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Monday, 24th June 2019 - Sea Day

After a good night's sleep, we woke up feeling refreshed. I love Sea days. Even though this cruise was on 7 nights, I was thrilled to have 3 sea days. Starting with a Sea day is also great, especially when you're trying a new cruise ship class for the first time. It allows you to really explore the ship and know what is situated where, so that you can plan the rest of your cruise and where you want to be accordingly. 

Before we went about exploring, first some breakfast. We went to the windjammer for our first breakfast of the cruise and since we went late, it was very easy getting a place to sit. The breakfast was the single most disappointing thing on this cruise. Again, it may be the itinerary, due to which majority of the food was aligned to Chinese taste buds. I really used to enjoy the breakfast on Celebrity, and would usually pack in quite a bit. 

They had plenty of fruits. There was a live egg station but nowhere close to what we get on Med/ Caribbean cruises. The bacon strips were not crisp. There was hardly any cheese, no croissants (how I love those chocolate ones), no hash browns. It was very basic. Now this is a first world problem. I cannot complain too much about this since this was the only thing that, sort of, was below expectations. 

Would I not consider another cruise in this part of the world because of the breakfast? Nope, I certainly would. Would I dissuade any of you to reconsider? Nope. There are plenty of other things to eat. I found some nice things to munch on at Cafe Two70, Sorrentos and in Cafe Promenade. Infact the pizzas were so good at Sorrentos, that I would gladly give up breakfast for those pepperoni pizzas at Sorrentos. 

After Breakfast we went to the Music hall for a fun activity - Bean bag toss. There was a nice crowd there and 90% Chinese. Inspite of this, the activities managers always spoke in English first and then in Mandarin. So we never felt out of place, infact they made even more of an effort to get us involved and so did our fellow cruisers. 

After this we headed to play some Table tennis in the Sea Plex. Just look at those views of the beautiful blue sea. 

Speaking of views, we had to head back to Two70 to check out the view while sailing. I'll let these pictures speak for themselves. 
 

We also grabbed some desserts from Cafe Two70. Their caramel cheesecake was brilliant, as were their cupcakes. I certainly had more than 2. 

We then headed back out to check out the pool deck. Even the walk to and from Two70 is just stunning. Someone really spent alot of time thinking of ways to make this part of the ship look and feel extra-ordinary. We were definitely WOWed by it. 

24 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Thanks again,firstly  a cruise TV channel in the UK broadcast a programme about the Quantum class ships some time ago & mentioned a surprise in every lift but refused to expand on that,now I know!

Secondly,eating in Two70 sounds great but what is a kummelweck sandwich?

I did try to get menus out of RCI but they act like they have no idea what goes on on board Quantum!

The Kummelweck sandwich is a Royal Caribbean signature sandwich which started on the Oasis of the Seas in the Park Cafe. Its strips of beef in a little roundish bun, with some sauce on the side. Its apparently pretty famous and I always saw 4-5 people in line to grab this on the Quantum of the Seas too. 

Here are some pictures of our fantastic dessert. DW had the dark chocolate pastry while I had the creme brulee. The chocolate pastry was rich and bitter, and the creme brulee was as good as the one I get on Celebrity. So I was very happy with the dessert. 

With out bellies full, we went up to Two70 to catch their StarWater show. You need reservations for this show, but we managed to get in since it was not 100% full. However I recommend that you get reservations (through the app/ guest services) for this show. The show was in English and it was the best show I've seen (after Mamma Mia on the Allure). Two70 really transformed into a different venue at night and the performers were so up close to where we were seated.  

After the show, we decided to retire to bed. I usually spend 2 hours late at night in the casino (11 PM to 1 AM) at the roulette table. On the first night, the casino was shut, as well as all the shops. Apparently we were yet in Chinese waters which is why they could not open till 8 AM the next day. This was our first cruise where the casino and shops were not open an hour after sailing out. 

Something that I really liked about this ship was the thought that went into making even the most mundane boring things, look interesting. Back home I head the marketing function for a real estate firm, so I am always fascinated by good design and attention to detail. While you can find funky, innovative art everywhere, something that stood out was the elevators. Most elevators on Royal and Celebrity consist of 2 kinds, the glass ones which overlook the atrium and the boring steel ones. Check out what Quantum has in their elevators. Each elevator had something different. 

