thrillrider Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Is that the same bon jovi cover band that plays at epcot every year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Is that the same bon jovi cover band that plays at epcot every year? No idea. I'm not into Bon Jovi so I've never paid attention, sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 I appreciate the "behind the scenes" photos showing how they transform the SeaPlex area for different activities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 Here's another video for you to hold you over until the next update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking86 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Awesome report! This looks like so much fun, I would love to go on a cruise like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 ^Me too. It's certainly on my "to do" list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 SeaPlex looks like a real game-changer for the cruise industry. I'm really intrigued by how versatile they managed to make that venue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Didn't realize the changes would be so extensive for China. Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 (edited) ^ Yeah. Here's a few panos I took of the Music Hall today. Seems so strange that a giant 2-level venue like this that just opened up 2 weeks ago is going to be totally demolished and changed into separate decks worth of casino and shopping. That's got to be a VERY expensive overhaul! Edited November 27, 2014 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 ^That's a giant venue! After the conversion, that has to end up being the largest cruise ship casino? China does love their Baccarat and Pai Gow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 ^ It very well might be! And with these changes, I think it's safe to assume that this ship is never coming back to the US market. I couldn't imagine them ripping out all the stuff they just transformed, and I can't imagine a ship with THAT much shopping going over that well in this market. It's very odd decision, but if it means they are able to continue making more of this and Oasis class ships, then I guess it's a good thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 ^I wouldn't complain if that's what it meant. I really need to go on a cruise with you guys again! Â Makes you wonder where the 3rd one in the class will end up? Â Now if only RCCL would come back to LA (even though it's a terrible cruise ship market, I would just love having RCCL close by again for my own selfish purposes!)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 ^ The current "rumor" is that Oasis 1 is going to China full time and Oasis 3 will go to Ft. Lauderdale to replace it and Oasis 4 would go to Port Canaveral. RCCL is just now finishing a new cruise terminal in Orlando to accommodate an Oasis class ship, so I would assume that rumor would have a fair bit of truth to it. Â There is actually a Radiance class ship (I believe) in LA temporarily right now! It will be there like a month before going someplace much better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 ^Just looked up that Jewel of the Seas leave from SD in May. Tempting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 Going over the water was pretty bad ass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PalmTree55 Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 Why spend all the $$$ for the Music Hall when you are going to remove it less than a year later? Plus you have to fact in costs for teardown and the building of its replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 29, 2014 Author Share Posted November 29, 2014 Why spend all the $$$ for the Music Hall when you are going to remove it less than a year later? Plus you have to fact in costs for teardown and the building of its replacement. Apparently China made them some crazy deal to get that ship. And the way China works, you never know, they might be paying for all those changes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 29, 2014 Author Share Posted November 29, 2014 Part 3! Â Taking another look at the Bionic Bar...[vine] [/vine] ...and the seating area around the robots. You can order your drinks at one of those four tables in front of them. It's a quiet evening on the Esplanade the night before our first port. The next day the girls were up for some skydiving! Indoor, style! All suited up and ready to go! Kristen was up first! She did so great! And she loved it! Next up...Elissa... If there is one thing that iFly is great at is taking very unflattering photos as the wind is blowing on your cheeks at about 100 MPH! iFly Ripcord was GREAT!!! Is it just me or does it kind of look like a beer glass at the back of the ship? (Not that this is a bad thing at all!) This so far was the only photo I've taken of the casino! It's really nice and big and full of higher-tech machines, we just haven't really gone in yet. Yay! We are back home in Orlando! Except, we aren't at home, we are still on vacation. Here's the ship docked in Port Canaveral... As seen from the new tower near the port. This was most certainly one of the strangest shore visits we've ever had! lol Worst part about docking in Orlando? Having to use the Carnival