Lines...QOTS

Just off Quantum...to sum it up

"Lines, lines, everywhere there's lines. Blocking up the scenery wasting my time.

Stand here, don't stand there...can't you see the lines"

Is Jamie's Italian taking lunch reservations yet or is that still one of the lines?

You do need reservations. Lines would be for all reservation, lunch and dinner

Perhaps a cruise on these newer ships isn't for you (or me!)....there are so many places to go and things to do...and even, other ships! Pick what suits you!

Just off Quantum...to sum it up

 

"Lines, lines, everywhere there's lines. Blocking up the scenery wasting my time.

Stand here, don't stand there...can't you see the lines"

We got off Quantum last Friday morning, in the end!.

We're still having nightmares about our 11 nights on her, the dining experience was a total shambles, even to the point were we walked out of Chops Grille.

American Icon didn't do it for us either, on separate occasions my wife's breakfast was cold, the next day my breakfast didn't turn up at all and we also waited 1hr for breakfast to arrive.

Grande was more our thing as it mirrored the dining rooms food type of the other ships.

Chic was also to our liking.

Chops Grille has never failed us, that was until this cruise came along. We both ordered the Mushroom soup, Crab cake and Fillet Mignon. Picture this, we sit down at 9pm and the soup arrives about 15mins later, we have never tasted so much salt in the chops mushroom soup, even to the point my Mrs likes salt but couldn't enjoy the soup, the waiter takes it away and brings the Crab Cake to our table, these were warm at best but seeing as we couldn't make use of the soup we decided to make the most of the crab cake. The time is 10:10 and the waiter comes over and says "the kitchen is behind on the tickets" and the steaks will take another 15mins before serving us, after the experience with the starters we took the decision to leave Chops. The manager Catherine was not interested in our situation, you could see she was struggling with her position.

We paid a premium like everyone else on this ship and we feel like guinea pigs.

Dynamic Dining is not for us that's for sure, there's not enough seating capacity for all guests in the complimentary dining areas so it's first come first served. The speciality dining numbers are still imprinted on my mind.

Be prepared for long lines in pretty much whatever you want to do, also be prepared for forced trips to the speciality restaurants.

We went to see the new ship and in many respects it didn't tick the boxes.

Our experience of the dining rooms etc are what make our holidays memorable from a shipboard point. It doesn't matter what innovations a ship has if they don't get the dining right.

Ship is quite noisy too, creaking and howling etc.

This new concept is about getting the customers to part with more £$€ for all the extra fees that apply to this new ship.

I've experienced it and now happy to read other peoples thoughts.

A thought for the day, our cruise had 3500 passengers while the ship can hold 4900, we struggled on a daily basis with our dining requests, it's doesn't bear thinking about if the ship was full.

We got off Quantum last Friday morning, in the end!.

 

We're still having nightmares about our 11 nights on her, the dining experience was a total shambles, even to the point were we walked out of Chops Grille.

 

American Icon didn't do it for us either, on separate occasions my wife's breakfast was cold, the next day my breakfast didn't turn up at all and we also waited 1hr for breakfast to arrive.

Grande was more our thing as it mirrored the dining rooms food type of the other ships.

Chic was also to our liking.

Chops Grille has never failed us, that was until this cruise came along. We both ordered the Mushroom soup, Crab cake and Fillet Mignon. Picture this, we sit down at 9pm and the soup arrives about 15mins later, we have never tasted so much salt in the chops mushroom soup, even to the point my Mrs likes salt but couldn't enjoy the soup, the waiter takes it away and brings the Crab Cake to our table, these were warm at best but seeing as we couldn't make use of the soup we decided to make the most of the crab cake. The time is 10:10 and the waiter comes over and says "the kitchen is behind on the tickets" and the steaks will take another 15mins before serving us, after the experience with the starters we took the decision to leave Chops. The manager Catherine was not interested in our situation, you could see she was struggling with her position.

 

We paid a premium like everyone else on this ship and we feel like guinea pigs.

 

Dynamic Dining is not for us that's for sure, there's not enough seating capacity for all guests in the complimentary dining areas so it's first come first served. The speciality dining numbers are still imprinted on my mind.

 

Be prepared for long lines in pretty much whatever you want to do, also be prepared for forced trips to the speciality restaurants.

 

We went to see the new ship and in many respects it didn't tick the boxes.

