Trip Report - Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Sea's

I received some great information from Cruise Critic and I though I should return the favor and post my Trip Report.

There were 13 of us on this Trip from the age of 6 years old to 70 years old. We also had teenagers and we needed a trip that would please everyone. Yes, it was family reunion. Most of us flew into Barcelona a few days early, so I'll go through the trip day by day.

Planning..........

For the cruise we landed on Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Sea's because it was a larger ship and we wanted to make sure there were enough activities for everyone since our group was so diverse. I was skeptical that we needed this, because I thought we would be so busy and exhausted from tours that we would not use all the amenities. Also, I thought the freestyle dinning option that Norwegian offered might be better, since I didn't know if the Tours would make us miss our scheduled dinning time. As it turns out we did use most of the amenities and it was the right choice for us. I wouldn't mind hearing some opinions on the freestyle dinning, but we were lucky enough to get the latest seating choice in the "early" dinning, so we did not miss our seating at all. Our seating was for 7:00 and the last boarding for almost all the ports was 6 or 6:30. I'll talk more about the ship later.

The Itinerary for the Cruise was:

Barcelona

Villefrance(Nice)

Civitavecchi(Rome)

Naples/Capri

Valletta, Malta

Day at Sea

Palma De Mallorca

Barcelona

We loved all the ports.

Flights............

We flew in on Swiss Air with a connection in Zurich. We were very happy with Swiss Air and had no issues. The flight was on time, comfortable, the food was good, and they had toys for the kids. Iberia Air seemed to have cheaper seats, but they didn’t have enough seats left for us. A few people in our group had issues with SpanAir, I believe most of the issues were leaving Barcelona; the airport was very busy and disorganized. Also, instead of checking in by airline, in Barcelona you check in by airline and flight number. Just something to remember.....

Money............

Based on information from Cruise Critic we planned on getting Euro's from the ATM machines once we arrived in Barcelona. This was not as easy as I thought it would be. We were able to find the ATM machines after we got our luggage, but they limited the amount of money you could withdraw (not such a surprise in retrospect). We needed a lot because we had some private tours that wanted cash. Other family members went to the exchange booth in the airport and got good rates, so if you need a lot of cash this is a good option.

Taxi's...........

Getting a taxi from the airport to the hotel was quite easy, like in any airport. We had the address of our hotel handy, showed it the driver and off we went. Apparently the taxi's will add to the fair additional fees for the number of people and the amount of luggage. For 3 of us I believe it was 20 or 25 Euro's to get to the hotel. We had heard just to round up to the nearest Euro and other than that no tip is expected. That's what we did and it seemed fine.

Hotel.........

We stayed at the Hotel Apsis Atrium Palace and loved it.

http://www.hotel-atriumpalace.com/

This hotel was very close to Placa de Cataluya and La Ramble, as well as Passeig de Gracia. So you could walk to La Rambla, the Gothic Quarter, and two of Gaudi’s famous buildings the Casa Batilo and La Pedrera.

The Hotel was very nicely priced. They had great rooms with all the toiletries you would need including toothbrushes and toothpaste, razor and shaving cream, combs, as well as the usual shampoo, soap, etc.

We took advantage of the breakfast option and booked it through the website. It was extremely reasonably priced when you booked that option this way. We wanted the breakfast at the hotel because we figured we would want to get up and go and it would be easiest to just have breakfast at the hotel. This worked out very well.

I had a family of 3 and found the 3rd extra bed to be very nice and the size of the room to be quite good as well. I was nervous that we would be squeezed in based on what I had heard of smaller rooms in Europe.

The only complaint was that a few of us had issues with the room safe’s. One family found there safe was not screwed into the wall and when we arrived our safe was not working, so we needed the hotel staff to replace it.

1st Day in Barcelona

We flew in and were quite tired, because we had left at 8:00 PM the day before. We got to the hotel and our room was not ready yet, so we dropped our luggage off and walked down towards La Rambla. We walked to Placa de Cataluya and tried to find an outside café we could eat at. We sat down a nice little place, but was told that lunch did not start till 1:30, so we ordered some drinks and waited for about 30 minutes before we could order food. As it turns out lunch is normally around 2 and dinner after 8. You can always get food at a Tapas restaurant and by the port the restaurants seem to be more tourist focused and start earlier.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to get settled in the room and meet up with one of the other families that were due to arrive. As I said before the room was great, we took showers and felt better. We then headed out with the other family and walked down La Rambla, we might have gotten half way down to the Port and decided to eat dinner at a little café. We discovered the Sangria and what more can I say…..

