Voyager Review - NYE cruise Fiji & NZ

Hi folks,

Voyager is getting mixed reviews atm so I thought I would do a review of our recent cruise for those of you who may have a cruise on the Voyager upcoming or are thinking about booking the Voyager in the future.

DAY 1 - boarding day

We are on deck 7, so our boarding time is 2.30pm and we are happy to stick with that.

OPT bottom level was quite busy when we arrived. This our second cruise with RCI so we are at the bottom of the loyalty level (ie Gold) but that allowed us to bypass the queues on the lower level and go straight to the head of the queue and up to the second level. Processing of our sea passes and customs was very quick and efficient and soon we were on board. Once on board, there a little delay in actually getting into the Voyager as everyone had to have a professional photo taken by the ship photographer. However, we liked the photo that was taken and purchased it during the cruise

Sorry, I should let you know our itinerary:

Ports are: Lautoka, Suva in Fiji

Auckland, Tauranga & Wellington in New Zealand

Captain is Charles Tiege (from Norway)

Cruise Director is Chris Brown (from Melbourne, Australia)

Ok, once onboard, we go exploring. Flowrider looks fab, 9-hole putt putt golf course is looking brand new, full size basketball (very popular), Promenade boasts an impressive Christmas tree but apart from the pub, is a bit of a soulless place full of designer shops for the Asian clients (not just my opinion, Captain Charles confirmed this later in the cruise) and the promenade café ( free and open 24/7) and fronted by Ben & Jerry's icecream and Starbucks coffee (both pay per purchase but both very popular). Windjammer is open. Big space, plenty of windows. We personally never had an issue getting a table here throughout the cruise and we were more than happy with the food and service as well. Hand sanitizers and the washy washy lady out the front and the majority of passengers used these when entering the windjammer.

Boarding day continued:

Dinner: We are on My Time Dining

Only booked 2 nights online before cruise - boarding day eve and NYE.

6pm rock up to the MDR. Our booking is confirmed and we are shown straight our table.

Food is ok. Portions are SMALL (and we are not big eaters) service is ok.

Had major issues with My Time Dining but will get to that later.

Evening Show in La Scala - Jeff Green (comedian) gets lots of laughs. Doesn't do a lot for me in this performance but he performs again at the end of the cruise and his routine second time around is hilarious.

DreamWorks Parade (boarding day eve)

I just happen to be exiting the ship shop in the Promenade when I see a group of entertainment guys in black with headsets and figure something must be going on. Apparently, the DreamWorks parade is about to start. (It is listed in the Cruise Compass)

Now, I personally think the DreamWorks parade is targeted to the under 10s so I am not sure why it is performed at 10pm at night??

Anyway, its lots of characters, colour and movement and lasts for 15-30 mins. Cant remember exactly.

Only 2 Dreamworks parades scheduled during the cruise. The second one is on the last day.

Our Cabin:

E1 Balcony Cabin

Pros: Fresh and Clean

Extremely comfy beds

Nice balcony - private and sheltered from the wind

Shower screen not a shower curtain

Great room attendant

Cons: Cabin is small

Wardrobe is tiny. (Wardrobe in inside cabin on Rhapsody is bigger)

Fridge doesn't work particularly well

Ok,folks that,s it for Day 1. Will continue with the rest of the cruise tomorrow, hopefully, if anyone is interested.

thanks for your post.

very useful as am considering a cruise on Voyager.

more info please.

Great start.....looking forward to more of your experience!

Hi folks,

Voyager is getting mixed reviews atm so I thought I would do a review of our recent cruise for those of you who may have a cruise on the Voyager upcoming or are thinking about booking the Voyager in the future.

Ha! Perhaps if people used the correct name for the ship the reviews wouldn't be so confusing, mixed is an understatement!

" Voyager " is the name of the Voyages of Discovery cruise ship!

:confused:

Hi,

Thanks for the review so far. I am doing what appears to be the exact same itinerary in Feb, so I am looking forward to learning lots from you.

