LoneStarJeffe

A couple years ago, there was an oil spill in the Houston ship channel and our Galveston cruise board time was delayed. There was a long line and we eventually boarded just before midnight Sunday only to be told they would be making a decision that next day Monday about cancelling the cruise. Sure enough, Monday they offer we were given was we could cancel with refund or stay on board for the week but with no promise if or when the ship might leave. We had to decide then because we could not retrieve our car until next Sunday. We choose to disembark and drove home. Turns out the ship did leave the next day and did a cruise to nowhere for the rest of the week with less then half the passengers it normally carries.

My point for this is stuff happens. You make the best decision you can at the time with the options you then have since the original plan no longer is available.  You then move on. It is the "...you then move on" that is easy to say but hard to do. I get that. I lived it with my cancelled cruise above. But guess what. I could either spend my week's vacation time thinking about the planned cruise that didn't happen or spend it having a different kind of fun with my family. It is the moving on that lets you see the options you can do instead of being trapped into still mourning what had previously been planned.

I am sorry for everyone impacted. For some it will take longer to move on than others because of circumstances. But it is my hope that everyone can adjust and enjoy whatever other options there are, even if not as fun as what you originally planned, and not let this completely spoil your planned time with your family and/or friends. This too shall pass.

By the way, we went home and then enjoyed eating out together for a couple of nights that week at restaurants we normally do not go to and we enjoyed that as our alternate to our cruise. Not the same, but we enjoyed. 

I am glad people buy art on their cruise. I love how people earn free cruises based on how much the gamble. I love how people keep the spas in business and keep buying spa products. All of these are fun for those who participate and help keep cruise prices low. Everyone decides what they enjoy. I think Park West has grown quickly when they started and have survived in a tough market. I have no problems with them being onboard and I enjoy seeing people having fun. It's a cruise. Relax and do what you enjoy doing.

Galveston has some scenic spots. The port area is not one of them. :)

The higher the humidity level, the greater the chance of fog because the air is saturated. The best protection against fog is patience. Expect delays and long lines. Expect some people will have short tempers. Wear a smile. Be nice to workers trying the impossible task of making people who are delayed happy. You are going on cruise! It will get better once on board!

Fog happens a lot this time of year. Fronts pass through and temps move up and down by tens of degrees between days. :(

I strongly suggest if you are traveling over the next few months out of Galveston, you insure the cruise line can text your phone with updates. If there is a delay, do not head to port until the passengers arriving late have disembarked.

Keep track of weather forecasts. Fog is based on temperature and dew point.

Finally, check the Galveston cams to see how bad the fog is as well as ship location on marinetrack dot com.

Best option? Bring a positive attitude. Getting frustrated does not seem to change circumstances for me. But a positive attitude does help regardless of circumstances!

Please understand that it wasn't the ship itself. It was the PEOPLE. They herded us in like cattle through security. It was hot. The line moved slowly. There was only one security line open, so I'm guessing that they created the bottle neck on purpose so that check-in wouldn't be backed up. There is nothing more infuriating that standing in line for HOURS and watching people constantly cut in front of you in line. There was very little staff present, and the ones that were present didn't seem to care. It was a disorganized miserable mess that really started off the cruise on a sour note. When I went to customer service about another issue, the lady kept apologizing and blaming it on the weather situation. I can understand weather issues; however, the frustration was with the complete lack of responsibility on the part of Royal to adequately control the situation. We traveled on Royal in 2010 on the Oasis. After a cruise on Norwegian and Disney, we couldn't wait to come back to Royal. Not so much now.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I get the frustration. however, the facility is planned to handle 3000 + people arriving over many hours. It cannot handle everyone showing up at once. Your point about lines not being open for security is a valid issue to raise. I suspect it depends on availability of people to work much later than planned. Ideally RCCL has contingency plans for covering security screening positions when there are delays. But even contingency plans do not always equals no impact. I wonder if the delay combined with the holiday season combined to have people just decide not to show up for work?

My assumption is when things like this happen, I just plan on delays and try to be positive. There will be long lines, frustrated people, and things will not go smoothly. I was on the cruise out of Galveston when the oil spill happened. No ships could move and they ended up canceling the cruise the next day. We had boarded late evening and spent the night on the ship just like you. Long lines and we did not get on board until midnight. But I do get your frustration and concerns. Best wishes the rest of your cruise is enjoyable despite the poor start.

