19 Nights, 10,000+ photos, and way too many videos. A Quantum Review

[DEIx15x8]

When I'm home tonight I'll get you the information for sure off the compass. I believe that for lunch when we boarded American Icon was only open for the B2B people. The Windjammer, Sorrento's, and Cafe Promenade were open for lunch. I believe that Two70 was not, but it may have been.

For Breakfast on debarkation day i know that the Windjammer, American Icon, Two70 Cafe, and Cafe Promenade were all open. They also listed La Patisserie without a price tag. I can't tell you for certain what they served, maybe someone else knows, but it sounded like they may have had a continental breakfast setup there....

 

Here is the info on embarkation day:

Lunch

11:30-3:00 Cafe@Two70

11:30-3:00 Windjammer

11:30-3:00 Vintages ($)

11:30-3:00 Coastal Kitchen (suite guests)

Snacks

11:30-3:00 Michael's Genuine Pub ($)

11:30-6:00 Seaplex Doghouse

11:30-3:00 Cafe Promenade

11:30-3:00 Sorrento's

11:30-11:00 La Patisserie ($)

11:30-5:00 Johnny Rockets ($)

Coffee

11:30-3:00 Cafe Promenade

11:30-3:00 Cafe@Two70

11:30-1:00am Windjammer

11:30-11:00 La Patisserie ($)

 

Debarkation Day:

Breakfast

6:00-8:30 Windjammer

6:00-8:30 Cafe Promenade

6:30-8:30 Devinly Decadence

6:30-9:00 Cafe@Two70

6:30-9:00 La Patisserie

7:00-8:30 American Icon

7:00-8:30 Coastal Kitchen (suite guests)

*None are marked with ($) which is why I'm confused about La Patisserie.

[JMG]

Just checked again. Still listed under Onboard Activities but no dates or times for the iFly on our 1/23/15 cruise. Strange!

 

Maybe it does not work for your cruise but when I click on IFly - Complimentary 1 minute flight I go to a screen where I can "Add to Cart". If I Add to Cart, then I will get a menu for # of people which will in turn drop down dates and times for you select.

Edited December 17, 2014 by JMG

[DEIx15x8]

Maybe it does not work for your cruise but when I click on IFly - Complimentary 1 minute flight I go to a screen where I can "Add to Cart". If I Add to Cart, then I will get a menu for # of people which will in turn drop down dates and times for you select.

 

What kinds of dates and times does it offer? On the 12/1 we could select number of people but the date/time fields were just empty.

[UNV-IT!!!]

Great review

[DEIx15x8]

I'm going to continue day by day but more briefly with more photos. I don't think their was any value to sharing where I ate each day and some of the other items. Those are better suited for specific dining posts at the end.

 

Day 3a: November 25, 2014

 

Day 3 photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/115365916503583655211/QuantumOfTheSeasNovember252014DayAtSea

 

We were in for another stormy day. Luckily the seas were cooperating so it was rather smooth even if it was ugly out.

The morning was nice and I even got North Star tickets but as soon as it started thundering they closed North Star and once the rains came they closed nearly everything else on the upper decks including RipCord which can usually operate in the rains.

This was the first major storm that we had seen her take on (and the worst that I saw) and she handled it OK. I have to say OK because surprisingly the front of the ship did beautifully. I expected the indoor pool's roof to start leaking but it held up fine. The way that the glass structure and doors are set back you could actually step out a foot or two without getting wet even.

 

Unfortunately they didn't design a way to get form the front of the ship to the back. They only have a small portion of outdoor pool deck but the enclosed area is only on the sides and the doors to the aft atrium are in the middle. If you wanted to get from the pool to the windjammer without getting wet you had to go down to 13 and walk a passenger corridor or go all the way down to 5. Hopefully they rethink this and extend the overhang slightly to protect these aft doors.

 

This was also the start of where things change from handling it great to falling apart. Those aft doors in addition to not being covered are forward facing and all the rain was beating against the doors and actually started flooding the area inside. They had to seal the doors, put down towels, and keep a dryer running. They actually seemed to put the dryer out every time it rained after that for the rest of the time I was onboard.

