Review - Quantum of the Seas - February 2015

[Noreen411]

February 2015 – Royal Caribbean – Quantum of the Seas – Eastern Caribbean Cruise - Noreen & Scott Stecker

 

WHO ARE WE?

Noreen - 46 years old; Senior Vice President at an Investment Banking Firm in New York City. I will be the author of the report.

Scott – 45 years old; my husband, Independent Contractor in New Jersey

The Group – There are an additional group of people who will be on the cruise with us. I know most of them. Many are part of the group I met on the Explorer cruise February 2011

I will add this disclaimer up front…I’m doing much of this from memory. I planned to take some notes as I went along and did so more in the beginning of the trip. I kept thinking I would remember everything, but I’ve definitely forgotten some of it.

PERSONAL HISTORY

If you have read my prior reports you may remember that my first husband Paul passed away unexpectedly on December 18, 2010 at the age of 42. That was a huge shock. He died of a massive heart attack. Paul and I used to travel all the time. Disney World and Cruising were our favorite vacations. After Paul died I was devastated. I didn’t know how I would go on without my best friend. Paul and I knew each other since we were 10 years old. I did all the things I was supposed to do – I kept myself busy, I joined a support group, but life just wasn’t fun anymore. I was going through the motions of living. I thought that would be it forever.

Scott and I met when he came to fix the garage overhang that collapsed at my house. One of the ladies I work with knew him and sent him over. He fixed that and started doing some other work around the house for me. Little by little we became friends. I would tell him all about Paul and he started telling me about his ex-wife.

As time went by we became better and better friends. He became my best friend. He was someone I would talk to about anything and everything. We would spend hours on the phone. He used to say to me that he never had a relationship like this before, I was his best friend, and he didn’t want to do anything to ruin it.

The day after Christmas 2012 he said he didn’t want to be my friend anymore. I was very upset and didn’t understand why. He told me he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore because he’s in love with me, wants to spend the rest of his life with me, and wants to marry me.

Our relationship was a whirlwind after that. We never really dated. We went from being friends to planning a wedding. It was the second wedding for both of us. We tossed around a lot of ideas and decided we both already did the big wedding; we wanted to do something for us. We chose to get married on the Beach at the Atlantis in the Bahamas. It was perfect and I highly recommend it.

Bringing our furry four legged children together was a challenge. I had a dog – a beautiful Akita named Kiki. He has 3 cats – Pebbles, Portia, and Piper. Their first meeting did not go well. We eventually got it figured out and everyone ended up having their space. Another sad event was that we lost Kiki November 20, 2014. She would have been 14 years old December 25, 2014. My vet told me she was the oldest Akita he had ever met. She was having some issues with the back legs but that was fairly normal for a dog her age so was going for various treatments. Other than that she was pretty healthy. She had to have emergency surgery November 20, 2014 because her stomach twisted. She didn’t make it. That was so hard for me since I had Kiki since she was 3 months old. She went through so much with me. Even Scott took her death very hard since he developed a great relationship with her.

PLANNING/HISTORY

When I heard about the Quantum I knew I wanted to book it as soon as it became available for booking. Scott has never been on a cruise before and never really had any interest in it. I showed him all the ads/brochures on Quantum and he said it sounded like fun. I’m anxious to see how he likes his first cruise. Hopefully he’ll enjoy it and want to do many more (especially since I already have Anthem of the Seas booked for next year).

The Cruise

The Quantum Itinerary is as follows:

Monday – Leave from Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne New Jersey

Tuesday – At Sea

Wednesday – At Sea

Thursday –Labadee - 9am-5pm

Friday - San Juan – 3pm-11pm

Saturday – St Thomas – 8am-5pm

Sunday - St Kitts – 8am-5pm

Monday – St. Maarten – 8am-5pm

Tuesday – At Sea

Wednesday – At Sea

Thursday – At Sea

Friday - Return to Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne New Jersey

Transportation

 

We live in Northern New Jersey (Bergen County) so can just drive down to Bayonne for the cruise and park at the pier.

Dining

I’ve usually done fixed dining in the past. I’ve had great luck with it and usually ended up at fun tables and met some very nice tablemates. Dynamic Dining will be new and I’m looking forward to trying it. Since we are part of a bigger group, our travel agent who will also be on the cruise with us as part of the group, was able to arrange rotational dining for the group. So it’s basically like fixed dining but rotating around the different included restaurants. I also booked a few specialty dining restaurants for Scott and I just so he can see what that’s like too. I booked Wonderland, Chops, and Jamie’s Italian.

I purchased the Royal Replenish package for each of us. I had it on a prior cruise and thought it worked well for me. I suggested to Scott that he get an alcohol package but he didn’t think he would drink enough for it to be worth it. While he may have a night or two where he drinks enough for it to make financial sense, he wouldn’t keep up that pace for 11 nights. We also have the Diamond drinks nightly as well. He’s pretty basic with what he drinks – usually either Beefeater & Tonic or a shot of Cuervo Gold or a glass of wine sometimes. So we’ll go with Royal Replenish and if he feels he’s drinking more than he expected we’ll upgrade him

Entertainment

Somewhat similar to my cruise on Oasis, we are able to book entertainment in advance. I booked Mama Mia, Star Water, Sonic Odyssey, and the Guest Entertainer. However, that’s only 4 nights out of an 11 night cruise. I’m not sure what other evening entertainment there will be. I’m sure we can amuse ourselves, but I’m expecting more to come as it gets closer to sailing.

I also was able to book IFly for us (the sky diving simulator) for the first sea day.

Excursions

 

While the ports for this sailing aren’t the most exciting and are places I’ve been to several times already, it’s all new for Scott. I’m trying to remember what I wanted to do the first time I went to any of these islands. I’ve asked him what he wants to do and he basically said whatever I want to do is fine.

Scott told me he isn’t a fan of a structured tour where we’re told to get on the bus then off the bus. I’m not a huge fan of that myself so I reserved rental cars for us in St Maarten, St Thomas, and St Kitts. That way we can hit the highlights and be on our own schedule. Both St Maarten and St Thomas I was able to reserve cars right near the pier. However, the only available car I found in St Kitts is at the airport. That means we need a cab to the airport to get the car, then the same on the way back. I may rethink our plans for St Kitts if I can’t get a more convenient car rental.

 

To Be Continued...

[Noreen411]

DAY BY DAY

The week before the trip

A huge blizzard was predicted for Monday night (1/26) and roads were closing and mass transportation was shutting down that evening. The predictions were for 2 feet or so of snow. To our pleasant surprise it ended up being about 9 inches.

I spent Monday night (once I got home) pulling out clothes and doing a little fashion show of the dinner outfits and bathing suits I wanted to bring.

I suggested Scott do the same so we started going through his closet to find clothes. We realized we needed to go shopping and get him some more clothes to bring.

Later in the week we made it out to a few stores to get some more clothes for Scott to bring.

I added the AT&T cell phone cruise ship package to make calls at Sea using “Cellular at Sea”. It cost $30 for 50 minutes of talk time. Scott wanted to check in on his father who has been sick and also he needed to check in with the business. He has Verizon so didn’t think his phone would work.

The day before the trip – Sunday 2/1/15

This was Super Bowl Sunday. I don’t follow football so was perfectly happy to spend my evening packing. Scott worked during the day, and then went to watch some of the Super Bowl. He was so cute, calling to see if I minded if he went to watch for a little while instead of coming straight home to help me pack. I told him to go ahead. I had packing to do and was perfectly happy home with my lists and suitcases all spread out just waiting for me to fill them.