My wife and I do a couples massage every cruise.

I personally watch as my foot hits the deck for the first time at embarkation. At that point, I know I can let go work and have fun!

I love turning off the cell phone and putting it in the safe for the duration of the cruise! No more tether!

I watch every sail away. I just love watching final preparations and then we depart. In Cozumel, I also love the pier runners and late returns from Senor Frogs stagger back to the ship.

Piano bar, piano bar, piano bar!

Watching a movie on the outside screen (weather permitting).

A GREAT live report. We are traveling in January and I am really looking forward to it thanks to your photos. Safe travels!

I would book this again in a heartbeat

 

Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 5 using Tapatalk

Just booked it for our cruise in January! Thanks!

I was hoping Tidal Wave would be open for our May 1st trip as well but it will still be a great cruise.

Can someone articulate the exact dining difference on Quantum class ships? I am not fully understanding the difference. It seems like traditional MDR dining is not there and has been replaced by complementary restaurants. Is that the case? Something interesting that people who aren't really familiar with RCI might not know is that Quantum ships are actually smaller than Oasis ships. I love that RCI is mixing it up. I love love love Oasis class ships, but I am dying to try a Quantum class ship as well! I enjoy good food, but dining is not at the tip top of my list when cruising. It's probably more towards the middle.

Dining on Quatum class is you must choose a venue each night. There are many complimentary and additional fee based dining choices. All together they add up to the size of a traditional main dining room. The problem comes in when too many people want the same venue which might only seat 500 people on a ship with 4000 passengers. You then get lines. Add to that the waitstaff might be just getting initial drinks for one table while getting desserts for another and taking the dinner order for another table. If somebody takes too long for discussing their orders, the other people wait to get their food. By and large it works most of the time. But it is not smooth enough to be reliable. You can have a great experience one night and a completely different one the next. I also prefer different menus each night versus 4 complimentary dining choices with the same menu since we choose to eat complimentary almost every night. If you do not mind paying the additional fees, the extra dining venues might provide a better experience for you then it did us.

Why the low rating? As many have focused on, it is the dining experience. It is not about the menu only, the service only, the reservations system only but is instead that all of these add up to you can never be sure if you will have a good dining experience that night. THat is the problem. It is not a reliable experience.

Quantum made me a major fan of dinner at the Windjammer. That was the first time I heavily used the Windjammer for dinner. I didn't have to wait on myself for service. :) We had a table to ourselves and always could find seating immediately (no reservation needed), and the food and selection was good enough. In short, the Windjammer was the most reliable and consistent dinner experience onboard unless you want to pay for premium dining.

One other point on the dining. With traditional you always had dining and main shows in sync in terms of timings. With Quantum, you either must prioritize dinner seating time over the show or the show over dinner seating time. With the wait times both for seasting and service, you could not always be sure you could finish one to be ontime for the other.

Once you get past the dining experience, I really loved the Quantum class. I would sail that class again with no concerns. The bumper cars were amazing to watch and do. Everyone was smiling. This class has great potential once they fine tune the dining. But you either have to really, really plan ahead on events and dining times before you sail (and hope your reservations and all that planning are not lost within a computer glitch), or else be very flexible and go with the flow once onboard by prioritizing each day which was more important.

It is a cruise! Have fun!

We took it last year. They serve rum and other beverages onboard the train. They also sing nicely to you as well. The ride to the train and back was also good. Overall, the pieces making up the tour are fine. But at some point, we realized the train ride itself got a bit old. The scenary was never all that great. Overall, I would give it a B minus because of the scenary. I would not do it again and would not recommend it.

What is interesting is the show is held at the front of the ship and the dining is at the back. That means between first and second seating you have most of the passengers either moving from the show to the dining room or from the dining room to the theater. I like 2nd dining seating at 8:30 thus attending the early show since you can more easily arrive early and choose your seat. Then you head for dining where you already have a confirmed seat (no need to rush). I also like watching sail away from each port which is much easier when you have late seating. Just my preference. Others prefer different and some don't even use the dining room. They instead eat in the Windjammer for dinner and do not have worry about dressing for dinner. I have done that as well some nights. It allows a much less crowded seating at certain venues like the pools and spas since most of the passengers are either watching the show or dining. What I love about cruising is you can choose what you want when you want!

