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Posts posted by Familygoboston
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Fun Stuff Last Night Starwater ShowÂ
Last evening was our booking for Starwater. I really enjoyed the show- but Iâm a zumba instructor, so I really enjoy watching dance- and this really was dance showcase. The vocal star was also showcased, with 2 other female singers. The male singers were all in the balcony with us hooting and hollering in support of their compadres.Â
Honestly, had they not been cheering, it feels like no one would have been. đł Itâs not because it wasnât a good show, it just feels like since the pandemic, people donât really know how to react at a live show anymore. Every performer Iâve talked with from Broadway pros to community theater day they want to hear from us, cheering, clapping, giving support. Itâs our role in live theater! But most shows, really good performers have had to fight for a response from the audiences on this cruise. And they are giving the performances all their energy! Lasts nightâs show was an example of that- dance elevated to athleticism- just incredible!!Â
And the theater itself is very innovative, with elevators and robotic performers. Itâs a must see!Â
SO⊠where and how to see it!Â
Â- this is the only book ahead show on the ship, you can book on the app, plenty of performances, but if you are picky about the day and time, you can book before you sail, just look in the app a few weeks before you sail.Â
Â-theyâll have you line up and scan your sea pass to ensure you are reserved. Thereâs a standby line for any non reserved passengers.
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- when you enter the theater youâll notice several floor areas and the central balcony reserved for Key and suite guests.
Â-If you go up the stairs on your left facing the stage you can sit in other balcony areas. This provides a good view of some of the visual effects from above.
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-If youâd prefer to be âin the roundâ with the performers, you can sit on the floor in the frontÂ
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I never thought Iâd like 6 sea days!Â
ÂSo far, Iâve been wrong! đ€Ł Maybe itâs because we had non stop touring and playing in the Hawaiian islands for 3 weeks, but Iâll be here in my office if you need me! Â
Clam Shell at the covered poolÂÂ
Iâd like to get off my butt and take more photos of the ship, but so far Iâm not motivated to much more than relax in the indoor pool and the solarium. We went to get some sun outside yesterday and they had removed all the loungers from the upper decks near the bow and aft. The loungers above the out door pools were full, so we found some unattended loungers by the pool deck.Â
ÂNot a good experience đł First a fellow whose wife was sitting in one of the chairs that says you canât âreserve a chairâ tried to tell us someone was âsitting thereâ So I did my usual, âif they return weâll move onâ. He called us a name that might get us banned from CC if I reported it. Â But after looking at Mr FGB who had 6 inches and 15 less years on him, he decided not to make an issue of it. The âownerâ of the chair returned an hour later, and there were then 2 more chairs in that area that were now vacant for her to alight on. Thereby proving my point that if everyone moved their stuff then they plan to be gone for more than 30 minutes, no one would have trouble finding a lounger. But reserving s lounger with a huge pink label on it saying not to reserve loungers is pretty rich!Â
view of the bow from the solariumÂ
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But thatâs not what made it unpleasant! đ€Ł Thatâs just a reality of clientele on the RC ships weâve cruised. The unpleasant part was the loud music played under the play by play for the officers Vs guest volleyball game. The noise is too much for me, so after an hour we removed all our belongings, and freed up the lounger and took a dip in the solarium pool. There werenât any chairs their either abs we left our things to the side till we saw someone leave after a little while (they also took all of the there thingsâŠsystem works like magic when you actually do it!)
solarium poolÂ
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Iâm a little nervous that R# is gonna get arrested and tossed into the brig! You should have seen the terror on the faces of the other flyers when he posed with the Northstar controls! đł Luckily, he never actually touches the things without permission (the ones he did touch, the person in charge was in on the gag!)  itâs all an optical illusion, just like his paychecks for these gigs!  đ€Łđ€Ł
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7 hours ago, Biker19 said:
A few Americans can do math.
Letâs hope not! đłđ€Łđ€Ł
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2 hours ago, snaefell said:
You of course really only get a taste of a place on a cruise visit,it usually leaves you wanting more!
Our two vacations in the Hawaiian Islands back in 1989/90 involved two two week stays in Waikiki with day trips to Hawaii,Maui & Kawaii,at the time Maui seemed like one huge building site,hotels going up everywhere,seemingly turning into another Honolulu,On Kawaii there was peace & quiet & a determination to not go the same way,we were in LA a couple of years later when Kawaii suffered huge hurricane damage,so much for keeping it as it was!
