klitch

Let me define variety for you as I see it. Lots of choices of things one would eat. If a lot of the menu are things one would not eat then the variety is less.

I guess for those that will eat anything the variety isn't bad.

 

How am I wring in how I view it? It is my opinion after all.

Because objectively there are more choices on this ship than most if not all RCI ships. I understand what you mean by your own tastes but it would be hard to argue that 2-3 restaurants have more variety than 9.

I'll also add that I was on a 12 day sailing and the menus changed on day 7, not sure if your sailing did the same or not.

 

I'm going for 2 weeks and I'm worried I won't get to try everything I want!

Exactly what we thought, in the end the problem was how were we going to eat our favorites more than once!

Less variety. A friend who went with said he never thought he would say he was tired of filet of beef. My DW has never had so many crab cakes due to lack of choice.

I don't understand that, not even a little. I guess you really can't please everyone. There has never been more variety of food on an RCI ship. You may not have liked the variety they offered but to deny that this ship has more of a variety than, for example, Explorer of the Seas is you just going through life with blinders.

You made up your mind and cannot see that you could be wrong.

the variety was not there for a 12 day cruise.

Would you say you had more or less variety than you would have had on a standard RCL ship with only the Main Dining Room and one specialty restaurant?

That's fair actually... I guess it's not so much looking like an idiot as it is not having the same ambiance when the whole ship isn't participating on the same night. It loses something, IMO!

I was just on the Quantum, ate at Grande twice. Wore my tuxedo both nights (different jacket/tie combo).

I don't think anyone looked at me any weirder than they normally would. Really when you come down to it no one thinks about you as much as you do nor do they care what you're wearing.

Bottom line, I bought my tuxedo to wear it not let it sit in a closet and cruising is one of the only times that I get to wear it and I'm not going to not wear it because other people are walking around in what they want to wear. If they are looking it's probably because they're saying "Damn, he looks good, I probably should have worn a tux."

There has to be a better way to design a ship than to have 50% obstruction. That I cannot even see the ocean when sitting on my balcony - but I am paying for the balcony?? I think it would be better to be an inside cabin. My opinion.

Right?! Pesky lifeboats always getting in the way. They should probably just not have them at all, I mean really, what could possibly go wrong?

Totally agree :)

 

Thanks for such a comprehensive review. Can't wait to try it on Anthem and fingers firmly crossed that they introduce DD for our Allure and Oasis cruises later in the year.

My pleasure, hopefully your experience will be similar to mine, it was really nice to have more than just the two options that are standard aboard most of the the RCI ships.

On our first cruise I brought my tux.....won't be doing that again.

I know they aren't necessary, but dammit I look good in a tux!

We were on the March 1st sailing and I thought I would give you all our impressions of the good, the bad, and the ugly about the food.

I will say this and only this about Dynamic Dining, we were worried before we got on board that we wouldn't be able to eat where we wanted. It all worked out and with a lot less stress than I thought it would be, so be patient ask questions when you get on board and I'm sure you'll have a great time as we did. On to the food!

Chops Grille:

It's hard not to have a good meal at Chops. We've eaten at Chops on a few ships and it's been really good to great every time. Not much to say here except if you haven't eaten at Chops you totally should.

Jaimie's Italian

Our group had mixed reviews at Jaimie's, I thought it was good but not great certainly not worth paying extra money for. It was my least favorite of the restaurants. There was nothing that was memorable in either direction. As far as Italian food goes I thought it was run of the mill.

Wonderland

Wonderland is a very interesting experience that I know is not for everyone, my wife really enjoys inventive cuisine so we tried it. Our waitress was great and she walked us through ordering and gave us little tidbits about each menu item and some recommendations. The first 5 courses that we ordered we single bites all very flavorful, none that completely blew me away they were all good but not what I would consider spectacular.

Then we got to the main courses. I had the Beef Terrier and my wife had the fish (I think it was halibut). I have not had beef that tender in a very, very long time it is apparently cooked low and slow for 12 hours and man does it melt in your mouth it was absolutely amazing. I was also equally as impressed with the Halibut, it was cooked and served in parchment paper and it really drank up all of the sauce.

Like I told our traveling companions, even if you don't like any of the first 3-5 courses, it is well worth the wait for the main dishes.

Hot Dog "cart"

I like the idea of the hot dog/food truck at sea, and the hot dogs/brats/sausages were pretty good, we went back a few times to get them so I guess that might say something.

Grande

Grande is the closest thing that you are going to get to a "main dining room" experience on Quantum. For those of you looking for that every night I suggest you book Grande (and perhaps Chic) every night of your sailing.

There was not a bad bite of food here. The lobster tails were a bit small but nonetheless delicious they just gave us three instead of one. I don't remember everything else I had but it was all good. The one other thing I do remember is that one of the cocktails served was/is a Vesper Martini. After reading/seeing Casino Royale (James Bond) i'd always wanted one but didn't think I liked Gin. Well, I was wrong, Gin is awesome and Vesper Martini's are my new favorite drink. On a side note go to the Ice Bar at 270 and watch those guys make Martini's, it is truly something to behold.

