This was our third trip on voyager and we felt that due to the corona virus issues we should have been kept far more informed than we were. Seven sea days was a joke especially as the ship could have returned to Australian port prior to the 14 day self isolation bane was brought in. Our junior suite was certainly not what I would have called clean let alone sanitised. We regularly had no room service breakfast menus or tea and sugar. The food was definitely better than our last trip and the restaurant and bar staff were wonderful. We were closed out of one port after another and the captain gave no information and when he did it was incorrect telling everyone that the 14 days self isolation started from our last port! Tempers were becoming frayed after so many stories and not enough accurate information. We were given two days refund when the trip should have been canceled or cut short! I really felt for the young families on board that now will lose income while in self isolation! This may have been our last cruise! Read Less

With the Corona Virus spreading rapidly, we were lucky to be able to cruise at all and were aware that things may change so we set out to enjoy our anniversary holiday with a positive frame of mind. We had an enjoyable day in Noumea and 2 days on Mystery Island and quite a few sea days. We have been well compensated for the lack of ports. We were well fed, accommodated, and entertained . We did not find it too crowded at all considering the amount of people on board. Having not cruised with RC before, we were happy with all the facilities provided and the extras that were added recently. Some things are out of the cruise ships control and we don't know what is going on behind the scenes This world wide problem is affecting everything so make allowances and go with the flow at the moment!! Our only gripe was smoking on board. The areas allocated for smoking were too big and intrusive on other passengers especially the children.. Children are inhaling smoke around one side of the pool area.One whole outside deck was for smoking and it would blow inside and down through the stairwell and passages. Read Less

Booked this cruise 6 months ago. From the get go was a terrible experience. Boarding was chaotic, over 2 hours to board despite having first boarding time of 11.30 am. Itinerary changes supposed to visit 6 islands. Ended up going to 2. No information given from crew. Stuck doing laps around sydney. 11 night cruise turned to 7 sea days. The new gym set up is a joke. Refurbishment.... What refurbishment. The removed the old gym which was excellent and turned johnny rockets into a gym 1 fith of the size. The removed the complimentary sauna and steam rooms and added 70 more cabins which is ridiculous. The ship felt over crowded and cramped in public spaces. Absolutely terrible. Cabins mouldy, old furniture and furnishings. Public spaces old. No refunds given, no complimentary movies etc. Royal Caribbean has really dropped the ball. This was my 4 cruise with them and most certainly my last. Guest relations was absolutely terrible. Food sub par. However service at dining room and windjammer from front of house staff was excellent. Read Less

My Wife and I had time off organised and we hadn't been on a cruse since we were both 19, so this was our chance to to try cruising again. Ports of call were out of Royal Caribbean's control, due to Covid-19. My major complaint is the up-selling that takes place as soon as your board the ship. We found the price of alcohol on a supposed duty free ship out of this world. I was drinking Lindeman's Bin 85 Pinot Grigio which was being charged at USD9 a glass at the AUD Exchange rate equated to approximately AUD14.15. You can buy this wine in the US at USD8.00 a bottle, in Australia at AUD9.00 per bottle. This to me stinks of daylight robbery. We found that the noise on Deck 11 where the pools were located were very noisy, we also found that at the shows in the Royal Theartre, the singers were drowned out by the level of the band. We found the whole eating experience really good from the Al Carte Breakfasts and Dinners to the the specialty restaurants on board amazing. We ate at Giovannis and Chops Grille and the food and service were amazing. The wait staff were very friendly but at the same time very professional. Our cabin was a balcony cabin right at the back of the ship which meant that we were doing a fair bit of exercise walking between our cabin and the stairs/lifts. Our balcony cabin was had a steel wall between it and the next cabin which made it very private compared to other balcony cabins. We only had two excursions off the ship, the first was one I organised prior to leaving Sydney for a 6 hour tour of Noumea. The other shore excursion was Mystery Island which was a tender excursion to this lovely little island. The service by all ship staff was amazing considering the number of changes to our itinerary from the day we stepped aboard to disembarkation in Sydney. Read Less

