Alex Early

Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
Name of Ship: Voyager of the Seas
Sailing Date: August 18th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

INTRODUCTION

I just returned from my trip aboard the Voyager of the Seas, and let me say, it was FANTASTIC! Voyager of the Seas and Royal Caribbean will both be seeing me again. This was my 3rd cruise, I have previously sailed the Carnival Holiday in `96 and the Carnival Ecstasy in `01. This was my first time cruising with RCCL, and I didn’t quite know what to expect. I have read many mixed reviews about this ship. I have read basically every review on opinions and on cruise critics. I am going to make this a true review, trust me on what I say.

PRE-CRUISE

We live in Los Angeles, so we decided to fly out to the ship the day prior to the sailing. We flew America West airlines (they were the cheapest by far) to Miami, this went very well. Upon arrival, we were shocked at the heat in Miami, it was almost impossible to stand. We made out way to the Sheraton Biscayne Bay, this is a nice hotel only if you are departing on a cruise ship out of the port of Miami. This hotel is good for a one night pre/post cruise stay. Do not plan and spending more than one night here. If you want to extend your stay in Miami I would suggest the Fountain Bleau. The hotel was located in an area with nothing to do, however it was situated very close to the cruise terminal. We were able to see the ship terminal from our room, this was great (be sure to suggest a CITY view to see the ship). Most of the people spending the night there were from the 4 different ships that would be leaving the next day. We ate dinner in the hotel, the food was pretty good and the prices were not bad for a hotel restaurant.

EMBARKATION

I awoke at about 7 am and saw the Voyager right outside of my window. It was enormous! It completely dwarfed the Norway and the Paradise, and it still looked much larger than the Victory. We departed from the hotel via cab to the port at about 10 am. About 10-15 minutes later we arrived at the terminal, the taxi fare was $7.00. The terminal was almost empty, we were some of the first to arrive. I have read reviews saying they were letting people on as early as 10:00, this is not the case (at least on our sailing). We exited the taxi and a porter took out luggage. We were then directed to the entrance of the terminal. The RCCL terminal in Miami is very nice. After entering, we were sent to a waiting room with chairs, I have heard a lot about this room from the reviews. There were about 50 other people waiting in there. (NOTE: If you are sent to this waiting room, be sure to sit in the front rows, as they will be sent into the check-in area first) We were then let into the main room for check-in at 11:15. There were a few hundred people here now, but there were many check-in desks so the line went fast. We checked in, got our super charge cards, and were then sent to the line to the gangway. We waited in this line for an hour, till about 12:15. They had cold lemonade and ice tea for everyone to drink. Then finally, they opened the gangway. We preceded upstairs to the gangway. We did not opt for the welcome photo, as it required a longer line (about 15 minutes). Finally, at 12:30 we were aboard the ship. We entered on the outdoor promenade on deck 4.

FIRST IMPRESSION

I was so excited when I first stepped aboard the Voyager. The first thing I thought was how good the a/c was. Next was how much cleaner and nicer this ship was from the Ecstasy. As I continued walking, I was amazed by the ship. Everything was beautiful, and kept in immaculate shape, this is not what I thought when I entered the Ecstasy. We then made out way to our cabin.

CABIN 7656

We had reserved a category D7 (superior ocean-view cabin w/ balcony) for four people. I was very worried that this cabin would be far too small for us. When I first walked in, I was greatly relieved, the cabin was fine. I mean there was not enough room to dance around it, it was very compact, and a lot smaller than our room on the Ecstasy, however it was fine. We had a nice balcony too, with plenty of room. The bathroom had sufficient room for anything you would need to do in the bathroom. The shower was designed fantastically to get the most of the space. It was round, with clamshell doors that meet in the middle. The water pressure in the sink and the shower was surprisingly strong. The cabin had very ample storage. You can also fit all of your luggage underneath the beds. Don’t worry if you luggage wont fit under your bed at home, it will fit under these beds (these beds are high). Our cabin steward was Anthony. Anthony was amazing! Everything was constantly kept immaculate. Nor to mention, Anthony was also a very nice guy. I would recommend this room for anyone, the next time I go on the Voyager I will try and get it.

FOOD
I did not know what to expect of the food on this ship. I have read many mixed reviews, some saying that the food was wonderful, others saying that it was terrible. Well here is my opinion. The food on the voyager was GREAT! It was not 100% gourmet, however it was nothing close to terrible. Anyone who would say it is terrible is just looking for something bad to say when there really is nothing. I really liked Windjammer and Island grill, we ate all lunched there except for 1 and all of our breakfasts there. They have a great selection, the food was of very good quality for a buffet. It was not quite gourmet (but buffets never are), however I thought it was well above par. It was MUCH better than the panorama bar and grill on the Ecstasy, you just could not compare the two). Windjammer had a huge selection of all sorts of food. In the morning, Island Grill had the same stuff as Windjammer pretty much. However, in the afternoon, Island Grill served things such as burgers, hotdogs, fries, onion rings, and tacos, while Windjammer had pastas, pizza, salad, and meats. What I did was I started in line in Windjammer and kept going all the way through Island Grill, therefore I got the best selection. Windjammer is fazing out the ugly red vinyl chairs and switching to the nice ones that have in Island grill. By now they should be done. Only about 4 tables in windjammer had the old chairs when I went. Johnny rockets was great, I go to Johnny Rockets pretty frequently here in LA, the Johnny Rockets on the ship was exactly the same, but with no prices. When at sea, lines are long. However, when in port, you can get right in. On average, while in a port there were only about 500 passengers on board, so everything was empty. The dining room was beautiful. We were seated in the Carmen dining room (the bottom deck). We had a table for five (really a table for 4 but we made it for 5), that worked out fine. Our waiter was Daniel from Romania, our assistant waiter was Donavan from Jamaica, and our head waiter was Mauricio from Italy. All off our servers were wonderful. After the first day we were friendly with all of them. Donavan knew to bring us a coca cola at the beginning of each meal. The food in the dining room was delicious, and the deserts were the best I have ever had in my life. My favorite meal was the lobster tail, next was the prime rib. My last favorite meal was the Jamaican Jerk chicken. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as the other meals. The best desert of the trip was the chocolate royal, this cake was AMAZING, defiantly the best chocolate cake I have had yet, followed by one at the handelrey hotel in San Francisco. I also enjoyed the chocolate sufflet, and the warm chocolate cake (as you can see I really like chocolate). No complaints here with the food, it was great. I do agree that the food on the Voyager was much better than the food on the Ecstasy.

