Back from 6/27 Voyager to Canada

Back from our first cruise and it was everything we had hoped it would be.

I wont get into a long detailed review, just a few key points, and then would be happy to answer any questions I can.

Boarding:

We left our house in NJ and drove to Bayonne, arriving at the pier about 1:30, unloaded our luggage, hubby parked the car, checked our luggage, and began the boarding process. We proceeded quickly through the terminal, as there were NO lines at this point. Got to the waiting area, there were sandwiches, chips, sodas, and water. But we didnt even have time to check them out, because almost immediately we were called for the bus to take us to the ship! We were brought right to the ship and allowed to board, were told our room was ready, so up we went to drop off our carry ons, and were off to check off the ship before the crowds arrived. We were on board before 2:30......so it pays to arrive early if you can!

Windjammer was open, so after looking around we had a bite to eat.

Dining room:

The first night dinner was at 5:30 instead of the normal time of 6:00. Our assigned table was not available for some reason, so they put us at a smaller table for 6 (there were 4 in our party) and we dined with a wonderful couple our age and really enjoyed the smaller setting even though we had originally arranged for a larger table.

We found the meals to be great. The prime rib was amazing the first night, and filet was wonderful also. We always found there to be a good amount of options, enough to please almost everyone. Our head waiter was wonderful, but sadly the 9 nighter leaving today is going to be his last cruise. We ate dinner in the dining room every night, but only had one breakfast and one lunch there, the others we had at the Windjammer, where we found the food to be good, but typical of buffets, not quite the quality of the dining room.

Adventure Ocean for the kids:

Our kids ages 12 and 5 participated in this program as often as possible, in fact so much so, that on our days at port, they just wanted to stay in their "club" instead of joining us on shore.....though we took them ashore anyway!

The program for the young kids is wonderful......our 5 year old was thrilled with everything, but our 12 year old was not happy with the teen group. They are pretty much just left on their own to "hang out", which might be fine for older teens, but for a 12 year old it was just becoming a bunch of wasted time. We had him moved to the 9-11 year old group, and he was MUCH happier with the structure and events of that group. The program runs from morning until 10 pm, with a few breaks in between at meal times. After 10, they can stay until 1 am for $5 an hour per child for the late night activities, a nice option for the adults to enjoy late evenings out.

Disembarkation:

UGH! Unfortunatley, they saved the worst experience of the cruise as the last, so it stays as your most recent thoughts as you end your vacation.

This was terribly planned out! They give you the color coded tags the night before, and are asked to wait in the La Scala Theater on deck 3 the morning of. Disembarking is from deck 1.......sounds simple enough, when they call your color......all you need to do is go down 2 decks, right? WRONG!!!

You cant take the stairs as they are roped, so now everyone is trying to jam onto the elevators at once, but then you find out you cant get to deck 1 from those elevators, so now you need to get back up.....to deck 5 it turns out.....go all the way to the other side of the ship.....all the while they keep calling more colors, to add to the mass exodus of people with no where to go! They should have had someone directing people where to go! Very frustrating to say the least! But once we found the right place, and waited in the crowds to get out, the rest went smoothly.

Whew! We were back home by 12:30, and I still feel like I am swaying with the ship!! LOL

The seas were very smooth! Wonderful sailing weather. Weather was very nice! Maybe about 70ish so it was nice in the sunshine, but a bit chilly in the shade. But all in all, we couldnt have asked for better weather. Foggy at night, and one night was a bit choppy, but not too bad. Dolphins were sighted, and some people were lucky enough to see whales, but I did not.

Well, this turned out longer than I expected, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some things worth mentioning, so feel free to ask questions, and I will try to answer whatever I can.

Was a wonderful experience, and we already look forward to our next cruise, and would gladly sail the Voyager again!

Thanks for posting so quickly on your return. I have a few questions.

1. Do you know if the ship returned the day you left, as you were allowed on the ship very early.

2. What did you do in Saint John and Halifax? Would you have preferred to do something else based on conversations with others?

3. Would it be better to stay in your room and wait for your colored tag to be announced than go to the place your directed, as long as debarkation is from the 5th floor. Where on the 5th floor?

4. Did you go to the movie theatre?

Thanks if you can respond.

Hi Becky,

1. Yes, the previous 9 day Caribbean sailing had returned that morning, I dont know what time they disembarked, but apparently the crew had their act together to get ready for us so early.

2. In St. John, we just rented a taxi for a one hour tour available at the pier w/o prior reservation. Unfortunately for us, it was our guides first tour and he seemed unsure of what to show us! We drove around for an hour, saw the reversing falls and a nature trail that I forget the name of. It was ok, but our table mates had a much more favorable experience with their tour guide.

