Any Voyager 9nt Western info?

[ChickenParm]

Hi,

We will be onboard the Voyager 9-night Western Caribbean sailing on 8/13/04... any info you can provide for our experience: Bayonne, Ship itself, ports of call? Any comments would be appreciated. Just so you know, we are a family of four, two deck 8 cabins: interior and superior oceanview w/balcony.

 

Thank You!

Brian

[JTSfink]

ChickenParm

We just got back from the 8nt Bermuda cruise on the Empress which left out of Bayonne, although I can't give you any info on the Voyager I can give you some on bayonne.

 

We really liked leaving out of Bayonne, we got there about 1:15 and were checked in and having lunch in the Winjammer at 2:00. There were no lines and check in was very easy.

First you drop off your luggage then park your car (if your driving)then a shuttle bus will take you back to the check in area from the parking lot which is not far at all, you could walk if you wanted to.

That was about it the same with getting back very quick and easy.

 

 

We are also booked on the Explorer out of Miami next June but are thinking about changing it the the Voyager as soon as we see what the prices are next week, so let me know how you like the ship and have a great time.

[grod19]

I was on the june 6th sailing out of bayonne. Sailing out of bayonne was really nice. easy to get to and unlike nyc the area they have is huge so you arent crowded. As for the boat itself it is absolutely AMAZING. Best i have seen (granted i have only been on 3 but this one was nice). Ill list all the good things first.

 

Good thing #1 The duty free liquor store deal. The first night of the cruise you may go to the duty free store and purchase liquor at duty free prices. they add 9.50 to your total purchase and you are free to take the bottles to your room to drink for the week if you like. MUCH cheaper then ordering by the drink. My friends and i did this and purchased the coke card for like 6 bucks a day and got very drunk everyday (we are 18-27 so you can understand)

 

#2 The shopping guide was outstanding. I didnt go to his seminars or anything but i did catch a few mins of the program on TV. He is very knowledgable of the islands and if you are planning on shopping ask him for what ports to get what in. My friend spent $200+ on a tanzanite necklace for his gf and found it 2 days later for half the price. If he had asked the shopping guy he would have gotten the cheap price.

 

#3 The casino staff is outstanding. They are friendly and willing to explain each and every game. I gamble constantly but my gf (who is 18) obviously doesnt. They taught her everything she wanted to know and would constantly joke around with her asking her if she wanted another card when she had blackjack and stuff like that.

 

#4 Cigar Bar. If you smoke go there. the sales man was very informative and he gave us the locations of the places he did business and we got great deals.

 

#5 Adult comedian. Dont bring the kids but make sure you go. My entire group spent the whole show laughing and turning to each other going " Oh #$*% I cant believe he said that"

 

Next ill talk about all the neutral stuff. Stuff that wasnt good nor bad but should be talked about.

 

#1 Food. Generally blah. Not amazing, but good none the less. If you are used to excellent food you wont be happy. I liked it but it didnt blow my mind and i am a poor college student that eats pizza by the truck load.

 

#2 Cruise directors. they didnt do a great job, at least not for people in their early-mid twenties. They vanished around 11-12 oclock and never were at the late night things. During the day they were ok though. Very hyper and excited but a little to much on the queer eye for the straight guy side of things for my taste.....sorry

 

Now for the bad (and there were some things)

 

#1 DINING ROOM WAS AN INSULT. On formal nights people walked in in tshirts and shorts and were allowed to eat. This happened every night and it seriously annoyed my party. (We are all around 21, picture how mad the older people on the boat were about this). One night a person showed up in a shirt promoting smoking marijuana. NOT happy about that. A complaint letter has been sent

 

#2 Room steward. He never talked to us at all. But as one person said to us he is probably used to getting stiffed by college students. He was very nice to all the other rooms he had just not our 4 rooms. Well needless to say my friends and i tip very well but his poor attitude got his stiffed that week. He even refused to give my friends extra towels one day.......idiot.

 

#3 Nothing to do after 3 am. I am a night owl I like to stay up till the sun comes up but everything closed. I couldnt even get a couple of sodas after 3 am with out paying for them at roomservice.

 

I think that was about all for the boat. The ports were amazing. Labadee is a very nice beach to just sit on and relax. Great way to start the islands. Grand Caymen was nice too, we went snorkling but i heard the sting ray city is a dont miss trip. The snorkling was alot of fun though i recommend it if you have never been snorkling. Jamacia, all i have to say is go to DUNNS FALLS. They are absolutely beautiful and a blast to climb. Your kids will love it and so will you. great picture places. We did the falls and a booze cruise package but there were others to choose from. MAKE SURE YOU GO TO THE FALLS. All i can say about freeport is stop by the jewelry box and Columbian Emerald. I had no intentions of buying anything but the stuff there was so nice and cheap i had to. My gf got a 14k gold bracelet with 12 karats of rubies around it for 50 bucks. And a 14k white gold necklace for 42. The deals in both strores are great. Ask the shopping guide on the boat he recommended both to me. The only reason we went into them was my gf is ADD and she loves shiny things. I am very glad we did.

 

If you haveany other questions please email me at gstrein@stevens.edu

I dont look at the boards often but i read my email all the time

 

Gerard

[ChickenParm]

Thank you for your wonderful info, grod19, it is much appreciated. Anything else anyone can shed light on, particularly those driving to Bayonne...? was it easy to park, or should we take a cab/limo to expedite the process (we live a 25min from the NYPST but over an hour from Bayonne, so we're not sure if driving would really be worth the screaming and cursing on the turnpike from a particular driver.....

[JTSfink]

ChickenParm

We drove in from PA it took us just under 1 1/2 hrours no traffic at all, once we got there it was very easy parking no waiting at all we did get there at about 1:15, you might want to get there early they usually start boarding at about 1:00. My bil and sil got there at about 2:30 and also said they had no problem with parking or checking in.

 

I will say when we returned disembarking took approx 4 hours to get off the ship. You have to be out of your cabin by 8am they did not call our color to get off untill 12pm so we had to sit in one of the lounges for 4 hr.s, which was alittle hard as we had a 15 month old in our group (my nephew).

 

After that it was pretty easy we got our luggage and our car easily, we used a porter to bring our luggage to the shuttle bus which dropped us off right by our car.

 

 

Jackie

[ChickenParm]

thanks... anyone else?

[grod19]

we had no problems getting on or off. Getting off we were supposed to be out of the rooms by i think it was 10-11. but we slept till about 12. They didnt care. Then we grabbed a seat in the dining room, ate and waited. I suggest doing the same. Dining room was empty as opposed to the other lounges. The bayonne port is huge you will have no problems parking. It used to be an old navy base used to train navy divers. If you ever saw the movie with cuba gooding jr staring as a navy diver it is based out of that port in real life. So naturally there is a ton of room. They are planning to convert the base so it is able to handle i think 7 boats at once but there is a drainage issue on the pier that a bunch of people at my school were hired to correct.