 

Our experience of the dining rooms etc are what make our holidays memorable from a shipboard point. It doesn't matter what innovations a ship has if they don't get the dining right.

 

Ship is quite noisy too, creaking and howling etc.

 

This new concept is about getting the customers to part with more £$€ for all the extra fees that apply to this new ship.

 

I've experienced it and now happy to read other peoples thoughts.

 

A thought for the day, our cruise had 3500 passengers while the ship can hold 4900, we struggled on a daily basis with our dining requests, it's doesn't bear thinking about if the ship was full.

Thanks for your input.

I agree with you 100%

Perhaps a cruise on these newer ships isn't for you (or me!)....there are so many places to go and things to do...and even, other ships! Pick what suits you!

Contrary.

If you read all of my sailings, you will see that I sail new ships as they are released

How do you know whether you like a new ship until you try it. Then you are stuck on it.

Paying thousands of $$$$$ and finding out its just not cracked up to its hype is a hard learning experience

Also the treatment of loyal customers has gone way downhill.

The BIG problem is RC just doesn't give a hoot anymore.

Observations based on QoTS inaugural sailing:

Lines at cruise port :mad: - Don't know what they paid for the new terminal, but it was way too much. First time I've waited behind more than two cars to get to the parking lot. The embarkation process wasn't the 10 minutes we were promised, it was more like 90 minutes. Disembarkation was as big of a fiasco as we've ever seen at that port.

No line for buses :) - One good thin about the new port is that there's no more bussed to the ship. once you do get through, it just walking up a ramp - yea!

Lines for bumper cars :) - this line was reasonable given that they have fixed operating times and it moved quickly. We were in a group of 8, so we actually had fun watching others, planning "strategy" (yes, we take our bumper cars pretty seriously), and we even got to take pictures for a group of folks in the round ahead of us so we got an opportunity to make new friends.

Lines for shows :) - For folks with reservations, scanning of cards/bands seemed to go reasonably quickly, but there were long lines for stand-by guests.

Lines for Northstar :mad: - this line was poorly managed and created the potential for injury. People started lining up shortly after 0800 for a start time of 0900. The line wrapped around deck 15 toward the front of the ship which happens to be the jogging track where there's also loungers packed in at the rail. The joggers ended up running over the loungers because people wouldn't stay to the side and, even though it was obvious that there were enough people in line to need to hand out tickets, that didn't start until 0930 and it was another 90 minutes to complete the process. The management of this line needs significant improvement.

Lines at dinner :eek: - on many nights, the lines outside multiple dinner venues was easily 100 people long (stretched from the entrance to the elevator bank). My understanding is that there was a significant IT issue (as opposed to the endless "minor" IT issues) with reservations and things turned...ugly.

Lines for pictures - Another significant IT issue that created a bad situation all around, including lines from the photo desk to Izumi. Apparently the system wasn't ready or hadn't been validated for everyone deciding to look at and purchase their pictures/discs on the last two days of the cruise. At the end, discs were being made one at a time by a crew member manually dragging and dropping the files onto a single CD burner via laptop. I was in line 4 separate times as I was promised 4 separate times they'd be ready. Finally got them 15 minutes before we disembarked.

Overall - Lines are inevitable, but there's definitely room for significant improvement in line management for QoTS. I hope Royal pays attention to the feedback they get and makes changes.

If think it's time for you to try another cruise line other than Carnival. Doing the same thing over and over again can lead to what your experienceing above.

If think it's time for you to try another cruise line other than Carnival. Doing the same thing over and over again can lead to what your experienceing above.

I don't understand what you are saying

Ware you referring to me? If so, Reread my past cruises.

You do need reservations. Lines would be for all reservation, lunch and dinner

Is there an advantage to waiting in line, rather than using the app?

Is there an advantage to waiting in line, rather than using the app?

No, it's actually better to book in advance or call dining once onboard.

I didn't have line issues. Many many others did.

It was difficult to navigate the decks with lines everywhere. I wouldn't wait in lines and waste my time, as I honestly feel, nothing was worth the waits.

Perhaps a cruise on these newer ships isn't for you (or me!)....there are so many places to go and things to do...and even, other ships! Pick what suits you!

Yeah, I'm not even sure what this has to do with anything here. Obviously, OP tried Quantum and was simply reporting back to us on what s/he found - the lines are long. They did pick a ship that suits them - the new ship suited them fine and they were looking forward to trying it out.

