Review - Voyager of the Seas, roundtrip Miami, Eastern Caribbean, November 2005
| This was my first cruise on a Voyager class Royal Caribbean ship and it was great! The ship is absolutely huge and that became so much more apparent when she was docked next to
Majesty of the Seas in Nassau. Poor Majesty was dwarfed by her very big sister. We arrived in Miami at 11 AM on the day of sailing and were at the pier by noon. Usually, boarding begins earlier than published, but not this day. Customs had surprised Voyager and her staff with a surprise inspection and when we arrived, passengers were still disembarking from the earlier cruise. There was a very, very long line and one greeter who was not quick to give much information about the hold up. Although there was a big sign stating that customs inspections would delay boarding, I really thought it was the usual sign not unlike the ones we always see in airports these days regarding TSA. I thought an explanation of today's delay would have helped calm the anxious crowd. Boarding actually began about 1:30 and we were in our stateroom around 2 PM. My luggage, however, took a detour to Deck 1 in the security holding area. I had brought along a travel iron, and security personnel were confiscating irons this voyage. It took me until 11 PM and a few discussions with a not very helpful guest relations staff to track my bag down. Once I turned over my iron, I was able to schlep my bag back to my cabin. At one point, I stood in line at guest relations with about 30 other passengers looking for bags and all were pretty angry. The guest relations staff was apparently unaware until very late in the evening that irons were being confiscated and bags being held on Deck 1. Some passengers had been in that line at guest relations more than twice with no resolution. Only by coincidence did I overhear someone talking about their luggage being held because of an iron. I had an inside stateroom on Deck 7 aft where many of the other travel agents onboard for the Seminar at Sea were also assigned. Despite being an inside, it was surprisingly large enough with plenty of drawer and closet space for the two of us. The bathroom was a typical petite cruise ship bathroom, but this one had a real shower door as opposed to a curtain. Hallelujah! After dropping off our carry on bags, we were off to tour the ship. The central shopping/dining/meeting spot is on Deck 5 in the Promenade. It is a horizontal atrium with many shops, bars and some dining spots. Guest relations and Explorations (shore excursions) are also on this deck. The pool deck (Deck 11) has two pools, 4 hot tubs, the Solarium adults only pool, the spa and fitness center, many lounge chairs and the Windjammer Café. It was always full of activity except for late in the evening. Although all of the chairs weren't in the sun, there certainly seemed to be enough to go around most of the time. Deck 12 has more sun lounging chairs, Johnny Rockets, the 50's style diner and the Adventure Ocean youth facilities. The sports deck was huge. In addition to the signature rock climbing wall, this sports area had a miniature golf course, a large basketball/volleyball court, ping pong tables, an inline skating area and an arcade and bar. If one couldn't find something to do onboard, it isn't the fault of the cruise line! Our dining was in the Carmen on Deck 3. We had wonderful service from the wait staff. The dining rooms are actually one very large, three story dining room. Each room has its own theme and is lavishly decorated in that theme. I had lunch one day at Johnny Rockets. Crown and Anchor members get a coupon in their onboard discount book for free service at Johnny Rockets. Otherwise, the cost is $3.95 per person. The burgers, fries, onion rings and shakes were good, but the entertainment was even better. The Johnny Rockets wait staff has a repertoire of 11 different songs that they perform for patrons during the cruise. They even dance! We went to the Ice Odyssey ice skating show and it was by far, the best entertainment during the week. International ice skaters perform on a pretty small ice rink in Studio B (deck 3) for about an hour. They were excellent. We also saw two of the theater shows and the farewell show and all were very good, too. One evening, we attended an adults-only scavenger hunt show called The Quest. The audience is divided up into teams and team leaders are chosen to find the items in the scavenger hunt. Since it is adults only, I'm sure you can imagine what kinds of items are sought. It was a lot of fun! We had planned to have a cocktail in EVERY bar, but never completed that goal. There are just too many. We did get to the Schooner bar (one of my favorites) and joined in a TV trivia contest one evening. We also had a nice cocktail in the Viking Crown Lounge one evening at sunset which provided a beautiful view. The ports of call for this cruise were: Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan and Labadee. Both Nassau and San Juan were very short port days; we were in Nassau from 7 AM until 1 PM and San Juan from 8 until 2 PM. We had a full day in St. Thomas and Labadee. I've been to Nassau a few times before and it's one of my favorite places to visit. San Juan I found to look a lot like Miami- a big, dirty city with palm trees. Old San Juan was quaint and provided some good shopping. St. Thomas and particularly Megan's Bay were breathtakingly beautiful! We were fortunate to have a couple hours to sun and swim at Megan's Bay on a tour and it was one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere. This was my first visit to Labadee and I found it to be very, very nice. There is lots of room to spread out, plenty of lounge chairs to sun in, beach mats to float in, a water park for young kids, a water park area for really little kids, waverunners and boat tours and beautiful foliage to see. Lunch was served at Labadee and while typical barbecue fare, it was good RCI dining. Disembarkment was very disorganized. I understand it would be challenging to unload over 3000 passengers in a short time, but the gangway was not organized and there were NO RCI employees anywhere in sight to direct traffic. As the elevators emptied passengers, folks just went to the first hole they could find in a very, very long line, griping as they went along. It turns out they had TWO gangways but no one bothered to tell the passengers! Except for the glitches noted, I found the staff to be very pleasant. We were fortunate to have a very attentive and wonderful stateroom attendant and an excellent wait staff in the dining room. The cruise director is energetic and outgoing and I always found the staff in the Windjammer to be courteous and warm. The ship is in excellent condition. I didn't notice any of the telltale signs of wear and tear. I noticed several tiny infants in strollers and some folks in wheelchairs. Since school was still in session, there weren't too many kids of school age. There were many, many foreign passengers who spoke limited English. I ran into three young 20-something guys one evening at about midnight on the pool deck who were disgruntled that there weren't any activities there at that time. I think they should have been on a Carnival cruise. I would definitely recommend this cruise to clients. There are many family activities onboard as well as many places for intimate gatherings. This itinerary had lots of sea time for relaxation and the ports offered a wide variety of excursions.
|
