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

[DEIx15x8]

Here is the Two70º Technology Tour that took place on 11/29 as part of the inaugural sailing. They didn't do one on the 11 night sailing for some reason. Not sure why they call it a tour since it's more of a talk or Q&A session but in either case it was still a nice event, better than either Captain's Corner IMO. It featured several crew members from various roles within Two70º introducing themselves, explaining a bit about how the venue operates, and then answering questions.

[YOUTUBE]PCVr_Uv3Uhk[/YOUTUBE]

[DEIx15x8]

Not really a review or content, but thought I would give an update on the tour video. I have it fully edited and the "you are here" marker all done. I have an audio only version exported that is currently uploading to Youtube to verify that I won't have any issues because of venue background audio. Once that passes I just have to split the video in half and run a real export. It's a huge project so I thought I'd share these two photos.

 

This is what it looks like when I'm editing. The PC has all the videos so that I can find what I need, the MacBook hooked to the monitor is editing the tour video with the monitor allowing me to more easily see and position the marker, the other Mac is then working on the rest of the video series'. Oh, and the TV is watching Doctor Who, lol.

 

Here is an example of the "you are here" marker's keyframes for just one floor. This is deck 4. For every grey square there are 2 keyframes that were manually placed and this was done for every deck that has public spaces so you can imagine how many keyframes that is. That step alone took about 18 hours.

[CrusinAgain]

Could you tell me where can I get ice tea besides when the Wind Jammer is opened? We are going on the January 11th sailing.

[DEIx15x8]

Could you tell me where can I get ice tea besides when the Wind Jammer is opened? We are going on the January 11th sailing.

 

I only do complimentary drinks so I used these a lot. I can't tell you specifically ice tea as the machines tend to rotate offerings depending on the day and time, but I can tell you where you can get drinks.

-The Windjammer of course offers free drinks 24 hours a day and has multiple machines so at least one usually has each of the different drink offerings at any given time.

-Cafe Promenade offers just coffee and water unfortunately

-Cafe@Two70º offers free drinks when open, which is for breakfast and then lunch into early evening

 

Unfortunately that's about it. The dining rooms also obviously offer ice tea as well. The SeaPlex Dog House unfortunately (and stupidly IMO) only offers a coke freestyle machine so if you want a drink and a hot dog you have to take it to the Windjammer or stop their first. I still believe they should add drink machines to the Cafe Promenade. Can't tell you how many times I went to the Windjammer at 3am just to get a drink to take to Sorrento's for a late night snack. It's a big ship, and complimentary drink locations seems to have been a weak point for Royal Caribbean for as long as I've sailed with them. I can say though that Quantum does offer complimentary drinks 24 hours a day which is a step up from the Voyager, Freedom, and Oasis class ships which don't have anywhere to get a drink at night.

Edited December 28, 2014 by DEIx15x8

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks so much for that quick response. It would be nice to have the drinks at Cafe Promenade but Windjammer is fine.

[seeshore]

Derek-Keep up the great work. I for one appreciate all the effort you put into your reviews. Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited December 28, 2014 by seeshore

[A&L_Ont]

Not really a review or content, but thought I would give an update on the tour video. I have it fully edited and the "you are here" marker all done. I have an audio only version exported that is currently uploading to Youtube to verify that I won't have any issues because of venue background audio. Once that passes I just have to split the video in half and run a real export. It's a huge project so I thought I'd share these two photos.

 

This is what it looks like when I'm editing. The PC has all the videos so that I can find what I need, the MacBook hooked to the monitor is editing the tour video with the monitor allowing me to more easily see and position the marker, the other Mac is then working on the rest of the video series'. Oh, and the TV is watching Doctor Who, lol.

 

Here is an example of the "you are here" marker's keyframes for just one floor. This is deck 4. For every grey square there are 2 keyframes that were manually placed and this was done for every deck that has public spaces so you can imagine how many keyframes that is. That step alone took about 18 hours.

 

OK, this is most the most hi tech review I have ever read on CC. Derek, from the photography to the written detail, your review has been amazing. I can't wait to read the rest of it.

 

Andrew

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Not really a review or content, but thought I would give an update on the tour video. I have it fully edited and the "you are here" marker all done. I have an audio only version exported that is currently uploading to Youtube to verify that I won't have any issues because of venue background audio. Once that passes I just have to split the video in half and run a real export. It's a huge project so I thought I'd share these two photos.

