Voyager Of The Seas Cruise Ship

7 readers found this review helpful

Just returned from our second cruise on the Voyager. Great fans of Royal Caribbean, our second trip in Three months, our first being on Independance from Southampton.
We took friends with us for their first cruise. What a disapointment!!!!!. Everything on the ship seems to be to the minimum standard. Not what we are used to!.
The shows were Twenty years out of date.The great opening show on the first night "a jugler" WOW???
The super ice show?? The same show, step for step, as three years ago. Obviously, how do you expect the skaters to look enthusiastic after doing the same thing four times a week for three years???.
The food, how do you fancy rib beef THREE meals out of seven?.
Ports of Call, some good, some poor. If you advertise a port of call,I think you should deliver people there. Not berth a couple of miles away then charge everybody £10 each to actualy get to the place you promise.
All in all quite an expensive experiance.Drinks are cheaper in Monaco. This ship was very poor value. If RCL feel this pricing policy is right they MUST do something to raise this ship to a modern standard. Didn't expect second/third rate from this cruise line.(This was our 19th cruise 4th with RCL)
Just added this after writing reveiw.
The final insult. I have just been advised by my bank that my account is frozen!!! Royal Caribbean have not only cashed my final bill, but have also reserved several amounts of MY money across the week we were away, using my debit card details.I am told by my bank it will take up to ten days before these funds are available to me.
I have just contacted our friends who accompanied us. They have rung their bank and they are in the same position as me. What embarasment. RCL WHAT ARE YOU DOING

48 readers found this review helpful

This was our first cruise and it was for our Silver Wedding - it was totally amazing. The ship was incredible, spotlessly clean and our interior cabin was beautifully comfortable and very spacious.
We ate breakfast and the occasional lunch in the Windjammer and it was fantastic. Excellent choice of food, very fresh and very hot and, if they didn't have what you wanted, they would find it for you. I saw recently a review for this restaurant complaining about eating off plastic plates - no idea what that was about, we never saw a plastic plate, let alone ate off one. Everything there was pretty much what you would expect for what you were paying - including the linen napkins!
We ate at night in the Magic Flute dining room where the food was a real experience every night. It was utterly beautiful - we didn't have one single average meal, never mind a bad one, and Francis, our waiter, and Dragan, our wine waiter, were absolutely amazing and made you feel like a real VIP every single night.
The excursions with the ship were expensive so we did our own very successfully and very cheaply and we would do that again. The customer desk on the ship was very helpful about giving you information when you were making your own arrangements for excursions and we certainly were never given any dire warnings about missing the boat. It was mentioned to you, but not in any threatening way. We managed great days out, saw everything we wanted to see, and always made it back to the boat in plenty of time.
The formal nights were lovely, although I do think some people could have made more of an effort. If you don't want to dress up like "penguins" book a cheaper cruise and let those of us happy to be pampered and made to feel special get on with it and enjoy ourselves.
Across the board, the staff were all incredible and every one of them made you feel as if they had just been waiting to see you and nobody else.
Our Stateroom Attendant was like the Cleaning Fairy - you knew when he had been but you could never catch him doing his thing - oh how I miss him now!
Customer Services (Naila in particular) were superb. We had an unpleasant experience with someone having left a mess in the corridor outside our room so we complained at the desk. By the time we had returned to our room, just 20 mins or so later, it had been cleaned up and we had chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our room as an apology.
The entertainment was great - we went to a couple of theatre shows and the ice show (that is a must-see) and, while there was plenty on the ship to do, nobody was chasing you or in your face to take part if you just wanted some quiet time.
The only tiny little thing I would comment on is that, as a couple, we are very happy with our own company and particularly wanted a table for 2 for dinner in the evening and felt that this was an issue every night. The ladies booking you into the restaurant wanted to sit us with large groups and were surprised when we resisted, however, we came across a number of people who felt the same way so I think more tables for 2 are required and less pressure to "mix" with your diners if you don't want to. One couple we spoke to one evening had just come out from dinner at a table for 10 where NOBODY spoke during the whole meal - not to them and not to each other - NO THANKS!
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the price of the drinks on board. I had read lots of reviews saying how expensive they were so we were well prepared. However, clearly these people have never been out drinking in Edinburgh of a weekend!!! We not only found the cost of drinks very reasonable but the measures were enormous. Actually, as the spirits were hand poured, there were no measures so, after the experience of taking a large gulp of the first G & T we ordered and realising it was almost entirely gin with the mearest splash of tonic, we ended up buying one gin, separate tonic and sharing the lot and still ended up with a very strong G & T each. We reckoned the equivalent of 6 G & Ts cost us around a tenner!
Do remember though that prices on board are in Dollars so will cost approximately one third less in Sterling - depending on the exchange rate of course.
Got to say, though, it was a truly wonderful, memorable experience and one which we are determined to have again. In fact, nearly 3 weeks home, I'm still dreaming about it at night.
I would also recommend treating yourself to a "package". We ordered the Grand Romance package and had flowers and champagne in our room on our arrival, a dressing gown each which we could keep (beautiful quality too), canapes before each formal evening and petit fours after each formal evening, one breakfast in bed (which has to be experienced, trust me) and a silver framed photo taken on one of the formal nights - the whole lot cost £120 and we paid for it before we left and it was money well spent.
Magical.

