Voyager 8/12 - 8/21 Review Long

[doolange]

Just returned from the 9-day VOS out of Bayonne. A little background, myself (36), husband (39) and 3 kids ... boy (13), girl (12) boy (9) travelled with about 15 other family members ranging in ages. This was our 3rd cruise.

 

Embarking

After leaving out of New York last year, this was a pleasure. So organized that it was a breeze. Left my house at 10:45 a.m., arrived at the port at 11:45 a.m., checked baggage, went inside port (no lines), received bus number and was on the ship within an hour. Very smooth and not much waiting at all. What a nice way to start our trip :D

 

Cabin

Thanks to all I have read on these boards, I was lucky enough to book cabin 1388. Since I have 3 kids and did not want to spend the extra $ for a suite, I booked 4 passengers in this room and one with my MIL (even though he would be staying with us). This worked nice because the cabin is really a nice size. I got on the ship and after checking into my room, I found the steward and asked him for a rollaway. (This was the first and last I saw of the steward). We not only fit the rollaway, but an air mattress as well. My 9 year old insisted on sleeping on the air mattress every night. It was more comfortable than that poor excuse for a bed, couch bed. It is so uncomfortable :mad: . Now, if I was asked if I would book this room again.....the answer is no. Too much noise and vibration for me. Just my opinion. On Saturday, we hit remnants of Irene. A little rough waters. Well, every time the kids entered our room, they felt queazy. The motion and vibration was very evident to the point where there was duct tape all over my ceiling to try and stop the rattling. If you are a heavy sleeper, you may not notice. For me, I noticed. You heard the engines from time to time as well. The room steward was never anywhere to be found and as far as cleaning the room, I guess he did his job. I know he cleaned it while we were at dinner at night and maybe while at lunch but I seriously never saw him. I drank water from the refrigerator and it was never replenished.

 

Food/Dining

This is where the experience was positive. Judas, our waiter, was outstanding. He asked our name the first night and always referred to you by name the whole cruise. He would cut the meat for the 9 year old and I must say, we were trying a lot of the meals and he was always so pleasant (as we ordered and ordered!!). I felt the food was very good. Not too fancy but always good. Menu choices were limited but there was always something I was in the mood for. I felt the choices were substaintial. Breakfast in the Windjammer was only o.k. but when in doubt we had cereal. The omelet line was always 5 or 6 people deep. 10 minute wait, at least. That needs improvement. Pancakes and waffles tasted terrible. The breakfast definitely needs improvement. Lunch, great selection and very good.

 

Johnny Rockets

A must at least once. The waiters are hysterical the way they dance. This one waiter was so funny the way he danced you laughed through the whole meal. My kids could not stop laughing. Food, typical hamburgers and fries. It is the dancing that is so funny.

 

Kids Camp

My 9 year old could not wait to go every day. He absolutely loved it. He had a great time. In fact, I had a hard time getting him out as late as midnight. I let him sign himself in during the day and told him if he was bored, he could meet me by the pool. I showed him where my pool chair was. He never signed himself out. Loved it. Made tons of friends. My 12 year old daughter did not like the teen club. This is where RCI needs to improve on. 12 - 17 year olds do not belong in a dance club together. There is a huge difference between my daughter who turned 12 in July and a 17 year old. If you walk past the teen club at night, the older teens are "bumping and grinding" to music. She felt everyone in there was too old. They need to seperate these groups. My 13 year old loved the basketball court and spent 90% of his time on the sports deck. This was actually good for him although nothing was really organized. He played a lot of pick-up basketball games. One side note, there was a fight in the teen club on Thursay night. The rumor was a 17 year old beat up a 12 or 13 year old. I wasn't there for the fight but I witnessed the 12 or 13 year olds mother on the Promenade going bananas. Don't know all the details but a lot of the older kids were in trouble for the fight. This brings me back to my original point. The age groups do not belong together. I am going to address this with RCI.

 

Jamaica

Thanks, again, to these boards, I booked Phil Lafayette. He was great. We met him outside the port at 9:30. First he took us to River Tubing. What a blast this is. This was the best part of the trip. The tubing was a blast. Phil then took us through Fern Gully and then switched buses and we went to Dunns River Falls. This was a little tiring and commercialized but fun. This was a spectacular port. Loads of fun.

