Quantum of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

For being a technologically strong ship, there were many bugs in their wifi system. My wife could not get her texting to work properly. We bought the 2 device package but could not get my wife's texting to work. The staff needs to be trained better. Many of them don't smile and can be very rude. The rides like Northstar and other activities always have schedule changes without any notifications. Also, if you are first timer to Quantum of the Seas or RCCL and have young kids, immediately have the guest services turn off the kids sea pass from charging to the room. The guest services staff says that is the default to allow kids the ability to charge anything non-alcoholic to charge to the room. My kids were able to charge up to $80 in arcades. The staff member suggested that I should supervise my kids better. Most of the staff are clueless about their ship's amenities and procedures and thus give conflicting informations. I also bought the ultimate drink package due to the fresh squeezed orange juice and fresh smoothies, etc. However, they seemed to run out of the ingredients often. This cruise was more expensive than others that I experienced, but the staff service is just not worth the price.

 

I cruised about 15 cruises and last 8 were RC because I LOVE activities. I was WOWED from Allure - it was fantastic, but was a little disappointed from Quantum. First of all there to many people for that size of the ship. On Allure we didn't even feel how many people were on board.

1. Ship architecture was more modern style - nothing special ..something like IKEA style

2. Technology was way better than any other RC ships

3. Internet package was decent and we enjoyed having our phones throughout the cruise

4. Two70 is beautiful and shows are fantastic, HOWEVER their cafe needed more variety in food selection and quality. Their stuff looked tired and didn't bother to help you. They were very unpleasant.

5. Dynamic dining was not enjoyable: we had trouble getting reservations though their app, but their stuff was quick to help us with it. Sometimes we couldn't do it because of time conflict with other activities. Food was good, but nothing special. We had a dinner at paid restaurant and food quality + service was much better.

SILK had old fried noodles, when I ordered a salad IT HAD EYELASH IN IT - was awful.

AMERICAN GRILL: My husband ordered same as I did earlier(smoked mozzarella raviolis) and waiter told him that it had shrimp in it ?! When I corrected him, he went to verify with a chef, came back and apologized for his unawareness.

WINDJAMMER: food was the same all the time, just like Norwegian ships...was so boring and tasteless. The selection was poor and not like on Allure

SORRENTO PIZZA: pizzas were good and tasty, and you could make your own. The stuff looked grumpy at first sight, but after you spoke with them - you'd see smile on their faces and they were more friendly :")...just to tired. Cafe next to pizza had the same food and pastry selection always ...again very boring!

6. STARBUCKS: is not like real starbucks, we ordered 2 coffees with 2 shots of espresso and ended up returning it because it felt like drinking hot chocolate - TERRIBLE! Coffee was not good anywhere on the ship, it had burned aftertaste...although I felt the same way on Allure and other RC ships...but on Allure we got real starbucks.

7. BUMPER CARS: were fun, although we had to wait in line..

8. CIRCUS: was awesome

9. ROLLER SKATING: looked fun, I didn't go only because I saw some lady fall badly on her face...not sure what she broke but she was bleeding a lot. My son went earlier and he enjoyed it.

10. SEAPLEX: Is amazing, it was very convenient that you could play any time without worrying what time of the day is it and weather. They have everything for kids/teens/adults: game consoles, ping pong tables,air hockey, and all other activities mentioned above.  SeaPlex was my kids favorite place to hang out.

11. ROCK CLIMBING: Is as usual for RC ships

12. FLOW RIDER/BOOGIE BOARD: fantastic like always, we enjoyed it every time. The stuff were funny and cool...although for the first timers they didn't explain the techniques well. One Serbian guy( I think he is the stuff manager...most built and handsome:")) was really funny and cool, he was flirting with every good looking girl which was hilarious and entertaining. He was also part of the "Groove" disco dance show. Made the show funny and super enjoyable.

13. IFLY: it is worth to go on this ship just for that...SPEECHLESS, AMAZING, WONDERFUL. I LOVED it if you can't already see it. Again all instructors were fantastic especially mine(Nate). He made us feel comfortable, joked with kids, was very helpful and cool. I'd give him and Dave 10 out of 10. They were really amazing. OK, now the disappointing part - YOU CAN GO ONLY ONCE for free, next time RC changes $50 per person. It is OUTRAGEOUS especially the amount of money we paid for tickets. When we complained to customer service - they just nodded and did nothing about it. They gave us a very lame excuse that there are to many passengers that want to go so they have to accommodate everyone. Hm ...what about other activities then? So that was very disappointing.

14. CAST: Shows were amazing, cast fantastic, they all work very hard and it shows. All shows were fantastic

Overall we had a good experience, some spoilers like food quality, services, customer service, booking reservations, unfriendly servers, nickel and dimming on everything, limitations on activities, and few destinations - these are mostly what made me rate this ship as 3 stars.

 

I purchased this cruise for my kids (12, 15) as a Christmas gift.

The beginning of this disaster started with an argument between two RC staff right in front of us at the check in desk stopping our check in process until they finished their argument.

