Voyager Of the Seas Review - 1/14

[Anngeojes]

Just got back from the Voyager western carribean cruise. Overall had a great time. Some Specifics:

 

We were a party of 13 - 10 adults, 3 children (6yrs). Most of us have cruised together for the past three years (Mariner, Radiance, Voyager)

 

Getting on and off - Fairly smooth. It helped to fill out the sail away information on the internet. We got to the pier at 12:30 and were on the ship at 1pm. We had an early flight from FLL on the way home and were off the ship by 8:45am (could have been 8:00am if we wanted) got to the airport by 10am for an 11:45 flight.

 

Room - We had a JS #9272. It was midship which ended up being a great location. Very easy to get anywhere on the ship. We have had aft cabins the last two years and there was alot less walking this year. The room was in decent shape, although there were signs of wear (couch, doors) nothing to get worked up about. We liked the balcony, it wasn't the glass type, but it was comfortably and very private.

 

Service - Everyone was friendly. Cabin steward was fine, not spectacular. We ate in the Windjammer everyday for breakfast and lunch and several dinners the Senior people were very accomadating to the kids. All the bars and casino people were helpful and talkative. Never saw anyone without a smile.

 

Food - Food was good. We did not use the dining room (too much work with 3 six year olds in our group). We ate at Portofino twice which was very good. Some in the party thought it took too long (2 1/2 hrs), but most enjoyed. Went to the Windjammer many times, it wasn't as user friendly as the Mariner or Radiance, but the food was decent, nobody has any complaints.

 

Entertainment - Much better than last couple of cruises. They had a comedy act called "Two Funny Guys" that was great, one of the better shows I have seen. The Ice Show was excellent. The final show was a comedian and Illusionist who were also pretty good. Did not see Vibeology, but heard people liked it. People in our party also liked the parade on the promenade.

 

Islands - Labadee was great, had good weather and the beach was nice. The buffet was also very good. Spent most of our time at Barefoot beach, snorkeling was not that great, but the water was very nice.

 

Ocho Rios - Went to the Island Marketplace near the ship. It was very clean and had nice shops. Spent some time at Margaritaville, great water slide for the kids, better daquiries for the adults.

 

Grand Cayman - Day was shortened by impending bad weather. Had to leave at 2pm instead of 4pm. Had booked an all day tour on Native Way, they gave us a shorter version. Went swimming with the stingrays and snorkeling at coral gardens. Highly recommended. Native Way did a great job.

 

Cozumel - Not a beach day unfortunately, windy and cloudy. Went shopping and had lunch at Ponchos Backyard. Food was good shopping was fine. Tendering was kind of a pain, much easier when the dock was there.

 

Sea days - Never had a problem getting a chair. Spent a lot of time on the aft by the kids pool.

 

Ship - Ship was in decent shape, lots of maintenance folks working. Plenty of spots show the age of the ship, you could see that the newer ships have been changed to fix flaws in the original (ie. windjammer set up, pool areas, portofino location etc.). Overall nothing major to complain about.

 

Movement - Don't let anyone tell you that you can't feel the ship move. The last three days were windy and the ship rocked quite a bit. Nothing horrible, but some in the party made sure they took dramamine.

 

Adventure Ocean - Had three six year olds in the party. They loved the program, had a hard time getting them out! The people working were very helpful and did a good job. Probably the biggest reason we keep using RCL.

 

Other thoughts - Used the spa, good service, kind of annoying that they try to sell all the extras after the treatment. Used the fitness area, equipment is older but in good shape, the sauna and steam are nice.

 

Hope this wasn't too long, feel free to ask questions.

[EggDropErin]

Thanks for the review! I am anxiously awaiting our next voyager-class cruise! :)

[Gradelady]

Thanks for your review. I take it that you recommend Portofinos. Is there any particular day that you would recommend that we book dinner there? We will be doing the same cruise March 25. Also, how and when should we make reservations for Portofinos? I appreciate your candor and advice! (another question) Do they still have the self-serve ice cream machine in the promenade?

