Review of Starter Cruise from an uber-planner

[HappyTexan44]

 

I'm back!    

 

Cruise: Voyager of the Seas 2/19/24 5-days from Galveston to Costa Maya and Cozumel.   

Who: My DH, DD, DD's best friend who we invited along to keep her company, DD's best friend's parents who decided to come too, and of course me.  
For my family this was our first cruise, for DD's best friend I think that was her third, for the other parents they cruise once or twice a year.   

Overall:  We enjoyed it.   DD oozed joy the entire cruise (well, until the last day when she was sick).   Parents understand how important this is. 

 

DH was pretty miserable for the first half of the cruise.   He had a quad. bypass early December.   We thought it would be fine, he'd just be less active than he normally is.   He felt perfectly fine on our first shore excursion to the Mayan ruins.   Then that evening he figured out the problem, it was the vibration of the ship.  In what I called the "Data Dump" where medical people told us stuff about her heart, they told us that vibration would bother him for awhile.  It hadn't made an impression at the time because so much was going on.  Once DH remembered that, he actually felt better since he wasn't worried about something being 'wrong.'   

 

Food:

We usually liked the MDR food, but I was glad I'd paid close attention to the reviews.  I often asked for extra sauce and that made a huge difference.  For example, the pulled pork enchiladas.   I mentioned that I hate cilantro and that I'd be scrapping that off, and that I'd like a side of sour cream.   I don't know if they scraped that off for me, or if the enchiladas naturally came with that little on top.  But the enchiladas had a good taste, and they were quite good with a nice amount of sour cream.  Our waiter had figured out that extra sauce made me happy, so he'd bring enough so that others at our table had plenty too.  

DH loves lamb and he ordered that whenever it was offered.  He was pleased with it and said while there was a bit of mutton in there, he's been served mutton pretending to be lamb in Michelin starred restaurants.  
The desserts were often a miss, but I was prepared for that, plus the girls weren't that picky.  The ice cream was decent.    Not Blue Bell, but not generic grocery store either.  One night some of us order the Apple Cobbler.   The next night the same people ordered the Apple tart.   Funny thing, they were the exact same dessert. 
The pancakes at breakfast were the worst I've ever had.   Even the real maple syrup I'd brought couldn't rescue them, and that is saying something.   The maple syrup came in very handy when some of us ordered the chicken and waffles.   Tabasco honey, while a thing in Louisiana, don't belong with chicken and waffles in my opinion.  

DD and I loved the snails the first night, and they weren't as good the second night.  

On I think the second night they told DH that he'd have to finish his soup before they brought out his second starter of I think Shrimp.  He said he wanted them together and they quickly got the second.   Since that hadn't seemed to have been a problem anymore, I hadn't mentioned to him that they might fuss about that.   After that we specified when we wanted stuff together.  Sidenote, this trip DH didn't want to know anything about it beforehand.   The night before he wanted to know just enough to know what to pack.  
DH and I ate all meals but one in MDR.    He loved the cheese grits at breakfast.  They were a little undercooked but within the edible range and he doesn't normally eat grits, or breakfast.  On the Costa Maya day we knew we'd get back late so we had our friends order to-go entrees for us.   Plus the Caribbean menu didn't appeal, except I really wanted the tiger shrimp, and since I got something to-go, DH got some steak.  I took the food to the windjammer which worked out really well.   I got some fett. alfredo-ish in the windjammer, mixed in some herb butter from some entree and dumped the garlic tiger shrimp on top.  If I were to do that again, I'd asked for some shaved parmesan from the MDR.  

I didn't really like the atmosphere of the windjammer.   I don't know why since I'll happily eat at the Golden Corral if someone with me wants to go.  I've happily eaten at similar places, e.g. Universal Florida Cabana Bay Food Court.  I did like the MDR atmosphere.  Maybe it was that the one time I went, DH had messaged me that he was "In the back by the window" and the windjammer seemed to go on and on and on.    It was also likely more crowded than usual for dinner because of the late port day.   

For breakfast, I did like the eggs benedict with extra sauce.  I'd add bacon to the inside.  

 

Shows:  Liked the ice show.   It was what you'd expect.   Lithe, ahtletic people in pretty costumes skating gracefully and/or amazingly. 
Comedy show, g-rated farewell show.   I forget the comedian's name.   I really really enjoyed that.  It was in the Royal Theater, so plenty of room.   DH said that he'd seen the comedian's adults-only show and didn't particularly enjoy it.   It was vulgarity just to have vulgarity, and he is fond of vulgar humor.   

I skipped the musical production show since it just didn't seem appealing.  

