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

[Hoopster95]

I am booked into a solo occupancy SI cabin with virtual balcony. It is supposedly listed at just over 100sf and is comprised within the family cluster of a JS and balcony. In the rendering below, my room is the very small room at the bottom right corner with the bed jammed into the corner. Note the hallway with multiple door access to connect all rooms if needed

 

 

 

I made my way to deck 7 mid-ship. The doors to the hallways were now open.

 

 

 

I found my room! As I look straight ahead, just like the rendering above, you see the JS 7632. The white door to the left is the connector door to the balcony cabin. My room is 7630 on the right. I share this small hallway to the door with my neighbors.

 

 

 

SHOCKER... Welcome to my closet!!!! I truly didn't realize how small this SI interior would be, smaller than the interiors on the Majesty for example. I measured it later in the cruise... a little under 9 feet long by a little over 8 feet wide. The bathroom was full size to make up the approx 100sf. Here's what I saw when I opened my door... note the door at the foreground left of the picture. I am standing right at the edge of the door.

 

 

 

As a positive, I really liked the virtual view right away and the cabin was very well appointed. There's CD Jimmy Rhodes on the big screen on the left.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Storage space is at a major premium in this cabin. The closet is only 24" wide. You can see here the safe itself is about half the width of the entire closet.

 

 

 

The bathroom and shower were great! Note I was provided the shampoo/conditioner (top right on the shelves) without asking right off the bat and during the whole cruise. The shower is an excellent size, larger than interior cabins on all classes with excellent water pressure and controls. RCL did a great job here.

 

 

 

 

And here's the room looking back from the bathroom. Note my Royal wrist band waiting on the bed, as well as the storage closet above the headboard. Also within the wall just past the virtual balcony next to the pillow is a small shelf with power, excellent spot for an iphone charger or any other need. By the way, that's a double bed (not a queen). I'm 5'11" and my toes were at the very end of the bed! It's hilarious that RCL is supposedly allowing double occupancy in this room when it gets to China.

 

 

 

 

Lastly I'll mention the D+ benefits preloaded on our writstbands/seapass cards. I was unaware that the D+ specialty dining BOGO was available on the first and second night, but it clearly spells it out here

 

[Jenjer]

This is amazing. Thank You so much.

 

You said you did ifly multiple times. Did you pay each time after or was it more free minutes. My dare devil child can not wait to do it and I am sure she will like to do it as many times a possible.

[Hoopster95]

This is amazing. Thank You so much.

 

You said you did ifly multiple times. Did you pay each time after or was it more free minutes. My dare devil child can not wait to do it and I am sure she will like to do it as many times a possible.

 

There were no pay packages available. They were telling people early on that they were only allowed to book once as they wish everyone to get a chance, but as soon as I got off my first flight day 2, I booked again (no pay). And then after my second flight I booked my third. There were many open bookings avail a day in advance until the last port day where it seemed everyone tried to cram in everything they missed on the last 3 sea days.

[Hoopster95]

So now that I dropped off my backpack and cleaned up a little bit, I strapped on my Royal wrist band and tried it on my door. I had to fiddle with it a bit... you don't swipe it like a credit card, you basically tap it straight on and off right away. I can tell you that by day 6 or 7 I felt comfortable enough to leave my seapass inside my room the rest of the cruise and use only the wristband... it worked everywhere.

 

Now my allotted time for NortStar was quickly approaching and they asked everyone to be there about 10 minutes early. I arrived on time. In a couple of minutes the Northstar descended with the previous group and began unloading to let us on

 

 

 

 

What a rush!!! This was going to be awesome. Obviously couldn't resist taking a bazillion photos and videos, but here's my very first view out towards the pool deck.

 

 

 

Like IFly I was able to experience the Northstar multiple times, 4 in fact. I'll have other pictures on other days as well and while in port so I won't post too many here now. In port, the arm does not swing out to the side. I was told this would only happen strictly on sea days. However I will show you later that in fact in St Kitts after the ship next to us left port, the Capt. allowed the arm to go to the side while in port (this was the only time in 5 ports that I witnessed). Anyhow, because we're still in Bayonne obviously we weren't going out to the side on this particular trip up. Here's a couple of shots from above

 

 

 

 

The above pictures do not do this experience justice whatsoever. You have to give is a shot, yet another MUST-DO activity for anyone who sails on Q or Anthem. So after this great preview ride I took the shot below with Northstar at it's highest level from below

 

[Hoopster95]

Just below Northstar is the outdoor pool deck. On the few real sunny days we had it was overflowed. 80% of the tanning loungers are on deck 15 around the jogging track and to the back of the ship, so the pool is quite small for the number of passengers (it's just like Radiance Class). I thought the placement of the big screen was great, and much better than the original plan (would've looked horrible imho)

 

 

 

The kids pool was pretty cool actually. We were told there were 60 kids on board... that's it! Barely saw them anywhere. This area would be perfect for both kids and adults.