 

This is what it looks like when I'm editing. The PC has all the videos so that I can find what I need, the MacBook hooked to the monitor is editing the tour video with the monitor allowing me to more easily see and position the marker, the other Mac is then working on the rest of the video series'. Oh, and the TV is watching Doctor Who, lol.

 

Here is an example of the "you are here" marker's keyframes for just one floor. This is deck 4. For every grey square there are 2 keyframes that were manually placed and this was done for every deck that has public spaces so you can imagine how many keyframes that is. That step alone took about 18 hours.

 

Wow. Thanks for doing this! I really wish I had the patience to do things like that! :D

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Not really a review or content, but thought I would give an update on the tour video. I have it fully edited and the "you are here" marker all done. I have an audio only version exported that is currently uploading to Youtube to verify that I won't have any issues because of venue background audio. Once that passes I just have to split the video in half and run a real export. It's a huge project so I thought I'd share these two photos.

 

This is what it looks like when I'm editing. The PC has all the videos so that I can find what I need, the MacBook hooked to the monitor is editing the tour video with the monitor allowing me to more easily see and position the marker, the other Mac is then working on the rest of the video series'. Oh, and the TV is watching Doctor Who, lol.

 

Here is an example of the "you are here" marker's keyframes for just one floor. This is deck 4. For every grey square there are 2 keyframes that were manually placed and this was done for every deck that has public spaces so you can imagine how many keyframes that is. That step alone took about 18 hours.

 

Wow. Thanks for doing this! I really wish I had the patience to do things like that! :D

[CrusinAgain]

Learning alot from all of your effort here and its much appreciated. :)

 

Do you remember if they offered a laundry special where it allowed jeans and tops to go in a bag instead of the per piece price? I know Oasis and Allure has a laundry special for little things for $30 but not for pants and tops. It is getting close and trying not to overpack. Thanks so much!

[DEIx15x8]

Learning alot from all of your effort here and its much appreciated. :)

 

Do you remember if they offered a laundry special where it allowed jeans and tops to go in a bag instead of the per piece price? I know Oasis and Allure has a laundry special for little things for $30 but not for pants and tops. It is getting close and trying not to overpack. Thanks so much!

 

Yes, I believe it was day 3 on both our 8 night and 11 night sailings that they offered the $30 laundry bag. Fill it with whatever you want washed and fill out the card with how many of each type of item for just $30 per bag. C&A laundry discount can be used for these as well. We used it on our second sailing and actually did two bags. They messed up the C&A discount though and guest services spent several days trying to get it straitened out. Person A has a diamond discount while B and C had Emerald. We marked one bag with name A and the other name B. Both were charged to name C with their Emerald discount. No idea how they did that, but it meant one of the discounts wasn't correct. The people in the laundry area weren't responding to guest services at all so on the last night when they finally had to do something about it they ended up just voiding one whole bag charge which was a much bigger savings than the discount so they certainly handled it nicely in the end. It was more of an issue with my account and the diamond status not properly taking effect though than an issue with their system so I wouldn't expect any kind of problem under normal circumstances. I'll mention more of these account issues with the second sailing later. They were really the only issues we ran into that sailing.

[Dave85]

They messed up the C&A discount though and guest services spent several days trying to get it straitened out. Person A has a diamond discount while B and C had Emerald. We marked one bag with name A and the other name B. Both were charged to name C with their Emerald discount. No idea how they did that, but it meant one of the discounts wasn't correct.

 

 

Was person C the first name listed on the reservation / cabin account? Might explain the wackiness... I could see them punching in cabin XXXX and writing down the first name that pops up without contemplating any possible differences in C&A statuses within the room. Still unusual though.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[DEIx15x8]

Was person C the first name listed on the reservation / cabin account? Might explain the wackiness... I could see them punching in cabin XXXX and writing down the first name that pops up without contemplating any possible differences in C&A statuses within the room. Still unusual though.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

 

The diamond member was the first on the reservation. The person whose name it was put under was the one the credit card was attached to and permission was granted to the other two people to use it. I'm thinking the system likely looked for that individuals discount. It did apply it to each bag though instead of just once which was a bit odd if it thought it was all one person.

[DEIx15x8]

btw, An update on last night's youtube test. The audio was flagged in four places. Three of them were the dynamic dinning rooms which I kind of expected since they were so quiet but had blasting music. The fourth was in the library which was a bit odd since the rest of Two70 wasn't flagged for the same song. When I compared the clips other ones seemed to go up and down in volume as I rotated, that one did not. I ran a test of manually introducing that effect into the clip and tested that one minute sample and it passed. I'll have to try it again with the full clip and the effect applied to the other three sections, but if it works it's a rather small effect that is barely noticeable. Much better than simply removing the audio which loses the atmosphere of the venue. If it gets flagged later Youtube has that ability built in so I'll be forced to remove that audio, but hopefully this is all it'll take to get the video approved.

