Review-Voyager/Seas-W.Med. 10-06-07

[joetul]

Background:

We are 2 couples, middle aged from central United States. Between us, we have done about 10 cruises on various cruise lines. This was our first cruise on Royal Carribbean International (RCI).

Getting there:

We originally booked our air travel through RCI, but once we saw the connections and multiple stops we thought twice.

With potential for delays and lost luggage, we booked our air travel independently through Travelocity.com at less cost than RCI arranged air travel. This resulted in one-stop flights from our home to Barcelona and return.

We flew to Atlanta, and to Barcelona. Travel in both directions via Delta was trouble free.

Returning to Atlanta, Hartsfield has a good customs system. Our time through customs was 15 minutes and no hassle.

Barcelona’s airport is user friendly going and coming. Customs is a matter of a passport stamp. No luggage search.

Barcelona:

We traveled to Barcelona one day early and stayed in anExpress By Holiday Inn at Barcelona-Molins De Rei. We booked through Priceline.com. Cost was about 76.00 USD per night. Hotel was new and very clean. There were several other people on the cruise who stayed at the same hotel

It is not exactly close to the airport nor downtown. Cab ride is about 50 Euros total for a minivan with 4 persons.

We arrived about noon on Friday and made our way via taxi to the hotel in Molins De Rei.

After checking in, we walked to the train station which was about 7 blocks from the hotel. Regional trains (Renfe) run about every half hour into Barcelona city center. From there, the Barcelona Metro is expansive and easy to use, once you find La Mapa Grande (The big wall map) to find your route.

We took the Green Line to the end of La Rambla, near the port. We walked around La Rambla, and visited the Mare Magnum shopping area.

On Saturday, we took a half-day tour with Jose Soler and driver Carlos. Jose is a fantastic tour guide with lots of enthusiasm for his city. He went to university in Boston, and his command of English is very good.

At the end of our tour, he dropped us at the cruise ship terminal.

We also arranged for Jose to do our transfer from the cruise ship terminal back to the airport the following Saturday. Carlos met us right on time. The transfer was seamless.

We recommend Jose without reservation. He is most accommodating.

http://www.pepitotours.com

Embarkation and Debarkation:

This was absolutely the best we have experienced. On and off with minimum delay.

Ship-Voyager of the Seas:

It is large, but even with 3000 passengers its not crowded feeling.

Some areas look like its time for refit. Miniature golf course is good example, worn out.

Overall pretty clean, with a lot of paint touch up showing.

Elevators during prime times are excruciatingly slow.

Cabin was the best we ever had. This was our first balcony cabin. The bed was comfortable by ship standards.

Bathroom was smaller than some cruise ships, no tub, with very functional circular shower enclosure. The bathroom was a good compromise to allow for more useable cabin space.

We didn’t see our cabin attendant on Saturday. We later learned she was ill.

For those who have cruised before you may find the attention to detail lacking. There was never the introduction that one typically receives from a cabin steward. The cabin services were comparable to housekeeping at a mid-line hotel, but nowhere close to our previous cruise experiences.

On Sunday evening and evenings afterward, we did receive turn down service on the bed with the industry standard towel animals.

RCI is chintzy on amenities such as soap and the little things. I think they are trying to set a record with Guiness Book of World records to see how long a bar of hotel soap will last before breaking down and replacing it.

As we learned on the rest of the cruse, RCI is really chintzy on a lot of things.

As far as the hotel operation of the ship is concerned, it is comparable to Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn. No better.

Food:

This was the first cruise where we missed more dining room dinners than we attended. In summary the dining room experience felt uninspired, with no real “Specials” that we have seen on other cruises. Our impression was that RCI got a good deal on duck and turkey. Both were on the menu most every night disguised by different names. Missing were the signature desserts, the carvings, or the dining room spectaculars that other cruise lines present.

Our waiter and his colleague were very good. Our waiter was apologetic about the quality of the food, saying that a lot of the menu items have been cut fleet-wide by the RCI corporate office.

We did not eat at the Portofino restaurant.

Windjammer is comparable to other cruise lines cafeteria style dining.

