twangster

Quantum is such a beautiful ship.

The next stop is Zealandia Sanctuary.  

New Zealand didn't really have any mammals before some were brought my man.  Without mammals native species lived hundreds of years ago without their presence.  Not knowing what these strange mammals were when they arrived many species were wiped out.  
Zealandia is a project to create a sanctuary walled off from non-native species including mammals so that truly native species can flourish as their world once was before man brought new species and mammals to New Zealand.  They have been able to breed up species nearly wiped out.  It's a 500 year project because there are some species of trees that take that long to grow full cycle.

This wall goes the entire way around Zealandia keeping any mammals from entering.  

It's a pretty fascinating project.



Our guide escorted us around various trails and paths narrating frequently.


To be honest I booked this excursion for the cable car experience but this turned out to be a pleasant and fascinating stop to compliment the cable car.

My excursion is Scenic Cruise and Queen Charlotte Track Hike booked through the ship.     I'm very grateful I bought that hoodie.  Out here on the cool Pacific waters of New Zealand it's quite chilly.  Some guests, like me, did not come prepared for this.   
A guide walked around to illustrate where were going.





A twenty five minute boat ride over to Mistletoe Bay.


We broke into three groups each with a guide and headed around a short hike.  As hikes go it's what I would consider easy but for anyone with less mobility you'll want to consider if this is an appropriate excursion for you.  I wore running shoes without issue so it's not like hiking boots were required.  





It was a pleasant hike and an informative guide who knew a lot about the flora and fauna of the area.  
After a 90 minute slow paced hike we boarded the boat to make our way back to Picton.

The excursion bus dropped us off near the small boat harbor where our scenic cruise began but this is not where the cruise ship shuttle bus operates from.  I could have gotten off the scenic cruise and jumped on the waiting bus but I wanted to walk around a little.  Read the instructions carefully and map out where you need to go to reach the main cruise shuttle bus, it's a fifteen minute walk from the boat harbor.  
We depart from Picton and sail out of Queen Charlotte sound across to Wellington.  This will take several hours much of which is in the dark.  Wellington is at the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand.  


I upgraded my phone for this trip to enjoy a better camera and I'm still exploring it's capabilities.

Not terrible for a handheld phone from my balcony.

Dolphins on the port side.

PictonDolphins.mp4.f8da625426e377dcf1449da9b269fdf8.mp4 Eventually we reach Picton where we do a 180 and reverse into the cargo slip.  Free shuttle busses will take us into town. 



Water cannon welcome.









A time lapse of our transit into and through Queen Charlotte Sound.

PictonTL.mp4.15834bb58cb8a3bf441b08aa1d853b35.mp4 The cargo port with wood exports being readied for shipment to China. 

Day Four
Picton, New Zealand
With Picton positioned on the top of the South Island we enter the gap between the North and South Islands then sailed down Queen Charlotte sound to reach Picton.  It's very beautiful.  







I love on the older Q class ship the suite sun deck allows you to quickly move from side to side.  On various trips on this class I've used this area extensively for great photos.  On Odyssey this is a Teen club area.  

Doesn't the Royal branded credit card already provide cash back % for Royal purchases?  
When I see the phrase Future Cruise Credit I have a PTSD type response from the FCC chaos of the pandemic.  

Day Three / Day One (B)
Sydney and the end of cruise #1.
An early arrival into Sydney.

I have sailed on Quantum to Alaska and three other sister ships in this class so I was already comfortable with the ship.  I had received an email letting me know as a Pinnacle I had made the list for access to the Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen.  The top forty are given access to manage the numbers and save space for suite guests.   I headed to Coastal Kitchen to make dinner reservations.  Night one is still the Filet night so how could I resist?
Given that I made the booking for the two night repo cruise not long before the sail date I had a different cabin compared to my cabin for the transpacific.  With only two nights I didn't unpack my suitcase for the first cruise.
Cabin 7244 - 2D balcony

Brisbane
My friends live just outside of the Brisbane city limits.  After taking them out for dinner it was time to head to bed.
The next day they took me to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  You can't visit Australia without seeing Koalas and Kangaroos!   
So cute!





They warned me to keep an eye out for drop bears.  Fortunately non presented themselves during my visit.
First time feeding a Kangaroo using the Roo food acquired at the sanctuary.  These things have incredible teeth and claws.  Note to self - don't ever upset a Kangaroo.

