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

I had a nice view of my virtual balcony in my cabin this morning. I didn't take many pics of this virtual view throughout the cruise so I'll show you my view of St. Kitts this morning I was provided on my screen.

We had not been cleared yet to leave the ship, so I thought I'd stop on deck 5 outside deck to get another view of Jewel so very close to us. I took a few more pictures.

After about 10 minutes of studying the Jewel and watching the crew prepare the gangway etc below, the towel carts were being pulled out and the first passengers were walking out.

St. Kitts' Port Zante is super easy to navigate... walk down the pier and you're right there! All the excursions are inside that terminal area so there's a little bit of chaos going on, but the signage here was excellent. The photos below were taken at the same spot

Today I was booked on Grey's Tours. Extremely highly rated on Tripadvisor and on CC, I was personally unimpressed. I was booked on the Grand Tour and after assembling just to left of the port building I showed you above, we were divided into groups and off we went. The division of groups took too long imho, as we waited there probably 1/2 hour past our due time for departure. Perhaps that's planned to allow for stragglers. Soon enough, we begun our drive through the city

The first part of the tour is a city tour inside a little "jitney" bus. Thankfully it was only 9 of us in the 12 seater jitney. Having said that, there were no photo ops provided within the city at all as we drove around, we were stuck in the bus with poor A/C. I had a seat midbus and on the left side... the tour guide continually pointed out things to us up above and to his right. How is anyone in the bus supposed to look through the roof to see what he's pointing out? SO only 1 or 2 people at any time could see what the guide was talking about as he slowed and then continue on. I can't remember a single thing from that first 45min or so as it was totally useless and of zero value.

Getting out of the city to head for our first stop, we drove by an open beach. Here you can see the locals showing off their morning catch and a great view looking back at Q (these pics through bus window as we drove by)

We had a coastline view part of the way to our first stop, and there were a couple of photos that the driver slowed right down for 5 seconds for photo as he explained about a building or site, but then again there's no way to really experience what was being shown to us that quickly or remember what you were looking at even 5 minutes after. So far a little disappointing and I was anxious to get off the jitney in a big way.

1st stop is Romney Manor. I have heard and read about it, as well had seen photos. I had the impression that it was a much larger building and gardens, but it's actually very small.... this is a good thing as there's much better things to see and do in St. Kitts imo. It's a nice stop, but you don't need more than 30min here tops unless you plan on shopping Batik fabric store (so men, you can be in and outta here in 20min and be totally happy)

I bolted through the store area as it felt like I was at a sale in a major department store in the women's section during a 50% off sale! Oh the horror!!! lol. The grounds are very nice, and on the small side so you can get a good feel for this place very quickly. There's some beautiful gardens here to enjoy.

Our next stop was one of the main things I wished to see, the Fortress. The drive up the hill was "interesting" to say the least as it's a car width road with our driver needing to honk hos horn at every corner to warn any possible drovers coming the other way. There are some really tight switch backs as well, but the guide did a great job here (obviously knew the road through experience). Going through a couple of the arches of the fort on the way up he probably has 2-3 inches clearance on either side of the jitney, it's a wonder that the buildings aren't more damaged by vehicle accidents.

This place, specifically the views, are awesome! The grounds themselves are interesting too. They offered a short video in the museum but I opted to skip it as we did not have much time to enjoy this area at all. (I think it was 30-35min, that's all). I would've liked to have seen the video and seen the museum to quickly understand the importance and history of the fort while I was standing there,

I headed up the very steep stairs to the main fort at the top.

And the view looking back at the exact same spot that I had just been taking photos from... beautiful with the coastline and Nevis way off in the distance (top left of picture in the clouds)

The view looking out towards the Caribbean the other way were even more outstanding... how gorgeous. The island in the distgance is Sint Eustatius.

I never did find out the significance, if any, of the bell up here, but of course I just had to give it a ring!... its as guy thing, we all did up there lol

And here's a good pic of the steepness of the stairs leading up/down to the fortress. There is no elevator so unfortunately if you have mobility issues you cannot go up to enjoy the fabulous views. Also note... no railings or netting anywhere on any of the walls to protect anyone from falling (parents be warned)

We left Brimstone and made our way all the way back to Basseterre so that we can go to the beach, but not before stopping at Timothy Hill for a photo op and snack/shopping break. This first photo is looking back down onto the Marriot in Kitten Village....

And this is the iconic photo of the peninsula with Nevis off in the distance

We had 15-20min up here for photos and to look around. Timothy Hill is basically a gravel rest stop/pull out at the side of the road, no real pavement or parking spots, somewhat of a free for all. There's a couple of shopping tents, a couple of beer huts (3 for $5), and a guy with donkey & 2 monkeys offering photos for a price. The local beer is very good

I slept like a rock!! The bedding is very firm, I suspect some people won't like it but I did. The linens & pillows are great, super nice sleep and slept great all cruise. I had the alarm set for 7am so that I can get into my "sea day routine" of hitting the gym/a jog/light weights and abs, get to the DL/CL for my double Machiatto and then get breakfast somewhere.

