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Just back from Voyager of the Seas 12/24/11 review

paulgraff

By paulgraff,
in Royal Caribbean International

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paulgraff

paulgraff

Posted
Posted

In reading about the Voyager of the Seas before my trip on these threads I read a lot of posts from people complaining about trival little things such as: I can't get chocolate milk, the handrails are not shiny enough, the eggs don't taste right, etc...

 

I am an experienced cruiser with almost 20 cruises, in my mind there is no such thing as a bad cruise. I think if you are looking for perfection you might just want to stay home in your perfect word.

 

Getting on the ship was easy. Try to arrive by either 10:45 AM or after 2:30. We arrived at exactly 10:45 and were in the Windjamer by 11:30. If you are arriving by car do not waste time unloading your bags on the curb near the terminal, just go directly to the "whale" lot where they have a truck waiting for your bags in the parking lot, from there it is a 3 minute walk to the terminal. The crush time seems to be after 11:00 AM. Getting off the ship was also easy with us off the ship by about 10:00 AM.

 

Over all The Voyager of the Seas is a great ship in great condition in the public areas, in fact it was one of my all time favorites only coming in under the Norway and the Disney Wonder. The staterooms are (outside balcony deck 7) your standard, typical, stateroom is standard decent condition. The shower is the best shower I have ever had on a ship, the pressure and hot water was just great.

 

Regarding the food I found the food in the main dining room was your typical, standard cruise fare, some great, some good and some not so good. Ask your waiter as he will guide you. The Windjammer and the grill offer typical standard cruise fare as well. The food is good and one won't go hungry. Did not eat in MDR for breakfast, but ate there twice for lunch with a outstanding salad bar. I did miss the fact that this ship did not have a pool side grill, but food is just 3 minutes away in the Windjammer. Don't eat in the MDR on the night they have the dinner on the pool deck, the food was WOW, they even had crawfish on this night. We ate at J. Rockets once, it was good, something to try once. The shakes are worth it for $4.95 and the food is only $4.95 for all you can eat. Did not eat at Portfino (sp?) but it seemed to be something you might want to do for a special dinner, it is $20 per person. They also have a "special" steak on the menu in the MDR everynight for $15, but that just seemed to be a waste of money to me as they had some type of beef on the menu every night.

 

The staff is fairly friendly but not always able to get the job done. We found the staff in the kids area (age over 12 only group) the shore excursion desk, and ice skating ring to be really bad. Please note, this ship is getting ready to go to China in April, thus they are bringing in new staff to get them use to the ship. Most of this new staff is Chinese and does not speak english, this just started about two weeks ago. Good luck to those of you who will be onboard in March or April when the ship will be completly staffed with Chinese (nothing against the Chinese meant here) as they just don't understand a word you are speaking to them. The entire current ships crew is being transfered to other ships and most of them are upset about this as they are leaving their home and friends.

 

Shows... nothing great, just your typical cruise type shows. However, try to catch the "guitar guy" in the Pig and Whistle everynite at 9:00, he is very good and a lot of fun.

 

Overall a great ship and unless your a person that demands perfection you will have a great time.

 

Got more specific question just ask and I'll try answer them.

 

PG

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Tralynn

Tralynn

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We were on the Voyager Thanksgiving week which must have been before the crew started transitioning over so we didn't have the language barrier issues.

 

Definitely loved the entertainer in the Pig & Whistle. Also loved the piano bar late at night. Both men were very funny and talented.

 

The ice show was really pretty good, as were a couple of the comedians that were onboard for the week. We were also treated to an excellent concert, which was invitation only by Martina McBride. What a treat!

 

We agree that the beef dishes in the MDR were very good. The rest was average.

 

We also enjoyed the activities/parades held on the Promanade. The other fun activity was The Quest, held on the last night at midnight in the skating arena.

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Qudas

Qudas

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We were on the same cruise last week. Drove down from North Alabama and stayed by Hammond, LA. Drove across the causeway in the morning and parked at the Fulton Street Garage. It worked out well. A bit of confusion with some people, as Carnival was also in port, and the bus drivers were trying to sort people into bus loads going to the proper ship.

 

We dropped off the luggage before 10:30. We were Platinum check in and that went quickly. Waited until almost 11;00 in the platinum seating area and were allowed to board. Windjammer didn't open until 11:30 for lunch and rooms were not open until 1:30.

 

I've been on over two dozen cruises and this was the first time I had a suitcase flagged. Had to go to the naughty room.. Actually in NOLA they have two different naughty rooms! One for liquids and one for everything else. My transgression.. I had packed my small leatherman tool... I've done this for every cruise I've been on. I asked to see the security rules. The security people could not find them... The best they could some up with after 20 minutes was a list of RCCL "guidance" on what could be denied on board. They took a pair of sissors from an elderly lady who had intended to wrap presents. As I was looking at the "guidance" sissors were not even on the list. I got a receipt, and at the end of the cruise after coming through customs they had some tables and security people to take the receipt and return your electrical or other security items. There were LOTS of leatherman tools. Not sure why the security personnel were such zealots on this ship. Future Voyager cruisers.. consider yourself warned!! At least they let my duct tape through...