We arrived on the ship to find broken decor, dirty and disheveled indoor and outdoor spaces and non existent/unfriendly crew that were not interested in being helpful and welcoming.

Food - bland and never changing

Food Service Staff - unfriendly, and busy discussing daily tasks with each other instead of serving passengers.  This included the management team who on several occasions interrupted myself and others being served to speak with their employees.

- Crew - unfriendly and not helpful with the exception of our room stewards.  Very accommodating even though we're "low maintenance" and didn't require much.  We never saw the Cruise Director.  Bar Tenders were not friendly and crabby.  I saw 1, yes that is 1 pool attendant serving drinks the entire 8 day cruise and she was busy checking her watch every minute to see when her shift was going to change.

Bar - Each and every time we (2 kids and myself - with drink packages) ordered something to drink, we were made to feel as if we were bothering the staff.   Not one smile in 8 days of cruising and each order was a "huge task" for the staff.  We were not ordering anything out of the ordinary.  In fact, when the kids were off exploring in the first few hours of boarding, i stopped in Michael's pub to order something to drink and perhaps an appetizer only to be overlooked several times sitting at the bar while the passengers next to me were being served their 3rd or 4th cocktail.  I finally was asked what I would like after about 30 minutes.  I never went back.  However, nothing much different at any other restaurant or bar on the ship.

- Ship - HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!  Everything in the "Seaplex" has a scheduled time that if the kids wanted to try something they waited in line for at least an hour to have a one time experience.  The living Room is nothing more than couches and TVs.  The "Solarium" is for adults only.  I saw a review that said there would be pool parties - NOT.  Kids are not allowed.  Which can be a good thing except when the advertised SEAPLEX is supposed to be for teens so they can have there space,  instead it is for everyone..... therefore LONG lines.  

_ Our itinerary was changed prior to boarding.  We had a port day taken away leaving us only 2 days at port and 6 days of sailing with little to do.  

- Prior to sailing, I tried on several occasions to book dinners and excursions only to have the website say they are not available for booking yet.  Upon arrival to the ship, we waited in a line to book dinner reservations.  Once I got to the reservation table ( a folding table), I had to kneel on the ground in front of the table as the hostess sat across from me on her chair with her laptop.  As we discussed options, she kept glancing around and not staying engaged in the conversation to book reservations.  I finally gave up and left after booking a couple of dinners.  

- Labadee - RC private beach - EVERYTHING is additional $$ with the exception of the BBQ they serve once at lunchtime and drinks (only if you have a drink package).  Float mats are extra $, The floating H2O toys/park is extra $/hourly rate, Zipline is extra $, Rollercoaster is extra $, Waterslide is extra $...  for the price of the cruise, this should all be  apart of the experience!

I could go on and on, however, I think I made my point that this cruise line needs to make some changes towards a more pleasant customer experience and fine tune the details on their new ship!

If you still choose to cruise on this itinerary... Zip lining in Puerto Rico over the jungle canopy is the only thing we enjoyed that RC offered!  It was absolutely amazing and the staff were very friendly and fun!

 

 

This should be a 5 Star Ship rating, but sadly I'm stretching it a bit to give it 4 Stars.

Ship is Beautiful - room and bathroom fantastic - love the shower. The Storage great -whoever designed this layout did a remarkable job. Super high tech, Great!!! wi-fi , North Star Fantastic, Bumper Cars Super fun, bad weather on the last day when I had scheduled IFly so wasn't able to test, but look like lots of fun.

Very Good music and Show second to none. I like Karaoke but opportunity to partake seam limited.

Still lots of new things to experience and of course not everything is suited for everyone, but there's a lot that everyone can find that is suited for them

So Why 4 Stars (Actually 3.5 Stars if it was available) instead of 5 Stars

Many Exceptional Feature "EXCEPT"

I could good on and on about some great things but this one EXCEPT area has a negative effect on everything else, and this is not the only review that will point it out. So Please RCCL listen because it's a fantastic ship and it's a shame to see it drag down so much by this "EXCEPT"

I've been on 40 cruises and let's face it Dining is important ( Hey I'm Cruising) and cruising means eating and eating great food with great service is required to make a cruise Great and earn a rating of 5 Stars.

On the Quantum you're forced to book all restaurant dinners as soon as possible and if you don't you're very likely not going to be able to eat at that restaurant and even less likely to eat at that restaurant at the time you would like. We tried online booking weeks before the cruise only to be informed that most weren't available and let's face it most people won't realize they must book that early. So when we first boarded the ship we rushed to try and make reservations again. We spent an hour making reservations and were unable to reserve everything we wanted, and even less able at the time we really wanted.

Because of this dilemma we soon found when looking at the daily planner that our dining reservations overlapped every night activities that we would have loved to attend. If we cancelled our dinner reservation to attend we'd be unable to reschedule. The dining booking setup truly hampered our enjoyment.

I truly believe the ship is understaffed and even had to go to bar often to get a drink.

