Just off Voyager of the Seas (01/22/05-01/29/05)

We did the Voyager of the Seas last week - Eastern Caribbean route.

This was our first cruise with RCCL. Our previous 2 cruises were with Princess (Grand and Golden ships -2003, 2004 respectively).

We enjoyed our Princess cruises, but wanted to see what was being offered on other lines (itineraries, ships, etc). We chose to go with RCI because of it's good reputation, large class ships, and this particular itinerary (Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan, Labadee).

Embarkation:

The terminal in Miami used by RCI seems more developed than the one used by Princess in Port Everglades. We arrived at 2:30, to be greeted by long line ups. Boarded by 4 pm. Muster drill at approx. 5 pm in Cleopatra's Needle.

Muster Drill/Cleopatra's Needle:

This was our first chance to see a public area of the ship. Unfortunately the first impression was not impressive as this lounge and its furniture need some cleaning and care. Several of the chairs were ripped, torn and almost all were stained. We did not let this first impression deter our outlook on the cruise....however...

Windjammer Cafe:

Closed when we arrived on board (around 4 pm). We had been traveling all day, arriving hungry to the ship. On previous Princess cruises, food was abundant and always available from the Horizon Court. We had to settle for a small piece of oily pizza at the Cafe Promenade (the only 2 flavours being pepperoni or cheese for the entire duration of the cruise...sometimes they splurged and brought out the vegetarian pizza slices).

Throughout the course of the cruise, our impression of Windjammer was not the greatest. The food was not the quality you would expect on a cruise (as compared to our previous cruises). The food did tend to repeat itself. The staff in the Windjammer were not the most eager to clean off tables or offer refreshments. Most times we had to find a staff member and ask them to clean the table as we stood beside it. On Princess, as soon as a table became available, it was being cleaned - no need to ask. RCI employees seemed to run away or turn a blind eye. Availability of food poor in the afternoon (after 3 pm) (the only other option is Cafe Promenade which serves the same limited selection of sandwiches, greasy pizza, and cookies). This is the same situation after the shows in the evening (after 9 pm). This is highly contrasted with Princess, who offer 24 hour buffet where we could go and grab some fresh fruit or anything we liked after a show. Availability and Quality of food was a disappointment in Windjammer.

Johnny Rockets:

Great service, good quality of food...there is a service charge though. We ate this on the first night as they are open late (1 am).

Dining Room:

Beautiful dining room - 3 floors. This was our first time having traditional dining as we previously used personal choice dining on princess. RCI apparently does not do a good job at seating people. There were 2 couples at our table on the first night that were part of larger groups (none of the groups got seated together). Furthermore, since we're a young couple, when we booked our cruise our travel agent asked if they seat people together according to age, language, etc. They said that yes, we would be seated with other young couples. We were not. In the end, we sat for the duration of the cruise at a table set for 11 people, where only 4 people remained. This was poor planning in terms of seating arrangements on behalf of RCI. The food in the dining room was above average only 2 nights of the 7 (lobster night was one of them). In comparison to Princess, the menu selections seemed cheap, although the presentation of these dishes was nice. The menu at Portofino's (where you're faced with a $20 surcharge per person) more closely resembles the daily dining room menu on Princess. Service overall in the dining room was good - we liked our waiter. Waiters were forced to sing and dance, which seemed a little cheesy.

Stateroom:

We can compare balcony staterooms on both cruise lines. We liked RCI's room better because it had more storage areas, a nice closet which allowed ample room and proper organization of clothes. Also, they have a couch which was nice. The shower stall is enclosed with a door (as opposed to a curtain on Princess), and it actually seemed bigger as a result. Stateroom attendants were nice and accomodated us with robes (although we had a hard time getting them at first because we are not crown and anchor members - our first cruise with them). On princess, robes are available no matter what your status is with the cruise line.

Theatre:

We liked the large, 3 level La Scala theatre on RCI. We never had a problem finding a seat. This was not the case on Princess where smaller theatre make seating much more difficult.

Cruise Director:

Becky Thomson was the cruise director. At first, she seemed full of energy, fun, and nice. However, her conduct through introductions of the shows, events, etc made us cringe - and she became annoying. She constantly likes to remind her staff that she's in charge. While it is nice to see the cruise director participate, she severely limits her cruise staff's interactions with the audience. This was not the case on Princess where we had the privilege of having Graham Seymour and his assistant, Gavin. There were many times that Gavin took over the show, many times that Graham led the show and also other cruise staff...it was much more balanced and we got to know more of the cruise staff.