I will intersperse different images as we progress in the review. We also went up to check out the Seaplex. There were tons of kids on this ship, and I think Royal Caribbean knows how to take care of kids. The seaplex on Deck 15 was a huge 2 level sports deck which had bumper cars, ice skating, football, badminton, 4 table tennis tables with the most stunning views, an arcade, air hockey, and an entire section for video games. DW and I are extremely competitive table tennis players and we usually play 10-12 games each day at sea. So we were absolutely thrilled to see this place.  

After several games here, it was time to get ready for dinner. Here's a quick pic from our balcony just before heading out for dinner. The view is from Deck 9. 

Now here's another important thing to note for Asian cruises. The Quantum class ships had originally planned something called Dynamic Dining which would allow cruises to try a different MDR (Main Dining Room) each day. So there were 4 venues - Chic, Silk, American Icon and Grande. 

When we booked we got the 7PM seating and were told that this was the only seating available and we could change it on the ship. Now as Indians, 7 PM is way to early for dinner. We usually are yet at work at 7PM and we usually eat dinner by 9:00 - 9:30 PM. Culturally, we also prefer having drinks first, and then dinner, which is opposite of what many do in even Europe and the US. 

We were told that 7PM is the late dinner seating, while 5 PM was the early seating. We didn't have any problems as our waiter kindly informed us that we could enter anytime before 8 PM and we saw many others doing so as well. Infact, the second seating in the MDR (we had CHIC) was never more than 50-60% full and we were even able to move to a table right next to the window for some amazing views of the setting sun. 

My mum tried the Blue Margarita and she loved it. She said that the size of the drinks on this ship was much larger than she had when she was on the Symphony in Europe last year.  

The service in the MDR/ Chic was exceptional. One of the best we've ever had. Maybe it was due to the fact that there weren't as many full tables. We never had to ask even once for our water to be refilled, or our drink preference. With regards to the food, there were mixed reviews. DW and I have been on Celebrity for the last 2 years and they are known to have better food than Royal. So I wasn't sure if it was the itinerary that we were doing, or was it because I was used to Celebrity's food, that I found this food average. Maybe average is too harsh a word. 

DW absolutely loved it. She's a vegetarian and each day she was served a feast of indian and western vegetarian dishes. She mentioned that she has never eaten this well on any of our 10 previous cruises. And my wife is exactly opposite of me, she is no foodie. We never went hungry, and the desserts were usually top notch. 

Ok, so we last left off with the first views of Two70. The venue as most people know by now, is at the very back of the ship. And the venue is just stunningly beautiful. On one of the sea days, there was a top tier event for platinum members and higher in Two70. During this event, the cruise director told us that Royal Caribbean paid $2 million more for just this venue, than they paid for their first ship 50 years ago! 

The venue spans over 2 decks, so you can imagine how high those floor to ceiling glasses go and what an amazing view it is from here. Even more impressive when the ship is sailing. To the right is a fantastic bar and Cafe Two70 is right next to the entrance. So food and drinks are never too far away. There are these amazing nooks and corners where one can cosy up with a book or your mobile and honestly this was even better than your own balcony. 

Inspite of the ship being completely full, we never had a hard time getting seats here. For my western friends, this is the place you want to grab a quick bite as well. Cafe Two70 was excellent and reminded me of the Central Park Cafe in terms of food available. They had the amazing kummelweck sandwiches, being served fresh. Right next to it, they had 6-8 types of rolls and cold sachwiches (The cuban was my favorite, the tuna sandwich a close second). They also had 2 kinds of soups which were pretty good. 

Apart from this they had an entire salad bar, which is the best I've had on any ship. I would book another cruise just for some of the food I've had here. I'm a foodie, I hate salads, but the chicken salad, potato salad with all their amazing dressings was top notch. Thanks to this place, we hardly ever went to the Windjammer Marketplace. Oh, and they also have cookies and 9-10 types of dessert here too. All complimentary. The cheesecake here was always fantastic. 

