Quantum of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

March 24, 2015 made the purchase of a stateroom with balcony over the phone. Was thrilled to get a room on this ship after 3 attempts ! So I guess I just went with the flow of info. being affoded to me while taking notes. I was told that there would be 2 queen size beds that can be pushed together ( turned out to 2 doubles ). Was not impressed by location of balcony in recessed portion of ship, over a smokers lounge ( not disclosed at all to me ). A sleeper sofa ( our 50lb. son of 6 just fit on it and couldnt sleep on it because of its park bench suppleness ). Two weeks before the cruise leaves, 04/05/15 -the day after I purchased, was not told that I would be locked out of reserving the so called "DYNAMIC DINING" (NOT OPTIONAL). So upon entering the Quatum my wife went in one direction and I with my son in another to seek out all 15 restaurants and try to get reservations. Five of the fifteen were meal included and water. Drink package sold seperately and with varying options...approximately 4 hours later we finally seek out our room with unfinished reservations looming. The ship seemed to cater to teenagers in the gaming area. After spending addtnl monies to play per game we were told to leave the gaming area in the middle of a game with our son because it was teenager time slot ?! Appalled, we finished and then had to explain to our son as to why...So then we go to the Xbox game area on another floor where it was o.k. to be present but a posted sign stating 20 minutes per player kept us in contention, so we waited in the chairs provided for gamers. A half hour goes by and we speak up to get our son to play with another waiting and we were going to have to negotiate the play time with another set of teenagers not present but related. We assured our son and next gamer that we would wait the addtnl 20 minutes so they could play...VERY TRYING TO SAY THE LEAST! The other areas had no signage posted, so the younger ones were at the teenagers discretion as well as their parents who pawned them off to this area...Their was some unique things to do and see, thank God! Excellent shows to be viewed ( with reservations ). Restaurant service was an acquired taste. Few employees to service the patrons and delayed deliverance of food did not make for a great send off. Food was hit and miss amongst all. We were told by staff as well as frequent cruisers that this ship had many great shortfalls...especially the Dynamic Dining! People who successfully booked reservations months in advance were told that the computer glitches erased the reservations and werent allowed in ! If you showed up on time at opening, you could clearly see the vacancies through out but were told to wait on another line for the reserved to show first !?! The best experiences we shared on a daily basis was with the upkeep on our room. Wayne, was someone who needs to be in the public eye. A PROMOTION IS DEFINITELY NEEDED TO THIS GENTLEMAN ! A true diservice to him and future guests not to be afforded his presence...THERE, I ended on an up note.  

Overall good. I have been on 4 other cruises, all of which I feel were better.3 were Royal Caribbean and one other. Those were better in all catigories except room stewarts. They were all fantastic. Quantum has less food choices  in the Windjammer and seamed to be mostly same stuff day in and day out. They do have more choices of "sit down and order" restaurants that are included in the cruise. I went into American Icon Grill which was excellent and Cafe Two70. Cafe two70 is  good for sandwiches and salads. Entertainment didnt seam to be as good as the other cruises but was still good. Comedian had his good points but nothing great. Quest game was said to be on the chopping block due to no location to hold it, Then they came up with the idea of using the roller skating/bumper car rink. Standing room only. The Night Clubs have gotten smaller so less choices on where they can have functions. I think they had too big of a focus on getting more people (guest rooms) on board than size of entertainment areas. With all said, I sill enjoyed the cruise but I am going back the the bit smaller ships.Explorer of the Seas was my favorite.

The room was to small  especially the bathroom . Called 3 times to room service never responded .I had problems getting reservation had to stand in line for almost everything, A virus was board a lot of people sick. The ship was to over crowded.We were to stay in Puerto Rico for 2 days but the ship pulled out after 1 day. Very disappointed. This was my 3rd cruise on Royal Caribbean I was most disappointed with this ship. 