Private Island:

We loved Labadee. The island is set up for all types of activities - swimming, snorkling, parasailing, banana boats, seatreks....and if you're not a water person, there's beautiful stone shady nature trails for hiking. Tendering was a breeze with RCI's large tenders. On Princess you basically had to jump a few feet onto the tender, and the tenders were smaller. Princess Cays was less diverse, with mostly only beach and a few activities (not many shady areas).

Purser's Desk:

What a disgrace. We never had any errors on our stateroom account with Princess. On RCI there were 3 separate incidents. Upon notifying the Purser's desk of the first error, it took them 4 days and 2 reminders to reverse the charge. Then we got a room service charge for $8.05. We never ordered room service. We got that reversed after much aggrevation. Then, apparently we weren't the only ones who were charged for using the mini bar ($9.20) when we had not. Other passengers who had been waiting in line for 45 minutes (like we had) were as well charged for services which they had not used. BEWARE - check your stateroom account thoroughly, right until the time you leave the ship. Just one final note, the staff manning the Purser's desk were extremely unhelpful and were in short supply as there were 2 to 3 staff members with 30+people waiting in line over the course of the last 3 days (we never saw the line the clear over the last few days)...what a way to spend time on your vacation..standing in line.

Disembarkation:

This was a horror. We had a flight out of Ft. Lauderdale at 11:30 am. Upon notifing the purser's desk of our flight well ahead of time during the cruise, we were issued tags that would disembark us between 9:45 to 10:45 am. Considering it takes at LEAST 30 minutes to get from Miami to Ft Lauderdale, and that we were taking an international flight, this was unaccepable. We immediately notified the purser's desk, and they provided us tags for 8:45 to 9:45 am disembarkation (indicating that this was the absolute earliest time we could get off).

There was no organization of lines during disembarkation. Passengers were fighting amongst themselves for a place in the makeshift crowded line which spanned over 3 levels of the ship, and around staircases. Interestingly, there was not 1 staff member to be seen. No one checked for coloured tags when exiting the ship - so the line consisted of every tag colour, meaning that those who could have left the ship later may have been in line to get off early. There was no opportunity to punch your cruise card out of the ship - it is a wonder how RCI can keep track of who actually left the ship, and who is still onboard (wasn't there a case where they recently lost track of a passenger?!). Disembarkation on Princess was a breeze - we were off by 8:30/9 am both times. This time, on RCI, we were standing in the huge customs line at 10:30 am...needless to say, we missed our flight - thanks RCI.

Overall, we enjoyed the ports of call. It was an interesting experience being on another carrier and seeing what other cruise companies are offering. The VOS ship did not look like it was cared for as well as the Princess ships, however the rock climbing wall and ice skating shows were a nice attraction. The food was disappointing, and service in Windjammer was lousy. The private island was amazing.

If anyone has any questions about our trip which we didn't cover, just ask.

J&S.

We missed our flight too..so exhausting to wait hours for another plane due to getting off the ship in time, unbelievable. Only have sailed on the Voyager, our 2nd cruise but next time we will at least explore another ship.

Agree with everything else said although did not try Johnny Rockets and couldn't say enough good about the wait staff in the dining room. The week is now a blur, had a good time but the strongest memories are of getting on the ship and off, the long, long lines.

You expected to get from Mia to FLL and still make an 1130 flight . Sorry but thats your own fault you shouldnt of booked a flight before 1 pm if you knew you had to commute to a different city for the airport. Ive never booked one before 1 even when leaving from the same city. Can't blame Rccl for a bad decision. Debarkation is a nightmare on every cruise Ive ever been on. Great way to end a beautiful vacation :rolleyes:

Thanks for your review though. Im not very picky as far as food and I dont notice stains so Im not worried about that. I didnt realize the staff was suppose to get your drinks in the Windjammer either. I thought you always got your own. It was like that when I was on the Golden.

They also screwed up my acct on one cruise and the purser was a nightmare. but eventually (and I mean eventually with arguing) it was taken care of.

Im glad you liked the theatre ...how were the shows...the ice shows....quest????

