Voyager Refurb gives Diamond lounge to suite guests!

[misterb25]

4 minutes ago, resordanis said:

Thanks for that information. I really didn’t remember any cabins on deck 11. Hope they are ok.

Are they using the other lounge as an overflow or is everyone just having to stand around waiting for drinks? Also can you still get coffee during the day?

 

The Star Lounge is being used as an overflow, but they can’t get table service either, and so join the queue, they did attempt to get their drinks from the bar in the Star Lounge but they wanted to take a drink of their 3 drink allocation.

 

 

[mr walker]

54 minutes ago, misterb25 said:

There should be no queuing for drinks as this is stopping the waiters from coming around to the tables.

 

This was the problem for us in DL on Radiance earlier this year. Basically people ended up lined up for the first part of the event (before early diners left) as most people couldn't wait for the waiters to circulate. One of the best parts of DL 'happy hour' is relaxing and chatting whilst the waiters serve you a drink. After the first drink, we looked at the lineup & left to enjoy drinks on our balcony. We still enjoyed relaxing time in DL during the day & the coffee machine, but not our scene when the line for drinks dominates - some got a drink & then got on the back of the line for another,

[resordanis]

Couldn’t agree more. Although never had a problem on Radiance.

i think Royal are forgetting that we actually did pay money to get to our levels. I did meet someone recently that after just a couple of cruises he was Diamond because of his Casino spend.

[resordanis]

42 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Those junior suites are where the gym used to be ,I’m not sure they have a balcony and if you will have people looking in your window.

5 drinks a day anywhere would be good considering what RC pay for them. I read somewhere because of the volume they don’t pay much and no tax.

Thanks for that information on the JS. I do hope they have a balcony though. I will have to make some more enquires. I really shouldn’t have taken a guarantee but thought all JS would be good!

[Chiliburn]

 

 To me they do but there seems to be a walkway on the outside.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Chiliburn

[resordanis]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

 

 To me they do but there seems to be a walkway on the outside.

Yes, they do appear to have a walkway. Although they also say spectacular views! I guess all will be revealed in January!

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, resordanis said:

Yes, they do appear to have a walkway. Although they also say spectacular views! I guess all will be revealed in January!

I’ve learned not to believe Royal Caribbean to much.

But if they do ,the forward cabins would be spectacular. I don’t know if you ever saw the view from the walking machines in the gym.The best view on the ship.

[resordanis]

7 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I’ve learned not to believe Royal Caribbean to much.

But if they do ,the forward cabins would be spectacular. I don’t know if you ever saw the view from the walking machines in the gym.The best view on the ship.

No I didn’t see the view on Voyager but recently have seen some gyms with fantastic views! As I said time will tell.

[Cruisegroover]

On 12/5/2019 at 10:01 AM, Chiliburn said:

 

 To me they do but there seems to be a walkway on the outside.

Last week we passed VOS and from a distance it looked like balconies extended onto the walkway. Just asked someone onboard to confirm and the answer was no walkway now. So no more peekaboo to the bridge.

 

[Chiliburn]

Wonder what they did with the peakaboo?

 

Suppose nobody knows if they put USB ports in the cabins ?

[Chiliburn]

On 11/21/2019 at 4:37 PM, avalon007 said:

Just read the CC post about Voyager's Refurb, seems the great DL with it's nice view is now a suite guest lounge & diamond lounge is smaller & relegated to deck 5.
Voyager's DL was one of the things I enjoyed most about the ship, the views were lovely, now I assume it's much like the DL on Ovation with overflow into the nearby lounge area, which due to the growing number of Diamond members I can see is a useful option for Royal, but will miss those views.

 

On the voyager at the moment and the diamond lounge is small and dingy. People packed in like sardines. 
Royal Caribbean will be loosing customers if they don’t do something.

[resordanis]

That’s not good news. Thanks for posting information. Are they not using an overflow lounge?

[avalon007]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

On the voyager at the moment and the diamond lounge is small and dingy. People packed in like sardines. 
Royal Caribbean will be loosing customers if they don’t do something.

Shame - I thought that space was very small & dark.

I have been on Ovation lately but she doesn't do all the tropical ports so was thinking of Voyager again after her refurb, but having a nice DL does make a difference. Suite guests who are limited in number compared to Diamond members & some who have never even sailed with Royal before should not take priority of guaranteed loyal return cruisers, it must be partially to do with the ever increasing numbers of Diamonds & the high notes lounge not being large enough for an easy overflow?

If they use the overflow into the star? lounge, then I would prefer that they rope it off like they do on Celebrity Solstice, that way it's easier for staff to identify Diamonds & easier for other Diamonds to locate people who you know you can start up a conversation with & have a chance to build on those conversations another day - this is how we have made some of our closest cruise friends & for me is what I enjoy most about the DL.

 

[resordanis]

I certainly agree Avalon007, we have made some great friends in the DL.
Unfortunately Royal are losing sight of the fact that we actually did pay to  obtain either D or D+ by being Loyal to Royal. Something they are not doing to us!

