REVIEW - Voyager of the Seas - 3/31/11 to 4/6/11 Lots of Pics!

[Motleu]

 

Rock Wall desk

 

Hey! Look what I forgot to post!

 

Bad quality pics from Ice Show

 

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Only got pics of dessert!

 

 

Tartufo al Cioccolato (amazing but rich!)

 

Dessert sampler

[Motleu]

 

Falmouth is the much maligned new port created by RC. It took awhile to get up and running but seems to be complete at this point. The usual shops and duty free stuff confined by a fence around the port area. It is a concrete area and doesnt reflect any Jamaican culture. In fact the only bar is a small shack that was playing reggae (yay!) but quickly switched to honky tonk/country!!! I didnt come to Jamaica to hear country music. I think the port area isnt really worth the time since you can see this stuff anywhere and it gets old after awhile.

 

It was here that we did our only ship sponsored excursion - Captain Hook's Pirate Adventure! I choose this excursion because it was free for children under 12; $49 for an adult so were able to go on an event for less than $100 before tips. Once debarking the ship and going through the terminal building proceed past all the shops to the trolley/taxi waiting area. From there they will escort you to the excursion. You cant miss the young man holding the pirate flag.

 

That is the Freedom of the Seas in the background our port partner for the day

 

It takes about 10 minutes to walk to the pirate ship which was tied up just a short distance away. I had heard good things from other reviews but didnt know what to expect from this seemingly rickety ship:

 

 

 

 

Once onboard the "pirates" led you to a line so you could take a pic with Captain Hook and a treasure chest full of riches! That picture could be had for 25 pieces! Of course we bought. I had a sword to my neck!;)

[Motleu]

After the treasure pic we were led to a seat. There were small chairs set up on either side of the vessel creating a 6 foot wide center aisle where the show would take place. Immediately we were served daquiris, rum punch and beer and soda for the kids. The beverages flowed freely and once you finished a drink another would magically appear out of nowhere. the service was great. It took awhile to get everyone seated and then we were underway. The Captain and his mates put on a funny corny show made all the funnier by copious amounts of rum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually all the kids went off to get sword ballons and kids fun and the pirates had 4 folks plucked from the audience take part in a mini obstacle course and beer drink off! That is my kind of excursion.

[Motleu]

When the kids came back another pirate ship pulled up next to us and a raging sword battle ensued with some low level acrobatics and clanging swords. It was a pretty good show. Eventually Captain Hook prevailed and sent the other ship on their way. At that time they announced the lunch buffet was ready. Hot dogs, chicken tenders, fries and salad - nothing spectacular but not a bad set up considering the size of the boat and their working area. And of course more rum punch!

 

 

The battle!

 

 

 

 

After the show - the entire event from boarding until debarking took almost 2.5 hrs - they quote the excursion at 1.5 hours so no complaints here and they didnt hurry you off the boat if you wanted a couple or three more drinks!

[Motleu]

Views of Falmouth area:

 

 

 

 

Shows how close the pirate ship is to the pier

 

Freedom of the Seas

 

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More Falmouth:

 

 

Voyager behind the shops

 

From the Voyager

 

 

 

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More Falmouth:

 

 

 

 

DW had enough shopping but I wanted to look around more so she took DD's and went back to ship. I looked at the liquor store and thought they had the best prices of any of the duty free shops on land or ship. After that I had to have a red stripe on Jamaican soil:

 

 

Then I had to have a blue mountain coffee on Jamaican soil. Both missions accomplished it was time to return to ship. The security was strictest here and they were searching this poor older gentleman's backpack full of shells. They took each one out and ran their fingers inside looking for contraband! To that end Capt. Martinsen warned us to obey local rules and not try to smuggle contraband (read: marijuana) onto the ship. He said we should act like the Norweigens - they only thing they smoke is salmon! Ouch!

 

Headed back to ship to take the pics you see from above and catch sailaway.

[Dreamer-too-12]

Great review! Keep it coming! :)

[Motleu]

Thanks! Furiously scanning!

[Motleu]

Dinner was casual dress and that evening was Quest at 1015pm and the poolside Caribbean party (replacing the midnight buffet) at 1115pm. Quest was held in Studio B and was predictable. Fun but not as exciting in the past partly because of predictability and partly because of location. The level of chaos was down somewhat because the teams were on the floor (some slipped because of condensation caused by the ice below. They had the ice covered by some type of flooring) and the observers in the bleachers.

