LIVE - Couple's Blog from Quantum - Feb. 20, 2015

[ftn807]

DW is having Internet connectivity issues at the moment, but wanted me to say that her phone just auto-corrected 'canteloupe' to 'can't elope'. Mine did it too here, but I wrestled it to the ground and forced it to submit to my spelling will.

 

We're eating at Devinly Decadence tonight, hence the canteloupe reference, as they have a canteloupe soup on the menu. DW promises a review will be forthcoming. I promise nothing.

[luv2cruise523]

Thank you, thank you for a truly entertaining read! Safe travels home to Maryland.

[A&L_Ont]

The happy couple bloggers celebrating their 10th anniversary, lounging in a 'chiminea chair' in Two70.

 

 

Thanks so much to all the people reading and posting on the board. We've enjoyed sharing our cruise with you!

 

Thanks guys. You have put together a wonderful review from the second you hit the cruise button. Safe travels to you for the last miles to get home. Congrats on 10 years as well. You look great together.

 

Andrew

[canelle973]

 

Thank youfor this thread ;-)

The menu seems soooo gooodddd:D

[ftn807]

Thanks guys. You have put together a wonderful review from the second you hit the cruise button.

 

Andrew

 

Thanks for the thanks. We've had a blast doing it. And we're really enjoying our going-away evening here. After dinner at Devinly Decadence, we soaked in the hot tubs in the (empty, literally) Solarium, caught a wonderful show by Horizon in the Music Hall, and are currently in the Schooner Bar listening to Graham Sinclair on the piano. Quite a nice way to wrap up the cruise.

[ftn807]

Thank youfor this thread ;-)

The menu seems soooo gooodddd:D

It was sooooo good, actually. (You missed an 'o' in there.) We just ran into the sommelier from the chef's table, in fact, and let him know that it was the culinary highlight of the cruise. No exaggeration there.

[dani negreanu]

Thank you, both of you, for taking the precious time from your vacation to entertain us. Congrats on your 10th anniversary (DH and I just "hit" 42nd :D)

Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of "tagging along" with you, especially your sense of humour. A good laugh is invaluable :) Dani[ela]

[bess128]

Thank you for a most entertaining review.

[Over Land & Sea]

Thanks so much for what has been the most entertaining live review I've read, may all your cruises be great.

[curryshake]

We're waiting in 270 behind what I estimate to be all but 5 of the ship's passengers. So much for the early bird get the worm.

 

It's quite a juxtaposition between the last land we saw up close being Haiti with smoke from wood cooking fires rising over the forests and now the NYC skyline. The temperature is a little different too.

 

I will log back on later today to give my final review. Until then, Maryland, here we come!

 

Oh, apparently we're waiting for immigration to "get ready" before we can start leaving the ship. DH's hopes of getting to hear everyone's guesses about why we're not moving have been dashed.

[Dave85]

Thanks for a great review, good luck with disembarkation, and safe travels home!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[Newsbuff16]

Loved your review and your sense of humor...thanks so much for posting!

[curryshake]

We left our stateroom at 6:45 and were driving out of the parking lot at 7:37. And that was with a delay because immigration wasn't quite ready for Quantum. We did the self assist disembarkation and walked to the parking lot rather than wait in line for a shuttle. Not too shabby.

[Verti]

I've really enjoyed reading your reviews. Thank you both for posting!

[starlake]

Great reviews-----Fabulous humor !!!!

 

Thanks for the ride:)

[curryshake]

Home again, home again, jiggety jog. We were lucky to get off the ship as early as we did because we started running into heavy snow and then sleet on highway 95 about 20 minutes before we got to our town.

 

Back to last night for my final review...

 

Before we left, we decided to book reservations for Devinly Decadence in the hopes of kickstarting our return to a healthier diet the evening before we left the ship. In hindsight, I wish we had booked more meals there. The dishes really were quite delicious. The decor was rather lacking, however, and the air was warm and humid due to the venue's close proximity to the Solarium. Also, there was a lot of empty space without tables. I suppose a lot of people aren't interested in trying to eat healthy on a cruise, not that we were either until night nine.

 

We tried to take a photo of the menu, but it was so dark in the restaurant that it wasn't possible. It was a rather large menu, however, and the server explained that many of the starters could be served in entree portions, if desired. All of the entrees were 500 calories and below. DH and I were speculating about how many cruisers had ordered twelve dishes off the menu and then bragged to others about eating light and healthy.