The trip was awful--computer issues that wrecked reservations, no shows and having to throw a fit to get some seating arrangement for dinners and shows--never got to see mamma mia and the staff at the shows were rude about us even standing there--noro virus which we caught made everything worse--the lack of staff who were on protocol process, the long lines, the inability to secure information at the long lines at guest services, the inability to understand crew who did not understand the procedures themselves, the long lines for getting anything-no chairs at the pool that were ever available and more....

Dynamic dining was a waste of time and stressful by phone, online and onboard.  Wait service in restaurants and Windjammer were not always friendly or accommodating (inefficient and lack of training).  Lack of variety and tastefulness of food choices was evident especially in the Windjammer.

All 4 members of our party at different times contracted the "virus." Miscommunication between medical staff and room service resulted in a 42 hour isolation for one member of our party. 

The bright side of this trip was our room steward "Jerry,"  He was always friendly, accommodating, and provided excellent service. 

Although the décor was not to our taste, the ship was bright and cheerful.  Our room accommodations were excellent.

Check-in process took over an hour (not counting time spent at home on pre-registration and on-line check-in).  We had to literally "hunt" the attendant to admit us and after standing in three lines just to see each of the attendants leave to "take care of something else", we had to request supervisor assistance to finally let us in.  This is pretty much how things went for the rest of the cruise:

- key for the suite not working on boarding day; we could not get into our room for over an hour (we were sitting with all of our luggage and the upset child outside of the room all this time).  Multiple calls and requests for assistance later, my husband had to come down to customer service and start yelling for someone to let us into our room.

- our pre-purchased bathrobes and slippers were lost and delivered only on day 5 (after multiple calls to housekeeping and customers service with promises to deliver them "right away" each day)

- pre-purchased water doodle toy for our child never delivered (we were told that it "shouldn't have been sold" and that they no longer carry this item)

- pre-requested mini-fridge not working, new one brought-in after multiple calls to maintenance

- on-board activities seriously lacking (compared to other RC ships). This was our first cruise where both kids were wining because there was nothing to do

- entertainment limited to 3 decent shows we had to book months in advance (many others on board could not get them reserved and were left with nothing, so we were "lucky"), the rest of the evenings were spent watching movies

- cruise ports of call adjusted to only 1 morning in Haiti and 1 evening in Puerto Rico (9 day cruise), both kids and adults extremely disappointed

- food was terrible in most restaurants (we ended-up requesting everything on the menu in hopes that a couple of the items may be edible)

- pool area swamped with people (considering that there's nothing else to do), so my parents had to reserve spaces at 6:00 AM each morning

- water in the cabin, outside of the cabin and in public areas smelled like fish.  I'm not sure what was causing this, but suspect it has to do with the filtration system (never had this type of experience on other ships).

- Noro virus break-out on day 3 of the cruise, gradually getting worse by day 9.  Thankfully, our family wasn't impacted as we were washing hands (and forcing kids to wash) like lunatics.  However, I suspect that kitchen/restaurant staff may have been the source of this on Quantum.  This is after I noticed a number of waiters cut fruit or make tea w/out gloves on (and them proceeding to throw things into trash and never washing their hands)

- I was put-off

- heavy emphasis on making you pay extra every way you turn, though out the cruise

- last, but not least, do everything possible to avoid Port Liberty, NJ.  We were disembarking in 32F weather and security does not let you wait for your car inside.  Everyone is forced outside (rain or shine; kids or no kids) and one of the security guards told us that she "could care less" that my child was already coughing as it "wasn't her fault".

Apologies, but I have nothing good to report about this cruise experience.

We really enjoyed the ship and all it had to offer.  The reservation system worked really well for us.  It made dining simple and we really never waited more than five minutes to be seated.  All the restaurants looked great and made the dining experience more enjoyable than eating in one big hall.  The ship was able to dock at each port which made getting on and off the ship easy and fast.  Much better than needing a tender.  Like on all cruise ships the staff was great.  The bumper cars were lots of fun and we rode them more than once.  The food in the restaurants was very good and the presentation was excellent.  It was a great cruise for the four of us.