Quantum was on the way to Singapore for a major refurb after 5 years of service when we sailed on her,hard to tell she was in superb condition & yes she is so smooth to travel on.
Weâd been to FP, but never been to Hawaii. Our guide in Hawaii explained that things have changed a lot in 20 - 30
years and again during the pandemic. Itâs not the Hawaii people remember from the past. Â Places change, and some places get ruined because they are over loved, and they lose the very charm they were once loved for. đ©
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1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:
Thanks for the reply back. Good to know... about what I figured regarding touring Hawaii.
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Yeah, we honeymooned there in Hawaii back in 1999. 1 day at Waikiki, 4 nights in Maui, and 7 nights in Kawaii. LOVED it. Had we known, would have swapped the nights in Kawaii with Maui. Kawaii was lush and gorgeous, but was a little too quiet. Maui was just a pretty IMO but had so many more activities to offer. Hopefully someday we'll make it back again.
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Hawaii was one of the contenders for vacation this summer, but the Quantum in Alaska won out. It will be our first time and suited our extended family better.
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Happy sailing. Thanks for the updates!
I love Alaska!! Really, there are no bad options! Both are beautiful places!Â
Kawaii is the only island we didnât see! We have friends who love it, but thatâs as a winter home, which is quite different than Maui, which has so much to offer as a vacation destination!!Â- 1
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SEA DAYS
An odd thing happened on our first day on board. Our whole group was together trying to book some of the included attractions, like Ifly and Northstar. We noticed that those of us who are Diamond loyalty members were able to âseeâ times to book on the app, while our friends with fewer cruise nights werenât able to book for several hours after we were able to book. if youâd like to book activities like this with your traveling party, link them all to the account of the person with the highest C&A status. Seems like we were able to book our friends who weâre linked while the others had to wait.Â
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We did the North Star yesterday and it was really fun and scenic. Here is my photo dump (remember these are all my âbadâ photos! đ€Ł Not Mr FGBs high quality stuff. Thatâs âextra!â đ€Ł- 3
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SEA DAYSÂ
No clogging chairs! Weâve seen chairs available everywhere. By afternoon the ones closest to the pool get filled, but thereâs no towels laid down for hours. If a chair is in use, thereâs a human in it!Â
I havenât heard an official number yet, but the Aussie hold overs say we have more than their cruise form Brisbane (they were limited to how many passengers can disembark in French Polynesia) but the ship doesnât feel completely full. Loungers and sears are easy to find at the pools and in the lounges at night.Â
ÂThereâs a very popular singer in the schooner bar each night- Jen, and itâs SRO when sheâs on, but I do enjoy how the Schooner bar on this ship is again the heart of the ship! Also, the Music Hall where the dancing happens is in a main area so it gets lots of use. This ship really feels like a better, more blinged out throw back to Royalâs ârootsâÂ
silent disco at the Music Hall last night
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Sea Day 5- Â It occurs to me that this ship, is an ocean liner!Â
An ocean liner with bumper cars, sky diving and a flow rider, but sheâs still built like an old fashioned ocean liner! It occurred to me as we travel further into the ocean, she cuts through the open ocean so smoothly. After so many years on ships designed to fit the playgrounds m, this one seems to be designed to be an ocean liner with playgrounds.Â
ÂMy first trip on an ocean liner did not include giant pink bears or a sea plex, but she reminds me of the Stefan Batory, my very first trans Atlantic crossing when I was just 12 years old. I would have loved aevades and an escape room back then! Instead all the kids (there about  20 of us) used toilet paper to create costumes and perform a parade for our parents and other passengers. We were served blinis and calfâs brains on toast. (My grandfather slipped the waiter a couple of bucks and got me a big bowl of cheerios every morning so I didnât starve to death! Â
We walked uphill to the MDR both ways! đ€ŁÂ
But seriously, you can avoid the all the gimmicks at the stern of the ship, (or do them all, like we did yesterday, including Ifly with a 75 yo celebrating her birthday!) and you would think you are on an ocean liner âback in the dayâ. Or bring the kids and prepare not to see them for a week. Choice is yours!!
Each Q class ship features an oversized animal - giraffes, or pandas, Q has a pink bear!Â
Narrow and sleek, she tracks beautifully on the open ocean. Quantum has windows to the sea in most public venues, All three pool areas have ocean facing loungers and clam shells, and thereâs a promenade on deck 5 (although half of it is filled with the âfriends of Phillip Morrisâ đ€Ł) as well as the outdoor jogging track and upper level loungers.
