Just back from VOS

[poppetts]

The more important question - did they have Vegemite in the Windjammer or MDR for breakfast?

 

If you ask them they find vegemite, we got a good supply from the dinner waiter everynight

[bazzaw]

we got a good supply from the dinner waiter everynight

 

We got an "off menu" curry and dhal on our table every night - as well as what we ordered. :D

 

Barry

[The_Big_M]

We got an "off menu" curry and dhal on our table every night - as well as what we ordered. :D

 

Barry

 

Could be coming from the crew kitchen. ;)

[avalon007]

Hi,

 

We were on the same VOS cruise as Barry's & we carried our 2 bottles of wine on no questions asked.

 

This time round though they asked to see the smallish scissors I had in my cosmetics bag in my carry on & let me through with them after a quick inspection, yet last year on Radiance the same scissors didn't get a mention.

 

I think they probably focus on certain items depending on recent events & instructions from security.

 

Always best to carry on all potential problematic items just in case they want to see them.

 

Barry, did they actually indicate what item/s in your bag they thought were alcohol?

[bazzaw]

Could be coming from the crew kitchen. ;)

 

We tried to find out where it was coming from - the crew kitchen was the obvious answer, however we came to the final conclusion that this was not so. Hence it remained a bit of a mystery to us. Basically the waiter told us that we wouldn't want anything that came out of the crew kitchen!! :confused:

 

Initially, it all started by us telling our waiter that we liked "proper" Indian food - and asked if we could have some of the vegetable curry that was on the menu as well as our dinner order. Oh no sir! -- we have some "off menu" curry every day for you. So it came every day, different every day -- and was VERY VERY good. I wish I could make dhal as good as theirs!

 

Barry

[bazzaw]

Hi,

 

 

Barry, did they actually indicate what item/s in your bag they thought were alcohol?

 

No -- they just let us take the bag when we assured them we had no alcohol at all in it. We did have an empty plastic water bottle in there which may have shown up in the x-ray machine

 

Barry

[avalon007]

No -- they just let us take the bag when we assured them we had no alcohol at all in it. We did have an empty plastic water bottle in there which may have shown up in the x-ray machine

 

Barry

 

 

Sounds like the bottle must have been the culprit then.

 

Regards your curry I have heard of similar things on other RCCL cruises regards speciality/ethnic foods.

 

The curry on the menu is probably the low spice one for the people that want to try it but they have the real thing for those who ask maybe?

 

I do find on Royal that if you ask for something they usually go out of there way to get it for you, sometimes to the point were I feel embarrassed that I unintentionally put them to so much trouble!

 

Sometimes you enquire about something thinking it's either easily available or not, to find out they went right out of there way to get what you asked for, when I half expected them to not have it anyway.:)

[bazzaw]

Sounds like the bottle must have been the culprit then.

 

Regards your curry I have heard of similar things on other RCCL cruises regards speciality/ethnic foods.

 

The curry on the menu is probably the low spice one for the people that want to try it but they have the real thing for those who ask maybe?

 

I do find on Royal that if you ask for something they usually go out of there way to get it for you, sometimes to the point were I feel embarrassed that I unintentionally put them to so much trouble!

 

Sometimes you enquire about something thinking it's either easily available or not, to find out they went right out of there way to get what you asked for, when I half expected them to not have it anyway.:)

 

I don't know if this is just my imagination or not -- but I did think that the staff on VOS seemed to be very attentive. My wife say all the ships are like that -- but I am sure I noticed something extra. It is difficult to put my finger on - as she says, all staff say "good morning" to you on ships, etc -- but on VOS maybe they seemed to mean it??? :D

 

Anyway, the bottom line is that I came away from VOS with a very positive experience- I guess that only another cruise on another RCI ship will confirm that. I can't make up my mind whether I prefer a smaller ship. I have very positive feelings about Oriana and it's design -- less so about the designs of the modern ships we have been on inc VOS. There is certainly "more" on a big ship -- but at the end of the day, I only really drink in 1or 2 bars - so don't really need 14, a theatre is a theatre, a dining room is a dining room and I don't really need one that is 3 decks high, etc. I know that I am not happy about the height of the big ships (even the Vista class) and the need therefore to constantly have to go in the lifts. Smaller ship = less lifts and less balcony cabins -- this suits me a lot better.