19 readers found this review helpful

This ship is impressive, but with 3150 passengers confined to the ship on the first night, very crowded.
If you want to pay ridiculous money for drinks, inhale smoke from the "non smoking" bars, and have your photo taken at every opportunity at $20 a shot plus tax, then go on this boat.
The Windjammer was horrible, good choices, but food always cold, and I never eat off of plastic plates and use plastic mugs at home, so why would I do it when I'm paying so much money for my holiday? This free for all was a total nightmare, and I don't think we've ever been more stressed, as everyone was running around like headless chickens and seats were in short supply.
Trips ashore were ludicrously expensive, so advice would be to make your own schedule and don't be scared when you're told the boat won't wait for you, just make sure you allow lots of time to get back.
Balcony was a waste of money because of a screaming child in the next door cabin, and his father who smoked along with the passengers the other side too.
This was our first experience on a cruise and will definitely be our last, they seem to be for people who are unable to organise themselves, who don't want a restful relaxing holiday, and who like dressing up like penguins for "formal" dinners.

11 readers found this review helpful

Although the ship is as good as others describe. Having been on Ocean Village were they have very good baby sitting service. This is up market, we expected the same if not better. They say they have a babysitting service but were very disappointed to be told that there weren’t any baby sitters available for our entire cruise. After much complaining we did get some for two hours on three nights of the cruise at a cost of £40 a night. Overall with flights, tips ect it cost £4,000 for a week for two adults and one baby. We booked a balcony with clear view, but didn't get that. see photo.

14 readers found this review helpful

just back from a holiday aboard The Voyager of the Sea. Had a fantastic time . Ship is beautiful , food excellent. stayed in an inside cabin and found it to be spacious and very quiet a night stayed in room 8211 would recommmed it as the last one in the corridor so no passers by!! Didnt need to buy expensive trips as saved money and made our own way , though you will have to pay for shuttle buses at certain points which will cost about $10 dollars each. Weather was great this time of year stayed around mid 20s last day was very cloudy with a little rain but still very warm. if you have booked you are in for a treat.

