11/23 Inaugural Quantum Cruise

[Tilt101]

I'm not an experienced cruiser, I always thought it sounded dull but some friends were talking it up and the wife convinced me to go out on the Disney Fantasy back in 2013.

 

That cruise made me fall in love with cruising and we decided to go try out Royal this time. Quantum ship sounded amazing and I was excited plus we didn't have to fly to Florida.

 

In case this falls into the TL:DR section...I really disliked the Quantum. If so many other long-time cruisers onboard weren't saying how much they loved the other ships and hated the Quantum, I'd probably never go on another cruise ship again. Right now, I have no urge to go on another cruise.

 

The ship itself is beautiful and wows from every angle. After the aesthetics have passed, it starts falling apart.

 

The staff, in general, was rude and mostly unhelpful. Guest Services was jampacked every day I was there and most people couldn't help you. We had a bag that was lost for 2 days. Our room attendant was amazing and ran around the ship until he found it.

 

The food in the included restaurants was OK. Good would be the highest compliment I could give it. I liked the Windjammer options but the kids absolutely hated the Windjammer as having horrible food. American Icon Grill was the only exception, their food seemed very good.

 

The pay restaurants were great. Chops was one of the best steaks I've had. Jamie Oliver's restaurant was amazing. Devinely Decadence was good. It's a low-cal option and tasted like it. We enjoyed it and their waiters and waitresses were the only ones who seemed to care at all.

 

Royal iQ seems like a great idea but it is barely functional. If you booked your restaurants beforehand then everything was OK unless you wanted to move something. I've heard horror stories from other passengers that literally went to a restaurant and made a reservation for the next night only to come back and be told there was no reservation.

 

The ports of call were OK. I think this is from the fact that I was spoiled from the Disney ship going to St. Thomas and St. Martiin. I liked the stop in Floriday but the excursion times were horrible, at least for Disney. The ship docked at 6:30 and the bus left the ship at 9. It left Disney at 3. Horrible schedule. They didn't tell us that when we booked it and gave us a hard time about cancelling when they did publish the times.

 

Nassau arrived at 1PM and left at 11:30. Fine if you want to barhop but if you want to take the family to Atlantis, it isn't feasible. People must have figured it out because they offered Atlantis at half price by day 3 of the cruise.

 

There is nothing to do. Trivia was the highlight and the entire family was bored for a majority of the trip. The kids really enjoyed the Seaplex because it was the only thing for them to do. I went up to play Ping Pong with them one night and they shut it down at 9:30 (supposed to be 24 hours) for extensive cleaning. I complained to the Sports people and they said it was orders. I went to Guest Services and complained, the three people at the desk were afraid to call the Sports Manager. Eventually they did and he said it was down for cleaning and would be down until 11:30 at a minimum. The kids (not mine, or at least not when I was there) were messy and spilled drinks but it was not atrocious and there is literally nothing else for them to do besides swim or play there. So they shut it down at 9:30 instead of 1 or 2 and refused to budge on it. Horrendous. And no one cared.

 

They didn't have Dealer buttons on the card table. When you play poker its customary to have a white plexiglass button on the card table with a D on it signifying who is dealer. They used a coin with paper taped to it and someone wrote "D" on it in marker. They also didn't have enough chairs around the poker table so they had to bring some high chairs from the other games. This is a brand new ship and no one has fixed these problems yet?

 

The elevators are the slowest elevators I've ever seen. They skip floors. They force you to get off for "Priority Override" or "Out of Service" constantly. It got better by day 6 but they were still the worst I've seen.

 

Royal finally realized they had understaffed it and added crew in Florida.

 

People I spoke to said that they had cancelled other trips because Royal told them this was the Inaugural Cruise and it was going to be a big deal. Celebrities, naming ceremony, parties, gifts and fun. Nothing. You got a hat that didn't fit my 11 year old and a water bottle.

 

NorthStar : Fun addition. Looks good. Didn't work for half the trip. Heard everything from lost key to lightning strike. Even when working, doubt the entire ship would get on.

 

FlowRider : I could see some people really enjoying this. We've seen it at water parks for the last 5 years and it wasn't a big thing for us.

 

iFly : No one in my family rode it. Everyone that rode it said it was amazing. But you get about a minute of fly time after an hour of prep and because of the amount of interest, you're only supposed to ride once.

 

Mama Mia! : Great production. Great show. Really loved it.

 

Starwater : 2/5 of us loved it. Thought it was great. Kinda like a less impressive Cirque du Soleil. 2/5 liked it but were bored in sections. 1/5 HATED it. So your mileage may vary.

 

Sonic Odyssey : 3/5 loved it. 1/5 liked it. 1/5 left and went back to the room.

 

I read all the reviews from the transatlantic cruise and was nervous but hopeful everything would be fixed. It wasn't. Even if everything worked I think it would only take me from "Hated it, never want to cruise again." to "Neat ship, bored to tears on it. Don't think I'll cruise again."

[DPurcell58]

Why did you go the first week? Was it because it fit your schedule? Hopefully things will get smoothed out. Oh and welcome to Cruise Critic.

[Tilt101]

We went the first week really because of the kids. Pre-Teen just starting middle school and a Junior in high school, Thanksgiving lets you minimize days off. The wife was also excited about all of the events planned for the inaugural cruise.

[DPurcell58]

ok I can see that reason and I don't really know why they didn't do more stuff being it was the first week. Thanks.

[RoyalDiamond]

This was our 60th cruise with Royal....and the most BORING cruise. They did NOTHING SPECIAL even though they marketed it as the "inaugural sailing." I agree with most of the issues that others are posting....the elevators are a joke, etc. Mamma Mia is fantastic, Sonic Odyssey was great, Starwater was a bust! LOL This did NOT feel like a Royal Caribbean cruise to us. I don't want the "same" experience every time, but we do like the typical Royal Caribbean product, and this was not it. I mean, come on....the SAME headliner performed on nights 3 and 4, and then another headliner performed on nights 5 and 6....they couldn't even have different entertainment every night on the "inaugural sailing?" They sure charged us a premium for the sailing, however. Now, don't get me wrong....The ship is absolutely gorgeous. Just boring. But, I'd rather be bored on a ship, then not on one at all....I'm happy we tried Quantum. But, I'm not anxious to go back on it again.

 

Peter

[emmy]

This was our 60th cruise with Royal....and the most BORING cruise. They did NOTHING SPECIAL even though they marketed it as the "inaugural sailing." I agree with most of the issues that others are posting....the elevators are a joke, etc. Mamma Mia is fantastic, Sonic Odyssey was great, Starwater was a bust! LOL This did NOT feel like a Royal Caribbean cruise to us. I don't want the "same" experience every time, but we do like the typical Royal Caribbean product, and this was not it. I mean, come on....the SAME headliner performed on nights 3 and 4, and then another headliner performed on nights 5 and 6....they couldn't even have different entertainment every night on the "inaugural sailing?" They sure charged us a premium for the sailing, however. Now, don't get me wrong....The ship is absolutely gorgeous. Just boring. But, I'd rather be bored on a ship, then not on one at all....I'm happy we tried Quantum. But, I'm not anxious to go back on it again.

 

Peter

 

Ah Peter was wondering what you thought. :):) I too agree as it just did not feel like a RCI ship and what I have been accustomed to... definitely a different RCI cruise.