Is the Voyager too "Asian" for us to Enjoy?

[Desertbelle]

I spoke to my travel agent this morning to book the Voyager of the Seas on a cruise from Sydney to Singapore in 2017. She had concerns over the "Asianization" of the Voyager in the last year or so and wondered if we would enjoy it.

 

She said the crew would be 90%+ Chinese and the food, entertainment and activities would be more suited for Asian travelers than Americans.

 

My husband and I don't have any problem with exploring new and different cultures from ours, in fact we love it, but are we being naive? After all this is a 14 day cruise! Will there be serious language problems when speaking with the crew and other passengers? Will language be an issue with trivia and other activities? Will it be all Asian style food? Will the shows be in English? Will the casino be mostly Baccarat?

 

She has me worried.....should I be?

[Cruzin-K]

I'm following this thread because I'm interested in doing the same cruise in 2018.

 

I would tend to think though, that just completing the Australian season, the ship would mainly have Aussies as the passengers, and the majority of the crew would be the same that have been sailing all season in Australia. :confused: I'm sure many of the crew will be swapped out once they get to Singapore, but not all at once, and not while they're still sailing from Oz. I could be wrong, which is why I'm following to see what those in the know have to say.

[BillOh]

Knowing nothing personally on the subject, woudn't this come as Voyager is finishing up another Australian Summer? I've read good reviews from Australian cruisers.

 

(Always reading Voyager reviews hoping they will bring her back)

Edited February 15, 2016 by BillOh

[Desertbelle]

My thoughts also, that there would be mostly Australians onboard, with maybe some Asians returning home from a holiday in Australia. But, my TA seemed to think differently.

 

We are currently booked on a Sydney round-trip in March 2017 that goes to Port Douglas and back on the Celebrity Solstice, but the Voyager ships does most of the same ports and continues to Singapore instead of back to Sydney.....which sounds pretty nice. We are still weighing the pros and cons of the two itineraries, including the ships and the perks.....the Celebrity perks are very good on this cruise.

[Tee & Chilli]

Are there any reviews on this itinerary?

[VK3DQ]

Hi Folks

 

Just be aware that there will be much more smoking on board ships that start their cruises at Asian ports

 

Australia is almost smoke free , but not so our Asian region

 

 

Regards

 

John

[Cruzin-K]

Hi Folks

 

Just be aware that there will be much more smoking on board ships that start their cruises at Asian ports

 

Australia is almost smoke free , but not so our Asian region

 

 

Regards

 

John

 

The cruise the OP is asking about starts in Australia.

[The_Big_M]

Agreed with the above; there'll still be a large mix of westerners so I wouldn't expect the Asian influence to be in much effect.

 

To give you an idea when it is, it's still not massively different. The two main areas of difference are: Asian entertainers can be un-understandable, and the buffet will be both Asian food focussed, with less range, and the sourcing is different too so some standards are different even though still there.

 

Other minor differences: The MDR still has western standards, although slightly less, compensated for by Asian menu items in their place. And staff throughout the ship still speak English - just not all. The CD is also supported by an Asian CD, with announcements in both languages (and less humour).

 

But given it was still sourced out of Sydney, with a still large number of locals, I would expect only small differences to start being made e.g. there might be a rotation of a small number of Chinese based staff joining to prepare for the Asian itineraries.

[The_Big_M]

In respect of the comment about smoking, it's still well contained onboard Asian cruises. The main difference is that the casino is no longer smoke free.

 

There's still no smoking throughout the ship, balconies, eateries though.

[Ashland]

We sailed on the Mariner from Singapore-Shanghai and the "Asianization"on her was noticeable...Since your cruise starts in Australia I would be surprised if it was near what the Mariner had become.

[BekkaW]

Your TA is crazy and you have absolutely nothing to worry about! I have done the same cruise in the reverse and it's mainly older/retired Australians. No big change to menus or venues.

 

It's actually one of my favorite trips! Loved ot so much that I'm on Voyager again later this month.

