Nightmare on the Voyager 5/20 - 5/29

Please bare with us on this long review.

First let me start by saying that this is our 4th cruise (3 - RCCL, 1 - Carnival).

EMBARKATION

This went very smooth. Since we got married on the ship, we had priority check in.

DINING

There were 23 of us that sailed. Our dining arrangements were set to be 10 at one table, 9 at another table and the remaining 4 at a 3rd table. When we got to the dining room the first night, the table of 10 (me and DH table) had a place setting for 9. There was no room for a 10th person as they had already squeezed in the 9th person. The head waiter said he will take care of it starting the next night. He put 2 of us at a different table for that night.

On the second night the head waiter resolved the issue by putting us at a table of 10 that consisted of a round table for 8 and a small square table for 2 next to it. We felt like we were at the Outback. Because we didn't want to constantly complain we lived with this arrangement (even with the "wobbly" square table)

On the third night, we saw our assistant waiter take ketchup in a little bowl from my DH one daughter and give it to the other daughter...even after she "double dipped" out of the bowl. We thought it was wrong but since it was in our family we left go. However, when the assistant waiter took the same bowl from our table and gave it to a little girl at a different table; we were furious. It made us think who ate out of this ketchup before it came to us. To make things worse, since our girls were no finished with the ketchup, he took it back from the other table (when they were done) and gave it back to us. We spoke to the Head Waiter and his response was we need to get a ketchup bottle from now on. This was completely unacceptable since everywhere we went we were requested to sanitize our hands.

We finally got in touch with the Asst. Maitre D' and requested a new Assistant waiter. The next night we had a new Assistant waiter and a "real" table that sat 10 of us comfortably.

Portifino's - excellent. You should definitely make reservations and have dinner one night. Don't miss the tiramisu!!

SECURITY

On Tuesday, we were getting off the ship to take our Sting Ray excursion. Several us were not allowed off this ship. When our Sea Pass card was scanned it stated we could not leave the ship. They ended up holding the tender (which was full) until they determined why we could not get off the ship. It turns out that someone told the medical facility that one of our rooms had somone vomitting over the balcony at 7:00 am. The funny thing is, our entire family was in the Windjammer having breakfast at 7:00. No one was sick. The worse part is that instead of RCCL checking with us in our room (which they would have seen we were not there) they decided to stop us when we try to leave the ship which was 2 hours later. We can definitely understand the concern of someone vomitting over the balcony, but shouldn't the staff have tried to confront the issue immediately? The sad part is that the person who did this got a way with it.

MEDICAL

My stepfather has a heart condition and has a pace maker. He is not allowed to go through the metal detectors and must be patted down. When returning from Grand Cayman he showed security the paperwork that he has a pacemaker and can not go through the detector. They pulled him aside and used the wand on him. That night, he started having chest pain and his heart was racing. When we called the medical facility and explained he was having chest paid, we were advised that we need to bring him down to the infirmary. We thought this was strange that they did not make "house call" since he was having chest pain, but we managed to get him down there. The first thing the nurse said was "Are you sure you want to do this. It is after hours and it will cost you" We were outraged. He is having chest pain and they are worried about the money.

The dr was rude and ended up releasing him after he suggested keeping him overnight for observation. The dr made the comment "he only wants to treat people who want to be treated." This comment was made because once they got his vitals stabalized we wanted a ball park figure on the amount so we knew how we were going to pay for it.

Imagine, all this because security didn't follow correct procedures.

CASINO

For the most part, the casino staff was rude. In one instance, my brother won on Roulette and tipped the host. Instead of being thankful for the tip, the host replied "I'm lucky if I get 2 cents from this" I guess we need to keep in mind that they are not grateful for the tips.

My DH and I were playing cards and luck was not on our side. We decided to call it a night and try again the next day. As we were walking through deciding what table to play, we saw the dealer that had better luck then us the previous night. We stated we do not want to play at that table because he took all of our money. The dealer heard us say that and stated "Good, I don't want you playing here anyway. People like that shouldn't be playing." It wasn't personal with him....we just thought we would let another dealer take our money...lol

STATE ROOM

We had D1 Balcony rooms on the 9th deck.

My sister-in-law had a ceiling panel fall on her and my niece. When she told the state room attendant his comment was "Well, you left the sliding glass door open, what do you expect?" The good thing was they did not get hurt. Unfortunately with children, sometimes the door is left open. However, the ceiling tiles are screwed in and should not have fell in the first place.

Our state room attendant was not the best. Our room was not vacuumed, the mini bar was not kept stocked, the ash tray on the balcony was not emptied, etc. So much for tipping early in the cruise.

