Review of Voyager August 26, 2005

[cmecompute]

This was the third cruise for my wife and I, travelling with us were my 21yo son, our 12yo son, my wifes sister, and my mother. We are only about 1 hour from Bayonne and it was actually less expensive for us to get a Limo to and from rather than to pay for 2 vehicles to park. This worked out well for us considering everyone who parked at the pier ended up with grey overspray on their cars from the ship in drydock.

 

We arrived at the pier around 11:30, it was great, no lines, everything moved right through and we were on the ship by 12:30. We were asked not to go to our rooms until after 1 allowing the room stewards time for the changeover. The pool deck was open and the Windjammer was serving lunch. Everything seemed clean and neat, the crew was very courteous and welcoming. We went to our rooms around 1 and our luggage was already there, this was a shock to us. On our last cruise we did not get our luggage until 10pm. Our rooms were spotless, the room steward made a point to come and welcome us and introduce himself. We asked him to clean out both refrigerators and take out the coffee tables to allow us more room. This was completed by the time we returned from muster.

 

I cannot comment much on the food at the Windjammer as we ate all dinners and most breakfasts and lunches in the main dining room. All of us thought the food was fantastic, our wait staff was incredible. Very attentive, and did everything possible to ensure we were happy. Truely 5star service! We did eat 2 lunches and 2 breakfasts in the Windjammer. Breakfast was very nice, omlets made to order, fresh fruit, it was very nice, never a line. Lunch was acceptable, nothing fantastic, but it was a buffet after all. We found the mini sandwiches at the Promanade Cafe to be quite good, a nice snack to tie over until the next meal. We did try Johnny Rockets one afternoon for what was supposed to be a light snack to hold us over until dinner after returning to the ship in Grand Cayman. There is no such thing as a light snack there! The food was great, the staff was hillarious. They dance to almost all the songs, and each does their own thing, great entertainment. We also attended the Gala (midnight) buffet, took lots of pictures and went to bed. It looked great, but I don't think any of us could have eaten anything else that day. If you can't tell, we ate way waaay too much on this trip. We really hit it off with our waiter and the bar waiter, In fact my mother wanted one of the shirts the pool deck waiters wear (very colorful flowers). On the last night at dinner our "booze doctor" bar waiter brought her one. After everything we had read on the attire in the main dining room, we paid particular attention to this. I have to say, Main seating on the 3rd floor followed it very well. I saw very few people wearing jeans or shorts. I was impressed with the yellow flipflops under the evening gown though. And they did enforce the rules in the dining room, at breakfast and lunch I witnessed numerous people being turned away for wearing their bathing suits, or tank tops, etc. We applauded the decision to enforce the dress code there, talk about upset. The lady who couldn't get in for lunch because she was wearing her bathing suit went crazy, again - great entertainment.

 

Our youngest (turned 12, 1 week before the cruise) know from his previous cruise 2 years ago that he would be heavily involved in the kids club program. We found that the 12-14 age group program is in need of structure. It was mostly hanging around together and dancing. He was not really into this and wanted more fun and games. I asked if they would make an exception and let him join the 9-11 group, they were very accomodating and he had a great time. Stayed there until 1am every night by his choice. I was very suprised to find that the cruise director "Becky" spent so much time in the kids club area. My son would give me daily updates, he saw her more than we did, and we were involved in everything. I don't know what we are going to do next year if they don't do something about the 12-14 program, it will be a major dissapointment.

 

The ship overall is in good condition, it does show signs of needing some minor repair here and there, but at 6 years old I guess that is to be expected. I was told it was going to drydock very soon to be updated and then moved on to a European itinerary, which many of the crewmembers are very excited about.

 

I personally like cruising because I enjoy being active and this offers something for everyone in our party to be as active as they want. This cruise had something for everyone, we were always on the go and became involved in everything we could. We thoroughly enjoyed it, Becky and Mike were wonderful. We not only went to the Quest, but sat in the front row and were so involved that I think we severely embarrassed my mother. But we had a great time. I will say that there were far too many young children there. My thoughts on that are, the Quest is advertised as an 'adult' game. If the parents of these young children don't have a problem with them being part of this, than I am not going to let it ruin my fun, and it didn't. I knew where my son was and he was not there. We enjoyed the shows, some were great, some were good. Everyone has different taste and I respect that. The pool games were a lot of fun as well, this was an area where I think the children could have listened more or the parents could have been more involved. They would not move out of the way for the games, and I am not talking about the teens, these were the little ones. I have no idea where all the parents were, but they were asked time and time again to get out of the water, or to back up, or to keep this area clear. I was shocked at the number of children who simply could not follow basic direction.

