FSUFAN

I've become a proponent of insurance for trips and not just cruises.  We will probably look for an annual plan.  We bought insurance for a land based trip to Whistler Canada.  Low and behold, an ice storm in DFW canceled the first day of our trip out of Nashville.  Called the TA and got a refund for the first day from the hotel in the package.  We live about an hour from the airport, so we checked into the Gaylord Opryland Resort and the insurance paid for that night, plus meals and other incidentals. 

We just did the Seattle debarkation.  People in our group were getting off of the ship by 7:30 am.  We got off about 8:30 for an 11:55 am flight and ended up going to an Airport lounge (I have Priority Pass) and waiting around for more than an hour until about 15 minutes before boarding time which is 30 minutes before take-off.  

We too took a yellow cab and it was $50 or $55.  We could have easily made an 10:45 or 11:00 am flight. 

FYI - SeaTac is a very crowded terminal.  Security was fairly quick, but we are TSA-Pre.  Once beyond security, the terminal gate walkways were shoulder to shoulder with people.

10 hours ago, deButler said:

Thanks much. I carry my cards from ship to ship with no issues so far. You should be good for it on your next trip. 

I think I am done with RCL for a while. We've sailed them twice in the last 9 months and I'm ready to try different ships and lines.

The Key is a YMMV type service.  Both times we have used it, there were boarding (first time) issues and embarkation (second time) issues.  I feel that some of the staff don't even understand The Key benefits and thus we were wrongly directed to non-Key embarkation and debarkation lines and ended up waiting like everyone else.

If you are planning on getting Internet access, AND if you can get The Key where it is priced close to the internet package most will say to grab it.  Otherwise, the benefits are minimal in my opinion.

RCL keeps tweaking (re: taking benefits away) and The Key advantages are becoming less and less.

I have a coffee card with 8 unused punches from our Quantum sailing in June.  I doubt that I will be needing it in the future.

I would be glad to send it to someone that would use it.

Email my RCBlog username @yahoo.com and I will snail mail it out.  Don't need anything in return. 

I have posted this on another roll call thread for a Sept sailing. First come....   I just hate to see it go to waste.

UPDATE:

The Coffee Card is now spoken for.  Happy Sailing to all.

I have a coffee card with 8 unused punches from our Quantum sailing in June.  I doubt that I will be needing it in the future.

I would be glad to send it to someone that would use it.

Email my RCBlog username @yahoo.com and I will snail mail it out.  Don't need anything in return. 

UPDATE:

The Coffee Card is now spoken for.  Happy Sailing to all.

No Weight Gain of the Seas - (sure to be constantly sold out)

Don't Bother Me, I'm on Vacation of the Seas

Crank Up the Music and Bring Me a Drink of the Seas

Dive Bar of the Seas - (they only serve strong "bottom shelf" drinks, draft beers and burgers - music provided by an old juke box)

As has been stated.

Check in on the App (phone or tablet) at 45 days and grab your boarding time.

Then sometime later, upload all of your paperwork, pictures and other required stuff via the Website. 

At least for me it was easier than trying to do everything via the app. 

So, it was a 2-step process for me. (1) App, then (2) Website.

YMMV - I think it depends on the port.  In Seattle, our two bottles of wine were wrapped in plastic bags from Target then in another bag. No way you could even see what they were and they slid them thru in the security line I was in. Mrs Fan was in another security line and she could have easily had 2 more bottles. There were 8 in our party, and we were scattered thru multiple security lines at boarding.  Also, I've said in the past that I could have been carrying on Stellum Bourbon which is in a wine bottle shape as no one even paid any attention to what was in the bags.  The same was true in Boston for a sailing last fall.  No one seemed to care what I was carrying.  

Amazon Prime Days are coming up soon (July 11-12).  Last year I bought one of those very expensive   (at least per the ship prices) Invicta Pro Dive watches for just $32 during Prime Days sale. Spent another $5 at the local jewelry store to get the band resized for my wrist.

I find the prices for booze to be just so-so on the ship.  I can most stuff for about the same price (at bad Tennessee pricing) and when we lived in Florida, way cheaper at Costco Liquor.  I'm sure there are some one-offs, but just not worth the hassle of getting it home after the cruise.

On the Quantum I picked up my card at the La Patisserie.

I'm normally a regular coffee drinker and I have 2 cups and I am done. I used about 8 of the 15 as I realized the daily Coffee Latte (times 2) was just too rich for me. 

On 2/15/2023 at 8:44 AM, Dan Curtis said:

We also just returned from a cruise on the Jewel, awesome wait staff, but I believe the quality has dropped Fallen into a bottomless pit

@Dan Curtis FIFY.  

We just got off of the Quantum and the MDR is just bad.  We were shocked at how bad the quality of the food has become.

Anything with noodles - might as well be eating paste. Steaks overcooked, gristly. Ask for rare if you want at least a medium cooked steak otherwise expect well-done.  We did a few nights in the Windjammer to escape the poor quality of food from the MDR. 

Spring Rolls (listed plural) was just a single roll. Pad Thai was the worst thing I have ever had on any ship with any line ever and maybe the worst thing I have ever eaten anywhere.

