FloatyBoaty

Starwater is the only show on Quantum that will be available for reservations. It is in 270, which is a smaller venue than the Royal Theater. You just show up to all of the  shows in the Royal Theater- early if you want specific seating (they usually open the doors about 45 minutes before showtime, but you will see people still coming in and trying to find seats minutes before the shows) 

1 hour ago, RyanWood said:

Hello, I have never been on a cruise and looking to book a cruise for my fiancé and I for our honeymoon. We decided on Oasis of the seas March 8-16 in 2025. I was looking to get in contact with someone from MEI travel to help us but I can’t seem to figure out where to find the form to fill out. 
Thank you in advance.
We are excited to start our cruising adventures.

Here's the link with the MEI travel agent form on the right in the yellow box. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com  

That form is how I met my travel agent @Jenn G-MEI Travel so hope you have as good of an experience as I have had!

Congratulations to you and your fiancé and have a wonderful honeymoon!

41 minutes ago, Scarlett625 said:

My husband and I have booked a cruise in December on Odyssey OTS to Bahamas/Perfect Day. This will be our 4th cruise on this itinerary in the last 2 years. We saw that there is a longer itinerary on Odyssey OTS to islands we have never been to and would love to switch to that sailing.  We have only put down a deposit for our current cruise on Odyssey so far. Would we be able to move that deposit to the other sailing or would we have to cancel and lose the money? I heard somewhere that Royal might just charge a fee to switch, but I can't find that in writing. I would be okay with paying a fee to switch sailings. Before I call Royal, I thought I would ask and see if anyone has been successful in moving to a different sailing. 

Don't cancel - change. If you put down a non-refundable deposit your deposit will transfer to the new cruise. There will be a $100 per person change fee added to the cost of the new cruise due at final payment. I just moved 2 cruises within the last month and one last year too. If you used a travel agent, you can have them take care of this for you.

HI @pat8635

MEI Travel is a sponsor of this site and the agency that many of us who love the Royal Caribbean Blog use. There is a bright yellow box on the home page here https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com  that you can fill out and someone will contact you. That's how I started using my travel agent @Jenn G-MEI Travel and I'm not sure I would sail without her!

Best of luck and happy travels!

There were about a dozen of us doing B2B on Quantum last September and they just invited us to the Key lunch instead of having a separate lunch (as I’ve seen on some of my cruises). On the cruise I got off last week, I heard several people saying they weren’t offered anything on their B2B turnaround day - so I guess it varies?

1 hour ago, steverk said:

It's been a while since I've sailed vision class so my memory may be faulty.  With that in mind, I believe it's  2 US plugs but only 1 European. 

 

We just got off Grandeur last Monday. You are correct. We were able to use all 3 at once.

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Question regarding cubes (I've never used one in my life !!).  It would seem that the goal is to compress your things so that the air is removed (to whatever degree that is possible).  Does that, then, cause your suitcases to be extra heavy b/c the contents are condensed so more can fit in ?  

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

LOL yes. I don't even have the compression kind but my luggage is definitely heavier when I use them. 

I have, but don't use the compression kind.

Using the regular packing cubes, I overfill them and then zipper them down so they're compressed, but not as much as they would be with the compression cubes. It can make your luggage heavier for sure since you're packing more stuff into less space!

Another note that I haven't seen mentioned is that my clothes come out of the cubes much less wrinkled than when packed without the cubes. My thought is that they are just so tightly packed that they can't shift around they way they might otherwise? I do fold them super carefully before putting them in the cubes. I know it kind of doesn't make sense since you're smashing them tight, but really! 

I love the packing cubes - as others have mentioned, it is so easy to unpack and just toss cubes into the drawers/on the shelves. For me, packing takes longer, but unpacking is so easy! 

Noticed this in my account with some purchases from last week, but it also happened to me just a couple months ago. I did call that time and they did confirm that everything was fine, showing up as purchased. The charges reappeared a couple of days later in the posted section of my credit card with the original dates listed. I think it's a weird but try-not-to-worry thing.

5 minutes ago, EmersonNZ said:

That's a shame. From that explanation it sounds like they need to take the actual gondla off to replace the glass which will need heavy lifting cranes. If that wasn't the case surely fixing it in place would be possible. It does seem like a strange design to not be able to repalce a glass panel in service. If this was the week after a dry dock it could be 4 years before it is fixed again.....  

I wonder if they are offering some form of onboard credit as compensation. There will be many people that booked the cruise with the North Star being advertised as part of the entertainment. The North Star is on every advertisment they have for the Quantum so rather a major thing to not be operating. Its not too much of an issue for us as we've been on the North Star plenty of times but there is someone in our party who has never been on a Roayl ship and was looking forward to it.

 

No idea what the repair entails. The circumstances that I heard for the breakage do sound pretty unique. (which I won't repeat because I have no idea how accurate they are and I heard 2 different stories).  Anyway, I was onboard for 2 weeks in September and the transpacific in October and they did not offer any compensation. I also did not ask, so I have no feedback for you there. Have a great cruise though!

17 minutes ago, EmersonNZ said:

Does anyone know if it is fixed? I noticed on the ships profile page on the Royal site it says it is not operitonal but not sure if this is still accurate. 
If so I guess there is no chane it'll be up and running before our cruise in Jan.

One of the rounded glass panels was cracked early this summer in Alaska and was still hearing that it cannot be repaired until dry dock next year. I've been on Quantum 3 times this year and was glad that I got a chance to do North Star in April. It was really cool, but, that said, it's only 15 minutes out of the whole cruise.

It was still called Diamond on Quantum when we got off the transpacific yesterday but heard from a manager that it was supposed to be changed to Crown that first day in Brisbane 

3 hours ago, Shari said:

We had to surrender our passports when we were on a transpacific and approaching the French Polynesian Islands per their government.  After we finished our port stops there we all were given a time to pick them up again.  So Carnival doing this may have something to do with the itinerary.

 

Yes, same. They collected our passports last week a couple days before we arrived in French Polynesia and returned them the day after we left those ports. Everyone had to turn in passports regardless of nationality. It was incredibly well run - we dropped off and picked up on the midship elevator lobby of our stateroom deck. They checked the passports in and carefully verified identity when returning. No lines and no concerns. 

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

EDIT: Someone said it was from Quantum based on the name of the concierge.

That person is incorrect. I am currently on the Quantum Hawaii to Brisbane trip. Jullia Kaihatu is our Diamond Concierge and we did not receive that notice as part of our welcome letter.  

That said, the (still called Diamond Lounge here) has been pretty active and when I stopped by during happy hour yesterday, it was packed. We have 450 Diamonds, 262 D+, and 30 Pinnacles onboard. Pinnacles may also use the Suite/Concierge Lounge on this cruise. 

I believe that this particular storm, which caused the advance cancellation of Ketchikan, was similar to what a tropical storm/hurricane formation would be in the Caribbean. I'm not a weather person, and I know this was in Alaska waters - the point being that it was a storm that was building for days and that they could track going right into their route. It was a huge swirling formation, not a normal rainstorm. They stayed in safe waters and left to arrive after the worst of the storm. 

I was on Quantum a couple of weeks earlier when we had 16' waves and incredibly strong winds and many, many people were uncomfortable.

I always request traditional dining. Once I had my own 2-top right by the railing, very nice. Another time I was seated at a table of single women and did not really enjoy that after the first couple of nights. The 3rd time I had traditional dining booked, but they switched me to My Time Dining without asking. I found that pretty stressful - the lines of people waiting for tables - but was always seated by myself. 

I have another solo sailing next week. I emailed rccl dining and made my request to keep my traditional dining time and be seated at a 2-top. I got both an automatic response and a personal response that my request was being forwarded to the ship, so we will see what happens!

PS - Love sailing solo - have fun!!!

Book! And if the fare goes down before final payment your travel agent should be able to get it adjusted for you. I've had 2 fares adjusted this week (I was pretty shocked to find them lower given the overall up up upwards trend!)

I flew home from Australia in March with an employee of the USDA specializing in beef that was out in Brisbane doing inspections. He flies all over the world. I'm absolutely not saying that he was out there labeling beef as Prime, just saying that there are USDA employees out making the rounds.

27 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

No, many excursions have multiple stops.  Often the same guest is late returning to the bus at each stop which means the other guests get less time at each stop since they are sitting on the bus.  In the extreme case, they have to skip a stop so you miss part of your paid excursion due to guests being inconsiderate.

Exactly. And by the end of the excursion day everyone that has returned to the bus on time is exchanging roll-eye glances because we all are realizing that it's the same group of people late to get back yet again. 

That is insane. I've been on a lot of Royal excursions. Unfortunately, guests are always late to get back to the meeting point/bus (and it's often the same guests over and over). We often have to wait 5-10 minutes for everyone to decide to make their way back or someone will know where they are (liquor tastings!) and run to get them. An experienced guide knows these things and builds in time for it. And also - pissing people off is not good for tips!

There are actually 2 production shows in the Royal Theater: Sonic Odyssey and also Sequins & Feathers. Sequins & Feathers Is usually towards the beginning of the cruise and Sonic Odyssey is toward the end. Both are not usually on port days. Starwater in 270 is performed several days during the cruise and is usually not on the same days as the production shows in the Royal Theater. 

We just spent 2 weeks on Quantum and had NOT ONE person mention the survey in the Main Dining Room or any Specialty venue. So pleased to not have to endure the uncomfortable plug for ratings!

13 minutes ago, DDaley said:

unsubstantiated gossip is that the stabilizers are out of commission which is what made both our sea days so crazy. 

I think it’s more that the wind is hitting us at 56 knots and causing pretty high seas. This is our 2nd week onboard and have heard no mention of stabilizer problems so hopefully not that. Captain expects seas to calm late afternoon. Fingers crossed because it’s pretty crazy. I also saw that Radiance was being held in Seward because of 30’ waves there. 

We had a fantastic week last week and looking forward to another . Our first back-to-back process was very smooth. The Quantum crew, dining, entertainment have all been absolutely wonderful. Have a great cruise!

Yes, there are 2 Production shows in the Royal Theater: Sequins & Feathers and Sonic Odyssey. There will also be headliners on other nights. They do not do reservations for the Royal Theater but you generally have to arrive early for a good seats. 270 has a lot less seating so they do reservations for Starwater and also perform it more often than the Royal Theater productions 

There're 2 threads on CC about this with a couple of people currently on the ship sharing info, but reporting bad azipod and techs flying in to evaluate...