First, being a Boston resident, I am thrilled to board the Serenade close to home. I have done this sailing three times and have loved each one. The staff on the Serenade is wonderful. They will go the extra mile to get things done. The entertainment on the ship is diverse and upbeat. The ship was clean and shiny. The cruise director is full of energy and fun. Everyone has their own preferences and Royal does their best to accommodate everyone. I’m not saying they are perfect, but pretty close. I spent a lot of time in the Diamond lounge and the wait staff there is fantastic. The drinks and appetizers are delicious. I love the ports but I really don’t even get off half the time. I’d rather stay on the ship! I just wish there were more sailings by RCCL from Boston what return to Boston post cruise. I think I would be sailing every month! Loyal to Royal!! Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary. My wife's sister lives and works in Dubai and the opportunity to see her and locations we had not been to before made this choice irresitable. We spent a few days in Dubai, we had been there before, but really enjoyed it as well as a day trip we took to Abu Dhabi. We chose an early boarding 1100 AM, which was a good idea. We were on board in no time and had a cocktail in hand immediately. We decided to check our cabin 1232 on the off chance it was ready, perfect, it was. We dropped our carry-on and proceeded to our usual tasks which include, specialty restaurant dinner reservations, hair appointments, and checking our dining room seating, We then went to Johnny Rockets for lunch which we enjoyed, just something about a greasy burger and french fries chased down by a cold beer. For us boarding was easy and uneventful, and we were able to get our primary objectives done and now it was all about enjoying the cruise. The cruise on the whole we enjoyed, we did feel however, that some crew members were not engaged. I think part of that could be the length of the cruise (it started in Singapore we picked it up in Dubai) as well as that the ship was going into dry-dock for refurbishment. These ladies and gentlemen work extremely hard with no days off and long hours, so a lot of it I get. We enjoy eating in the specialty restaurants, however the menus need some change. The Chops and Giovannis Table menu have not seen a change in many a cruise, we enjoy these venues but we will re-think the amount of times we patronize these establishments going forward. We usually get the five night dining package plus a couple of additional dinners, but being faced with the same menu all the time becomes boring. The dining room was okay, nothing really special on that front, we do however enjoy breakfast in the dining room. We enjoy going to the Schooner Bar after dinner each evening and this cruise was no exception. Yanus and Stanislav (bartenders) could not have been nicer and more efficient. They went above and beyond especially when they ran out of grapefruit juice. We enjoy vodka and grapefruit juice and for some reason when you travel to that part of the world they always seem to never have enough and mid-way through the cruise they run out. Yanus and Stanislav would actually run to another bar in an attempt to find us grapefruit juice. Hope you guys can get off the ship in Miami. Why is having enough grapefruit juice on a cruise an issue? Best RCCL bartenders!!!! Our stateroom attendant was Li, a nicer gentlemen I have never met. I enjoyed speaking with him at length will hopefully run into him again on another cruise. We booked our 2019 and 2020 cruise with Carinha Duarte. Bon Dia Carinha!!! See you in the north!!! She did a fabulous job working with us for our next cruises as well. very informative and helpful with the different ships and venues. We only took the tour of Petra with RCCL, we are finding their tours are over priced and you can usually do better with a private tour company or venture off on your own. We enjoyed Crete (Chania) very much and of course Jerusalem, Dead Sea and Barcelona. We did Jerusalem and the Dead Sea with a private tour operator because it afforded us to see both in the one day we were in port. RCCL offered one or the other. Barcelona is one of our favorite port cities we have been there many times and so we go off on our own and seek out the obscure tapas and wine bars always the best. Going through the Suez Canal was an adventure, so glad we got to experience that. On the whole an excellent vacation with just the few thing we mentioned that hopefully RCCL can address Read Less

I am a widower and this complicates fare prices for such a long cruise. I saw this positioning cruise offered (5 back to back cruises in one) and it was just right for me. Airfare and two hotel nights on each end were included. Their rep met us at the airport, and on embarkation, transported and escorted us through with no problems. I had a partially obst. view cabin with balcony and was pleasantly surprised that the view was very good, unless you wanted to view the pier below you in port. Many times my port side view faced the open harbor in port. It was spacious and lots of storage. Bath and shower were excellent designs. Colors were a soothing RCI blue and the couch comfortable enough for a nap. My cabin attendant(V Bascombe) all the way to Singapore, met every perceived need and was superb service. Service was available for $30 that washed and folded my laundry. As I was a single in a double cabin, I received two points daily in the Crown & Anchor status. I started as Gold and ended the last cruise as a Diamond! I thought this very generous of RCI. Their service center also accepted my much earlier RCI cruise based on photos of my wife and I on board. Ovation of the Seas (OS) was new and exciting with inovations like North Star the fair like ride into the air 300 feet over the water and the side of the ship .Surf riding , roller scating , bumper cars and other team activities. North star was fun every time. My only problem was with the crew at the free fall ride that signed me up, gave me a wrist band , asked me to wait an hour for my appointment time ( I came early in case of a crowd or instructions) and then decided after all this to weigh me and decided that I was over the limit. I explained that I had not gained or loss a pound waiting the hour I had been sitting there. The food of course was a central part of the trip on any cruise . At first I was in the rotation for the four gratis restaurants. This was fun and the food very good. The waiters and their head waiters were going to amazing lengths to please every wish. As long as you were in the rotation, you saw the same service each time. I failed to turn in my request slip on one segment and then fell out of the rotation. I found this not unpleasant , as a single guest I could be fitted into any group including some Germans I found very pleasant company. As I met others I became attached to them and we had excellent dinners together. The menus were supposedly varied by restaurant, but in the long run (52 days) , Salmon is Salmon no matter what you name it. I never had a bad meal. On one occasion I casually remarked to my table mate that this beef was more well done than the rare I had asked for. The waiter wisked it away in an instant and returned in moments with a new plate with rare beef apologizing the entire time. I became very fond of the wait staff. The staff out front of the restaurants had to put up with a lot from guests too early or late for reservations, showing up with groups of up to 20 Chinese who want to sit together ( this takes up many tables that other guests are expecting to have nightly) . I seldom ate at the buffet other than lunches, but it offered all anyone could ask for. The army of young staff there kept it clean and offered pleasant smiles to all. The entertainment on board was selected by Joff, he was a excellent and charming director. The acts were delightful and varied each night. The big event in the hi tech theater 270 was Spectra, a real wow show the first time seen, special effects and lights, circ de sole acts etc.. Once was enough. Another great show was the high energy Vegas show with feathers and show girls that never got old. Local acts were added at each port and many were very, very good. After Singapore , a new cruise director (and many other crew and staff) came and he seemed to employ old friends who should have retired. I mean really, a mimic doing Tom Jones? The ports were great and I chose this voyage because of the many Asian & middle eastern stops I had never seen. The size of our ship meant that many ports were not available to us and we had to dock at container ports. Shore excursions were varied and fun. The value of a "ship will wait for our own excursions" was proven several times over the two months by late buses. The captain turned the ship around in the Yellow Sea to recover a body seen in the water. We did a complete accountability of all guests and crew, then took it to S. Korea with us. The debarkation at the port in China was the usual wait for bags but it must be said the Chinese authorities did their best to help and cooperate with the crew and passengers. It went well as could be expected for 4500 people departing at the same time. The voyage was a real adventure and a lifetime experience . I will always appreciate the genuine kindness and concern of the many RCI staff and crew that did so much to make two months at sea a fresh and beautiful experience. Read Less

