Another LIVE from Quantum of the Seas for April 12th - April 24th!

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So I’m planning to do my first ever live thread for my upcoming 40th birthday cruise on Quantum. I’ve planned more into this cruise than I ever have for my others with my excuse being “hey it’s my 40th birthday, so let’s have fun”.

 

MEET THE CAST:

I travel with my mother who is disabled. She walks with her stick some for limited distances and times, and the rest of the time I push her in her wheelchair. She does occasionally push or wheel her chair herself too. We’ve both been working to lose weight over the past few years. I’m down around 40 pounds total so far, and she’s down around 100 lbs total so far. She’ll be sticking to our current plan mostly while on the cruise. I will not. I’m quite okay with gaining some weight back for my 40th celebration. I love to take pictures. I do actually own a real camera (Nikon DSLR), but all my photos posted will just be with my iPhone 5. Why? Because it’s just easier and faster. Also I just don’t feel like lugging the heavier real one along.

This is a couple of shots of us from our last cruise.

 

THE ITINERARY:

So I made a spreadsheet to keep track of all I planned.

 

OUR STATEROOM:

When we first booked (a year ago on the previous birthday cruise), there were not any handicapped rooms available. So we resigned ourselves to an occasional banged shin on the folded up wheelchair and booked the large interior to at least give us a little extra room. As some started cancelling their early Quantum reservations as the poor first reviews came in, I rechecked a lot and one day ecstatically found a large interior handicapped had opened up. I called RC as fast as I could and we will be in room 10171.

 

IN SUMMARY:

I’m very excited to start this 40th birthday adventure, and I do also plan to review/summarize our pre- and post- cruise activities in NYC as well. :)

Edited April 8, 2015 by DM_KidAtHeart

[DM_KidAtHeart]

I finally found what part of the BBCode link to copy that worked to get the photos posted.

Edited April 8, 2015 by DM_KidAtHeart

[Just The 3 Of Us]

WOW - this is exciting - another live review - look forward to meeting you in less than 4 DAYS!!!!!

:D:D:D

Barb

Edited April 8, 2015 by Just The 3 Of Us

[seaver]

WOW - this is exciting - another live review - look forward to meeting you in less than 4 DAYS!!!!!

:D:D:D

Barb

 

What she said!LOL see you soon!

[DM_KidAtHeart]

I'm so excited that 48 hours from now I'll start this vacation.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

The bags are packed. :)

[jmrothermel]

Yayyy! *waves* from PA! I am so excited to meet you guys on board. I'll be following along too!

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Mine

 

Mom's (her toes are also done)

 

This is a pre-cruise tradition for us. :)

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Well apparently LaGuardia is busy tonight and our flight is now delayed by an hour. It started out as delayed by 10 minutes, then 30 minutes. So I'm not holding my breath until they put us on the plane.

 

On the bright side though, Delta has provided drinks and snacks while we wait. :)

[sparklylady]

Enjoy!

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Have a great cruise!!! Thanks for taking us along! Enjoy!!! She is an amazing ship!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[DM_KidAtHeart]

Finally on the plane. NYC, here we come. :-D

[DM_KidAtHeart]

The sunset was pretty at a few points. This was the best picture I got though.

 

 

I've always loved the look of city lights when flying at night.

 

 

 

I particularly like the straight lines of city blocks. They make my modicum of OCD happy.

 

 

I did also see the Statue of Liberty but the light wasn't good enough for a photo to turn out.

 

And the most fun part was seeing what I think is the bridge that Quantum will sail under in just two days.

 

[jmrothermel]

Glad you guys made it safe and sound. Enjoy NYC tomorrow!

[MrFunInTheSun]

Wahoo. Before you know it you'll be aboard the Quantum! It's going to be a super week.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - Please excuse any errors.

[Near Philly]

Happy Birthday !!

Have a great time !!

 

I'll be on the same cruise with 5 other friends and the little Travel Buddies.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So other than the end of it, I had an absolutely fantabulous day.

 

The Wicked Behind The Emerald curtain was cool and interesting and fun. Wicked was absolutely great. I really loved seeing it again, and the view was pretty good from the back of the orchestra in the handicapped seating. I had my binoculars which gave just the right close up view.

 

Matilda was a blast. I love the creative staging of the show. It's a smaller theater too, so we were close enough in the handicapped seating at the back that I didn't even need the binoculars.

 

Also if handicapped, be aware that the Shubert Theater does not have a bathroom for you. They'll say there's one across the street at this deli. But to get there in a wheelchair you'd have to go down half a block and back up to get to that other side.

 

So the problem at the end was that I left one of our back packs in the Shubert Theater. And I'm just not willing to lose the hours on the ship tomorrow morning to retrieve it before boarding. It's a bit disappointing to not be able to have our Kindles when on board, but the real problem is that is also had our phone charging cords in it. :( :( :( One way or another those are going to have to be replaced soon, very soon.

 

But it will all work out somehow and I'm psyched to be getting on board tomorrow.

[Dave85]

Sorry to hear about the backpack -- hopefully you can replace those cords. Looks like a beautiful day today for your sail away! I look forward to following along.

[jmrothermel]

So other than the end of it, I had an absolutely fantabulous day.

 

 

 

The Wicked Behind The Emerald curtain was cool and interesting and fun. Wicked was absolutely great. I really loved seeing it again, and the view was pretty good from the back of the orchestra in the handicapped seating. I had my binoculars which gave just the right close up view.

 

 

 

Matilda was a blast. I love the creative staging of the show. It's a smaller theater too, so we were close enough in the handicapped seating at the back that I didn't even need the binoculars.

 

 

 

Also if handicapped, be aware that the Shubert Theater does not have a bathroom for you. They'll say there's one across the street at this deli. But to get there in a wheelchair you'd have to go down half a block and back up to get to that other side.

 

 

 

So the problem at the end was that I left one of our back packs in the Shubert Theater. And I'm just not willing to lose the hours on the ship tomorrow morning to retrieve it before boarding. It's a bit disappointing to not be able to have our Kindles when on board, but the real problem is that is also had our phone charging cords in it. :( :( :( One way or another those are going to have to be replaced soon, very soon.

 

 

 

But it will all work out somehow and I'm psyched to be getting on board tomorrow.

 

 

I'm in the music hall at the M&M on the red chairs with the two girls. I have your cords here!

[DM_KidAtHeart]

I'm in the music hall at the M&M on the red chairs with the two girls. I have your cords here!

 

Thank you so much. I'm so happy to have a charged device again to reply to you with.

 

:D :D :D

[DM_KidAtHeart]

No time right now for much of an update, but I do plan to catch up later tonight after dinner and a possible show.

 

Top Loves So Far

 

1. IFly

2. Virtual Balcony

3. Random, Strange but usually amusing artwork/decorations

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So this day ended up being our 2nd night of only 4-5 hours of sleep, which is functional but tired for me and very exhausted for my mom. But with the anticipation of going on the ship, I found the energy to get everything packed bags with about 30 minutes to spare of first shuttle departure that the hotel offered (can't seem to remember right now whether that 10:00 or 10:30).

 

One thing I want to note about the Country Inn & Suites Newark Airport is the hot breakfast items change based on the day apparently. Our first morning it was sausage links, scrambled eggs, and cheese sauce. This second morning it was bacon crumbles, scrambled eggs, and tortillas (sign indicated it was to make your own breakfast burritos). This I think would be a nice thing for many people. For us, it was a bit of a disappointment, since we had really enjoyed the first morning and didn't find the second mornings choice's appealing.

 

Anyway, after a rather bumpy ride over NJ's seamed bridges, we finally arrived at the pier. We did get a few pictures of arrival using my mom's iPad that I'll try to remember to post tomorrow (she's using it to sleep to her movie now).

