Final Thoughts

Another extremely relaxing vacation, even despite some health issues for each of us.  Some takeaways:

·         Without question, food on Quantum was MUCH better than Brilliance.  There were a handful of things that we’d tried on the TA and marked as “red” that earned “green” this trip.  In particular, the Warm Apple Cobbler and Chicken Parm were edible on Quantum, and the leap-of-faith taken to try them after the terrible experience on Brilliance was rewarded.  This is the first time we’ve seen obvious evidence of the oft-mentioned comments on Cruise Critic that “the head chef on the ship makes a difference”.  OTOH, the mass-produced desserts in places like WJ and Café Promenade were generally dreadful on both ships.  Too much gelatin mixed with too much whipped cream.

·         As far as specific menus go, here’s how we ranked the individual nights, from best to worst:

1.      Chops

2.      Jamie’s

3.      Welcome Aboard

4.      Taste of the Caribbean (we skipped on this cruise, but based on prior cruise)

5.      Taste of France

6.      Taste of Mexico

7.      Taste of Italy

8.      Wonderland

9.      Bon Voyage

One obvious take-away is that, in future, we should schedule a specialty restaurant the last night of a cruise, and Taste of Italy night is also a good candidate to be replaced. 

·         Quantum-class itself left us unimpressed.  Better than Freedom-class by a long shot, but far inferior to the warmth and design on Radiance-class.  The two70 venue has some interesting features, but the supposed “wow factor” of their $7M investment in the robotic TV screens is lacking.  The only decks where you can go outside are 5 (where the views are almost completely blocked by lifeboats and where you can’t make a full circuit around the ship), 14, and 15.  Less than ½ of the public spaces have outside window views.  The theater is particularly poorly designed with tons of awful sightlines once you start moving away from the center of the seating area. 

·         Cruise Director Tami was neither the best nor the worst CD.  Based on videos we watched in our stateroom of the late night dance parties held in two70 she’s got boundless energy – but all the times we saw or heard her in person she seemed to be doing the standard formulaic schtick.  The activity staff had few standouts compared to other cruisers.  Luciana (from Brazil) and Emily (from New Orleans) impressed me, and there was a girl from South Africa whose name I never caught that had moments.  (She was great at banter during the Scavenger Hunt, but when she hosted us in the Royal Puzzle room she seemed pretty disinterested.)

·         The B2B experience was interesting – and, once again, we confirmed that long-length cruises “work” for us - but the quick repeat of menus (i.e. let’s restart with the “Welcome Aboard” menu and start the cycle again) risks the food getting boring.  Additionally, although there is a little bit of variation in the activities schedule, many of the trivia events had overlap in questions, so the mental stimulation can diminish.  We did witness some events we wouldn’t have otherwise, however, in an effort to keep things fresh.  We were also both happy to read quietly at venues (even if the venue itself wasn’t quiet) and we, once again, managed to complete a 2-player game of The Crew enjoyably.  Hopefully Royal can find a way to make the Mexican Riviera more than just a random combination of Cabo/PV/Mazatlan/Ensenada, although we’re not holding our breath.

·         One clear after-effect of the Covid pandemic is that EVERYONE washes hands now.  No one skips the “washee washee” stations at Windjammer, and no one skips a sink in the bathroom.

·         Our magnetic motion-sensitive night lights, such a godsend on Brilliance, were less needed on Quantum, although this is probably a reflection of the Junior Suite, where the toilet room had a constant night light.  If we’d been in a normal balcony and/or interior it is possible that we’d still want the additional lights.

·         Long Beach (airport and cruise port) remains a great place for us.  Easy to get to, easy to get in and out of.  The ports sailed TO are generally boring, however.  Cabo is not our kind of port, and while we had a great time on our Ensenada wine tour I think we’ve pretty much done all there is to do.  The $4 shuttle from the port to “downtown” – the port itself is in the middle of NOTHING – leaves you in an area about 6 blocks long filled with NOTHING.  It is obvious why most people don’t bother leaving the ship.

·         With this cruise, we’ll finally make Diamond, after a short (sic) 12 years of trips.  With that, we’ve earned the key perk of 4 drink vouchers per day, and our biggest additional expense has gone away!  We have no doubts that we’ll be much more likely to order more drinks (and willing to abandon “mistakes”) than previously.  Of course, the reality is that we probably won’t be able to do another cruise for a couple of years – when you pack four cruises into twelve months it takes a good chunk out of your wallet, and we need to be mindful of that.  Sigh.