We will see how our upcoming Voyager cruise goes, but have to admit we might not be Loyal to Royal in the future.

[misterb25]

3 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

On the voyager at the moment and the diamond lounge is small and dingy. People packed in like sardines. 
Royal Caribbean will be loosing customers if they don’t do something.

 

We came off Voyager yesterday and found the Diamond Lounge totally inadequate.

People were queuing for drinks inside the Lounge because there were not enough waiters servicing the overflow outside in the Star Lounge. Therefore the waiters inside the Lounge were unable to provide table service and the only way to get a drink was to also join the queue.

Also the narrow area to get access to the food was blocked by a drinks trolley and the waiters providing drinks to those on the queue.

My suggestion would be to have more waiters at the commencement of Happy Hour and instructions given to members that there is to be no queuing for drinks.

[Chiliburn]

We didn’t go last night as we have a suite and went to the suite lounge.it was only half full as there’s a lot of Chinese in suites,so they don’t drink.

 I don’t think I would go on this ship if I didn’t have a full suite.

 

Talking to a few people last night and it’s suggested carnival is better than Royal Caribbean now .

Windjammers is a nightmare and the food is very average.

 With the extra cabins the running track is only around to pool area.

 The ship has a faint odour of cigarette smoke,apparently in Asia a lot of the ship is smoking.

 

 

[misterb25]

4 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

We didn’t go last night as we have a suite and went to the suite lounge.it was only half full as there’s a lot of Chinese in suites,so they don’t drink.

 I don’t think I would go on this ship if I didn’t have a full suite.

 

Talking to a few people last night and it’s suggested carnival is better than Royal Caribbean now .

Windjammers is a nightmare and the food is very average.

 With the extra cabins the running track is only around to pool area.

 The ship has a faint odour of cigarette smoke,apparently in Asia a lot of the ship is smoking.

 

 

Yes, we were annoyed by the reduced walking track on Deck 12 as well. We ended up walking around Deck 4.

We also noted that the US$98 million dollar refurbishment was not enough as we observed a few areas where they were using electrical tape to hold things together and the lifts were making noises, skipping floors and 1 or 2 just not working.

 

[clairebearinaus]

17 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

 

Windjammers is a nightmare and the food is very average.

 

 

 

That's disappointing, I'm on Voyager for the first time next week and was planning to have most of my meals there.  I'll try to avoid peak hour!

[misterb25]

57 minutes ago, resordanis said:

I certainly agree Avalon007, we have made some great friends in the DL.
Unfortunately Royal are losing sight of the fact that we actually did pay to  obtain either D or D+ by being Loyal to Royal. Something they are not doing to us!

We will see how our upcoming Voyager cruise goes, but have to admit we might not be Loyal to Royal in the future.

 

We have a cruise booked on Voyager in January and February. She was our favourite ship, but not now. When we cruise with Royal again it will only be on Ovation and Radiance where they still have a Concierge Lounge.

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, clairebearinaus said:

 

That's disappointing, I'm on Voyager for the first time next week and was planning to have most of my meals there.  I'll try to avoid peak hour!

We like windjammers but the bacon was like the cheapest no name bacon which left a chemical taste in my mouth for the rest of the morning.The sausages wear good though.

 We will have breakfast in chops from now but it doesn’t open till 8:00am ,a bit late 

Edited December 13, 2019 by Chiliburn

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, misterb25 said:

We have a cruise booked on Voyager in January and February. She was our favourite ship, but not now. When we cruise with Royal again it will only be on Ovation and Radiance where they still have a Concierge Lounge.

We just had the suite party and I asked the hotel manager how many extra passengers after the refit, he said he wasn’t sure but he thought about 100 .

 I don’t think I believe him.

[The_Big_M]

46 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

We just had the suite party and I asked the hotel manager how many extra passengers after the refit, he said he wasn’t sure but he thought about 100 .

 I don’t think I believe him.

 

I gave the numbers in the previous refurb thread.

[Chiliburn]

51 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

I gave the numbers in the previous refurb thread.

That was a helpful post, 
 I’ll ask rod what you posted.

[MicCanberra]

11 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

On the voyager at the moment and the diamond lounge is small and dingy. People packed in like sardines. 
Royal Caribbean will be loosing customers if they don’t do something.

Goodness, their obc rate is shocking as well, dropped from $0.71 to $0.66.

[ozbrian]

On 12/13/2019 at 5:40 AM, Chiliburn said:

On the voyager at the moment and the diamond lounge is small and dingy. People packed in like sardines. 
Royal Caribbean will be loosing customers if they don’t do something.

 

They've lost us - on Voyager at least.

 

We finally made it to D+ and RCI decide to remove the Concierge Lounge from Voyager!

Any ship that replaces the CL with a Suite Lounge will be off our list for future sailings, that's for sure.

 

Brian