Hi Neighbours! We are on the same cruise as you on Mar. 5. Sorry to hear your trip wasn't what it could have been. Just a couple of questions.....Were the other five dinners just bland or so-so or just not good period? In your opinion is the CD simply protecting her turf or is she insecure? This is important because friction and problems with the CD and staff can make or break a cruise....What was the overall feeling with your cruise from your shipmates perspective? It is weird how one sailing be so-so and the next excellent.... Was the general mood off the crew neutral or negative? That is more than a couple of questions so I'll stop here. Thank you.

I have to say that I agree with Maria. Did you book your own flight coming back? That's simply way too early to make a flight. While I do agree with you on some aspects..(especially the lack of available food in late afternoon) we still had an awesome time. We just went with the flow. Disembarkation is a nightmare anyway..nobody wants to get off the ship...and everyone's in a crappy mood cause their vacation's over! Our disembarkation last Feb was a breeze..although we did have to wait in line to do so.

Better luck next time!:)

This was the worst disembarcation we have ever seen in 17 cruises. We had a 11:00 flight from Miami (and had notified the desk of this time)and at 9:45 our color tag(yellow) had still not been called. When I went to look the line to leave the ship was huge and people with color tags (green) were still waiting to get off. I asked some of them when their flight was and they said not until that evening. We were sitting with people who had an 11:30 flight and their color tag was the next to the last to get off.

Did you guys book the flights on your own?:confused:

I will agree that RCI's disembarkation is not that great. A hint for other travelers-tell them your flight is much earlier than it really is. I know the last 2 RCI cruises that I took(Mariner, Explorer) both had extra colored tags in piles at the pursers desk. I just found out which color was for when I wanted to leave the ship( I think a schedule was left in my cabin), and took enough for my bags. No questions, no problems. I will tell you that the best disembarkation that I ever had was on Disney. Maybe thats why they charge so much??? Anyway, on DCL, you could leave whenever you wanted. I believe they told us that we had to be off by 10am, but you leave anytime before that once the ship cleared customs. Luggage was all in areas based on what deck you were on. All you did was walk down the aisle and pick up your bag and went to customs.

Thanks for your honest review of the Voyager. I am sorry you had some issues during your cruise, but it doesn't sound like you let them spoil your vacation.

I am cruising on the Voyager in June, out of NJ, so I won't have to deal with worrying about flights. But we sailed on the Disney Magic last fall and I'm afraid the Voyager will be a bit of a letdown. Ripped and dirty chairs would never be allowed on a Disney ship.

I'm glad you liked the cabin. We're in a balcony cabin also, so I have high hopes for that aspect of the cruise. We loved our verandah cabin on the Magic and have decided to always have a balcony/verandah whenever we cruise. :) Nothing like seeing the water from your own private space.

As for the dancing and singing waiters; I am always embarrassed for them when they're forced to do that. I agree with you, it's VERY cheesy. Very ridiculous. We sailed on the Nordic Empress last July 4th and the poor foreign servers in the diningroom had to read/sing patriotic songs. These are not songs they are familiar with, they probably are only forced to sing them once a year. They were trying to read the lyrics as they were singing. Again, ridiculous and embarrassing. I want VERY GOOD (EXCELLENT) service from my waiter and assistant waiter, I couldn't care less about seeing them sing and dance. Give me a break, RCI! (I realize most cruise lines make their waiters do this, not just RCI).

Regarding food on a cruise ship: As long as I'm not cooking, the meal is automatically "ok". LOL However, I've not had many meals on a cruise ship that I would consider to be "excellent" or even "very good". We dine out a lot at home, and the food on a cruise ship is obviously cooked for the masses, and it's comparable to "wedding reception" food. I understand this, though, and now that I've cruised a couple of times, I'm prepared for that quality of food.

I'm glad to see Labadee get another good review. I'm hoping for a good beach day while there :)

Again, thanks for the review :)

So sorry you did not scan these boards before your cruise.:(

You would have learned from numerous threads that...

1. You never book a return flight until after 12:00. There is at least one thread a week about that topic and it usuall contains the words "Is this too early."

2. That one should arrive at the pier around 11:00 for embarkation to get teh most out of the day and enjoy the windjammer for lunch. Then you don't get caught up in all of the crowds of people that think they can't board until 2:00 and miss the windjammer which does close to transition from lunch to dinner around 4.

