Back from VOYAGER OF THE SEAS - Review and photos

"Tom & Linda" <tkanitra@> wrote in message
news:pkwhd.6441$6z2.3053091@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.ne t...

> One design weakness IMO is the lack of a covered solarium pool, or
> retractable cover over the solarium pool. And it's not like it's not been
> done before. RCI had the concept of a retractable cover as far back as
> the Legend/SplendorOTS, and the Grandeur/EnchantmentOTS.
>
> To me that's one of the great ideas I've seen on a ship. I don't know why
> they didn't go for one on Voyager class ships. I would guess that they
> never intended for these ships to be used away from hot weather. But it
> does rain in hot weather place, and with a cover, you can even air
> condition it.
>
> --Tom


This is true Tom. I can only speculate that RCI never imagined the Voyager
Class would cruise anywhere but the Caribbean. The Solarium Pool area is
already mostly enclosed. It wouldn't take much to add on a glass roof. My
partner walked through the Solarium on the last morning on the cruise. If
you can believe it, it was the first time he realized the area was not glass
enclosed! Unlike me, he really doesn't pay much attention to details
onboard ship.

Ernie

"E.k.R." <erollerYYY@peoplepc.com> wrote in message
news:_2xhd.15698$cS6.881@bignews6....
> >
>
> This is true Tom. I can only speculate that RCI never imagined the
> Voyager Class would cruise anywhere but the Caribbean. The Solarium Pool
> area is already mostly enclosed. It wouldn't take much to add on a glass
> roof. My partner walked through the Solarium on the last morning on the
> cruise. If you can believe it, it was the first time he realized the area
> was not glass enclosed! Unlike me, he really doesn't pay much attention
> to details onboard ship.
>
>

One of the potential "engineering" reasons I can think of is that the ship
is already acknowledged to be top heavy - not a good thing for a ship. So
much so that they apparently made much of the top of the ship out of
aluminum to keep the top of the ship light.

So if a mechanism for a sliding roof (like on Galaxy or Grandeur) is very
heavy... maybe you don't want the extra weight. But I would think enclosing
it in glass, like on Millie class ships, wouldn't weigh that much.

--Tom

Sweetums

Your husband is an expert on old bats I hear.

Me Again

"villa deauville" <SUNBERN@> wrote in message
news:20642-41865BBB-222@storefull-3175.bay....
> We stayed 3 day pre cruise in Aruba before sailing on the Seawind Crown.
> We loved the Island. We used publlc transportation and came in contact
> with
> many of the locals.
> One evening while sitting on our balcony we were stunned to see bats
> flying around. Yes. Bats. We were told they are in abundance on the
> Island..
>
> SUNNY<.......Nice review Ernie
>
> S'nd I
> XXX.
>
>
>
>
>
>

I agree that the terminal in NYC is a nightmare. It took us hours to
get from the car to the inside of the terminal to be processed when we
were on the Carnival Legend. Our driver kept getting the runaround
from Port Authority police. Once inside, Carnival really has their act
together. But it was the process of actually getting inside that was
the hassle. And debarkation was't any better.

Anyway, didn't Ernie's ship leave from Bayonne? That could explain
the easier embarkation.

Jo-Ann

gamarsh@attglobal.net wrote in message news:<41863F43.1685AE6D@attglobal.net>...
> E.k.R. wrote:
>
> > I just disembarked from the VOYAGER OF THE SEAS yesterday. The 8-day
> > cruise began on October 22, 2004 from the new Royal Caribbean terminal in
> > Bayonne, NJ (Cape Liberty) and ending in Miami.
>
> I noticed that you made no comment with respect to embarkation/disembarkation.
> I've seen reviews that cited many complaints about both RCL staffing and the
> facility.
>
> We just returned from a week on the NCL Dawn and the NYC cruise area there is a
> total disaster. If NYC doesn't do something about the traffic flow there, they
> will be losing my business.
>
> Comment?
>
> Jerry in NJ

I've seen them working (either opening or closing) on both Galaxy and
Grandeur.

--Tom

"Chrissy Cruiser" <doublebreasted@mail.com> wrote in message
news:72zi0di1nhx0.189gwlsvyk7n$.dlg@40tude.net...
> On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 15:32:47 -0500, E.k.R. wrote:
>
>> This is true Tom. I can only speculate that RCI never imagined the
>> Voyager
>> Class would cruise anywhere but the Caribbean. The Solarium Pool area is
>> already mostly enclosed. It wouldn't take much to add on a glass roof.
>
> A retractable (has any ever seen the thing retract), fire regulation
> passing roof is expensive as hell both in maintenance and in construction.

Ernie,

Thank you for the reply and information. We are about 35 miles from the City
which is why we tend to drive, car service prices are ridiculous for one
from our area and it is easier at NY pier to have your car than it is to
hookup with a driven limo. The NY port has become just so horrendus traffic
wise when more than one ship is in. We did just return from an October 16th
sailing of the Zenith from NY and that was great since little pier traffic
in October. We are looking forward to giving bayonne a try in the future.

George in NY
>
> Hi George,
> We shared a stretch limo with another couple from Midtown Manhattan to
> Bayonne. It took about 40 minutes (max) and we arrived at "Cape Liberty"
> around 2pm. The total cost including tolls and tip was $118. When we
> arrived at Cape Liberty we experienced NO lines, a very nice and organized
> facility, and a total check-in time from processing tickets to boarding
> the ship of about 20 minutes tops. We experienced none of the chaos that
> other cruisers have written about. Of course we disembarked in Miami so I
> can't comment on the disembarkation process in Bayonne. Since you will be
> driving I would recommend arriving later rather than earlier. It seems
> the people having the most problems are arriving at the pier too early.
> At 2pm it was almost a ghost town ... just the way I prefer it!
>
> Ernie
>
>
>

Jerry,

I don't think there is all that much that they can do generally simply
because of limitation of space, the NY City dilemma as always. We just
sailed from NY on Zenith Oct 16th sailing and it was fine, like the old days
before so many large ships started sailing. I will say that whomever
controls traffic at pier is most certainly either without a clue or just
doesn't care. I can understand how there is nothing you can do when numerous
ships are in port during height of season but even at off times traffic
control can manage to be screwed up.

