CarpeCerevisi

If it is true, they'd have a ship that could get into Hamilton and St. George's Bermuda again.

Oh my, this one has to be the worst version of the booking engine yet. Are they trying to push people away from booking on their web site or are they using some high school student's class project to save money? I'm just glad I've already booked cruises for next year already so I don't have to try to navigate my way through that mess of an interface.

I just got off the Jewel a couple of hours ago. Great cruise down from Vancouver on a great ship. Over 100 people from our cruise are staying on board. The wifi worked fine in my cabin on deck 7, in the Windjammer and in the Viking Crown. I did see electricians working on board, most likely on the wifi upgrade. Have a great cruise!

My first cruise was on Song of America from New York to Bermuda in 1994. Here are certain things that I remember:

A 45 minute to 1 hour wait in line to check in.

Sailing from mid-town Manhattan.

Having a golfers meeting after sailaway for those wanting to play golf on Bermuda, there were at least two dozen people attending.

Needing to set up ones on-board account after boarding the ship.

Eating all meals in the MDR.

Announcements on the PA when it was dinner time.

No Windjammer, just a small cafe.

A real full wrap around Viking Crown (those ended with the Sovereign class).

Ships that could get into St. George's and Hamilton Harbours (hey, they're British, have to spell it correctly).

No security check getting on in port (that changed on my second cruise that sailed from NYC on September 9, 2001).

Plastic cards with holes in them for room keys.

The long wait for the ship to be cleared at ports of call.

The interminable wait to get off the ship at the end of the cruise.

The wonderful feeling of being on a ship at sea.

The interminable wait before one's next cruise.

Oh, wait, those last two are still true today.

Pardon the interruption, but I had to say it in honor of Yogi Berra's 90th birthday yesterday.

Nobody sails during spring break anymore, it's too crowded.

He got up and spoke afterwards. He always seems a really nice guy. I read once that he bought Sir Patrick Moores house off him (famous astrologer and host of The Sky At Night) when he was quite old and let him stay in the house for free for the rest of his life, so Patrick could use the money to live on.

 

 

 

I'm sure I saw the soda machine around the ship :cool:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lintott,_Moore,_May.jpg

Sir Patrick was an astronomer, not an astrologer, there is a big difference. Brian May is an astrophysicist and, of course, one the the best rock guitarists there is.

Don't count on it. I cannot remember ever seeing a hockey game on board a ship. The ships usually carry the Caribbean feed of ESPN so you might get some baseball, maybe basketball, definitely football (soccer). LGR!

I was on the NO to Boston repo. It was my forty somethingth cruise and one of my best. My cabin steward was fantastic, Norman in the VC during happy hour always was attentive and had always had a good word. Yes, I was a somewhat disappointed with the Windjammer at times but I thought it got better as the cruise went on. I'm not one for the MDR or the traditional shows so I can't comment on them. All in all, I found the crew to be hospitable, the ship to be clean and in good shape, and the itinerary to be much to my liking as well as my fellow cruisers. I don't know what else I could ask for. Oh, and the CC lunch the last day was a pleasant surprise with excellent food and the free wine was a plus.

I'm not saying that everything was perfect, but I never did mind the little things.

Pricing can be so strange at times. I was looking at the Canada / New England cruises on Anthem for September 2016 sailing as a solo. When I looked at balcony cabins the studio with balcony, the ones without a single supplement, were more expensive than most standard balconies with a single supplement included. When I include my 150% maximum single supplement the price for a full sized balcony cabin is a around $1000 less than the studio! They advertise the studios to be perfect for singles but then jack up the prices. Do they figure people can't do arithmetic? And before anyone asks, there were no special rates involved and the single rate was he same as two people together, i.e. 200% with supplement.

I just sailed out of Baltimore and back last week. There are taxis waiting at both the port and at Penn Station. The cab ride is about 15 minutes depending on traffic and lights.

There is now a flat $12.50 fare to and from Penn Station and the port. Some drivers don't seem to know that and will still try to use the meter, if so point to the sign in the cab that states the flat fare. While the meter rate may be close to $12.50 that's about as low as I've ever seen.