As avid cruisers, we had a world trip organised from Feb-Oct 2020, which includes 7 cruises. We even started up our own blog for the trip thriftydrifting.com . A week before our first cruise was to depart our home in Fremantle, WA, the cruise was cancelled ( due to Covid19) , with everything going haywire quickly we had a few weeks up our sleeves so quickly booked in on back to back Cruises on Voyager of the Seas. If we were going to accomplish anything with the start of the disruptions, given we were at 60 nights with RC the back to back would take us to 82 giving us our diamond. We love being on the sea and love sea days, so regardless of ports of call scheduled we were just happy we could be on the water. Embarkation- at Circular Quay in Sydney was smooth. At the time there was still no temperature checks, but we did fill out a health survey for Vanuatu ( originally this cruise was to New Caledonian Ports) . 2 days before the cruise we were emailed the itinerary change which would now go to Noumea and then to Vanuatu ports instead. Note: after our day in Noumea there was an announcement our cruise wasn’t going to Vanuatu, but now going to Tauranga and Bay of Islands in New Zealand and Eden, Australia The ship- overall appearance, cleanliness, maintenance, etc is very good. We like this ship and having previously been on Explorer of the Seas for 23 days we knew the Voyager layout very well. They are very similar. Dining- As we aren’t your typical cruisers, we can only comment on the dining options we do use. ( on this cruise we didn’t use any of the paid/extra dining options) and we only had dinner in the Main dining room once. Main dining room- we enjoy the main dining room for breakfast. They have it laid out so that buffet style is on the 3rd floor and a la carte is on the 4th floor. Problem for us is we always ask for a private table for 2. As there are limited private tables for 2 on the 4th floor we have to do the buffet on the 3rd floor. Luckily we don’t mind the buffet, think it’s a bit better than the Windjammer, and coffee better as well. Plus you get your ice water in a glass rather than a plastic cup. Occasionally we have lunch in the main dining room. It’s nice to go up for their Tutti salad buffet and see what else is on offer and also get any a la carte items as well. We don’t do dinner in main dining room. Much prefer the Windjammer as it is less crowded, informal and suits us. Windjammer - With other Royal Caribbean ships we have been on, we have been much more impressed with breakfast spreads. This cruise seemed to lack the extra variety. Example, didn’t have lesser known breakfast options like congee and accompaniments, Indian breakfast options, and even salmon was limited. Lunch and Dinner were quite good, lots of variety, although after 11 days it does all start to feel the same. We have been on ships were everything was salted heavily, food cold, etc, so cant complain about the food here. We also enjoy dinner in the Windjammer as it is not very busy, very casual. We also enjoy making a cheese plate and dessert plate to take back to the room to eat later. Note: on this ship the Windjammer had a hand washing station. ( pretty sure this will become common on more ships) , it is a slower process in line waiting, but once the initial crowd is in the line goes down as well. We also like the Cafe Promenade. We are happy with the complimentary coffee, so only occasion splurge on a bought one. But we also go for the complimentary snacks - pizza, rolls, desserts, antipastos, all nice for an afternoon nibble. Pools and Outdoor decks- there are 2 pools side by side in the main area and a 3rd pool in the adult only solarium. This ship the Solarium is open air. The ship also has 6 spas (hot tubs) 4 in main area and 2 in Solarium. We did find on this ship the pool and spas were often very busy, much more than on other cruises we’ve been on. Maybe the sunnier days and more sea days brought more people out. Activities - this ship has a big activities area: sports court, rock climbing, wave rider, mini golf, 2 water slides, etc. - we don’t really use these, but they looked popular amongst the crowds. Ice Skating - The ship has a cast of professional ice skater that put on a couple of shows. The Studio B only holds about 250 people so the initial shows get filled quickly. They also do free skating. We did the skating on Explorer of the Seas which was good. On this ship it was very crowded on the ice so didn’t bother. Deck 5 - walk around deck. We enjoy the deck for our morning walks and going out for a stroll throughout the day. Front of ship has steps up to deck 6, but we like that the deck goes completely around the ship. Reception - on numerous occasions throughout the cruise we had spoken to reception on a number of issues. On every occasion we get brushed off with a “ we know nothing, can’t help you attitude” or we’ll make a note and call you back - but never do. Unfortunately these interactions can really tarnish a guests overall experience on a cruise. Read Less