Especially the problems with My Time Dining as we have chosen this for the first time, and I'm a bit worried.

Also any tips/hints for the ports would be SUPER!

Day 2 on board the Voyager of the Seas

1st of three sea days as we cruise towards beautiful Fiji

Wake up to beautiful weather and calm seas

First order of business is breakfast

Head up to the Windjammer Buffet on Deck 11

As mentioned previously we are more than happy with the food and service in Windjammer on the Voyager.

Plenty of options for brekky. Both cold and hot items available. No problem getting a table.

After breakfast we head out to the Adult Solarium (aged 16 and over) which is also on Deck 11 for a bit of R & R.

Despite the promo blurb advising the Solarium would be covered, this is not the case. Captain Charles explained that this is due to the new cabins that were installed in Deck 12. Apparently, weight/balance issues with the new cabins meant that the Solarium was not able to be covered.

Having enjoyed the enclosed Solarium on the Rhapsody, I thought we would not enjoy the exposed Solarium on the Voyager. However, this is not the case. We liked the fresh air and due to the excellent weather we enjoyed throughout the cruise, we were able to use the Solarium most days. No problem getting a lounge and the pool was not crowded. However, the two big spas were very popular and were often full.

No park café in the Solarium on the Voyager. There is a bar though which opens about 10am.

Towels - no longer do you have to use your sea pass card to check in and check out - you can take as many towels as you want and therefore there is no charge for lost towels.

At lunchtime, we notice there is no Captain's announcement. On the Rhapsody, Captain Rob gave a little daily update at midday on the PA about weather conditions etc. Captain Charles advises us that RCI have canned the midday announcements. A shame I think.

We head back to the Windjammer for lunch and again are happy with our food and choices.

We spend the afternoon at the main pool (also on Deck 11). The cricket is being shown on the new outdoor big screen by the pool. Being brand new, the outdoor screen has excellent picture quality and sound. Movies are shown on the big screen a couple of times in the late afternoon or evening. The waiters are kept busy serving drinks to everyone and the kids are enjoying the two pools. The band Latitude perform next to the main pool in the late afternoon. Great music and there are quite a few cruisers dancing in their bikinis etc.

Today, is the first of the Ice Show performances in Studio B, Deck 3.

There are 5 shows throughout the cruise and you are allocated one performance based on your MDR (Main Dining Room) seating allocation.

Btw, you cannot sneak in if it is not your allocated show. The staff check each and every sea pass card before a guest can enter Studio B. However, there is a secondary line for any cruisers who wants to try and see the show. This line is rather long but we found that about 50% of cruisers who were in this line were admitted into the show. However, you do miss the first 5mins of the show and you are seated up the back with a bit of an obstructed view due to poles etc.

My advice is stick with your allotted time. Doors open 30mins before the show starts (either 3pm or 5pm).

Will do a full review of the show much later in the review - we were scheduled for Day 12!

At lunchtime, we notice there is no Captain's announcement. On the Rhapsody, Captain Rob gave a little daily update at midday on the PA about weather conditions etc. Captain Charles advises us that RCI have canned the midday announcements. A shame I think.

 

Thanks for the review so far. It's a shame they canned the announcement. We used to love the announcement from "Captain Bill from the bridge" on the Radiance.

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Having dined at the Sapphire Dining Room (Main Dining Room) on boarding day eve, we are now keen to try Johnny Rockets.

Johnny Rockets is a diner located on the starboard side of Deck 12. It has a 50s theme with mini jukeboxes on the tables, staff in diner uniforms and 50s music being played. Seating is in booths both inside and outside the diner.

There is a $5.95 per person cover charge for your food. Drinks are additional. Milkshakes are $5.25 each and Bud Light beer is $6.75.

Tip: If you are planning on dining at Johnny Rockets, skip eating in the afternoon. The portions are BIG.

This is our first visit to Johnny Rockets and its very quiet. No-one is using the outside booths and there are only two booths besides ours being used. We have chips, deep fried onion rings, chicken salad (huge serving), burgers, milkshakes and apple pie for dessert.

