Impressive ship but not the best choice to Bermuda
Written: Sep 16 '05 (Updated Sep 16 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tons of activities, Decent food, Good entertainment
Cons: Too big for some ports, crowding, Can feel like a mall at sea.
The Bottom Line: The ship has many activities but lacks that romance of the sea feel. If travel to Bermuda is in your plans, choose a smaller ship. We did have fun!
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| andykay's Full Review: Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas |
The trip- Cape Liberty NJ (Bayonne) to Bermuda and back
The Date- 9/4/05- 9/9/05
The Boat- Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas
This was our second cruise with Royal Caribbean, the first 2 years ago on the Serenade of the Seas. My wife and I took a “kidless” vacation after our first child turned one. As our second child turned one we decided to make it a tradition. This cruise was arguably our last “kidless” vacation for at least a decade if not more. This review will include some comparison of the 2 ships. On to the review-
Boarding -
When we cruised with Royal Caribbean 2 years ago, we left from Manhattan. Since that time, Royal Caribbean has moved their port to Cape Liberty NJ. This has some advantages as well as some disadvantages. The Manhattan terminal was woefully inadequate for the job and there was a lot of congestion in the area when more than 1 ship is loaded. Parking, especially long term can be problematical and expensive. On the other hand, mass transit is easily available as are cabs. The NJ terminal is temporary; RC intends to build a modern terminal in the future. The current terminal consists of old Naval base buildings. Boarding the ship is a three step process, park your car, check in at the terminal and take a bus to the ship. Before you park, there will be an opportunity to check your luggage. This might be a good idea even if you have light wheeled luggage as the parking lot consists largely of potholes and large gravel. There is a shuttle bus from the lot to the terminal, but the walk is short and unless the bus is right there, it isn’t worth waiting for. Once your luggage is checked, you will proceed inside where there is a long curved check in desk. Here you will confirm your passage and receive your Seapass that will act as your room key and credit card through out your cruise. There are separate lines for those that confirmed their trip via the web, I recommend doing this. After a short walk, you will board a bus for the brief trip to the boat. We arrived at the ship very early, ~11:30AM for a 6:00PM sail. There were no lines , so I can’t coment on how efficient boarding is during crowded conditions. I would guess that it’s not great, plan on boarding early. On big loss in the move to NJ is the loss of the spectacular Manhattan view when leaving and returning.
The Voyager Overview -
We boarded on Deck 1 12:00 and went directly to our cabin. Though we were warned that it might not be ready till 2:00PM, it was neat and tidy. We met our cabin attendant and went to explore the ship. For the early arrivals, there is a lunch buffet available in Windjammers (deck 11). The ship was launched in 1999 and though well maintained, does show some signs of wear and tear. The main public spaces are decks 3-5 and decks 11-14. Deck 3 has Studio B (ice skating rink), the photo shop where you can view and purchase the many photos taken of you throughout the cruise and the lower level of the main dinning room. Though RC lists 3 separate dining rooms, they are really just 3 levels of one large dinning room. Deck 4 has Schooners Bar which is a shadow of the cool quite comfortable space of the same name we found on Serenade, the Vault Disco which we did not visit, and the Casino. The Casino is very large for a cruise ship and has an old downtown Vegas feel. Also on Deck 4 is the main entrance to the main theater. Deck 5 features the 2 Centrums connected by the Royal Promenade. This is billed as the “heart” of the ship and contains most of the shops, a couple of bars and places to get a quick snack. There were a couple of parades that were a bit amusing, but the Royal Promenade felt like nothing more than a small shopping mall to me. This was especially true at the end of the cruise when the path blocking bargain bins appear in the center of the promenade. Also on deck 5 is Cleopatra’s needle club, a dancing club at night, it is also used for the over priced but popular on cruises art auction and Bingo. Deck features the health club, pools, hot tubs, Windjammer and Island Grill casual dinning rooms, Johnny Rockets, arcade and Adventurers Ocean youth areas. Deck 12 has the spa, sport court, mini golf, jogging track, in line skate track and rock wall. Deck 13 has the second floor pof the spa, and lounger space, most notably the Latin themed Viking Crown Lounge. Deck 14 is the wedding chapel. As noted by others, this is an “inward looking ship”, and most of the activities beyond the pool/hot tub/sport/sunbathing are done without a view of the ocean. The glass walled elevators that all looked out on the Serenade instead look in to the Promenade/Centrums on Voyager. Beyond the outdoor pool deck(11) and jogging track/sport deck (12), there are outside promenades on decks 3 and 4 as well as access to the “peekaboo bridge area (11) and the front helicopter landing pad (deck 5 outside Cleopatra’s needle). The pool area feels a bit small for a ship this size; the adult only solarium pool lacks the retractable roof of the Serenade. There is also public space on decks 6&7 in the form of a library with free to borrow books and overpriced and I was told, slow Internet service. There is also limited wifi service available on the ship if you want to bring your laptop.
