Tom Thinking about getting away from Singapore for a short break? Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas currently sails 5D4N and 4D3N cruises to nowhere, offering Singaporean residents the chance to do just that! Genting Dream Cruise also offers cruises to nowhere. However, having heard the disparity in food and show quality, we decided to go with Quantum of the Seas for our cruise to nowhere!
In this post, we’ll share with you all the things that you need to know in preparation for your next cruise to nowhere with Royal Caribbean Cruise’s Quantum of the Seas!
Is it Safe to Cruise to Nowhere with Royal Caribbean Cruise?
The top question on everyone’s mind is probably whether it is safe to do a cruise to nowhere. Afterall, there were instances where cruises had to grapple with the spread of COVID-19 with many countries turning cruises away for the fear of further spread. However, with Singapore’s numbers hovering around 0 these days, the risk would be rather low. Coupled with excellent measures that Royal Caribbean Cruise has put in place, we think that it is actually safe to do a cruise to nowhere with Royal Caribbean Cruise. Here are some of the measures that Royal Caribbean Cruise has put in place to put your mind at ease…
1. The Royal Promise
The Royal Promise is a series of measures taken by Royal Caribbean Cruise to assure you that cruising would be a safe experience for all passengers. It covers
Testing for All
Royal Caribbean Cruise includes the cost of the rapid RT-PCR for all passengers. Currently, this is available for all cruises up to 21 June 2021.
Details about the Swab Test by Royal Caribbean Cruise
About a week prior to your departure, you will receive an email from TrustOne indicating that you will need to register for your swab test to be taken. You can either download the app (which we didn’t) or just proceed to the link provided within the email to register for the swab test. If you’re travelling as group and have all passengers tagged to the same email address, individual registration emails will be sent to the same email address. All you have to do is to register using the unique password and the same email for the various individuals in your party.
Once you’re registered, you’ll be able to see the available timeslots between 2 to 4 days before your scheduled departure. There are available timeslots throughout the day from 10am onwards with 6pm being the latest. Remember to schedule at the earliest opportunity as popular slots (i.e. 6pm) are usually taken fast.
Once you’re scheduled, arrive at level 2 Kopitiam of Raffles City (there are Royal Caribbean Cruise signs) for your swab test. We didn’t have to wait long. As for the swab test itself, it was deeeeeeep. Well, the pros is that you know that they are ensuring that the results are as accurate as possible. But the flip side is that everyone comes out tearing. Yup, just so you know 
100% Fresh, Filtered Air
Medical Grade Cleaning Standards
Upgraded Medical Facilities & Expert Care
Less Guests, More Space For Your Family
Due to the limited capacity of 50%, we found the entire cruise to be very pleasant. There was alot of space and we didn’t really feel the crowds at any venue at any point in time. Even breakfast during peak hours at Windjammer was not really busy as well.
Safe, Timely Return Home
Even if there was a need to return to Singapore, we found that we were always within hours from home port. While we took a ride up Northstar, we were actually in Singapore Straits where we had amazing views of Singapore’s city scape and the islands nearby.
You’re taken care of
If you make your bookings by 30 April 2021, your cruise fare includes the following at no extra cost.
COVID-19 Protections
• 100% Future Cruise Credit if you or someone in your travel party tests positive within three weeks prior to the cruise
• 100% refund for you and your immediate travel party if any of you tests positive within three weeks prior to the cruise, or at the boarding terminal
• 100% refund for you, your travel party, and any confirmed close contacts if any of you tests positive during your cruise
• In the event of COVID-19-related expenses, Royal Caribbean will cover onboard medical treatment, cost of any required land-based quarantine, and travel home for you, your travel party, and any confirmed close contacts
2. Royal Caribbean Cruise Safe Management Measures
Contact Tracing
Royal Caribbean Cruise has put in place many safe management measures onboard to ensure the safety of the crew and passengers throughout the cruise to nowhere. For instance, you will be required to take temperature twice daily, either via your stateroom attendant or at the various check points throughout the ship as you transit.
You will also be required to bring along these 3 items when you move about onboard Quantum of the Seas
– Tracetogether Token or App
– Royal Caribbean Cruise Tracelet (see in photo above)
– Seapass Card
As mentioned, when you transit from different areas of the ship, you’ll be required to tap your seapass card to indicate whether you have entered or left a certain area. This would aid contact tracing purposes as well.
