Voyager of the Seas Picture Review Singapore to Shanghai June 2012

[DonnaK]

I am also loving the review. Neighbours have just come back from Hong Kong and telling me all about it - your pictures nicely illustrated the cable car. I am not sure that I would be happy about that cross over water though.

 

My question is unrelated to the Far East - it is about the Top Tier event - it may sound a little naive - but what is the point of it beyond eating canapes? Is is Formal because it is on the same afternoon as the formal night of the cruise? We are first timer platinums on our next cruse in July and I am only just realising some of the extra 'perks' and working out which ones will suit us.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

The top tier event also has free champagne and wine. And, yes it's formal because it is held on formal night.

[DonnaK]

This has to be one of the absolute best reviews I've ever read on Cruise Critic. I love all the photos and comments!

 

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise with us!

[Iluvcruising2]

HK$ 12 is around $1.54 US, so not bad at all to US pricing

Currency exchange rate is around 1 us dollar equal to $7.75 HK dollar.

 

How much would the Oreo McFlurry cost in the USA? I assume there are regional variations.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Iluvcruising2

[Sydney54]

Thank you so much for posting this informative review. I will be cruising on the Voyager out of Shanghai on 14th July and have to admit I have been a little concerned after reading some negative comments from others. After reading your very comprehensive report I am now confident that we will have a fantastic time.

[Iluvcruising2]

Thank you so much for posting this informative review. I will be cruising on the Voyager out of Shanghai on 14th July and have to admit I have been a little concerned after reading some negative comments from others. After reading your very comprehensive report I am now confident that we will have a fantastic time.

 

Hope you have a great cruise!!

Edited June 27, 2012 by Iluvcruising2

[Sydney54]

Thank you. Can you tell me how you found the entertainment and as we would like to see the shows what time would be most suitable for dinner? We have My Time dining.

 

I also note that you have a further cruise booked from Sydney at the end of the year and will be flying with Scoot. Will be interested to hear how you find them as I have just booked a return flight from Singapore with them for March 2013.

[Iluvcruising2]

Thank you. Can you tell me how you found the entertainment and as we would like to see the shows what time would be most suitable for dinner? We have My Time dining.

 

I also note that you have a further cruise booked from Sydney at the end of the year and will be flying with Scoot. Will be interested to hear how you find them as I have just booked a return flight from Singapore with them for March 2013.

 

For our cruise, the main seating was 5:45pm and the second seating was 8:15pm. We opted for the 5:45pm main seating, as our kids usually have their dinners at around 6pm-ish.

 

On most nights, the shows at the La Scala theatre would usually be 7pm for the 2nd seating followed by 9pm for the main seating. We would usually attend the 9pm show.

 

On Day 2, the shows for Main Seating were 8:30pm, followed by 10:30pm for second seating.

 

On Day 1 there was only 1 show for all guests. That was at 10:30pm.

 

As the shows were popular, we went about 20 minutes earlier to secure good seats.

 

Next, the shows proper.

 

We absolutely love the Royal Caribbean Production shows. On our cruise these were on Day 2 and Day 6.

 

Day 1 was the welcome show which had a Chinese couple doing acrobatics and stuff (Han and Wu). They were absolutely awesome!

 

On another night there was a magic show by some illusionist. He was not bad, definitely above average, though I think we have watched similar acts before.

 

Yet another night, there was this pianist whom we didn't think very much of.

 

Other than the nightly shows, remember to definitely catch the ice show - that was fantastic!

[Iluvcruising2]

I also note that you have a further cruise booked from Sydney at the end of the year and will be flying with Scoot. Will be interested to hear how you find them as I have just booked a return flight from Singapore with them for March 2013.

 

I would try my best to do a similar picture review for our December cruise. And, yes, that would include our Scoot flight to and from Sydney!

Edited June 27, 2012 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]

May I ask if you booked this with a US agent?

 

The only reason I ask is I tried getting a future cruise certificate (open booking) on Radiance of the Seas this year but was unable to when booking with Australian-based agents. I was informed they were only for US bookings. I may just have to try again to get this certificate on Voyager next year! ;)

 

Oh, and keep the piccies coming! :D

 

I got the certificate onboard the ship, from the future cruise Crown & Anchor office.