The Food -
What many people cruise for. We ate all our dinners in the main dinning room. We had planned to skip the at least formal night but alas, we once again had a great table and felt the need to catch up with our newfound friends each night. Because this was a short cruise and we’re not cruising for food, we didn’t get to sample every offering so I will keep it to what we did try.
Main dinning room - We had all our dinners here, as well as our final breakfast on the ship. The service was generally good as was the food. Not exceptional, mind you, just good. The lobster tail wasn’t over cooked to rubber consistency, but the filet of beef was over tenderized (enzyme?). Once again, as on the Serenade, the deserts were the stand outs.
Windjammers/Island Grill - I’ve grouped the two together, because they work in conjunction with one another. We had 2 buffet lunches here. The food was what one would expect from buffet, massive quantities of average food. The older buffet line system employed is inferior to the buffet stations of the Serenade. There were some massive lines at peak times. Often, ships personnel would direct people to the side with the longest line, look to the rear Island Grill section for no wait. They also serve “Afternoon Tea” here between lunch and dinner. This featured tex-mex items like chili (chili dogs, mmmmm) quesadillas and tamales. I preferred this to the regular lunch. The free drink offerings are over sweetened lemonade and un sweetened ice tea. Mixing them together made a much better drink.
Johnny Rockets - A 50’s style burger joint that is a west coast chain. This small eatery is located on aft on deck 11. The burgers are fine, if over cooked. The onion rings and chili fries were sinfully delicious. My wife had a chocolate malt that was the best I’ve ever tasted. There is a $4 cover charge and additional charges for beverages. Lines can be long during meal times. Though we missed it, the staff puts on impromptu performances from time to time.
Café Promenade - This is a small snack / desert shop on the Royal Promenade. With the exception of the tasty cookies being handed out constantly, we didn’t try the deserts but they looked scrumptious. The small sandwiches were surprisingly good, the pizza was to the better side of a supermarket frozen pie. Coffee and tea are always available. A great place to grab an alcohol absorbing snack before bed.
Room Service - We only used this once, the morning we were in Bermuda. Our breakfast arrived hot and on time.
Our Cabin -
For this trip we economized and chose an inside cabin. The cabin is well arranged with a closet, desk/storage unit, small sofa, glass sofa table, and of course 2 twin beds arranged as a single queen. The bath has a small vanity, toilet and shower with doors. More than enough room for 2 on a 5 day trip, the only complaint room wise was the tight squeeze between the bed and the desk/storage unit. The TV has interactive features that allow for viewing accounts and ordering services. We found the system to be very slow and somewhat confusing to use. I can’t comment on the TV offerings because we weren’t ion a cruise to watch TV and beyond sleeping spent little time in the cabin. In the bath, beware that the combination of small sink and high water pressure can combine for embarrassing pant “stains”. Beyond cost savings, there’s another big benefit with an inside cabin, SLEEP. With no light seepage, my wife and I slept through breakfast every day.
Entertainment -
This is where a mega ship like Voyager shines, there’s so much to do.
Stage shows - The musical review show was excellent with a large compliment of singers and dancers. There were 2 different comics (1 bad, 1 good) and magical act, as well as the entertainment staff run shows.
Ice show - A big surprise here, it was excellent! It was a bit crowded because of rough weather cancellations but worth the wait.
Music - a large number of bands through out the ship. Special mention to the singer at the Pig and Whistle and the salsa band in the Viking Lounge.
Sport related - Rock wall climb (you’ve got to do it once!), Basketball, Mini Golf, Shuffleboard, ping pong, pool sports, gym, jogging track. We would have tried the inline skating track but there was never anyone around to rent/borrow skates from. The ice skating rink as far as I know was closed to open skating throughout the cruise.
Bars - There were many, we visited most and ran up a big bar bill! The drinks were of generally high quality. One slimy note, all drinks have an added MANDITORY 15% gratuity added to them. It’s NOT a gratuity if it is mandatory; it’s just a back-handed way to increase the price.
