top decks on Quantum of the Seas

There’s always something to do on a cruise ship. Some definitely have more options than others. Royal Caribbean often has things that are unique to a specific class of their ships. This is true with the Quantum Class, and its original ship, Quantum of the Seas. These ships have more variety of things to do than most, some of them unique to this ship class.

North Star

One of Quantum’s most unique features is the North Star, a mostly glass pod that rises 300 feet above the ship for the best 360-degree views at sea. In its lowest position a small group of people can enter, having reached the pod’s entry level on either a stairway or elevator from the deck below. As it rises it extends over one side of the ship and hangs over the other side on the way down so you not only get views from straight up above the deck, but also from each side as well.

iFLY

Another thing unique to the Quantum class is the iFLY skydiving simulator. This vertical wind tunnel simulates the feeling of a free dive without the need to jump out of a plane. Since there’s no plane and no parachute there’s no ripcord to pull to slow down – and no floating to the ground for a landing. You just grab the wall by the door and maneuver your feet out and then step out into the wind-free area after finishing your turn. Each participant within a small group gets two short turns in the wind tunnel, with an experienced instructor inside to keep them safe.

show in Two 70

The top deck isn’t the only space on Quantum class ships with unique features. There’s also an inside venue at the stern called Two 70 due to the 270-degree view offered through its floor-to-ceiling row of windows. The ship’s featured evening show takes place in that area. During the daytime the space is sometimes used for other activities and sometimes just open so people can go in to enjoy the view. There’s also a small library and computer room in the upstairs part of Two 70 as well as some balcony seating.

bumper cars in the Seaplex

The other unique feature to Quantum class ships is the Seaplex, a large open area where all sorts of games and activities take place. Sometimes it is used for bumper cars, which sit along the edge outside of the arena area when not in use. They also set up laser tag there, as well as other fun things to do.

cascading pools in the solarium

One of the best features of Royal Caribbean ships is the solarium, which is available on other classes of ships as well as Quantum. This is a glassed-in area at the bow full of deck chairs. It also has a couple hot tubs, and on this ship a set of cascading pools. The Solarium Bistro is a nice place to grab a bite if you want to avoid other more crowded venues or if you just happen to be hanging out in the solarium and decide you want lunch or dinner there. The solarium also has its own bar. It’s a great place to hang out if you don’t like sitting out directly in the sun, or when you’re on a cruise to a colder area or when the weather is bad or it’s too cold to sit outside. Having a solarium is definitely a reason to consider booking on a Royal Caribbean (or Celebrity) ship. The solarium is for adults only, but Quantum additionally had another indoor area with a pool and deck chairs that was open to everyone.

track and rock-climbing wall – and a giant pink statue

Quantum also has the sort of things found on most other cruise ships like pools, hot tubs, and an outdoor movie screen. Fairly standard to Royal Caribbean – but not to cruise ships in general – it has a flow rider and rock-climbing wall. There is a running track, but it’s the crappy painted on a top deck sort rather than a nice one around the outside of the promenade deck like Royal’s Oasis class ships have.

treadmills in the gym

As with most cruise ships, Quantum has a spa and a fitness center. There’s gym equipment available for people to use as they wish, or they can sign up for various fitness classes.

show in the main theater

Like most ships, Quantum has a main theater with nightly shows. While there are plenty of ways to entertain yourself all day long, there are also scheduled activities like trivia and other games throughout the day for people who like planned activities.

Music Hall

The ship has several music venues, with performances mainly in the evenings.

Bionic Bar with robot bartenders

There are many bars and quite a variety of eateries all around the ship. Some of the eateries are included in the cruise fare, but others cost extra. Unique to certain classes of Royal Caribbean ships, one of the bars is the Bionic Bar, which has robot bartenders.

random pro photo from happening across a photographer – it’s a pose, we don’t go around holding hands

In the evenings there are photo booths set up in various places so there’s lots of opportunities to get photos if you like that sort of thing. Even in the daytime you might run into a random photographer somewhere. It’s easy to avoid them if you aren’t into professional cruise ship photos, but if you purchased a photo package, might want to buy a photo or two if they turn out well, or just like looking at them in the photo area onboard even if you have no intention of buying any it’s something else to do. The photo area on Quantum is all digital. You just look at your photos on a computer screen. There’s no racks of printed out photos like on some of the older ships.

Royal Promenade

The Royal Promenade has quite a variety of shops as well as eateries, bars, and places to listen to music. Unfortunately it also has an open stairway down into the casino on the deck below. This is unfortunate because in spite of the app and even the daily newsletter put into our rooms each day while onboard saying that all of Quantum’s indoor areas are non-smoking, they failed to qualify that with only when the ship is sailing out of Australia. When sailing from other places they allow smoking in the casino even though info about the ship says they don’t. If there are too many people smoking in the casino the promenade can get pretty smokey at times, as of course does the casino and other areas around it.

casino

The casino has things for people to do with lots of slot machines and some table games. It has a better ventilation system than some ships. Not powerful enough to keep the air clean while people were actively smoking, but good enough to clear most of the smoke smell out overnight while nobody was in there.

pool deck

One nice thing about taking a cruise is doing as much or as little as you want. If you want to spend all your time relaxing in a deck chair that’s an option, but if you’d rather have activities to do all day there are plenty of things to choose from. Or do some of each, interspersing relaxation time between doing other stuff.

No saving deck chairs!

Whether in the solarium, indoor pool area, or on the outside decks, finding an open deck chair was easier on our Quantum cruise than usual. Instead of just having a tiny sign posted at the entry to an area saying not to save deck chairs, this ship had bright pink ones on many of the chairs themselves. That seemed to be quite a lot more effective. Most of the towels on otherwise empty chairs on this ship belonged to someone nearby in a hot tub or pool rather than to people who stake out chairs first thing in the morning and leave their stuff there all day just in case they might want to use it sometime later as happens on a lot of ships.

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