[DEIx15x8]

The SeaPlex unfortunately handled it even worse. They have the Suite deck that is accessible from the upper deck of the SeaPlex on either side via glass doors. Those doors were sealed but the rain was coming right in. It looked as if a waterfall was coming down from the upper deck of the SeaPlex, it was insane. The water was just flowing in the door going to the lip of the stairs and then flowing down all the way around the opening.

 

They quickly got towels down though and called for assistance to help out.

 

I was rather surprised just how poorly the aft end of the ship seemed to take the rain. It seemed like a lot of doors were positioned in ways that led them to take the full force when the ship was moving and that was causing flooding. The thing that amazed me though was just how incredible the crew was once again. I've been on ships with issues like this before and you just see people standing around waiting for maintenance to do something, which is usually to just stand there. I was not in the Atrium when that started, but I was in the SeaPlex when that began and immediately the sports staff jumped up and cleared everything out of the way. They sent someone to the pool for towels and called for assistance. They immediately took action to correct the problem and did an incredible job at it. The water was just gushing in and they kept it contained the entire time without disrupting any of the activities or even the guest flow through the SeaPlex. They really have to be commended for how well they all work not only at their job but beyond that and as a whole ship.

 

Throughout the sailing after this I saw crews out doing some extra sculpting of the outer decks to help change some of the water flows.

 

 

BTW, I finally got all my videos on my PC so I now have an updated final list of videos that are on their way. If you've seen my previous videos you know that I inter link them all. There are 40 videos plus 19 episodes of theCruiseView so that will obviously not work this time so I'll be interlinking within the groups and cross linking the groups instead.

 

Info Series

-C&A Welcome Back Party (11/25/14)

-Two70 Technology Tour (11/29/14)

-Captains Corner - 11/23 Sailing (11/30/14)

-Captains Corner - 12/1 Sailing (12/10/14)

-Coffee Chat with Jimmy Rhodes (12/11/14)

 

Life Boats

-Lifeboat drills (12/7/14)

 

Ship Tour

-Quantum Complete Ship Tour (various days)

 

theCruiseView

-Days 1-19 (11/23-12/11)

 

Parties

-Groovytown (11/29/14)

 

Performances

-Dreamworks Kung Fu Panda (12/3/14 x2)

-Dreamworks Madagascar (12/4/14 x2)

-Dreamworks How to Train Your Dragon (12/9/14)

-Dreamworks Shrek (12/10/14)

 

RoboShows

-RoboShow 1 Perspective (11/28/14 x2)

-RoboShow 2 Dance (11/28/14 x2)

-RoboShow 3 Animation (12/11/14)

-RoboShow 4 Robo Science - early demo (12/11/14)

 

Vistaramas

-Gatsby party into Fireworks (11/25/14)

-Impossible Cityscape (11/26/14)

-Outer Space (11/26/14)

-Virtual Concerts - Santa fe & The Fat City Horns (12/10/14)

 

North Star

-North Star Bayonne (11/23/14)

-North Star Nassau at night (11/27/14)

-North Star Barbados (12/7/14)

-North Star at Sea & time-lapse (12/9/14)

-North Star high winds at Sea (12/11/14)

 

11/23/14 Ports

-Bayonne Departure (11/23/14)

-Port Canaveral Arrival/Departure (11/26/14)

-Nassau Arrival/Departure (11/27/14)

-CocoCay Attempt (11/28/14)

-Bayonne Arrival (12/1/14)

-Port Timelapse (11/23-12/1)

 

12/1/14 Ports

-Bayonne Departure (12/1/14)

-San Juan Arrival/Departure (12/4/14)

-St Maarten Arrival/Departure (12/5/14)

-Martinique Arrival/Departure (12/6/14)

-Barbados Arrival/Departure (12/7/14)

-St Kitts Arrival/Departure (12/8/14)

-Bayonne Arrival (12/12/14)

-Port Timelapse (12/1-12/12)

 

11/10/14 Maiden Arrival

-Maiden arrival in the US (11/10/14)

Edited December 17, 2014 by DEIx15x8

[iceburg1]

What kinds of dates and times does it offer? On the 12/1 we could select number of people but the date/time fields were just empty.

 

Same thing for our sailing..... we are able to select the number of people but the date/time fields just come up empty.

[JMG]

What kinds of dates and times does it offer? On the 12/1 we could select number of people but the date/time fields were just empty.

