Tom On day 2 of our cruise to nowhere onboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas, we started our day at La Patisserie…
As La Patisserie opens at 6am in the mornings, we usually start the day bright and early here to grab a cup of freshly-squeezed orange juice as well as a cuppa. At the same time, we’ll snap a photo of the day’s activities as reference for our readers…
Royal Caribbean Cruise To Nowhere Breakfast at Windjammer Quantum of the Seas
Thereafter, we took a short walk on deck 15, to take in the fresh air and morning sea breeze, before heading to Windjammer for breakfast. Breakfast at Windjammer starts the earliest at 7am and ends the latest at 1030am while Main Dining Room starts at 8am and ends at 10am for breakfast. As we were there early, we took the al fresco seats right at the aft of the ship with no one else around. We also managed to catch the sunrise while sipping on on mimosa for breakfast…
Royal Caribbean’s Deluxe Beverage Package allowed us to have mimosa for breakfast. Mimosa is simply orange with sparkling wine (sometimes champagne). You can ask the bartender to reduce the proportion of orange if you want to have slightly more sparkle in the morning 😉 Over the next few days, we also realised that Windjammer tends to be more crowded as compared to the Main Dining Room over the school holidays, probably because the buffet style and longer meal hours makes it easier for family to come and go as they wish. We also made a conscious decision to have a lower intake (we tried) prior to our FlowRider session this morning. As guests of The Key programme, we had a dedicated FlowRider session from 830am to 10am this morning…
Quantum of the Seas FlowRider with The Key Program
We arrived at 820am this morning and there was already 2 families queuing in front of us. Guests of The Key can be identified via the blue wrist band – though we didn’t like the idea of having to wear the wrist bands all day for the 5 days 4 nights cruise to nowhere. Hence, we only brought along our key card and that was sufficient for entry. As the number of guests were limited, we managed to go on FlowRider 4 times within the timeslot. The great thing about the programme is that no bookings is required. Just appear at the dedicated timeslots and you’re good to go…
We informed the instructor that it was our first time on the FlowRider and he taught us how to grip the boogie board properly (close to the centre) and to lean your body to the direction that you’d like to go. For instance, if you’d like to go ahead, lean forwards and if you’d like to go right, shift your body weight to the right. Thereafter, we’d shift our body weight a little higher to do the “superman” stance where your body (and hip) would be controlling the direction while your hands are stretched wide open like superman. An exercise to improve your confidence on the board. Lastly, we got to shift our body to have our knees on the boogie board. This was the toughest and we got washed out a couple of times. Overall, a really fun activity. Some other passengers (even those with The Key) planned to queue for the ride each day. That’s how fun it is. But do remember to watch the FlowRider safety video in your state rooms before heading over!
Royal Caribbean Deluxe Beverage Package at Sunshine Bar Solarium
Soon, it was time to head to Solarium to chill a little prior to our next activity – Lunch 🤣 George was already on hand to let us try more of his specialised cocktails.
We have a couple of favourite seats at the Solarium. If you prefer to have the entire cushioned cocoon, the one just before the hot tubs are our favourite as it faces forwards for a nice sea view while it is near to the shower and hot tub. The other is of course the seats right at the front for close up views of the ocean.
With the Deluxe Beverage Package, we were able to try all the drinks in the menu, including cocktails, wines, beers, mocktails, soft drinks and bottled water. So we took the opportunity to suss out the menu but the options were just too much for us to try all of them during the 5D4N cruise…
Before heading to our next activity (lunch), we had our favourite cocktail (pina colada) and gin tonic/gimlet before rounding off our morning session of hot tub and pool. Bookings are not required for hot tubs and pool usage. Just that you have to adhere to the 10 minutes usage timings. During peak hours, there would be staff on hand to start a timer when you enter the pool. In this way, everyone gets to enjoy the hot tub and pool fairly throughout the day.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Main Dining Room Lunch
There are 4 main dining rooms at the aft of the ship at deck 4 and deck 3. At deck 4, you’ll have Silk and American Icon while at Deck 3 you’ll have Chic and Grande restaurants…
During the pandemic, all the Main Dining Rooms serve the same menu. The only difference would be the decorations within the restaurants. We really like American Icon, Chic and Grande. Perhaps Silk was a little too orientally-oriented for us. Before we dwelled into the lunch menu, we started off with some Michelle Brut…
For Day 2 Lunch at Main Dining Room, we had
Iceberg Wedge. Fresh iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and crispy applewood-smoked bacon drizzled with blue cheese dressing.
