Checking In for Your Quantum of the Seas Cruise

Hello from onboard the beautiful Quantum of the Seas! There have been a few little new ship hiccups like waiting half an hour for our table at Chops Grille last night, but overall this ship is just so nicely done. Inviting, elegant, beautiful – and as a blog reader who just left the ship yesterday noted, much more akin to a W Hotel than a typical Royal Caribbean ship. Quantum of the Seas will easily become my favorite ship in the fleet!

I’ll be posting tips for enjoying your Quantum of the Seas cruise throughout mine, and collapse everything into one review after I return home, complete with a picture library. Today’s tip involves checking in for your cruise at Cape Liberty. If you’ve cruised with Royal Caribbean before, be advised that the check in procedure for Quantum is different than other ships in the fleet. Royal Caribbean has been promising 10 minutes from curbside to boarding the ship. We didn’t quite make that yesterday due to a shortage of porters. Or rather, we were dropped off at the very front of the vehicle line and had to walk back to the porter area to drop our checked luggage. Once there, we lined up in a seemingly small queue. The porters did not seem to have a sense of my urgent need to board. 🙂 Further, taxis were dropping people off directly in front of the queue where they were immediately assisted even though there were at least 20 of us waiting in line. That was luck of the draw….and I should’ve just walked myself down the line to another porter. I digress.

The real tip for checking in at Cape Liberty for Quantum of the Seas is this: if you’ve printed your set sail passes, find one of a lot of people walking around with a handheld tablet before going through security. Also note that I said set sail passes – plural. With the old check in style you just printed one set sail pass for the family. With the new process for Quantum, each individual gets their own set sail pass which will serve as your boarding pass. You don’t get your key card until you get to your room where you’ll find one hanging in an envelope on your door. The attendant with the tablet can complete all your check in formalities right there. If you didn’t upload a picture on your own, they can take the photo. If they don’t like the photo you took, they can retake another. (That happened to us.) Once your done with check in formalities, clear security and walk on the ship.

It really is pretty simple, but it is different if you’re accustomed to cruising on Royal Caribbean, and I heard a good bit of griping about it in the terminal. Do note that if you haven’t printed your set sail passes in advance, there are still people staffed in the terminal to help you with routine check in. If Royal Caribbean addresses crowd control with the porters out front, and really gets the word out on the new check in process, I think they’ll meet their 10 minute curb to ship goal with ease. Frankly, I think I’m going to like the new way of doing things.

-MJ, December 2, 2014