Voyager just off 'with kids'

[Lilye66]

Hopefully this might help some as those from CC have helped make my first cruise great! Many of my comments are stuff that worked for us & the ideas have been taken from other posts on CC.

 

I have just returned from 11 nights VOS, Syd-Lautoka-Suva-Noumea-Syd, 13-24/1. Hubby, 6yo twins & me. Only booked recently, so had 2 side side by side balcony rooms on deck 9 (category D2) aft.

 

In no particular order,

 

Lanyards - had some sent from travel agent, but when signed up to kids club, they received a free one that you didn't have to pull your card out of a plastic case when needed. (Quickly modified ours with hole punched (cord & key ring))

 

Night light - bought battery tea lights from dollar shop (it gets quite dark with no moon)

 

Wire coat hangers - used with plastic dry cleaners bags to pack ironed formal wear; Good - no ironing required (mainly due to hubby's ironing effort prepacking) but mainly used to hang wet clothes in the shower. More then enough hangers in our room.

 

Over door shoe holder - for toiletries/block/etc; kept the bench free - found a clear one at Dasio, $2.80 well spent - there were hooks on the door back, so perfect hanging spot.

 

Clothes line & pegs - I didn't want to pack heaps of clothes, & as there is no self laundry (although a $30 special for a bag of tshirts & similar appeared during the trip). The pegs were good for securing the wet swimmers to the balcony chairs & wire hangers.

 

A waterproof tote bag- helped mainly for those windy days by the pool not to mention the occassional water.

 

Ice bucket - great to get cool water for drinking, but also to keep yoghurt chilled for those "I'm hungry" moments we get. Don't forget to grab a couple of spoons. Also get the bar fridge emptied, so you can store drink bottles & not get any 'surprises' from an unsupervised raid.

 

Vegemite is only available at breakfast (although I never asked at lunch), so grab a couple of sachets & take to other meal times. Also a few pieces of whole fruit & crackers were good to have in the cabin or take to the pool for healthier hungers.

 

Crisps or savory biscuits - you can get sweet foods almost 24hrs a day, the only savory snack food available, at a cost, was Pringles from the general store. A few bags helped our savory child's preference. Also good to take to port as a standby snack (see below).

 

Micro fibre cloth - to help wring out the wet swimmers etc, again I got a small chamois type one from the dollar shop

 

Port visits - we didn't do ship tours (due to previous holidays), but found at Fiji, the operators on both docks (were usually the same company) were happy to accept $AUS; & Noumea , the port terminal building had tours, souviners & food available in $AUS as well. You could do trips without money exchanging. I had no problems with taking water bottles off & (although I didn't) it seemed that I could have easily taken packaged food, like chips. We did get braids in my daughters hair at the dock in Lautoka. Did some snorkelling in Noumea & Fiji (not great but fun for kids). Noumea aquarium was highlight for our pair.

 

General stuff - Aft decks are now the smoking side on VOS; There are limited character breakfasts available, we missed out on day 3 when I enquired; Likewise if you want to do ice skating, get in early (we managed one session, but couldn't get another one in); We swapped to my time dining to help out others, which gave us more freedom in what we could do in the evenings; Ask for the show acts, as they aren't published except on the daily cruise compass, we missed a few shows that the kids would have enjoyed; The kids enjoyed a 'picnic dinner' (grab a few plates of food from windjammer for room dining after the early show).

 

Kids club- was well liked & used most days by our pair - it was the highlight to read what was on tomorrow.

 

I'll try to answer any qu, as promptly as I can.

[MicCanberra]

Thanks for posting the review.:D

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

....but did you enjoy it? would you do another cruise??

 

thanks for taking the time to post such great ideas :o i was too preoccupied packing a christmas tree and presents to think about such sensible things as you have listed!!! :D

[MicCanberra]

....but did you enjoy it? would you do another cruise??

 

thanks for taking the time to post such great ideas :o i was too preoccupied packing a christmas tree and presents to think about such sensible things as you have listed!!! :D

 

LOL :D, now that is sensible in a much different way.:rolleyes:

[NikandMick]

General stuff There are limited character breakfasts available, we missed out on day 3 when I enquired; Likewise if you want to do ice skating, get in early (we managed one session, but couldn't get another one in).

 

We will be on Voyager in December with two children. Could you elaborate on the ice skating. You say 'get in early'. Do we need to pre-book? Is it additional cost? Can we book on the first day?

 

Also, what is a character breakfast and do we need to book for that?

 

As we are going at Christmas time, I anticipate that there will be lots of kids on the cruise.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nicole

[Lilye66]

i was too preoccupied packing a christmas tree and presents to think about such sensible things as you have listed!!! :D

 

Damn, I knew I forgot to take something... The kids would have loved a Christmas tree, although they probably would have excepted a present each day :eek:

 

Just as well I didn't manage to get ours taken down before the cruise, so they have it to look at for a few more days :D

 

(Thank goodness school goes back wed)

[Lilye66]

We will be on Voyager in December with two children. Could you elaborate on the ice skating. You say 'get in early'. Do we need to pre-book? Is it additional cost? Can we book on the first day?

 

Also, what is a character breakfast and do we need to book for that?

