Voyager resumes sailing 4/15/22

[kernow]

Thanks for all the updates LB, hope things on the ship improve next week but guess you're still enjoying yourself anyway 😄.

[Kbonner]

@day 9 in the cruise the suite guests use the provided blankets to sip their drinks in the icecold lounge. Neighboring VL is nice and warm, but the Chief Refigeration Officer cannot/ does not/ does not want to respond to the requests to heat the lounge.

Yea finally icecream from containers but only as substitute for broken soft ice machine on Deck 11.

Service in VL takes up to 45 min for a decent drink during peak hrs 5-8pm.

Guests start to ask for reimbursement of non existing wifi.

Management tries hard but in vain. Equipment down, understaffing, missing food and beverage containers make this a substandard cruise. Hope next cruise improves.....

Revenue cruise preparations= unsatisfactory, go back to zero

 

[little britain]

One more for the list; There is no butter 🧈 on the ship! 
Yesterday  was the very scenic sailaway from Amsterdam along the canal and through the locks… prime viewing location was VCL…. Given it was a bit chilly outside and not the balmy 84f which is still on the display boards. You would have thought they would preempt this and have more than one barman ( and no wait staff) 🤦‍♀️
 

As I haven’t been summoned or locked up I assume that my test was negative and I can continue my journey!  I haven’t received results by email.

In the gym I’d say that 1/3 of running machines are out of order and the time is still set to Singapore time. 
Shore ex are still advertising tours for Lisbon on the screens behind the desk. Such little things that could be so easily fixed!! 
I received 50% refund off the Wi-Fi package I had bought, given without question 

 

Things can only get better…

Edited April 23, 2022 by little britain

[crzndeb]

I have a friend boarding tomorrow. I think I will keep my mouth shut. I would hate for her to have anxiety about the ship, before she gets on board. 

[joanne59]

We board on 5/8….after Wonder transatlantic, this will be a change. Then again, it’s all about the ports once we arrive overseas. Ship is just a hotel at the end of the day 🤷‍♀️ 

[kochleffel]

4 hours ago, little britain said:

no butter 🧈 on the ship! 

 

Considering the mountain of butter in the Netherlands, that sounds really awful. Cruises embarking anywhere in Europe tend to have Dutch butter.

 

I posted about this thread on the roll call for my August sailing, which is the last before the Arctic Crossing, and got sort of scolded for it. I wasn't trying to warn people away; I meant that if we heard non-specific negative comments about the Voyager we should know what caused them.

 

From now to August is plenty of time to remedy problems unless something -- perhaps an amenity item -- wasn't ordered or loaded at all, but it's more likely that some things haven't made it to the stewards' supply rooms or they don't know who is supposed to receive them. 

[Buccaneergirl]

Sorry to hear about all the things going wrong on this cruise!😢

Go to the ice show because one of the skaters on board has social media and she is just the most uplifting person.

[little britain]

Announcements to disembark started at 5:55am…  ***** 🤬 

 

Looks like a nice day in Copenhagen. Will take advantage of their complimentary shuttles and go for a stroll. I remember it as being a lovely city.

 

Next up….

[Zana711]

Would like to highlight a few other things that no one has mentioned so far as I think it’s helpful to those who’s joining Voyager for the next few cruises:

• UDP guests: No specialty restaurant was open for embarkation day lunch for UDP guests. I spoke to the maitre’d at Chops and she said that Chops was open only to suite guests for lunch. So the only option for embarkation day lunch is the Windjammer.
• UDP & MyTime Dining bookings: App failed miserably and never worked after boarding day. It just continuously shows no availability. So if you’ve bought UDP, just ignore the “no availability” bit and speak to a restaurant manager to get the booking. Maitre’d at Chops said that they had to re-set the system early on Day 2; somehow I wasn’t able to book any restaurant reservations on the app after that. Also no courtesy reservation for Day 1, not a big deal but don't forget to sort yourselves out if you have UDP! 
• App info - if it looks wrong to you, it probably is wrong: On our cruise, app showed that we were docking at Ijmuiden (25 kms away from Amsterdam). This actually caused quite a bit of confusion amongst guests as many had planned their own excursions from the cruise terminal in the city centre. Guests services knew about this error on the app because of the constant stream of guests asking them but no one did anything about it. So if things look wrong, just ignore it.
• Menu items missing at Giovanni’s and Izumi: Others have commented on missing items like butter. No green tea ice cream at Izumi; presumably they didn’t have green tea on board and can’t make green tea ice cream. Giovanni’s didn’t have grilled octopus appetiser and linguine alle vongole wasn’t possible because they had no clams. The chef was able to make linguine with prawns with a carbonara like sauce for me but it’s definitely not linguine alle vongole! Chops was very busy early in the cruise and as one couple said to me, the team was in “complete meltdown” and everything was overcooked as a result.
• No butter! I’m sure that the crew will pick up some at Copenhagen but the quality of pastries definitely shows lack of butter. Croissants were hard and cold. Also no one found the green tea teabags in the storeroom until the very last day!
   