I was in 7248 in December. The balcony is huge, i.e. very deep, and is definitely not obstructed. The room is not large, about the size of an interior on the Majesty. It has a single full size bed as compared to twins pushed together which means no crack in the middle. The bed is a little shorter than those in other cabins but was fine for me at 5-11. There is a single closet on one side of the bed and a cabinet with drawers and shelves on the other side. There are also two storage compartments above the headboard of the bed. I found the storage to be fine for me but then I pack light. The bathroom is full size, meaning that it is the same as in other standard cabins. The vanity area is very small with a chair that looks more like an ottoman than a real chair. There is no table, I sometimes would bring the table in from the balcony to use inside the cabin. For an idea of the size of the cabin if I got out of the bed on the right side it was one step to the bathroom (that can be a good thing at times) and out the left side it was two steps to the balcony. I would book that cabin again in a heartbeat.

beachnative is correct about there being no access to the bow area. I was, however, able to see all of Orion and surrounding constellations from my cabin balcony.

The thing that I noticed most when I was on the Quantum a few weeks ago was that the waiters were assigned several tables and had to do everything for those tables, including bussing them and prepping them for new diners. It does not take a lot of additional personnel to bus and prep the tables and it takes a large burden off the wait staff. It sounds like RC has finally realized this.

Can anyone give me explicit directions from LI to the terminal and the best way to deal with the traffic flow? I need to pick a boarding time as well and am not sure if we should leave very early (then we will encounter massive rush hour traffic from LI) or on the later side (I always like to be on board for lunch!). We will be traveling with my 90 year old mother so walking too far will be out of the question. Would love some suggestions! Thanks.

Take the Southern State to the Belt Parkway to the Verrazano Bridge. Once over the Verrazano you will be on the Staten Island Expressway. Stay on it for about 5 or 6 miles and look for the signs to Rte. 440 and the Bayonne Bridge. Take 440 over the Bayonne Bridge and stay on 440 for maybe 3 to 4 miles and look for signs for the cruise port on the right. The road to turn right on is Port Terminal Blvd. Follow that for a couple of miles until you get to the terminal. Luggage and any passengers can be dropped off at the terminal. The current parking lot entrance is accessed by looping around a warehouse, there are signs.

Depending on what day of the week it is and the time of day there could be delays on the Belt Parkway (weekends should be fine). Also expect construction delays possibly on the Verrazano and almost always on the Staten Island Expressway. There could also be some backup getting to the terminal drop off area.

I went there on Friday, December 12th, leaving home at 10:15. From West Hempstead (Exit 17 on Southern State) it took me an hour to get to Port Terminal Blvd. with delays only on the Staten Island Expressway. Unfortunately, traffic was backed up before the terminal about 15 minutes. I have heard that that was unusual, though. Going home early on a Saturday morning I got home in 50 minutes.

I ate in four restaurants last week. American Icon was okay, good portions, a little bland (at least what I ordered), waiters were way overworked. Silk was my least favorite, waiter was good but the food was the blandest asian food I've ever had. Chic was good, the waiter was fine, the food was very good. The best for me was Jamie's Italian, good service, excellent food, of course it was $25 extra and it was very popular.

I am not familiar with the port, but it sounds as though you would have less traffic if you stayed to the left, went directly to the parking area, and wheeled your luggage to the terminal. Is that correct/allowed? We are on Q in January and would prefer to avoid potential issues.

The problem is that the left lane appears to be for reverse traffic as there is a solid yellow line and no signs say it may be travelled in in the direction of the terminal. The two right lanes both head to the terminal with a branch going to the parking lot only very close to the terminal. In my case, I crept in the left most of the two right lanes for 20 minutes until I could branch off towards the parking lot. I only had carry on bags so I didn't want to go to the drop off area. I probably should have gone up the left lane in the "wrong" direction as no cars were coming back in that direction.

I had a similar experience as the OP had. On 12/12 traffic was backed up to well before the current parking lot at 11:15. As I passed the road that the lot entrance is on I wished I could have simply made a left and gone straight to the lot but the sign said Authorized Vehicles Only. If I recall correctly the road has three lanes, the right two heading to the terminal and the left lane in theory for opposite traffic as it is separated by a solid yellow line. Of course, once past the exit from the parking lot I don't think there is any way for traffic to head in that direction.

In my opinion, they should repaint the lines to open the left lane to traffic heading to the lot only once past the lot exit. Of course, I'm sure people would then try to use it to get to the terminal by cutting in at the last moment. It will be interesting to see what they do once the garage is built.

I'm one of those who booked before DD was announced. At first I thought uh-oh, but quickly decided I will not go hungry and will still do what I want when I want. If I'm sick of the crowds, my balcony and a book is all I need.

 

Yes, I have booked some restaurants already but I reserve the right to change things as I see fit.