 

The poolside party was a giant crawfish boil with people walking all over the ship with huge plates of crawfish. Since I had the late dinner seating and the poolside party started at 1115 I wasnt hungry so I cant comment on the food. Here is a pic:

 

 

They had a dance party after the buffet that was populated 90% by teens and some very crazy dance moves! Spent some time taking pics of the ship and then turned in.

[Motleu]

I am combining these two days because they were sea days. Got alot of sleep those days and spent much time at the pool bars. Day 6 saw the Mens International Belly Flop (why mens? every now and then a female enters!). They had a BBQ/chili cook off poolside during the afternoon and the weather was great. The kids spent most of the day at AO. During sea days AO was open from 9-12, 2-5 and 7 on with a $6 fee per kid per hour after 10pm until 2am. AO was fantastic on this cruise as the counselors did a great job. Eventually I will be posting all of the kids compasses.

 

That evening was the second formal night with lobster tails and garlic shrimp. Lobster tails were small so I had quite a few. Sylvester eventually just brought a huge plate of tails and just went around the table putting one on each plate and then started the process over again.

People were dressed up but not quite as formal as they were on the first formal night. We did not attend the show that evening but DW took DD, the older to the ice show. The show in La Scala was by a group called 3 Voices. Didnt see them so I cant offer any opinion.

 

I changed things up on day 7. I am a night owl so I spent nearly every evening walking around the ship late finding solitude. On Friday morning I decided to wake up early just to see what goes on in the early morning hrs! Haha. Early to me is 8am so I grabbed a book and a mug of coffee (I brought a mug from home so I could get enough coffee to keep from running back and forth for refills - also always got my coffee at cafe promenade. best coffee by far on the Voyager!). went up to the pool deck and there were people around but not many. WJ was busy so I just sat and read for an hour. Met DW in WJ and went to get the kids for bingo. Bingo was generally held in Cleopatra's Needle. I liked this space and it was busy during the cruise with karaoke, big band dancing, bingo and other events.

 

The Captain's Corner was held at 1100am in La Scala but I missed that. I usually try to make that one of my must attend events but bingo with the crew won out this time!

 

The Make-a-Wish Foundation Walk for Wishes was held at 1100am on the sports deck and there was an island frenzy parade in the promenade at 545pm. Crown and Anchor had a special event called "Meet the Stars" at 3pm in the Schooner Bar where you could meet cast members from the production and ice shows. So there was plenty to do on the last day of this wonderful cruise. And of course the $10 dollar sale created a frenzy on the pool deck.

 

Dinner was casual and I had the Chicken Marsala which I thought was excellent! Tough to do chicken well for so many but they did a great job. We made our farewells to the tremendous waitstaff in the MDR and made sure Sylvester and Lino were well compensated for their hard work and great effort.

 

The next posts will contain many pics and comments. Then I will post all scanned docs from the week then comments about debarkation and then final comments. Thanks for reading!!

[Motleu]

The Pig & Whistle

 

The infamous mens room urinal outside of the Windjammer

 

Outside Johnny Rockets

 

 

 

Skylight chapel - Deck 15

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Skylight chapel - Deck 15

 

looking down to Promenade...

 

 

 

Disco Inferno

 

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

Great review! Awesome pics!!!

[will773]

Awesome pics!

[Motleu]

Great review! Awesome pics!!!

 

Awesome pics!

 

 

Thanks!

 

More to come!

[Motleu]

 

Viking Crown - Seven of Hearts card room (where the nightly Diamond event was held)

 

Viking Crown - Cloud Nine

 

Shipshape entranceway

 

Deck 12 signage

 

Model in the Cleopatra's Needle entranceway

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Entrance to The Connoisseur Club smoking lounge (located in the entrance to Cleopatra's Needle)

 

 

 

 

Artwork/sculpture in Cleopatra's Needle

 

Voyager history

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Voyager build history

 

 

 

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A quiet promenade

 

More from Falmouth...

 

 

 

 

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The sportscar outside of the Sports bar

 

 

Promenade Shops

 

 

 

Champagne Bar

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Freedom of the Seas

 

 

 

Freedom reflection in the Voyager Viking Crown

 

 

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Pool deck

 

 

This is an area above the sky bar

 

 

 

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Freedom's Large Screen

 

Solarium

 

 

Falmouth Sailaway