47 readers found this review helpful

This time a week ago I was relaxing on the most fantastic holiday of my life so far.
I went with my mum and stepdad and my boyfriend.
We shared a balcony stateroom which we were able to do as the cost was split between four of us.
Our cruise was to the med, i will tell you about my experiences and any advice for fellow travellers which may or may not be helpful.
Destinations: Barcelona-Naples-Citavecchia (Rome)-Livorno (for Florence and Pisa)-Villefranche - Marseille
We booked our flights seperately as we were able to, also we knew barcelona pretty well as my boyfriend and myself have been there previously so knew our way around and how to get to and from the airport.
But for peace of mind royal caribbean offers shuttle between airport and ship so this is a good option also
Previously when we have been to Barcelona we have travelled from the airport to City on the train but as there was more of us and lot of luggage we opted to get the Aerobus. This is half hour on bus which is nice and cool and to be honest empty and it was only about €5 each.
You get the bus to Placa Catalunya which drops you at the top of Las Ramblas, this is an extremely busy street after 11 am so if your arriving any later than this maybe would advise walking down a side road or getting a cab to the port from here.
So we walked to the bottom where the Christopher Colombus statue stand opposite the marina and get on a blue porta bus which was about €5 for 4 of us.
The bus will stop at terminal C then A then B. Terminal B is where the royal caribbean ship sits so dont be alarmed when the bus drives past.
Once outside the terminal you hand your luggage to many of the crewman standing outside so would reccommend you have your luggage tags on already as quite busy outside the terminal.
Once you walk inside the terminal there is a queue to get through the main doorway where you are handed health questionnaires so make sure you have a pen handy as they dont give this to you. There are refreshments at this point also.
You then get in another queue according to the deck your room is on where you receive your boardpasses and they take your credit card details and give you information on board the ship.
You then walk past some duty free stores up to the entrance where you have your photo taken the queue for this is silly and tbh the pictures didnt look that great and the prices will stun you. More than a ride photo at thorpe park!
You can enter your room from 1pm and need to be checked in by 3pm.
I would advise keeping a hand bag/luggage with you as you dont get cases back til after ship sails at 7pm also it was really warm our first day so luckily we were able to get changed and immediately enjoy the ships facilities and sit on sun loungers.
If your hungry would advise you to go straight to the WIndjammer on Deck 11 buffet style food and plenty there with free drinks.
I'd then recommend going out on deck 11 and 12 to save a sun lounger as these go quite quick regardless of them being hundreds.
Set sail at 7pm
We opted for the my time dining which was a waste of time for us as we ate in the main dining room once as i didnt like the poncy-ness of it and the food is not for the fussy eaters at all.
there are two main sitting times
first sitting is at 7.30 pm
and second at 9.30 pm
both co-ordinate with the shows that are on so no one misses out.
We ate in the Windjammer everynite, every breakfast and every lunch.
their opening times are:
6.30am-11.30 am - breakfast
12.00-3.00 - lunch
3.30-5.30 - snacks
6.30-9.30 - dinner
we prefered Windjammer as we could eat almost whenever we wanted and there was nice selection of food which you pick yourself as buffet style.
Free ice cream in windjammer and on deck 11 by the pool - well used facility by us.
DRINKS - price of these are EXTORTIANATE so we bought a flask on first day which was $6 a day for coke, ginger ale, water or sprite - which wasnt very nice the sprite. we shared this between 4 of us which meant we could top up a lot so worth the money. compare this to $1.55 for a little can of sprite in the theatre.
dont pay gratuities upfront cos you have the option to not pay these if you dont feel these were earned on your last day.
Excursions: very very pricy especially rome $364 was the most for a person Ive tried to put as many tips as i can and rough prices we paid to get around as we couldnt afford excursions
First nite - show was good welcome to the ship.
every nite your room and beds were made up with a surprise from our house keeper Dosie every nite. You was also left with the following days itinerary and maps of the destinations.
The first day was at sea so i would recommend gettin a towel and saving loungers first thing as they go so quick.
Naples - be prepared to be hounded by taxi drivers, beggars and people trying to sell you umbrella and hats on the way out of the port.
we decided just to walk around naples rather than venture out. shops very lovely. A couple we had spoke to went to capri and loved it so much stayed the nite and let met the ship in rome.
Back on board ship in evening there was Motown show in La Scala - see it! fab!
Rome - you have to get a shuttle bus out of this port as massive. you wil see the huge queue of coaches waiting for you in the port. we followed the crowd towards the train station which was clearly marked on the map the ship gives you nite before. it cost us €9 each for return to rome which was either 45 or 75 mins on train depending on the train you got. also allowed you to use the metro in rome.
dont leave getting back to the last or second from last train like we did cos it is so busy.
We got off at Roma S Pietro for the vatican. follow signs for S.pietro when you get off the train. You'll soon find it. We decided to walk around rome to get a sense of the place and also to allow you to see more.
I would recommend coming back get on train at termini so your more likely to get a seat.
we managed to visit everything we wanted to see from the outside but leave as early as possible for this day.
FLorence/Pisa - we hired a car and decided to go florence. €96 for a car hire for the day.1 hour and 15 min to florence from the port. we walked round the markets maybe only there an hour before the heavens opened up - living in england im used to rain but nothing could compare to this so suggest take a brolly. we got soaked and ended up in the car park stripping down to our undies.
Because of the weather we headed back but we decided to stop at pisa on way back this is only 20 mins from port. we drove round ages to find the leaning tower. would recommend if your in a car follow the signs to the leaning tower and when you dont see them anymore you need to head towards the river as it is actually the other side of the city to the maps and sat nav.
Nice, monaco, monte carlo
my mum is familiar with all these as have visited them before but is a frequent visitor to nice so we went here to see what the fuss was about.
the port is actually in the middle of the sea which is were the ship stops and anchors. you have to get a little ferry to the shore which takes 15 mins if that. by far the prettiest of the ports visited.
Nice is only 10 mins on the bus from where you get off so nice and easy to get back to the ship in plenty of time. bus was €4 each way for 4 of us. we got off at the marina with all the yachts so cant miss it. YOu then head across the road and under the arches in to the fantastic old market with lots of old shops you the follow this down and end up at a huge highstreet of highstreet shops. Here theres also a pebbly beach and water sports to participate in.
2nd formal nite is not as popular as the first one. so dont feel have to dress up if cant be bothered.
Marseille - RC charged $12 to get out of the port. so we opted to walk took bout 15 mins. where we got bus into the centre ville. the shopping area looks rite outside the port- it is rite outside the old port but where we getoff is shockingly far from the shopping so bus taxi definate must. Where the bus dropped us was awful we walked down a deserted road which just looked minging. Once we got the end we found the bustling shopping area by the old port and marina with lots of nice restaurants - we spent 3 hours there including getting there before deciding to head back to the ship. We got a cab back which cost €16 and droppd us rite at the ship so we didnt have to walk
Summary:
French are NOT ruder than the spanish or italian they were the most welcoming.
Photos are a rip off on the ship so just best to avoid the photographers and dont have the photos taken fullstop.
drinks are expensive so get p***ed on shore the price of 1 beer on board my step dad had 3 on shore and was quite drunk after as it was 7.2%

