Voyager of the Seas Review - 13/12/16

Shows on most nights at 8 and 10, but on first night and port days only at 10.

I got the Voom surf and stream package online before the cruise. It cost me only $85AUD (50% off I think) and worked very well the whole time. Fast enough for Netflix with no buffering. Well worth it, but buy online!

Thanks for your review. Sounds like you were as impressed as I was when I was on Voyager in March.

 

Question though, did you have a drinks package? I'm reading reports about price increases at the bars since Royal revamped their packages and I'm wondering if it's had any sort of impact on drinks that are or aren't covered by the package?

 

Cheers :)

No drinks package but from memory drinks have gone up in price. Cocktails started at $13, Beer from $7, Fresh Orange Juice was $5 and Sparking water $2.75. I don't drink much alcohol but spent around $20 a day on Fresh Juice and Mineral Water so package not worth it for me. People were complaining about how they had to pay extra though.

Shows on most nights at 8 and 10, but on first night and port days only at 10.

 

I got the Voom surf and stream package online before the cruise. It cost me only $85AUD (50% off I think) and worked very well the whole time. Fast enough for Netflix with no buffering. Well worth it, but buy online!

Thanks. Hope there's an offer on Voom before April!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I have just returned back from a 7 night South Pacific cruise onboard Voyager of the Seas, below is my somewhat lengthy review. I apologise in advance if it is tedious or boring. I didn't do every activity but tried to do most of the things offered onboard. I am also happy to answer any questions anyone might have. I will attempt to add photos after the review.

 

Embarkation

Embarkation in Sydney was very smooth. I arrived at the port at 1pm and was onboard by 1.30. The porters came straight up to the car boot to take our bags, so I go go straight through to checkin with no wait followed negligible wait for security.

 

Cabin

I had cabin 8392 which is an aft balcony. It felt spacious for its size, with the beds by the balcony and a 2 seater couch. The beds were very comfortable, not too soft or hard. The balcony was great! The larger size and the two loungers were most welcome, plus the superstructure actually allowed for some nice photos. It's location at the far back of the ship was good as it meant I had to walk to the lifts, and it was nice and quiet.

 

Dining

Main Dining Room - The food in the MDR this cruise for dinner was excellent as was the service. Our table had Stanley as our waiter with Tijana as his assistant. They both took good care of our table. Escargot was offered and ordered every night. The menu order was; Mojo, Saffron (Formal), Shiitake, Coconut, Sage, Celery (Formal) and Pomodoro (Christmas Menu) . On the first formal night, I did the Chops steak which was only $10 that night, it was one of the best steaks I've had. On the second formal night, I did the Lobster for $20, it was of very good quality that would rival some land restaurants. For the final night there was a special Christmas Menu, the Turkey was absolutely divine. Pepper Grinders were available every night. MDR lunch and the Tutti Salad Bar were as always excellent.

Windjammer - The windjammer had a very substandard selection on this cruise. Puff pastry rapped Meatloaf was available on the carvery twice for lunch, with beef and ham only on one day each. Long lines formed formed of 30+ people for the single fries station the whole cruise, no attempt to fix the issue. The breakfast was very poor as well with most of the food cold and tasteless. But I must point out that the Bananas were in a bowl next to the ketchup and mayo, well away from the other fruit. (Hopefully you get this)

Cafe Promenade - I enjoyed Cafe Promenade very much, the Cheesecake Lollipops were to die for as were the coconut ranger cookies. These and all the other selection were available every second day. The pizza in the other hand was horrible and dry. The milkshakes here using the Ben and Jerry's ice cream was very good.

Izumi - Izumi was easily my best meal onboard. I had a sashimi platter which was very fresh and high quality. I also had a chicken breast hot rock and enjoyed it very much. The service here was impeccable here.

Giovanni's Table - Did Giovanni's for lunch on the final sea day as it was 20% off and enjoyed it very much. It was an 8 course degustation lunch. The highlights were the lasagna and the antipasto platter both of which I enjoyed. The fried seafood on the other hand was terrible.

Room Service - Breakfast was good. They always were on time and had better food than the windjammer. At others times it took a long time to get food, although the honey stung chicken was worth the wait.