 

Labadee

This port was very hot. We signed our kids up for the water park for $15. I had read on these boards that it was dangerous, but honestly, I didn't believe the poster :( This water park is DANGEROUS! I don't recommend it for anyone. My son was 6 inches away from another passenger who had someone fall right on top of him. They took that boy away (the one who had the boy fall on him) on a stretcher with a bunch of broken ribs. It is not monitored at all and IMO not something I would do again. Don't waste your money. They have kids jumping off the top of these blow-up boulders with nobody at the bottom making sure the coast is clear. A total disaster waiting to happen. The slide is good. They had a blast on that. If you are going to buy either ticket, buy the water slide. My kids would have stayed on it all day. That was worth it. Otherwise, the water is cloudy and not the best port of call. Hot. Very hot.

 

Caymen Islands

Again, we booked an outside tour. We found someone outside the port willing to take our group of 15. We payed $30/person with 2 kids free (out of 6 kids). Clifton was his name. He took us from the port to his van. Transported us to marina where he took us on his catarmaran (sp?) It was like being on a private yacht. He supplied sodas, there was a bathroom and he took us to Stingray City. I didn't like "swimming with the stingrays" but everyone else thought it was great. We had a great day with Clifton. He and his nephew have their own names for certain stingrays and were very good at holding them, etc. to make us feel at ease. He was great and would recommend him to anyone going to Caymen.

 

Freeport

I was too tired to get off but those that did in my group shopped and had a nice time.

 

Chair Hogs

All over the place. Needs to be enforced. I saw many people leave not only towels but personal items like a book or something only to be seen 4 hours later. Better system needs to be in place. I did get up early and sit in my chair and read my book. The chair I saved was the chair I stayed in until I left the pool deck.

 

Overall

A great vacation. We had a great time. The staff was always so friendly and their was always so much to do. The ports of call were so fun that I am almost upset that next year they are doing the Eastern Caribbean. I hope this answers a lot of questions, but if you have any more, I would be happy to answer them.

[IKE]

Thank you so much for your report on your "Voyager" Cruise. I was on "Voyager" in Her Innaugral Season and found Her to be just beautiful. Have sailed on all Voyager Ships and will return to "Voyager of Seas" next month for 2nd time. Out of all Voyager Class Ships, She was my Favorite.I only have one question for you "How is She holding up"? I really haven't heard anything negative about her interior. Would like to know if She is showing signs of wear yet? So happy you and your Family had a great cruise. Looking forward to Ours next month. Again, Thank You! Ike

[DPurcell58]

Leaving this Friday,thanks so much for your fast review. Things sounds great, glad you mentioned about the water park. I did buy tickets, we'll have to see if we should chance it. Doesn't sound that great. Sorry you hit Irene, I'm hoping we don't get any storms next week.

[doolange]

Ike - She looked beautiful to me. No real signs of wear and tear.

 

Dpurcell - I had my throat in my mouth the whole time. It was the longest hour! I really was scared for them. Re-think it. Seeing the kid go away in stretcher did not help either.

 

As another side note, the common bathrooms were always dirty. I am not sure why, but that is something they literally need to clean up.

[maltesemom]

Dpurcell - thinking you should cancel the water park thing, after all I dont want my nephew to get hurt.

[Kathy130]

I was on the Voyager Fom July 15 - 24th. I felt that she is still a beautiful ship, with very minimal wear and tear. Again, it's like everything else. If you remember that she has passengers daily, and has had for almost 6 years, then you can state that she is indeed in wonderful shape. I think they maintain her beautifully, as I did see new rugs being put down in two locations. If you look in every corner, in every area, yes!!! you will find something, but overall she's fabulous.

[kenandlaura06]

Thanks for the review!

[dh01498]

Leaving this Friday,thanks so much for your fast review. I'm hoping we don't get any storms next week.

Hey we're sailing on Friday with you too... and I hope no storms either although I see there is a TD out there now.

