QUANTUM Dec 1-11, 2014 REVIEW w/lots of photos

We arrived back to the pier very early... something like 1:30pm (all aboard not until 6pm). I decided it was way too early to get back on board, and since I may never be back here again, I should walk around a little bit. Making your way from the ship, through the local pier shops and along the promenade along the park, you get some great views back of Q

The town itself, as I have felt the entire day, is just ok. You'd figure on a Saturday with the first time a shiop of this size with 4,000 passengers docked here, you have major tourist sites that are advertised in local maps actually open for viewing, but the cathedral was locked up tight.

And take a look at the picture of the street below... how many closed shops do you see? How many open? With the largest ever set of tourists from one ship in town ever?

I made my way back to the park and towards the fort, took a few more pictures and decided I had enough and made my way back. Fellow cruiser friends did a DIY to the beaches of Pointe du Bout and L'Anse Mitan across the Bay. These ferries are very close to the Quantum pier, here's a picture for reference.

They told me that the beaches were more "european-like", very thin, very little sand and rocky, so not much beach at all. They walked around the resorts a bit and came back very early.

Heading back to the ship I saw an interesting site.... look closely below at the black specs on top of Two70 on the outside of the ship.

Wow!!! Those better be mandatory safety lines hanging off of these guys. Climbing both down and up that ladder would be interesting I would think.

I luckily stumbled upon my friends Gert and Al whom I first met 3 years ago on the Adventure TA San Juan to Malaga. They're the ones who told me about the ferries and beaches. We had a little chat about it. At that time I also luckily stumbled upon my pals Noelle and Stan! They were heading to JR's for a late lunch, so I thought what the heck, I'll join in. Opening time in port for JR's is 3pm... a couple minutes to 3 and we were there. The first few times I ever walked by the place was a ghost town, but today I couldn't believe it there was a line-up.

The clerk takes your order and hands you this beeper, about a 10-15min wait with all these people in front of me.

The Smokehouse and o-rings were as good as any other ship, but I admit I do miss the line-dancing and fun of selecting music from the juke box on the other ships, this just isn't the same. Food quality was exactly the same. Also sitting beside us were friends Beth & Judy (Silk & IFly fame) so it was a nice lunch with everyone around. I also bought the 2 for 1 shakes, 1 vanilla & 1 chocolate... they are about 50% smaller than what they used to be, so 2 for 1 is really no longer true compared to the old cup sizes! Plus shakes are now a ridiculous $5 each... hey, they have to pay for all those 2 for 1 BOGO's somehow, yes?

Lol! Did I hit him? :cool::p

 

Lol good question....I wasn't there with him this time, my daughter was. I was quite comfortable in a hot tub! Hehehe! And as I read on, I noticed I'm in your Schooner Bar pic! Too funny! Despite our "interesting" last 5 days of the cruise, I am already craving another one!! :)

***Christie***

There was not much going on before sailaway around the ship after JR's and before my dinner booking at The Grande, so I committed to Stan & Noelle, who are nightly regulars at the CL, that I would make my first appearance up there. So I made my way to my cabin to change and found this waiting for me

Ah yes, the coveted Quantum crystal block I was waiting for!!! Thank you RCL :)

I headed up to the CL and I really enjoyed myself up there. From this evening on I tried to make it a nightly visit, even if it was short due to dinner bookings. I have to say it was PACKED, we stood for a while until chairs/tables cleared as people headed for dinner. I was told it's even worse earlier as there was standing room even before the 5pm happy hour with people reserving seats & tables :rolleyes:.... sigh.

I got to enjoy my time up there but was also looking forward to my second visit to The Grande. As with the previous visit, I was seated in a group table. I was the first there... it took a good 20min for the table to fill. Both the waiter and Maitre'D came over every two minutes or so to ask if I was ok, kinda babysit me. I was totally fine. The table filled and we began. Tonight I had the always good escargot and the lamb... very very good lamb shank!! Service was perfect, food was perfect, got outta there in less than two hours. For reference the venue when we left was about 90% capacity. This meal solidified my thought that I liked this restaurant the best... and I can say everyone was dressed very nicely, I would say at least 50% truly formal and the rest jacket and tie (very very few men without tie, just a handful).