We really enjoyed the people we met. The ship is fantastic, with a friendly crew. The shipboard experience was good. Lots to do, trivia, lectures, activities. The dinning was, as expected, very good. With lots of good choices meals and the buffets. We were okay with the initial change in itinerary, adding two overnights in Vanuatu. We understood that we could not get off in Neumea because we traveled through Singapore, and that the Vanuatu government barred us from docking due to crew members infected with the common flu. The change to New Zealand was a bit of a let down since we had booked a "South Pacific" cruise, but we were glad to be on a Cruise! We did enjoy getting off the ship in Teranga and Bay of Islands. Beautiful scenery, nice folks and good local food. Eden, Australia was a nice, small town with cheerful folks and interesting history. The crew provided excellent service while on board. Having one of our suit cases lost between the stateroom pick up and the pier on debarkation was a major hassle. Still not sure what will happen with this! We are hoping that Royal will locate our missing bag and return it to us. We are hoping that Royal will see that for us, this was not the vacation we booked, and will see fit to compensate us more than the credit we received onboard. Read Less

Voyager of the seas refurbishment. Johnny rockets & the large spa in the gym had been removed & replaced with suites. Great for RCL but not so great for customers who cannot afford a suite. Pinstripes class & suites now have what was the old diamond room & Diamond & diamond plus members are now removed from using the beautiful glass room upstairs to what I think was a old cigar room next to the Star lounge. It seats about 30 people. We had 400+ Diamond people on our cruise. On past cruises if the ship had a lot of diamond members they would open up the star lounge or use the Viking lounge but instead RCL hired it out for private functions. We were a group of 20 & to get together we were forced to use the cafe promenade to catch up each day. RCL seem to be looking after their bottom line the almighty dollar & not their loyal customers. I agree that they should look after pinnacle class as they have been loyal as diamond class are, but customers who book only once but pay $’s for a suite who are not loyal seem to get the run of the ship. I wasn’t impressed also that RCL have booked out rooms that are for everyone to access limiting everyone to seating & places to enjoy. RCL should not book out public lounges for private functions as we all pay to use the Viking lounge & star lounge. Hopefully this isn’t the start of each refurbish of the fleet. We were all left very disappointed & will avoid the voyager of the seas. Read Less