terminal! Nooooooo! RCCL is building a new terminal that should be done soon! Back on the ship they had started putting up Christmas decorations! More of the very bizarre, but cool artwork around the ship. The indoor pool area... They were doing some work on North Star today so it wasn't running just yet. (You know, these new rides need their tweak and adjust period!) Instead of going to theme parks while in Orlando since we can do that anytime, we figured we'd stay on board and explore the ship! Here's the gym...we didn't go...we just took a picture. That's more fun that working out! Felicia, the Quantum bear says hello to Orlando! Kristen took to doing some climbing... Wow! She's made it quite far!!! She made it all the way to the top! That's taller than Felicia! Sorrento's finally came through today! Fresh mozzarella as one of the ingredients! Delicious! This was our pre-pre-dinner! They were still installing new video artwork on the ship today. The girl wanted to show off some of their trapeze skills in the SeaPlex. Kristen did a knee-hang and a split![vine] [/vine] She did awesome! Elissa showed off another fancy trick.[vine] [/vine] More random elevator artwork... Few hours later and the Christmas tree is coming along...slowly...but it's getting there! Wait? Royal *PROMENADE* - Ummm... Tonight's dinner was at Michael's Genuine Pub. Another upcharge place right on the Esplanade. Starting off with a beer and some chips. Elissa likes them balls! (Of felafel...) Lots of yummy snacks! The pork sliders were a huge win! I just love all the new technology on the ship. The photographers are uploading the pics they take directly to the system, and they are in your folio almost instantly! Is this a llama or a alpaca? You decide! YAY!!!! The tree is done! At least the Christmas decorations are only going up ONE day before Thanksgiving! Today was the first day the ship model was available... Ok, fine, so we might have bought one! Next meal was lunch at American Icon Grill. Here's the menu! Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese was legit! Great stuff! Still so weird to me that this venue will be totally gone in a few months. It kind of reminds me of a House of Blues in a way... It's a HUGE space! The pool tables and a nice bar in this area. And it will all be converted into a casino extension and more shopping when this ship leaves for China in a few months. The random little shows the robot screens do are awesome! So funky... So cool... Love all the random high-tech stuff on this ship! In crafts today, Kristen made Honey Lemon's purse! By the end of the ship, she'll have something from all the Big Hero 6 characters made! Let's take a look at The Cafe at Two70. This is where you can get the "better than normal sex" salad and the very popular roast beef sandwiches. So today we are in Nassau. Just gonna say it - we are NOT a fan of The Bahamas. We hate it. Although the positive side of being here is it means more time to explore the ship! And that's exactly what we did! Starting with some pasta with nothing but melted mozzarella cheese! This is a Red Velvet..um...zinger? It was wonderful. RANT!!! I'm soooo glad that Royal Caribbean has never done this to any of their ships! To me, this just looks so ugly and cluttered on the top of NCL's ship. I like that all the amenities that RCCL put on their ships look like they were organically designed for their ship, not just something bolted on as an afterthought. Just look at the pics of North Star and iFly on Quantum. Both of them are sleek, and look like they fit into the overall design of the ship. And I'm sure if Royal Caribbean ever does decide to put a ropes course or a water slide on one of their ships, it won't look ugly like this does. /end rant. Can you tell where the NCL ship ends and the Carnival one begins? No? Neither can I! When did NCL become so trashy? Their ship was blasting party music obnoxiously loud, they had Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubemen at the entrance to the ship, and the clientele coming off the boat just "felt" like Guy Fieri should have been hanging out jumping between NCL and the Carnival ship. I just don't remember them being like this at all as the last time we sailed NCL they were at least a bit more higher end. Weird... We enjoyed our day in the Bahamas by hanging out on the ship! Kristen had some swimming pool time! Under water we go... Thumbs up for Quantum of the Seas! OK, so we got off the boat for a few minutes just to re-confirm our thoughts on Nassau. This is the ONLY redeeming quality of Nassau! Where are the Frozen Del Sol shirts! C'mon and Olaf shirt that changes color in the sun should just exist! Here's the straw market. We didn't go in. Yesssss! They wanted for these because they were "hand crafted." Yeah...by children! "Come in the Bahamas!" (50 points if you know what movie that's from!) Yay! I can take a picture of the ship! North Star is testing again! I really hope they run it at night! This is seriously cool. I'm not even sure why...it just is! We were given hats! Kristen is modeling them... These guys draw stuff, then erase it...that's just what they do. In the kids club it's only Thanksgiving from 1pm - 10pm! [vine] [/vine] Tonight's dinner was back at the American Icon Grill! And because it's Thanksgiving I'm gonna