I was not booked for a show or anything, so tonight was a free-style night... just go with the flow and do what I want! So I changed out of my formals and had some visits to Boleros and other venues until "Groovy Town" started at 10:30. Groovy Town in the Music Hall is the new 70's night. There was no Macho Man group but there was a Jackson 5 ensemble. The music lasted much longer and the staff/crew were much more interactive with dancing and so forth on the floor. This was a really fun night! I can't remember how late I stayed, but I didn't close the place down as there were many cruisers there when I left for bed. I believe it was around 1am as I had to set my alarm for our 8am arrival to Barbados... haven't been here for about 8 years so really looking forward to this stop!

I just found my Groovy Town pics! I thought I was going mad, but just now I was about to load up some Barbados photos to Photobucket and see that I misplaced the Groovy Town pics into the Barbados folder in error. Of course these being night shots and moving around on the dance floor, they are not the greatest, but you'll get the idea of the various costumes and the activity staff participation.

I must also give some kudos to the house band "Horizons". They rocked all week

Wow really great review so far. We're considering the 'Anthem' so this gives us a good idea what we could expect. Its definitely much more elegant and stylish compared to the Carnival we're used to.

Ah... so that puts you at the far side of this picture right beside the elliptical machines just above the exercise balls? ;) Makes total sense as the gym is deck 16 and sits above the wall of the jogging track. I guess you'd be watching a forward view overtop of the Solarium Glass? Did you get a 270 degree view over to the port side as well from this vantage point? Hate to say it, I'm guessing 99.9% of cruisers, me included, wouldn't want to spend a morning sailing into port behind gym windows :p, but this is an interesting spot for sure now that you mentioned it. Thank you.

 

I believe I was either there or just over to the left edge of your photo...IIRC, if you stood dead center, there was some obstruction to block your view. If you were in the area a few steps elevated, you could see somewhat across to the port side, and since the area was empty at that hour, you could freely move side to side to see everything.

While being topside is better for viewing, it is just a wee bit chilly sailing into New York at that hour...after a while, you feel like an icicle, so being inside has its advantage. The seats below in the solarium are more comfortable, but there is too much glare from the lights to effectively see in the pre-dawn.:)

Happy Xmas eve from the west coast everyone!

I'm going to try and get day 7 Barbados done now before my Xmas eve and Christmas really gets going, so bare with me if I don't quite finish this today....

Barbados was an early arrival. Having had a late night, I wasn't planning on getting up at 6am for sail-in. 7am and the wake-up call comes through. Turning on my virtual balcony I see we're in port already so no need to go crazy getting ready as I missed sail-in already anyways. So today I went back to an old(er) routine... Windjammer for breakfast with a fully loaded omelette and a nice bowl of muesli with all the toppings (shaved pecans, fruit and even chocolate sauce...yum!).

Today I had booked a private full day tour with Glory Tours. It included an island tour with Harrison's Caves, Rainforest/monkies, Wildlife reserve visit and a beach break with optional turtle snorkel. If you look at the photo above, you see that other ship docked on the right? That's where you have to walk to (about 15-20min) or take one of the shuttles easily fo about 3 minutes. These shuttles take you to the edge of the port, but not out the gates. I had to go out the gates to meet the private tour, but it was extremely easy to find, just like their website and email said. Very reliable. We met in that center island in the middle, they were there with a big sign very clearly seen as you exited the main gate. There were a couple of other tour guides there as well.

Our first stop was Harrison's Caves.

I had never been before. It's very nice, but no need to go back a second time unless it's many years from now. Quite interesting though and beautiful, my pictures do not do it justice in that darkness and weird lighting. This first photo isn;t the clearest, but I included it to show you the dimensions/heigjht of the caves with respect to the tram that travels down there. It's a 4 car tram, Disneyland-like, that pulls you along with a live narrator.

