Lackluster sampler cruise

Quantum of the Seas Cruise Review to South Pacific - Australia

3rotor

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 28

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5

3 Night Sampler (Brisbane Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 23, 2023

Ship: Quantum of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12314

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

If you are a first time cruiser you'll love it, if you are not then you wont. RC do well to be organised, and quite a clean ship and good crew. Pricing for things has skyrockets post covid, and the quality is defiantly showing. The RC app is totally broken you cant message anyone in your party - so youll need internet or the KEY to plan things and contact people. I wouldn't cruise on this ship if you are foodie, nor if you have kids or plan to use the kids club. Quantum lacks the intimacy that you would get on smaller ships. Go if you are celebrating a birthday or with your mates for shag and drink.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Seapasses didnt work on the Royal App causing us to run around deck 5 with bags for 40mins to fix, also didnt get our checked luggage until after 9pm

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

windjammer (even as i type this it brings bad memories) absolute dive, 4700 passengers trying to get in a buffet room with double up food stations and hardly any variety, food dry, tasteless (think gordan ramsey angry level of bland) food sitting far too long. No tables, and worse than a black friday sale to get food - they need to limit the amount of people. Specialty dining inconsistencies jamies: entree = dry and bland, main: amazing and punchy full of flavor? chops grill steak good, burger in the bin! pizza pretty boring - very american - if you like that? no base and just a 'sprinkle' of toppings where is the loaded toppings and very tasty italin herb bread? hot dogs- costco spec , ignore two270 cafe - coffee burnt and scalding, breakfast muffins in the bin, if you are hungry eat the fruit MDR - noisy and packed like sardines, waiters forget most things you order - serving too many tables. Food quality just as bad as windjammer.. Drinks package - they sell you tiny 250ml bottles so you smash them while your in line for the next drink. They do have alot of waiters running around the pool deck with iced boxes so you can get a refil. Very hard to find a nice relaxing, intimate experience with your family/partner Got to the point where walking in to get food was a means to fill your belly not to fill your senses. TL/DR - have pasta every meal

Jamie's Italian

3 out of 5

entree's were bland, tasteless and dry - much like the rest of the food there. was getting worried it would all be bad. Pasta was great as its fresh made. Mains were fantastic and punchy full of flavor - why is it so inconsistent!?

Windjammer Marketplace

1 out of 5

having heard the reviews i didn't want to believe - those reviews are true. Its CRAP no other words. No space/tables roomdouble up serveries with no variety at allques for foodblack friday shopping spec, way too many peoplenoisy terrible food, dry, tasteless, bland, sitting out too longIGNORE

Vintages

5 out of 5

lovely quiet space, big table so bring your board games. has a bar. good place to come and chill and chat

The Grande Restaurant

3 out of 5

quieter than the MDR, food not much better. atmosphere better

The Cafe @ Two70

3 out of 5

food average, coffee average, location good. staff great

Sorrento's

4 out of 5

american spec pizza, so no base and no topping :Dright next to the harp and horn so good for a late night feed, open till 1

SeaPlex Dog House

2 out of 5

costco spec, no butter nor heated buns... you could feed it to your dog i guess?

Chops Grille

2 out of 5

steak was good, but the burger went in the bin.... give it a miss

Chef's Table

4 out of 5

n/a missed this one

Bionic Bar

2 out of 5

had some issues dealing with more than 4 orders, was swamped at night - too slow

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

ifly - closed on the first day (which is 1/3 of the cruise!) flow rider - closed on the first day (which is 1/3 of the cruise!) family solarium - very nice space, not not windy, not hot, no sunscreen needed - awesome! however (closed on second day which is 1/3 of the cruise!) see a pattern here? rude passengers would horde up the cabana's load up all there shoes and towels and disappear for the whole day! so from the 20 big seating area's you would be lucky to find a spot for a pair of you. however the pool deck area was vast, lots of bars, plenty of variety and easy to manage keeping an eye on the kids. right next to the pool there is a soft serve machine! great hit with everyone! bumper cars, great idea had a good time in the seaplex, same with the lazer tag fantastic use of space. - was like how cool is this! rock climbing - really good not many ques! north star - crazy view, good place at sunset, very organised and safe trivia and quiz's - serious lack of prizes not even shirts - we are talking boucy balls and free drinks Spa centre and gym - gym is a good size we almost won a spa package on the first day - its all overpriced but you are paying for being on the ship and having a massage, Was annoyed to know that the sauna/steam room you need to PAY 20$ a day to use it.... first ship ive seen to do this. We brought on some board games our group likes to play, found a huge table at 'Vintages' nice quiet area with a bar and plenty of seating for our game of catan, only busy at night

Whirlpools

3 out of 5

most of the jets didnt work, can still get very crowded at night. enough space to put your drinks on the side

Vitality at Sea Spa

1 out of 5

20$ a day for the sauna?