LEAVING:
may be worth getting royal caribbean transfer as queues for port bus and taxis were ridiculous. we opted to walk out of port which was h*** on a hot day however i would say start walking out the port and taxi wil stop you and ask if you want a lift that way you wont have to wait.
As i said earlier the RC terminal is last to be visited by bus therefore no chance of getting back on that as chances are the other 2 ships wil be in the port a t the same time as you.
Hope this has been helpful if you need any pics or any more info please comment and ill try let you know .
thanks

8 readers found this review helpful

As a family of four, we decided to go on a cruise because it seemed to offer something for everyone, and it delivered! Like most of the reviews it was a 7 day Med cruise from Barcelona. Simply it was fantastic. The service was that you would expect from a five star star restaurant, the rooms were cleaned twice daily, there were plenty of activities for everyone and the ship itself was immaculate. We had two rooms, with two people in each and both were perfectly clean and adequite.
I gave it a 9 because there were some issues with the dining times being booked wrong and because we were in two rooms, we were all on different floors, despite booking it differently, but by the first evening this was resolved.
Another issue is the price. If you have looked into Royal Caribbean you may know that food is included (apart from certain restaurants where you pay a service charge, but there is no need to use these so that was fine), however drinks are not included, apart from glasses of water and one serve yourself desk for tea and coffee. Other than this, you pay a premium for all drinks and they add on the gratuities automatically! If you choose to go on any of the excursions, they can set you back big time too; I'd really recommend people not to, we used the train to get to Florence and Pisa for literally a fraction of the cost.
Despite the cost, we all really enjoyed the holiday and will be using Royal Caribbean again (soon hopefully!)

2 readers found this review helpful

just returned from med cruise last week out of Barcelona
ship is spacious, very clean, and staff very friendly.
food is fab. can't wait to go again next year. good ports of call and pisa is awesome to see.
entertainment is the best we've seen and no rushing to see shows, plenty of room.
we have cruised with rcl before and their staff from boarding to disembarking are so organized with no long queues. a credit to rcl.