 

I had the cold cantaloupe soup with toasted almonds and prosciutto. My brain must have been jostled a little too much by the ship's rocking up to that point, because I really don't like cantaloupe at all, but the dish sounded so intriguing that I wanted to give it a go. I'm glad I did too, because it was very delicious. The cantaloupe wasn't overpowering and the prosciutto was the first time any bacon or bacon-like product I ordered on the ship came out crispy, including during our meal at the Chef's Table. DH had the grilled salmon chipotle salad and thought it was kind of dry. He also said the lettuce was wilty and overall the dish didn't have much flavor.

 

For my entree, I had the grilled chicken enchiladas. I regularly make low/no-fat ranchero sauce from scratch at home, and I thought mine was better. The sauce at Devinly Decadence was a little too heavy on tomato (more like a marinara sauce than it should have been). But the dish overall was really good. I would happily eat it again. I was having trouble believing the the two large enchiladas were less than 500 calories, but they were light on cheese, so I suppose that's possible. DH had the drippy (no joke...that's part of the name) ahi tuna tacos and thought they were okay. Once again, he said the dish didn't have a lot of flavor, but he thought the wasabi and jalapeno on the side helped address that weakness.

 

I didn't get dessert. DH had the shotglass carrot cake. I think they were only supposed to serve one of the oversized shot glasses filled with cake and cream cheese icing, but the server brought him two. Perhaps this was because he was afraid I would change my mind about dessert and deprive poor DH, or because people typically ordered a second. DH said that this was one of his favorite desserts on the ship. I took a bite as well and thought it was excellent.

 

Having already packed before dinner, we took a look at the Solarium on our way out of the restaurant and noticed that it was completely empty. I don't mean very empty. I mean it was just the bar tender and the haunting sound of wind whistling past the forward wall of windows as we pressed northward into the cold night. Since we were going to be doing self-assisted disembarkation and didn't need to set our suitcases out in the hallway that night, we had left our swimming suits out just in case we wanted to go for one last dip. So we decided to take pity on the poor lonely bartender. It was nice having the hot tubs all to ourselves. We stayed long enough for a crew member to come and peer at us over the adjacent bank of lounge chairs. Sir, we're in our 40s and became boring years ago. Nothing to look at here.

 

After one final conversation and well-wishing to our favorite bartender, Zai Ma, we returned to the room and changed into dry clothes. We wanted to have one last cocktail in 270, but people were already queuing up for Starwater. So we went to the Schooner Bar for the only time on the trip, other than walking through it multiple times every day and one short round of general trivia. We found some good seats near the piano, and I had a gin and tonic, which I think became my new favorite cocktail during the cruise. There was a guy playing calm selections (sorry, but I can't remember his name and I'm officially too lazy to get up and dig out a Cruise Compass to check). He was very good and it turned out to be the perfect way to ease from a quiet post-dinner swim into an evening of music.

 

After that, we went to the Dance Hall where all the ship's bands and the orchestra were going to perform, one after the other, as a finale for the cruise. The seats nearest the stage to the left of the dance floor were open so we wound our way through the other seats and took them. The house band, Horizon, was playing. We only got to hear them cover three or four songs, including one by Ozzy Osbourne. Now, I love a good heavy metal lead guitar piece, and their guitarist was absolutely amazing. I felt bad for the band again because everyone was sitting around the dance floor looking like zombies. Again. I have a feeling that a lot of people thought the music was too modern, but most or all of the songs from their set were over 30 years old. So I cheered as much as I could, having come down with a case of laryngitis while passing through the cold front, and the band members smiled at us. By the end of their set, the audience seemed to have warmed up considerably.

 

After that, we were heading back to our stateroom when we heard a new pianist at Schooner singing an Elton John song. We certainly couldn't pass that up. He played a lot of really good songs, including a few by Carol King, one of my favorite composers. With that, we concluded our evening in public and retired to our stateroom to eat candy and watch an old episode of The Love Boat on my laptop, because we're weird like that.

 

We met a lot of great people on this cruise. Our group on the Old San Juan food tour was great. You know how there's always the one guy on a tour who never stops asking dumb questions, hassles the guide, and makes ignorant and inaccurate comments as constantly and loudly as possible? Well, he was notably absent from our group. Everyone was nice, friendly, and fun. We also enjoyed talking a few times to a couple from Northern VA. All of our dinner companions at the Chef's Table were wonderful, as I mentioned before, and we were glad to get a chance to talk to several of them again before the end of the trip.