We then went about exploring more of this beautiful ship. The next picture is part of the Royal Promenade and we could clearly see how this was also inspired by the Celebrity Cruises S class ships. We felt right at home. Plenty of shops to the right of this. 

We headed up to the pool deck to check out our first glimpse of the North Star. I remember when the Quantum of the Seas was first introduced, this was the most impressive and futuristic new innovation that we wanted to try. We had 2 time slots, but a quick trip to guest services solved our problem. 

Here's another thing that I didn't know about North Star and important for anyone trying this on Asian cruises. So when we booked this online, we had 2 options. Option 1 - $20 per person - 10 minutes. Option 2 - $40 per person - 17 minutes - they just call this the extended North Star activity. 

When we booked, there was no slot for 4 people together and only gave us options to book the $20 (10 mins) one for 2 people at a time. We went to guest services as soon as we were on the ship and met a really good guest services manager called Annie. She found us a slot for 4 people together on the 2nd day, 5 PM and we took it. Here's where she helped. She told us that the $20 (10 mins) session only had the North Star pod go up, and back down. 

The extended $40 session is the one you want to take, this one goes up, goes to both sides of the ship for some amazing views) and then back down. So we all upgraded to the $40 version. This does get pricey for a family, but the $20 version is a waste. 

Walk around to the back of the ship and you see the Polar Bear on the Quantum of the Seas. This really stands out when you see the ship from far and we saw many people taking pictures with it. What they say is true, this ship was built for selfies. 

19 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:

Great review, looking forward to more

18 hours ago, Tee & Chilli said:

Fabulous review. Great start 

18 hours ago, kernow said:

Lovely to see such a detailed review of the ship, can't wait for more.

18 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

Fantastic photos to start!

12 hours ago, Lv2sail_18 said:

Wonderful review so far! Thank you for sharing!

6 hours ago, TRUEBLUE66 said:

Looking forward to your full review as we are on Quantum next Spring for the first time and just returned from Japan. Spent a few days in Kyoto after the cruise. Great photos!

3 hours ago, cadburyguinness said:

Enjoying your review so far, looking forward to the next installment.

We will be on Quantum this December

15 hours ago, snaefell said:

We are booked on Quantums' repo cruise from China to Singapore in October(OMG only 12 weeks away,seemed like an eternity when we booked it!),it has been like getting blood out of a stone trying to find out what these cruises are really like from RCI,thanks to posters like this one & Hadley who have taken so much time to give us an idea of what they are really like,can't wait!

Thanks everyone for your kind words. Snaefell, I couldn't agree more. I've been itching to try the Quantum class ships for years since they came out. I have 2 (Quantum & Ovation) in what is technically my backyard (India and China are neighbours, with very inexpensive flights between our 2 countries). I searched multiple times for detailed reviews of what its like cruising in Asia, and most of the time I had very limited info/reviews and very negative comments. 

I'm really glad that we took the plunge, there was seriously nothing to complain about and we met some really friendly people on this cruise. More coming up. 

16 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Did you ever try texting (or other internet related actions) WITHOUT being logged into VOOM (but connected to WiFi)?

Hi Biker19, to be honest, I didn't try this. Before being connected to VOOM, I was connected via my home country's cellular service via roaming. India is the #1 least expensive country for cellular services. I paid approx $75 for unlimited roaming for a month. So I was always connected. VOOM worked really well on the ship, used it extensively on sea days. No problems there. 

Cheers!

Nick 

Ship - Quantum of the Seas

Deck - 9

Stateroom # - 9142

Stateroom Category – Veranda/ Balcony

Starboard or Port Side - Port side 

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Yes 

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View -  – Excellent view. No obstructions.  

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal

Was wind a problem? - No

Any other comments? - Bed by the Balcony. Excellent stateroom. 

My parents and us were both on Deck 9, port side, near the front elevators. My parents were in Cabin 9154 and we were 6 cabins away in 9142. Both normal Balcony staterooms. We loved the location of the staterooms. 9154 was the 2nd cabin from the front elevators so it was very convenient for my parents to get around. 9142 was 6 staterooms further inside, so again, it was never a long walk from the elevators/ stairs. Being close to the elevators was not a problem, once you're in the cabin, you hardly heard anything outside.

