The itinerary: Singapore, 4 Vietnam ports and Hong Kong was great. Just enough days at sea to relax as well. Boat itself: I find all these boats tacky so I won’t comment on the looks. Now the rooms were fine, pool, exercise facilities and restaurant were just fine. Linens could be replaced and frankly did not particularly like the stains on the tablecloths. Service: again all ok. Not specially impressed. Some of the rudeness we felt we experienced was more cultural and lack of language skills. The excursion staff definitely needs improvement and I would skip altogether next time. Their overview of the ports of call and excursion was particularly appalling. Young rude personnel. Activities: they tried hard. We enjoyed the fitness center, sauna, steam room, rock climbing, skating and a couple of shows. We were never bored. Pool side activities were fun. Food: ok bit main dining not at par with other cruises. Windjammer cafe had better food. We had some bad dinners so we switched mid cruise and the windjammer was just fine. Read Less

We've done a fair amount of cruising, all on Holland America. We were intrigued by the idea of our first visit to Vietnam being aboard this Royal Caribbean "Voyager of the Seas". I guess we've been spoiled by HAL. RCL falls short in so many ways. Boarding at Singapore was well-organized and moved along well. One of the first indications about our RCL experience - we were asked (no, hassled) about purchasing the "drinks package" no less than eight times while going through the boarding process! We don't understand why anyone would purchase this overpriced addition - we noted that the only ones we found that had purchased it were British passengers. Upon setting food onboard we were greeted not with a hearty "welcome aboard" but ANOTHER pitch to buy the drinks package! Enough already! Cabin areas were blocked off with signs saying they would not be available until 2pm. Firstly, our cabin. We had a balcony cabin on deck 8, forward. RCL was advised weeks ago that we would need to have electric at the bedside for a medical device (CPAP). This information never was passed on to the ship. And not only that, but a small powerstrip that is carried for this device was seized during check-in. We all know how busy the crew is on embarkation day, and since this 21-year-old ship has only one electrical connection in the room, it required an extension cable. RCL didn't provide it until after dinner - along with our luggage, which we didn't get until after our 5:30pm dinner time. The cable proved to be a continual annoyance since the ship had no gaffer's tape and refused to do anything to make the situation safe. When we DID get our luggage, we had to chuck it on the bed - which didn't have the usual leather bedlinen protection we've always had on HAL. Furniture and fittings in the room were old and tired, as were the bed linens and towels. One of the deck chairs was broken, and huge areas of rust could be seen on our balcony and the balcony of other cabins we visited. • Our refrigerator never worked properly. • The sink drain was broken when we embarked, and we asked for it to be fixed. A repairman did visit but didn't have a correct part to make it fully functional again. • The announcement speaker in the cabins is a nice touch, but ours never worked. When there was an important announcement we had to prop open our door to hear it. • The room was never OUR temperature; I don't think the thermostat did anything. With a cruise in mostly 90degree tropical temperatures, we never felt the room was cool enough. • Three days in, we had to make a special request to have our linens changed on the bed. If you don't ask, they won't do it. • No ice service from the room attendants! Really! Couldn't believe this is the case on RCL. The lifeboat drill was a joke. This was the first of many problems that RCL has created by having large numbers of passengers from Mainland China with only Mandarin language skills and NO staff or announcements in this language. There WERE announcements in German. Unlike other ships, the attendance at the lifeboat drill was recorded by hand on clipboards instead of by scanning room cards. It was clear that many passengers did NOT attend this drill. Maybe there are not the same legal requirements for this drill as there would be on cruises leaving a US port. I was disappointed with the cavalier attitude by RCL staff during this important exercise. Many (most?) from Mainland China are very inexperienced travelers and they could have benefitted from some outreach by RCL to them. Instead we had eight days of problems with what looked to be 25-30% of the passengers. DINING Windjammer Cafe (Buffet)? Had to go there while waiting around for our cabins, which were not available until 2pm. It was packed to overflowing. It was the only time we ate there - shipboard buffets are IMHO hideous. We went up to look a couple times and the food looked mostly unappetizing and uninteresting. The dining room, three floors tall, was nicely decorated and not noisy. We enjoyed all our meals in the dining