 

Basically I had to pay US$150 to get a booking number. I was told that this sum would go towards the deposit for my next cruise, and I would also get onboard credit depending on the length of my next cruise. For a 7 night cruise, it would be US$100.

 

As we had already booked our December cruise, we could not use this certificate for the Dec. cruise unless we were to cancel and re-book.

 

So we will keep it for a future cruise. The validity is up till 2019.

[Iluvcruising2]

Iluvcruisin2, all your food pics are great. I hear people complain about the food on the ships; but you did pretty well in the Windjammer and MDR.:)

 

I would say that food is rather subjective. More than one cruiser have called MDR food as 'dog food'. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I think they really meant it!

 

For our family, MDR food is generally very good and different from what we eat on a day-to-day basis. The desserts are especially great and I don't even eat desserts on a daily or even weekly basis. (Save the calories!)

 

Windjammer food isn't bad too.

 

We did have Portofino on the first evening. The first time we tried Portofino on the Brilliance of the Seas last Dec, we were blown away. This time around, I suppose we had a previous experience so we kinda knew what to expect.

[Iluvcruising2]

Ok, back to the review.

 

Earlier, I shared that we decided to go to the MDR for lunch to let the queues clear. We re-joined the queues at about 12:45pm.

 

 

View of the ship from the cruise centre.

[Iluvcruising2]

The immigration checks were fairly quick. The Chinese authorities just wanted to match the passport photo against the actual person.

 

We went outside the cruise terminal to grab a taxi. And I saw all these buses waiting for cruise ship passengers! It was already past 1pm!!

 

 

If you look closely, you can see a placard for group number 25.

 

Looks like the ship-organized tours started very late, most probably because of the delay in getting off the ship.

[Iluvcruising2]

This was the queue for the taxi. Wait a second, why did they have luggage?

 

Turns out that they were not from the cruise ship. The Xiamen cruise terminal also has scheduled services from other destinations, including Kinmen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinmen

 

[Iluvcruising2]

It took about 10mins. for us to get a taxi. Official taxis are all metered and relatively inexpensive. The challenge may be that the drivers can't speak English.

 

 

Even after you account for the fuel surcharge, the fare is still inexpensive.

[MargnGrah]

What a fabulous read, and the pictures are fabulous as well...

 

Thanks so much for posting....:D

[GSuitesailing]

Your review was wonderful. For those of us who will never get to see all these sights in person, it was a great treat! Thank you.

[critterchick]

I got the certificate onboard the ship, from the future cruise Crown & Anchor office.

 

Basically I had to pay US$150 to get a booking number. I was told that this sum would go towards the deposit for my next cruise, and I would also get onboard credit depending on the length of my next cruise. For a 7 night cruise, it would be US$100.

 

As we had already booked our December cruise, we could not use this certificate for the Dec. cruise unless we were to cancel and re-book.

 

So we will keep it for a future cruise. The validity is up till 2019.

 

Unless they sold you a different kind of future cruise credit than we get in the U.S., they never expire.:)

 

Your review is wonderful, thank you so much for sharing your photos as well!

[cruise pup]

Great photos!

Edited June 28, 2012 by cruise pup

[francina]

Your review is so good, I really need to save up so that I could go on this trip:)

[Iluvcruising2]

Your review is so good, I really need to save up so that I could go on this trip:)

 

Please come visit Singapore too! Thank you!

 

(Sorry, blatant advertising for my country)

[Iluvcruising2]

Great photos!

 

Thanks!

[Iluvcruising2]

The top tier event also has free champagne and wine. And, yes it's formal because it is held on formal night.

 

Our top tier event was hosted by the Cruise Director, Gordon. He said that the Captain would have attended this event, but Captain was on the bridge 'driving' the ship out of port.

 

Well, on top of the free canapes & drinks, you could go chat and take a photo with the Cruise Director and Captain (if he turned up!).

[Iluvcruising2]

I shall continue with Xiamen.

 

We hopped on a taxi and our first stop was Xiamen University. The journey took about 20 minutes. The cost was less than 20 Chinese yuan (I think about 15 or so yuan). I rounded up the fare to 20 yuan as a tip.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiamen_University

 

 

Xiamen University was the first University in China founded by overseas Chinese. In this case, it was founded by Mr Tan Kah Kee, who made his fortune in Singapore!

 

[Iluvcruising2]

More of Xiamen University.

 

That is the bust of Mr Tan Kah Kee.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]