Submitted by: The Stockwell Family
Ship: Royal Caribbean
Date of Cruise: April, 2003
Itinerary: 7 night Western Caribbean
Cabin Type: Outside cabin
On a scale from 1-5, 5 being best:
Embarkation: 4
Ship's Public Area: 5
Cleanliness of the Ship: 5
Formal Dining Food: 5
Buffet Food: 4
Room Service Food: 5
Restaurant Service: 5++++
Stateroom/Cabin: 5
Stateroom Service: 5
Activities & Entertainment: 5
Children's Program: 5+
Ports of Call: 5
Debarkation: 4
Overall Rating: 5
Be Sure to Try: The shows, the promenade (especially Cafe Promenade), the parade and shows scheduled on the promenade, ice skating show, Solarium, midnight buffet (all I can say is WOW!!!), Johnny Rocket, roller blading, minature golfing, rock climbing (all these are included with the cruise, no extra charges).
General Tips: If you have young children (ours were 3 and 5 on this trip), I highly recommend reserving the main (early) dining. We've been on both early and late dining with our children and found that although they could stay awake through the shows after dinner with early dining, they often fall asleep while eating when we have the late dining schedule.
Dollarless Tips: If your sailing dates are flexible, wait for last minute specials for this ship. If your sailing dates are not flexible, book as early as you can to get the most savings. On Royal Caribbean's Voyager Class ship they try to encourage cruisers to do as much activity as possible. As incentive, you get points for trying many of the available activities. Points are redeemable for logo merchandise.
Extra Comments and Suggestions: Some events and activities require either special free tickets that are given out at certain times (the ice skating show) or pre-scheduled (rock climbing). Be sure to be at the location at the time specified to pick up the tickets. We had forgotten the time to pick up the ice skating tickets. Luckly another family couldn't make it to the show and gave us their tickets. It was by far the most exordinary show I've ever seen at sea!
Although the kid's club on the Voyager was much smaller than on Disney Cruise, our children actually preferred it to the Disney Cruise's Oceaneer's Club because of the individualized attention and the activities planned. Be aware that unlike Disney Cruise, the kids' club staff at RCI expects gratuities at the end of the cruise.
The wait staff at the formal dining was by far the most attentive of all the cruises we've had the privledge of taking. Even more so than the Disney Cruises. Upon request of plain iceburgh salad with Ranch for our 3yo, our waiter brought a quarter head of lettice to our table that night then remembered each night thereafter, and cut it up for her at the table(on the Disney Magic our waiter claimed that they did not have any plain iceburgh lettice). Our 5yo, who had expensive tastes, asked for 10 lobster tails on lobster night. Although the tails after the first was not in the shell as the first one was, he accomodated and didn't flinch when she asked for the third one (that was all she had room for). We have booked another cruise on the Voyager for Nov. 04 and we'll find out if the service was the norm or exception.