Mid-way through the meal, the staff turn up the volume on the music and do a dance in sync. This brings smiles to everyone in the Diner.

We enjoy our dinner at Johnny Rockets and plan to return.

However, if fast food does not appeal to you, you may want to give JR a miss.

Our family, however, give it a big thumbs up.

Tonight's Headliner in the La Scala (Main theatre) is Fusion. A vocal trio performing opera, jazz and classic Broadway music. Two performances at 8.45pm and 10.30pm. Whilst the music is not to our taste, we do appreciate that this group are top class performers and we do enjoy the performance.

The La Scala theatre is over three levels. The main entry is on Deck 3 forward.

We enjoy this theatre. Always plenty of room and plenty of waiters available to serve drinks.

Most performances in the La Scala theatre are backed by the on-board 9 piece orchestra and they certainly add an extra dimension to all the onboard Headline acts.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve

Anyone have any questions, please ask. I have the Cruise Compasses from every day of the cruise. Will cover details of the Flowrider on the next two sea days. We did not have a drink package. Glass of champagne $7, Glass of wine $8.

Another sea day. Another day of beautiful weather and calm seas.

Bit of info about the cabins. Your room attendant cleans them twice a day.

Once after breakfast or just before lunch and then again in the eve whilst you are at dinner/bar/show. We got a towel animal every second night. Cruise Compass and kids club info left on your bed during the evening clean.

Cabins have flat screen tvs. You can access most of your cruise info on the tv.

The position of the ship, the menus for the Main Dining Room each night, your on board account. Having your onboard account on the tv is great if you have younger family members and you want to check that they haven't spent up big on the mini bar/ben & jerrys ice-cream or anywhere else on the ship.

For the first two days of the cruise, our tv came from the Northern Territory. Weird to have tv ads for businesses in Darwin and ads for aboriginal health.

Rest of the cruise, the tv selection was very poor. No-one cruises to watch tv but having the exact same episode of Parks & Recreation, Mike & Molly, The Middle for 14 days straight is a bit much. Younger family members decided to make a game of it and see if they could recite the entire dialogue of the episodes by the end of the cruise! Only news was CNN.

Our room steward was excellent. He left his card on the first day of the cruise.

Tip: Keep this card somewhere where you can find it.

Reason for this:

After lunch, we had a Cupcake decorating class scheduled. 10mins before the class was due to start family member used the bathroom. Suddenly, the toilet started to flood. Water poured out of a small outlet pipe below the toilet. It was gushing everywhere. No reason for this btw. There was no blockage in the toilet. In a panic tried to ring Maintenace on the cabin phone. No answer. Tried twice. Then remembered we had our room attendant's extn number. He came quick smart. Got onto Maintenance and they arrived and managed to turn the water off. Although our bathroom was completed flooded, the water did not reach the carpet outside the bathroom. Our room attendant cleaned up all the water very quickly. Fortunately, we did not have any further issue with the toilet after this.

And the lovely Lara from Cupcake cupboard kindly rescheduled our cupcake decorating class. More info on that later.

thanks for your continuing posts...they are very helpful.

we've booked on the voyager OTS to NZ in February.

have been concerned re the many negative reviews about this ship so will be reading your posts with more interest now.

did they have theme nights on your cruise and what were they?

As previously mentioned, we are on My Time Dining and have pre-booked our dinner online for NYE in the Main Dining Room.

We rock up to the Sapphire Dining Room. Our booking is confirmed and we are shown to our table straight away. Different table and different waiters from boarding eve. Our two waiters introduce themselves. They are from China and their service is much better than what we received on our first night on board. We have a special NYE menu on the table. There are NYE top hats for the men and coloured necklaces for the ladies. Plus noisy party favours. At a neighbouring table are a group of 10 young men in suits. Each suit is in a wild pattern ie one is covered in playing cards, another is covered in US dollar notes, another in giraffes. Make a very colourful additional to the MDR and they get lots of smiles from everyone.