 

Entertainment

Production Showtimes - This cruise had two production showtimes. The first show "Broadway Rhythm and Rhyme" was very entertaining. The singers and dancers were spectacular in this Broadway tribute. The second show "Music in Pictures" was equally as good. They singers and dancers were very professional in both performances.

Headliner Showtimes - This voyage had a rather disappointing selection of headliner showtimes. Whilst they were all good, it would be nice not to have the same comedian twice and two different Beatles tribute bands. The farewell show with Bruno Lucia was the best of the bunch, he was very funny and had the whole crowd interacting and laughing along.

Ice Show - Ice Odyssey was extremely impressive. Repeated 5 times throughout the cruise, I went twice and was just as amazed at the skill of the skaters the second time round. Whilst the storyline was difficult to follow at times it seemed to generally flow and make sense.

Live Music - Kieran in the Pig and Whistle was very good, he had the whole crowd singing along with him. Maggy in the Piano Bar was also enjoyable and had a sizeable crowd.

 

Onboard Activities

Parties - The parties on this ship were good, with Elise the activities manager being the

life of all of the parties. I went to the Glow Party in Studio B, The Dancing Under the Stars party on the pool deck during which we did the Mannequin Challenge and the 70's Disco Inferno Party on the Royal Promenade where we had a conga line stretching the length of the Promenade and all did the YMCA dance with the Macho Men. Overall the party scene on this cruise was very lively and fun!

Ice Skating - You had to arrive early for ice skating, as the sessions were often full well in advance. I went a 1pm once and was given a ticket for the 3:30-4pm session, with others having to come back on another day. The rink is only 1/4 size however is still a lot of fun.

Flowrider - The flowrider was very difficult although also very fun. They had stand up sessions from 9-11am and 3-5pm and a boogie boarding session from 11am-3pm every day of the cruise.

Bingo - Bingo was offered everyday at 4pm in the star lounge for $38 and if you repeated Elise's morning show passcode you got an extra game card for the final game. I won $410 on one occasion and got payed out in cash at Guest Services. Charlotte and Elise who ran this were full of energy and made it lots of fun.

Trivia - I only attended a few of the trivia sessions on this cruise that were run by Grace. They had general knowledge trivia in the mornings and music trivia in the afternoon most days. I did well on the ABBA and Beatles trivia, coming second and third. I also tried Christmas trivia, which I was ok at.

3D Movies - There was a 3D Movie in the La Scala Theatre at 2pm and 10:30pm most days. I saw The Martian one night and Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children during the first sea day. Other movies on included Trolls, All of the Kung Fu Pandas, X-Men Apocalypse and the latest Star Wars.

Christmas Carnival - On the final sea day there was a Christmas Carnival. It was a great way to celebrate the holidays on the ship. The singers did a carols concert with everybody singing along in the Royal Promenade which was absolutely packed to capacity. Santa did photo ops in front of the Christmas Tree and the kids got to decorate and eat gingerbread cookies. They even made it snow in the promenade over the singers and guests.

 

Ports

Mare - In Mare I was on the first tender off the ship at 8:30, before tender tickets were required. I chose to go to Yejele Beach, and booked a transfer through Royal for $10 each way. It had beautiful white sands and coral for snorkelling close to the shore. As it was warm and sunny the beach got busy quickly. I left around 1:30 and headed back to the ship. I visited the markets in Tadine, where the tenders docked before joining the long queue for a tender back to the ship. The ship left early at 4pm as everyone was onboard and a storm had begun to arrive.

Noumea - We arrived in Noumea at 11pm on Friday night instead of the scheduled 10am Saturday arrival due to the storm arriving in Mare. We were able to get off to experience the nightlife in Lemon Bay. The ship ran a shuttle for $10 each way between Midnight and 4am. During the day I did a City Sights, Beach and Aquarium tour organised by Royal Caribbean. We were supposed to leave at 10:45am but didn't leave until 11:30 due to the disorganisation on the dock. We visited two lookouts, one used as a firing point for cannons by Australia in World War 2. We visited the beach to have lunch which was provided. After this we went to the Aquarium which was absolutely stunning. Loads of fish, turtles and coral, all of which is released and replenished every 6 months. We arrived back at the ship at 3:30pm for the ships 4:30pm departure.

