VOS Review 1/7-1/14 - Long

[kellygirl719]

I’m having cruise withdrawals already…

 

Here is my review of the Voyager 1/7-1/14 for those interested in reading (sorry it’s a long one).

 

DH and I flew to FLL a day early (in case of bad weather in MA) and then took a cab to the Courtyard Marriott in Downtown Miami – it was a great place to stay pre-cruise. They had a shuttle to the port for $5 a person. It worked out good as you gave them an hour notice before you leave and they have the shuttle waiting for you.

 

Got to the Port of Miami about 11:00 AM waited in a line outside the terminal for about 10 minutes then we proceeded through to check-in, it was unbelievable how fast we checked in. There were hardly any lines at all. After our sea passes were in hand we then waited in line to board the ship (by 11:30-11:45). We boarded the VOS around 1:15, checked out our cabin (6558) and dropped our carry-ons off and went to explore and grab lunch in the Windjammer. The ship is amazing and by far the biggest one I’ve been on (out of my 7 other cruises). After that we went back to our cabin (we had a balcony) and sat and watched the views of Miami, took a nap and then headed to dinner. Our waiter was Jomas and asst. waiter was Kevin. They both provided us with the best service all week. Our table mates were awesome too; we had more laughs throughout our vacation.

 

Our first stop was Nassau, DH and I decided not to get off the ship as we’ve been there a few times. We took advantage of an almost empty deck by the pool. It was nice to relax without fighting over deck chairs. This was also our formal night, after dinner we watched the show in La Scala Theater which was excellent. Then we headed to the Karaoke Idol contest. At this point I’ve had way too many drinks and proceeded to sign up. I did score a 43 out of 45 points… After making a fool out of myself we then went to see the late night comedian that was worth staying up for!

 

Some other highlights, I definitely recommend Johnny Rockets…we used our coupons that were given to us since we are C&A members. I would NOT miss the Ice show, it was amazing. DH even enjoyed it even though he’s usually not into figure skating. One other good thing for those football fans if you are cruising soon. DH was worried he wouldn’t get to see the Patriots game last Saturday when we first left. But they did have the game on in the Sports Bar on the Royal Promenade, he was siked!! He was also excited that he took first place in the belly flop contest, which was fun!

 

As far as the other ports, we didn’t get off the ship in San Juan either (we were only there from 7am-1pm). Another day to take advantage of the empty deck chairs. We did do some shopping in St. Thomas and we spent the day on the beach in Labadee – which was our favorite stop. DH took the wave runner tour and highly recommends that (it was 89$ for an hour, he said worth every cent).

 

I also must say that the service we got on the ship was incredible, we opted to pre-pay our gratuities and it was worth it. I liked that we received vouchers and envelopes so that we could personally thank everyone. We even threw in extra $ since the services was so good.

 

Ok, so now for the one negative… Disembarkation was HORRIBLE. We decided to partake in the Travel Lite program since we wanted to be at the airport to catch an earlier flight home (we had two bags and two carry ons total which were very manageable). We decided to go with Travel Lite B and get off the ship by 9am. We waited in Studio B which was empty until we were called. Once we were called we headed to the gangway and got in line. The line was so unorganized people were lined up all over the place and then people would get off the elevators and just merge with everyone that had already been waiting. As a result a lot of people that were waiting in line for 45 minutes already were extremely frustrated which in turn caused a lot of arguments. When we finally got to the front of the line the people letting us off had indicated that immigration only allows 50 people at a time. It just seemed so chaotic. I was surprised that RCCL didn’t have more people trying to keep everyone organized. But then again maybe it’s not their fault; maybe it’s just people with no manners whatsoever. Regardless, once we were off the ship getting out the rest of the way was a breeze. Everyone in line was cracking jokes that it was convenient they had us fill out the guest survey PRIOR to disembarkation!

 

All in all it was one of the best cruises I’ve been on. Any questions, just ask!

 

Happy Cruising!

Kelly

[GMoney]

Hi Kelly - Thanks very much for your review. I am sailing VOS B2B starting 1/28, and this really helps. I was particularly interested to see if Voyager is doing Express Departure, and now I know. I will try for the first one (which was 630am on Navigator).

 

There seems to be a general feeling that VOS has declined recently, but it sounds like things are god. Thanks again!

[chorder]

Great review, not to long either going on the VOS on april 29th.

[dreamcruisers]

Leaving 2/18, thanks for the hints and info. Glad you enjoyed it!

[kellygirl719]

Gmoney - I'm so jealous!! I totally didn't want to get off the ship. But Express Departure was the way to go (if you can handle carrying off your luggage). I know they called the first group around 7AM, and then called us between 8:15 and 8:30.

 

To everyone else, have a great time!!

[taminark]

YOU SAID THE FORMAL NIGHT WAS WHEN YOU WERE IN NASSAU WHICH WOULD BE SUNDAY- when was the second formal night? lobster night?

