Review of VOS 1/14 (Western)

[qkdasmom]

I received so many great tips from this website, that I feel I owe it to anyone that will be traveling to now share our experiences.

 

We were a group of 16 from all over the US and even four from Denmark. A mixture of family and friends from the ages of 38-73.

 

We flew into FLL and had made reservations for a shared ride on floridalimo.com to take us to our hotel. There were 2 other couples with us and we were the 2nd to be dropped off. The cost was $18.00 per person.

 

In August I went on Priceline and put in a bid for 3 1/2 stars and 50.00 for a hotel in Miami. I knew that this would be the Downtown Miami Courtyard Marriot. We got the room and I encouraged the others from our group to do the same. Some did, but others procrastinated a month or two and got the same room for 150.00-250.00.

 

I was very happy with our room. Clean and comfortable, the service was exceptional!!! I asked what would be the cheapest way to get us to the port. One of the front desk clerks did some research for me and later handed me a sheet with a couple of options. We chose to do the shuttle through the hotel which was $5.00 per person. As soon as we got to our room we walked a couple 3 or so blocks to Bayside Market. We ate dinner there and viewed the shops before returning to the hotel to meet the rest of our group. The morning of the cruise I woke up at 6 am so excited to get going. I went to my parents room and talked my dad into going for a walk with me to go see the ships. It was beautiful outside and the warm, humid air felt great.

 

We had requested the shuttle to go to the ship at 11am. The concierge worked his tail off to get us all together and all worked smoothly to get us on the van with a little travel trailer behind with our luggage. We ended up leaving around 11:30.

 

We had done the pre-board online and that saved us a lot of time. Even though RCCL's computers went off-line for about 5-10 minutes we were on the ship within a half hour of arriving.

 

The ship was beautiful and our first time cruisers were in awe.

We went to the Windjammer for lunch. The greek salad was the best!!!

 

We then went to book Spa treatments. This is something I have never splurged on, but others in our group were doing it, so I just had to join in. I would highly recommend the Seaweed Treatment with the facial added on. The price is 209.00 with 30.00 extra for the facial. The last day they offered a 2 for 1 special for various treatments.

 

The first night the show was the welcome aboard show with the cruise director Rico Du Breil and the comedian Costaki. I had my treatment this night and the others in my group said that I didn't miss much, so I can't comment on this show.

 

The other shows we saw were 2 by the singers and dancers, the ice show, Tom Mctigue a comic and Luis Dalton a juggler, Greg Bonham a singer and trumpet player and our favorite show was Mario & Daniel-Two Funny Guys!!!!!

 

The food was great and the service was exceptional. A few of my favorites was one of the first nights, they had baby shrimp sandwiches in the Cafe Promenade and the Chicken Quesadilla in the dining room for lunch.

 

Ports of Call-

Played on the beach in Labadee and talked my 61 yr old mother to parasail with me. She loved it!!

 

Booked a tour with Phil Lafayette in Jamaica. We climbed Dunns River Falls and floated the White river. Phil took us to a place to buy Jerk Chicken where we felt obligated to buy, even though no one from our bus really wanted it. We also saw fern gully. If I were to do it again, I would just do Dunns River Falls. Some of our friends did the Canopy (Zip-line) tour with the ship and loved it!!!!

 

Many of the tours in Grand Cayman were cancelled through the ship because we had to be on the ship by 2pm because a storm was coming in. We had booked a tour with Sotos Cruises from 9:30-11:30am. It was perfect!! We made 2 stops, one to snorkel and one to play with the stingrays. To be quite honest, before the cruise I wasn't too thrilled to do this tour, but others from my group were, so I joined in. I have to say this was soooo much fun. I felt like we were snorkeling in a fish tank!!!

 

In Cozumel some of us went to Paradise beach and shopping, while others did the Tulum tour. Warning if you go to Playa del Carmen from Cozumel the tender ride is about 35-40 minutes and is very choppy!!! My husband saw at least 3 people throw up. Be prepared with Dramamine. They did enjoy Tulum and thought it was a beautiful site. I was with the group that went to Paradise Beach. We got a taxi and arrived quickly. We had our choice of chairs and my SIL and 73 yr old MIL quickly went to parasail. We had guacamole and smoothies and just vegged out in the sun. On the way back to town, we asked to not go to the strip where all the tourists were, but we wanted to go to a place where we could speak spanish and buy souvenirs like t-shirts, vanilla, etc... not jewelry. The driver took us a couple of streets back off the strip and we had so much fun.

 

My one regret: One of my friends did go to the main strip and found the most beautiful Austrailian Opal pendant. She saw a woman with it and the lady showed her where to find one. It was in the back part of a fancy jewelry store where a little room was being rented out to some locals. She thinks it was a Diamond Intl. store. The cost for the pendant was 23.00-30.00. My friend only had 23.00 left and they only took cash, but the other woman got hers for 30.00. I would highly recommend searching for this--It is beautiful!!!!

 

I will probably not cruise in Jan. again, as I would like it to be a little warmer. But this cruise was wonderful!!! I would definately do this itinerary again and go on the VOS again.

 

If you have questions, I would be happy to help you out.

Natalie

[Laurie996]

Thank you so much for your review. I have a son who is 16 and this will be his 3rd cruise. Can you tell me were there alot of kids on board and also it seems that there is a teen pool is that correct? We leave on Friday for Miami and sail on Sat :)

 

 

Thanks!

 

Laurie

[ericworldz]

what's the degree while you were there? i check the average weather year round and january seems consistent with other months as well

[qkdasmom]

There was a big group of girls--I'd say 30 or so from I believe Venezuela on the ship. I did see a few teens, mostly younger but the ship did not have a large amount as school is back in session. They have family pools and adult only pools. I believe there is a water slide for the kids, but since we didn't have our kids with us I didn't look too much in that area. We did hear a family say how great the things were for kids.

 

The weather was 77 degrees or so. I thought the water was a little chilly for my taste, but it didn't stop others. It was cloudy most days, so I think if the sun was shining it would have felt warmer.

[wolfcathorse]

Was your Capt still Capt Sven Pettersen?

[GMoney]

Capt Pettersen is currently on board Voyager. He is my favorite captain!

"Attendtion, attention please..." :)

[Gradelady]

qkdasmom, thanks for the review. We will be cruising on the VOS March 25. It will be our second cruise on her. (4 yrs ago) It sounds like she is as impressive and beautiful as ever! A question, were all spa treatments on sale the last day, or just a few. I was thinking about getting the 'hot rocks' massage... got it on the Enchantment about a year and a half ago and it was wonderful!

[wolfcathorse]

Capt Pettersen is currently on board Voyager. He is my favorite captain!

"Attendtion, attention please..." :)

 

Someone had told me Capt Pettersen was retiring 2-11-06. Did he mention this? And do you know who his replacement will be?

[GMoney]

Hi WolfCat - When we spoke with the Capt in June, he said he'd be retiring soon, but that he would be on Voyager when it starts cruising Europe this summer. We also emailed him earlier this month and he did not mention that he'd be leaving shortly. I'll post when we return on 2/11.

[qkdasmom]

A question, were all spa treatments on sale the last day, or just a few. I was thinking about getting the 'hot rocks' massage... got it on the Enchantment about a year and a half ago and it was wonderful!

 

Yes! All the speciality treatments were 2 for 1. So the lucky one that I am ---I talked my dad into getting the hot stone massage and pay for his since he hadn't done a treatment yet and then I got mine for free!!:p