[Tall-Cruiser]

Derek - Great review and details. Enjoyed watching the Coffee Chat with Jimmy as well. Thanks for sharing and Happy Holidays.

[CrusinAgain]

Yes, I believe it was day 3 on both our 8 night and 11 night sailings that they offered the $30 laundry bag. Fill it with whatever you want washed and fill out the card with how many of each type of item for just $30 per bag. C&A laundry discount can be used for these as well. We used it on our second sailing and actually did two bags. They messed up the C&A discount though and guest services spent several days trying to get it straitened out. Person A has a diamond discount while B and C had Emerald. We marked one bag with name A and the other name B. Both were charged to name C with their Emerald discount. No idea how they did that, but it meant one of the discounts wasn't correct. The people in the laundry area weren't responding to guest services at all so on the last night when they finally had to do something about it they ended up just voiding one whole bag charge which was a much bigger savings than the discount so they certainly handled it nicely in the end. It was more of an issue with my account and the diamond status not properly taking effect though than an issue with their system so I wouldn't expect any kind of problem under normal circumstances. I'll mention more of these account issues with the second sailing later. They were really the only issues we ran into that sailing.

 

Ours is a 12 night cruise. So you only saw this on day 3 on your 11 day one? Did you get charged for any pants by the piece or as a bundle deal. I know the sheet I am looking at from the Oasis and Allure say that pants and tops are charged separately so basically only pj's, undies, gowns, and tee shirts in the bag for $30 from Oasis and Allure.

 

It sure would be nice for Royal to do like HAL does is offer a flat rate for unlimited laundry which is like $49 for the week which comes in nice for a longer cruise.

[DEIx15x8]

Ours is a 12 night cruise. So you only saw this on day 3 on your 11 day one? Did you get charged for any pants by the piece or as a bundle deal. I know the sheet I am looking at from the Oasis and Allure say that pants and tops are charged separately so basically only pj's, undies, gowns, and tee shirts in the bag for $30 from Oasis and Allure.

 

It sure would be nice for Royal to do like HAL does is offer a flat rate for unlimited laundry which is like $49 for the week which comes in nice for a longer cruise.

 

They may have repeated it on day 5, but I can't confirm that for sure. It's run the same as other ships. We were told how they actually do it. A person is = assigned to handle this deal and all they do is pour each bag into a laundry machine one at a time and wash them. They then fold the clothes and put them back in the bag. If you mix lights and darks anything that may happen is on you, and I believe that may be why they don't do pants as part of the deal. I personally don't remember hearing of any exclusions but I know it was nothing special for Quantum so if your paper for Allure says exclusions I would assume the same is true here.

[DEIx15x8]

What I thought fixed the audio just delayed it being detected so I'm still working on that.

 

I have a big video update today though, all four RoboShows! They started playing Perspective and Dance back to back on Day 6 of the inaugural sailing every hour in Two70 as part of the revised Compass after we missed CocoCay. They then continued it through the 11 night sailing and I'd assume every sailing since. During the 11 night sailing I saw the robots in a weird configuration the one day and asked the guy working on them about it and he said it was for a new RoboShow that he was working on. He had his part done but the graphics people still had to come onboard to do their part, but if they got it ready they'd try to show it before the end of the sailing. They managed to pull it off and showed two new RoboShows just once during the first performance on the very last day. For a first performance The Heist was in surprisingly nice shape while Robo Science being the most complex and IMO impressive show of them all obviously still has a lot of work to go. The team responsible for them are perfectionists and are continuously improving though. The one day the guy told me that we was premiering a brand new version of Dance but nobody would know except him because the tweaks were so minor but it tightened some of the rotations and other movements. Once Robo Science is complete it will be truly mind blowing, it already is in this early state.

