VOS Eastern 3-4-06 Review!

[HappyCruiser383]

Ok here it is . . If you have any questions, let me know! I'm sure I'll have to split this up as it's about 5 pages. :D

 

Voyager of the Seas March 4, 2006 Eastern Caribbean

Ports:

Miami, FL

Nassau, Bahamas

St Thomas, VI

San Juan, PR

Labadee, Haiti

We are 30 and 40 something and have been on 3 Carnival cruises before. No need for us to cruise Carnival again. The Voyager was much smoother sailing than the Conquest and we enjoyed EVERYTHING much much more on the Voyager.

Miami:

We flew into Miami but stayed in Florida City so we could visit Key Largo for a couple of days. I would definitely do that again! Florida City is right between Miami and Key Largo. It was a quick 20 minute ride in either direction. We stayed at the Best Western Gateway to the Keys in Florida City which was VERY nice and clean and located within walking distance to a number of stores and fast food. We picked up the Enterprise rental car at the airport and later dropped by the port (with a free shuttle to the port). In Key Largo we snorkeled with Keys Diver. They were awesome! There were 3 snorkel spots at 45 minutes each for only $32 per person. Seeing the Christ statue and swimming with many Barracuda was fantastic! Another couple reported seeing the resident sharks! We missed that Kodak moment. We also did some fishing with Sailors Choice Party Boat (not a party boat, so we found out). They didn’t even have a radio on board! It was still a great experience as a first timer. Weather was warm, water was chilly but clear. I would highly recommend this side trip to Key Largo for a pre or post cruise tour.

The Ship:

Hats off, to the Captain and the people who designed the Voyager. We encountered up to 10’ swells and hardly felt a thing. On the Conquest, we were rocking and rolling with 10’ swells. We only saw a few people with sea sick patches on the Voyager and we wondered if they even needed them.

Don’t miss the shows or the silly games or the corny parades! RCCL really does a great job at entertainment. It may sound a little hokey in the Daily Compass but don’t miss it! Rico was the cruise director. He’s pretty funny. The Quest was the highlight of the trip but it is very physical for the ‘Captains’ of the teams. That’s all I will say about the Quest so I don’t ruin it for first time cruisers. Just bring good running shoes if you volunteer to be the Captain!

The ship was very easy to navigate and there are a number of hang out spots. If you’re a smoker, you’ll find that most bars allow smoking yet there were only a couple spots outside on pool decks. Ashtrays outside were really tough to find. Go figure!

We bought a soda card which could have easily been shared between the two of us. The regular coffee was really strong so we often visited the Starbucks coffee bar. Around the ship, you’ll find Coke products. They actually had my PowerAde at the Windjammer along with iced tea, lemon aide, coffee and hot chocolate packages. If you drink Pepsi, consider buying a few at the ports and get ice on the ship. The Co-Co Loco drinks are yummy!!!!! They’re made with pineapple and papaya.

[HappyCruiser383]

The Cruise:

Nassau, Bahamas: Our cabin was dock side for this port but all the action/town was on the other side. We booked the Yellow Bird Party Boat through the ship which started at 9am. Even though we could get off the ship at 7am, the stores were all closed until 9 or 10am. Bummer! It was also cold and windy this day so we didn’t have much fun. The Yellow Bird takes you to an island with jet skis ($60 ½ hour or $100 an hour), bar (very long line), snack bar (you had to get a ticket from the bar) and sand where you have about 1 ½ hours to fart around. There were lots of lounge chairs and shade areas at the beaches. On the way back, the rum flows and the party starts. When you get back at 12:15, you have exactly 15 minutes to get back to the ship. Absolutely no shopping time in this port. I would probably not do this tour again simply because we missed the entire port.

Day at sea: So much to do and so little energy! Deck chairs were available until about 10:30am then it was standing room only by the pool. There were lots of other areas to get loungers, just nothing around the pool. The Windjammer and Island Grill, which is really close to the pool area, provided plenty of yummy snacks, food and drinks throughout the day. You could easily grab food at the Windjammer or Island Grill and eat outside by the pool. I noticed that people would keep their plates and trash in neat piles on the Voyager. The people on Carnival would leave trash, plates and cups everywhere!

St Thomas, VI: What a beautiful island! Our cabin was dock side for this port as well. We took a quick taxi up and around the island to Magens Bay for $8.50 ea. then a $3 entry fee onto the beach (Kodak moment at the top of the hill. Most drivers will stop). Spent a few hours enjoying the beach, and then headed back into town for shopping. I felt very safe walking around town, unlike in Jamaica. Recommended lunch stop would be the Green House. It faces the ships and has great food and view.

San Juan, PR: Our cabin was port side here too! You get off the ship and walk right into Old San Juan. The city has free busses at the port that will take you right to the fort. No need for a tour guide. After we saw Fort Moro we walked back into town for some shopping. I felt very safe here too. People would actually stop their cars to let us cross the street. Great Kodak moments of the fort as the ship leaves port. Don’t let the locals tell you where the nice beaches are! We had a tour driver on the street tell us to go up a few blocks, turn left, etc etc for a nice beach. It turned out to be the worst area, like downtown Los Angeles! We didn’t take his advice but saw it later while on a city bus. That would have been ugly!