The gym is oriented to the sea on this ship too, with huge windows, which I love. What I didnât love was I had to share the area with the yoga with two of the dancers doing their workouts which meant, there I was with all my jiggly bits doing the downward dog, next to two women half my age with negative body fat. I donât like to be embarrassed like that! đ€Ł (although I give them mad props for working out before I started and after I left abd being able to balance on a moving ship for 2 shows in the evening. And their show âSequins and Feathersâ was fun and sexy AF! These performers are true pros who work hard and deliver!Â
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my gym partners on stage - they asked me to join, but I demurred! đ€Ł
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1 hour ago, Biker19 said:
There's no need for them - anyone/everyone can get them in the app.
Expect for folks who donât have a cruise or Quantum booked, donât know which menus will be used which day, because itâs not a standard 7 day itinerary. Also all the people like me who wanted to see themenus on the app but because we were on a one off transpacific itinerary, we didnât have menus in the app until just a few weeks before our cruise. Many people like to see the menus ahead of that time frame if they are planning to purchase specialty dining ahead of time online. So Iâm hopeful some folks will find them useful!Â
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2 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:
Having fun reading your review! Thank you!
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We really enjoyed the sister ship, Anthem, in March. Part of the reason for sailing the Anthem was to get a preview to the Quantum in July (Alaska). We'll have my entire side of the family aboard. 3 generations, My parents, 4 pairs of siblings and 7 grandkids (ranging from 13-21 yrs). 16 total.
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Curious. Do you feel like you are getting a good enough appreciation of Hawaii visiting from a cruise ship?
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Also, how's the ship holding up? Noticeable wear and tear, or no?
That sounds like an amazing family trip! Enjoy!Â
I have not noticed any major defects on the ship, we have an overhead cabinet that has âswelledâ and rubs against the adjacent closet door. Soft goods are fresh and clean around the ship. All of the amenities are in good working order, no closures, even after a long stint at sea with no supplies to repair things, so Iâd say sheâs in terrific shape! And the crew keeps her very clean! A friend did the All Access Tour yesterday and said he was so impressed by the cleanliness of the kitchen and âbehind the scenesâ. Â
ÂAs for feeling connected to the culture on such a short trip, Iâd say no, itâs not the way I would go to be immersed in Hawaiian culture. We actually have been in Hawaii since April 12. We spent a few days on Molokai, then boarded the Uncruise, a 28 passenger expedition ship that gave us a great cultural and natural experience. (Iâll be reviewing that when we get home!) Â After a week aboard the Safari Explorer in Molokai, Lanai, Maui and Hawaii, I found myself telling the people on the rest of our trip the things Iâd leaned about Hawaiian culture while we were out and about!!đ„° So I learned a lot!Â
ÂAfter the Uncruise, we spent a week in Waikiki, hiking, exploring the SW corner and the North Shore, we hiked Diamond Head and went out on a snorkel tour. We do enjoy knitting our cruises or tours together with a âcity stayâ often to pay bills and get laundry done, but also to allow ourselves to settle in and feel a part of the area for a little while. So weâve had all those opportunities, plus 3 long busy port days on this cruise. Although most of our tour guides were long time residents, weâve not met native Hawaiians while cruising Quantum in the way we did during the other parts of our visit here in the Hawaiian islands. Â
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Itâs important that I point out that the lousy photos on the thread are mine! Mr Familygoboston takes stellar photos, but as heâs enjoying his cruise and âtaking themâ he does not want to spend his cruise doing the âprocessâ to get them off his SLR camera. So you get my cell phone photos, which R# will tell you is inferior to not only Mr FGBâs camera(s) but also to his families newly upgraded iPhones. đ€ŁÂ
So if you see an evening or dark photo, itâs probably R#âs because my are so âinferiorâ. As anmy crummy photo of last nights entertainment âŠ
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R#âs airdropped photo of the entertainment.Â
ÂBe very grateful that Iâm not doing this thread alone (even though it seems that way đ) You only have to tolerate my bad photos during the day! đ€Ł
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Of course, every once in a while Mr FGB will feel inspired to pull out the MS surface and process a photo that I can use online (like the photo of R# and I snorkeling) but mostly he might be having a bushwhacker by the pool and Iâm not going to bother him!Â
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48 minutes ago, Familygoboston said:
but here is the deal with tour operators working with cruise ships on Hawaii. Every week Norwegian runs Pride of America around the Hawaiian islands all year long and it ports in Hilo- 2 hours west of Kona. QOTS and other âone offâ ships that call on Hawaii for just 1 or 2 weeks, port in Kona, but the guides are all based in HILO, meaning they have to drive 2 hours to Kona from Hilo, take guests to the most popular spots (one of which is Volcanoes National Park) which means going 2 hours EAST with guests, then 2 hours WEST to return them and then after leaving guests back in Kona drive 2 hours EAST to get back home. As you can see, a very long day with 4 hours of non guest driving. Not much incentive to do the tours in Kona.Â
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Oops, itâs late, Iâm tired, I messed up the directions on my original post- the corrections are above!Â
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2 minutes ago, snaefell said:
I'm not understanding the reply !?!?
