This was the March 1, 2015 Southern Caribbean cruise on Quantum of the Seas departing from Cape Liberty, New Jersey.

We took the Academy bus from Arlington, Virginia the morning of the first. A predicted snow storm was chasing us the whole way, but it being Sunday, we made good time and got to Cape Liberty just after noon. Problem was so did a couple of dozen other buses. We were held on a side street for over an hour until a slot at the pier opened up for us to unload. By this time a few inches were on the ground. We waited till all the bags were off and tagged with the RFID chips. Security in the terminal was quick. They had enough equipment and the lines were short and moved quickly. After security we had to check in. There were no lines; no diamond, diamond plus, pinnacle or suite lines. No one was at the counters either, just a big room with chairs with folks sitting in them or walking around. There were some in yellow jackets near the entrance to the ship, so we asked where to go. We were told to take a seat. And there we sat for a while. Neither the passengers nor the staff with the iPads seemed to have any clear idea what was going on. We watched this one fellow move down the aisle of chairs not stopping to check anyone in, but just keep walking back and forth. I remarked that even in retirement, I could do that. If the job had full medical, I'd be willing to move to New Jersey. Eventually an officious-looking lady came and directed some of the walkers to actually start checking folks in. All the disorganization took time, but otherwise the new tech check in worked well. It was 2:15 pm by the time we were actually on the ship. A good training session would go a long way to improve this.

After Kummelweck sandwiches in Cafe 270 we went exploring. There is so much art, electronic and traditional, that it is hard to take in all at once. This is a beautiful ship, more reminiscent of sister line Celebrity than RCCL. We had an obstructed balcony on deck six and wanted to check out how obstructed. The concept of having your key sitting out in the hall outside your room seems odd to me, but everything was there and it all seemed to work. The cabin was narrow, but very well designed with lots of storage and even our huge cruise bags fit under the bed. The bathroom had a great shower and seemed more efficient. We had a good view over the top of a lifeboat and considered the discount for an obstructed view a good bargain. Read more