This was our cabin, 9142 - standard Veranda Cabin. The bed is close to the Balcony, which is our preferred layout. The rooms alternate with the bed being closer to the bathroom and the sofa closer to the balcony. Both our staterooms had the first option and we have chosen them accordingly. 

The rooms looked brand new, modern/ contemporary and as clean as a whistle. They also looked alot larger for some reason than our rooms on our Celebrity ships (Eclipse, Reflection & Silhouette) and the Allure of the Seas. Plenty of drawers, 2 large cupboards, plenty of storage space. 

We grabbed our sea pass cards and placed our wallets in the safe. Our passports were taken by the cruise personnel and we would have to collect them on the last sea day. This was pretty standard as we did the same thing for our Mediterranean cruises as well. We also had our VOOM internet passwords waiting in our room, and the internet worked pretty well throughout the cruise. It was expensive, we paid around $30 a day for 2 devices, so that was over $200 for the cruise, but we prefer to be connected. 

We then went about exploring this beautiful ship and headed straight for Two70, to see what the fuss was all about. Just the walk to get to Two70 is so beautiful. This venue quickly became our favorite, go-to place on the entire ship. 

(To be continued.....)

23rd June 2019 - Its Cruise day !! 

We had booked our transfer with Viator and had asked for our driver to pick us up at 8:30 AM. The cruises from Beijing start from Tianjin Port which is over 170 kms away from the center of Beijing. We wanted to start early since we knew it would take approximately 2 hours to cover this distance, and we wanted to keep some buffer time for traffic. 

Once again, the service was immaculate. We checked out at 8:30 AM and as soon as we turned around, we saw our driver waiting in the lobby with our name board. We loaded all our luggage into the minivan and we were on our way to the cruiseship by 8:45 AM. We reached a couple of hours later and our driver dropped us off 100m away from our port entrance. Like it is the case in most cruises, there were representatives of Royal Caribbean waiting to take our bags. We already had our baggage tags printed and stapled, which wasn't the case with most other cruisers. The RCCL reps were helping the others with their baggage tags so if you forget to print them, no problem. 

We went past security in a breeze and soon checked into our cruise. This was our first cruise on a Quantum class ship so we didn't get our seapass cards during check in. Instead, they were waiting for us on the door of our cabin. I don't have any pictures of the cruise port/ check in as I wasn't too sure how accepting the chinese would be of me taking pictures at an airport/ cruise port. However, I can tell you that 99% of the fellow cruisers were orderly. We met an American couple while we were waiting in line for immigration and chatted with them so time went by quickly while waiting in line. 

Here's a first glimpse of our awesome ship which we would call home for the next 7 nights! 

While waiting to Board, there were multiple signs (in English) asking us to download their app. I already had 2 of their apps, the normal Royal Caribbean app and Royal IQ which was used for the Chinese cruises. What luck, this was the first sailing where they had moved to the normal Royal Caribbean app, from where you had everything at your fingertips. This app works even without an internet connection, you just need to be connected to Royal Wifi on the ship. I was very very impressed with this app. 

The ship at first glance is absolutely beautiful on the inside. We love Royal's central promenade. We loved it on the Adventure, Mariner & Explorer (Voyager class ships). We absolutely loved the bigger version on the Allure. And the Quantum didn't disappoint either. This place was ALWAYS buzzing and it felt like an international cruise. All announcements were first in English and then in Mandarin. 

We got on board and went to the Windjammer Marketplace as the rooms were not going to be ready till 1 PM. This was one of the only really bad decisions that we made on the cruise. The buffet was absolutely PACKED and it took us over 40 minutes to get a table. This was the only day we faced this issue, even on our sea days later, we never had an issue finding a table in the Windjammer buffet. 

The windjammer on the Quantum is designed basis Celebrity Cruise's S class ships which is our favorite. However the food in the Windjammer was definitely disappointing. There's a huge selection of food, but it is clearly for the Chinese palette. There were 3 types of pizzas, burgers, mexican food and an international selection of 5-6 dishes, so no one would really go hungry, but if you like buffets on European/ Caribbean cruises, be prepared. 

After a quick bite, we heard an announcement saying that the cabins were ready, so we proceeded to go keep our carry on luggage in our cabins.

