Comments on the VOS 1/20 Cruise

[sptrout]

We got back Sunday evening (1/27) from our first RCCL cruise, which was on the VOS out of Galveston, TX. Instead of a full review, I decided to post some comments and general observations about this trip.

A little history first. This was my fourteen cruise (#10 for my wife) on thirteen different ships. Although I have not sailed nearly as many times as many of you, I have do have experience with variety of cruise lines (mainstream to near luxury) and ships (all sizes). I have had other vacation experiences the past few years; mainly five trips to Hawaii, which were not cruising related, visiting the four major islands all at least three times each.

We decided to take this particular trip because; 1) wanted to try RCCL, especially the VOS, and 2) sailing from Galveston saves us considerable money as compared to other ports of departure since we live about an hour north of Galveston. This was our second Galveston cruise.

Random observations and comments:

• We really liked the VOS and found it comparable in many ways with the other lines we have sailed.
  
• We have visited all the ports-of-call for this cruise many times before so we only got off the ship in Cozumel to spend the day at Nachi Cocom.
  
• We had a “Junior Suite” on Deck 9 in the “hump.” This cabin was hands down the best cabin we have ever had. The cabin was in excellent condition (looked new in almost every respect), and had the most storage room of any previous cabin. The bed and bedding was excellent, again the best we have encountered; no other ship even comes close (except the Regatta, which was similar in this respect). The only other cabin that we have ever had of similar size was a “Sky Suite” on the Galaxy. The Sky Suite was not nearly as nice (3 year ago), with the exception of its huge baloney that was as nearly as big as the cabin.
  
• Embarkation: We arrived about 11:30 AM and did not get on the ship until almost exactly 1:00 PM, just in time for our cabin to be opened. The VOS was about an hour late arriving that morning which was apparently the reason for the slight delay.
  
• Disembarkation: A nightmare due to the weather. When we arrive a few miles from the port there was a very heavy sea fog that caused the Port to be closed. So the Captain had to stop the ship and wait for the Port to reopen. This delayed our arrival until 12:00 PM (five hours late). It was nearly 3:00 PM before our “color” was called so we could disembark. It then took another hour to get to the EZCruise Parking Lot due to all the congestion outside the terminal. The Port of Galveston really needs to reconsider how they manage traffic in the Port area. Now it is a mess especially with the VOS and the Conquest both in port at the same time. None of this should reflect badly on RCCL, they were victim of the fog also. I really felt sorry for the embarking passengers since their departure was really a mess, and three hours late!
  
• Captain “Gerry:” What can I say, a Captain who is friendly, open to talk with the passengers, and an excellent singer and guitar player; the best Captain we have encountered! (Even speaks good English; that was a first for us!)
  
• “Eric” the Cruise Director: As others have written in Cruise Critic posts, he is a great CD! Very friendly, made timely announcements, and a very funny man.
  
• Food
  • Windjammer & Island Grill: We ate at these two restaurants (they almost seem like one with four serving lines to me) every morning for breakfast and lunch. We did not eat there in the evenings. We both thought the food was very good; much better than I had expected based on what I had read previously on CC. Our last cruise was on Oceania’s Regatta, which is known for its excellent food and it was better, but that is to be expected. But, the only big difference that I can remember was that the Regatta had a huge selection of fresh fruit (typical stuff plus fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc). One negative in the Island Grill was that the aft windows were very dirty and need cleaning. The crew was cleaning other windows during every port day so maybe the windows in the Island Grill are not washable during normal operations (maybe due to their shape??).
    
  • Main Dining Room: We were assigned as we had requested to the “main” seating at a table for eight. The other six people never showed-up. I already started another thread about this so I will not comment here. The food was good, no real complaints from either of us. Believe it or not, my favorite dish was the Jalapeño Potato soup, I could go for a bowl of that right now! The Waiter and Assistant Waiter were both excellent! The Waiter has been with RCCL 11 years so he really knew his stuff, and was very entertaining!
    
  • Portofino: We ate at Portofino the first evening while we were sailing out of Galveston. Overall we were slightly disappointed in this restaurant feeling that it was no better than what we can get here in Houston for less money. Nice for one evening, but we canceled our second reservation. BTW - - There was not a “rush” to get to Portofino to make reservations, at least for this cruise. I forgot all about making reservations until about two hours after we got on board. When I finally remembered, we went directly to the restaurant and there was not anyone inline. We could make reservations for any time, any day. I know when we ate there the first evening, there were only about four tables in use, but we were early; 6-8PM.
    
  • Johnny Rocket: Never ate there.
    
  • Coffee: RCCL and “Seattle’s Best” must have a marketing agreement because this brand of coffee is served several places including the restaurants and the Café Promenade. Rather they have a marketing agreement or not, the coffee is excellent on this ship and easily available; no other ship that we have been on compares.
    
  • The one thing that we missed that has been on nearly every other ship that we have sailed is a grill near the pool area. On other ships, that was where we would typically eat lunch.