room; breakfast, lunch, and dinners (early seating). The breakfast menu got boring quickly and the cheap ingredients were the same as in the buffet. We really dislike the cheap bacon and sausage used in the dining room, and the frozen hash brown potatoes were hideous. Both breakfast and lunch had a large number of items that had to be personally retrieved from a buffet set up in the middle of the room. We thought this lazy by RCL. If we wanted a buffet we would go to the Windjammer. At dinner the first night I attempted to order a bottle of wine. Should be easy, right? Nope. RCL has NO wine stewards, and the waiter at our table (who barely spoke any English) was no help. I asked if there was a wine steward in the dining room, but apparently not. I ordered a bottle of a California Cabernet Sauvignon. Sorry, don't have. They didn't have my second or third selection, either. At this point I gave up. Really glad I hadn't purchased the drinks package. LOL The first morning I ordered a Bloody Mary. NO CELERY? This was just one of many, many cheap cost-cutting decisions that we've not seen elsewhere on a cruise. Dinners had a wide variety of items, but we found that many were made with cheap ingredients - tough beef, chewy pork, and mostly an indelible duck (that found its way into a duck salad the next night). Even the ice cream was poor quality - but I guess they didn't want to compete with the Ben & Jerry's onboard. Finally, we were absolutely shocked that Royal Caribbean would charge US$10 for ROOM SERVICE. I asked our room attendant about it and he said "almost no one orders room service, the goal". ONBOARD Like the rooms, many areas of the ship looked tired and worn-out. The pools were a case in point. However the big atrium area was striking and always busy - as a respite from the small cabins, especially on the three sea days. We don't understand why anyone would buy anything but essentials at the onboard shops, nor do we understand the so-called "art auctions". ENTERTAINMENT We're not much for onboard entertainment, but we did attend a couple shows at least for a while. A female Mongolian singer was hideous - she couldn't even sing in pitch. The juggler and magician were entertaining. But the idea that "world class" entertainment is on a cruise ship is ludicrous. There was little else to do, especially on the sea days. No cooking classes, no organized exercise or yoga classes. Yes, they have wall climbing and the wave rider. Not interested. PORT CALLS We had two RCL excursions, and two excursions organized via Cruise Critic and other passengers. Vietnam has seen an explosion of tourism the last few years, and this has left their tour industry hustling to catch up. We found all of the tour guides difficult to understand and travelers shouldn't expect the same range of expertise that one would find on other cruises. We knew that going in. HO CHI MINH (SAIGON) This RCL tour was replete with problems, mainly of the guide who told stories that were blatant propaganda and largely anti-American. The war ended in 1975 and the guide wasn't old enough to have experienced it first-hand. And towards the end of the day he kept passengers onboard while he attempted to sell a book that were clearly bootleg copies. We reported all the antics to RCL the next day. NHA TRANG Nha Trang is a tender port, and RCL struggled to move passengers ashore for unknown reasons. Our tour, with a company called Shore Excursions, was well-done and interesting. Nha Trang was the most advanced tourism destination of all our port calls and the town was well equipped to handle the influx. The temple visit was interesting, and a half-day boat ride ended at a riverside restaurant. The food was pedestrian and dumbed-down for the tourists, never a good sign. The tour ended at a traditional weaving shop. Nha Trang would be great for a repeat visit. HUE, HOI AN, & DA NANG This was also an RCL tour day. The problem at this destination is that the port isn't close to anything. We planned to take the tour to the ancient city of Hoi An. This was a two hour bus ride from the port, and then two hours back. Others who visited Hue, or Da Nang, had similar harrowing stories about the long travel times. And quite often many passengers hope to see a destination "on their own" using a local taxi or Uber to get around. The few taxis at the port wanted US$200 PER PERSON to take people to Da Nang! And the walk from the port to even the nearest village was 10km. Hoi An was interesting for about five minutes. The town is a backpacker destination and ill-equipped for the large buses which (to the surprise of all the passengers) saw us dropped off in a dusty parking lot over a mile from the town! The more elderly and disabled were unimpressed that RCL hadn't told them of the bad conditions. We had a great, real Vietnamese meal for a very reasonable price in Hoi An. We also had two experiences of shops trying to rip us off. (Sigh). HA LONG BAY Tour choices at Ha Long Bay were either the Ha Long Bay boat tour, or a longish ride to Hanoi for a tour of the capital. We did Ha Long Bay and were very impressed. Again Shore Excursions organized this tour day. When we booked our cruise with RCL we were told Ha Long Bay was a tender port. And then weeks ago we were told that we would be docking. It was a new cruise terminal built there, and we were one of the first to use it. This made the whole tour day go much smoother, of course. The boat ride through the Ha Long Bay is well organized and a nice relaxing tour. The onboard lunch was adequate, but hardly Vietnamese cuisine. ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS: The internet service on the Voyager of the Seas was far better than what we've had on Holland America, but not able to stream anything despite the hype. We purchased service for two devices but could not get it to work on more than one. Onboard support was non-existent. Windows everywhere on the ship were filthy, all the time. I commented on this to several staff but was greeted with shrugs. There didn't seem to be enough staff on this cruise liner. Room attendants were rarely seen; they had too many rooms assigned to them. We've had "relationships" with room attendants and dining room staff on all our previous cruises. Not so here - they were all too busy. Long lines at the Guest Services counter were a fixture, as were staff who spoke little English. Officers were rarely seen, either. The drinks package wasn't the only thing that was being pushed incessantly. So were the "specialty restaurants". We thought them grossly overpriced and with the pedestrian quality of the meals generally, we had no illusions that these options restaurants would be any better. Conclusion? We never expected that there would be such a wide variation in the quality and experience between cruise lines - we naively assumed they were all pretty close in overall quality. We'll never go on a Royal Caribbean Cruise again. Read Less

choose this cruise because it fitted our itinerary. 1. Cruise Itinerary Just prior to the cruise we were advised the our overnight in Hong Kong had been removed and we would now arrive on disembarkation day. Booking cancellation was not allowed unless the cruise was paid in full without refund. 2. Check-in All embarking passengers were checked in at the same time but cabins were not available until 13:30 so hoards of passengers were milling about with their hand luggage, people were jostling for seats in the buffet and temper were getting frayed almost to the point of fighting. 3. Safety Drill Was carried out on the open deck (Promenade deck) people were squashed together in the hot sun for over half an hour with no directions from the inexperienced crew other than to line up in rows of four. No consideration was given to elderly, disabled or infirm passengers. Instructions during the drill given by staff were not audible or demonstrations visible. 4. Main Luggage Delivery Luggage arrived at the cabin very late (long after the ship sailed) 5. Dining Room Reservation Our booking reservation for dining was completely ingnored, we eventually was offered an alternative table tucked away in a corner under the main staircase. 6. Shore Excursions Shore excursions were very badly managed, passengers for all tours were mixed up together and held in the very overcrowded theatre for over and hour past the assembly time with no idea what was happening. The staff member in charge could not express herself or tell us what was happening in English (or any other language). No announcement were made about where the gangways were located. We were walked down three decks via the stairs and moved from the forward part of the ship to the aft gangway to disembark for the tours. No consideration was given to elderly, disabled or infirm passengers. 7. Library The ships library was a total waste of space with very few books and most of which were in foreign languages 8. In Cabin Movies In cabin movies on the cabin tv were chargeable at between $10 - $15 US dollars per movie 9. WiFi On board WiFi was prohibitively expensive starting at around $15.99 per day for the basic package. 10. The majority of the Cruise Directors staff could not speak English very well which made quizes and trivia games very difficult and hard to understand. No PowerPoint or visual aids were available. The Cruise Director himself was not approachable and did not interact with the passengers. Our whole experience with Royal Caribbean was horrendous. Read Less

We travelled as a couple but made many new friends on board. Cabin - see below. We had aa promenade facing interior on the 8th d. Quiet and good size. Activities - found details on the Cruise Compass and checked off what we wanted to do. All good from fitness at sidoku, to entertainment and scrap booking. Loved tge kronos band. Food- had 2 nights of dining at tge Chops Grille and Giovanni. Both excellent value undet tge BOGO package. Main dining room the next day was quite the opposite. Gave feedback and food improved after that. The dishes were ovet salty or sweet. Windjammer food was convenient and tasty. Meats there were mostly overdone. Enjoyed the white porridge white bait fish. Eggs, bacon, sausage. Fruits and drinks. We always say at the back to enjoy watching the propeller wake. Café rpmenade was the meeting place for late breakfast and afternoon tea for many. Good bran raisin muffobs, muffin surg egg n ham, beef on rye. Service - good but mixed crew had problems covering each other.. Swimming pool was small. Read Less