 

Disembarkation

I had tag 20 which was supposed to be called at 8:45. At 9am there was an announcement for all tags 16-22 to now proceed to the gangway, this led to absolute chaos with hundreds all trying to get off at the same time. I waited over an hour to get off, with the line stretching the Casino round the port side lifts, through the stair lobby, out the starboard side board, all the way to the back of the ship and then forward again. They only had 2 staff members doing the whole things which really slowed things down.

 

Summary

Overall I had a great cruise onboard Voyager of the Seas. Cruise Director Mitch, his staff Charlotte and Grace and Activities Manager Elise really made this cruise fun and memorable, I hope to sail with them again and would not hesitate to book Voyager of the Seas again.

Thank you for this great review. I do a two night sampler cruise on this boat with quite a bit of on board credit. The duty free will not be available because we are still in Australian waters. Are there other shops that we can spend some money. I've not been able to book spa treatments for some reason. It's blocked. And I'm not a huge drinker. Any thoughts. ? Ta

Hi J Busworth, Thank you for a great review. I was also on this cruise with my young grandson and we both had a very enjoyable cruise as well. Although I did not think much of the food presentation or menu selection in the MDR. In my opinion it is no where near where it used to be. You are correct the wait staff in the MDR are excellent and Thomas our Head waiter did everything he could to make it an enjoyable experience for us.

Although after more than 10 cruises with RCL I had never come across a more miserable room attendant. It was about 3 days into the cruise before I even met him and I found him to be extremely grumpy, he obviously did not enjoy his job and showed it.

I noticed that this was the first time that sometimes within minutes of arriving in our room that we did not get the familiar knock on the door, an introduction and sometimes a card left for contact should we need anything.

But the bottle of bubbly left in our room with cookies was appreciated by all of us.

We had a lovely young lady cleaning our room but clearly had a lot of work to do. I think because we were at a very high capacity with a lot of families - extra beds and bunks to makeup, that housekeeping was stretched. Our room was very large with a lot of windows to clean, 1 1/2 bathrooms, king bed and bunk room. But it was always spotless.

We have had only a few grumpies over many cruises. No extra tip left for them!

I noticed that this was the first time that sometimes within minutes of arriving in our room that we did not get the familiar knock on the door, an introduction and sometimes a card left for contact should we need anything.

But the bottle of bubbly left in our room with cookies was appreciated by all of us.

We had a lovely young lady cleaning our room but clearly had a lot of work to do. I think because we were at a very high capacity with a lot of families - extra beds and bunks to makeup, that housekeeping was stretched. Our room was very large with a lot of windows to clean, 1 1/2 bathrooms, king bed and bunk room. But it was always spotless.

We have had only a few grumpies over many cruises. No extra tip left for them!

Hi Megsie, Like you we had no complaints about the tidiness or cleanliness of the room, he always left it spotless. Maybe RCL have cut staff in housekeeping as well and they no longer have time for the introductions on arrival and offer to assist as you much as possible during the cruise.

misterb25,

I believe you're right about cutting back on housekeeping with less time for individual introductions and personal assistance.

I know we had a fabulous room for around $100 a day each on this cruise. Maybe the cutbacks are for RCI to stay competitive and sustaining a pricing level for attracting new cruisers, as there were lots on this cruise.

Hi guys, I too was on this cruise and I just had to jump online and say I was sorry to hear about your experiences with housekeeping, but that we got our knock on the door and calling-card that afternoon.

Hubby had had a shoulder reconstruction 6 weeks prior and still needed ice packs overnight, I had purchased a little screw-top 'baggy' and our ice was waiting for us of an evening ready to replenish the baggy.

Not sure what else might have been taking place to cause the appearance of cutbacks elsewhere but just wanted to pop my 2 cents in as a 'Loyal to Royal' :-)

Glad to hear you guys still enjoyed your cruise though and see you around online or on the high seas :-)

Hi guys, I too was on this cruise and I just had to jump online and say I was sorry to hear about your experiences with housekeeping, but that we got our knock on the door and calling-card that afternoon.