[Cruzin-K]

Maybe it's just me, but this thread title could win the award for the most un PC title of the week. I know it wasn't the intent, it just comes off as a little off putting whenever i scroll by it

 

Well, after reading the following two reviews, I think it's a legitimate concern, PC or not.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2282536

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191719

 

Both of the above reviews were for Asia cruises, although not from Australia. I still think the cruises out of Oz will be fine. Based on the above, I would hesitate to take a round trip Asia cruise. I do have a repo on my bucket list though :)

[Desertbelle]

Well, after reading the following two reviews, I think it's a legitimate concern, PC or not.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2282536

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191719

 

Both of the above reviews were for Asia cruises, although not from Australia. I still think the cruises out of Oz will be fine. Based on the above, I would hesitate to take a round trip Asia cruise. I do have a repo on my bucket list though :)

Food for thought, thank you.

[Desertbelle]

Your TA is crazy and you have absolutely nothing to worry about! I have done the same cruise in the reverse and it's mainly older/retired Australians. No big change to menus or venues.

 

It's actually one of my favorite trips! Loved ot so much that I'm on Voyager again later this month.

Thanks, that is good to hear.

[Cruzin-K]

I meant no offense, of course. I tried to word it as carefully as I could and yet still say what I needed to know.

 

I wonder if it would have been as "off putting" if I had wondered if a Mediterranean cruise would be too European for us?

I don't see any difference. Neither is "off putting" to me. Then again, I dont go looking for things to be offended by. I think it's a legitimate question, and people should know if there will be language issues, or if the menus might change. There are several cruises out there, that are "immersion" cruises where the primary language spoken is not English. I would certainly want to know in advance if I was going to be sailing on one of those. I think anything out of Asia runs that risk. Australia, not so much.

 

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[Desertbelle]

I don't see any difference. Neither is "off putting" to me. Then again, I dont go looking for things to be offended by. I think it's a legitimate question, and people should know if there will be language issues, or if the menus might change. There are several cruises out there, that are "immersion" cruises where the primary language spoken is not English. I would certainly want to know in advance if I was going to be sailing on one of those. I think anything out of Asia runs that risk. Australia, not so much.

 

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Thanks, Karen.

[kaddy49]

I spoke to my travel agent this morning to book the Voyager of the Seas on a cruise from Sydney to Singapore in 2017. She had concerns over the "Asianization" of the Voyager in the last year or so and wondered if we would enjoy it.

 

She said the crew would be 90%+ Chinese and the food, entertainment and activities would be more suited for Asian travelers than Americans.

 

My husband and I don't have any problem with exploring new and different cultures from ours, in fact we love it, but are we being naive? After all this is a 14 day cruise! Will there be serious language problems when speaking with the crew and other passengers? Will language be an issue with trivia and other activities? Will it be all Asian style food? Will the shows be in English? Will the casino be mostly Baccarat?

 

She has me worried.....should I be?

I am booked on the 2016 Cruise that you are looking at. I must say I have also booked Hong Kong to singapore and not found too many on that that are using either facebook or this site so I am hoping that it would not be too "Asian". the Singapore to Sydney has a really large Aussie contingent so I would imagine that next year will be simliar

[woodyren]

We are on the Sydney Singapore repo in April. I have not previously done this cruise but had the pleasure to sail on Quantum last year as it repositioned from Barcelona to China. There was a progressive change on staff on each leg of this cruise and the menus and dishes in the buffet also underwent some change. The demographic of the passengers also changed at each leg and by the time we sailed from Singapore to Shanghai there were probably 30 % or so local cruisers. That is a guess of course as i dont have actual figures.

 

All the staff still spoke English but for obvious reasons there was a large Mandarin as their first language portion.

 

Not once did I feel neglected, have difficulty etc and in fact I enjoyed the change from the typical USA cultural style. We had one of the activities staff who was Chinese run the trivia and while a few stuffy shirts complained about pronunciation most of us tried to help and we had great fun not only coming up with the answer but at times figuring out what the question was.

Different dishes in the buffet and in particular local fruit was great for us.

 

I don't expect as much or indeed very much change on Voyager until Singapore. Personally it is not an issue either way as I travel to Asia to experience different cultures and if that happens on board well and good.

 

What I will say though is that if you book a cruise that starts and returns to China and will be mostly or majority of local passengers and expect it to be the same as the USA/Aussie experience, staff, food and manners you may be disappointed. They will cater to their main customer base.

 

 

 

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[direptor]

We sailed on the Mariner from Singapore-Shanghai and the "Asianization"on her was noticeable...Since your cruise starts in Australia I would be surprised if it was near what the Mariner had become.

