I hate to give negative feedback and I have been on 19 cruises with RCCL and on Voyager of the Seas several times, including 7wks on board Voyager in 2012 on her maiden voyage to Australia. Needless to say, I am a big fan of RCCL but felt my latest experience warranted my thoughts

I was on board Voyager again recently for 12 nights to the South Pacific and it appeared to me that RCCL have dropped the ball when it comes to the WOW factor. It began with stateroom 1688 on deck 10 port side rear corner, the first and last time I will ever sail at the rear of a ship. The room was large for that particular category due to the corner location, with a larger than normal balcony which I soon discovered was not so private. The windjammer buffet was located directly above with diners sat near the windows able to view 50% of the 'private' balcony. Then there was the noise from the Flow rider two decks above with music blaring out most of the day, which put an end to enjoying the serenity of the ocean. Then of course there was the smell... It smelled like a garbage dump out there and when I asked the stateroom attendant what it was, he said it was most likely odor coming from where they store or incinerate the refuse/garbage. The balcony was also littered with what appeared to be black soot every morning, which was never swept once by the stateroom attendant, other items that appeared occasionally were table tennis balls from the sport deck above, a rubber sandal, an apple core, a discarded slice of cake and chicken bones!

The food in the main dining room was lack luster to say the least, the menu was boring, the waiter kept forgetting to bring soup spoons or steak knives and annoyingly, began clearing the table every night before everyone had finished eating. The windjammer was like feeding time at the zoo, I tried to avoid it at all costs. Read more