Trip Report: VOS/Voyager Bermuda 5-night June 26

Voyager of the Seas, 5-night, Bayonne to Bermuda, June 26 - July 1

This trip report will sound much like Pablo's Cruise report so I'll try to keep it brief. ;o)

Notes: Went with the wife, and another couple. Left the kids at home! This was our 6th cruise, 2nd to Bermuda in 3 years, and 1st on RCCL. Inside room on 7.

Embarkation was pretty efficient except for the traffic coming in (due to previous ship). No biggie. Just stayed in the right lane, parked the car in 2nd row, which is less than 100 feet from the terminal basically, and was on the ship just after 2pm. This was much better than going thru the tunnels and getting to NYC.

On way to Windjammer, bought a soda package. Never got my money's worth and will certainly not do this again. Probably good if you have kids going, but since we ended up getting alcoholic drinks most of the time, there was little time for soda, ha! Later got dressed for dinner, went outside for the bridge pass, which was cool, and into dinner a bit late. Because of that, we were unable to make the 1st show. Why they have it at 7:30, when most aren't at dinner til 6:30 is beyond me. Oh well, no biggie.

Ship: Wow! I was very impressed with this ship, and not just for its size. It was truly a beautiful ship with plenty to do. Didn't seem to find time to do the rock climbing or ice skating, but did do the miniature golf. The dining room (Magic Flute for us) was simply gorgeous, and all of the bars, the Promenade, etc, were excellent as well. Our room was your typical inside size. If you love to sleep in once in awhile, get an inside room and you will simply lose track of time since it stays black! ;o)

Food: I'd say food was about average for cruise, but the quantity, of course, is always excellent. The steaks almost always seemed tough and dry. The caesar salad seemed to get worse the later the trip went. Having 2 lobsters, however, made up for anything that was average, ha!

Service: We thought the service was very good, but not quite outstanding, if you know what I mean. We really enjoyed all of the staff we came into contact, but they just did not seem to be as outgoing compared to our previous cruises. They did everything that was probably expected, which is great service, but it seemed to miss that special something that we've experienced on other cruises. Oh, I did enjoy going to Sky Bar, and having Rufino make me a Miami Vice (so I feel nice) !!

Entertainment: The shows with singers and dancers were 'cruise' average (still good though, don't get me wrong). Once in a while, the female singers would make my spine cringe, but hey, its a cruise, right. The juggler on the last night was very good, as were the 2 comics. I thought the 1st comic was much more polished and rightfully so, having done more cruises. "Peeeeeeetttttttteeeeeee!!!". The ice show was simply amazing, and by far, the best entertainment. It's a definite must-see. Not sure about the competition part, but the show was very good. The first part of the show was almost Disney-like to us, very high quality and very good choreography. We were able to catch the band (Liza Hendrix Band) on the last night, while waiting for the last karaoke. Boy, what a shame that was as they were very good, especially the female lead. She could simply sing anything. We ended up staying there after karaoke just to hear more. Oh, a suggestion for those who go to karaoke. Maybe its just us, but if you are trying to be serious and sing a slow song, please keep your arse in your seat. Nothing brings down a night like a bunch of slow, serious karaoke songs. We go there to laugh and go nuts, not be serenaded to sleep. And if you think you are a good singer at karaoke, um, you're not! ;o) Sorry, I just couldn't help myself to that opinion. We also wish they had dueling pianos, as we really enjoyed that on our Disney cruise and thought a ship of this size should have it.

The Quest game show and Love and Marriage were just excellent. Hilarious to say the least. Don't miss, especially since Becky is by far the best cruise director I've ever seen. The woman is non-stop energy and is very quick witted. Hello Love!!

Bermuda: Not much to say here, except the beaches are simply fantastic. We had bought the 2 day bus passes while on the ship, and probably would've been better off just sharing a taxi with a larger group. Here's why. First day we went to Horseshoe, as its simply spectacular. Knowing we'd have to leave early to catch the bus back for dinner, we basically left around 2:45. Well, after waiting for the $1 ride to the top, and seeing the HUGE line for the bus (yes, already!), we lucked into catching a taxi with a group of 3 (7 total now). It cost us just $5 per person. So, if you can always fill a taxi with 6 or 7, I'd say do that. Second day, we headed over to Jobson's Cove (same bus stop as Warwick Long Bay). Lucky us, there's a daycare group already there! Ee-gads. Oh well, short walk back to Warwick and we are happy for the day as almost nobody is at this beach. No full concessions like Horseshoe, but they do have a fancy outhouse, and a guy selling stuff out of a cooler, as well as chairs. If these aren't a big thing to you, I definitely recommend walking to the right, past Jobson's Cove if crowded, and over to Stonehole Bay. What a beautiful little spot, and basically nobody (like 4 people) there.

Disembark: Unfortunately, this day gets here way, way too fast. Of course, its mayhem at Windjammer trying to find a table. We then waited in Studio B, and got off the ship just after 10. We were 3rd from last to get off. Was out of there very quickly. Oh, almost forgot...........because I had bought 2 extra bottles of alcohol, I had to report to Customs. Well, my experience on previous cruises was to stand in line for like an hour, etc. Anyway, I decided to eat first and would get to Customs when I was ready. So get this.... I finally walk down to the area, and there is nobody in a line. I literally walk thru the door and there are about 6 Customs guys and 1 RCCL person, standing in a circle, chatting. I was shocked. I was in and out in 30 seconds, and this was all before 9 am. I was quite surprised for a boat of this size.

All in all, it was just an awesome cruise. Got perfect weather the whole time. Oh, we saw 2 whales too. They were far away, but were able to see the humps and one of them using their blow spouts. Bermuda is awesome and 2 days there is definitely not enough. Will definitely do larger ships from now on.

Well, I really tried to keep this brief! ha............Anyway, here are just some of the pics of the trip. They've been reduced so if you are interested in original size, just let me know. I've created a seperate sub-album for just ship pics as well.

http://groups.msn.com/ThePizzulloHomePage/bermuda2005.msnw (more than 1 page; excuse people pics)

http://groups.msn.com/ThePizzulloHomePage/shippics.msnw (ship related link)

Enjoy!!

Time to start planning the next one before major depression sets in tomorrow. ;o)

Chet

I forgot to mention the word 'pics' in the original title. Is there any way to change that now? Oh well.

Nice review CP--I am sure our paths crossed during the trip--stinks to be back at work today! LOL! I'll post our pics durint this week!

Just a quick note that I fixed the 3 panoramic pics of the beaches, such as this one>

http://groups.msn.com/ThePizzulloHomePage/bermuda2005.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=834

Still a reduced size, but not so small that you couldn't see a thing, ha!

Thanks for the Photos looks like you had great weather!

Can't wait until next year when I am back on VOS.