This was our first cruise and in the middle of a short stay in Singapore and onward trip to Bali. First impressions of the boat was quite positive from dockside. Embarkation was ok and we were on board pretty quick. but once on board we were given no information about where we could go and when we could get our room, after some time i found a crew member who advised me the pool bar was open. so myself and my wife sat at the pool bar and had a drink whilst we waited information. after a few hours we were advised via tannoy, (which was very quiet) that the room was ready. we managed to find our room which was at the front of the boat and to be fair quite nice and clean even though the interior was identical to a 1980's caravan. We then tried to get some food, this was a disaster, no tables. poor food choice and poor food quality. we found a crew member about a table who tried to get us to sit with others on a table. This is not for me or my wife, i dont expect to pay for a cruise and be expected to sit at a table with people we dont know. This happened every day of the cruise and as a consequence of this both my wife and i at very little on board. Entertainment what can i say it was shocking and whoever the entertainments manager was should be sacked. We thougfht we would see a main show one night and awaited what we thought would be a quality show (from what we had been told by our friends) when the show was introduced we found out it was two mime artist. The standard and show was so poor we left after about 5 mins. The bands around the ship were ok, but have seen better in my local clubs. the best singer was a guest who sang with the band at pool side. The pool area was ok. clean and the pool bar and service stsff were really friendly and helpfull. so as a consequence we spent most of our time on board in that area. I became also fed up with the way RC were always trying to sell stuff and became very annoying throughout. All announcements i made in English were made by people whose first language was not English and we simply could not understand a word that wa said and as a result had to keep going to reception to find out about things. The cruise has the feel of being in an average all inclusive hotel in Benidorm and was a real disappointment. so all the hype we had read about was completely false. Overall it was very disappointed with the cruise. I am gald it was not longer and as it was our first has convinced both myself and my wife i will never set foot on a cruise ship again. A shame really as we both really wanted to enjoy and hoped it would be the focus of future holidays. Read Less

Chose this cruise as it was part of a "cheap as chips" package from Cruise First. Probably won't book another holiday with them as was not that impressed with the service and having to fend for ourselves with all of the transfers. This was my first experience of Royal Caribbean having previously only sailed on celebrity and p&o. My first impressions were not good. Minimal communication, the worst online check in experience and a dreadful website. Forms, half the fun of a cruise is using the cruise personaliser to tailor the cruise but there was a long delay before we received the magic code and even then the website was confusing (and I work in the website business). Anyway, the day of the holiday finally arrived with the flight to Singapore on Singapore airlines. Considering we were at the back of the plane in cattleclass , the flight was really good. Singapore was an amazing city and a brilliant port to embark from. If doing an overnight, get downto marina bay for the lightshow and the gardens. The cruise terminal was a bit of a zoo as two cruises were boarding at the same time but check in was very well organised and painless. We boarded relatively early so had to wait for the cabin to be ready so rather stupidly headed to the windjammer for lunch. Not my choice as I was with my in-laws but OMG what an experience. No seating and more Australians than an ashes match at the MCG made for an experience, never to be forgotten (or repeated if I get my choice). However that is fairly normal for any cruise as people want to take full advantage of the free food from the moment they get onboard. To be honest, RCL is similar to other cruise lines (I guess it is now a proven formula) so other than the conflict created by cruising with a different mix of nationalies (predominantly Aussie and Chinese onboard which made life interesting). Good points: First time in an ocean view cabin and was actually quite impressed. Cabin steward was a bit useless with the daily newspaper missing on the first couple of nights and no statement of account on the last