Back from the Voyager 02/05

Just got back yesterday from the 02/05 cruise on the Voyager- Eastern Caribbean.

I don't really want to write an in depth review of the cruise but I will put down a few of my observations.

Embarkation - pretty good. We arrived at about 11:00 am and waited in lines till about 12:30. We had to wait for immigration to clear the previous passengers and that was the reason for the hold up. No fault of RCI, and they had huge trays of cookies and drinks while we waited. We were in our room by 1:00 pm.

The Ship - is starting to show its age. My only frame of reference is our trip on the Explorer two years ago, and in my opinion it was a nicer ship, cleaner, and more tastefully decorated. The Voyager is nice, but not what the Explorer was. We also noticed a bit of a sewage smell in the hallways a couple of nights, but not in the cabin or public areas.

The Food - was great. I don't see why people complain about RCI, Windjammers buffet was always good, lots of variety and few lines. The dining room was good as well, not gourmet dining, but then you aren't paying for that. The food is every bit as good as most restaurants you would visit, 5 star places excluded of course.

We did go to Portofino's one night and it was nothing short of excellent, both the service and the food. Filet Mignon and Tiramisu, definitely worth the price of admission. Don't miss it.

The Service - was excellent. Dining room staff, cabin staff, everyone was friendly and courteous. There were always people cleaning, both the cabins and public areas.

The Weather - was windy. Started out and ended in Miami which was in the 60's at the start and finish. In between it was nice, mid to high 70's sunny, although always windy at sea. The seas were a bit rough most of the time. A lot of people we talked to were sick the first couple of days from the movement of the boat. My wife and I and our two children (9 and 14) had no problems. But you could feel the rocking most of the time and they closed tohe pools a could of nights because the water was splashing out everywhere.

The Passengers - were good and bad.We met some really great people on board. Our daughter (9) couldn't get enough of the Adventure Ocean (kids club). She spent a lot of time there. And our son ended up meeting other kids at Optics and was usually up with them well after we had had ended our days.

But I must say that we also ran into (literally) quite a few rude people as well. In lines at Windjammers, table hogs, etc. People would drop food on the floor and make no attempt to even pick it up, slop around in the food, they were just pigs. Not generally but enough for me to notice. I don't know whether they just have the attitude that they are on vacation so anything goes, or if they are just slobs all the time. A lot of people were just rude, maybe they were not feeling well from the rocking and rolling but, a little courtesy doesn't hurt.

We met the Cruise Critic folks at the meet and mingle and they were all great, and we bumped into them a few times here and there later.

The Shows - were ok. We only made it to 3 but the ones we saw were pretty good. A Beatles clone band were excellent, a pair of comedians were aslo pretty good, and song and dance numbers from RC dancers were ok.

The Ports - were all pretty good. Nassau wasn't particularily good, but our stops in St Thomas, San Juan and Labadee were great. We didn't book any tours, just got off the sip and did our own thing.

In St Thomas we just walked onto an open air bus that took us on a tour of the highlights and then dropped us at Coki Beach for snorkeling. It was too wavy to do much snorkeling but the kids had fun in the waves on the beach.

We left the kids on the ship in San Juan and the two of us just waked the old city for four hours. It was great, going at our own speed and we saw pretty much everything there was to see, and then just did some shopping.

Labadee is always a nice day, snorkeling, haggling with the vendors (if you like that, and just relaxing on the beaches. My wife and son rented a Waverunner and they had a lot of fun with that.

Overally, I'd rate it a 7.5 out of 10. Had the passengers been better it would have been an 8.5.

Overall, it was a nice vacation.

Hi Horrorfan glad you had a great time, it was nice to meet you and the other cruise critic members. we are looking at the Brillance Feb 06.. maybe we,ll see ya out there again......... take care....

Thank you for posting. We are on the same ship/itinerary Mar. 5. Sorry to hear you had rough seas at the beginning of your cruise. Being a Beatles fan I hope this band is still performing in Mar. Glad to hear food/service is OK. If the ship is a little "tired" that is OK too. It is the rude passengers you mentioned that got my attention- you have cruised before; is this just "one of those sailings" or is this becoming more common? My last cruise was 12 years ago and I can't recall rude behaviour. Were there any large groups booked on board that may contributed to the rudeness? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

But I must say that we also ran into (literally) quite a few rude people as well. In lines at Windjammers, table hogs, etc. People would drop food on the floor and make no attempt to even pick it up, slop around in the food, they were just pigs. Not generally but enough for me to notice. I don't know whether they just have the attitude that they are on vacation so anything goes, or if they are just slobs all the time. A lot of people were just rude, maybe they were not feeling well from the rocking and rolling but, a little courtesy doesn't hurt.

 

Overally, I'd rate it a 7.5 out of 10. Had the passengers been better it would have been an 8.5.

 

.

We were surprised to run into the same thing on the Mariner the week of 1/16. The great majority of people were OK, of course, but I've never seen so many ill mannered slobs in one place before and never on a cruise ship.

We're loyal RCI cruisers but we may look elsewhere.

