Never thought I would sign myself up for cruise vacation but I guess when people are travel-deprived they really needed some form of respite in this pandemic situation. Well, that was before VTL opened. So this cruise was booked before they announced the whole string of VTLs and the envy of seeing my friends going for their cruise vacation made me feel like trying one too. And so, here’s Quantum of The Seas

If you had cruised with them previously, you would have noticed some things have changed. Check-in only opens 30 days prior (It used to be 90 and I checked everyday to make sure I don’t miss the window cos you want to check in as early as possible to book everything) The Ultimate Dining Plan (UDP) was not available anymore by the time I’ve looked at the dining package. Why oh why. I’m not sure they sold out or have totally removed it. In any case,  the options I had was to buy the ala carte package instead which was clearly not value-for money. Prices for various packages (food, drinks, internet) have gone up as I compared to people who had gone

Pre-departure testing took place in the form of ART at Raffles City Convention Centre L4 and you just need to arrive 1 hour prior to your cruise check-in time. The test results will be informed via text messages and it was pretty fast. Mine took only 15 minutes and we proceeded to Marina Bay Cruise Centre shortly

Our check-in time was 1.30pm and we arrived the cruise centre at 1.15pm. It was a really smooth process, from the point when we arrived to the staffs checking our travel documents. We didn’t need to wait long before boarding commenced. And soon, we were onboard the ship!

First point of business was to book all our shows and the bumper cars via The Royal Carribean app. We pre-bought the internet package and could connect them easily once onboard. The friends all advised to get the Voom Surf + Stream and even so, I found it slow at times. Coming back, the plan was as follows:

Day 1: Royal Theatre – Duo Du Soleil at 8.15pm

Day 2: Two70 – Viktoria Stryzhak at 8pm

Day 3: Two70 – Reuben Laurente at 8pm

Day 4: Royal Theatre – John Taylor at 8.15pm

You could plan your itinerary earlier as the schedule gets released 48 hours prior to set sail date so it really helped alot. Was trying to book the show for day 3 but somehow I just couldn’t find it. A check with guest services made us realised the show was cancelled 😦 so I guessed we just made do with whatever we had. We slowly made our way to our cabin since the rooms were only ready at 2pm and we would find our sea pass at the door as well

And here’s stateroom 9588

With our sea pass in the form of cards now. You would need them everywhere you go and your tracetogether too. Suggest you just bring the token instead – more convenient

And our balcony-facing room

In all honesty, there’s just enough room for 2 and I felt like anymore would be too tight

And the toilet would make you feel claustrophobic too. Bring your own shampoo/shower amenities. Theirs came in the form of 2-in-1. Oh, you would need your own toothbrush too

So after dropping off our things, we decided to go for our mandatory safety briefing and explore the ship abit

Deck 4 where most shops are. The Royal Theatre is also located here. You would need to use the stairs near Royal Theatre to go down one level to Music Hall on Deck 3

And just a photo-taking opportunity cos there was nobody around. They were not that strict on mask-wearing when you were taking photos else, masks were strictly worn at all times

Walkway to Jamie’s Italian and Two70

Moving up to the upper decks where you will find the outdoor pool

and the indoor pool

The Solarium for ages 16 and above. Ooh, love this restriction for that bit of quietness

The indoor area was nicely air-conditioned so you can just laze here all day with a glass of cocktail

Rock-climbing wall and the Flowrider which was located behind. I didn’t get a chance to go up

And then we found SeaPlex Dog House which we decided to grab a roll for our teatime break

And here’s mine with Classic Bun, Smoked Bratwurst and Onions. We found ourselves chilling at the lounge chairs just outside and finishing our hotdog before deciding to head to Deck 4 for drinks. We pre-bought the Refreshment package which included soft drinks, mocktails, still and sparkling water, premium coffee and tea and freshly squeezed juices at $140 per pax for 5 days. It is expensive, so we only bought 1 package to share. Also, the cruise planner allows you to only buy one package even though you have more than 1 on your travelling party. There is no T&Cs that everyone needs to get one, well, that is at the time when I bought it #cruisehacks

La Patisserie, our go-to place for coffee and orange juice and since we had to make our Refreshment package seemed worthwhile

