is your "formal night" with so many good choices? Whatever you have, hope you and your wife enjoy. Canuck

DaKahuna - you certainly do not have to apologize! You are providing great info for all of us! My DH & I are the same - we prefer listening to the musicians over the theatre shows, unless there is an interesting headliner. How are you finding Peter Ritz? Have you been to the pub yet and if so, is there music happening in there? What about Boleros - any Latin bands? Looking forward to tonight's dinner....yours I mean! 😄 Cheers, Canuck

Bxc53 - I am right there with you & agree with everything you said. I told the other poster that I would not be too concerned about this for a 7 day Alaskan sailing, meaning if something were to go wrong, help is "close by" - unlike our sailing... We are watching and waiting to see what happens. I would be very shocked if Royal were to bring this ship all the way to Australia if only 2 engines were working (and now, who knows how many are actually working re the fire). Bayley has commented on the other site (which shall remain nameless) that it is a go for Australia (but that was a week ago or so...) and he does have a track record of speaking prematurely.😊 Fingers crossed.... Canuck

DaKahuna - thanks again for all your detailed reporting! Sorry to hear that there was a fire, but glad it was contained quickly. Hope they are able to fix the engine as we are 5 days at sea on our cruise.... We have been on two ships that had fires in the engine rooms. While it was scary hearing that while onboard, they are quickly contained by a well-trained crew. I don't think you have to worry about your upcoming cruise as they are working on the engine repairs & maintenance. Your cruise does not have many days at sea, as in, ports/land are close by, should there be any problems. We are a bit worried about 5 days at sea in the Pacific on ours, so hope they get it fixed for the Hawaii & TP crossing to Australia. Canuck

Hi DaKahuna - No need to bother, just thought you might have picked up the paper. Thanks, neverbeenhere - that's good to know. If he is a friend of yours, he must have a wonderful sense of humour.😄 Thanks DaKahuna for the food porn pics - wow, that chocolate dessert was sure chocolatey!!😁 Hope you have a great day in Sitka, despite the weather. Canuck

Hi - oh, that is a different Concierge than we had but very similar name. That is good that you find her to be great. We are looking forward to trying Jamie's as well as the pictures of the food they are serving look very good. Do you know who the Hotel Director is or did you get the paper that lists all the Officers? Canuck

librarylady19 - just checked the App and it is back for our sailing too. And it says "complimentary". Canuck

Hi DaKahuna - thanks for your detective work. Yes - Solarium Bistro has disappeared from the App for our sailing. We had Romina on a previous sailing and she was wonderful (if it is the same person). That is very good news that Coastal Kitchen is not too crowded, as we were wondering about that. Canuck

Yes - I thought Deck 11 showed a proper dining table in the pic you posted. Hard to understand why only certain decks seem to have one and a lot of people might be very disappointed when they find out. We are sailing to Hawaii and want to enjoy breakfast and maybe even dinner on our balcony. Well, if the Coastal Kitchen is not that busy, then maybe my guess is not correct. I was under the impression that the Solarium Bistro (called "Devinly Decadence" (sic) when the ship was sailing out of Asia - from what I understood, it was used as some kind of suite Gold something club doing those sailings and pictures of this area are on another site which I don't think I can name...). I have never sailed on the Quantum, so I am only looking at other passengers' pictures. In any event, I thought the invitation you received was very weird. Seems like they are encouraging people to leave Coastal Kitchen and then pay for extra food. Hope you are having a nice evening onboard. Canuck

DaKahuna - thanks for taking the balcony pics. Wow - so it does appear that the Grand Suites on the lower decks do not have a dining table - bizarre! Luckily, we are on Deck 11, so unless someone moves it - I think we will have one. That invitation (& upcharge) for the Solarium Bistro is also very strange. And, the Solarium Bistro is no longer showing on the App for our upcoming cruise. I wonder if they are using it for "overflow" of the Coastal Kitchen - maybe the Coastal Kitchen is over crowded and they are trying to make a special place for suite guests (& that is why it is not available to see on the App)? But, to say that the whole experience is "not" complimentary is again, bizarre. Let us know if you find out what is going on. Cheers, Canuck