 

Water slide.   I love a good water slide.   Voyager's wasn't worth the stair climb.    I should have known when the guy at the top said that if I got stuck to just push myself along.  Based on that, I should have really thrown myself into the tube, but no I did my normal somewhat gentle entrance.   Then I spent half of the slide pushing myself along using the ceiling.   Then I got going for a bit, and then the end was just an end, nothing exciting.   

 

Flowrider was fun.  I did the belly version.  I spent a little bit of time on my knees.  Then I wiped out and my bottoms were coming off so I just focused on keeping those on.   So, wear a one piece.  The woman running it was amazing.   

 

Other activities, we would have normally done more things, putt-putt, rock-climbing for example.  But, with DH not feeling good, I either had to do stuff alone or skip it.   I used to travel solo, but this time I preferred to hang out with him.  

DH would normally have bought a few beers during the cruise, so we didn't get him the drink package.  But, because of the heart surgery, he didn't drink but he did want his Diet DP.   Since I'd learned that they had that on board, we got him the soda package and skipped bringing any onboard.  He quickly learned which bars had Diet DP.    On the third evening he said to me, "I started a bar fight."  My response was something like, "Wha?" because that isn't like him.   Then he said that "Well, I started a bartender fight which is even better."   I just gave him a look at that.   Then he elaborated that the bartenders fought over who got to fill his cup with Diet DP.    Apparently soda drinkers don't tip, and they were fighting over the $1 cash.  
 

Ports, we loved both ports.  Although both felt like you had to run a gauntlet to get out of the shopping area.   I'd thought about seeing if I could find a quantity of vanilla beans but I didn't even want to look and just wanted to get back on the ship.   

 

I'd asked here about where to wait for the rooms to open.  I ended up picking the library.   Other Mom and I grabbed some of the comfier seats and we were alone for a little while, but it quickly filled up with people.   

 

There are several things I did just because it was our starter cruise and you need to do stuff once.  Like I went to the Art Auction.   Glad I went, but once is enough.   I'm not picky on my bubbly and I used to buy Cook's, but what they served was an embarrassment.  

 

The ducks were a hit with us moms.   We'd planned on leaving that to the girls but we ended up getting involved too.  Someone had complained on the FB roll call that it sounded like the ship would be filled with women wearing evening gowns hiding ducks.  I had my family take a photo of me hiding a duck in my evening gown.   Then we got into the hiding too.  An older woman in the elevator was showing off her duck she'd found.  She brings one back from every cruise.  It was so adorable to be around when a kid found the duck that you'd just hid and they got excited.  

Casino.   I'd brought $1000 cash to play at the casino, then I went to the Learn to Play session the first afternoon.   The smell of smoke was just too depressing.   I'd thought I might try craps or video poker.   As someone with literally more books than the local small town library, I'd read a few books on how to play both.  I checked out the video poker games but the payouts were riduluously bad.   I took a photo of the payout chart, and I'll try to figure out precisely what the payout is.  

Kiddie Casino aka Arcade.   I'd bought arcade credits for both girls but the arcade was really pathetic.   Only the air hockey worked and even *I* don't want to spend $200 on air hockey.   So, I got a refund on that.   I thought it was funny that the arcade is under the casino manager. since we call that the kiddie casino.  

Ports:  In Costa Maya we booked a Viator tour to the Mayan ruins.   I'll post a review of that.  We enjoyed it.   I'd seen Chitzen Itza and it was interesting what was different.    
In Cozumel, we had a Cabana at the Cabana Beach and went diving.   That was amazing!   We were glad we did Costa Maya first because otherwise it would be a letdown.   I already have a review of that here.   

Galveston terminal.   I was impressed with how slick they had that.   Our friends commented that they really streamlined things and whereas before you had to show your passport 2 or 3 times, we only had to show it once.  I'd wanted to switch to a cash account, and we had to go to another line for that.  But otherwise it was super quick.   The only snag was that DH looked for a parking garage when going to Covered Parking so he drove around for awhile.   It is more of a warehouse.   

[SG65CB]

Nice review. I agree sometimes they throw in gratuitous swearing during the "adult" comedy show just so that their regular jokes will qualify as "adult". What did you think of the accommodations -  what type of cabins did you have and how were they arranged - 4 and 2, or 3 and 3? What age are the girls, did they go to the kids club or stick with you on sea days or just free range themselves on the ship? Our friend brought his daughter on our last cruise (her first cruise) and he was loving that she was loving the cruise. 

[spelican]

Thanks for the review.  I enjoyed reading it.  

[Mum2Mercury]

5 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

The pancakes at breakfast were the worst I've ever had. 

Windjammer or MDR?  I've found that pancakes and French toast should only be enjoyed in the MDR ... they don't benefit from sitting in the buffet. 

5 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

so we had our friends order to-go entrees for us. 

What are to-go entrees?  

5 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

For breakfast, I did like the eggs benedict with extra sauce.  I'd add bacon to the inside.  