2nd Day in Barcelona

We decided take the on-off bus so that we could get an overview of the city and go out to Sagrada Familia (a famous church by Gaudi). We walked to Placa de Cataluya to catch the bus, you simply get in line and you can pay for your tickets in line if you have cash. The on-off bus has 3 different lines, all for one price, and takes you to all the sights in the city. It was a great way to get around and I highly recommend it. Here are some links to learn more.

http://www.barcelona-on-line.es/eng/reserves/bus_turistic.htm

http://www.barcelona-on-line.es/eng/reserves/bus_turistic_mapa.htm

We decided to take stay on the bus for the full tour and then decide were to get off, so we did not get of at Sagrada Familia. We ended up taking the red line almost all the way round and then switched to the blue line. At this stop there was a Starbucks, where you can get a drink and use the facilities. The blue line then took you through Montijuic and down to the Port. Later on we got back on the red line got off at La Pedrera (a famous apartment building by Gaudi). There was about a 30 minute wait to get in, but it was fantastic. We spent about an hour and half in La Pedrera.

That night we ate at a tapas restaurant Cuidad Condal which was great. They were very friendly and helped us order. It is on Via De Les Corts Catalanes and La Rambla.

3rd Day in Barcelona

Everyone got up early, had a big breakfast at the hotel and headed for the Gothic Quarter. We walked down and decided to go into Museu D’Historia De La Ciutat. It was a museum that featured Roman ruins that they are still excavating. It took you right down into the ruins and upstairs it displayed a number of artifacts. We loved it.

We then walked around the Gothic Quarter and over to the Picasso Museum, but the lines were too long. We went back to the heart of the Gothic Quarter and explored a bit more. Some of us went into the Catedral Barri Gothic, which was well worth it and free to enter.

Back to the hotel to get our luggage, which we left with bell hop and a cab to the Ship.

On the Ship…….

Once on board (2:30/3:00) we had enough time to book a spa appointment, make a reservation at Portifino’s, unpack and explore before dinner. The spa appointments for the day at sea were pretty booked up, so it was a close call, but there was no need to rush for Portifino’s.

Overall the ship was beautiful, but there were a few area’s like some hallways and the countertop in our bathroom that could have used some updating. We had a balcony room on the 6th floor. It was very nice, had adequate storage for all of our stuff (remember we are a family of 3).

That night we all met at the dinning room, which was beautiful and 3 levels. It was perfectly acceptable to wear shorts on casual nights and the first night was casual. We had heard that European cruises were dresser than Caribbean cruses. As it turns out we found the cruise to be less dressy than we had experienced with our previous cruises Disney Caribbean Cruises. Maybe, part of the reason was that Royal Caribbean is an American Cruise Line and if we had taken a European cruise line it might have been different. I believe we had 3 casual nights, one smart casual (no shorts, for guys think of casual day at the office), and 2 formal nights. On the formal nights we saw a least a few guys that didn’t have jackets and some that had Tux’s.

Overall we found the food to be not quite as good as the Disney Cruises we were on, but it was quite good and the dinning room was more elegant. The entertainment was not as good as Disney, but that is what Disney is known for. The one exception was the Ice Show, it was FANTASTIC and not to be missed.

The promenade on deck 5 was great and there was a little café that you could go to for drinks and light snacks. We found this to be really convenient and just the right size. As I mentioned earlier we did take advantage of nearly all the ship had to offer, from ice skating, mini golf, the Rock Wall, in-line skating, to the Teen Club. The times for ice skating and the rock wall were limited but not overly so. If you got to the rock wall when it opened then you really didn’t need to wait too long, if you waited however, you had a line. The ice skating was really fantastic and I wished it opened just a little bit more.

One of our teenagers was into basketball and unfortunately a few times when we went to use the court it was overtaken by soccer (not a total surprise). The other teenager was a little older and found a group of friends to hand out with at the Teen club, so in the evening he normally went off and did his own thing with them. You should encourage your Teenagers to go to the Teen club on the first night, since that is when the groups formed.

The adult pool area looked fantastic, but I didn’t get a chance to use it since the few times I went to the pool I had kids with me. The pool was nice, but we found the area to be pretty windy making less enjoyable. The adult area and kids area was more protected. The kid’s area had a great slide and a little kiddy pool, but you needed to go to the general pool for towels, which was inconvenient.