 

When we went to Labadee, we went straight to 'hide away beach' I highly suggest this. Very few people, a long walk though. There were no jellyfish, the beach was sandy, even in the water, it was really nice, and there is a pavillion right there for eats all day, a bathroom right there. It was the nicest place we found to relax for the day and be able to go in the water and allow our son in the water without the fear of the jellyfish. In Jamaica we booked the "Party boat / Dunns river falls tour" The boat was a little loud but we enjoyed the short tour. 3 in our party climed the falls which they enjoyed. The boat ride back included all you could drink rum punch, I think we really took advantage of this, as did everyone else there. In Grand Cayman we did 7 mile beach, it was cloudy which ended up being very nice, because when the sun came out later it was way too hot to stay out at the beach. That is when we went shopping and back to the ship. Overall an inexpensive day and enjoyable one. The Bahamas did not impress us, at least not this port. Our excursion was cancelled due to operational difficulties, so we got off the ship and wandered around the straw market for an hour and got back on the ship. Not worth the stop for only a few hours, Nassau would have been much nicer.

 

The casino on the ship was nicely laid out, very open. You were not constantly bumping into people. Most of the table dealers were very friendly, this helps you enjoy yourself while losing your money. Actually I thought I did pretty good, by the end of the cruise I was up about $300 and was very happy walking out ahead. We met a lot of nice people there (the regulars at the tables).

 

We all registered and attended the "meet & mingle", I would say out of the 56 people who signed up for it that about half attended. It was a nice way to spend about 30 minutes. After a short trivia game, there were some snacks offered, drink service (of course) and we were able to meet some of the familiar names from the roll call thread and put faces to names which was really nice.

 

Departing the ship was interesting, while online for customs declarations due to purchasing too much alchohol, we found out there was a hold up for everything. Apparently Customs along with local officials boarded the ship with a warrant for a female passenger and nothing was happening until she was apprehended. This took about 30 minutes, then we were able to begin our paperwork and the lines for immigrations began moving upstairs as well. The Ship was in around 8am and the first color was called about 2 hours later, which is exactly what we were told to expect.

 

A couple of us in our group were very active in reading this board for tips/tricks, information for preparation, etc. We found it very helpful. The shoe organizer idea for over the bathroom door worked out great, we found them at Walmart for about $5. We were asked by both our cabin steward and one of the room service people where we found it, they thought it was great for staying organized in such a small space. Will not cruise again without it. Bringing a travel steamer (pseudo iron) was a waste of suitcase space. Upon arrival, we unpacked and gave everything that needed pressing to the room steward and he took care of it all right away. We had it all back the same day and didn't have to mess with any of it. Well worth the few dollars to not have to worry about it.

 

The only time we used room service was for coffee/juice delivery in the morning. They were very prompt each and every morning at the time specified. Very happy with the limited service we used from room service.

 

One of the big things that I found in all my research prior to the cruise was the new alchohol rule put into effect on August 5, 2005, which no longer allows anything in the rooms for consumption. I read quite a bit on this topic, even called RCCL in Miami for the straight answers. You can bring wine and champagnes on in your hand carried luggage for consumption in the dining room for a $12 corkage fee per bottle. The bottles must not be available for sale on the wine list of the ship. You can no longer buy bottles on board and bring them to your room, they hold them until the last night along with any bottles purchased at ports. I chose to carry on a bottle of champagne that we were going to have celebrating the start of our vacation. I had no problem, it was quite obvious what it was in the x-ray machine. I brought it to dinner and the wine steward chilled it and served us. He informed me that there would be a $12 corkage fee, which I was never charged. I also brought a few bottles of wine in my checked baggage for the room. There was no problem, the cabin steward knew they were there, as I made no attempt to hide them. He said they were only enforcing when there were underage teens involved or things got out of control. I even went down to my favorite bar waiter each evening and got 3 empty wine glasses to bring back to my room. We were able to have a glass before dinner while getting ready, then refill and bring one to dinner with us. Worked out great.