We sailed on the Repositioning cruise from Boston to Tampa Florida. On this cruise, my husband and I reached our Diamond status with the Crown and Anchor Society. We had 69 nights onboard when we sailed so we reach Diamond on the 11th night of the 13 night cruise. Embarkation in Boston was very easy. We were among the first to arrive at the terminal and check in went well. We waited until about 11:30 and, and after the Diamonds and above were ushered on, we boarded. We got to the Windjammer before the big crowds arrived and enjoyed out lunch outside in Rita's Cantina area. Rooms were ready on time at 1 PM. We dropped off our carryon bags and walked around the ship until muster drill and sail away. It was a cool sail away from Boston but that was expected at the end of October. The first three days were days at sea to get to the southern Caribbean. Activities were limited unless you like to get involved in the Trivia challenges that ran throughout the entire cruise. Not our thing. There is a movie theater on the ship but the choice of movies for the entire 13 days was very poor. They had about 6 movies that they kept playing over and over. The titles included Antman, Furious 7, Jurassic Park, Lincoln, and Terminator and one more that I can't remember. I thought that was a VERY poor selection since it was a 13 day cruise and only 6 movies. Being at sea for three days in both directions, it would have been nice to have a better selection available. You could tell that there were no special attractions added for the 13 day cruise. There were movies on the TV in your staterooms but who wants to sit in your stateroom all the time. We went on with $450 in OBC and I was wondering what I would do with all that credit. I played Bingo and that eats up $38 a time. Then about half way through the cruise, I had to make a trip to medical. That ate up $227 worth of my credit but I was glad to get the relief for my problem. So, in the end, there was no problem using up the credit. We had My Time Dining and went to the Main Dining Room the second night of the cruise, the first Formal Night. We were given a table for two right next to the Hostess Desk and did not enjoy dinner at all. The hubbub of the waiters seating people, the passengers coming and going, the Hostess doing her job, and the busing station right across from our table did not make for a good dinner atmosphere. It was like eating in the middle of a tornado. After that night, we went to the Windjammer every night and enjoyed a much quieter and pleasant dining experience. They lower the lighting and it is really peaceful there. RCCI really needs to work on their My Time Dining program. The passengers were largely Senior Citizens, as we are also being 71 and 75. There were only 19 children on the cruise. Many of the passengers were headed to their homes in Florida for the winter and used this cruise to get there. There were several repeaters who do this cruise every year. We had a very large Meet and Greet gathering with about 276 Cruise Critic members in attendance. We enjoyed a very active Roll Call before we sailed with over 2200 posts. No officers attended out Meet and Greet, which I thought was strange. The Food and Beverage Officer and the Hotel Officer did host a special luncheon for us on the way back to Florida which was a nice touch. The Roll Call group did a Slot Pull on Tuesday and we did pretty good. We each put in $21 and walked away with $18 each. That is pretty good. The last time I did the Slot Pull, we lost everything we put in. Our stateroom attendant, Edwin, did a fine job. Our room was always neat and clean. We asked for some ice to cool our water and Sprite down that was part of our Emerald Welcome Back Gift. He got up the ice right away and kept ice in our room for the rest of the trip. He did towel animals almost every night. One was an alligator. I had never seen that one before. He called us by name every time he saw us in the hall and always asked if every thing was OK. He did a great job. We were in cabin 9623, an inside on deck 9. It was nice location for getting any where on the ship, up two for pool and Windjammer and down three or four for shopping, shows, walking, and entertainment. We use the stairs when we are onboard to help with some of the extra calories we consume. We always do inside cabins on our cruises. Have never had any regrets. Had a balcony once and hardly used it so the insides work just perfectly for us. We enjoy each island we stopped at. Our ports were St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Aruba, Barbados, and Curacao. I made arrangements on each island for Island Tours from local guides. Each of them did a fine job. We got to see each island and learned some history and interesting facts about each one. The three sea days back to Tampa seemed to drag a bit. Again, Trivia and Bingo were run each day but the same bad movie selection was played. The chair hogs around the pool had their towels out by 7 AM and there was rarely any place to be able to just sit on that deck. No one seemed to care that no one was using most of the deck chairs that had towels on them. All in all, it was a pretty good cruise. We enjoyed our meals and really like to go to the Main Dining Room on sea days for the Salad Bar. No big shrimp this year. They use to have shrimp on there the size of your thumb. This time, they were just the small salad shrimp but still a great lunch salad. My husband won't fly so we usually drive to the ports. This time, being a repo cruise, we had to be creative. We took the Greyhound bus to Boston the day before and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Dorchester. They had a shuttle that took us to the pier on the morning of the cruise at no charge. When we landed in Florida, we rented a car and drove back to upstate NY. We did the trip in two twelve hour days. It was a long drive but we made it safe and sound. We booked a cruise for next August while we were onboard. That will be our first Diamond cruise and we are excited to take advantage of the Diamond Crown and Anchor Benefits. Read Less

Occupied level 9 Cabin with veranda. Cruise commenced Barcelona with various brief stops and concluded in Fremantle Australia. Pros 1. Cabin well appointed serviced by excellent staff. 2. Excellent wait staff in dining rooms. Cons 1. Embarkation took over 3 hours. Disembarkation was reasonable. 2. Emergency drill was so inept that only those on the bridge had any chance od escape. 3. Variety of food very good however it was not put together by kitchen hands. Quality was poor. 4. Non English speaking Captain. 5. Ship should have been quarantined from the third day until the thirty first day as a result of an outbreak of severe gastro with ambulances called in Malaysia to offload critical cases. 6. Duty Free shopping was ultra expensive with many items flea market quality. Could have purchased any item on Ebay for half. 7. Identical shore excursions could have been bought 60% cheaper from the wharf. 8. No live coverage of major sporting events despite the fact there was live streaming on the internet. 9. Cost of drinks out of the ball park. 10. Management more concerned with promoting Casino and providing free grog and entertainment to frequent travellers in private areas. 11. Entertainment was patchy but overall fair. 12. Activities were only fair. 13. Internet and telephone calls costs outrageous. Summary Senior staff were overall lazy, inept and unapproachable. Avoid at all costs sailing for 35 days and clocking up kilometres on water. Would not have been surprised to have hit an iceberg. This company is a no no as evidenced by its plummeting stock market value. Read Less

Left the Quantum of the Seas last night in Shanghai. The cruise overall was disappointing but disembarkation was awful. We arrived many hours late because of fog-- no one's fault-- but how it was handled was dreadful. There was no communication. We had the air-sea package and missed our flight with the delay and were told we would be put up in a hotel overnight. after three inquiries of various staff I was told we would be met after we cleared customs and given direction. There was a massive throng of people in the terminal. We inquired of multiple employees of RC until we finally found one who knew. It was 2.5 hours standing and being pushed and shoved and having my feet stepped on until we got on the bus for our assigned hotel. We were then told RC would only pay for a room with 2 twin beds and 2 breakfasts and we are a party of three. We were also told we would have to take a cab to the airport , and I just found out by accident from overhearing another passenger's conversation that a bus is being sent by RC to fetch us at noon. The above experience dominates my impression of the cruise at this time, but here are few few other quibbles. No shampoo, conditioner, or bath or hand soap were in the bathroom when we arrived and were never replaced unless we asked. The same for laundry bag and request form.restaurant orders wre repeatedly gotten wrong. The worst restaurant was Silk, which looked and sounded so inviting on the website. Sorry to go on so, but this was my 5th criise, including one on RC to Alaska, and I enjoyed the others much more. Read Less