In person, some of the formations are simply gorgeous

All in all a very nice hour or so visit. There's an introductory area in there that gives history of the formations of the caves before the tram ride, as well as a really nice gully/gardens area outside before exiting a park. A really nice start to this day

The tour also included a nice drive inland and through to the Atlantic Coast to familiarize with some other parts of the island. There were no stops, but it wasn't long (maybe 20min) of passing by a few sites before we reached a park at the coast. We did not have the time to go swimming or hang out at the beach here, but this would be a perfect and extremely quiet/secluded beach to hang out at if you were to visit Barbados sometime. We got to dip our toes into the Atlantic but it was tome to get back onto the bus within about 15min here

It was time to head off, but not before our guide introduced us to a fruit called sour berries (I think). They were awful! I tried one and almost needed to spit it out. As I entered the bus, I really had no where to throw them out so I held them in my hand... turns out they came in really handy 15 min later when we arrived at our next stop :D

We arrived to a natural park that I did not get a picture of any signage or the name unfortunately, but it is within their rain forest area of the island. There's supposedly a ton of wild monkeys around the island predominantly in the forested areas.

Well, these little guys are not very wild at all! Obviously being constantly fed by visitors and the like, they'll come right up to you and grab food out of your hand. They won't climb pr touch you though (not like my awesome pica from Roatan in my NOS review).

At least 3 of the shots below were captured while I was taking video, so I got some good interaction with this particular guy. There were at least 20-25 hanging around with this guy being the most active at the tome jumping through the trees and bushes

We got about a 1/2 hour here and then it was off to the Wildllilfe reserve not too far away at all from this spot.

This turned out to be a really cool place. Initially walking around you will feel there's not much to see and you think to yourself "why are we here?", but as you go through this small reserve you find several areas of the animals roaming free

There are a ton of turtles everywhere! There's plenty of other species too. Do not miss what seems like a gated/closed off area with very little signage at the farthest end of the reserve. This is the entry and exit point to the caged areas. You'll plenty of Iguanas, snakes, all types of birds, and hopefully a whole bunch of wild monkeys doing what they want to do.

Does anyone know what this is?!?!?! It was tame, wouldn't quite let me touch it. I am positive it's name/species was written on our map we were given at the entrance, but I've misplaced that map and now I have no clue what this animal is. It looks like a rabbit mated with a deer!!!

After about an hour, it was tome to go. You don't see this sign at home anywhere! Reminds me of those stickers on the back of minivans where families let others know how many kids and pets they have... Lol, I need one with just me and a few monkeys to see what reaction I'd get.

Last stop of the day was Harbour Lights & lunch. We were served a lunch and we had use of the loungers/umbrellas included with the cost of the tour.

It was busy there and we had to wait for lunch, but it was nice to chill out at the benches for a while with a beverage and chat. Once lunch was done we were escorted down to the beach, a couple stayed at the beach to chill out and soak up rays and a couple of us went out to this boat to check out the turtles, snorkel gear was supplied.

The boat maybe goes out away from shore 200-250 feet and that's it. And here is what you find when you get into the water

They're everywhere! So very cool. We were also there at a time when no other boats were around, so the turtles concentrated on us, especially when our guide dropped food into the water. If you're quick enough, you can grab some of the pieces of fish and have the turtles eat out of your hand.

Gotta love these guys, I swam with them the entire time pretty much that we had. I did not get any sin time, but it was fun being on the water with so many of them and so very close.

Alas, I was called out of the water as it was time to go and meet up with everyone else. They also served free rum punch on that boat so I was able to enjoy one of those as well as we moved back to the shoreline

This was the best port day so far imo. Had a great time today with some awesome new friends who I got to hang out with down at the music hall over the next few nights until the end of the cruise! Hey hey guys!!! :D

I'll rate Glory Tours overall as a 9/10... very memorable, very reliable and easy to find, they had my reservation properly noted, the driver was really good and there were no hiccups at all at any of the venues regarding ticketing or timing. Just a great day, and he dropped us off exactly where we got on at the front gate of the pier. Easy peasy.

I had plenty of time to easily get back on board and roam the ship. Truthfully I can't remember what I did between that time and sailaway. I do remember watching the surfers up at Florider doing their thing as I awaited the ropes to be let go at the pier, and shortly thereafter we're were pulling away

And now I have a new routine... getting changed and heading up to the CL to meet up with Stan & Noelle, Laura & Carol, and whomever else is up there that I've met so far. Tonight I was booked for American Icon and I told my friends that I was skipping out so that I can hang out with them all night... I'll nibble the food at the CL all night or go late up at the Windjammer if I really got hungry. But they implored me to go back to American Icon to try the Shortribs. Admittedly, another cruiser at my table the other night had it and raved about it as well, so that spurred me on to go back. On the way down I couldn't help being a little mischievous so I couldn't help but have Laura (or was it Carol?) take a photo of me and my future cruising days lol!! (If this was your scooter, I apologize!)

