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.

I'm just back from a quick 2-night pre-inaugural cruise on Royal Caribbean's newest ship, Quantum of the Seas and I wanted to share what really stood out to me on this cruise.

Like all cruise experiences, we go in with certain expectations and we find some things were better than we thought, some not as good and others completely surprise us.  Here's a quick few that stood out just a few hours after leaving this amazing new ship

What I liked

Royal Esplanade

The center of activity and where I was consistently drawn to was the Royal Esplanade.  It just seemed to be the place to be at any given time of day.

Perhaps the colder weather forced more people inside that would have otherwise been on the pool deck, but the combination of food, drinks, shopping and entertainment really made the Royal Esplanade into a hub of activity.

The Royal Esplanade benefits from is its design and feels more like a neighborhood than its Royal Promenade cousin.  Rather than ceilings three decks tall, this whole area felt a lot warmer.

The Via area on the Royal Esplanade is also a big hit and I really liked the serenity of the area. Calming music, a dozen giant high definition TVs (the same exact TVs as in the virtual balconies) and beautiful art really made this area flow.  I don't think it was a coincidence why Vintages was always full here.

SeaPlex

I almost put this in the surprise category but I think SeaPlex was always a big push by Royal Caribbean so I'll include it here.  I'll be honest, the sports deck was never an area I spent a lot of time at before.  But SeaPlex changes all of that.

What I love about SeaPlex is it combines a lot of options in one space without feeling like it's being squeezed in.  Remember the ice skating rinks on other ships? They were great but tiny and the basketball courts on other ships were always in the hardest to find areas.  

In SeaPlex, you have a sprawling part of the ship on Deck 12 that seems to have everything. Bumper cars, roller skating, Xbox, air hockey, table tennis, iFly and more.  I always found lots of people here and it really made a big impact.  On a week-long cruise, I could see many visits here to check it all out.  Heck, I never even saw the circus school, basketball court (deployed, that is) or challenged any kids half my age to air hockey.  

And the other big win of SeaPlex? Xbox. Seriously.  This isn't a console they tossed in a corner like it was with the Nintendo Wiis. A dedicated gaming area with uplink to Xbox Live on beautiful TVs.  The only thing missing was Mountain Dew Code Red and Funyuns.  

North Star

I never really thought North Star would be as fun and impressive as it was when I tried it.  The views are amazing and it's the way to see where you are.  I think I would force myself to get back to the ship earlier than normal in a port so I could see the island from that perspective.

The view never ceases to be "old hat" when you're in that observation pod.  Everyone in there always was quoting Royal Caribbean's marketing slogan of "Wow" and after experiencing it myself, I have to think why didn't they do this sooner?

In a bit of trivia, Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain said prior to the North Star idea, the company considered a blimp that was tethered to the ship.  I like the observation pod idea a whole lot more.

WOWbands

I had such high hopes for the WOWbands and it hit that mark easily.  From announcing they would be complimentary to every way I used them, they made the cruise easier.

At its core, what made the WOWbands so great were they just worked.  And they worked easily.  No fuss and everything from the shops to the restaurants to guest relations were able to use them.  After perhaps 3 hours I put my SeaPass card back in the stateroom for good.

Two70 visuals

I don't care how into performance art you are or are not, but there's no denying the visual element presented in Two70 is stunning.  When you see what they can do with the back screens and the roboscreens, it's something to marvel at.

Having seen Starwater performed here as well as photos of what they did for the christening event, the technology behind Two70 is really quite impressive.  

The video projections and roboscreens offer visuals that are many times more advanced than the high-definition television you have at home and it shows.  There's so much potential with what they can do with these screens that I kept waiting to see what would they try next anytime a show was on.

What I didn't like

Wi-Fi not working all the time

Royal Caribbean promised super fast internet onboard thanks to new satellite technology and that worked exactly as promised. I used Facetime with my family multiple times and saw others streaming HBO go and Netflix.  However, the problem was getting to the connection.

The issue was the Wi-Fi networking that delivers the satellite connection to your devices.  In some areas, it worked really well (Royal Esplanade, Two70) but other places you would see a good connection but never be able to connect to anything.  

I believe this is just a "working out the bugs" kind of thing and by the time Quantum is in service regularly in a month or two, it will all be fine.  But not being able to use the Wi-Fi at all in my stateroom was annoying.

SeaPass cards to keep the lights on

I know we should all do our part to be more environmentally friendly but this little change was more annoying than anything.  When you're in your stateroom, you cannot turn the lights or air conditioning on unless you place your SeaPass card in a little slot near the door.

After a day, everyone figured out you could put any card in there and all it did was annoy people.  

Like I said, I know why they did it and it makes sense on paper but it didn't fly with me from a real-world perspective.