Mozzarella Sticks. Mozzarella cheese coated with crispy garlic-seasoned panko breading, served with a zesty marinara dipping sauce.
Caesar Salad. Crisp romaine lettuce, garlic croutons, parmesan, creamy caesar dressing and your choice of chicken or shrimp.
Pulled BBQ Sandwich. Smoked low and slow, served on a brioche bun with fresh coleslaw and fries.
Mediterranean Lamb Pita. Grilled lamb, olives, feta, garlic and tomatoes in a grilled pita, served with Greek salad.
Spaghetti Bolognese. Rich and meaty sauce with San Marzano tomatoes, roasted garlic, Pecorino Romano cheese and fresh basil.
Royal Chocolate Cake. Layers of dark chocolate cake and decadent chocolate mousse.
Key Lime Pie. Tangy key lime custard in a brown butter graham cracker crust.
For appetizers, we had the iceberg wedge, mozzarella sticks and caesar salad. The salad and wedge were to “balance” out our diet for the next couple of days. We really enjoyed the mozzarella sticks. Take a bite and enjoy the gooey cheese clinging on as you pull the mozzarella stick away from you…
As for mains, we had the pulled bbq sandwich, mediterranean lamb pita and spaghetti Bolognese. The pulled pork sandwich was a little salty for us but we did enjoy the briche texture. Lamb pita was good. The dressing within, had a little feel of tzatziki, reminding us of our trip to Greece. During this trip, we also realised that the spaghetti bolognese never fails. It’s meaty, al dente with a nice healthy dose of olive oil. Yum! If you’re not too quite sure if the entree you ordered will turn out well, order a spaghettic bolognese as a backup.
After the Chandon, we went with…Vin de Pays Chardonnay to go along with our entrees…
For desserts, we had the Royal Chocolate Cake and Key Lime Pie. The chocolate cake was a little dry for us but the key lime pie was nicely tart. If you’ve had quite a meal (aka stuffed), the key lime pie would be a great choice.
After lunch, we had 2 trivias planned. Add-a-letter puzzle at 2pm and tri-bond trivia at 3pm…
In Add-a-letter puzzle, as the name suggests, you’ll add a letter to the given word, based on the clue given. For instance, you’ll be given “limb” and the clue “what you use to go up the steps”. From there, you can derive the answer as “climb”. We were quite good in this word game and came in as one of the top teams, winning the Royal Caribbean Cruise key chains!
At 3pm, we returned to Schooner Bar. This time for Tri-Bond trivia. Tri-bond trivia is a game where you attempt to connect 3 words given using just 1 word. The 3 words given have something in common and it is up to you to find that word. For instance “car”, “elephant” and “tree” have the common word of “trunk” while “ball”, “fish”, “cold” have the common word of “catch”. We didn’t do as well as it was rather challenging. But it sure was a good tickle for our minds in the afternoon…
After the quizzes, we returned back to our balcony state room to catch Jungle Cruise – a Disney film starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt was a fun show to watch. As we’re part of the Key program, we ordered complimentary in-room dining to go with the movie. Do note that even though we were on the Deluxe Beverage Package, drinks were not complimentary with the Key. Hence, we took a short walk to Harp and Horn to grab a Corona to go with the movie.
We realised that if you’re on the Key program, the room-service brings in excellent value because of offerings such as the Royal Burger that comes with wagyu beef (really tasty and juicy) as well as Grilled Salmon. The philly cheese steak was a tad bit salty but was still pretty good as well. If you don’t like what you see on the menu, room-service could be a good alternative. Usual price, $7.95USD + 18% gratuity per order.
Just before dinner, we had some pre-dinner drinks at Solarium and caught the beautiful sunset this evening while soaking in the hot tub…
One of the venues that we wanted to try out during this cruise was Bionic Bar. While heading to Bionic Bar at deck 5, we passed by Schooner Bar and saw that there was no one around. Hence, we popped by for a quick drink. Our bartender, Rex was superbly friendly and made us the Liquid Marijuana as well as Tom’s Special (named after Tom) along with an excellent shot of cocktail. It was pretty sophisticated, tasted like green tea with a slew of other liquors and tastes within. Love it!