In Halifax we walked along the boardwalk a little bit of a distance and took the Harbour Hopper tour which is an amphibious vehicle that gives a 30 min land tour and then drives into the harbour for a 30 minute boat tour. That was very enjoyable and for our family of 4 it cost about 65 dollars. This seemed like a better choice than our table mates had with their hop-on bus tour.

3. You wont be allowed to stay in your room to wait for your color, they want you out of them by 8 so they can start cleaning for the next sailing. Disembarking is not from deck 5, but from 1, but it was hard to get to 1 as not all the elevators actually go there. Other people were waiting at various other parts of the ship, I will have to look at the ships map to figure out what would be the best place to wait. Although they asked everyone to wait in the Theater, they later announced to please wait in any public waiting area.....I guess as long as you were not in the stair wells or halls, any place else was fair game.

4. We did not go the movie theater, sorry I cant help you with that one.

When do you sail?

Westkid:

Thanks for posting so much useful information so quickly. How wonderful for you that they let you on so early. Many cruisers have reported that the previous cruise had NOT emptied out quite so efficiently and/or the terminal was NOT ready to receive new guests so that many hundreds of people were left standing OUTSIDE waiting to sign in.

I just received my (sigh: edocs) documents and there is a very firm paragraph about NOT arriving before 6 P.M.! Yeah, right, like any self-respecting Cruise Critic would do that! LOL

Any number of people have already reported back about the parking at the Bayonne port, but I guess I am anal and just need more reassurance. They DO take credit cards for the $12 a day charge, don't they? My silly docs still say "cash only" but everyone has been reporting that they have used their credit cards without any hassle.

What cabin were you in, and how much did you love it, and your cabin steward? How about the dinner seating? We have had early (main) seating in the past, but my kids (older teens) asked for late this time, so we have that. I hate to miss shows and evening entertainment, but they like to fit in a nice afternoon snack/meal in between returning from shore time and dinner.

Carol

Boarding:

Very smooth. Parked the car at 4:00 PM . I was on the ship and had my bags in an hour. One of the smoothest.

Food:

Windjamer was a total waste of time, UGH!! The food in the main dining room was just ok. Breakfast was not so good. In the main dining room the eggs were either cold or under cooked. French Toast like a rock or pancakes that just fell apart on your fork. Guess I am use to Disney or Princess food!

The pizza was like the type served in school, frozen shell (nasty) ! The gala midnight buffet was lacking in food that was of any substance. Just a few shrimp that were on ice, other assorted food and cakes. The food set out warm for hours no means of keeping it cool. I was afraid to eat most of the food as it wasn't kept cold. They had many great displays that were everwhere (very little food).

I would like to go to Bermuda next year on the VOS, however, the food would have to get a lot better!

Disembarkation:

This took 3 hours as it was total disaster! I saw 3 automobile accidents, short tempers with lots of yelling and two people almost killed in the streets due to lack of control by the port authorty!

Never did swipe my card after leaving the ship, or ask to see a photo ID,or colored luggage tag! Total lack of security BIG TIME!!! Doesn't make you feel safe. It was scary...........Over all the trip was just ok, and the ship itself very good.

Sorry to be so negative. Just comparing to my other trips.

Merion Mom,

Sorry, I'm not sure about the credit card at parking. Hubby parked and paid cash, and doesnt remember if CC was accepted.

Our room # was 1375........inside cabin on deck 10 aft. No complaints, but I dont recommend squeezing 4 people in it like we did! 2 beds pulled down from the ceiling and the kids loved sleeping up there, but not much room to move around. Our steward was awesome! Very attentive, always a smile, and he actually spoiled us after finding out hubby was in the Coast Guard he sent a few trays of goodies to our room unexpectedly!

The steward of the nearby rooms also spoiled my 5 year old, since every time we would pass by, my son would run up to him and say Hi with a big smile, he started giving him chocolates every time he would pass......with a big handful of them on the final night LOL!!

Dinner was main seating for us, worked out well with the kids, late would not have been good with young kids, and they were always ready to run up to their clubs as soon as dinner was over, giving us some free time to hot tub it!

Our docs also boldly said boarding was at 6pm, but since we were driving in, figured we had nothing to lose, and were prepared to sit around for a few hours. Glad we chanced it, otherwise we would have just been sitting at home counting the hours until we could leave.

Alinnj,

It always funny how different people on the same cruise see things differently, though I do agree with a few of your points.

Agreed that the pizza was not appealing, but the kids didnt seem to mind, however I woluld think most adults would want something better. We seemed to always find something suitable in the Windjammer, and at the very least, it was fun to try out so many different things (especially the desserts) Though we never went there for dinner, so I cant speak of that, the lunch was just fine for grabbing a bite to eat.

Also agree about the Gala Buffet. We viewed it, but decided not to come back to eat, most of the foods didnt really appeal to us anyway, and we just couldnt stand the thought of standing with 3000 other people all trying to grab at the same food.