Solarium

5 out of 5

no windpretty quietloads of seatingno smokingno sunscreen needed! and a BAR! best place on board

Rock Climbing Wall

5 out of 5

3 bays, heaps of courses, goto the speed climb for a good perv

Pool

5 out of 5

great place, loads of room, solarium is the best. Chlorine not seawater! - fantasticnote if you dont bring your towel back they will charge you 25$ on your account

Jogging Track

3 out of 5

always people in the way, get out there proper early

Flowrider

4 out of 5

swamps up with que's, and it was down for 1/3 of the time we were there - perhaps not enough staff. was good fun while we were there. no shade for people watching, bring a hat

Casino Royale

4 out of 5

clean and well presented, plenty of space in between to walk around, loads of pokies and tables

Entertainment

3 out of 5

music hall was a blast, band were a bit lacking - they also played at the pool deck, didn't read the crowd very well. but everyone had a good time while we were there. harp + horn - live guitarist absolutely fantastic! read the crowd like a champion! whole place was cranking - not a single person grumpy or in a bad mood. Our whole group was all drinking and singing poorly! fantastic fun. This was the definition of 'Merry' awesome time we always ended up back here after a show or when we wanted a change, right next to the pizza bar so really easy to get a feed and drink! 11/10 stars was some of the best time i had on board live shows - went to all three comedian was a bit of 'OK' felt like i could of had more fun somewhere else sequins and feathers - didn't stay long defiantly wasn't my thing starwater - best show we went to out of the three - i was a bit confused as it needed a bit of explaining until i figured out it was about remixed music, lots of variety but the kids were bored as. Pretty cool dance moves and lots of cool stage equipment, glad we went to it

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

kids club: really very disappointing, extremely loud, tiny room with no windows! for 6-11 yr olds! would of been at least 40-60 kids in at one time with only 2-3 staff - they should of split the group. My daughter and friends were all cooked after an hour, i went and got ear plugs for the kids and put them back in for another 2 hrs but they were done. So terrible no area for the kids to relax, or just chill - it was PANDEMONIUM With the toys and activities they have on the ship you think they could of taken them to the seaplex for a game or dodgeball or something other than stand on one spot and shout.... I was very reserved and holding back my anger when i picked up the kids. Other cruise lines have been 10x better how they dealt with it. The spaces they have on board, even the pool area they could easily split a group and give the kids a break I managed to split our group up and shift my daughter up to the next group (12-17) kids where the space is much more chill and plenty of little nooks for reading or just relax for them. they actually took the kids out to do roller skating but their was still only 1 staff member for 20 kids.... I felt like i couldn't leave them in their care and actually enjoy time with the family/wife without worrying about the kids! It is the reason i wouldn't go again

Teen Club

3 out of 5

MUCH better than the kids club, some quiet nooks to chill and chat. kids can sign them self out.

SeaPlex

5 out of 5

awesome place for kids, lazer tag, bumper cars, tennis, and soccer! heaps of table tennis tables and was a great place to spend time with the kids

Royal Theatre

4 out of 5

plenty of room, easy to get in and out. drinks and view is good. needed more shows

Movie Screen

3 out of 5

one movie screen? and 1 movie shown? didnt get alot of use

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

the mostly Philippine staff were amazing, warm and humble, very polite and respectful unfortunately the other crew were not as good, often forgetting our meals or what we had ordered, i had to constantly remind the MDR staff to bring things out Our cleaner was also very good, didn't goto the extent that celebrity staff would do. Our spare bed didn't even have a cover on it, and i asked him to put a doona cover on it for my daughter but had missed it everyday - i do wonder how many times that quilt had been used!

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Layout is quite hard to navigate, lifts very slow... some wouldn't move even at night when there was noone around, was annoying but we chose deck 12 as it was close to the kids and the pool deck. with 4700 people you are going to spend alot of time waiting for lifts its a given. navigating was confusing as forward and aft have no feel to which way you are going! lack of signage and direction, normally im all over the ships layout in a day. I didn't see a single cleaner in a lift, nor a single cleaner wipe down a hand rail... this was concerning I'm sure they did it at the end of the night like 2am+? but you really need to be cleaning during the day when there is so many people in some congested spaces. If you are going to pick a cabin, get one AS close as possible to the middle or VERY near a lift space. youll spend ages walking around.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

The cabin was narrow with a nice layout, it has been updated which is nice TWO usb ports for the whole cabin... so bring your expanders - should really have 6+ these days our kids bed was a fold out, and as you can expect hard and uncomfortable our bed was firm and hard, however lots of pillows - certainly wouldn't rate it for more than a few days. Toilet space is absolutely tiny, like smaller than a center seat in on board a plane, so if you are large or a big boy unlike me you will have some difficulty fitting in that jammed spot between the shower and the sink... View is unobstructed being that high, our friends cabin was next door but they couldn't open the lack for us to share a balcony... pretty annoying but used the balcony twice. Our first time with balcony - we will be getting oceanview from here out as you get a slightly wider cabin normally.

Ship tip

Get ready for que's , lots of people in spaces that simply dont fit them. spending ages looking for tables. YOU MUST plan out your day and get in early to some events

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Brisbane, Australia

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

quick and painless

Traveler Photos

5 Comments

javawoody 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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DiegodaMonkey 1 year ago

On Quantum from Honolulu to Brisbane in Oct….was on Brilliance fall of 2022, and on Jewel in May…our expectations have gone way down from Pre Covid after seeing the difference first hand on Brilliance. However ours are 24 nights (B2B) on Jewel and 18 nights on Quantum so we will have a better sample size that your 3 days.

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Oops sorry 😞 thanks

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Appreciate your detailed feedback. Sorry you so disappointed.

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CruzeFan 1 year ago

Cruising is definitely not what it was prior to Covid. Lowered expectations and flexibility are the keys to enjoying a cruise now. Comparing things now to what they were will only result in disappointment.

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