On to American Icon... I was sat again at a group table, this time 7 people. This time the restaurant at 6:45'ish was maybe 70% full compared to the other night (almost 100% in my view). Things seemed WAAAAAY calmer, no jogging in and out of the galley, and the waitress came over and had time for us. Tonight I had the Yankee Franks (ya, good, but I'll have to look at this review in a year to remember.... in fact I had to pull up the menu just now in another browser!!) and the Clam Chowder (again, not memorable at all, I've had so much better). But unlike the poor dinner I had a couple of nights ago, the shortribs were very tasty indeed, my friends did not lie. I also saw a couple of people on our table this time order the Thanksgiving Dinner which they also raved about and said was really good. Lastly, unlike my wrong desert order brought to me the other night, this time both my deserts came as they should... the cookie this time (unlike two days ago with a couple of other cruisers) came warm and was very good. The star of the show was "Candy Bar" with toffee... the wording on the menu doesn't sound that appealing on the menu as none of my first table of 11 ordered it two nights ago and I was the only one to order it today, but it turned out to be one of the better deserts of the entire vacation (2nd picture)

Tonight's entertainer was Ed Alonzo, a magician/comic from "Saved By the Bell" television fame. Wow, he started off pretty hokey with what I considered some bad tricks. It did get better but wasn't the greatest. Not memorable, and while not outright awful easily the weakest act of the entire cruise imo. Like the American Icon menu above, again just now I had to pull up my copy of the compass to remember who the entertainer was and what his name was. For the very first time in years, I decided to sit up at the top of the theatre in the reserved D+/PN section center balcony. I didn't like it up there at all. The glass in front of you is about 18" high and hides some of the view to the stage (when the lights dim, the glare disappears, but you're still looking through the glass instead of naturally. It re-enforced my thoughts that I love the front 5-6 rows of the theatre the very best whenever I go to shows.

Tonight had the RCL Orchestra playing Big Band hits in the Music Hall. I did drop by to check it out and they sounded great. However I do enjoy my time at Boleros. Many friends dropped by this evening in Boleros and the dance floor was quite full. Nice job with the salsa Noelle! That was a good time again and we got to enjoy a Coconut Mojito or two. Since we had a late port arrival in St Kitts in the morning (11am) we stayed up late for the most part, but alas it was time to head off to bed.

I may or may not post during the next day or two, so stay tuned at some point for Day 8

I wish all of you and yours all the very best for the holidays :)

I may or may not post during the next day or two, so stay tuned at some point for Day 8

 

I wish all of you and yours all the very best for the holidays :)

Same to you! This wonderful report has been a real present to all of us reading it. Looking forward to more but until then Happy Holidays to you.

 

 

Tonight's entertainer was Ed Alonzo, a magician/comic from "Saved By the Bell" television fame. Wow, he started off pretty hokey with what I considered some bad tricks. It did get better but wasn't the greatest. Not memorable, and while not outright awful easily the weakest act of the entire cruise imo.

You are too kind, Claudio. Ed Alonzo was definitely OUTRIGHT AWFUL. ;)

You are too kind, Claudio. Ed Alonzo was definitely OUTRIGHT AWFUL. ;)

LOL!!! You're the best :p

Oh, by the way, I have a new nick-name for you from the other thread:

Rolleyes_Merion :rolleyes: Bwahahaha :D

Hi Hoopster 95. Your photos of the 270 room turned out a lot better than mine. We enjoyed your review and photos. We did enjoy the Ship, the crew,

and the shows. Great to meet you and I am sure we will probably see you again on a future cruise. The chairs on the outside perimeter of Jamie's did remind me of the airport. Apparently you can only sit in the booths at Jamie's

if you have a party of more than two persons. Yes we did like the Itallian restuarants on the other RCL Ships better. We also got a chance to meet the cast of Mama Mia's and had dinner with them at Chic.