In addition, you’ll find that bookings are required for all activities onboard such as shows, bumper car rides and paid activities such as iFly and North Star. Other activities such as line dancing, towel folding and Flowrider are on a limited capacity basis. The great thing is that because of the pandemic, everyone understands and adheres to these safe distancing measures…
Of course, hand sanitisers are placed throughout the ship – a practice that was already in place before the Covid-19.
How do you get the Best Prices for a Cruise to Nowhere with Royal Caribbean Cruise?
Having addressed the safety question, here comes the biggie. How do you ensure that you’ll get the best prices for sailings with Royal Caribbean Cruise’s cruise to nowhere aboard Quantum of the Seas? The answer lies with Royal Caribbean’s Cruise with Confidence programme that currently allows the Best Price Guarantee for sailings booked before 31st May 2021.
As you can see from the pictures above, our room price was close to $600 (5D4N) for the balcony class when we first booked the cruise. However, as we approached the date of sailing, there were several offers on the Royal Caribbean Cruise website which we saw. Notice that the eventual balcony room price for Quantum of the Seas dropped to $471 per room per person.
Do note that there will be gratuities and taxes added to the stateroom prices. This is why our initial total price came up to about $1700 in total for 2 pax. With the best price guarantee, we eventually snagged the grand total of $1300 for 2 pax, a $400 reduction from our initial booking.
To claim the best price guarantee, all we had to do was call in to the Royal Caribbean Cruise hotline (6675 0413 / 6305 0033) and the customer service representative will take care of it. Refunds will be sent direct to your credit card. We made a couple of refunds and most of them were refunded to our credit card. However, as the final refund of $50USD was done close to the sailing date, there could only be refunds via onboard credits. The phone calls may lag due to operators employed across the world and you may have to wait for a while if further checks or admin changes are required. Nonetheless, we felt that the CSO did their jobs quite well 
How about booking of Drinks Package and Unlimited Dining Package for Cruise to Nowhere with Quantum of the Seas?
Royal Caribbean Cruise Drinks Package
There are several beverage packages that you can choose when you sail with Royal Caribbean Cruise. Essentially, there’s the alcoholic package (aka Deluxe Beverage Package), everything but alcoholic package (aka Refreshment Package), soft drinks and water package. Having tried Norwegian Cruise Line’s Ultimate Beverage Package, we decided to take it down a notch (and save a little) by going with the Refreshment Package this time. Royal Caribbean Cruise’s Refreshment Package includes:
– Fountain soft drinks and refills at any venue
– Coca-Cola Freestyle drinks*
– Coca-Cola souvenir cup
– Non-alcoholic cocktails (mocktails)
– Bottled still and sparkling water
– Premium coffees and teas
– Fresh-squeezed juices
We found the Refreshment Package well worth its price because of the premium coffees (including mocha and caramel macchiato), freshly squeezed orange juice (throughout the day at La Patisserie!) as well as easy access to bottled water or premium sparkling water such as San Pellegrino…
This time, we purchased the Refreshment Package at about $23SGD which works out to a total of $231.10 for 2 pax on a 5D4N cruise. Considering that we got the souvenir cup (which you can pick up at any one of the drinks venues), loads of premium coffees, teas, mocktails and freshly squeezed orange; not to mention the non-alcholic specialty drinks at Jamie’s and ice cold Coca Cola for meals as well as the ease of access to water all around the ship, the Refreshment Package was really hard to beat.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Unlimited Dining Package
Royal Caribbean Cruise’s Unlimited Dining Package (UDP) allows you to have unlimited meals at all 4 of the Specialty Restaurants aboard Quantum of the Seas. This includes
– Jamie’s Italian by Jamie Oliver (Our Favourite Restaurant)
– Chops Grille (A very very close 2nd)
– Izumi
– Wonderland
Also, usually UDP are only open for dinners and lunch on sea days. Since this was a cruise to nowhere, it meant that lunch was available at Specialty Dining Restaurants everyday! This made the Unlimited Dining Package a really attractive option…
The cost of the Unlimited Dining Package was about $27 per person, which works out to a total of $269.28 for 2 pax on a 5D4N cruise. We monitored both the Refreshment Package and Unlimited Dining Package and found these prices to be one of the lowest we’ve seen. We had 10 meals in total during this trip which works out to be $27 per meal for 2 pax. Not too bad a price especially when we had premium steak at Chops Grille, creative cuisine at Wonderland and meals (Jamie’s / Sushi) that would otherwise cost alot more on land.