Bob

Thank you for posting. We are on the same ship/itinerary Mar. 5. Sorry to hear you had rough seas at the beginning of your cruise. Being a Beatles fan I hope this band is still performing in Mar. Glad to hear food/service is OK. If the ship is a little "tired" that is OK too. It is the rude passengers you mentioned that got my attention- you have cruised before; is this just "one of those sailings" or is this becoming more common? My last cruise was 12 years ago and I can't recall rude behaviour. Were there any large groups booked on board that may contributed to the rudeness? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

I don't believe there were any large groups although there may have been. But what I saw was mostly individuals who were just plain rude and/or obnoxious. You will run into the same thing at resorts, but it just seems a bit more confined when you are on a ship. I don't recall the same thing on our previous cruise but then, maybe I just missed it the first time.

Don't let it worry you, it may just have been our sailing, and by far the majority of people were great. I didn't let it bother me much, but I did notice it so thought I would point it out in my mini review.

People like that are everywhere, and usually relatively easy to ignore.

Have a fun cruise. If you have any other questions I'll answer them if I can.

HorrorFan,

We leave on the same itinerary in 5 days. Can't wait! Which nights were the formal nights?

Jim

Maybe Horrorfan can confirm this but I believe the formal nights are Sunday and Wednesday for the Eastern Caribbean sailing.

Bobbeasea is correct, Sunday and Wednesday are formal. That is Nassau and San Juan days, which isn't bad because they are the two shortest ports.

I will say that if you are up for a good walk, save your money and go on a self guided walking tour of San Juan. It makes for a nice day, and there is a tourist info centre near the port where you can pick up a map of the old city. But it is hilly, so you have to be ready for a good walk.

Thanks Horrorfan, that is exactly what we are going to do in Nassau and San Juan. Probably walk over to Ft. Fincastle and see the Queen's steps in Nassau and in Old San Juan maybe take a cab or trolley to El Morro and walk back from there. You know, a lot of people don't really care for Old San Juan but I think it's great- helps if you like history and architecture:) . This will be my girlfriend's first cruise and it might help her with "sea leg syndrome", if you know what I mean. Thanks again.

Horrorfan, I forgot to ask- did you guys get to see the Superbowl OK? Being the first formal night I'm sure the ladies were most impressed:D . Waiting to hear from ACANADIANMAN, you didn't happen to run into him did you? Thanks again.

No, I'm not much into football so I skipped it, but they did show the game on a big screen in the theatre I think. It was a pretty quiet night on the ship, everyone must have been watching it.

I didn't meet ACANADIANMAN, he didn't make it to the Meet and Mingle, at least not while I was there.

Hi Horror , Mark and BobBea

Sorry I did not get around to signing up for the meet n mingle but I would not have made it anyways, we went down a day earlier and my wife was already sick when we got there and the cold weather in Miami did not help much either. When the ship left on Sat evening my daughter started feeling sick too so they ended up in the cabin Sat and Sun so I stayed with them most of the time. Got me out of wearing a suit for the first formal nite :-) I didn't even make it to Studio B for the SuperBowl :-( I caught a bit of it in the cabin and fell asleep.

Other than missing the first 2 days of the cruise the rest of the cruise was great. There are so many things to do and see on the ship as well as in the ports and so little time.....specially in San Juan where we had to be back to the ship at 1:00, I wish we had a whole day to spend there.

BTW I believe San Juan was the best place to shop for liquor(Remy Martin Cognac XO $69 at the little liquor store when you exit the terminal), cigars, electronics, sunglasses and purses the wife would say :-)

Sorry I did not get to meet anyone, I even left a message for Mark on Thurs nite before we left for Miami on Friday morning and I just saw tonite that he responded almost at midnite and by then I was already sleeping seeing I had to be up at 3:30 Am for the ride to the airport.

Hey Mark.............DAMN PATS!!!!!!!!!!

BobBea ...you will have a great time I'm sure.........the ship is in excellent condition, the food was great, hopefully you will get warmer weather in Miami than we did.

ACANADIANMAN, sorry to hear your wife and daughter were sick. I don't know what the hell is going on with the weather in Miami and the Caribbean, (cool, cloudy, damp etc.), it just hasn't been a normal season so far. Gotta admire those Pats!

Actually the weather in the Caribbean was quite nice. Not REALLY hot, but nice. Miami, well...:eek:

HorrorFan,

 

We leave on the same itinerary in 5 days. Can't wait! Which nights were the formal nights?

Jim

We're on this sailing also - have you signed up for the M&M???

The warmest spot on the trip was in Labadee.............when we got on the tender at 8:30 it was already 89 degrees.

Hi , Acanadianman sorry to hear your family was sick, i wished we could have met up for that pop at the game. we,ll get em next year. we had a great time on the ship, and mom was quite surprised when she seen us on the ship. did you get up to the pool bar {aka the office} to see Calvin and Dexter ? two great bartenders. hope all is well at home.. booked yesterday on the Brilliance for Feb.03-06.. take care and i,ll see you out there..........

Hi Mark

We had a great time too after the first two days and yes made it to the pool bar the aquarium bar the champagne bar etc bar :-)

Everything at home is good, we are thinking about our next cruise already, wife wants to go on the Freedom of the Seas but there is still no info on it yet.....will have to wait to see where she will be going and when.

I see you jumped the gun and already booked huh :-)

Those Eagles got to win it sometime and mind as well be next year.

Take it easy

acanadianman, we are booked on the Brilliance. i think Crown and Anchor members get first booking rights on the Freedom starting the 28th of FEB.. good hunting..have your C/A # ready and sail away.......talk to you later....