Dissapointment of the Seas

[London-Calling]

“Oasis of the Seas” was a very difficult, if not impossible, act to follow. Quantum had a lot to match up to. I must admit that I feel a little bit disappointed with Quantum.

 

The big difference of course is that Quantum has ‘Dynamic Dining” which looks very similar to Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) “Third Generation freestyle” system. This is featured on-board Norwegian Epic, Breakaway and Getaway (with Escape and Bliss to follow).

 

Any flexible dining system allows the cruise line to introduce more surcharges for alternative dining. In fact I have always found myself with a bigger on-board account total at the end of an NCL cruise than an RCI one.

 

Having 18+ dining options on-board Quantum, leaves little room for the ship to have many big "Wow" spaces - every inch of the ship is full of restaurants, kitchens and entertainment spaces. Double height rooms, tall atriums and big internal promenades become too much of a luxury in term s of space – and more importantly, they do not generate income. You will notice that most of Quantum's innovations (Seaplex, I-Fly and the North Star) are sitting on the deck and do not take-up any internal space.

 

I have enjoyed both NCL and RCI cruises because they are different. Now they are looking to be very similar.

 

The big advantage of cruising on-board Breakaway and Getaway, over Quantum, is their lovely ‘Waterfront’ feature. Many of their alternative dining venues and some bars are located on a wide external promenade – so you get unobstructed seas views and real fresh-air, while eating and drinking. (Designed for warmer climates of course).

 

In contrast Quantum looks to be a rather ‘internal’ ship, unless it has external features that have not yet been revealed.

 

I’m not suggesting Quantum is a bad ship. In fact she will probably be a great ship, but so is the ‘Breakaway’ class. I think the factor that would make passengers book Quantum over Breakaway will be how important the ‘gimmicks’ like I-Fly, Bumper-Cars and the North star are to them. I can see these features being very popular with families, but leaving us grown-ups unimpressed.

 

Don’t you think Two70 Degree lounge would have made a lovely main dining room?

[dodgeball24]

RCI is experimenting to see how you as a consumer likes it, answer your surveys when you sail or just don't sail and they will react.

 

I am old school at Dplus person so I like old time cruising but I am very athletic so I play sports everyday so I have concerns on whether I can use the court or have bumper cars on it but I will see how it goes.

 

I also have been very frustrated by lack of standards in dress at times in the mdr especially during formal nights and people showing up late now hopefully these are enforced and if u show up late tough luck there is the windjammer or pizza for you. Tired of passengers setting the rules or changing them, so I am excited about the change in dining.

 

My biggest concern is you became ship mates with your nightly table and that will be lost but hopefully each night you meet some new people and by cruise end know 30 people instead of 8, it will be interesting

[The Grumpus]

“Oasis of the Seas” was a very difficult, if not impossible, act to follow. Quantum had a lot to match up to. I must admit that I feel a little bit disappointed with Quantum.

 

You know, you really haven't seen the ship yet, have ya?

[ChipLondon]

“................ I’m not suggesting Quantum is a bad ship. In fact she will probably be a great ship......... X

 

And yet you still title your post, Disappointment of the Seas.....wow you are a hard one to please:D

[Bradtez]

And yet you still title your post, Disappointment of the Seas.....wow you are a hard one to please:D

 

Must be a sunny day in the UK so had to complain about something ;)

[Single Cruiser]

I also have been very frustrated by lack of standards in dress at times in the mdr especially during formal nights and people showing up late now hopefully these are enforced and if u show up late tough luck there is the windjammer or pizza for you. Tired of passengers setting the rules or changing them, so I am excited about the change in dining.

 

My biggest concern is you became ship mates with your nightly table and that will be lost but hopefully each night you meet some new people and by cruise end know 30 people instead of 8, it will be interesting

 

My experience (albeit I was a solo traveller) is if you get on with your day 1 table mates there is nothing to stop you sticking together and agreeing to meet the next night at venue X. Or better still that odd couple out of your 8 who you may not get on with you could quietly ditch and the other 6 book somewhere else..

[FreestyleNovice]

Hi Malcolm, love your blog! ;)

[Kenlorz]

I LOVE the dining concept. It suits us extremely well. And contrary to what some are saying... this style of dining does not necessarily mean MORE fees... for us it will end up costing MUCH LESS. You see, we are parents of 4 teenagers who rarely get alone time. We don't cruise often, because we alternate each year between family vacations and a couples vacation. Cruising is our choice of a couples getaway, so when we cruise we like to be ALONE, just the two of us, for time to reconnect and rekindle. I don't want to dine with other people. We are looking for something romantic, intimate and a place that feels special enough to warrant dressing up. So, we were eating almost exclusively in the specialty restaurants & only eating in the MDR on formal nights... and even then, it felt SO large and lacked the intimacy we look for so we didn't particularly like the environment.

 

So, for us, now that the included dining rooms are SMALLER venues, we look forward to eating in The Grande quite a few times and getting all snazzy. We are actually thinking of booking LESS of the specialty dining then we usually do. For instance, if there were a Samba Grill in the Solarium, we would have chosen to eat there... but we really don't think we will eat at Devin's for dinner as my dh has no interest in eating healthy while on vacation, LOL. And Wonderland might be a bit too whimsical with the food for us. We also liked to have lunch in vintages, but I'm starting to think we won't be seeing Vintages on this ship. All that to say... this looks like a CHEAPER dining experience for us & we like that we can dine in smaller venues and feel more intimate FOR FREE :)

[BrianAlt]

Seems to me that the Vintages concept has shifted to Michael's Genuine Pub.

[London-Calling]

And yet you still title your post, Disappointment of the Seas.....wow you are a hard one to please:D

 

Oh, I do except that not everything has been revealed yet, but that just frustrates me too!

 

Quantum will probably be a fantastic ship, but RCL have spent so many months hyping it, I am a little disappointed - sorry fans, but I am.

 

If you ignore the kids-gimmicks on her top deck, what's inside sounds not unlike the Norwegian Getaway or Breakaway experience. The difference is, they have the lovely "Waterfront" feature.

[London-Calling]

Must be a sunny day in the UK so had to complain about something ;)

 

Yes the sun was shining, but we are complaining that It's too warm for the time of year.

 

I'm not really complaining, just trying to stimulate some debate.

[ezcruizer]

Looks like more disappointed people that are not open to change. If you are booked on the Quantum and are looking to give up your cabin, send a post, I'm sure RCCL won't lose money if you cancel.

[Cruising89143]

No one knows if this ship will be a disappointment. It's different from the rest of the fleet but that's what has also separated RCCL from the other cruise companies. They think outside of the box and innovate. I see plenty of WOW with this ship. Just not crazy about the itineraries on the QN. I did call C&A yesterday to find out when the Anthem FLL bookings will open. They have no idea. We booked Celebrity again.

 

My turn off recently with RCI as a cruise line is the number of families/children on board. We tried Celebrity and found it more to our liking. We will probably try one of the QN class ships down the road just to experience it but in an off peak time when most kids are in school.