 

Many cruises I've been on produced norovirus, missed ports, bad weather and up-charging. Sure, I've experienced some bad service at times and a few screw ups. Things turned out fine in the end.

 

Any cruise that doesn't end up at the bottom of the ocean is good enough for me.

Hear, hear. I sail on the Quantum on Friday. As long as there's no icebergs involved or the bars run dry, I'll be fine.

Am I the only one who has not had a problem with the online reservations? I've booked shows, restaurants, deleted restaurants, added restaurants, added and deleted shore excursions, all with no hassle or vanishing reservations. I'm not trying to call anyone a liar, as someone in the software business I know that bugs are a fact of life, but from the sound of things nothing ever works. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket, since my luck appears to be very good.

I sail on Quantum on Friday. Maybe they'll have none of my reservations, but I'm hoping my luck will hold. Either way, I'm sure I won't starve die of thirst or be bored to death.

I believe that everyone knows there will be glitches on an initial sailing. That being said, A stake was put in the sand for the time and date of this voyage. Pretend you're an executive. You know all these things are not functional and the due date is approaching fast. What would you do? If you cancel the cruise that opens a whole different can of worms, and can be disastrous financially. Disastrous as in potentially career limiting. So you make the decision to sail, and hopefully there will be "fixes" happening on board.

 

Now 2 things. First I am not trying to make excuses but that seems like a logical or plausible explanation. Second I am not trying to trivialize the OP's dismay nor say this approach is a good one. Remember Detroit's attitude is they will fix it @ the dealership. This was when we were the premier auto manufacturers. And you see how far that got us.

 

But a Billion dollar investment has to start to bring revenue quickly.

In my opinion, in most businesses these days, time to market has come to out weigh initial quality. I think businesses have found that customers have short memories and if a few customers are unhappy, so be it, because in the long run being first to market with something new brings more customers than those that are lost due to "glitches".

Here's a link to a thread started by someone on the ship now on the 11 night 12/1 cruise.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2133545

The first post shows the internet pricing. Remember that it is for 11 nights. IMO, most people would probably opt for Premium service unless they really want to do video streaming or large downloads and the Premium is not much more than Basic.

Thanks for sharing the internet information as many people have been asking about that. It really seems to be expensive,

I don't think the prices are out of line. It is for an 11 night cruise and unless one plans on doing a lot of file downloading or streaming videos the Premium Plus service is not really necessary. The Premium service should be much faster than anything they had before on other ships. The small price difference between Basic and Premium makes me wonder if anyone would even opt for Basic.

The only thing I don't like is that they seem to have gotten away from charging per minute. The last cruise I was on I had to select a package and did not have the option of just logging in and being charged per minute used as would be ideal for someone just wanting to occasionally connect for a few minutes here and there. I wonder if this has been the experience for others.

To the OP, have a great cruise and take good care of the ship, I board her on the 12th.

I'm sailing in 10 days and really looking forward to it. The ship looks marvelous in all the photos I've seen and if there are still some glitches, well, I never did mind the little things.

As for Dynamic Dining, I've always sailed solo and have pretty much given up on the MDR for many years now unless I'm with other CC friends or on my two Celebrity cruises. For this cruise I've booked four dinners in four different restaurants and will play the other four nights by ear. Again, this is something I'm looking for to.

I was also able to get one of the studio balcony cabins. Not having to pay a single supplement is a big savings for me. If it wasn't for that I'd probably gotten an inside cabin.

Will Quantum fall short of my expectations, will it perhaps exceed them? Time will tell.

Does anyone know for sure that the SeaPass card can be used while it is in the sealed envelope? It is possible that the envelope is also an RFID blocking sleeve. I'm sailing on Quantum on the 12th, I guess I'll have to try it.

Getting back to the OP's original issue, it was not a case where someone entered their cabin illicitly. It appears that the contractors were mistakenly assigned their cabin without realization that guests were also booked in that cabin. Obviously, that is not something that should not have happened and should have been rectified in a much more timely fashion than it was. I also wonder if perhaps the contractors had already been using that cabin prior to the OP's cruise and were staying aboard from a previous cruise and weren't reassigned another cabin. Again, that is something that should not have happened but might be more explainable.

Since the ship was refurbished, the Centrum area which includes the R Bar has become an entertainment spot. Besides the arial shows there is almost always a band playing there every night.

As others have stated, the passenger involvement with the piano player in the Schooner bar will vary depending on the player. I've seen it range from major involvement to none at all.