Explorer or Voyager 3 night sampler cruise

[aussiecruzer]

Hi, we are planning to book a 3 night sampler cruise next February 2018 , and are tossing up between the Voyager on 2nd Feb, or Explorer on 9th Feb. Any advice on which would be better, or is there not much difference? . Interested to hear of anyone's experiences on a 3 night sampler cruise on either of these cruise ships. Voyager was our very first cruise in 2007, and we loved it, but that was 10 years ago.

How is the night life and parties on board? Hoping to find an active night life. If anyone has cruise compasses from a sampler cruise I would be interested. Thanks for your advice.

[The_Big_M]

Hi, we are planning to book a 3 night sampler cruise next February 2018 , and are tossing up between the Voyager on 2nd Feb, or Explorer on 9th Feb. Any advice on which would be better, or is there not much difference? . Interested to hear of anyone's experiences on a 3 night sampler cruise on either of these cruise ships. Voyager was our very first cruise in 2007, and we loved it, but that was 10 years ago.

How is the night life and parties on board? Hoping to find an active night life. If anyone has cruise compasses from a sampler cruise I would be interested. Thanks for your advice.

 

They're virtually the same ship; the differences are only tiny details (aside from the 'art') so you wouldn't notice normally.

 

 

Since 2007 both ships have been refurbished, and you will notice a change since then if you remember the details. The nightclub is sadly gone (replaced by cabins and a speciality restaurant). The skating course has been replaced with a wave rider. A large number of cabins have been added (about 220 as I recall) and speciality restaurants added (shrinking the buffet) comes to mind.

 

As for the 3 nighters, going nowhere, by their nature they're fairly party oriented, though have the standard activities too. You'll normally see some groups e.g. celebrating x's anniversary/birthday, wedding/buck's and TAs partying it up. So there'll definitely be night life.

[aussiecruzer]

Thanks for your helpful reply and glad to hear there will be night life aboard.. Yes, I thought being sister ships they would be similar. Do they both have an ice show? Also I have not cruised from Sydney before. I know the seas are dependent on weather conditions but any experience on how the seas were on a 3 night sampler cruise would be appreciated. Thanks again

[Peracto]

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.

[The_Big_M]

Yes, they both have an ice show. They are different since 2007, but may not be the same on both ships, but are still equivalent standards.

 

Agree about the weather - they don't go far off the coast, and if there is bad weather around will go the other direction from it. Should be smooth unless the bad weather is right over Sydney Harbour.

[bigdavefc]

if you have smaller kids, go Voyager. Otherwise pick whichever is cheapest

[MicCanberra]

Practically the same, may be more kids on the 2nd feb one.

[aussiecruzer]

Ok, so sounds like they will be much the same. That's good that they can adjust course to avoid bad weather too. Sounds good! What about shows on board? Again much the same on either Explorer or Voyager?

[Cruzbear24]

Voyager has the Dreamworks characters but Explorer doesn't.

[MicCanberra]

That is why there are more families/kids going to that one as well.

[aussiecruzer]

I see, well , we are not cruising with small children so Dreamworks characters not of particular interest to us, so maybe Explorer may suit us better.