VOYAGER REVIEW 4/24 -- FINAL PART

Okay, first of all we had some major computer problems and am just back up. I thought by now everyone would have forgotten about me and the sister cruise. As I was reading the boards I saw several of you were looking for the last part so here goes.

First to answer all the questions about the ship shape dollars...Karen racked up $20.00, she turned her dollars in on the sixth day of our cruise. Since she had so many of them she was about to "buy" a nice tee shirt. You earn these dollars by doing differnt activities that you will find in you dailey cruise compass. I managed to earn two dollars and got a key chain. It's just a fun way to exercise and get a reward. Too those of you who though I might have eaten way to much on the cruise and got sick in Ocho Rios, unfortuneately, not the problem. I have IBS and when it flairs up there's nothing I can do but wait it out and take the medications.

DAY FIVE:

Today was Grand Cayman! We were lucky enough to be able to go into the port. I got to choose two excursions and Karen got to choose two. We opt not to do anything on Coco Cay, and missed Ocho Rios river rafting. In Grand Caymen I booked with Capt. Bryant and the Bucaneer. What a great trip. Capt. Bryant's is easy to find. It was a short walk down main street and very easy to find. After checking and doing the final payment we were off to the boat. The Bucaneer is a new boat and just beauitful and we were lucky enough to have Capt. Byran as the capt. of the boat. Just a short trip to Stingray City. There were seveal amusing things that happened here. First, they told you that you were on a sand bar, no shoes, booties, or flippers to be used. The water was only waist high. Karen who was scared to death, hung back on the boat while I went ahead. First thing that happened was I stepped off the ladder, with my goggles & snorkel on top of my head so they would stay out of the water. Stepped off as the boat went up and I went down, water over my head!! Got the giggles while under water and swallowed at least half of the ocean. Needless to say goggles & snorkel where useless as they were now full of salt water. Oh well! I had to swim a few yards before I could get my feet on the shallow part of the sand bar.(Karen is still on board) The guide had explained to us that this was mating season for the stingrays and so they were not the "masses" of stingrays and they did not swarm you but there were still many rays present. They were all females(much larger than the males) and most of them were proably pregant. Guide brought up a ray and she was beauituful! He held her for a few minutes and then started asking who wanted to hold her. Several of the men held her first and I was the first woman among our group of 30 to hold her. She was very calm and just layed in your arms and looked up at you.(Karen is on board). I watched the other people hold her and just watched the other rays swimming around. Just an awesome expereince. Karen finally makes it off boat!!! She touches the ray and wants a picture of us with ray BUT SHE'S NOT HOLDING THE RAY! So once again I got to hold the ray, while guide took our picture and the videographer got great pictures. All to soon it was time to leave Stingray City. Back in the boat and off to next stop...Coral Gardens. Let me say right here although the Bucaneer had a cash bar on board, this was not a party boat. Bar was not open until after all snorkeling stops were complete. Capt. Bryant was very serious when we got to the Coral Gardens to instruct us about the coarl. He took time to explain that just one finger touch would kill a large patch of coral and he was in the business of protecting the coral so all could enjoy its beauty. I know he was also protecting his way of living but you could tell he really cared about the coral reef. Off the boat and swimming about on my own. Was just swimming along when all of the sudden the videographer was in front of me filming. It's a good thing I remember I was under water and did scream. She scared me half to death!! I have no idea where she came from, never saw her and it took me a moment to realize who and what she was! She had a good laugh as did everyone else when I told her about it back on board. Once again, much too soon we were back on the boat heading to another place to snorkel. This place was called the "Aquaruim"(SP?). Capt. Byrant told us there were a lot of fish to be seen as well as lobster, eels, and a host of other creatures. The one thing you needed to do was float slowly so as not to scare off the fish. Yeah right! Ever try to get 30 people to float slowly? I did get to see the spotted eel the guide was feeding and after swallowing the other half of the ocean I even managed to get a good picture of the eel. The fish were awesome as was the water. I would highly recomend Capt. Bryant as a great tour while in the Grand Caymen. All to soon it was time to leave this beauitful blue water and sail back to the pier. Some how our tour ran long and we were driven right back to the pier to catch the last tender back to the ship. Would I do this tour again? In a heartbeat and so would Karen. She did get off the boat early at the other two stops.