Disembarking.........we also never showed our Seapass or ID...I suppose we could have just stowed away and stayed for the next sailing since they really have no way of knowing how many people actually got off the ship! Was just a mess, and my only real complaint of the whole trip.

Who was the CD - did you like?? Will this CD be on for the rest of the summer? Thanks

I was on the 6/13 sailing to Canada. The parking lot attendant said only cash, and since that is what I had heard and read all along that was fine, we had it ready. It is $60 for the 5 days.

For us, boarding was a breeze. We were on the ship within 25 mins. So fast we did not even have the chance to get our pictures taken. Getting off the ship was not a problem either. They announced over and over that you should only take certain elevators to deck 1. We did not have to show our seapass as we left the ship. They did provide coffee, tea, water and lemonade and pastries while we waitied for our tag color to be called.

I definitely want to do this trip again, not because of the ship, but cause it was so gosh awful foggy in Saint John that we saw very little. I understand that it is the foggiest city in the world! In Halifax we took the tour of Peggys Cove and wish I had known about the nice shopping area along the boardwalk cause then we would have gotten off the ship much sooner so that we could have shopped a bit more and then taken the tour.

Annieeee

Westkid said:"Agreed that the pizza was not appealing, but the kids didnt seem to mind, however I woluld think most adults would want something better."

I also agree that the pizza was ok for the kids. I am an adult who also likes pizza,and was use to the better oven (hand made) pizza aboard the Princess lines in an Italian section on board. It was made to order along with other Italiann dishes.:D

Hey,

Just some more info.

We parked 2 cars and used cc. No problem.

Check out web cam from new york for statue of liberty. You can see Voyager in background and know if it is in port early. (As it was 6/27 @ 8 am).

To dis-embark, grab elevator "up" and wait for it to go down, otherwise you will not get one. We had wheelchairs to navigate and it was the only way.

Don't miss sail under Verrazonno as ship clears by mear 12'. It looks like something from a movie, be preparred.

Food was alright, nothing to rave about. We didn't expect great meals for a 5 day cruise. Have a lobster lunch in Canada, its the best!

Book shore excursions early as they sellout quick. Best tours were gone by Sunday night.

St.John - We booked a taxi for 5 hours. $35. / hr. Went to reversing falls (Must see!) and took jet boat ($26. pp) for 20 min. ride. It was a thrill. High tide and water smooth but captain did mant tricks he couldn't do if water was rough. Went to St. Martin to see caves. Best at low tide as you can explore them. Had "world's best seafood chowder" at restaurant outside of caves. Caves are free, chowder about $8. bowl.

Went back to falls at low tide, water was really rough.

:pDriver made stop so we could get Alpine beer. This is a premium Moosehead product that doesn't get exported. It was good. Driver showed us many of the sights along the way. After final cost I believe we saw alot more for about what the ship would charge in price.

Halifax - Booked taxi to Peggy's cove for 3 hr. tour. (taxi $30./hr.). Took city tour with taxi 1 hour. Walked boardwalk to Salty's restaurant for a lobster lunch. The boardwalk had many shops and restaurants. Arrived back at ship around 3 and went straight to Johnny Rocket's since most passengers were still away and found no lines to get in.

Have a great trip, our weather was decent and it will only improve for future trips.

Thanks, for the reviews. I will be pon the July 11th sailing and i have a few questions.

1. Where in Halifax and STJohn's should we go to lunch for lobster ? How much did a lobster dinner cost ?

2. Is the boardwalk in walking distance from the ship?

3. What was the weather like ? Shorts/ pants ?

Thanks.

One week to go!!!

We had lobster at Steamers right across from the pier in St John I believe it was about 20 dollars Canadian. Didn't eat lobster in Halifax.

Boardwalk is a medium walk from ship. As you walk along there is a tour called Seymour Splash. For under 20 dollars a person they do an excellent city tour then splash into harbor- that was great

We also did jet boat ride- great for those who like thrill rides- did all excursions on our own and found cabs resonable and plentiful

We didn't mind the food- some things were actually excellent and all was palatable. We ate in dining room and one night at Portofinos. Also had 3 breafasts and one lunch in dining room. I found my eggs to be exactly as order, over medium and my french toast or pancake sides were fine. Never made midnight buffet- my husband would have snack- little sandwich from Promeade Cafe each afternoon and I would have a kiwi or banana all available there. Yes pizza was just frozen stuff. Had breakfast one day in Island Grill- they make omelets in back- but opted for dining room every other morning- Our waiter was excellent and really tried to please brought us lots of extra lamb chops and they were deilicious.

For me the weather was perfect- we had lots of sun at sea- yes a nip in the air but a lounge in a protected spot was quite beautiful- In all we loved our cruise

Have fun!!