Waiters mixed orders in some area and forgot what you asked for at some venues. In most cases the waiters were obviously hard working just under staffed. In one restaurant after approaching the manager/host/receptionist we waited as he went off to clear several tables. The dining concept I feel is good, but I also feel lacks the necessary capacity required to make it problem free. This ship has all the makings to be five Star, but sadly until they work out the dining problems which can disrupt the entire day schedule they well never average 4.5 or 5 Star rating. In fact it's unlikely they will average 4 Stars.

Most of the dining staff is very good, but due to the lack of staff it averages fair. The Quality of food overall we found to be Good but not Great, however the Wonderland Restaurant is exceptional in taste and service. A must on everyone's to do list.

So overall we had a good cruise, but the listen here I believe is when a ship is this New and this different give them a minimum of two years to get it together.

So my advice book your restaurant early online - book Wonderland - EXCEPTIONAL!  - and be prepared to be somewhat disappointed with other dining on the sister ships. I say sister ships because the Quantum is currently getting some modifications for its near future China Cruises so it likely you won't sail her in the near future, but rather one of the twin sisters.

The new ship the Quantum of the seas is amazing.  There are so many new things that are offered on the ship from IFLY, North Star and bumper cars to name a few.  The concept of the Two 70 theater shows were truly  innovated and amazing.  Sonic Odessa was like no other show I had ever seen.  It was spectacular.  We truly enjoyed Mama Mia.  The rooms were spacious  and very comfortable.  we enjoyed  trying the different resturants.  There were so many things to do and the two indoor pools provided the ability to enjoy the ship in the colder weather.  We will definitely be sailing this class of ship again.

Starting with the embarkation - getting on board was simple and very quick.  No sitting in the lounge at all - a great start.  270 is a great place for a quick breakfast and a quick lunch.  Roast beef sandwiches as good if not better than Allure.  Balcony cabin ready before 1 and appeared larger than other ships.  Eliminating the coffee table a good choice.  The electronics worked fairly well.  More on that later.  The shows - Mama Mia - was fantastic.  In fact all entertainment was top notch.  Kudos to the cruise director.  The ship seemed more crowded than Allure.  Dynamic dining - worked well for the 4 of us.  I made reservations many months early and that helped.  American Icon - rates a 0 - food bland - service awful.  Orders were wrong and the staff was very indifferent.  Same with Chic.  Grande - is great - Rose our wait person - special shout out as she is great.  Silk - our favorite regular restaurant.  In fact the head waiter was special - he made us fried chicken on day 11 as I mentioned that it was not available (on day 3) in American Icon even though it showed as a feature even on the app. He remembered and this is the service I knew RCCL provides. Windjammer - I think does not have enough attendants - many times I had to bus my own table - and when they did clean the tables they continued to use the same dirty rag on all tables - hygiene is lacking on Quantum - really surprising for RCCL.   Jamies Italian a specialty restaurant (ie additional price) very good although they did not have their signature dish - Pork Belly the entire cruise (we went twice) the head waiter did what he could to make our dinners special.  Chef's Table - not as special as on Allure - the chef did not come out with each course - we did not have name places and did not get an autograph cook book - the venue is also not as special as on Allure.  Vintages - wine tasting fun and the wine they provided was excellent.  Wonderland was also fantastic although out of a certain item - the ,most popular - crab - I feel that if I am paying extra they should have all items - in fact our party mates made a comment - "why do I have to pay extra for good food".  Ports were fine and I recommend the 4x4 in St Kitts and Barbados especially. Tip -  buy wine by the bottle at Windjammer - its 50% off - then carry to the dining you reserve - you can save some money!   Now a few drawbacks.  Customer Service is severely lacking on Quantum.  Our cabin was left open by staff for several hours and the staff seemed quite uncaring - our cabin attendant Ronaldo was great but the management was indifferent to the situation totally.  Also trying to get credit for mini bar service that was charged to us (9516- when it was supposed to be 9546) took 8 days to correct.  It also happened to our friends that travelled with us - they continued to say its a computer problem - not my problem RCCL needs to get with it.  Another instance was when the wrist band stopped working for our friends - and one had to get a new wrist band - then the other wrist band and the cards stopped working - when customer service got involved the woman insisted that we didn't know how to use the wrist band - really?  - it was deactivated - I thought the customer was always right - not so much on Quantum.  Debarking also quick and efficient  Overall - the trip was fantastic - and I recommend RCCL - but Quantum customer service needs training on service. .

Generally speaking:

 

Ship seemed very cold Technology operated inconsistently. Ship seemed way too focused on sucking money out of you.  I appreciate that that’s what they are in business for but really, do you need to be so obvious about it?  

 

Onboarding  

Was 15 minutes early for a scheduled 1215 check-in time.  Check-in time didn’t seem to matter.  Was hustled into the 1:45 check-in seating area.   Eventually the check-in person came down the line to check us in but then when they were two people away from checking us in they went to the other end of the line and started to work their way back. Very strange.  We had taken showers before leaving for the ship so it made no sense. Once we got by the check-in person it was right on the ship and to our stateroom which was an unexpected pleasure.  HOWEVER, in all our past cruises the stateroom attendant would always come and introduce themselves while we got settled in the room.  Ours didn’t.  I finally found him and introduced ourselves and he turned out to be very efficient and pleasant to work with.  I like to think maybe I got the jump on him for the introductions.       

