Day 5, which happened to be Thanksgiving, has come and gone onboard the Quantum of the Seas. As I laid in bed this morning, full of turkey, sound asleep, and in the middle of a romantic dream starring me, Margaret Rutherford, and a pony named “Stringer,” I was startled awake by the bing, bong, bing of the public address system.
Suddenly the voice of the captain boomed in my ears at the same volume level the Bruce Springsteen tribute band played at in the ship’s Music Hall the other night. He was delivering disappointing news that even though we were currently at anchor off the line’s private island, CoCo Cay, the wind made sea conditions too dangerous to commence tender operations to take passengers ashore.
Depending on the port-of-call many ships, either due to their size or the port facilities, cannot dock and must use their own lifeboats or shore-side tender boats to ferry passengers from the ship to shore and vice versa. This is done by passengers hopping off the ship onto these tenders from a deck at the ship’s waterline. In calm water, the task at hand is relatively easy. But when there are moderate waves, the small tender can easily bob up and down making it very dangerous for passengers to lose their footing and fall getting on or off the tender.
The captain went on to mention that there are two alternate ports he could take us to, Charleston, SC, or Bermuda. However, neither one of these ports are able to accommodate a ship the size of the Quantum of the Seas. For those familiar with cruising out of Bayonne, NJ, Royal Caribbean previously home-ported Explorer of the Seas from there and sailed regularly in and out of Bermuda. With Quantum replacing Explorer in Bayonne, Bermuda was left out until facilities are built to accommodate the Quantum-class ship and its sister Anthem of the Seas, currently under construction.
So rather than spend the day on the sun-splashed private island where a floating mat will set you back $16 for the day, we’ll begin the trip back to Bayonne at reduced speed for an early morning arrival Monday.
No doubt, many will be disappointed, as kids and adults alike were looking for some time ashore basking in the sun and the blue water. With this latest change, we will spend six of the eight days of the cruise at sea and only two of them so far have been days with warm, sunny weather. The rest of the days have been wet and cold.
I was planning on using today to go around and photograph the public areas of the ship when the majority of the passengers would be ashore. Not going to be so lucky with this task!
Thanksgiving on board was just another day. We called on Nassau, where I got off the ship for a few moments to take pictures of the Carnival Magic and Norwegian Breakaway – as well as the Quantum – while we were docked. As far as exploring the city, no thanks. Nassau is known for having a high crime rate and violence against tourists is common. While the dreaded Straw Market is relatively safe, wandering outside the port area is something you don’t really want to do unless you’re on a guided tour with a reputable tour company or with a shore excursion booked through the cruise line.
The weather finally was nice, although a bit windy. We docked around 1pm and within a few short minutes the ship was cleared and passengers were able to disembark and begin their day ashore.
Onboard the ship, those who didn’t venture off, were enjoying an uncrowded pool deck and some of the other activities including the FlowRider and iFly skydiving simulator. The North Star continues to suffer from mechanical breakdowns and was unavailable, although it did function late in the afternoon for a very short time.
Passengers continue to complain about the things I wrote about earlier in the week. Dynamic Dining is not pleasing these folks at all and if there could be a protest to bring back the main dining room, I believe 75% of the people on board would participate. I’ve never encountered so many people disgruntled over the lack of a set dining time with a set table of strangers and a set server. One woman told me, “my husband likes to eat at 5:30pm and after the first day our server knows he likes to start off with a cold coffee and end with a hot one. You don’t get that when you’re in a different restaurant every night.”
This may be the case for the older, seasoned cruises on board. The ones who are part of the name-tag-wearing, status-touting crowd who are pretty much set in their ways and are reluctant to any form of change. The younger ones on board, and there are very few, seem to be very pleased with how things are going. Include me in that group as well.
Yesterday I wrote about the beverage packages and the fact that the CocaCola Freestyle soda machines have been wide open allowing anyone – whether they bought a beverage package or not – to be able to use them. I spoke to a passenger who went to Guest Services and was issued a credit for the soda portion of his package. I’ll probably take the same route before I get off, but this should be something that the ship does automatically, but with onboard revenue a high priority, I don’t see them handing out un-asked-for credits. From a customer service standpoint, it just makes sense.
After a busy day of doing nothing, when I was back onboard after my hour of picture taking, I headed down to the Royal Esplanade for a couple of slices of pizza from Sorrento’s. Like I said yesterday, it’s not really living up to its New York Style billing, but it ain’t bad.
Out on the pool deck, Thanksgiving football was playing on the big screen as well as on televisions in several bars throughout the ship.
I originally had dinner booked in the ship’s Asian fusion restaurant, Silk, on Thanksgiving, but being that American Icon Grill had a “Thanksgiving Dinner” as part of their everyday menu, I swapped nights in an attempt to at least do something Thanksgiving-ish on turkey day.
