Quantum of the Seas Review
Balanced Review of Quantum's Maiden Voyage 11/2-11/10/2014
Rating by category
Additional details
We are back from a fantastic cruise on the Quantum of the Seas! This was cruise #23 for me. We've sailed on all the major lines before RCL, Celebrity, Carnival, Disney, Norwegian, Princess, MSC and HAL. We've also done an inaugural before on Oasis. I had hoped to start writing this review earlier but the day after we got back my check engine light came on. As I feared, it turned out to be my transmission. One of the few parts remaining that GM has not recalled/replaced on my Enclave. Grrrrrrrrr! At any rate, it’s been a chaotic & expensive return home.
This was our annual girl’s trip. So my two daughters, 2 & 7, my mom and I left our DH’s behind and flew across the pond. Was the maiden voyage of Quantum a flawless sailing? No way! There were lots of little things that didn’t go according to plan. Some were RCL’s fault, some were not. However, I applaud Royal for daring to elevate cruising to another level again and again. The things that happened were irritations, not large enough to ruin my cruise. Nor would I be dissuaded from taking another maiden voyage in the future. Once the kinks are worked out Quantum will definitely be a ship to contend with.
Pre-cruise
Cabin Review
Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
We booked an ocean view cabin originally, however, there was a huge price drop a couple of months before sailing that was irresistible to me. So we downgraded to a category Z inside guarantee. Imagine our huge surprise when a few weeks before sailing we were upgraded to category D balcony (9124). Huge upgrade….. thanks RCL!Of course cabins were ready when we boarded. We did go straight to our cabin to set our stuff down. As we had heard, there was one sailing card on the outside of the door. Wow bands and remaining cards were inside. I didn’t use the app to track my luggage. I couldn’t even find the app in the app store to download to my Android. Nevertheless half of our luggage arrived about 2 hours after we boarded. The other half came during dinner. I was impressed with all of the storage/cubbies and overhead bins. There was definitely ample room to put all of our stuff away, including the kid clutter. We were able to stuff the stroller between the dresser and the balcony door. I liked the cabin layout which felt more spacious even though I’m not sure it was actually any larger than the cabins we normally have. I loved the child safety lock on the balcony door. Due to safety concerns, I typically avoid balcony cabins when I am sailing with my kids but RCL thought of me. You could simply pull to engage and even my seven year old couldn’t reach it. The front door was another story though. My 2yr old could easily turn the door and pull it open by herself. The fridge still had the directions in it (ahhh the new ship thrill). It was empty, hadn’t been stocked yet. This was great because there was plenty of space to stow the water, juice and soda we brought onboard. The mini safes were fine, however, they may want to make them larger. Since they are encouraging everyone to bring their technology onboard, a safe large enough to stow your laptop would have been great. The directions to the safe left out the part where you should hit the star key first. The directions just said the number and then the pound sign. We were told that the safes automatically lock down after an incorrect entry to protect from people trying to figure out the combination. The only problem with this…it is easy to do this on accident. There were so many calls from others who were locked out of their safe that we waited a day and half for a locksmith. (Another irritation)