35 readers found this review helpful

Myself and my wife went on this holiday for 7 days from Barca around the Med. Having never written a review before, I felt I owed one here as it was this site that helped us choose between the voyager and another cruise which we were initially considering and were very close to booking (namely the costa victoria - sailing from Venice), however after reading the reviews for both cruises, we had little doubt re which one to choose and went for the voyager. From the minute you step in the port, EVERYTHING is taken care of by the staff/crew. Checking-in could not be smoother. Before you notice anything you are on board. Our room was an outside one with balcony and I advise it if you can spare a bit extra (I think it's worth it, altho if I hadn't gone for balcony I would have probably convinced myself differently, e.g. saying who spends any time in the room - so it's a very personal choice I think). Getting off and on the ship couldn't have been any smoother, no formalities or long queues. Casino was fun (won a bit of money too ;-) altho lost most of it back), staff very friendly. The ship very stylish, clean, and I heard it is slightly less formal than some others (e.g. you could get away with not wearing a tuxedo on a formal night. Having said that most people looked well dressed and smart). The diversity/proportion of the guests were nice and we met very interesting people from around the world (from India, UK, Norway, US etc). We didn't really bother with the on-board activities apart from the casino as frankly the sea was too beautiful to leave and sit inside or at nights the bars and live music & casino were too seductive to let us leave. We don't have kids but people we met with kids were all happy as plenty of activities for kids. Staff extremly friendly and you feel they genuinely are friendly and that it is not part of their job description. Food (quality and choice) was great and snacks always available (some 24 hours). Drink prices not unreasonable (especially compared to the city prices, e.g. Rome, Barcelona etc). Having said that if you let go of your wife like me you could end up with a bill of up to 800$. This is because on entry you have to register a credit card and then you will be given a guest card similar to a credit card and EVERYTHING you buy whilst on board will go on that, so spending is very easy and goes unnoticed (until you pick up your bill ;-) If you are thinking of sneaking own drink in, don't bother, bags are strictly searched and drinks taken off (will be returned on check-out I was told). Excursions madly expensive, do not be afraid of arranging your own -it's even more fun and 50 times cheaper.
I give 9 stars instead of 10 because of one little complaint (well wouldn't like to call it complaint but couldn't find a different word) is that they could be nicer with check-out times (which is currently 8:00-8:30am) which if your flight is late afternoon would mean that you have to spend hours wondering around with your luggage (there is the option to pay around 35$ each person for late check-out but I think it would be nice to offer it on a complimentary basis at least to people with late flights etc)
Finally, I must say please give yourself a day, if not more, to explore Barcelona if that's your check-in port.It is an amazing place and would set you off nicely for your week of sailing the Med.
One last thing, keep a constant eye on your bags etc whilst in cities like Rome, Naple, Barcelona etc, we heard of a lot of pickpocketing.
Enjoyyyy

16 readers found this review helpful

Myself and my girlfriend went from Barcelona on May 2nd 2010 for 7 days around the Med.
This was our first cruise and we were a little worried whether we would like it,..
Good points;
The ship is amazing, and very very clean,.. the food is extremely good. We were impressed with the room which was a good size with a balcony,.. our room attendant kept it spotless and whatever time of the day it was, he always seemed to be around ready to ask us about our day. My gf was a little worried about getting sea sick,. but the boat is so big, we didn't even notice when we came in an out of port, and only rarely felt it go up and down a little in the evenings.
Not so good points;
Not that I was going on the cruise to drink copious amounts of beer, but when I purchased my first pint I was a little taken aback when I saw the $7.26 (£5) charged to my card, and with a cocktail for my gf added on top for $9.50 (which was 1 shot topped up with juice and ice) I felt as though I was being ripped off slightly. They scan your bags when you get on the ship at the various ports, but if going from Barcelona they scan your bags when you first get to the terminal,.. but not going on to the boat. There is a shop in the terminal where you can buy a few bottles of wine, wish I had done this. I did however buy 8 large bottles of water for $8 and took this on,.. glad I did as the bottles of water on the boat were more than my pint!!!, they also had water deals which were something like $70+
Secondly myself and my girlfriend do not smoke,. and when reading the info on the website it does make it sound as if it's pretty much a non smoking boat,.. but as they "know some guests smoke, there are certain designated areas, ie a cigar lounge".... we quickly realised that the designated areas are infact every bar and lounge on the whole boat apart from the champagne lounge. You can't smoke down the promenade, although all the bars have no windows and have seats outside with poeple smoking, so go down there in the evening and it stinks.
The tours were good,..although several of the tours started very early and setting my alarm for 5:30am in the morning was a little bit of a struggle,.. the tour guides were very professional, only thing that could have been improved was that it all seemed to be a rush. For example we got to Monaco, and right at the end we had some 'free time' to investigate, however we were asked to be back by 11:15am to head back to the boat, and as it was 11:03am, 12 minutes was not really enough time to really look about.