Cruise director and staff - Excellent! Becky 1 (Hi Luv) seemed a bit saccharine at first, but proved to be a first class director and pretty talented to boot.
Bermuda -
Not much to say, we weren’t there very long and there’s the rub.
Departure-
This process is far more organized compared to what we experienced with the Serenade. On the serenade, you were given your bags the night prior to departure and you carry them off the ship. The results were that all the hallways and stairs near the exit deck were clogged with luggage and irate passengers. On Voyager, they returned our bags the morning before departure. Every cabin was issued color-coded luggage tags to apply to our bags. We were told to pack them and leave them in front of the cabin by midnight when they would be collected once again.. The ship docked ~7:00AM and all guests were told to wait at either the main theater, the frigid StudioB or the Solarium on deck 11 (?). At ~9:00AM the ship cleared customs and departure began. It was an extremely slow process. Guests were called to leave based on color with white and beige being called first. We were on deck 7 and had turquoise tags and it took almost 2 hours from when white was called for it to be our turn. There were still 4 colors to go after us! After you exit the ship, it’s another bus ride to the terminal where you’ll find the bags arranged in color-coded areas in a ugly old warehouse. With so many similar colored and shaped bags, it’s not easy wading through the piles. I suggest placing some type of brightly colored identifying markers on all your bags. Even with that, we had trouble finding one bag because another guests garment bag had been piled on top of it. After collecting your luggage, it’s a quick chat with a customs officer and your done.
Conclusion (whew)-
Voyager is an impressive engineering feat. Because of Voyagers’ size and design, most vacationers will find much to do. What was missing for me for lack of better words was that romance of the sea feeling. The ship felt more like a floating shopping mall than a grand cruise ship and we never really felt as comfortable as we did on the Serenade. I would still recommend Voyager and its sister ships, especially to families with young children, even though we left ours at home. BUT…………..
THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! VOYAGER CLASS SHIPS ARE TOO BIG TO GO TO BERMUDA! We missed more than half our Bermuda stay because of this ships size. We were told that we had to leave Bermuda because of forecast high winds. The next day the captain did an interview on TV to explain our early departure. He inadvertently explained why this ship or her sister ships (Adventurer, Explorer, Mariner, Navigator) shouldn’t be on this “run” . According to the captain, there are 2 channels into Bermuda. The preferred southern channel is wide but too shallow for Voyager. The northern channel is deep but narrow. It was explained that when high winds above 25 knots occur, the ship may “crab” or turn sideways in the channel and the Voyager is too long to fit the channel width. This means that in anything less than ideal conditions, Voyager and her brethren may have to leave. The Captain also smugly stated that the other ships would have to leave Bermuda the day after we left. I’ve since found that this was not true at all. The Bermuda weather archive shows that we faced the highest winds approaching Bermuda and that the winds subsided after we left. From all evidence I have, we shouldn’t have left early at all. Voyagers’ size also means that she has to berth at the shipyard instead of the far more desirable Hamilton or St Georges ports. One would also think that a ship the size of Voyager would be ultra stable, but we were bounced around quite a bit on the approach to Bermuda. On the ferry to Hamilton, I met a passenger from one of the two identical Celerity ships in port at Hamilton. They had come through the same weather as we did. Had their trip been rough? NO! Were their pools closed due to ship movement? NO! Were they told to report back to the ship early in case they had to leave? NO! Did their crew place barf bag strategically all around the ship? NO! There were many conspiracy theories going around the ship as to why the first couple of days were so rough. One was that there was some problem with the stabilizers, which I doubt. The one I was told at the end of the trip makes the most sense. Because of Voyagers’ deep draft, they have to reduce the ballast when approaching Bermuda. This leaves the ship more susceptible to the higher than normal winds and sea we experienced. The smaller “normal size” cruise ships don’t need to raise their keel to clear the channels, thus remain stable. Reader, please keep in mind that I’m not a ship expert and am repeating what I heard from fellow travelers and crew. Weather related diversions are always a possibility with cruise travel, but the choice of ship can greatly reduce odds. This was probably our only chance to se Bermuda and I feel we missed out. If I had done more research I might have made a better choice. I am also extremely disappointed in Royal Caribbean’s response to their inconvenienced customers, one hour of free poor quality drinks. From what I’ve been told, RC saved a large amount of money on berthing costs by leaving a day early. I urge you the reader to not make the same mistake. There may be other ports that also have restrictions that make the popular mega liners a less desirable choice.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
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Epinions.com ID:
andykay
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Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 5 members
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