Quantum - Why Only 2 Elevator Banks...............

[Dave85]

 

The choice therefore is up to you,

 

You can either choose to book earlier and get a better cabin selection or book on another cruise line whose layout better suites your needs.

 

 

That's really the long and the short of it. We book early to get prime locations that appeal to us. On some ships and lines, we have to pay a little more for that prime location. If I recall correctly, a midship balcony in an excellent location on the last cruise I booked on Norwegian Escape, another two elevator bank ship, cost me about $25 extra per person to secure my preferred mid-ship location. I took it without hesitation. Just the cost of doing business with the cruise lines.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Dave85

[Christine Frances]

Add Disney to the 3 elevator bank ships. Of the major cruise lines seems like only RCCL & Celebrity think 2 elevator banks are enough.;)

 

Celebrity M Class (2000 pax) three banks, S Class (2850 pax) 2 banks

 

NCL Jem (2380 pax) three banks, NCL Getaway (4000 pax) 2 banks

 

I guess they are dividing the decks of the new ships into "thirds" instead of "quarters" with this spacing of the elevators.

[puggylicious]

How many stairs are there between decks? I like to take the stairs as often as possible. And based on what I am reading here that might be the way to go.

[bajathree]

The elevators continue to be a big issue....have heard many complaining about this. The forward elevator bank isn't as bad but the aft is absolutely terrible. Wait times are extremely long. Some elevators just sit on floors and don't move at times. Yesterday we all got in an elevator only to have the panel pushed with our stops go blank and all of a sudden show service mode....get out and a minute later it resets itself and we all get back in. Often when you stop at a floor the panel with drop all floors pressed and you will have to quickly repress the floors before the elevator changes direction....this has repeatedly happened.....seems like a major programming issue.

[Dave85]

The elevators continue to be a big issue....have heard many complaining about this. The forward elevator bank isn't as bad but the aft is absolutely terrible. Wait times are extremely long. Some elevators just sit on floors and don't move at times. Yesterday we all got in an elevator only to have the panel pushed with our stops go blank and all of a sudden show service mode....get out and a minute later it resets itself and we all get back in. Often when you stop at a floor the panel with drop all floors pressed and you will have to quickly repress the floors before the elevator changes direction....this has repeatedly happened.....seems like a major programming issue.

 

 

Sorry to hear that, very strange. RCI has been operating ships with elevators for decades now, not sure why elevator programming would suddenly become such a big problem for them.

 

 

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[LongTimeTvlr]

We were on the 2/2 sailing and there were several elevator problems.

 

We would often see half filled elevators pass our floor going in the direction we were going and our corresponding button was pushed and lit, but the elevator passed us by. Because of the glass you can see the people in the elevator.

 

Clearly something is wrong with their programming.

 

However, in our opinion in the spectrum of issues this is a minor one. We usually just climbed up the 9 flights of stairs to our cabin.

 

For us the DD hassle is a show stopper. DD concept is a winner but RCL's implementation is seriously flawed.

[nycruise]

It's funny because we never experienced any major problems with the elevators on the 2/13 sailing other than the long walks to the elevators.

[Aggravation]

At least one stone has remained unturned as this topic was beat into the ground - the elevator passengers themselves. There are 16 passenger elevators on Quantum, with a posted capacity of 26 passengers each - a total lift capacity of 416 passengers at once.

 

On one crowded elevator trip we watched the passengers in front stand cross armed when other riders wanted to squeeze in. It wasn't happening. Curious, I noted that there were only 15 people in the crammed car.

 

Americans are undeniably a tad Rubenesque - the average weight in North America is 178 pounds, while the average Asian - where Quantum is destined - is 127 pounds. When elevator cars fill up with only 15 passengers lift capacity is reduced 40%. The 2 Feb sailing hosted an unusually high number of wheel chair and scooter passengers - further reducing elevator capacity. These factors obviously translate into available capacity - and wait times.

 

As to elevator placement, it's difficult to get more than a couple hundred feet from an elevator - but knowing a ship is 1148 feet long, some walking has to be anticipated. Even with 3 banks of elevators, 270 is a long way from the Royal Theater - elevators don't shorten a ship.

 

It appears that the elevator "problem" on Quantum is more about demographics than design, and like most other Quantum problems it will go away when Quantum heads home to Asia.