My wife & I were on the recent Singapore to Shanghai 9 night sailing. We are experienced cruisers across many brands. We love cruising & mainly look for the positives. There were some minor disappointments on this cruise but we did our homework before we left & we knew there would be some changes with the ship moving to the China market. We scored a great last minute special for this cruise & combined with doing our homework such as pre-booking most things we really did enjoy this cruise. In retrospect the minor problems were just that, minor. Maybe if we had paid full price, we may have been more disappointed in some things. Here was our experience: We flew into Singapore the night before & stayed at the Conrad near Marina Bay. This was a fantastic 5 star hotel & I would not hesitate to stay there again. Embarkation: We were Gold status & this did take a while. There were more people in our line than the newbies. I use a walking stick to get around & I appreciate when there are special lines for us people that are somewhat disabled, but only noticed one of these special lines at the security point. Ship: After we boarded, we set off to explore the ship & yes we were Wowed! The overall layout of the ship was great & everything felt new, clean & somewhat luxurious. We have sailed on the Allure so we were hoping for some funky new things on this ship that RCI had promised in its marketing & I felt in most parts they delivered. eg, The 270 lounge was amazing & one of our favourite areas to relax or see a show. We loved our stateroom, a spacious balcony up on deck 13. It was very nicely & cleverly appointed & very comfortable & loved using my wow band to open the door. We also loved the Seaplex & bumper cars as well as the North star. We did this over Hong Kong which made for amazing views & we were lucky the wait was not too long as most people were still ashore at the time. Another great venue was the Music hall, it was a great big two storey space that catered for bands, nightclub or other get-togethers. The main Theatre entertainment was a bit hit & miss. I thought the shows in the second half of the cruise were better. Unfortunately they replaced MamaMia with a new show called Sequins & feathers & other than the pretty girls on stage, lol, I really didn’t enjoy this feature show. I thought the music & dancing just didn’t have a nice mix & flow. It just looked messy & disorientated. My favourite area was the solarium up front and I spent a lot of time lounging around there. This is truly an all weather ship to suit one & all. Food & service: We sail Royal for their amazing ships not for their food. I personally have had better food & service on other Cruise lines, both cheaper & more expensive. We did however like the dynamic dining concept. We tried American Icon the first & last nights of the cruise. The first night food was not bad but the service was the worst I have ever come across of my 12 cruises. Seriously it was terrible. The last night service was better but the food was horrible. Chic in contrast was much, much better & ate there twice also. Silk was nice overall but thought the ambient lighting was just too dark. Never tried Grande. Of the fee paying eateries we tried Jamie’s twice & loved it, it was clearly our favourite on board. We also tried Chops Grill & were very disappointed. We always do a steakhouse on each cruise & they have always been great but this was terrible. Once again the lighting was very low, the service was only average & the meals bland & not worthy of the extra price. Presentation on the plate was clearly lacking & the food just didn't excite the tastebuds. Windjammer was ok food wise but it seemed everyone else on the ship was there the same time as us. Some days we did a full lap around & could still not find a spare seat/table, Once again this is extra annoying as remember I use a walking stick, so trying to find a spot while balancing a plate of food ain't easy! Food from the cafe's were very quick, nice & easy but the pizzas were quite bland also. The 270 cafe was a hit for us, good food for breakfast or lunch & never crowded. We had Royal Replenish drink packages which we had pre-paid from home. These did work well from bars for coffee’s, water, etc, but some of the automated machines often seemed to be out of order. In regards to C&A & M&M we did receive all info in our Staterooms as normal & the normal type of events were held. Ports: Pre booked ship excursions for Vietnam – local town of Vung Tau, & Xiamen China – city highlights. Both trips were just ok, nothing special. In Hong Kong we docked overnight & used this extra time for our self organised trip to Macau. This was a very long day but well worth it, got to see Giant Panda’s, the old & new towns & the amazing Venetian Casino which is said to be the largest in the world. Guest services, well this was where a lot of improvement could have been made. Lucky we didn’t have to go down there very often. Constant long lines & the mostly Chinese staff had very little English skills. Admittedly, I don’t know much chinese but this was a bit frustrating when trying to organise our passports for a visit to Macau. It took 3 separate trips to Guest services to get this organised & then on the morning we arrived in Hong Kong & went to go pick up our passports so we could make our way to Macau, there was a total shambles in the Port hall & no-one from RCI seemed to know what the procedure was & we along with many other disgruntled guests spent 1-2 hrs waiting to get our passports, & then made to feel that the mix up was all our fault by the Chinese RCI staff. Their rudeness in the matter shocked a lot of us passengers. So much for Customer Service? As for Shanghai Disembarkation, well no-one can be blamed for the fog & it delayed our docking for several hours. However the whole process was handled very poorly. The ship apparently anchored out of the harbour at about 3am, It would take another 5 hours of sailing from this point to Dock. So, unaware of this, all passengers were up early to meet in their respective areas to get ready to get off the ship, but No, it wasn't until about 9am that they told us we would still be hours away from docking (maybe 4 –6pm) and we could return to our rooms. They could have told us this two hours earlier & we could have slept in some more or not have rushed to Breakfast, etc. They did give us free internet & lunch. Later in the day when we finally could get off we were lucky that we did self assist with our luggage & didn't have to put up with all the craziness in the terminal. However we were in line waiting to get off the ship for a long time because many people in front of us who still had to pick up their luggage in the arrivals hall, had gotten into line well before their number had been called. This just meant that not only did they hold us up, but they then standed around waiting in the cramped area in the terminal waiting for their luggage & adding to the confusion. This was very poorly handled by RCI. We then got a taxi into the city where we already had a hotel booked. The Raddison New World Hotel. A nice hotel but not as nice as the Conrad in Singapore. This was the largest Cruise Ship to ever visit Asia, so the welcome we received in each port was a real highlight, with lots of Chinese Dragons & drums & dancing. Our balcony was on the Starboard side & we always seemed to dock on this side, which worked out well for us as we had prime viewing for these great welcome exchanges. Overall we had a great time & would cruise the Quantum again for the right price/Itinerary. Read Less

It was very much regretted that all the great moments we had enjoyed so much on board was ended with poorly managed disembarkation process. During the chaos, all the crews were too busy with incoming guests and not caring the outgoing guests properly and not even informing the outgoing guests what really happened rather than keep them waiting in a long line . We were forced to get out from the room at 3:00 PM while our disembarkation turn was still 6:00 PM. After getting into the terminal building, another 2,5 hours que required to get on the taxi, it was a bit fortunate that it was in the evening, if we got no 6 hrs delay, taxi queing would be under the sun. The ship berthed at 3:00 PM and we reached our hotel at almost 10:00 PM. We are not blaming all this chaos to RCI since partly caused by the capability of Bao Shan terminal to handle large ships but this should be able to be handled much better by RC who is supposed to have a lot of experience with this kind of situation. By the way on board activities were so enjoyful, great restaurants, well organised all ages activities, very clean environment, nice swimming pools, excellent fitness club, great hospitality and kind staffs. It was a pity that internet connection was not part of the cruise package and the rate was above the average. We do not think to sail with Quantum again especially star/end in Shanghai. Read Less

The reason why I gave the title "Was a great Cruise" was because my wife and myself who have been on 8 RCL cruises chose to go on this cruise not because of the ports she called on but to experience the ship and all its great innovations etc. On the outset let me state that cruising in Asia is not the same as anywhere in the world. Cruising is relatively in its infancy stages especially in the minds of Asians who have a mind set that they want to get the best out of the buck they have spent, Unlike western culture it is not customary to sit around the table for hours and have conversations and discussions with the waiting staff this does not happen in the main in this region and hence the thinking of RCL to cater for this region is understandable. additionally now the new trend to be glued to the social media and post everything and anything that moves , which is now unfortunately becoming the norm and conversations are just becoming a thing of the part for those who let their lives to be ruled by Social Media. Many young Asians have in recent times have become very wealthy and it is something that they need to boast about and hence will go to any lengths to display it. Before boarding I read a lot of the reviews about the dinning and must admit that the only thing we kind of missed was the atmosphere of the big dining room etc and the ambience that went with it. we ate in most of the restaurants and given we were only a couple we had pretty good service and the food was served quickly and whatever was requested. on the booking of tables we tried various options and each time we got a table . 1. made a booking, 2. went late for a booking, 3 made no booking and each time we got a table within 5 minutes of entering the restaurant. again only 2 of us so no issues at all Embarkation. from the moment we left the taxi to the check in ( we had priority being Emerald) it took us 20 mins to get to the cabin and within 20 mins we had our bags. the reason efficient local check in authorities, immigration clearance and Singapore efficiency. The cruise terminal authorities make sure things run super smooth. Activities and Shows all up to a good standard we took the behind the scenes tour which lasted 5 hours at sea and we got a great appreciation for the ship and the staff. Stateroom was super, clean and we were able to store everything we wanted. Cabin Attendant was on call 24 hours and all it took was a phone call for assistance. Port Excursions As stated before we did the cruise for the ship not the ports. on the two RCL excursions we took only because we wanted to use the transportation and the rest we did on our know having travelled to these ports in the past. Disembarkation, it didn't help the ship being delayed by fog of for over 6 hours and RCL did their best to provide free internet, opened restaurants, and organised activities. however when it came to disembarkation they could not control the local authorities who were more bothered with getting on board etc, another cruise ship arrived at the same time and all of a sudden you have 6000 + passengers trying to disembark. result total chaos , welcome to China and it was every man for himself, this chaos was not only at the terminal but once one got to local transportation area it was even worse, so one cannot just blame RCL. however the last 4 hours were kind of challenging but once we got out of the area the memories of the trip made it sweater. the WOW factor the North Star went on it twice, once at sea and once in Hong Kong and second WOW factor was the entry into Hong Kong harbour in brilliant sunshine. all up we were very impressed and resulted in us booking our next cruise on board the Serenade of the Seas in Europe. Thanks RCL and again to cruisers who want to cruise in Asia please have a very open mind to cultures and customs and you will be right Read Less

We cruise regularly and have sailed on RCI, NCL, Celebrity, Silver Sea, and Princess. Quantum of the Seas is one of the best cruises we have taken. We are couple in our late 30s and like the finer things in life but also like to have fun. We consider ourselves lucky enough to be able to vacation and cruise. Was the cruise perfect? No. Is any cruise perfect? No. But I guess it is how you look at the world and we prefer to have ourselves a fantastic time! Now onto Quantum. What an amazing ship! So modern, so many great activities and venues. Have sailed on many RCI ships and Quantum is a definitely a great step forward. Arrived early for embarkation at Singapore – big, well layed out terminal. Checked in then waited till our coloured card was called. From customs took around 10 mins to get on the ship. Considering such a big ship embarkation went quite well. Arrived in the Royal Esplanade and WOW! Sparkling and new, clean, modern and spacious. Spaces we loved on the ship were 270, Seaplex, Ripcord Sky Diving, the adults pool and Jamie’s Italian our fav restaurant. Ship design/decor reminded us of Celebrity – very tasteful and a luxurious feel. Cabin - Balcony on deck 8. Beds super comfy, nice to see a bigger ensuite with a proper shower screen, plenty of storage and big flat screen TV. Room service attendant friendly and cleaned the room well. USB points handy for charging. No shampoo/conditioner but asked our steward and these were provided. Dining - Had no issues with Dynamic Dining so seems RCI have fixed the problems from last year. Liked being able to go to whichever restaurant we liked. Menus changed after 4 days and had some ‘always available’ options. Booked some of the restaurants before we cruised and some onboard using the APP. Longest we had to wait to be seated was 5 mins. Chic the best quality food and service. A little patchy in American Icon. Food could have been better in Silk but I guess that is personal taste. A lot of the wines by the glass were not available but sommelier helped with substitutes. Wonderland was fun and different – great atmosphere and quirky menu. Our waiter knew the menu inside out and was fantastic - the beef melted in your mouth. Jamie’s Italian was our fav. $30 for dinner, $15 for lunch. Lunch menu pretty much same as dinner with a few items removed. Have to try the meat plank and the calamari! Pastas made fresh daily and were delicious. We wanted to try a few and our waiter suggested smaller size portions which they can do. Eugenio also knew the menu inside out to the extent of where the ingredients were from. Do not miss Jamie’s! Johnny Rockets had changed to Kung Foo Panda Noodles for the Asian market - didn't eat there but was $4-5 for noodles/dumplings. LOVED Cafe 270 - Quantum's version of the Park Cafe. Roast Beef rolls as always were delicious. Salad bar had the tastiest Noodle and Caesar Salads and all made fresh for you. Good spot to grab a bacon and egg muffin in the morning as the Windjammer usually pretty packed. Activities - Quantum offers lots of new things to do. Sea Plex always had something going on – did the bumper cars several times – so much fun! Glow Party was something different with the DJ floating overhead in a rotating capsule. Tried the roller skating as well. They also had dance classes in there. Ripcord by IFly was fantastic. Booked on 1st day using the APP. Whoever thought you could sky dive on a ship! You had to remove everything in case it got caught in the giant fans - including any false teeth which our instructor told us had happened! North Star usually had a queue of maybe 1hr or more – best time to go first thing in morning. Loved the views particularly in Hong Kong. Maybe they could work out some sort of booking system for North Star. All the activities we tried were free. 270 lounge was our fav indoor venue. Great views over the back of the ship and the show Starwater was spectacular. Giant projections on the glass, aerial performers hanging from the roof and 6 robo screens. Haven’t seen anything like this before on land or sea and loved it – went several times. They did min robo shows during the day definitely worth seeing. Not a huge fan of the new production show Sequins & Feathers – very loud and strange choice of songs - felt like we were being screamed at. Spent a lot of time in the adult Solarium – beautiful design and healthy cocktails at the bar. Kids would sometimes come into the infinity pools and we appreciated the solarium attendants asking them to leave (nicely). Music Hall a new venue for RCI ships – 2 level live music venue and other activities like a ‘silent disco’ where you listen to the music through headphones. The live bands played a mix of songs in English/Cantonese/Mandarin to cater to the mixed passengers. Vintages the place to go for wine – Ting and the other bartenders so friendly and enjoyed chatting with them. We had the Ultimate bev package and most wines by the glass included. A quieter venue and super comfy chairs/lounges. Technology overall worked really well. Internet was cheap compared to other cruises and high speed - $15 per day 1 device or $10 per day if you connected 2 devices. Liked using the APP to book shows, dining, shore excursions, etc. Easier than queuing up to book. Bionic Bar worked most of the time – you could choose from a menu or make your own cocktails. Very cool to watch a robot make your drink something different! Service overall excellent. A lot of new staff onboard as the ship was on its way to China. A few issues here and there but no doubt will get better. Queues usually long at the front desk. We were delayed getting into Shanghai due to fog. Bit of a pain but I guess you can’t control the weather. Didn't let it spoil our holiday. Overall a fantastic holiday and would not hesitate to sail on a Quantum ship again – hopefully Ovation when she comes down to Aus. If you can’t enjoy yourself on this ship then something must be wrong! Read Less