[Anngeojes]

We loved Portofino, I would make your reservation as soon as you get on the ship. Although, there were several cancellations the first night we were there. We ate at Portofino on the formal nights, Sunday and Wednesday. I don't remember if there was an Ice Cream machine in the Promenade, but I went to the one on by the pool or by the kids pool everyday!

[mobster75]

Anngeojes,

 

I was on the same cruise as you last week on Voyager. It was my first with RCCL but my second overall.

 

Overall I had a great time and would definitely cruise with RCCL again. But I do have a bunch of nitpicks about some items. To a lot of folks, these will seem silly and trivial, which is fine. I know I can be fussy, but that is just me.

 

The Vibeology show was very good, I was impressed with most of the performances. I found the singing and dancing to truly be Broadway caliber, which was an improvement over the production shows on my Celebrity cruise in March where I felt it was a bit cheesy. But I'm picky about my musical theater.

 

The age of the ship is apparent in many locations around the ship in both public areas and in the cabins, but the level of upkeep is very good and I really don't care about sailing on the newest ships all the time because frankly they are overpriced (I feel). The "age factor" was still better than I see in most hotels (even the pricier ones).

 

Almost all the staff was extremely friendly and courteous, save for one cranky bartender in Cleopatra's Needle during bingo who refused to fill my red Coke soda containers (the ones they give you when you buy the soda card) without seeing both my and my girlfriend's soda stickers. That really annoyed me because on my previous cruise and everywhere else on Voyager, as long as I showed the red souvenir sippy cups, they would gladly fill them.

 

Embarkation was nice and smooth. We got there early around 10:30am and had to wait in the check-in area until Customs finally cleared the previous cruise, we were the first folks on the ship after the priority boarding folks. By 11:15am we were relaxing on the pool deck watching the huge line form outside the terminal. Heh.

 

Disembarkation was equally smooth. We had one of the first groups called and went straight from having breakfast in the Windjammer at 8am to the gangway and had our luggage and was outside by 8:45am. The wait at FLL for our 2:45pm flight was another matter.

 

We had D2 cabin 8342 (balcony) and really really enjoyed the private balcony, especially in the mornings when we'd have room service deliver breakfast and enjoy it out on the balcony looking at the sea or the ports of call. I had an inside cabin on my first cruise, which was fine, but I def would prefer a balcony cabin in the future. I did miss having the always-filled water pitcher in the room like they do on Celebrity, but its a small nitpick.

 

Dinner in the Magic Flute was good. We were seated at a table for 6 (#501) which was located all the way in the back in a corner near the galley entrance and seemd a bit isolated, but the company was good and our waiter (Cecilia) and asst. waiter (Braco) did an excellent job of keeping us full and laughing. The food was good, but not excellent. While everything tasted good, sometimes the presentation was a bit lacking.

 

Dinner in Portofino's was excellent and easily the best meal I had on the cruise! Well worth the $20 cover charge per person!

 

The ports of call were very enjoyable and nice, even though the weather was sometimes cloudy and windy. But even in Playa del Carmen (Cozumel), we went swimming in the ocean with the wind and clouds. (We're from Boston, so a cloudy/windy day in Mexico when its 75f is still a lot better than a day back home).

 

Our pre-booked excursions went well except for one snafu: We had booked 3 excursions in Cozumel, one at 8am, one at leisure for lunch, and one at 2pm. The night before arriving, I checked my excursion tickets and found they had listed both specific excursions as meeting at 8:30am. This was a problem. When I called guest relations, they told me that the website had posted the wrong information and the "2pm" excursion we had booked was really only offered at 8am, so we would have to pick one and have the Explorations desk refund the other in the morning. That rubbed me the wrong way.. If they had known of this mix-up, why couldn't a note have been included with the tickets about this instead of just printing both sets for the same time and hope I figure it out? In the end it wasn't a big issue because of the weather, the captain abbreviated the departure time from 4:30pm to 2:30pm and we wouldn't have had an excursion anyway, so I didn't feel so bad.

 

The activities were fun, but I felt that not enough individual activities were offered. After being told that RCCL had more activities, I found it interesting that Celebrity had more individual activities listed every day to choose from. Although, RCCL's activities last longer into the night and they have more fixed activities (such as the mini-golf, rock-climbing wall, ice skating rink).