 

General Service:

 

Insufficient wait staff in bars No real wait service in balcony of the theater One time in Two70 my wife ordered a soda on her drink package and the waiter waved his hand at her like “forget it”.  I’d say we misread him but he never brought the drink.  I’d also say he forgot but he walked over us two times to bring other people their drinks.  We figured that because her order didn’t involve a fee/service charge he had better things to do.

 

 

Restaurants:

Never had same waiter or matradee.  Wait staff seem confused and disorganized. One night Deb got a desert fork and coffee spoon and I never did.  Ate my desert with her coffee spoon. Tables left with dirty dishes for inordinately long periods Ice person in the Windjammer had attitude for the entire cruise. Salad dressing in the windjammer seemed to be at a premium.  On at least two days for lunch the salad stations had dressings bottle refill issues such that people were walking from salad station to salad station trying to wrench some kind of dressing out of any of the bottles. Drink delivery in the restaurants was consistently a debacle.  On past cruises we found that as soon as we were seated we were asked if we wanted drinks.  The order here in all the restaurants seemed to be that someone would seat you, someone would come and fill your water glass, someone would then bring you menus, and THEN someone would come to take your order which was to include drinks.  What happened after that was a crap shoot.  Appetizers seemed to come quickly in most all cases which meant that in a number of cases we got our drinks after the appetizers.  Then there was the night that the waiter took my wife’s drink order and walked away from the table never taking my order.  We also had one night the drinks came in the middle of the meal.   And then there was the night I got my drinks after my appetizer and Debbie got hers on time.   Drink issues aside, for some reason wine orders were spot on and timely.  Made no sense.  When you ordered wine it was brought in a timely manner IF they had the wine.  Seemed they had an issue with the wine selection in that they didn’t have the wine we ordered in a number of cases.  And when I say a number of cases I mean at least 6 or more times across different restaurants they didn’t have the wine we ordered.  One night in one of the restaurants we ordered four wines before we hit on one they had.  I will say that if you bought a bottle they did a good job of following you from restaurant to restaurant with the bottle.  We were afraid we’d never see the bottle again but it did manage to follow us quite well.    Silk - Food not as described on menu.  Meal was supposed to be served with mushrooms and vegetables but ended up coming with no mushrooms and different vegetables.  Funny thing was that a couple of nights later we went to Chops and the meal I got in Silk was on the menu at Chops.  Went to Silk again the next night and we came to the conclusion the food was well made but not to our taste.  Service not good and the drink issue was at its worst.  That was the last night we ate in Silk.  Changed our other Silk reservations to another restaurant. One night the waiter waited and made small talk while I signed for our drinks.  I felt like he was waiting to see if he could pressure me into adding an extra tip.  I did not.     Service was often very slow compared to past cruises we had been on.  

Generally speaking it was not the best cruise and compared poorly to the cruises we have taken in the past.  Would I cruise on it again?  Tough to call.  We like sailing out of NY, NJ or Baltimore but we heard that ultimately all the RC ships were going with this new dinning concept which we thought was a complete fail.  There was talk that they are going to do something about not having the same wait staff every night and truly hope they do because that above all was our biggest issue.  Maybe if we hear that that situation has improved we would try again.  One of the comments on our review to RC was that we figured they would ultimately get the service thing figured out so it wasn’t so unprofessional but we didn’t think they would ever be able to bring back the pleasure and intimacy of having the same wait staff/matredee every night. 

Lots of glitches in technology. We tried to make reservations months ahead, only to find that nothing we on the computer when we got there. Froze to death trying to get our bags checked before getting on the ship. Food in about 1/2 the resturants was poor.

It was large, rooms nice size, food good, the captain did a great job of steering and I did not get sick even with the storms.

Fantastic cruise, This was one of the best cruises we took (35). The staff couldn't have been more helpful, seems they went out of their way to accommodate us. Went to all the complementary dining venues and never waited in line once. Mamma Mia was fantastic, as was Sonic Odyessy, Starwater was very well played but not our cup of tea.  The food was awesome in every restaurant as was the service. There were things that went awry but they were little things compare to being on a beautiful ship. We stayed in a balcony and the room was great, as there was enough room that you weren't falling over each other. Embarkation was a breeze, we arrived by 1pm and not one car was there and we were in our room by 1:30.  

Great time,great newer ship. I personally would not recommend a ship bigger than the quantum class. I think it is big enough and has activities to do for all ages and not so many people where you are bumping elbows and fighting for elevators every time you are trying to go to another floor. Would recommend this to any one who loves cruising and wants to try a new type of ship. One of the best parts of the ship is the solarium. Best solarium i have been in! It is absolutely gorgeous, get there early and stay the day! it is worth it.

