setter73

I called Thenford Grey 3 different times over a week, sent e-mails through their website and I never heard back. Terrible business practice.

This is an area near the VIA' date=' near Vintages, which is going towards Two70

 

[img']https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8406/15187351594_7b93175258_c.jpg[/img]

 

 

They should have enclosed the area completely and installed an exhaust fan. It is too cold in the winter months to have a cigar out there. The weather conditions would impact your cigar experience as well. They didn't think this one through.

So we have cruised on Royal quite a few times on many different classes of their ships. This was the first time that we felt disappointed about wasting our money and vacation time to cruise.

 

We are a couple in our late 20's, we met on Enchantment of the Seas and got engaged last year on Allure, so cruising is very near and dear to our hearts. We really wanted to try out Quantum, as did my parents, so we decided on a Thanksgiving family cruise and were excited for the inaugural after hearing we would have special events, gifts, etc.

 

Boarding: We got there for our 10:45 slot and were checked in fairly efficiently, but the gangway wasn't open yet since cruisers from the prior ship had failed to get off on time or something. We got on about 11:30, so it wasn't the end of the world.

 

Cabin: We went to our cabin around 12:30 and it was ready. The cabin layout is very nice, we had the bed by the balcony, which seems like the better layout. There is plenty of storage and the bathroom seemed more spacious, I like the bar for shaving your legs they added in the shower. We had an obstructed balcony, which was perfect since the weather was cold and I think we spent about 20 minutes out there total.

 

Staff: It seems like they are friendly, but very tired and frustrated. Cosmo in Jamie's was great, as was our stateroom attendant Marta and Ritish who was our serve in the Grande.

 

Shows: We loved all the shows we saw (Mama Mia, Starwater, Sonic Odyssey) and thought they were as good as the shows on Allure and much better than the smaller ships with less of a show selection. The disappointing thing was that they advertised a bunch of other shows and parties that didn't exist on our voyage probably because they are still working on them; this includes the Mama Mia after party, Gatsby, and the adult cabaret night. We paid a premium to go on this sailing and are disappointed they didn't have these shows ready for us.

 

Ports: We did Disney and Atlantis, missed Coco-Cay because of the weather which isn't really RCCL's fault, so that was okay.

 

Onboard Activities: We did iFly, circus school trapeze, bumper cars, roller skating, the Quantum scavenger hunt, and the North Star- all activities were fun, didn't get to Flowrider because it was pretty chilly for the whole trip. The bionic bar is cool the first time you see it, but after that it just seems like a waste of space and never seemed crowded (usually 5-10 people there). I will say that if you don't like more active things, there wasn't much else offered to keep you occupied other than trivia and movies out by the pool (which again, it was freezing out, I don't want to be outside watching a movie at night when it's 40 degrees.)

 

Food: Dynamic Dining needs some improvement. On 3 out of 8 nights, we waited half an hour for a table even though we made reservations months ago. The food was very good, but not a lot of options on each menu, and they didn't have the simple taste alternative menus available yet. For specialty dining, we did Jamie's, Chops, & Devinly Decadence. All of these were very good, my favorite was probably Jamie's though- the homemade pasta is phenomenal, as are the risotto balls and meat plank. We also did Izumi for lunch which is very expensive for what you get, it cost us $13 for a shrimp roll and it wasn't that large. I feel like you are better off spending $15 and doing Jamie's for lunch. We did have some snacks at Michael's Genuine the first day and those were good, especially the potato chips and onion dip.

 

Issues Encountered:

 

We got onboard and immediately went to North Star which was opening at 12 pm. We got on after 20 minutes, only to then get stuck inside, they eventually had to manually pry open the doors. We then waited another 30 minutes while they had the mechanics looking at it, but nobody was giving us any information which was frustrating.

 

Later on in the cruise we went up at 8:30 am to get in line to get tickets for Northstar. This was the most ridiculous thing, it was about 45 degrees and windy and we were blocking the running track and had to wait there for over an hour just to get a ticket with a time to come back. If they are going to make people wait in line, it should really be inside somewhere and they should have more people giving out tickets so it doesn't take so long.