In one of our rooms, a pipe in the wall burst and flooded the stateroom. We understand these things happen and can not be controlled. However, it is unacceptable that they had to have towels on the floor (trying to soak up the water) for the majority of the cruise.

NORWALK VIRUS

There was a Norwalk virus outbreake (Diarreah, Vommiting, Stomach Ache) on this cruise. Many people were infected. Several were quarrantined and needed IV. Someone had vomitted in the casino at a card table and you could smell vomit in one of the elevators. While walking throughout the ship, you could hear people talking about not feeling well. This virus has been going on for several weeks on the VOS. The crew does their best to keep this quiet; however some of the crew members were honest and told us the truth.

Adventure Ocean was closed for 1 day because many of the kids were sick. According to the counselers several kids were vomitting in the camp. They had to close down the Adenture Beach as well because a child vomitted in the pool. I'm sure the "Ketchup incident" did not help keep this virus isolated.

EXCURSIONS

Labadee - Wonderful time. Very relaxing and enjoyable. Beautiful scenery. You have to try the Coco Loco!!! The vendors are very pushy and may be intimidating.

Ocho Rios - We did the Dunns River Falls and Dolphin Cove. The falls were beautiful. Several of the family members; including the kids; climbed the entire falls and had a blast. It can be slippery but very nice. Dolphin Cove was not what we expected. We watched the other people interact with the Dolphins from a distance.

Grand Cayman - We did the Sting Ray City. This was nice. We were able to swim and feed the sting rays. Boy were they big!!

Grand Bahama - We went on the snorkeling tour. The water was really rough. The kids could not do this because the waves were constantly pounding them. Several of the adults could not handle this and were only able to stay in for about 5 minutes. It was very difficult getting in and out of the boat due to the waves.

Note - since we did these excursions there was minimal shopping time. You can still see the devastation from last years Hurricanes on Grand Cayman and Bahamas.

GUEST RELATIONS

We worked with Elvis and Kim at Guest Relations and they understood and tried to rectify these items.

The hotel director offered us $200 for our inconvenience....Woo Hoo!!!

BAR STAFF

Alex at the Aquarium bar and Rufino & Patsy at High Notes were wonderful.

DISEMBARKATION

We sat in the La Scala Theater for 3 hours waiting for our colored tag to be called. It seems that there were some issues with immigration which held up this process.

As you can see there were not a lot of good things to say. My DH and I spent the majority of our honeymoon working on these issues. Some Honeymoon!!

Please feel free to ask questions about our cruise that may help with yours.

Thanks for the review but I cant believe that after all "that" you didn't mention how the wedding was? :confused:

Anyway, Congratulations!!

Wow...we have been on Voyager Class 3 times and it has always been great until our past Voyager 5/15 sailing. I am not sure what is going on with this ship but it seems like so many people have had bad experiences. Our other 2 were on Navigator and Explorer and I couldnt have found a complaint to give but this past one was a bit dissappointing. Maybe RCCL will read all the things about the Voyager thats been going on the past couple weeks and do something to rectify the situations. Sorry you had to go through that. I know its not an excuse but I wonder if its because its the oldest of the Voyager Class ships.. Who knows but I am sorry you went through that.

I do not go until November so I hope they work out all of the problems by then. I am really looking forward to this cruise and I dont want to like Carnival better than Royal Caribbean.

I can tell you that with me, even though I was dissappointed, I think you will still love it. I noticed things that someone travelling the first time on this ship maybe wouldnt have. I was comparing it to the Navigator and Explorer which were newer and a bit better in my opinion. But I still love the Voyager Class Ships. I have been on Carnival several times and Voyager Class is definitly my favorite ships but I think Carnival is a good product too. I think you will like it a lot.

The reason many of the folks on this board will think that this whole story, or much of it is an exaggeration, is because you mention almost nothing positive.

Really? I believe her. I dunno, I could be naive but do people actually come on here and make up bad stories about their cruise? Why would anyone do that? Who would that benefit? I am honestly curious. :)

I have said this in other posts - and I will say it again.

Send a letter to Mr. Richard Fain at HQ - with all of your documentation - Names of rude employees etc. It may take a while but every time we have done this we got a response. In a couple of cases a SIGNIFICANT credit for our next cruise.

I don't understand why they gave you $200 :confused: :confused:

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4merlurker - Thanks for the well wishes. Even though the wedding did not go as planned it was beautiful and we are very happy to be married. I didn't like that we had to pay for things we didn't get...but at least we are married!!!

voyagerclassfan - Prior to the cruise I heard a lot of good things about VOS as well. However, speaking to a lot of people on the ship, there are many disappointed people. Some people are saying they will no longer sail on the VOS and others won't sail RCCL again. I'm tring to determine if the problem is the VOS or if RCCL is losing their reputation.

cruisinfanatic - We had trouble finding good things to say. All of the items are true. We have names and phone numbers for the people at guest relations on the ship that we worked with. This was our honeymoon and we would have never expected any of this to happen. I'd be glad to give you details to "prove" these issues occurred.

hermang - Thank you for that name. I was given Teri Montenegro's name and number at corporate. She is the manager of guest relations. Who is Richard Fain. I wonder if we should contact him instead of Teri?

