Voyager Review 2/3 - 2/10

[horsesrus]

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Day 5 (Thursday) – This was our first trip to Grand Cayman, we had selected and booked the combination Sea Turtle/Sting Ray City excursion on-line prior to sailing. I would recommend if you want to do this excursion (or any that involve Sting Ray City) that you book early, I heard a few comments from people that tried to book on board that these had sold out.

Our excursion included brief stops in Hell, the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory, the Sea Turtle Hatchery, and then the main event which was swimming with the Sting Rays. This was a nice excursion if you want to hit the highlights of Grand Cayman. We only stopped about 15 minutes in Hell and the Rum Cake Factory. There really wasn’t much to see in Hell, they stopped at the post office and allowed time to view the dead coral reef which was neat to see and mail a post card if you wanted. The Rum Cake Factory, where they gave out samples of rum cake and rum, was super crowded. We managed to grab a sample of the original rum cake and a sample of the rum liquor which we loved (both of them!) and decided to purchase a cake and bottle of the liquor. We found an open register in the corner (it was sort-of hidden in the front right corner behind where all the tasting was going on so if you can work yourself back in there you’ll save a lot of time in line. You can’t take your liquor purchases with you in Grand Cayman, they package them and deliver them to the ship for you. We were just a tad disappointed to find when we arrived home and opened our package that we ended up with coffee liquor (YUCK, not a coffee drinker). Oh well, I figure I’m bound to have guests over that enjoy coffee that will be happy to consume it for us!

The Turtle hatchery was interesting, we had about 30 minutes to spend there, got rained on just a little bit but it was brief and then the skies cleared before the sting ray portion of the trip.

Now to the Sting Rays! Awesome, awesome, awesome is all I can say. If you like this kind of thing I highly suggest this excursion! We did the dolphin encounter a few years back and this one comes close. These creatures are in the wild; they take you out to a sand bar, put a floating bucket of squid in the water and the rays just swarm the area. I’m 5’ 7” and was standing about shoulder deep in the water, they give the kids snorkeling life vests and I think if you are an adult and want one you can just ask. You have just a little swim (10 - 20 feet maybe) from the boat until you get where you can stand. My husband is not a strong swimmer and he did fine with this. There were several other boats there at the same time and as we arrived there were ladies/girls screeching in the water and me being the animal loving nature type (and occasionally judgmental LOL) think to myself “oh my goodness, quit being so sissy”. Well, once I got in the water and the guide snuck up behind me with a sting ray and ran the little bugger up my bare back I have to admit I screamed the biggest girly scream of my life and the wonderful videographer that was accompanying our group got it all on film (of course we purchased the DVD, just $30 dollars which I thought was an excellent price). These rays are just like pets, they’re just as bad as my dogs and horses when it comes to treats and they knew immediately when you had a piece of squid in your hands and would practically bowl you over trying to get to you first. Some were bigger hogs then others and they had the system down well. Sometimes if they weren’t sure you had a snack but wanted to check just to be sure they would swim right up to you, look you in the face and then swim off if you had nothing to offer. They seemed quite intelligent and had very wise looking faces. They gave you plenty of time to swim with the rays and although there was a boat load of us in the water at one time everyone seemed to have plenty of opportunities to touch, feed and interact with the rays comfortably.

This excursion pretty much took the whole day and we had just about an hour when we returned to the dock area to do a little bit of quick shopping and return to the ship.

I forgot to mention, Grand Cayman is a tender port. We had received priority tender tickets in our concierge packet for this day but if you have early excursion tickets those priority tickets really don’t matter, we all gathered in one of the lounges and they called you based on the time of your excursion. They seemed to be running a bit behind but the excursions don’t leave without you provided you are in the lounge and board the tender for the time of your excursion. Although the lounge was crowded and I had that feeling of being herded like cattle it really went pretty smooth and everyone was polite. They used nice big tender boats and not the life boat/tenders from the ship which was nice. The seas were calm tendering out but coming back in the boat was banging pretty hard against the ship and they would have to hold people back now and again to try to get the gangplank from the tender boat to the ship settled back in place. It was nothing bad though, the ride back to the ship was not long and it wasn’t so rough that anybody got sick or anything.

[Jungle Jane]

Ohmygosh yes we LOVED Freedom! It was insane. I'd never cruised before! Even on the last couple of days we were still discovering staircases and hallways that we hadn't come across during the week. We never did make it to Johnny Rockets. When we saw Voyager pulling up next to us we thought it was HUGE and couldn't believe we were on something that was even a bit bigger! We were on deck 7 just a bit aft from the hump. DId you see the model on the dock? It was around the time when all the mob was coming back. There was a makeup person and photog and the model was in a bikini. I never saw so many people produce binoculars so quickly!!!