 

I will say there were a lot of children on the cruise, but I never really let them bother me. I did not notice any horseplay or midnight racing through the halls as some people have said. There were a few instances where I did make comments about ladies and children being present and asking them to make better choices concerning the words they used. I used the internet 2 times daily to keep in touch with work and never had to wait for a terminal. The library did become a hangout for teens, and got a bit noisy at times but not out of control. I mostly used the stairs ( to counter act the 14 meals a day) and noticed at least 4 times a day someone cleaning the hand rails. The few times I did use the elevators I noticed they were crowded and the children did tend to push all the buttons they could. It became an ongoing joke as to whether it was a local run or the express.

 

We are not very experienced cruisers, but this was by far the best family vacation we have had yet. We participated in so many things, laughed until we cried, and recieved a lot of compliments reguarding the closeness of our family and how much fun we had together. We did book our next cruise while on board, we will be going again out of Bayonne next year, same week. That one will be just me, my wife and our 12yo son. We are hoping for a 4 generation trip to Alaska in 2007, and as of now and our current experiences they will all be with Royal Caribbean.

 

Hope the info helps, happy cruising, and don't let the little things get it the way of your fantastic vacation.

[bcs819]

thanks for such and excellent, well-written review. We are leaving tomorrow on our first RCCL cruise and have been a little concerned as of late that we may have made a bad choice.

 

I hope I can do as nice a job with my review as you did with yours.

 

Time to pack up the car!

[kenandlaura06]

Thanks for the detailed review.

[mabinbklyn]

Was also on this cruise and in general agree with your review. Hope you didn't miss the ice show, it was fantastic!

 

Happy cruising.

[dirtgirl]

Thank you for your great review!:)

[cmecompute]

Was also on this cruise and in general agree with your review. Hope you didn't miss the ice show, it was fantastic!

 

Happy cruising.

 

We (my entire family) goes to Lake Placid every year to the Stars on Ice show, we wouldn't have missed that show on the ship. Our expectations were low, and we were shocked. On small ice they were doing tripples and back flips. The show was spectacular, and we were sitting front row for it. Well worth arriving early for the seats.

[digital_curator]

Thanks for the amazing review.

 

Do you happen to remember what was on the lunch menu in the DR?

 

Cheers,

[cmecompute]

Thanks for the amazing review.

 

Do you happen to remember what was on the lunch menu in the DR?

 

Cheers,

 

 

Off the top of my head, wraps, salads, burgers, pasta bar, steak sand plus others, and great desserts. Of each of the above there were numerous choices within.

[PelicanBill]

Excellent review! We are really looking forward to our Voyager cruise Oct. 7.

[4merlurker]

Great Reveiw!!! Thanks so much! Love reading about other peoples cruises!!!

[mle0213]

My sister, brother in law and I were on this crew also and I totally agree with your review. It was, in our opinion, a fantastic cruise. And thanks for the information regarding debarking. We were wondering why it seemed to be taking so long to leave the ship. Wonder what the woman was wanted for? I have to say though that once they called our color, which was orange, we were off the ship, got our luggage and went through customs in no time. Thanks for taking the time to write such a well thought out review. Happy cruising!

[Nliedel]

This is a fabulous and detailed review without feeling like I am learning "too much". Excellent, excellent job!

[preb]

Can you tell me more about what activities they had planned for the 12-14 yo group? Yours is the second review I've read lately that was disappointed in the kids club for this age group. My niece will be sailing with us and she was excited about the kids club.

[rncruiser]

Great review. We will probably be sailing with you next year. Haven't booked yet, but plan to within the week. Hope to meet you at the meet and mingle. My son will have just turned 15 when we go so I guess they won't be in the same age group. Sorry to hear your son didn't enjoy the kid's club. My son had just turned 12 on our last cruise and he had a blast. Most of the activities were at night, they could do with some more daytime activities.

[48is24is1]

Wonderful review. Thanks for the information.