Embarkation was an orderly mess. We got to the cruise terminal before 11am, but boarded the ship around 2pm. Boarding was color-coded, and we were surprised that they were calling all the colors except ours -- 10 colors were called ahead of ours, although the terminal had only a few hundred people when we arrived. And Windjammer was full when we went up for lunch, so it probably wasn't FIFO from the terminal. Debarkation was worse. Quantum wasn't sailing out the day we reached port, as they had an event at Royal Theatre with Shanghai government officials that night (so that's why we needed to get to Baoshan quickly, in spite of fog). The right thing for the hotel dept to have done was allow us to leave the rooms when they called our luggage tag numbers, and not force to crowd 4,239 guests in Royal Theatre and 270. They also closed out the food outlets an hour before we reached port, so Deck 5 public spaces were all crowded with nothing to do and standing room only for a lot of people. Upon reaching the terminal, many people who debarked ahead of us were still there. It was just fortunate that we booked our own Shanghai tour and I was able to update our guide constantly with our arrival info, so we were able to meet up at the offsite parking area in good time, in spite of private vehicles not being allowed to park near the terminal due to the Quantum event that night. Dynamic Dining (now Dynamic Dining Choice) is good for people who booked together, such as families and friends. It's just like going to a restaurant with reservations. If travelling alone, traditional dining (or Dynamic Dining Classic, for Quantum Class) would definitely be better. All our reservations were there, so I never experienced the "missing reservations" problem that other people had. It's also so much easier to modify reservations on the Royal IQ app than on the RCCL website. Lesson learned -- dine early to get to the shows that don't need reservations, and be at Royal Theatre 15 minutes before a show to avoid pillar obstructions. Windjammer after the show if you get hungry. The restaurants were a mixed bag. The only one we paid for was Jamie's for lunch ($15), and it was very much worth it. We usually had excellent food, a good server, and good service times, although it was rare that we got all three in one meal. The menus were changed twice -- menu A on the first 3 nights, menu B on the next 3, and back to menu A with additional Chinese dishes (but without many of the Signatures and Classics) on the last 3. One thing I was happy about was that we were able to get ice cream or sherbet at every restaurant, even when it wasn't on the dessert menu. North Star -- long lines whenever we passed by, so we didn't go. iFly -- did it twice, because fog on the last day made the captain open up a lot of activities. It might have also been possible to fly without reservations on the second to the last full day, as iFly personnel told me to come back on that day, although I didn't. Waverider -- sister says there were times that only two people were using it alternately, but there were always a lot of people when I passed by. Entertainment -- only Starwater was reservable, but I don't think everyone had a chance to watch because 270 was spacious, but had much fewer seats than Royal Theatre. Unlike earlier cruises where the entertainment was posted in the Royal website, we only knew the shows for the day when the Cruise Compass came out, which made it difficult to match reserved dining and going to shows. The Music Hall was a useful venue, but they seemed to have turned it into more casino space now. Guest Services -- laundry dept lost one of my underwear, and cost to replace was a little under $10. Chinese girl at guest services kept on saying that laundry dept couldn't find it anymore, so I would be credited $80. I thought that was impossible, because I was claiming $9+, and wash & fold was only $30, so I thought maybe she was saying $18. The next day, $8 was credited. Please practice your English more. Lesson learned -- have it in writing and signed. Now that I've been spoiled by Quantum, I'm not sure if I'll ever go on another class of ship again. Read Less

As Diamond members who have had numerous cruises with Royal Caribbean, we were anticipating a Quantum cruise to be the best ever. We were greatly disappointed. The staff was poorly trained, with a couple of exceptions (our cabin steward was excellent) and some were even extremely rude. Especially the woman bartender in the Diamond lounge who insulted some friends who were with us one evening. Except for 2 nights, the entertainment was poor to mediocre. The meals were ok except for one of the restaurants, Jamie Oliver’s, for which we paid extra, and the service and food there was terrible. The ship was attractive enough but when one considers all of the other amenities one should expect on a cruise, this one let us down. BTW, they don't provide shampoo, conditioners, etc. unless you request these, first time we'd experience that on a cruise. The disembarkation in Shanghai was a debacle. We waited in a line for nearly an hour after our number had been called and then when we got to the luggage warehouse, much of the luggage had not arrived and some that had was not organized. The place was a madhouse and no Royal personnel were around to provide any assistance. It took some of our friends traveling with us nearly an hour to locate their luggage. Royal's staff were apparently on board entertaining a number of Chinese dignitaries who were their guests. One of the veteran staff members told us RCC is bringing ships on line faster than they can train personnel. Royal is planning to bring several new ships into service within the next couple of years, however, if they don’t get their act together, they will loose many of their loyal clients, such as ourselves. Read Less

Quantum of the Seas is so beautifully designed... It needs Management BAD. I love cruising. This was my 42nd cruise. Never before have I had to go to the Diamond Concierge to get soap for the shower. I asked the cabin steward for another bar of soap after four days, and he told me he didn't have any. I asked him what I should do, he replied: "you should use less.." Basically that is the microcosm of the entire trip. Restaurants are truly bad with terrible service. One night (at Silk) I couldn't get ice water. The water was warm, so I asked for ice. The waitress told me she would have to go to far to get it, and couldn't. She left and never came back. No dessert, no coffee... Nothing. The show promised had apparently gotten off the ship prior to my cruise, so there was only fill in entainers. The sole violinist in its place was nice. In all fairness, the Windjammer was excellent. The decor was beautiful. But there were few shore excursions and they clearly had been thrown together and not well done. The six hours to get off the ship and get a cab in Shanghai allowed fellow passengers to vent at the bad service from the cruise. One elderly lady who had been on for three back-to-backs was screaming (every five minutes) how the cruise sucked. Too bad it wasn't entertaining, but instead a loud reminder of how we have to remember to never book this line again. As a Diamond Member for the last decade, it made me sad. Standing in the rain without cover was almost therapeutic in the line of 2500 people. I will remember the beautiful ship, but can never recommend it to anyone ... Not a good experience. Read Less