Flights
I found a very reasonable business class ticket from Florida to Sydney flying on ANA through Japan.  Later when I added the two night Brisbane cruise the airfare had doubled so it was cheaper to leave my ANA airfare alone and book a separate short domestic flight from Sydney to Brisbane.  I ended up liking the ANA routing and layover in Haneda as it broke up the flight, gave me a chance to shower in the airport lounge and the impact from the time change was more gradual and therefore more manageable by the time I reached Brisbane.  By breaking it down to more flight legs over time it was easier on my body.  Plus lay flay seats are the only way to go when flying long haul international and the cost for business class direct to Sydney was pretty expensive. 
On the plane ride from Haneda to Sydney we flew over the Great Barrier reef.  While the best parts weren't on my side of the plane it was cool to look down and see it from 41,000 feet.  

I promise my photos will get better as this continues.

Arriving into Sydney the customs process was easy and the transfer from the international terminal to the domestic terminal was simple following the signs to the free shuttle bus.
Australia still allows non-passengers to go through security so my friend met me at the gate in Brisbane as I deplaned.  Super easy.
My cell service is with US Mobile which includes Japan, Australia and New Zealand plus many other countries.  ANA included free internet with business class so I could stay connected for the entire journey.
The return from Honolulu to Florida was domestic on Delta.  Being purely domestic it was much more reasonable compared to a long haul from Australia to Florida.

A transpacific has long been on my bucket list so this was my first.  The ports in New Zealand had just one duplicate port with my last New Zealand cruise and with three new stops in French Polynesia a lot of this cruise would be new to me.  I liked that.  As it turns some of the port stops were over weekends so that meant I didn't need to take as much time off work since I can work remotely on sea days.
Cruise #1
Sun 06 April 2025 Brisbane, Australia - 04:30 PM Boarding
Mon 07 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Tue 08 April 2025 Sydney, Australia 06:30 AM - Departure

Cruise #2
Tue 08 April 2025 Sydney, Australia - 05:00 PM Boarding
Wed 09 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Thu 10 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Fri 11 April 2025 Picton, New Zealand 11:00 AM 08:00 PM Docked
Sat 12 April 2025 Wellington, New Zealand 07:00 AM 06:30 PM Docked
Sun 13 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Mon 14 April 2025 Auckland, New Zealand 07:30 AM 06:30 PM Docked
Tue 15 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Wed 16 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Wed 16 April 2025 International Dateline - - Cruising
Thu 17 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Fri 18 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Sat 19 April 2025 Papeete, Tahiti 08:00 AM 11:59 PM Docked
Sun 20 April 2025 Moorea, French Polynesia 08:00 AM 08:00 PM Tendered
Mon 21 April 2025 Raiatea, French Polynesia 07:00 AM 05:00 PM Tendered
Tue 22 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Wed 23 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Thu 24 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Fri 25 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Sat 26 April 2025 Cruising - - Cruising
Sun 27 April 2025 Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii 07:00 AM - Docked
Mon 28 April 2025 Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii - - Departure
Australia has laws regarding smoking inside and these are enforced on cruise ships sailing from Australian ports.  On this cruise the interior smoking ban remained in effect for the full voyage all the way to Hawaii.  
Twenty three nights of smoke free bliss.  

Background
I was originally booked on Ovation of the Seas for several in a row all the way through to the US mainland.  When Ovation was redeployed to Singapore they moved displaced Ovation guests over to Quantum.  We went from nineteen nights to twenty one nights frozen at our lower Ovation cruise fare.  They changed Quantum's departure port from Brisbane to Sydney in the process since that is where Ovation sailed from. I had booked this before cruise fares went crazy and now with twenty one nights for the price of nineteen?  That was a major win.
I have some friends in Brisbane so I decided to add the two night Brisbane to Sydney repositioning cruise before the Sydney transpacific making this twenty three nights. I have visited Australia before and cruised from Sydney to New Zealand on Ovation. Spending a few days in Brisbane before the cruise would allow me to explore a different part of Australia.  Now it became a win-win.  
I like Quantum class so it doesn't take very much to convince me to book one.  On my previous trip to Australia I learned how costly it is to fly round trip between the US and Australia especially if you desire to upgrade out of economy on the plane ride.  A benefit of sailing a transpacific is that you don't need round trip airfare all the way to and from Australia.  Instead some of that round trip airfare money can be put towards the transpacific cruise fare.  All you need is a one way international plane ticket and more time.
That being said the new Quantum Hawaii to Vancouver cruise with Maui unavailable wasn't that attractive to keep compared to the original Ovation Hawaii cruise I had booked.  They would price protect us but there were fewer nights and fewer ports of call.  They also transferred that Hawaii cruise from Ovation to Quantum so I cancelled it for a refund of my deposit and decided to fly home from Honolulu which is a domestic flight at a reasonable cost.