Phoenixcruiser - The manager of guest releations spoke to the hotel director because she was flabbergasted with everything that went wrong. She wanted to compensate us some way because of all the time we were spending with her and her staff trying to fix these issues. The hotel director offered us $200 for our inconvenience.

Thats a good question Joen..I wonder myself if it was just the ship or a company wide problem. Service does seem to be slacking...I know its such small things but the guy in the store was very rude to us, Johnny Rockets ran out of onion rings, the mirrors in the Dining room were so dirty, you could barely see anything reflecting off them.....Again, I know it sounds petty but it was so many little things like that. But we didnt have one complaint from our last 2 with RCCL.

Our family of 5 was on the Voyager repositioning cruise. We had a wonderful time, and I would have to really be creative to find anything to complain about.

I am so sorry to hear about the recent bout of illness aboard, but it sure hasn't been around for 3 weeks as some have mentioned. I saw no indication of illness whatsoever on our 8 day cruise.

I think some people have to learn to overlook some minor inconviences they may experience, instead of dwelling on them.

It is amazing to me what people complain about. I have been on many RCCL cruises and just came off the Mariner for my honeymoon, I see why some people are just plain miserable.....If you look for something to complain about, of course you are going to find it. Some people just cant enjoy themselves and make others miserable in the process.

Tim

It is amazing to me what people complain about. I have been on many RCCL cruises and just came off the Mariner for my honeymoon, I see why some people are just plain miserable.....If you look for something to complain about, of course you are going to find it. Some people just cant enjoy themselves and make others miserable in the process.

 

Tim

Ouch that was hard! IMHO the OP had some legitimate complaints about her cruise. It looks like RCI dropped the ball in some areas. I found the ketchup thing to be disgusting. Do you like eating after other people have had their hands in your food? There has been a major outbreak on this ship of the Noro for weeks. The entire crew should be doing everything possible to help eliminate the spread of the virus. With what the OP stated about the ketchup not all crew members are doing this.

Your cruise(s) may have all been great. Not everyone has such luck. I have taken many cruises and have had some that were not so great. We all have certain expectations and in this case I believe that the OP had some that were not met. She has a right to come here and air her complaints without having someone come right behind her and make some smart*ss comment like yours.

Lol, it cracks me up the opinions people form of eachother just because they state how they feel. FYI, none of my "small" problems I mentioned affected my cruise or me having a good time. And I have said in many of my posts that I may notice things that someone sailing on it for the first time wont. And I guess because I am a very friendly, outgoing and kind person so when I spend good money on something, I only expect someone to be the same to me. When I am trying to spend $100 on an item and when I VERY KINDLY ask the salesman where I could find the item and he rolls his eyes and says " I dont know" and "what do you want me to do?", I think its uncalled for. I didnt complain to him, I just said well, thanks anyway and walked away. I never complain in restaurants, stores, etc. This is a forum where people are allowed to express things that may have happened just for conversation. For someone to form an opinion as to the personality of someone based on a board topic is extremely close minded. I was very sick from this past cruise but I have said in every post I didnt blame the cruise line and these things happen so maybe you shouldnt be so cruel..

Well like that poster is entitled to an opinion, so am I. And it is very true that people will search for anything to complain about while on vacation or in every day life. And as far as someone giving ketchup to someone at the same table, do you really think the waiter knew it was used for dipping and not poured on like your supposed to do????

Thanks!

You are certainly entitled to an opinion. But I get defensive when it seems someone is forming a judgement about me that is incorrect. I am the type of person who writes notes to managers or companies if I found something or someone that was exceptional. I always say that so many people in this world take the time out to complain but not to compliment. I never write or complain to managers or compaines though. So when it seems like you formed a judgement about me that I find small things to complain about and cant just be happy, I get defensive. People ask opinions on these boards and its a place to share thoughts. To be honest, I am a little dissappointed with RCCL from this past cruise and it was because of the little things. I wouldnt expect everything to be perfect and I still had a great time and I will also sail again. But it was just so many little things and it was a little aggravating. I had never had a problem before. I think alot had to do with the fact that it was their first time in Bermuda. It was actually quite amusing because most of the staff didnt have a clue as to where we were. Our room steward kept saying, we are on 5 night right? She was a doll. I guess because I feel like I give exceptional service and I dont think anyone should be rude. As far as this cruise, it is just my opinion that it wasnt up to the RCCL standards that I have grown to love. I am sure they will sort it out. But considering I had the bug from our sailing and wanted to just "die" and not the best service and small issues happen but I still love RCCL and will sail them again is a true testament to them as a whole....