Do you have a go-to entree?

   The steak is ok.  Ask for rare if you want it at least medium done and not well.

Is there a specific dessert that you must have?

    Creme Brule, the chocolate molten cake with ice cream.  IMHO the very best dessert thing on the ship are the oatmeal raisin cookies (not available in the MDR). 

An appetizer that tickles your fancy?

    Daughter-in-law always asked for the cheese plate (which is in the desserts section) for appetizer.  Several cheeses and some fruit. 

We didn't make it to the tasting, but the Quantum OTS had one last week on our Alaska sailing.

We just sailed out of Seattle and I got 10:30 boarding for all 4 of the rooms we had. We got out of our Uber and folks leaving the ship got into the Uber.

I'm officially done with The Key.  If you get early boarding, there is no advantage on boarding with The Key. Mrs Fan and I had The Key.  Our 3 grown kids and their spouses did not.  We arrived at the Smith Cove terminal at the same time. We entered The Key line; they went to the regular line. We all ended up merging to board the ship at the same time and we all walked up the gang way together. There is a small advantage for debarkation as you can kind of choose you own time.  

The Key lunch is very good, but as stated it looks like RCL is keeping its options open to continue to tweak the offering.  I doubt any tweaks will be in favor of the guests. 

Mrs Fan started getting a BBC (Banana, Bailey's, Coconut) on the last trip at embarkation. It's a whipped up frozen thing that seems more like a spiked milkshake.

I still like a good Bloody Mary for breakfast.  I took advice from another poster and brought a jar of blue cheese stuffed olives to add to the Bloody Mary. Dad Gum that was good advice.  Then for me the rest of the time is Buffalo Trace on the rocks (my preference at home is Tennessee Whiskey over bourbon, specifically Dickel 12).

5 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

Good review.

Doesn't Quantum have an esplanade and not a promenade? I believe that's why it often feels congested

I guess seeing the "Promenade Cafe" made me call it the Promenade. Honestly, I don't know the difference. The only thing I know is that the ship was full and most areas did not feel crowded except the inside area around the shops.  The elevators were crowded a lot, but not too bad.

We were on the Voyager last October and the food wasn't bad.  We just got off of the Quantum and the MDR was bad.  Good service, bad food.

I think the new dining menu is a total bust. We did the same thing as @Weezie57 with the MDR.  We just went to the Windjammer after the first couple of nights. 

I'm going with the somewhere near 7' or 7'+ a few inches.  I too am all of 6' 4". I can reach to ceiling because I put the magnetic hooks on the ceiling to hang wet coats that are heavy and won't hang on a magnetic hook on the wall. The shower has plenty of head room, but I cannot bend down to the foot wash bar due to my height. The shower is just not roomy enough.  

So, we are back from our Alaskan sailing on the Quantum.  These are some of my observations.

The Really Great:

The ship is stunning. So many venues, places to eat or get a snack. The adult only solarium area is outstanding.  Café 270 was my morning coffee place and the Solarium Bistro was our favorite breakfast place.

The staff was friendly and really did the company proud. Room steward got me everything I needed including a small fan and feather pillow. The room had a tea kettle for Mrs Fan’s morning tea.

The big band orchestra was outstanding. There was a solo guitarist (Annistasia I think) and she was very good.

The ship was full but there were only a few times that it seemed crowded. Seats were always available in the venues like the Schooner Lounge and the Music Hall.

Embarkation was a snap. We were on the ship in less than 10 minutes. No lines, no waiting.

The new Wifi is so much better than the old offering.  We were never without service and it was a steady 8-9 Mbps. Plenty fast.

I did a Sushi making class with 2 of my grown kids and a son-in-law. We had fun, but it was a lot of sushi to eat (not enough to stop me from eating it all anyway. LOL).  Highly recommend this activity.

The bartenders at the Solarium Bar mix really good drinks.

The oatmeal raisin cookies are the best dessert that they offer. Warm, buttery, chewy goodness.  Mrs Fan said the tiramisu was very good - I somehow missed getting it.

The Good:

The Windjammer was good with lots of options (we ate there a few nights to escape the MDR – see The Awful below).  Any chicken that is served that is roasted, get it. Honey Garlic roasted chicken, herb roasted chicken, plain roasted chicken – it was all flavorful and fall off the bone tender (it belongs in the Really Great category). The mashed potatoes and brown gravy were what all comfort food should be, they were really good.  The Windjammer or the Solarium Bistro has better food than the MDR now.

The Promenade was nice, but I’m not a big fan of the overpriced stores and it was one of the places that felt crowded at times. Lines for specialty coffee were longer there compared to 270.

We played lots of trivia games and had a good time with that. The house band was good.

To me the desserts are hit and miss.  I called the New York Cheesecake, New Jersey Cheesecake – it’s close to New York, but it’s not New York style.  Any dessert that is sweetened with figs or dates or similar is just not to my liking. But that’s just me.

The Misses:

No more paper Cruise Compass but you get swamped with tons of other paper stuff. Art Auctions, jewelry sales, other stuff I have no interest in. I was throwing out 3-6 sheets of paper every day that was left by the room steward.  Just give me back my paper Cruise Compass and keep all the other stuff.