OP and everyone else who has sailed Quantum and commented here, thank you for the reports. :)

OP tried Quantum and was simply reporting back to us on what s/he found - the lines are long.

Sailed Dec 1-11... I had zero lines in every free dining venue. I changed my dining reservation on 5 of the 11 days when on board. I ate both early seating and late seating with friends I had met on board and linked reservations with. I showed up early twice by a 1/2 hour and had no problem being seated within 30 seconds. Just my personal experience actually being there at the various times and venues that I dined at.

The only lines I saw was day 1 as hundreds of cruisers panicking over their reservations inundating the dining venues. That did not need to happen. Most nights I think dining venues maxed out at about 80% capacity. The only time I saw a very strained staff and about 100% capacity was American Icon night #5. Dynamic Dining is made to free flow as you go. There were zero lines during the last half of the cruise that I saw in dining. Dynamic Dining runs exactly like MTD on all other ships... you don't have to book pre-cruise. Show up when you want or book the day of, just like MTD on all other ships in the RCL fleet.

Other lines were the stand by lines at the entertainment venues, if you were not reserved you waited as a stand-by until 15 min before show time... just like Oasis or Allure, nothing different here. If you get on the ship after a day at port and try to go the Cafe Two70 along with 100 other cruisers, yes, there were lines there at peak times... Cafe Two70, nor Park cafe on other RCL ships, can serve 100 people instantly just because you might be #99 at the back of the line.

I didn't see nor experience all this negativity on this sailing, nor did I get this from the very many people I sailed with and spoke to everyday. I am thankful I had a great cruise and sad that the OP had the issues he/she did.

I can only hope RCI takes the time to read reviews that leave the customer not pleased with the product .... Hopefully things will improve .

I am sure they look at C C.

Sea ya

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

We did not experience unusual lines or waits on our 12/1 cruise! A few of the shows had people lining up early but not too bad if you went upstairs. Walked right on Northstar a couple of times! We waited about 15 to 20 minutes for Jamies one night but that was the only time. Had a great time and would definitely sail this class again!! Loved dynamic dining!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'm confused. The ship just sailed an 8 night returning Saturday, not an 11 night returning Friday. the cruise before that was 12/1 -12/12. There are reviews of both that sound totally different. As I said i'm confused.

The cheerleaders on this thread can rationalize their opinion any way they want. You may not have been impacted but we were.

The lines started before you even left your car. It took over 1 1/2 hours after arriving at the port before we got in our room. We waited 30 minutes in the Diamond line just to check-in. So much for curb to room in 10 minutes.

The Royal iq app was not available for half of the ship using an android cell. The ipads around the ship were useless for making dining reservations. I got ONE reservation for day 1. Then after checking 4 venues for the next 7 days there was NOTHING. I was told by dining I had to show up at dining at 9AM to wait in line to get a maximum of two days reservations. Day 2 we had a reservation for Grande, we arrived to a very long line because the computers crashed. After 30 minutes a hostess came through the line and asked for volunteers to sit at a table for ten. We jumped at the chance and the service was horrible, 3 hours to eat dinner. Next day back down to dining, and another long line to get reservations. By day 7-8 we gave up and ate at the WindJammer. One of the hostesses said the system was so inflexible the table had to be reserved for 2 hours. Which meant if you had a table at 7, it was unavailable 2 hours before and after; 5-9PM. That's why the dining rooms were mostly empty.

One comical story, we asked to sit with others at a large table at Chic. We got there a couple of minutes late, and was escorted to a table for 12. NO ONE was scheduled to join us. We sat alone, after 15 minutes I asked to be moved to a table for two.

The NorthStar was equally pathetic. One example, they were going to hand out tickets FOR THE NEXT DAY at 10AM. I was on deck for my walk at 8:30AM and the line was already 50 feet long.

The same is true for ifly, and the bumper cars maybe operated for one hour per day. Both with long lines.

Many have said that lines are normal for some venues. I agree. But there were lines at the normal venues plus lots of new ones.

Someone at RCI thought it was a great idea to pump load music into the supposedly quiet Solarium. The lounge chairs were not padded and were very uncomfortable.

There were major lines for the elevators, because someone on the ship allowed EVERYONE to get priority access with their SeaPass card. Many times the elevators would just stop and the computer voice ordered you to exit the elevator immediately. Sometime during day 4 after the kids made a game of it, the problem was fixed.