 

I had plenty to look forward to today including my first IFly attempt as well as the Meet & Mingle at 9:30am!

 

 

 

The gym is just excellent, great equipment, state of the art. Running the track was also interesting as it's really long! If I remember right 4 laps is more than a mile (I think around 1.5). There is no direct access from the deck 16 gym to the jogging track... you have to go outside the gym to the fwd elevator shaft, go one set of stairs down to deck 15, and out to the indoor pool for access out to the deck. There is a map and chart of the track with a start/finish line located at the center elevator area (where the kids pool is). I should've taken a pic of it but did not during the cruise.

 

I headed to the CL this morning in anticipation of seeing Mario (There were no "Hello all you beautiful people" voicemails this cruise) and visiting a bit since I saw him on Serenade about 3 months ago. Sure enough he was there with a line-up of people waiting for his services. When he did look up and saw me, his eyebrows rose and with a big smile got up to greet me and quickly shake my hand over the desk and then continue with his phone call. He was really busy so I grabbed my coffee and got out of there pretty quick to get to some quick breakfast... or course at the back deck of the Windjammer! The NCL Gem was alongside us pretty much all the way down to San Juan.

 

 

 

Done with breaky... now to get to the M&M. It was already in full swing when I got there. According to our roll call there were 377 signed up.

 

 

 

Cathy (CC handle piermaster4) deserves a massive applause for her efforts here... she set up special pins for purchase on this sailing, t-shirts, a whole bunch of stuff. Her and her hubby arranged payment (paypal or moneyorder) and bringing all the stuff to give out to everyone at the M&M. What an incredible job to take on. Not only that, she helped arrange the cabin crawl.

 

So Cathy, if I may speak for everyone, "thank you very much for everything". Had to give you some props here with your picture beside Jimmy Rhodes and Zach

 

 

 

 

So after mingling a bit, I had recognized Merion_mom from her review of the Explorer relo just a month before, so I went over there to introduce myself. What a freakin' hoot!!!! Lol! Got to hang out a bit with her and her travel mate Laura during the cruise in the CL and went to dinner & shows a couple of times with them also. They are a ton of fun. I suspect I'll be cruising with them again sometime in the near future.

 

 

 

What I hadn't realized in this photo is immediately behind Merion_Mom is a pic of Judy... I became good friends with her and her travel mate, Beth, the next day after being seated in a group table in Silk. Turns out we saw each other often after that. Judy was awesome in taking video and pics of me on day 9 IFly else I had no one who could do that for me. Judy, your photos and video turned out awesome... you did great!! I'll be posting them on my day 9 at sea section lol.

 

You just never know who you're going to meet and click with.

Love Sailing with Merion_Mom, we had the best time with her!!!

This turned out to be the best part of the day, our time at Carambola Beach Club. We had a great time there for a couple of hours enjoy the sand and water, having a couple of drinks and just taking it easy. I must admit that with the lack of good weather through this cruise I wish I had made this just a beach/water day only as it was the very best day of the cruise for weather, but alas hindsite is 20/20. I will remember this place and research of there's a day pass or equivalent for next time.

And the clarity of the water.... awesome, with fish swimming around your feet in only a coupe of feet of water

Back at the pier, the grounds had emptied out quite a bit already with not one of the many scammer "monkey men" hanging around any more (these guys would have a monkey climb on you, take a picture real quick, and demand money from you).

Getting back by the ship I noticed the pier workers there ready to pull the Jewel's ropes, so she was ready to sailaway very shortly. I hung around as I wanted to watch her depart close up, plus I was able to get some more pics of Lady Q as well.

Q is certainly beautiful from below with her prominent blue hull design

And finally, Jewel'a ropes were dropped and she was ready to depart. I hung around right by her starboard aft corner as I wished to see how violent the thrusters would be at water level, but it wasn't at all... I'm right there at the very edge of the pier maybe 10ft away from her edge and she calmly pulled away creating a little swell there at the corner

And there she goes around the corner... I really like this shot as she wraps around the back of Q

The sunset this evening was spectacular... I got this down at the pier right after Jewel disappeared behind Lady Q

After dropping off my stuff in my cabin, I headed top deck with a barely charged camera, to enjoy sailaway shortly. I noticed that Northstar was operating, and going off to the sides! Having been told that Northstar would not move to the sides in port, I was surprised at this. So I headed over there.

Heading towards the Northstar, there was hardly anyone there. I walk up to the guy running hte line-up tonight and there wasn't one!!! What the heck? So for the 5th time, with barely a line-up or a short wait, It was time to go on Northstar again. Can you tell yet that I love the Northstar?