So much to dislike, I don't know where to start. Embarkation took 2 1/2 hours and then we arrived in our suite to find another passenger's bags and clothes in the wardrobe. My bag could not be located and finally we found it in the held luggage room some 5 hours later. Nobody could tell us why. Our suite had dirty greasy fingerprints over the glass and furniture, so poorly cleaned. The service in the dynamic dining restaurants was poor and after being encouraged to buy bottles of wine on the first night to get the discount, we found out the discount was a paltry $1. Then each night the staff went through the same routine of trying to find our wine, usually after dinner was over and then not even chilled. The shopping was woeful, no general store so couldn't even buy toothpaste. Everything I chose in the small makeup store was out of stock. However if you wanted to buy cartons of cigarettes and watches there were plenty to choose from. The ship was disorganized and the access wrist band didn't even work half the time. Staff at times seemed disgruntled at the so called "smart ship" So much hype about the robot bar tenders and most of the time they sat there idle. The staff serving breakfast in the Coastal Kitchen were friendly and attentive (the only highlight) but even then they never remembered our name even though we are there every day. The service does not come close to that offered on Celebrity and Princess. The 3 1/2 hour disembarkation process was disgusting. Never again will we sail with RCI. Quantum of the seas promised so much but delivered so little. Read Less

We flew from Singapore to Dubai to join the ship for a long anticipated vacation on a WOW mega ship. Embarkation in Dubai cruise centre was chaotic from the start. There was not sufficient staff on the ground to guide passengers through. We checked in online, printed all the required documents (sail passes, luggage tags, etc), yet we spent about 20-30mins trying to get registered at the cruise centre. There was a huge bottleneck of passengers trying to board at the same time. No designated queue for those booked in the higher categories and those who have mobility or disability issues. Once on board, things got better. The cabin was above expectation except that getting into the bathroom took some effort as the floor was raised rather high. I have a slight mobility limitation and use a walking aid. Booking online for dynamic dining, shore excursions proved to be rather easy. However, after a few meals on the ship, we realised that even though we booked at different restaurants each night, our meals appeared to be rather similar except for the venue and way they were presented. The menu for all meals at the Windjammer were very predictable. Same everyday. We were on a 14day vacation and cannot imagine how our fellow cruisers feel, some having been on the ship from Cape Liberty - eating the same food everyday. After day 4, we spent sometime planning out our dining schedules for the rest of the cruise, eating at different venues for each meal. Meals at Jamie Oliver were the only ones we looked forward to. Onboard entertainment was rather limited except for the headliner shows. Movies were shown on the open pool deck and repeated several times over the 14days we were on board. On some evenings, it was too warm to be on deck; some days when watching a movie, we had to move around the deck in order to avoid getting wet when it rained. Onshore excursions were badly planned and beyond expectation. Joined Penang food trail hoping to be able to taste some of Penang's favorite local food. The excursion departure timing was too early. We left the ship at 0730hrs. Guide brought group to a street coconut vendor. Having coconut so early in the morning? As it was too early for street hawkers to be opened, we were left at a shopping mall for nearly 2hrs!! Next stop, local fried noodles. Most of us gave up after realising that there was no seat and the wait for our order was 1hr. Group were next taken to try durians and a quick walk through a street in Little India. By this time, it was time to get back to the ship. Out at 0730hrs, no food on a food trail tour when we finally returned to the ship at 2pm. Been on Legend and Mariner previously. Although these were smaller ships, we had a truly good time but not this time on Quantum. Read Less

Having done more than forty cruises, ten of which have been with R.C.I. this is without doubt the worst cruise my wife and I have ever been on. The problems started before the cruise began with total confusion over the need for an Indian Visa. Despite the fact that I made it known to R.C.I. that I did not intend getting off the ship in Cochin I was informed that I would not be allowed on the ship without an Indian Visa. Having gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to obtain one you can imagine how angry I was when I found out that a visa was not required if you were not leaving the ship in Cochin . Embarkation at Dubai was a shambles with little or no supervision. As a diamond member I was supposed to have priority boarding but had to join the stamped. Boarded the ship at 11.45am but luggage had not arrived in time to change for dinner at 8.15 pm. Spent large part of the cruise queuing to see Guest Services or the one person attending to problems with the internet packages. For a smart ship the internet service was extremely poor. Port information for passengers doing their own thing was none existent. Most cruises provide you with a map and some local information The ship was clean and smart but lacked the wow factor. Has less wow than the Freedom Class ships. Windjammer was like a cattle market most lunchtimes with people wandering about with plates looking for a table while i saw four people sitting playing cards and nobody doing anything about it. The food choice was limited and often not very warm. The only alternative lunchtime dining was in the American Icon which was only open for two hours The main restaurants were fine and the food very good but the menus were a bit limited. The ship was obviously gearing up for the Chinese market and there was large crew changes with several hundreds of Chinese crew members joining the ship mid cruise with many receiving training during the cruise. Training should have been done in small numbers on other ships before they came onboard. Highlight of the cruise was disembarking. This was the smoothest disembarkation ever. Congratulations to the Singapore Port Authorities. R.C.I. No more. Read Less

There isn't enough room to write all the wrong from this cruise. Never again will we travel R.C. Embarking was a nightmare, Debarking was a nightmare, construction was on going with workers walking around with strong smelling cement cans.,casino was closed and being worked on, restaurants were closed and being worked on, if you were American-they swept you under the rugs, Card room was only reopened (after being told they didn't have one-but we knew they did-the last day of the cruise, shows were cancelled and others were put in place to cater to 'other ethnic' culture, they didn't give credit unless it was going right back into their pockets, everything was way Over-priced. I could go on and on and on. I and anyone that we encountered will never use R.C. again. Food was discusting, Sometimes we didn't even get service in the dining rooms once we were seated, they tried to cheat us out of monies we paid (what they asked for) for the Spa to get nails done-got there and they wanted 20.00 more (which was already 3 x's higher than I pay at home normal) just to take off the polish that was already on!. I refused and then it was a hassle and took days to get refund!. tried to call guest services and after two min of music,finally got the ring and then phone went dead-said 'time out'!!!!. Standing in LINES at guest services for any little thing was another huge issue. Everything was terrible. Room was decent with enough storage-the only good thing I could say! Read Less

We boarded in Barcelona, the "tablet" check-in was not in use and the usual Barcelona chaos with desks was in operation. We had originally planned to check in as early as possible and then to spend the day in town but having learnt that RCI would not allow guests to leave the ship we altered our timings and arrived mid afternoon. Barcelona port terminal has a duty free shop after their security check and consequently you could buy as much alcohol as wished, there were no further security checks. We had a balcony cabin on deck 10 on the bump out aft, apart from a longish walk to the nearest lifts it was excellent, in both size, shower room and storage. The balcony was deeper on one side because of the bump out, and had 2 fully reclining chairs, 2 footstools and a low table; there was sufficient space for 2 people to sunbathe and still move around easily. The ships facilities are well documented, there was construction taking place to Music Hall and shopping outlets on the promenade, we did not experience any limitations to our enjoyment indeed because the space in the Diamond Lounge was restricted by work in Music Hall they created an satellite lounge within Boleros which we used most nights. The Bionic bar was in very little use, on rare occasions it was doing demonstration "dances". The solarium at the front of the ship is the best of its kind we have seen on any of the cruise lines we have used, the sunbeds around the main pools were very busy and tightly packed but go up one deck to 15 and there was choice in sun or shade and with more space around. My disappointment was in the limited choice of food in the 4 main complementary restaurants Icon, Grande, Chic and Silk. These are positioned aft on decks 3 & 4, each has 2 menus with very few changes which alternate every 3-4 days; the problem is that they share a common kitchen and the base ingredients, steak, chicken, prawn are on all restaurant menus with perhaps a different seasoning and description. The plate put in front of you is essentially the same, after 10 nights it became very boring; we saw no problems with people queuing without reservations and there always appeared to be empty tables. One further issue with these restaurants was that the service was always rushed, perhaps that's why there were always free tables... they had got their guests away in much less than the 2 hour slot logged into their reservation system. We also dined in Jamie's and Chops We did not use either the Ifly nor NorthStar, my weight puts me close to the upper limit for Ifly and having worked in the truck industry I know how temperamental "cherry pickers" can be on land. Lots of people did use them and seemed to have a good time without any problems. The crucial question is would we cruise again on Quantum class ships, Yes but with a maximum of 7 - 10 days because of the restaurant issues. Read Less

