Quantum in Asia, a review

[loji13]

4 minutes ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Lol.  Sailing out of Singapore is likely different, but sailing from Shanghai we saw no chair hogs.  Every time we walked through either the solarium OR the public indoor pool area chairs and loungers were available.  Some of the people we've met here in China tell me that sunbathing isn't really a thing in this culture.   Maybe that's why?

Maybe we won't need to get up at sunrise then lol 

[Hop77]

4 hours ago, WaveSplasher said:

 

Hi, I'm from Singapore too. 

 

Royal only does the Silver/Gold program when sailing from China. Talking to Royal Caribbean office in Singapore, they have assured me that Quantum follows the International version of the Royal Suite Class when she's based here. Also based on past experience with Ovation Home-porting in Singapore before, they have never implemented the China Suite Program here at all. 

 

 

 

 

Hey, many thanks. You just make me wish Christmas will arrive soon. It simply too many months in between. 

[mugtech]

3 hours ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Lol.  Sailing out of Singapore is likely different, but sailing from Shanghai we saw no chair hogs.  Every time we walked through either the solarium OR the public indoor pool area chairs and loungers were available.  Some of the people we've met here in China tell me that sunbathing isn't really a thing in this culture.   Maybe that's why?

Same deal in the Philippines.  Many there wonder why people would lay out in the sun when shade is available.  Mad dogs and Englishmen.  In the Philippines it is more fashionable to lighten skin color rather than darken it.

[Hop77]

3 hours ago, loji13 said:

Maybe we won't need to get up at sunrise then lol 

 

Hey, most pple from Asia dislikes the sun, and hates being warm. We have too much heat all year long. So we don’t sit in the loungers for long if we have the choice. So if most passengers are coming from Asia, then there should be plenty of unoccupied loungers available.  

Edited April 9, 2019 by Hop77

[heatherb1958]

On 4/7/2019 at 1:09 PM, vacationlover_mn said:

This might be a controversial statement but...

 

One reason I loved your awesome review, is that it made me realize an Asian cruise isn’t for us.  I was thinking a btb in a few years could be cool.  I’ve been to Asia for work a few times, and DH didn’t think he’d ever care to go.  I thought a cruise might be a good way for me to see some more of the sites... but I think he’d hate it.  There are still MANY more cool places we want to see, that he would LOVE, so I’m ok with skipping an Asian cruise 🙂

 

thanks again!!

 

We did a cruise with Princess on the Sapphire from Singapore to Shanghai this past Christmas and New year , the itinerary was amazing , 15 nights visiting so many ports including Hong Kong, Nagasaki in Japan, Busan in Korea . We had 3 nights in Shanghai post cruise. I was so so glad we did it. Our ship had onboard  700 Aussies, 700 Americans , 300 Brits then the rest of the world followed to fill the ship. The menu was very Westernised with a mix of Oriental/Asian dishes. A cruise round trip from China is VERY different, the CD said on the last night of our trip that on the next cruise they were going to have so few English speakers , barely 300 !! . I think you would be fine on a similar itinerary we did. Bizarrely on our cruise there wasn’t a single resident of Singapore on it !

 

 

Hadley, always love your reviews and enjoyed your photos on FB. Loving your new avatar too !! Xx

p.s we did the Maiden Quantum TA and loved the ship, interesting seeing your perspective of her and the changes in Asia .

Edited April 9, 2019 by heatherb1958

[debgreg]

On ‎4‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 5:15 PM, vacationlover_mn said:

I am definitely glad I saw Asia (on the company dollar :).  However, hubby has no desire, so I’m cool with other places...  I think our future big spendy trip will be Australia + cruise...  after he gets more vacation at work 🙂. I hate that he doesn’t get almost 6 weeks like I do 😞

We have just returned from Voyager Of the Seas sailing from Singapore around Malaysia and Thailand and it was nothing at all like this, very westernised , food , entertainment & clientele. I am not sure I could deal with the food for a week or empty bars ha ha (other aspects don't bother me) as after 4 days in Singapore (which was magnificent) we were looking for Pizza (which of course they had). It was one of the best cruises I have been on.

