Review: We Sailed 4/20/08 from Galveston on Voyager of the Seas
Day One - * Park at the Port and support Galveston's cruise ship infrastructure. (For you TX/LA natives) * Buy the Soda pass (it's not just for kids) and be early to the lifeboat drill that's actually not at the lifeboat station. Our muster point was in the bar called Cleopatra's Needle. Turns out all you get is an 'airline' style walkthrough of how to fasten your lifejacket. * Bring or buy a lanyard to hold your Sea Pass. * Definitely go on deck to watch the departure. I wasn't aware of Seawolf Park until I saw it from the ship! (And Galveston turned out to be the most visually interesting port we sailed into).
At Sea - * We had a forward (Deck 7) family ocean view stateroom. Girls (8 & 12) in the bunks, son 10 on the pull out sofa bed. Enough storage and privacy for all. Only room gripe is that our sink ran either warm or hot water, no cold for brushing teeth. The porthole windows in this room are very large and provided lots of light and good views forward. The view exactly mimicked the 'bow cam' shown on RCTV. * Upper decks are very windy when the boat is underway! (Minimizing our mini-golf rounds). * The boat motion is more of a vibration than a pitch/roll. You notice it when you lay down to sleep. * RCCL is very good at holding sales to sell you stuff; at mid-week when they sell RCCL gear at ½ off. * It's easy to learn your way around the boat - all roads lead through the Promenade/deck 5. * Learn to use and like the staircases. Often at peak times it was necessary to take an 'up' elevator to go 'down'. Just keep riding... * We ate 90% of our meals in the dining room. While the food was good (not great) it all tastes the same after 4 days. The lobster meal was particularly disappointing (small and not tasty). The Windjammer food and the dining room food didn't have enough taste and selection to differentiate the two. The Promenade Cafe is a gem (please RCCL, add chips to the sandwiches). And where is the vaunted cruise Midnight Buffet? * The Sports Bar only shows ESPN International - so unless you are a diehard soccer fan, just plan on recording your sports at home. * We didn't find the card playing/game playing room soon enough! * The staff was excellent, particularly our room steward Freddy. * We found Johnny Rockets to be more expensive than it was worth - the cover charge and drink charges makes the total expense similar to being on land. * When smaller numbers of kids are on board, they blend the groups at Adventure Ocean. OK for 6-10 to be together, but we weren't ready for our 12 year old daughter to be w/ 16 and 17 year olds until 1AM (so she had an 11pm curfew and we helped her pick her event schedule). No way she'd stay w/ the 10 year olds! * Most teen events were held in the evenings; 6-11 year olds had events from 9 AM to late night. Teen activities in the afternoons were generally unstructured and unsupervised. * All shade near the main pool is the providence of the Smoking Permitted area. Go to the Solarium if you want a shaded lounge chair w/o second hand smoke. * The Ice Show was fantastic; the 2 reviews we attended I'd rate as good (Songs from Broadway & Songs from Movies). If I had seen the shows and movies they covered I would give them higher marks! * My kids enjoyed shuffleboard (who knew?) but we were moved out one night by Ship Security at 8:45pm (!) due to the noise of the pucks sliding on the deck over someone's head. * My wife made the finals in the Karaoke contest!! (She sang "The Rose").