 

 

 

 

I forget on which thread (maybe Lloyd's thread as the ship was being built) he had a picture of this very raw and unfinished area the her rear end of this character face up ready to be placed at the pool!

 

 

 

Well... she's still a$$ up! Lol

 

 

 

For those parents reading this review, here's the pool rules for you and your kids

 

[Hoopster95]

To finish off the pool deck, here's a few more characters for you

 

 

 

 

 

From the above picture facing Northstar, if you were to look to your right you would see Johnny Rockets. As advertised, it has become an a la carte order restaurant and you pick up your food at the counter when it's ready. I ate there once for lunch and there was a line-up (3pm open time in Martinique). The Smokehouse, O Rings and 2 for 1 shakes were all excellent.

 

*** Note!!!! I am NOT exaggerating... the shakes are now $5 each and about 50% smaller than what they used to be 2 years ago. Alas, all the 2 for 1's being sold to the huge numbers of Crown & Anchors have to be dealt with somehow :rolleyes:

 

[Hoopster95]

I thought to myself I had been on board maybe 2 hours. I had already booked for IFly, I already did the bumper cars, already did the NorthStar, already got to see the whole upper part of the ship pretty much, but I haven't even seen the Promena.... er ..... Esplanade yet nor the Via, so off the the central elevators I went to go down to deck 5.

 

 

 

Here's the main view of the Esplanade looking ahead at the XMas tree and Michael's pub straight ahead on deck 4. Also deck 4 to the immediate far right of Michael's is Sorrento's. To the immediate near left deck 4 is Boleros (not in the picture).

 

 

 

Staying on deck 5 and walking to the left, I got to see my first glimpse of the Bionic Bar. Pretty cool. I watched them serve many times. They also run these robots on a "dance" routine to Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" lol. I have video, very cool. You can see in the picture the DJ sitting there, providing club music each night.

 

 

 

Through the Bionic Bar you get to this spot looking down the Esplanade further to more shops. If you were to go up those stairs you would find the Schooner Bar. I spent zero time there (no windows, a very enclosed area). ON the lower level ahead is the entrance to the Diamond Club, the Music Hall and the Theatre at the front of the ship.

 

 

 

Staying on deck 5, and moving to the right from this picture, is Izumi's Being blessed living in the NorthWest with a huge Asian culture and massive amounts of food/restaurant options, I have never felt the need to even try Izumi's. It's much smaller than the Izumi's on Navigator for example which took over a good portion of the Viking Crown. It was not a hugely attended restaurant anytime I ever walked by. I would guess half full at most was the busiest I ever saw it.

 

[Hoopster95]

On deck 5, directly opposite to the Bionic Bar, is Wonderland. Many of you I am sure have already seen the front entrance iconic "hand" picture. I did not eat there, but many that I had hung out with and spoke to did. I would have to say it was an even 50/50 split... 1/2 said waste of many, the other 1/2 said neat experience with the very interesting food presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before quickly being drawn to the Bionic Bar, I had missed the Shore excursion desk which is located right beside the Bar. Note you don't sit at a desk anymore... you log into to an Ipad with the help of a rep whomever is available at the time, or on your own. You can also book excursion from your iphone or ipad. I did just that for the All Access Tour, and later was easily able to cancel and rebook for another date. There were always a ton of people milling around, but there were always seemingly a good flow of people in and out. Seriously, if I saw this amount of people on a Voyager Class ship looking for help, the line-up would've been an hour down the Promenade to the English Pub. I rarely saw anyone standing there too long waiting for help. I think this system worked beautifully. Now, if these ipads were to ever crash... OY VEY!!!!!!!

 

 

 

And finally my lone picture of the Schooner Bar, a disappointment to me compared to all the other classes... then again as I explained from the very first post, this ship so totally different and not typical to any other RCL ship.

 

[Hoopster95]

Staying on Deck 5, I continued moving away from the Schooner Bar, past the photo shop and into the balcony level of the theatre. I must admit my first site of this theatre was a little disappointing. My first impressions of walking into the Voyager or Oasis Class Theatre is one of opulence, large majestic old-time multi-leveled theatre on a grand scale. This theatre didn't give me that feeling. I felt it was a little bland. Nevertheless, I can tell you the entertainment was A1 top notch... that's all that matters

 

 

 

 

I knew the Diamond Lounge was somewhere down here by the theatre, but for the life of me I couldn't find it easily! lol. It's hidden somewhat around the corner from the main hallway on deck 4. Unfortunately I maybe entered the DL only 3 times on this cruise as I spent quite a bit of time in the CL visiting many people. I wish I could have met more of you had I spent time down there

 

 

 

Immediately next door to the DL is the Music Hall. I feel this is an absolutely brilliant space! The lower level is the stage and dance floor, with a great bar and excellent seating area. The "Groovy Town' (70s party), live bands, bingo, nightclub,etc etc were all held here during the week. It's an excellent gathering place to meet friends.