Voyagerclass- See i loved your last post, again what bothers me is when people complain about such small things and then say they will NEVER SAIL RCCL AGAIN. Being that I am a manager for a major airline, customer service is in my blood and I get to hear and see all the complaints. I guess I just like to be positive, like your last post and just make the best out of it. Sorry you got sick and it DRIVES me nuts that people dont wash their hands after using the restroom.

Tim

Well like that poster is entitled to an opinion, so am I. And it is very true that people will search for anything to complain about while on vacation or in every day life. And as far as someone giving ketchup to someone at the same table, do you really think the waiter knew it was used for dipping and not poured on like your supposed to do????

 

Thanks!

An open bowl of ketchup should not even be passed from one table to another. Makes no difference on what the crew member knew.:rolleyes:

God help you if you work for the airline...LOL.....I am sure you have heard more complaints than you know what to do with. My hubby and I love the show Airline on A&E.....I LOVE when people want compensation for things that are beyond the airline or cruise lines control...like weather or mechanical difficulties.....I am sure you dont watch it because you actually live it.....No, I really do agree that many people find small things to complain about and everyone is so sue happy its ridiculous. Bugs me too. This cruise was just overall not as good as the past. But again, I will sail again with them because I love them. But I will say that after sailing the Voyager Class so many times and knowing the outline so well, I am anxious to try something new like the Enhanced Enchantment or Freedom.

Well like that poster is entitled to an opinion, so am I. And it is very true that people will search for anything to complain about while on vacation or in every day life. And as far as someone giving ketchup to someone at the same table, do you really think the waiter knew it was used for dipping and not poured on like your supposed to do????

 

Thanks!

Thank you..Exactly what I was going to point out...You are supposed to pour,or spoon the ketchup on to your own plate....Its not a personal dipping bowl when it is served in that manner.

Normally ,with kids dinners,if they have ordered off the kids menus,there will be a little "cup" with their order.

I was curious about the "ceiling panel" which was later refered to as a ceiling tile....I assume you are talking about the room wide panels,they appear to be metal?

Are you saying the persons problem with the pacemaker,was caused by using the wand?Sorry,I just didn't follow exactly what you are saying about that.

Is the wand an issue for the PM as well?

My mom had a PM for years...Whenever she may have been exposed to something that interfered with its function...(hers only took over,if her own did not work) but she would have to call the service,and they could reset it on the phone.

Anyway...No one likes to have a vacation ruined...But when I look at your complaints as a whole,I don't see things that would have caused me to say it was a nightmare..Especially when you break it down,many of the things did not happen to you personally.

When you think of all the great great moments,and memories that are available on a great vacation,much less a Honeymoon....I just don't see how being delayed exit for a bit off the ship,and watching someone not following

proper dining etiquitte made your once in a lifetime (hopefully):D trip a nightmare.

I know it seems I am picking apart what you are saying.Hopefully you wont take it that way...If you were someone I was having a close personal conversation with..I probably would not...But,since its posted on a public message board...I am just sharing a view.

I had some glitches at my wedding and on my honeymoon...

One of my bridesmaids tripped on my veil,and broke her foot.The photographers main camera malfunctioned,and had to use a much lesser quality one.My invitations had misprinted the first name of my MIL...

It rained one night really hard on the HM,our room leaked,got some clothes wet,ruined a menu I had saved...Didn't get a new room until the 2 night after it happened.But wow....I would never even call my experience less than

a dream.

One last thing. Most of the crew are not US citizens,and thus,do not use the same terminology that we do.I would think he was very insulted that you said"we wont play at that table,he took our money" I see the humor in that...But its not always translated that way.

Hopefull you and your SO...can put this all behind you..And focus on your new lives together.

An open bowl of ketchup should not even be passed from one table to another. Makes no difference on what the crew member knew.:rolleyes:

I do agree with this.

I would certainly never throw a fit over 9 instead of ten at a table, especially since you three tables for your group. That to me is petty.

One thing I forgot to mention about the guy in the casino......Most the people in the casino are English....WELL NEED I SAY MORE:)

Tim

My opinion (FWIW) is that once something goes wrong, we tend to look for other dissappoints.

On the third day of our last cruise, something (sheesh, cannot even remember what it is) really ticked me off and I was mad at the world LOL! On my way back to our cabin, I overheard someone on the phone in the Guest Relations area, she was ticked!! It seems that her and her fellow passengers luggage was lost and the airline wasn't helping her at all. That brought me back to reality :D

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