I love these set of photos as we rise up and then move to the side. My "good" camera was showing zero battery so I was afraid at any second it would shut down. I also had my Fuji water camera with me so I took a few photos with it, but they just aren't as good. Enjoy the ride up with me now as I'll let the photos do the talking

And the view from up here.... WOW! You can just make out Jewel there in the horizon sailing off into the sunset

Here's a few more pics as we move back to center position and head down

It was beautiful and warm up on top deck tonight, so I hung out there for a little bit but it was here where my camera died!

I had changed and rebooked my dining tonight for Silk (originally The Grande) as I was asked to join Carol & Laura at the Grande tomorrow instead, so it was off to get ready for dinner. I also thought I would enjoy some tome in the CL again tonight and watch sail-away through the large aft windows. So down to the CL I went. The usuals were all in there so I was having a great time visiting everybody, I decided to cancel dinner and hang out in the CL all night... I would munch on the hors d'oeuvres all night and go quickly up to windjammer later if I needed. Had a ball in the CL, very fun night so far with everyone up there.

Tonight I was booked for Starwater at 10:30pm, but I decided to head out of the CL right at 8:30 and test the availability of Two70 late to get a seat. I walked down deck 6 aft through the cabin corridors... when you get as far aft as you can go, there a set of white doors that look like crew doors... they're not. They open up into Two70 on the balcony level right beside the library.

There were plenty of seats avail up there, but without disturbing anyone, I sat at one of the 7-8 stools available at the very top (standing room level). This was a superb vantage point to really appreciate the cinematography against the windows and the robotic screens.

I now had the rest of the night to enjoy as I pleased. The battle of the Sexes game show was held in the Music Hall. We had to fir as many women, then as many men, into the circle created... the women won this battle 55 to 54, but the men won the war by winning most of the other games :p

Horizons then played another excellent set, then it was a battle of the DJ's. Started off really slow but boy were they good. Had plenty of people out there dancing and the Music Hall was in full glory this night. Had a great time with sea day upcoming, so people were letting loose without having to worry about an early wake up call for port. Another finish to another great day.

Here's a few more pics as we move back to center position and head down

 

 

 

 

 

It was beautiful and warm up on top deck tonight, so I hung out there for a little bit but it was here where my camera died!

 

 

 

 

I had changed and rebooked my dining tonight for Silk (originally The Grande) as I was asked to join Carol & Laura at the Grande tomorrow instead, so it was off to get ready for dinner. I also thought I would enjoy some tome in the CL again tonight and watch sail-away through the large aft windows. So down to the CL I went. The usuals were all in there so I was having a great time visiting everybody, I decided to cancel dinner and hang out in the CL all night... I would munch on the hors d'oeuvres all night and go quickly up to windjammer later if I needed. Had a ball in the CL, very fun night so far with everyone up there.

LOVED the nighttime shots. What time does NS stop running? Would you say the lines are typically always large during the day time? Like what would be peak and when would be dead?

I read there was a charge for going on Northstar during sunrise/sunset. Is that true?

Hi Claudio,

I'm loving your review and the pictures are awesome!!! Especially the sunset and night time shots on NorthStar. :D:D:D

We had a fabulous time on Quantum and were glad you were able to spend some time with us. We really enjoyed your company! :)

Looking forward to reading more of your review! I've never known anyone to get as much accomplished in such a short time as you. Whew!!! :p

Q is certainly beautiful from below with her prominent blue hull design

 

 

 

And finally, Jewel'a ropes were dropped and she was ready to depart. I hung around right by her starboard aft corner as I wished to see how violent the thrusters would be at water level, but it wasn't at all... I'm right there at the very edge of the pier maybe 10ft away from her edge and she calmly pulled away creating a little swell there at the corner

 

 

 

And there she goes around the corner... I really like this shot as she wraps around the back of Q

 

 

 

The sunset this evening was spectacular... I got this down at the pier right after Jewel disappeared behind Lady Q

 

 

 

After dropping off my stuff in my cabin, I headed top deck with a barely charged camera, to enjoy sailaway shortly. I noticed that Northstar was operating, and going off to the sides! Having been told that Northstar would not move to the sides in port, I was surprised at this. So I headed over there.

 

Great review, Thank goodness someone likes the Quantum.

These pics bring back some sad memories from our Indy cruise earlier this year when 2 dock workers boat flipped over while the Indy was being untied and died. We were delayed 3 or 4 hours while the crew searched for them and finally found them . Rumors were it was the thrusters that flipped the boat over.:(

After dropping off my stuff in my cabin, I headed top deck with a barely charged camera, to enjoy sailaway shortly. I noticed that Northstar was operating, and going off to the sides! Having been told that Northstar would not move to the sides in port, I was surprised at this. So I headed over there.