 

Senior Frogs-what a hoot! Did you go to 1/2 right there at the dock? That's where we were. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw someone doing a shot! She was a more "mature" woman, and I am no prude but my jaw almost hit the ground when I saw what they do to you when you get a shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

By the way, that may very well have been me screaming at Sting Ray City...I admit it! I got over it after a while, they really are sweet creatures but when you first get in the water with them and they rub on you and bump you like that.... <<<shudder>>>

 

Sorry about your lousy experience in Jamaica :( We were at Ocho Rios, not MoBay and I'm glad we did that. We climbed DRF and did the dolphins, had great guides but they drive crazy there! One guy said "Where you come from your people drink and drive...here, we smoke and fly!"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!

[horsesrus]

DId you see the model on the dock? It was around the time when all the mob was coming back. There was a makeup person and photog and the model was in a bikini. I never saw so many people produce binoculars so quickly!!!

 

We missed the model, I did anyway, I'll have to check with DH and DS. :)

 

Senior Frogs-what a hoot! Did you go to 1/2 right there at the dock? That's where we were. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw someone doing a shot! She was a more "mature" woman, and I am no prude but my jaw almost hit the ground when I saw what they do to you when you get a shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, we were at 1/2 Senior Frogs, we like to make that our last stop of the day and be close enough to stumble to the ship if necessary (just kidding, never have stumbled yet, just swayed!).

 

By the way, that may very well have been me screaming at Sting Ray City...I admit it! I got over it after a while, they really are sweet creatures but when you first get in the water with them and they rub on you and bump you like that.... <<<shudder>>>

 

Well, I was right there with ya'! They were very docile creatures, I felt bad for screeching at the top of my lungs, hopefully they don't hear like we do.

 

Sorry about your lousy experience in Jamaica :( We were at Ocho Rios, not MoBay and I'm glad we did that. We climbed DRF and did the dolphins, had great guides but they drive crazy there! One guy said "Where you come from your people drink and drive...here, we smoke and fly!"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!

 

Thanks, that's just life, take the good with the bad. I just wanted to share and spare others the trouble and expense if possible. Glad you guys had a good visit in Ocho Rios. I say I'll never visit Jamacia again but if I had the opportunity to go to DRF I would do that, I just couldn't stand the thought of the 2 hour ride each way to get there from MoBay.

[horsesrus]

horsesrus: Thank you so much for taking the time to write this wonderful review! We leave in about a month and I am getting so excited. I love reading about your days....sorry to hear Jamaica was such a nightmare. We have been to Jamaica twice, and I have heard it has gotten so much worse there. We are going to Sunset Beach (thanks to the suggestion of one of my roll call friends!) which is right by the dock. Otherwise, we weren't getting off the ship there. Looking forward to reading more!

 

Glad you're enjoying the review, I know I was desperately seeking information on Voyager before our sailing so hope this helps others that are patiently waiting for their sail date. :) Have a wonderful time, it's a great ship!

[karifromla19]

How was the seas?

[horsesrus]

How was the seas?

 

They were very calm, we sailed this same week last year out of Galveston and it was very rough the first/last days in the gulf so we went prepared but it was a very different experience this year.

[Aprille]

Great review! Sorry for your experience in Jamaica but your honest accounting is appreciated.

 

Thanks so much for sharing and keep it coming.

 

I took a great pic of our 2 ships--my pics have been disappearing for some reason but I'll try:

 

Your pictures are "disappearing" because they are stored on Kodak Gallery and Kodak does not allow direct linking to photos. The only reason you are briefly able to see them is because when you copy and paste the photo(s) they are temporarily stored in the memory on your computer. No one else can see them (even when you can).

 

I've seen you comment about this on several threads so thought I would shine some light on it for you.

 

P.S. See my sig. I'm having the same issue with Snapfish. Definitely aggravating after spending so much time setting up my photos there. Try flickr or Photobucket for sharing photos on message boards.

[B J]

Saw the black tape on the casino floor Sunday but it was gone on Monday 2/11 never to return while we were on the ship. Nobody knew just why it was there!

[Choozin Croozin]

Nice review, thanks for posting. Less than a week for us now. Anxiously awaiting the rest.

[Jungle Jane]

Thanks so much for telling me! I had no idea. I will get my pics into photobucket and re post-there are some really great ones.

 

Thanks so much!

 

-Jane

[bulldogmom1]

Hi everyone! I'll be a first-time cruiser and I'm just debating on whether to sign up for a last minute deal on this cruise. I want a stateroom with an ocean balcony. Would the balcony stateroom guarantee be ok or should I pay the little extra and pick a certain class of balconty stateroom? Which class is better?