Bayonnecruiser

My husband wore shorts with a tee shirt both days at sea. I wore capris and a light jacket most days- did put shorts on the last day at sea but had a sweatshirt handy- Temperatures were like 65-70 in sun and a bit cooler in shade- people did get burned- can be fooled cause it doesn't feel hot sitting there- We went in pool- heated- and whirlpools- then steamroom and it felt great- a bit too cold to get wet and sit outside for long- I love that kind of weather much better than hot and humid- Hope you have as much sun as we had- St John was sunny until mid day then fog and a drizzle and sun came back

Yes my husband paid for parking with a credit card.

We waited in Aquarium Bar area for disembarking- no snacks but no problem going down to get off ship and from that floor you could easily get outside to see what was happening

Wow,

What great information in this thread -- thank you all.

A couple of questions

(1) can children use the solarium pool?

(2) if we were to have to wait to board the ship, how bad would it be (we're being driven and dropped off at 6:30 PM -- we figured we'd rather wait at home than have the kids cranky and though the idea of checking the web cam is AWESOME -- we have to book the time in advanced).

(3) It seems like we've given ourselves enough time to get off by 11:30 -- are scheduled pick up time, am I correct, or should we push the time back to noon?

(4) I've heard good things about Peggy's cove and bad things about whale watching, right now, we're planning whale watching and NOT Peggy's cove for Halifax -- are we being foolish?

Thanks,

Bonnie

Some answeres for you...

Solarium pool is adults only. Most people respect that rule. Did notice a kid under 16 in fitness center pool. Main pools and whirlpools are just outside from solarium. (pools are heated)

Ship is usually in Bayonne on time for Canada cruise. Although colors are called for dis-embarkation, ikt is not enforced. If you can get off ship by 10:30 you should have luggage and be at pickup point in a matter of about 20 minutes depending on size and amount of luggage. Customs do not seem to bother you on Canada trips as much as Caribean cruises. We breezed through with 8 people.

We spotted many whales and dolphins from the Viking Crown on 1st day at sea. I did not book a whale tour and do not know how sucessful it may be but keep your eyes open while on ship. The whales we saw only come up for air and spout a little. You can only see the tips of their heads. Don't miss the harbour seals at the revering falls in St. john as they are really neat to watch.

I would definitly arrive a little early. The waiting area has room for the kids to move around and they have food and refreshments.

Have a great cruise.

We got to the port at 4:30 and literally walked on to the ship- No lines for check in and then onto a bus to ship-

We were last color called Purple and had a bit of a wait for husband to get our car and we were on road at 11:30 AM

I saw whale from my balcony with binoculars- a perfect view of the whale spouting and coming up

Saw several dolphins as well

Peggy's Cove was picturesque but almost an hour's ride each way- I didn't think it worth it- I would stay in city of Halifax- Do Harbour Hopper or Seymour Splash Tour- maybe visit Citadel- and enjoy the harbor area

What did you purchase while in Canada? Did you find ordinary things cheaper? I've heard music CDs are cheaper. Anything else?

Waterford (or any other Halifax "experts";)):

Are Harbor Hopper and Seymour Splash identical tours, just rival companies?

Carol

Hi,

What time does the boat leave Bayonne, N.J.?

When you park your car, how do you get to the ship?

Thank you,

Ellen

Merion Mom, I'm no Halifax expert, but we really enjoyed the Harbour Hopper, I cant say about Seymour Splash, I dont recall seeing that one.

We enjoyed the walk along the boardwalk, all the way to Harbour Hopper. But dont do like we did and almost miss our tour. We forgot that we were still on ships time, and were off by 1 hour, had I not looked at a local clock while hubby was in the restroom we would have missed our tour!

They have a website http://www.harbourhopper.com , maybe you can get some info there.

We also watched glass blowing at Nova Scotia crystal, and got rum cake samples and purchased at Rum Runners rum cake factory along the boardwalk.

Ellen, ship left Bayonne at 10 pm. Hubby parked and just walked to the terminal, we were early, so he got a pretty decent spot, but I believe they had shuttles to the terminal, and then again, shuttles from the terminal to the ship. Dont worry, it will all be clear when you get there. I dont think you can really get lost the way it is set up, you'll know where to go!

Hi,

How safe is the parking at the Bayonne pier? It is alot cheaper to drive and leave the car then take a car service from Long Island.

Thanks,

Ellen

Ellen,

We found no problem at all with the parking lot. The way it is set up, the only people that would have access to it are other cruise guests, and I imagine the last thing any of them are thinking about is messing with someone elses car!

I dont know if its cheaper than other services, but we paid $60, and it was worth it to not have to worry about arranging pick up times with anyone else, or trying to get a cab or bus or anything.