Quantum Review - 8 Day Thanksgiving

[steve3791]

Hi all. I’ve been an occasional poster on Cruise Critic, and although I never wrote a review, figured with all the Quantum chatter this was a great time to start!

I was on the 8 day Thanksgiving Quantum of Seas with my wife, and my parents, so four in today. Other reviews have done a great job posting pics, so I’ll just keep it to my thoughts and observations. Instead of a day by day rundown, I organized it into categories. I didn't cover everything here (writing late at night before I forget), so please let me know any questions you have.

 

A quick background…I’ve sailed on RCL 5 times, and another 5 between NCL and Celebrity. So I got some experience, but no where near as much as others on the forums. I work in technology, so was excited to see what Quantum had to offer, but at the same time I know that technology usually does not work flawlessly the first time around. I also realize a vacation is what you make of it…whether things work as expected or not. So here we go.

 

Check-In

I did all the requested pre-check in work at home, including downloading pics to the RCL website. I’m pretty computer savvy so for me it was easy. However I can understand the frustration, as my parents would never have been able to do this, or make dinner reservations on their own! Anyway, with this done, we walked into the terminal, found a floating iPad (or Surface…forgot what she used) Agent, and were checked in within minutes. All in all, about 15 mins from entering the terminal to boarding the ship, and thus I was very satisfied. I did overhear others having problems, but mostly due to incorrect pre-check in work at home. And of course they had some traditional style lines you could wait it if that was your choice.

 

Cabins

As cost was a significant driver, we had two inside Cat N cabins on Deck 7 FWD. My cabin was towards the end of the hall (close to FWD) and my parents closer to the elevator. We were excited to experience the virtual balconies. The “balcony” or TV was huge! And it did give some sense of light in the room, as opposed to your normal interior cabin. More on the virtual balcony in a minute, but first a problem arose.

 

When we first got to the cabin everything was great. Yea, it was kind of small, but I clearly knew the square footage based on the RCL website, so no issues at all. We got settled, unpacked, and went around the ship, and then to dinner. When we got back from dinner, there was a cigarette smell in the hallway by my cabin. I don’t smoke and am very sensitive to that smell, to the point where I get bad migraines. My first through was that someone actually decided to light up in their interior stateroom. I saw my cabin attendant, who was extremely friendly, and asked if he noticed it, as my wife also did. He said yes, and knew exactly where it was from. He said there is a crew smoking area all the way FWD on deck 6, and when the ship is moving, the smoke from this area enters the hallway by the FWD deck 7 interior rooms. Thus it’s a known problem, but not fixed as of Day 1 of our cruise. Must be some door or something that’s not sealing, something I would have thought could have been addressed. So I was very unhappy as I didn’t want to spend 8 days in this!

 

I went down and spoke to one of the senior Guest Services reps. Based on some previous reviews, I thought I’d be there all night fighting with them, and getting a standard answer like “we’ll look into it.” However, I of course was very courteous with the rep I spoke to, who was aware of the crew smoking area and apparently this issue. She walked away (guessing to speak to a supervisor) and came back offering me a balcony cabin around the aisle! I never asked to be upgraded, and honestly just wanted an interior cabin in another location of the ship. But gladly accepted the upgrade :)

 

So, to review my new balcony room, very large (compared to the interior) and plenty of closet space. One of the nicest balcony cabins I’ve had, but never have stayed in a suite…one day. Again, very satisfied with the outcome, but disappointed RCL didn’t yet take action on something like this. There must have been others who noticed the same thing, just don’t know the outcome.

 

Back to the virtual balcony which my parents were still in…it was nice when it worked. On Day 3 the screen read “BIOS Error” and some other words, so she called maintenance. They seemed stumped, but did get it working I think a day or two later. But, then it broke again on Day 5 and for the remainder of the trip. Guest services offered to move my parents, but by that time they didn’t want to re-pack, and instead accepted 60 mins of free internet as an “I’m sorry” from RCL…my parents are easy to please.

One more items on cabins…twice I had to visit Guest Services to remove incorrect Mini-bar charges. They said on two occasions I took five cans of soda. One mistake I can understand, but twice!

 

North Star

My advice…go on Day 1, because you’ll never known when it will be working and don’t want to spend all your time in lines. Right after lunch on Day 1, after boarding, we went to the North Star, probably around 12:30pm. The line was already about 45 mins long, but from pics I saw on the transatlantic and 2day, I figured that wasn’t bad. So we waited and took a ride. The views were fantastic, and being right next to NYC added to that! Since it was in port it only went up and down (no sideways), but we didn’t mind at all. We were very impressed, but probably would have been to a lesser extent if we waited hours for the ride. I believe it was closed most of Day 2 and 3 for weather and mech issues. I didn’t see it going up Day 4 and 5 in Port Canaveral or Nassau, not sure if there was a reason or mech issues, or I missed it. Sea days 6,7,8 it was working all day with the long lines.

