Beautiful Voyager

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Beautiful Voyager
Reviewed By: dawson, shavington on 29th Jun 2009
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean Cruises	Times cruised before: 3-5
Cruise Ship: Voyager of the Seas	Sailed: June, 2009
Destination: Western Europe	Age: 36-45

My First cruise with RCI - 4 ladies sharing an inside cabin!! Embarkation extremely efficient and was in the Windjammer having lunch by 1 o'clock. The ship is breathtakingly beautiful - especially the promenade and the adult only pool area. I could go on all day but I will just list my opinion of the good and the bad points. I have cruised with Princess and P and O before so that's who comparisons are made about. Likes: The ship - it's amazing, absolutely stunning, everything shines and is so clean and bright. The staff - every single one so friendly and willing to help - the most lovely crew I have ever sailed with. Entertainment - The ice show was fabulous, and one of the singers Tiffany was the best singer I have ever seen - I could of listened to her all night! They sure knew how to do glamour and glitz - the parades in the promenade were fabulous and the crowd dancing in the street was a sight to behold. Captains welcome was also enjoyable and free champagne was served. The cabin - 4 of us sharing but had no problems even in an inside cabin- clean and fairly spacious and serviced to high standards. Embarkation and disembarkation- ran like clockwork - super efficient and speedy. The pool area - The adults only pool area was stunning and I liked the fact that it was diligenty managed and children were politely asked to use their own (huge) swimming area. In fact my daughter who is 23 was asked if she was old enough to be in the adult only area - you can imagine how delighted she was ha ha! Portofinos - Amazing food and service - 20 dollars extra charge but you must try it! Cinema - lovely little screening room - great place to take a break from the sun... Dislikes Drink prices - I don't care what anyone says the prices are a rip off.... £6 for a glass of wine, £5 for a can of Boddingtons - and say what you like about 5 star hotels - If I stay in a hotel I can take my own wine and have a pre dinner drink in my room - On RCI you are treated like drug smugglers and even drinks bought in there own shops are confiscated until the last day. I just did not drink much - I could afford to, but just refused to pay stupid prices. Had a few cocktails of the day (about £6) and a bottle of wine £23.00 (and I recognised the bottle as one that I buy regularly for £3.99). We also had drinks in the locations that we visited 3 euros for lovely glass of wine in Rome... These prices would stop me using RCI again - P and O and Princess charge much less (normal pub prices). Charges for shuttles buses - In Livorno RCI charged 18 dollars per person for a bus to the railway station - many people (espcially families) found the cost prohbitive and stayed on board - The taxis would not take people to town and would only do a tour of Florence and Pisa at a cost of 300 euros - you were not allowed to walk so basically passengers were at the mercy of RCI. Absolutely shameful!! Toiletries - Only a little thing, but on other cruises lovely shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and body lotion are provided - RCI give horrid little bars of soap and fairy liquid type stuff in a dispenser - another cost cutting disgrace..... No chocolate on pillow - It's the little things that make crusing special! I did not like the fact that the restaurant was only open for formal lunch on sea days (which meant 1 day out of 7 on this cruise). Other cruise lines have formal lunch on each day of the cruise. Also no formal afternoon tea (another favourite treat of mine). The food in the restaurant was good but not amazing - always luke warm and not a lot of imagination or flair to the menus. Also no themed nights or special buffets eg chocolate buffet. And the buffet restaurant closed at 21:30 meaning you could only get sandwiches and snacks after this time. On the whole I really enjoyed this cruise - the ship and the staff were amazing - If you are going on Voyager you will have an amazing experience - just be prepared to pay for the extras......
Quality of Food
Had formal dinner most nights - food was good but not outstanding. Windjammer buffet restaurant was good, with a wide variety. Snacks could be had on cafe on deck 5. Johnny Rockets was fabulous - you must try it!
Entertainment
Ice show was fabulous, singers and dancers were ok with the exception of a singer called Tiffany who will surely be famous one day - she was so good.. Magic show and miming type man were rubbish. The 70s night and parades were glitzy, and the crew certainly knew how to get the crowd going - brilliant atmosphere - the sight of about 30 different nationalities of people doing the "love train" was a joy to behold!
Shore Excursions
Ridicoulsly expensive - we did our own thing at a fraction of the price - do your research and plan what you want to see. Horse and cart ride around Rome, and Monaco and Monte Carlo were the highlight. Did not enjoy Marseille (RCI charged to use the shuttle bus - shameful).
Staff
All of the staff were fabulous and if they were pretending to be welcoming and friendly then they did an excellent job of it. Johnny Rockets staff were outstanding....
Children's Facilities	n/a
There were 600 youngsters on board and the kids clubs must have done a fabulous job because the children were well behaved and no problems at all.
Onboard Activities
Loads to do from Napkin folding (????) to line dancing classes. Wine tasting was a particular favourite of mine!!
Cabins
We did not pay a great deal as we booked last minute - 4 in a cabin is never going to be ideal but the cabin was spacious and clean.
Overall Rating

