The Fun Researcher

At least for our cruise these are the other ships that were supposed to be in Port at Skagway . Obviously, we got bumped by one of them.🥵 Likely the Discovery Princess because it is the other big ship

Rant on: Royal Caribbean set these itineraries, knowing full well that Skagway was in this situation with the landslide still impacting the pier. This is affecting tens of thousands of passengers who are already beyond final payment. Rather than be upfront many months ago and removing Skagway from the schedules so that we could make better choices between cruise lines and ship itineraries, they baited us in knowing full well they may not repair the port in time. This feels…disingenuous. From what I am researching ISP is a significantly inferior port as a substitute to Skagway. It would not sting so much but when you have almost $15,000 tied up into an Alaskan cruise vacation with limited ports of call, a change like this really hurts. Rant off. Thanks for letting me vent.

Exactly. Yes, they do state that excursions will be made available, but I am guessing many of the good options will be sold out.

This is a gut punch. Icy Straight Point instead of Skagway. Skagway was a “must do” for the White Pass train. Totally bummed. Would have chosen a different cruise, perhaps different cruise line, for Alaska had we known. Wish we were getting Ketchikan. ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS Dear Guest, Last season, landslides in Skagway, Alaska impacted the pier where our ships dock. While repairs have been ongoing, they won't be ready for two large ships visiting simultaneously. So, to ensure we provide you with the best experience, we’ve replaced our visit with Icy Strait Point, Alaska. To help make up for this change, we’ve added an extra 2.5 hours in Sitka, so you can explore and enjoy everything this beautiful destination has to offer! We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this. Nevertheless, we’re excited to sail away with you! Below, please find our revised Quantum of the Seas July 10th, 2023 itinerary. Day Port of Call Arrive Depart Mon Seattle, Washington 4:00 PM Tue Cruising Wed Icy Strait Point, Alaska 12:30 PM 9:00 PM Thu Sitka, Alaska 7:00 AM 5:00 PM Fri Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier 5:00 AM 10:00 AM Fri Juneau, Alaska 1:00 PM 9:00 PM Sat Cruising Sun Victoria, British Columbia 5:00 PM 10:00 PM Mon Seattle, Washington 7:00 AM Icy Strait Point is where excitement and splendor combine to give you an exhilarating experience. Take in the majesty of Alaska while enjoying some of the best fishing and whale watching in the area. If adventure is what you seek, ride the world’s largest zipline, ZipRider®. As you descend, enjoy amazing views of the forest while gaining a true appreciation of the magnificent scenery. After you’ve finished exploring, indulge your appetite and try some locally produced cuisine that is hard to find elsewhere, like reindeer chili or the Alaskan Blue Burger. Whatever you choose to do, we know you’ll have a memorable time!

I like your comments, and I agree about the wait staff. Ours were fantastic as well. Above average for sure

If true, this is a huge tip!!! Thank you! My wife, son and I are Diamond but no-one else in our group of 16 is. Those complimentary spots go fast, so it would be fantastic if I could take care of it once onboard ASAP. We are all linked.

Thanks for the reply back. Good to know... about what I figured regarding touring Hawaii. Yeah, we honeymooned there in Hawaii back in 1999. 1 day at Waikiki, 4 nights in Maui, and 7 nights in Kawaii. LOVED it. Had we known, would have swapped the nights in Kawaii with Maui. Kawaii was lush and gorgeous, but was a little too quiet. Maui was just a pretty IMO but had so many more activities to offer. Hopefully someday we'll make it back again. Hawaii was one of the contenders for vacation this summer, but the Quantum in Alaska won out. It will be our first time and suited our extended family better. Happy sailing. Thanks for the updates!

Having fun reading your review! Thank you! We really enjoyed the sister ship, Anthem, in March. Part of the reason for sailing the Anthem was to get a preview to the Quantum in July (Alaska). We'll have my entire side of the family aboard. 3 generations, My parents, 4 pairs of siblings and 7 grandkids (ranging from 13-21 yrs). 16 total. Curious. Do you feel like you are getting a good enough appreciation of Hawaii visiting from a cruise ship? Also, how's the ship holding up? Noticeable wear and tear, or no?

I'm sure it's very nice. Never been. However on the Quantum, we already have whale watching and the Mendenhall glacier in Juneau. Whale watching, as cool as it is, would be a repeat. Skagway is unique for us with the White Pass Train. That port was a "must do" when we chose this itinerary. Hopefully we (and others on the Quantum) will be there as planned.

