LIVE Voyager of the Seas Oct. 2nd, 2022 - Oct. 9th, 2022

[rudeney]

21 hours ago, Broons77 said:

We normally don't do many shows on board, but we may have to check them out.   I've seen it mentioned how good they are in other threads as well.

 

You've now also got me wondering if I should bother with the St John shorex we have booked.  The rub here is that we need an accessible excursion for DW and this is the only one I've been able to find at any port on our cruise.  If there's really not much to see, we're fine with just wandering into town if it's reasonable pushing distance and conditions to do so from the dock.  We can do some of that in Portland, and I'm looking for a scouting report from Halifax which is our second Canada stop.  Would you vote to bail on it?

 

It's very hilly - you might want to keep that shorex.  There's not much to see on your own.   Which shorex did you book? 

[Broons77]

53 minutes ago, rudeney said:

 

It's very hilly - you might want to keep that shorex.  There's not much to see on your own.   Which shorex did you book? 

It's an accessible bus tour, couple of hours of driving around with a stop at the same market I believe you were at, but it says that it's only a 20 minute stop.  Not sure how much browsing we'd get to do in that amount of time.  But good to have a rough idea of the port area, thanks for the info.

 

Hope it was another good night at Chops!

[rudeney]

23 hours ago, Broons77 said:

1 hour ago, Broons77 said:

It's an accessible bus tour, couple of hours of driving around with a stop at the same market I believe you were at, but it says that it's only a 20 minute stop.  Not sure how much browsing we'd get to do in that amount of time.  But good to have a rough idea of the port area, thanks for the info.

 

Hope it was another good night at Chops!

 

 

Don't worry about the market - it's not much.   Some vendors with interesting things,  some lunch counters and that's it.   

We didn't do anything in Sydney, but those who did say some great sights - lakes,  streams,  foliage.   

 

Chops was great! Make sure you ask for Vlad - he's the best.   

[exercisemama]

On 10/3/2022 at 9:04 AM, Seacreature101 said:

Ready to read some more!  Sailing her in November on a Southern Caribbean - one of our top favorite itineraries - lots of islands.  🙂  Hope you have a wonderful trip and thanks for taking the time to take us all along.

We are also on that port intensive cruise out of San Juan in November!!

[rudeney]

Sorry for the delays.  It was crazy foggy last night and Voom was nearly unusable. Chops was great.   Jan had her usual shrimp cocktail and rib eye.   I had the carpaccio and filet,  plus lobster.   They did charge even on the UDP, but it was worth it. 

 

 

[rudeney]

We skipped dessert and made it to the 7pm ice show.   I really enjoyed it.   I'm not sure exactly what the plot was,  but it was 100% action and the skaters were excellent.   

 

 

[rudeney]

 

 

A few more Ice Odyssey pics:

 

 

[rudeney]

After the ice show we headed back to the room for some monkey business 😮

 

[rudeney]

Today started out overcast, as usual

 

 

And as usual my morning started out in the hot tub.  I would have also done the pool, but it didn't open until 8:00am.  This was the first morning I did not have the hot tub to myself!

[rudeney]

I had to get back to the room and shower and change to meet in the Royal Theater at 9:15am for our All Access Tour.  By 9:30am we were on stage - literally!  

 

 

After seeing all the features of the stage and backstage areas, we headed to the MDR and a very brief galley tour.  We did a full galley tour years ago, so no photos, but even at before 10:00am, they were busy getting ready for lunch.  

 

Next up (or down, as it was) we went to the engine control room.  We were DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!  Well, there were so many interesting looking buttons, I just couldn't help myself!  So I apologize to my fellow Voyager passengers for that.  No, seriously, I behaved myself, but we did hear a code alpha alert while on the tour.  I'm not sure what happened - hopefully just a minor injury.

 

 

 

 

I did suggest to our tour guide Filipe and the security officer Anil that they should have a fake control panel and invite passengers to press a button and then follow that with some sort of alert sound just to have some fun.  They said they would definitely recommend this to Miami, so if you ever see that on an All-Access Tour on your ship, you can thank me! 😛

 

Next stop was provisions.  They explained that all the food for the entire cruise came on in Boston, and they always stock at least wo extra days worth in case of a delay in returning to port.  So what we were looking at was 3 days worth of food, which means fully-stocked would be 3x as much as we see here!

 

 

 

 

 

[rudeney]

We then took a walk down I-95, the central hallway used by the crew:

 

 

 

And our next stop was the laundry.  The most interesting part of this was the special steam mannikin that they used to remove wrinkles from evening gowns and other sensitive fabrics.

 

 

 

[rudeney]

Final stop was the bridge.  No, we were not allowed to steer the ship!  In fact, it was on autopilot and the captain was in the bar having his daily morning bourbon.  Well, probably no, but he was not on the bridge.   It was very quiet, but the best view on the ship!