To be honest, the coffee wasn’t great but I guess beggars cannot be choosers and since places that served premium coffee were limited, we just had to made do with it

The freshly squeezed orange juice was the best thing you can find onboard. We got this every single day, sometimes more than one each day. The best source of Vitamin C

Cafe Promenade located opposite was where you can get free drinks and snacks too. We didn’t try their cold sandwiches but we had some of their cakes and they were decent

And soon, it was time for dinner.  First day of dinner was located at Main Dining Room (MDR) on Deck 4. American Icon Grill and Silk both formed part of MDR and it doesn’t matter where you were seated since they served the same menu. We were ushered to Silk, a restaurant with Chinese influences and in fact, too much for me

Diners had to pre-booked their dinner time, either at first seating 5.30pm or second seating 8pm. We went for the first and it was seemingly crowded already. The food was served in lightning speed since the kitchen probably had already pre-cooked them. Menu was available through the app and you can use them to decide if you want to dine there or not

Escargots a la Bourguignonne

Baked Snails in Garlic Parsley Butter

Read somewhere that this was recommended so I gave it a go. I mean, it was okay, but not to the point I wished to have them everyday..

Salmon Gravlax

Cured Atlantic Salmon w Thinly Sliced Cucumbers, Onions, Tomatoes, Lemon, Capers & Honey Mustard Sauce

This felt like pre-packaged salmon slices put together. I think, nothing much to rave about

Crispy Coconut Shrimp

Breaded Coconut Shrimp w Pineapple Red Onion Slaw & Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

The shrimps were done decently but there wasn’t much coconut taste, or rather, none at all

Roasted Turkey

Juicy Roasted Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Apple Bread Stuffing, Sautéed Corn & Rich Cider Gravy

I thought the turkey slices were decent, not overdone and I liked the gravy

Shanghai Noodles

Wok-Fried Egg Noodles Tossed w Char Siu, Shrimp & Asian Greens, Grape Tomatoes & Lemon Butter Sauce

So much that I used the gravy to eat with the noodles. Their version of Shanghai Noodles was clearly Americanised (since this is an American ship) and well, all I could say was this was nothing like the Shanghai noodles you would imagine

Apple Blossom a la Mode

Warm Apple Tart Served w Vanilla Ice cream & Caramel Sauce

Only settled for one dessert and I’m glad we went with one. The apple tart was strange. The crust was flat and the filling too mushy. In the end, we left this barely untouched and decided to grab another round of orange juice

Our dinner was done rather quickly and we went for Easy Listening Music with Accolade Duo since we had so much time on hand

We took awhile to locate the Music Hall since we were not familiar with the premises. Glad we managed to find it before the show was over. lol

Well, we were clearly the first but people soon started streaming in as time passed

I thought the performance was in pairs but there was only this guy that was performing. In any case, we needed to kill time before our next show at 8pm

Which was one of the headliner show – Duo Du Soleil

I was glad the show got better towards the end. The beginning was just hmm

And this concluded Day 1!

Started the next day with a dance filming early in the morning at the Solarium before it opened up to public

Glad nobody disturbed me. Though I was half-dying cos of the mask

And then we proceeded to Windjammer on Deck 14 for buffet breakfast, which I was pleasantly surprised. At least, half of this plate was edible. We stopped ourselves from going for more since we would be eating often anyway

While I sent the mum to her dance class, I went for my origami class at Music Hall

Butterfly (or Moth in my case) and Lotus Flower

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what we were folding until the class ended. It was like just following what they were saying. And there were a couple of people who were quite lost since they couldn’t see clearly. I think following the instructions itself was also a challenge

We went to La Patisserie to grab our coffee and I tried the Mocha Creamice. It was very sweet. I struck off the entire list from this section

And soon it was time for lunch already

The place was definitely quieter for lunch as compared to breakfast. Breakfast was just packed

Lunch menu wasn’t exciting. The best dish out of this plate was the Papadum and the sushi rolls which tasted okay. I think, that’s about it

We grabbed an iced latte to-go from the premium coffee selection at Windjammer and all I could say was, it tasted horrible. I threw the entire cup away

We decided to chill at our cabin post lunch to shake off that food coma and since we had some time before our next activity started