After reading all the reviews my family and I were prepared for a bad vacation.  The check in was terrible it took 2 hours because computers kept crashing but after that was over the trip was really awesome!  The Boat was so beautiful and clean.  We had an inside cabin which was really big and comfortable.  I was traveling with 12 people and the restaurants lost our reservations but they took all of us right in.  The shows were great.  We loved the roller skating, ripcord, bumping cars, and activities.  There were some lines but they moved pretty quick. Yes there were some negatives like trying to find a seat in the windjammer and Yes there are a lot of charges like paying for a sauna  at the gym but I've been on 7 cruises and 5 Royal and this was by far the best.     

The ship was amazing. Totally high tech.

Beautiful ship. wonderful stateroom accommodations.

Have cruised 20plus times. This was the worst cruise ever. We prepaid everything including gratuities. Prepaid Ultimate Beverage package as well. Surprise surprise, they wouldn't allow us to use our drink package in the room. Have to pay for drinks. On all other cruises, room service is included, but not here. Have to pay for the skeletal selection if you want anything other than rice crispies and burned coffee. Oh, there's also a room service delivery fee!! Food delivered without silverware, burned toast with no butter or jam. No one picking up EVER at room service. Could not EVER reach any one on the phone AT room service or guest services or the specialty restaurants. You were placed on hold for 20 minute intervals then automatically disconnected after 20 minutes, only to call back and be placed on hold. The room service food that they charged you for was horrible.We actually photographed an order of french fries from room service, they were green and the bottom of the bowl was covered in brown frying oil. The fries literally dripped oil.  The lines to get into the restaurants were 1-2 hours long. The specialty restaurants were so backed up and the waiters so stressed out, dinners were 3-4 hours long, just sitting, waiting to eat. This was the poorest quality food we have ever had on a cruise. Raw, undercooked seafood at Chic, unidentifiable meat at American Icon. It was at least an hour between courses. We were lucky if we had beverages. Our kids wouldn't even sit for dessert because the dinner was grossly dragged out. Jaime's Italian was the only food worth paying for. Missed the shows because of the long waits in the restaurants. Everything was about finding a way to charge the passenger more money. The food at the Windjammer lounge was consistently cold and soggy. They closed the attractions on the ship down while we were in ports so that our days at sea were spent in long, long lines waiting for the air flyer etc. We never did get to ride them. The mini bar person charged our account numerous times incorrectly, it was nearly impossible to track him down. The ship's "automatic" computer added $84.00 daily to our onboard account for "service" gratuities even though we had prepaid our gratuities. As soon as we got that cleared up at guest services, they started charging them again! We received our soda cups 24 hours after sailing. The soda cups we paid for are on a "timer" , so you can only have one soda every thirty-forty minutes, if you try to go sooner the machine does not work! There were no shampoos, conditioner or shower caps in the bathrooms, ever. The food at Wonderland was a terrible joke, all of the appetizers were literally served in a single teaspoon placed in front of you, most were just too disgusting to even eat (buffalo flavored egg yolk,  pureed olive in a teaspoon of olive oil)! To survive we had to eat mostly dried up pizza slices along with everyone else, and even the man serving the pizza was very nasty and acted like everyone was bothering him. This ship was designed for "technology" however the IQUEST didn't even work. We had to pay every day for wi-fi, and it was not cheap. We have Verizon and still had no phone service at all. There was no "staying connected" as they advertised. Leaving the ship was a horrendous mass of confusion as we were pushed like cattle after picking up our luggage toward the customs lines, with two older women from Royal Carribean harshly screaming at the passengers to go this way or that way, step here, step there... I finally asked one them, "Why are you yelling at everyone?"   Our group will be taking our business to another cruise line from this point forward. This ship was designed for one thing only:  profit, profit, profit.

I just got off of the Quantum today and really felt the need to write a review for this ship. Just a bit of my cruising history first….I am Diamond Plus member sailing RCCL for the last 23 years with 29 cruises behind me. In addition, 15 cruises on various other lines. That being said, my family was chomping at the bit to go on this new innovative and technologically advanced ship!

First the positives, the ship was truly spectacular! The whole ship was very tastefully decorated with beautiful common areas and hallways. The lounges were perfect and not overdone as many often are. The new Royal Esplanade (comparable to the Promenade on other ships) was a bit narrow but the shops, some higher end than most ships, and eateries were well placed and appointed. Certain areas gave the feeling of being in a fine Las Vegas hotel.

The cabins were FANTASTIC! The best I have seen thus far on any ship on any cruise line. The cabin felt more like a small hotel room than a standard run of the mill cabin. The storage space was more than adequate providing my husband and I each with a closet, a very nice dresser to share with beautiful drawer pulls, a full sized interactive TV and a very spacious shower and bathroom. The furniture on the balcony was nice as well with a comfortable foot stool for each chair.