There were predictions for more snow tonight during the game and throughout the night. Scott thought we should take his truck rather than my car given the weather. When he got home he packed the suitcases in his truck rather than having to do so in the morning.

Monday 2/2/15 – Embark

It snowed overnight. Since the landscapers who usually come to snow plow/snow blow for us wouldn’t be by until a little later, Scott shoveled a little path for us to get out. It was still snowing in the morning.

We left approximately 10:30am. As we were driving south towards Bayonne, while it was snowing near us, it turned to sleet, then freezing rain as we kept going south. It took maybe 45 minutes or so to get to Bayonne. The line of cars to drop luggage was long and it took maybe another 45 minutes to drop our luggage and park the car. Once we parked and walked into the terminal security was very quick.

The checks in lines were very disorganized. With the delay dropping luggage we were at the terminal during our check-in window. A woman directed us to sit in chairs and said the lady with the tablet would be by to check us in. We sat and waited. Others started coming into the row with chairs we were in and just jumping ahead to the lady with the tablet. I went back to the woman who directed us there and asked if there was a different “line” we could stand in since this wasn’t working. She saw what was happening and took us with her to the end of the terminal to a woman who checked us right in. I know this is supposed to be more advanced but it seemed the passengers weren’t following directions making it harder for everyone. A suggestion would be to just go back to the lines they had in the past whether it’s by check in time/deck/C&A status and then when it’s your turn the check in agent can use their tablet to check you in. It would solve some of the confusion but still allow for the advanced technology to be used.

Since this is Scott’s first cruise, I’m even more aware of any little issues since I want to make sure he has a great experience. I think I was more frazzled by the check in process then he was.

It was nice to be able to walk right onto the ship and not have to take the shuttle bus as we previously had to do when embarking in Bayonne. As we entered the ship it was definitely a WOW to see it in person after all this time planning and reading about it.

It was a little strange to me to walk on the ship without my seapass card and just using our Set Sail pass but I knew in advance that would be the case.

We found our cabin #7654 (easy to remember since it’s like counting backwards) which is an E1 near the center of the ship. I was torn between the D vs the E when booking but have had both on the Explorer in the past and didn’t notice the space difference much. The Seapass was at the door in a sealed envelope and our wrist bands were on the bed when we entered. The cabin was smaller than I expected. The balcony was a good size. The cabin itself rather than the usual narrow rectangle was more of a square. There wasn’t a loveseat in the room, but a chair. I was worried that Scott would hate it. I warned him in advance that the cabins are small but I was surprised myself. Everything was well appointed. I knew once we got our luggage and everything put away it would be fine. Once again, I was worried and Scott took it in stride. He jokingly asked where the rest of the cabin is.

After leaving our carryon bags in the cabin we made our way to the Windjammer taking the stairs. I assumed it was on deck 11 (I’m pretty sure that’s where it is on many ships) then realized it was on 14 so we kept walking up the stairs. I liked that they had sinks to wash your hands before entering in addition to the sanitizer stands. There were many stations and everything looked fresh. We found some food to eat and sat by the bar using our Royal Replenish package to have soda with our meal. We didn’t take our cups that were in the cabin to use the machines since we were just having standard Sprite and Diet Coke. Those mugs didn’t leave our cabin the whole trip. We also found the baked fresh station where they had fresh baked cookies still warm from the oven. OMG – these cookies were delicious. Scott loves chocolate chip cookies so was in heaven

We went upstairs to the SeaPlex where the Bumper Cars were. They were running and I suggested we go on but Scott didn’t want to do it yet since we just ate.

We wandered around some more and I wanted to find the gym. We passed the spa first and ended up doing a tour of the spa. The first treatment they described was a seaweed wrap/massage where you were wrapped in foil after they put the seaweed on you then you rinsed off and had a full body massage. Scott was interested in doing that. They showed us various areas of the spa which looked very nice. They had different specials if you signed up the first day. There was a special if you wanted to sign up for the room with the heated tile loungers (not sure the official term) but if you signed up then for the duration of the cruise it was almost 2 for the price of 1. They also had discounts if you wanted to sign up for multiple different treatments, but you couldn’t share (ex. We couldn’t get the 5 package of treatments and I use 3 and Scott use 2). We passed on signing up for anything then and decided to play it by ear. I told Scott that they often have spa specials that are listed in the compass especially on port days.

We found the gym and looked around. It is a nice set up but smaller than I expected. I was disappointed that there isn’t a locker room/shower/bathroom in the gym. The nearest bathroom is one handicapped bathroom across from the gym. It’s not that big of a deal but just something I was used to from other ships fitness centers.

We walked through the different pool areas. It was funny to see the pool deck covered in snow and ice. Of course I wanted to take a picture of it and Scott almost went flying across the deck.

We met a nice couple from Ohio (John and Jodie) while walking through the Solarium and chatted with them for a while. We ran into them several times throughout the trip.

We found Two70 and Scott was looking for coffee. So we stopped at Two70 Café and used our royal replenish again for an Iced Mocha for me and a Cappuccino for him. My iced mocha was a bit too sweet for me but he enjoyed his cappuccino.

It was time for the muster drill at 3:30 which luckily was indoors. As we were walking to our station we ran into Monica (one of the ladies from the group) who was assigned the same station so I introduced her to Scott.

We stopped back at our cabin and two of our three big checked bags were there. I like to unpack and get the cabin organized so once Scott lifted the suitcases onto the bed, we got everything put away pretty quickly.

Our room steward (Christian) stopped by to introduce himself and asked if we had all our bags. We told him of the missing one and he found it pretty fast and brought it to us. We got that one unpacked too. There isn’t as much closet or drawer space as I was expecting but we found a place for everything. Once we were fully unpacked and the suitcases were under the beds the cabin seemed roomier.

I liked the shower in the cabin. It was roomier than the tube showers on most of the ships which I also liked. I would have added another wire shelf in the shower since we ended up with stuff that didn’t fit on the shelf on the shower floor. It worked fine that way. The water pressure was good too.

We had dinner reservations at 6pm with the group in Silk. I introduced Scott to everyone. I haven’t seen most of these people in two years. We were at two tables for the group of 18 or so of us. The waiter had a good suggestion of ordering multiple appetizers for the table for us to all share so that’s what we did.

We each ordered our own entrees – I had Sea Bass and Scott had Salmon. We ordered our own desserts with both of us getting the matcha pound cake.

The food was pretty good. Some things were better than others but overall pretty good. The service was good as well.

We didn’t sail until about 6:30 while we were at dinner. I’m assuming the bad weather delayed things.

After dinner we walked around the ship a bit and into a few shops just browsing around.

We went to the casino and played for a while. We both lost tonight. It’s interesting how the casino isn’t located in a major thoroughfare. Usually you pass or walk through the casino to get back and forth on many ships. Here we didn’t pass it until we went looking for it. They had our favorite table game – Let it Ride with the 3 Card Poker Bonus. They also had some poker slots that I like.

We went back to the cabin and Scott was hungry so we looked at the room service menu but nothing was appealing to him. We went up the Windjammer but there wasn’t much there that he wanted so we ended up at Sorrentos where Scott had a make our own pizza and I had one regular slice. I knew he would enjoy the make your own pizza since pizza is his favorite food (chocolate chip cookies being his favorite snack).

We went back upstairs and went to bed after our pizza.

Tuesday 2/3/15 – At Sea

I was up and at the gym when they opened at 6am. Scott stayed in the cabin sleeping. It was not crowded when I first arrived. By the time I was leaving about 7:30 it was getting more crowded.

I stopped to get a fresh orange juice to bring Scott on my way back to the cabin. When I got there he was up and just getting out of the shower. He was going to call his father and wander around the ship while I showered and got ready. We decided to meet at Divinely Decadence for breakfast at 8:30.

