Welcome to my first Live report! We're less than a week from departure, so I figured I'd get this started. I debated doing this report but ultimately decided to go ahead since there aren't many out there for Voyager so hopefully this will benefit some. I'm pretty tech challenged so this is a stretch for me. I also don't have the writing skills of some of the well-known posters, nor do I have a fancy camera or GoPro. It'll just be my I phone and my 2 cents worth. My photography skills consist of point, shoot and hope for the best. I plan to update this at least once a day and answer any questions you may. **Disclaimer - this is all dependent on Internet speed on Voyager**. Please don't ask me to post web speeds or pings or anything like that -- I wouldn't know how LOL.
I'll start with a little about us. We're Deb and Andy from RI. Both retired and the parents of 3 adult daughters and 5 grandchildren. We took a hiatus from cruising for quite a few years, focusing on our kids with school, sports, family trips, etc. We came back to cruising in 2013 for our 25th wedding anniversary, sailing on Explorer of the Seas and we were hooked. Our most recent cruise was in April of this year on Anthem of the Seas 7 nt Bahamas run out of Bayonne.
About This Cruise
I came across this while browsing sailings out of Boston for this year. I don't love to fly so the repositioning and only having to fly home was appealing to me.
Also, the rates for a Jr Suite seemed quite reasonable. We typically sail in OV Balcony cabins but booking the Jr Suite for this cruise would bump us from Emerald to Diamond. Here's our itinerary:
LEAVING FROM
10/30 - Boston, Massachusetts
Departs at 4:00 PM
10/31 and 11/1 - Cruising
11/2 Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Bahamas
From 8:00 AM '- 5:00 PM
11/3 - Cruising
11/4 - Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
From 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
11/5 - Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
From 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM
11/6 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
Arrives at 6:00 AM
We're staying overnight in San Juan on 11/6 at the Casablanca Hotel and we fly home the next day on Southwest into our local airport here in RI. One of our daughters will drive us up to Boston on departure day and we can Uber home from the airport - it's a whole 7 miles.
We've been to St Thomas several times and have visited quite a few beaches. With the later hours and if weather permits, I'd like to do a sunset catamaran sail. During the day we'll probably just walk around downtown.
Puerto Plata is new to us, we plan to just check out the area. We're cruising with friends in January on NCL with a PP stop, so this time is more of scouting trip.
I was hoping to book Coco Beach Club but it's sold out. I'll ask onboard to see if there are any cancellations, but not holding my breath.
We have Voom internet and have purchased the Deluxe Beverage Package for me and the Refreshment Package for Andy. He doesn't drink alcohol but loves Diet Coke, virgin Pina Colada's and Bloody Mary's and is a coffee fiend. I'm not really a big drinker and we're lucky to break even with the packages, but for us it's worth the convenience, YMMV.
No specialty dining reserved, we'll play that by ear. We're usually happy with the MDR and may check out the Windjammer options a couple of nights.