Voyager 1/7/2012 NOLA sailing review w/ pics

[Gopher1934]

Thank You for the reviews and photo's

we will be on this ship Feb 11

[momof4_tn]

Sorry the images of this aren't great..

DAY 1 .PDF

DAY 1 001.PDF

DAY 1 002.PDF

DAY 1 003.PDF

staff.PDF

[CFIGuy]

Great review with pics. My wife is the photo taker & uploader, plus most of our pictures were of us, not so much of the ship. Sorry we were one of those couples with kids @ Nachi :-p

 

Did you also hear that the ship wasn't full? It was great not having to spend time looking for seats at the Windjammer, pool, bars, theater, etc. What did you think of the staff? We thought it was the best in our many cruises on RCI. And Keith's memory was incredible. Don't know how we remembered us after meeting us once briefly and then running into us two days later.

[plowboy920]

great review keep the pics coming, we were on this cruise also and our waiter did the same thing bringing extras saying try this:D

[nsmama]

Thanks for your review and photos! We are sailing for the first time Feb 11, celebrating our 15th anniversary ( a little early) and my 40th birthday.

[LadyDivot]

Thanks so much for this review! Keep it comin'! We're on the Feb 4 sailing and our first time on Voyager. TN people rock! :D

[BamaTraveler]

Thanks for the review and pics! We may very well do this itinerary one day since we live so close (Alabama...Roll Tide! :)). In the meantime, we are booked on a Southern Caribbean cruise on the AOS, so its nice to see pics from another ship in the same class.

[bcwaves]

Thanks so much for this review! We're going on Navigator from NOLA next year so I appreciate the details. Can you tell me if the ship was still decorated for Christmas when you got on board?

 

Thanks!

[bcwaves]

(Alabama...Roll Tide! :)).

 

:o Geaux Tigers anyway :p

[Susie51]

Thank you for your review and pics.

[momof4_tn]

Thanks so much for this review! We're going on Navigator from NOLA next year so I appreciate the details. Can you tell me if the ship was still decorated for Christmas when you got on board?

 

Thanks!

 

No, there weren't any decoations remaining for Christmas when we boarded.

[momof4_tn]

Great review with pics. My wife is the photo taker & uploader, plus most of our pictures were of us, not so much of the ship. Sorry we were one of those couples with kids @ Nachi :-p

 

Did you also hear that the ship wasn't full? It was great not having to spend time looking for seats at the Windjammer, pool, bars, theater, etc. What did you think of the staff? We thought it was the best in our many cruises on RCI. And Keith's memory was incredible. Don't know how we remembered us after meeting us once briefly and then running into us two days later.

 

We're the opposite my husband is the picture taker, I am the uploader, and we're in hardly any of our shots. There weren't any kids at Nachi that really bothered us, mainly it just didn't seem like somewhere I would take mine and expect them to have a good time. There was a group of rowdy college boys off the Carnival ship behind us.

 

I had no idea whether the ship was full or not, but we had no issues ever finding tables, chairs, waiting in line, anything. It was really nice.

[momof4_tn]

Day 4 – Grand Cayman

I have to say this was the day I was most excited and nervous about. I was nervous about how the tender would work, and whether we would make it off in time for our tour. For our sailing, we stayed on ship time the entire week which was New Orleans time. Grand Cayman and Jamaica were an hour ahead. This was not an issue unless you had a private excursion scheduled, as you were just to stay on ship time. We had booked a private excursion through Moby Dick Tours. I can’t say enough good things about Moby Dick but more about that later.

We headed up to breakfast around 7:30. We were supposed to arrive between 9:30 and 10:00 in Grand Cayman. Tenders were to begin between 10:00 and 10:30. We had an excursion at 11:00 (noon Grand Cayman time). If you booked an excursion through the ship, your excursion was your ticket to get on the tender. If you booked independently or were just going to the island, you had to obtain a tender ticket at 9:30. We finished breakfast around 8:30 and went down to where the tender tickets were to be handed out. There were already 4-5 people in line. Bill decided to wait there while I went to the room to get ready for our day. We got in Group 1 which is actually called after VIP’s and suite guests. They started calling around 10:15 and we waited close to the stairs on Deck 4 to walk down when they called us. We arrived around 10:40 on land and checked in with Moby Dick.

Advice – If you don’t get in Group 1 and you really need to get on one of the first tenders, they didn’t actually look at our tickets once they had boarded the important people. I asked at Guest Services and several other people to find a loop hole in their system in the days leading up to Cayman and everyone said you won’t make your excursion.

After checking in with Moby Dick, we waited for others to arrive and time to leave. They walked us over to a bus and we rode approximately 15 minutes to meet up with the boat. Once getting on the boat we were given some background, history, and snorkeling advice and equipment. There were 6 ships in Cayman that day so the stingray area was quite crowded. They took us to the snorkeling spot first and it was great. The moray eel swam right underneath me and I totally freaked out. After a fair amount of time snorkeling, we boarded the boat and headed to the stingrays. I have tons of pictures of this but the pictures don’t do the experience justice. It was so amazing to be in the water with the beautiful creatures that were so tame.