We strolled around the pedestrian street for a few hours. DW was hungry so we grabbed a bite at this place called HEFU NOODLES. DW is also a vegetarian (due to her love for animals) but she got some really good vegetarian food at this place. In fact she enjoyed it so much, that we came back to eat here on our last day in Beijing after the cruise. My dad was pretty tired, so he decided to relax in the hotel. My mom accompanied us for this meal and we tried some fish sticks which was also pretty good. Here's my mom patiently waiting for me to get a good picture of the food. 

After the meal and wandering for a bit, my mom decided to head back to the hotel to grab a proper dinner with my dad. They ate at the hotel's restaurant and said it was some of the best kung pao chicken they had eaten. DW and I decided to head out and explore some more. We felt very safe in this area even at night. Plenty of tourists and really friendly locals. Remember, we are Indians and we don't exactly share the best relations with the Chinese, so we pretty much have the same concerns as our American readers. But there is absolutely nothing to worry about. We felt as safe as we do in Western Europe and we had no problems whatsoever.  

We walked to the famous Wangfujing Food street which is just off the main pedestrian street. Plenty of authentic chinese dishes and most people were walking around with what looked like some meat on a stick.

We also came across a cosy bar/ restaurant in the centre of this street, with live music (in English and Mandarin). We took a table outside and officially started our holiday. DW had a glass of Moscato while I sipped on my favorite cruise drink - a blue lagoon.  

As we got ready to head back to the hotel, my cruise countdown showed me one of my favorite views! It was officially cruiseday! I was already full with my meal on the flight, and nibbling at Hefu Noodles, so I just grabbed a burger on my way back to the hotel, for a midnight snack. 

Our driver dropped us off at our hotel. We were staying at the Novotel Peace Beijing Hotel, situated at the famous Wangfujing pedestrian/ shopping area. We usually do our research in detail about where we want to stay, and this was no exception. We were really happy with the location of this hotel, it was just a 3 minute walk to the Pedestrian street and it was in a very safe neighborhood. Our hotel was right next to the Waldorf Astoria and in the same location as other 5 star hotels like the Hilton and the Grand Hyatt. It was also the least expensive (nearly half the price) and had modern and clean rooms. Since we were here just for 1 night, and would be using the room just to sleep, it was perfect for us. 

The only issue we had was with the allocation of rooms. We were allocated rooms in the West Wing, which meant it was a good 5 minute walk to our rooms each time. For DW and myself, this was not a problem at all, but it was a trek for my parents, especially for my dad. If you're travelling with people with mobility issues, or older parents, its better to request them for a room in the main building itself. 

The room was spacious, modern, well equipped and the air conditioning was excellent. The view was non existent (which is why they had the curtains drawn) since the west wing rooms have a view of the back alley. Again, no complaints, we were not in Beijing to sit in our hotel and look our the window, so it didn't matter to us at all. 

We dumped our bags in the room, and headed straight out to the Wangfujing Pedestrian street where we spent the evening. It is a really beautiful street with shops, malls, eateries for all palettes. We had checked in at around 6 PM, so we really had just the evening to explore this place. We were also staying for an additional couple of nights after the cruise, so we were pretty happy with the hotel and the location. 

Hi Everyone, 

We are back from an amazing Cruise holiday, so this review will now be in overdrive. Most of my reviews are filled with pictures and this will be no exception. The Quantum of the Seas was our first Quantum class ship and we were absolutely amazed by how gorgeous this ship is! So lets get this review started. 

I finished work on Friday, 21st June 2019 and headed straight to the airport. We had a late night flight from Mumbai to Bangkok and then onwards to Beijing (PEK airport). I am also a huge aviation geek and I absolutely love flying as much as I love cruising. We got an amazing deal to fly Business class on Thai Airways. All my previous trips on this airline have been in Economy class, so we were very excited to travel in a new Business class cabin. 