 

We LOVED Quantum - and we're glad to have had the opportunity to sail it while we could.

[nycruise]

"As to elevator placement, it's difficult to get more than a couple hundred feet from an elevator - but knowing a ship is 1148 feet long, some walking has to be anticipated. Even with 3 banks of elevators, 270 is a long way from the Royal Theater - elevators don't shorten a ship. "

 

How did you calculate "a couple hundred feet" if the ship is divided into 1/3's with the 2 elevator banks, that would calculate out to almost 400 feet. As I said, if you have an aft cabin and want to go to the Windjammer or 270 or the 4 main restaurants, you end up walking almost 400 feet twice.

 

 

"We LOVED Quantum - and we're glad to have had the opportunity to sail it while we could."

 

Agree with that.

[Aggravation]

How did you calculate "a couple hundred feet" if the ship is divided into 1/3's with the 2 elevator banks, that would calculate out to almost 400 feet.

 

Pragmatically rather than mathematically. Where did you go? Exiting the aft elevators it is indeed more than 200' to the stern - but were you actually going to the stern, or stopping at The Grande, Jamie's, The Cafe at 270, or whatever? Most times when people leave their cabin they're not heading for the nether regions of the ship - they're going to the pool, a restaurant, the solarium, whatever, not simply going from an extreme fore or aft cabin, to the elevator, and back to their cabin. On an active day it's difficult to get more than 200' from an elevator for most activities. A third or even fourth bank of elevators doesn't shorten the ship. If mobility is an issue, horizontal distance is the issue, not vertical frequency.

 

We found the Royal iQ App to be great asset (another minority opinion) so we carried our iPhones all day, even if the signal wasn't strong in the loo. Our Health App told us that we averaged 2.37 miles per day on Quantum. Revisiting our typical days, it's difficult to see how additional elevator banks could have made any real difference.

 

We enjoyed a flawless experience with DD, so any and all walking was to our great advantage. Adding a bank of elevators may actually have increased distances between venues by spreading out activity clusters to make room for them.

 

We have never enjoyed a cruise more. Every cruise is a mix of experience, the ship, the ports, the other cruisers, weather etc - but nothing has surpassed Quantum for us. We read Quantum reviews in the context of experience. We would hate to see anyone miss the opportunity to sail Quantum, or approach their cruise with needless anxiety, based on molehills that have been promoted to mountains.

[Life is Good Cruising]

Elevator wait times continue to remain long...not sure if it's the programing of them or just the usage. I know I got into an empty elevator yesterday with 3 floors already pressed on the board :confused: It was 12:30am and no kids in sight:confused:

I do notice that not many using stairs...lots getting on just for a floor or two...so maybe lazy people syndrome ....not sure.

 

I have to agreed with you as we saw very "few" people using the stairs.

[bajathree]

At least one stone has remained unturned as this topic was beat into the ground - the elevator passengers themselves. There are 16 passenger elevators on Quantum, with a posted capacity of 26 passengers each - a total lift capacity of 416 passengers at once.

 

On one crowded elevator trip we watched the passengers in front stand cross armed when other riders wanted to squeeze in. It wasn't happening. Curious, I noted that there were only 15 people in the crammed car.

 

Americans are undeniably a tad Rubenesque - the average weight in North America is 178 pounds, while the average Asian - where Quantum is destined - is 127 pounds. When elevator cars fill up with only 15 passengers lift capacity is reduced 40%. The 2 Feb sailing hosted an unusually high number of wheel chair and scooter passengers - further reducing elevator capacity. These factors obviously translate into available capacity - and wait times.

 

As to elevator placement, it's difficult to get more than a couple hundred feet from an elevator - but knowing a ship is 1148 feet long, some walking has to be anticipated. Even with 3 banks of elevators, 270 is a long way from the Royal Theater - elevators don't shorten a ship.

 

It appears that the elevator "problem" on Quantum is more about demographics than design, and like most other Quantum problems it will go away when Quantum heads home to Asia.

We LOVED Quantum - and we're glad to have had the opportunity to sail it while we could.

 

Thought that could be at first...but thats not the issue....even when there was almost an empty ship the elevators were an issue....seems to be a programming problem....also there was often an elevator or 2 down or being worked on.

Edited March 1, 2015 by bajathree