3. That tipping early makes the robes appear a bit faster.

4. That your room steward will gladly exchange your tags fro an earlier disembarkation time. All you have to do is ask.

We just returned from the same ship. We had a great time. It was our first cruise and couln't have been happier with our choice. For those of you who may have cruising with us you may remember me, the "crutch girl". I was the one who broke my foot at the Vault the very first night. Didn't let it slow us down though. We still enjoyed all of the ports, except Nassau as we were in the medical center that morning!!;)

We met tons of great people and we will definitely be cruising again. My one and only complaint- disembarkation...what a ZOO!! Luckily, since I was on crutches, they let me out via a wheelchair through another line... a much quicker line! I guess that was one nice thing about being on crutches!

RCI made loyal cruisers out of these two 30-somethings!!

I was on this cruise also!!! We saw you Crutch girl...We had the 19 yr. old in the wheelchair, sprained his ankle at the Quest!!!!

I agree the food was adequate, HAd to send the N.Y. Strip steak back twice. Yuck...It was like shoe leather. Have had much better on the Monarch in '02!Must admit Portofino's was outstanding!! Wish they had more of a variety in the windjammer also.

We asked our steward for robes day #2, after already tiping her 10. We were told we were not platnium members yet so we didn't get robes and we were in a JS!!!! :(

Disembarcation was absolutely terrible. How do you keep a 5 yr old sitting still for 2 hours?

Will post my whole review in a few days... :rolleyes:

Trudy

We are also sailing on the Voyager in June. Thanks for the review.

We just came back from the Voyager also! "Crutch Girl" I heard that someone broke their foot the first night! Overall, I think it was a good cruise. In regards to food I thought it was not that bad. I have been on a few cruises and all inclusive vacations and the food is usually average.

I would order room service more often for breakfast. Too many people in the Windjammer first thing in the morning (my husband waited about 20 minutes for an omlette)

I thought Becky the cruise director was actually quite funny and quick witted.

The ice show was actually very good. Better than I expected. I thought the entertainment was better than other RC ships I have been on.

There was always a line at Guest Relations. I did have to wait in it once when I lost my card. Always seemed they had only two people working.

The bartender at the Champagne Bar was great! Went for a spa treatment..don't like how they pressure you to purchase product..although they seem to do that on every ship.

Our flight to Boston was at 1:50p.m. Our color was probably called at 10:15-10:30 and we were at the airport by about 12:00p.m.

GO PATS:D

Just a bump to see if the Canuks come back to us.

I was on the Jan 5th sailing of the Voyager and did not seem to have any of these problems. We have cruised 9 times with RCI, We were told by RCI before we cruised that they had a new security rules in effect beginning Jan 1st and it may take a little longer to get on and off. We were delayed in Miami trying to board, but this was do to immigrations and getting people off the ship. I feel these are not RCI fault, they must follow the immigrations laws. As far as food, we enjoyed it all, and cant believe someone would think food was in short supply, We had a great time, we are sailing on the Mariner this Sunday FEb 6th and cant wait

I'm not trying to be funny -- but who books an 11am flight when they're getting off of a cruise ship? I can't imagine booking a flight that early -- the last thing I want to do is feel rushed to get off of the ship...

sorry you didn't have a good time. I loved voyager last May, and I'm looking forward to sailing her again this upcoming May.

Hello???

Canucks????

Are you out there????

I guess our review was a little harsh because people are thinking that we didn't have a good time on the ship. That's not true, we had a great time - it was a cruise afterall! We love cruises, and they beat land vacations any day. We just wanted to express that we didn't feel that this cruise lived up to the expectations set by our previous ones.

As for the 11:30 am flight, we had the same time (and earlier) on our previous cruises and had no trouble making it off the ship in time. This was a clear disembarkation problem with RCI, and many have posted about this disorganization on RCI's part lately.

Hi Neighbours! We are on the same cruise as you on Mar. 5. Sorry to hear your trip wasn't what it could have been. Just a couple of questions.....Were the other five dinners just bland or so-so or just not good period? In your opinion is the CD simply protecting her turf or is she insecure? This is important because friction and problems with the CD and staff can make or break a cruise....What was the overall feeling with your cruise from your shipmates perspective? It is weird how one sailing be so-so and the next excellent.... Was the general mood off the crew neutral or negative? That is more than a couple of questions so I'll stop here. Thank you.