  [*]Entertainment: We only really pay much attention to the main theater when judging entertainment since we rarely visit any other entertainment areas of a ship. In this case, we went to six of the seven evening shows, and regretted missing the first show (a production show) after hearing about it later. All the evening shows were excellent with the exception (IMO) of the second night show that featured a lady comedian. She was not bad, but just OK to me.

  [*]Condition of Ship: Looked very good to me! You really had to look hard to find places of “wear & tear.” A carpet stain once in awhile was about it, no big deal.

  [*]Passengers: Every age group from babies to seniors. I was surprised that there were so many school age children on the ship in the middle of the school year. Age of passengers really do not make much difference to us, just more “people watching” to do!

  [*]Dress Codes: Even though we were only able to see a small fraction of the diner-time passengers from our table (third level, towards the back), we saw about every type of dress regardless of the code of the night. Formal nights: plain T-shirts with jeans or shorts, a woman with sweat pants and a sleeveless blouse. Causal night (this was my personal favorite) a woman wearing a man’s shirt over her swimsuit. There were no “Smart Casual” nights. On formal nights most men did wear suits during diner, but later the suits disappeared. Tuxedos seemed to be a rare thing, but men wearing cowboy hats were common any night.

  [*]Cabin Attendant: Very good, but nearly invisible. We only saw him (briefly) on the first and second day and maybe one other time. He did a great job. I could never figure out how he knew when we were out of the room since we never saw him, even in the hallway.

As I hope you could tell, we had a great trip and were really pleased with the RCCL experience. RCCL is easily on par with all the other cruise lines we have been on; there are differences between them, but that is not necessarily a bad thing!

[buckanear]

The Port of Galveston really needs to reconsider how they manage traffic in the Port area. Now it is a mess especially with the VOS and the Conquest both in port at the same time. None of this should reflect badly on RCCL, they were victim of the fog also. I really felt sorry for the embarking passengers since their departure was really a mess, and three hours late!

 

Remember, on a normal day, most passengers are off before embarking passengers get there so traffic is steady but not congested. This week because of the weather there were a combined total of about 12,000 people (both ships combined, rough estimate) trying to embark/disembark at the same time. That creates a huge clog and even with the best system in place, it was inevitable.

 

It's amazing that even though the boat was over 5 hours late, sail away was only 3 hours off.

 

I'm glad you had fun though :D

[Choozin Croozin]

Thank you for posting your nice review. Glad you really enjoyed yourself. Little over 3 weeks to go for me.:D

[sptrout]

Remember, on a normal day, most passengers are off before embarking passengers get there so traffic is steady but not congested. This week because of the weather there were a combined total of about 12,000 people (both ships combined, rough estimate) trying to embark/disembark at the same time. That creates a huge clog and even with the best system in place, it was inevitable.

 

It's amazing that even though the boat was over 5 hours late, sail away was only 3 hours off.

 

I'm glad you had fun though :D

 

I agree that Sunday was a very unusual day (two big ships late) and we understood why there was a big problem. However, we had a problem getting into the port the Sunday before. All traffic is funneled through downtown into one entrance into the port area, which makes for a lot of conjestion. We noticed the same thing three years ago when we were on the Galaxy.

 

Not sure there is much the Port of Galveston can do about it with the railroad tracks in the way just to make things more interesting. It is a difficult situation having the port in the middle of downtown.

[mcca2]

We got back Sunday evening (1/27) from our first RCCL cruise, which was on the VOS out of Galveston, TX. Instead of a full review, I decided to post some comments and general observations about this trip.

 

 

Thank you for posting such a good review. I was on the previous cruise and agree with you about Captain Gerry and Eric being great.

 

 

cruiseloverandagent.

 

Thank you so much for the good work you do in sometimes challenging situations. I always say hello to Marie when we go through security and she is always cheerful. Thanks also for your comments on the other posts. Its always good to get the inside info......:)

[lady_cruiser]

Thank you for your review. I have only been on 3 cruises, Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Royal being the most recent (Jan. 13, 2008). I could not have said it better. With one exception. We were in GS1252 and our attendant was Ziggy - he too was perfect BUT he was always visible. It was amazing how he could be inside a cabin 4 doors down and when you walked out of your cabin he could hear you come out. He would then poke his head out to wish you a good morning or afternoon, find out how your day was going and always ask if we needed anything. We only needed to ask one time and he would remember it. He even remembered everyone by their first name - I need to find out what he eats so I can get a memory like his. :p

[FEMH]

Thank you for your unbiased, excellent review. I am sailing on the Voyager this coming Sunday with 10 first cousins and appreciate all your insights. I have been on the Mariner of the Seas, and it was my favorite ship of the six cruises I have been on, so I'm hoping the Voyager will provide a similar experience.

[buckanear]

sptrout, traffic will always be a nightmare I'm afraid. Signage might help. I've heard a few people say that they got in the wrong lane and passed the terminal without being able to get to the door. LoL, that's the fun of traveling I guess.

 

MCCA, thanks for the kind words. I hope your cruise on Voyager was a lot of fun!