Voyager Feb 23rd to March 5th

[golfgirls]

We have enjoyed following along cruises with other posters so I thought we would try to do the same by doing a realativley real time blog along this journey. 

 

We we are Golfgirls from London, Ontario but based in The Villages, Florida for the winter.  We booked this cruise some time ago as it is for Pat’s ‘special’ birthday in March.  I am fortunate to frequently enjoy my birthday aboard ship as we often sail over the Christmas holidays and my birthday falls shortly after Christmas. So Pat had a specific request to have this special birthday onboard, so unquestionably it was a ‘where and when’ and here we are. 

 

As with others who have challenges before boarding, we are sad that our frequent travel partners Jiiiim and Eileen won’t be able to join us as they had to cancel for health reasons.  So we are sad about that but wishing them speedy results and recovery.  

 

We more often than not book a Concierge level suite.  So instead of the HR Coral Gables pre cruise, we will be staying with Regent at the Conrad Miami this time.  Mixed feelings about that as we are very comfortable with the restaurants et al in Coral Gables from previous visits, but expecting the Conrad will be a major step up.  We will see.  

 

If if we are travelling within Florida, as in Orlando to Miami, I always book our own flights.  We do First/business class on American Airlines, which  pretty much equates to the the Regent credit plus the cost of domestic baggage fees.  A little bit more expensive for us but well worth the difference IMO.  

 

We are looking forward to seeing many familiar faces on the Voyager.  We did a similar cruise in November and know some of our favourite staff members have headed home but some will remain.  No matter what, am sure we will be well taken care of.  Really hoping we will see Joseph looking after one the bars!

 

Will post from Miami on Friday!  

 

Oh and one of our most important decisions onboard will be regarding selecting a cruise for my next ‘special’ birthday. I expect it will be on the  Explorer Lisbon to Miami in November  or the following December Caribbean cruise.  Know many fellow posters are doing those itineraries so we will see where we land. 

 

Cheers!

[WesW]

Fair Winds and Following seas Golfgirls, hope you have a fabulous Voyager cruise.  Look very forward to be sharing your voyage, alas, vicariously.

[golfgirls]

Thanks Wes.  Not the most scintillating itinerary but just what we want, a fun, relaxing cruise!  

[RachelG]

Have a great cruise!

[golfgirls]

Thanks Rachel.  We enjoyed following your cruise. 

[Eno-Bob]

   It was a pleasure meeting you on our back-to-back cruises from Cape Town.  Hope you have a wonderful new cruise and, if you decide on the Lisbon to Miami in Nov, we will see you then.

 

Bob & Pattie

[macbest]

Have a great time. We will be getting off the Voyager on Saturday. She will be all ready for you. When we got on they let us into our rooms at 12:30. A full two hours before normal. 

[beaujolais]

Hi Golfgirls

I hope the M&M is better organized this time.

It was a pleasure to meet you both on the Explorer and I hope that Pat's special goes with a bang

I never realized that you were from London as we are from the other London, we should have compared notes

Have a great cruise

[golfgirls]

Hi Beaujolais, nice to hear from you.  Should have clarified that we are from London, Ontario.  We could compare notes about London, the Thames River et al but our commentary would be from the Canadian perspective!

 

Sorry we didn’t cross paths at the end of the cruise in Compass Rose. It was a pleasure meeting you as well.  

[golfgirls]

Port of Miami this morning.  I am sure the Voyager is over at terminal J by now...

 

A few comments about the Conrad Hilton.  We were received very warmly upon arrival by both the Conrad staff and the Regent hospitality desk.   We were assigned to a nice corner room with a view of the port.  Hotel is quite nice and certainly a bit more modern than the HR Coral Gables.  Some pros and cons there as the rooms in Coral Gables, albeit outdated, are quite a bit larger than the Conrad. 

 

I had made a dinner reservation at the bar/restaurant on the 25th floor for dinner.  Unfortunately the place was overwhelmed with customers and not nearly enough staff to look after us.  I never did find a host or hostess to seat us, nor was there any table available for our reservation.  We were lucky to find a spot at a sharing table and enjoyed some wine and appetizers that were quite nice, but only served because I kept chasing down a server to help us.  It was kind of comical but I will provide some feedback to the hotel about additional staff being required.  

 

Will head  to breakfast around 9 and hope it is better organized! 

[PinkMEB]

My daughter and I spent the night at the Conrad prior to our cruise a couple of weeks ago. We had requested two beds, but had a queen in a very small room. Front desk that’s all Regent offered. It was surprising that a hotel that size had only one restaurant. We too tried to eat dinner there and the service was so slow we went across the street to an Italian restaurant. Fortunately, the buffet breakfast was good. 

[golfgirls]

Embarkation yesterday was pretty smooth even though 3 buses arrived at the same time.  We were checked in quickly and headed to the pool area for lunch.  We enjoyed a nice lunch and glass of wine and were delighted to hear that all of the rooms were ready by 1pm.  This was by far the earliest we have ever been ‘settled’ with our bags unpacked and our room set up.   It made for a pretty relaxing afternoon.  

 

We took advantage of very calm sailing conditions last night and enjoyed a great meal out back at Sette Mari.  It couldn’t have been much better with a lovely atmosphere, great service and the food was very good.  Overall a great night.  

 

We were at Great Stirrup Cay today.  Gosh the crew works hard to transport all sorts of provisions across to put on a beach bbq.  I did a wave runner excursion first thing and then headed right back to the ship as my travelling companions had stayed onboard.  I can’t comment on the BBQ other than to say that they seemed to have just about anything you could want to eat or drink there.  

 

Looking forward to dinner in Prime 7 tonight and then an Academy Awards party in the theatre after dinner.  Should be fun.  

[Kwaj girl]

One thing we always enjoyed, at least on the Navigator,  was nice large cold shrimp in La Veranda for embarkation day  lunch.  We board Voyager on 12 March and hope this is featured?