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing Jan asked was about the fog horn.  Since we heard it quite a bit on this cruise, she wanted to know if someone had to activate it all night.  We learned that it is switch on by a bridge officer, but once on, it automatically sounds every two minutes.

 

Oh, and another thing I learned by asking Anil, the security officer who was with us on the bridge, was what happens when a passenger misses the ship in a stopover port.  As has been claimed, they do search the passengers room, including the safe, for a passport.  He said they do NOT look for DL or BC documents - only passports, and that does include in the safe.  If the passport is found, it will be handed to the harbor pilot who will then pass it on to the local port authorities.  Passengers can then call the 800-number on the back of the SeaPass card and get instructions of who to see in the port to claim their passports. 

 

We really enjoyed this tour.  It lasted two hours and we gleaned some interesting facts about ship operations.  I am not sure it's worth the cost (about $100pp) but it was something fun to do for a few hours on a sea day.  And every single crew member we saw behind the scenes still greeted us with a smile and a "good morning".  Oh, and while we were running around, the sun cam out and it has turned into a nice day at sea, if not just a bit on the cool side.  

 

 

 

[billslowsky]

On 10/6/2022 at 4:09 PM, rudeney said:

 

I am not sure how they are doing tender tickets.  We booked through RCCL, so we just met in the theater and they escorted us onto a tender.  I think they give priority to those on RCCL excursions, but everyone else has to get in line.  

Last week they gave them out from a station on deck 4.  RCI booked excursions get priority.  The office for the trolley was right where you get dropped off.

[billslowsky]

23 hours ago, Nabalab said:

Hey@rudeney

 

The ice show - Do people need tickets/reservations beforehand; or is it first come/first serve?

 

Thank you!

Last week first come first serve, with some sections reserved for suites, but Anna Banana opened them up about 5 mins before show time.

[Nabalab]

58 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

Last week first come first serve, with some sections reserved for suites, but Anna Banana opened them up about 5 mins before show time.

 

Thank you!  I believe Adventure was the same way a few months ago.

[Broons77]

Ugh....  The foghorn.  Our cabin is forward deck 12.  By all accounts, it sounds like the horn is in the room with you in these cabins.  I'm bringing ear plugs but I'm not sure that's going to cut it.  ☹️

[rudeney]

1 hour ago, Broons77 said:

Ugh....  The foghorn.  Our cabin is forward deck 12.  By all accounts, it sounds like the horn is in the room with you in these cabins.  I'm bringing ear plugs but I'm not sure that's going to cut it.  ☹️

We are deck 10 forward and while we heard it,  it was not horribly loud.   We sleep with fans so that helped drown out the sound. 

 

[RenieRaider]

Any suggestions on locations to watch the Patriots Game on Sunday? What did they do last Sunday? Was it on the BIG SCREEN on top deck? 

 

[RenieRaider]

Is your luggage out yet?

 

[Broons77]

7 minutes ago, RenieRaider said:

Is your luggage out yet?

 

 

Don't rush the poor guy!

[Broons77]

1 hour ago, rudeney said:

We are deck 10 forward and while we heard it,  it was not horribly loud.   We sleep with fans so that helped drown out the sound. 

 

 

Ha!  I have a fan I bring as well.  We'll have to see how bad it is or isn't when we're there.  As long as we're asleep when it starts going off, I'm hoping we should be OK.  

 

In the wise words of one Miss Adrienne Barbeau, please just stay out of the fog!

[billslowsky]

10 hours ago, RenieRaider said:

Any suggestions on locations to watch the Patriots Game on Sunday? What did they do last Sunday? Was it on the BIG SCREEN on top deck? 

 

You'll be lucky to find that game at all.  They show a national feed from an international ESPN channel (2 of them) but Patriots and Detroit is not going to make the cut.  Not a Boston broadcast.  Night game might be on the big screen, but bring blankets.

[rudeney]

1 hour ago, billslowsky said:

You'll be lucky to find that game at all.  They show a national feed from an international ESPN channel (2 of them) but Patriots and Detroit is not going to make the cut.  Not a Boston broadcast.  Night game might be on the big screen, but bring blankets.

 

We have Hulu and we're able to stream the Auburn vs. Georgia game on CBS yesterday on Voom    I had to put it in "data saver" mode and it wound still occasionally buffer,  but it was watchable. 

[island lady]

On 10/4/2022 at 11:03 AM, rudeney said:

I walked into Portland for Some Holy Donuts:

 

 

Cruise Wizard's favorite donut place!!   Our go to is "Two Fat Cats" for blueberry pie.  😉 

[rudeney]

This is the wrap-up, so it's going to be a bit long...

