Quantum & Anthem Photo Review - Food Focus - All Specialty and Dynamic Dining

[Mom.to.2]

Loving your photos & review! Thank you for your time & effort. I very much appreciate it!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cenamenya]

Just booked Anthem for June 2016 while on Liberty last week. Looking forward to following your review! :) Thanks for putting it together for us!

Edited May 18, 2015 by Cenamenya

[aring75]

Great review so far. I just finished reading your extensive review on NCL's Getaway (and Epic), and I am really looking forward to reading the rest of your review on Quantum. Thanks so much for taking the time! It is very much appreciated.

[megacruiser]

I am booked on the Anthem May 5, 2016 in a Spa Jr Suite and am really enjoying your pictures. Keep them coming!

 

Thank you kindly.

[megacruiser]

Great review and photos so far. Interested in reading more!!

 

Many thanks for commenting. Great to know if this is of interest...

[megacruiser]

I hope it gets better than that! I was hoping for much more at wonderland.

 

Me too!

[megacruiser]

Just booked Anthem for June 2016 while on Liberty last week. Looking forward to following your review! :) Thanks for putting it together for us!

 

I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

 

Kind regards

megacruiser

[megacruiser]

Great review so far. I just finished reading your extensive review on NCL's Getaway (and Epic), and I am really looking forward to reading the rest of your review on Quantum. Thanks so much for taking the time! It is very much appreciated.

 

Many thanks. I hope this proves useful.

 

Kind regards

megacruiser

[megacruiser]

 

 

 

 

 

[WyKnott]

 

 

The adverse weather had impacted many travel arrangements and our departure was delayed until well after dark. My port side balcony got a great view towards the Statue of Liberty, Freedom Tower and the Manhattan skyline.

 

Wow. Beautiful picture!

[bess128]

Following read all your previous reviews, looking forward to this one.

[kevinyork]

Yes indeed, I am on the September 28th sailing. So you can compare our impressions when I add in that cruise to this review.

 

Kind regards

megacruiser

 

Yes us too!

[megacruiser]

I like to start the day with a couple of strong coffees from the bean-to-cup espresso machine in the Diamond Club. I noticed that in addition to the usual cold buffet there was a small hot buffet section too. Only down side is that the only eggs available were scrambled...

 

 

Diamond Club at breakfast time...

 

 

Cold buffet at far end...

 

 

Hot buffet on the right...

 

 

]

[megacruiser]

Only one of the four main dining rooms was serving breakfast on this trip, American Icon. Queues developed, which can be expected on the first sea-day, when the outdoor temperature is still decidedly chilly. The general feeling was of a dining room under pressure; staff trying as best they could, but a fundamental shortage of personnel meant that the normally-expected service standards could not be delivered. I felt for the staff who struggled to hide that they were under stress.

 

 

 

 

Seattle Granola with Fruit Salad...

 

 

Eggs Benedict – the photo says it all. Sloppy...

 

 

They also have a hot and cold buffet set up in the middle of the dining room, presumably to take pressure off the kitchens and serving staff.

 

 

 

 

 

The outside weather made this a morning for getting my bearings around the ship before eating-time came around again - lunch at Jamie's Italian...

Edited May 19, 2015 by megacruiser

[roe2ship]

I remember your Oasis review with the amazing pictures. I see this review is more of the same....great writing style with beautiful pictures. I'll be following along with interest as I was on Quantum last month and really looking forward to read about your experience and thoughts.:)

[megacruiser]

Before this cruise I had strong reservations about Jamie’s Italian. This chain has branches in most big towns all over the UK. Oliver’s Celebrity status ensured that my nearest branch in Glasgow had queues around the block when it first opened. I don’t know whether there were problems in the early days but I heard from a friend who had dined there that he was unimpressed.