night. The odd duster left in the room for good measure. Dining in the main dining room was amazing. RCL had managed to book our party on different tables even though the bookings were linked but did resolve this painlessly. The menu had an Asian feel to it which was really welcome and the addition of a self service section for breakfast was a great idea. Promenade cafe. What a brilliant idea. So nice to be able grab snacks without having to fight my way through singlet clad passengers to get lunch was really welcome. The pizza and sandwiches were of really high quality. We frequented this quite a lot. Access to helipad on the front of the boat. This made for excellent sailaways as well as somewhere to hide in the evenings. The ice show. Stunning, absolutely stunning and should not be missed. Bad points Entertainment. Only went to one show which was the Aussie boys and had to walk out as it was so bad. Poolside. I am probably getting old but why oh why do the entertainment team assume that lying peacefully by the pool needs to be accompanied by loud music and inane games. Worlds sexiest man? Really? 30 minutes of my life I will never get back Smoking in the casino - why in this day and age would this be allowed. Quite beyond me. The promenade. I am sure this is popular and a great idea but all of the entertainment was on the main street (in a busking style) which made it difficult to enjoy. Particularly when you have someone in the pub playing and competing with the music on the promenade. Shops were pretty rubbish too. Lack of quiet areas with comfortable seating for those of us who enjoy a quiet evening. Other than the cabin, there are no quiet areas on this ship 3d films on the sea days. Just wanted something else to do than put up with the inane entertainment by the pool and watch a film and they decide to show 3d films. Really? Thought wearing stupid glasses to watch a film was acfad in the eighties. Obviously not in RCLs eyes. The windjammer. This was good for diets as the food was so bad. It was always busy as it was the only restaurant that allowed singlets and shorts but the food was either cold or inedible (and in some cases both). Overall the destination was amazing with amazing weather and excellent ports. The excursions were poor but that did not detract from the destination. RCL obviously targets a certain type of cruiser so if you want a really lively cruise where dressing up for a formal night means putting on a clean singlet and shorts and the entertainment is pumped out at you at load volume, wherever you are then RCL in general and this itinerary in particular is perfect. Unfortunately this does not suit me so will not be sailing with them again. Read Less

Great staff, great ship, awesome friends, terrific cabin...fantastic! That was a wicked week, and it all started with the staff onboard, nothing was ever a hassle. Our servers in the MDR were some of the best I have ever encountered, met + exceeded all expectations. Voyager is due for a refurb later this year, wouldn't think it needs (only a couple of things here & there) but really the ship is in great condition...the refurb will be insane! Did a splurge for this cruise and got a Junior Suite on Deck10, right under the Windjammer...but really had no idea at all, didn't hear a thing and was able to sleep in until late :) Clean cabin, spacious, a good escape when needed. Picked this cruise for the range of ports and they didn't disappoint, Langkawi always a favourite, but Phuket was just too much fun and the food! In short loved it, pretty obvious I suppose...but as always go on with the right attitude and have the vacation you deserve :D Read Less

This is our 19th cruise. I had read many disappointing reviews of this cruise so I was a bit apprehensive. This cruise did not disappoint! First, please don't beleive all the negative comments regarding this cruise. Yes, the boat is a bit tired but it is going to get a makeover soon. Yes, it is hard to find sitting places in the Windjammer, bit you can always find a spot. The food is RC quality. Don't be worried about if you wil find food since it is destined for the Asian market. You have ALL the RC faves and more! We did not go see any shows so I cannot comment on this. My negative commment goes to the SIngapore port. If you have a plane early in the morming, good luck! You have to go through immigration and then, customs with never ending lines! For the first time, we decided to book an excursion with the ship and we were VERY disappointed. The tour of Phan nga Bay is not as advertised. Forget the êrfect picture they show to sell the tour. You do NOT stop on the James Bond island and you WILL NOT get a nice picture from the crappy boat you will be on. The service was AMAZING! Our waiters and room guy were the best! The destinations are perfect. We loved our cruise and cannot wait for our next one:) Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was my brother in laws 60th birthday and 9 of us booked to go. I was feeling rather worried after reading quite a few bad reviews after I had