We ate at Johnny Rockets on several occasions. The quality was well worth the surcharge, and the staff was top notch. We talked to Guest Services about the quality in the dining room and received vouchers which waived the surcharge in Johnny Rockets.

Bars around the ship were typical.

One pleasant surprise was “The Pig & Whistle” which is a British themed pub. Marian the waiter works his tail off. Steve the musician was very good, also.

Soda stickers are in the 50.00 USD range.

Ports of Call and Tours

Villefranche-sur-Mer:

Our first port of call was Villefranche. We knew that tender operations in Villefranche were slow, and debarkation priority is given to passengers taking ship’s tours. We took our only ship’s tour at this stop so that we could leave the ship as early as possible.

Villefranche is beautiful. As the first port of call on our cruise, it was difficiult to imagine we would see several equally beautiful shoreline cities during the remainder of the cruise.

Our tour went to Eze, the Grand Corniche, and stopped for lunch in Monte Carlo. After lunch the tour continued to the casino, and the palace area.

The tour was typical bus tour. From an equipment standpoint, our European tour bus was of the highest quality compared to a typical bus in the U.S.

Every time we rounded a corner on the Grand Corniche, our tour guide would say in a distinct French accent, “Prepare your cameras.” Was she ever correct in that regard. The scenery is stunning.

Livorno

Surprise! We didn’t go to Livorno.

We were informed Sunday evening that because of a “labor issue,” our ship was not going to Livorno, but rather to La Spezia and that tenders would be necessary to reach shore.

Because we didn’t have a ship’s tour booked, we were late leaving the ship. RCI doesn’t care about delays or inconvenience to debark the ship if you aren’t on one of their tours.

Of course RCI knew well enough in advance to adjust their shore excursions to have the bus meet the passengers on the ships tours in La Spezia rather than Livorno. Those who had private tours arranged in Livorno had a difficult time reaching their tour operator.

La Spezia is further from Pisa and Florence than Livorno, so we adjusted our plans. We took the train from La Spezia to Pisa and return. We didn’t visit Florence because of the change.

All in all it was a great day, but a bit frustrating at the outset. The delay in debarkation because of priority given to passengers on RCI ship tours was very frustrating.

I can’t find much researching a “labor dispute” in Livorno as per RCI’s explanation. There had to be other factors in play in my opinion.

Rome

We arranged our tour of Rome with www.romeinlimo.com

Duman was our guide. He was fantastic. Duman met us at the dock in Civitavecchia, and we drove into Rome during morning rush hour. It was a non- stop day of sites, crazy traffic, learning to cross the street, and Duman showing us some of the nooks and crannies of the city that ordinary tourists don’t see.

Rome is fascinating and not as intimidating as some might have you believe.

Romeinlimo arranged for us to have a private guide at the Vatican.

Julia was our guide and she was great. She was well informed with a fun personality. I was afraid we would get a guide at the Vatican who resembled someone like “The Church Lady” from Saturday Night Live.

Not so with Julia.

We didn’t stand in line for more than a few minutes to get tickets even though the line wrapped around the block.

Julia did the standing for us while we ate lunch.

The Vatican is beautiful but crowded with visitors.

At dinner that night, we talked to people who took ships tours. They walked a lot further, and saw much less than us.

The private tour route may seem expensive, but the price is a flat rate. For a group of four, the price was comparable to a ships tour, with a lot more sight seeing, and less walking.

Naples

We arranged with http://www.romeinlimo.com for a driver/guide to meet us in Naples. Our driver/guide was Massimo, a very cordial gentleman, and very skilled driver. We requested our tour to visit Pompeii and then to Sorrento and Amalfi.

Romeinlimo arranged for a guide at Pompeii. Upon our arrival we were met at the entrance by Antoinella who was excellent. She has a great knowledge of Pompeii and was enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge. Two hours at Pompeii is barely enough to get an impression of a very interesting location.

After Pompeii, we proceeded to Amalfi through Sorrento and Positano.

This was another one of those “Prepare your Camera” drives. At times, the scenery doesn’t look real, its so fantastic.

Massimo dropped is at the square in Amalfi, and made introductions with the owner of a sidewalk restaurant specializing in gelato.