Karen did manage to fry herself here. She was so red, that I took to calling her a crispy critter. Back on board ship, stopped by to get...cookies. Tonight was the second formal night which meant we had to clean up. I can't tell you how tired we were after this trip. Karen took a short nap, while I washed my hair. My hair is longer than hers, hence more work for me. Went to dinner and by the time we'd eaten we were ready for bed as tomorrow would be Cozumel and more adventures! One stop for you guessed it cookies, and to look at pictures and start getting rid of the ones we didn't want.

DAY SIX:

Cozumel...day started off with our normal Windjammer breakfast and then off to town. The first adventure that awaited us was a freighter that was docking just down from us. We were walking down the dock and had to stop so the freighter could dock. Karen & I were standing there talking and watching when I looked to my left and there were ARMED MEXICAN SOILDERS standing there! Needless, to say I was quite surprised! I guess its just an aftermath of 9/11 but still a little startling. On through the small shopping center and out to the road to get a cab. Person getting you cabs, asks where we are going and I go to pull out my confirmation for the dune buggy tour that has the address on it AND....the papers not there. We are to be at the place by 10:30AM and it now 9:45AM. Karen races back to the ship(no short distance) while I waited. At 10:10AM she's back with NO CONFIRMATION PAPER! Now I am starting to get really upset. Finally, we get our own cab and between the two of us remember the two streets this place is between 7th St. & 5th Ave. Cabbie says he knows where these streets are(its now 10:25). When he gets to the block he asks what we are looking for and we say the Dune Buggy place(now 10:35) he says I know the place drops us off right in front of the building. No one there to check us in so Karen starts asking people if they booked their tour through Cozumel Homes, not one person had(its now 10:40) so we thing we're in the wrong place and I'm still worried that I have nothing to prove we've registered for this tour and paid for it in full! Just as I'm saying this once again(now 10:45) door opens and out comes a guy who says "You lost your confirmation, oh no, we can't let you go." My heart stops beating and then he says, are Linda & Karen, we say yes and he says we've been waiting for you, I'll tell the guides everyone is here. I can now breathe. And so begins our little adventure. The guide asks how many people in each party, we say two and we are assigned to our own little white dune buggy, just the two of us. We ask the guide what time we will be back in town and he says 4:30, please remember this. Karen & I go great we'll still have time to shop. I drive as Karen doesn't know how to drive stick. We start out in our nice little caravan of 10 dune buggies plus a guide in the front and one bringing up the rear. We're the third buggy from the end. As we drive thru downtown Cozumel, Karen is pointing out all the shops we want to vist when we get back in town. After a pleasant ten minute drive thru down, we come to a dirt road. I start to make a left turn to follow the convoy and Karen starts yelling "There's a hole, a big hole, turn to you left." I think I managed to miss the hole but at this point Karen is already praying and saying "I'm going to die." This "road" amd I use the term loosely, is dune buggy wide and when your not driving over rocks, and boulders, your driving through deep sand. Karen has taken on the role of "rock pointer". All she keeps saying is " rock, rock, ROCK." By now I'm laughing so hard I can't see cause the tears are running down my face. Karen DOES NOT FIND THIS AMUSING! She's now talking about her life insurance being paid in full! When we can see the buggy in front of us Karen keeps telling me to follow that car, but of course, I have to make my own choices, and most of them at the last minute. Karen now has her hands over her face yelling "I'm gonna die, I just know I'm going to die." So confidance builder she is. As we come around a bend, one of the dune buggies is stuck in the deep sand. Now Karen is yelling at the top of her lungs "DON'T FOLLOW HIM. DON'T GET STUCK, TURN, TURN, THIS WAY, NOW!" I manage not to get stuck in the sand and on we go. Shortly after they get the buggy out of the sand we pass through a milatary check point. I don't mean just a solider standing there asking questions, I mean this is a barricks with at least ten quys that I can see living there. Make you wonder, but no time we're on the move again! After about an hour & half we make a pit stop. Now I discover that the only way I can get out of the dune buggy is if I crawl out over the passagener side of the buggy. I use the bathroom, such as it is, if I hadn't had to go so badly I would have waited. Guide tells us about 15 more minutes and we'll stop for lunch. Time to get back into the buggy, I've now mastered how to get in you stand on the seat and shimmy your way down the seat. Karen is now laughing so hard she can't see, what a blessing for me. We pull over to a nice beach, one guide takes a great of people out to the coral reef, but the ocean is rough and one needs to be a strong swimmer. I am but Karen is not so we opt to just stay in close to shore and enjoy the water. The other guide is fixing lunch. Nice lunch but due to my stomach problems I don't eat just drink a soda. After lunch we get back into the buggies. We drive to the end of the island where there is a small Mayan ruin. They believe that it was some kind of a lighthouse and stood in perfect shape until Hurricane Gilbert hit. It now really is just a ruin. But it was fun to climb to the top and look out at the ocean. Karen & I opted not to try & walk through the ruin, as it had very low ceilings and was on the dark side. Back into our buggies and as we start back we come across a really rocky patch of road. As I'm crossing this patch, the wheel wrenches from my hand and the buggy starts making a terrible sound, like we have a rock stuck under the left front side. I'm having real trouble steering and when we get to a fork in the road, since I can't see the buggy in front of me I go the wrong way and get stuck in the sand. The guide bringing up the rear, who doesn't speak much English, asks what wrong and I try to tell him. As I look back at the road, in his hummer are five fully armed soliders!! Makes me feel really safe???? The guide is looking under the buggy and one of soldiers comes to look at the buggy as well, looks at me and goes "ohhh, reallly baaad!" The guide in the front comes back, and they talk,something is wrong with the supension on the left front, its broken, so Karen & I climb in the bakc of the guides buggy. As we get back into town, its now 6:15PM and the ship sails at 7:00PM. I tell the guide how sorry I am about the car, he says no problem, we need to get you back to your ship now. He's going to drive us back and we say no, grab a cab and by 6:30 are dragging our very tired, sore, sunburned, dusty, dirty bodies back onto the ship. SAFE!!! Would I do this tour again??? No! one time is enough for me but what a blast we had. Needless to say we are exhausted! We make the mistake of laying down on the beds and closing our eyes. After a few minutes I get up & shower, Karen follows and off to dinner we go. I now have discovered I have blisters on my left hand at the base of every finger from trying to steer the dune buggy. We just manage to keep our eyes open through dinner, no desert, no cookies, just bed! Night to all!