booked the trip and we even thought of cancelling. In fact we actually went to cancel and then changed our mind on the day. So glad we didn't cancel. The cruise was great. I had seen quite a few bad reviews, mainly about the food and the staff but also petty ones about the size of the TV in the room, the ship being run down etc etc which I just ignore anyway. Yes the ship is going in for a refit but it still looked really good. I noticed some reviewers whinged about the size of the TV but for goodness sake they need to get a life. If you really do want a big TV in your room then I suggest you pay three times the price and go 5 star on another ship as this won't work for you. I could not believe the speed in which we got on to the ship. I was anticipating a couple of hours but from start to finish it was only about 30 minutes or so. Smooth as!. Getting off was a lot slower but the Queen Mary had also docked and there were over 10,000 of us trying to get off the two ships. So the delay was due to congestion through immigration which is not the ships fault but whoever is responsible to allowing two large ships to disembark at the same time. The food was excellent. Bear in mind this was not an expensive 5-star cruise. We mainly ate in the Windjammer cafe for breakfast and the smorgasbord was really good. We always found a seat no matter what time we went and we never felt crowded or had bad service. Most of the basic dishes were the same every day but many of the main dishes changed every day. we even had Yorkshire puddings on Sunday with the roast. The food included one-off things like Lancashire hotpot, scottish tattie pancakes, grilled prawns, banoffee pie plus all the regulars like curry's, noodle dishes stir fries, roast meats, salads and veggies and cakes galore, hamburgers and fries. All in all the food was excellent. My husband is a chef and he was quite happy as was I with the food provided. Each evening we had pre-dinner drinks at one of many bars and lounges and then went to the Sapphire dining room and had a fab 3 course dinner from an extensive menu that took about 1.5 hours. Then a show afterwards and off to bed. Casino, dancing bars etc went on until the early hours in you wanted to stay up. We didn't buy the drinks package as we are not heavy drinkers. If you are, as were some of the Aussies on board who must have had pickled livers by the time they got off, then the package will be good value for you. We were offered it cheaper on the first day when we got onto the ship, than we could buy it beforehand. It worked out with the discount about AUD $1000 for two people for the 7 nights. We just bought a bottle of wine between the two of us and if there was any left after dinner they keep it for you for the next night. All of the staff that we encountered were friendly and helpful. We are easy going people so perhaps why we didn't have any issues. I imagine if everyone thinks you are a pain in the rear then you will find some problem with this ship. The problem will most likely be that you are on it. The staff were really polite and very helpful. We encountered no rude staff at all. We went to four of the shows after dinner and enjoyed them all. We also went ashore each day and took a cab and did our own thing as we have been to KL, Langkawi, Penang and Phuket before. Personally if I ever went again on this particular cruise I would stay on board for all the destinations apart from Phuket and just enjoy the relaxing holiday on the ship. KL is an hour each way from the port, worthwhile if you want to do some shopping especially shoes as it is shoe shopping heaven providing you have small feet (under size 38 or size 8) You can find good day trips available through trip advisor if you don't want to pay the inflated prices on the ship. Remember everything that you buy on the ship is in US$. All in all I will now do another cruise with Royal Caribbean and would go on this ship Voyager of the Seas again Read Less

Stayed in a Junior Suite. Room is big and relatively clean, though it looks old and outdated. TV is small and bed is comfortable. House keeping is efficient and service level is acceptable. Turn down service is great. However a dirty cleaning towel was left in the basin after making up the room. All other services were terrible. Requested boarding assistance for seniors during booking but at the checking area, no assistance was offered even though she approached 3 staff. No smiles, no greetings from the staff Who looked tired and unhappy. Many staff acted as policemen onboard, telling passengers to queue and queue and to follow whatever rules they set to control the crowd. Lack of dinning tables and activities, shows. Saw two friends queuing to enter the buffet restaurant but they were told to go in two different batches and find each other inside the restaurant later. Certain sections of the main dinning rooms were always closed, scheduled show was cancelled due to technical reason. The only exception was the salesman who kept on introducing their chargeable items. Food is sufficient. Read Less