Cafe at 270 for breakfast

The breakfast a 270 was a pleasant surprise; Canadian bacon, egg, and cheese on an english muffin was really good. they also have bacon and egg croissants which are nice for those mornings when you don't want too much. However the breakfast burrito can definitely be missed, it was more like a regular beef burrito, in my mind it didn't read as breakfast.

Cafe 270 for lunch

Before getting on the ship we had heard the reviews for the roast beef sandwich and it did not disappoint, it was really very good and the horseradish sauce was a nice addition.

Michaels Pub

The wings at Michaels pub are the second best thing I ate on board for the entirety of the trip, they're so good we had them at least 5 times. They are well worth the $4.00/plate. The onion dip was also very good and highly recommended.

Chic

Chic is basically Grande but without the dress code, the menu is obviously a bit different but the two restaurants were very similar in the type of foods served, it also has the most comfortable chairs of any of the eateries on board. The food was really very good here, again I don't remember any of the dishes but they were all good.

Silk

I think this was our second favorite meal combined. The tacos were out of this world good and everything else was awesome. It was also a nice departure from the standard meat, fish, or pasta choices at most of the other venues.

The only thing we had issue with here was the seating. If you go to Silk go as a group of four or more otherwise they may seat you at a table that is basically joining with another table of two. The tables are separated but only by maybe a 1/2 inch. It threw us off a bit because you didn't feel like you could have a conversation because there was someone sitting uncomfortably close to you.

Izumi

Words cannot express how good this meal was, it was by far the best food we had on the boat. If you don't like sushi I guess you may not agree.

I don't remember the name of it but my wife and I shared an Ahi tuna salad with a sesame dressing that was the best thing i ate the whole trip. The sushi was expertly made and absolutely amazing. I really wish I was better at describing my feelings after leaving Izumi, I wanted to go back as soon as I left. It is an a la carte menu it wound up costing us a total of $46.00, the quality of the meal probably would have been $150 on land.

Devinly Decadence

We ate here for lunch and dinner on the same day. This isn't going to say a lot but the burger that I had for lunch was the best burger that I have ever had on a Royal Caribbean ship. Other than that lunch was just regular.

For Dinner I had the Enchiladas, they were very good nothing spectacular but again the departure from the norm was definitely welcome.

The only rough spot at this restaurant was the service, it was a bit slow but really where was I going?

Windjammer

The food at the windjammer was better than I ever remember it being on any ship. We ate there twice for dinner and on both nights I had the Mongolian stir fry, it was really very good, they stir fry it in front of you while you wait so it doesn't have that same buffet feel. For lunch they also did a similar thing for fajitas.

Pizza/Promenade

I think the quality of the pizza has gone down a bit, or perhaps my taste has matured. They do allow you to "make your own" but the quality is still not great. They may not have the ovens hot enough, or perhaps they don't let the dough rest long enough either way it wasn't great, but at 1 or 2AM i wasn't really looking for gourmet.

The sandwiches at the promenade were pretty good, nothing special, but for a quick snack I wasn't going to complain.

Conclusion

The food was exceptional, there were a few things that weren't great but they were clearly out weighed by the things that were. The amount of choice and diversity in the different restaurants was really great. I can't imagine a 12 night cruise with only the main dining room and one specialty restaurant.

I would like to reserve a cabana on CocoCay (not in a suite but I am D+). Can someone give me the email address for the Concierge on the Quantum?

I think you're going to have a hard time getting a cabana on Coco Cay not being in a suite.

First because there aren't that many on Coco Cay and second because if you're not a suite guest you will not be a priority for the concierge.

I'm not saying not to try just that you may want to temper your expectation.

How much was thE wifi? I can't get a strait answer on this either from RC?

If you purchased for the entirety of the sailing I was on (3/1 12 night) it was $10/day. We bought it for our last three days and i paid $50.00, that was with a discount from platinum membership.

The wifi I thought was really good btw, on our second to last day I streamed an entire soccer game while have drinks in the solarium with only a few minor outages for buffering.

We were on the same sailing and had a similarly wonderful time.

I think I remember talking to the same curmudgeon you did about how terrible everything was/is.

We liked every restaurant we went to, our favorites were Izumi, Silk, Chic, and Grande. Jaime's we thought was just OK but that probably boils down to taste. My wife really liked Wonderland and I'll say this about it, If you can get through the first 4 or so courses the entree's are astoundingly good the Beef terrier is amazing.

For anyone who is waiting to get on board, you MUST go to Michaels Pub and get the wings, they're $4.00/plate but worth every penny, I had them at least 4 times they are out of this world good.