Do you know the reason why Northstar does not move to the sides in/close to port?

After dropping off my stuff in my cabin, I headed top deck with a barely charged camera, to enjoy sailaway shortly. I noticed that Northstar was operating, and going off to the sides! Having been told that Northstar would not move to the sides in port, I was surprised at this. So I headed over there.

 

 

Do you know the reason why Northstar does not move to the sides in/close to port?

I wanna say it has to do with the possibility of the pod breaking off. If it breaks off over water, it will probably float, but over land surely injuries/death would occur.

After dropping off my stuff in my cabin, I headed top deck with a barely charged camera, to enjoy sailaway shortly. I noticed that Northstar was operating, and going off to the sides! Having been told that Northstar would not move to the sides in port, I was surprised at this. So I headed over there.

 

 

Do you know the reason why Northstar does not move to the sides in/close to port?

I'm not sure about all ports, but in NYC they told us they had to stay within the ship's footprint.

Do you know the reason why Northstar does not move to the sides in/close to port?

Depends on the Port and Port Authorities as to what they will allow the North Star to do.

I wanna say it has to do with the possibility of the pod breaking off. If it breaks off over water, it will probably float, but over land surely injuries/death would occur.

Just curios if it would happen to have a chance to break off then why would they even put it up in the air, it could break off if it was straight up in the air and then it would fall on the ship and hurting lots.

I really don't think it because it could break off.

I agree....I think it has more to do with what would happen if it got stuck while in port....it could interfere with other port operations

So there are three seating area's at Jamie's...the main seating area, the seating area 'outside' the main area, but inside the Via, and the seating truly 'outside', by the lifeboats.....

So it seems they may be emulating the 'boardwalk' restaurant seating on the NCL Breakaway class, that have similar....

Hi Claudio,

 

We had a fabulous time on Quantum and were glad you were able to spend some time with us. We really enjoyed your company! :)

Aaaw shucks :o! I'm just thankful you and Merion_Mom adopted me lol! :D

Remember the selfie you took of us in the theatre?? Hmmm... maybe not? lol, I'll be posting it :p

Hey everyone, I can't say thank you enough for the kind words regarding the review. Glad you're enjoying :D

LOVED the nighttime shots. What time does NS stop running? Would you say the lines are typically always large during the day time? Like what would be peak and when would be dead?

I honestly don't know what times they stopped running... I believe it was discretionary depending on the day and port. There were never long lines unless you were there at 8:30am to line-up with 40-50 people all trying to get there when at 9am they open up for reservations. Instead of waiting in line for 30-60 minutes at 8:30 in the morning, go up there at 10am... zero lines and you'll book your spot for later in the day. I was up 5 times, line-up once for about 15min in order to book a time slot... when I arrived back at my time slot I was up in less than 10minutes so really very little waiting.

I really don't have a handle on peak vs. busy times, I think it was all by chance. You'd figure coming aboard from port there'd be tons of people wanting to get up there in the twilight and when other ships are around, but that wasn't the case at all. What I can tell you is that I think many people missed out on Northstar by procrastinating... Last two days I think it did not run at all due to the waves/winds so anyone just sitting around in the solarium for 16 hours a day finally deciding to get up for something other than lunch/dinner to cram things in the very last days were highly disappointed

I read there was a charge for going on Northstar during sunrise/sunset. Is that true?

Where did you read this? Totally not true.

Great review, Thank goodness someone likes the Quantum. These pics bring back some sad memories from our Indy cruise earlier this year... Rumors were it was the thrusters that flipped the boat over.:(

Yes, I really loved Q. It was a fabulous change of direction for me. I followed the thread of that Indy cruise closely here on CC... very sad.

Do you know the reason why Northstar does not move to the sides in/close to port?

Depends on the Port and Port Authorities as to what they will allow the North Star to do.

Patti here has the best answer above. Capt. Srecko did mention to us in one of the bridge tours about "air rights", certain ports they have to observe that anything outside of the footprint of the ship they are not allowed to encroach. I had told people all week better get on Northstar while at sea if you want to go to the side... and then St. Kitts it was to the side! So I guess it truly is dependent on the port authority

So there are three seating area's at Jamie's...the main seating area, the seating area 'outside' the main area, but inside the Via, and the seating truly 'outside', by the lifeboats.....

So it seems they may be emulating the 'boardwalk' restaurant seating on the NCL Breakaway class, that have similar....

I have never been on Breakaway, but have seen many photos... not even close imo. I think this is a minor fail on Q. Those outside Jamie's seating will never be used imho. I certainly wouldn't want to sit there staring at lifeboats or people on their deck 6 & 7 balconies. There is absolutely nothing else out there, very very strange they decided to make seating space out there.