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Quasi-Live on Quantum - Shanghai to Japan

awestover89

By awestover89,
in Royal Caribbean International

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hellopuppies

hellopuppies

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awestover, enjoy your reviews and photos. We are boarding Quantum in Dec, also round trip from Shanghai. We have flight leaving from PVG at 12:50pm on disembarkation day which is earlier than RCCL's recommended time at 2pm. Planning to do self disembarkation in order to beat the queue for taxi. Will appreciate if you can upload the last day cruise compass for the time slots of self disembarkation. Wish you have a great time for the rest of your cruise! Thanks!

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awestover89

awestover89

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Today we were in Kochi. I really enjoyed the port, although I hate that we had the least amount of time here. We were docked from 7 to 3, and there were free shuttles offered to the city center, but because of clearance we couldn't disembark until 730 with about a 30 minute shuttle ride, and the last shuttle back to the ship left at 2, so we were effectively only in Kochi for 6 hours.

 

Our first stop of the day was at Harimaybashi, a famous bridge right near the downtown bus terminal where the shuttles let us off. From there we took the city tram to Kochi castle. This castle is one of only 12 castles still fully intact in Japan.

 

The castle was definitely a highlight of the day, but the Sunday Market and shopping arcade was also wonderful. The Sunday Market is open 7 days a week, despite the name. It is a stall market with about 60 different stalls, ranging from restaurants to bakeries to souvenir shops and clothing shops. It reminded me a lot of Pikes Place in Seattle or Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. We had lunch at the food court there and bought a slice of Japanese cheesecake and a few souvenirs.

 

Right outside the market is a long pedestrian street mall called an arcade. There was a large variety of convenience stores, restaurants, clothing stores, and souvenir shops. Shops ranged from budget friendly to real high class shops with Rolex watches and shirts that were over $100 each. We didn't buy anything but a few snacks in the arcade, but it was a really nice walk.

 

Once we were back on board the people of Kochi gave us a traditional dance as a send off as we pushed away from dock and set sail.

 

Dinner tonight was a lot better than it's been before. We still stood in the main line but when we got to the front of the line the hostess recognized us from when we wore our cowboy hats on day two, and had us escorted to a window table. The waiter recognized us from the cowboy hat night as well, and the bartender recognized us as people he served on the first night. I guess we stand out [emoji4]

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

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Kayeless

Kayeless

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Thanks for the wonderful insight to Quantum cruises from Shanghai. As most would concur, any Quantum cruises from Shanghai is usually a black hole with little or no information.

 

I do remember reading that as a guest on Junior Suites or Family Junior Suites on Quantum, you're eligible for dinners at Coastal Kitchen. Yes, only dinner.

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awestover89

awestover89

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Thanks for the wonderful insight to Quantum cruises from Shanghai. As most would concur, any Quantum cruises from Shanghai is usually a black hole with little or no information.

 

I do remember reading that as a guest on Junior Suites or Family Junior Suites on Quantum, you're eligible for dinners at Coastal Kitchen. Yes, only dinner.

Not sure if it's different with this cruise, but we've been told directly and in the cruise compass that coastal kitchen is gold cards only, no junior suites, for any meal.

 

We did find out that the solarium Bistro hotpot specialty meal is available to all guests, but the breakfast and pool area is limited to gold and silver suites only

awestover, enjoy your reviews and photos. We are boarding Quantum in Dec, also round trip from Shanghai. We have flight leaving from PVG at 12:50pm on disembarkation day which is earlier than RCCL's recommended time at 2pm. Planning to do self disembarkation in order to beat the queue for taxi. Will appreciate if you can upload the last day cruise compass for the time slots of self disembarkation. Wish you have a great time for the rest of your cruise! Thanks!
We just got the disembarking letter. Due to travel restrictions on large ships entering Shanghai, we are estimated to dock two hours late. Expected clearance around 1015, and they say guests with immediate travel plans can request a slot first off the ship.

 

Departure with luggage assistance starts at 1045 for suites and pinnacles, followed by transfer excursions, crown and anchor members, and finally independent guests between 11 and noon. I'm not sure how long customs and immigration will take, or how long airport security will take, but with the taxi ride being an hour you'd probably be cutting it real close if your arrival is delayed as well. I'm not sure how common of an occurrence this is, but we were told while boarding that Shanghai is one of the busiest harbors in Asia.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

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The_Big_M

The_Big_M

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While busy, it's also not uncommon for Shanghai to have fog causing significant delays..

 

I'd say it's one of the more frequently problematic ports, relatively speaking i.e. most trips are probably still fine - but it's still not uncommon to be delayed.

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sheridan318

sheridan318

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Hi it must just be for your cruise as we went every night to coastal kitchen and got to say it was awesome and we only had a junior suite, agree about disembarking as you have to go through customs before you disembark and that can take some time I think taking a flight that early would be pushing it, we actually had a much later flight as I was paranoid that we might be delayed getting back into Shanghai then when we got to pudong airport we just went to the service desk for are airline and got an earlier flight

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awestover89

awestover89

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So right now we are in line to disembark. Rooms had to be empty by 9 and breakfast closed at 830.

 

The ship docked at 9am and we got clearance from local authorities at about 10. We entered the line at about 1015 from 270 (other departure lounges included Silk and the theater on Deck 4) It is now 1045 and we have reached Cafe 270. This is easily the slowest disembarkation line we've ever had. I'll post again when we are off the ship and to our hotel

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

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awestover89

awestover89

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It took an hour to get off the ship, an hour for immigration, and about 15 minutes for customs. We got clearance at 10 and made it to the taxi line at 12:15. The taxi line was really chaotic, but moved fairly quick. There were a lot of taxis, but also a lot of people wanting to take a cab. We waited about 30 minutes for a cab.

 

We hit a bit of traffic but nothing horrible, and the ride to our hotel in the Bund area of Shanghai took about 45 minutes and cost 111 Yuan.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

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Clarea

Clarea

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I am presently on the Ovation on their first sailing from their HK homeport. RCL do not honour any dinner booking. All must now line up outside the MDR whether you have a booking or not.

Do they still offer fixed (traditional) dining as an option?

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jammer5122

jammer5122

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I am presently on the Ovation on their first sailing from their HK homeport. RCL do not honour any dinner booking. All must now line up outside the MDR whether you have a booking or not.

We sailed the Ovation last year from Honk Kong but ate in the Coastal Kitchen every night as we didn't care for the food in some of the 4 dining rooms. Do they still do the rotation of the 4 MDR? Hope you are enjoying your cruise. Great ship.

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datolim

datolim

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We sailed the Ovation last year from Honk Kong but ate in the Coastal Kitchen every night as we didn't care for the food in some of the 4 dining rooms. Do they still do the rotation of the 4 MDR? Hope you are enjoying your cruise. Great ship.

Having a great time. Ovation is 5 star ship. Mariner and sister ships I think is 4 star.

Same menu In the restaurant every night. But the 4 dining rooms have different menus.

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clarky213

clarky213

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I am presently on the Ovation on their first sailing from their HK homeport. RCL do not honour any dinner booking. All must now line up outside the MDR whether you have a booking or not.

 

 

This could explain why my Calendar has changed to "At Your Leisure" instead of the times I have pre-booked for MTD.

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datolim

datolim

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This could explain why my Calendar has changed to "At Your Leisure" instead of the times I have pre-booked for MTD.

Pixels, other shows and activities not bookable in cruise planner.

First day at lunch on the table there is a sign that Pixels can be booked for $29 pp.

Found out that it could be book for free later on. It seems that $29 booking is what they call VIP booking for the first 2 rows.

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