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Can anyone offer a comparison between the ships Ovation and Quantum? Good and bad of both. Looking at a Alaska cruise next August/September trying to pick which ship. We would be in a suite not sure what level of suite. Restaurant comparison appears Quantum may have more of a selection. Also Alaska cruise which side of the ship is best for site seeing or does it matter. Thanks in advance for your assistance..

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9 hours ago, cookie10* said:

Also Alaska cruise which side of the ship is best for site seeing or does it matter.

On a closed-loop cruise (Seattle-Seattle or Vancouver-Vancouver) it doesn't matter.  If I were sailing NB I'd choose a starboard cabin, SB I'd choose port (my opinion after doing 3 of them).  I sailed Ovation last year to Alaska, I haven't been on Quantum.  I can't imagine there's a massive difference. My preference is a Radiance Class ship for Alaska if given a choice because I find Quantum class too inward facing for my taste in a highly scenic region (for instance when in most bars or restaurants there are few, if any, windows to sip a drink and stare out at the scenery.  But that's just personal preference.

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Agree with pretty much everything above.  Between the two choices there doesn’t seem to be a huge variety so it really probably depends on something that only matters to you like best travel dates or specific room availability.  
 

As for which side of the ship it probably doesn’t matter even more when you consider your stops.  Many days you head into port you will sail into a fjord to get to the location (Juneau and Dawes for example) and then sail back out.  So the views for both side of the ship will be pretty much the same just at different times of the day.
 

We have never done Quantum, only the Ovation in Alaska last year, so can’t give a direct comparison.  Having looked at the deck plans they don’t seem all that different, even the restaurant choices that you mentioned are similar.  It seems the only difference is really the noodle shop that was removed from the Ovation and replaced with the fish and chips place.  You had mentioned having a suite so I can share that Coastal Kitchen had pretty good views.  If your suite will have all day access then getting spot near the window is pretty easy at breakfast and lunch, dinner was a little more crowded and near the windows was not as reliable.  

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On our Radiance southbound (Seward to Vancouver) we selected portside to view the coast line. On a close jaw, I don't think it matters. If you don't see "it" going north, you'll see "it" going south.

We will be on Quantum for close jaw in August 2021. Didn't matter to us which side for viewing. For this sailing, location of our cabin was based on the suite we needed (Grand Suite 2-bdrm). There are not too many of them and they are centrally located. Decision made for us. Also, didn't want to be directly below a pool deck.

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I successfully got our Alaska cruise L&S from August 2020 to Septembe 2021. But it looks like they still are requesting my final payment in May 2020? Does Royal require you to make the final based on the original cruise schedule??? Has anyone had any experience with this? 

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12 minutes ago, cookie10* said:

I successfully got our Alaska cruise L&S from August 2020 to Septembe 2021. But it looks like they still are requesting my final payment in May 2020? Does Royal require you to make the final based on the original cruise schedule??? Has anyone had any experience with this? 

No.  If your cruise has been successfully moved to Sept. of next year, your final payment will be due in June 2021.  Whoever told you that your final payment is still due is wrong.

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3 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

No.  If your cruise has been successfully moved to Sept. of next year, your final payment will be due in June 2021.  Whoever told you that your final payment is still due is wrong.

The final payment date did move but they are showing a large partisal payment  (almost all the balance) due on the original final date in 2020? 

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5 minutes ago, cookie10* said:

The final payment date did move but they are showing a large partisal payment  (almost all the balance) due on the original final date in 2020? 

I see.  I think it's possible that they are looking for the remainder ($300 ??) of the "normal" deposit.  Since the "normal" deposit would be $250 each = $500, and you have paid $200, they must be looking for the balance of $300.  That makes sense.  

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Does anyone know if Quantum of the Seas will have Star Class with a Royal Genie? So if one does L&S from a 2020 Alaskan Ovation Sailing in a star class room to a 2021 Alaskan Quantum Sailing will they get the same perks? Since Quantum will be new to the Alaska there's not a lot of info out there, and while Quantum sails in Asia it's published that it only has star class on Singapore sailings. But if you look at the descriptions when booking a room on Royal for both Singapore & Alaskan sailings for QOS it clearly makes no mention of Star Class on either.

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7 hours ago, DrNDo said:

Does anyone know if Quantum of the Seas will have Star Class with a Royal Genie? So if one does L&S from a 2020 Alaskan Ovation Sailing in a star class room to a 2021 Alaskan Quantum Sailing will they get the same perks? Since Quantum will be new to the Alaska there's not a lot of info out there, and while Quantum sails in Asia it's published that it only has star class on Singapore sailings. But if you look at the descriptions when booking a room on Royal for both Singapore & Alaskan sailings for QOS it clearly makes no mention of Star Class on either.

I've noted the same for Quantum in Alaska. 

It's ironic because Sky Class is still noted for cabins such as Grand Suites while the suite benefits appear to be less for the suites that are normally Star Class like the Grand Loft Suites, they don't mention Coastal Kitchen or the Concierge Lounge access that Sky Class does list as a benefit.

Over on the Royal Suite Class webpage Quantum isn't mentioned.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-rooms/royal-suite-class

499626942_RoyalSuiteClassScreen.jpeg.b364a180f893673741ccf6cdad22f54f.jpeg

   

On Ovation's page it does clearly show a genie and star class

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/ovation-of-the-seas/rooms

While Quantum's equivalent page does not

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/quantum-of-the-seas/rooms

In the days when Ovation split time with the Asia region they more carefully delineated when Star Class wasn't offered on her, but I'm having a harder time finding that now.   In fact it appears they have cleaned up the Royal Suites page and removed any mention of Quantum at all and the Singapore vs. China delineation that I recall seeing before.

Royal updated Ovation's Star Class offering last year.  Some of the cabins that were advertised as Star Class two or three years ago lost their Star Class designation and became Sky Class after people had booked them.  Before I sailed Ovation to New Zealand in February my travel agent told me another client who was on my sailing.  They had been booked in a Star Class suite that lost the Star designation on another voyage.  They were pretty furious and she managed to switch them to my sailing in a current Star Class suite.    I didn't pay a lot of attention to that but when I was in the Concierge Lounge on Ovation the Concierge was taking phone calls from furious guests who were expecting Star Class benefits but found themselves mere Sky Class. 

This resonated with me when I later booked UP on Oasis which is currently Star Class.  I've taken a lot of screen captures to show it was booked as Star Class in case Royal decides to quitely lower the UP suite to Sky Class before my 2022 sailing.

Based on what I was told and later observed on Ovation, I would be very careful expecting Star Class on Quantum.  Since they aren't being sold as Star Class and Quantum isn't mentioned anywhere on the current Royal Suites page I fear she has lost Star Class.  

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31 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I can't even imagine how furious I would be if I booked a SC suite and then when I boarded I found out it wasn't SC at all.  I hope whoever had that ultimate disappointment received a 200% FCC.  The Hotel Director would NOT be a fan of mine once I got ahold of them.  Whew !

I know right?  I think they had been dealing with it for several sailings.  The concierge had the canned responses committed to memory and she was firm.  It wasn't her first time dealing with it. 

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