Scott forgot the name of the place we were supposed to meet so he was wandering around trying to remember. He got there a little after 8:30. This was when we found out we can use the Royal IQ App to “chat” with each other not using any data plans but as part of the internal Royal IQ. The “chat” is like texting. We couldn’t figure out the calling each other using the Royal IQ app but the “chat” worked fine for the few times we used it.

We enjoyed Divinely Decadence for breakfast. We were seated but it was a buffet for the food. They brought us our beverages. We were able to get fresh squeezed OJ here as well. They had yogurt and granola parfaits here which I was happy to see. That’s my normal breakfast at work. I also sampled some of the other items they had.

We wandered around some more after breakfast but the shops did not open until 10am. The patisserie was open. They have various flavored hot chocolates, Starbucks beverages, along with chocolates and pastries. The coffee place at Two70 had Seattle’s Best brand coffee drinks. We had a bananas foster hot chocolate and cappuccino both included in Royal Replenish. We didn’t see anyone buying the extra charge chocolates or cupcakes but most people were getting coffee drinks.

When the shops opened Scott wanted to get a hoodie since it was a little chilly out. He found a nice navy one that said Quantum of the Seas on it, tried it on, liked it, and we got on line to buy it. It was pretty funny because the fuzz from the inside of the hoodie stuck to his head so he had navy colored fuzz all over his head. This won’t be a problem for everyone, but he was a Marine for 10 years and still has his hair in a semi Marine haircut (just a little patch on top and shaved on the sides) so it’s kind of stubbly so the fuzz stuck to it. I thought I got most of it off him in the midst of my fits of giggles but must have missed some since the man behind us in line mentioned he had more fuzz on his head. After another round of hysterical giggles we de-fuzzed his head. Probably one of those things you have to be there for to actually find funny, but it amused me so much and even now it makes me laugh when I think about it.

Scott needed to do a little checking in with work so got the 24 hour internet package to do what he needed to. He didn’t think he needed continuous access and figured a day now, maybe a day later in the trip should be good enough.

We had IFly scheduled for 11:35am. Scott decided he didn’t want to do it but would take pictures/video of me. So I got signed in, saw the video, learned the hand gesture instructions, got suited up and was ready to go. I said that quickly but in reality that part took a while. When they sign you in, they weighed everyone to ensure no one was over the weight limit. It was done very discreetly and only the employee behind the counter saw your weight unless you looked around the counter to check. There were only about 6 people in our group so we headed to the tube and took our turns. It was a lot of fun. The instructor holds the handles on the suit to keep you where you need to be and gives you hand signals for things like keeping your chin up, moving your legs, etc. The best part is when they crank up the air, the instructor grabs on and the two of you circle up to the top of the tube and back down. Then they guide you out of the tube.

We were planning to get lunch at Two70 café – maybe the roast beef sandwiches but it was packed.

We walked past Jamie’s Italian and saw it was pretty empty. They were open for lunch so we went there instead. The restaurant is cute. However, there are good tables and bad (to me anyway). There are some booths along the wall and some tables along the Via with soft cushioned chairs (these would be the good tables) but there are also tables in the middle along the lines of a pizza place with hard metal chairs (the bad tables). While I don’t mind the hard chair for a quick slice of pizza, if I’m sitting for a longer period of time, I want a cushioned chair. We were seated in a nice booth along the windows. We started with and shared the mixed plank, the rice balls, and the fried calamari. I had the tagliatelle Bolognese and Scott had the pasta with shrimp. We shared the lemon meringue cheesecake for dessert. We both had soda. The pasta was so fresh and delicious. The waiter was very knowledgeable and attentive. We were so stuffed when we walked out of there.

We found the Michael Kors shop but they weren’t open until tomorrow. They were having a grand opening. I’m guessing they do that each cruise for some drama.

We were scheduled to see Mamma Mia at 4:30 today but there was a sick cast member and the show was cancelled and we were automatically rescheduled for later in the trip (one of the sea days on the way back to NJ)

Scott needed to do some work since he had the internet access so he went to the cabin for a bit. I wandered around, stopped in the casino for a bit, the shops, and just wandered. When I got back to the cabin Scott was taking a nap. A bottle of champagne was delivered but there was no card and we didn’t know who sent it to us.

We were still so stuffed from Jamie’s we knew we wouldn’t make it to dinner tonight so I called to let the group know we wouldn’t be coming.

We stopped at the Diamond lounge and had a drink. The hostess (not sure what the official term is) was talking about the end of Dynamic dining and how they are moving to rotational dining. I asked her what happens to all the dining I just booked for my cruise on Anthem next year. She said they will probably look at the time we booked and assign us in a rotation time around then. Not sure how that works with the specialty restaurants we already booked too, but we’ll wait and see what happens.

We stopped in the casino and Scott found the machine where you drop quarters in and they fall and try to knock other quarters down. Normally we will play Let it Ride at the table or maybe a poker machine. He was having so much fun with this game.

We went to the theater to see the Comedian, Troy Thirdgill at 8:30. Suddenly I felt really sick. I wasn’t seasick since the seas were pretty calm. I think I just felt sick from eating so much at lunch. I’m not used to that – my normal lunch is a boring turkey sandwich. We left and went back to the cabin. I told Scott to go back to the casino or show and I would just rest for a bit.

He headed down to the casino but wasn’t gone too long. I read my book for a while (something I only get to do on vacation). Then we went to bed by 11 (early for us)

Wednesday 2/4/15 – At Sea

I was starting to feel better by this morning but skipped the gym today.

Scott took his computer to Two70 to do a little more work and have a bagel. I wasn’t hungry yet.

I met him there and we headed over to the shops area for the raffle at 10am. It was definitely crowded for the raffle.

At 10:30 we went to Bingo in the Music Hall. There was also a raffle for a junior suite during bingo. If we wanted one package of cards it was approximately $36 (don’t remember exactly but think that was it) so that’s what we got. I was happy to see that they didn’t have those crazy electronic machines. It was fun how we played together each owning one side of the cards. We didn’t win anything but it was fun to play. Scott mentioned going to a bingo game once before (not on a ship of course) and that it was fun and he couldn’t understand how some people had so many cards to keep track of.

After Bingo (actually during) we heard the grand opening for the Michael Kors store so we headed there afterwards to look around. Scott bought me a great Michael Kors bag last Christmas so I figured I’d look around to see if there is anything new I wanted. Nothing really jumped out at me and I know we have the coach outlet in PR and the Michael Kors store in St Maarten so I wasn’t too worried about not finding something right away.

We walked around the ship some more. There are lots of places to sit and hang out on this ship.

We stopped at Guest Relations to see if they knew who sent us the champagne. They said they didn’t even have a record of any champagne being sent to our room so we should just enjoy it and not question it.

I was finally getting hungry so we went to Two70 café for lunch and had roast beef sandwiches. Scott also had a pasta salad. We enjoyed our lunch

We made a quick losing trip to the casino.

Scott has been saying he wants to start going to the gym with me. I didn’t go this morning like I normally would. Scott went now for about ½ hour. I read my book on the balcony.

When he got back and showered, we went to the Two70 lounge for happy hour drinks using our diamond coupons loaded on the seapasses. Two70 is such a beautiful space.

We met the group for dinner at Chic tonight at 6pm. We both had crab cake appetizers, I had the shrimp scampi entrée and Scott had the snapper (everyone else at the table ordered prime rib which looked very good). For dessert Scott had the panna cotta and I had the carrot cake. Scott really liked the crab cake and I really liked the carrot cake.