[WaveSplasher]

1 hour ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

We did a cruise with Princess on the Sapphire from Singapore to Shanghai this past Christmas and New year , the itinerary was amazing , 15 nights visiting so many ports including Hong Kong, Nagasaki in Japan, Busan in Korea . We had 3 nights in Shanghai post cruise. I was so so glad we did it. Our ship had onboard  700 Aussies, 700 Americans , 300 Brits then the rest of the world followed to fill the ship. The menu was very Westernised with a mix of Oriental/Asian dishes. A cruise round trip from China is VERY different, the CD said on the last night of our trip that on the next cruise they were going to have so few English speakers , barely 300 !! . I think you would be fine on a similar itinerary we did. Bizarrely on our cruise there wasn’t a single resident of Singapore on it !

 

 

Hadley, always love your reviews and enjoyed your photos on FB. Loving your new avatar too !! Xx

p.s we did the Maiden Quantum TA and loved the ship, interesting seeing your perspective of her and the changes in Asia .

Well, I could give you an answer on the missing Singaporeans on it. 

 

Most Singaporeans rarely do long cruises as it is too long. Give them a 3, 5 or 7 nighter, you will find them onboard, but longer than that is rare to see them. If you do, it's mostly the long time cruisers or those that retired. 

 

Also, majority of them will rather fly to the country and do a land tour and given the long itinerary , we don't really have lots of leave to take from work hence it is also another reason that you don't see them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[xxHadleyxx]

11 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

We did a cruise with Princess on the Sapphire from Singapore to Shanghai this past Christmas and New year , the itinerary was amazing , 15 nights visiting so many ports including Hong Kong, Nagasaki in Japan, Busan in Korea . We had 3 nights in Shanghai post cruise. I was so so glad we did it. Our ship had onboard  700 Aussies, 700 Americans , 300 Brits then the rest of the world followed to fill the ship. The menu was very Westernised with a mix of Oriental/Asian dishes. A cruise round trip from China is VERY different, the CD said on the last night of our trip that on the next cruise they were going to have so few English speakers , barely 300 !! . I think you would be fine on a similar itinerary we did. Bizarrely on our cruise there wasn’t a single resident of Singapore on it !

 

 

Hadley, always love your reviews and enjoyed your photos on FB. Loving your new avatar too !! Xx

p.s we did the Maiden Quantum TA and loved the ship, interesting seeing your perspective of her and the changes in Asia .

Heather you are always such a sweetheart.  I love YOUR facebook photos---you are always showing things that I end up adding to my bucket list---never a dull moment in your life.

It'S been a while since our sailing paths crossed---I hope they do again soon.

[xxHadleyxx]

OK, so the last couple of things i can think of to drone on about are cruise staff  activities onboard, Japanese immigration process and listing out in one place the perks D+ status gets you (as it felt far more significant on this cruise than normal).  Let's see how much of that I can get through today:

 

Some reviews of the cruises going roundtrip from Asia complain about a lack of programming.  Hmmmmm.  We did not encounter this at all.  There were, however, differences in the cruise staff run programming and my best guess is that not finding the same programs is more what stirred complaints, than an actual lack of activities to do (especially on a cruise with only 3-5% Western passengers as so many from Shanghai apparently are; versus ours with about 20% Westerners).  Personally, I loved the variety and chances to try some new things.

 

So, some of the nights the "big" cruise staff run activity that runs in  that post show/dinner but before nightclubs time frame were things we had never heard of (I think the first night might have been just been billed as "fun games" or some such).  We don't need to recognize something to go have fun and play---meeting people and being silly is a big appeal of cruising for David and I, so we went and gave things a try and enjoyed.

 

The first night was the typical issue of a new batch of cruisers, so most people are not yet relaxed enough to get up and participate and just want to watch and laugh at those who do.  The all Chinese and all female cruise staff (except, CD Fang, who is also Chinese but a man and DJ Lucion who is a Romanian guy  and the BEST DJ we have had on any cruise, ever) were struggling to get enough people up to play (typical on any cruise on night one) but eventually got 12-15 of us, who ended up playing three games because no one else would join in later. I always say that cruise staff are like camp counselors for adults, and these were VERY much summer camp like games on night one---which were fun and silly and we enjoyed and those watching seemed to enjoy too based on the amount of laughter and videos being taken.  