RCI photographers go round to each table to take photos. Really good photos imo. You can also have posed formal family/couple photos taken around the ship during the eve. This is a really popular option.

Going to be honest with your here folks. Not happy with the food in the MDR.

On the Rhapsody, we loved the MDR food and thought the Windjammer food was average. On the Voyager it was the other way round for us. The food portions were very small, the food was often over-cooked (especially the vegetables). We were disappointed with our NYE meal in the MDR.

Headline Showtime in the La Scala Theatre is Broadway Rhythm & Rhyme

at 6.45pm and 8.45pm

Great sets and lighting for this show. Some family members enjoyed this more than others.

Moving along to NYE itself. Two options for NYE celebrations:

1. Party on the Promenade from 11.30am onwards

2. Party by the Pool from 10.30pm Poolside Deck 11

We went with the Promenade party.

Arrived on the Promenade at 11.30am

Plenty of free champagne served by RCI staff. They did not stint on the Champagne. Our glasses were continually topped up.

Performers on the bridge above the Promenade

Then the countdown and balloon/streamer drop.

Lots of fun. Lots of atmosphere. I didn't think it was overcrowded.

thanks for your continuing posts...they are very helpful.

we've booked on the voyager OTS to NZ in February.

have been concerned re the many negative reviews about this ship so will be reading your posts with more interest now.

did they have theme nights on your cruise and what were they?

Day 3 was NYE and our first formal night. Day 7 was Tropical (where the men wore their shirts from Fiji and the ladies wore tropical dresses and flowers in their hair etc). Day 8 was formal. Day 11 was 70s (I didn't notice anyone in 70s gear to be honest). Day 13 was formal.

New Years Day. Not surprisingly we slept in and didn't bother with breakfast.

Clocks were turned forward one hour yesterday at midday. And again today, we moved our clocks forward one hour at noon.

As returning RCI cruisers, we received an invite in our cabin to a welcome back party in Studio B at 5.15pm. Rocked up and was amused to see many cruisers had taken the party aspect literally and were dressed up to the nines.

We were shown into Studio B ie the ice rinks and seated. Then lots of free drinks ie champagne, red & white wine and juices. The waiters were generous.

My friend attend the C & A party on the Radiance recently and said it was a waste on time. On the Voyager it is different because its at the ice rink. We get introduced the the ice show skaters individually and they each do a couple of skating tricks for us. Then Captain Charles arrives on ice skates, does a loop of the rink or two and then does a speech. I thought it was an enjoyable half hour but it definitely wasn't a party!

Firstly, the ice rink is tiny. My family members refused to skate on it because the felt it was too small and they would be skating in tiny circles. Skating sessions are listed in your daily Cruise Compass. 40min sessions. You need socks and long pants.

Day 4 - Nightime Entertainment - 3D Movie in the La Scala Theatre

at 8pm and 10.30pm. Movie is Gravity.

Rock up to the La Scala theatre and the entertainment staff are very embarrassed to admit that the licence for Gravity expired today. So, no Gravity. Instead 3D movie is How to Train your Dragon 2. RCI supply good quality 3D glasses and the quality of the movie is excellent.

How to Train your Dragon 2 is given the thumbs up by family members.

The other 3D movies shown were Malicifent, Penguins of Madagascar (excellent and very funny according to family members) and we did finally see Gravity towards the end of the cruise.

Dinner for us tonight is in the Windjammer.

Tomorrow is our first Port - Lautoka!

Another beautiful sunny day, calm seas.

We dock in Lautoka at midday. Everyone excited for our first port.

We haven't been to Fiji before. We decide to do a ship tour and we want to snorkel and swim. We pick Oolala cruises to Savala Island which gets excellent reviews on Trip Advisor.

Plenty of markets on the dock at Lautoka. Souvenirs are available to buy in FJD and AUD.

Oolala Cruises (& Captain Cook Cruises) depart from the same wharf as the Voyager docks at - just on the other side of the wharf. So, we disembark and its a very short walk around to our cruise boat for the day.