 

The "Two Funny Guys" were hilarious and had us in stitches the whole show. Also, our CD Rico Du Breil (sp?) was very funny and all over the ship. I don't think he had any down time as he seemed to be at all the activities?

 

I would not hesitate to book another RCCL cruise, but just to get it all out, here's my list of small nitpicks (mind you they are all compared to my Celebrity Millenium cruise):

 

* Overall quality of food better on Celebrity, including the casual food offered in the Windjammer buffet compared to Ocean Cafe buffet

* I miss the pizza/pasta station from Millenium.. The Cafe Promenade pizza just wasn't the same.

* Meals served with plastic covers as opposed to metal covers. Feels more cafeteria style.

* Plastic plates for breakfast/lunch in Windjammer.

* Enjoyed the slightly more upscale dining room feel on Celebrity. (leather menus opposed to colorful, but chain-restaurant style fold-out menus)

* Missed the sorbets between courses.

* Our waiter was spot-on and impressed me a lot with her professionalism and how well she knew her job. While our asst waiter and bar server were funny and cordial, they were a bit forgetful a few times.

* Windjammer servers couldn't make up their minds one day where I could find soda when I was having a late lunch. One pointed me to the pool bar (which annoyed me), and the other just said he had no idea and that was that. No offense, but isn't it their job to serve? I would have expected them to go and bring back some soda for me, and I would have gladly given a nice tip, but oh well. I'm too fussy I guess. Heh. It just seemed odd to offer buffet food but no close-by place to get soda. I did end up finding someone with soda on the far side of the Windjammer, but why didn't the servers know that?

* Being told by a server in the Windjammer that Splenda wasn't available on the ship when it obviously was as we had gotten it at other times when requested.

 

Sigh.... Back to work tomorrow..... :( :( :(

[Anngeojes]

Mobster - Our group is from Boston also, maybe you were yelling at the Patriots with us on Saturday night!

 

I agree with your comment on the Windjammer servers, they were not to helpful. When we went in with the kids they almost ignored us. But, the senior folds (akmeed?) who I think were Head Waiters were excellent. They took great care of the kids.

 

I am with you on the sorbet, my wife any I have done Celebrity before (pre-child) and the food was better and the whole experience more elegant.

[wannalottadough]

Gradelady:

We are going on the Voyager on March 25th also. We have a meet and mingle thread going: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=236967&page=2

Please come and join us we are trying to get 25 people signed up.

We are from the Chicagoland area, flying out of midway, Friday night before the cruise.

Anngeojes and Mobster: Great reviews, thanks for the detailed info on this ship and itinerary.

[newhampshiregirl]

Many thanks for the great reviews. We are on the Voyager on 2/25 and are counting down the days!

[dreamcruisers]

:) Also on Voyager, 2/18/06... Thanks for the helpful info re: shows, food etc....

[Gradelady]

Thanks for the invite to join your meet and mingle group! We (hubby & I) are traveling with 6 other people, we'll have to see if they would be interested as we are 'kinda' hosting the trip. All of us that are going are from the Chicago area as well. 4 from Carpentersville (NW suburbs), 2 from Elwood (way south!), 1 from Joliet and one from Buffalo Grove. We are all flying out of O'Hare on Thurs. eve, and are staying 2 nights prior in South Beach. Where are you staying Friday nite? This will be our second cruise on this ship, our first was when she was about a year old. We were the first 'rubber band' (now called Meet & Mingle)party RCI ever hosted ... they sought us out on this board. We had over 60 people in attendance!I am very interested in seeing the ship and for our day in Grand Cayman. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate for tendering.

[angieb5]

I agree about Celebraty, my first cruise with them 3 yrs back the food was memoriable, tasty and presented very well. Where as Explorer of the Seas (just got back went western caribbean Jan 15th to 22nd) the food in the Windjammer was very disappointing and greasy. The dinning room (Mandolin) the food was just alright and the presentation not good. I do not have a memorable dinner from this cruise. As for Celebraty the food always no matter where you went, was always good and displayed like you wanted to eat everything in site. I still give RC the best in service and everything else, just need to do more on the food part. Just my two cents.