Day 4 Villefrance(Nice)

In Villefrance you tender to port, and we wanted to be out as early as possible so I made sure we got the first tender ticket, because we had a private tour with Sylvie Di Cristio at 10:30. She was great, but you’ll hear more about that in a minute.

I arrived at the designated “ticket” place about 30 minutes early and there was only a few other people waiting. We easily got the first tender ticket, so no need to go quite so early. You still need to wait for all the Ship Tours to go off first, so even the 1st Tender Ticket means a little wait.

Eight of us had a private tour with Sylvie Di Cristo. I can’t say enough about her, she is an A+ and if you have the chance to book her don’t hesitate. I had arranged everything through email, told her our interests and our ages. She met us at the port and was just amazing. I told her we were more interested in history than shopping and wanted to see Nice, Eze, and Montaco. She took us to some fantastic overlooks, gave us the history of each area, could answer every question, and was just the perfect tour guide. The views in Villefrance and Nice were amazing and we were enchanted with Eze. Unfortunately we were running short on time and didn’t spend as much time as we would have wanted to in Montaco.

Sylvie’s Information:

sylvie.di.cristo@wanadoo.fr

http://perso.orange.fr/dicristo/pivot-eng.htm

Day 5 Rome

This was our big day and now there were 11 of us. I had booked a private tour with Romecabs, owned by Stefano Costantini. It was recommended we take two cars instead of a bus, so that we could get closer to the sites. Our drivers were Marco and Marecio (not sure of spelling).

We decided that doing the Vatican and Ancient Rome would not give us enough time in either place, so we decided to focus on Ancient Rome. This lead us to the decision to ask for a walking guide to join us. Stefano was happy to arrange this for us. It was of course was more money, but well worth it.

Again Romecabs was right there to meet us, but during the drive in there was little conversation. I was expecting a little more from them.

Once we got to Rome and we went to the Forum and met our guide Tom Shaker. He was very good. Tom is from the States and has been in Rome for several years. He was extremely experienced and well versed in history. He knew exactly where to go and of course had gotten the tickets ahead of time. He first took us up to Palatine Hill, where he covered some of the history and showed us fantastic views of the forum and Rome. We then went down to the Forum and into the Coliseum. It was a little bit of a zoo getting in the Coliseum, but again Tom knows exactly what to do and how to keep us together. It was very hot and towards the end Tom energy level wasn’t the same, so I would give him a B+.

After our walking tour the drivers brought us to a great place to eat and we had about an hour. After that I switched vehicles and was in the car with Marco. Marco did more history as we drove around. We then went to the Trevi fountain, which was fantastic. Someone in our group commented that it would have been nice to eat outside in this area, but I think with the size group we had it would have been very difficult to get a table and it was also extremely hot.

We then went to the Spanish Steps, which I was not impressed with. I think it is more of a shopping district. From there we drove back to the ship. It turns out that the van was having air conditioning problems, which wasn’t too bad until the drive home. On the drive home it was extremely hot and some of us nearly got sick. Romecabs should have made sure we had Air-conditioning and therefore I have to give them a C+. They had been rated very well on Cruise Critic, but most of the high ratings were from people who had the owner Stefano.

Here is the information on Stefano and Tom

Stefano Costantini romecabs@yahoo.com

Tom Shaker tom@tomshaker.com

http://www.tomshaker.com/

http://www.iiitaly.com/

Day 6 Naples

Today each family was doing something different. We went to Pompeii for the 8:15 tour booked through the Cruise. We got on the bus and then make a 20/30 minute stop a Cameo store. This was a little annoying, but I think they do this for a last minute bathroom break and of course to bring business into the store. We were then on to Pompeii where we had 2 hours. Our Tour Guide was Ok. I wish on the bus ride over he had dove into the history of Naples a little more. I also think there were some areas of Pompeii that he should have brought us too, but didn’t. However, Pompeii was great and my daughter loved it.

Another family did the Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii tour, which they liked.

Day 7 Malta

We had booked a Tour with the ship to see Valletta and Midina. Everyone else from our group decided to do Valletta on there own. This time I think our Tour guide was great. We saw the famous church in Valletta, which was just amazing. We then went to the Palace and then to the gardens. Then back on the bus and to Midina, which is a Medieval Walled City. We walked through Midina and into the Church and then to an overlook where you could see the countryside. The tour was great.