Had a wonderful trip on the Quantum of the Seas. The food was awesome and the workers were great. Beautiful ship. So glad we took this trip. Love Royal Caribbean. Our favorite cruise line. Hoping in 2 years to do another on the harmony of the seas!!!! The shows were all great. Really enjoyed everything about this ship. Thank you.

The ship is beautiful, the technology is awesome, but the dynamic dining will take time to get use too.  People who are not computer savvy this cruise is not for you since you have to book all your dining and entertainment before boarding.  The service is lacking in most dining rooms, even the wait staff do not like the new setup. Customer service stayed busy the whole time it was open, and if you called you sat on the phone. 

Had a great, restful cruise.  The only thing we can say that could be changed was the lack of ice cream available.  small thing, but we missed it. Other than that everything and everyone was above our expectations - even with the mishap at the restaurants.

We were not wowed by the newest cruise ship. The first night we asked for a table for two by a window and were told that the tables by the window are for 4 people.  We sat away from the window and throughout our entire meal - no one occupied the tables for 4 (which were two - tables for 2 pushed together). After speaking to the manager -  telling him that is staff should find a way of saying "Yes", we didn't have that problem again. Many members of the staff didn't understand English.  They've tricked us into thinking we are  "Guests" but the truth is we're "Customers" and there's nothing wrong with that. Guests in my home don't pay. They're truly guests. The North Star ride got stuck with people in it, while I was on line to get on. It remained broken the entire cruise and I never had that opportunity. The elevators were operated by computers but couldn't handle the number of passengers-very slow.  Even though we scheduled appointments for dinner and shows, we had to wait on line for most things.  The staterooms were spacious, and quite nice.  One evening the ventilation system in the kitchens failed and dinner wasn't started until 8:30 pm. We were all forced to go to the buffet and received a 10% reduction on our next cruise booking. The entertainment (Mamma Mia, Star Water,) were excellent. The singer and ventriloquist left much to be desired. The Thermal spa was very small, co-ed, and not worth the money.  We've cruised a great deal and since the ports are pretty much the same,  the cruise experience is what we're interested in, and it seems Royal Caribbean doesn't have a handle on that. Food was good.  The soft ice cream machines were broken most of the time and there were no substitutes.  Needless to say we were disappointed in this cruise. Will probably stay away from the megaships and Royal Caribbean.

there were many clever uses of teck to be found all around the ship. The true star of this ship however were the shows,  these were probably the best at sea. dynamic dinning does one thing very well, that is eliminating that madding elevator rush at dinner hours.  On the other hand some venues were lacking    the menus do not change so even if you prefer one venue there would be little variety.  My choices for dinning are Jamie's Italian[ very good], Chic and the grande.  Making reservations far in advance is wise if you prefer early seating.  Shows also require reservations and are even more important than dinning reservations.  Without a show reservation you must wait until reserved quests are seated and the seating options are very limited. There are a lot more added cost outlets and some old ones have changed.  Johnny rockets  which one explorer was a 5.00 dollar charge is now a la carte.  I do not smoke, however my wife does,  and areas for smoking were very limited.  There was not a spot to lay in the sun and be able to smoke.

Ship was beautiful. Ports were fine. Staff, with the exception of the captain, who I found condescending, were WONDERFUL.  BUT -- dynamic dining was HIDEOUS.  I felt betrayed by the fact that we booked cruise a year ago on another cruise and when asking questions about scheduling for the time for the main dining room, we were misled.  We have always chosen Royal Caribbean due largely to our excellent experience with their traditional dining experienence, and have been diamond club members for our last two cruises. We have encouraged friends and family to cruise both with us and separately on Royal Caribbean, but in the future will not do so if they continue in this direction.  We feel betrayed that such a huge change in the cruise experience was not communicated to us at the time of booking or at least prior to the cruise. we would have chosen a different cruise.  Because we had such faith in Royal Caribbean because of our excellent experience on numerous previous sailings, we did not research this ship in the months before this cruise.  We fear that if Royal Caribbean continues to refurbish other ships to this new model, we will have to look for another cruise which has traditional dining.  We might have been able to adapt to their My Time Dining, but dynamic dining is totally unacceptable.  We have always enjoyed having a consistent waitstaff and getting to know them. 