Our first flight was on an old 747 double decker plane. We managed to pre-book our seats on the upper deck. Again, this was our first time on a 747 upper deck and we loved it. It had a very private feel to it. However, you could make out that this was a pretty old seat, and while it didn't become a lie flat bed, the recline was more than enough for it to be really comfortable (can't complain since 90% of our flights are in economy class)

We had a good flight into Bangkok without any turbulence (we are in the monsoon season in India), and our flight landed well in time. We had a 4 hour layover in Bangkok airport and that gave us enough time to relax in the lounge. The Thai airways lounge was pretty underwhelming. Thanks to Priority Pass we have visited quite a few airport lounges across the world, and we could tell that this one wasn't one of their best. We quickly used our Priority Pass and went to our favorite lounge - the  Miracle Business Class lounge near Gate D5. We've been to this lounge multiple times before and it is easily one of the best lounges in the world. 

This lounge also had an excellent shower facility, and I was pretty impressed with it. The shower room was clean, well equipped & modern. A warm shower felt excellent and I was prepared for our next flight, onward to Beijing.

Our flight to Beijing was on a newer Airbus A350 aircraft and the hard product was outstanding. The seats were newer, lie flat beds, the cabin felt amazingly spacious and modern and the crew were just phenomenally good. We've flown business class on Emirates and once on Turkish when we snagged a cheap upgrade, and the service on Thai definitely beat most other airlines we've flown. These seats were also closer together and DW and I really like this set up. Its cosy as well as private and even on Emirates, we always try and get these seats which are ideal for couples. 

The aircraft had an amazing on board camera, which was crystal clear, and I loved watching us take off and land. What a view!

We landed into Beijing Airport on time. We had heard horror stories of how bad the airport was in terms of long lines, taking 2 hours at immigration, lack of signs etc. We were pleasantly surprised with how everything was exactly the opposite. We had done a bit of research before going and we knew exactly what was needed to be done. We exited the aircraft, and there were clear signs for foreigners to complete their finger printing formalities before standing in line. We did it in less than 2 minutes and stood in line for immigration. We were done with immigration in 10 minutes (less than a minute with the immigration officer) and took the escalator down to the train which took you to another terminal to collect your bags. 

Our bags were already on the belt when we reached and we were out of the airport within 45 minutes of our plane touching down. We had booked our transport to our hotel on viator and there was a driver who was waiting for us with our name on a board. He helped us with our bags, offered us bottled water in the car and drove us safely to our hotel. We used viator for all our 4 transfers and each time their drivers were on time, polite and helpful. Really happy with the overall service offered by them. 

Hi Everyone,

We're planning our next cruise and we have just made final payment for a 7N Best of Japan cruise next month. I will be traveling with my wife and my parents. I really struggled to find any detailed reviews of the Quantum from Beijing. I understand that these cruises are 'culturally enriching' cruises as Royal Caribbean puts it, so I am looking forward to seeing how different this one is going to be. So if there is anything that you guys would like to know more about or see, this is the best time so that I can get back with answers. 

Our itinerary is as follows:

22 - Mumbai to Bangkok to Beijing (Thai Airways)

23- Beijing to Tianjin Port - Cruise begins

24 - At sea

25 - Fukuoaka, Japan

26 - Sakaiminato, Japan

27 - Kyoto, Japan

28 - At sea

29 - At sea

30 - Tianjin Port (cruise ends)

We're spending 2 nights in Beijing after the cruise and 1 night in Bangkok before returning to Mumbai on the 3rd of July. 

We haven't heard too many good things about Asian cruises, that they're really crowded, people are more pushy, casinos & buffets are always full, the food is for the Chinese/ Asian palette and so on. But we've decided to go check it out for ourselves. As you can see from my cruising history below, we LOVE our European/ Western cruises but now its time to go East & see how they compare. 

We've already got some bad news, the amazing Solarium on the Quantum is ONLY for suite guests. We're sailing in veranda staterooms so looks like we won't have access to one of our favourite parts of the ship. We also tried booking the North Star for 4 of us, over a month to go for the cruise and there are no time slots available which can take 4 of us together. This inspite of the fact that you've got to pay $20 per person to try the North Star.  

However, judging from our previous 4 cruises on Royal Caribbean, we're sure we will have a good time once we are onboard. 😊

Cheers!

Nick

Thank you soo much for your photo review.

 

We are on the Eclipse in November - our first time with Celebrity and it looks like we have made a good choice :-)

 

We only live 2 hrs on the train from Paris and you're been more than us!!

