Quantum Inaugural Disappointment

[Chawoobie]

Booked this cruise last year when bookings opened and was looking forward to the specialness of an Inaugural Cruise and the high tech ship loaded with smart, "game-changing technology."

 

Let's see: Royal IQ app for Android - not available yet! Royal WIFI - cost too much ($400 for the week for the highest speed). Virtual Balcony - Sound wasn't working all week. TV screen reservations - didn't work. TV calendar - not accurate. TV messaging - Got message saying I was paying cash (not true). Starwater - 15 minute delay due to computer glitch. Excursion tablets - swiping card or RFID didn't work; had to log in manually. Restaurants - RFID and card didn't work either; had to give room number. Four water fountains on pool deck - closed for maintenance. North Star - got stuck in air due to glitch (actually that was fun). Specialness of Inaugural Cruise - nope! Just a printed piece of paper saying you were on board. Almost always had an elevator out of service in any bank of elevators.

 

My wife and loved the entertainment - especially Mamma Mia, Sonic Odyssey, Ronn Lucas, and Mo5aic. Food was good - we really liked Silk. Cabins nice - more spacious.

 

Despite the nice things above, overall we were very disappointed.

 

My wife spoke to a woman on our floor as we were heading to the departure lounge. She was doing a back-to-back 12 -nighter. She said she really regretted booking back-to-backs ans she HATED the ship!! Not what RCL was hoping for, I'm sure.

[Zou Bisou Bisou]

OUCH! Something about that ship that I just can't get excited to book it.

[Ant@sea]

I did the 2 night November 21 cruise. I think they got too hung up on making it so high tech. If it works, it's fine, but when it does not, it's a disaster. There is no middle ground. Add the new Dynamic Dining on top of that along with a completely new ship type and all the staff seemed to be frustrated and fumbling to try and work around the systems they were saddled with. I thing RCCL will be very happy to send her off the China, and hopefully make corrections to the sister ship who will replace her in the NY market.

[crafty chook]

Hope all the glitches are ironed out. I have booked some restaurants online, but they are not all listed. Also heard that we will not see Mumma Mia

[mcatmcat]

Just got a letter from my car company that it has a recall. One of my iphone had problem with my antenna. The sale of nest protect was temporary suspended right when I bought mine.

I always believe there is a risk in buying or using something new that haven't been in the market, yet I take my risks 😯

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Langley Cruisers]

Hmm, is it me or do there seem to be a few more negative than positive reports on Quantum? And agree with Zou Bisou Bisou - am not excited enough to book this gal yet. :o

 

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[TravelerThom]

Hmm, is it me or do there seem to be a few more negative than positive reports on Quantum? And agree with Zou Bisou Bisou - am not excited enough to book this gal yet. :o

WHAT?:confused: Not excited about paying exorbitant prices for a product that seems to have gone out of its way to create far more problems than it solved? From the reviews it seems that a LOT of Quantum is not ready for prime time. Glad I'm not one of the guinea pigs paying $$$$$ to beta test Q.

[Big_G]

Hmm, is it me or do there seem to be a few more negative than positive reports on Quantum? And agree with Zou Bisou Bisou - am not excited enough to book this gal yet. :o

 

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Don't we usually hear more negatives than positives here? :D DW's co-worker just got off Quantum and said although there were some glitches, she had a great time and loved the ship. She's not on Cruise Critic so I doubt we'll see her review here but she did post some comments on Facebook. ;)

 

I'll wait until the glitches seem to have been worked out.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Big_G

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Maybe its not such a bad thing that she's headed off to China! :eek::D;)

 

Had considered sailing on Quantum, but I just couldn't justify it, and now I'm glad that I never booked. I'd loved to try Anthem once see arrives in NJ, so hopefully they can fix all the glitches before Anthem!

Edited December 2, 2014 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[Aboat1]

Why did we expect different? They have yet to get the land based IT dept. to work correctly:D!

[CarpeCerevisi]

I'm sailing in 10 days and really looking forward to it. The ship looks marvelous in all the photos I've seen and if there are still some glitches, well, I never did mind the little things.

 

As for Dynamic Dining, I've always sailed solo and have pretty much given up on the MDR for many years now unless I'm with other CC friends or on my two Celebrity cruises. For this cruise I've booked four dinners in four different restaurants and will play the other four nights by ear. Again, this is something I'm looking for to.

 

I was also able to get one of the studio balcony cabins. Not having to pay a single supplement is a big savings for me. If it wasn't for that I'd probably gotten an inside cabin.