There was an 8pm showing of Mamma Mia tonight so we decided to see if we could get in standby. We were able to. We didn’t have the greatest seats but were able to see fine. We wouldn’t have the best seats anyway since I don’t want to go an hour early to get the perfect seat and wait. I’d rather go a little later (not too late) and still get a decent seat. We both enjoyed the show. When I initially heard it was over 2 hours I was worried I’d get bored but it kept us both entertained and the time flew by.

We spent some time in the casino at our favorite table (Let it Ride with the 3 card poker bonus).

We went to the late night comedy at 11:45. It was Troy Thirdgill, the same comedian from last night that we missed. I thought he was OK. Scott enjoyed him more than I did.

We went to the Sorrento’s so Scott could have more pizza. They stop the “make your own” at midnight so he had to just have a regular slice (or two or three) instead.

We went back to the casino for a bit.

When we went back to the cabin Scott was hungry so ordered room service – chicken fingers and the Italian wrap. He said it was good.

 

To be continued...

[Noreen411]

Thursday 2/5/15 – Labadee

We both went to the gym in the morning.

Scott finished his workout before me and headed back to the cabin to shower.

By the time I got back to the cabin, he was done and I was able to shower and get ready

This became our normal morning/gym/get ready routine.

We had a quick breakfast at Café Two70. A Yogurt and Granola parfait for me, and a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon for Scott. I really like the yogurt parfaits here, even better than the one I had in Divinely Decadence.

We got off the ship to enjoy a beach day on Labadee

Last time I was here, some of the group I was with, had me follow them to a specific spot they liked to set up at. I didn’t remember where that was so we just wandered along.

The first area had a sign that said no swimming so we kept walking.

One of the workers asked if we wanted shade or sun when we got to the next beach area so we got chairs in the shade that he set up for us.

Scott went to the little hut to rent a floatie mat for me. He also got himself water shoes since the water was very rocky. He thought I brought mine with me and when he realized I didn’t, I went and got a pair too. Scott also got goggles. I didn’t even bring my water shoes with me on the cruise; I didn’t remember Labadee being very rocky.

Now that we were all set up with water shoes, a floatie mat, and goggles we went into the water to play. We were in the water about 1 ½ hours. We didn’t spend more than 2 minutes sitting on our lounge chairs just putting our water shoes on.

Neither of us are real “beach” people who could lie around the beach all day. So at this point Scott suggested we go back to the ship and go in the pool instead of staying at the beach. We didn’t eat the barbecue on Labadee either, figuring we’d have lunch on the ship later.

Once we got back on the ship we went in the main pool for a while. It wasn’t packed but there were plenty of others who were enjoying the ship rather than spending the day at Labadee.

We took showers then had lunch in the Windjammer.

After lunch, I read my book on the balcony for a little while and Scott took a nap

That didn’t last long since I saw the NorthStar was going to open at 3. We headed up and got on line in the hot sun a little before 3. We waited about 45 minutes. We were chatting with the others in line with us so it wasn’t bad, other than being so hot. Scott went over to the fitness center and grabbed a few gym towels for us to wipe our sweat off. He brought some for the people in line we were chatting with.

One couple behind us was very disappointed in the ship. I was asking them what they were disappointed in. At first they were vague and didn’t give an answer. Then they said they’ve been eating in the Windjammer every day. I asked why and they said they were picky eaters and didn’t think there was an alternative menu in the regular restaurants with basic food. I assured them there was definitely and alternative menu so they said they would try the regular restaurants. When we saw them later in the cruise they were having a better time.

When it was our turn, we went up in North Star. It just went up then down rather than side to side. I liked that they didn’t jam pack the capsule with people. There were maybe 15 people in it which meant we were able to move around and take pictures easily while in there.

When we got off we headed back to the cabin for another shower.

We had dinner with the group at the Grande tonight at 6.

Scott didn’t have a jacket with him so after we were seated; they hung a waiter’s jacket on his chair. He was dressed nicely but forgot his jacket.

For appetizers, I had the escargot and Scott had the fish rillettes

For our main course we both had the lobster tail. We both thought the same thing, it was very salty.

For dessert I had the Red Velvet Cheesecake and Scott had the Molten chocolate cake. I wasn’t crazy about the Red Velvet Cheesecake but the Molten chocolate cake was very good.

We had reservations for Starwater so headed there after dinner. We probably got there maybe 40 minutes before showtime and it was already crowded. We found seats at the bar stools near the back. The show was good, we both enjoyed it.

We headed to the casino after Starwater. Scott was on a winning streak at the Let it Ride with 3 Card Poker bonus table so we were there pretty late. The dealers are great at the Let It Ride table. They’ve been so friendly and make it fun to play at the table.

When we got back to our room, we ordered room service around 2am

Friday 2/6/15 – San Juan, Puerto Rico

We both went to the gym in the morning.

After showering and dressing we went to breakfast at American Icon Grill around 9:30. We shared a table with a mother and adult daughter from LI. I had French toast with bacon. Scott had waffles, eggs, and sausage. In addition to the food we ordered from the menu, there was also a buffet that had fruit, pastries, etc set up if we wanted any of those items. I thought that was a nice touch. The adult daughter at our table did not enjoy her meal at all, when her pancakes came out, they didn’t bring butter, and by the time she found a waiter to bring her butter, the pancakes were cold and it didn’t melt. She didn’t eat at all. I felt a little bad for her, but she should have been more proactive getting someone’s attention because as soon as she mentioned it they got the butter quickly.

We didn’t dock until 2pm in Puerto Rico so we had time to spend on the ship before getting off. With the later docking time, many on the ship were anxious to get off once we docked (unlike docking in the morning where not everyone gets off right away)

When Scott and I were talking about the plans for the different islands he was not very excited about going to Puerto Rico and said he didn’t have any desire to go there. I told him it’s a fun place. I got him a bit more interested when I was telling him about the fort and that I’ve never been there.

We walked to El Morro fort. It was a very nice walk and as you get closer and start to see the fort it’s very impressive. Once we went in and started wandering around the fort, he was definitely enjoying himself. After walking all around the fort, we saw the trolley in front to take us to the other fort (Cristobal) so we jumped on.

We didn’t spend as long at Cristobal fort but walked around some and took a few pictures. El Morro was definitely the more impressive of the two.

We walked over to the shopping area and I went to the Coach store. Surprisingly, I didn’t buy anything. Every time I’ve been on a cruise that stopped in Puerto Rico, I have found things to buy in the Coach store. So this was a first.

Walking around, Scott bought a few T shirts. We also bought a Christmas Ornament.

After some more walking around, we went to Barrachina. I kept telling Scott that it’s where the Pina Colada was invented. Imagine my surprise when they were out of Pina Colada (the machine was broken). The waiter suggested a passion fruit mojito. I didn’t like it so Scott drank it. We shared the appetizer sampler for 2. The waiter warned us it was a lot of food so maybe if we get that we should just share an entrée. When we were done with the appetizer, the Pina Colada machine was working again so I was very happy to have my Pina Colada. We ordered the seafood mofongo entrée to share. Everything was very good. Scott said it was the best food of the trip so far.

We went back to the ship maybe 9ish. We were tired from the sun and walking around the forts. Scott changed his mind about Puerto Rico after spending the time there and enjoyed it.

On our way to our cabin we ran into Cristian (our cabin steward). What a nice guy. He was asking how our day was. I told him what we did and that we planned to drop off our purchases, get cleaned up, and go enjoy the evening on the ship.

We showered again once back in our cabin. Since we were both kind of tired, Scott said lets lay down for ½ hour then we’ll go to the Love and Marriage show and the casino.