Labadee, Haiti: Co-Co Loco heaven!!! Our cabin was opposite the beaches but it had a great view of the mountain homes. After arriving, a quick tender takes you onto the island. The tenders hold 300 to 400 people so the longest we ever had to wait was a few minutes. The island (at least the part that we could visit) was beautiful. Lots and lots of trees for shade and lots of sunny beaches. The market wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The people are aggressive only because they have to be. If they don’t grab your attention, another vendor will. If you ignore them, they will sometimes find somebody else to harass. I liked talking to them though. They are very nice people. Anytime you point at something, they pick it up and try to get you to hold it. They are MUCH nicer than Jamaican people, IMO. At the end of the day, the line for the tender was 2 miles long! We didn’t mind having to stay on the beach just a little bit longer. At the beginning, we had thought about doing the Jet Ski’s. The ‘follow the leader’ type tour really turned us off. We do tricks on our own jet ski at home and they wouldn’t let us even swerve around a bubble. You had to go straight and follow the leader. No exceptions. That just didn’t sound like fun. For $80 you would think we could have 5 minutes of play time. Oh well. Labadee is still probably my favorite spot of all. The Co-Co Loco drinks are served in the souvenir cups with lids and straws at $4.95 each. Water socks are highly recommended for this port. The sandy beaches are beautiful but the rocks in the water made it challenging to enjoy. There were also reports of sea urchins. A side note: Something in Labadee set off my allergies something terrible! I was literally walking around later that evening with a box of tissues and my prescribed pills didn’t work. By the next morning, I was fine.

[HappyCruiser383]

Food on the ship: I’m a very picky eater. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of food on the ship. On Carnival, there were often times that I didn’t find much to enjoy (not Carnival’s fault). On the Voyager I could eat non-stop! There was always a big selection from fancy foods to mashed potatoes. My kids would love the selection! We only ate in the dining room for dinner twice. All other meals were at the Windjammer and once at Johnny Rockets. We were just so busy we didn’t want to take the time for a fancy meal. Johnny Rockets was really good. Non-stop onion rings and French fries along with other goodies. The coffee bar had pizza, sandwiches and cookies for no extra charge. No, you didn’t have to order coffee to get the snacks. For those who want pictures of the sunsets, choose a late dinner. We chose the 6pm seating time and would have missed every sunset if we ate in the dinning room. Also, if you eat at 6pm you’ll have to kill a few hours before the night life starts. We ended up taking a quick nap and didn’t wake up until 7:30am! We missed all of it that night!!! L

Cabin: We were in balcony cabin 7344, Starboard – Aft, category D2. It was a fantastic spot! The amenities included the mini bar of soap and a dispenser of shampoo/conditioner (one liquid not two). We never heard anything from the neighbors or other areas of the ship. The balcony had a solid metal bulk head on one side and a partition wall on the other. Two chairs and a small table made the patio a nice hang out spot with plenty of privacy. The cabin location made it easy to get anywhere on the ship as it was only about 7 cabins from the aft elevators. Deck 5 was the promenade and deck 11 was the pool action & Windjammer. The cabin is on Deck 7, right in the middle. Don’t bother putting your meat in the fridge because it WILL spoil. I bet it was running at about 55 degrees. There were extra pillows and blankets in the closet which we didn’t need. There were about 3 electrical outlets at the desk, nothing in the bathroom. There was a phone with a digital clock and an alarm setting in our cabin. We didn’t even use the portable alarm that we brought.

Pool lounge hogs & drink specials: Anytime the sun was shinning, the deck chairs were being hogged. Somebody left me a nice book and a clean towel. I thought that was nice but would have preferred fiction, not romance. J The drink specials were all virgins from what we saw. The waiters carried a bottle of high octane additive if you wanted a shot of that thrown in there too.

Photo developing on the ship: The photo developing on the ship was very handy and they did a great job. Developing is approx $14 per roll (35mm), 4x6 gloss with a white border. If you wanted your 35mm burned to a CD that was an extra $15. They don’t provide the cheapo photo albums but do sell them for about $25. We found an awesome photo album in San Juan for $15 that holds about 200 pictures. Caution note: We brought underwater disposable cameras with us on the cruise. The film developed on the ship was fine but the undeveloped film didn’t make it well going home. I think the x-ray at the airport ruined the film. Remember, most underwater disposables are 800 speed film. Pull those out of your luggage and ask for a hand inspection or just buy them on the ship. Do not put those with your checked luggage. The other 200 and 400 speed films did fine in our carry-on luggage.

Cell phone service: I have a Sprint PCS phone and managed to get cell service at every port except Labadee as we didn’t try the phone there.