Hi BobBeaSea! Answers to the questions you've been waiting for:

1.The other dinners we're bland, they were fine, but more of the sort of meals I would make at home - not the kind I would expect at a 4/5 star resort. The cuts of meat weren't great (chicken legs served, instead of chicken breast; fatty beef as steak) and seafood pasta had 3 small shrimps in it. The meals didn't taste bad, just I expected higher quality and more exotic foods (as an examle, princess had frog legs etc).

2. I think she was protecting her turf...I don't think she's insecure as she's always flaunting hersef.

3. Can't comment on other shipmates perspectives...however, I know that others at are table mentioned that some of the shows were offensive and rowdy.

4. The mood of the crew seemed neutral - our room steward team was always laughing which always made my day. However, I noticed that the crew complained about eachother! One busboy cleaning off our table complained about the other lazy people working in the Windjammer making him do most of the cleaning (but then he added....but I have a wife and children, so I have to work hard)...?

5.Your observation about one cruise being different from the other has a great deal of truth to it. We were at the airport and another couple told us that they had been on 3 Princess and 3 RCI and they said they prefer the latter. Go figure - it is all personal preference...or luck of the draw as to which particular voyage you join.

I have had an 11:30 flight before but only when disembarking from Fort Lauderdale and flying out from there. Would never dream of an 11:30 flight when disembarking from Miami...You should have insisted on white or beige tags...

Thank you Canuks! I have not cruised in 12 years (Sovereign 2x) and these boards are telling me that some things haven't changed much but others have. I have done AIs' - all 5* throughout the Caribbean and Mexico and none of them could touch the Sovereign's food. What is loud and clear on this board is the food ain't what it used to be. Must be one of the trade-offs because the price of our Mar. cruise is about what I paid in '93. Happy Cruising and thanks again.

I'm going to be on Voyager the week of 3/12/05. We booked everything right throught RCI. The flight going down is reasonable, but they booked us onto an 11:00 am flight coming back. Odds are we're going to miss the flight but if that's the case we'll just have them book us on a flight leaving the next day and grab a taxi to a hotel. Not going to complain about having to spend an extra day in Miami. Besides every trip is what you make of it. No use worrying about something you have no control over. Five weeks and counting.

Loved the Voyager, sorry about your review. Food was fine for us, disembarkation was a little rough, but we got through it. We didn't have to fly anywhere, just jump in the car and go home, so we didn't have the stress of trying to make a flight. Our room steward was great to us, and he didn't even get an early tip, just the end of the cruise tip. We also had a problem with being charged for the room refrigerator, but that was cleared up in 2 days. The wait staff in the Windjammer always offered us juice with our breakfast. Our waiter in the dining room knew our names immediately and gave us some "extras", like extra rolls and one night my son couldn't decide between two entrees, so the waiter (Virgilio) served him a little of both meals. We loved the cruise and we are returning to the Voyager in August. :)

Sorry to hear you had so many problems on Voyager. We have cruised on Royal Caribbean about 18 times and have never had that many problems on a cruise. Sure, mix-ups can occur anywhere, anytime. I guess I'm not hard to please, especially when I'm on vacation. The dining room food has definitely evolved since our first cruise 22 years ago. All in all, we think it's gotten better. There have been occasions when I didn't care for my meal, but I've never had a waiter or assistant waiter who didn't bend over backwards to make everything all right - from bringing me something that wasn't even on the menu to exchanging one platter for another. I often order the vegetarian entree as a side dish and never had a problem.

To show you how people's experiences can differ, I'll relate a true story to you from our first Princess cruise. I don't know why, but we were seated at the captain's table. At that time (I don't know if it's different now), when you're assigned to the captain's table, you sit there every night, although the captain is sometimes at the other seating. You would also logically expect to have the best waitstaff in the dining room. One night when Captain Lago wasn't at dinner, they served lamb chops. My husband loves lamb chops and happily ordered them. When they came, there was no mint jelly served, so he asked the assistant waiter for some. The AW said he would have to ask the waiter about it. The waiter walked over, and when my husband asked about mint jelly, the waiter's reply (and this is almost a direct quote) was, "Are you sure you want mint jelly? I would have to go all the way back to the kitchen for that. Do you want ME to go ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE KITCHEN?" as if my husband could march himself into the kitchen for it. On the same trip, we found the cruise staff to be stuffy and unfriendly. After that trip, we gave Princess one more try. Things weren't much better, so we've never gone on her ships again. We have friends who won't travel on anything but Princess (after trying other lines). That's why they make chocolate and vanilla.