Galveston has the following issues in my humble opinion:

1. Distance from airports. No question that is a major concern for anyone flying. Longer distance means it takes longer and costs more. I live locally and drive but if I had to fly in to cruise out of Galveston, I would fly in the day before.
   
2. Limited staffing for customs. Generally long lines form because of the limited staffing. While refurbishing terminal 2 and building a new terminal 3 might improve other aspects of embarkation and disembarkation, staffing of customs remains the one constraint not easily resolved.
   
3. FOG! I think fog is a major concern. It impacts everything and can happen anytime during the winter months. Until people can disembark and drive away, the limited cruise parking is even more challenging since people driving assume a spot will be available when they arrive. If a ship is delayed docking by fog, that leaves a lot of cars and not enough places to go. The port and terminals quickly get overloaded between people trying to leave and those arriving to board.
   

Galveston has the following advantages:

1. A variety of things to do and places to eat. You do not need to spend time in your hotel if you arrive the day before your cruise. Or take an extra day before flying home.
   
2. I find the people who cruise out of Texas some of the most friendly people I have met when cruising. Texas friendly is not just a slogan.
   
3. Some good ships out of Galveston on both Carnival and RCCL.
   
4. Western caribbean itineraries only might be seen as a limitation but the destinations include good beaches to relax, good shopping if you want, and plenty of fun activities. It is the Caribbean and sun and sand are never boring.
   
5. Plenty of flights! Yes the airports might be further away but you can find connections easily to just about everywhere.
   
6. Cruise terminal upgrades are happening. That does not fix the road access to the terminals but should make it easier to drop off and pickup.
   

That said, I like the mix of ages and friendliness of the people when I cruise out of Galveston. Obviously I am local so convenience to cruise out of Galveston is overwhelmimg but I have cruised out of several other ports and I find the people make the difference when cruising. Just my two cents.

Suspect high winds are keeping Navigator and Magic docked until conditions improve. I suspect a delay oin departure will pay off in smoother travel as the weather is improving slowly over time. If they leave now, there would be a lot of rocking. :)

And Navigator of the Seas is departing. A beautiful sailaway!

We were on Quantum last January. There are plenty of spaces around to find a place to relax and read. We also used the Windjammer for dinner a lot more then ever before. That included dining at the Windjammer outside table when we were in San Juan which was a really wonderful experience. Another night we enjoyed the movie by the pool and then went to the Windjammer to eat. That was something we never did before. 270 was great. But the activities shift around and you do need to be aware and plan against what you want to do.

I think what everyone is trying to express is it is a difficult ship to meet new people. You never see the same people. It is simply too large a ship. Not that people are not friendly. We sat with people and enjoyed good discussions each night. But the next night, they ate somewhere else and so did we. There was little chance you keep seeing the same people. And you must plan more each day if you want to do things. More reservations and less walk up than other ships.

It was a beautiful ship and we enjoyed our cruise. But it was different. Relax and don't try to fit it to being a traditional cruise. Do things you normally do not do (Windjammer for dinner was our new thing) and see how that changes how you look at the daily schedule.

This is the last day of our cruise on Quantum. As many have stated, a lot of improvements have been added. However, DD is still not as smooth as the traditional dining experience.

I personally enjoyed meeting different people but missed not having the same waiter each night.

The largest trade off with DD is that I think you plan your main activities at night and then plan your dining around them. Previously, your dining time was more fixed and you planned your activities around the dining time. Both approaches have good and bad.

I do want to address menu variety. I think if you only eat at the free venues, the menu does get stale over a long er cruise. I do not know, but suspect part of the problem might be there is insufficient historical data to properly know just how much to order in terms of food. I have not seen this aspect of DD discussed much but with traditional dining, it is a fleet wide menu and they have data across all ships to use to determine how much to order based on passenger numbers. With DD on Quantum they only have the data from the sailings since November. I suspect they need to get a good baseline and then work from there to expand the menu. Otherwise, they order food that does not get used and has to be thrown out. So the limited menus will be around for awhile. Unfortunately, with Quantum going to China, I do not think this will be easily resolved before Anthem replaces Quantum. But over time, and as they move past just a single ship doing DD, they will get a better understanding of how much of what to order and can then start expanding the menu. But I suspect right now, they are tuning the ordering to a fixed menu and do not want to make a lot menu changes.