As loyal regular celebrity cruisers and after a fabulous transatlantic with them on Silhouette in November, we were persuaded by friends to join them on the Quantum -Barcelona -Singapore cruise to celebrate my 50th birthday. The ship looked great in the advertising, and the ports appealed.. However as we found out. Marketing was not reality.. While the first leg Barcelona to Dubai had enough going on with its port visits to make the negatives seem less obvious, the leg from Dubai to Singapore, where we couldn't even get off in India (the only reason we did this leg) and were stuck on board for 10 days due to an India visa mess up and poor communication by RCC was best described as boring and tedious at worse torture.. and we only wish we had got off in Dubai. Never again will we cruise with Royal Caribbean. Positives first.. These were the cabins, they were lovely. We give them 5 stars. We also liked the Dynamic dining and food in general was good. The evening drinks for Diamond members were a positive bonus as well.. We liked our one experience in the skydiving i fly. Most of the staff as usual were wonderful young people doing their best in a bad situation. Here the positives end. Our biggest complaints were.. The ship was undergoing major renovations..!! It should never have been placed in service for customers. It failed to provide alot of what was promised in its advertising.. It was noisy in cabins and venues near this reconstruction, it stunk regularly of fumes from toxic chemical /glue/paint fumes. Many venues were closed due to renovation. We constantly had sore throats and coughs and headaches from the toxic air on this ship. Entertainment particularly on Dubai to Singapore leg was limited repetitive and dreadful.. The top reason we booked this cruise was that Mamma Mia was the show.. However they cancelled that (without warning us or giving option to rebook another cruise) and replaced it with a basic Cirque copy style show and an even worse Vegas showgirls production.. In the daytime there was nothing to do if you were not a person that liked to bake outside in 32 plus temperatures in full sun.. In 30 days we didnt get to go on the Northstar. It was either not working or had huge lines in the heat. For a cruise that had most if its days at sea, the lack of daytime entertainment was shocking.. There were no movies ( probably because they were renovating all venues that could have happened in!! Or maybe because they charged $12US per movie on stateroom TV. ?! ) There was only one wine tasting event, The Vintages was a great space.. Totally underutilized. It would help if even one person working in there knew a thing about wine or service! The library was very basic and small and in a very noisy part of the ship. There were limited areas to quietly read in whole ship.. The beyond the podium lectures were very poor. The internet service was bad. The entertainment was repeated on second leg so if doing back to back cruises there was nothing new to follow.. Live music was very limited throughout the ship and in some cases poor. The ship was totally understaffed.. Particularly in the areas of customer service and help desks. It was over staffed by new Chinese crew members with limited english skills and bad attitudes. We did not receive the message about needing India Visas before we arrived in Barcelona. On check in at Barcelona, they said we could pay $400US and they (RCC) would take care of everything.. We filled out all the forms etc and left the staff to take care of this. It was not till the evening before we arrived in india when we went to collect our passports that we found out..Tough luck.. No Visa.. On further investigation it was discovered that those representing RCC in Barcelona didn't even seem to file the paperwork.. As with staff attitude in general on this ship.. It was as if no one cared.. Sad for ys as we really only did this leg to visit India. Yet we had to remain on the ship with others who had the same problem.. Everything was about getting this ship ready for its great money making casino conversion for rich Chinese gamblers/ cruisers. Those of us on the ship for its repositioning cruise felt we were just along for the ride while the boat had to reposition to China.. It was not about the cruise and the people already on this boat.. It was about the new Chinese market.. We were very please to disembark in Singapore and husband is sadly put off cruising for a long time.. Read Less

We spent 29 nights in Quantum, sailing from New York to Dubai on the first two legs of her repositioning from the US to China. I’ve waited a month to write this review, in order to try and give as balanced a view as possible. Embarkation: Embarkation in New York was particularly well handled. Queues were short, and the staff handling the throng were helpful and friendly. Cabin: Our balcony stateroom on deck 7 (7682) was excellent. Storage space was massive by the standards we’ve experienced on other ships, and we didn’t come close to filling it. The glass shower cubicle was particularly appreciated (no wet, flapping shower curtain), as was the bathroom night light – ingenious. The sound proofing was awesome – in our 29 nights onboard we never heard a sound from adjoining cabins. The sliding door to the balcony was a wonder of engineering – light to operate, and once closed there was zero external noise. Our only quibble was that ship’s announcements could not be heard in the cabin, and there was no way to receive them on the otherwise very comprehensive in-cabin entertainment system – this seemed a very odd omission in a virtually new ship. Itinerary: We thoroughly enjoyed the combination of sea days and fascinating ports. The two ship’s tours that we did (Pompeii and Petra) were very well organized and coordinated, and were highlights of the trip for us. Entertainment: We saw Mama Mia on Broadway 3 days before joining Quantum, and then again on board 2 days after sailing. Without reservation, it was the best show we’ve ever seen on a cruise – and, the Quantum version was, in our view, superior to the Broadway version. We loved it, and it appeared that the cast were enjoying every moment of their time entertaining us. In fact, all of the shows we attended were good to very good. The onboard lecturers who joined the ship for the Barcelona to Dubai leg were also very good, as witnessed by the ever-growing number of attendees as the lecture series progressed. Dining: It would be interesting to go back in time to the concept meeting that decided to use RCI’s newest ship to conduct a bold radical experiment in dining. Maybe it was the work experience kid who put up their hand and suggested ‘let’s do away with a main dining room’ – given that it’s proving to be a horrible and probably very costly mistake its unlikely that anyone more senior will be prepared to wear the heat. We booked this cruise fully aware of the Dynamic Dining onboard. Our first indication of how bad an idea it is was came when we sat down, 41 days before embarking in New York, to book our dining times and places. For the first leg of the cruise (New York to Barcelona) we were able to book exactly 2 dinners in total in the 4 complimentary restaurants – every other day showed the restaurants as being fully booked, for all time slots. So, instead of the days leading to our cruise being filled with a growing sense of excitement at the adventure we were about to embark on, we spent each day worrying about not having bookings, and concerned that we’d end up eating each evening in the Windjammer. I haven’t seen this particular problem discussed in other postings about Quantum, so I don’t know how common our experience is. I have seen suggestions that by logging on 100 plus days before your cruise, then haunting the online booking system to pounce on cancellations; you can end up with the bookings you want. Even if it’s true – why on earth would you want to spend time doing that, in the lead up to what’s supposed to be a holiday? A more selfish possibility, that we heard about from a fellow cruiser who claimed to have done it, is that some cruisers made bookings for every restaurant for every meal – to then decide on the day which one to attend. Whatever the truth – the online booking system didn’t work. Once onboard, it very quickly became clear that despite the booking system, there was plenty of space in the complimentary restaurants – in fact we ended up eating where we wanted, when we wanted, and none of the venues was more that 2/3s full when we were there. Being onboard for 29 nights quickly raised another issue with the restaurants – each had two menus, which were swapped each week. So, within a quite short time, the novelty was gone, and it became an issue of ‘from this menu which I’ve selected from 4 or 5 or 6 times before, which of the limited choices will I repeat this time?’ The food was overall good to very good. Service was patchy at best. Plenty of other commentators have said lots about it – suffice to say that the setup is not conducive to the standards other ships have as the norm, and never will be. A final note on dining; we had noted that the Grande maintained a dress standard, and as we quite like going a little formal occasionally we’d packed appropriately. So, when men showing up to dine in the Grande turned up in collared t-shirts, jeans and sandals, we expected they’d be asked to go and change into something more appropriate. Sadly, no – they were loaned ill fitting waiters jackets, and shown to their seats. Really? The ship: I preface the remarks that follow by recalling our cruise in Oasis of the Seas 2 years ago. On that cruise, even on disembarkation day we were wandering the ship, blown away by the ambience, by the daring imagination that went into her design, and by the sheer wonder of all those things that make her fabulous. Sadly, Quantum is cut from different cloth – there was, for us, no wow. The walking/ running track on deck 15 is basically unusable for most of the day, because sun lounges and heavy strolling traffic make it almost impossible to walk with purpose. The Royal Esplanade is particularly disappointing: we likened it to a poorly designed strip mall lined by top end stores that nobody went into. Because it’s only two decks high the scale is all wrong, and the limited strolling space was further restricted by the tables of all the usual tat being sold at ‘super discount’ prices. The North Star was a nice gimmick, as were the bumper cars, and the iFly, but once was enough. The Robot Bartender on the other hand was a piece of tedious nonsense that blocked an already crowded passageway – perhaps suggested by the same genius who thought Dynamic Dining was a good idea. So – an odd conundrum: we really enjoyed the cruise, but will not cruise in Quantum again. The bizarre experiment with Dynamic Dining and the ordinariness of the ship will ensure our time and money are spent on other ships. Read Less