First it is an amazing ship. The technology may be a little over the top. From the first reviews I had read about you can clearly see the improvement in the function of the staff. They were friendly and helpful but you can see they were stressed out due to the many glitches.  The food on board with the exception of the Solarium restaurant was excellent. We did latch on to one waiter in the Coastal restaurant who went way beyond a high standard of service. The ports we good however you have to be very careful when leaving or returning to the ship. They keep you ships time not the island time, this caused some problems for those who booked non RCCL excursions.  The one thing I would complain about is that too much technology is not a good thing. everyone was walking around Ipads or Iphones in hand and bumping into you. You should not text and cruise. Where was the down time for vacation if you were constantly doing texts and emails. We were disturbed at the pool as people on phones were talking very loudly . The shows were over the top and hopefully they will be adding more to fill up the number of days on board Dynamic dining is ok as long as you get your reservations done it time. I did miss the interaction of a main dining room. 

Would definitely do  a ship like this again 

My husband and I were just on the Quantum of the Seas and had a great experience. We loved, loved, loved the dynamic dining concept.  The staff at Chic and Silk were the best.  We also ate at American Icon Grill and enjoyed that. I was not that impressed with Jamie's Italian restaurant only because I am not a real pasta fan.  By far the best was Wonderland.  I do not have words that can express or even describe the dining experience we had there.

The entire staff of the ship were great. I am hoping to go on the Anthem when it arrives and also hope that when the Ovation is completed that it stays in the US.

Debbie

THE DYNAMIC DINING JUST DOES NOT WORK WITH THIS MANY PEOPLE ABOARD A SHIP. I LIKED THE PRIOR PROCESS 'WHERE RESERVATIONS WERE MADE MONTHS BEFORE SAILING' AT TWO SEATING'S , IN THE DINING ROOM FOR EITHER BREAKFAST, LUNCH, OR DINNER, WHERE YOU HAD TO DRESS UP AT LEAST BUSINESS CASUAL. THE WINDJAMMER IS FOR THE TEE-SHIRTS AND THE FLIP-FLOP DRESSED PEOPLE. WE HAD TO MAKE RESERVATIONS TO GET INTO ALL THE COMPLIMENTARY RESTAURANTS, AND STILL WAITED IN LINE 1 TO 2 HOURS TO GET IN. THE ENTERTAINMENT HAD TO HAVE RESERVATIONS, WHICH WERE 'ALWAYS BOOKED UP' AND DUE TO THE LONG WAITS TO GET INTO THE RESTAURANTS, WHEN WE COULD SEE A SHOW, WE NEVER WERE ABLE TO FINISH DINNER IN TIME TO SEE THE SHOWS ON TIME. THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE ON THE SHIP WITH FAR TOO FEW STAFF TO SERVICE THE GUESTS. WAITING IN LINES WAS THE WORST FOR HOURS. THIS IS MY FIRST VACATION I HAD IN 20 YEARS. RC HAS TO COME UP WITH A BETTER PLAN FOR THE DINING . I DON'T THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE TO PAY AT THE OTHER RESTAURANTS WHICH OUTNUMBERED THE COMPLIMENTARY DINING AREAS. YOU PAY ENOUGH FOR GOING ON THE CRUISE....RC WILL NOT GET MY BUSINESS AGAIN. THIS WAS A SHAM AND THEY TOOK MY MONEY WITHOUT DELIVERING TO ME FOR WHAT I PAID FOR. I ONLY GOT TO SEE TWO SHOWS. THAT IS NOT FAR. I AM PISS. I SHOULD GET MY MONEY BACK..............

My husband and I had stayed in an Ocean view room with a balcony. It was great!. Great food, entertainment, crew. Ship very clean. The entire trip was wonderful. We stayed on the ship for the most part. No problems. Did Atlantis tour and was surprised to find out that it was a tour of two of three acquariums,( fish, sharks etc.) not the resort as we expected. Cruise was a little pricey compared to most,  but so worth it, new cruise, smart cruise ship. All the restaurants were great! I just wish the cruise would have told us that they had a time to stop sales of pictures. We wanted to purchase our pictures but they stopped the sale. I would definitely highly recommend this cruise ship to others and would like to go again.