 

It was only after booking this cruise that I first tried Jamie’s Italian for myself. Probably not the best location, but it was at Gatwick Airport whilst waiting to board a seriously-delayed flight; and it was partly a means of killing time. I remember starting with the Crab Bruschetta shown on the menu below. I love crab but that dish had very little flavour and was disappointing. I then had Pork Osso Buco which was almost inedible because of gristle. What surprised me was that as soon as I raised the matter with the supervisor, before I had gone into detail of what was wrong, she interrupted to say she would change it; adding that about half of them get rejected... I was amazed. It was replaced with Lamb Chops Scottaditta which tasted good but the meat was a little lacking in tenderness. All in all, not a resounding success. So that is the background that led to my misgivings.

 

In the absence of 150 Central Park, I had most been looking forward to Wonderland on this cruise. I also resolved to give Jamie’s a second chance. I had dinner booked later in the cruise but decided to first do a test run at lunch time, when the virtually-identical menu was being served for $15. I knew that I could cancel dinner if it proved to be a disappointment...

 

 

The menu is too big for my scanner, hence the cropping...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[megacruiser]

Vegetable Plank... marinated char-grilled vegetables with all the little extras - absolutely superb...

 

Starter-size Prawn Linguine – perfectly cooked pasta and delicious sauce – very good...

 

Aubergine (Eggplant) Parmigiana - this was an excellent example, with really tasty garlic bread rolls...

 

 

Amalfi Lemon Meringue Cheesecake – so lemony, so light, so luscious - fantastic... (it doesn't complement it but I love salted caramel ice cream, so couldn't resist...)

 

 

 

So there we have it. A truly superb meal. Just shows how important it is to ignore any preconceptions and be open-minded. Ok, it’s not competition for 150 Central Park but, of its type, a really wonderful meal. I will add that the serving staff were excellent and greatly enhanced the experience.

........

[niksmom630]

Stunning photos! I fondly recall reading your Oasis review, so I am looking forward to this one. Not sure that I will get to sail this class of ship in the near future, so sailing virtually along with you is the next best thing!

 

Chris

[Overtyme]

Vegetable Plank... marinated char-grilled vegetables with all the little extras - absolutely superb...

 

Starter-size Prawn Linguine – perfectly cooked pasta and delicious sauce – very good...

 

Aubergine (Eggplant) Parmigiana - this was an excellent example, with really tasty garlic bread rolls...

 

 

Amalfi Lemon Meringue Cheesecake – so lemony, so light, so luscious - fantastic... (it doesn't complement it but I love salted caramel ice cream, so couldn't resist...)

 

 

 

So there we have it. A truly superb meal. Just shows how important it is to ignore any preconceptions and be open-minded. Ok, it’s not competition for 150 Central Park but, of its type, a really wonderful meal. I will add that the serving staff were excellent and greatly enhanced the experience.

........

 

That looks delicious! You've successfully made me hungry!

[megacruiser]

Photo opportunity for young and older alike...

 

 

 

 

Meantime at the bar...

[megacruiser]

Pianist Juanito and the DJ console...

 

 

Not exactly well attended...

 

 

Interesting Video Wall displays...

 

 

[megacruiser]

 

 

 

 

[megacruiser]

Bread with Tapenade (delicious)...

 

 

Average Crab Cake - with a chipotle kick...

 

 

Prime Rib – tender and tasty...

 

 

Carrot Cake – nothing special...

[megacruiser]

Mamma Mia had been postponed until the end of the cruise due to incapacity of a main cast member.

 

 

Theatre (too many pillars) filling up pre-show...

 

 

Cruise Director Ken Rush...

 

 

Comedian Troy Thirdgill...

 

 

[megacruiser]

We had only one tribute band for the entire cruise and they left half way through. Fortunately I like the Police. The band sounded very good musically and the lead vocalist had managed to capture some of the texture of Sting’s voice. Unfortunately he couldn’t sing in key. How disappointing....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Late night dancing with a Scratch DJ in TWO70...