 

We left a bit late on departing. We had 5:30 seating in the MDR. Service all week was disjointed. We eventually got food, but it was clear management and the wait staff were not all on the same page. Windjammer was worse on service. They had baked beans out for breakfast, which I eat. About day 5 the beans were missing, and a cook told me they were out of beans, when I asked for them. An hour or so later I went back to the Windjammer with my wife and to my surprise, they had beans. The cook had lied to me, and was too lazy to go get the beans when I first asked.

 

They have a new Art auction program on board. It is called Art on Royal. Buyers fee is "up to 10%" now, depending on the piece. This was the second week they had the art auction program on Voyager. All RCCL ships will have the program by April and they will then start with Celebrity. Had some new artists, but not a lot of quantity.

 

Ports were Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Falmouth. Need more time with Grand Cayman. Took us 45 minutes to tender back to the ship and get on board. You guessed it. Security had the lines backed up so people could not get off the tender... Falmouth is okay.. sort of a RCCL "Disney World" of Jamaica. But.. you can shop at the newest Diamonds International!!

 

We were a little late docking on the last day. Fog in NOLA and on the river. They started letting people off perhaps around 7:15 for self assist. I think they called us at 8:05 for tags one and two. Many people standing (in the way) in the terminal with suitcases and trying to flag for porters. There didn't seem to be enough porters. We only had one suitcase each on wheels so didn't need a porter. Customs folks were nice and processing people quickly. Had a nice chat with our agent. Got into the exit hallway, claimed my wayward leatherman, and at the end of the hall found the bus for Fulton Street parking. We filled up the bus with suitcases and passengers. Loaded up our truck and found our way to I-10. We were on I-10 before 9AM and headed home.

 

We got letters on day 3 I think, about the noro on board. Didn't get any other info all week even when asking ON past cruises people say with noro they have staff serve all the food. We did not get this. I did see about once an hour they switched out all the tongs in the Windjammer. They went from black, to white, to red... They did try to get people to use hand sanitizer more often.

 

Okay.. my observations.... Weather was good each day. I got up to walk and see all the sunrises.... Didn't go to the shows, or the casino...

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Coralc

Coralc

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We sailed on Dec. 10th. We were also called downstairs for a Leatherman tool. It has been in the suitcase and on past cruises forever. I'm not sure why they are so overzealous about them either. :rolleyes:

 

I can't imagine that the new crew members can be that much worse than the ones that are presently onboard. We were not impressed with the crew on our sailing. I wrote a complaint about one crew member, and had a difficult time finding someone to use our royal WOW card for.

 

We have friends that are sailing on Voyager in March, I will have to mention that they may be in for a surprise. :)

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Iluvcruising2

Iluvcruising2

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When we sailed on the Legend in June 2011, the cruise Director was from China, a guy called Fang.

 

I won't be surprised if the CD on Voyager will be a Chinese national, at least for the May 2012 to Oct 2012 period when the ship will be sailing out of Singapore, Hong Kong and China. I think the ship has been chartered for several sailings out of China. There is a growing market there.

 

The ship will re position from China to Australia in Oct and sail out of Australia till at least March 2013. This period coincides with the summer peak season down under. I won't be surprised if they take on a non Chinese CD and more non Chinese crew for this period.

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Coralc

Coralc

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When we sailed on the Legend in June 2011, the cruise Director was from China, a guy called Fang.

 

I won't be surprised if the CD on Voyager will be a Chinese national, at least for the May 2012 to Oct 2012 period when the ship will be sailing out of Singapore, Hong Kong and China. I think the ship has been chartered for several sailings out of China. There is a growing market there.

 

The ship will re position from China to Australia in Oct and sail out of Australia till at least March 2013. This period coincides with the summer peak season down under. I won't be surprised if they take on a non Chinese CD and more non Chinese crew for this period.

 

And where do you live? :D

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Hunwolf

Hunwolf

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My suitcase was also flagged on the 17th sailing for a very small pair of scissors. LOL. I've taken them every time and that was a first.

 

And they are rotating on a few more Asian employees for the ship transition. That made some communications with the bar staff interesting. Not terrible...just took a little more effort.

 

I did not notice any communications issues in the children's/youths areas. The only problem there is the poor entrance/exit design of the center there on the Voyager.

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Iluvcruising2

Iluvcruising2

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How neat! I'll bet you are excited then about more cruising opportunities! :D Enjoy. :)

 

Very much.

 

We don't have many choices here. Was dreaming of going to the Caribbean to try the Oasis-class. But the return airfare from Singapore to Miami would set us back by more than SGD$3000/pax (abt USD2400 at current exchange rates)!! I got a family of four - so you got to times four to that amount.

 

Very excited that Voyager is coming to Asia.

 

Hopefully RCI will send even bigger ships to Asia in the very near future!

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