A couple we met in the Diamond Club that was so fed up they wanted to leave the ship in Port Canaveral. Another couple was so fed up with the overcrowded Diamond Club they purchased the Premium Package. The Diamond Concierge told us they will no longer expand any club during the cocktail hours. You have your vouchers just live with it, and if you wanted a snack, you could stand.

That's the highlights of numerous issues. We enjoyed many parts of this cruise, but the bad definitely out weighed the good.

The cheerleaders on this thread can rationalize their opinion any way they want. You may not have been impacted but we were.

I truly feel sorry for the situations you encountered. I still can't understand how such an excellent 11 days I had could transform into the negative you experienced the following 8. I feel that the entire months heading towards Q's first sailing was all about a wolfpack mentality of human negativity, it just bred and grew on this forum without any factual information from anyone that has even sailed. I'm definitely a cheerleader as you said above because I had a great experience. I can easily sleep at night saying without reservations that I had no issues as I had many witnesses around me who also frequent these forums, incl a couple of Pinnacles who have more cruises with RCL than you and I combined. I cannot undermine your experience on your 8 day cruise as much as you can't undermine my 11 day experience before you... unfortunately all the drama of many posters and the absolutely petty and ridiculous whining I personally heard and witnessed with my own ears has shut me down to having empathy (Cry wolf). If I had encountered issues daily I'd be all over this! I swear to you, on the Dec 1-11 sailing I had zero, nada, no issues. That's how it went down for me.

And then I read these reviews from your sailing:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140045

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140052

It looks like you're sailing on Serenade later this year. I just came off of Serenade in September in the Med and it was excellent, including the best MDR I've experienced in the last 2 years or so. I truly hope you have a great cruise :)

I truly feel sorry for the situations you encountered. I still can't understand how such an excellent 11 days I had could transform into the negative you experienced the following 8. I feel that the entire months heading towards Q's first sailing was all about a wolfpack mentality of human negativity, it just bred and grew on this forum without any factual information from anyone that has even sailed. I'm definitely a cheerleader as you said above because I had a great experience. I can easily sleep at night saying without reservations that I had no issues as I had many witnesses around me who also frequent these forums, incl a couple of Pinnacles who have more cruises with RCL than you and I combined. I cannot undermine your experience on your 8 day cruise as much as you can't undermine my 11 day experience before you... unfortunately all the drama of many posters and the absolutely petty and ridiculous whining I personally heard and witnessed with my own ears has shut me down to having empathy (Cry wolf). If I had encountered issues daily I'd be all over this! I swear to you, on the Dec 1-11 sailing I had zero, nada, no issues. That's how it went down for me.

 

And then I read these reviews from your sailing:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140045

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140052

 

It looks like you're sailing on Serenade later this year. I just came off of Serenade in September in the Med and it was excellent, including the best MDR I've experienced in the last 2 years or so. I truly hope you have a great cruise :)

Agree 200% with ur post!! I too was on the Dec 1st 11 night sailing and had virtually none of the whiners issues I heard about from most everyone. I had a FANTASTIC time on QOS and would sail her or Anthem again!

I swear to you, on the Dec 1-11 sailing I had zero, nada, no issues. That's how it went down for me.

I think you were lucky and I wish I could say the same! :)

We were on the Dec 1 as well and encountered lots of long lines and service issues. Some dealt with reservations, as we definitely didn't feel like our party of 4 could just walk in without them. One time we were even told that for future days where we didn't have one, we should either show up at 5:30 to walk in or there was a high likelihood there wouldn't be any space for the rest of the night. Other reservations disappeared or were sometimes cancelled when show times changed. Changing reservation times was not easy for us. We could never do it on the app or the iPads. There was always no availability. There were also quite a few service problems with regard to food allergies, alternate menus, etc.

I read some of these reviews about how well dynamic dining worked for some people, and I wish we had had such a great experience with it. I don't mind it in concept but wish they would limit the reservations so that it really could be dynamic. I know plenty of people felt like the ship didn't feel crowded or didn't encounter lots of lines, but we definitely did. I guess we just found ourselves at peak time everywhere and that was our bad luck.

I completely recognize that people can be on the same sailing and have totally different experiences. I'm not going to bash Quantum. It was good, but it just wasn't as amazing as we thought it would be or as it seems to have been for some people. For the most part, we just put all of our issues into the Royal survey as they are things that are 100% fixable if they choose to do so. Well, everything except for the fact that the ship really seems to move more than other ships, especially where we were up front. Never booking that cabin again on a ship like this.