Since our flight didn’t leave until 8pm, we rented a car for the day. Most rental car companies have free shuttles right there at the port (Enterprise, Avis, Thrifty, Dollar are the ones that I saw). We took the Dollar shuttle to their office & grabbed a car. We won’t use Dollar again. Enterprise went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed. Dollar didn’t bother to tell us where the car was! Most of the day was spent at the Bayside Marketplace. We had to visit Bubba Gump Shrimp as we love that place! There was no extra charge to pick up the Dollar rental car at the port then drop at the airport. As we headed to the airport Dollar office, we realized that it was the same darned office as the port office!!!! The Dollar people forgot to tell us that too! If you rent a car, stick with Enterprise. We missed the Enterprise shuttle to the port (they run every 15 minutes) & they ran out and gave us a ride in one of the cars.

Free shuttle to the airport or the port? It is possible to take the Dollar shuttle to their office, get off the shuttle and walk around the building. On the other side of the building, there are shuttles going to the airport all day long. We hopped on both shuttles and nobody ever asked us if we had reservations! If you’re on a tight budget, this may be a great free ride to the airport or even the port. The shuttles run every 20 minutes or so.

Embarkation/Debarkation: Getting on the ship was a snap. They even delivered all of the luggage before the ship set sail! Debarkation was the nightmare (Not the cruise lines fault). Customs really held things up. The ship docked about 6:30am and colors were being called then. We were 3rd color from the last and were off the ship by about 10:30 or 11am.

Muster Drill: Please don’t attempt to miss the muster drill. They do make sure everybody is there. We were held up about half an hour because they had to go find some people who were hiding.

Passports? ID’s? : When you go into the ports (except Labadee) be sure to carry your Sea-Pass AND ID with you. In one port, you will even need your passport or birth certificate (I can’t remember which one .. sorry). Just don’t get off the ship without checking first! The people scanning your cards won’t tell you what you need, you have to ask or find the sign buried behind 150 people.

Packing: We packed our bags, removed half of the stuff, and then added twice as much money. We still had too many clothes and not enough money! :eek: Every stop we made, including Key Largo and Miami, we bought tanks and shorts and sandals. Next time, I think I’ll just pack some undies and cash. Fortunately we were smart enough to bring luggage that was only half full. It was certainly stuffed for the trip home!

Carnival/RCCL comparison: Royal Caribbean won the competition! RCCL has better service, food, ship design, entertainment and crew. Carnival seems to attract the party crowds (yes that would include us 3 times!). The crew on the Voyager all seemed so happy. A bar waiter “A-koo” returned time and time again for our free Coke even though we didn’t tip him. He was nice and knew our names even though we stiffed him (we tipped him well on the last day)! Our room steward got us robes even though we weren’t in a suite and we didn’t pre-pay our tips. The waiters in the dining room knew our names and used them every time they spoke to us. I can’t say any of that about Carnival. Although we enjoyed Carnival, we found that RCCL is better suited for us. RCCL has a much better loyalty program too.

Meet & Mingle party: About 3 months before the cruise I started the thread on the meet & mingle board for our cruise. Many couples signed on & we chatted and chatted and got to know each other. I think it was Missy & Todd who suggested that we meet at the Pig & Whistle on the first night so we could see each other. Then, we managed to get over 25 people signed for the Royal Caribbean Meet & Mingle party. Royal Caribbean threw us a little party & almost everybody showed up! It was great meeting everybody. We ended up hanging around with Nina & Patrick in Nassau and Mike & Cathy everywhere else. We ran into some of the other people around the ship all week long. It was so nice meeting new people. My only regret was not getting any pictures of our gatherings or our new friends! I’m such a dork! :o

Complaints: Umm . :rolleyes: . . I don’t have any! I thought and thought and tried to find something to complain about and just couldn’t find anything. I guess my only complaint would be that it was only a week long.

[mattyd831]

 

Complaints: Umm . :rolleyes: . . I don’t have any! I thought and thought and tried to find something to complain about and just couldn’t find anything. I guess my only complaint would be that it was only a week long.

 

 

 

 

Similar to my two previous experiences on VOS. The ship and crew are amazing. Everything is great. I wish I could stay on forever. :)

Thanks for the review

[CL-JW]

Thanks for the review. We sailed Voyager in May 2005 and had a fantastic time. Your review brought back great memories!

[LonW]

bump

[HappyCruiser383]

I almost had my boyfriend talked into staying an extra week but we had already done the Western Caribbean a couple of times. I was so close too! :(

[HappyCruiser383]

Wait! :eek: I found something to complain about! During a formal dinner, they forgot to ask me what I wanted to drink! Whew! I knew I could find something if I thought long enough. :D

[travelforlife]

Hi Happy Cruiser

 

We didn't make it to the gathering the first night because we were at the early sitting for dinner and we completely forgot the meet & mingle until it was too late. We wish we had met everyone.

 

The wave runners were amazing!!! We got to go as fast as we wanted and jumped many waves. People can go at their own speed and experienced drivers usually go within the first three spots. The leader is mindful of the fact that there are experienced drivers, therefore, gives them a different experience compared to other non-experienced drivers. My husband enjoyed himself so much that he went twice!!

 

I'm glad you had a good time. We also had the time of our life!!!!

[HappyCruiser383]

Hi Suzanne! Did you guys find the helicopter pad? That was a nice quiet hang out spot. We met Missy & Todd at the first meeting and at the meet & mingle but never saw they any other time. That ship sure is big!