 

You can watch all four in this playlist:

 

Or individually:

Perspective

[YOUTUBE]ovH03f_oMuU[/YOUTUBE]

 

Dance

[YOUTUBE]2Ki9dphzG7s[/YOUTUBE]

 

The Heist

[YOUTUBE]egt7rYfPSMA[/YOUTUBE]

 

Robo Science

[YOUTUBE]EjgeEgNYYCY[/YOUTUBE]

 

These videos do a nice job of showing how cool the shows are, but nothing can capture the amount of minor movements they do in person. When on board be sure to check them out at least once. The best spot is directly in front on the upper level at the tables. That is where the perspective is designed from. If the team is still onboard and you visit Two70º at night you'll see them all setup working their. The Balcony offers the nicest view of the Robots but the perspective is obviously off a bit from up there.

 

I have to say they truly impressed me and I enjoyed them, but running them hourly for so many days with the same 2 shows back to back every time I was honestly starting to go crazy by the end and I think a lot of other people were to. Hearing Dance in particular was becoming torture. Once they get the other two into the rotation though and hopefully continue expanding as I'm sure Anthem and Ovation will add additional ones that problem should go away.

[CrusinAgain]

They may have repeated it on day 5, but I can't confirm that for sure. It's run the same as other ships. We were told how they actually do it. A person is = assigned to handle this deal and all they do is pour each bag into a laundry machine one at a time and wash them. They then fold the clothes and put them back in the bag. If you mix lights and darks anything that may happen is on you, and I believe that may be why they don't do pants as part of the deal. I personally don't remember hearing of any exclusions but I know it was nothing special for Quantum so if your paper for Allure says exclusions I would assume the same is true here.

 

Awwww.....makes sense now. Thank you.

 

Enjoyed the robotics shows....thank you! We can't wait!

[DEIx15x8]

Awwww.....makes sense now. Thank you.

 

Enjoyed the robotics shows....thank you! We can't wait!

 

Enjoy your cruise, be sure to see the robots in person. It's even more impressive when you can properly grasp the turning of them for the perspective show.

[DEIx15x8]

Another day of Two70º technology! Today I've got some Vistarama videos.

 

You can watch the full playlist here:

 

Or individually:

Gatsby Party into Fireworks

[YOUTUBE]Cib9vpfzVHU[/YOUTUBE]

This was filmed on the inaugural when they did what appeared to be a trial run of transitioning into Starwater Act 2 (The Gatsby Party). That lasted a few minuted until he fireworks began with a very slick kickoff by Jimmy Rhodes and then it became the usual Two70º night club that runs every night.

 

Impossible City

[YOUTUBE]ckyVqXSRi0Y[/YOUTUBE]

Possibly the coolest video you will ever see projected on a wall. Taking complete control of the wall and the lighting system the room looks out upon all the landmarks of the world as the sun rises and sets.

 

Outer Space

[YOUTUBE]mvgEvGgUloM[/YOUTUBE]

This one is rather basic with a simple view out to space as meteors and satellites zoom by. It does feature it's own soundtrack though and does the 3D space nicely.

 

Virtual Concert: Santa fe & The Fat City Horns

[YOUTUBE]A6x7l10pm4k[/YOUTUBE]

This was the premiere of the Virtual Concert concept. Taking advantage of the theater lighting in Two70º combined with the vistaramas and robots they turn the windows into a concert stage that extends from the theater.

 

On the surface the vistaramas sound like their just a giant imax theater, but it's not. The quality is far beyond an imax video. They have 18 8K projects which likely makes it the highest quality projected wall in the world. It goes beyond simply projecting and image though, the images are generated in 3D space so that they conform the the shape of the room as if you were really looking out. I think this was most impressive in the Outer Space one. But what really makes them shine is the use of the rooms lighting system. If you watch the Impossible City not only does it have an incredibly detailed city that is alive, but as the sun transitions across the sky the entire room transitions with it. It is incredible to see, and neat to see people's reactions when they finally realize that the room is changing. It happens so smoothly that most don't realize it for awhile. Like the RoboShows though these require a lot of time and effect to get right. The team was working every night to make them better. For some reason we never saw the airship one or the underwater one (likely didn't run that one since their were no kids, not sure when they would though). They usually ran each night after Starter until about midnight before the techs took over. During the 11 night sailing they premiered the Virtual Concerts concept. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The lighting was nice and was made to look like the video's lighting so they would flow together but the use of robots just took you out of it. They would suddenly take people off the vistarama and put them on the bots instead. It was a bit weird. They would have been better off using the robots as simply a video monitor like many concerts have and show closeups on their while leaving them in their place on stage. I've never seen a real concert where the band members would suddenly vanish and reappear on stage so it certainly ruined any realism they were working towards. It was the very first run though, so I'm sure like everything else in Two70º they'll keep looking at it and tweaking it. Not sure if there will be more virtual concerts, didn't hear any other artists mentioned so this may be it. Maybe Anthem and Ovation will each add another.