 

Food

Dynamic Dining…I did speak to some folks who liked it, but the vast majority…not so much. I didn’t mind going to the different restaurants, but a few things that I didn’t like. The menu is always the same. When you travel with a family group of 4 like I did, you’re always trying each others dishes, and we usually each got different appys and main dishes for this reason. So when you come back to the same restaurant, there’s really nothing new. On other cruises, we enjoy looking at the newly posted dinner menu in afternoon, thinking about what we’ll get that night.

 

Next on the list, you don’t form that same bond with your waiter. We do enjoy getting to know our waiter throughout the cruise. Even when we do My Time dining, if we found a waiter we really liked, we’d request his section. When we took Liberty a few years ago, we did this exact thing, which was the best of both worlds. We ate when we wanted, but with the same waiter. Note...we did request the same waiter our second time around at Chic, and got in his section, so it is possible within the same restaurant.

 

Next, like said in another post, I think RCL can learn from NCL Freestyle on how to run Dynamic Dining. I like the RCL food better, but NCL was better coordinated I felt. Lastly, no more assistant waiters. In the Captain’s Corner the Hotel Director (Darren?) said they did studies stating that using runners instead of assistant waiters would give the waiters more free time than waiting for food. Maybe the studies did say that, but none of the waiters I spoke to were happy they lost their assistants, and they seemed to be working harder than ever!

 

Others have reviewed the food at the restaurants, but my favs quickly were Grand and Chic. Tried Jamie’s for lunch (basically same food as dinner for $10 less) and also enjoyed that…tons of food.

 

I thought the Windjammer was very well organized and efficient. The homemade cookies were a great add…except I ate way to many of them! Also, as another noted, the Freestyle Soda machines were free all week. It seemed on Day 1, people were following the rules. Day 2 a few realized that the machines worked with normal cups, and Day 3 it was a free for all, with cups even stacked by the machines. There were 5 freestyle machines in total, 2 in the Windjammer, 2 in Sorrento’s, and 1 in the Seaplex.

 

Ice Cream…not that I care too much, but found it strange the only ice cream (self serv machine) was located on the outside pool deck and no where else. Normally not a big deal, but as this is a “cold weather” ship, one would think it could be indoors somewhere (or a second machine). For example, on Day 2 when it was pouring, kids were making a mad dash for a cone.

 

Royal Esplanade

Although I missed the grand Royal Promenade of Oasis/Allure, after a while the Esplanade started to grow on me. As you go FWD it sort of wraps around Michael’s Pub, so it doesn’t appear that long, but it has it’s own feel. They call it the Royal Esplanade everywhere, except, as one of the cruise staff pointed out, there is still the Café Promenade on the Royal Esplanade :)

 

Two 70

Probably one of the most unique rooms. Fantastic views and a great place to read a book. Oh, and the library in two 70 was well stocked, which of course new books. And at night totally transformed.

 

Entertainment

I’m usually not too big into the shows, so my wife’s and Mom’s comments. Mama Mia was fantastic! Sonic Odyssey…unique show but just not what we liked. Starwater…impressive coordination of so much going on. Guest Entertainer Ventriloquist Ronn Lucas…very entertaining! Totally exceeded our expectations.

 

Technology

RCL kept talking about Quantum was the first “smart ship.” It will be, one day, once the technology issues are resolved. As I do work in a technical field, going into this cruise, reading about all the new items implemented, my expectations were that a majority of them would have issues…it’s reality. The difference here is that most companies have the opportunity to work these issues out before 4000 people a week see them first hand. If these was a real concern for me, I would have waited for Anthem to come to NYC next year.

 

WOW Band

This to me was the best use of technology anywhere on the ship! Just the fact I didn’t have to carry my Seapass card everywhere! Yes, the WOW band didn’t always work when you needed to pay for something (they could type in your room number instead), but it got me into my room everytime.

 

Royal IQ App

When it worked, it was great. But…I couldn’t get it to work to track my luggage and Guest Services said they were testing it during boarding time. Also crashed many times when I tried to change dinner reservations.

 

Bionic Bar

Novel and fun to watch, but otherwise no reason to get a drink there. As the robots were usually just sitting there idle, I assume many agreed with me. They look cool, but from a technology standpoint, what they are doing is pretty simple. I was using similar robotics 20 years ago on a MFG line where they had to work 24-7 in a reliable efficient manner. But again, fun to watch.

 

Captains Corner

Thought this was very informative. Capital Felix, Darren the Hotel Director (if I got his name right), the Chief Engineer, and the Environmental Officer spent about one hour in Two 70 answer questions from a slightly hostile group. There were tons of experiences Crown and Anchor Members on the cruise (never saw so many Pinnacle name plates!) so they had some very good questions. I did like how the Captain referred to Quantum as a “product” multiple times, because in the end that’s what it really is. RCL built this product and we “rent” space on it for 7 to 12 days at a time. Anyway, without going into too much detail, common these were: Dynamic Dining and more Dynamic Dining, Changes for the China Market (more shopping and gambling areas, and different food), why was this cruise marketed as “Inaugural”, and besides a free hat, no mention was ever made on board.

 

Gym

I ate a lot of those cookies, so used this daily. Very clean and good variety of equipment. Not too busy at 8am which is when I went.

