patramark

More important than the ingredients is where the products are produced, PRC, the Peoples Republic of China, a country notorious for using harmful ingredients in toiletries

I agree with most of the posters here regarding the decline in service and food quality on my recent RCCL cruises. As little as two years ago, I couldn't wait to be Diamond and now that I am on the verge of that, I am looking at other cruise lines based on my recent experiences. On Freedom last August, I found the food quality to be really poor and what stands out in my mind was the night we ate in the Windjammer, where I literally could not find one item that appealed to me. Follow that up with my Quantum cruise over New Year's with it's cold food, very mediocre menu choices and lack of fun, and I really began to wonder what else was out there.

Royal's ships are beautiful and I am very sad that with their huge price increases and reduction in service I won't be sailing on them very often in the future.

In a word, no. I have to say though that the ship is really well thought out and was absolutely beautiful!

It was a ton of work to make pre-cruise dining and entertainment reservations for our party of 8 and our Dynamic Dining experience certainly wasn't dynamic. I did enjoy the shows, although I will admit I didn't get Sonic Odyssey.

I wholeheartedly agree with Clancy14 and others that the cruise was boring. We found little to do during the day and except for the nightly shows there was nothing that held much appeal. The highly touted Music Hall had very little music. A very uninspired CD and an extremely snarky AD didn't help, and I was on the New Year's Cruise!

Nonetheless, whatever sails from Cape Liberty is still 20 minutes from my home, so I will reevaluate when the 2016 - 2017 schedule is announced.

Sorry, but on my 12/27 Quantum cruise, I found the quality of the food to be awful. While I previously found MDR food to be banquet hall quality, on my last two cruises it has slipped to be comparable to Olive Garden. My husband was served, as an entree, one short rib with one fingerling potato sliced in half and two asparagus. Huh? With our lobster in the Grande, beneath the lobster was a minuscule amount of some sautéed fennel and nothing else. Again, huh? The Windjammer is now open all night, but what it serves is totally inedible as it consists of food leftover from dinner service. Also, none of the food we were served was hot, lukewarm at best and more often than not, cold.

Cruise ship dining is highly subjective but, I can't help but think that Royal Caribbean has really sunk to new lows in their Complimentary Dining venues.

I have followed Countdown to Quantum since the day it was announced that it would be sailing from Cape Liberty, knowing that at some point I would be sailing on her. I was sooo happy that my family and I were privileged to book one year ago and plan for our New Years 2015 cruise in a D3 balcony on Deck 13!

Reservations had to be made for the shows, which, courtesy of Cruise Critic, was no big deal since I had done it for our Oasis cruise and it worked out perfectly. Then came the Dynamic Dining announcement. Trying to coordinate shows and restaurants was a major pain, but research and perseverance got us seven nights of dining and whatever shows were able to be booked in May 2014. Sorry, but I am adamant that I shouldn't have to pay to eat in specialty restaurants in spite of the fact that I've tried a few on previous cruises and they were good.

Then in November, Royal Caribbean pulls a switch with the Menus! Complete disgust with the choices, I mean, really hot dogs in pretzels for an appetizer and a hamburger and fries as an entree in a dining room. All right, maybe it is iconic, but when Royal Caribbean does it, it's just cheap food served cold. Silk was another disaster with no appetizers available for our peanut allergy cruiser and no care or concern displayed by our server, a departure from our previous experience in the Main Dining Room.

I could go on but, let me say that the staff in Guest Services was overwhelmed, Shore Excursions still require you to speak to a staff member and the Cruise Director and his staff were lousy and certainly didn't work very hard at bringing the WOW to this cruise! Activities were nonexistent on sea days and those that were available were mostly pay to participate.

I get it, they are trying to be different and there were many areas where Quantum scored very well. Specifically, the cabins were spacious and well organized and we received the same wonderful service from our cabin attendant that we have come to expect on a Royal Caribbean cruise. And yes, there were towel animals! The ship itself is absolutely gorgeous and the entertainment is exciting and different!

If, as has been reported, RCCL is trying to appeal to a younger audience, they missed the mark with this cruise. My daughter (24) and her cousins (21 & 25) were bored during the day and certainly didn't find any fun, club experiences like they found on Oasis.

What I was left with after this cruise was, how much fun was missing and how much Royal Caribbean has cheapened the experience since I began sailing with them in 2008.

Does anyone know what happened to Topi? He was the CD on my Legend cruise in April and I thought he was great.

I feel like the previous poster stated, that the Cruise Director is the "secret ingredient" on any cruise. When they are good they enhance the cruise experience, when they are not so good, oh well, you are still cruising!

On my most recent Legend Transatlantic, I felt that our Cruise Director Topi Ylönen was fantastic! He is young, talented, with tons of energy on a cruise with mostly retirees. Nonetheless, he had more cruisers up dancing at the 70's party than I saw on my Oasis cruise with Amy last August. On my two cruises on Explorer, I couldn't even tell you who the Cruise Director was and you certainly didn't see him on the Promenade, taking pictures with the cruisers or participating in any activities. Like everything else, you get a few great ones, but they are mostly mediocre, with more ego than talent and you must strive not to let them affect your vacation experience.

I've been reading CC and planning for my 8/3/13 Oasis cruise for about a year. I have NEVER enjoyed a review as much as yours!

Also, I thank you soooo much for the 1 sheet COLOR-CODED spreadsheet! It is amazing and easy to carry around to acclimate me and my traveling party to the Oasis!

I can't thank you enough for your great review! My DH, DD and her cousin and I are sailing on this ship with the same itinerary on August 3. You did such a beautiful job I feel that I know soooo much more about the restaurants, cabins, entertainment and even the cabanas on Labadee.

Thanks again!

Pat

I booked the "Sweet" on Freedom for August 24,2014 based on all the great information I received here! Now if the weather cooperates, it will be a great cruise!

Thanks to all who helped make this "moo"mentous decision!

Can't thank you all enough for all the great information! After reading the boards and seeing all the photos, last night I booked an Over-the-Water at Nellie's Beach for my August 3,2013 cruise on Oasis. We have only been to CocoCay and, since I can't sit in the sun, have nothing but awful memories of my poor DH schlepping the umbrella to the beach chair, then trying to make sure it didn't tip over and injure someone or block the sun from the other bathers.

I can not wait to enjoy the water, shade and buffet in Labadee!

Although the price was recently increased, I would pay just about anything (SSSHUSH!) to enjoy this day at the beach!

Thanks again to all of you for your insight and information!:D:D