 

Oh and I promise that future posts will come with more pictures now that I should be able to keep my device charged. :)

 

It really seemed to us that the port needs to better organize their porters. There were some that were busy and working hard, and others who were sitting or standing around doing nothing.

 

Once inside the terminal, we were directed to a line behind someone with one of the tablets to check us in. In theory, this should have been fast, since there was only 1 group of 4 people that he was checking in right in front of us. In turned out this guy typed really slow and maybe for unknown other reasons, it was taking him a long time with these people. I had noticed two others who lines had gotten short while we stood there (and I had watched them type much faster on the tablets), and I switched us into one of those lines. We then got through within about 8 minutes. After check-in, it was smooth and fast onto the ship. I think the total time was around 25 minutes, but we did get to the ship at peak time.

 

One thing I did really like about the port was that it was a straight shot onto the ship. At most ports, I've had to struggle with getting my up some or many ramps before boarding. The only two here were one slight incline at the beginning and one small down ramp onto the ship itself.

 

I did find myself missing the bing-bong sound indicating you boarded that has accompanied previous cruises. But with the beauty and fun decoration the Quantum offered within a minute of going through the doors it was long forgotten. It was at this point that I was really missing my phone (aka camera). However, I do plan on the Labadee day to go around and get some of those pictures I might have gotten that day.

 

We went straight to the 270 to have the roast beef for our lunch snack (snacking to make sure we stayed within the iFly weight limits). The roast beef was just as fabulous as on other RCI ships. While there we did also make sure of the path to the bottom level of the room for the handicapped. The way you have to go across the stage to get to the lift that takes you down seems to me a strange design.

 

While eating the roast beef, we got her ipad connected to to the royal wifi and bought the 1 device internet package. I also got our reservations for that night's dinner changed from American Icon to The Grande.

 

We then went to check out our room. I really liked the birthday decorations on this ship, better than the ones on last year's cruise. I will get pictures taken later.

 

We then went to the spa to do the tour and to get our Thermal Suite pass sign up done. After that it was time for the much anticipated iFly. They were really helpful and understanding of my mom's limits. I don't really have words to describe how fun it was. It was a little scary for the first trust fall forward you have to take to enter the tube, but after that it was all fun. The hardest part I thought was to remember to keep your head up. By instinct I wanted to look down, but it does work better as they tell you to keep your chin up. Mom had a great time at it too, and they really helped keep her safe.

 

We then had to go straight to the muster drill. Our spot was on Deck 5 in one of the bars that I can't remember the name of right now. Unfortunately the people we asked on the ifly desk about where it was, had thought it was on deck 4. And with the elevators in full command for the start for the start of the drill, it was difficult to get my mom back up a floor.

 

On the bright side though, we ended up sitting at one end of the room that had these awesome animation things.

 

We then up for the spa raffle. Unfortunately we didn't win anything this time.

 

We then went some more food in the the WJ, since with the iFly workout and our limited eating before it, we were starving by this time. They were at lesser service time then since their full dinner service time started in less than an hour. We still found plenty we liked though.

 

After this we went and enjoyed a little time on the thermal beds. One difference we noticed in the Quantum's ones compared to the previous ones was the outline of non-hot plastic (or something like it) surrounding the hot times. We've found this nice and better for getting on and off.

 

After that it was time for our Grande dinner. It was fabulous and we loved the styling and decoration of the room.

 

When my mom went to tell the waiter of her dietary restrictions and needs, he got wide-eyed as she listed the various parts. He then said we should talk to his head waiter. When he came over, he explained that for her special needs we should always ask for the head waiter when we go to the restaurants. They are the ones who can take care to make sure that it could all be gotten right for her. He also took care to get her the menu for the restaurant we had for the next night and let her pick and work with him to get the order done. Basically he was great.

 

After this we immediately came back to the room and crashed.