The Haywards

Our Recent RC Cruise from Hell

the travel agency was great…however, they have no clue as to how awful this new ship REALLY is……. besides all the hype about Quantum of the Seas…..…very very sad

I took other cruises with RC…I'm done…the staff on ship (whenever you could find them) have no power to do or correct anything, or to make anything right..…just awful! All they say is, " it’s a corporate matter"

well, for example there was never a place to sit for a meal, and when you found a place, after waiting for over 45 minutes to eat cold food, as NOTHING was ever hot food, there were dirty dishes remaining in the lounge areas, no matter where you went for over 3 hours every day…..CLEANING IS NOT A CORPORATE MATTER!

there is NOT enough staff to deal with the 1000's of people sardined into that can of a ship they put us in

If RC does not contact me, this is going to become VERY DETAILED from many people……. and going viral

they better get this can of a ship to China fast, it’s a disgrace to us and financially to RC

RC in the past WAS GREAT, and I recommended MANY to cruise with RC over the years…never again!!!!!!!!

This trip was total "bait and switch" as too many problems are on this ship…even had drinks in the dining room spilt all over my travel companion……..I want my money back

Michael K. Carroll

I am usually balanced in my reviews, but this was the WORST cruise I ever took!!! If I could get my money back...I would! The flagship of the fleet??? Its garbage. I am done with RC, filthy ship, no service, way too little staff, cold food, constantly running out of cups, ice, tea, soda. Everything handled by computer and systems were "constantly down", staff were confused, the entire experience is awful. Always huge waiting lines FOR HOURS. Filthy public areas. Not a single person I spoke to was happy, never cruising RC again. An awful Christmas trip, I had 180 people go on this trip from all over the USA, I'm embarrassed!

*** Edited 1/9/15 by Community Manager to Comply with our Community Guidelines ***

Once aboard the Quantum I began comparing it to the Oasis with its Central Park theme its beautiful Carousel and a bar that took you from one floor to another while you sipped your drink. I looked for the spacious and beautiful promenade that made you feel like you were entering a five star hotel. I looked for the greeters like the ones on the Oasis who welcomed you on board and the staff who smiled and made your transition from life on land to life on sea as smooth as possible.  After all, I was sailing on the same line that owned and managed the Oasis and the Allure of the seas and this ship was bigger so it had to be better - right? Wrong!!! None of what I was looking for was there.

When we got on board my wife and I found ourselves standing above The Royal Esplanade the Quantum's version of the Oasis promenade. It was beautiful but something was wrong and I couldn't quite figure out what it was. The Esplanade was spacious and bright but then it hit me. This Promenade looked like our shopping mall back home complete with kiosks running down the middle. "Oh my God," I said to my wife. "We are vacationing in a mall. I hate shopping malls." My initial reaction turned out to be correct as day after day hawkers tried to entice passengers to sample and view their wares and crowds of shoppers blocked passage as they pushed and shoved to secure bargains. Each time we were not docked the Esplanade turned into Black Friday at Targets, Feline's basement in Boston and Canal Street in New York City. This scene sucked the class from the ship.

My first order of business when I got on board was to change a dinner reservation. We discovered months before sailing the Quantum would not have a main dining room and if you wanted anything other than buffet food while on board you had to make a dinner reservation for one of the four complimentary restaurants or one of the "for fee" specialty restaurants, on-line, prior to boarding; a task that would tax the computer skills of many people I know. The days were gone when the only dining decision you had to make was whether you wanted the first or second seating for dinner. I had completed all reservations weeks before boarding  but wanted to cancel one restaurant and book another.