Day 8 At Sea

We looked forward to the day off. I went up to the pool right after breakfast, but it was very breezy so I didn’t stay as long as I planned. This was the day were we did Rock Climbing and Ice Skating.

Another person from our group went to do Bingo, but the not enough people showed up so they cancelled. This wasted about 30 minutes of her time, just enough to miss other events. We felt that this was in poor taste and they should have gone ahead with Bingo, either bring the prize money down or lose a little on the event.

Later that night we participated in Team Trivia and everyone loved this.

Day 9 Mallorcia

We all decided to buy the shuttle bus tickets from the ship into town and to tour Mallorcia on our own. I had done my homework, so we knew pretty much where to go in Palma. We saw the Church, Palace, and Roman Baths. We wanted to squeeze in the Castle, but it was getting late. We thought our best option was the on-off bus, but it didn’t seem to run as often as the Barcelona bus and we felt we might be cutting it too close. So we walked around a little more and went back to the ship at around 2. All the shops were closing for Siesta anyhow.

Day 10 Barcelona

We were spending one more day in Barcelona and flying home on Sunday. I was torn between putting the luggage out and carrying it off the ship. We put the luggage out, which was a mistake. If you haven’t booked a transfer with the Ship and you have wheels on your luggage you are better off wheeling it off the ship. We had to wait for quite a while to leave the ship. I think over an hour after the time they scheduled and then we had to wait in an hour long Taxi line to get back to the hotel.

At the Hotel, we checked in and left our bags with the bell hop, its just about 10 AM. We decided we would get back on the on-off bus and stop at Sagrada Familia and Park Guell.

At Sagrada Familia we went inside. The inside is very large but still under construction. Most people were going inside so they could go up one of the towers. We decided against this because the line for the towers was long. Under the Church is a Museum, which was quite interesting. However, if you have already been to a Gaudi Site, you would find much of the information repeated. My advice would be to go inside if you really want to go up one of the towers or if you haven’t been to a Gaudi Site yet. Otherwise walk around the Church, the outside is amazing.

We then went to Park Guell. It’s a pretty steep hill you need to climb to get to the entrance, but the Park is pretty amazing. We walked around and enjoyed being outside. There is also a small Museum at Park Guell, which was Gaudi’s house. On our way back to the bus we stopped at a little restaurant to eat lunch.

We then got off at a stop where we could take the Tram down to the Port. We had amazing views and it brought us right to the beach.

Day 11 Going Home……..

As I mentioned earlier we had pretty good luck with our Air Travel. Everything went as planned, although it was a bit of a rush making our connection in Zurich only because of the additional security you need to go through. We had about an hour and half between flight and that was just enough given small delays getting off the ground and security.

Thanks for a great review!

Sounds like you had a great vacation. When you had Sylvie, did you find Eze very steep to get to? How long did you get to stay in Eze? Was her van big with good a/c? Did you feel a good tip was necessary $? We have her scheduled as our driver/guide in about 10 days and are looking forward to it. What would you have done differently on her tour? Thanks a bunch.

Thank you for the review:) We're doing our 1st european cruise next year and I can't wait.

I had to sit and wait for the others in Eze. I had surgery prior to my trip and Eze was our third stop of the day. It was difficult making it to the top. Did not make it. If you are well and in reasonable shape you should be ok.

Eze was steep but not overly so. We were there at lunch time, so once we got into the village there was a place to eat right at the entrance, which served the best crepes. We ate lunch before we explored the village, so we were well rested. Sylvie's van had very good a/c and we were very comfortable. We tipped about 10% for all of our guides, but with her we did a little bit more. She was definatly the best tour guide we had and I think she would be pretty hard to beat.

I don't think there is anything we would have done differently. Our group was very interested in history and less interested in shopping and she taylored the tour nicely for us. Just let her know what your interests are and she'll take care of you.

Thank you for your detailed review of Barcelona. How long did it take you to travel on all lines? Was one better than another?

Thank you for your detailed report of Barcelona. How long did it take to ride all 3 routes? Was one better than another?

Thank you for your detailed report of Barcelona. How long did it take to ride all 3 routes? Was one better than another?

I was also on this cruise...and I did all three routes....the "Red Line" takes the longest...but you get to see Gaudi's Church...the one that will never be finished. But it's a long, long ride. The others are reasonably quick.

La Rambla, for me, was the highlight of the extended time in BCN...although it did rain on Saturday upon our return. Thankfully, we went before the cruise when it was nice.