I do enjoy an Eggs Benedict at least once per cruise!  

5 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I'd asked here about where to wait for the rooms to open.  I ended up picking the library.   Other Mom and I grabbed some of the comfier seats and we were alone for a little while, but it quickly filled up with people.   

I'm surprised it filled up.  

5 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Like I went to the Art Auction.

I enjoy the Art Auction and have all the gift-artwork framed, but I'd never buy anything.  

5 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I'd brought $1000 cash to play at the casino, then I went to the Learn to Play session the first afternoon.   The smell of smoke was just too depressing.

Yep, that's why I don't frequent the casino.  If I cut through, I hold my breath and walk fast.  

[HappyTexan44]

Pancakes were from the MDR.   It wasn't just that they were cold but the batter was... I don't know.   Something weird.  

 

To-go entrees are just things from the menu.   They give them to you with the cover still on.   

 

The library seemed to be eager-beaver 7th floor people.  

 

I forgot to mention most of the luggage was somewhat near our room when we were able to go to our rooms.   I had to go about 20' for one bag and DH had to go on trek for the Dive Bag.  But otherwise our stuff was right outside our room.  

[HappyTexan44]

14 hours ago, SG65CB said:

What did you think of the accommodations -  what type of cabins did you have and how were they arranged - 4 and 2, or 3 and 3? What age are the girls, did they go to the kids club or stick with you on sea days or just free range themselves on the ship?

 

I forgot to mention that.   The trip was originally us three, plus DD's best friend.  DD is 13 and her friend is 14.  We got two connecting promenade rooms, so two in each room.   We thought that was awesome, particularly for the price.   As this was our Starter Cruise I was aiming for as cheap as possible, so I looked at a gty interior for 4-people first.  Then I saw that I could get two gty promenade rooms for cheaper than one four-person!   I had genuinely been confused about that and asked cruise people I knew who assured me that can sometimes happen.   It made it a tish more once I picked our rooms since we'd need connecting.  I think I would have ended up with the two promenade rooms even if they weren't cheaper after I'd looked more at the sleeping arrangements in a 4-person room.  Two adults and two teens, one of which is unrelated to the adults would have been uncomfortable.   Plus, their stuff completely filled their room and their counter space was filled with ducks.   The best friend's parents when they decided to come along got promenade rooms next to ours.   Originally they were going to bring their two other girls, so they booked two rooms.   Then the oldest realized that she couldn't go since she is in college classes.   Then the middle declared that "she doesn't like cruising" so she stayed with relatives and went to school instead of going on a cruise.  Then she pouted when she saw some photos of our dive.  Teenagers!

 

They seemed to enjoy free-roaming.  I think they checked out the teen area but didn't spend any time there.  

One thing that amazed me was how cheap the cruise was.  We go to a convention every summer that moves around the country.   The hotel rooms are a negotiated cheaper rate and most meals are included during the convention.  I always thought of that as a cheap vacation.  The one this summer is a little over $1000 for the hotel and a little over $600 for the convention for the three of us.  Then tack on touristing in the area and some restaurant meals.  The cruise was $1440 for the four of us, plus tips, plus $200 for the pre-cruise hotel, plus touristing at the ports.  Both vacations are about the same length, and same ballpark price.  

Funny story about the whippersnappers.   In the pre-cruise hotel the girls were playing with the hotel phones calling each other.  I'd put our hotel phone in the nightstand cubby to make room for DH's CPAP.   When DD was done with the phone she just tossed the handset into the cubby.   I told her "to hang up the phone", and she was genuinely confused by that.   Then I realized that was probably the first time she used a regular phone.   

 

[SG65CB]

You were amazingly lucky when you noticed the price for two promenade rooms, an interior for four of you would have been impossible. My friend's teen daughter had a suitcase with 40% clothes and 60% hair and makeup "products". I can't imagine a teen preferring school over a cruise.

[HappyTexan44]

2 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

I can't imagine a teen preferring school over a cruise.

She is going through teenage angst right now.   Deep angst.  She'll do things like that where she cuts off her nose to spite her face, then she'll get mad at her parents.   She'd have even had a cabin all to herself.  She could have spent the sea time lounging in the room or playing video games.  DD isn't a fan of the that girl.   

Once a week, those two sisters, DD and DD's former best friend (and still close friend) get together.   So, DD does know socially the sister that chose not to come.   


 

[fac429]

Thanks for the review.  What is a "starter cruise?"

[HappyTexan44]

That is what I called our cruise.   We had never been on a cruise before, so the entire purpose of the cruise was to see if we'd like cruising.  I suspected that we'd like it.  But still wasn't entirely sure.   So, starter cruise.  The goal was to go on a cruise not too long (in case we didn't like it), not too short (so we'd get a good feel for it), within driving distance because we can only afford to fly cattle class, mid-range ship size (so that we'd have lots of stuff to do but not get spoiled) and as cheaply as possible.  