 

Will Quantum fall short of my expectations, will it perhaps exceed them? Time will tell.

[roe2ship]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I remember so many members asking questions about inaugural cruises when opening day came and most replied "you receive a special gift everyday" I wonder why this didn't happen.

 

I knew as with any new ship there would be mixed reviews in the beginning but I'm getting a feeling some of the complaints are from those who can't accept any changes....i.e dynamic dining for starters.

[negc]

Maybe its not such a bad thing that she's headed off to China! :eek::D;)

 

Had considered sailing on Quantum, but I just couldn't justify it, and now I'm glad that I never booked. I'd loved to try Anthem once see arrives in NJ, so hopefully they can fix all the glitches before Anthem!

 

Anthem will probably have glitches of its own when it first debuts but that possibility wouldn't stop me from booking such a remarkable ship. Expecting perfection, especially on a ship as technologically advanced as Quest or Anthem is expecting far too much. None of the glitches we encountered during our time on Quantum prevented us from appreciating this beautiful new ship overall. How many of those glitches are still unresolved by February still remains to be seen, but we are still very anxious to return to the ship and experience the many things that we didn't have time for over five nights.

[DaniDanielle]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I remember so many members asking questions about inaugural cruises when opening day came and most replied "you receive a special gift everyday" I wonder why this didn't happen.

 

I knew as with any new ship there would be mixed reviews in the beginning but I'm getting a feeling some of the complaints are from those who can't accept any changes....i.e dynamic dining for starters.

 

Dynamic Dining is fine for people who eat everything. We, however, only enjoyed American Icon and The Grande. Not enough choices for eight nights, for us. Chic was a let down and we don't do Asian. I am sure others will enjoy themselves but for us not so much.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Anthem will probably have glitches of its own when it first debuts but that possibility wouldn't stop me from booking such a remarkable ship. Expecting perfection, especially on a ship as technologically advanced as Quest or Anthem is expecting far too much. None of the glitches we encountered during our time on Quantum prevented us from appreciating this beautiful new ship overall. How many of those glitches are still unresolved by February still remains to be seen, but we are still very anxious to return to the ship and experience the many things that we didn't have time for over five nights.

 

I never expect perfection on our cruises, however, we've always enjoyed our past Royal cruises, and I honestly just don't think we are ready to try something as different as Quantum. Little glitches won't stop us from cruising on these ships, but things like North Star breaking down and dinner reservations being deleted shouldn't have to be tolerated IMO.

 

As of right now, I have no plans to be on one of these ships in the near future, other then the 3 night Anthem cruise to nowhere in March 2016 that I am considering. When you can only cruise once a year, I want our vacation to be as perfect as possible, so I think I'll stick with the more traditional Royal ships at this time…

[ocav]

$400 for Wifi? Id like evidence of that as everyone else has said it was $200 for 2 devices

[Clarea]

$400 for Wifi? Id like evidence of that as everyone else has said it was $200 for 2 devices

This is not from Quantum, but is from Allure which has gone to the same internet provider (O3b) as Quantum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44706444&postcount=18

 

There are 3 levels of service with the O3b system, and if you choose the highest level for 2 devices, you are up to $350 per week. I'm guessing that cost goes up when the cruise is longer.

[evelyn51]

This is not from Quantum, but is from Allure which has gone to the same internet provider (O3b) as Quantum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44706444&postcount=18

 

There are 3 levels of service with the O3b system, and if you choose the highest level for 2 devices, you are up to $350 per week. I'm guessing that cost goes up when the cruise is longer.

 

 

WOW! Factor that into Cost of Cruise. :o

[CarpeCerevisi]

Here's a link to a thread started by someone on the ship now on the 11 night 12/1 cruise.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2133545

 

The first post shows the internet pricing. Remember that it is for 11 nights. IMO, most people would probably opt for Premium service unless they really want to do video streaming or large downloads and the Premium is not much more than Basic.

[Sea_Salt_Sailor]

The price of taking inaugurals... Never worth it taking this sailing as always the ship is not 100% operational... Always wait to second or third family ship for everything run smooth.

[JMG]

I'm sailing in 10 days and really looking forward to it. The ship looks marvelous in all the photos I've seen and if there are still some glitches, well, I never did mind the little things.

 

Will Quantum fall short of my expectations, will it perhaps exceed them? Time will tell.