What surprised me

Music Hall

When you read about Music Hall on Royal Caribbean's promotional material, it sounds like a nice little area where bands will play.  Sounds cute, right?  The reality is this area was always the place to be every night.

First and foremost, the tribute bands found in Music Hall were phenomenal.  We had a Journey and Led Zeppelin tribute band onboard and they absolutely sounded like the real thing.  

After the bands were done playing, the DJ came on and it became a dance party.  I never saw so many people dancing and into the whole experience like I did in Music Hall.  I was really impressed by what I saw.

How small the ship felt

Quantum of the Seas is the second largest class of cruise ship Royal Caribbean has made and yet walking around the ship, it never really felt like "a big ship".

I noticed pretty quickly as I was making my around the ship that it did not feel like I was trekking through the Ardennes to get somewhere.  Rather, wherever I was, it was relatively simple and quick to get to where I wanted.

In fact, navigating the ship was also very simple.  Royal Caribbean added digital signage all around the ship to help guests find their way around the ship but the truth is after an hour or two, I had a pretty good sense of where everything was. 

When you can produce a cruise ship that is 11 times longer than a blue whale, it says something when people can easily get around.

At a ceremony today aboard Royal Caribbean's brand new cruise ship, godmother Kristin Chenoweth took part in a ceremony christening the new ship.

Quantum of the Seas was named earlier this evening while docked in Cape Liberty, New Jersey, marking the official arrival of arguably the most anticipated new cruise ship of the year.

Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain spoke to those in attendance about what makes Quantum of the Seas special, "Our ships are built to be 1/3 traditional, 1/3 evolutionary and 1/3 revolutionary."

During the ceremony, Chenoweth used a tablet on the main stage to launch the champagne bottle against Quantum's hull.

Also part of the event were performances by the New York Police Department bagpipes and drums as well as a performance by singer-songwriter Clint Holmes.

Quantum of the Seas is the first Quantum-class cruise ship and marks the next evolution in cruise ships for Royal Caribbean.  It's the first ship in the fleet to not be based on the Voyager-class lineage since the Voyager class debuted and is full of new technological innovations, entertainment advances and impressive decor.

Quantum of the Seas also marks the introduction to Royal Caribbean of Dynamic Dining, which is the company's complete reboot of what dining is on a cruise ship.  The main dining room as well as dress codes have been relaxed in an effort to simplify dinner for guests while expanding the choices passengers have.

As part of Royal Caribbean's continuing promotional efforts surrounding Quantum of the Seas, the company will have a float in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

No word yet on what we can expect but there will be a float and Royal Caribbean will invite select travel partners and frequent cruise guests to attend the parade, much like they did last year.

Macy's parade website does feature Royal Caribbean's float, entitled "A World At Sea" and has a photo of last year's float.

Royal Caribbean had a float in the parade last year to announce that Mamma Mia would be the Broadway show on Quantum of the Seas and it even featured Quantum of the Seas godmother Kristin Chenoweth.

The 88th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade airs nationwide on NBC, on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014.

UPDATE (11/15): Royal Caribbean has confirmed that pop star Nick Jonas will be performing on Royal Caribbean's parade float

@Sparkx We're proud to say that we will be participating in the #MacysParade this year and @nickjonas will be joining us.

— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) November 11, 2014

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.

#SelfieAtSea from Wonderland

A photo posted by Royal Caribbean Blog.com (@royalcaribbeanblog) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:22am PST

#SelfieAtSea with Shrek! #QuantumOfTheSeas

A photo posted by Royal Caribbean Blog.com (@royalcaribbeanblog) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:17am PST

#SelfieAtSea on #QuantumOfTheSeas is obviously at Izumi

A photo posted by Royal Caribbean Blog.com (@royalcaribbeanblog) on Nov 11, 2014 at 8:59am PST

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!".  

We think Royal Caribbean ships really look their best at night with the lighting and reflections and so we walked around Quantum of the Seas long after everyone went to bed to snap some great photos of this ship after the sun set.

If you couldn't tell I was excited for today based on yesterday's blog post, then let me tell you that I am indeed very, very, very excited to be going on Quantum of the Seas today.

Despite my best intentions of getting a good night sleep in, I slept rather poorly last night.  The hotel was fine, I think I was suffering from the day-before-my-Royal-Caribbean-cruise-excitement jitters.  At any rate, my alarm did wake me up as expected and got myself ready to go.

I did scope out the complimentary breakfast at SpringHill Suites. It featured scrambled eggs and sausage, plenty of cereals, juices, milk, and an assortment of fruit and cold cuts. I just grabbed some orange juice because I'm not hungry in the morning and I like to make the Windjammer my first meal of the day. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then hunger makes the first cruise day more fulfilling.

