On board Quantum of the Seas - 12 night cruise

[sparklylady]

Beautiful pictures, tks, we r on the TA on May 2, we have OB was wondering how much obstruction wld it be for 6 th flr, any thoughts, r have u seen any balcony rooms with 75% obstructed view, wld love to hear from anyone, tks

 

 

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[MsB1254]

 

 

 

 

 

[SConnolly]

Thank you for spending time to post whilst on vacation. This is the 1st review that has actually made me want to sail on her. You have made me want to give her a try.

 

Keep the pics and posts coming.

 

Lastly, enjoy the remainder of your cruise.

Edited January 19, 2015 by SConnolly

[MsB1254]

Thank you for spending time to post whilst on vacation. This is the 1st review that has actually made me want to sail on her. You have made me want to give her a try.

 

Keep the pics and posts coming.

 

Lastly, enjoy the remainder of your cruise.

 

She really is a beautiful ship and I have not minded the dynamic dining in place of the traditional dining. We made all our reservations before coming on the ship and have not had to wait for tables to become available. Tonight we ate at Coastal Kitchen and enjoyed our meal. Usually the venue is reserved for suite guests but occasionally they open it up for other guests to try and we were selected for pre-booking our dining and given the option to book Coastal Kitchen.

[cruises42]

We ended up just getting off the ship and walking around shopping for a few hours and enjoying some coffee and water at a little outdoor courtyard. You can walk right off the ship and are in town but it was very hot and I would have probably preferred something else. There is definitely the language barrier and even the information girls and taxi drivers seemed to speak very little english. We tried to get a taxi driver to the botanical gardens but they are very expensive. It would have taken at least three hours to enjoy the gardens - 1/2 hour each way and a couple of hours there. The fee for the taxi driver would have been approximately $60 us per hour so $180 just for transportation. The language is French and the currency is the euro. Everyplace that we spent money also accepted the dollar. On the other hand, we were told that there was a bus that would have taken us to the gardens for 1.50 euro. One of us uses a mobility scooter so the bus was not an option in our case. This is one port that I would probably consider a ship sponsored shore excursion in the future.

 

Thanks. We will probably do a ship excursion, just don't know which one. There have not been many reviews of Martinique and most excursions have gotten poor ratings.

[Jimmers]

Just a note. In our balcony cabin the vanity table pulled out. You can use it for in room dining or just in case you miss the coffee table!

 

I bet not many cruisers were aware of that feature. We sure weren't. Probably should've asked our room steward for a tour of the room. At the very least, it would've saved me 5 minutes of trying to figure out why the balcony door wouldn't open. Darn child proof lock:D

Edited January 19, 2015 by Jimmers

[MsB1254]

I bet not many cruisers were aware of that feature. We sure weren't. Probably should've asked our room steward for a tour of the room. At the very least, it would've saved me 5 minutes of trying to figure out why the balcony door wouldn't open. Darn child proof lock:D

 

I didn't realize the desk pulled out to be used as a table either but it's a really nice feature and much better than the usual coffee table.

[MsB1254]

We have a private excursion booked today with Beulah Mills. $43 per person and we asked for an off the beaten path tour of the island so we will see how it goes. Will report this evening.

[MsB1254]

We all had the medallions of beef for our dinner. We all thought it was okay but no comparison to the filet mignon in Chops Grille. The flat bread pizzas were good and the salted caramel pudding was tasty.

 

Donna & Tom

 

Wilson & yours truly Kathy

 

 

 

[OceanCruise]

I bet not many cruisers were aware of that feature. We sure weren't. Probably should've asked our room steward for a tour of the room. At the very least, it would've saved me 5 minutes of trying to figure out why the balcony door wouldn't open. Darn child proof lock:D

 

We did the same thing trying to open the door!

[thewebbys]

Great pics and review can't wait to board her.

 

The kids are starting to ask questions. The one I can't answer is "Do they have coke machines on the ship?

[Clarea]

Great pics and review can't wait to board her.

 

The kids are starting to ask questions. The one I can't answer is "Do they have coke machines on the ship?

Quantum has the Freestyle Coke machines.

[Dave85]

Wonderful review!!! Glad to hear you're having such a great time. :)

[MsB1254]

We have a private excursion booked today with Beulah Mills. $43 per person and we asked for an off the beaten path tour of the island so we will see how it goes. Will report this evening.

 

Ok, I am disappointed with this tour. We were led to believe the tour was with Beulah herself and it was not. Our taxi driver was Doris in a very small van that felt very cramped to us because of the scooter that needed to be put in the back for us. We were told when booking it would be no problem but it made us feel very cramped. Also, the windows were down the entire time which was great for taking pictures but made you extremely wind blown as fast as she was driving and I could not hear or understand anything that she was telling us. It was basically three and one-half hours of driving around the island. At one point I think the driver was even scared as we almost had a head on collision with a dump truck. Our grandmother driver was nice enough but and I always hate to be negative but honestly I would not recommend this tour.

[MsB1254]

I have played the slots everyday and they have not been kind to me. For my personal preference, the casino is too smoky for me. I much prefer Celebrity with their no smoking policy. On the other hand, our travelling companions smoke so they are enjoying being able to smoke in the casino. On the morning show on the ship this morning, it was announced that someone won $32,000 on the slots. This will definitely pay for a few more cruises. Our friends saw someone win over $1,000 on the slots. I'm lucky not to blow $20 in five minutes.