[cruzin2paradise]

The line was so unorganized people were lined up all over the place and then people would get off the elevators and just merge with everyone that had already been waiting. As a result a lot of people that were waiting in line for 45 minutes already were extremely frustrated which in turn caused a lot of arguments.

 

Good to see that RCI has fixed this from my last cruise in 2004. I was getting quite annoyed by the time I got off the ship because of this.

 

Oh well. You're going to have manner-lacking people everywhere.

 

Glad you enjoyed.

[dmdick]

Kelly, I was on the same cruise as you. What song did you sing at karaoke? My nephew's fiancee won that first night and was in the finals. My sons also sang a duet and were in the finals.

I would like to add a couple of things to your review. We did not get to the port until about 1:30 and it took us until 4PM to get on the ship. There were signs posted all over that the ship would be boarding and sailing late. This was the worst experience we have ever had with embarkation. Also, we had done the registering online and that was supposed to save time at check-in - however people who did not have their "set sail" passes were also in those lines and so this did not really help us to check in any quicker.

Disembarking was a huge fiasco. We did the travel lite A (although I'm not sure who came up with the name travel lite, since it most definitely is not a lite way to go!), and we were not even close to getting off the ship when they started calling other colors to disembark. As Kelly said, people would come off the elevators or down the stairs and just merge into a line of people who had already been waiting a while in a formed line. This process could have been much better organized by RCCL. We've sailed VOS and EOS before and never had this problem, so not sure what has changed.

I was a little worried about what condition the ship might be in as it had been 4 years since we had been on it, but I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. I did not find it to be rundown or dirty at all. This is the first time we have dined in the dining room every night, and we were not at all disappointed. There were 11 people in our party, and not one of us had even one bite of bad food the entire time - and this included food from Johnny Rockets, the Windjammer and Island Grill, the Dining room, and the Promenade Cafe. It was all really great!

If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask and I'm sure either myself or Kelly would be happy to answer. I'm also suffering a post-cruise depression, but my husband is all ready to go on a Southern Caribbean trip, so I'm sure we will be booking another trip soon!

 

Oh, taminark - the first formal night was Sunday night, the second formal night was Wednesday night - and the lobster was served on Friday - which was a casual night. We made sure to ask, because we missed Lobster night on our last cruise.

[kellygirl719]

Hi DM - Sorry to hear that embarkation was a nightmare for you! I did bust-a-move for the Karaoke contest... what did your nephews fiancee sing? That was a good time... how did the finals go on Friday? I was too tired to make it.

[taminark]

Did you go by miami time the whole time or did the captain switch you to atlantic time . I need to know what time you were in st. thomas. They are on atlantic time and miami is eastern standard time. do you remember when you changed your watch or if you even had to at all. I asked rccl and they said it stays on miami time. i emailed crown and anchor and they said it adjusts to which island we are on. which is it? thanks

[dmdick]

Abby sang Walking After Midnight. I remember you! Weren't you the last one? Or at least close to it! You did a great job! The finals were awesome! They all sang with a live band. There was a lot of great talent there! The girl who won it had actually tried out for American Idol at one time. Not sure why she didn't make it through to the end. She was really talented.

Taminark - the ship always stays on Miami time. They told us to be careful when we went to St. Thomas, because they were an hour ahead of us - so it's best to take your own watch with you set to the ship's time. The great thing is that if you do go by St. Thomas time, you won't be late for the ship - you'll be an hour early - so no problem there!

[taminark]

you are right about making it back to the ship but i am trying to hook up with the captain of rumbaba catamaran to take the 6 of us out for the day and she is expecting me at 9:30 st thomas time and i have to take a 20 min ride by taxi over to red hook to meet them. the itinerary says we get into stt at 8 which is 9 for the catermaran people. that means i have to be off the ship by 8:00 ship time to make it- is that possible ? so you remember if the time on the itinerary is the time you can walk off or the time the ship should arrive in stt, thanks

[Gradelady]

I cruised on the VOS about 4 years ago and am going again in March (W.Caribbean). I was wondering if you think Portofino's is worth the extra $$$$ and how soon should you book a nite to eat there? You can't book ahead online, can you? I usually object to paying for meals on a cruise, but others in our group are interested, so, 'when in Rome'....

[kellygirl719]

DM.. Abby did a GREAT job!!! Yeah I was afraid to go to finals, I didn't know how I would "rap" with a band LOL. But that is definitely my trademark karaoke song. I should have gone to the finals to support everyone else.

 

Gradelady, I didn't get a chance to make it to Portofino's; however everyone I've talked to said it's definitely worth the extra $$ (20$ pp). I think when we go back we'll try it. The only reason we didn't was because we loved our tablemates and didn't want to miss anything.

[Sec89]

I was there too , during karaoke . I caught you singing Bust a move Kelly , that was great ! lol .. I dont think I caught Abby though.. My mother sang Jewel Foolish Games two diffrent times .. and my bestfriend's mother sang Memories .. I caught my mom singing Foolish Games the first night , but the night they both sang me and my bestfriend missed it because we were with our friends :cool: