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Spectrum, Ovation and Quantum


mcoler18

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Just now, mcoler18 said:

All three ships are only 3 out of 5 on the reviews on Cruise Critic, I havent been on Quantum class so cant comment, why would they have such low scores?

One just has to look at comments posted on social media to see that many these days are very hard to please.  It seems like everyone is complaining about something.

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Quantum class does deviate from the previous evolution of Royal ships.

No Viking Crown Lounge, Promenade replaced by Esplanade.  MDR isn't one large space but four distinct rooms.  No slides.   However they have other features no other ships in the fleet have.

IMO people don't like change or different.  In their mind different = bad.

I personally love these ships.  

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8 hours ago, mcoler18 said:

All three ships are only 3 out of 5 on the reviews on Cruise Critic, I havent been on Quantum class so cant comment, why would they have such low scores?

I was on Spectrum in May and loved the ship, the main dinning room was changed from the four separate rooms to a two floor room. As someone said, read through the comments of the reviews most people are giving them low scores because of silly things like "My towels had a extra crease in them 3 of the 14 days so for that I am giving them a 3 star rating" lol, ok maybe not that bad but some folks just cannot be pleased. We are fairly new to cruising, Our first cruise on a different line was to Alaska but we were very unimpressed, 6 years later we tried Spectrum and we are hooked now, we have 3 booked in the next year and cannot wait (34 days till the next). 

Honestly after reading the reviews on Cruise Critic for most ships we have looked at I do not see the reviews as a valid source for research... comedy maybe but not for researching ships.. There are some very good objective reviews of ships on the site but travel and expectations very so greatly between people that I have never put much weight into reviews. 

I think Matt actually gives not putting much weight into ship reviews as a tip in one of his videos, I personally cannot wait for another Quantum ship cruise.

 

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I was a little concerned about the lower ratings for Quantum ships as well.  But, I just got off the Ovation and it was a great cruise!  Would 100% sail on that ship again.  It is a little different as discussed above (dining rooms, no Viking Crown Lounge, etc), but we found a variety of great public areas and despite the numbers of cruisers on board (we supposedly sailed at capacity) it never felt full.  We even cancelled our MTD dinner reservation the last night in favor of one last Alaskan sunset and had no problem walking into the dining room around 8PM with no wait.  

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11 hours ago, Skatepunk said:

I was on Spectrum in May and loved the ship, the main dinning room was changed from the four separate rooms to a two floor room. As someone said, read through the comments of the reviews most people are giving them low scores because of silly things like "My towels had a extra crease in them 3 of the 14 days so for that I am giving them a 3 star rating" lol, ok maybe not that bad but some folks just cannot be pleased. We are fairly new to cruising, Our first cruise on a different line was to Alaska but we were very unimpressed, 6 years later we tried Spectrum and we are hooked now, we have 3 booked in the next year and cannot wait (34 days till the next). 

Honestly after reading the reviews on Cruise Critic for most ships we have looked at I do not see the reviews as a valid source for research... comedy maybe but not for researching ships.. There are some very good objective reviews of ships on the site but travel and expectations very so greatly between people that I have never put much weight into reviews. 

I think Matt actually gives not putting much weight into ship reviews as a tip in one of his videos, I personally cannot wait for another Quantum ship cruise.

 

very well said. very little benefit to reading reviews other than to learn about stuff on the ship. Unfortunately that is thru someones else's prizm which is unreliable. Ultimately you have to take a leap of faith with these things and hope your personal experience is better than what you've read about.

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18 hours ago, Skatepunk said:

I think Matt actually gives not putting much weight into ship reviews as a tip in one of his videos, I personally cannot wait for another Quantum ship cruise.

Matt always says not even the Great Wall of China gets 5 stars from everyone!  (Currently at 4.2 stars per Google Reviews).

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16 hours ago, ChrisK2793 said:

What makes an esplanade different than a promenade?  I’ve never been on a quantum class ship 

Promenades to date have been a straight central place but primarily one level for it's length with a mix of shops and food/drink venues.  

The Esplanade has a dog leg in it.  Shops located along one section then food/drink venues located in the next section along with guest services.  It's two levels with some of the specialty dining venues on the second level that are somewhat open to the esplanade or separated by a sheer curtain.  

The final purpose and effect is the same, the design just different.  

Both are choke points during t-shirt sales but the Esplanade does seem to restrict traffic more frequently due to kiosks placed in the middle to sell stuff from.   

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16 hours ago, ChrisK2793 said:

What makes an esplanade different than a promenade?  I’ve never been on a quantum class ship 

Honestly, I think they mostly give it the different name simply because as such a different class of ship they wanted to break all associations with the other classes. The two words are synonymous and when you look at the spaces there's not a whole lot distinguishing them.

I think the biggest design difference that you'll see is that the Esplanade on a Q class ship has the shops, restaurants, bars, and other venues spanning both decks of the space, whereas the Royal Promenade only has shops on the lower deck; the upper deck has staterooms with windows overlooking the space. This lets the Q class ships have more on-board venues (mostly extra shops hawking luxury brands like Omega and Coach), as well as some unique venues like the 2-deck high Music Hall.

The other big difference is that the Esplanade is not as well-designed for traffic flow. Where the Promenade is a simple straight-line path from aft to forward, and nice and wide for crowds to easily walk past, the Esplanade has some rather bad choke points where the path splits left and right around some of the venues at the forward end by the Music Hall and theater space. They also tend to fill the central area with a lot more kiosks that further choke the traffic flow, especially on sale days for the on-board shops.

The third difference, which I only just remembered thinking about the two, is that the Esplanade is very brightly lit with white walls everywhere, making it feel much more like the indoor space that it is and, frankly, reminding me of every mega-mall I've ever visited in the tri-state area. The Promenade, in contrast, has much more subdued lighting and feels more like a relaxed street in a quaint little town, where you feel invited to explore the little shops and restaurants. Sitting outside the Vintages there, and watching the people go by, just reinforces that impression.

Needless to say, I like the Promenade a lot more.

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sitting on our balcony on the Ovation as I type this.  

Esplanade = upscale mall.  Feels like the Galleria in Houston and less and less like I'm on a boat.  many of the staples (like Schooner bar, which still has the nautical theme) dont have windows looking outside at the ocean, so you're just looking at the Esplanade (and crush of people) instead.  additionally, we bought the 3 night dining package for the first time on this sailing.  Izumi and Jamie's are located along said Esplanade and arent really sectioned off ... kind of felt like I was dining at a mall food court.  noisy and people strolling past.  food and service were excellent, but was hoping for a more private experience (Chops delivered in that regard versus the other two).  though I get the ship is so huge, and not everything is going to have an ocean view or else youd end up with wasted space.  

Yet I enjoy this class of ship ... generally love the public areas, two70 is fantastic, solarium is fantastic.  MDRs are a change-up, but not in a bad way.  we have tried to eat or snack at a different venue each day to experience everything we can.  we are on Day 4 of 5 straight days at sea and have had no problem finding things to do.  I think the Q-class ships are just different, but different doesn't equal bad.  

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