 

As we are going at Christmas time, I anticipate that there will be lots of kids on the cruise.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nicole

 

Skating - They have a small ice skating rink, that you can try out. They have a great ice show, that you are assigned to attend, based on your dining time. Others may attend on a seats available basis, after all the assigned people are seated. On other days, they have the rink available for skating - it's a half hour slot between certain hours - some days it's 10-12 & 2-4, others 6-8. You just need to fill out an indemnity form (gets your sea pass punched) & then you can go to a session (about 40 at a time). If you say queue up for 10, but miss out, you can get a sticker for say the 10.30, 11 or 11.30. If you miss out, you come back just before 2 to try again. It's totally free. They have skates & helmets, you just need to turn up with socks & long pants. You can't book beyond getting a sticker for a session. Do it early in your cruise to avoid missing out later.

 

Character brekkie - you go to one of the dining room levels at breakfast time, where they have a special menu & some of the dreamland characters (shrek, etc) wander round for photo ops. From memory the menu is on the RC website. My son can sometimes not like the costumes chars, so it wasn't a big deal that we missed it (I don't think I mentioned it to them). If you were keen, I'd book it in on the day you board.

 

From what has been mentioned on CC, Voyager is going for a refit during this year. Apparently the 'wave rider' is meant to be added, which might be another sought after activity. The rock climbing is like the inline skating, open to the elements & subject to weather conditions. We didn't use it, but saw long lines for it.

 

Cheers

[NikandMick]

Oh wow the kids (and maybe me too) will love the wave rider. Hope it does happen before our cruise.

Thanks for the info.

[barnsey1802]

Oh wow the kids (and maybe me too) will love the wave rider. Hope it does happen before our cruise.

Thanks for the info.

 

The refurb is in Oct and takes 34 days, it will be all done by your cruise.

 

The refurbs are usually documented on utube. We are on the NYE cruise again this year, so we will be very interested in all the changes.

 

Deidre.:)

[becci19]

"Aft decks are now the smoking side on VOS"

 

Does this mean passengers can smoke on aft cabins?

 

I have an aft on the Radiance later this year and am hoping there is no smoking on the balconies..?

[The_Big_M]

From what has been mentioned on CC, Voyager is going for a refit during this year. Apparently the 'wave rider' is meant to be added, which might be another sought after activity. The rock climbing is like the inline skating, open to the elements & subject to weather conditions. We didn't use it, but saw long lines for it.

 

Note the addition of the Wave Rider will mean the loss of the inline skating.

[The_Big_M]

"Aft decks are now the smoking side on VOS"

 

Does this mean passengers can smoke on aft cabins?

 

I have an aft on the Radiance later this year and am hoping there is no smoking on the balconies..?

 

As of this year, smoking is no longer permitted on balconies on RCL.

[NikandMick]

Note the addition of the Wave Rider will mean the loss of the inline skating.

 

I think it's a good trade personally. Am super excited!!

[NikandMick]

The refurb is in Oct and takes 34 days, it will be all done by your cruise.

 

The refurbs are usually documented on utube. We are on the NYE cruise again this year, so we will be very interested in all the changes.

 

Deidre.:)

 

I will be sure to follow YouTube. After thoroughly enjoying Rhapsody and then Radiance, I am ridiculously excited about Voyager.

[Lilye66]

"Aft decks are now the smoking side on VOS"

 

Does this mean passengers can smoke on aft cabins?

 

I have an aft on the Radiance later this year and am hoping there is no smoking on the balconies..?

 

Sorry, I made a mistake in the original post, we had starboard cabins (not aft), a few back from the 'hump' (I think it's called).

 

And yes, smoking is not permitted in any rooms or balconies, but from Jan 1, there are designated areas (starboard side of public areas(decks, pool etc)). Although on ours, there were still a few still smoking on port side.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqSubjectName=Onboard+Policies&faqId=3101&faqSubjectId=333&faqType=faq

[Lilye66]

....but did you enjoy it? would you do another cruise??

 

Now that I have done the RC feedback & one for CC...

 

Yes, it was a great intro to cruising. We would look at another one, but a smaller ship &/ different line, to allow us to go to other ports. We have in the past done Noumea, & more recently Denerau (with kids), so the port visits on this cruise weren't high up the list... I guess it was a matter of what we could book at the time being so 'late'.

 

The post was more about sharing tips.

 

Maybe tomorrow the Christmas tree comes down....;)

[MicCanberra]

The refurb is in Oct and takes 34 days, it will be all done by your cruise.

 

The refurbs are usually documented on utube. We are on the NYE cruise again this year, so we will be very interested in all the changes.

 

Deidre.:)

Cool, I am on her next year and look forward to seeing how RCI differs and also how a bigger (Capacity) ship operates.:D

Edited January 27, 2014 by MicCanberra

[mtn_couple]

Also, what is a character breakfast and do we need to book for that?

Thanks in advance,

 

Nicole

 

 

Hi Nicole

 

You can pre-book the character breakfasts online via the pre-cruise planner on the RCCI website when you log into your booking. It is free, you just need to book. We are on VOS next week and have booked it twice!

 

Angela

[mtn_couple]

Vegemite is only available at breakfast (although I never asked at lunch), so grab a couple of sachets & take to other meal times.

 

This is a great tip, and one that will surely come in handy for my 3 year old when we are on board next week - thanks!!