 

It sounds like this is one of those things that is improving with time.

 

Example:

Day #1 - 12:15 is the start time...then every 20 minutes until 6pm with a gap between 2:55 and 5PM for Muster

 

Day #2 - 8:15 and then every 20 minutes until 9:55 the restarts at 12:35 until 4:55

 

similar schedules for every day with some breaks in the schedules.

 

 

 

Your review is very well written and contains great info. Many thanks!

Edited December 17, 2014 by JMG

[DEIx15x8]

It sounds like this is one of those things that is improving with time.

 

Example:

Day #1 - 12:15 is the start time...then every 20 minutes until 6pm with a gap between 2:55 and 5PM for Muster

 

Day #2 - 8:15 and then every 20 minutes until 9:55 the restarts at 12:35 until 4:55

 

similar schedules for every day with some breaks in the schedules.

 

 

 

Your review is very well written and contains great info. Many thanks!

 

That sounds about right in terms of the timing. The day 2+ seems a bit different. They weren't opening until 9 and then I believe operated strait through until they closed at maybe 6. Wonder if they believe they will have a new reservation system (integrated with Royal iQ) up and running by the time your sailing arrives. In addition to the way they did it on the computer they were also using paper during our sailing. Should be nice having those reservations show in the app as well now.

[emmy]

Derek interestingcommentary and photos about Nov 25. I had no idea about the water and rain in the seaplex area. I must have been hiding somewhere nice and dry and warm :)

 

Continue on... lots more to tell good and bad :)

[alexkrn46]

enjoying your review, thanks for posting.

[DEIx15x8]

Sorry for the delay, CC lost my first post after I had it all written.

 

Day 4a: November 26, 2014

Day 4 photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/115365916503583655211/QuantumOfTheSeasNovember262014PortCanaveral

 

This was our first port of call and we entered the channel under the cover of darkness. Unfortunately in addition to being dark and early it was also cold and rainy so you had to stay inside to watch the arrival. I was excited to see what the new terminal was going to be like. If you've been following the construction thread on the terminal in Cape Liberty you know that the Port Canaveral has looked far ahead of it for a while. Unfortunately she may have looked ahead of schedule but she is actually over a month behind schedule. As we sailed past it you could clearly see them dredging and the pier area didn't look ready at all so the terminal may have been ready but the pier wasn't.

 

We ended up docking at what I believe was the most recently renovated terminal, terminal 6. It looked nice, very similar to the design appearance of the new terminal in Fort lauderdale.

[DEIx15x8]

When it was time to get off the ship we were able to depart from deck 5 using the sky bridge. It was nice leaving from a main area of the ship but the sky bridge was angled a bit making it a problem for people with mobility issues. A shocker when compared to how amazingly flat the one in NJ was.

 

Passing through the terminal it was interesting to see all the digital signage and how everything was setup for a departure still. Amazingly though with the ability to change graphics at the push of a button they still had everything written for Carnival.

 

Once you exited the terminal it was a bit of a walk but between our terminal and the one at the end of the pier was a bus depot like area where the excursions left from.

 

We chose the NASA excursion. I have never been there before so it seemed like an obvious thing to do. It was enjoyable and we certainly learned some new things. I have to admit though that I was a bit disappointed with NASA, not the excursion. Our guide was great but it felt very much like a museum that we could have seen anywhere rather than like we were actually at the location where it all took place. Having so much inside did help with the poor weather though.

[DEIx15x8]

If like me you've never been to NASA before it is certainly worth the trip, but I would have loved it if we could get closer to some of the actual launch pads and other areas. I'm sure it's another one of those things that are now off limits since 9/11.

 

As the day ended the rain cleared out, the temperatures rose a little, and the skies started to get nice.

 

When we got back onboard the ship they had started setting up the christmas decorations (and finishing them). The only thing they setup on the entire ship was a single christmas tree in the Esplanade. Ironically the box for it while labeled for Quantum of the Seas actually listed it's location as deck 5 of the Royal Promenade rather than deck 4 of the Royal Esplanade. At one point they did have a second slightly smaller tree frame behind it but at the end of the 19 nights I still had never found out where that second tree ended up so it may have been more of a sampler to pick the best size rather than an actually second tree to go somewhere.