 

There was also a group of three men that I noticed during our last breakfast in Windjammer. The oldest of the three was seated at a table while the other two (son, grandson?) asked him what he would like to eat and then promptly brought it to him. All three of them were smiling so politely the entire time, and were extremely kind to each other and the wait staff at every opportunity. It warmed my heart. So I was delighted when we stepped out of our stateroom for the last time last night, and were greeted by the sound of heartfelt laughter. It was the older gentleman and one of the younger men. They walked past our door laughing and laughing at a previously told joke, I suppose, and we fell in line behind them and were soon laughing as well. I told them that I wanted to have what they were having. Truly, if those men didn't embody the spirit of vacation and family, nobody on the Quantum did, and I was glad to have been around them even if I never had the chance to formally meet them.

 

With that, I will just say thank you to everyone for the kind words about our blog. And thank you to ftn807 for joining me in this adventure and in the adventure of marriage. Happy anniversary, my love, and here's to many more to come!

 

Though below me, I feel no motion

Standing on these mountains and plains

Far away from the rolling ocean

Still my dry land heart can say

I've been sailing all my life now

Never harbor or port have I known

The wide universe is the ocean I travel

And the earth is my blue boat home

 

Sun, my sail, and moon my rudder

As I ply the starry sea

Leaning over the edge in wonder

Casting questions into the deep

Drifting here with my ship's companions

All we kindred pilgrim souls

Making our way by the lights of the heavens

In our beautiful blue boat home

 

I give thanks to the waves upholding me

Hail the great winds urging me on

Greet the infinite sea before me

Sing the sky my sailor's song

I was born upon the fathoms

Never harbor or port have I known

The wide universe is the ocean I travel

And the earth is my blue boat home

 

Blue Boat Home by Peter Mayer

[A&L_Ont]

Truly, if those men didn't embody the spirit of vacation and family, nobody on the Quantum did, and I was glad to have been around them even if I never had the chance to formally meet them.

 

With that, I will just say thank you to everyone for the kind words about our blog. And thank you to ftn807 for joining me in this adventure and in the adventure of marriage. Happy anniversary, my love, and here's to many more to come!

 

You are right, the three of them embody the spirit of vacation and family. However, there was one other couple on Quantum that did it even better. Go give each other a hug in front of the mirror and you will see who I think it is. The two of you. ;) I haven't been lucky enough to experience the last 10 years that you have been together. However, we have been lucky enough to experience the last 9 days that you have spent on Quantum. What a wonderful snapshot of the time that you have been together. Congratulations on 10 years of marriage. Lisa and I wish you many more.

 

Please feel free to hit the "cruise" button on your steering wheel any time soon, and take us along on your next adventure. We can't wait to read about it.

 

Andrew

[ftn807]

And thank you to ftn807 for joining me in this adventure and in the adventure of marriage. Happy anniversary, my love, and here's to many more to come!

 

Thank you too, my love. Any adventure with you is automatically fun and full of good times. An adventure on a cruise with you is the same, plus lots of old people wearing funny clothes.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

Well done. Thanks for alowwing me to tag along via the web.

 

Happy 10th Anniversary!

[Diver2014]

Both of you are in your 40's? Did I read that right? Then who are those 2 people in the chiminea chair? :D

Loved your review. We're not wine people (okay, I'll have a Beringer White Zinfandel occasionally), nor are we spa people but your cruise sounded pretty good for your tastes.

We were on the Oasis of the Seas last week, same time you were on Quantum. We took a boat over to St John and I got a shot of Quantum at Havensight as we went past.

 

Thanks to your informative blog, we may give Anthem a try later this year.

We thought all the food on the Oasis was delicious....sorry to hear you weren't thrilled with Quantum's. I guess anything that is served to me that I didn't have to slave over a hot stove for would suit me. LOL!

[dedosr]

I was going through withdraw from not having a "Live from the Quantum" to read, AND THEN I FOUND YOURS!! Loved every bit of it, the information, the descriptions and the humor!!

Thanks again. I can't wait to board in 20 days.

[sailnjmom49]

We left our stateroom at 6:45 and were driving out of the parking lot at 7:37. And that was with a delay because immigration wasn't quite ready for Quantum. We did the self assist disembarkation and walked to the parking lot rather than wait in line for a shuttle. Not too shabby.

We where on the same cruise, We also carried our luggage ourselves. We left our room at 8:15 am. We in our car by 8:45.

sailnjmom49

[readyk]

I just want to say thank you for a great review. I laugh and laugh. Sorry its over but wishing you two a great many years together. Maybe one day we can sail together.

Edited March 2, 2015 by readyk

[liverpoollad]

Thank you both for a brilliant & humourous posts, I really enjoyed them

 

A&L Ont did a wonderful post which I whole heartily agree with.

 

Here in the UK Liverpool is noted for being the city of comedians, you both would do well there.

 

Thank you again.:)

[Susie51]

Thanks for the entertainment.