jmrothermel

Hello all! I've decided to do my first "Live from" thread - departing this Sunday on the beautiful Quantum of the Seas! I know another member of our roll call will be doing a live from as well, however, I believe we're probably going to have completely different views from the ship. Mine will be more family focused, traveling with the children, no late nights at the music hall or Vintages here :p. Without further delay......

MEET THE CAST:

I am traveling with myself, and my three of my children - Andrew (12), Paige (11), and Payton (4). Paige, myself, and Payton made it onto the sampler Quantum in November for a girls only cruise and we thought that was the last we were going to see this beautiful ship. However, this trip came to be because of my son Andrew, he recently had open heart surgery and was pretty critical for a period of time. He got to "Make a Wish" through the Make-A-Wish organization, and he had a hard time deciding between Quantum of the Seas and Hawaii. In the end, Hawaii won out and we had a beautiful time in the tropical paradise. However, long story short, with the help of an angel we were able to make his dream to go on Quantum a reality. So, here we are, departing in just six short days!

THE ITINERARY:

OUR STATEROOM:

We are staying in a D1 balcony stateroom on deck 13. It is one of the ones "on the hump" that appears (and been reported) to have the much larger than average balcony - room 648. We are excited to have the balcony space to sprawl out and relax!

OUR DINING RESERVATIONS:

We have reserved our dining for the entire trip. Our list is as follows:

Day 1 - The Grande

Day 2 - Silk

Day 3 - Devinly Decadence

Day 4 - Windjammer! (No time for sit down lol)

Day 5 - Silk

Day 6 - American Icon

Day 7 - Chic

Day 8 - The Grande

Day 9 - Devinly Decadence

Day 10 - American Icon

Day 11 - The Grande

Day 12 - Undecided

OUR PORT ACTIVITIES:

You'll find that many of our days in port will just be spent relaxing at the BEACH! Since the kids are young it's harder to do educational tours etc. But we have the following activities planned:

Labadee, Haiti: BEACH DAY! And hopefully score a cabana (?)

San Juan, Puerto Rico: We may or may not get off the ship in San Juan, we've been here quite a few times and we may enjoy the empty ship!

St Maarten: Day at the hotel beach - traveling with our roll call via the water taxi

Fort de France: Got our Euros in hand and we're going to attempt to take the ferry to Anse Mitan.

Barbados: Going to the Boatyard

St. Kitts: City tour and 4hrs at the beach with the monkeys :D

THE GEAR:

I'll be keeping the thread updated with the help of my equipment I lug everywhere! I'm picture OBSESSED lol, so know that going into this! I'm taking the following with me this time:

My WONDERFUL Canon 60D

I LOVE this camera! It makes a great all around camera, and really does everything I ask it to and then some. If I could get better at my photography skills, I can only imagine what it would do!

The GoPro Hero 3+

All the water pictures will be caught courtesy of this little gadget. Another must have for cruises. I have so many great pictures that we got with this!

And finally - my quick go to.....

]

My iPhone 6 Plus. I love this camera as well, and lets be honest it makes posting via Tapatalk super simple and easy!

Does each person have to buy the texting package as we did when it was free , or is it per family or stateroom.

 

If it is per device, that could get expensive!!

I was under the impression it's per device. Someone that's on board hopefully can clarify.

I didn't get any either on the Explorer in October or Quantum in November. So I'm not sure if Cape Liberty just stopped handing them out?

They did push the "10" on the survey though.

I am on the ship now. The texting/calling part of the Royal IQ app is $14.95. Not free this week. The unlimited internet package for my 7 night cruise is $89

What?!?!?! They changed it?!?!! Ugh! This is how I was planning on staying in touch with the teens next week. I'm in full on panic mode now [emoji15][emoji15][emoji15]

Hey everybody's view is different. So IMO, the more reviews the better.

You have a point. I'll have to think about putting one together! [emoji4]

Hope the passenger is alright. Anyone know what happened?

This will be the first time we've had drinks loaded onto our Seapass - which I love by the way.

 

Question? It seems like the policy is a little unclear. Will there be something in our stateroom outlining when and wear the virtual vouchers can be used?

There should be a letter in your stateroom upon embarkation.

Wonderful tips! Thank you for sharing :)

The outcome: (in case anyone searches this thread in the future)....

I got the rest of the refund on my card today. It had to be done manually and a few days of waiting and it showed up on its own. Thanks for he advice all!

Subscribing!

No, because your status doesn't change until after you complete the cruise.

Looks like they spare no expense for their loyal guests! :rolleyes:

I know :rolleyes:

One hour or $29.95 towards a package.

I think it is great you want to surprise your friend with a gift but do you think giving someone "cigarettes"of all things is a good idea?

It's her habit - she's an adult who can make her own decisions. Long story short, she gave me some of her paid time off hours when I was sick and had no hours left of my own, and I want to pay her back with something significant - not just a small thank you. If in the states cigarettes are what.... (Seriously what are they? LOL $60/carton?) if I get her two then I just saved her a bunch of money.

Saint Maarten is your best bet for Newports if you want American tobacco and paper.