Next, it was time to head to Bionic Bar for our very first session here…
Bionic Bar opens from 6pm to 9pm daily. As we did not order drinks here during our last cruise, it was a rather novel experience to do so this time. The peak hours are at 6pm and towards 9pm when the bar is about to close. Hence, we had to wait a little during our visit this time. Nonetheless, most guests were quite considerate and after they had ordered their drinks, taken their videos and photos, they would usually adjourn with their drinks to the seating areas outside. After we were seated, our bartender, He (not a typo), approached us with the Ipad where he’d scan our key cards, requests for our age as well as our orders. The age forms a little statistic that would show the favourite drinks of the various age group. This time, we had From Here to Orion, a tequila based cocktail which was rather delicious.
If you notice the photos closely, the liquors are all placed upside down, measured in shots. The robotic arm would bring its cup to the liquor, push against it and exactly one shot of the liquor would enter the cup. Once the robotic arm leaves, by sheer gravity, the next shot is “refilled”. A really ingenious invention. Mixers, water and ice are retrieved behind. It is also quite cute to see the robotic arms doing “shake” and “stir” motions. Once the drinks are done, all you have to do is check out the mirror screen on which conveyor belt to retrieve from, place your Seapass card and wait for the drink to approach you. A cool experience altogether!
Royal Caribbean Cruise Main Dining Room Dinner
For dinner, we were allocated seats at Silk. For lunch, only deck 4 restaurants are opened while both deck 3 and deck 4 restaurants are opened for dinner. However, it is still done via allocation. There was once that we were referred to deck 4 restaurants even though Cruise Compass had indicated that deck 3 restaurants were open for dinner. This evening, we started with Rutini Trumpeter Malbec red wine, a really delicious wine with hints of cherry, blackberry and cinnamon. A surprising find. Definitely try this if you’re on the Deluxe Drinks Package. Thereafter, we checked out the menu for this evening…
For dinner this evening at Silk, we ordered:
Crab & Asparagus Soup. Hearty seafood broth with lump crab and fresh asparagus.
Escargots a la Bourguignonne (ordered nightly).
Moroccan-Spiced Ahi Tuna. Grilled tuna steak served over mint couscous sauteed spinach and tequila peppers, topped with a yoghurt vinaigrette.
Mojo-Marinated Grilled Pork Chop. Bone-in pork loin marinated in a savory citrus sauce, paired with sweet potatoes, broccoli and a cumin-citrus reduction.
Beef Stroganoff. Classic Russian dish of tender beef strips in a paprika-mushroom sauce, served atop al dente linguine pasta.
Bananas Foster. Sauteed bananas topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.
Traditional English Trifle. Layers of sherry-soaked sponge cake, fruit vanilla custard and whipped cream.
As usual, the escargots were good but the crab and asparagus soup was passable. Next, the mains…
For dinner, we found the Ahi Tuna really well-prepared. It was nicely flame-grilled on the outside and still slightly raw on the inside, rendering it a really great texture and taste. The portion is really generous as well. An entire Ahi Tuna steak was served. As one of the guests remarked, the portions are “US-sized” – guests definitely won’t be left hungry. The grilled pork chop was a huge let down though. Just one word to describe – dry. The beef stroganoff was decent. Somehow, there was a complimentary sweet and sour pork served during dinner this evening. As we were having “Western” selections this evening, it didn’t really tie in. We took a bite and it tasted not too shabby. Nicely fried on the outside, tender on the inside and coated with a sauce that isn’t too sweet.
Both desserts were not that fantastic. A little too sweet for the bananas foster while for the trifle, somehow the cake, custard and cream didn’t come together that well. When faced with these desserts on the menu, you can always fall back on the cheesecake. After dinner, it was time for the magic show by John Taylor…
John Taylor is one of Australia’s top illusionist and we were treated to a fantastic show this evening. Although many of the tricks have been seen several times before, it was his humour that drew the audience into the show. The unceasing topping of water from a flask was both amazing and amusing at the same time. Enjoy the show!
To round up the evening, we headed back to Solarium again for the soak in the evening. We found out from the staff that Solarium closes at midnight. Hence, for those who didn’t have a chance to enter the hot tubs in the day, night time may be a good option – though there are no views of the sea or night sky as the lights in Solarium was rather reflective. After trying the night time hot tub sessions at Solarium, we think that the morning “sunrise soaks” are still our preferred option to avoid the crowds.
Check out this video review of our 5D4N Cruise To Nowhere on Quantum of the Seas from Singapore!
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Hope you have enjoyed our review on day 2 of our cruise to nowhere onboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas. Stay tuned as we continue our review on day 3 in our next post!
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