Complaining about the entertainment on surveys hasnât seemed to improve it sadly! đ„č
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Menu, Cruise Compass and Tonightâs EntertainmentÂ
Tonightâs headliner - Active Comedian Rick Novell, had to work very, very hard to win back a crowd thatâs been less than âWowâedâ over the last two nights! He succeeded, giving the crowd something to cheer about with his high energy unicycle and juggling act, sprinkled with self deprecating humor. At the 10 PM - he won the wary crowd over and gave us hope for the upcoming 6 sea days!Â
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Volcanoes National Park Hawaii
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For me, the most exciting part of our tour was the visit to Volcano House where thereâs an over look to the Kilauea crater volcano. Â While not currently erupting lava, itâs still very active with steam
venting. It was really fascinating to see this national park with a variety of landscapes from barren lava fields to lush rainforest to active volcanoes! Don did a great job answering questions and sharing his love and passion for the area! Â
we were very lucky to have been able to find him and join his tour!Âvideo of Kilauea volcano
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Kona to Hilo Volcanoes National ParkÂ
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a stop for lunch and malasadas (Hawaiian donuts) at the southern most bakery!Â
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1970s lava flow and scenic point of HawaiiÂÂ
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close up of a lava feild in the NP
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a tree casting, where lava flow engulfed a tree and incinerated it leaving just a hole the size of its trunk!Â
plants are just starting to grow in the lava fields from the 1970s eruptions.ÂÂ
A bridge into the lava tube
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entering the lava tube at Volcanoes NPÂ
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Ok, so we were talking about
Kona Hawaii
Yes, we had great tender tickets, and we were on a tender just minutes after they started running. Overall, the tender operation went very smoothly! A few times in Maui, we were on a port traffic hold, awaiting the off loading of another tender, but never did we wait for a tender, other than in the early morning to disembark. Whenever weâve been ready to go there was almost always a tender to walk onto in either direction. Although tendering adds some time and hassle to the process, at least in this part of Hawaii, with QOTS using its own crew and tender/life boats, it ran very smoothly!Â
a tender, quite rugged actually!Â
ÂOnce ashore, one of the first in our party spotted a man with a van and a sign. Exactly what we needed to look for because our originally booked guide for the group had canceled last minute. Covid was the stated reason- but here is the deal with tour operators working with cruise ships on Hawaii. Every week Norwegian runs Pride of America around the Hawaiian islands all year long and it ports in Hilo- 2 hours west of Kona. QOTS and other âone offâ ships that call on Hawaii for just 1 or 2 weeks, port in Kona, but the guides are all based in Kona, meaning they have to drive 2 hours to Kona from Hilo, take guests to the most popular spots (one of which is Volcanoes National Park) which means going 2 hours west with guests, then 2 hours east to return them and then after leaving guests back in Kona drive 2 hours west to get back home. As you can see, a very long day with 4 hours of non guest driving. Not much incentive to do the tours in Kona.Â
But we found Don, a man with a van and sign in Kona - with 4 pre booked clients for his 15 passenger van, he was delighted to see we were 9 looking for a tour to Volcanoes National Park. It was a match made in heaven, and we all squeezed into his van and heard off on a tour. Not the tour we wanted with no stops at macadamia farms because it wasnât private- 4 other people had signed on expecting macadamia farms, so we had to take what we could get.Â
ÂWhat we got was Dan who began our tour describing the white knuckle driving required to get to our destination and scaring the bejesus out of one lady who requested no more car wreck stories  (what is bejesus anyway, and if itâs out why donât we know?!)Â
So instead we got a lot of tales about Donâs past crimes, his general terror of  National Park Rangers (is anyone less threatening than a NPS ranger ?!) But Don had had his run ins, which we listened to and cataloged carefully from the back seat of the van. They included but not limited to:Â
-Speeding in the NP
-Speeding with children in a bus after swearing them to secrecy about the speedingÂ
-Touching the turtlesÂ
-Taking the lava rocks (leave no trace people!)Â
-Touching the Ne Nes (Hawaiian geese)Â
-Smuggling birds out of Mexico (although the NPS does not have jurisdiction there)Â
andÂ
-Peeling out of National Park turnouts like the driver of a bank heist get away vehicle if he spied oncoming traffic that might impede our further progress. (For this last infraction Mr FamilyGoBoston gave him mad props for âdriving like a BostonianâÂ
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I do want to emphasize, that these are all PAST INFRACTIONS detailed by Don (with quite a lot wistfulness for his lawless ways) and we didnât witness him do anything forbidden (Except the peel outs) during our tour. We think heâs been scared straight now. Â
ÂSo during our tour we all had a fabulous time behaving like a bunch of buddies in a prison break out movie, with all of us on the look out at all times for law enforcement of any type. It was exhilarating for a van full of middle age people!Â
ÂOh, and we also learned a bunch stuff about volcanoes and plants and the huge price increases in island real estate because Don is very knowledgeable. And we ate a lot of macadamia nuts. A LOT OF MAC NUTS! Truly it was a fabulous tour!Â
ÂSO letâs see some photos!!