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Opinion: Agree Comment by Reddock, Dromore (12 Jul 09 15:52) about this REVIEW

I agree with Dawson just having returned from a trip on Voyager - RCI are just a rip off. I travelled with them several years ago and this time I noticed quite a difference. When one goes on a cruise it is all the special little extras that makes one feel pampered. I have cruised with Princess and they just know how to do. I am very reluctant to travel with RCI again. Our balcony needed a LICK of paint and paint had been spilled on the ground and not cleaned up. Chairs didn't match and those that we had were most uncomfortable.

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Comment by Walker, Seascale, Cumbria (29 Jun 09 19:26) about this REVIEW

You mentioned that P&O and Princess charge less for drinks-I know about P&O's prices, but has Princess managed to keep lower than other American lines, and do they have the 15% added?-Jo.

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Comment by dawson, shavington (29 Jun 09 21:41) about a COMMENT by Walker (29 Jun 09 19:26)

Hi there - I can only comment on the prices last year when I cruised with Princess. The prices were very reasonable and in line with P and O. They did add 10 per cent for service but still comparable with a nice pub over here. And I was able to take a bottle of wine on board and I picked one up at each of the ports and enjoyed a glass pre and post dinner on the balcony. However, I'm sure I read a recent review on here which said that prices are now through the roof (the exchange rate was 2 dollars to the pound last year which of course really helped. The restaurant food was better on Princess and they have movies under the stars which I just loved.

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Comment by Walker, Seascale, Cumbria (30 Jun 09 00:42) about a COMMENT by dawson (29 Jun 09 21:41)

Thanks-we gained from the exchange rate last year with NCL, but there's been lots of complaints this year about American ships-Jo.

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Comment by Turner, Dukinfield (29 Jun 09 13:40) about this REVIEW

The price of drinks is very sobering. I hope they start to take notice soon as they have lost my trade this year and next years plans are starting to take shape now so they better adjust their position quickly as they are losing customer's day after day, loyal ones at that!!

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Comment by dawson, shavington (29 Jun 09 17:02) about a COMMENT by Turner (29 Jun 09 13:40)

We joked about it in the end, calling them the Pirates of the Caribbean! To be honest, my bill was really small because I ended up drinking iced water - I'm really not mean but, like everyone else I work hard for my money and was not going to waste it on alcohol. I think I will go back to P and O next year but I will miss the glitz and the beauty of the ship.

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Opinion: Agree Comment by greatrex, solihull (29 Jun 09 12:23) about this REVIEW

Good review - RCI are fast turning into the rip off merchants of the sea. I must say that i have never heard of four ladies sharing a room - you must be either very friendly or very Tolerant

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Comment by dawson, shavington (29 Jun 09 16:55) about a COMMENT by greatrex (29 Jun 09 12:23)

We are very old friends and that helped - also we got a fabulous discount for sharing and saved about 300 pounds each. There was so much to do that we were hardly in the cabin. I did miss my space though and it would only work for families or people that knew eachother very well! Thanks for reading .

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