 

With the dining, we waited for tables even though we had reservations and at most of the venues, it took awhile to eat due to slow service and the time it takes for them to type everything into the tablet. The one waitress explained that any modification to an item, they have to type in word by word but each line only fits so many characters, so they have to keep adding new lines and such. It seems much slower with no assistant waiter and takes longer to get water, menus, bread, coffee, etc. It seemed like the restaurant that always had a line and was backed up was The Grande. The first night we were scheduled to eat there and it was so backed up that while waiting in line they offered for us to go to Coastal Kitchen or pay for us to go to Devinly Decadence, but we were all dressed up and didn't want to go somewhere else at that point. Also, they really need to make 2 lines, one for people who have reservations and one for people who don't.

 

Elevators were always an issue, it would randomly go on priority status and you couldn't get off and would end up on deck 2 when you were trying to go to deck 15, multiple elevators were always out of service. I don't mind walking, but we were on deck 6 and it was a long trek up to deck 14 for the solarium most mornings after waiting 10 minutes for an elevator and each one that stopped was already full.

 

There was no sailaway party when we left NJ and went under the bridge, very disappointed. I like when they have music and such and it seems to kick the cruise off with some energy. In general, there were no special activities or parties celebrating the inaugural, not even a glass of champagne. Some of the staff didn't even know and the one activity woman at trivia was arguing with people that it wasn't the inaugural and "I am always right, even when I am wrong, I am always right" I feel like that is a very poor attitude and not what you say to guests who were legitimately right and knew more than she did, but anyways...most of the staff was nice and she was an exception I guess.

 

There was a lack of activities during the day and night, there was hardly any game shows and the one or two that they did have had no participation because they were poorly advertised and nobody really knew they were happening. The Groovy Town disco party in the Music Hall was good. There was no Quest or Love & Marriage or Karaoke (there was Rock-A-Rokie one night but only 3 people showed up to sing). There were also no pool games like Belly Flop or Sexiest Man and the only time I saw the cruise director was on the TV.

 

The technology in general just doesn't work quite yet, they are still trying to work out kinks. Our TV account never worked, so we had to go to guest services to check on our account. The app worked sometimes, but never for messaging or calling people, just for viewing your calendar and even then, it was hit or miss with it working.

 

They were out of a lot of drinks, specifically wine. We paid for an ultimate package, but by day 3, they were out of the wines in the $12-$13 range, so I had to keep paying an extra $4/glass to get something decent, which is ridiculous after paying for the package. A few times we asked for bottled water the bar was out, so they said we had to "go find another bar that has it". I don't think I should spend my vacation tracking down a drink, you need to properly stock your bars.

 

I think the ice-cream station by the pool worked for an hour or two the whole cruise, so when it was working the line was crazy long, they need to add another one I guess. At one point, it actually caught on fire. I am not sure why there was such an issue with it, as I am pretty sure every other ship has them and usually there are no issues.

 

The ship is beautiful and elegant and as I have said, we did still enjoy our vacation (it's always better than being at work). But overall, we were disappointed given the amount of money we paid and the fact that so many things are not fully functional yet. Compared to all the other Royal cruises we have been on, it was our least favorite but cost us the most money. We have Anthem booked for a 10 night trip in April 2016 and will wait to see if reviews improve before making a choice of whether or not to keep our reservation.

I agree with your analysis. I have cruised 28 times with Royal, and this is the 1st time I was disappointed. Especially since we paid as much for the 2 night cruise, that we have paid for a 5 or 7 night. We were on the 2 night sampler and my brother was on the 3 night sampler. We encountered the same issues and attributed it to the short sailings. I guess not. We also experienced long waits despite reservations, we waited on line in the freezing cold to get a ticket to come back for the North Star, and just walked off the line after 45 minutes. We couldn't get a reservation for ifly. No Quest or Love & Marriage show. I saw Jimmy Rhodes once. He did not intoduce or close Mama Mia or the comedian at night. The only time I saw him was his speech after Starwater. I thought having 2 cruise directors on board meant more face time not less. Oh well.

I would go to Royal Palms. It is about a 10 minute cab ride and it costs $2 per person to get on the beach. They rent beach chairs & umbrellas. There is a pool and they have food. We have been there 4 times in the last 2 years and have never been let down.

Hi everyone, off on Freedom soon (3 weeks :):)) and when we get to Grand Caymen we plan to jump a taxi to the beach.

 

We are looking for a lovely sandy part, not too rocky with food and drink and we'll have 2 small children with us.

 

Is there any part of the beach you recommend or perhaps a nice hotel that allow you to use their private beach for a fee.

 

All advice will be gratefully received.