Interesting review but I don't think it slammed the ship too bad. The wifi stinks, don't care because I won't pay for it and use it. Dynamic Dining stinks, I think it will but I'll give it a shot before complaining about it. Promenade is too small when temps outside are 30 degrees, no kidding!

 

The cutting edge stuff is well received, with lines of course. That's what I took from the review.

Just got off the ship friday, dynamic dining isn't nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be, just be a bit patient and you'll figure it out on day one. The staff is uber helpful. The fact that the food is better than any ship i've been on makes it that much better.

Also the wifi was pretty good actually, we didn't get it until our last two days, i was able to stream an entire soccer game on my phone while having drinks at the solarium bar, not too bad.

No one on these boards has ever said they thought they would spend their entire vacation making dinner reservations. That's certainly a pure exaggeration on your part.

 

DD was not the worst experience I've ever had but it doesn't have to be this difficult. After 8 months RCI is STILL losing reservations. You don't see that as a problem? The anxiety it causes is unnecessary.

 

Yes you can get up every morning and spend time in line putting back what you had already been promised by RCI. OR you can wait in line every night. It's not the time spent, it's the fact that you too frequently have to spend your valuable vacation time fixing the the problems created by a poorly designed and implemented system.

This is why I cancelled this cruise. I feel like your gonna spend more time at the front desk than enjoying your vacation. Who wants that much work on vacation?

A slight exaggeration, more of a misremembering though.

It's definitely poorly designed and could have been implemented better but honestly the only people I heard complaining about it on-board were ... how to say this nicely ... old people who are very used to and very comfortable with how RCCL did things on every ship until now. Royal can certainly do a better job about the uncertainty that people feel leading up to sailing but really it's not that big of a deal if you're a bit patient and realize that it's different than you're used to.

I don't see it as a problem that they are losing reservations, because I think the people that they are losing are the ones that I probably don't want to cruise with anyway. I'll say it again, we went on with 3 reservations for a twelve night cruise, we ate at EVERY restaurant we wanted to at or around the time we wanted to and the food was absolutely fantastic EVERYWHERE and that includes the windjammer.

What propoganda? You mean cruisers' honest reviews? It's the way it is. Even the company abandon their own failing idea for something less drastic. Do I think it could have worked? Yes...if the company did their homework and implemented it correctly WITH a working IT system. I sincerely hope that this new rotational dynamic dining works to suit everyone's needs.

 

I hope you are correct in saying that the food has never been better. I've read mixed reviews (as with anything) regarding the food on Quantum. However, I do know that if RCI continues the quality of food I experienced on Explorer last year, well, they leave a lot to be desired.

The propaganda that you're going to spend your entire vacation trying to make dinner reservations. I get that that this is new, and that new might be scary for you but it's really not that bad.

Yes you can still get reservations on the ship but probably not at a time you would wish to dine.

 

If you do get a suitable time ,in our experience, there will be lots of empty tables. So why can't they do reservations? It is a mystery.

 

In our opinion dynamic dining is a disaster, we ate in the windjammer most evenings as all our reservations disappeared and most of the ones we could get were either at 6 or 9.30.

 

We found the whole reservation system for dining and shows took the spontaneity out of the trip.

People were making reservations then not turning up.

We asked the question about reservations and empty tables while we were on board, basically if you're there at 6:00 with empty tables, perhaps there are people with reservations for 7:00 or 7:30 and they tell you that you need to figure 2 hours for dinner each night, that isn't always the case but it makes some sort of mathematical sense because if someone is eating at 6:00 and I have a table at 7:00 I'm going to be even more pissed if I have to wait.

I think you missed out on some exceptional meals by only eating at the windjammer, though the food at the windjammer was better than I ever remember it being. The food at every venue was magnificent except for maybe Jaime's which was just OK.

As for the spontaneity that you mention, How could anything be less spontaneous than how Royal used to be? Early meal or late meal, early show or late show; absolutely nothing spontaneous about that.

This is why I cancelled this cruise. I feel like your gonna spend more time at the front desk than enjoying your vacation. Who wants that much work on vacation?

Just finished a twelve day sailing. You couldn't be more wrong. We only had 3 reservations when we got on board, we did not spend any time at the front desk for dining reservations. We did have to stop at the restaurant we wanted to eat at each night to make reservations but it didn't take more then a total of maybe 30 minutes to get ALL of our reservations booked for the week.

All of this propaganda is really silly. We ate at every restaurant we wanted to eat at, at or reasonably close to the time that we wanted to eat at them. I understand that this dining is a drastic change to what you are used to from Royal but give it a chance. Also the food has never been better and because there are so many choices you don't get bored with the same basic choices every night.

We're sailing on the Quantum on March 1st. We hadn't thought of booking our dining until now. The only times remaining are basically anything after 8:00. To anyone who has cruised on the Quantum is there a chance of getting into the restaurants without reservations? Do they keep tables available for walk-ups or are we basically just screwed at this point with whatever times reservations remain.

Thanks for any help