Our first full day onboard Quantum of the Seas is also our last. It's so weird being happy and sad at the same time but a two-night cruise is better than no cruise, right?
I set my alarm early because I wanted to be able to get up and get as much time on the ship today as I could. This idea made perfect sense in my mind but the lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me. Regardless, it's far easier to be groggy on a cruise ship than anywhere else!
Naturally I went to the Windjammer for breakfast. Personally, I always go straight to the make-your-own-omelette station for breakfast. The regular options in the Windjammer breakfast never did much for me. There's an omelette station at the rear of the Windjammer that literally no one went to so I was able to have my eggs made for me without any wait.
I also decided to eat my breakfast in the outdoor seating area of the Windjammer. There's about a dozen tables or so on the aft of the ship and when you have great weather, it's really the perfect place to enjoy breakfast.
In the name of research (or at least that's what I tell myself), I went down to American Icon Grill for another breakfast. I wanted to see what this was going to be like and breakfast (and lunch) at American Icon Grill is nearly identical to having those meals in the main dining room on other Royal Caribbean ships. The menu was pretty much the same as what I had experienced in the main dining room.
Just like the main dining room, you will be seated with other people and I found this just as fun as the main dining room experience. It's always great meeting new people and talking about the cruise you're on.
After my multiple breakfasts, I was ready for more exploring. I started with the Solarium, which is the adults-only pool spot at the front of the ship. Royal Caribbean designed it to look like a brook that has little lagoons that spill down a hill onto each other. I found it quite serene and an area adults will love.
I also discovered the small wings on either side of the Solarium that offer a small outdoor area that jet out over the ocean. It's great for photos!
I walked back along the pool deck to SeaPlex to see more of this area. One area in particular I wanted to experience was the Xbox pod. On previous Royal Caribbean ships, there have been Nintendo Wiis but they have rarely been used and I wanted to see how the Xbox pod faired.
The truth is this area is really nice and I wish I had some time to play a few games. There were a few games loaded (Call of Duty Ghosts, FIFA, Titanfall) but guests can bring their own games too. The super comfy gaming chairs are there and there are some massive high defitintion TVs to play on. My inner 16-year-old would have been in heaven. Heck, I still love video games so I thought this area was a home run.
I had a few minutes to spare before my next event so I quickly sampled the hog dogs at SeaPlex Dog House. This small restaurant offers a few different hot dogs, brats and weiners for you to enjoy with a large variety of toppings. I went with a Coney dog with extra sauerkraut and it was heaven!
My first media session of the day was a Q&A with the Royal Caribbean people responsible for bringing the SeaPlex to life. Originally called the "Seanassium", the SeaPlex offers basketball, bumper cars, roller skating, circus school, badminton, and dance parties complete with a DJ that can literally hover over the middle.
It was interesting to hear the stories behind SeaPlex and how they built this area. It's a real credit to what Royal Caribbean can do with these ships.
Right around noon, Royal Caribbean promoted a Selfie at Sea promotion. Basically, everyone onboard was given selfie-sticks (devices you attach your smartphone to that faciliate taking a photo of yourself) and we were told to tweet and instagram out our selfies at noon exactly. I came up with three ideas, none of which I absolutely loved (my creative juices were not exactly flowing), but it's all in good fun.
Since it had been like 20 minutes since I last ate, I went up to the Windjammer for lunch. I opted for my usual assortment of curries and other tasty food. Unlike breakfast, lunch (and dinner) at the Windjammer offer a great variety of choices. Also, do not miss the fresh baked cookies in the Windjammer! They roll those bad boys out of the oven all the time and they are amazing!
After lunch Royal Caribbean opened up a number of staterooms for guests to see as a kind of "open house". It was great to see the various suites and special staterooms unique to Quantum-class but the rooms were quite crowded so it was difficult to really document it properly for the blog. Nonetheless, seeing those loft suites, virtual balconies and family staterooms in person was a great treat!
I managed to stop by the Cafe @ Two70 to sample a Royal Caribbean classic: the pot roast sandwich. These are the same sandwhiches from Park Cafe on the Oasis-class and it was amazing! It's a must-try.
Next I had a tour of the ship's bridge and got to meet her Captain. Bridge tours are always a very cool experience because you get to see so the nerve center of the ship and it's something that never gets old.
We also took a tour of how how environmentally friendly Quantum of the Seas is and what it does to reduce its footprint.
I had a few meetings in the afternoon that will manifest themselves in future blog posts and I also managed to do more exploring. Walking around Quantum of the Seas, you really get a sense for how pretty the ship is. I never got tired of the bright colors, sounds and detail found onboard. In fact, the art work throughout the ship is really quite well-done. I'm no art critic, but much of it is pleasing to look at and provided a nice backdrop.
My first dinner was at Silk. I was not about to leave Quantum of the Seas without trying the restaurant that serves up Asian food. Once again, I walked up with no reservations and was seated immediately.
The food at Silk was more hit or miss. I was seated with other guests and we all ordered all the appetizers to sample. Like I said, some were good and others weren't anything special. I think the problem with Asian food is you have to make it authentic or you it's bland. I found a lot of the ethnic dishes in the Windjammer to be better.
Nonetheless, I liked Silk. It's not my favorite restaurant onboard but there are some options like the Chicken Tikka Masala and ramen soup that were quite good.
I was lucky enough to be invited to try Wonderland, one of the specialty restaurants onboard. The specialty restaurants were closed officially but Royal Caribbean invited select people to dine at them.
I'll have a full review of Wonderland in a future blog post but essentially it's a whimsical restaurant based on Alice in Wonderland, where they really emphasize challenging your senses during your meal.
All of the food is for the adventurous type that is heavy on the decoration. I found the food that we tried to be really quite good and high quality. The beef and halibut stood out as real winners. And the desserts were all amazing.
My one issue with Wonderland is previously, Royal Caribbean had promoted Wonderland to be really over-the-top in schtick. Meaning, at the Quantum reveal event earlier this year and in subsequent promotions online and in video form, they had waiters dressed up with lots of props and zany decor. In reality, the restaurant didn't match up to that expection from a purely aesthetic statndpoint. I'd still recommend it as a must-do but I think once per cruise would be more than enough.
Our meal in Wonderland was a long one so when I got out, I wanted to do a little more exploring before heading to bed.
I stopped by Music Hall, which featured a Led Zeppelin cover band that was outstanding. They really sounded like the classic Rock giant and along with the Journey cover band the night before, really made Music Hall the place to be. On both nights, Music Hall was filled and people were really enjoying themselves.
I decided to round out my night with a stop at Michael's Geniune Pub. Like Music Hall, there was a big crowd here and I sampled Michael's Geniune, which is the signature craft beer. I really liked it and enjoyed talking to a few different people at the bar.
Alas, by now it was after midnight and I needed to get to bed despite my heart telling me, "No, you fool! Keep going!".
