Voyager Review 2/18/06 to 2/25/06

[Triplet Dad]

We were on the Voyager from Feb. 18 to 25 and had an awesome time. This was our first cruise. Even with tons of advanced planning and reading these boards on a daily basis, I still wasn’t sure were we going to like a cruise. But we needed a vacation bad, and, as it turned out, it far exceeded our expectations. I’ll try to hit all the major points of interest, as well as some embarrassing moments, in a topic style format rather than a diary.

We are a family of five...three 9 year-olds (2 girls and a boy), DW and myself. Thanks to everyone for their input….other members’ cruise reviews were a tremendous help.

We really lucked out and had perfect weather the entire trip…blue skies and calm seas…not a drop of rain all week.

Embarkation/Debarkation - We flew into Ft. Lauderdale the night before the cruise and stayed at the La Quinta Ft. Lauderdale Airport. We had a suite big enough for all five of us. Larry’s Limo picked us on Saturday morning at 10:45. We were at the port of Miami by 11:30. Checking in was a breeze and we were on board by 12:15. Our bags arrived late afternoon…we brought one carry on with us for a quick change into bathing suits to enjoy the pool deck that first afternoon. Debarkation was a breeze too. We had our bags packed and outside our rooms by 11:45. RC requests no later than 11:00, but they didn’t start collecting them until around midnight. We were in the last group to debark…so we ate breakfast in the Windjammer (closes at 9am the last morning) and went back to our room. RC requests that you vacate your room by 8, but we left a carry on there and went back to get it after breakfast. We hung out in our room and our color was called at 9:30, about one hour before RC indicated it would be called. The line to get off moved pretty quickly and we were through immigration and customs by 10:30. Took the Dollar Rental Car courtesy van to the MIA airport, picked up a van for the day and were off to visit the in-laws. Returned the van to FLL and took an 8pm flight home.

Rooms: We had 2 rooms on deck 9…a D1 for DW and myself and an L for the kids. We decided on 2 rooms because of the privacy it offered DW and myself and we really needed two bathrooms. An inside cabin for the kids was the way to go because they’re too young for a balcony (not to mention the added $$$ for a second connecting balcony). My wife and I enjoyed having a balcony to relax on…left the door open all night…it was like having a beachfront room with the ocean lulling us to sleep. We considered getting connecting rooms, but the kids did fine right across the hall…we did get an extra key for the kids’ room that DW and I kept for the myriad times the kids locked themselves out. The kids did fine in their own room except for keeping it neat….picture the movie twister in a shoebox! Our room stewards were great..very friendly….tremendous towel animals..always plenty of fresh towels. The room layout is tremendous…plenty of storage space…shower doors. Just watch out for the cabin doors when barefoot….those suckers are heavy and I stood a little to close to one as it was slamming shut and it shaved a piece of my little toe off…Youch!!

Food: We were very satisfied with the food. I read some posts noting some concerns about the food on the Voyager….but from the dining room to the Windjammer, we really enjoyed the selection and the seasoning. In the dining room, the food was always the correct temperature…and the steak, which I read some complaints about, was always juicy and hot. The highlight was the lobster tails…I think I had four or five.

We ate all of our dinners in the dining room…our wait staff was friendly and personable….from cutting the kids’ food to serving our favorite beverages as soon as we sat down, without being asked. The kids got a kick out of dressing up for formal nights…they looked so grown up. We were seated at a table for 10 and had a nice time with the other family at our table…the kids adopted the grandmother from the family seated at our table (or maybe she adopted them). Room service for breakfast is the way to go…we did this twice on port days..nothing like eating on the balcony as you pull into port. I think my kids’ favorite had to be the soft serve yogurt machine…help yourself, all you want, anytime you want..I think the least used machine was hidden up by the Adventure Ocean club on deck 12. Late night snacks were always available at the Promenade Café. We got two soda stickers and shared them among us….no one ever questioned. The lunch on Labadee was good…all you could eat barbecue chicken, hot dogs, burgers, fruit, salad, drinks, etc. etc.