 

 

 

The next best for lowest price is St. Kitt's, however the tobacco may be from France and the paper from India.

Okay - hopefully I don't sound stupid here..... [emoji15]

Is there a difference? Would it be neat to have French tobacco? LOL

Hello all! I have a co-worker who smokes. She did something very kind for me lately, and I wanted to give her a small "thank you" gift after my trip. I was thinking of bringing her back some cigarettes. After probing, I found out she smokes Newport brand?

I am visiting Labadee, St. Maarten, Fort de France, San Juan, St. Kitts, and Barbados onboard Quantum.

My question is this - I have never bought cigarettes before, so is it best to buy them onboard or in a port somewhere? If in port, which would you recommend? How much can I expect to pay?

Thank you!

We're traveling with a diverse group of children from age 3 to age 13.

 

I read that iFly restrictions are minimal, with children as young as 3 accepted accompanied by an adult (although I can't imagine putting a 3 yr old in there, but who knows.

 

I also read that the rock climbing wall is limited to those 6 years old and up, but may also require an adult.

 

I couldn't find anything about age/height/weigh restrictions for bumper cars, roller skating, music hall or show limitations.

 

What about port restrictions, like the dragon coaster or zip line in Labadee or other port activities?

 

Any restriction information would be a great aide in helping us plan our cruise.

 

If there isn't one already, let this serve as a central repository and knowledge base for a list of restrictions.

 

Thank you for your contributions!!!

On our sailing we were told over 5, so 6 years old for the other activities. All my daughter could do was the iFly. And definitely do it, the pictures are adorable! [emoji16]

Royal also has a bizarre way of refunding. In my case it was a lost deposit. When they researched the payment by my credit card, the found it. All they had to do was attach my reservation number to it but instead, they charged my CC again for the same amount. This went on for weeks. Every time I called, they charged my credit card again. Eventually they figured it out and I asked only three of the charges be credited back and the rest be left on the deposit. They gave me three refunds, none of which were in the increments that were originally charged nor were they all on the same day but they did finally add up to the total I asked to be credited back.

Wow that is bizarre!

I got a refund on a cruise past final payment, and yes, the 75% (the part still fully refundable) came first, followed by the 25% (the penalty portion) a few days later. Different offices processing the refund I think.

Thank you for posting your experience. I'm guessing the same will probably happen.

At this point you have a choice.

 

 

 

1 - Get on the phone. Talk to 6 different people. Get 3 different answers, one of which MIGHT be correct. Waste and hour and get upset, frustrated and drunk.

 

 

 

or

 

 

 

2 - Give it a few days and let it all settle out.

 

 

 

Just not worth the aggravation. (in my opinion)

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] - sometimes my phone calls with Royal have gotten me upset, frustrated and drunk!

Because of this ^^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and this ^^^^

 

 

 

I would probably wait just a few days more.

That's what I'll probably do. Give it until Monday or Tuesday. Good thing I'm not hurting for the money lol.

So, I have a question for anyone for whatever reason may have received a full refund after final payment for their cruise.

So Royal Caribbean accidentally booked us in a cabin in a way that didn't exist (long story) so we went from 4 to 5 people. I paid x.xx for the fifth person - however found out two days later that the way they were trying to do it wasn't possible. So they cancelled the fifth person, and told me because they booked it in error I would receive my entire x.xx paid back. I was told a memo was being sent to accounting to ensure this was done properly (by resolutions).

Now, let's be honest, I wasn't holding my breath that this was going to get done right. So tonight, I get three text alerts on my phone that Royal Caribbean has posted a refund into my account. It came through at 2:30am, so I'm pretty sure it was automated and not actually a person. The first was for port taxes and fees. The second was prepaid gratuities. The final refund was for 25% of the cruise fare - the amount that would be refunded at this point for if a cruise was cancelled.

So - long story short [emoji6] - for those who have received complete refunds after final payment - did you have something similar happen? Should I wait and see if there is a 4th refund issued for the other 75%? Or would you be on the phone at 8am asking for answers? What happened in your experience?

Usually self debarkation begins as early as 6:30 - 7:00 as soon as customs clears the ship. There will be taxis waiting or you can set up private transportation.

Truthfully I have left my kids on the ship while we got off. Mind you it was my 7 year old, but he also has autism. If I would force him to go with when he didn't want to we would all be miserable all day, it was best for the family to let him stay where he was happy.

We didn't have to make reservations. The fed him in the windjammer. We got back in plenty of time and all was well. Be prepared for the backlash on this site - a lot of people don't agree with leaving them (as you noticed already [emoji4]). Let me know if you have any other questions!

Hmmm...asking about the Serenade specifically since it is an older ship. Thanks though!

No problem! I know on Explorer which is older we couldn't get service in our room.

On Quantum in November I was able to get it in my room. It wasn't the best, but I was able to get wifi and I did NOT get cell service there (inside cabin).

Hi, we are going on our first cruise soon. We would have to purchase some sort of internet package from RCCL in order to connect to Wi-fi on the ship, yes? In order for us to use FaceTime in this way? Or is wi-fi just available throughout the ship without an additional purchase. Thank you.

The Internet access is an additional charge.