Which was Word Finder Challenge being held at Schooner Bar. In all honesty, it was quite challenging

Went to check out what Arcade was like on the upper decks

Lets say there was nothing that caught my eye

And popping by Adventure Ocean for the younger kids

So apparently, this room used to be opened but they have since closed it due to the pandemic. And what was left were just 2 rooms with empty spaces for the kids to run/crawl around. Well I guessed if you had wanted somewhere air-conditioned and an area which you can control where your kids can run till, this would be a good place to explore

Dinner was held at American Icon Grill this time and I preferred this space compared to its overdone neighbour

Shrimp Cocktail

Chilled Shrimp, Horseradish Cocktail Sauce

Well, defrost frozen shrimps with lemon..

Seafood Puff Pastry

Flaky Seafood Pastry w Lobster Cream Sauce

The puff pastry was not bad! The pastry was flaky and I thought it went pretty well with the sauce

Crab & Asparagus Soup

Seafood Broth w Lump Crab & Fresh Asparagus

Probably the best appetiser we had in MDR. The soup tasted pretty decent but well I was kind of expecting real crab meat 😀 One can always wish right..

Mie Goreng

Yellow Noodles, Shrimp, Sprouts, Bak Choy, Sambal Chilli Sauce

Moving on to the mains, I know their standards for Asian cuisine are way off the marks, but I still wanted to give it a second chance. So, Mie Goreng it shall be. Lets say, I regretted my decision

Never order Chinese cuisine on an American ship

Moroccan-Spiced Ahi Tuna

Grilled Tuna Steak Served w Mint Couscous, Sautéed Spinach, Tequila Peppers, Yoghurt Vinaigrette

The saving grace of the meal had to be this tuna. It was so good I had another portion of it. Even the presentation looked worthy enough. lol

Royal Chocolate Cake

Layers of Dark Chocolate Cake & Chocolate Mousse

If there was a dessert you had to go with, go with this chocolate cake. It was the most decent dessert I had at MDR though I had no idea why my cake was served with a chip off the edge. Who secretly ate my chocolate cake? lol

We went up to the upper decks to catch the sunset post dinner and it was a windy and beautiful sight to behold. It would be even better if they had an array of colours in the sky Unfortunately I didn’t have such luck on all the days onboard since the sky was pretty cloudy most of the times

Dropped by the Bionic Bar to catch the robot cocktail making in action

I thought it was quite cute, especially the way it mixed the cocktails. I guessed it was also some form of entertainment for those on the ship

Participated in the Game Show: Majority Rules which was held at Boleros and it was quite fun. There was no right and wrong answers but basically rounding up what most people think/do

And then we went for our last activity for the night which was one of their headliner shows. It was a violin performance by Viktoria Stryzhak held at Two70 theatre. The friend later told me they had changed the front part of the performance and it wasn’t supposed to be the expensive screens that were in play. I guessed we all found out why later

I guessed it was not bad. Just that we were sitting on the high chairs and the ship was rocking and we could feel it quite evidently. I was trying very hard not to sway but it was tough

Came back to our cabin to find this animal waiting for us! I really can’t tell what it was. An elephant looking but not really an elephant? Use your imagination I guess

Rise & Shine the next day came in the form of soaking in the whirlpool spa/hot tubs at the indoor pool. I thought it would be better to go early morning since nobody would be around at that time

And we got the whole tub to ourselves! #simplewins

We were there for half an hour at least (cos nobody chased us away) but decided we were warmed up enough before we finally headed back to change and proceeded down for breakfast

But first we got our coffee from La Patisserie (cos you cannot order 2 coffee at a time with one card)

We decided to give MDR a try for its breakfast menu. Had the sunny sides, omelette and pancake but well well, the standards here were clearly different. Like how wrong can breakfast go right? Definitely preferred breakfast at Windjammer

Even the pancakes were mushy

We concluded we were going to have breakfast at Windjammer for the rest of the days

So after getting our second cup of coffee from La Patisserie, we checked out the casino

which was clearly empty

before heading down to Music Hall for Chinese New Year card making

I thought it was quite a good family activity and even for those without kids, you can make them to use it as a deco for CNY