Kids’ Activities: The kids loved Adventure Ocean. We signed our kids up at the first night open house….one of my daughters won a raffle there for an all-day Labadee water slide pass. We mainly used AO at night…we’d drop the kids off after dinner and pick them up between 12 midnight and 1 am…usually 2 out the three, if not all three, were still up and going strong...they told us to go away when we came at 11pm…they really had fun and we never had any safety concerns. The last sea day they asked to go AO in the afternoon because they were bored…now that’s what I like to hear! DH1 and DH2 participated in the talent show..what hoot. We spent a lot of family time on the sports deck, enjoying activities like in-line skating, climbing the rock wall, playing miniature golf (watch out for the wind), basketball, and the pools. Although there were over 3,000 people on board, there was hardly ever a wait for an activity and the pools never felt crowded. The only thing we didn’t do was ice skate.

Ports: The girls got their hair braided in Nassau…we shopped at the straw market…I picked up some Cuban cigars…DW bought some lace.

In St. Thomas, I booked a private day sail on the Treazzure to St. John…DW and I had fallen love with St. John a trip a couple of years ago and were dying to go back. The beaches are the most pristine we’ve ever seen and the snorkeling is to die for. We took a cab to the yacht harbor, met Captain Joe and were shuttled out to the Treazzure in a Zodiac raft. I was the last to climb aboard and proceeded to fall into the water…ooops! It really wasn’t too embarrassing, even with the kids and my wife laughing their heads off, until we notice that I had our cell phone, or ex-cell phone, on my belt…oh well…first-mate Dannielle handed me a Bloody Mary and all was well. We took off for St. John with a breakfast of hot muffins and fresh fruit to fill our tummies. We dropped anchor at Gibney beach…we pretty much had the cove to ourselves. This was the kids first time snorkeling and they did fantastic…noodles kept them on top of the water…we all stuck together and felt like we had our own private aquarium to explore…tons of tropical fish and even a couple of sea turtles. Back on the boat for lunch…Joe started us off with a huge bowl of shrimp cocktail…more than we could ever eat…then chicken Caesar salads, curry chicken wraps, plenty of soft drinks, water, beer, Pain Killers (a St. John must) and Jimmy Buffet on the stereo…definitely the highlight of our trip. After lunch we played on the beach, swam and soaked up the sun, then sailed back to St.Thomas. I would highly recommend a day sail on the Treazzure.

We did the rain forest tour in San Juan…it was cool to see, but for my money, I would’ve rather walked around Old San Juan. It was a long drive to get to the rain forest and you only get about 20 minutes to walk through it, the rest of the tour is in the mini-bus.

Labadee was definitely the highlight for the kids…although mom and dad would appreciate not being nickled and dimed to death….all of the water activities cost $$..the slide, the aqua park, mats, you name it…but the kids loved it. If you want to get away from the crowds, just walk to other side of the peninsula…it’s less crowded and plenty of beach chairs available. The market was an experience….pretty scary…especially with kids….people bagging items and shoving them in your face before you’ve even opened your mouth.

Shows, etc: With the kids off in AO, the evenings were for mom and dad. We went to every show, had a lot of fun gambling, danced in the disco and totally rocked out at Quest. What a hoot! The productions shows were good…the singing and dancing was top notch, and we found the ice skating show incredible…do not miss it. Rico was our cruise director…he wasn’t an in-your-face type of CD…he did a great job at the Quest. We bought one family formal picture with the Titanic backdrop, and one informal one of DW and me with the all white background.

Summary: When we’re on vacation, we don’t like to be on schedules, but they're hard to avoid on a cruise…that’s the only minor annoyance we have…getting ready for dinner, getting up early (after a late night) to make the most of port days, etc.. It was tiring, especially with 3 kids, but we took it all in stride….even our waiter understood when we were 20-25 minutes late for dinner! But the cruise provided something for everyone and it didn’t disappoint. We’ll definitely cruise again with RC and are considering the southern carib on the Serenade.

Happy cruising………

[Islandfling]

TripletDad,

 

Great review. My family and I were on the same cruise and enjoyed it very much. We were traveling with our 3 y.o. and 11 y.o. so we had similar experiences. Unlike you though we did not eat in the dining room due to our 3 y.o.'s ability to stay in her seat. We did not want to upset or disturb anyone around us or at our table. I agree that overall the food was good. We ate in the Island Grill every night and enjoyed it.

 

We were also amazed that with a full ship (3000+ people) that there were not more and longer lines. I do not remember having to wait in a single line except for getting on and off the ship and even those lines were short and quick.

 

Overall, the cruise was great and we definitely enjoyed ourselves.:)