Most people probably go on their first cruise for a Reason.   For example, the friends that went with us went on their first cruise for their honeymoon.  Another friend of ours recently went on her first cruise as a plus-one on a friend's free casino cruise.  Us, we went to see if we liked it.  
 

[fac429]

Thanks!  That makes sense.  

[Mum2Mercury]

7 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

I forgot to mention that.   The trip was originally us three, plus DD's best friend.  DD is 13 and her friend is 14.  We got two connecting promenade rooms, so two in each room.

We love Promenade Rooms, and you were lucky to find them cheaper than one Inside Room.  Not common, but it happens.  

6 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

She is going through teenage angst right now.   Deep angst.  She'll do things like that where she cuts off her nose to spite her face, then she'll get mad at her parents.

Teenagers.  I teach 'em, and sometimes they just don't make sense.  

To my great shame, I remember being quite a butt on a beach trip as a teen.  Several of my mom's work friends' families went together in a big house, and I was angry that I had to share a room with a bunch of other kids, some I didn't know.  Looking back, I was an idiot.

4 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

That is what I called our cruise.   We had never been on a cruise before, so the entire purpose of the cruise was to see if we'd like cruising.  I suspected that we'd like it.  But still wasn't entirely sure.

We went on a 4-day for our first cruise for those same reasons.  It wasn't a bad choice.  

4 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

within driving distance because we can only afford to fly cattle class, mid-range ship size (so that we'd have lots of stuff to do but not get spoiled) and as cheaply as possible.  

We always drive.  Even with the parking fee (I despise paying to park), it's a money saver.  

Edited February 27 by Mum2Mercury

[HappyTexan44]

A commentary on this particular cruise.   I really really didn't want to be on a cruise that was a partial charter.  So, it is with irony to say that there was partial charters and it was a benefit.    

 

There were two big religious group charters on the cruise.   One of them was "Sing and Sail."   I forget the name of the other one.  One of those had church services in the afternoons.   That meant that a large chunk of the people disappeared in the afternoons, and I assume that the bars were less crowded.  A work friend was interested in cruising because I might have been talking about it for awhile.   They are considering joining their next cruise and the next one in America looks like one that will be announced in a month, is 7-days and I assume leaving from Florida based on the ports.  I mention this in case someone wants to be a normal passenger on the cruise.  

 

There were still lots of the normal cuise passengers.    DH and I joked that he was a party attractor.   He'd find an empty area, usually outdoors not near the pool to sit and vegitate.   He'd be there for about 10 minutes, and then the space would be filled with loud drunks.   He'd find another empty space, and *bam* a party would show up.  
 

 

 

 

[HappyTexan44]

One funny thing I forgot to add.   DH is going to rehab twice a week.  First rehab after he got back they said, "Did you eat?"  His weight hadn't changed at all, and it wasn't because he didn't eat.   

We did use the stairs much more than I expected.  The stairs seems much less of a bother than I expected.   Maybe each story is shorter than I'm used to?  I know the one at work is much taller than normal, so maybe that skewed my expectation.   The steps were padded, and maybe that made a difference.  We were on Floor 7, and our MDR was on 4, and the pool etc was on 11 or was it 12?  So, within that range, we used the stairs unless we were just pooped.

[Crazy planning mom]

Glad that you enjoyed your starter cruise.  Hope your dh feels better and you get to go on more.

[Mum2Mercury]

On 2/29/2024 at 1:18 PM, HappyTexan44 said:

A commentary on this particular cruise.   I really really didn't want to be on a cruise that was a partial charter.

Pretty much every cruise we've taken has had a couple groups on board -- not always big enough to call them a "partial charter", but groups are very common.  We've never sailed with a group that was a problem.  

3 hours ago, HappyTexan44 said:

We did use the stairs much more than I expected.  The stairs seems much less of a bother than I expected.   Maybe each story is shorter than I'm used to?

I take the stairs almost exclusively ... unless I'm wearing heels or unless I'm going more than three floors up.  

[PhillyFan33579]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:46 PM, HappyTexan44 said:

The goal was to go on a cruise not too long (in case we didn't like it), not too short (so we'd get a good feel for it), within driving distance because we can only afford to fly cattle class, mid-range ship size (so that we'd have lots of stuff to do but not get spoiled) and as cheaply as possible.  

Enjoyed reading your original post and subsequent comments in this thread. I always find it interesting hearing the perspective/experience from someone who has never cruised before. The only comment I have is I wouldn’t consider Voyager a mid-range ship size. It is definitely a smaller ship, at least in the RCI world. Whether you like bigger or smaller ships is something you will figure out in the future, assuming you continue cruising.