I left the hotel around 9:30 and made my way to Cape Liberty.  With the aid of GPS, I was able to get here in about 20 minutes.  It was as I was pulling into the port that I realized I had forgotten my Set Sail Pass back in the hotel.  

I parked the car and checked my luggage via the porters and the new RFID tags.  Luggage works exactly the same but with the RFID tracking, you get a receipt (just like you do when checking luggage at airport) and you can tie the luggage receipt numbers to your Royal iQ app for tracking. 

Checking in was easy even without my Set Sail Pass.  The port workers all were equipped with those new Microsoft Surface tablets to make check-in easy.  You could tell it was their first day but even with a few questions, it moved quite smoothly.  Had I not forgotten my Set Sail Pass, I do believe I could have easily made it from curb to ready to board in 10 minutes.  

For those keeping track, the health questionaire they asked you orally did have two questions about Ebola.

After a little waiting, I was onboard Quantum of the Seas.  I was so excited to be able to experience this new ship. As I walked onto the Royal Esplanade, it really hit me how impressive this ship is.

If I can sum up Quantum of the Seas quickly, it's like this: Quantum is not your father's Royal Caribean ship.

Walking around the ship and exploring, it felt like a Royal Caribbean ship but not one I had ever been on before.  Quantum is unlike Freedom ans Oasis class in that it is not a new generation of Voyager class.  It's something completely different. And that's not a bad thing.

I ate a quick lunch at the Windjammer, which is tradition.  The venue is massive and it offered just as much food as other Windjammers.  I did not find the traditional Honey Stung Chicken but the make your own shwarma buffet made up for it.

After eating, I went to check out my stateroom. I have a D8 balcony stateroom (6244) and it's a good stateroom for two people but not any more.  It's long and narrow and offers a nice sized balcony.  

The bathroom is quite beautiful and has a great shower with adjustable shower head.  Gone is the white plastic we typically found in Royal Caribbean bathrooms and instead, lots of wood and glass.  

There's also more closet space than I'm used to having in a stateroom.  There's a number of fairly good sized closets and I think the room maximizes its space quite well.

My luggage showed up around this time and the RFID tracking worked just perfectly.  

I spent the day checking out as much of the ship as I can.  I'm going to swtich from narrative to a "quick hits" section as I describe some areas I explored and share my thoughts:

• Royal Esplanade: Love the feel of this area.  It feels more like a neighborhood and they really packed a lot in here. I felt like this is the "heart" of the ship and where you will be drawn to consistantly.
  
• Bionic Bar: There's no doubt this just as cool in person as you thought watching the videos.  The robots are impressive to watch and it's a great example of Royal Caribbean trying to offer you something you can't find anywhere else.  It always had a crowd here and for good reason.
  
• Two70: Great area and what I love about it is there's always something going on here.  Royal Caribbean wants guests to spend time here more than just once per day.  It's a beautiful room and really comes alive at night.
  
• WOWbands: Work as expected.  No issues yet and I've just left my SeaPass card in the room.  This is so much more convenient.
  
• North Star: I didn't think it would be as cool an experience as it was.  I was really stunned how great the view is and we only went up to 75 degrees instead of the usual 90.
  

For dinner, I decided to try a walk up at American Icon Grill.  I wanted to test how it would work, especially given on our cruise all the specialty restaurants are closed.

I was able to be seated immediately and the restaurant was about half full.  I'd say this is a good sign for those worried about capacity and having to wait.

The meal itself was great and I tried the New England Clam Chowder, Reueben turnover and dry-aged steak burger, Good choices and I enjoyed it all.  I'll have a more in-depth review of the food later on but I could definitely eat here again.

After dinner I made my way to Two70 for Starwater.  How do I describe Starwater? Well, it's a visually stunning show with super high defintion screens along with roboscreens and of course human performers. 

It's a mix of music, performance art and visuals.  I'll admit I'm not sophisticated enough to really understand it all but there's no doubting its an impressive show that is something definitely worth seeing.

Now it was time for my second dinner at The Grande.  I had dressed up for it and had no problem going, although I had a reservation here.

I'll be saving my final thoughts for another post but so far I'm pretty impressed.  I'm also willing to accept this new style of Royal Caribbean.  I think being able to be open to big changes is key to Quantum-class enjoyment.  I'm really enjoying what I find here because it feels like the next evolution of Royal Caribbean.

Alright, time to do some more "research" at the various lounges.  It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!

Today my Quantum of the Seas adventure begins and it almost didn't begin today.

I had planned originally to just drive to the port the day of my cruise because my home is about an hour and a half away (with no traffic).  I figured that I would wake up early, head on the highway and get started fresh.

And then I started getting excited.

