Review: Royal Caribbean - Voyager of the Seas - [October 22 , 2004]

[Net Reviews]

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Reviewer Comments:

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. In between were only two
ports, Labadee, Haiti (RCI's private beach) and Aruba. We also spent 3-days
in NY prior to the cruise which was a lot of fun. I had the pleasure of
meeting up in the Village with a fellow ship enthusiast who frequents the
cruise boards as well a wonderful friend whom I met onboard QM2 in May.

It's been almost five years since I've sailed on a Voyager Class ship, and
in fact it was Voyager of the Seas when she was only a few months old. I
was impressed with the ship back then and wrote a review at the time. You
can read it from this link if you like.

So how is Voyager holding up five years later? I would say very well! The
ship itself is truly stunning and I'm once again convinced the Voyager Class
is the best thing sailing in the contemporary 7-day market. Nothing really
compares from a hardware perspective, not even QM2. I bring up QM2 only
because she was my last cruise and because she overtook the "world's
largest" title from the Voyager Class. Voyager’s overall design, quality of
materials, art, amenities, innovations, layout, etc. are truly unmatched.
I'll even go as far to suggest that Voyager offers an overall superior
design to QM2. Voyager just works, and very well. I still prefer QM2
overall, but only because I'm enamored by her "ocean liner" feel, quirky
qualities, uniqueness, and spaciousness. Of course QM2 is designed for the
luxury market as opposed to mass-market, so the fact I can even compare
Voyager to QM2 speaks very highly of Voyager.

I'll admit there were times that Voyager felt crowded, but for the most part
only in elevators at peak times and when a show let out. Otherwise the ship
is designed so well that I never had to wait in buffet lines or had trouble
getting a deck chair, even at peak times. Food and service were quite good
for a 3000+ passenger ship. We dined with friends in the Carmen Dining room
(first level) during the second sitting. I was quite pleased with the food,
presentation, and service. To be honest I'm pretty easy to please, and I
don't find the food and service on these massive mega-ships to be that
different, regardless of the cruise line. The buffet also had a decent
selection and as I mentioned earlier I never had to wait in line which was a
plus. I didn't try Portofino's this time as I was quite satisfied with the
food in the dining room. We did eat twice at Johnny Rocket's, and on both
occasions we experienced great food and service (if you like excellent
hamburgers and fries). There is currently no charge for Johnny Rocket's
(except for drinks), but this is changing as soon Royal Caribbean will
implement a charge. Frankly I don't mind as I would rather pay the $3.95
service fee to decrease the wait times. Johnny Rocket's was one place where
there were long lines, and this was not the case five years ago when Royal
Caribbean had a charge in place.

Entertainment was top notch. There were three production shows and of
course the ice skating show not to mention two parades and the usual bands
and singers. Was I jaded after seeing the ice show five years ago? No way!
It was incredible and completely redesigned. It's by far the best form of
entertainment I've seen on any ship. Not to be missed! The other shows
were quite good as well, as good if not better than shows I've seen on other
mega-ships. I've never paid much attention to the cruise director on any
of my past cruises, and in fact I couldn't even begin to tell you what their
names are. I do think I will remember Richard Spacey, the CD onboard
Voyager. He was quite entertaining, unusually young, and not bad to look at
either! Probably the best CD I've come across yet. Be sure to watch some
of the entertaining videos he has put together, such as "24 hours in the
life of a cruise director", and his skit that is shown prior to his entrance
during the farewell show. They are not to be missed.

We were lucky to be assigned a wheelchair accessible balcony cabin on Deck
7. This cabin is about the same size as a Junior Suite, but in category E2
(standard balcony). It was huge as was the bathroom and double size
balcony. Needless to say we quite enjoyed it. Stateroom service was very
good, and we had a husband/wife housekeeping team which was rather unique.

Weather was good although the last two days were cloudy with a few showers.
It was my first time in Aruba and I hope to return someday. I was
pleasantly surprised by this non-typical Caribbean island. Labadee, Royal
Caribbean's private beach on the island of Haiti is looking better than
ever. RCI has invested a fair bit of capital and resources into the beach
and it shows. A big improvement over five years ago.

I can't leave out the most important aspect of this great cruise, and that
was the people. I was lucky enough to be joined by a couple of friends met
on previous cruises, and also had the pleasure of meeting many new friends.
About 20 of us were communicating prior to the cruise on a message board,
and we almost felt like we knew each other before we even met. These types
of acquaintances don't always work out as expected, but thankfully that was
not the case on this cruise. We all got along famously and had many, many
laughs, great times and many, many drinks together! It was great fun
and I hope to cruise with this group again. You all know who you are.

In closing I would not hesitate to sail on a Voyager Class ship and Royal
Caribbean in the future. Royal Caribbean offers a rock solid product on the
most innovative ships afloat. Because the ships are so innovative and
attractive, I would put Royal Caribbean a notch higher than Carnival,
Princess, and NCL ... it's closest competitors. I found food and service to
be a tad bit better on Carnival, but superior to recent cruises on Princess
and especially NCL. Of course food and service are subjective and tend to
vary from ship to ship, so your experience and opinions may differ which is
fine.