Quantum of the seas asian cruise

[cekim]

Recently booked a B2B leaving from Singapore for 18 nights for Feb 2020. Never thought about reading reviews about this cruise as sailed with RC many times, until now. It is very hard to find a good review. Seemingly everything is really poor which really surprises me.  Has anyone been on this ship in Asia who can put my mind at ease. Any info would be great. The food is the main issue as it caters mostly for Chinese so if there are any menus out there can anyone share them. Thanks very much

[kccrzr]

My 25 y.o. Daughter just returned from a 2-1/2 month trip to Russia, South Korea, Japan and China, which included a 5 night trip on Quantum out of Shanghai. She had a great time. 

 

As as far as food goes, she said Windjammer had some great exotic fruits, Chinese noodle dishes and typical fare like burgers and hot dogs. She never had trouble finding something good to eat. 

 

She also ate at the Hot Pot specialty restaurant and highly recommends it.  Jamie’s is just like it is on other ships.  The appetizers in the concierge lounge were also like the other ships. 

 

The crew were fantastic. She could not go 10 feet without a crew member calling out her name and stopping to chat.  

 

The concierge told her there were only 40 people on the ship from non-Asian countries and only 10 of those were native English speakers. Even so, all major announcements were also made in English. There were over 1k people on board from a single Chinese company. 

 

We sailed on Quantum out of Singapore several years ago. I would not hesitate to sail on her again.  I expect there will be many more English speakers on your sailing than on the one my daughter was on.

 

Some  people have reported shoving and pushing ahead of others.  My daughter said queues were non-existent in Windjammer but she is pretty laid back and had no problems. In fact, she said it was MUCH worse at Shanghai Disney. 

 

if you have any specific questions, I am happy to pass them on to my daughter. 

 

 

[kernow]

We have also booked on Quantum for Feb 2020. All of the current reviews are from the Shanghai sailings which I think are very different from the Singapore sailings. From what I understand from reading this board over the last few years, when the ships sail from Shanghai they cater almost exclusively to the Chinese market, when they sail from Singapore there is a bigger mix of passengers (although many are still Chinese) and a more 'international' feel. I've actually read the current Voyager reviews as that is the ship currently in Singapore and I think may give a better indication of how our cruises will be.

Quantum has a dry dock at the end of this year, I can't find much about it but wonder if they will change some of the 'Chinese' venues before it goes to Singapore.

 

OP, if one of your cruises is 15/02 there is already a roll call, come over and join us.

 

Julie

[snaefell]

We are booked on Quantums relocation cruise from China to Singapore in October this year & following so many bad reviews I started asking questions,the answers to which may shed some light on the matter &,IMO,doesn't exactly look good on RCI's part.

After checking the menus on the cruise planner I made reservations for the 'free' restaurants but was puzzled by the fact that I could only book a table for 6.45pm(not a problem as we were looking for 7pm anyway),at this point all the speciality restaurants were shown as available,including Wonderland at £51 pp.

After reading so many bad reviews about the catering side I contacted RCI who told me that the menus shown were just standard RCI menus,no menus for the current China sailings were available(strange IMO), Johnny Rockets has been replaced by a noodle bar,the pub specialises in fish & chickens feet,the solarium bistro specialises in hot pots & Wonderland doesn't exist having been replaced by a Chinese restaurant specialising in Peking Duck(although Wonderland has now gone from the cruise planner & RCI say they don't know any prices for it-strange again IMO),since then RCI have been issuing letters to people who booked directly with them to advise of the possible problems caused by the cultural differences of these cruises.

OK so you should expect some differences given where you are sailing to/from(one of the bad reviews was from a lady who says she doesn't like Chinese food,I do wonder what she was expecting!) but IMO RCI have done little(OK pretty much nothing until now),to make people aware of the possible problems,even down to the cruise planner being set up as if it were an RCI cruise sailing from anywhere.

RCI can't tell us if anything will be different on our cruise as they move to a new market,& apparently expect the passengers to be mainly non-Chinese,they don't seem to be aware of much that happens on this ship at least,so what we are heading for heaven knows but we are looking forward to it,visiting so many places we have always wanted to & don't expect to get chance to again,being in our late 60's now,we both love Chinese food but I imagine will be gagging for a bacon butty by the time the cruise is over!

Sorry for the long post but I hope it answers some questions & helps ease some peoples fears in a situation which RCI really haven't helped anyone,just a bit of effort could surely have help them avoid so many bad reviews.