When we got off ship there was little traffic and only the Zenith and the
Dueschland were in port. We were first group off, went up and got car and
came around to pick up wife and luggage. Zenith was at second pier and other
ship was on end pier near parking ramp. Traffic control in thier infinate
wisdom had blocked off almost all the sidewalk pick up area from our pier to
the other ships pier, alledgedly as a taxi lane. This meant that everyone
picking up disembarking passengers were limited to a small area for about 5
cars while there was more than enough area to have opened it up for 20 cars.
Considering that the Duteschland must have been there a while and is a small
ship this was crazy. No one was even disembarking from her. I pulled into
the coned off area and made my pickup then friends waiting for thier cars
moved the cones so I could pull out. All the time the ONE cab wanting to
pick up at other ship had to wait because he had to enter what was almost a
half a city block away. No one from traffic apparently considered removing
say 20 or 30 cones to allow more of a pickup area. In the meantime a log jam
started with everyone trying to drop and pick up with the small area
designated. So even when congestion is not a factor because of load NY still
manages to make a mess out of the whole procedure.

George in NY

<gamarsh@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:41863F43.1685AE6D@attglobal.net...
> I noticed that you made no comment with respect to
> embarkation/disembarkation.
> I've seen reviews that cited many complaints about both RCL staffing and
> the
> facility.
>
> We just returned from a week on the NCL Dawn and the NYC cruise area there
> is a
> total disaster. If NYC doesn't do something about the traffic flow there,
> they
> will be losing my business.
>
> Comment?
>
> Jerry in NJ
>
>
>

"Chrissy Cruiser" <doublebreasted@mail.com> wrote in message
news:aqtxaondfllj$.100gfxz0hjpt7.dlg@40tude.net...
>I have yet to find anyone who has seen them either working or retracted on
> the Radiance Class ships.
>

I believe the ones on Radiance might be fixed, like the ones on Millie
class. Though I'm not positive.

--Tom

"George in NY" <georgeny@> wrote in message
news:0sMhd.10169$HT3.6266@trndny08...
> Jerry,
>
> I don't think there is all that much that they can do generally simply
> because of limitation of space, the NY City dilemma as always. We just
> sailed from NY on Zenith Oct 16th sailing and it was fine, like the old
> days before so many large ships started sailing. I will say that whomever
> controls traffic at pier is most certainly either without a clue or just
> doesn't care. I can understand how there is nothing you can do when
> numerous ships are in port during height of season but even at off times
> traffic control can manage to be screwed up.
>
> When we got off ship there was little traffic and only the Zenith and the
> Dueschland were in port. We were first group off, went up and got car and
> came around to pick up wife and luggage. Zenith was at second pier and
> other ship was on end pier near parking ramp. Traffic control in thier
> infinate wisdom had blocked off almost all the sidewalk pick up area from
> our pier to the other ships pier, alledgedly as a taxi lane. This meant
> that everyone picking up disembarking passengers were limited to a small
> area for about 5 cars while there was more than enough area to have opened
> it up for 20 cars. Considering that the Duteschland must have been there a
> while and is a small ship this was crazy. No one was even disembarking
> from her. I pulled into the coned off area and made my pickup then friends
> waiting for thier cars moved the cones so I could pull out. All the time
> the ONE cab wanting to pick up at other ship had to wait because he had to
> enter what was almost a half a city block away. No one from traffic
> apparently considered removing say 20 or 30 cones to allow more of a
> pickup area. In the meantime a log jam started with everyone trying to
> drop and pick up with the small area designated. So even when congestion
> is not a factor because of load NY still manages to make a mess out of the
> whole procedure.
>
> George in NY
>

A simple solution (to help out) would be to allow people to bring up their
luggage on the escalators to the roof top parking area and then they could
just drive away. But they don't seem to like that idea.

Guess it's too simple.

--Tom

Hi Ernie,

I also was on the same sailing. I was with a group of over 100 people.
Your review was exactly the way that I felt. The last time I sailed on
the Voyager was 5 years ago, when it first came out. I have been on
over 40 cruises and I feel the staff on this ship could not do enough
for you. Everyone in my group had a great time and are looking forward
to doing it again on next year's repo cruise.

I did find a few problems with disembarkation in Miami. They gave my
entire group luggage tags to get off the ship at 11AM... many people
in our group had 11:15 AM flights booked by Royal Caribbean. They did
not pay any attention to the forms that were either turned in at the
Purser's desk or on the TV screens. I spent a few hours on the last
day getting the luggage tags changed for my group for people that
needed to get off the ship early. We also seemed to have quite a few
problems with their new luggage carousels instead of lining up the
luggage by color. I was fortunate to find our 3 bags immediately when
we got off the ship but other people in my group had to wait for
almost 45 minutes for their bags to show up. The porters say that the
new system has MANY problems. If a porter places a piece of luggage on
a wrong carousel it takes forever to find it and take the time to put
it on the correct carousel.

Other than that everything was GREAT!!!!

We also thought that Richard Spacey was a great Cruise Director. We
also liked Edward "Coffeeeee" Apalonia and Rhondolph in the Island
Grill at breakfast. They were full of energy and very entertaining.
Take Care,
Bob