 

Over all the vistaramas IMO lived up to their promises and certainly impressed. There is a little bit of positioning that matters, if you go off to the side the window frames can start to cast some lines, but nothing major. Up close though the detail is still amazing and I can even zoom my camera in on the screen without any blurring and pixelating so they truly are high quality projectors.

Edited December 30, 2014 by DEIx15x8

[DEIx15x8]

The lifeboat crew drill video is available today. It shows them lowering lifeboats, driving around, and then loading them back into place. It really is a completely different way of doing it. The lifeboats have three stages, stored position on the deck, loading, and then lowering. The entire area is setup for loading at all times so all they have to do is move it into the loading position and the ramps are already in place they simply raise and lock the railings. This took place on the second sailing while we were in Barbados on December 7th.

 

[YOUTUBE]e1rRiWvBp14[/YOUTUBE]

 

As a bonus if your interested in this, by comparison here is an older video that I posted a while back of the same event on the Independence of the Seas nearly exactly 2 years earlier on December 4th 2012 in Nassau.

[YOUTUBE]Cx7H84YDEIM[/YOUTUBE]

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks so much for that about the lifeboats. Interesting. You have done a wonderful job informing us about everything. I can't wait until next week.:)

 

Toiletries: Did they provide the shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel lbottles like Oasis and Allure? I haven't found a picture of the inside of your bathroom yet and I am started from the beginning and now leaving Marinque now in your pics.

[DEIx15x8]

Thanks so much for that about the lifeboats. Interesting. You have done a wonderful job informing us about everything. I can't wait until next week.:)

 

Toiletries: Did they provide the shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel lbottles like Oasis and Allure? I haven't found a picture of the inside of your bathroom yet and I am started from the beginning and now leaving Marinque now in your pics.

 

Thanks for checking everything out, glad your enjoying it and finding it useful! Enjoy the Quantum, she is easily my favorite ship design and the best shows in the world.

 

Unfortunately, I just double checked and I don't have any pictures of the bathroom. It's so small it's often hard for me to get a good meaningful picture of it. I travel with my parents so i usually get about 2 minutes to get in the cabin before them and take a quick video during which I snap some pictures. If your already up to Martinique (I'm impressed you actually looked at that many!) you've already seen the cabin photos from day 1. I'm not sure how I'll use my cabin video, possibly in theCruiseView, so I just snapped a vine of the bathroom portion of it for you. I was going to take a few screenshots but i think the vine will be more helpful and easier to understand than a picture.

https://vine.co/v/OwtVvU9Dqwz

 

The shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel were handled exactly like the Oasis was (though we were on her 5 years ago). They provided the little bottles on the counter. We put them in the shower as we needed them but the cabin steward kept the counter restocked automatically. We mentioned that we use more shower gel than usual so she made sure we always had an extra bottle of that. I know some people have said they needed to request it be refilled but we never did and they were automatically there. On the Indy 2 years ago as well as the Grandeur we had to request the bottles.

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks for checking everything out, glad your enjoying it and finding it useful! Enjoy the Quantum, she is easily my favorite ship design and the best shows in the world.

 

Unfortunately, I just double checked and I don't have any pictures of the bathroom. It's so small it's often hard for me to get a good meaningful picture of it. I travel with my parents so i usually get about 2 minutes to get in the cabin before them and take a quick video during which I snap some pictures. If your already up to Martinique (I'm impressed you actually looked at that many!) you've already seen the cabin photos from day 1. I'm not sure how I'll use my cabin video, possibly in theCruiseView, so I just snapped a vine of the bathroom portion of it for you. I was going to take a few screenshots but i think the vine will be more helpful and easier to understand than a picture.

https://vine.co/v/OwtVvU9Dqwz

 

The shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel were handled exactly like the Oasis was (though we were on her 5 years ago). They provided the little bottles on the counter. We put them in the shower as we needed them but the cabin steward kept the counter restocked automatically. We mentioned that we use more shower gel than usual so she made sure we always had an extra bottle of that. I know some people have said they needed to request it be refilled but we never did and they were automatically there. On the Indy 2 years ago as well as the Grandeur we had to request the bottles.

 

Super thanks so much. I saw what I needed to see in that quick video and glad I don't need to take the those toiletries. Was your cabin on deck 13? If so, did you hear noise from above? We will be close to the front on that deck under the solarium.