That ½ hour turned into us passing out and not waking up until after midnight. I vaguely remember the cabin door opening and closing quickly (guessing the room steward). We watched the replay of Love & Marriage on TV.

Saturday 2/7/15 – St. Thomas

We both went to the gym this morning.

After our normal routine of showering and getting ready we had breakfast in the Windjammer.

We packed a bag with our bathing suits, sunscreen, towels, etc and were off the ship by 9:45. We were discussing the various options and what we wanted to do in St Thomas. Really it was me throwing out all sorts of suggestions of places to go and things to see. Scott didn’t want to run all over so we decided to go to Coral World and Coki Beach.

We took a taxi to Coral World. It is very cute but small. They held our beach bag for us at the front check in area so we didn’t have to carry it around with us.

When we were done at Coral World, we walked right next door to Coki Beach. We rented chairs, an umbrella, and snorkel stuff for Scott. We changed into our bathing suits and went into the water. While the beach isn’t huge, the water is beautiful and crystal clear.

We had a nice time playing in the water and Scott enjoyed snorkeling. We stayed maybe 2 hours.

There was an outdoor shower to rinse off when we were done playing in the water/on the beach. Then we changed back into our shorts and T shirts. The changing rooms and bathrooms were cleaner than I expected.

We took a cab back to Havensight. We shopped around the stores there and bought some T shirts for Scott, an ornament, a magnet, etc. The funny thing was we bought a new beach bag that said St Maarten. Here we are in St Thomas and they only had bags that said St Maarten in the store we were in.

I asked Scott if he wanted to go on the sky ride but he wasn’t into it.

We got back on the ship and had a light lunch at the Windjammer – Hearts of Palm and Citrus salad. It was very tasty and refreshing.

We went back to our cabin for a bit and Scott took a nap on the balcony.

I forgot what else we did this afternoon.

We showered again to get ready for the evening.

On our way to our 5:30 reservation at Chops we ran into the group at the Schooner bar so had a drink. We went over to Chops at 5:30 to let them know we were here and asked if it is OK for us to hang out for a little longer and come in 15 minutes later. They were fine with that.

We went to Chops around 5:45 and hardly any tables were taken at that point. I had soda and Scott ordered a glass of wine. They used the Diamond drink voucher (loaded on the seapass) for the wine and didn’t charge us. I was surprised since I didn’t think you could use it in the restaurants and it was an $18 glass of wine.

We shared a few appetizers – shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, scallops

I had the filet mignon and Scott had fish (I forgot what it was). We ordered sautéed spinach and corn as sides.

For dessert we both had red velvet cake.

I thought the food was excellent. Scott thought the scallop appetizer was a bit overcooked but was happy with everything else. The service was very good here too.

I know we were scheduled to see the Guest Entertainer, Tony Tillmann at 8:30 tonight but we didn’t go. I’m assuming we were in the casino and having fun there so didn’t want to leave

Sunday 2/8/15 – St Kitts

I went to the gym in the morning but Scott stayed in bed. By the time I returned he was showered and dressed.

Once I got showered and dressed we headed for breakfast at Café Two70. I had the fruit/yogurt/granola parfait. I really like these. Scott tried the breakfast burrito and the egg mcmuffin (not sure the exact name but that’s what it reminded me of).

Scott spoke to his father today and was telling him the story about the mystery champagne. Turns out Scott’s brother sent it to us. I’m surprised Guest Services had no record of it.

While eating we continued our discussion of what to do in St Kitts. We decided against going to the airport to pick up the rental car. I mentioned Brimstone Fortress and Scott asked if it’s much nicer/different than the fort at El Morro in Puerto Rico.

We didn’t have any set plans when we walked off the ship. We were approached for an island tour but it didn’t include going in the fort. I asked about it and the vendor kept saying it’s an extra $10 to go in so they just show you the outside and it is Sunday so there isn’t anything to see. He started saying how his tour is in an open air vehicle rather than a closed vehicle. I don’t mind the closed vehicles with AC so that wasn’t actually a selling point. I think it was more his attitude that turned me off than anything else, because I was thinking a tour would be a good way to see the island. In the beginning of our chat with him most of what he said I liked. He lost us at the end with the hard sell.

We wandered around the pier. We bought few things in the shops by pier. We were back on the ship by noon. I felt bad Scott didn’t see the island but he didn’t seem interested in the tour or anything else I suggested for St Kitts. He later (that night at dinner) told me he would have been OK with the island tour if I wanted to do it.

We stopped at the spa to see if Scott could get his hair cut (he usually gets it cut every week) but the barber came out and said they didn’t have a buzzer that would get it as close as he wanted.

I scheduled the 20/20/20 treatment for 12:45 for me and Scott went to the gym. I was surprised he didn’t want to have that seaweed wrap massage we saw the first day.

The 20/20/20 was very nice – I chose the back/neck/shoulder massage, facial, and foot/ankle massage. At the end of the treatment the lady tried to sell me a bath salt thing and some cream (several hundred dollars worth) which I told her I’d have to think about.

We met back at the cabin and put on our bathing suits and headed up to deck 15 to lay in the sun a bit and then we went swimming in the indoor pool.

When we got back to the cabin we showered and changed for the evening.

I think this is the day we filled up the laundry bag with socks, T shirts, and underwear. Normally it’s $30 but with the diamond discount it was $20. We filled it mainly with Scott’s underwear, socks and T shirts and a few pairs of socks for me. Before we left when we were packing he couldn’t understand why I was packing as many pairs of socks/underwear/etc. I explained that for each day, we would use a pair at the gym in the morning, shower and change and have a new pair during the day on excursions or out an about the ship, then shower and change again before dinner. So at a minimum 3 pairs a day. Maybe a day or two we miss the gym so one less for that day. On a 12 day/11 night cruise I was ready to pack a minimum of 36 pairs each. And I threw in a few extra too. Scott thought I was nuts and only brought maybe 20 pairs so he was running out while I didn’t. Everything came back clean with no issues a few days later.

At 5pm we went to the C&A Diamond/Diamond Plus/Pinnacle party in the theater. We were heading to the Diamond Lounge and saw people lining up for this so we joined in. It was nice how they brought up the Pinnacle members and told everyone a little about them. Then we went to the diamond lounge

We had dinner reservations at 6:15 at Wonderland. This was a very unique experience. The waiter offered to create a menu for us so we didn’t have to choose different items. That was fine by us. He asked if we had any allergies. We don’t but we told him that neither of us like Blue Cheese (which we saw on the menu on one of the items) so he didn’t bring that. Scott had wine and I had soda. They used the diamond drink on the seapass since we weren’t charged for the wine (similar to what they did in Chops).

I’m trying to remember the different dishes we were served. There were these little fried duck balls on skewers. Those were interesting tasting but the consistency of the inside was liquidy (I know that’s probably not really a word, but I don’t know how else to describe it). There were these fried cones with crab in the bottom and avocado on top. There was salmon with what I kept calling bagel bites. We were given some liquid olive thing. I gave mine to Scott since I don’t like olives. There was a liquid lobster thing. This was an odd consistency. I think those were the various appetizers we were brought. We were brought a fish with a crispy skin and a huge steak (maybe not exactly steak but meat on a bone) for entrees that we shared. Both were really good.

When it was time for dessert, they brought us a little box. When you open the box it looks like two big playing cards (both were Queen of Hearts). Scott has been playing a lot of Let it Ride in the casino so when he picked up the cards he squeezed them together (what you do sometimes at the table in the casino when looking at your cards). I cracked up laughing. On the back it had the desserts listed. I think I had the chocolate molten cake and I think Scott had Boston Cream squares. We both enjoyed our desserts.