[LoneStarJeffe]

Thanks. We will probably do a ship excursion, just don't know which one. There have not been many reviews of Martinique and most excursions have gotten poor ratings.

 

I am on this same cruise and in Martinique, we did the Botanical Garden excursion through the ship. A couple of points about that excursion.

• On the way over, we stopped at a church was interesting to see.
  
• You get a guided tour in English through the gardens which helps since the self guide signs are all in French.
  
• There is an aerial walkway portion that you can skip if you wish. It is not the majority of the garden but very nice.
  
• We took a different route back and saw the headless statue of Napoleon's wife in the park on the return. Again, we had good commentary explaining the sights during the trip.
  

 

Recommended!

[LoneStarJeffe]

Some thoughts about the food and Dynamic Dining.

 

1. We have not had long wait times but we also have not tried to eat at peak time. We either booked late or early.
   
2. Enjoyed meeting people at shared tables.
   
3. Food was never bad but never scored really high as well at the free restaurants. The one night we ate at Chops, it was excellent!
   
4. For the first time ever, we choose Windjammer as an intentional option. We actually planned to swim, enjoy the hot tub, and watch a movie on the outdoor screen. The movie was "Blended" and it was fun sitting outside and watching the movie in the warm night air by the pool. We then went to the windjammer still wearing our swim attire. Until this cruise, I never would have considered that option before. I always planned everything around my dining time. Instead, we used Windjammer to plan around the event we wanted to do. I think that is the secret of Dynamic Dining. Plan the events for the night, then schedule the dining yoiu want. Others might disagree, but I like that flexibility. If you are a true "foodie" Then dining becomes the event you first schedule. For the rest of us, dining might be what we schedule last. :)
   

[LoneStarJeffe]

Thoughts on ship and crew.

 

Ship is beautiful. There are so many little touches you find walking around such as a swing or a two story couch. Nice mix of dynamic and traditional artwork everywhere. Crowding not much a problem except initial boarding and initial rush to get off at each port in the morning.

 

The crew seemed worn down. Most smiled and were friendly but clearly the negative feedback they have received from the initial cruises impacted them. I think adding assistant waiters has helped the dining but we still saw stress one night when we were at American Icon late. The person seating people had a handheld radio. Instead of holding it up to her ear with the volume down, I noticed she turned up the volume to hold it with arms down. While surrounded by people eating. I suspect that is a symptom of just not caring anymore and being tired of holding it up to her ear so long each night. This was the exception and not the rule. Most all the crew are friendly and say hello. Most try to help. But they do look tired.

 

I will add that the passengers seemed friendly and I did not notice many complainers. I certainly did not complain about the radio incident above since I believed it was a one off exception and I am easy going anyway. Our waiter delivered us our order on time so no problems. Just a slight distraction which easily could have been a noisy group talking instead of a crew member for one night. Stuff happens. :)

 

Overall, I rate the ship itself as 5 stars and the crew as 4 stars. They are trying hard but worn down. Hopefully over time this will improve.

 

I have really enjoyed the trip so far and highly recommend Quantum of the Seas based on our experience so far.

[MsB1254]

Some thoughts about the food and Dynamic Dining.

 

1. We have not had long wait times but we also have not tried to eat at peak time. We either booked late or early.
   
2. Enjoyed meeting people at shared tables.
   
3. Food was never bad but never scored really high as well at the free restaurants. The one night we ate at Chops, it was excellent!
   
4. For the first time ever, we choose Windjammer as an intentional option. We actually planned to swim, enjoy the hot tub, and watch a movie on the outdoor screen. The movie was "Blended" and it was fun sitting outside and watching the movie in the warm night air by the pool. We then went to the windjammer still wearing our swim attire. Until this cruise, I never would have considered that option before. I always planned everything around my dining time. Instead, we used Windjammer to plan around the event we wanted to do. I think that is the secret of Dynamic Dining. Plan the events for the night, then schedule the dining yoiu want. Others might disagree, but I like that flexibility. If you are a true "foodie" Then dining becomes the event you first schedule. For the rest of us, dining might be what we schedule last. :)
   

 

I agree with you dynamic dining gives you lots of options to plan for whatever is most important to you. We have not had to wait at all and did schedule peak dining times in most cases. We were also able to change our dining time last night for jamie's italian restaurant to an earlier time which suited us much better. I think this restaurant was my favorite of the for fee restaurants. We also tried Chops and Wonderland. Although, it was interesting as a one time thing, I would never book Wonderland again.

[Peery5]

Quantum has the Freestyle Coke machines.

 

The coke machines do not seem to be numerous. We have seen a couple of them.

[dedosr]

Thoughts on ship and crew.

 

Ship is beautiful. There are so many little touches you find walking around such as a swing or a two story couch. Nice mix of dynamic and traditional artwork everywhere

 

.

 

Where is the two story couch located??

[MsB1254]

Docked by Celebrity Summit

 

 

the beautiful Quantum

 

The monkey men. The ship warned us to beware - They would say $20 for a picture of the monkey on you and they put more on and the cost will go up by $20 a monkey.

 

 

[MsB1254]

 

 

 

 

[MsB1254]

 

local goats

 

 

 

 

 

tom's future retirement home

 

[LoneStarJeffe]

Where is the two story couch located??

Deck 4. The back of it goes up to deck 5. I missed seeing it until yesterday. I just walked by. It is red. :)