 

Thanks again

 

PD

Celebrity's S class ships are just beautiful. I'm sure you will have an awesome time on the Eclipse. I absolutely love traveling and cruising is my favorite kind of holiday. Waiting to try out the Solstice and Equinox to tick off all Celebrity's S class ships.

Cheers!

Nick

Day 12: Sea Day

Well well, after an amazing 11 days, our cruise was nearly coming to an end. Here’s when the depression starts to creep in. Time really flies when you’re having fun.

This picture at the Martini bar summed up my feelings perfectly. The feeling of giving up on all this fun, time with my wife, and getting back to the real world and work had me like....

But we yet had a full sea day, and 4 days in London, so I wasn’t going to let my depression creep in just yet!

We caught up with our friends Adam & Weiyi and spent the full day with them. We played a triathlon session of table tennis, air hockey (in the arcade) and spades (the card game).

We interspersed it with fun celebrity life activities on the ship like the final bingo session, the crazy & fun scavenger hunt with activities manager Nick (when we won), and lots of drinks and food whenever we could.

The last sea day had a huge brunch in the Oceanview cafe which was AMAZING!

Of course i had to spend some time in the casino as well. I play a lot of Roulette(usually late in the night) and DW likes trying her luck on the slot machines.

We also spent some time looking at this gorgeous view! We really enjoyed the sunset veranda cabin and we were really going to miss it.

We caught up for dinner with our friends for one last dinner together on this cruise. We said goodbye and thanked our dining staff who were just phenomenally good to us during our meals.

We went and saw the final celebrity life activity - the adults only battle of the sexes in which our friends took part. It was hilarious.

We said our tearful goodbyes to our friends and retired to bed just past midnight. We had an early morning flight to London from Amsterdam so we needed to be off the ship with our bags by 7:30 am.

The cruise definitely ranked right up there with our favourite holidays. It definitely wasn’t the best itinerary we had been on (by far) but it turned out to me one of the best cruises thanks to the awesome ship, crew and the 2 couples we met.

Can’t wait for our next cruise!

Cheers!

Nick

Coming up: our London Diaries

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Really enjoying your review! Your sense of humor is terrific and makes reading the review even more fun and entertaining. The pictures are also awesome. I've been itching to try out the Quantum class ships, but both the Quantum and Ovation sail out of China. Even though they're much closer to where I live in India, I haven't heard too many good reviews about them. Hence the Anthem from NY is our best bet. Following closely for all the tips and pictures!

Cheers!

Nick

We did a transatlantic this year on the Eclipse to Dublin. We docked at Dunmore East for our Waterford stop. It was about a 30 min drive. Was the Eclipse actually in Waterford?

We are repeating this cruise again in April

Great review.

Gail

 

 

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Hi Gail, I think we also docked in Dunmore East.

Day 11: St Peter Port, Channel Islands

We really didn’t know what to expect or plan at this port, so we decided to just go out and see for ourselves. This was the second of the 2 ports where we were tendering, and this one was an absolute disaster!

By the time we finished breakfast and went to collect the tender tickets (they are numbered), we received the 2nd last tender boat numbered in the high forties! I think it was 48 !! They had just announced numbers 6 & 7 when I collected these tickets. The sea was choppy and the ride to the shore was taking over 20 minutes each way!

There were ALOT of people complaining that this delay would not give them enough time at the port. Our friends at dinner, Amy & Elliot had been here earlier and had told us that they were just going to treat this as another day at sea and enjoy the ship. We contemplated the same, but then someone came and offered us their tickets in the twenties as they didn’t want to go out.

We went ashore and honestly there was hardly anything to do or see. It was a Sunday so most shops were also shut. I’m not entirely sure why Celebrity has this port as part of the itinerary, maybe it’s for some visa/ legal reasons. We got back on the ship and decided to use it as a sea day as well.

We grabbed some drinks at the pool bar and got into the hot tubs! We couldn’t believe that we literally waited for 10 days before getting into the pool/ jacuzzis. On our past cruises we usually spend quite some time here, so it felt good to get to spend some time in the empty hot tubs.