I think you were lucky and I wish I could say the same! :)

This pains me a little. I'm just finding it really hard to comprehend my first hand experience to a negative one like yours.

We were on the Dec 1 as well and encountered lots of long lines

Would you mind posting some specifics? I'd like to hear where you encountered lines on an ongoing basis?

and service issues.

This too... I'd like to hear about your experiences.

Some dealt with reservations, as we definitely didn't feel like our party of 4 could just walk in without them. One time we were even told that for future days where we didn't have one, we should either show up at 5:30 to walk in or there was a high likelihood there wouldn't be any space for the rest of the night. Other reservations disappeared or were sometimes cancelled when show times changed. Changing reservation times was not easy for us. We could never do it on the app or the iPads. There was always no availability. There were also quite a few service problems with regard to food allergies, alternate menus, etc.

So the ipad stations and Royal IQ worked fine... it was just that it didn't give you any available venues to book. 3 months before the cruise there was no availability on most venues, nothing changed here. RCL left plenty of room for walk-ins or further reservations on board is what I was told at the time, and it worked for me and the few others I dined with after making changes, rebooking, etc. It's too bad you didn't "test" the system and just showed jup wherever you wanted whenever you wanted... I did, like MTD. I agree with you regarding the food allergy questions as I've heard first hand issues with this.

I'm not going to bash Quantum. It was good, but it just wasn't as amazing as we thought it would be or as it seems to have been for some people. For the most part, we just put all of our issues into the Royal survey as they are things that are 100% fixable if they choose to do so. Well, everything except for the fact that the ship really seems to move more than other ships, especially where we were up front. Never booking that cabin again on a ship like this.

Thank you for this respectful post. I touched on your final sentence above in my review as I agree with this as well... the ship seems to roll more than others. Questioning the bridge officers they don't think so and quoted the sea trials as proof (22 knots, 15% rudder, less than 4% list), however I spoke specifically to 2 other fellow cruisers, one D+ the other PN (so tons of balcony experience on various classes of ships), and both said their forward upper deck balconies were the worst for movement they have ever been in. It may be the way it pitches and rolls rather than the actual list, I don't know. No one could put a finger on it.

Would you mind posting some specifics? I'd like to hear where you encountered lines on an ongoing basis?

Lines and crowds, pretty much everywhere. Almost every time we were at the Windjammer, it was packed. Every time we showed up for dinner, there was a line to check in. Cafe Two70, always long lines. Northstar, lines onto the jogging track. Solarium, all the chairs were taken. Two70 a few times, almost no chairs left for more than 1 person. Pool deck, almost every chair was gone other than the smoking side (can't do it) or far at the ends. Even all the bikes at the gym were taken when I went up! I'm thinking we just showed up at the worst time everywhere. Rock climbing however, no lines. That was nice. Also, for the most part, the reservation lines at the shows weren't too bad and Devinly Decadence for breakfast had zero lines, which was wonderful compared to the Windjammer.

As for the service issues, if any of these happened just once or twice over the length of the cruise, probably not a huge deal. Things happen. In isolation, none of them are completely abysmal (except for maybe the food allergy ones). But over and over again, day after day, piling up, and it starts to feel like issues with service.

There were several related to reservations and checking in. You're right, we did not just show up anywhere to test how truly dynamic it was. But when the person at the check in desk tells you to either show up at 5:30 or you'll probably be eating dinner at the Windjammer, it didn't feel like there was much flexibility. After about half an hour or more of working with them, they found some space in the schedule (which was of course not on the app), but it didn't feel very flexible.

More of the service issues related to food allergies, alternate menus, and modifications. There were several people who just didn't seem to be trained whatsoever on how to handle this. When you ask the waiter, given someone's allergy, what things they can't eat, the answer is not to just say, "I recommend that you eat X" over and over again. (If X, an appetizer, were the only thing on the entire menu the person could eat, then fine, but it wasn't.) Especially with ingredients that are often used in marinades or not always visible, it's hard to trust or feel safe when the waiter doesn't appear to have any clue what it means to have a food allergy or what's in a dish. Other times, we were told the dishes we ordered were fine for the allergies, and then when they came out, the waiter would tell someone in our party to just not eat certain things, which we wouldn't have even ordered if we had known the ingredients were in there.