Just be careful of the limoncello after lunch! Excellent.

After lunch, we drove back to Sorrento. We made a change of plans on our part and Massimo was very accommodating. We decided to ride the ferry back from Sorrento to Naples. We weren’t able to get a hydrofoil as we hoped, but did manage a pretty quick ride on a waterjet-cat ferry that was very smooth.

The ferry dock is next to the cruise ship terminal in Naples so it’s a short walk. We got back early enough to walk across the street into Naples.

It is crazy but fun. Just beware of pickpockets and be careful crossing the street!

Palermo

Yes it is Thursday, so this must be Palermo. Our first impression was that Palermo was much more interesting and scenic than one might first think.

www.romeinlimo.com . (Do you see a pattern here?) arranged for Allessandra to be our guide to Segesta.

Segesta is an ancient Greek city dating to about 500 BC, an hour drive from Palermo. It’s a beautiful place situated in rolling countryside, well worth the visit.

After Segesta, Allesandra took us for lunch at a great seaside restaurant. We then drove into Palermo where she took us to the opera house. We then visited the Palermo city hall which is a fairly modern building dating to “only” 1492.

We then walked to the cathedral, which through the years passed through the hands of various invading armies. The architecture and artifacts reflect the “changes in ownership” throughout the centuries.

Allesandra then dropped us at the cruise ship terminal in time for us to walk around for a short while before the last boarding call.

Friday-Day at Sea

And it couldn’t have been better timing.

Deck chairs were full especially for those wanting to lie in the sun.

The promenade deck (Deck 4) was virtually empty.

One thing became obvious. RCI wants to make sure you know the gratuity routine. They play a gratuity “informercial” all day on several TV channels in multiple languages explaining how to tip all of those with their hands out. They aren’t discrete about it at all.

Friday night was the typical cruise baggage in the hall routine.

We docked in Barcelona about 6:00 am Saturday and the first debarkation began about 7:30.

We were off the ship about 8:15. Baggage retrieval was excellent. It isn’t the madhouse scene typical from some of the Florida cruise terminals.

We retrieved our luggage and met Carlos from http://www.pepitotours.com for transfer to the airport. Reality had indeed set back in.

Note that the line for taxis were long. When 3000 people hit the streets, there are going to be lines.

RCI offers bus transfers to the airport, for 27.00 USD per person. The price for http://www.pepitotours.com transfer was competitive for a group of 4, dropping us at the curb across from the Delta Airlines desk.

Summary and Recommendations

Barcelona, Monaco, Italy and Sicily are beautiful. The cities are real life, non-homogenized places. You arent going to see some of these things at a Disney property, thats for sure. Monaco is something totally different, a fantasyland for the rich and famous.

Most everyone we met was very cordial.

The $ to Euro exchange rate isnt great, just dont do the math until you get home.

For those who have cruised on Holland America or Celebrity prepare to be underwhelmed by RCI in terms of service, food and amenities.

Food quality (or the lack thereof) was a common topic for discussion among experienced passengers on our trip.

On the other hand, RCI is probably more user friendly to families with children.

Book your own air travel. Apparently, RCI books air travel though the least expensive routings, which leads to multiple stops and changes of planes in inconvenient cities.

This isn’t a relaxing cruise such as those in the Carribbean.

This can be a working tour where the ship serves as a hotel. The good thing compared to a hotel on a tour is that we didn’t have to check out every day to go to a different city.

If you choose, the days are busy to the point that early seating at dinner wont give you much time to get dressed for dinner after a full day. You will get tired.

Words of advice: Private Tours, Private Tours, Private Tours.

Get a group of 4 or 5 people together and the cost per individual is comparable to ships tours but the bang for the buck is far better.

www.pepitotours.com in Barcelona and Spain.

www.romeinlimo.com in Italy.

Note that these guys are busy so book early.

Email them early when doing your trip planning. They gave great advice concerning fitting the most around a limited schedule.

Ship tours are an obvious profit center for RCI. If you peruse the RCI brochure with all of their “Get Out There” verbiage, you notice a few things. One is its activity based aimed at families and two, many of the “activities” are extra cost, non included activities along the $$ shore excursion line.