Overall, I think Voyager is a great ship for sailing in warm weather like Australia (when she used to sail full time). In milder climates like Northern Europe, there’s a distinct lack of sheltered seating with views in the public areas. The only place is Deck 14 Crown lounge and if one got there any later than 7:30am, all the seats were gone. We had relatively calm seas (though still windy) on our last sea day and even then Deck 12 sports deck was closed. The whirlpools were consistently out of action due to maintenance issues and at one moment, the only ones open were the two smaller ones on Deck 11 pool area - definitely not sufficient for 2,300 guests on board. It was almost impossible to find a spare seat in interior areas because no one were on the outside decks.

The cruise was fun and I’m still relatively happy because I got a great price for this cruise but had I paid more, I would have been quite upset with all the issues.

Edited April 24, 2022 by Zana711

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

Announcements to disembark started at 5:55am…  ***** 🤬 

 

Looks like a nice day in Copenhagen. Will take advantage of their complimentary shuttles and go for a stroll. I remember it as being a lovely city.

 

Next up….

 

I'll be interested to read your impressions of this itinerary as I have family doing it at the end of August.

Enjoy.

[little britain]

The b2b process was chaotic and unorganised. They hadn’t printed the new room keys for about 50 people so as a consequence we had to sit in the theatre for about an hour- eventually caught the shuttle into town at 10;15.  Sadly the weather had changed so a stroll around in the drizzle and back to the ship. 

 

[little britain]

 

 

What a difference a day makes! 

Moved to a new cabin, 3 D+ amenities ready and waiting! Little white tubes in the bathroom too!  Kettle and bathrobe delivered within minutes of asking. And paperwork which promises a return to the Chefs Gift.. it didn’t arrive last week. The cookies are still rock hard and could have been baked pre-covid. 

 

The Wi-Fi allowance for 2 days has increased from $45.98 to $51.98.

 

I don’t have a silver card for the JS though… I was told by the GS man that JS do not get silver cards… that’s only on Oasis and Quantum class  … given that this was the same man who was phoning me last Sunday to get feedback on issues; somehow I don’t believe him ( especially as we all know what colour cards Sea, Sky and Star class get don’t we?)

 

Purely for research purposes I stayed in the VCL to past midnight last night and can confirm that you can get your D drinks on disembarking day! 

Sadly Whispering Angel ( delicious rose wine) is $14 a glass so outside the limit. 

 

Entertainment for the week ahead remains pretty lame. Sadly they have not got rid of the Schooner Bar guy…the same Bond and Respect and Big Red Dog movies. 

 

The sailaway from Copenhagen is pretty with the coastline of Sweden close on one side and Denmark the other. You get a good view of The Bridge when leaving port too. 

 

Tomorrow Oslo for an overnight stay. 

[heatherb1958]

43 minutes ago, little britain said:

 

 

What a difference a day makes! 

Moved to a new cabin, 3 D+ amenities ready and waiting! Little white tubes in the bathroom too!  Kettle and bathrobe delivered within minutes of asking. And paperwork which promises a return to the Chefs Gift.. it didn’t arrive last week. The cookies are still rock hard and could have been baked pre-covid. 

 

The Wi-Fi allowance for 2 days has increased from $45.98 to $51.98.

 

I don’t have a silver card for the JS though… I was told by the GS man that JS do not get silver cards… that’s only on Oasis and Quantum class  … given that this was the same man who was phoning me last Sunday to get feedback on issues; somehow I don’t believe him ( especially as we all know what colour cards Sea, Sky and Star class get don’t we?)

 

Purely for research purposes I stayed in the VCL to past midnight last night and can confirm that you can get your D drinks on disembarking day! 

Sadly Whispering Angel ( delicious rose wine) is $14 a glass so outside the limit. 

 

Entertainment for the week ahead remains pretty lame. Sadly they have not got rid of the Schooner Bar guy…the same Bond and Respect and Big Red Dog movies. 

 

The sailaway from Copenhagen is pretty with the coastline of Sweden close on one side and Denmark the other. You get a good view of The Bridge when leaving port too. 

 

Tomorrow Oslo for an overnight stay. 

 

 

Been following along with interest as other folks we know are onboard with you . Good to hear things are improving as they are also B2B with you . 😎. 

For  information :- I have been reading on another thread or blog that with the vouchers any drinks over and above the dollar value amount you just pay the difference like you would with a drinks package . Try it and if it works you can thank me in September 😆.  