The one thing that surprised me was that it is entirely free standing. On the Independence of the Seas they had the tree tied off all over the place to ensure it wouldn't tip over. This one is completely free standing, not a single line run to it or anything else attaching it. It's simply sitting on the ground and I'd assume expected to stand on it's own regardless of the sea conditions. Like everything else though it wasn't problem free. The top of the tree was dead along with a brand on the back which took a few days to get fixed.

[DEIx15x8]

Thanks to the clearing skies we had an incredible sunset that night, the best of the sailing and possibly the entire 19 nights.

 

That night we left under the cover of darkness just like we had arrived. This time without the rain so we could actually go out to watch and as we exited the channel we could see a few cars that had shown up to watch. Many were flashing their lights at us and some people were standing outside to watch.

 

Later that night the Vistaramas were used for the first time of our sailing. They had shown a still image from the back deck Vistarama but never an actual video beyond StarWater at that point.

I'll talk about these more later in a dedicated post.

[KCMiller]

The pictures of the sunset are amazing - and I'm really enjoying your review. I'm looking forward to your posts about your dining experiences!

 

KC

[Shocked91]

Wow amazing photos.Loving your review.I'm booked on Anthem this June.I have boom 4 restaurants.As we don't know the time of the shows yet will they let us change times for dinner if there is a show we want to see that night?Thanks

[DEIx15x8]

Wow amazing photos.Loving your review.I'm booked on Anthem this June.I have boom 4 restaurants.As we don't know the time of the shows yet will they let us change times for dinner if there is a show we want to see that night?Thanks

You can change dinning times once onboard, but know that while they claim they hold availability back to book on the ship, when we boarded the availability was identical to what i saw online. I had no problem arriving 15 minutes early or late for a reservation so I would recommend trying to adjust any reservations as needed as soon as you get your entertainment booked. I'm not sure how the standby line was, I never actually saw one. If you wait to book your dining onboard I know they were only allowing people to book for the next two days and they had to keep returning to American Icon each morning to book farther out so you are much better off having everything figured out before boarding the ship. Entertainment reservations seemed very important as well, especially for StarWater if you wanted a good seat.

[Shocked91]

You can change dinning times once onboard, but know that while they claim they hold availability back to book on the ship, when we boarded the availability was identical to what i saw online. I had no problem arriving 15 minutes early or late for a reservation so I would recommend trying to adjust any reservations as needed as soon as you get your entertainment booked. I'm not sure how the standby line was, I never actually saw one. If you wait to book your dining onboard I know they were only allowing people to book for the next two days and they had to keep returning to American Icon each morning to book farther out so you are much better off having everything figured out before boarding the ship. Entertainment reservations seemed very important as well, especially for StarWater if you wanted a good seat.

 

Thank you for your reply.We are doing 7 nights and have the first 4 days booked so far.

[DEIx15x8]

Day 5a: November 27, 2014

Day 5 photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/115365916503583655211/QuantumOfTheSeasNovember272014NassauBahamas

 

Thanksgiving! This was the second time I've celebrated Thanksgiving on a ship. The first was two years ago when we boarded the Independence of the Seas in Southampton on Thanksgiving Day for a transatlantic. They obviously didn't have much time or incentive to acknowledge the day but still made an attempt with a card in our cabin, a thanksgiving dinner in the MDR, and anyone that knew we were American wished us a Happy Thanksgiving. On the Quantum we had the full day mid cruise plus we didn't get to Nassau until the afternoon.

 

In the morning they broadcast the Today Show and the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on the main screen outside. Lots of people came out to watch. They also broadcast it in several other venues around the ship as well as on the TVs in the staterooms. Jimmy Rhodes even came on the intercom system to make an announcement about it twice. It was not listed in the Compass so I'm sure many people appreciated the announcement. A lot of people came out to the pool deck to watch. I was surprised how many people were sitting out there fully dressed just to watch.

 

We also had a great ship spotting morning as we passed the Enchantment of the Seas, Carnival Ecstasy, and Disney Wonder docked at Castaway Cay.

