Peracto

Thanks Chiliburn.  I have actually been stalking Cruise Critic for years now but only occasionally contribute.

I am also in Grand Suite over Christmas and look forward to checking out all the renovations.  I have been in the Concierge lounge before but have always preferred the Diamond Lounge up next to the Viking Crown lounge.  Now that this is the suite lounge it should be much more comfortable than the old cramped concierge lounge with no windows.

This recent article has some progress photos.

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/sneak-peak-inside-voyager-of-the-seas-refurbishment-as-she-head-to-australia/?fbclid=IwAR0eteXkKRinOeRLxFVWeazeNkvAU77Uf7LJ4DqVitadq78YC91O9-eeQD4

Also, updated deck plans and photos from the Singapore dry dock show that Johnny Rockets has also been removed.

Sadly, the official amplified press release from Royal Caribbean was underwhelming.  Omitting a number of improvements I was hoping for such as the aforementioned bars.

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/press-release/1401/voyager-of-the-seas-ups-the-ante-down-under-with-new-wave-of-thrills/

Press releases for other ships such as Explorer and Navigator do indeed include Playmakers Bar among others so unfortunately it looks like Voyager is going to be black sheep of the revamped ships.

Unfortunately no Bamboo Room or Playmakers on the Voyager amplification 😞

The Royal Carribean Blog website (unofficial) has a great collection of Cruise Compasses from all the RCI ships.  If you upload this Cruise Compass to them it will get published there.

I have been on both a 2 and 3 night cruise on RCI in the last six months. Both cruises had all beverage packages available in the cruise planner before sailing AND on board.

Also, I don't recall any group chat feature either but I did not look to hard.

I did actually use it in January on the Ovation as I have an Android and my wife has an iPhone. If the app had been opened and then you switch to another app (but the RoyaliQ app was still running in the background) then yes, we would get notifications of messages or incoming calls. We found that receiving messages was pretty reliable but calls not so much. The biggest issue I had with it was that as you moved around the ship you would lose connection to the wifi hotspots and they would not always reconnect. So I often had to reconnect to the wifi, this seemed to be more of an issue with my Samsung Galaxy as my wife's iPhone was better at reconnecting. The app is not perfect and may frustrate the less patient people but it sure helps keep in touch when you need to find someone.

If you have an iPhone then iMessage works over the ships RoyalWifi without paying the $7.95 for chat. We used this over the weekend on Ovation, though doesn't help if you have an Android phone. I am still wondering how long this will last or whether RCI already knows but cannot block it without breaking their own messaging app.

I received an email from Royal Caribbean regarding boarding times on our Ovation cruise and it included the following:

"We invite our Suite, Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald and Platinum guests to arriveat any time between 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm. "

So it seems Platinum and above can board whenever they like.

Priority doesn’t happen on Ovation.

You get a time slot and the only priority is within that time frame and good luck finding ground staff that know what Diamond or Diamond Plus priority means!

But I have heard that getting there very early you might get on with no problems, depends on how busy it is.

You are correct Megsie, I am Emerald and my friends are Diamond, we have been on Ovation twice and status means nothing when boarding they only care what your boarding time says on your seapass

Potentially the only way around this would be if you are in Sky or Star Class and contacted the Suite Concierge by email, perhaps they would agree to meet you out the front and escort you in earlier.

I have found the strict boarding times are only for Ovation of the seas but they are quite strict on it.

One of the best perks of a suite on the Ovation is access to the Coastal Kitchen. This is next to the buffet and is available to suite guests for breakfast, lunch and dinner (except Junior Suite which only has access to Dinner). It is just like a private MDR but with way better food and service. Breakfast generally stays the same each day but dinner and lunch is on a rotation. On boarding day this is a great place to have lunch as soon as you board.

When I was on it earlier this year they had printed cruise compasses. FYI if you google "royal carribean blog cruise compass" the first hit shows cruise compass scans that people send in. Hopefully one might pop up here once Ovation gets back to Australia.

Explorer has Coke Freestyle machines while Voyager does not. I have found weather on short cruises generally not an issue as they manoeuvre the ship up or down the coast in an attempt to get the best experience and avoid any bad weather.