Edited April 24, 2022 by heatherb1958

[Saab4444]

All very good now on Voyager, check-in a breeze, cabin clean and well prepared, bags delivered fast, on-time departure, dinner and bar service organized and staff nice and friendly. Miami sent several supervisors to help. Only issue: no one checked corona test certificate pre boarding..

Edited April 24, 2022 by Saab4444

[AlohaLivin]

On 4/18/2022 at 9:10 PM, little britain said:

 

The shops are selling bags at very reduced prices. I guess they are old season Kate Spades… as the shop hasn’t been open for two years. Gotta love a bargain!  I’ve only bought 2 so far but there are many days to go… 

 

Edit: make that 3 Kate Spade bags… 

Grab me one! 😎

[joan&jen]

Thank you everyone for your updates.  Surprised that the Voyager was not ready to sail. With all the problems you encountered y’all deserve a future cruise credit of some kind. 
I am booked on July 17th sailing and I hope things improve. 

[CatLadyFemme]

3 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

All very good now on Voyager, check-in a breeze, cabin clean and well prepared, bags delivered fast, on-time departure, dinner and bar service organized and staff nice and friendly. Miami sent several supervisors to help. Only issue: no one checked corona test certificate pre boarding..

Glad to hear this sailing is going a little better. Hoping the whirlpools, app, and food issues resolve themselves a bit! 
 

enjoy your trip 💜

[cublet]

On 4/23/2022 at 7:01 PM, little britain said:

One more for the list; There is no butter 🧈 on the ship! 
<Snip>

 

 

Things can only get better…

Hello,

 

I was once on Adventure OTS out of Malaga. On day two it was reported we were out of orange juice. And where were we when this was reported? Off Seville.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[bigeck]

I got butter in the windjammer this morning

[Kbonner]

Ship still lacks certain provisions. Today no mixed berries, no strawberries anymore. Yes, first glimpses of butter arrived here and there, selected wine bottles from C&A still not available. The situation will last to continue- they are missing supply containers that should have arrived as early as 5 March!!!! Later containers they say also did not arrive. It is all about the global supply chain.

Well yesterday I bit in one of the cabin-supplied concrete cookies and lost a part of my tooth. I am still not sure whether it was more like a tank armor plate or a concrete slab I bit on.

Yea we received a second soap bar on request into our JS.

Again -management tries hard, but it is more an out of control logistical and manpower problem which Miami has to handle.

WiFi still unacceptable. I suspect less a bandwidth problem because this cruise counts only 1600 pax. It is probably rather that RCCL is saving money by renting insufficient satellite channels/capacity.

Chief Refrigeration Officer still cannot fix the suite lounge heating. Obviously they declared the lounge an official walk-in- refrigerator and all is good,,,,, or not? Maybe he will do something after his punishment number 1= keelhauling in Oslo

 

 

 

[BekkaW]

On 4/19/2022 at 4:33 AM, kochleffel said:

Thank you all for training the staff before my cruise. If enough of you keep at it, maybe they'll have figured it out by then (August, the Denmark-Norway itinerary right before the Arctic Crossing).

we’ll be on with you - I hope a lot of these issues are resolved by then! 

[Kbonner]

Alright, now this is to correct the walk-in Suite lounge-  refigerator issue.

Had a talk with the Chief Engineer. The problem is indeed twofold, covid- and global supply chain attributed. The Suite lounge section cannot be circulated with warm air from rest of VC because due to covid they are required to pump in fresh air from outside. This fresh and cold air supposed to be heated by one of the 5 or so VC heat exchangers. The one above the suite lounge is faulty and must be repaired. Unfortunately parts or a replacement cannot delivered  because of disrupted logistical supply chain.

I guess the spectacular keelkauling event of the Chief refrigeration officer has to be cancelled

[pretzlaff]

Part of the reason for the cold suite lounge is that somebody opens the doors to the outside seating area every 5 minutes. 
 

very, very pretty today in Oslo. 

[kochleffel]

On 4/23/2022 at 7:05 PM, kochleffel said:

Considering the mountain of butter in the Netherlands, that sounds really awful. Cruises embarking anywhere in Europe tend to have Dutch butter.

 

On 4/24/2022 at 3:55 AM, Zana711 said:

I’m sure that the crew will pick up some at Copenhagen

 

6 hours ago, bigeck said:

I got butter in the windjammer this morning

 

And it's Dutch!

[little britain]

It’s certainly wonderful weather in Oslo  today.

Took a tram to the Vigeland sculpture park.  It was only 39NOK E/way ( $4.24) Some interesting poses 🤔 🤭! 

I never though I would spend the afternoon in the pool in Norway in April!