tapchus

Enjoyed reading your adventures on the Q, DM. Welcome home. Thanks for giving the thumbs up for Mamma Mia! and Sonic Odyssey. My daughter is one of the performers in the shows (the little Chinese girl). I'll let her know you enjoyed the shows. Oh, she was also one of the elves in the Dreamworks Shrek parade in the Royal Promenade. Be well.

We have discovered it goes easier for us to self disembark.

 

Can anyone tell me approx. what time this starts? Do you have to leave with the earliest people out or can you just walk off with your luggage anytime?

 

Our flight is out of Newark at 12 so its not like we are trying to make a super early risky flight but I hate trying to find our bags when we can roll them all ourselves.

We were on the Dec. 12-20 cruise and did what they referred to as the "Self Assist Program" to disembark. We wheeled our luggage down to the Schooners Lounge approximately 6:20 am. They let us go around 6:30 am. We showed our SetSail pass leaving the ship, went through customs and got to our car within 20 minutes. It was a breeze!

Your daughter must be Adrian! She was great in Mamma Mia and awesome in Sonic Odyssey!!! I especially loved the duet she did in Sonic Odyssey. My husband and I were on the December 1st to 12th cruise. We didn't get a chance to meet your daughter, but our niece (who lives in NYC) has danced with Adrian, so we were excited to see your daughter perform. We felt like we knew her and thought it was neat when they showed her photo and bio on the big screens in the theatre before Mamma Mia. Please tell her that our niece, Garnet, says hello!:)

Thanks so much for your beautiful comments. Yes. I will definitely pass this on to Adrianne the next time we see her. Happy New Year!!!

Wow! That is so awesome. You must've been very proud :D Is she the one in the picture I posted above? Yes, the dancers were excellent, and as you've read in other reviews some of the best entertainment offered by RCL.

Actually, that is the young lady that looks like her. Here is a picture of her being lifted up. Thanks again and Happy New Year!

Great reading your reviews and love looking at your pictures. I'm glad you enjoyed the entertainment on the cruise. My daughter is the tiny Asian girl performing in Mamma Mia!, Sonic Odyssey and the Dreamworks parade productions. I'll pass on your kind words to her and her cast mates. My wife and I did go on the Dec. 12-20 cruise and found it surreal to see our daughter performing there. Happy New Year!

This was also the night that Sonic Odyssey premiered for the first time ever!

This is why things were suddenly starting to feel like a cruise again. Every evening I would stop by the Royal Theater and William Close along with a team of stage crew workers would be stringing the Earth Harp. They’d work much of the night and then rehearse all day long. This is why the Royal Theater was off limits to the cruise director and the Royal Theater Cast was unavailable to participate in any of their usual activities. I’m going to talk about it more at the end when I review all the entertainment. I did see this one 3 times because it was so incredible so I’d rather not talk about it repeatedly.

I do however want to talk about the reservation system. This was a big night for the show so of course everyone wanted to see it. I always arrive 15-30 minutes before the doors even open (45 minutes before the show) and there is still often a line. This evening obviously was no different then. I was on deck 4 starboard side near the Music Hall where it’s often a bit emptier since the Esplanade leads directly to the Port side. As normally happens a long line formed and then as the time neared people started gathering by the stairs area to make a rush in. Well the doors didn’t open so the crowd just got bigger. About 5 minutes after the doors should have opened someone finally came out and said that the reservation system was having problems so they could not scan cards. Instead they would need an organized line (what had and still mostly existed) so that each person could say there cabin number and have it looked up. Knowing this extra burden you would think they would try to keep things organized or pay attention to the line. Instead the people from the stairs rush in and rather than checking the next person in line they would actually turn around to check the people clearly coming from another direction! Royal Caribbean has been terrible at this in the past but for the most part they’ve managed the lines well on the Quantum, this night was just pathetic though. I was only about 15th in line, but by the time I got in the theater the place was already a third full. Apparently in addition to not following the line they had multiple people working the other side and opened their doors on time. It was a really poor experience all the way around and one that was 100% in their control. With just a few more seconds of thought they could have managed that line and overcome the issues with no real adverse effect but speed.

 

Following Sonic Odyssey over in Music Hall was then the 70’s Disco Inferno Party replacement, Groovytown. I have to say this feels like a Ken Rush creation. I love the parties as an observer, but on the Oasis with Ken Rush in January 2010 it was done as more of a dance party in Studio B with a few segments of entertainment mixed throughout. That is exactly how this was. A member of the cruise director’s staff came out as the host of the party along with several other members to dance among the crowd as the DJ played 70s music.

Eventually Jimmy Rhodes then came out and took charge of things with the live band taking over the music.

They had a few segments of dancing on the stage by members of the activities staff and a few little audience moments. Overall though if you are one who likes to be in the middle of the parties and dance you’ll likely enjoy it even more now, but if like me you prefer to watch it’s really not worth the time. It is simply way too long and the short entertainment moments are not up to the "quality" (even the cheesy quality) of the old ones.

Great pictures and reviews Derek! My wife and I just returned from the recent 8-night cruise. By the way, we were there mainly to see my daughter perform in Mamma Mia! and Sonic Odyssey. (She's the tiny Asian one. lol). I'm glad you enjoyed the shows. Overall, we enjoyed the whole Quantum experience.

Thank you Pee Wee for the great detailed review and fab pictures. By the way, that is my daughter who is the Elf on the far right. She is also in Mamma Mia and Sonic Odyssey.