When I tried to change the reservation by telephone a few days before sailing I was informed that it had to done by Guest Services aboard ship. With that in mind  after my wife and I boarded we went straight to Guest Services; a room filled with electronic tablets and agents showing passengers how to "do it themselves" using the electronic tablets provided. Is this what is meant by a Smart Ship, I thought ? When I finally got to speak to an agent I was told he couldn't help us. He told us to go to an agent at one of the four free restaurants to make the change. When we found the restaurant we were greeted by a long line of disgruntled passengers  waiting for a frustrated reservation specialist struggling to complete a single dinner reservation using a "Smart Ship" reservation system that was obviously not cooperating. As a retired Information Technology Management Consultant for twenty years I concluded during the cruise that the software which defines this ship as a Smart Ship was as flawed as the ObamaCare rollout - but I digress. A 30 minute wait on line resulted in my being told that I was on the wrong line. The frustrated staff member who appeared on the verge of tears told me I had to make the change at the specialty restaurant of my choice. I navigated my way through this huge vessel and finally found the specialty restaurant. Total time to change a dinner reservation on board was one hour.

After the first day and a number of other incidents it became obvious that we were taking part in the testing of a new Royal Caribbean business model; one that contained a whole new set of standards for cruising. My guess is that this new model calls for replacing staff with technology, utilizing the ships prime real estate for profit, slowly moving customers from free dining to paid dining and cutting costs by cutting amenities for guests. This begs the question is Royal Caribbean trying to become the Spirit Airlines of the cruising industry?

The most significant change RC made was to not include a main dining room on the Quantum. This change known as Dynamic Dining now requires passengers to be responsible for securing their own dinner reservations. Reservations are also required for shows. For a seven night cruise a passenger is required to make as many as 14 different reservations on- line prior to boarding. This would tax the computer skills of most people I know but if it isn't done passengers may very well find themselves waiting on a very long line outside a restaurant for dinner at 9:00 pm. They will also be on standby  for all shows and may not get in. One passenger told me they should rename the ship Reservations of the Sea. Dynamic Dining is most definitely not working.

It became a bit depressing to hear passengers and crew complain about the cruise. One night as my family and I waited on a long line forty minutes past our reservation time at The Grande Restaurant we could hear those around us say, "never again on this ship", "this dining system is broken," " this ship is too much work and too stressful." At times crew members said to me "there is not enough staff on board and we are exhausted " and "none of us want to be on this ship."  I can honestly say I had not heard one positive comment during the entire cruise.

There were other incidents that I could recall to demonstrate the negative effects RCs new model has on travelers but I will stop and move on to the positives. There are a lot of positives.

There is no question the ship is beautiful. The rooms are large by cruising standards, very clean and well serviced. The check-in process at the dock in Bayonne is the best I've ever experienced. The food is good and plentiful and an improvement over other RC ships. There is more than enough space and lounges for everyone to sit around the pools. The staff works hard and does the best they can with what they have.

Without a doubt the most memorable part of the cruise was what the ship did for its passengers on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They pulled out all the stops to make it a wonderful holiday. They provided free champagne, cookies and eggnog, a Santa Claus and elves, Christmas gifts for everyone between the ages of one and seventeen, Christmas Carols sung by the staff in the Esplanade, a fun parade with fabulous costumes and the most beautiful Midnight Mass my wife and I ever attended. Thank you for that.

In summary, the Quantum of the Seas is geared toward a certain demographic of which I am not a member. Many of the other passengers I spoke to feel they don't belong either. It's geared toward those who don't mind losing the main dining room, who don't care about the pampering we older cruisers are used to and who go on a cruise to gamble and shop. That doesn't define us.

Will I ever sail the Quantum again? Probably not. I understand the Oasis may also move to Dynamic Dining. If so, I will cross that ship off my list as well.

The cruise was good.  The ship is simply beautiful with lots of things to do.  The solarium area was beautiful and could accommodate more people.  Customer service in some areas could have been better.  The staff was not as friendly as I am accustomed to on previous Royal cruises.  Some of the kinks were not all worked out.  Even with all the online check in, the process was confusing at the port. After we left the check in, we did not find our key waiting for us outside our room, which was the procedure and we had to go to guest services.  The overall experience was good.