 

Debarking

About 15 mins from time our number was called to meeting my ride at the Port. They were about 30 min behind schedule but didn’t really impact me.

 

Weather

Not something RCL could really control, but tons and tons of rain Day 2 and 3! And of course we missed Coco Cay on Day 6.

 

NET

All in all we had a good time. Yes…there were many issues and maybe Dynamic Dining isn’t for us, although sounds like it’s going to be rolled out across more and more RCL ships. But I’m glad we experienced the ship and had the memories to look back on!

 

Steve

[GSuitesailing]

Great review covering many areas. Thank you for sharing all of your experiences.

[Jenjer]

Thank You for your great review and advice to ride North Star on Day one

[chazg]

Great Review, Thanks for the insights!

[Maraprince]

Lack of variety -- same menu -- in the restaurants becomes a big issue on longer sailings. We took look forward to seeing what is on "tonight's menu" knowing if we do not like it, there's the "always available" to fall back on.

 

Not a fan of changing dining rooms to get different meals. Also, do not want to eat 3 meals a day in the WJ to get a variety of food offerings.

 

Electronics are great when they work. To send this ship out to the market without first testing it was a big gamble. Where's the redundancy that should have been built into the ship just in case? What happens during a hurricane or extremely rough seas? Bumper cars rolling around, most of the outside gizmos not working, etc.

 

Glad we decided not to do the 12/1 sailing we were booked on. We thought with a new ship most of the problems would be sorted out and crew/staff would be a cohesive unit.

 

MARAPRINCE

[roe2ship]

Thanks for a fair balanced review.

[steve3791]

Thanks.

 

Forgot to mention the overall "feel" of the ship, which to me was much more like a Celebrity Solstice Class (well I was on Silhouette) than a Freedom or Oasis. Some mentioned the ship had some Radiance features, but haven't been on that myself so can't judge. Of course no Flowrider or bumper cars on Solstice.

 

The interior was more of a muted earth tones (tan, brown) rather than your traditional blue and other bright colors. Also, it's a small thing, but I was impressed with the ceramic/porcelain tile layout throughout ship, and how they used different colors to define patterns and borders in the tiles. Most probably would not notice, but anyone who's done their own tile work at home would appreciate the effort that went into this.

[rbschultz]

Thanks.

 

Forgot to mention the overall "feel" of the ship, which to me was much more like a Celebrity Solstice Class (well I was on Silhouette) than a Freedom or Oasis. Some mentioned the ship had some Radiance features, but haven't been on that myself so can't judge. Of course no Flowrider or bumper cars on Solstice.

 

The interior was more of a muted earth tones (tan, brown) rather than your traditional blue and other bright colors. Also, it's a small thing, but I was impressed with the ceramic/porcelain tile layout throughout ship, and how they used different colors to define patterns and borders in the tiles. Most probably would not notice, but anyone who's done their own tile work at home would appreciate the effort that went into this.

 

I haven't been on Quantum yet, but the look of it feels more like the Celebrity Reflection that I was on a few years ago. I can't complain about that though because I really liked the decor of the Reflection.

[JL&Fam]

Great review, well balanced & honest.... from someone who was there!

 

I get a daily giggle from the Debbie Downers who:

1. Weren't there

2. Claimed to have wanted to have been there but weren't there

3. Those that coming running screaming "See, See, I told you you would hate it"

 

I will make a toast to them in a few days.

 

Cheers!

[PuterMonkey]

Your review sounds very similar to the perspective I've developed (not yet being on the ship). Tech people think alike I guess :cool:

 

That's a bummer about that corridor with the smoking smell. I would not have been pleased about that at all. Hopefully they get it worked out soon.

[Duffys wife 1957]

Thank you so much for the great review! Would you mind sharing your room number. I also have a inside room on 7 and located in the same general area.... I am a little worried as I have very bad issues with smoke smell. Thank you so much!

[steve3791]

Thanks for the comments on the review. I tried to be objective. Yes...tons of issues they need to work out, but didn't let that ruin our vacation! Actually I feel lucky, as many people appeared to have problems with their Dynamic Dining reservations, but we never really waited more than 10 min. Would have been a good idea to have a bar or sitting area next to the dining venues like NCL Breakaway does (at least for 2 of the 3 free places), instead of just standing there.

 

Our initial room was 7123 (so easy to remember!) Looking at the deck plan, all deck 7 interior (virtual balcony) are in this hallway except 7315, 7715, 7717 at the AFT. The smoke smell was worse as you move fwd in the deck 7. i.e. worse near 7119 and better near 7545. I'm very sensitive, and sure many won't be as bothered as I was. But again. Guest Services did a great job relocating me quickly! I was prepared for a fight, or a response like "we'll look into it," but they resolved it and assigned me a new (upgraded!) room in less than 10 min. But they seemed to be well aware of the problem, even showing me on the map where the crew smoking area was.

 

Steve

[Georgeny]

Steve, Thank you for a well done review!

 

George in NY - sailing Quantum 12/20/14 Holiday sailing