 

Hubby had had a shoulder reconstruction 6 weeks prior and still needed ice packs overnight, I had purchased a little screw-top 'baggy' and our ice was waiting for us of an evening ready to replenish the baggy.

 

Not sure what else might have been taking place to cause the appearance of cutbacks elsewhere but just wanted to pop my 2 cents in as a 'Loyal to Royal' :-)

 

Glad to hear you guys still enjoyed your cruise though and see you around online or on the high seas :-)

This was the first time I had come across this, as you I have previously always found the stewards so friendly and eager to please. I have always been loyal to Royal and love cruising with them, but this guy just took be aback with his attitude and demeanour. As stated earlier it was 3 days before I met him and that was in the corridor outside our cabin. The second last night there was the usual envelope for an extra tip and his card on the bed. Needless to say we did not bother putting anything extra in his envelope.

How was internet service aboard? Did you experience any outages while running between islands?

Thank you for this great review. I do a two night sampler cruise on this boat with quite a bit of on board credit. The duty free will not be available because we are still in Australian waters. Are there other shops that we can spend some money. I've not been able to book spa treatments for some reason. It's blocked. And I'm not a huge drinker. Any thoughts. ? Ta

Lots - including with expensive things. Many watches, including high-end e.g. Omega, Longines, handbags (Coach store as I recall), plus Guess bags and accessories, perfume, cosmetics, plus general RCL souvenir/product.

Plus you can also buy products from the Spa if you want to.

How was internet service aboard? Did you experience any outages while running between islands?

I only used it for a couple of days without any issues, it was ok for browsing and Facebook chats but I could not send or receive emails but I think that had more to do with my ISP. Not too sure as I am not technical enough with these things.

Hi Megsie, Like you we had no complaints about the tidiness or cleanliness of the room, he always left it spotless. Maybe RCL have cut staff in housekeeping as well and they no longer have time for the introductions on arrival and offer to assist as you much as possible during the cruise.

Maybe it depends on timing as well. I've sometimes only seen the steward around 8-9 and they say sorry that they hadn't seen me earlier. If you're out exploring and at dinner and shows, you may miss them.

Hi guys, I too was on this cruise and I just had to jump online and say I was sorry to hear about your experiences with housekeeping, but that we got our knock on the door and calling-card that afternoon.

 

Hubby had had a shoulder reconstruction 6 weeks prior and still needed ice packs overnight, I had purchased a little screw-top 'baggy' and our ice was waiting for us of an evening ready to replenish the baggy.

 

Not sure what else might have been taking place to cause the appearance of cutbacks elsewhere but just wanted to pop my 2 cents in as a 'Loyal to Royal' :-)

 

Glad to hear you guys still enjoyed your cruise though and see you around online or on the high seas :-)

Didn't bother us but thought it may have been due to housekeeping time restraints as misterb25 mentioned it also.

We were more than happy with our welcome back gift - bottle of bubbly and the grandkids were quickly into the 4 platters of cookies left for us!

I might mention that our waiter at dinner was exceptional - and we've had a few of those at times.

We had young grandkids with us, one is a fussy eater - his favourite food at the moment is pancakes. So each night after the main course, out came a plate of pancakes for the children to share and have with their hot chocolate. As well as a few magic tricks shown to the kids.

We really had a great cruise.

Off to try Ovation in 4 weeks.

I might mention that our waiter at dinner was exceptional - and we've had a few of those at times.

We had young grandkids with us, one is a fussy eater - his favourite food at the moment is pancakes. So each night after the main course, out came a plate of pancakes for the children to share and have with their hot chocolate. As well as a few magic tricks shown to the kids..

Good to hear Megsie, we had awesome waiters as well, as always... I get so sad when I have to say goodbye to them but we got some lovely pictures to remember them by. One of our waiters was keen on the magic tricks as well :-)

Have a great time on Ovation, we did her sister Quantum in 2015 and she was *beautiful*, our favourite ship of the fleet (well for now but one day I am getting my butt on Oasis, Allure or Harmony... can you tell I like the big girls?) :)

Thankyou, enjoyed reading your review. I have to ask, what is a mannequin challenge?

Sent from my iPad using Forums