freddy07043

We actually felt "nickel & dimed" more on our recent (and first) Celebrity cruise than we have ever felt on NCL. I think it's just because of what we are used to; we have never been pressured to buy the drink package on the first day on NCL that we can remember, but I honestly thought we were going to have to call security to get the waiter to give our friends their bill for their colas. "No" was said three or more times (four? five? It was absurd, and only stopped when all four of us did a stare down with the waiter). I think we are immune to the spa people and art auction folks on NCL, but on X we had to walk past a table of hawkers for specialty dining to get into the buffet for the first half of the cruise. Maybe that's happening on NCL too, and people who aren't used to the way NCL does it notice it much more than we do.

 

We did like the fact that the casino on Celebrity is smoke-free.

Unfortunately I think all mainstream cruise lines are upselling and nickle and diming. In the past, the crew were there to provide customer service and make sure you are satisfied. Now they are like vultures and have become salesman trying to get you to spend more onboard through selling drink packages, specialty dining packages, spa treatments, etc. I have felt this upselling on all the cruise lines, some even approach you once you scan your card to enter the ship! I find it off putting and I am less inclined to purchase.

As a former crew member who worked on Royal Caribbean, I can tell you that the surveys did matter for certain departments and also determined bonuses for senior management.

As someone stated before, not everyone will fill out the surveys but it would give the headquarters enough for an overall assessment.

The areas that would be looked at from the head office would be the dining room service and room stewards. These surveys actually determined how much money a crew member would make determined by their ratings from the previous cruise. If they received excellent high ratings, they would get more tables with the larger groups, meaning more money per head. If they got lower ratings, they would be punished and given the 2-4 person tables, meaning less money. Same goes for the room stewards, higher ratings equals suites and more rooms, lower ratings equal less rooms- less money.

As far as the bonuses for senior management, that would be determined by the ratings as well. However, the way they determined this was comparing ship by ship. So depending where the cruise ship stacked up against the others in the fleet, determined how much a bonus the senior management would make. Entertainment ratings for the cruise director would be compared to other cruise directors in the fleet and that would determine his or her bonus. The cleanliness ratings for facilities manager, quality of food rating for the F&B manager and so on.

Personally from my experience,I think if you have a problem during the cruise, it should be addressed immediately on board as it will be resolved. However, I also think the surveys do give you a voice because bad ratings will tell the head office that there is something wrong with the senior management of that ship if the ratings are consistently low week by week. As with any company, the way the senior management deals with their staff will trickle down to the way the staff will treat its guests.

Just got off the Quantum yesterday and have to say this was one of the most beautiful and best ships out there. It's like if Celebrity and Royal Caribbean had a baby-this is what it would look like! The layout of the ship was perfect-never felt crowded...the Royal Esplanade, 270 and Via are simply amazing areas. Technology had some glitches during this cruise, but it seems like they are starting to get better after each cruise.

Embarkation

We arrived around 1:15pm and was onboard by 1:45. Pretty quick process but a little confusing trying to find a "floating" check in agent. The poor lady checking us in seemed overwhelmed trying to juggle the ipad and setsail passes. They need to go back to basics and have a large desk area checking guests in like they do for the Oasis/Allure terminal in Ft Lauderdale.

Stateroom

Had a large interior stateroom with a virtual balcony. Seems more narrow,yet more spacious compared to other RCL ships. It was very comfortable. I am so glad they got rid of the coffee table by the couch! Nice not tripping over it when walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night. LOTS of storage and closet space.

Public Rooms

Like I have mentioned before, this is one of the most beautiful ships out there. The decor and art work in each area is simply amazing. It feels more sophisticated and classy than other RCCL ships. Via is a gorgeous space--feeling airy and calming. Vintages and Jamie Italian is located here. 270 is great for the amazing views that can be seen from the large floor to ceiling windows. Royal Esplanade is impressive but I still feel the Royal Promenades on the Voyager and Freedom class have more of a WOW factor. Casino is smaller than I had expected, but sufficient. Sometimes it was hard to find a blackjack table during busy times. The Seaplex is AMAZING! If you have kids, this is a great place for them to hang out and be all day. There is multiple basketball hoops, an XBOX room, ping pong tables, roller skating, trapeze classes, bumper cars. I was not expecting much from the seaplex prior to the cruise, but it really works and lots of activities going on throughout the day. The Ripcord Ifly was a nice addition---it was fun to do once for me and even more enjoyable watching because everyone gets a "facelift" while flying. It's hilarious! The flowrider is great as always. The rockwall didn't seem to have much action...it was open but not really utilized as much. The Royal theater is smaller than other RCL ships, but it creates a more intimate space with less "bad" seats. Bionic Bar was fun to watch once---but seems like a wasted space that they can replace on the Anthem.

Service

Service was spotty throughout the ship. Our stateroom attendant was wonderful! Very nice and personable. Dining room staff in the Grande were great, American Icon-good, Silk-good, and Chic-good. For traditional cruisers who like the same waiters and same time for dinner every night will hate the Dynamic Dining concept. For me personally, I enjoyed it. Food came out fast and it gave me more options on where to eat. However, if it was a longer cruise, I can see how the menu can get repetitive throughout the cruise. Other staff around the ship seemed burned out and discouraged because of all the technical problems from prior cruises. Seems like they are just tired of being yelled at by the guests because of technical issues that they cannot control. I think as technical issues get fixed, service and staff morale will improve.