 

Sorry for my naivity. I apprecaite all the wonderful info I've gotten here so far.

[bulldogmom1]

Sorry I just realized I posted to the wrong board. I will go post on the right one now. Thanks!

[Cruzin' Daddy]

Horsesrus,

 

Thanks for the informative review! I so totally agree with you on Montego Bay. We went there on our Carnival Conquest cruise. We used a ship sponsored excursion, but it was so not fun. They are way too pushy over there for me. I swore, if I ever cruised back to Jamaica again, I WILL NEVER GET OFF THE SHIP AGAIN! I mean it, too.

 

Also, can you list the ages of everyone in your party. Ages help me put things in perspective better. What's good for those "youngsters" may be too much for an oldie like me. LOL!

 

Thanks!

[horsesrus]

Horsesrus' date='

 

Thanks for the informative review! I so totally agree with you on Montego Bay. We went there on our Carnival Conquest cruise. We used a ship sponsored excursion, but it was so not fun. They are way too pushy over there for me. I swore, if I ever cruised back to Jamaica again, I WILL NEVER GET OFF THE SHIP AGAIN! I mean it, too.

 

Also, can you list the ages of everyone in your party. Ages help me put things in perspective better. What's good for those "youngsters" may be too much for an oldie like me. LOL!

 

Thanks![/quote']

 

I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it either. Oh well, I figure live and learn, right?!

 

DH and I are 40, DS 21 and GF 19 so we had a good variety of ages and the kids seemed to enjoy the ship as much as we did. Friday's report is coming here in a few minutes.

[horsesrus]

Day 6 (Cozumel) - We have been to Cozumel a number of times before and always enjoy it. We also didn’t book our excursion ahead of time so ended up picking something called Adventure Beach or Adventure Park (sorry, can’t remember the exact name). Basically the description includes rock climbing, rappelling, zip lining and snorkeling. When we were met by the guide for this excursion he made a strong point of clarifying that this excursion did not involve real rocks or zip lining through the jungle and wanted to make sure everyone understood that before we headed to the taxi station to head out. Based on where we ended up I can only guess they have had complaints in the past and therefore the detailed explanation. We actually enjoyed the trip but had they not pointed out that this was all done in a very confined “course” type area on a resort property I could see where I may have been disappointed.

Basically what this consisted of were several rock climbing towers, I climbed the two shorter ones but chickened out on doing the third plus my tired old middle-aged, under worked muscles were complaining after tower number two! You then climb a set of stairs inside the biggest tower (60’?) and rappel down, that was a lot of fun! After that you walk this rope bridge thing, then across this suspended rope/wood bridge (with missing wood planks) and then zip line to the end of the course. This is all done while safely attached to safety line and wearing a helmet. It was really very fun and made me feel a little better to have done some physical activity after eating like a hog for the past 5 days on the ship.

The excursion also includes snorkeling with a guide just off the beach and a beverage (alcoholic or not) is included. There were restrooms you could change into dry clothes if you wanted before heading back. They taxi you to and from the dock and they will drop you in town on the way back if you ask.

We chose to head back to the dock and to ½ Senior Frogs (the small one near where RCCL docks) and spent the last hour of our day in Cozumel watching happy tourists have their private parts tweaked and giggled by the waitresses and the waiters bumping and grinding with the female tourists. I just can’t get enough of Senior Frogs, just makes me laugh and it’s much funnier after a drink or two. We then returned to the ship and watched these same crazy tourists rush back to the ship at the last minute.

Freedom was docked next to us and Captain Gerry announced at 5:30 that Freedom had all their passengers accounted for and would be pulling out while we waited for two passengers (I felt so ashamed that we let Freedom get the best of us that way!). We watched and watched but missed the last too getting on so didn’t get to join in on the hooting and hollering that always takes place when the late comers show up. J

As many times as I’ve been to Cozumel I really enjoy it, I think in part because I don’t feel like I “have” to rush around to see everything. We didn’t make it to the dining room this night, we had Johnny Rockets when we got back on the ship and took it easy the rest of the evening.

The QUEST was this evening as well and Captain Gerry sang in Studio B. I’m embarrassed and ashamed to say I didn’t stay up for them. I think part of the reason is that QUEST was held in Studio B and I had read some negative feedback on that venue for this activity and after having attended the ice show there I can see where it would not be a good set up for it; I kind-of regret missing those. We did get to see Captain Gerry sing God Bless Texas the next night and were doubly disappointed we missed him the night before, he was REALLY good!

I’m sure I’m missing some important ship details as I go through these shore excursion days. If anyone has specific questions feel free to ask. We didn’t play miniature golf or basket ball or climb the rock wall; it was always really windy when we went up there. The mini golf course looked nice; I would have liked to play. The rock wall looked VERY challenging, it looked like it actually angled away at the top and almost impossible to climb (I’m a wimp though!).

