Dena

Age: 31
Occupation: Accounting Coordinator
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean International
Ship: Voyager of the Seas
Sailing Date: August 4th, 2002
Itinerary: Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman & Cozumel

SUNDAY:

To start off we had a terrible day of getting to Miami. Last time we cruised we went the night before and it was much smoother and more relaxed. This time for some reason we decided to fly the day of. I don't suggest that!! Our flight got into Ft. Lauderdale at 12:10, and we were taking the Royal Caribbean transfer to the Miami pier. Well, we ended up waiting at the airport for an hour and a half for the rest of the flights to come in so we would have a packed bus. We get to the pier at about 2:00 and had to wait on the bus for about 20 minutes. These people tip you to death. Not only did we pay for the transfer to the pier, but we had to tip the bus driver AND when we got off the bus and identified our bags, we had to tip him (for what I don't know). The whole embarkation process was horrible. They kept holding us in different rooms for 30 minutes at a time. We knew they were supposed to have a Welcome Aboard buffet luncheon from 12-3:30. We hadn't eaten all day and we were starved. By the time we got on the boat it was 4:00, I was cranky from not eating, my husband was irritated from standing in the long lines....I told him if this was any indication of how the cruise was going to go, we were in trouble!!

As soon as I walked on the boat...I forgot all about the problems getting to Miami and on the boat. Let me first say that my husband and I booked our cruise 3 months in advance and we'd looked on EVERY cruise website, read thousands of reviews on the ship, seen all the pictures there were of this ship and the destinations, we bought the video that shows how it was made, you name it...we knew this ship inside and out. We both decided that we will NEVER do that again. Although this ship is amazing in every way and we were constantly mesmerized by it, nothing was a surprise to us. If I could do it over again, I would read the reviews, but I wouldn't look at all the pictures. I knew what to expect, it's just the size that you don't anticipate.

We had a D6 balcony room, and we both thought it was just awesome. There's nothing like going to bed at night with the door cracked a little and listening to the waves, with reggae music playing (we took our boom box and had our CD's). The storage space was plentiful, and the bathroom was very efficient. There were about 6 or 7 coat hangers in the closet, they provide a blow dryer as well, but no iron.

We put our carry-ons in our room and went to the Island Grill for our lunch. I guess they kept it open longer since there were so many people still boarding. My husband and I read plenty of reviews talking about the food, but the entire week, we couldn't say one thing bad about any of the food. We basically just stayed around the pool area all day. We had to do our muster drill which didn't take very long. Our luggage didn't arrive in our room until around 9:00 so we missed dinner in the dining room.

MONDAY

Today was our at sea day. We got up rather early thinking that if we didn't get out and get our lounge chairs we wouldn't be able to sit around the pool all day and get sun. We could have slept another 3 hours because you could have found good chairs at any time of day. Once we realized we were okay on the chairs we went to the Windjammer for breakfast. We mainly just hung around the pool all day drinking and watching the activities they had around there. Tonight was the first formal night and we had the late dinner seating so we got ready and went to High Notes (2 for 1 drinks from 5:0 til 8:30 Monday-Friday) We hung out here almost every night taking advantage of the drink specials. We went to dinner at 8:30. The food was very good in the dining room and our waiters were very funny and attentive. We became real good friends with a waiter in the High Notes, Suptumo. We learned a lot about what the crew did after hours and about the places they came from.

TUESDAY

This was the least place we were looking forward to visiting after reading the reviews because no one spoke very highly of it. So we were in no hurry to rush over there. We had rented Waverunners here and scheduled it for 12:30. We tendered to the island around 11:00 and ate the buffet there. It was really good for the food to have been brought over from the island. We didn't have time to do anything on this island, which is a shame because it was the most beautiful place I've ever been. The waverunners were fun, but it was a guided tour of about 10 waverunners and the guide was going full speed. I was pretty much bouncing all over the place and by the time we stopped I looked like I had on a thong!! My husband of course enjoyed the high speed chase!! By the time the waverunners were over it was time to board the ship again. If we ever go back to this island, I will definitely plan on just laying out and enjoying the island feeling. When tendering back, you truly felt the 3,500 people on board. Amazingly though, the tenders held 350 people, so boarding was fast. We went to High Notes again, and ate dinner in the dining room this night and again, food and service were excellent. Retired to our rooms and sat on the balcony drinking and enjoying the lightning show outside.