Six nights Melbourne and Hobart cruise. 19th of Feb to 25th Feb 2020 From start to finish, what an experience! Arriving at the Sydney Cruise terminal it was very busy and there was lots of Royal Caribbean ground staff helping direct passengers to the baggage and boarding terminals. The boarding process was very fast, no issues using passport or drivers licence. It took around 2 minutes extra this time due to the corona virus questions and information. I found this to be good practice by royal Caribbean, helping ease the tension and worries of the virus. Once on board we proceeded to the pool deck (11) and began sampling some of the drinks that Voyager had on offer. We were not limited by price as my group had purchased the deluxe drinks package many months before hand for around $70 AU per day, great value! As this includes Tea/coffee/fruit juices/all post mix and canned soft drinks and all top shelf alcohol and cocktails. After a few drinks we made our way to windjammers buffet restaurant, WOW! What a selection! Food ranging from Australian/American/Indian/Chinese/Italian and much more! Heaps to choose from! Salad bars/ hamburger and hot dog station, huge range of desserts. The buffet was busy as it was day 1 lunch, and there was plenty of staff working! Collecting plates, cleaning tables and drink service. There was a medium Que to get in but was fast moving with little to no wait, and very pleasant staff to greet you. Gotta love royal Caribbean motto's washy washy! The staff encouraging guests to clean their hands before eating. After lunch were went to check out what our cabin was like, we had balcony room (9222) it was very clean and well presented. Bathroom and shower were clean with fresh towels. When leaving my room we were greeted by our room attendant whom asked our names and introduced himself. He also wished me happy birthday, showing he makes the effort to learn about his guest before they arrive. Over the next 2 days we explored the ship, sampling their dinning and bar options throughout the ship. Casino bar and schooner bar are great! Good professional service and very quick. We also ate at the main dining room. This was really impressive the amount of people and quality of the food was top notch. Our 2 waiters were well presented and were out to please, and that they did! We visited Tasmania first stop, awesome! Easy disembark and boarding and plenty to see and do. Unfortunately, 2 hours out of the Tasmania port we had to turn the ship around and return to port due to a medical emergency. The captain was very informative, updating passengers on the current situation. Our next stop was Melbourne, it was a very nice city. We visited a local casino and had a few drinks and a quick flutter. Once everyone was on board at 4.30pm the ship left heading back out to sea. And you would never guess, but yes 4 hours after leaving the port of Melbourne the ship had to turn around again due to a medical emergency. We arrived back in port at around 8.30pm and it was beautiful! Melbourne city at night was a site to see! Thank you for a special photo opt RCI. It was a shock to me to see that Royal Caribbean would turn the whole ship around and return to port to help one of the guests! This was awesome! It gave us all an easy feeling, the care that they take to look after us is exceptional. I do however frown upon those few rude guests that made such a big deal of the event, and complaining and carrying on like little children about the situation. Human Life means a hell of a lot more than the little bit of money you could have invested at the casino. Yes, due to returning to port means that the casino opening would be delayed and would have to wait until it was out of Australian waters before opening their services. But over all, it was fantastic to see Melbourne again from a different point of view. We then headed back to Sydney, only to realize that this was the final stretch of our holiday. Talking among our self, wishing we had booked for longer! Overall from start to finish, I rate my cruise on Voyager of the seas a solid 9.7 out of 10. The entertainment was well chosen for the demographics aboard, good variety and loads to do. Guest’s facilities are in the plenty! The ships pools and multiple spas are great to relax in, the large spas on deck 11 are heated, and was a good meeting/ chatting place on a cold 8c Tasmanian afternoon. I highly recommend giving this ship and its crew a go! And hopefully you enjoy it as much as I Read Less

My wife and I choose our cruises based on their destinations and have cruised since 1983 on many RCCL ships, as well as other cruise lines. The Radiance class are my favorite sized ships and the Serenade of the Seas is my favorite in this RCCL class. We had cruised on Explorer of the Seas a few years ago and thought that the Voyager wouldn't be any worse. I was badly mistaken. We booked this 14 day South Seas Island cruise and a back to back 6 night cruise to Tasmania a year ago. We have diamond status with RCCL so we get expedited embarkation which was excellent. When we entered the passageway on deck six heading for our stateroom, we couldn't help but notice that the carpeting was wet and the space smelled of sewerage and sewer gas. The crew worked daily to address the foul smell issue. When we got to our inside room we found that the Voyager had decreased the size of the room and took away the coffee table and reduced the closet storage. To get into bed we had to crawl from the foot because there was no room between the TV and side of the bed. IKedek was our room attendant and he was Johnny on the spot, wonderful! We had a late dinner seating on deck 5. We always request large table so we can meet people from other parts of the globe over dinner and get their perspectives on world events. My wife and I are in our early mid 70's. The first night two young Australian women Adele and Rebecca were seated with us and then on the second night Mel (Melinda) and Tim joined the group. These young people were absolutely delightful. They were all excellent ambassadors for Australia. Our head waiter was IPutu. He was great and made his part of the dining experience wonderful. The food was good but the menu is repeated and becomes very boring. On previous cruises we always enjoyed attending the enhancement lectures by very interesting people from Gerry Lynch a recently retired Assistant Director of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police, Erving a professor from Luther College in Iowa who gave excellent lectures on various pirates from the Caribbean to Europe and a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration director who gave interesting talks on our seas and sea life. No such luck on our last 20 days of cruising on Voyager of the Seas. No remarkable enhancement lectures on this ship. I can't comment on the entertainment because of my hearing impairment and the electronic headset that I checked out from guest services just gave me crackling feedback. The fitness center had good equipment but it was so small that people had to line up and wait a long time to access it. The hot tubs were cold on all but two or three days. Hot tubs provide a good place to meet people from around the world. Conversations in the hot tubs were mostly how disappointingly cold they were. The on board experience was miserable. The Voyager is one big noise center which is miserable. The Promenade is noisy and should be avoided unless you like to rummage through tawdry over priced sale items and listen to undifferentiated noise. I'm a US Marine combat veteran and have always enjoyed the veteran meet and greets where we get to talk to veterans from other countries, some allies and some former enemies. We had a few of these on this cruise. They scheduled these meetings at the promenade bar Pig and Whistle during the nosiest times of the day. After the Australians complained they moved it to deck 11at the High Note which was a little less loud with no seating. Being Diamond Club members we have a happy hour from 4:30 (1630) to 8:00 (2000) where we theoretically could meet and talk with other long term cruisers. Unfortunately, RCCL moved the club to a very small room as the number of members increased. There was no seating. The Voyager of the Seas Diamond Club is a horrible place. However, the bar tenders were excellent and worked diligently under adverse conditions to make up for the very poor conditions of the club. The library or what the RCCL calls a library does not have many books and this hold true throughout this cruise line. On the Voyager they combine a small library with a game room where people who are playing games are having fun making noise. That is good for game players but poor for readers. We went on five RCCL sponsored Shore Excursions. The excursion at New Caladonia was good, one of the two excursions on Fiji was very good the other was good. The Tasmanian excursion was fair as we couldn't understand the guide. The bus tour in Melbourne Australia was also good. All in all, our experience on Voyager of the Seas was very disappointing. RCCL just crowds too many people is too small of a space. Many of the couples we met in the Diamond Club stated they would not cruise on the Voyager again. For my wife and me, this is our first and last cruise on the Voyager of the Seas. Read Less