We went to the Horn and Harp tavern for Father’s Day to eat some “bar food” and have a few beers. We order multiple plates of appetizers (there were 8 of us). The server didn’t bring out any plates or silverware or even napkins.  We had to go back to the bar to ask for those, then he brought out 3 small plates, 1 knife, 1 fork, and no napkins. I know this is minor but read your table. 8 people sharing nachos, fried pickles and such, we needed 8 plates. We went back to the bar again and got some more. It was really the only place that missed the mark as far as service goes. The Pulled Pork Nachos were very good.

This is probably just me, but I had no idea what was being said on ship wide announcements. The speakers are too tinny/garbled and the accents from the person making the announcement are too much for me to understand.

IMHO - The phone App just stinks.  Every time I logged in, it gave me a system error. Didn’t have information about port times of what floor the gangway was on for each port. It was too general, and it could be more interactive or customized for the cruise. They could have done this with a text blast to all on board.

The Awful:

The new menus are bad.  The MDR is now bad.  Steaks were overcooked. I just asked for rare steak hoping to get at least a medium cooked steak. The theme meals are bad. I’m a guy who eats anything and there were nights I left the MDR hungry because I just could not eat what was served.

I had breakfast in the MDR with my daughter and the Bloody Mary was the worst. Like ketchup and water mixed with vodka. Got one the next day at the Solarium bar and it was outstanding.

Mrs Fan ordered the stuffed portobello one of the nights and could not eat more a few bites.

The “Kill it with Fire” Awful:

Anything with noodles in the MDR. I order Pad Thai on Asian night. It was the worst thing. Our waiter brought out extra sauce and it was still awful. 3 of us ordered it and none of us had more than a single bite.  Same with the Seafood Linguini. The noodles were like paste.  It was the worst thing until I got the Pad Thai the next night. Again, the Pad Thai was an abomination.

Finally:

Would I sail her again. Absolutely!  The ship and Alaska are a great combo.

On 6/9/2023 at 5:53 AM, bobroo said:

I have never ever understood the appeal of Southwest Airlines.(After they took away the liberal free booze policy of course)

I loathe SW, but my son convinced me to go all in and try it.  His claim is the flexibility of canceling flights, free checked bags, etc.  I have the "companion pass" thing so Mrs Fan flies free at least for this year.  I still loathe them, but I hold my nose and fly with them anyway. I hate the cattle car atmosphere, but you get that with the other carriers too (just not as bad). Once the companion pass has expired and I've used up my points, I'll probably go back to AA or other carriers.  I've learned that you have to book way out to get great pricing with SW otherwise you can get similar pricing with the other carriers.

My worst SW story was years ago I was traveling from Tampa to Las Vegas for work.  SW had a direct flight at the time. So, I took a chance and booked it.  By the time I got on board, all the window and isle seats were gone.  I sat between an older couple. They proceeded to talk over me to each other the entire flight. I asked if they wanted to sit side by side and was flat out turned down. So, I was stuck between them for a 4-hour flight with them talking back and forth and me in the middle. 

We did the Hop-on/Hop-off bus in Barcelona.  Made it easy to see the sights.  There are several companies and most if not all, have multiple loops around the city as the sights are pretty spread out. Parc Guell is out on the edge of the city on a high hilltop. Great views but be ready to do some walking.

Make reservations or pre-buy tickets (don't remember which exactly) to get into the Sagrada. I just remember that the lines are long if you just showed up to get in.  

Dinner is late, late.  Anytime before 9:00 pm and you are a pariah. LOL

Mealtimes in Barcelona: When You’ll Be Eating Lunch, Dinner, and In-Between Meals - Eater

You are correct about La Rambla. Tourists galore and lots of tacky stuff for sale. Not worth the time or effort to navigate the masses. We did find some kind of market that had booths selling food stuff and produce.  

On 6/4/2023 at 8:40 PM, CynBeth said:

There apparently was a miscommunication when we booked our cruise using FCC and discovered when I got our cruise documents they do not have us as prepaying gratuities. Where can I  find that option to add it on the website or do I need to call?

I had just the opposite happened to me.  I booked 4 balcony cabins on the Quantum thru Costco Travel.  There was no mention of gratuities being prepaid.  I told my grown kids to prepare for picking up cost of the gratuities at the end.  Dad (me) is paying for a large portion of each room, but they were going pick up a portion of the trip and any additional costs including gratuities.  

Low and behold, the "Cruise Summary" of the Guest Ticket Book shows Prepaid Gratuities = YES for all 4 cabins.   

On 5/31/2023 at 7:29 AM, BrianB said:

I’ve noticed how some fast food places have combined raising prices with shrinking products. I really thought I was going through a mid-life growing spurt.

I was an IT consultant and during a dinner out with a client that was CIO of a large nationwide restaurant chain (sit down, not fast food).  He stated that the chain had started using plates that were 1" or 2" less in size (something like a 12" plate was replaced with a 10.5" plate).  He said that they had done studies and the smaller plates made it appear that you were getting more food.