We then headed back to where we started and the bus was waiting to take us back to the port. Several people wanted to stop by 7 mile beach for a photo op. The bus driver stopped and we waited for those who wanted back on the bus. If you wanted to enjoy the beach, you could grab a bus back later. We went to a restaurant close the ships and on the water that was recommended by the Moby Dick staff. The restaurant was Rackam’s and we ordered the fish and chips to split. It was really good and they even gave us each our portions on individual plates. We sat on the water and the view was nice. We would see a Disney ship, Celebrity, our Voyager, two Carnivals, and a NCL ship. After a bite, we walked down to the Hard Rock so I could pick up t-shirts for myself and my teenager. I have to say Cayman is one place I can’t wait to get back to someday. We caught a tender back and prepared for dinner. Tonight Julio recommended the Beef & Veal Tortellini for an appetizer and it was really good. This night appeared to be a newer menu. Had several things I haven’t seen posted before on the menus. Bill had a Jalapeno Potato soup. Entrée’s he had the Beef Shoulder and I had the Ziti w/ marinara as I just really was not that hungry after our late afternoon fish n chips.

Up next Falmouth, Jamaica. The review is getting harder because this is where I left off with my notes on ship so they will start to get shorter I think.

[momof4_tn]

 

These guys were waiting for me when we got off the boat.

 

 

Cayman is Paradise

 

[momof4_tn]

 

Snorkeling

 

 

This was guy was a little freaky up close and personal.

 

 

Bill talking to the Stingrays

[momof4_tn]

 

Ships hanging with us in Cayman

 

 

 

This guy joined us for lunch. He was enjoying the sun as much as we were.

 

 

Headed back to the Voyager

 

 

As though we hadn't seen enough animals today, this guy took over my bed after dinner.

[Lovtotravel2]

Leaveing on the same trip in 2 weeks, would love it if you could post your compass from each day

 

Great review, thanks

[momof4_tn]

Attached are Day 2 Compasses. I'm having to scan these from work so bear with me I do have all 7 days.

DAY 2.PDF

DAY 2 inserts.PDF

day 2 schedule.PDF

[CruzieSue]

We sail on the Voyager March 17th - really loving your posts and photos. This will be our FIRST CRUISE !!!! So excited and ready to go. Thanks for your info. :)

[GHarkness]

Did you notice the musicians that played daily at the Aquarium Bar? This would have been a pianist and probably a violinist - or a trio, perhaps? They usually play light classics-type music.

 

I would love pictures and/or names if you have them. We have made friends with several of the Rosario Strings on this ship and others, and would like to know who's playing now!

 

I am enjoying your review, and I miss MY Voyager!:(

[Mama2sean]

Thank you for taking time to post, I am enjoying your review very much!

We are on the 2/18/12 sailing and cannot wait to get on the ship!

[momof4_tn]

Did you notice the musicians that played daily at the Aquarium Bar? This would have been a pianist and probably a violinist - or a trio, perhaps? They usually play light classics-type music.

 

I would love pictures and/or names if you have them. We have made friends with several of the Rosario Strings on this ship and others, and would like to know who's playing now!

 

I am enjoying your review, and I miss MY Voyager!:(

 

Honestly, we aren't bar people. I will tell you the Aquarium bar area was a little confusing to me. I know at least during the day it was pretty desolate place. I don't recall ever really seeing anyone there. You are welcome to look through the Compasses as I get them posted to see if any entertainment is listed to that area. Sorry I'm not much help on that.. I do know that I thought there were way too many bar areas but from what I read our sailing was not full maybe that's why they all looked as though they were dead. The ones on the promenade stayed full.

[momof4_tn]

Ok, so most of you will be glad to know most of the rest of the review will be pictures as it seems I have more pics than words at this point. I do hope to finish with the Compass scanning on Monday or Tuesday and get this finished out.

 

Day 5 - Jamaica

 

We really had no plans for today except to do whatever as it came. We went up to breakfast. I will insert here we always ate breakfast sometime between 7 and 8 and never had an issue finding a table in the Windjammer.

 

Advice - They have most of the same stuff in the back of the Windjammer that they have on the sides as you walk in. The exception is the potatoes. Then in the back there is only one place you can find the beans if you want them for breakfast. Back area to me always seemed less crowded and that's where the omelet station was. Also, snacks are in the back in the afternoon. Build your own nachos, hot dogs, fries, hamburgers.

 

 

 

These potatoes were only on the sides. Greasy ones were in the back.

 

 

My omelet

 

 

Jamaica as we pulled in

[momof4_tn]

 

Empty pool deck this morning, but it would be hopping by the end of the day. It was upper 80's and plenty hot.

 

 

View of Falmouth

 

 

 

Freedom Pulling alongside

 

 

View up - I think that is window washers up there. The only reason I say that is later in the aftenoon I was napping with the curtains open. I thought it had started to rain and then here came two men by pressure washing the balconies. Glad I had clothes on. lol :o

[momof4_tn]

So as you can see, after breakfast we decided to get off the ship and go exploring. I knew I wanted to pick up some Blue Mountain coffee, and some t-shirts from the Harley Davidson store.

 

 

Local artistry

 

I want to say this. Maybe it's just me, but it really bothered me to see some passengers be so rude with the people in the craft market areas. In the gated area we were never asked once to look at anything or even appoached unless we were actually touching the products. In most cases, I had to find someone to ask how much. These people do this work by hand, and it is their living. I'm sure those within the gated area are having to pay something to be there (my guess). I heard one passenger get very indignant while trying to get a steal on a walking stick. Most prices I felt were reasonable, and they would come down some but have some respect for these people. If they tell you $45 don't offer them $10, that's insulting. Ok, I'm off my soapbox.

 

 

That's me in front of the clock. Did I mention it was hot?

 

 

This was inside the gated area, so I'm not sure where the horse and buggy ride would have taken you.

 

 

As you were walking toward the gates of the enclosed area, they had these signs that told about the history of Jamaica and Falmouth. They were very interesting. Just to show my ignorance I thought Jamiaca was still under the control of the UK, but I learned that they are actually independent.