For the first game we were grouped into sets of three.  Two in each set stood with their palms together up high and were trees and the third squatted underneath and were rabbits.  Cruise staff would call out different things (in both English and Chinese) and we all had to switch places and not be the one left out (cruise staff might take a place to leave someone out, or maybe there was a number not divisible by three, etc).  something like "wind" meant trees had to find new partners, earthquake meant everyone had to switch places with someone, and fire meant the rabbits had to find new trees to be under.  It was just a silly and fun ice breaker.

Next up was sort of like musical chairs without the chairs.  We all formed a circle holding hands and there was a hula hoop on someone's arm.  We had to pass the hula hoop around the circle and if the music stopped while it was on you, you were out.  My husband is almost 2 meters tall---of course staff finagles it so that he was next to someone really short--much hilarity ensued.

The final game tht first night was another musical chairs spin off in which staff would shout out a number and people had to rush to form groups of that exact number.  Too many and you are all out.  Same if too few.  

 

Basically, simple games that required no common language among participants and broke the ice nicely.  The cruise staff (Bonnie was the activities director) were all really good and fun.

 

Night two we had the "Imitation Game"  Hmmmm, wonder what that is?  Let's go try it out.  We got there and they announced that for a surprise warm up we'd do some line dancing first.  The DJ put on some songs and the staff led dances for about 15 minutes (more Asian that I did not know than things I did, but a good mix and I tried to keep up anyway--dancing is far more fun than the gym, IMO, even if I stink at it). THIS got people participating and the floor was filled.  Those sneaky cruise staff used this time to pick out four of us to "compete" !!!!  David and I both got pulled up (I think we were the only westerners on the dance floor) as two other ladies.  The game was basically that we each had a cruise staff person who would demonstrate a dance for us and we had to try to copy it.  Of course, they gave Western songs to the Chinese ladies and Chinese or Korean songs to David and I.  None of us had any chance of really learning the steps, so you just ham it up and have fun.  David was given a song about a cat and played it up well (big guy, pretending to be a kitten is comical) and whatever the Chinese version of youtube is probably has a few dozens videos of my husband on it by now.  

 

Again, good fun, lots of audience participation---people were starting to loosen up.

 

Throughout the week they also did a few standards (like Battle of the Sexes, and the Quest which we only watched from the balcony as I was fighting a cold, but BOY is it fun to see that one on a ship full of people who have no idea what is coming, do not bring bags of crap to cheat with, etc---watching that was a BLAST), a silent disco (so fun, and great DJ not playing predone lists but reacting to who was on the floor), 70s party, "firewirks" dance party in two70 with great music from the DJ again, etc.

 

Smaller, daytime activities did include several English language trivias which got enough people to run, but might not on smaller cruises, origami, scrapbooking, karaoke, calligraphy, etc---much of the typical fair with a little less language based stuff and a little more Asian flair.  They did Finish that Lyric in both Chinese and again in English.  For English enough showed to kind of sort of run it, but the participants were very lackluster and it wasn't so much fun.

 

Probably the most interesting and different activity we had was because of who the band was (I think) and not because of the sailing demographic.  We got a new (and much improved) house band mid sailing, in Tokyo and they did Karaoke with them as live back up.  How fun is that?  They had a pretty varied and extensive playlist too and were excellent at adding in the right amount of "help" in the form of "back up vocals" for various levels of singers.  It was REALLY fun to watch and David very much enjoyed going up.  This was in the latter half of the cruise and more and more of all people were out and about and having fun together in the evenings.  The final song ended up being a big group of 15 or so from at least 4 countries all singing Dancing Queen together---I mean, that is what cruising and Karaoke is all about.  Such a fun evening!  That was held in the Dance Hall and merged right into the DJ starting up the night club.  It was the first night a lot of Chinese stayed too, and he blended together a huge range of music beautifully, and would come out and lead dances during songs, run back, blend in the next seamlessly, come back out to dance . . . .  it was amazing (and the Chinese guests seem to really want to follow a dance rather than do their own thing, so this really kept the party going).   It was one of the most fun nights I have had on a cruise.

[xxHadleyxx]

So I wanted to post a bit about Japanese immigration, because if anyone is trying to plan an on your own, or private, excursion at their first stop in Japan, it's going to have an effect.

