Voyager of the Seas Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,490 reviews

So many wonderful ports... So little time!

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Voyager of the Seas
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cruiserdiver
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Jun 2009
Cabin: Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony

In order to get the great airfare deals going at the time from Australia to Europe we had to fly into Barcelona 3 days early (oh darn!)... We booked a flight from Barcelona to Paris for about 60 Euros each and had 2 great nights in Paris at the Hotel Sydney Opera in the Opera district for 125 Euros per night. This is a fantastic location with many of Paris' "must see" sights within walking distance.  The rooms are the typical small hotel rooms found throughout Europe. We chose this hotel because of the location, breakfast provided and friendliness of the staff.  Since we were staying in the Opera district we decided to save taxi fare from the airport and used the Rossiybus service from the airport to the Opera district for 8.50 Euro each. We had a 5 - 10 minute walk to our hotel from the drop off point.. (If you are not staying in the Opera district you can catch a taxi from the drop off area and still come out way ahead of taking a taxi all the way from the airport.)  After 3 lovely pre-cruise days in Paris we took the overnight Elipsos train from Paris to Barcelona. We were nervous about that because we had not been able to find many reviews with details of that service; however, it was something DH had always wanted to try. We booked 2 first class tickets in the grand class carriage which included a "roomette" and dinner with wine as well as breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised by the experience. Although the outside of the train is not "flash," once we boarded and made our way to our roomette we were happy with what we booked. The room is very, very small (as we expected) and has two seats and a large window. The room also has an ensuite (bathroom) with a toilet and sink as well as a shower. Luggage could have been a problem if my hubby were not a strong man. He was able to store our large suitcases and hand luggage overhead in the area provided above the bathroom. We were each provided with extensive toiletries including disposable slippers all done up in a nice little "Elipsos" vinyl satchel.  Once the train left Paris we were offered 2 dinner seating times - now or 10 pm. We chose to go to dinner right then as it was already close to 8:45 pm. While we were at dinner our cabin attendant magically transformed our two-seater roomette into a two- bed sleeper. I got the top bunk and slept very well as I was rocked to sleep by the movement of the train. We awoke for breakfast at 6:30 am and were probably the first into the dining room because I wanted to have time to shower, etc before our scheduled arrival in Barcelona around 8:30 am.  It was just after we finished breakfast that we learned due to another train hitting a car at a crossing gate during the night, our train was delayed getting into Barcelona by about 4 hours. This turned out to be a good thing for us as we saw lots of the countryside leading up to Barcelona through our train window that we would have otherwise slept through.

We took a taxi from the train station to the ship for 16 Euros. The taxi driver didn't speak any English at all. Luckily I was ready for that and had a copy of the port map available to show him. He drove us to the port and we each used the "international language of counting" to count out which ship was ours amongst the ships at the port. Despite the language barrier, the driver was very friendly.

Embarkation was great - very organized with all RCCL staff being quite friendly.  We were on the ship by 12:30 pm and were allowed into our cabin at 1pm as promised.

Cabin Review

Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony

Cabin D2
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