We are RCI Diamonds so we have a lot of experience with Royal. We found the departure and disembarkation excellent. We are both 69 years old, but this cruise made us feel young. We have never seen so many cruisers on walkers, canes and scooters (good for them...they are still traveling!). We think that is why our walk off with luggage was so quick as most people could not carry there own luggage. We had an ocean view stateroom on deck 3. The room was as expected...clean and fresh. Our stateroom attendant was very courteous as were many of the other stateroom attendants we met. They provided excellent service. As far as entertainment went. We saw three movies. Two on the outdoor screen and one in the too small theater (40 person). The first Serenade production show was a bit uneven and the cast seemed to be not in sync. The second production show was excellent. Everything just clicked. There several dark nights in the theater....and there was the usual game show with spouses. We felt that there could have been more entertainment provided. There were no shows on the Atrium although the equipment was in place to have one. In the Schooner bar one night, the trivia game was hosted by what seemed a 'wasted' host. The next time she evening she appeared to be a bit more in control. We got our drinks there as the Diamond Lounge was overflowing and they seemed to be the best drinks on the ship. Great service there, but a bit noisy. Dining was OK...not great. The menu was heavy on chicken and fish. There were not as many beef selections as on other cruises. Our waiters were just OK on one night then great on another night...so call it a bit spotty. The Windjammer served diner, but it was mostly 'stew' type selections. We were going to try Rita's Cantina. We didn't go because we found that we would the only people there. Chops was good as usual...finally got a good beef selection. The ship condition could use a good inspection. We found several retaining bars with loose screws....one in an elevator. Overall, it was good voyage with interesting ports. However, this was not the best cruise with have been on with Royal. Read Less

There was good and not so good. The crew were the friendliest of all my RCCL cruises. I only wish the high price charged for internet was worth it. Waiting to get online was unacceptable. Food in the Dining Room was average. A new menu was being introduced. I would have liked a couple of "Wow" meals. For entertainment, I enjoyed the movies by the pool best of all. Getting off in Boston was poorly organized. Read Less

Until this cruise, I would have rated Royal Caribbean as my favorite line. We took back to back cruises from Sydney, circumnavigating Australia and visiting Bali and New Zealand. We were on the ship a total of 33 days. Embarkation was easy and efficient. We had traveled on this same ship in 2005 and it was elegant. Now it is sadly dated. Carpets and furnishings are shabby to the point of looking unclean. Plumbing problems persisted in many private and public areas throughout both cruises. Cabin mattresses were thin and uncomfortable. When we asked for an egg crate, we were told there were no more available. Room steward was wonderful. Main dining room food was appalling. Definitely the poorest selection and quality of any ship I have ever cruised. The dining room staff were fabulous and tried their best to help us find selections we were happy with. We were told that if we criticized the food on the post cruise survey by RC, the wait staff evaluations were dinged as it is their job to see we are pleased. How unethical! The wait staff neither buy nor prepare the menus or food yet they are held accountable. Bad corporate practice. Menus for the second cruise were a repeat of the first cruise which was a big disappointment. Excursion choices were EXCELLANT and we had many wonderful experiences. For many of them,however, we had too short a time. We had a choice of sightseeing or having lunch but there was not time for both. Consequently, on most excursion days, we ate breakfast and not again until dinner. When one of our excursions was cancelled, the staff from the excursion desk worked hard to see we got our second choice. There are no laundry facilities onboard and ship laundry is prohibitively expensive.$1.95 for a pair of socks!! Really?? Even the "bag of laundry" special is $30 and washes only underwear, nightclothes, shorts and shirts. And the "bag" is tiny. We were on the ship 33 days and traveled half way around the world. We needed clean clothes! Our room steward provided extra hangers and we hand washed our clothing. We started calling our room the laundry room. I know that ships attempt to entice you to spend more but the constant push to try to persuade us to utilize the specialty dining and/or the spa became uncomfortable. We called it running the gauntlet when we went to the Windjammer Buffet. The absolute worst was the entertainment. With a couple of exceptions, the acts were more than terrible. Just bad. Embarrassingly bad. Walk out of the theater in the middle bad. And again, they were mostly repeated on the second cruise. I love live entertainment and I have always loved the entertainment on a ship but these selections were very poor. While I would consider another cruise with RC, I would try to find the itinerary I want on any other cruise line first. Read Less

We booked this cruise for the itinerary and enjoyed that. We flew to Shanghai the night before and stayed at the airport hotel. Slight problem checking in but it was fine for 1 night. The ship is showing it's age and could use some sprucing up. The crew were preparing to leave the ship as their contracts were all up and a new crew was boarding in Singapore. The "old" crew was selected for oriental guest service and when Aussies and Yanks board, there were not enough bartenders or wait staff in the man dining rooms. Food also geared to oriental tastes. Overall a good trip, but not a great one. Read Less