 

So first off, as i posted about before, our passports were held from the time we boarded until the day after our last stop in Japan.  You need a photocopy of your passport for Japanese immigration purposes (and the originals are held by the cruise line per Japanese law----I know some people were taken by surprise when we ere emailed about this ahead of time, I was just surprised to get an email!  We've had ours held by the line when ports take us to Turkey on several occasions and never got an email).  Anyway, if this is new to you, it is not at all uncommon and nothing to worry about.

 

They seemed to do a really good job of getting passports back to people quickly on the day after we left Japan.  There was an hour long window and they had tables set up by the elevators on each deck with staterooms---you went to your deck and picked it up.  You did have to have your printed set sail pass to do so (remember, I said to save those!) or else pay $3 to get a new one printed (because China is, as of a couple of months ago, requiring those be available at disembarkation).  One person could pick up for their whole group if that one person had all the set sail passes.  Lines did not look bad, though I did not have to wait in one, because the concierge let us know she*d pick ours up and have them in the lounge that night.  Oh my, how I loved Coco and her team!

 

OK, so back to actually visiting Japan.  Our first stop was Osaka, with the rather odd port time of 12:30 (just past noon)  until 4 a.m. the next morning.  Mmmmkay.  

This is the day we had lunch planned at Jamie's to avid the chaos of those who wanted to eat and get off ASAP.  ad we wanted to, the concierge did lead a group off first thing once we did arrive (which turned out to be an hour late because we had to sail around a massive storm our first night).  We'd been able to arrange to meet her and leave at 2:30 pm instead.  You have status (Diamond or above in this case) or book a suite or the gold program USE THIS.  

 

Japanese customs insists in doing an in person, face to face with every single passenger (even if you do not plan to get off at any Japanese port you must do this; in fact no one is allowed back on until every passenger has been processed).  It's a long and slow process for a ship with so many passengers (one which is pretty much out of the control of RCI).  On the sea day prior, the ship had had tickets people could pick up which told them an order to disembark in---and there was a constant and rather slow moving lone for hours.  

 

It was so crowded that when we met with the concierge at 2:30, she suggested we (and another couple also heading off with us) wait another half hour.  We did so, and it was still just a solid line of people through the ship and in the terminal building, but she took us on off.  There was not a separately labeled lane, but she took a sign and walked us past all the people from the ship and over the ramps into the building.  People were surprisingly nice about moving over and letting us through with her and I felt a bit guilty (she also walked very quickly, the older couple with us could barely keep up and we almost lost them a couple of times).  Eventually we got to an area where she could open barriers and walk us in a back way.  We were taken to some partitions, the other side of which was the last of the waiting area---my best guess is we would have had a half hour in line from that point.  We waited there while she went around another way to ask if we could skip that as well---thankfully the answer was yes, so we were taken around to the "already cleared" side and then escorted back over to be first in line (I felt both guilty and grateful for this).  We had to see an immigration agent one at a time, with our passport copies, which were then stamped and we were told we had to have them on us in every Japanese port and turn them in at the last one when aboard (or to guest services if we did not get off).  Phew!  What an experience (I will not we've had similar required processing and long lines when MSC had a port in the UK).  We were really glad that we were not among those trying to fit in a trip to Kyoto that day,; it would just be too chaotic for me.  The pier is not really in Osaka, but in a nearby town---we were very close to Universal Studios Japan (which we realized when we docked and I asked David why Hogwarts was in my field of view lol) and the pier is RIGHT by a large mall and aquarium.  

 

it was chilly and windy out and we only planned to wander the pier area and get our feet wet in Japan--which turned out to be a great way to do it.

 

After that, getting off in Japan went pretty quickly and smoothly.  We walked off on our own in Kobe the next day with no wait (but needing to show those stamped passport copies).  We'd arrived at 7:00 and we are not morning people so were not even trying to leave until about 9 at which point there was no sign of any line.  Shuttle busses ran from the port to (of all things) China Town in Kobe every 5 minutes all day (no charge).  From there it was easy to walk around the city, walk over and visit the lovely Ikuta Shrine and stop at a local mall for Kobe beef for lunch in a place recommended by a Japanese coworker of my husband.  It was an easy, nice, low stress day.