Hi DaKahuna - Thanks very much for your reply about the dining table on the balcony. I am shocked that your cabin does not have one - maybe someone asked to have it taken away for more outside space, but it does seem strange. I really appreciate your review of the cabin, as I have had those same thoughts too, especially about the lack of drawers! That is not good. I much prefer the older type of Grand Suite, as much more "open". This seems quite chopped up to me. It seems the theme of our upcoming trip will be "lack of drawers" as our post-cruise hotel has literally NONE, so will have to hang almost everything & take packing cubes to throw in the open 2 shelves in the nightstand for things like underwear - ha. I am an over-packer so the bathroom is a nightmare to me - lol. I will bring a small open cardboard box (like from a skincare giftbox) to store various serums/creams/lotions and place it on the vanity, next to the sink. I would fill that table in the bedroom with hair stuff, and put a makeup bag on that as well, as that wouldn't fit in the bathroom. I have used that box I bring in the bathroom before on previous cruises and it works out well. Cabin stewards seem to like it, as they can lift the whole box full of stuff to clean and not have to clean around various bottles of stuff. Thanks again for doing such a detailed report. Have a nice afternoon. Canuck

DaKahuna - thanks so much for doing this detailed review - really appreciate it. We also have a Grand Suite on an upcoming cruise and after seeing your pictures, are a bit concerned. What happened to the dining table on your balcony? There isn't one! We always have room service breakfast on the balcony and this would be a huge disappointment. Every other video & pics I have seen of the Grand Suite on this ship, have had dining tables on the balconies. Are you able to ask your cabin steward to get you a table? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you also for providing info on the entertainers. So many people do reviews and never comment on the various musicians around the ship. We love all the nightly entertainment in the various bars, rather than seeing the shows in the theatre etc. Love all the info on the Coastal Kitchen and Suite Lounge as well, as not too much has been posted previously. Hope you are enjoying your day onboard.😎 Cheers, Canuck

traceytd - thanks for your reply. That is exactly what happened to us re check-in. One minute it says it is Closed and to check in at the pier and then it says that we are not ready for you. Very frustrating. Used to cruise Princess a lot years ago, but haven't been since 2009, so I don't frequent that board very much. Your plan for Maui sounds good - that luau is very famous and supposed to be one of the best. We have had this cruise booking since 2018 - it started out as the Freedom, then it was redeployed to Explorer, then we moved to Oasis, then Oasis was chartered, then it was turned into the Odyssey & then finally the Quantum for the Hawaii sailing (I think I remembered everything correctly....ha), so we REALLY hope to go. Haven't been on a cruise since 2019. Ironically, it was the same one - Vancouver to Hawaii on the Solstice. Having some medical issues that have just come up, so fingers and toes crossed that we can go. Canuck

Hi, We are on the same cruise. I don't have an answer to your question, except I would list the ship's name and Lahaina Harbour as the address. I started a thread about check-in for this sailing a couple of days ago but really have not received too many answers. I have a question for you, if you don't mind - have you done your check-in yet AND were you able to get a boarding/arrival time? Check-in was available late on Thursday/early Friday morning, but were unable to get an arrival time. I have called Royal twice about this and the misinformation they are giving out is unreal. Anyways - we did not enter our vaccination documentation as it didn't ask for it, which we thought was strange. One agent says that the IT dept basically screwed up in that they will require the info and they will fix it and another one says that only cruises leaving from Singapore have to enter vaccine documentation - no other cruises from anywhere have to enter before boarding (just show it at the terminal) and the agent was adamant). I know we have entered our vaccine info on the ArriveCan app, so maybe that is sufficient, but no one seems to have a definitive answer. I was also told that they only release the arrival/boarding times on a certain day of the week.🙂 So just wondering if you were able to get a time? Thanks, Canuck