That was a win for us. When we got on the ship in March it was in the 30s. Open air would’ve been horrendous. It did not warm up until we got to port Canaveral two days later. It was very cold the last sea day back and it would have been terrible in a solarium with open air. A fresh breeze in the solarium is nice, but it has to be cruising from someplace warm

This reminds me of the scare a few weeks ago that people were trying to put out there about Juneau this summer. Turned out to be false. We have the White Pass train booked in Skagway as one of our highlights on our cruise mid July.

I enjoy both solariums equally. I did not notice a major difference between the two. What was so negative about the Quantum class solarium?

We enjoyed the dining room far more than the wind jammer on the Anthem in March. However, we were comparing lunch in the WJ to dinner in the MDR. Pretty hard to compare apples to apples unless you go to both on the same night. However, I felt a lack overall of quality proteins, especially in the Windjammer for lunch. Everything just seemed to be “cost out”. It was not a bad lunch, but not what I was used to in the Windjammer. I also walked through the Windjammer on the second formal night. I was not very impressed. I went to the main dining room instead as usual.

You’ve cruised way more than we have, but every royal cruise we’ve done since 2012, and up until the Anthem in March 2023 had escargot every single night. I must have missed the cruises when they did not offer the escargot due to “shortages”. I do remember the risk of that but it never came to fruition for us. You can see my signature for cruises that we have done with Royal. Having escargot nightly is not a make or break cruise for us. It was nice while it lasted. 🙂 Our kids’ first cruise was in Nov 2014. My son was seven years old and over the course of a six night cruise ate around 9 appetizers of escargot believe it or not. Escargot and shrimp cocktail was his go to dinner lol. He was/is a healthy trim guy and it brings back fun memories thinking of he and his sisters enjoying all the adventurous and new food offerings.

Good to know! Maybe this was the evening we went to Wonderland because I certainly would have ordered the scallops as it's one of our fav's Edit to add: Looks like that menu is not on the 7 night Anthem cruise we did in March. The nights were: Welcome Aboard Taste of France Taste of Italy Taste of the Caribbean Taste of Mexico Royal Night Bon Voyage

We had the new menus on the Anthem in March, and I would say my main takeaways are: Food quality was the same. Good temperature, well prepared. I missed having the lamb chops, (my second favorite entrée behind the beef tenderloin) There were just enough occurrences of the escargot and French onion soup to keep us moderately satisfied. We did miss having those as daily offerings. I miss the little tiny scallop appetizer they used to serve in the same dishes they use for Escargot The "one lobster tail" restriction didn't bother us Overall, if we didn't know the previous menus so well, we would have considered the current MDR offerings to be excellent. I still think it's excellent, but there are a couple of things we each missed. As a side not, not sure what sauce they were putting on the pork bao buns but it was terrible. Not at all in line with the typical Asian flavor profile the other times we've had them. Used to LOVE those bao buns, but couldn't even finish one. Hopefully it was just a one off occurrence.

Loved your fun and snarky writing style! Thanks for the review. We had an amazing time on the Anthem out of Bayonne mid/late March.

Glad you had such an amazing time. 9 night cruise to the ABC's? Heaven. LOVE the ABC's and the fact that you normally get a good number of sea days sprinkled in (including two on the return leg which is great). We did a very similar 9n itinerary back in 2019 on the newly AMPED Royal Caribbean Navigator. (but swap Grand Cayman for Labadee). It is still our favorite cruise to this day. How is the Equinox holding up? Are furnishings and such in good shape? How's the wear and tear in common spaces? We'll be sailing on her again in December. We last sailed the Equinox summer 2017 and loved it.

I do love the Solstice class. Our second cruise on the Equinox is coming up in December

Ooh that’s nice!

Wow, that’s interesting. It’s exactly opposite of what I feel of the Freedom class. I think it has one of the best connections to the sea of all classes of Royal Caribbean. The helicopter pad, the deck four unobstructed wraparound promenade, the well laid out pool decks… I feel oasis class is inward focused where is freedom is outward focused..

Very very similar ship. Outdoor pool replaces the indoor pool. Add Playmakers. 1 grand dining hall instead of split into four.

Sounds like a great solution OP

You might be right, but I did not get to experience the alternate

Saw Spectra on the Anthem last month. Lack of a coherent storyline and I had a difficult time connecting to the show. Didn’t care for the drag queen lead. Liked the technology side of it but they can do better IMO.