 

Tokyo was another later port day.  I think we arrived around 12.30 and had to be back on board at 10:00 pm.  This time we opted to be with the group Coco led off very first---I was literally the first passenger off the ship!  I do not think I have ever been that before.  A quick walk through the immigration building to show our passport copies, and on to waiting (free) shuttle buses which took us to the train station in the town we were docked in.  From there it was about a half hour train ride into Tokyo.  We found the public transit stations in Tokyo to be far less well labeled than in Shanghai.  It was stressful to navigate and the city was sooo hectic.  

We took the train to Shabuya station, walked around that area, headed to Meji JIngu and then had some drinks and people watched in Harajuku before making our way back on the train and shuttle bus.  All in all it took about 2 hours each way to get to/from the city from the ship and we spent about 2 hours there.  It was more exhausting than anything else---I am glad we did it, but I won't do it from a ship again.

 

 

A note about Japanese ports:  The concierge had sheets made up for all of us that had the name and address of each port (and even a map of how to get there) written in Japanese.  I was told guest services also had these available for the asking.  Get one!  Also take a photo of the ship in port and any big signs at the port as you head off.  We talked to more than one couple who almost did not make it back in at least one port and did not have this information and struggled to get explain to a taxi where to go.  

[A&L_Ont]

That is for taking the time to do this. The customs in Japan for the initial clearance is like wow crazy. And chair hogs either... the one might out weight the other. [emoji6][emoji846]

[heatherb1958]

Hadley the one thing I was very impressed with on our Princess Cruise was the organisation by the ship of  all relevant paperwork for each port, visas etc. We did not have to do a thing except remember to take off the ship our passport photocopies . 

The ship had so many lounges and every cabin deck was allocated a lounge and time to meet to then be walked off . We had no status with Princess but didn’t need it, lucky you that you did for your cruise. 

Edited April 11, 2019 by heatherb1958

[MsBehave]

Thanks @hadley. Yes there are negatives to doing something outside your comfort zone, but I have to say - you have made me more excited about my cruise in October on Quantum from Tianjin. 

A holiday,  just like everything else, is what you make of it. 

 

Thank you for your review and taking the time to do it. 

[purplegrapefruit]

On 4/8/2019 at 9:39 AM, xxHadleyxx said:

That's valid.   You might also consider a cruise on a line which is catering to a western market/passenger while sailing in Asia.  I think Celebrity falls into that category (though I'm not confident about this)

Thank you very much for your detailed review.  We are very interested in taking an Asian cruise someday, and your review really helped clarify what RCI offers in the area.  I think as you mentionned, Celebrity may be a better fit for us.  They have some really interesting sailings and they do seem to cater to a western market.  We love to explore new things, but coming "home" to some familiarity at the end of the day is a nice option for us.  

[soflalaw]

Sailing on the Quantum of the Seas next Sunday (April 21, 2019) out of Shanghai.

 

I called RCCL to see if they had any information related to the Gold VIP onboard program described by xxHadleyxx, and the CSR was not aware of it nor could she find any information confirming that this program exists. Further, the CSR was not able to wrap her head around this being a separate program that travelers found onboard the QoftheS, but rather, repeatedly referred to the CAS Gold Membership Status.

 

Can xxHadleyxx or anyone else confirm the existence of this program? Other perks, such as the inclusion of the Voom Internet package, as is included with the Key program?

 

I would definitely purchase this package, especially if it includes internet access, like the Key program does.

[xxHadleyxx]

It did not include internet that I saw.

[xxHadleyxx]

On 4/11/2019 at 11:47 PM, heatherb1958 said:

Hadley the one thing I was very impressed with on our Princess Cruise was the organisation by the ship of  all relevant paperwork for each port, visas etc. We did not have to do a thing except remember to take off the ship our passport photocopies . 

The ship had so many lounges and every cabin deck was allocated a lounge and time to meet to then be walked off . We had no status with Princess but didn’t need it, lucky you that you did for your cruise. 

That's so interesting.  David and I both commented that it did not look like it could have been organized any better, just that it took Japanese immigration a really long time with processing.  I wonder what made that difference with Princess?

[heatherb1958]

1 hour ago, xxHadleyxx said:

That's so interesting.  David and I both commented that it did not look like it could have been organized any better, just that it took Japanese immigration a really long time with processing.  I wonder what made that difference with Princess?

