Any Suggestions from past Quantum Cruisers?

[gillyd42]

Grear! Thanks for these helpful suggestions...We will try to remain open minded...I was getting worried so we made reservations for about half the trip (Chic, Jamies, American Icon, Izumi and some of these times two)...The rest we have left open for Windjammer (WJ) (which in the past has not been bad for a buffet dinner) altho I have heard that is not the traditional WJ. I believe that not having assistant waiters is a mistake...we are ust to long diiners on RC but three hours is stretching it a bit.

 

On the Christmas cruise they re-introduced assistant waiters on two of the nights we visited American icon. There seemed to be an appreciation of how busy each waiter was and was implemented to ease the pressure on the dining room.

 

On Christmas they had additional choices for dinner (holiday menu), and another night we visited there were additional choices more like the staples from the old mdr.

 

Keep an open mind on DD, make sure that you vary your restaurants, don't visit twice in a row etc. We didn't enjoy Chic, down to choice but loved Silk. Unfortunately only booked Silk once and couldn't get back in there due to popularity.

 

The concierge also helped us to change our reservation for Xmas day, found all the restaurants to be very accommodating.

 

Overall, Jamies came out tops for us, no up-selling, great service, amazing foods and the best desserts ever....

 

Silk tried to up sell water and beer, and our waiter seemed a little uncomfortable going through his little speech to try and up-sell, felt sorry for the guy and RCI shouldn't impose this on us. If I want a beer or "premium" water I will ask for it..

 

Relax and enjoy - sometimes reading too many reviews can create an unrealistic expectation.

[KS Sunflower]

Having been to France several times, I have found the people in France more friendly than the people on Martinique. I don't speak any French but usually can find someone who speaks English, usually younger people.

[funNsun4me]

We were on the December 1st sailing. I don't know if they have fixed the problems yet but the RCI app often indicated we did not have dinner reservations when we did. The first night it happened to us we discovered that the host at the desk of the restaurant could still see our reservation on the computer screen there even though the app indicated we had no reservation.

 

I finally just added all of our reservations to my phone calendar to keep from going back to our room to check times on the paper printout I had made before leaving home. I would still suggest printing out all your reservations, just in case an issue arises while at sea.

 

 

We clearly are in the minority but enjoyed a laid back day in Martinique. We did a self-guided walking tour of the food market, cathedral, library, etc and enjoyed some great drink and crepes at a little kiosk bordering the park. We saw a group of dancers in the main square and also some dancers at the port area. The port was very convenient to the ferries and to town (much better than where NCL was docked on the other side of the fort).

 

You should come on over to our roll-call for this sailing:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1852158&page=258

[rvcruz]

I have received a lot of info about Martinque. One responder cautioned not to lump all people into one basket. And normally I would agree except for Paris which does have near universal opinion for rudeness. As a side note we will be visting Patis this summer for a day and am looking forward to the experience NOT. So I will try my high school French in Martinque. So we will wander as we have never been.

[ECUTeacher97]

Here are my suggestions based on last weeks cruise....

1) Check your reservations with the restaurant EACH day before your reservation time. We had several mix ups and were frequently not able to eat at the same table (*party of 13)

2) Know that different evenings at the same restaurant do not equate with equal service or food quality. We ate at Grande nights one and six and the sixth night was a much more enjoyable experience and the food was exceptional.

3) If you want to roller skate/bumper car, etc...be prepared to wait in a line and arrive early. The roller skating filled up fast and they turned people away.

4) Solarium fills up pretty fast in the am with people reserving seats and the Gym was very crowded.

5) Reservations, shore excursions, spa appointments and fitness classes filled up extremely quickly after we set sail and it was hard to find anything available.

6) Cafe 270 was excellent each day- breakfast and lunch. My family also said that Devinly Decadence was excellent for breakfast. I was honestly disappointed with Windjammer.

That's all I can think of right now...feel free to message me with any questions and have a great time!!

[OTownNick]

Thanks for info about Martinque..we might just wander around as we are budgeting our spending money. I think we are getting off at Labadee...St. Martin...St Kitts...Martinque and Barbados..I am San Juaned out and dont want to run the gauntlet of tour/taxi drivers and vendors that always seem to be there to harange us. We are scheduled for a tour to Orient Beach.

 

We went to. Martinique last year and did a ships tour to St Pierre and Rum distillery. It was really nice to see the old church, the rain forest, the town that got destroyed by the volcano, and even a museum about the My Pelee eruption. The grounds of the rum distillery were beautiful and they had plenty of free samples. Rum was good (DePaz distillery) and they spoke English and accepted USD. Rum was not expensive either.

 

We heard the horror stories about Martinique and were skeptical. Well, we were pleasantly surprised.mit was really nice.

[ChristieNJ]

 

How abour St. Kitts? It is an English island. Nice beaches?

 

 

 

St. Kitts is absolutely beautiful!!! We've been to Shipwreck Beach...what a gorgeous little crystal green beach at the base of a mountain, complete with monkeys! Paradise! Also my husband went to Cockleshell this past time (my daughter was quarantined so I couldn't go) and he said it was as gorgeous as Shipwreck. Beautiful island!!

 

 

***Christie***