As with the staterooms, if you find that there’s a better offer, you can also call in to Royal Caribbean’s hotline to ask for the difference. We did not have to do this for both the Refreshment Package and Unlimited Dining Package but we’d imagine that the difference would likely be refunded via onboard credits if you notice it close to departure dates.
Familiarise with Royal App – Your Friend during Your Cruise to Nowhere
Before we end this post on the pre-cruise preparations for your next Cruise to Nowhere with Royal Caribbean Cruise, you need to be acquainted with the Royal App…
The Royal App is a very very very important tool for your cruise to nowhere with Royal Caribbean. This is because you have to do a couple things in order to have a seamless boarding during boarding day.
1. Choose Your Boarding Time of 2pm. It is critically important for you to choose the earliest boarding time of 2pm. This is because the booking of dining and shows can only be done once you connect to the onboard wifi (Wifi_Quantum_Guest). If you’re in Sky/Star Class suites (ie Grand Suite and above), you’ll have access to the concierge, then you’re fine because the concierge can make these bookings for you before you board. However, for everyone else, you’d need to make these bookings yourself. Hence, the earlier you are onboard, the more slots are available, the better flexibility you can have with your plans. Also, do note that there is no priority boarding for Crown & Anchor society during this period. Only Star Class suites will have priority boarding and board at any preferred time from 2pm onwards. Everyone else will have to adhere to the chosen boarding time.
2. Online Check-In. The Royal App also allows you to check in online. All you need to do is to key in your travel particulars and snap a photo which will be used for your seapass. This step is important because it allows you to skip the check-in booth (which we did) and be one of the first few onboard.
3. Pre-cruise Questionnaire. One day before departure, the pre-cruise health questionnaire would be available. Remember to fill it up to facilitate transit at the cruise centre as well.
4. Getting information about available shows. The Royal App also allows you to know what are the programmes for each day of the cruise closer to the day of sailing. You’ll be able to know the time of shows, bumper car sessions, trivias, dance classes and more.
If you’re planning to gym each day like us, you’d be able to make bookings for gym slots by logging in ONLINE. Strangely, the bookings for gym slots, though free, had to be booked online as though it was a paid programme (such as UDP and RP). 
There’s one technical glitch (of sorts) where the app does not automatically sync when the latest programmes are available before your departure. We were wondering why we were just days away from the cruise yet the programmes have not yet been updated. Then, we found out that we had to log out of the app and log in again. This way, the latest timeslots would be available for you to plan show and meal times.
Royal Up – Upgrade Your Cruise to Nowhere
Before we go, we’d touch briefly on Royal Up, Royal Caribbean Cruise’s upgrade programme. About a month before your scheduled departure, Royal Caribbean will send out emails to eligible passengers for a chance to upgrade. How “eligibility” is determined, remains a mystery. Nonetheless, if you didn’t receive the email, you can still head over to the Royal Up website just to do a quick check on whether you’re eligible.
Once you’re logged in, the Royal Up website will give you the rooms that you’re eligible for upgrade as well as the range of prices in a slider bar format. This time, we were eligible for Junior Suite and Grand Suite which we attempted to upgrade at $40 and $140 respectively. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.
Do note that if you are bidding via Royal Up and is successful, the bid will be charged based on 2 pax accommodation. In this case, if we had been successfully upgraded for Grand Suite, we would have been charged $280.
Lastly, our unsuccessful bid was made known to us the day before departure. Just so you…
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Now that you have done your pre-cruise preparations. Stay tuned for Day 1 of our Cruise To Nowhere with Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas where we do all our booking of meals and shows once aboard!
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Hi! May i know when you managed to book your gym sessions? By booking online, I supposed you meant the Cruise Planner website and not the app after boarding
Thanks! Your post is super detailed and helpful!
Hi Kaykay,
Yes, the gym sessions were booked online via the Cruise Planner (not the app) which was open about a month prior to the cruise. You can return to the site and book as many slots as you require and there would be no cost imposed when you check out.
Glad to be able to help!
Tom & Kate,
2bearbear.com
awesome, thanks for the help! your post made me very excited about my upcoming virgin cruise