Dining

American Icon- Typical American Fare food.Not very imaginative but still everything was tasty. Items I enjoyed were the Louisiana Wings, Buffalo Mac and Cheese, Shrimp Po Boy and for the entree the Porkchop which was very tender and moist. Definitely recommend that.

Chic- Modern type of food. Dishes are similar what you would get in a traditional dining room. Enjoyed the Crab Cake, Salmon entree, Chicken entree. For me it was just ok.

Grande- Formal attire. It was the best complimentary restaurant. Very tasty and the service was spot on. Enjoyed the escargot, Lobster, and the lamb shank.

Silk- It was good but only worth a visit once. They serve all the appetizers there family style and then you pick an entree. The appetizers were fair--things you would see on a Chinese take out menu, although the Vietnamese tacos were yummy. The duck was good.

My take on Dynamic Dining. Reservations were lost, times were mixed up on some days. More of a technical issue than anything. People did not enjoy lining up and waiting for their table when having a reservation. I think they should have two separate lines for people with reservations and ones without. I think by the end of the cruise, they were just seating people as they come in which is what they should be doing all along. The issue is it seems like the system is telling the hostess that people have reservations at a certain time when they don't. This leads to holding a table that could be used to sit others. Another issue is sometimes people take longer to eat and this backs up the time for others who are waiting for them to finish. Again my recommendation is to do it like on a first come first serve basis. For future cruisers, I would tell them to eat early like 5:30-6:30 time slots so you are guaranteed to get a table right away. The busiest times are starting from 7:30pm and on and after shows.

Entertainment

Mamma Mia was amazing and very well done. Broadway quality. Enjoyed it very much.

Sonic Odyssey was another amazing show with great energy and innovative sets.

Starwater- Did not enjoy this show at all. It was confusing and left you thinking after the show what the hell was that? lol! The performers were talented but the production was a failure. Just MHO.

I guess after so many complaints from prior cruises, some traditional activities started to reappear. Love and Marriage, Game shows (majority rules, battle of the sexes),Karaoke/Rock a Rokie, themed dance classes, etc were all put back on the daily planners. True there is waaaayy too much trivia on the ship. If you like trivia--you will be very happy. lol!

Sailaway party,Quest and 70's were still missing.

I was talking to a cruise staff and asked them why things have changed with this ship in terms of entertainment. I was told one of the VPs who was in charge of operations for Celebrity came over to Royal Caribbean side and tried to change things. Obviously it hasn't been working and this VP was sent back to Celebrity.

Cruise Director was not as visible like on other ships. Jimmy Rhodes was good but would have thought they would put a more polished cruise director for an inaugural season. Activity Manager Zach was non existent --only seen on TV.

Overall

I had a wonderful time on this cruise. The ship is stunning and there is plenty to do. I would definitely sail on this class again. They do need to improve on the technology or just get rid of it all together and go back to basics. If they do this, this is one of the best ships out there. Happy Cruising!!

I think the original poster was really trying to say is how some people can just complain all the time and not write anything positive in a review. For me, the bad reviews I take with a grain of salt. I appreciate the ones that actually have substance and are more balanced with the good and the bad. I do agree with the OP that some people just like to rant and have nothing good to say..I feel sorry for those people.

Surely there are places to hold it. How about the Music Hall? Two70?

 

Sounds to me like an excuse for the CD and staff to do less actual activities.

 

This was apparent on our 3 day Quantum cruise. On sea days, all that was going on was trivia.

 

We spoke to many members of the activities crew on Quantum. They said that they have other responsibilities and job assignments in other areas. While they weren't complaining about working hard, it wasn't the kind of work they wanted to do. They all said that they prefer the other ships they've been on where they can do more entertaining and activities, and less alternative assignments. Some even said that they have already asked for transfers to those other ships.

As a former Royal Caribbean youth staff member for 8 years, I can say I did a lot of other responsibilities that was not necessarily under my job title. When I first started, my job was to take care of the kids and provide entertainment in Adventure Ocean. As the years passed, they cut more staff in the cruise division and the company started to add responsibilities to our job. For example... you would also have to run the carousel, run the pets at sea store, scan cards and do doors for the shows, kareoke, quest,rockwall shifts, lifeguard at the H20 zone, etc. Its just a lot of work. Imagine doing a 9 hour shift with screaming kids and then a half hour later getting dressed into formal and scanning cards at the shows and then being yelled at a guest because they dont have a reservation? All the staff no matter what division you work in, work many hours and try to smile and do their best. The company just keeps pushing the staff to the limit and they keep downsizing staff so they can build these new ships. Eliminating the assistant waiter position on the Quantum is just ridiculous! The dining room staff work so hard and to have the waiter do all the responsibilities is just plain wrong. As far as not having the quest, love and marriage....it's all on the CD. There is enough space to hold the events. But in his defense, while all of his staff is busy running the north star, bumper cars, i fly, flowrider, etc... what staff does he have left to do the quest and love and marriage? Its a shame the direction this company is going.