 

Mariner sails year long in Asia so the changes is more noticeable. Voyager only spends half the yr in Asia and the other half in Aust so i would not use Mariner as an example.

[marquisite]

I was on Voyager of the Seas back in March 2013 after her maiden Australian season, repositioning from Fremantle (Perth), Australia to Singapore and did not feel this was an "Asian"-targetted cruise. The cruise director at the time was Graham Seymour (note that his regular ship is Explorer of the Seas at present) with his contract wrapping up on the day of disembarkation in Singapore. Allegedly (according to Graham at the time), a number of crew members were also due to leave at the end of the repositioning cruise. Announcements, signage, entertainment were all in English.

 

Although my experience is no guarantee for how Voyager will be in 2017 such as entertainment offerings, I did create a lengthy video of the aforementioned 2013 cruise, if you're interested (obviously your ports of call will differ, also this was prior to Voyager's refurbishement):

N551SKCqnI0

[Pushka]

What a wonderful video.

[gi_pam]

We were on the same cruise as Ashland last year (Mariner, Singapore to Shanghai).

 

It will be different than a Caribbean cruise, for sure.

 

There was a lot of Asian food, not just Chinese, but Indian as well, for example. But still the same standards were available. Just enough that you can try new things if you want, but stick to familiar if you want as well.

 

A lot of Chinese crew, but the language issues were the same as with the international crew on any ship. Most of them spoke English well enough to communicate with us just fine. Our Chinese cabin attendant was happy to teach us a few words of Chinese and give us shopping tips for Shanghai! The officers are still mostly European. Cruise Director was Canadian, so all of his stuff was in English. The Activities Manager (is that the right title? CD's "assistant") was Chinese, so she would run some things in Mandarin.

 

Shows were a mix. There were the typical cruise shows, with the singers/dancers. A couple of English speaking comedians. And a couple of Asian acts.

 

Mariner is signed in Mandarin and English, I think I've read that Voyager is too.

 

The fellow passengers - not sure what the mix will be on a repo. There was a big mix on our cruise. Asian culture is different, but if you go on not expecting it to be "like home", you'll be fine. That's what travel is for, right?

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about!

[Desertbelle]

I was on Voyager of the Seas back in March 2013 after her maiden Australian season, repositioning from Fremantle (Perth), Australia to Singapore and did not feel this was an "Asian"-targetted cruise. The cruise director at the time was Graham Seymour (note that his regular ship is Explorer of the Seas at present) with his contract wrapping up on the day of disembarkation in Singapore. Allegedly (according to Graham at the time), a number of crew members were also due to leave at the end of the repositioning cruise. Announcements, signage, entertainment were all in English.

 

Although my experience is no guarantee for how Voyager will be in 2017 such as entertainment offerings, I did create a lengthy video of the aforementioned 2013 cruise, if you're interested (obviously your ports of call will differ, also this was prior to Voyager's refurbishement):

N551SKCqnI0

 

 

Great video! Thanks.

[Desertbelle]

I'm starting to feel better and better about switching over to the Voyager. We love that class of ship (spent a month on the Mariner a couple of years ago) and we would love to see Singapore. Thanks for all the great input!

[Aussieflyer]

Well, after reading the following two reviews, I think it's a legitimate concern, PC or not.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2282536

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191719

 

Both of the above reviews were for Asia cruises, although not from Australia. I still think the cruises out of Oz will be fine. Based on the above, I would hesitate to take a round trip Asia cruise. I do have a repo on my bucket list though :)

I'm just off Mariner and after I read these reviews I was somewhat worried - but it was all a beat up. Being Chinese New Year and sailing out of Singapore by far the biggest number of cruisers were from China and Singapore. The changes to menus were welome (there best food I've had in MDR fro many a year) and there are plenty of western dishes for those who wished. There was smoking in the Casino and some changes to venues (Champagne Bar has gone for example for extra shops). Behaviour was no different than I have seen on other cruises and certainly by experience was not at all like the reviews. The worst experience I had was the question to me by an American woman on our table at lunch asking how many white people were on the ship. Staff were uniformly excellent.

Given VOS is sailing from Australia to Asia I would expect as others have said mostly AU passengers and not much different from other RCI cruises.

Think your TA is building nervousness needlessly.

Edited February 16, 2016 by Aussieflyer