Best Dinner Entrees (in order) Lobster, Shrimp Scampi, Filet Mignon
Worst Dinner Entrée: Jamaican Jerk Chicken

ACTIVITIES

The Voyager has so many things to do. Studio B is great, however it is only open for ice skating on the two days at sea, it is closed for show rehearsal the rest of the time. Voyager Dunes (the mini golf coarse) is a lot of fun, we used this almost every day. The rock climbing wall was a lot of fun, not much of a challenge for someone who has been rock climbing before though. The swimming pools on the ship were great. The two main pools were very large for ship pools, they were also very warm. The pool on the ecstasy was very cold. As you might know, all pools and spas on virtually all ships are filled with salt water. The solarium pool was okay, but too dead. The ship shape center is the best fitness center you will find at sea.

ENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment aboard the Voyager was much better than the entertainment aboard Carnival. We went to the La Scala theatre every night for a show. The guest “celebrity” entertainer on the ship was Gary Puckett. I felt, along with many others, that this was the worst show on the cruise. The best by far was comedian/singer, Michael Eric Hall.

PORTS

Royal Caribbean has picked out some excellent ports for it’s Western Caribbean Itinerary.

Labadee
Labadee was a beautiful beach. It is a private beach on the coast of Haiti. It is a great place, but it is a touristy as possible. You do not get a glimpse of real Haiti or real anything. However, it is a great place to sit back and relax. I had a lot of fun swimming in the ocean there, there were beautiful clear waters. I can defiantly see why Labadee is the favorite port for many.

Ocho Rios
The Dunns River Falls here are a must, although they are really crowded. We also left the ship and went off ourselves. Beware that Ocho Rios is a very poor town. Once we got about 10 blocks away from the ship we were the only people from the ship around and I will say we had a lot of eyes on us.

Georgetown
This is a great place. Defiantly the most sophisticated of all the ports. Here we did the Sting Ray City/snorkel combo. I did not like sting ray city at all, I realized that I am afraid of Stingrays L. The snorkel was okay, however there were very few fish, and it was way too crowded to the point where you could not move an inch without hitting someone else. Georgetown had very beautiful waters. Walking around the town ourselves was very nice.

Cozumel
Perhaps the best of the ports. I would say this was the most beautiful of the three. We did not do any excursions here, we just went off ourselves and we had a great time. This is also where we did our shopping for the trip. The scenery in Cozumel was great. This is a place I would consider visiting as a vacation itself. The one thing I regret not doing is visiting the Mayan Ruins. Ill save that for next time.

DAYS AT SEA

We had two days at sea. These were both a lot of fun. On these days you could make use of all of the facilities, however some of them were pretty crowded. However, the lines were not bad at all, much better than I was originally expecting. The one place that’s hard to get into on a day at sea is Johnny Rockets. You really have to go there while the ship is in a port or late at night.

DEBARKATION

Contrary to what the Itinerary may say, the Voyager pulls into the Port of Miami at about 3:00 am L. They started deboarding the ship a bit past nine, but this is a pretty lengthy process. You had to leave your rooms by 9 am I think it was. We went up and hung out in the Viking Crown till 12 when out tag was called. We were the only people up there the entire time. Yes 12, there was a problem with customs on our sailing so at 12 people were still getting off. I wonder what time the next group of people got on… After we got off, we could claim out baggage at an airport style carasel. This worked out pretty well.

OVERALL

Overall this trip was AMAZING. There really was nothing bad about it. One other thing I forgot to mention was the weather. Before the trip I checked the weather and it showed rain/thunderstorms for everyday of the cruise at every port. However, we had perfect sunny weather for the entire duration. It is now 7 months after the cruise (I took a big pause in the middle of this review to finish it, lol). I booked the Eastern Caribbean on the Explorer of the Seas on the August 23rd sailing (2003) a few days ago, believe me, I can not wait for that. (NOTE: Voyager, Explorer, Adventure, Navigator, and Mariner are all sister ships) Royal Caribbean has won a life customer, I do not plan on cruising with anyone else for the time being, certainly not Carnival, as nothing matched the Voyager experience. I HIGHLY recommend the Voyager of the Seas to anyone. If you have any questions, please fell free to contact me at earlyair1@aol.com . Look for my review of the Explorer sometime in September of 2003.
 

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