We then met up with our friends for a marathon session of table tennis which was a great workout. After a quick shower, we got ready for dinner. Another awesome dinner in the MDR.

After dinner, we went to the silent disco in the atrium. It was the battle of the DJs silent disco with our CD Chris, a DJ and activities manager Giuseppe. It was great fun and people were dancing on all floors, in the elevators, everywhere. Absolute party atmosphere!

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We really enjoyed this port and this is another place we would have probably never visited if it wasn’t for cruising!

We went to deck 5 for the sail away and it was spectacular!

We then met up with our friends for dinner! The creme brûlée in the MDR is just outstanding!

Next up: St Peter Port, Channel Islands

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After all that walking around, I think i earned my meal that day!

I also came across the same chain of gelato selling that awesome pistachio ice cream, so I was thrilled to bits! Had to have one more!

After spending some time here, we headed back to the train station towards our ship.

We had an hour to go before we needed to be back on the ship, so we strolled around the area next to the doc which was also quite nice.

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More pictures from FOTA Wildlife Park in Cobh

I’m not posting pictures of all animals, but I’m hoping these give you a glimpse into what Fota was like and if you’d be interested in spending the day here. We were also lucky to catch some feeding times (the lions were amazing) so it makes sense to plan ahead.

Now here’s a word of advice if you do. The train station is exactly halfway around the circular path one needs to take. We ended up having to go round, and then halfway around again since we had to catch the train to Cork.

The station was really small and there was no place to buy tickets. The train arrived and we spoke to the driver and he said jump on, and buy a ticket once you get off the station! How cool was that!

We got off at Cork and bought our tickets, including our tickets back to the dock in Cobh. We walked around the main town square including the English Market. Again, excellent weather!

This was an excellent walking street. Tons of places to eat and shop and enjoy the festival atmosphere.

To be continued...

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Day 10: Cobh/ Cork

After booking this cruise, DW and I hardly got enough time during work to seriously research and plan each port.

We did some research for this port too and didn’t find anything that appealed to us. However, we did read about this place called the Fota Wildlife Park.

DW and I love animals and hence we decided to explore this park. I cannot stress enough how lucky we were to have stumbled across this place and seriously don’t know why Celebrity doesn’t have an excursion here.

The train station is right outside where the ship docks and it’s just 3 stops away. We missed the train at 9:30 and we didn’t want to wait another hour, so we took a cab to Fota which took us around 20 mins. We reached at around 10:00 am, which was just around opening time.

We also had a gorgeous clear day which made it very comfortable to walk. And there’s a lot of walking here! I’ve never been to South Africa for a safari, but this experience really made me want to. It’s got tons of wild animals in vast open spaces. I’ll just let some of these pictures do the talking....

To be continued...

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Loving this review! We will be on the Eclipse for the first time next month out of Barcelona.

 

I could never have coped with cutting it so fine time-wise getting back to the ship after Paris, but you certainly made the most of your day. Good for you :D.

 

Alejandro remains my favourite CD of all time and I also like Maarten too. Normally I’m not too bothered about who fills what position but we’ve done three cruises with Alejandro as CD and he definitely added to the overall experience.

Barcelona! Another one of my favorite cities in Europe. Been there twice and loved it both times.

Wow, love that chicken Kiev from Mumbai!

 

Liverpool is my closest big city and you were so lucky with the weather - it makes all the difference - but your photos of Waterford do make it look very appealing; even though overcast. Good job.

I could not agree more. After the cruise we spent 4 days in London and the weather was just gorgeous. Will post some pictures at the end of the cruise report. Those pictures also look much better!

We headed back to our ship via the tender boats. This is when the winds really picked up and most people were freezing in line for the boats.

We were amongst the few people who sat on the open top deck to get some good views of our ship!

Once back on the ship, we got ready to grab some drinks and dinner. We tried the Black Forest martini. While it looks good, it didn’t taste as good at the chocolate martini. That’s easily our favourite!

We had dinner with our friends in the MDR. The chicken Kiev was just outstanding. This is one of my favourite dishes back him in Mumbai and while the presentation wasn’t as fancy as we get back home, it was really tasty.

Here’s how it’s served back home in Mumbai.

Coming up next: Corb/ Cork, Ireland

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