5-6 months ago I had been looking at options to sail a short getaway in late Nov or Dec, and had been originally looking at the Allure, Grandeur, Brilliance & Vision itineraries.... then BAM! the announcement that Q was redeployed to China. The very next day after the announcement, and as I was searching through the other itineraries/ships/prices, I crazily looked up the Q sailings. Out of all itineraries from Nov-Jan, there were only 2 SI solo cabins available, luckily for this Southern Caribbean sailing as I was not going to spend this kind of money for a Cape Canaveral/Nassau itinerary! I put the cabin on hold... within 2 hours the other final SI was also gone and I did not see one come up available again at all for this sailing.

 

Q didn't interest me at first, like Oasis, the $ needed to book was to overpriced for my liking. I waited 4 years for Oasis and could do the same again for Q.... but the chances of her coming back from China in the same condition as when she left North America anytime soon will likely not happen. Many of the public spaces will already be changed for the Asian market in only 6 months (ie. the entire Music Hall, both up and down, is to supposedly be converted to more Casino and shops). I thought this was my only chance to sail her and really see what all the hype was about, so I booked.

 

As a pre-summary of my cruise, here are some basic thoughts;

 

• Dynamic Dining is a hit for me. It worked seamlessly. I was able to change appointments any time and link with others who invited me to sit with them. As a solo, I was able to sit with others every night that I wished. Not only that, I give the free venues (except American Icon for me) a nod over most all other MDRs on all the ships I've been on the past few years.
  
• The crew works their a$$es off. The wait staff in all venues did not treat me any differently because I did not know them from the night before. Excellent personal service and attention everywhere. The activity staff (ie. FloRider, Circus School, RipCord, etc) were the best ever on any ship, the absolute most attentive to on hands helping participants instead of just watching on the side and waving the next sucker to go through on their own. Reyno and Mario were constantly busy in the CL, and always with a smile and eager to help whoever had an issue in front of them.
  
• Like when I met him on Vision, Capt Srecko made a point of visiting the DL and CL every morning and evening, and being seen around the ship. It was commented by several in the CL that they had never seen a Capt so much in all their sailings. Well done Capt. Srecko!
  
• The ship itself it outrageously beautiful, sleek modern lines, the interior spaces knock the socks off all other classes.
  
• NorthStar, RipCord, The Seaplex with bumper cars, roller skating,etc were extremely well attended with heavy line-ups at times... these are not fads folks, fantastic activities and so much fun.
  
• Imo Two70 is a HUGE improvement over any Viking Crown
  
• Entertainment (Mama Mia, Starwater, Beatlemania, Horizons, the Latin band in Boleros....) all top notch, collectively better than any other of my sailings so far
  

Ok, was everything perfect? Of course not. Is every single other ship perfect? Of course not. Have we heard about issues on other ships like bad service at guest relations, a bad meal at Chops, a disgruntled stateroom attendant, etc etc etc.... YES, tons, seemingly daily on various ships on this forum!!! Happens on all ships, and it did here on Q as well. The issues I personally encountered and heard first hand from other D+'s and Pinnacles had absolutely no bearing on Dynamic Dining, the flow of the ship, the lack of training, etc.... they were all issues that already happen on other ships as well.

 

As a final thought, the activity manager (Zach) quoted the higher ups right at the beginning of our Meet&Mingle in front of over 300 CC'ers in saying that the inspiration of this ship came from Radiance Class in combination with Solstice Class, of course with several new enhancements/amenities such as North Star. Several of us on these boards months ago before Q even came out of the dockyard equated Q class to an "cold" weather ship and perhaps somewhat of the "new" Radiance Class offering. Couldn't be more true in my eyes, and was proven very well to be the case on this sailing with not the greatest weather (cold) for a good portion of the sailing. And I was guessing a few months ago that Q could be incredible for the Alaska itinerary.. imo this is absolutely true, Q would be a sell-out weekly at huge prices in Alaska

 

Now on to the full review :D

We really appreciate and enjoy your photo review...and think your photos are outstanding...We also agree that many problems are experienced on all ships...however, we believe that new ships will usually have more problems for awhile, but should begin to reduce those problems as quickly as possible. We also believe that large numbers of the same complaint is worth something as to the current state of a ship.