[IKE]

Thank You everyone on your review of the "Voyager". She sounds as beautiful as when I first sailed on Her back about 6 yrs. ago. Can't wait to sail her Again. Over all I feel RCL keeps their ships in excellent condition. Have been on other cruise lines and many things were worn out and should have been replaced. This will be Cruise #49 for us and still counting. Not all on RCL. IKE

[pd9845]

Doolange - Glad to hear you had a great experience. My sister-in-law and her family (10 people) were on the boat with you and they encountered a few issues w/ Johnny Rockets, the kids program/camp, food in dinning room, terrible waiter, same dangerous experience at the water park, etc. Overall, they wound up having a great time, but they experienced a lot of minuses that came along with those good times. It's funny, because they keep comparing it to Celebrity and saying that they had better expierences with Celebrity, yet they are planning to go on the Freedom next year. :)

 

But, I was wondering if you had an trouble disembarking? -- Apparently, there was an issue with customs or immigrations and they arrested someone. As a result, they stopped people from leaving the ship. They were not allowed off of the ship until everything was handled. As a result, they didn't get off the ship until long after 12pm. And, they had kids with them. They were told to stay in Studio B and they stopped serving them - no food & no drinks... I was shocked when I heard this. We were on the Mariner last year and had nothing less than a GREAT experience!

[cincicruisers]

Sounds like you had a great vacation! Thanks for posting your review.

[doolange]

Yes, there was trouble disembarking. However, I had white luggage tags so I was the first one called off at around 11:30. Yes, the kids were cranky, thirsty and very tired so it was not fun. That, I feel, was out RCI control. It stinks to be standing around for a few hours but if it was a problem with a passenger, what are you going to do. All in all, I had a great time. There were a few things that could be improved, but I still wish I was on the boat....not home doing piles and piles of laundry :)

[cruznurse]

we also sailed this cruise with 22 family members from 84-8 years old and other than the 9 year old not liking the adventure ocean program everyone had a blast. Did feel a little vibration Sat night but no rough seas; we went mini golfing,rock climbing, inline skating, and ice skating every day at least once a day!!. The kids kept busy. Embarkation was slow for some who arrived around 2pm but were still on the ship within 1 hour!. We mostly had inside cabins on 6 and 8 with 1 cabin on 10. Dining room food was good,not great most nights but with 3600 passengers it is hard to please everyone. My son is a very picky eater and they went out of their way to get him something he liked every night. My daughter/neice wanted chicken parm the night of the veal parm and was told they would have to wait while it was prepared-only about 5 minutes after the first in our party was served.

Labadee was very hot. We were on the first tender over in the am, set up camp under an umbrella thing and stayed til 3pm. The only problem was the tender line was long at that time. Rented the waverunners and that was fun. The younger family went to the aquapark and spend all their time without problems(although I did hear about the person falling on the child after we returned to the ship)

Did Peat Taylor in Jamica and he of course was great.and then had to make a stop at Margaretaville!!even had my dad in the wheelchair there!!

Grand Cayman we did a catamaran snorkle since most of us have done the stingray swim already.

Freeport was hot, went to the beach at Lucaya and rented waverunners which were fun,no real shooping bargains-- certainly not like St.Thomas.

Never had a problem with the elevators, and we had my dad in a wheelchair

and Everyone was very kind and accomodating

Casino was fairly loose most came away with small winnings but it certainly isn't like Atlantic City or Vegas.

The only disappointment was the shows.With the exception of the unbelieveable ice skating, they left a little to be desired. Even the much hyped QUEST wasn't that great-- even with my 24 year old nephew as one of the runners!

Disembarkation wasn't that bad in my opinion. Was having breakfast in Carmen dining room at 8:30am, went to Aquarium bar about 9:15 because of dad and his w/c. Started calling colors at 10:30(yes we did see Immigration officals climbing the stairs from deck 3 to 5 about 10am but did not see anyone with them) we had Yellow which was the 3rd color called and was off the ship and into our car by 11:30am and home by 12:45pm. The only problem I saw with this process was the line for the porters. If you have more than 1 bag/person and need a porter the line can get very long!!

Have been on many cruises on the "other lines" and although I liked the Voyager, didn't see much wear and did see them replacing carpet, washing carpets, My family also felt the Celebrity was better in alot of aspects.

We are already thinking of planning another family cruise next year and with the "see the ocean" hot tubs on the Freedom maybe we will make it RCCL again

[familycruzer]

Thanks for the review. I will be cruising with her shortly.

 

I am booked in 1394 so I was interested in your thoughts on 1388 but will keep an open mind on the cabin.

 

I have a 14 year old and will not allow her in the teen clubs mainly because of the age range. Its not right to have them together with 17 year olds. I will take up that issue with RCL as well when I return.