American Icon Grill is billed as “the classic American road trip,” with favorite comfort foods on the short menu. This dining venue, one of 17 different ones onboard Quantum of the Seas, is free. Some folks I talked to said it’s their favorite restaurant on board and have eaten at it a couple of times during the cruise so far.
I arrived at my appointed time of 8:15pm and did not have to wait in any lines. The host asked, “would you like to share a table?” Um… no thanks. As I was ushered to my table of two-for-one, I cringed when I saw where he was leading me to. Another bank head table where I was the meat in the middle of the bread on my right and left. Although there was a little more room than the 6 ½ inches I had between me and the tables next to me the other night at Chic, I kept my mouth shut and sat down. The couple on my right were finishing up their dessert and would be leaving soon, hopefully not to be replaced.
The young couple on my left was on their honeymoon cruise and traveled from South Carolina to join the Quantum of the Seas. We chatted throughout dinner as he drank a couple of bottles of Michael’s Genuine Home Brew beer and I enjoyed a few New Fashioned cocktails. This twist on the classic Old Fashioned is made with pink grapefruit, raspberries, brown sugar, orange bitters, and Southern Comfort. After my first sip, the guy next to me asked what I thought. “It’s sweet enough to enjoy several and not knowing when you’ve had one too many until you end up face down on the floor,” was my answer.
Knowing that I had a show to catch after dinner, I didn’t push myself to be the guy “face down on the floor.”
For dinner, I started off with a Reuben Turnover as my appetizer. Like its dessert cousin the Apple Turnover, the puff pastry shell was stuffed with pastrami, sauerkraut, and 1000 island sauce. Not a fan of Rubens to begin with, I was hesitant at taking the recommendation of my server, but what the heck, you only live one. I was pleasantly surprised by the choice.
The appetizer menu only had two salads on it, none of which appealed to me so I didn’t order any. A choice I soon regretted, so I decided to ask my server if he could have someone make me a simple salad with oil and vinegar. He quickly obliged, to which I was “thankful.”
Next up was the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, which I mentioned earlier is an everyday item on the American Icon Grill menu, and these were flying out of the kitchen. Several slices of white meat turkey and one slice of dark was served with traditional stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, and roasted root vegetables.
For dessert, the regular dessert menu was available but on Thanksgiving, they were serving what else, pumpkin pie. I opted for that.
I failed to mention that for Thanksgiving, everyone was given a glass of champagne to start off with and the other restaurants on board offered some form of Thanksgiving fare for dinner.
So far, I have to say the food at American Icon Grill has been the best I’ve had onboard. Maybe it was just the comfort of the comfort food, or something else, but my meal here out-shined the $35 a head, much celebrated Chops Steakhouse, albeit a far different dining experience.
I had a short time between dinner and the evening show, so I strolled outside along the open Deck 5. Unlike Holland American ships that have a walk-around promenade deck, this deck does not. It does include a weather-protected smokers’ area complete with furniture on the port side. Doors to this deck do not have to be opened by hand, as they are glass sliders activated by motion sensors, a nice touch for those of us who don’t have to have to push heavy wooden or metal doors leading to open decks.
I attended the 10:30pm performance of the A Capella group MO5AIC (pronounced Mosaic Five). This group of five guys uses no instruments, only the human voice, to create music and song. It was an amazing performance one has to witness to truly appreciate. They stunned the audience and you would think that there was indeed a band backing them up. From opera to Queen, to pop to soul, these guys covered the musical spectrum and even did a few Christmas songs. As they sang Carol of the Bells, I was wondering which religious or non-religious group would be the first one to leave the theatre and go straight to Guest Services to complain.
It was a riveting performance and if you have the chance check out some of their videos on YouTube.
After the show, I stopped back at the Schooner Bar, the ship’s piano bar, for a nightcap before calling it a day. It was here I met an older passenger who identified himself as “Diamond Plus,” a status level. I identified myself as “platinum-prestige-silver-preferred” and listened to him as he said he will “never go on this ship again” and that he was writing the Captain a letter telling him just how bad the ship is.
Onboard Quantum of the Seas, things are different. Things are modern. Things are “smart.” Things are new. Things are broken. Things are working.
But one “thing” is certain.
You can’t please everyone.
Personal Day-By-Day Quantum of the Seas Cruise Review:
Photo Tour of the Quantum of the Seas:
No cruise vacation is complete without taking a ton of photos, and that’s exactly what I did on my Quantum of the Seas cruise. From the ship’s stunning interiors to its beautiful pool areas and my cozy stateroom, I captured it all on camera. You can check out my photo tour of the ship and see all of the pictures I took by visiting the links above for my day-by-day review of the cruise.