OMG - that IS hilarious! Yes - last time my DH took my photo for a cruise picture - I banned him from ever doing it again - hahahaha Every time I went through the scanner, the guys checking me did a double take, like who is this imposter.😄 Still no boarding times and no vaccine record uploads. It being a Friday (but the agent relayed my complaint to the IT Dept very early in the morning...) I can imagine the attention it received as they would be looking at escaping for the weekend. Hope to see some action come Monday. I just want it all over with so I can get on with the many other aspects of planning and picking out clothes (you know - the important stuff🤠) Canuck

Wow - that's great. We actually got married in St. Thomas, while on the Navigator so we have a special place in our hearts for that ship. Oh - a Lime & Coconut - haven't had one of those ones yet - must add to my list.🍸 Have a fabulous cruise!🍾 Canuck🍹

Wow - you are an expert and should publish a How To Book - ha. Yeah - hopefully our Hawaii stay afterwards "stays" listed - don't want any problem with US Customs when we leave here. When you do it on the laptop - there are no questions to answer about your stay after the cruise. Again, it will not retain the proper phone number for us (instead gives our Emergency Person #) and keeps "unchecking" us agreeing to photos on the ship. We did not enter a photo as you can imagine what I looked like, getting up in the night to do this 🙃so hope that is okay. We prefer to get one at the pier. So, everything we input into the laptop - doesn't seem to stay and it says again "We are not ready for you" yeah, yeah, we KNOW that! lol So, will keep watching and waiting I guess. I will need a very large triple Mango Lava Flow after all this.😎 Canuck

Love your "bell"! Glad to hear that it is not only me.😊 We understood that it is better to do the App 1st and get your arrival time and then go back or go to a laptop and do the rest. I have both open (of course). Do you know why it won't save our hotel info on the App.? I mean it goes in okay and then you press continue. When you go back, it says that you are not staying afterwards and all the info is gone. There doesn't seem to be a "save" button that I can see anyways. More frustration. Thanks for your support. Canuck

That is interesting. Thanks for the warning....another 10 days of this and I could be completely deranged! We are not very "App friendly" so having to use one to check in is stressful. I better go have a nap now to rest up for the sleepless nights to come....🥲 Canuck

That's wonderful - that is what I was expecting. Now, when checking again - the information we have entered about our place of stay after the cruise is gone and it says we are not staying in Hawaii - eek - so had to re-enter that info again. There is no save button, just "continue" so don't know if it is going to hold that info. It also keeps putting our Emergency Contact number as OUR number so don't know what is going on there. Noticed if you look on my laptop (as opposed to my phone) - there is no place that asks you about your stay afterwards, but the App does ask you, so that is strange. We are using the App on an Android device so don't know if that has anything to do with it. Hope it will all work out - I just want it to be "over with" as the whole thing stresses me out.😝 Canuck

To look on the bright side....it could be worse....at least there is NO remaining balance owing! I have read terrible stories about people still owing money after making final payment, so at least that is not happening!😁 Fingers crossed that I am not forced to stay up all night again tonight checking the App. Thanks for the replies, Canuck

I am not crying - I AM laughing at the usual IT problems but it gets sooo frustrating. You don't even want to know my stories of being on the phone talking to someone for hours and then being cut off and never called back & the same thing happened early this morning, so it does get to you (at least to me) after awhile. I do realize that I am not the only one experiencing this but hopefully by calling attention to the matter that this sailing has not been set up properly, will help all our fellow cruisers on this sailing. Nowadays you have to check and recheck all travel plans, or something could easily be missed. Yes, I am forensic and it has served me well.:) Canuck

Yes - the reason you have to show vaccine documentation in Seattle before boarding, is that you are going to Canada on your sailing. When I said US sailings, I was generalizing, meaning sailings to the Caribbean & other sailings leaving from the US and not going to Canada. I should have been more specific I guess but I thought people would get my point. 😊 Canuck

The agent told me that they have these protocols in place until September 30th. Our cruise leaves 3 days later. Personally, I do not see our Canadian government changing any cruise requirements so close to the end of the cruising season here in Vancouver. Canuck

Sorry, thought you meant fleetwide - been up most of the night trying to do this, so didn't read it properly. Canuck