I expected better for the price I paid, The biggest problem for me was the food lacking taste nutrition and presentation was very bad, especially main dinning, very annoying when waiters continually asked how was the food when they knew I didnt like anything. Interior promenade view cabin was so noisy, music continued all night, I asked to be moved to another cabin and I was which was good. Walking down the Promenade was crowded noisy bands extremely loud and hard to do shopping but the shops weren't much anyway. Windjammer eating was poor quality also loud music staff singing washie washie songs I have no problem washing hands, but to be sung songs like we are children was embarrassing and annoying. Deck 11 full of drunks, couldn't watch outdoor movie but that happens on lots of cruises. Was very hard to find a quiet place, library was always full of people. Ship very cold. Read Less

Booked this cruise in 2018 because of the itinerary In the South Pacific, as previously we had missed a few islands because of a cyclone. The Coronavirus caused a few. Small islands into locked down so the itinerary was changed the day before, but still in the South Pacific. Once on board the itinerary was changed again lost four islands and given more sea days and an overnight stop in NZ (only cruised there last year) and a stop in Eden on the south coast of NSW. I do know what’s in the fine print, but changing countries without consultation or reimbursement is extremely poor. We will never do a Royal Carribean cruise again, this was a first time with them and now the last, this was out 15 cruise and never have we been treated the way RC treated us. Did not like the ship as everything was centred around the promenade, all the shops and small bars and they also did all the dancing classes making it very hard to move through the ship even on shore days the staff would rehearse holding up passengers, public areas lacking and no place to sit quietly very crowded on the ship, had to line up for meals in the dinning room every night. Did not see the captain once he did make a couple of public appearances but they were times we were at meals or they were for the exclusive members. We even had to get out of the lounge after trivia or bingo so the diamond class could use the lounge, leaving other passengers to try and find another place, mostly all full. Read Less

For many years we have wanted to visit south pacific islands and had finally settled on a 14 night fiji and pacific islands. First of all, through no fault of RCL, the itinerary was changed due to the coronavirus the itinerary was changed. We had a rear facing junior suite which was spacious but dated with a limited view but was nice as a retreat when we didnt want to be beside the noisy pool area. Our my time dining experience in the main dining area was found to be slower than normal service with the usual MDR menu, specialty dining was quite the opposite. I think that there were too few complimentary dining or eating areas.The buffet dining area had barely enough sitting area and bigger variety in food, in my opinion. I am really curious as to the smoking area location on the pool deck. It was situated close to the pool. Second hand smoke was unavoidable by adults, staff and kids. It was difficult to avoid the area . Entertainment was really good. There was no sauna or steam room. Staff were very courteous and professional. The BOGO Beverage package was expensive and believe we made an error in purchasing it. Closer to the end of the cruise a different drink package was offered which seemed to be a better deal. Read Less