Edited December 18, 2014 by DEIx15x8

[DEIx15x8]

When we arrived in Nassau the seas were a bit rough as they seem to often be when I go there lately. We were the third ship to arrive completing the ultimate ship day. You had the latest design from all three major lines; the Carnival Magic, the Norwegian Breakaway, and the Quantum of the Seas all together for the first time ever. It was interesting to see the Quantum and Breakaway next to each other. Everyone believes they look identical but when you stick them next to each other they are not even close. In fact the Carnival Magic with it's lifeboats hanging off the side and promenade deck looked much more like the Breakaway than the Quantum did.

[DEIx15x8]

This was a big day for Royal Caribbean. It's the first time they have had to put there latest ship up against what the competition has to offer. Even bigger though she was docked right across from the Breakaway so everyone on both ships was looking at the two ships being offered to them out of NYC and generating ideas about if they made the right decision. Being on the Quantum of the Seas I can tell you that Royal Caribbean lost the battle. The Breakaway had a DJ on the pier along with dancers, characters, and a red carpet to welcome guests back onboard. Meanwhile on the Quantum their was a massive crowd waiting for the North Star which was broken. Instead of telling us that it was broken though they simply walked past the massive line and would say they'd find out and let us know but instead each one chose to sneak down the other side. Eventually after a lot of yelling and complaining somebody finally decided to make a statement, North Star was still broken. So while everybody was being ignored waiting in line for the continuously broken North Star they were staring out at the Breakway and talking about how much better of an experience everyone on that ship appeared to be having. Considering that the people on the Breakaway were not hearing anything from our ship and North Star wasn't running I'm a bit doubtful the same was being said over there.

 

I have to say though, that personally i still don't see the appeal of the Breakaway, specifically the rope thing. It just looks ugly on top of the ship and everyone on it seemed to just be going through the motions. Nobody really seemed to be smiling and having a good time on it.

 

Carnival seemed to be a distant third though, so at least Royal can say they beat a 5 year old ship with a design dating back 15 years. They did eventually do some test runs with the North Star so the other ships could see it but it was empty and clearly not working. The excuse for this day was that the software was bad and they had to go to an older version that then had to be approved to run since it was not considered as safe. A great reason to be giving to guests.

 

Eventually the Carnival Magic left with the sun.

 

Then shortly afterwards so did the Breakaway.

[DEIx15x8]

We were in port for several hours after them. At 7pm they finally got the North Star working and I got on the first ride. Unfortunately that meant I couldn't look down on the competition like I had hoped, but it was still a nice sight to see.

 

This night since it was Thanksgiving they served a Thanksgiving meal in every venue onboard. I already booked American Icon just to be certain we would have one so it was the standard Thanksgiving Dinner offered every night. They also offered pumpkin pie for desert. On the Indy it was simply a slice like you would expect. On the Quantum though they were individual pies and the crust was so sweet and delicious. It was a great desert and one they should seriously consider adding to one of the menus.

Quantum:

Indy:

[A&L_Ont]

DEI, great review. Those pumpkin pies look great, and I don't like pumpkin pie.

 

Just curious, was the rain that did all the flooding a torrential rain or just enough or too much at the wrong angle? Needless to say it did a lot of flooding. It was nice to hear how the crew worked together with this issue.

 

On a side the we were on Oasis for Thanksgiving and they too put out their Christmas tree. It was a free standng one, with no cables that I could see visible. They did put more than just one tree.

 

I look forward to reading the rest of your review.

Andrew

[DEIx15x8]

DEI, great review. Those pumpkin pies look great, and I don't like pumpkin pie.

 

Just curious, was the rain that did all the flooding a torrential rain or just enough or too much at the wrong angle? Needless to say it did a lot of flooding. It was nice to hear how the crew worked together with this issue.

 

On a side the we were on Oasis for Thanksgiving and they too put out their Christmas tree. It was a free standng one, with no cables that I could see visible. They did put more than just one tree.

 

I look forward to reading the rest of your review.

Andrew

 

It was a torrential rain. The decks were flooding pretty good. I think it was a combination of just enough angle (angled towards the aft as the ship sailed into it) combined with the drains by the doors not working good enough that led to the flooding. In the one picture I posted they had a vacuum actually running to suck the water out of the drain at the door to help keep it from flooding in.

If you stayed in the indoor pools things were beautiful though!

 

Interesting about the Oasis tree. Wonder if they got a new style of trees that they are using throughout the fleet now with a heavier base. Regardless of the build of the tree though I'm still not sure I would trust it without any lines.