Now for the not so good…prior to boarding the ship, I had all of my restaurant reservations in place. This is an absolute must with the (NOT SO) Dynamic Dining!  The system in place is absolutely horrible! The first night we (a party of 8) had a reservation at American Icon for 8pm. When we arrived at the restaurant expecting to be seated close to the reservation time much to our surprise there was a tremendous line with complete chaos and disorganization. There was a podium far from where we stood on the line and no one ever came through the line to check us in. It took about 45 minutes to be seated and then 2 hours to eat our not so great meal. The waiters do not have assistant waiters making all meals much longer than necessary. This was a constant issue with all of the free restaurants for the entire cruise. A 45 minute wait, nobody to answer questions and frankly an attitude that no one really cared.  The reservations in the paid restaurants (Chop’s and Jamie Oliver’s) were honored on time and the service was exceptionally good. Dinnertime was dreaded and made our always stress-free cruise vacation into a VERY stressful experience. Many people we encountered who were hoping to get reservations on board by themselves or the Diamond Plus Concierge were disappointed as they were no reservations available. These people were eating dinner in the Windjammer most nights.  

Lunch was a huge problem as well…because of the lack of a dining room, lines for lunch were long and inconvenient. All lunch eateries are a first come first serve basis. So, getting into Izumi’s or Jamie’s was impossible unless you were willing to line up an hour before the restaurant opened. One day we did decide to line up at 12:30 (Izumi’s closes at 1:30 and we were turned away as they could not accommodate us.) American Icon was the only other place to have a sit down meal and because it is one-eighth the size of a conventional dining room there were long waits there too. This ship cut out the much loved Brasserie 30 (salads in 30 minutes) and the Park Café (replaced with Two70, with fewer choices.) My children (22, 19 and 13) all missed the conventional dining room with family favorites such as lobster night, Grand Marnier soufflé and Baked Alaska.

I must also quickly mention that some of the new activities on board were a lot of fun like the Ifly and the Northstar but in general we did feel that the activities were fewer than normal with nothing special in the evening like a pool party. The pool was missing the afternoon calypso band and all and all this cruise did not have the feel that we have come to love. The ship felt very much understaffed even the bathrooms always had wet sinks, not enough soap and the hand sanitizer stands were found empty in many locations. The photo kiosks were a nice idea in theory but created a bunch of new problems. On the last day, we ordered 6 photos and only received 4 with not a record of the last 2.

I am hoping that RCCL can find a solution to the many problems encountered on this ship. And we are hoping that they do not institute these changes on the older and new to be built ships. My family is generally so sad at the end of a cruise vacation always wanting more time…but this sailing we could not wait to get off of the ship! 

Amazing ship. Our first cruise and we loved it. We would cruise again but maybe not on this ship and definitely not on such a new ship.It costs far too much to be a guinea pig and next time we cruise it will be on a fully operational ship.

Shows & entertainment - super overall plus lots of very good random entertainment in music hall. The ship seemed to offer great entertainment for all age groups from bumper cars to art!

Food - lots of really high quality food and great variety available in the market place all day long. 

Thirst quencher - plent of water and non fizz drinks readily available.

Balcony room - spacious size, very clean and very well kept thanks to a beatiful lady called Maria from the Philipines. 

 

Negatives - technology not working.

Very difficult to figure out how to book shows and meals and activities! We spent the 1st two days trying to figure it out! We were told to dowload the app but not told it does not yet work on android 35 dollars of internet access another guest informs us. The tv says you can change your calender on it but again this does not work. The tablets around the ship will let you book restaurants for the next 3 nights and not any longer away than that but if you wait to book through the app you will find the restaurants are fully reserved! One must vusit every restaurant at the start of the cruise and make all your bookings if you wish to get a reservation.

Activities and shows - some are booked at their location on the ship, some through the tablets on board, some through agents located st various times outside Jamie Olivers Restaurant on Deck 4. Are we supposed to get divine inspiration to figure all this out???? Lucky we are young and persisted for 2 days in locating all these mystery locations but we would not reccomend thus cruise for the older generatiin no more than ourselves! Way too difficult to figure out. Onboard another passenger found out most things could be booked in advance online - but this couple seemed to be the only passengers who knew this!

Very hard to locate customer service on the ship for help. No great indication is made of where to find them.

Staff seemed to be under pressure and rumoured to esrn buttons. While we enjoyed our cruise 15% service charge was added on to everything and an additional tip requested. We paid good money to be in this cruise but onbiard seemed to be expected to also pay staff wages!!!!

However, when we navigated all the blips and found our way we did have great fun but RC you need to up your game and give people what they are paying for.