And that was the time when friends started sending me articles on a Covid outbreak found among the crew on my ship which resulted in them cancelling the next 2 sailings. To be honest, everything was pretty calm onboard. There was no announcement whatsoever. I guessed they just want things to go on as per normal and not create widespread panic, which I totally was supportive of. You know sometimes people just overthink and overreact

We went up to Chops Grille, a specialty restaurant that you needed to pay extra for lunch. This was the only speciality restaurant we tried cos the reviews for the rest of the restaurants didn’t seem that great. Chose the lunch cos dinner was twice the price and I just wanted to try to see its standards

Appetisers

Wild Mushroom Soup w White Truffle Oil, Chives

Wow, you can taste the mushroom from the mushroom soup. It was earthy and hearty and a good way to start the course

Colossal Shrimp Cocktail, Horseradish Cocktail Sauce

And the shrimp cocktail was served using FRESH prawns. Even the horseradish sauce served was so much different

8 oz Angus Fillet Mignon

Since it’s known for their steaks, I had to give the Fillet Mignon a try. Tender, nicely seared meat which was definitely a mark up from whatever meat that you had in the ship. I found it a little dry for my liking and the portion was too big for me. But I guess for bigger eaters, you would have no problem finishing it

Grilled Atlantic Salmon, Whole Grain Mustard Sauce

And the salmon, I must say, was pretty amazing. Even the mum was so pleased with the fish. That said alot coming from her

Sides: Asparagus, Fries

Key Lime Meringue Pie

Warm Chocolate Cake

The most disappointing part of the meal was the desserts but overall it was still a comparatively good meal to what we had eaten so far. And I guessed that must be why people still willing to fork out money for their specialty restaurants

Went for Crossword challenge next and sighs, I concluded activities that needed alot of brain juice was not my cup of tea. lol

So I sent the mum for her dance class while I went back to the cabin to chill a little before we met again for rock climbing

or more like I rock climbed while she watched

Given it was my first time, and I was sent to such a difficult wall (omg) and I reached so high up

before I fell 😦 I thought it was not bad already. Yeps, I was just 2 steps away. They asked if I wanna go again since I was so close to the bell but I was like nah, too tiring, it’s okay. HA

Dinner was decided at Sorrento’s since we were still full from lunch and I’ve heard the pizzas here were pretty decent

So we got the cheese and salami to share. I thought it was okay lah… not fantastic but not bad either – just average I feel

and matcha roll and orange cake from Cafe Promenade as desserts, as well as orange juice from La Patisserie

The matcha roll was actually pretty good. The cakes from Cafe Promenade surprised from time to time. lol

The mum wanted fruits from Windjammer so up to deck 14 we go. This was how quiet dinner time at Windjammer was. I guessed the majority has spoken

We squeezed in a session at Music Hall for Easy Listening Music with Accolade Duo since we had time. And to our surprise, it was a performance by Viktoria again

Well, we actually preferred this session as compared to the headliner show for the style of music was slightly different

Heading for our last activity for the night which was bumper cars! I wished they had all the games bookable via the app as well

It was short but definitely pretty fun session

Even the mum was happy from her ride, which was good

And very soon we came to our last day at sea. Yups, the days just flew by

And of course, first grabbing our coffee from deck 4 before heading up to deck 14

And breakfast was quite a spread! The nasi lemak was surprisingly good and the sambal chilli, wow, never knew they could make sambal chilli like that. MDR should take a leaf out of their book and learn how to infuse the chilli into their mie goreng properly

Went for Sudoku challenge next and I thought it’s the only one I did best out of all the brain challenges they had onboard. lol

Before coming back to our cabin to find out our departure information waiting for us. And at least we could tell it’s a doggy here

When I saw the tag said 1 – I knew we must be the first group to be off boarded and that meant 7am departure time 😦

Went down to music hall for our towel folding class next and we learnt how to fold 3 different types of animals. This was the base for all

First we had a bunny

Then a gorilla

And finally a frog

I know sometimes they don’t look like it, but, just use your imagination okay?