The waiter helped make the experience fun. He would explain things to us as he brought them out.

We also ended up chatting with the couple sitting next to us. They were also being served the same way we were (same waiter) but they were a few courses ahead of us. So we would see what they got and knew we would get that soon too.

The couple that sat on the other side of us mentioned to the waiter that they ate at Wonderland before so wanted to try the items they haven’t tried yet. So when their food came out it was different items than what we and the couple on the other side were getting.

After dinner we went to the casino and were there until a little after midnight before heading up to our cabin for bed.

To be continued...

[Noreen411]

Monday 2/9/15 – St Maarten

We both went to the gym in the morning. I’m so impressed that Scott has been coming with me most days. At home, I go to the gym regularly but he never finds the time. He said he would start when we’re on the cruise and he would come with me

After we both showered and got dressed we headed to Café Two70 for breakfast. I had a yogurt/granola/fruit parfait and Scott had a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon.

We were off the ship by about 8:35 and stopped at the Hertz rental car counter to pick up our reserved car. As we were going through that process, the Hertz employee showed Scott that his license just expired (January 31) so I would have to do the driving. The car wasn’t at the pier but they drove us nearby to pick up the car.

I drove out of the lot and started driving towards Philipsburg. Scott was laughing at me since I was being so cautious. He teased me because I drive into New York City for work daily, drive like a speed demon on the highways in New Jersey, and here I was being so cautious. Well, I’m not used to the roads here. He said he would drive. His license is expired by a little over a week (not suspended) what’s the worst that would happen if we got pulled over? A ticket? So we switched and he drove the rest of the day.

Our first stop was Phillipsburg. It was a bit difficult to find a place to park but we found a spot in one of the lots near Back Street (maybe that’s the name). We did some wandering and I wanted to go to the Belgium Chocolate shop to have chocolate delivered to the ship. Imagine my surprise when they told me they don’t deliver to the ship anymore. She said I can pick out my stuff now and they can deliver it to the shop that’s at the pier, or we can just buy from the shop at the pier. She said the selection is basically the same with a few things they don’t have at the pier. We decided to do that – just get our chocolates at the pier when we return to the ship later.

We did some more shopping along the strip of stores. We went into the Yoda Guy museum since Scott is a Star Wars fan. We also did some wandering along the boardwalk.

We did some more walking around then headed back to the car and drove to Marigot. We parked near the information center. I was telling Scott about Serafina’s and how they have great pastries there. So we walked that direction and are excited to have some pastries. Imagine our surprise and disappointment when we arrive and Serafina’s is closed. I didn’t expect that. Maybe they are closed on Mondays. I’m very glad we had a rental car and we didn’t just take a taxi here and then find them closed.

We did a little wandering about and shopping in Marigot, then got back in the car and drove up to Grande Case. We walked around a bit here but weren’t that impressed.

I asked Scott if he wanted to go by Maho Bay where the planes fly over your head, but he wasn’t interested in that.

I suggested Orient Bay and we drove there. Another benefit of the rental car is that we had a beach bag with our bathing suits, towels, sunscreen, etc in the trunk. The main benefit of the rental car is the flexibility of going where we want at our own pace.

We parked near the Coco Beach Club and went in there. Scott was hungry and suggested we stay for lunch. We were seated quickly. The water looked so inviting from where we were. There were bathrooms and an outdoor shower nearby. There was a stand where we could have rented chairs/umbrellas/etc so we chose a good place for lunch.

I had a Guavaberry Colada and Scott had his usual Gin & Tonic. We shared Calamari, Lobster Salad, and one of their specialty pizzas. It was so nice looking out to the beach while eating. The waves looked like fun to play in since there actually were waves.

When we were done eating we were going to rent chairs and an umbrella and swim since it was so pretty and we had our stuff in the car but Scott said he would prefer to go in the pool on the ship.

We did a little more driving around the island then headed back to drop the car back at Hertz. I have a terrible sense of direction so it was pretty funny that when we were heading back I’m the one who remembered how to find the place we got the car from (not the pier but the place they took us). The only reason I remembered is because I went by different landmarks (silly things like odd little ATVs we passed). But we got the car back and they drove us to the pier. We checked in with Hertz, got our receipt and were ready to wander around the shops at the pier.

We went to the Belgium Chocolate store at the pier. It was smaller than the one in town but had the same things. So we got a few boxes of chocolates and chocolate dipped cookies. The ladies warned us not to stay out in the sun with them long so they don’t melt.

We stopped in a few shops at the pier.

Once back on board, we changed into bathing suits and went on deck 15 for a bit then swimming in the regular pool for a while.

After swimming we showered and changed

We went up to the Sea Plex and played Ping Pong. We had so much fun playing. We didn’t play a formal game where you keep score but just had fun trying to keep the ball going back and forth. We laughed so hard since we didn’t do that well and it was pretty funny.

We went to the Casino for a little while.

We had a small dinner in the Windjammer. We weren’t that hungry after our big lunch on St Maarten.

After eating we went back to the Casino until later then went to the cabin to go to bed.

Tuesday 2/10/15 – At Sea

I went to the gym in the morning. Scott skipped the gym today.

After showering and getting dressed, I met Scott by Two70. He would go there usually to make any calls he has to make. He would go outside near Two70 to make his calls.

As I was walking down the esplanade I heard someone call my name. It was a couple I met on the February 2011 cruise I went on, Dianne & Steve. It was so nice to see them. I filled them in on what’s happened to me since I last saw them. Scott happened to walk by towards me so I introduced them. It was so cute, she gave him a big hug too. What a small world it is.

We had breakfast at the Windjammer. There was a very nice selection of food available. No fruit/yogurt/granola parfait which I’ve been enjoying from Café Two70. But I enjoyed some other breakfast items today. We ate by the bar in the Windjammer (near the fresh squeezed OJ machine) and started chatting with the bartender working there. We’ve met some very nice crew members this trip.

After breakfast we went back to our cabin to put on our bathing suits and headed out to Deck 15 to lay in the sun for a bit before swimming

We watched the Belly Flop contest at 1pm from Deck 15 overlooking the pool.

We stopped at the doghouse in the SeaPlex to get hot dogs which we brought back to our cabin and ate on the balcony. We also stopped at the Windjammer and picked up a few cookies to bring back. I had a regular Coney Island hot dog. Scott had one of the other ones (Maybe the German one) and a regular one.

We were sitting on the balcony reading/playing on the laptop and the weather changed pretty quickly. It got dark and windy. We enjoyed watching the water and the whitecaps.

Since I didn’t take many notes, I don’t remember what we did the rest of the afternoon. I’m assuming we stopped at the Diamond Lounge or another bar for a drink before dinner. Maybe this was the night we stopped at the Schooner bar. I remember having a drink there when the ship was moving a decent amount.

We decided to have dinner at Divinely Decadence. We didn’t have reservations but just showed up and were seated within a few minutes. Dianne and Steve were raving about how good dinner was here. We started off sharing two appetizers. The salad with salmon which was delicious and we both really enjoyed. We also ordered the BBQ chicken flatbread but asked for them to substitute the goat cheese for another cheese (neither of us like goat cheese). When it showed up it had goat cheese on it so they took it back and replaced it. I wasn’t crazy about it even without the goat cheese. For our entrée we both ordered the seared tuna tacos. They were just OK. For dessert I had the shot glass of pumpkin cake which was really good. Scott had a chocolate cake.

When we were walking past the indoor pool the water was sloshing out and jumping into the air. It looked like so much fun. I would have liked to go in the pool but they were closed with nets over them and somewhat drained (not completely). It would have been like a wave pool.

