Btimmer's Not Very Almost Live Quantum trip to Alaska - 5/16-23/2022

[Btimmer]

We've only sailed on RCCL once previously, but a nice fare came up at the last minute for a quick one week trip to Alaska on the Quantum of the Seas.  So, tomorrow, my wife and I are boarding the Quantum in Seattle on Monday afternoon for a 7 day Alaska trip with port stops at Icy Straight, Skagway, Juneau, and Victoria, BC.  We passed our Covid 19 tests today, we're vaxed and boosted; and we're looking forward to experiencing our second RCCL ship (first was the Harmony of the Seas in 2017 and we really liked the ship even with 5k passengers onboard).  We're really looking forward to comparing and contrasting this ship with our normal Holland America ships.  As far as the itinerary goes, we've done a number of Alaska cruises and only the Icy Straight port is new to us and Skagway to my wife.  We're not purchasing the internet package so I'll only update this thread at our port stops.  Hence the words, "Not Very Almost Live" in the thread title.

 

Stay tuned.

[Wink87]

1 hour ago, Btimmer said:

We've only sailed on RCCL once previously, but a nice fare came up at the last minute for a quick one week trip to Alaska on the Quantum of the Seas.  So, tomorrow, my wife and I are boarding the Quantum in Seattle on Monday afternoon for a 7 day Alaska trip with port stops at Icy Straight, Skagway, Juneau, and Victoria, BC.  We passed our Covid 19 tests today, we're vaxed and boosted; and we're looking forward to experiencing our second RCCL ship (first was the Harmony of the Seas in 2017 and we really liked the ship even with 5k passengers onboard).  We're really looking forward to comparing and contrasting this ship with our normal Holland America ships.  As far as the itinerary goes, we've done a number of Alaska cruises and only the Icy Straight port is new to us and Skagway to my wife.  We're not purchasing the internet package so I'll only update this thread at our port stops.  Hence the words, "Not Very Almost Live" in the thread title.

 

Stay tuned.

Following. We board on the 30th.

[J0Y0US]

Look forward to the report. 

 

As a new RCL guest myself interested in what you think of the food.

 

For Icy Strait interested to hear about the gondola. Wasnt operational last year when we were there.

 

Hopefully boarding goes better than the last cruise report on here.

[Btimmer]

9 minutes ago, J0Y0US said:

Look forward to the report. 

 

As a new RCL guest myself interested in what you think of the food.

 

For Icy Strait interested to hear about the gondola. Wasnt operational last year when we were there.

 

Hopefully boarding goes better than the last cruise report on here.

Yes, I'm keen on how RCCL handles passengers at embarkation and port stops.  On the Harmony cruise, it was wonderful and didn't feel like 5k people were there.

 

We also will compare the food offerings.  We hope to experience some specialty restaurants as well as the complimentary offerings.

Edited May 16, 2022 by Btimmer

[woodinville cruisers]

I just noticed your post for the Quantum of the Seas.  I'd love to see cabin photos. Are you driving to the port?  Did you book direct?

[Btimmer]

3 minutes ago, woodinville cruisers said:

I just noticed your post for the Quantum of the Seas.  I'd love to see cabin photos. Are you driving to the port?  Did you book direct?

I'll have photos, probably lots of them.  Yes, I booked direct for this short cruise.  A friend is driving us to the cruise terminal.  I'll also be doing my daily blog although it might not get posted online every day. I'll put a link in this thread.

 

Thanks for asking.

[CatLadyFemme]

Also following as we will be on in August. Have an AMAZING time!

[Btimmer]

We're with a few thousand of our closest new friends at checkin.  This is the largest line we have ever been in.  It's going relatively fast.

 

 

[Btimmer]

We've now finished our first day onboard.  It was certainly a different experience from our HAL cruises (which is okay).

 

First, embarkation took 1.5 hours.  There were 7 queues, and the lines actually moved reasonably quickly.  There were at least 1,000 people ahead of us when we joined the queue.  Once we reached the passport & Covid checkpoint, it went fast.

 

Second the muster drill was completed online and we just needed to visit our muster station.  Easy peasy.