It was soon time for lunch, and we headed up to Windjammer to see what’s on the menu

Wasn’t that hungry so I had a bowl of Assam Laksa instead which I honestly thought it was not bad. You can choose your own ingredients to what goes inside as well. Got some grilled meat to go along and meh, they were pretty dry

Needed to walk it off a little since we were constantly eating and that came in the form of photo taking opportunities around the ship

We went back to music hall for our Arts & Crafts class: Ribbons to Roses

Hmm I’ve tried. You would be impressed how many guys can did this so well. When I walked past to exit the room, I was like wow, that looked like a decent rose!

The mum was hungry so we grabbed Hawaiian and Pepperoni Pizza from Sorrento’s and a Blueberry pie from Cafe Promenade as well as drinks from La Patisserie before heading up to our room to feast. I must say the pie was pretty good

Then we popped back down for Chinese New Year Scavenger Hunt in which we looked at what was required and silently exited. I guessed this type of game was definitely more suited for families and younger kids. They were running about with dash of energy

So we made our way to Solarium to chill, had mocktails and cue – more photo taking opportunities

🙂

And it was finally time for the last dinner onboard! We made our way to MDR and the server asked us if we had any shows to catch. I was like yeah at 8pm but it was strange for them to be asking us since it was only 530pm. And from past experiences, we usually finished our dinner in an hour or so

So anyways..

Crispy Calamari

Fennel Salad, Chipotle-Lime Aioli

The calamari was good. It was not rubbery and just soft and chewy

Thai Style Chicken Salad

Glass Noodles and Julienne Vegetables tossed in Curry & Coconut Dressing

I thought the glass noodles salad was not bad too. I wouldn’t call it Thai style salad cos there’s nothing like that but at least the dressing was appetising enough

Asian Style Chicken Soup

Chicken Broth w Dumplings, Bak Choy, Mushrooms & Scallions

And since so many people ordered the chicken soup, we gave it a try too. A very artificial kind of chicken soup like those kind you get with wanton noodles. It was actually okay but don’t expect your double-boiled kind

Seafood Linguine Alfredo

Al Dente Pasta in Chardonnay Cream Sauce, Sautéed Bay Scallops, Shrimps

I thought non-Asian cuisines cannot go wrong right. Wah the linguine was dry and I felt the sauce a little bit too creamy and the taste of seafood was somewhat overpowering

Duck a l’Orange

Roasted Duck Leg, Croquette Potatoes, Braised Red Cabbage, Orange Cointreau Sauce

The description sounded nice. But the duck meat was a tad too rubbery so, it was rather inedible

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Spinach, Ricotta and Parmesan Cheese, Served w Marinara

The most edible of all was probably the mushroom – tasted the most normal in my opinion. So much we had extra portions of this

And since it was the last night, they gave some form of complimentary desserts which was a whole new level of sweetness. They also thanked the crew and chefs in MDR and made a statement that they had award-winning chefs onboard. I was like hmm really?! LOL I guessed that must be really subjective then

Grand Marnier Souffle

Orange Flavoured Custard Baked, Served w Vanilla Sauce

Ended with a souffle which was undercooked and just tasted strange

The mum commented that dinner service took longer than usual today and I didn’t quite feel it until we exited and got a shock at the unusually long queue outside. I guessed the outbreak must had taken quite a hit on the crew

Went up to the upper decks to catch the sunset and also to walk off our dinner. We literally walked a few rounds around the ship. lol

Before catching our last show for the night! It was supposed to be their headliner magic show by John Taylor but had to be changed to unforeseen circumstances. Ahem, I thought we could all guess why

So it was changed to a juggling show by James Buster in which parts of the show felt forced and honestly, not very funny

But I guessed I had to give it to the crew for replacing a show in such a short notice so at least cruisers still had something to watch. It’s definitely not easy in terms of planning and staffing

And so that concluded our night before we decided to turn in early for our early departure the next day

Next morning came in the form of staring at the TV screen. You can still get breakfast from Windjammer and your coffee from La Patisserie if you want to since they opened at 6am but I was so sick of the food I told the mum lets have bak chor mee at home. And indeed, it tasted so much better

I guess the whole takeaway from this trip is to go with no expectations. Don’t expect standards you can have onshore and you could still have a good time onboard. I appreciate that they planned lots of activities you can do onboard so at least, you don’t feel that bored. Else, go with like-minded friends and it would still be a fun cruise vacation