Need help from anyone who has sailed VOS out of Bayonne. Need opinions!

[CruiseVirginfromBrooklyn]

Help! We just booked the VOS for NEXT May, for the first sailing on May 15, 2005 to Bermuda. It's a 5 nighter. Anyhow here are our list of questions:

 

1) Better to drive yourself or is it better to be dropped off and picked up with limo service?

 

2) If you have a 10PM departure time, what is the earliest you may board and what is the latest you may board?

 

3) What the real low-down on the Alternative restaurant, Portofino - looking for all you Italian-Americans from the tri-state area to chime in on this one. We don't want to spend extra $$ for ketchup and noodles! If you have a copy of the menu please post it!!

 

4) Anything you'd like to share is welcome. We have been sister ship the Adventure...just want to know anything about the VOS that might be different.

 

Thanks!

 

Vinnie

[coylemar]

Hi! We just returned from the VOS sailing to Cananda! I envy you your trip...an incredible ship and a beautiful port! Our trip was amazing. I will post a review very soon! But hopefully, here are some of my answers to your questions....

We drove ourselves. We felt it was easier, and it was!!!! The drop off area has improved greatly from the early posts! We also had a 10 PM departure. We arrived at 3:15 and were in our room by 3:50!!!! It wasn't ready, but we left our carry-on and went exploring! All services started at 4. Our luggage was in room by 6!

We love food, and we really enjoyed Portofino's! The food was incredible!!! Very well worth the money, although we also enjoyed the dining room very, very much!

Have a great time planning your trip!

[BaumD]

This menu should be the same for VOS

http://community.webshots.com/photo/61833634/61848094nsxUFC

[sealegs9]

FYI- Menu was recently changed. Someone had a thread here on this. Was from the Voyager. There was no longer lobster. A little more basic. However, feedback on food from all posters was that it was much better than regulare DR food (which is good to great depending on the day, meal, item ordered, etc). Try a search for VOS in the last month with Portofinos in it. There was a link to the "new" menu.

[cruisetarp]

We will also be on the May 15th Voyager cruise. Sailed on the Voyager in May 2004 and loved the ship. We drove to the pier and will do so again in May. In our opinion, it beats waiting for a limo to circle around and around as there is no short term parking and limos or any car must keep driving around til you are ready to be picked up. At $12 per day we felt the parking was reasonable.

 

We thought the food in Portofino's was great. You could cut the huge Filet Mignon with a butter knife and the pasta with lobster had large chunks of lobster. The dining room food was also very good - we are not real picky eaters and always found something good.

 

There was plenty to do both day and night and we are looking forward to sailing on the Voyager again.

[isosceles]

Just off the 9night VOS -we were in a party of 6 and took a van down it was very easy - we have normally parked at the pier in NYC and have gotten tired of all the traffic, it is so much easier not to have to worry about driving down and back (and keeping track of the car keys)

 

As for Portofino's I had high hopes went I got on the ship - but was dissapointed in the food. It wasn't bad - it just wasn't anything special. I am an Italian-American and it wasn't really what I would think of as great Italian food. What you are really paying for is the setting and the attention of the staff. It is a small, quiet area of the ship that has large windows overlooking the ocean. It was nice to get out of the dining room for a night.

 

The menu that was given out as a sample menu sounded great with many things I wanted to try - The actual menu didn't have the same items on it. Also the menu did not change all week. They did have specials one night but other then that it was all the same.

[rfendt]

We were dropped off and picked up at the pier with no real problem. A little crowded, but no problems. As for a 10pm sailing, I'm not exactly sure when you can get on, but we sailed at 5pm and could have gotten on as early as 11:30am, and in fact, we were on by 12:30pm.

 

As for Portofino's, we thought it was excellent and well worth the extra $20. The menu that we received was in fact the same menu that they had the night we went. We really enjoyed ourselves and would reccomend it. Have fun on this beautiful ship. We are hoping to sail again on it again soon!

 

Debbie

[Robinob]

Help! We just booked the VOS for NEXT May, for the first sailing on May 15, 2005 to Bermuda. It's a 5 nighter. Anyhow here are our list of questions:

 

1) Better to drive yourself or is it better to be dropped off and picked up with limo service?

 

2) If you have a 10PM departure time, what is the earliest you may board and what is the latest you may board?

 

3) What the real low-down on the Alternative restaurant, Portofino - looking for all you Italian-Americans from the tri-state area to chime in on this one. We don't want to spend extra $$ for ketchup and noodles! If you have a copy of the menu please post it!!

 

4) Anything you'd like to share is welcome. We have been sister ship the Adventure...just want to know anything about the VOS that might be different.

 

Thanks!

 

Vinnie

 

 

1. We took a limo but driving looked just as easy. That's your call.

 

2. We had a 5:00 departure and were on board at 11.55. Since VOS comes back from the Caribbean cruise at around 9:30 AM and disembarking begins around 11:00AM, I would say that 4-5:00 sounds like a good time. I imagine that the latest would be 1 hour prior to sailing.

 

3.We loved Portofino. Everything that we had was fresh and made to order. I am Italian American. It is not typical Italian food. Some of the offerings were from Northern Italy (eg. Risotto and Polenta.). Not the typical red gravy things. I would highly recommend the restaurant.

 

4.The ship is great. Bermuda is really beautiful. The one thing that I question is that Is 5 days enough time for a Bermuda cruise? We went on a 7 day to Bermuda and would have liked more time.

[Merion_Mom]

Help! We just booked the VOS for NEXT May, for the first sailing on May 15, 2005 to Bermuda. It's a 5 nighter. Anyhow here are our list of questions:

 

1) Better to drive yourself or is it better to be dropped off and picked up with limo service?

I appreciated the freedom of driving and thus arriving and leaving on our own schedule - no waiting around OR wondering where is that limo???

 

2) If you have a 10PM departure time, what is the earliest you may board and what is the latest you may board?

Best time to arrive at Bayonne is 2:45 to 4. Latest is supposedly one hour before sailing, but that seems off to me. Muster drill was at 8:30. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can start your cruise experience. But you have to give them the time to dump the passengers from the Caribbean cruise before yours and transition to your cruise.

 

3) What's the real low-down on the Alternative restaurant, Portofino - looking for all you Italian-Americans from the tri-state area to chime in on this one. We don't want to spend extra $$ for ketchup and noodles! If you have a copy of the menu please post it!!

It's not really Italian food. It's just very good, general continental cuisine, deliciously prepared, beautifully served and magnificently presented. The "Italian" in the description doesn't explain much of the reality, but I guess it helps those from areas that don't know from Italian.

 

Carol

[Annieeee]

We were on the 6/13 5 night cruise to Canada. Our departure time was 10 pm.

 

We drove from Maryland, it was a breeze. We got there, dropped our suticases off, circled back around to the parking area, paid our fee and parked the car. Shuttle picked us up within seconds and took us back to the terminal. No line!:eek: , we were on the ship within 20-30 mins from the time we actually dropped our suitcases off. Our cabin was ready. So I would definitely drive again. Much better than waiting for the limo to arrive or having the limo wait and wait for you if for some reason debarkation is delayed.

Oh and getting off was just as easy, once they called our color, we were off and in our car within minutes. Oh if only Miami was that fast. I guess it is, just depends, we all have off days. Hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Annieeee