 

 

 

Above is a huge lounge with 4 pool tables, another large bar and again a ton of seating. You can easily have a gathering and play pool while listening to all the events, live bands, music, whatever from up here.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2014 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

There are plenty of photos on-line of the restaurants on board, and much better quality than what I took, so I won't bore you with many pictures at all. I'll review my dinners each day as I go through my day with you. As a summary I had dinner once each in Chic & Silk, twice in American Icon, 4 in Grande, 2 at Windjammer.

 

The Grande (I rate this #1 out of the 4 free venues)

 

 

 

Silk (#2)

 

 

 

American Icon (#3)

 

 

 

Chic (#4)

 

 

 

For the record, those that ate in Coastal Kitchen for Dinner raved about it!

On to the Casino on deck 3... I spent almost no time here other than to walk through the very rare time. On deck 3 there is no reason to go there other than to gamble as it's not a part of the flow of the ship like the other classes.... bravo RCL! And even so, there is a large clearly defined walkway that traverses through the Casino rather than hoards of people having to doge and bump people on there way through from the Theatre to the Centrum like on other ships. It was smoky in there, but seemingly not as much as some other ships.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Wow, I've done a lot already! I was a little bagged and with muster fast approaching I headed down to my cabin to see if my luggage had arrived. The ap was not working with regards to keeping track of my luggage, so I shrugged my shoulders and trusted all was good as a coupe of others had said the same. Sure enough, my bag was at my door. With a half hour to kill I hung all my clothes, went through my paperwork and things in my room, then went to muster. Muster Station D1 was in American Icon. Very easy with a decent video it was over in about 1/2 an hour

 

It was now getting close to sailaway so I wanted to head up to top deck to watch and also follow the ship under the Verazzano. I went back to my room to prepare for the colder evening weather. Heading up to deck 15 forward I wanted to see where the best place to watch sailaway was from the front of the ship.

 

THIS was my personal biggest fail for the design of this ship. I have unreal video and photos of sail-ins and sailaways all over the world on RCL ships from top deck, the helipad, the forward wings of Oasis, etc.... Quantum has NOTHING that is decent outside. The two wings extending out from the Solarium are glass covered to above your head with small 4 inch slats you can look through. Top deck there is barely a view as the Solarium Glass and running track takes everything away (pictures to come in future posts) and there is absolutely no access anywhere to the helipad/front of ship. The best place forward is in the Solarium itself which is utterly gorgeous (but it's inside)

 

As I headed through past the indoor pool on deck 14 and into the Solarium, you first see Devinly Decadence in the center

 

 

 

Heading past Devinly Decadence you get the first view of the Solarium as darkness was falling

 

 

 

And there is the forward view over the front bow of the ship. Note there are about 25 loungers... ALL YOU 11 DAY CHAIR HOGS ARE RIDICULOUS! Get a life. Same people everyday with clips on their towels, the towels sitting there empty for hours, from early in the morning to late in the day. Just needed to say that. The RCL pool guy did nothing. Not that I wanted one of those chairs as I spent little time in the Solarium, but for Christ's sakes are you really that entitled? Just my humble opinion. So as a word of advice, if you want one of those chairs be absolutely sure to bring your iphone or a watch, take a picture which is time stamped and patiently enjoy another lounger. At exactly a half hour go over to a chair hogged lounger and remove everything. I was very tempted just for the hell of it :D

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Bearing the bitter cold, I stood out on the wings of the ship for a while but realized it wasn't worth it out there as the views from there are cut off quite a bit. I did watch Q pull away and took a few pics of the 9/11 memorial teardrop as we pulled away, then I quickly decided to head back up to deck 15 mid-ship above the pools so that I can have a view of the NYC skyline.

 

 

 

 

I figure within about 20 minutes we were closing in on the Verazzano.

 

 

 

This would be interesting... Q supposedly has only about a 5m (15 foot) clearance to get under the bridge without using it's retractable funnel feature. Sure enough, it was really really tight as we passed under, with all the ooohs and aaahs from other passengers beside me. Note how truly close the smoke is from the smoke stack. Wow!