We enjoy all of our cruises, but we are more than happy to get a passengers true feelings. After all, as passengers we should express them to help the cruise lines to always be improving...and we do believe this forum was named Cruise Critic for a reason...and we believe most of the forum members have helped the cruise lines improve. :):):):)

Thanks for taking the time for posting such a great detailed report. Wonderful pictures too!

You confirmed what I needed to know about deck 5 having dead ends in the front and back. I was hoping I can build my own Oasis track down there.;)

In one of your pictures of 270, it's such a shame to see a woman sitting there with her darn feet up on the furniture! I wonder if she does this at home.:rolleyes:

We enjoy all of our cruises, but we are more than happy to get a passengers true feelings. After all, as passengers we should express them to help the cruise lines to always be improving...and we do believe this forum was named Cruise Critic for a reason...and we believe most of the forum members have helped the cruise lines improve. :):):):)

This is a very nice post. I thank you and appreciate your thoughts. I'll continue to post experience, both positive and negative, with photos as proof.

St. Kitts was a little bit different day with an 11am-7pm port schedule, so while I was able to enjoy a workout/jog in the beautiful Caribbean morning sunshine today and not have to get immediately ready for an excursion. It's here I wish to note that with the many walkers (vs. joggers) up on deck 15 this cruise, I can say that almost all of them were cognizant of the joggers and were always aware of trying to give space or move over... I always tried to say thank you as I went by. To all of you walkers up there in the mornings, thank you from all of us joggers!

So after Mario/Macchiato/breakfast it was up top deck to enjoy the upcoming sail-in in a little over an hour'ish. Sure enough, as I got up to top deck, you can see Nevis off in the distance as we approach,

And yet again this morning, almost zero line-up for Northstar so I booked it. If I remember right I had to wait about 25 minutes (3 rides) so I wandered a bit and took a few pictures of the Northstar Bar which I hadn't done yet. This is one area I regret not spending anytime in. It's basically an outdoor version of the Viking Crown as it's open to the elements with a great view facing aft and down ward towards the pool deck... and just overhead you can watch the Northstar in action.

It was only about 10'ish minutes and the gal running Northstar was looking for a few others to go up right away as a few people who booked no showed, so being right there I went on up right away (again). We've gotten a little closer to Nevis as you can see here, this is the view from the stairs leading up to Northstar looking over the indoor pool glass.

I love my Nortstar photos... so many excellent and different shots, whether at port or at sea. This time, we were not moving to the side as we were getting close to port, so this ride was only going to be straight up and straight down again.

We really went super high this time, it felt like a little higher than at any other time I was on. Note the computer display below... I expanded the photo a bit, and you can make out on the left Northstar was at just a hair over 70 degree angle

From this very high angle, I was able to get my clearest photo of the entire Q ship, all the way back to include the Northstar Bar below and the indoor pool glass (my prev pictures we were not high enough to get this shot). Note the line-up (bottom left) maybe 10 people?

Time to come down from this gorgeous ride up to get a full view of the ship this morning. Some of my scenic shots of Nevis and the islands were not very good as the glare of the glass looking outward from eye level with the beautiful sunshine weren't the best, but the view as we approached St. Kitts is outstanding!

And finally were were approaching port. Some you know I love having photos of various different ships in port and here it was no different. Celebrity Constellation was with us again, albeit it at a farther more industrial pier than normal for St. Kitts.

Also with us was the Oceana Insignia...she was tendering. I hadn't realized that St. Kitts does tendering, but I guess they have to if too many ships in port. Today there are 4.

And what is that 4th ship???... The Jewel of the Seas! BAM!! Up to now I have have pictures of every ship in the RCL fleet in real life except for Jewel, Brilliance.... only one more left after this

I took a few shots of Jewel as I've never had as good an opportunity from an overhead angle of top deck like this. Some beautiful pics here of Jewel... hopefully some Jewel cruisers can enjoy these photos if they're looking through this review. From high up, you can easily compare the Radiance Class overhang and "obstructed" view downward overtop of the lifeboats... and compare this to the indented balcony cabins as mentioned during the cabin crawl pictures way back on Day 2.... very similar imo.

And it was here as I was heading down to my cabin to get ready to disembark that I remembered I never did get a shot of the running track diagram with the measurements, so here it is for those of you wanting to know. (Maybe I'll post this as a separate thread as well so easier to find for everyone)

1 mile = 2.91 laps!