We were thinking of going standby for the guest entertainer (John Joseph & Johnny B) that we missed, but ended up not doing so. We went to the casino instead. We were in the casino until almost 1am. Then we stopped at Sorrentos for Scott to have pizza.

Luckily, we were both enjoying the motion of the ship as it’s going through the storm. Especially when you go to bed, it’s like being rocked to sleep. There were barf bags along the stairways and I feel bad that some people are suffering.

Wednesday 2/11/15 – At Sea

We both went to the gym this morning. There were a few times I had to hang onto the treadmill so I wouldn’t fall off with the ship rocking.

After our usual routine of showering and getting dressed, we had breakfast at Café Two70.

We headed up to the Sea Plex to go Roller Skating. When we first started, we were the only two people on the rink. You didn’t have to do too much skating; the movement of the ship would roll you from one end to the other if you wanted. We skated for maybe 25 minutes.

At 10am we went to Morning Trivia in the Schooner Lounge. Either we were a few minutes late or they started early but it was already underway when we got there. We didn’t stay since we wanted to go when we could participate. However, the question we heard them ask was one we knew the answer to – Captain Hook’s ship’s name – the Jolly Roger. We didn’t know it from Peter Pan, but we recently started watching the show “Once Upon a Time” and have bought the last few seasons on Netflix.

I am starting to get a bit of a sore throat. We stopped at the Patisserie where they have Starbucks products and I tried a Chai Tea Latte. I don’t normally drink hot liquids but thought it would make me feel better. It was surprisingly good.

We headed to Two70 and hung out there and watched the Cook Off Challenge that took place at 11:15. It was more of a demo than a challenge but we watched.

We looked at our pictures that the photographers took for us. I only saw one picture from my IFly session which was surprising. I thought there would have been more. I definitely wanted our boarding photo. There were a few cute ones, but Scott didn’t like the way he looked in most of them. He liked one of just me. Since we each had a free photo (diamond coupon) we got the boarding photo and the one of me. We ordered them via the kiosk and it would be ready for pickup after 8:30 tonight.

We had a light lunch at Divinely Decadence. Most of it is set up as a buffet with a few things you can order off the menu. We both had salads from the buffet and ordered the skewer of grilled shrimp and salmon to go with it. This was a nice and somewhat healthy lunch.

We went to the Sea Plex for Bumper Cars right before it was scheduled to start at 2:30. The line wrapped around the Sea Plex. We waited about 45 minutes but it went pretty quickly and was a lot of fun.

I don’t remember what we did between the Bumper Cars and the early evening where I’m guessing we went to the Diamond Lounge before dinner.

We had dinner with the group at 6pm in American Icon Grill. I think we both started with the New England Clam Chowder (both have sore throats) and then had surf and turf. Dinner was pretty good. I don’t remember what we ordered for dessert.

After dinner we went to the theater for Sonic Odyssey which was scheduled for 8:30. The shows all seem to fill up early so we got there a little before 8 to see if we could get decent seats. We found seats in the balcony but they were decent. The show was interesting. It was different than you would expect.

We went to the casino after the show.

Thursday 2/12/15 – At Sea

Scott went to the gym in the morning. I skipped it today since I have a sore throat and now feel like I’m getting a cold too

We picked up Chai Tea Latte’s from the Patisserie on our way to Trivia at 10am in the Schooner Bar. We were on time and ended up joining a team with a few women. We didn’t get many of the answers right but it was fun.

After Trivia we headed to Two70 to watch the Crown& Anchor Meet the Stars at 11. It was performers from the various shows who talked about how they ended up on Quantum, their backgrounds, etc. There were questions from the audience. It was more interesting than I expected it to be.

We skipped breakfast today since I wanted to have lunch at American Icon Grill. I guess many people had the same idea. It was somewhat crowded. We waited maybe 5 minutes to be seated, but we were OK with sharing a table. I had the Tutti Salad to start and asked for a small one but they loaded up the bowl anyway. The salad was really good. I’m glad since the Cheesesteak sandwich I ordered wasn’t very good. Since I filled up on the salad I was fine not eating much of the sandwich. Scott had the Reuben I think.

I forgot about wanting to watch the Captain’s Corner at 1until it was past that time.

We stopped at Guest Services to get earlier luggage tags. They gave us the number of the rest of the group who are all travelling by bus together. Since we have our own car we wanted to go earlier. It was easy and they gave us earlier tags and said we would be called about 7:45

We went to the casino after lunch and were having a good time and doing well. We wanted to see the new Name that Tune show at 2:15 but were caught up in our games in the casino and missed it.

We went up to the cabin around 4 to pack. We were done by a little after 5. It’s much easier packing to go home. We put our bags out now so we wouldn’t have to worry about it later. I was surprised that they asked for the bags to be out I think by 9. That’s much earlier than it usually is.

We stopped to pick up the pictures we ordered yesterday then brought them back to the cabin. We ran into Brenda and some of the group at the Schooner Bar. Many of them weren’t coming to dinner tonight. So we said our goodbyes now since we didn’t know if we would see them later.

We went to the Diamond Lounge for a drink then headed to Chic for dinner with the few from the group that were going. It was only 6 of us. Dinner was pretty good, but the dessert (some sort of crepe thing) was bad. It tasted like cardboard. We said our goodbyes to the group that was at dinner and they had to go pack.

Since our packing was done and out already, we headed back to the casino. We were having a really good time tonight and ended up in the casino until about 2am.

We went back to our room to sleep

Friday 2/13/15 – Disembark

We were up by a little after 6, showered, and got ready to go. We packed up our last few items in our carry ons.

We had a quick breakfast at Café Two70. The usual yogurt/granola parfait for me and a breakfast burrito for Scott.

We were supposed to be called by 7:45 but they were running about 15 minutes behind schedule. It wasn’t bad and we were called around 8ish.

We were off the ship pretty quickly. I found a porter to help us with our luggage once we found all our bags. One bag wasn’t with the others and took a bit to find. The porter was after where the luggage is so it was difficult for him to backtrack with his cart to where the luggage was. He quickly got us through the customs line and brought us to the pickup area.

It was freezing out. Scott went to get the car and I waited with the luggage. We loaded up the car and headed home.

After greeting the cats who were happy to see us, we started unpacking. I had the first load of laundry going by about 9:30am.

Overall Opinions on Various Things

Royal Replenish

I liked having the Royal Replenish package. There were times it was difficult to get a bottle of water. Not everywhere had it and you often had to wait for others getting much more involved things before someone could hand you a bottle. It wasn’t terrible, but it could be annoying. We started to grab a bottle from the bar in the casino on the way out at night to put in our mini fridge to have for the gym in the morning. We would also try to get one at various places like the Patisserie or the Windjammer to have a few handy in the room. We didn’t stockpile like crazy but would usually have a few bottles on hand that we would pretty quickly use then replenish our little supply. The fresh squeezed OJ was good. Scott enjoyed various coffee drinks throughout the trip. While we didn’t use the cups for the soda machines, we were able to get soda from a bar or in the restaurants when we wanted it since we usually stuck to the basics like coke, sprite, diet coke

Tipping

I thought service was good but we also tipped where we felt it warranted it. In the Diamond Lounge we tipped the bartender who brought us our drinks and every time we came in, he rushed over to us to get us drinks pretty quickly. We tipped the barista making the specialty coffees. We tipped the dealers in the casino. We tipped various bartenders and waiters throughout the trip. We also gave extra to our room steward at the end of the trip.