[cmecompute]

The activities for the 12-14yo group were there, just mainly centered around dancing and music. My son was really not into that, and was looking more for the group activities of games, scavenger hunts, foos ball tourneys, playstation tourneys, etc. These were plentiful within the 9-11yo group, I think what also added to his desire to go into that group was his meeting up with a few kids in the port before boarding within the 9-11 age group and hitting it off right away. He really did have a great time in this group, in fact, we only saw him for meals - when it wasn't a Johnny Rockets night for the kids club, and excursions. He had a fantastic time and has not stopped talking about it. Any further questions - just let me know or feel free to email directly if you want. rweidner@novatec-ny.com. I relied on a lot of other people for information before going, and have no problem sharing with others to help make your vacation a more enjoyable experience.

 

Bob

[TonyaJune]

Thanks for posting such a terrific review. I can't wait to go 2 weeks from today!:D

[DPurcell58]

Bob - great review. We were with you guys too. We have also booked the Explorer same week next year. Interested in your comment about 12-14 yr old as I have a now 11 yr old with special needs (high functioning autism). He will not be mature enough for "dancing and hanging out" next summer. He has a ball with the 9 - 11 yrs olds last week. I guess he was with your son. We hardly saw him either. I'm hoping next year he can stay with the 11 yr old. I may email you privately if you don't mind.

[beachbm213]

Great review! I never heard of the over the door shoe holder but think it's a great idea since I tend to bring way too many pairs of shoes-thanks!

You also mentioned asking the cabin steward to take care of anything that was wrinkled-does he do this or is it sent to the laundry or whatever? What's the cost?

thanks

Mar

[cmecompute]

Bob - great review. We were with you guys too. We have also booked the Explorer same week next year. Interested in your comment about 12-14 yr old as I have a now 11 yr old with special needs (high functioning autism). He will not be mature enough for "dancing and hanging out" next summer. He has a ball with the 9 - 11 yrs olds last week. I guess he was with your son. We hardly saw him either. I'm hoping next year he can stay with the 11 yr old. I may email you privately if you don't mind.

 

Please do, sorry we didn't get a chance to meet, but then again, maybe we did and just don't realize it yet :)

[cmecompute]

Great review! I never heard of the over the door shoe holder but think it's a great idea since I tend to bring way too many pairs of shoes-thanks!

You also mentioned asking the cabin steward to take care of anything that was wrinkled-does he do this or is it sent to the laundry or whatever? What's the cost?

thanks

Mar

 

If you get the cheap clear vinyl one, you can see everything you put into it, great for organizing all the extra stuff you simply cannot find room for. We didn't use it for shoes, but we did have a second one in the closet for the shoes. With 3 of us in the room each having at least 3 pairs, it was just as handy to keep the room tidy. As for the clothes - he actually took it to laundry for pressing. If you do this on day 1 you don't have to worry about paying for same day service which adds a 50% surcharge. The do a great job. We did 3 suits, 2 evening gowns, 5 dress shirts, and 2 slacks I think, it was all under $20 and everything looked great.

[cmecompute]

Bob - great review. We were with you guys too. We have also booked the Explorer same week next year. Interested in your comment about 12-14 yr old as I have a now 11 yr old with special needs (high functioning autism). He will not be mature enough for "dancing and hanging out" next summer. He has a ball with the 9 - 11 yrs olds last week. I guess he was with your son. We hardly saw him either. I'm hoping next year he can stay with the 11 yr old. I may email you privately if you don't mind.

 

Hi, I didn't know how else to try to get your attention, I am hoping you get an e-mail notification of this. My son is wondering what your son's first name is. I was telling him that we were on the cruise together and they were in the kids club together and that we would be together on the same cruise next year. My email is rweidner@novatec-ny.com if you would prefer to keep any further communication private. Thanks

 

Bob

[DPurcell58]

Hi, just saw your posting. No problem, my son's name is Ryan, he's a blond haired, blue eyed 11 yr. old. He was sometimes with a boy named Malcolm, a great African-American boy from NYC who was on the cruise with his grandma. Like I said, Ryan has some special needs, but the counselors said he got along great with everyone and was fine. He actually started signing himself in and out on Tues. and loved it. We would always have a meeting spot. Any more questions, just let me know.