Twenty three nights on Quantum of the Seas including Brisbane, Sydney, Picton, Wellington, Auckland, Papeete, Moorea, Raiatea and Hawaii.
I am writing this review in May having arrived back home in Florida.  Twenty three nights is a long time to take off from work and with so many sea days on this journey I decided to make this a working cruise.  That ended up working out really well but it left little time to post this thread live so I am posting it all from the future, of the cruise, in the past, tense that is, which will become a recurring theme managing the date and time difference with the US as I worked remotely during the voyage.
The transpacific cruise by itself was 21 nights.  I added a 2 night repositioning cruise before it to make it a total of 23 nights.
I don't see a lot of transpacific reviews or trip reports so I thought this could help fill in that void.
I've been waiting to post this here as @mashley1021 has been posting live from Quantum's voyage from Hawaii to Vancouver occurring after my cruise.   I didn't want to steal her thunder or cause confusion posting this now historical account of Quantum's Transpacific from Australia to Hawaii.  You can check out her most excellent thread here:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/52355-hawaii-is-calling-quantum-of-the-seas-42825/
 

these are the spouses of my (now adult) children.
Because the kids have my level that I was at when they turned 18 their spouses and children get that level, even though my children do not have the points yet in their own right
I know this is correct because my newly married son has just done a cruise for his honeymoon (first one that has cruised since marrying) and his wife (my daughter in law) has got his emerald perks although he was only platinum points wise at the start of their cruise.
I had also asked about it from a loyalty adviser last year when thinking about booking my big birthday cruise. 
And I am now diamond plus (as of Sunday 😁) so I am not saying the in-laws have my perks - its that they have their spouses perks

3 of the first 5 cruises I inputted didn't have the data and that was the end of my interest in the website

I've done the full transit twice but was recently on a 9 night round trip from Tampa where the ship didn't go into the canal.  We did stop at Colon though so I booked the ship excursion that includes a small boat through some of the locks.  Basically this skipped the lake Gatun portion and had us board the boat at the beginning of the Culebra cut and head towards and into the Pacific.  
It was really nice to see the locks up close, like touch the walls up close.  On the ship when going through the canal is great, but I really appreciated see it from a smaller boat in a lock with a big RoRo ship that was squeezed in with us.  
The excursion is called "Wonders of Engineering: Panama Canal Locks and Culebra Cut Cruise" and I highly recommend it.
Not to hijack this thread with my photos, but here are a few from that excursion in March:










My excursion had 5 motor coaches that split between two boats.  Here is the other boat with ship guests from another coach.  Our boat was bigger and a better experience as they tied up to us while we were against the lock walls.  We got to touch the walls while they didn't.  

This excursion often sells out for good reasons.  I booked it then it went on sale at some point later so I cancelled and booked it at the lower price.

Another sea day, another beautiful sunset.

Some takeaways...
1. If a future transpacific has an overnight stop in Hawaii don't plan 3rd party excursions for the morning on the arrival day as you may have to wait to go through CBP clearance like we did.  A number of guests had booked something and were mumbling about missing them or trying to manage being late for their 3rd party excursions.  
2. For these very long cruises the cost of Voom can be prohibitive but if you need to be connected it can't be beat.  GigSky or any other services that leverage the onboard cellular for data connectivity may be a less expensive option on these long cruises but, depending on your cabin relative to the onboard microcell, it may not work all the time.  If you truly want set it and forget internet connectivity, Voom is worth the price.  
3. I had no issues using corporate VPN and staying connected day after day.  Once in awhile my VPN would drop but it does that on land sometimes too.  
4. I've done so many Caribbean cruises.  It was great to venture out to experience a different part of the world.  I really enjoyed this transpacific more than the transatlantics I've done.  I've already booked two more transpacifics.  
5. I probably spent too long trying to figure out which side of the of the ship would be best when I booked this.  I chose port side for the sunsets.  The sun is hot near the equator which meant the afternoon sun was very strong on my balcony.  It was too strong at times and I had to retreat inside and close the curtains to keep the cabin cool.  I'm going to try the sunrise side of the ship for my Australia bound transpacific.  I tend to get up early so that will be a sunrise cruise.  Hopefully the morning sun won't be as hot.   
6. Quantum has a fantastic crew.  I don't recall ever having a negative crew interaction.  Well done.
7. A tidbit from Captain's Corner.  The fuel bill for this repo from Australia to Hawaii was around $1.5M USD.  The headwind we encountered added roughly $10k USD per day to that fuel bill, on the days we had to battle the wind.   
8. I often see questions about the Pacific and how rough the seas may be.  The name of the ocean should itself be a hint to the answer.  Any large body of water can involve swell based on weather systems active at the time.  The Pacific is no more or less prone to rough seas compared to any other large body of water.  I can't recall any days that took any guest out of action during this voyage.  Don't fear the Pacific, as its name suggests it can be quite peaceful.  
9. The non-smoking casino was outstanding. 
My first transpacific was a success and I look forward to returning for another. 
I hope this has been informative and I thank you for viewing,

Kind of how I feel about the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Time to venture further away.