 

We were up around 6:30am and having breakfast in Chops around 7:45am.  It was delicious as usual with fantastic service from Vlad and Nadia (Nadia was our breakfast server a few days back).  Jan had seen Nadia and Vlad together on night being "very friendly" with each other, so we suspect they may be having a little onboard romance.  Which is interesting because Nadia is from Russia and Vlad is from Ukraine.  I suspect neither one cares about the war, except for the safety of their families back home.  

 

We did find out why Chops is not open on embarkation day for Voyager.  We thought it might have to do with Chops having to prepare lunch for The Key in the MDR.  Nadia told us it is because they added about 500 beds with the "amping" and the Windjammer couldn't handle the crowds, so they use Chops seating as overflow, and Giovanni's as the specialty restaurant on boarding day.  She also said that although The Key gets the Chops menu in the MDR that day, it is not prepared by Chops - it's just their menu items prepared in the MDR galley.  

 

After breakfast, we headed to the Schooner bar as instructed to meet Gabriel, the concierge for disembarkation.  We got there and sat around a while as they called various numbers.  We all sat there waiting on Gabriel to lead us out, but he never did.  He was just standing around, and every now and then we'd see him escort a couple of passengers out.  After asking him when we were disembarking, he explained we could leave whenever we wanted - just let him know.  Well, we let him know we were ready and he walked us through the "customs" check (which was an officer who glanced at our passports - no facial recognition) and then to the SeaPass scan, and we were down the gangway into the terminal.  

 

This suite/Pinnacle disembarkation process was just a bit disorganized and not what we are used to.  Normally, the concierge has escorted us off in groups.  I guess Gabriel does not do it that way, but everyone was sitting around expecting that.  I will say he's the least impressive concierge we've had on a cruise.  He's young, and very soft spoken, and always seems disorganized - even a bit flustered.  But he was very friendly and helpful when we needed him. 

 

We were off the ship and with our luggage waiting for our Uber by 9:00am.  The terminal staff will tell you to go across the street to Duncan Donuts to order an Uber because of the traffic  congestion (it is a cluster), but I had already done it when we grabbed our luggage.  Our Uber driver Joseph was excellent and said he'd even though it means some extra traffic, he'd rather pickup right at the terminal because it's easier for passengers like us with lots of luggage.  We made it to the airport and through security by 10:00am.  Now we just wait for our 12:35pm flight.  Assuming it's on time and we have an uneventful drive to Birmingham from Nashville, we should be home around 6:00pm.

 

This was a FANTASTIC cruise!  The crew was excellent - we were always met with big smiles and an eagerness to help.  We knew they are shorthanded, so we were just patient, and were rewarded with first class service.   The ship was very nice.  Yes, there is some rust here and there and a few places that need attention or updating (especially in the cabins) but Voyager is still a wonderful ship.  I like how easy it is to get around, and other than absolute peak times, it never felt crowded. 

 

We never ate in the MDR.  I heard mixed reviews on the food there.  The Windjammer was never horribly packed, and the food there was very good, and again - I can't say enough about the crew - there were plenty of them in the Windjammer ready to get us whatever we needed.  Specialty dining was excellent.  We loved Chops - both the food and staff.  Only one night did the steaks not come our perfectly cooked.  Giovanni's was good, too, both the staff and food.  I liked the food in Izumi, even if it wasn't Jan's favorite.  The staff there was just OK.  In fact, if I had to pick the worst crew interactions, it would be in Izumi.  Don't get me wrong - they were good, just nowhere near the level of personality and friendliness of the staff in Chops or Giovanni's.  Finally, our stateroom attendant Prakash was top-notch.  We didn't interreact with him much, mostly just greetings in the hall, but he kept the room clean, kept us stocked with ice, and made sure we had plenty of towels and anything else we needed.  I'd say that's the perfect attendant.  

 

I absolutely do not regret buying the UDP or DBP.  Our specialty meals were very good and a relaxing change form the MDR.  I took $100 in ones with me, and handed one out for each drink ordered at a bar.  I have $42 left.  So 58 drinks at an average of $12 each is $696.  That does not count the dozens of bottles of water, fresh OJ, or drinks ordered in restaurants, so I am sure we easily exceeded the the $1,078 we paid for UDP.  I had no problems finding the Scotch I like - Johnnie Walker Double Black.  Every now and then a bar would not have it so I'd have to choke down some plebeian Black Label.   Jan had lots of daquiris and white zinfandel, and I had several dozen glasses of Oberon cabernet with dinner.  I never had to wait behind more than one person for a drink in a bar.

 

The entertainment was good.  We don't expect Tony-award winning performances, but it was entertaining.  My least favorite was the Rhythm & Rhyme.  My most favorite was the ice show.  The onboard bar entertainment was good.  One guy playing in the Schooner bar was a great pianist, not such a great singer, but not horrible.  The duo playing in the Promenade was good.  The cruise director was good, though we only saw him announcing the shows.  

 

OK, that's about it.  We' begin boarding our flight shortly.  Thanks for coming along!