 

The buffet was closed so we enjoyed an excellent pizza at Sorentos.  The accompanying salad was off the chart tasty.

 

We departed at 4:30pm and then remained motionless in the Seattle harbor.  Sometime during dinner we got underway.

 

Speaking of dinner, we reported to our assigned table in the MDR.  They had us assigned to a table for 8 which was unacceptable.  We were re-assigned to a table for 6 with two couples from El Paso, TX.  It was really a delightful time.  My escargot, mushroom soup, and prime rib was excellent.

 

The showroom show was a comedian, Steve McGrew, and he was really funny.  Mike, the cruise director, also introduced himself.

 

The ship appears pretty full with virtually no masking except for the crew.

 

Now for the bad news and the good news.  Our sole shore excursion for Victoria was cancelled.  So we redeployed those funds to purchase the internet package so I'll be able to be more Almost Live than I expected.

 

I'll leave you with pictures of our balcony stateroom and the pizza meal. My wife says she could get used to this!

 

 

 

Feel free to ask any questions.  We are really impressed so far.

 

 

[Btimmer]

Here's day 1's cruise compass.  There's a lot going on.

 

[jimbri]

Have a great time!

[J0Y0US]

What time was your boarding time? What time did you show up? Were they enforcing arrival times at all? 

 

Also sorry about the Victoria excursion. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by J0Y0US

[clochette]

thanks for sharing your vacation, and for your positive attitude.

 

[Btimmer]

52 minutes ago, J0Y0US said:

What time was your boarding time? What time did you show up? Were they enforcing arrival times at all? 

 

Also sorry about the Victoria excursion. 

Our boarding time was 2-2:30pm and we were in line at 1:30pm. There was no mention of check in times whatsoever.

[Tree_skier]

You never mentioned the ArriveCan app in your description of embarkation.  I'm assuming you had that done and that they confirmed you had done it when you checked in?

Edited May 17, 2022 by Tree_skier

[woodinville cruisers]

It looks like a really nice cabin.  How is the storage?

[Btimmer]

5 minutes ago, woodinville cruisers said:

It looks like a really nice cabin.  How is the storage?

There's way more storage than we have ever experienced in any other stateroom. Lots of drawers, 2 closets, and 4 large overhead bins with lift up lids.  We are very impressed with the cabin.

 

The bathroom is a bit tiny with very narrow shelving.  It does have a dim night light so we won't need to use the little candle light you shared with us a few cruises ago.

[Btimmer]

43 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

You never mentioned the ArriveCan app in your description of embarkation.  I'm assuming you had that done and that they confirmed you had done it when you checked in?

There were signs everywhere for it, but nobody asked for it, so I didn't show it.  We've traveled to Canada previously so we were familiar with the app and even on that land crossing the border guard really didn't ask for it either.

[Btimmer]

IMPORTANT INFO

 

Be sure to print your baggage tags before getting to the terminal.  It will save a tremendous amount of time.

 

If you want to follow my daily blog which contains more descriptive information and very few pictures, the link is:

 

http://timmerq2a2022.blogspot.com

[celoplyr]

My mother (who is crazy) is wondering if the plug by the bed is a 2 pronged or 3 pronged outlet.... Of course, she won't get her own cruise critic log in to ask!

[Italy52]

Have a wonderful cruise.  If I might ask, what excursion was cancelled in Victoria? 

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, celoplyr said:

My mother (who is crazy) is wondering if the plug by the bed is a 2 pronged or 3 pronged outlet.... Of course, she won't get her own cruise critic log in to ask!

It's a standard 3 prong plug like found in every house in the US and Canada.

[Btimmer]

51 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

Have a wonderful cruise.  If I might ask, what excursion was cancelled in Victoria? 

Tge Castle & Buchart Gardens tour.

[Btimmer]

It was interesting watching the cast practice using the 270 stage in the aft of the ship.  This venue is very relaxing during the day. And cookies are found here.

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Btimmer

[celoplyr]

43 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

It's a standard 3 prong plug like found in every house in the US and Canada.

Thank you! That will help her pick out which of her 27 chargers she will want to bring on this trip....

 

I love my family, I love my family....