I did forget, Thursday night was the second formal night and there was lobster tail. It was a small tail and served with tiger shrimp, both were very good. Our waitress asked if anybody wanted another, DH and DS took her up on it as did the young man at our table. I really wanted dessert that night so passed on extra lobster. Oh, for salon junkies, I did use the salon Thursday evening for an up-do, it was about $50 with tip and they did a nice job. I didn’t use any of the other spa or salon services. Our appts were at 7:30 and dinner was at 8:00 so we just went dressed for dinner and they had our hair up and we were at dinner in plenty of time.

Think that’s it. I hate to write about Saturday, it makes me sad. I’ve kind-of been reliving my cruise in writing this review and feel like I have to leave the ship all over again. As many times as I’ve cruised I’ve not been able to come up with a good way to avoid that last day funk.

[Choozin Croozin]

It was a pleasure reading your upbeat review. It sounds like you really enjoyed yourself. I really like your attitude. I have never been to Montego Bay but went to Ocho Rios and toured with a private tour operator (who I would recommend in a heartbeat) and it was very enjoyable, but I really have no desire to go back to Jamaica.

[horsesrus]

It was a pleasure reading your upbeat review. It sounds like you really enjoyed yourself. I really like your attitude. I have never been to Montego Bay but went to Ocho Rios and toured with a private tour operator (who I would recommend in a heartbeat) and it was very enjoyable' date=' but I really have no desire to go back to Jamaica.[/quote']

 

Glad you enjoyed it and I hope you guys have as great a time as we did. Just 5 more days, I'm jealous!!!

 

There really isn't anything of note to say about Saturday, it was our last sea day, I do want to mention Las Pampas Gauchos (I know I messed that spelling up but that's close enough), don't miss that night. We didn't see many shows but we made a point of seeing this one and we had seen it before!

 

For your benefit since you're leaving soon, the debarkation process was AWESOME, kudos to RCCL for getting the kinks out that they seem to have been experiencing on earlier sailings. We did not do the express debarkation (where you carry all your bags off yourself) as we found that crazy on our last sailing on Splendour. We had red tags which were about mid-way down the call list and we just waited comfortably at a table up on the pool deck, they called our color and we walked right off, got a porter who grabbed our luggage for us, got us in the customs line (only about 2 people in front of us) and we were outside and on the shuttle to the parking lot in less then 10 minutes. That was the smoothest debarkation process we have EVER been through. That was the first time we used a porter for debarkation and honestly that really made a difference, so much so that we tipped the guy $20 and almost hugged him. We were in our car and headed home by 10:10 a.m.

 

Have a great trip!!!!

[Jungle Jane]

Ok see if this works...

 

This is the pic I was trying to post with Voyager and Freedom at the dock in Cozumel on 2/8/08 when horserus and I were there:

 

 

Tell me if you see it!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks

[Aprille]

I see it! :D

[horsesrus]

Great shot, all of mine were at an angle (focusing on Voyager) so made Freedom look even bigger in comparision, this one is a really good representation of the size difference.

[Choozin Croozin]

 

For your benefit since you're leaving soon, the debarkation process was AWESOME, kudos to RCCL for getting the kinks out that they seem to have been experiencing on earlier sailings. Do you really want to know why debarkation is running smoother??? :confused: I changed our flights from noon to 8:00pm because I was so panicky about the delays..LOL :D Now we'll have some extra time to sightsee.:)

 

Have a great trip!!!! Thank you!!!

 

I see the ships....WOW what a sight.

[horsesrus]

That's funny, thanks for the assistance there!! Galveston is a nice place to visit and you'll find plenty to do and good places to eat. Gaido's is always a great place for seafood. Course, eating may not be on your top priority list after 7 days cruising.

 

If you're renting a car to get from the airport and back and you have that much time Kemah is a nice place to visit as well (lots of restaurants right on the water and some cute shops if you're into shopping).

 

Have a great time, hope to see a review when you get back!

[Choozin Croozin]

Thanks for the tips, we are renting a car, so have some freedom there. Will definitely do the review. I'm going to take better notes this time.:)

[Jungle Jane]

I thought it was cool how close we were, we could see right into eachother's rooms and we had great conversation with tons of folks that way! Horserus, betcha we saw eachother!!!!!!!

[MakinGold]

I thought it was cool how close we were, we could see right into eachother's rooms and we had great conversation with tons of folks that way! Horserus, betcha we saw eachother!!!!!!!

 

:eek: I hope you couldn't see too well into my stateroom . . . :o