 

Thanks :-)

In the future you can put down one name and only be billed $100. When your ready to book you can add the second name and pay an additional $100 to complete your deposit. But, you will get $100 back as OBC. Confused? ;)

 

 

 

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Not anymore I believe. If you don't select the actual ship and sail date onboard, the OBC is only $25 across the board when you finally decide to pick your future cruise.

Just off Explorer today and Keith Williams confirmed the 5/3 cruise was his last cruise before his vacation during The Quest.

I took a peak at the Explorer Cruise Compass for Day 1 of the 9 nighter that began on 5/8, and it listed Leigh as the cruise director. I spoke to Erky and he will be there with Leigh until the end of July.

They have changed the process and procedures of Express Walkoff almost every one of the 13 times I have sailed the Explorer over the past 7 years. They cannot get it right. If you are going to offer express walk-off, you have to assign enough staff to faciliate the process and make sure cruisers follow procedures. When you allow people to do whatever they want, they will do whatever they want. I also came off the ship this morning. I had a normal size carry-on and a backpack. When they instructed us to proceed from Studio B and disembark, there were already tons of people waiting in the stairwell and coming from all different directions, some dragging 2 full size suitcases down the stairs. Maybe it isn't wise to use express walk-off if you have to carry 2 full size suitcases. Why do I do it? Because I can get off early enough and drive straight to work, but I make sure my luggage is manageable.

FWIW, I am just off the Explorer and one of the junior officers told us they were going to have a cigar lounge on the Quantum. Deck 5 forward. It's just a rumor, but, at least it's a good one for the lovers of the leaf.

That would be great. I hope it is true.

Spoke to Leigh during our Thanksgiving cruise. He said he is scheduled to be the CD (4 months on and 2 months off) up until the Explorer goes into dry dock in January 2015. Ship is scheduled to go to China after dry dock. He will then be reassigned to another ship.

Just off of the Freedom this morning. Luke Arrowsmith is supposed to stay on for 2 weeks, Richard Spacey is scheduled to take over on 9/8, and Mike Hunnerup will cover Richard's break sometime in December.

Mike should be great too...he and Richard are friends and have worked together in the past.

 

If possible, could you report back to us whether or not Mike is still on the ship, or if there is a fill-in CD for these two weeks?

Will do. I will ask the cruise director once onboard. I have cruised with Mike Hunnerup as the CD 6 times.

I hope he will be headed to Freedom on the 8th.....I've been looking forward to having him as CD then ever since I heard he had been on Freedom.

We are sailing on the 25th. Unfortunately we are going to miss him.

I was just about to post the same thing!

 

I'm not sure it means anything, like a change of ship is coming up; the senior CDs probably all have duties at the main office periodically.

 

Still, it's an interesting to know!

He was scheduled to return to the Freedom on August 25th. I guess this means that he won't be returning until September 8th? Pure speculation on my part.

Richard Spacey just posted this on twitter a few hours ago:

Richard Spacey‏@richardspacey

Right off to the office for two weeks. Actually really looking forward to it. Anyone in Miami give me a holla.

11:46 AM - 21 Aug 13

Can anyone who has stayed in any of theses rooms answer this for me? I have received 3 different answers from Royal. It is ridiculous that they cannot answer this question accurately....Thank you to anyone for their input.

Anyone know? If you had these rooms on Liberty or Independence, it is the same layout. Thanks for any input.

Does anyone know if the Family Interior rooms on the Freedom of the Seas (Rooms 2309 or 2313) have that separate little room with the bunk beds? I have stayed in the Family Promenade rooms that sleep 6, and they have it, even though it states on Royals website that they are top bunks. It is actually a separate room (7 feet x 5 feet) with a privacy curtain and there is a bottom bed and a top bunk. Thanks.

Does anyone know if the Family Interior rooms on the Freedom of the Seas (Rooms 2309 or 2313) have that separate little room with the bunk beds? I have stayed in the Family Promenade rooms that sleep 6, and they have it, even though it states on Royals website that they are top bunks. It is actually a separate room (7 feet x 5 feet) with a privacy curtain and there is a bottom bed and a top bunk. Thanks.

We did the 4 night 11/17-11/21. Disembarkation was horrible. Although we had tag Green 6, when they called our number, we were stuck in the stairwell for 15-20 minutes. The lines were continuous and slow all the way to customs. It took over an hour for us to get out. This was my 15th cruise with Royal, and my worst disembarkation experience. Embarkation took 15 minutes to get on the ship, but because of our diamond status, we were able to bypass 2 rooms of people waiting to enter the ship.