JUST BACK-Voyager 9/10

[jbrewster630]

Still have our sea legs! An update on the weather, the review to follow soon:

 

Wow! what a cruise, we had a great time. The captain changed his itinerary and we ended up going to San Juan PR, St Maartin and St Thomas instead of the scheduled Jamacia, Grand Caymen, Bahamas stops. Upon arriving at San Juan we were informed that Hurricane Jeanne which was at that point still a tropical storm and not yet a hurricane was coming into San Juan that night. As the ship was leaving, Jeanne was coming in! On our way to St. Maarteen, the guest relations desk advised us that we would be caught in the center of the storm. We sure felt it that night! St. Maartin was rainy but we still ended up going on our island tour which was nice. St Thomas was thunder and rain but we still got off with our ponchos and took advantage of the GREAT liquor prices at the port gift shops! We brought back our absolute limit. ;)

 

On Saturday night, we hit the tail end of IVAN and had 12-16 foot waves. That's the night that my Bonine didn't even help. Yuck! But we all made it back in one piece and will probably never chose Sept. to cruise again. Maybe later on in the year.

 

The captain also said that they will be altering future Western Caribbean cruises that the Voyager will be taking for the next month or so to this itinerary. The regular ports are too damaged for the ship to dock there! P.S. Labadee was beautiful!

 

What an adventure! But we tried not to let the weather bring us down, we still did alot: learned to ice skate, climbed the rock wall, played mini golf, attended all the shoes and lost money in the casino! Overall, a great cruise. Feel free to ask any questions and I will be posting a detailed review soon.

 

Joann

[mom1965]

we are leaving on the 8th of October, do you think we will be doing the same trip. That would be too good to be true, that was the itinary that we wanted in the first place but it wasn't available out of new york. I have my fingers crossed.

[jlbconsul1]

jbrewster630 - I would like to know your opinion on the condition of the ship. I am trying to determine whether to take the 9 day Caribbean cruise from NJ (very, very convienent) or fly to Florida for the new Mariner ship. I have seen from other posts that people thought the ship may need refurbishing. My only cruise was in August on the new Caribbean Princess. This time we are taking the teenagers so we decided to go RCCL because it has more to do for that group. My DH only wants the new ships. Would we be disappointed? Thanks.

[jhaasz]

jlbconsul1 -

I was on the Voyager in August and will be on the Mariner next August 2005.

 

As a ship, the Voyager is nice but nothing "impressive" (having said that, I have sailed the Explorer of the Seas when 6 months old - very impressive). On the 9-night cruise, we found the staff to be overworked (nice but not happy with their jobs) and they kept running out of everything. Also, this is one very expensive cruise for the convenience!

 

We are sailing Mariner next year and our total is approx $4200 (including everything) for an E2 and PR cabin. To sail on Voyager with an E2 and an Inside will be approx. $7000. Two less nights on Mariner but a HUGE price difference.

 

I guess it comes down to itinerary (love the Mariner for that) and convenience (we live 30 min. away from the Pier in New Jersey). For our next cruise, itinerary won out.

 

BTW - We are sailing Voyager to Bermuda (just DH and I) for 5 nights next July.

[dwardlaw]

Hi Joanne,

I am sailing on 9/24/04 and we still have not offically been notified of any port changes. So a little info would be great, because RCCl won't tell us.

Thanks for the update on the Voyager, sorry you had crappy weather. Could you tell me what time the ship pulled into PR, St. Thomas and St. Martin. Sometimes they only do a 1/2 days in some ports any info would be very helpful in planing.

Donna

[cruisinfanatic]

I'm going on the 24th too and the reason that RCCI won't tell us where we're going is because I'm very sure that they don't know. There are no less than 3 hurricanes and or tropical storms brewing and know one knows where they're going or when. Be patient. We'll get to go someplace.

[rcicruiser]

I am also going on the September 24 sailing and we may not know where we are going until be get on board the ship. Two of the island we where going to where hit by hurricanes. Check Royal Caribbean's website daily to see if there are any updates. As far as I am concerned as long as I am on a cruise who cares.

[jbrewster630]

we are leaving on the 8th of October, do you think we will be doing the same trip. That would be too good to be true, that was the itinary that we wanted in the first place but it wasn't available out of new york. I have my fingers crossed.

 

Maybe! I cannot tell you for sure because if it was 100%, they would let you know but I think they are planning to do this because of the damage IVAN caused. I was also happy with the itinerary change until it rained both days.

 

jlbconsul1,

The condition of the ship was very good. I have no complaints.

 

dwardlaw,

We usually docked at the ports about mid morning and left late afternoon or early evening.

 

Hope this helped! Keep the questions rolling! ;)

 

Joann

[DannyS]

RCI has figured out their plans for the rest of September, but hasn't announced anything for October. Voyager's September 24th sailing is doing the itinerary posted above: Labadee, San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas.

[cruisinfanatic]

RCI has figured out their plans for the rest of September, but hasn't announced anything for October. Voyager's September 24th sailing is doing the itinerary posted above: Labadee, San Juan, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas.

I like that itinerary except for SJU, but it certainly has been said nowhere that this will be the itineray except for others speculation.