Ship-Voyager is a good size ship, but with the renovations, they have reduced public space for more cabins. Too many people squeezed into smaller areas. Even though it was recently refurbished, it is showing its age. Very noisy in certain areas like the promenade, Schooners, Windjammer, and the library. Cabin(inside) was normal, except access to the bed was difficult on the TV side due to the bed touching the dresser. had to step over edge of bed. Dangerous at night if you have to get up. We had them separate the beds so it was open in the middle. Dinning- Windjammer too crowded. Limited seating. Food average, but good variety most days.Main dining- food was a good to very good most nights.We had MY time for 7:00, but we had to line up on Deck 3. They opened at 6:45 to MY Time, and frequently, early seating diners at 5:00 were still inside. Very slow and confusing. Even though we had the same time every night, we were put in different sections with different waiters most e very night. We did have the same waiter the last 4 nights. We purchased a 3 nite Specialty Diner Pkg. The Italian restaurant was good and the first trip to Chops was good. Out in 1 1/2 hrs. 2nd visit was a disaster. Worst dining experience EVER! Was there 2 1/2 hrs. and still hadn't got our deserts. 20-30 minutes between courses. Service very slow. After salad, waited 30 min. for 9oz filet. It was very mushy and had no taste whatsoever. After several bites, I informed the server that I could not eat it. She apologized and said they were having so problems that night. Offered another steak, but I declined. There was not a Manager around to complain too that night, but I did speak to an Officer about it the next day. I have no desire to return to Chops. On the last night of the cruise, the Maitre D gavemy wife and I a glass of champagne, without an explanation. Later I asked him why, and he said it was Because of my experience in Chops. Weird. Entertainment was good most of the time, but they scheduled some of the best on ship entertainers off on the same evenings, like in the Pub and the Schooner. Weird! Service was good to very good. Great room steward. Ports- this was the cruise that had to change about 3 Ports of call due to the Virus. It was very disappointing and many guests were upset. We understood, however and made the most of it. We did not receive any compensation, but did get a refund for RC shore excursions that were cancelled. Debarkation was a real Cluster. Ship was held up for clearance until after 8:00. We were told to go to the Tavern for a 7:30 departure on a bus transfer to airport. Speaker in the Tavern was not working and we did not hear any announcements to leave. Once we could leave, everyone was trying to get off, regardless of their time. We missed our transfer, but were put on a later one. We got to the gate at the airport as they were loading the plane for the flight to L.A. One last comment- RC needs to seriously consider a non smoking policy. IT's time! The smoking areas on 11 were very large. The entire pool area smelled of smoke. hard to avoid. many children around. They had it located between the ice cream and pool exchange areas, with a portable bar in the middle. Really? Read Less

Cruised on the voyager of the seas on a 14 night South Pacific cruise. Was notified when we all boarded on sail out day that there would be a Major itinerary change and that the ports of Port Villa, Mystery Island, Lifou and Mare were now canceled due to the coronavirus scare. The cruise would now be re-directed from the warm South Pacific and Travel south to Cold Tauranga NZ and Eden south coast. A lot of disgruntled passengers due to the fact that RC didn’t choose a suitable port in a warmer climate such as North Queensland? Or no offers of reimbursement. That been said if anyone is reading this please take into consideration the RC ‘unlimited drinks’ package also is consumed by a lot of irresponsible cruisers. At Ike’s we felt that we were on a P&O party ship rather than a family cruise. Smoking area was situated right next to kids pool and spa with literally hundreds of smokers at any given time sucking down their cheap duty free smokes. Cruise had no atmosphere right from the get go with no band playing at sail out party or any sail out parties for that matter, which was a first from the 10+ cruises we have done sailing out of Sydney. Found the majority of the staff were quite jaded given that after talking with a lot of them the majority of staff were nearing the end of their 7 month work contract. We cruised on the Radiance of the seas 12 months ago and found the difference between the 2 ships was like cruising with a different cruise line, the 2 ships are similar size, however the voyager has around 1000 more passengers which made it near impossible finding a table for breakfast or lunch in the windjammer eatery. Disembarkment was a similar issue, also found all the deck chairs around the pool were taken early with people claiming them with their towels but not necessarily using them and the pool staff certainly didn’t police people reserving deck chairs. Also similar issue with the Pig and Whistle Tavern and the Cafe Promenade were always busy with a lot of elderly doing jigsaw puzzles etc in these areas and taking up tables for large extended periods of time and not being able to get a seat most of the time. The Gym on this ship is a joke and given what the Gym looked like before the recent renovations is somewhat of an insult. I found that this cruise was terribly pushy with a feeling of it being very overcrowded, the entertainment was below average, the food repetitive and found that this cruise had no atmosphere compared to the many cruises we have done beforehand. The Voyager has now made me reconsider how I Holiday now as I have done a cruise every 12 months since 2005 and this was the first cruise that We haven’t enjoyed. If you are considering doing a RC cruise just remember that the bigger the ship doesn’t mean better. If you have children then Carnival Cruises are the way to go they are more family friendly the food is better and they practice responsible service of alcohol with capping their drinks package at 15 per day. Read Less