 

Maybe Princess have more experience in the market , not sure , but we rarely had to stand in any line to get off the ship. In Nagasaki we did our own thing so did not have any expedited exit due to a ship tour. I think that it was because they held people in lounges with coffee,tea, pastries etc and did not call people off until the previous group had been processed, we just walked, walked , then face to face  with immigration, stamped photo copy of passport and we were away, took no more than 20  mins leaving lounge to purchasing our day pass for the trolley tram.

As an aside , it was very cold, sunny but cold those Tokyo toilets were a blessing ,  😆.

Edited April 13, 2019 by heatherb1958

[snaefell]

16 hours ago, soflalaw said:

Sailing on the Quantum of the Seas next Sunday (April 21, 2019) out of Shanghai.

 

I called RCCL to see if they had any information related to the Gold VIP onboard program described by xxHadleyxx, and the CSR was not aware of it nor could she find any information confirming that this program exists. Further, the CSR was not able to wrap her head around this being a separate program that travelers found onboard the QoftheS, but rather, repeatedly referred to the CAS Gold Membership Status.

 

Can xxHadleyxx or anyone else confirm the existence of this program? Other perks, such as the inclusion of the Voom Internet package, as is included with the Key program?

 

I would definitely purchase this package, especially if it includes internet access, like the Key program does.

For some reason RCI customer service don't seem to know,which I find hard to believe,or don't seem to aknowledge knowing much of what goes on on board the Quantum out East IME!

[Thorben-Hendrik]

 I really enjoyed reading this trip report👍 even though we have ZERO interest in doing such a sailing! 😱

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

 I really enjoyed reading this trip report👍 even though we have ZERO interest in doing such a sailing! 😱

Good to know.

[The_Big_M]

6 hours ago, xxHadleyxx said:

That's so interesting.  David and I both commented that it did not look like it could have been organized any better, just that it took Japanese immigration a really long time with processing.  I wonder what made that difference with Princess?

 

The two times I've sailed Quantum class out of China to Asia, Japanese immigration has been done onboard and it's quite quick.

 

The Japanese immigration staff come onboard, passengers file around the deck outside Wonderland, and everything moves quickly. All done in under half an hour.

 

However, on Millennium we had to visit the port and go through their customs procedures. This was much slower, but due to unexpected arrival otherwise it would have been handled differently.

 

I can say the way you had it isn't the normal way for these larger ships, but not sure why they did it the traditional way in this case.

[cekim]

Big thanks to Hadley for this brilliant review. So much info has put my mind at ease.

Thank You

 

[xxHadleyxx]

On 4/12/2019 at 11:11 AM, MsBehave said:

Thanks @hadley. Yes there are negatives to doing something outside your comfort zone, but I have to say - you have made me more excited about my cruise in October on Quantum from Tianjin. 

A holiday,  just like everything else, is what you make of it. 

 

Thank you for your review and taking the time to do it. 

Oh yes, so much of it is your attitude in how you react to differences!

I hope you have as much fun in October as we did in March.

[xxHadleyxx]

On 4/13/2019 at 11:18 AM, heatherb1958 said:

 

Maybe Princess have more experience in the market , not sure , but we rarely had to stand in any line to get off the ship. In Nagasaki we did our own thing so did not have any expedited exit due to a ship tour. I think that it was because they held people in lounges with coffee,tea, pastries etc and did not call people off until the previous group had been processed, we just walked, walked , then face to face  with immigration, stamped photo copy of passport and we were away, took no more than 20  mins leaving lounge to purchasing our day pass for the trolley tram.

As an aside , it was very cold, sunny but cold those Tokyo toilets were a blessing ,  😆.

I don't think there was much of any kind of line other than that first port.  

 

It's hard to say what slowed things down (I know there were timed tickets given out and lounges set up, but having arrived 90 minutes late on a port day when we already arrived after lunch (and many wanted to get to Kyoto and tour before dark), I think tht delay meant more people anxious to get off and standing).  It did seem like the hold up was the speed with which Japanese officials were able to fingerprint and process everyone.  There were about 10 tables set up for that, but it still took a while.

who knows?  Maybe it's just an Osaka thing, or was a fluke?