 

So Day 2 description will have to happen tomorrow, since I was dozing off some as I typed parts of the above and it's 1 am now. (Short version: Great day, M&M and Cabin crawl was fun, WOW on Mamma Mia, Yummy Chic dinner)

Edited April 14, 2015 by DM_KidAtHeart

[DM_KidAtHeart]

First view of the ship

 

Getting closer…

 

These three are where we had lunch at the very front of 270 (behind robo screens)

The lighting wasn’t great for ipad photos when facing it to the windows, so I took two of mom with one (sort of) showing her and the other of the view.

[DM_KidAtHeart]

These two are the view we had in Windjammer during the sail away.

 

And one other thing I thought about when signing up for the package, and has turned out to be true. This countdown after you sign into the internet package has usefulness particularly if you only did a 24 hour package.

But when you have the full cruise package, it makes for a countdown on when your cruise ends, and it made me a little sad today when it made me realize we are now in single digits of days of the cruise left.

 

But it is still more than a week left, so it’s all good. :)

 

Now on to catching up and posting yesterday...

[DM_KidAtHeart]

So with needing to catch up on sleep, I really wasn’t sure that we’d wake up in time to go to the Meet & Mingle even though I really wanted to. But we went to bed decently early the previous night and I did get up in time. I went to the WJ for breakfast while my mom slept a little more and enjoyed breakfast in the outside area at the back. It was still a little cool but nice enough as long as you were in the sun.

 

I tried to bring mom breakfast back from Devinly Decandence. But the food was very dried out and not to her liking. But by the time I brought it back and she was ready to go, it was time for the M&M. So she ended up just having the coffee available at the M&M along with some of the bacon we had brought from home for snacking in NYC.

 

The M&M was fun and was definitely the largest one I had ever been to. The activities director (Jose from Mexico, I think) was entertaining as he gave away the large number of prizes that someone had brought with Cruise Critic logo. And my mom’s ticket got pulled so we got a luggage identifier that is already attacked to our, least identifiable, blank duffel bag luggage, and a I <3 Cruise Critic pin that now lives on my Del Sol butterfly hat. :)

 

I then quickly took mom to wait up near Sorrento’s while I went on the Cabin Crawl. It was really fun to see the new designs like the spa suite (very, very nice bathrooms). I’m sure someone else from the roll call will probably post pictures from it.

 

Also at the start of the M&M we met up with the wonderful Jacqui, jmrothermel, who had gotten us charger cords. So the very next thing we did was come back to the room to plug in our phones. So by the end of this day, I have pictures to go with things.

 

Since mom had barely eaten so far and I had worked off many of my breakfast calories climbing stairs for the cabin crawl, we then went to lunch at American Icon. It was good but I really can’t remember what it was. I do remember desert though. I tried the Icon Candy Bear. It was way too sweet for me though. I saw the fried banana sundae go by though, and it looked great. So I ordered it, and it was indeed fabulous.

 

We then went to Mamma Mia. It was absolutely fabulous. My favorites were Bill and the mom character (whose name I can’t remember now). After the show, we went and got mom a snack at the Doghouse. She enjoyed the German one (strange name) with some sauerkraut.

 

We then went and enjoyed the thermal beds for a while until it was time for us to get ready for dinner. Since we saw something that looked intriguing on the schedule for 270, we had used the IQ app to move our dinner up by about 30 minutes. So we came back to the room to change and then we had phones, aka cameras, aka watches. :)

 

These photos are from my dinner at Chic. I ordered the shrimp ravioli, assuming that it would be shrimp in the ravioli.

Obviously it meant shrimp and ravioli. The shrimp was awesome. The ravioli was a bit on the rubbery side.

 

So then we went to “An evening of Vistaramas”. Below are a few pictures. Things were constantly moving and changing in sometimes unexpected way, such as a door opening to reveal something impossible.

We enjoyed it for about 5 minutes, and then decided it was time to come back to the room and finish the unpacking. We did come back to this nice swan towel animal.

 

So apparently I’m just going to stay a day behind unless I manage to catch up tomorrow, but we are staying on-board at Labadee with limited activities ongoing. So in theory, it’s possible.