[Cyclospora]

Good reply! We are on this cruise too - and are both looking forward to it immensely! We are more concerned about the land tour pre-cruise during Golden Week!

 

Exciting stuff!

[Joseph2017China]

On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 5:45 PM, cekim said:

Recently booked a B2B leaving from Singapore for 18 nights for Feb 2020. Never thought about reading reviews about this cruise as sailed with RC many times, until now. It is very hard to find a good review. Seemingly everything is really poor which really surprises me.  Has anyone been on this ship in Asia who can put my mind at ease. Any info would be great. The food is the main issue as it caters mostly for Chinese so if there are any menus out there can anyone share them. Thanks very much

 

Funny story.  I read a review that was "negative" and part of the review stated that they thought the taxi driver ripped them off.  From the hotel on the bund to the ship, the taxi driver pointed to the meter and held out hand.  The meter had an amount of a little less than 100.  The review gave the taxi driver $100.00 and said keep it.  The taxi driver said Thanks.  So what went wrong?  The meter asked for ¥100,00 which is a huge difference from $100.00.  He said keep the change which was approximately a $85.00 tip!!!!!

 

Bad review on the Quantum because many people just fail to understand what they are doing.  You book a cruise in Asia, you are going to be a minority.  The majority will be Asians.  Even in Singapore, you will still be a minority but not as bad as if it is a closed loop in Shanghai.  So, the ship, changes some items and food to cover the majority.  English becomes the secondary language.  Shows are "interesting" but good. 

 

So, my big question to you, since you stated food is a concern.  If you are traveling to Asia, why wouldn't you expect Asian food?  The ship modifies some menu's, but many of the same items you find in the MDR will be the same.  Some other food areas are changed.  In Asia, fast food is noodles, not hamburgers.  So, out goes Johnny Rockets and in comes a Noodle bar. 

 

Go on your trip with an open mind.  Understand you are in Asia, not Europe or USA.  It is a different culture.  I loved my trip on Quantum.  The staff was great.  I enjoyed the change up in some of the food.  I loved breakfast.  Entertainment was fun to see headliners that weren't the same boring Caribbean shows.  Just don't forget you are in Asia!

[snaefell]

Cyclospora,yes Golden Week has pretty much become our main concern but having done a cruise the other year which was the school holiday cruise with what seemed like millions of kids,how bad can it be!!!

Joseph2017China,totally agree with you,unfortunately RCI have made it look like any other RCI cruise,we are not great cruise fans but reading the cruise forums has given me a big insight into the way that a lot of cruisers think,for me they expect a Royal Caribbean cruise,doesn't matter where from & to,anything different from the norm is pretty much unthinkable,their main concern normally is getting whatever they are entitlerd to with the RCI Loyalty scheme IMO.

My Wife has worked in hotels for nearly 30 years,the owners dread getting negative feedback on the likes of Trip Advisor & are mortified when it happens no matter how trivial the reason may seem,I can't understand why RCI haven't done more to try to prevent the bed reviews they have been getting,although maybe the more I learn about them,maybe I do!

[cekim]

Thanks for the posts regarding my worries about this cruise. The food i expect to be Asian orientated but there has to be alternatives for others. I did a 3 week organised land tour of China 2 year ago and the food was bad, so decided to go on a cruise expecting the food to be more varied. I know all about pushy Chinese with their bad hygiene habits so i am ready for that. This is a RC cruise where i expect good food with good service. I would be unhappy if i did not get Beef Wellington at least once. 

[snaefell]

On youtube the other week I did find a video of the ship on one of her China based cruises,including some video showing,ok quite badly, the Windjammer,there was a carvery station still in operation so who knows!

Edited March 16, 2019 by snaefell

[cekim]

here is a PDF that i found interesting for others who maybe going on a Culturally enriching cruise.

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/Culturally_Enrich_Cruises_2018_FAQs.pdf

[kernow]

1 hour ago, cekim said:

here is a PDF that i found interesting for others who maybe going on a Culturally enriching cruise.

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/Culturally_Enrich_Cruises_2018_FAQs.pdf

That is interesting, thanks. 

I didn't know about the solarium being for suites and Diamond and up. Does anyone know anything about this? Does it include the Solarium Bistro too? We've never been on a Quantum class ship so don't really know the layout.

[snaefell]

1 hour ago, kernow said:

That is interesting, thanks. 

I didn't know about the solarium being for suites and Diamond and up. Does anyone know anything about this? Does it include the Solarium Bistro too? We've never been on a Quantum class ship so don't really know the layout.