There were a few head waiters who completely got it and made sure things were done right, but when you put the information in the system prior to even going on the trip AND most of your reservations were also made prior to going, this really shouldn't happen. They advertise this as a smartship, but there seemed to be zero linkage between reservations and the allergies, which didn't even seem to make it into our profile until they were reentered again later. With more and more people having food allergies, intolerances, etc, people being dismissive of them or clueless about them really is a service issue.

For people who need or want to order from the alternate menus, first there's the challenge of getting one, since a lot of the waiters don't seem to know it exists, and then some that do don't seem to understand that it's a different menu. (Granted there are some things that are almost entirely the same like the turkey dinner at American Icon, but this wasn't where we had issues.) For example, on one night, one of the head waiters at Chic told me that what was on the alternate menu was the same as the regular menu, even though clearly the descriptions and preparations were different, just from reading it. I ordered the one from the alternate menu and she confirmed that I did, and then brought me the regular one anyway, reiterating that I was wrong and it was the same.

On top of all that, there were a lot of little things in the service that I think came from the fact that the waiters were overburdened and had too much to do and not enough time. I've seen this in other people's reviews, so I know this wasn't just us. For us, it wasn't the speed, since with the food allergies and modifications, the food is just going to take longer and we know that. But the waiters were gone for a lot of the time, the water glasses were empty, and there was just no one around, because they were so busy. The new system just seems to be leading to a lot of these little issues.

Again, any of these alone, not a big deal. But almost every single meal, there was something, and when dining is one of the more important things to us on a vacation, it really detracts a bit from the experience. These are things that are fixable, especially with training when it comes to the food allergies, so I hope they do make some progress on it.

I truly feel sorry for the situations you encountered. I still can't understand how such an excellent 11 days I had could transform into the negative you experienced the following 8. I feel that the entire months heading towards Q's first sailing was all about a wolfpack mentality of human negativity, it just bred and grew on this forum without any factual information from anyone that has even sailed. I'm definitely a cheerleader as you said above because I had a great experience. I can easily sleep at night saying without reservations that I had no issues as I had many witnesses around me who also frequent these forums, incl a couple of Pinnacles who have more cruises with RCL than you and I combined. I cannot undermine your experience on your 8 day cruise as much as you can't undermine my 11 day experience before you... unfortunately all the drama of many posters and the absolutely petty and ridiculous whining I personally heard and witnessed with my own ears has shut me down to having empathy (Cry wolf). If I had encountered issues daily I'd be all over this! I swear to you, on the Dec 1-11 sailing I had zero, nada, no issues. That's how it went down for me.

 

And then I read these reviews from your sailing:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140045

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140052

 

It looks like you're sailing on Serenade later this year. I just came off of Serenade in September in the Med and it was excellent, including the best MDR I've experienced in the last 2 years or so. I truly hope you have a great cruise :)

Thanks for the outlook on Serenade, it's been a while since we sailed her. Good to know things are still 'shipshape' :).

I have often read reviews for the other cruises we were on and wondered if these people were on the same planet, let alone the same ship, LOL. The thing is, I normally don't read reviews of a ship before we cruise. RCI's product is pretty consistent.

More often than not I am a cheerleader, not a whiner. We usually do not let any negative impact the enjoyment of our cruise. The BUT is coming; This cruise the negatives far outweighed the positives.

i truly feel sorry for the situations you encountered. I still can't understand how such an excellent 11 days i had could transform into the negative you experienced the following 8. I feel that the entire months heading towards q's first sailing was all about a wolfpack mentality of human negativity, it just bred and grew on this forum without any factual information from anyone that has even sailed. I'm definitely a cheerleader as you said above because i had a great experience. I can easily sleep at night saying without reservations that i had no issues as i had many witnesses around me who also frequent these forums, incl a couple of pinnacles who have more cruises with rcl than you and i combined. I cannot undermine your experience on your 8 day cruise as much as you can't undermine my 11 day experience before you... Unfortunately all the drama of many posters and the absolutely petty and ridiculous whining i personally heard and witnessed with my own ears has shut me down to having empathy (cry wolf). If i had encountered issues daily i'd be all over this! I swear to you, on the dec 1-11 sailing i had zero, nada, no issues. That's how it went down for me.

 

And then i read these reviews from your sailing:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140045

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140052

 

it looks like you're sailing on serenade later this year. I just came off of serenade in september in the med and it was excellent, including the best mdr i've experienced in the last 2 years or so. I truly hope you have a great cruise :)

like :)