 

 

Let me start from one good thing, the interior of the ship was amazing and i felt that all money was spent on decorations. This was my first experience on Royal Caribbean ships and it failed! Apparently, owners decided to innovate new diner experience , so they can save some money for THEM, not for customers! On board was 4 complimentary and 5 restaurants for $. The menu in each restaurant was every day the same. When we explorer all 4 complimentary places, we've decided to go others for $$$, some of them were booked out till end of the cruise ;-( ( I wish i would know that before). All dining restaurants on the cruise were very dark, sometimes you couldn't even read menu and very cold. The managers couldn't control temperature and they had to call to maintenance room and it was adjusted. If you would go to for a dinner, you have to calculated at least 2 hrs for it, servant will take your order and disappeared "forever" and then when you looking for him, he is mia ;-). I noticed that nobody leave tips for a water and of course they're not happy. We've had 2 great waiters out of 8 dinner nights at 2 restaurant Grande(Yosef) and Chic (Vadjarmi). The most awful experience twice i got at Silk, first time with family for dinner. Was freezing cold in the restaurant, i was trying to talk to waiter to turn AC down, she said ok, but nothing changed.  i was waiting for her comeback and she was with other staff was trying to ignore me, then i got up myself and trying to locate someone to talk to , found one guy (later one appeared to be manager) he said that he'll call to maintenance, but nothing changed. Then I finally saw our waiter and asked her to call manager, the same guy was passing many times and ignored our message. then when i become angry and frustrated he finally showed up and said that nothing he can do anyway. so, we've been sitting with family of 8 kids and senior citizens freezing for 2 hrs?!? Finally, we warn our waiter few times that we're running late for show, but she didn't do anything.  We made our orders for tea and dessert and had to get up and leave before received it... oh, another thing, my husband order some drinks, they brought a wrong ones 45 mins later ?!? he request to change to his original order and never got it back ;-(.  When we went to Chops Grill for $, we were greeted by hostess with "rolling eyes" in front of my kids and parents saying YOU ARE NOT ON THE LIST FOR RESERVATIONS (somehow ours got disappeared, bad luck) and she was trying to SCHOOL US BY SAYING YOU'RE LATE BY SO MANY MINS!!! SERIOUSLY LADY FOR MY MONEY ON MY VACATION?!? I called her manager and gotta say manager was very professional, she took care the situation and made hostess apologize to us and we had to wait another 45 mins for our table. Kids were tired , didn't want to eat anything and fell a sleep right at the restaurant ;-(. Another thing which i've used to at the cruises it is FORMAL Night with captain - guess what NO MORE... no feelings like you on vacation and want to dress up... one restaurant have request formal outfit, but when other people next to you in the hall walking in short and flip flops, you feel like you overdress ;-)  Now about other amenities on the ship,  Pool , the water was called and outside of covered pool was cold as well. When we went to solarium pool, the room temp was warmer and water as well, but my kids got kicked out because of rules no kids there, even no one was in the water :-( At the bars, alcohol was served with ice more than alcohol ;-( Kids were promised to have a ride a bumper cars and roller skating... bumper cars were not released ones (or may be i missed it ), i even brought my kids to kids club where was on the schedule to ride on the cars , but they all were playing inside of the room and never went there. as for the roller skate, it was late at night after 5pm when usually we had our long/wasted dinner... during day if you stay with kids on board, nothing to do besides cold pool.

I think its enough for my lousy cruise.  I understand this is new ship with lots of problems, but at least warn people and don't charge that much money for it!!!

Let me start from one good thing, the interior of the ship was amazing and i felt that all money was spent on decorations. This was my first experience on Royal Caribbean ships and it failed! Apparently, owners decided to innovate new diner experience , so they can save some money for THEM, not for customers! On board was 4 complimentary and 5 restaurants for $. The menu in each restaurant was every day the same. When we explorer all 4 complimentary places, we've decided to go others for $$$, some of them were booked out till end of the cruise ;-( ( I wish i would know that before). All dining restaurants on the cruise were very dark, sometimes you couldn't even read menu and very cold. The managers couldn't control temperature and they had to call to maintenance room and it was adjusted. If you would go to for a dinner, you have to calculated at least 2 hrs for it, servant will take your order and disappeared "forever" and then when you looking for him, he is mia ;-). I noticed that nobody leave tips for a water and of course they're not happy. We've had 2 great waiters out of 8 dinner nights at 2 restaurant Grande(Yosef) and Chic (Vadjarmi). The most awful experience twice i got at Silk, first time with family for dinner. Was freezing cold in the restaurant, i was trying to talk to waiter to turn AC down, she said ok, but nothing changed.  i was waiting for her comeback and she was with other staff was trying to ignore me, then i got up myself and trying to locate someone to talk to , found one guy (later one appeared to be manager) he said that he'll call to maintenance, but nothing changed. Then I finally saw our waiter and asked her to call manager, the same guy was passing many times and ignored our message. then when i become angry and frustrated he finally showed up and said that nothing he can do anyway. so, we've been sitting with family of 8 kids and senior citizens freezing for 2 hrs?!? Finally, we warn our waiter few times that we're running late for show, but she didn't do anything.  We made our orders for tea and dessert and had to get up and leave before received it... oh, another thing, my husband order some drinks, they brought a wrong ones 45 mins later ?!? he request to change to his original order and never got it back ;-(.  When we went to Chops Grill for $, we were greeted by hostess with "rolling eyes" in front of my kids and parents saying YOU ARE NOT ON THE LIST FOR RESERVATIONS (somehow ours got disappeared, bad luck) and she was trying to SCHOOL US BY SAYING YOU'RE LATE BY SO MANY MINS!!! SERIOUSLY LADY FOR MY MONEY ON MY VACATION?!? I called her manager and gotta say manager was very professional, she took care the situation and made hostess apologize to us and we had to wait another 45 mins for our table. Kids were tired , didn't want to eat anything and fell a sleep right at the restaurant ;-(. Another thing which i've used to at the cruises it is FORMAL Night with captain - guess what NO MORE... no feelings like you on vacation and want to dress up... one restaurant have request formal outfit, but when other people next to you in the hall walking in short and flip flops, you feel like you overdress ;-)  Now about other amenities on the ship,  Pool , the water was called and outside of covered pool was cold as well. When we went to solarium pool, the room temp was warmer and water as well, but my kids got kicked out because of rules no kids there, even no one was in the water :-( At the bars, alcohol was served with ice more than alcohol ;-( Kids were promised to have a ride a bumper cars and roller skating... bumper cars were not released ones (or may be i missed it ), i even brought my kids to kids club where was on the schedule to ride on the cars , but they all were playing inside of the room and never went there. as for the roller skate, it was late at night after 5pm when usually we had our long/wasted dinner... during day if you stay with kids on board, nothing to do besides cold pool.