be having me some Southern Fried Chicken! But first lets start with some pretzel bun hot dogs with a warm plate of cheese! Yum! A plate of wings... There it is! The Southern Fried Chicken Thanksgiving Meal! Yessss! Oh, this is just not fair! Well, we are on a cruise, so we got many desserts! Here is some of the merchandise they created for the Inaugural season... Stuff... more stuff... Yes!!!! North Star is open! This is seriously AMAZING at night! Originally we had heard they were not going to run it at night, but I hope this continues because the ride is absolutely amazing at night! (I will tell you that we later got on it at night when it swung over the ship, which was TERRIFYING, but that will be in the next update!) Checked out a little bit of Star Water again. Just really impressed by these robo-screens. I'm not sure what they are doing, but I want one of these for home! Just in case you forgot what show you just watched, the robo-screens remind you! See what I mean about how things look "organic" on the Royal Caribbean ships? That just has so much style to it and looks AWESOME! This guy kept freaking me out every time I walked by! lol So weird! Here's another look at the Solarium... Yes, those chairs are in the water! And here is the deck plan of the ship. Lots of people are still out suffering through the Bahamas, so it's kind of quiet tonight. Esplanade complete with Christmas Tree! There was a dance party going on in Two70 tonight. Here's a Panoramic of the venue. It's amazing! I love how the lights around the side glow with the show! The entrance to "The Via" - very high end looking. Felecia says goodbye to Nassau! And we will leave you with this image! Since it haunted me all night, now I will let it haunt you! The Missile_[R]_(Real).nlpack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 Not sure how the hell this happened, but I walked into the ship casino to get some photos, said "screw it" and put $20 randomly into the first wheel of fortune machine I saw. First play and I hit a "spin" which gave me $200! lol CASH OUT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chargersmichael Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 ^Wow Quantum of the Seas looks absolutely amazing! I'm not a big fan of the Bahamas as it was dirty and unpleasant for me. Also, I never noticed how NCL cruises don't put effort like RC does in their cruises. Like how all of the new features look to be apart of the ship while the slides at NCL just seemed plopped there. Just another reason to go for Royal Caribbean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridewatchers Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 JACKPOT! Â Have a nice dinner and a glass of wine tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 ^ I think I'll decide to pocket it and have it help pay for the internet package! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Coleman Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Good score on the wheel of fortune machine. Usually it gives out only 25 or 30 credits on the spin. The ship also looks amazing and makes me want to take a cruise really badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mateomouse Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Here is my opinion on the RCI vs Carnival thing. You get what you pay for. There is no comparison between RCI and Carnival., but RCI is more expensive...most of the time. I like RCI much more than Carnival, but I don't hate Carnival. I live in Orlando, so I do at least one cruise a year, and I've actually done more Carnival than RCI, but it isn't because I like it more. I have been on Ecstasy (the cruise right before your Klassy Kruise, actually), Destiny, and Freedom, and I am going on Sunshine over the summer. I have nothing but good things to say about Carnival, but it is certainly different than RCI or Disney. Â Also, I'm super jealous that you are on Quantum...it looks amazing!!! I had a friend on the first sailing out of NY, and they LOVED it!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarheel1231 Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Here is my opinion on the RCI vs Carnival thing. You get what you pay for. There is no comparison between RCI and Carnival., but RCI is more expensive...most of the time. I like RCI much more than Carnival, but I don't hate Carnival. I live in Orlando, so I do at least one cruise a year, and I've actually done more Carnival than RCI, but it isn't because I like it more. I have been on Ecstasy (the cruise right before your Klassy Kruise, actually), Destiny, and Freedom, and I am going on Sunshine over the summer. I have nothing but good things to say about Carnival, but it is certainly different than RCI or Disney. Also, I'm super jealous that you are on Quantum...it looks amazing!!! I had a friend on the first sailing out of NY, and they LOVED it!!!! Lol I thought you were talking about the drug until you explained it was a cruise ship. For a second, I thought this was your reason for going with Carnival.  I'm loving this trip report! Never been on a cruise before, but I'll make sure my first one is with Royal Carribean (the name I think? I forgot the name of the cruise line). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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