During this voyage I tested an alternative to Voom called GigSky.  It uses the onboard cell towers for data.
Here is my review of GigSky.
 

Some takeaways...
1. If a future transpacific has an overnight stop in Hawaii don't plan 3rd party excursions for the morning on the arrival day as you may have to wait to go through CBP clearance like we did.  A number of guests had booked something and were mumbling about missing them or trying to manage being late for their 3rd party excursions.  
2. For these very long cruises the cost of Voom can be prohibitive but if you need to be connected it can't be beat.  GigSky or any other services that leverage the onboard cellular for data connectivity may be a less expensive option on these long cruises but, depending on your cabin relative to the onboard microcell, it may not work all the time.  If you truly want set it and forget internet connectivity, Voom is worth the price.  
3. I had no issues using corporate VPN and staying connected day after day.  Once in awhile my VPN would drop but it does that on land sometimes too.  
4. I've done so many Caribbean cruises.  It was great to venture out to experience a different part of the world.  I really enjoyed this transpacific more than the transatlantics I've done.  I've already booked two more transpacifics.  
5. I probably spent too long trying to figure out which side of the of the ship would be best when I booked this.  I chose port side for the sunsets.  The sun is hot near the equator which meant the afternoon sun was very strong on my balcony.  It was too strong at times and I had to retreat inside and close the curtains to keep the cabin cool.  I'm going to try the sunrise side of the ship for my Australia bound transpacific.  I tend to get up early so that will be a sunrise cruise.  Hopefully the morning sun won't be as hot.   
6. Quantum has a fantastic crew.  I don't recall ever having a negative crew interaction.  Well done.
7. A tidbit from Captain's Corner.  The fuel bill for this repo from Australia to Hawaii was around $1.5M USD.  The headwind we encountered added roughly $10k USD per day to that fuel bill, on the days we had to battle the wind.   
8. I often see questions about the Pacific and how rough the seas may be.  The name of the ocean should itself be a hint to the answer.  Any large body of water can involve swell based on weather systems active at the time.  The Pacific is no more or less prone to rough seas compared to any other large body of water.  I can't recall any days that took any guest out of action during this voyage.  Don't fear the Pacific, as its name suggests it can be quite peaceful.  
9. The non-smoking casino was outstanding. 
My first transpacific was a success and I look forward to returning for another. 
I hope this has been informative and I thank you for viewing,

On the morning of departure I was originally thinking of scurrying off early to beat the crowds and getting through CBP quickly then I realized we had already done CBP.  This wasn't going to be a normal disembarkation zoo.
I had my final Chops Pinnacle breakfast as I had many mornings on board and then I leisurely made my way off with a handful of other people.  No lines, no waiting to debark.   It was quite pleasant.
Twenty three nights in a carry on sized piece of luggage.  Not bad! I may have finally figured out how not to overpack.


I checked my bag both ways simply so I wouldn't have to deal with it when I had multiple layovers and connections.
On the day of departure they had moved a walkway over to deck 5.  I guess so boarding passengers could get the best welcome aboard treatment?  The day before we used deck 2 and a simple gangway.

The cruise terminal in Honolulu was making ready for the soon to be arriving guests boarding for the ship on the way up to Vancouver.


I forgot HNL was an open air airport.

I had made it to the airport in record time and with nearly five hours to my departure it was already getting a little warm.  I didn't want to be covered in sweat for the long flights and multiple connections to reach Florida so I sought a lounge in the center court for the air conditioning.


My chariot.

Departure time lapse:

HNLTL.mp4.e047b76d980147ce9c1ec55c2fcf161c.mp4 The other side, the left side of the plane, probably got the better view on this day.
 

Cruise booked as they say things get better as they age. At least that’s what my wife says about her😂😂😂

Cabin decor remains the same as does the decor in areas like elevator lobbies.
The amplification in 2019 was pretty amazing.  It focused on guests venues as opposed inside guests cabins.  Caribbean pool, slides, Playmakers, PortSide BBQ etc.
If you don't mind the cabins being pretty much the same as they have always been, Oasis is in great shape with many modern or current venues.    The new Aqua show is one of the best.