Just my thoughts.

Quantum is a beautiful ship and my wife and I have really enjoyed it. No regrets on sailing her these past twelve days.

Where is the two story couch located??

Deck 4. The back of it goes up to deck 5. I missed seeing it until yesterday. I just walked by. It is red. :)

Thoughts on ship and crew.

Ship is beautiful. There are so many little touches you find walking around such as a swing or a two story couch. Nice mix of dynamic and traditional artwork everywhere. Crowding not much a problem except initial boarding and initial rush to get off at each port in the morning.

The crew seemed worn down. Most smiled and were friendly but clearly the negative feedback they have received from the initial cruises impacted them. I think adding assistant waiters has helped the dining but we still saw stress one night when we were at American Icon late. The person seating people had a handheld radio. Instead of holding it up to her ear with the volume down, I noticed she turned up the volume to hold it with arms down. While surrounded by people eating. I suspect that is a symptom of just not caring anymore and being tired of holding it up to her ear so long each night. This was the exception and not the rule. Most all the crew are friendly and say hello. Most try to help. But they do look tired.

I will add that the passengers seemed friendly and I did not notice many complainers. I certainly did not complain about the radio incident above since I believed it was a one off exception and I am easy going anyway. Our waiter delivered us our order on time so no problems. Just a slight distraction which easily could have been a noisy group talking instead of a crew member for one night. Stuff happens. :)

Overall, I rate the ship itself as 5 stars and the crew as 4 stars. They are trying hard but worn down. Hopefully over time this will improve.

I have really enjoyed the trip so far and highly recommend Quantum of the Seas based on our experience so far.

Some thoughts about the food and Dynamic Dining.

1. We have not had long wait times but we also have not tried to eat at peak time. We either booked late or early.
   
2. Enjoyed meeting people at shared tables.
   
3. Food was never bad but never scored really high as well at the free restaurants. The one night we ate at Chops, it was excellent!
   
4. For the first time ever, we choose Windjammer as an intentional option. We actually planned to swim, enjoy the hot tub, and watch a movie on the outdoor screen. The movie was "Blended" and it was fun sitting outside and watching the movie in the warm night air by the pool. We then went to the windjammer still wearing our swim attire. Until this cruise, I never would have considered that option before. I always planned everything around my dining time. Instead, we used Windjammer to plan around the event we wanted to do. I think that is the secret of Dynamic Dining. Plan the events for the night, then schedule the dining yoiu want. Others might disagree, but I like that flexibility. If you are a true "foodie" Then dining becomes the event you first schedule. For the rest of us, dining might be what we schedule last. :)
   

Thanks. We will probably do a ship excursion, just don't know which one. There have not been many reviews of Martinique and most excursions have gotten poor ratings.

I am on this same cruise and in Martinique, we did the Botanical Garden excursion through the ship. A couple of points about that excursion.

• On the way over, we stopped at a church was interesting to see.
  
• You get a guided tour in English through the gardens which helps since the self guide signs are all in French.
  
• There is an aerial walkway portion that you can skip if you wish. It is not the majority of the garden but very nice.
  
• We took a different route back and saw the headless statue of Napoleon's wife in the park on the return. Again, we had good commentary explaining the sights during the trip.
  

Recommended!

We are on the same cruise.

Check in and boarding took us around 15 minutes. In twenty minutes we went from entering the port to sitting in Two70 enjoying beef on Kimmelweck sandwiches. No line at the Cafe at Two70 when we boarded around 12:30. We waited longer in line to drive up to the port in our taxi then it took to check in and board.

Outside balcony cabin on deck 13 starboard side near rear elevators is roomy and quiet. Saw Mama Mia last night. Fantastic show. Not to be missed!!! The couple we ate with at The Grande said they thought the performance last night was as good as the original Broadway version.

At at The Grande for dinner last night, we were seated in two minutes (had a reservation) and enjoyed excellent food and service.

Loving Quantum so far.

As others have said, call and see what they say. I am so sorry about your wife's diagnosis and pray for a good outcome. Whatever the decision, put it behind you and focus on the treatment ahead. Best wishes.