Anyone notice the crowd on this cruise? Anything in particular....like people congregating and crowding doorways and stairways? LOL

We were sort of shocked at a certain level of rudeness....

Anyway...and I agree with the poster..."the ship needs a little TLC."

Thanks for your review.:)

I am cruising Voyager of the Seas the end of Sept...and we have booked Sylvie for our day docked in Villefranche.

After reading your great reveiw of our guide/tour...I am glad we have her booked. :)

We are doing the VOS November 10th. Do you get your tender tickets that day or the day before? We also have a private tour and want to make sure we get one of the early one.

Thanks in advance.

Bev

You get them as soon as you are ready to leave the ship. You'll be told where to buy them. If you want to be off early, just go to the assigned lounge as soon as you "drop anchor"

We went on the red line and the blue Line. According to the brochure all 3 lines take about 2 hours each to complete their circut. The red line had the largest circut, but so I would have to agree with other posts that it is probably the longest. I can't say for sure, because we never completed a full route. We took the red line most of the way and then switched to the blue line at Francesc Macia - Diagonal. If you look at the map, you'll see it's a good point to switch if you want to see Montjuic. I think both the red line and the blue Line are very good, I wasn't interested in the stops on the green line, so we never went on it. If you have to choose one, then the red line is probably the one to choose.

http://www.barcelona-on-line.es/eng/reserves/bus_turistic_mapa.htm

As far as tender tickets, if you go to the announced lounge (same day you dock) about 20 minutes early (maybe 15) then you should be able to get tickets for the first tender. They give them out on a first come first serve basis and they will give you as many as you need for your entire group.

Hi Meicha ,

Thank you for your review. It is very helpful to read all the details. My husband and I and our 2 teen daughters are doing the same cruise - on the same sailing as Mad4mky above. We also have a Balcony room on Deck 6 . I have a couple of questions if you don't mind.

1. We have also booked the 8.15 Pompeii ship's tour. There is another at 1.30pm - do you think morning is better or afternoon? Was it hot when you were there? Our main aim for the Naples day is just to see Pompeii, and whilst we are also going to take local trains to Rome the day before, I think for Pompeii a ship's excursion sounds easier.

2. We are staying one night pre cruise near Sagrada Familia so we will see that then. We have one night post cruise near Placa Catalunya so we will be able to walk down La Ramblas and see the Cathedral . However post cruise I would like to visit Parc Guell and in the evening the Magic Fountains of Montjuic. Would we do better to take the HOHO bus turistic, or just use local public transport buses?

Thank you for your comments,

Susmita.

Hi Susmita,

I think the 8:15 tour would be better than the afternoon. It was very hot in Pompeii and it would be even hotter in the afternoon. My sister was able to get a cab to Pompeii without a problem, but she did not have a guide once she was in Pompeii. I believe you can get a guide at Pompeii, but I'm not sure how available they are or if they run at certain times. I do think it's just a lot easier to go with the ship's tour. However, I was annoyed with the stop we had at the Cameo Factory.

For your second question, if you only wanted to do Parc Guell and the Magic Fountains of Montjuic you might be better off with some other transportation, because Parc Guell is on the red line and the Magic Fountains are on the blue line. This means you'll spend about 3 hours just in route.

If I were you I would look at what transportation would quickly get me to those two stops and back. My guess would be either a Taxi or the subway or some combination. The other thought, is the Tram that takes you from the Mount to the Port (and vise/versa). It's a really fun ride and then you could explore the Port as you walk to or from the Tram. It would be a little bit of a walk back to the hotel, but in the evening it would be comfortable and fun. I'm not sure how much of a walk it is from the Tram stop at the top of the Mount to the fountains. These are just some idea's to expore.

Maybe someone else can comment who might have used alternate transportation?

Thank you Meicha for your advice. I will stick to the 8.15 Pompeii tour as you advised - we'll just have to accept the Cameo stop as part of the package. Thanks for your Barcelona transport ideas. I'll look into these.

Best wishes, Susmita.

Meicha, thank you for the trip review! We are on the VOS in November. I was wondering if you remember how much the ATMs in Barcelona would allow you to withdrawl each time? Thanks again!

A number of the ATM machines limited you to 300 Euro's, we were able to find an ATM machine at the Airport where you could withdraw more. We weren't sure exactly what the limit was on this machine, but we were able to take out 600 Euro's.