 

Barry

[avalon007]

I don't know if this is just my imagination or not -- but I did think that the staff on VOS seemed to be very attentive. My wife say all the ships are like that -- but I am sure I noticed something extra. It is difficult to put my finger on - as she says, all staff say "good morning" to you on ships, etc -- but on VOS maybe they seemed to mean it??? :D

 

Anyway, the bottom line is that I came away from VOS with a very positive experience- I guess that only another cruise on another RCI ship will confirm that. I can't make up my mind whether I prefer a smaller ship. I have very positive feelings about Oriana and it's design -- less so about the designs of the modern ships we have been on inc VOS. There is certainly "more" on a big ship -- but at the end of the day, I only really drink in 1or 2 bars - so don't really need 14, a theatre is a theatre, a dining room is a dining room and I don't really need one that is 3 decks high, etc. I know that I am not happy about the height of the big ships (even the Vista class) and the need therefore to constantly have to go in the lifts. Smaller ship = less lifts and less balcony cabins -- this suits me a lot better.

 

Barry

 

 

The staff were just as exceptionally friendly & helpful on our last Royal cruise on Radiance, I believe they just have excellent customer service standards & train their people well.

 

Our assistant waiter told us Royal was the best company for him to be with as he makes more money than on other cruise lines, so I guess that makes him happy & so it's easier to give good service if you are happy?

 

But I know he also had to spend time doing things like several safety drills during the 2 week cruise (maybe that's why Royal has I read a 42 year unbroken safety record?) & apparantly Royal send random staff whose job entails direct customer contact for blood tests for drugs etc.

Our waiter was told to attend at Melbourne & had to go to the hospital to have the blood test done, so it's reassuring that Royal takes passenger health & safety seriously - even more than I realised.

 

Barry, I have said this before but I think you should try Radiance of the Seas, her decor is very tasteful in most areas without being stuffy, she is 90 000 tonnes so a nice size & has a lot of glassed public areas letting the ocean views in at every opportunity, you really feel like you are on a ship.

 

She doesn't have the large indoor promenade area like Voyager, just a centrum & you can travel throughout the ship very easily whereas on Voyager some decks didn't have access at all ends.

 

In comparison, although we liked Voyager a lot we think Radiance has the edge, especially in decor & the adults pool solarium - because it is covered in & also has the Park Cafe which means you can just have a light lunch etc if desired without having to visit the main dining areas, but it had better choice of offerings than the promenade cafe we found.

The back of the Windjammer on Radiance is also an open air dining area which we really liked & Voyager didn't have this.

 

She also has the extra speciality restaurants which we enjoyed & the Windjammer was better laid out we felt with food islands rather than long counters, so queues never seemed to form as people circulated around the food island.

 

On Voyager we enjoyed the promenade for people watching & the space (but didn't like the artificial lighting so much) & preferred the Voyager night club layout.

[The_Big_M]

I don't know if this is just my imagination or not -- but I did think that the staff on VOS seemed to be very attentive. My wife say all the ships are like that -- but I am sure I noticed something extra. It is difficult to put my finger on - as she says, all staff say "good morning" to you on ships, etc -- but on VOS maybe they seemed to mean it??? :D

 

Of the three RCL ships here, I found the Voyager crew the best I've had in general on RCL as well. That's one of the factors in why I enjoyed it more. Our room attendant was a charm, the others were friendly, and the dining staff much better than on Rhapsody and Radiance which were actually poor.

 

It was surprising after the negative comments I heard in advance as well, but there you go.

[Mothballs]

Just returned today from a cruise on the Voyager and I agree that the staff were very friendly and seemed to enjoy their job.It makes me think that the Managers must be very good for so many workers to be happy.Morale seems very high.

I have not cruised as much as most people on here but I thought the food on Voyager was the nicest so far.

Regards Elaine.

[NSWP]

We tried to find out where it was coming from - the crew kitchen was the obvious answer, however we came to the final conclusion that this was not so. Hence it remained a bit of a mystery to us. Basically the waiter told us that we wouldn't want anything that came out of the crew kitchen!! :confused:

 

Initially, it all started by us telling our waiter that we liked "proper" Indian food - and asked if we could have some of the vegetable curry that was on the menu as well as our dinner order. Oh no sir! -- we have some "off menu" curry every day for you. So it came every day, different every day -- and was VERY VERY good. I wish I could make dhal as good as theirs!