 

The ship is gorgeous. Curb to on board in 10 minutes did not happen for us. Check in was very quick but 12 passengers from the 2 night sailing delayed getting off the ship so boarding was held up for the Inaugural. We had 10:45 boarding times - Priority boarding. When boarding started, they did not call out boarding times or groups. Everyone in the Priority boarding area stood up and headed for the doors. People behind us had 12:45 boarding time...it was 11:25. To get on ship they scan the Set Sail Pass....the scanner did not work in either of the 2 Priority lines. They started the general boarding people and the Top Tier/Suite people stood there waiting for them to fix the scanner. Those that boarded later had it easier.

 

They did not have any where near enough of the Souvenir cups for the various bev packages. Throughout the cruise the freestyle machines were available to everyone yet those that bought packages did not get any type of refund.

 

Dynamic Dining has it's ups and downs. We found the food to be very good. We tried American Icon/Silk/Chic/Grande and Coastal Kitchen. Coastal kitchen was by far the best. At Grande they do enforce the dress code...men must wear jackets. There was a half hour delay between our appetizer and our main course. We had 7pm reservations and were often told to come back in a half hour...only problem is we had show reservations! At Chic we had a table for 6 one night and there was a large pole right next to the table. No one wanted to sit in the seats that were against the pole so it became a large table for 4 that night. If they had moved the table 1 foot it would have been much better.

 

Hot Dog Truck - they had several types of dogs. Beef, Bratwurst and they also had a chicken/apple dog. We tried it - it was actually very good! Two70 Cafe was great as was the Windjammer and Sorrentos.

 

North Star---long lines. They can take 600 people/day so not everyone gets an opportunity especially since some people went up 2 or more times.

Thanksgiving Day many of the football fans went to the Starboard side of the ship to watch NCL Breakaway's big screen since it had a football game. Quantum showed music videos.

 

The shows were the best we have ever seen on a ship! Momma Mia was better than the Broadway Production, The first Starwater show, the background technology dd not work..we had reservation for 2nd show and things worked...great show. Sonic Odyssey..outstanding show! For all of the shows, you had a wait in line since they scanned your Sea Pass or Wow band to check for reservations.

 

We did have problems but I really think that you will enjoy the cruise.

 

RCI made too much of the Inaugural only to then tell us it was nothing more than a cruise...so why label it Inaugural. That created a lot of complaints especially from the Top Tier people and the ones that did Oasis/Allure Inaugurals.

[Guest maddycat]

I did the 2 night November 21 cruise. I think they got too hung up on making it so high tech. If it works, it's fine, but when it does not, it's a disaster. There is no middle ground. Add the new Dynamic Dining on top of that along with a completely new ship type and all the staff seemed to be frustrated and fumbling to try and work around the systems they were saddled with. I think RCCL will be very happy to send her off the China, and hopefully make corrections to the sister ship who will replace her in the NY market.

 

I really, really hope so. Especially if Anthem ends up staying in NJ long term.

[roe2ship]

 

 

Dynamic Dining has it's ups and downs. We found the food to be very good. We tried American Icon/Silk/Chic/Grande and Coastal Kitchen. Coastal kitchen was by far the best. At Grande they do enforce the dress code...men must wear jackets. There was a half hour delay between our appetizer and our main course. We had 7pm reservations and were often told to come back in a half hour...only problem is we had show reservations! At Chic we had a table for 6 one night and there was a large pole right next to the table. No one wanted to sit in the seats that were against the pole so it became a large table for 4 that night. If they had moved the table 1 foot it would have been much better.

 

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What was their reason to ask you to come back in a half hour? What did you end up doing?

[Deatsch]

The below sums it up well, VERY well.

 

I certainly do think that the powers that BE in RCI are missing the (sorry) boat by not taking this website as gospel.

 

 

 

Why did we expect different? They have yet to get the land based IT dept. to work correctly:D!

[JMG]

What was their reason to ask you to come back in a half hour? What did you end up doing?

 

We had 7pm reservations. They filled the dining room before we got there shortly before 7pm. There were no tables to accommodate those with 7pm reservations. The family ahead of us was a group of 4, they were also told to come back in a half hour. The family of four went elsewhere since they did not want to miss Momma Mia. We came back in the half hour. We had a 2pm reservation for Momma Mia that day so our evening was not booked.

 

At Grande they did tell us to come the next night at 6pm and we would be seated. We arrived at 6pm and no one said anything about our reservation being for 7:15 and it was only 6pm!

 

It seemed very clear that RCI has no idea how to handle a reservation system. They fill tables and if you get there with a reservation and there is no table...too bad for you! They claimed it was because there were so many families on the ship last week.