With my excitement about my cruise, I wanted to avoid any problems and one of them was traffic. I had reserved in Cruise Planner a boarding time of 10:45am and I was still planning on arriving no later than 10am, so I'd be driving through New York City and New Jersey during rush hour.  Anyone from the area will tell you only bad things happen when you tempt rush hour traffic in this area.

So I decided to find a hotel to stay at the night before and that way, I could sleep a little later and not have to worry about traffic or any other unforeseen issues.

I searched a number of sites and considered even Priceline a few times but nothing really stood out as a slam dunk choice.  There are no hotels in Bayonne, which is where Quantum of the Seas sails out of.  Let's also just say you wouldn't want to sleep in Bayonne anyway.  And the surrounding area of Newark and Elizabeth aren't winning any tourist awards either.  

I considered staying in New York City but since I was coming in so late (I was going to work that day and then leave in the evening) and because I didn't want to pay a lot to park my car, I decided to find something in New Jersey.

Ultimately I decided on a hotel in the Newark airport area (not to be confused with Newark, the city).  The hotels near the airport are frequented by business travelers and they were generally well reviewed.  I managed to find a good rate at the SpringHill Suites at Newark Airport.  Interestingly Expedia had a lower rate by a good $10-20 from anyone else.  It was $120 per night and with taxes came out to $138.  Trust me when I say this was the best of my choices assuming I was not willing to drop $200-300 per night.

I went to work, put my time in and then headed home to eat dinner, say good bye to the family and grab my things.  I got on the road and was ready to go on Quantum of the Seas!

Until 5 miles in when I realized I had forgotten my passport.

Fifteen minutes later I was back on the highway (again) and ready to go on Quantum of the Seas!

Other than one construction delay, I made it to the Newark area in about an hour and a half.  I had originally planned to go to the hotel but Quantum was calling me and I just had to see her.  After all, I wouldn't have another chance to see her at night from land.

So I changed my GPS to point me to the port and off I went.

Cape Liberty is much like any other port you've ever been to.  It's industrial and not exactly pleasing to the eye but getting there was fairly simple.  I was able to drive right in and go all the way to the drop off area.

Then I saw her!

I spent a good 20-30 minutes taking photos of Quantum and she was as beautiful as I had hoped. Royal Caribbean does an amazing job lighting these ships up at night and I love how all the ships look at night

.

There were perhaps another 5-10 people also at the port taking photos and enjoying the view.  There was also a stream of crew members exiting and returning to the ship.

Adjacent to the pier is a lovely September 11th memorial that is simple and peaceful.  It's a wonderful tribute to a terrible day and I thought it's something worth seeing as a means of paying tribute and showing your respect.

After taking my photos, I hopped back in the car and headed to my hotel. According to the GPS, SpringHill Suites is 15 minutes away by car and it was fairly easy drive, although you definitely need a GPS because it's a convoluted way to get there and involves a lot of turns and getting on and off highways.  

Checking in was easy and the hotel looked recently refurbished. It was clean and check-in took no more than five minutes. 

My room is a suite (as the hotel name implies) with two double beds and a sofa that opens up into another bed.  There's a vanity sink area and seperate bathroom as well as a small kitchenette.  It's clean, quiet and looks good enough for one night.  

The hotel does charge a $10 per night parking fee, which is quite lame.  It does offer complimentary WiFi and breakfast in the morning.

I'm looking foward to getting some sleep and then boarding Quantum first thing in the morning!

We will have a lot of updates in our live blog here but also on Royal Caribbean Blog Twitter and Instagram.  I'm also planning on live streaming sailaway with a web cam so look for the stream right here on the log. Follow along and then get the whole summary here tomorrow.  

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas arrived in New York yesterday for her homecoming ceremony.  

We've got a number of great photos of this brand new ship with the greatest city in the world as her backdrop.  Even the Statue of Liberty welcomes this new vessel home.

Photos by Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas will get her first taste of high speed internet tomorrow, when the brand new satellite internet service is put to the test.

The new service by O3b has gone live and Royal Caribbean is promising the ship will have more bandwidth “than all other cruise ships in the world put together.”

The first real test for the internet will come on November 12, when Quantum of the Seas takes her first cruise with the satellite service activated.  The two-night cruise will be a good test for how well it works.

“We are delighted to support the launch of the world’s first smart ship with Royal Caribbean,” said Simon Maher, VP Enterprise for O3b.

“Quantum of the Seas uses O3b’s maritime offering O3bMaritime to provide lightning fast download speeds and performance for both passengers and crew at one fourth the response time of traditional satellite systems.”

“O3bMaritime is the only satellite system capable of enabling cruise line guests and crew broadband services on par with onshore telecommunication standards.”