DAY SEVEN:

After sleeping late, I can't remember why(???) we go to Windjammers for our final breakfast. We again find a table by the window and watch the ocean. I It's a little sad to know this is our last day but we have had so much fun and we laugh & giggle our way through the day. We pack and then we make the mistake of going down to the Casino one last time! We should have stayed away, the ship made money off of us that night but we had a good time. Have you notice anything about our trip? We have not done one bit of shopping. We got back late from both of our shore excursions and had no time to shop! Oh well, at least my husband will let me cruise with Karen again since we spent so little money. All to soon its bedtime and then its up early to have breakfast and wait to get off the ship.

BACK IN MIAMI:

Since we had a bus to catch we had beige tags on our luggage which was the last color to be called to leave. We cleared customs with no problems, although the customs officers was just a little confused as he was talking with two single women, who had done NO SHOPPING!! He just wasn't quite sure what to do with us. I can hear him now, telling his buddies, about the strange ladies who did no shopping on their cruise.

Well, folks there you have it our cruise. If anyone still has questions, I'll try to answer them. My final advice to you, is go with any open mind, the Voyager is an awesome ship, sure she had a little worn look to her, but you have 35,000 people a week in your house and set how quick your house looks a little worn. I can't say enough about the service we had, it was the best, the food was good, not great, but I didn't go hungry and most of all pack your sense of adventure & humor and you'll have a great time.

Linda

Thanks Angel for the great review......

6/18 Voyager

Thanks, Linda for your review. I really enjoyed it knowing that I would be on the Voyager in July.

Rose

Great! Your dune buggy was an true adventure! Glad you made it back safely and on time!!!!

Are you and your sister ready for another cruise? If you need a third party, I'm available

Thanks for your excellant review.

***

Soveriegn 92 E. Caribbean

Majesty 95 W. Caribbean

Granduer 97 E. Caribbean

Rhapsody 00 Mexico

Vision 02 Alaska

Radiance 03 Panama Canal

Brilliance 3/29/04

Radiance of the Seas/Panama Canal 10/18/2003

Are we there yet?

My bags are always packed!

Brilliance 3/29/2004

Angel, I'm glad to see you're back on line!!!! Sorry to hear about your computer. I was concerned something happened when all of a sudden your review stopped coming!!!!