I can't remember where but I did read somewhere that the suites only solarium rules will disappear when she leaves China & it will revert to adults only.

One note though,the letter says that all speciality restaurants will be as per all other RCI ships which is incorrect as Wonderland has been done away with on Quantum,for now at least.

[OskiBear]

On 3/16/2019 at 9:53 AM, snaefell said:

One note though,the letter says that all speciality restaurants will be as per all other RCI ships which is incorrect as Wonderland has been done away with on Quantum,for now at least.

 

I'm booked on a 5-night out of Singapore this fall and as with everyone else, information seems a bit scarce. My parents did a Singapore-departure a couple of years ago and while it was very Asian, my dad remembered plenty of non-Asian folks. That said, since we are Asians ourselves, we probably notice the non-Asians a bit more and vice-versa! Certainly do expect this to be quite different than a Shanghai sailing. 

 

With respect to dining, I'm looking at my Cruise Planner and the following are available:

 

Complimentary - Silk, The Grande Restaurant, Chic, American Icon Grill

Upcharge - Chops Grille (+Lunch), Jamie's Italian by Jamie Oliver (+Lunch), Izumi, Solarium Bistro, Chef's Table

 

Is one of the above something that approximates the traditional "Main Dining Room"? It sounds like The Grande Restaurant may be it, but it states that it is formal so I doubt I'd want to do that every night. Or is the idea that we now bounce around every night to try different things? 

 

 

[Hop77]

I am from Singapore and has been on the ship sailing out of Singapore a couple of times. Although there are plenty of locals onboard, there are also plenty of Asian from all over. And also RC seems more towards catering the ships in Singapore for our Indian tourists, therefore I would say 40% of the food are mostly Indian cuisine, 40-50% are the traditional RC food but whether does it lives up to the usual RC standard, I have no ideas but I find those are the best food onboard to eat. Hint : onboard. They tried to provide some 10-20% Chinese cuisine but in my opinion, those are the worse Chinese food I ever tasted. I didn’t do specialities but I see the standard RC offering. Most of the time these restaurants are empty. 

 

It is a chaos at the WJ for lunch on boarding day as everyone all gathers there. Otherwise I don’t see a problem except serving on the dinning room is too slow for my liking.

 

I shall not comments on the passengers onboard. There are always certain behaviours we couldn’t apprehend in other cultures and likewise, they also couldn’t on ours. And there are always rude and ill-manners people around which has nothing to do with culture. 

[WaveSplasher]

Sailing from China and sailing from Singapore is an entirely different concept.  Sailing from Singapore mostly follows the international version with some tweaks in food and entertainment(you will still have the same production show). You also do not have to pay for North Star, Bumper Cars, Ifly like the china sailings. Solarium is open for all. 

 

Usually re-positioning cruise tend to cater to more foreigners  from western countries then Asia. One of the reasons why is that because re-positioning cruises are usually long over 7 Nights, we do not have many leave to take off work and apparently this cruise doesn't fall during Golden Week or the Singapore School Holidays. 

 

 

[ldubs]

On 3/13/2019 at 2:45 PM, cekim said:

 The food is the main issue as it caters mostly for Chinese so if there are any menus out there can anyone share them. Thanks very much

 

I hope this is true - perfect for us!!  Our large family group (16 total) is booked on Quantum Singapore/Singapore Jan 2020.  We don't usually go with the mega ships, but I'm sure we will have a great time.  

 

1 hour ago, Hop77 said:

They tried to provide some 10-20% Chinese cuisine but in my opinion, those are the worse Chinese food I ever tasted. 

 

Shucks, I should not have read beyond the first post!  ☹️

[ldubs]

On 3/15/2019 at 10:50 AM, cekim said:

 I know all about pushy Chinese with their bad hygiene habits so i am ready for that. 

 

I really think you should find another cruise that will better meet your needs.   

[Biker19]

15 hours ago, OskiBear said:

Complimentary - Silk, The Grande Restaurant, Chic, American Icon Grill

Is one of the above something that approximates the traditional "Main Dining Room"? 

All of the complimentary venues listed make up the MDR. The menu is the same in all. Usually two are used for MTD and the other two for traditional fixed time dining. Usually you don't move between them.

[xxHadleyxx]

My understanding is that sailings out of Singapore are much closer to how RCI operates in most of the rest of the world, than the sailings out of Shanghai, but if you want to see a fairly detailed review of the sailing out of Shanghai, I made a thread about it after our cruise in March: