Our newest podcast episode is out to help give you a quick "audio escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise!

Episode 68 is available for downloading where friends join Matt to discuss their recent cruise aboard Quantum of the Seas.

Matt is back from Quantum of the Seas and there's so much to talk about that he's invited a few friends who were also onboard to discuss their experiences on this impressive new ship.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 68. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Stitcher or on iTunes!

Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!

If I may quote an under-appreciated Dutch eurodance group from the late 1990s, "We like, we like to party".  If those lyrics strike a chord with you, then this blog post is for you.

Finding a good party on Royal Caribbean is something a lot of people look to do and hey, who doesn't want to have a good time while at sea? 

Perhaps you want to meet someone special or just get your groove on (do people actually say that still?) and get down and the good news is, there are places on Quantum of the Seas to dance, sing and just plain party on this brand new cruise ship.

Best place for club dancing and music: Music Hall

If you want to jump into a crowd of people and raise your hands into the air like you just don't care, then Music Hall is for you.

This hip spot features live music in the evenings to get things started and that gets a crowd in of itself.  But after the band is done, the DJ comes out and then Music Hall really comes alive.

We've seen crowds on Royal Caribbean cruise ships before at various dance locations but Music Hall really gets the people going.  So if you want to dance to your favorite dance hits, Music Hall is the place to go.

Honorable mention: Bionic Bar & SeaPlex

Best place to sing along to music: Schooner Bar

If you love great bar music and you even like joining in singing from time to time, then check out the Schooner Bar on Quantum of the Seas.

The Schooner Bar has been a staple of Royal Caribbean cruise ships for a while and on Quantum of the Seas, there's a prominent piano where live music is played and it always draws a good crowd.

Unlike the Music Hall, people are usually sitting at the tables, booths and the bar and it's calmer but there's still a great time to be had here.  We loved hearing "Piano Man", "Sweet Caroline" and other classics and after a few drinks, who doesn't feel like singing along too?

Best place for live lounge music: Boleros

Like the Schnooner Bar, Boleros has become a fan favorite on Royal Caribbean ships. This latin-themed lounge is the perfect place for a live band to play some toe-tapping tunes.

There's something about latin music that just appeals to everyone.  Maybe it's the smooth melodies or the intoxicating will to dance but Boleros is always full and always a good spot for an evening drink while you enjoy the band play.

Yo amo Boleros!

US News and World Reports released its 2015 Best Cruise rankings and Royal Caribbean emerged as the Best Cruise Line for the money.

Royal Caribbean took top honors for the combination of low prices and what you get for it, "Royal Caribbean is one of the largest lines setting sail hundreds of times each year to destinations around the world. And having the ability to accommodate thousands of guests per ship allows Royal Caribbean to keep rates low: Cruisers won't have trouble finding itineraries costing less than $100 per person per night. Prices cover lodging, meals in the Main Dining Room and a wealth of onboard activities ranging from swimming and rock climbing to foreign language classes and Broadway-style performances."

Royal Caribbean also did well in other categories as well

• Second place for Best Cruise Lines for Families
• Tenth place for Best Cruise Lines for Romance
• Second place for Best Cruise Lines in the Caribbean

US News and World Reports rankings are based on an expert evaluation of the line's level of luxury, as well as an assessment of user reviews and health ratings.

Cruise Critic released its 2014 US Editors' Picks awards and Royal Caribbean came away with two awards, most notably best new cruise ship with Quantum of the Seas.

Cruise Critic gave Royal Caribbean's newest ship the top nod and commented, "Quantum of the Seas is all about innovation. Bumper cars and skydiving at sea grab the headlines, but the ship itself is simply revolutionary. The technology available onboard makes staying in touch a snap, and thoughtful details like USB ports in cabins and interactive kiosks for booking onboard activities are perfect for the modern cruiser."

Royal Caribbean also won Best Inside Cabins award mostly on the strength of its virtual balcony staterooms.

First introduced on Navigator of the Seas, the virtual balconies have transformed what an inside stateroom can be and Cruise Critic's editors seemed to like what they saw, "When Royal Caribbean introduced virtual balconies into some inside cabins on Navigator of the Seas, the line surpassed its competition. The cabins, also found on Quantum of the Seas, give passengers the feeling of being in an outside cabin via real-time video from outside the ship that's piped in and displayed on wall-sized digital screens."

Royal Caribbean is starting the Wave season promotions early this year with a special promotion that allows guests to stack multiple discounts.

Royal Caribbean's "Vow to WOW Sale" offers buy one guest, get the second guest 50% off, plus 50% reduced deposit, and onboard credit.

The amount of onboard credit is as follows

• Interior & Ocean View staterooms
  • $100 onboard credit per stateroom
• Balcony staterooms
  • $200 onboard credit per stateroom
• Suite staterooms
  • $300 onboard credit per stateroom

The promotion is available for all open deployments, excluding China departures as well as Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas.

Buy One, Get One 50% off is combinable with the adjoining onboard credit offer, Crown & Anchor discounts and NextCruise offers. Buy One, Get One 50% off offer is not combinable with restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military, Kids Sail Free). 

Onboard credit offer is combinable with restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military, BOGO, Kids Sail Free) as well as NextCruise offers. OBC offer is not combinable with Crown & Anchor discounts.

Promotion is valid for cruises booked between November 17 and December 31, 2014.

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas has a lot to offer, including a number of staterooms.  Today, we will look at the category D8 balcony stateroom and take you through the cabin to give you an idea of what to expect if you book this category.

On Quantum of the Seas, we reviewed stateroom 6244, which is located on Deck 6 just outside the aft elevator bank.  Entry to the room is by RFID scanner, which is above the door handle.

Walking into the room, you will immediately see the light from the balcony shining ahead of you.  The stateroom is rather long and narrow.

The bed is joined together but can be split apart if need be.  There's a large, flat screen television across from it and two night stands on opposite sides of the bed.  Access to the balcony is also on the other side of the bed.

The bathroom features a stand up shower, toilet and sink.  One thing we noticed immediately with this bathroom is there is far less of the white plastic you typically find on other Royal Caribbean ship restrooms.  Instead, there's far more glass and tile, which we found a welcome change.

Another change to the restroom is the shampoo and soap options.  On older Royal Caribbean ships, passengers would find a shampoo dispenser on the wall.  On Quantum of the Seas, the dispenser has been removed and instead small bottles of shampoo, soap and conditioner are available.  

Back out to the stateroom, you will find two armoires that allow you to hang clothing as well as store other clothing.  These seem larger to us than closets on other ships.

Of course, the reason to book this stateroom is the balcony.  At 55 square feet, the balcony is on the small side but it has enough room for two chairs and a table.  It's enough space for two people to comfortably enjoy the view and ocean air.

This stateroom does also include a sofa that opens into a bed.  Frankly, any more than two passengers in this stateroom would feel confined quickly. For a couple looking for the a balcony stateroom, the D8 category is perfect for them.

Today, we are taking in breakfast and dinner at Royal Caribbean's brand new Dynamic Dining restaurant, American Icon Grill aboard Quantum of the Seas.

American Icon Grill is one of five complimentary sit down restaurants aboard Quantum of the Seas and as the name implies, it serves up American comfort food that were handpicked from a variety of local favorites across the country.

American Icon Grill is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we had a chance to try it out for breakfast and dinner.  Let's see how this new restaurant concept stacks up.

Atmosphere

American Icon Grill is located on deck 4, in the rear of the ship.  In fact, four of the complimentary restaurants are stacked on top of each other between decks 3 and 4.

The entrance to American Icon Grill is a glitzy walkway that features a lot of lights, mirrors and glass.  It's bright and reminded me of a hip restaurant you might find in a large city.

Despite the fact the restaurant is just one of many onboard that replace the main dining room, it's rather large.  It can handle 430 guests and on my visit, it was perhaps half full.

With all the complimentary restaurants, you will be asked if being seated with other passengers is okay.  On my visit, I managed to get a table alone but I certainly would not have minded the company.

Eats

The menu at American Icon Grill is the same throughout your cruise and each meal has its own special menu.

We will start this review with breakfast and then move onto dinner.  

Eating breakfast in American Icon Grill reminded me very much of breakfast in the main dining room on every other Royal Caribbean ship.  In fact, the menu was nearly identical, with an assortment of eggs, pancakes, french toast and other basic breakfast foods.

I opted for the french toast, which was exactly like the french toast I was used to on other ships' main dining room.

I did enjoy the french toast and found it to be soft and tasty.  The truth about breakfast on Quantum of the Seas, and all Royal Caribbean ships, is the menu is pretty similar every morning.  You dine at American Icon Grill because you prefer to be seated and have your food brought to you, as opposed to dining in the Windjammer which has essentially the same offerings but you must serve yourself.

At dinner, the menu opens up considerably and there's more than just what you can find upstairs.

At dinner, you are served an assortment of bread rolls.  I asked about the sourdough rolls and savory bites you typically found in the old main dining room, but they do not seem to be available here.

I did not want to fill up on bread but I did try the cornbread muffins, which were really moist and tasty.

My waiter suggested the New England Clam Chowder, and I happily took him up on that suggestion.  I'm no soup expert but I think I can tell the difference between soup that is fresh made and soup that comes out of can and this soup was definitely not born in a metal container.

I also sampled another appetizer, the Reuben Turnovers.  I had tried these earlier this year at another Royal Caribbean media event when Dynamic Dining was announced and loved it so I had to have the real thing.  

I'm a big Reuben fan to begin with and these are pastries filled with pastrami and cheese on a bed of sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing.  This is what I hope heaven serves as appetizers because they were stupendous.  I am a Reuben fanboy but I do believe these little bad boys are quite good.

I also decided to try one of the signature cocktails American Icon Grill offers in what they call The New Southern.  It tasted quite good, but I'm not sure it's my new favorite drink.  But then again, what I love about cruises is trying new food and drinks!

Back to the food, it was time for my entree and I went with what any self-respecting American would choose: a burger.  This was the dry aged steak burger, which sounded perfect to me.

This burger hit the spot, as it was juicy and had a lot of flavor with a nice toasted bun on top.  I also liked the pickles they served with it, which made the perfect topping.  

Not to be overlooked, the french fries have a parmesan garnish on top that reminded me of the fries one would get at Chops Grill.  I really enjoyed this choice.

Overall

I was surprised by American Icon Grill because of all the complimentary restaurants on Quantum of the Seas, I was looking forward to the others so much more that I overlooked this one. 

American Icon Grill had great tasting food across its menu, especially for dinner.  

After eating at American Icon Grill, I came to the conclusion it's like the last heir of the main dining room.  Breakfast (and lunch) are similar experiences to the main dining room and the food at dinner while more varied than what the main dining room offered, still felt like a similar experience. 

When I return to Quantum of the Seas in March, I will definitely be re-evaluating my dining strategy to include more stops here because I really enjoyed what I had.  We haven't reviewed the other complimentary restaurants yet on this blog but when we do, you will see that American Icon Grill stands out as a winner.

Royal Caribbean formally christened Quantum of the Seas just a few days ago and we have the full video of the ceremony so you don't miss a minute of it.