I just printed your review to read tonight. I'm sure I'll have a few questions for you if you don't mind. We leave Friday!

Judy

RCCL Voyager 5/21-5/30/04

CCL Inspiration 4/4-4/11/04

NCL Sea 4/14-4/27/03

DCL Wonder 5/16-5/19/02

DCL Wonder 5/3-5/8/01

CCL Fantasy 2/15-2/18/01

We did the jeep safari in Cozumel, booked through the ship, a year or so ago and your review brought the experience back. We loved it. We came back dirty, sunburned, tired and hungry but we laughed so hard our stomachs ached. Thanks for the review.

'Til my next cruise

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by justcruzin85374:

If you need a third party, I'm available

Thanks for your excellant review.

***

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Agree, thanks for your wonderful review, and, I too am available

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Navigator of the Seas 6/26/04

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Linda your cruise sounded like you and your sister had a great time and some great memories.

I cruise with my mother due to my SO will NOT get on a cruise. We have some great memories and it's so time together we would never get any other place. We try to cruise once a year and this year got lucky and found a good deal for NY area and we are going twicw this year.

As for the ship shape dollars how many do you get for each activity? I'm thinking one but wanted to check. Also do you get to see what you are able to purchase ahead of time? This way you know how many things to do and push yourself a little harder and believe me I need that extra push!

The downside of cruising with my 66 year old mother is I can't do many of the excursion I would like to and the dune buggies being one of them she would have a heart attach for sure. She almost does in my Jeep on the thruway can't even think how she would handle off road!

Thanks for taking the time to post your review it helped me a lot.

Judy

RCCL Voyager 5/21-5/30/04

CCL Inspiration 4/4-4/11/04

NCL Sea 4/14-4/27/03

DCL Wonder 5/16-5/19/02

DCL Wonder 5/3-5/8/01

CCL Fantasy 2/15-2/18/01

Linda, thanks for the review. A lot of times when someone tells a story, it is one of those you had to be there, well I felt like I was. I could just see you laughing trying to drive that buggy and you sister with her hands over her eyes, reminds me of my sister and myself!! Thanks again for the great review and the good laugh. Oh by the way did you get to enjoy looking at the beautiful water at Cozumel? I thought it was just breath taking.

Toni

Infinity Hawaii 2004

Galaxy 2003

Voyager 2002

Explorer 2001

Hi all,

It's Karen, Linda's sister. She did a pretty good job of sharing our stories. All of the service staff we had were absolutely FANTASTIC. To help answer a couple of questions about the shipshape dollars - you get one "dollar" for every activity that is identified as part of the shipshape program. I always went to the 7:00 30 minute stretch class - then tried to stay for the 8 - 9 aerobic, step, or whatever it might be class, and finished it off by going to deck 12 for the "walkathon" which was 5 times around the pool area (in the lap lanes) which equated to one mile. Each of those activites were $1. We did a couple of other activites during the week - like Linda mentioned - line dancing - I went twice and Yoga - which was a real riot. I tried to convince Linda it would feel good. Our instructor's name was Atilla and he was a world class athlete - of very few words. He hardly spoke at all - you had to watch him as you bended into different contortions to see what the next move was. When he taught the early morning stretch classes - he never spoke. I found out why one morning - he did the 8:00 aerobics class and he saved ALL his energy for that class. He literally sashaed from one end of the room to the other and danced all around he hooped and hollered and had a great time. You would have sworn it was his alter ego. Nice guy - but was endng his 8 month contract on the ship and we watched him leave in Miami - so no Atilla if you go. Fiona was the other instructor and she was a real sweetheart.

Anyhow - you can get all kinds of things with your $$ from key chains, mugs, towels, totebag, t-shirt. I think $1 was the least amount and $16 was the most expensive. I kept $6 of mine for next time - maybe I can sleep in 1 day and still have enough $$ to shop at the end. I think if you go to deck 13 during the week they have a list of what you can buy so you know what to work towards. Happy ship shaping...

Karen

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Judy

RCCL Voyager 5/21-5/30/04

CCL Inspiration 4/4-4/11/04

NCL Sea 4/14-4/27/03

DCL Wonder 5/16-5/19/02

DCL Wonder 5/3-5/8/01

CCL Fantasy 2/15-2/18/01