I think its enough for my lousy cruise.  I understand this is new ship with lots of problems, but at least warn people and don't charge that much money for it!!!

Overall, we were very pleased with the cruise. The ship is beautiful and well-decorated, there are many on-board activities, the service staff was uniformly friendly, and the entertainment was very good.

We had a balcony stateroom, which was quite roomy for a ship. We were on Deck 7, which was fine, but avoid Deck 6 since many of the views are blocked by the emergency boats. The bed was very comfortable. The flat-screen TV was excellent quality; it showed primarily ship-produced programs but there were some cable stations as well (CNN, ESPN, TBS, etc).

The food at the complimentary restaurants was generally very good and the service was great. Perhaps we were fortunate, as we had none of the negative experiences cited by others. The menus did not change during the cruise within each restaurant, but they differed between them, so as long as you spend only 2 nights at each one the limited menus are not a problem. On two nights we ate at specialty -- i.e., extra fee -- restaurants (see below on why): Devinely Decadence and Jamie's Italian restaurant. Although the food and service were very good there as well, we did not feel they were worth the extra money. The posted menu for Jamie's Italian restaurant featured several items that were not on the actual restaurant's menu.

The daytime on-board entertainment included several trivia contests and lectures on art, jewelry, and movies; and the staff for these were enthusiastic and fun. Evening entertainment shows consisted of the play Mama Mia, two entertainers (a comedian and a singer), a "virtual" concert, and two "modern" type of shows, StarWater and Sonic Odyssey, both of which featured singing and dance. We enjoyed all these shows and thought they were very well-done. Other evening entertainment included small musical groups in various bars and larger bands in the "Music Hall", which had a dance floor. The bands were very good. DJ music was also provided for late-night entertainment. Finally, there were some enjoyable karaoke shows.

We enjoyed the bumper cars, but they were available for only a limited amount of time since the same venue is used for volleyball, basketball, and skating. We went up on North Star, and it was a nice experience. Unfortunately, space is limited and you need reservations for it, which you obtain the day before, and are quickly filled up. Since the next-day activities are not posted until the evening, obtaining a convenient time can be difficult.

They have a well-equipped fitness center, although the lighting for the treadmills could be better (for reading) and the TV screens, which feature some simulated routes, were not working properly on several of the machines.

Now for the major negative: the reservation system for some shows and dining. We were not made aware of this system, and only came across it about 2 weeks before the cruise. One of the ship’s featured shows is Starwater, but none of the scheduled performances were available. I called the listed telephone number for assistance in planning, and they indicated that we might be able to make reservations on the cruise’s day of departure, but no guarantee that we will get what we want. They also said we can arrive early for one of the shows, wait on line, and that we might be able to get in. Obviously, that was not how we intended to spend our time on the cruise. We asked what percentage of the seats is held for people without reservations but they did not know. (We were ultimately able to obtain reservations on the first day of the cruise.)

As far as making reservations for dinner, on 2 nights none of the complimentary restaurants had openings, and so we were forced to reserve a spot at specialty restaurants, which charge fees. Once again, the customer service for planning assistance could not resolve the situation. As with the entertainment, they said we might be able to make reservations on the ship’s departure date or wait on line for restaurants where we had no reservations. We pointed out that one of the specialty restaurants we reserved was on the first night and so we would be charged a minimum $10 fee since the cancellation would be within 24 hours. Despite the outrageous nature of none of the complimentary restaurants having any openings currently available, we were told that this minimum $10 fee would not be waived. We asked to speak to a manager, but were told the manager would have the same response. Nobody in Customer Service told us about the Windjammer Cafe, which is a large buffet restaurant with many types of food and does not require reservations. While we would not have wanted to eat dinner there on multiple nights, for just 1 or 2 nights it would have been just fine. Our conclusion is that either their Customer Service staff is very poorly informed or they want passengers to reserve spaces at the specialty, fee-required, restaurants (for which there were plenty of openings).