WEDNESDAY

We booked our excursion here through Peat Taylor since we'd heard so much about him and how great he was. He picked us up at 8:30 on the pier and drove us to Dunn's River Falls. We were the first bus there. As soon as we got off the bus people started hitting my husband up to buy drugs. I know while we were in the park at least 7 different people tried (Hey Mon, you smoke? Hey Mon, can I get you anything special?, Hey Mon, come over here, I have what you want). I told my husband it was probably the earring in his ear!! Again here, they tip you to death. We paid $10 each to get in, $8.00 for the locker ($3.00 you get back when you return the key). Although this was fun and interesting, we didn't like the hand holding part. I actually felt that if I didn't have to hold someone's hand I could have climbed it better. My husband of course wasn't wanting to take the "easier" routes that the guides were leading us through and he tried several times to go the more challenging ways, sometimes he made it, sometimes he got caught! In some spots the rocks were very slippery even with watershoes on, so if you do this watch out for this. When we got to the top we had to tip our guide, that was another $10. So the whole Dunn's River Falls cost us about $35.00 (on top of what we were paying Peat Taylor). We got back on the bus and Peat took us through Jamaica's countryside and told us about the history. It was interesting the first 30 minutes of the trip. But after seeing how poor Jamaica is and watching the dirty kids in the villages, I was actually very depressed. We were going back to the boat and getting dressed to go to Margaritaville, but we decided to take advantage of Johnny Rockets instead. So we sat outside and ate and watched people get back on the boat and enjoyed the view. We went back to High Notes and again...took advantage of the 2 for 1 drink specials. About an hour after we left the captain came on the radio and said we were going back to Jamaica because of a medical emergency. We didn't go to dinner tonight and opted for Island Grill instead. It was really good. We went to see the Love and Marriage show tonight, and it was hilarious. A couple we had been drinking with earlier in the night actually got on stage and we knew they were pretty drunk so it was very funny. Tonight they had the Mardi Gras parade, and a pool side buffet. Drinks came in coconuts and they had the band playing, it was wonderful.

THURSDAY

I've been here before so I really wasn't looking forward to coming here. We did book an excursion here The Stingray Swim and Snorkel. After doing some shopping and getting our liquor to take home, we got on a bus and went to the boat. We boated 6 miles out in the ocean (it'd started raining on us for about 10 minutes and then quit). They dropped us off on a sandbar and we got to feel and feed the stingrays. My husband thought this was the ultimate, and the stingrays were very silky feeling, but it just wasn't my thing. After about 10 minutes I was pretty bored, but my husband enjoyed feeding them squid and chasing after them!! By the time this tour was over it was time to head back. We were actually delayed by 2 hours leaving here because of missing people. The captain actually came on and said that some people should play the lottery in the casino tonight because they are very lucky he had time to spare and waited for them. We went to High Notes again tonight and then went to the casino. Just when we were down $100 and were cashing in what we had left I put a quarter in the slot machine and hit it for $100, so we left even. That was the first time I'd won anything, so I was excited!!

FRIDAY

This is what my whole vacation was centered around (for me anyways). We were in Cozumel last year and had an absolute BLAST!! We took the Catamaran Sail/Snorkel excursion. We got to snorkel for 45 minutes, and as soon as you got back on the boat they started throwing beer and margaritas at you. They took us to their little island and we ate $7.00 cheeseburgers. We met a couple and talked to them the whole time. It was real cloudy this day so we weren't able to lay out and get some sun, but we did drink a lot!! We got back to the boat and showered and changed and took a cab for $6.00 to Carlos and Charlie's. This is certainly a party place! We ate, and drank and my husband did two of their famous shots. Unfortunately.. he drank too much and passed out at 7:00. I could NOT get him up, so I ordered room service and sat on the balcony reading my book. It was actually really nice.

SATURDAY

Depression sets in BAD. I started packing in the morning so I wouldn't have to do it later. We went for breakfast at the Island Grill and then laid around the pool all day. Watched the horse races, my husband climbed the rock climbing wall, we tried to do the golf simulator, but it was booked up all day. Tonight we pretty much toured the boat and said bye to our friends. Talked about what we didn't do and kicked ourselves!! We ate again in the dining room. Don't let them know you really like an appetizer or they will overload you with them. They ended up giving me SIX shrimp cocktails, I didn't eat them all of course! But dinner was again...excellent.

SUNDAY

We had the white tags for early departure since our plane left at 12:00 from Ft. Lauderdale, we had to be out of our staterooms by 8:00. We'd just walked out of our stateroom at 8:00 when they called our color tags. Disembarkation was VERY fast and efficient. We walked off the boat, got our luggage, went through customs and was on our transfer bus at 8:30. Got to the airport around 10:00.

This was the best trip I've ever taken, and I truly regret not doing a lot of the things, playing Bingo, seeing more shows, seeing the Ice show, doing the golf simulator, etc. But like my husband said, we will definitely be back. We're going to the Eastern Caribbean next year, and probably on a Royal Caribbean ship too!! There's just so much to do on the ship. You can be as active as you want and try to do everything, or you can just sit back and relax. It all just depends on you. The ship was amazing, but again, don't read or look at everything you can on the ship or you'll ruin the excitement of it. They do tip you to death everywhere they can, so be prepared for that. Our cabin steward was efficient but not exceptional. Although by Thursday, she started filling our cooler in our room up with ice for us, which got her a better tip, but it took her ‘til Thursday to do it! Anyways, I really can't say anything negative about the cruise except for our first day, but you have to expect at least one problem. We never felt overcrowded on this ship. Like everyone else, we had read that you didn't realize how many people were on the ship, but we didn't believe it. It's true though, the only time you felt a crowd was tendering to Haiti and Grand Cayman.

If you'd like to email me and ask me any questions, please feel free to dena_m_miller@yahoo.com . You will definitely love this ship!!

Ask a Question About Royal Caribbean Cruises

Ever thought about becoming a home based travel agent? Check out my web site for home based travel and cruise agents located at;

Home Based Travel Agent