Â
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Kona Hawaii
We got to the volcanos!Â
So long story- Mr FGB woke at 6:20, and headed to Vintages for tender tickets, they were already handing them out and he scored 9 tickets for our group. We were assigned #10 which was called at about 15 past 8 AM. We were all mostly waiting in the casino for them to call our group- all except yours truly of course who was blissfully unaware that plans had been texted because she was on âairplane modeâ. At 7:50, I was in the windjammer after a wrong turn trying to get to the solarium bistro for breakfast.Â
ÂCan I interrupt Kona to discuss the Windjammer project on this ship?Â
So letâs make a little cookie out of my critique: positive first / room for improvement/ then more positive.ÂÂ
First the good news: Â On Quantum thereâs a wonderful outdoor seating area! This is a feature I love in a ship; you see them on most celebrity ships and others too, and itâs great to sit outside for breakfast.Â
(There is nothing like dining on the stern of a ship!)Â
RFI: The Windjammer is like a Danteâs circles of hell pinball game. Guests from all over the planet with different line cultures careen around the space, where thereâs no clear rules of engagement just trying to find a damn hash brown potato cake! Every wants a hash brown and they are hidden like Easter eggs all over the buffet. Guests wander, direction less, in search of the hash brown warming tray, which is most often empty. Â (Who IS getting the hash browns? Because all of us CANNOT find one?!) We then congregate helplessly by the hash brown tray waiting for a lad from India to return with a full warning tray of hash browns. And then we are bouncing off in another direction in search of the ketchup, which apparently, according to Royal Caribbean rules must be located as far from and equidistant to every tray of hash browns.Â
I was caught in this vortex of seeking hash browns when the rest of the group was gathered in the Casino and being ushered towards the tender despite them have only called up to group 9. Iâm grateful my team patiently waited till I dashed from deck 14 to 3 to join them at 5 past eight AM! I fully expected to be voted off the island! I am the weakest link!Â
Another Positive: I am positive Iâm not eating another breakfast at the windjammer this week despite the beautiful stern seating area!ÂGAME OVER!Â
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20 hours ago, snaefell said:
Really enjoying this thread,hits home on a number of levels.
We had our Summer vacation in the Hawaiian Islands in 1989 & 1990,loved the place & vowed to get back,still haven't managed it!
Our last cruise was on QOTS in October 2019,a repo cruise from China to Singapore,fantastic cruise,beautiful ship,we would have got back on her if Covid hadn't brought life grinding to a halt,as a result the stay in Singapore for QOTS lasted a couple of years!
One low spot of the cruise oddly enough was a Queen tribute show,dreadful & saw a mass exit from the theatre,sound familiar!?đ
Enjoy the rest of your cruise!
Oh boy! Someoneâs not reading the surveys!Â
Live âWinginâ Itâ Quantum of the Seas Transpacific Honolulu to Vancouver April 28-May 8, 2023
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
Yes, thereâs a wide variety!!id say for people with kids try to sit in the front, it will be most engaging for the young people. We were up high, thereâs one row of balcony in front of the spot lights and it was very comfortable couches and lots of leg room. A lot of the seating is cocktail table style.Â