 

Barry

Ah Barry, so you like a good curry? So do I, P&O UK serve up some very good ones in the Buffet, as you would know. The Poms like a good curry and plenty of Indian Cooks on the P&O UK ships.

 

Apologies for going off topic, I got 'curried away' LOL. Anyway good to hear VOS food is good.

[avalon007]

In general I found the food to be much the same on both Radiance & Voyager in the Windjammer & MDR.

 

Park Cafe food on Radiance was better by far though than the Promenade Cafe on Voyagar in regards to choice, Radiance also has the famous Royal mini hot roast beef rolls but I didn't see them on Voyager. Yummo!!

 

Funny thing regards the food being similar in the WJ, first day on Radiance last year they had this yummy coconut slice at lunchtime, that I only ever saw the first day & always remebered as it was extra yummy.

 

Low & behold first day lunch in the WJ on Voyager there it was!

I of course indulged & true to form I never saw it offered again.:)

 

Looking forward to seeing if it makes an appearance again first day WJ lunch when back on Radiance in August! :D

[bazzaw]

Ah Barry, so you like a good curry? So do I, P&O UK serve up some very good ones in the Buffet, as you would know. The Poms like a good curry and plenty of Indian Cooks on the P&O UK ships.

 

Apologies for going off topic, I got 'curried away' LOL. Anyway good to hear VOS food is good.

 

Oh no Les -- I had heard about P&O's "famous" curries -- but unfortunately they are pale copies of the real thing (even with their Indian chefs). They were my biggest disappointment. Even when we did full day tours in exotic places like Saigon, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, etc - all of which included a lunchtime meal in 5 star hotels - the food presented was very westernised, another huge disappointment. I guess you only have to look at the average clientele - (middled aged to elderly Brits) - to understand. I think the popularity of curries in the UK now has to do with younger people.

 

Barry

[joejoe 59]

we had no problem carrying on wine during embarkation... I say they were holding back wine that was checked.... maybe they were thinking you were trying to double dip... take some on in hand luggage and carry on... LOL

We did have our bag held, as i had put our wine in the checked bag. As soon as they saw it was only our 2 bottles of wine no problem getting it back, they were very nice down in the naughty room. We read in our cabin that any suspected bags would be available for collection after 6pm, didnt wait for note in cabin. We did the same cruise as Barry on the 27th Jan. Others carried wine on no probs. Also we took a double adapter to charge ph & camera, thats all we needed.:D

[joejoe 59]

We boarded Rhapsody today and had no problems bringing our 2 bottles in carry on luggage. There also were no signs anywhere to say you could not bring your allocated wine on board - only the general signage abour extra bottle and duty free stuff etc.

 

This problem must be perculiar to VOS. I wonder if anyone off Radiance has encountered a problem.

HUgh

 

We didnt have a problem neither did others on the VOS:D enjoy your cruise.

[aviator1945]

We're sailing from Perth on 9 MAR. Any outbreaks of norovirus on your voyage?

[avalon007]

We're sailing from Perth on 9 MAR. Any outbreaks of norovirus on your voyage?

 

 

Didn't hear even a whisper about Noro, seemed to be totally cleared up. The last few cruises before ours (we 27 Jan) were also Noro free from reports on this forum.

 

All WJ food service was self serve, clear signgae in public toilets about washing hands & using paper towel to open the main door as you exited the toilet area.

Most people I saw were washing hands & using the hand sanitiser, staff were very diligent in making sure people did sanitise in most cases.

 

Once though I did see a very elderley man entering the WJ place his hand half heartedly under the sanitiser but too far to the side to actually get the product, you could see it drop past his hand.

 

So there are those that obviously don't comply for whatever reason, usually the people most likely to be less sanitary as well no doubt!

 

We also took our own Aussie non alcoholic based Hands First sanitiser as it works for longer & doesn't dry out your hands. It was great when off the ship to be able to clean your hands before eating.

 

Have a great cruise!:)

[aviator1945]

Thanks,

 

Glad to note this!