Dynamic Dining and Food

While the initial booking for the restaurants when it first opened back in May was a mess on line it all worked out in the end. It may have also been easier since we were part of a group and had rotational dining already set up for us so we had a place to go each night. However, there were several nights Scott and I went to pre-booked specialty restaurants and had no issues with our reservations. We also had a few times we showed up at a different restaurant and were seated quickly without any reservation.

The food itself was OK. Nothing was bad (except maybe that one dessert in Chic) but nothing was knock your socks off great either.

Misc

I should do a better job of taking notes since I’ve since forgotten many of the things we did. Even consulting the Compass after the fact (which helped) I know I missed a lot of what we did.

I also should have done a better job of reading the Compass this trip. We missed a few things I wanted to see because I didn’t pay enough attention.

Embarkation

This was a mess. Probably more the fault of the customers than anything else, but it was a disorganized mess. I recommend going back to normal lines for people to stand in to wait their turn. Once it’s their turn, then use the IPADs or whatever to check them in

Fitness Center/Gym

For a ship this size, I thought the fitness center/Gym was on the small side. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a bathroom/shower/changing room in the gym. However, it had good equipment and other than a leak over one machine most of the cruise, everything seemed in working order.

Casino

We spent a decent amount of time in the casino. The dealers were great. We had a lot of fun there. However, it was very smoky in the casino. There may have been a small no smoking area but I don’t remember any games I wanted to play in that area or going to that section. The machines and tables I wanted to play at all allowed smoking. It was definitely overwhelming sometimes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I thought this was a great trip. The ship is amazing. Scott enjoyed his first cruise, but isn’t as big a fan of cruising as I am. He’s just as happy to look into a land based trip. However, he is looking forward to Anthem of the Seas next year.

 

Any questions, please ask.

Noreen

[Sandy Sails]

Thank you for the review - it was really fun to read! I met my husband on a cruise 9 years ago and he just loves cruising. I'm not as much of a fan anymore. I hope Scott enjoys the Anthem next year. I'm sure he will since he'll be with you. ;) Thanks so much for sharing.

[FunCruiser59]

Noreen,

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your trip with us. First off let me say how happy I am to hear you have Scott now to enjoy your time with. My life story is very similar to yours and I will be cruising with my 2nd hubby who never dreamed he would enjoy cruising. We actually ended up getting married on a RCC while docked in St Thomas in March of 2007, and we will be celebrating our anniversary next week on the Quantum.

 

It sounds like you had a wonderful time. It's greatly appreciated when someone takes the time to write something so detailed for all of us to share.

I hope when we return I can write as nice a review as yours:)

 

Thanks again, it was an enjoyable read!

[PathfinderEss]

Amazing review, thanks for posting it.

[Donsyb]

We stopped at the Diamond lounge and had a drink. The hostess (not sure what the official term is) was talking about the end of Dynamic dining and how they are moving to rotational dining. I asked her what happens to all the dining I just booked for my cruise on Anthem next year. She said they will probably look at the time we booked and assign us in a rotation time around then. Not sure how that works with the specialty restaurants we already booked too, but we’ll wait and see what happens.

 

I was under the impression from what RCI have said they're not getting rid of Dynamic Dining, but adding rotational (called Classic) as an additional option?

Edited February 27, 2015 by Donsyb

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Impressively detailed review even if you did forget a few afternoons.

[JezzaC]

I was under the impression from what RCI have said they're not getting rid of Dynamic Dining, but adding rotational (called Classic) as an additional option?

 

Yes and that is how it has been stated by RCCL. They will add Classic option to Dynamic Dining.

[cruisenfever]

We were in 7636 when we did our b2b in November/December and also had Christian as our cabin attendant. I hope you received the same wonderful service that we did. His wife also works on board and was working on the same deck just further down the hall. Between the 2 of them, we couldn't have been treated any better.

[ncbn0902]

nice review, I also love to play Let it Ride, do you remember what the minium bet was.

Thanks in advance

[Noreen411]

Hi

 

Thank you all for your kind words about my review.

 

I enjoy writing them and looking back on them later as it's so easy to forget things as time passes.

 

I haven't written a cruise review in a few years so I was happy to do so again.

 

Thank you again

Noreen

[Noreen411]

nice review, I also love to play Let it Ride, do you remember what the minium bet was.

Thanks in advance

 

Hi.

 

The minimum was usually $10. So $10 in each of the three Let it Ride Circles ($30). The 3 Card Bonus Circle didn't have a minimum so you could bet nothing or whatever you wanted; since that's where you usually make your money we usually bet more there than on the let it ride circles. Then there was also the extra $1 bonus bet (not sure the official term)

 

Hope I explained that OK

 

Noreen

[Noreen411]

We were in 7636 when we did our b2b in November/December and also had Christian as our cabin attendant. I hope you received the same wonderful service that we did. His wife also works on board and was working on the same deck just further down the hall. Between the 2 of them, we couldn't have been treated any better.

 

Hi.

 

I agree, Christian was great. Some of the others in our group would mention that they never saw their cabin steward. I thought he did a great job and was very personable. I didn't know his wife also worked there. That must make their lives better rather than being separated for months at a time

[Noreen411]

Yes and that is how it has been stated by RCCL. They will add Classic option to Dynamic Dining.

 

I'm guessing when the Diamond Concierge (or whatever the official title is) was telling us that Rotational dining will replace dynamic dining she just was telling us what she heard. I'm assuming nothing was actually official at that time.

[ncbn0902]

Hi.

 

The minimum was usually $10. So $10 in each of the three Let it Ride Circles ($30). The 3 Card Bonus Circle didn't have a minimum so you could bet nothing or whatever you wanted; since that's where you usually make your money we usually bet more there than on the let it ride circles. Then there was also the extra $1 bonus bet (not sure the official term)

 

Hope I explained that OK

 

Noreen

 

Thanks

[CruisinCons]

Thanks for the review!! We head out in March. One question for you, the Starbucks drinks were included in the Royal Replenishment package?

[Noreen411]

Thanks for the review!! We head out in March. One question for you, the Starbucks drinks were included in the Royal Replenishment package?

 

Hi. Yes, the Starbucks drinks were included. I think the only time they are excluded are when there is a true stand alone Starbucks (on Oasis and maybe Allure). Since the Starbucks drinks were served at the Patisserie they were included as part of the Royal Replenish. And they had all the pretty normal Starbucks drinks - I don't remember them all off the top of my head but they had frappachinos, chai latte, cappuccino, etc. Even if you didn't see if on the menu, if it was something you normally get at Starbucks they can probably make it. I asked for an iced white chocolate mocha one day and they made it for me and it tasted exactly like it does from Starbucks at home. The patisserie also had interesting flavored hot chocolates that were included too.

[CruisinCons]

Thanks!! We are going back and forth as to which package to get, if any at all. When we look at what we drink at home, we wouldn't spend too much each day, but we do have an extra drink or two when on board. We don't drink soda, and have no issues with the ship water. But we love our coffee. Wonder if we can each drink $19 worth of coffee a day? Haha!!

[Noreen411]

Thanks!! We are going back and forth as to which package to get, if any at all. When we look at what we drink at home, we wouldn't spend too much each day, but we do have an extra drink or two when on board. We don't drink soda, and have no issues with the ship water. But we love our coffee. Wonder if we can each drink $19 worth of coffee a day? Haha!!

 

If you are drinking the fancy coffee and fancy hot chocolates you will easily hit the $19 a day. I don't remember the exact prices but think the specialty coffees and hot chocolates were over $4 each.

 

I know you said you are fine with the ship water, but while getting your coffee, why not get a bottle of water to take off the ship with you?

 

The coffee by Café 270 was Seattles Best. The coffee by the Patisserie was Starbucks.

 

Enjoy