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I headed back to my room to warm up and get ready for dinner and my first try at Dynamic Dining. I was booked for Chic at 6pm. I arrived at the front desk and told them I was booked solo and wanted to be seated with others. I think the Maitre'D miss heard me and brought me to a table for two so that I could eat solo. I went back and told her I wanted a group table... no problem, she did in fact miss hear me. I was sat at a table for 6, another solo gentleman (Mr. Mike) was already there and within 2 minutes two other couples had sat down. We were ready for dinner, easy peasy, just like MTD on all the other ships. The place was half empty, anyone could've easily walked up and asked to be seated. When we left, the place was still about 1/2 empty. Maybe with all the D+ & Pinnacles on board they were all using their BOGO specialty dining coupons this evening. I thought Chic was nice but felt a little 'cold' in there. The dinner was MDR'ish and not memorable (For the life of me I can't remember what I ate). In the end I rate this as my least favorite of the 4 free venues... and not because of a bad meal at all, but because the other 3 were memorable and better imho. I had one other booking there later in the cruise which I cancelled in order to eat at the Grande with new friends. I never went back to Chic after night 1.

 

After dinner I was booked for the highly anticipated Mama Mia! I got there about 1/2 hour early and sat front row to the left of the left aisle by three seats. Great unobstructed view! For those of you who have never sat close up front you should try it at least once, and especially for a production show. For the quality of MamaMia, this was excellent seating and worth big money if you had to pay on Broadway for example.

 

 

 

The MamaMia cast is not supported by RCL. IN fact, all the actors, the sets, the music, the costumes... everything... is licensed from MamaMia and RCL had to buy the rights. These are not RCL actors, dancers and singers. They are Broadway professionals. It is a fantastic quality show, deserved of the long standing ovation they received.

 

 

 

After the show I checked out the Music Hall where Beatlemania was performing in full force. They sounded great and the venue was packed. Looked like a lot of people having a great time to me.

 

 

 

 

 

I looked around to see if I can find any cruisers or people I had met in the past but I hadn't this evening. After hanging out at the Music Hall for a short time I realized I was bagged, so off to bed I went. What an excellent start to my vacation on the first day aboard Q!

[CRUIS4ME]

Thanks for this review...love it. Just went online and booked the Crown Tour for Statue of Liberty....wouldn't have known about it without your review! Now I have to go see if RCL has bookings on line for our sailing to do the IFly. You mentioned reservations are required so I take it you got them on line at RCCL ....or did you wait till you got on the ship to book? Thanks

[UNV-IT!!!]

Great review. I can't wait to remove those chair hogs stuff.

[Hoopster95]

Thanks for this review...love it. Just went online and booked the Crown Tour for Statue of Liberty....wouldn't have known about it without your review! Now I have to go see if RCL has bookings on line for our sailing to do the IFly. You mentioned reservations are required so I take it you got them on line at RCCL ....or did you wait till you got on the ship to book? Thanks

 

Glad to have helped :D

 

This is my second fail regarding Q... you can't book IFly or Northstar on your Royal IQ ap, TV nor at the excursion desk. You have to do it the "traditional" way by standing in line and signing up. So I was lucky on day one to be up there right at noon when the cruisers from the previous sailing were lining up.

 

So day 1 at noon you can book for later that afternoon or the next day. At 9am every day they reopened, and you can book for a future date, but only for one flight.

 

On my cruise planner on the RCL website precruise the IFly popped up about 6 weeks before sailing but would not allow us to book. With the continuing work by the IT guys on board, I wouldn't be surprised if before your sailing in March that you'll be able to pre-book inline..... well... ok, maybe I will be surprised :eek::rolleyes::p

[Sea Dame 1]

Outstanding detailed review and fabulous pictures. Can't wait to sail her in January.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[CRUIS4ME]

Thanks again for the tips/insight. I checked on our sailing and the IFly onboard activity was listed but was not "available". I will keep checking. I think I may just mimmick your walk about upon embarkation on our sailing. Seems like finding the activities versus shopping and bars (which we can do later) may be a way to go! Looking forward to more reading and learning.

[snyderc635]

@hoopster95 Are photographs made available from the IFly? Like those on a roller coaster in places like Disney?

[Ann262]

You really put in alot of time and effort into this review.

 

THANK YOU!!!!:D

[Kcjarvis]

Great review and pics (Minus MSG - My beloved Knicks are awful again...UGH)

[Hoopster95]

@hoopster95 Are photographs made available from the IFly? Like those on a roller coaster in places like Disney?

 

Yes! The photographers are there all day long ... you'll see soon on this review ;)

[Hoopster95]

You really put in alot of time and effort into this review. THANK YOU!!!!:D

 

Great review and pics (Minus MSG - My beloved Knicks are awful again...UGH)

 

Thank you for the kind words :)

 

p.s. Kcjarvis... I miss my Vancouver Grizzlies :mad:

[Hoopster95]

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.