Wanted to have a look at the Voyager, and particularly as supposedly recently renovated. Cabin 6232 was our cabin on the sixth deck. No renovations, brick hard bed, mould in shower, rust on balcony. No tissues, no toiletries. From the time of boarding was bombarded with sales whilst walking, sitting in the bar, even while eating in the main dining room- drink packages, dining packages, spa treatments, kitchen tours, orange juice, even when buying hair spray (forgotten) sales person tried to sell me earrings. The drinks are sold in US dollars, this caught some of the guests unprepared as does not specify currency. Beer av $7.50, spirits $8.50 but the lemon lime &bitters was classified as a virgin cocktail and cost $8.50. Convert to AUD, expensive. But this did not deter the passengers. Many, many drunk and rowdy party goes. This maybe more because of the limited voyage time, being treated as a party time. Dressing extremely casual, shorts and thongs in main dining, towel wrapped patrons dripping in Windjammer, fight to get seating in buffet and bars, and could barely move to walk down deck 5. When trying to pay account on last night, 4 staff at desk, 69 people in front of me, waited 40 mins and as many waiting after I had been attended too. Food in main dining, woeful. Steak could not cut or chew. Chicken asparagus pie, no asparagus and looked and tasted like baby food. The good - staff at dining, bars and room attendant lovely. Embarkation and disembark quick, easy. Big emphasis on hand washing. Would I go again, definitely no. Read Less

Me (aged 11)went on a cruise into the middle of nowhere with my family. This was our second time doing that but not on that cruise line, and I have to say that I still had a terrific time but sadly the food there was terrible. On our day of arrival I had a desert in the Dining Room, that was really nice. The next day I wasn’t feeling too good but I’ll get to that part later. Anyway, my Mum got me some pancakes and a donut. When you think of a pancake chewy wouldn’t be the first word that comes to mind, not only that but it was dry and crumbly. It was the same with the donut. So I had one bite of both of those things and then instantly I decided that I wouldn’t have anymore of it because I didn’t like it so then I instantly went for the fruit. Most of our dinners were fantastic but on our last night, we went to Giovanni’s Table. Our waiter was lovely but it took a long time for our food to come out. It took an hour and a half. Not only that but my pasta wasn’t very cooked and had been sitting out for a very long time. My Mum and Dad’s food not only looked disgusting, it was disgusting! Then we saw the Maître D shout at another table. It was not the kind of behaviour that should be put up with. They then had a lighting issue where the lights would dim down and then lighten back up again which was deeply annoying! When we left my Dad gave him a stern talking to witch he absolutely deserved. Basically, what I was trying to say is that, cruise was amazing, food wasn’t so good and definitely do not go to Giovanni’s Table. Read Less

We chose this cruise, even though it was in the school holidays, as a reward for our son going into Year 11. We have been on Voyager of the Seas before and enjoyed the activities- FlowRider and ice skating etc and also chose the destinations that were best for snorkeling. As there were 3 of us and we had a lot of snorkeling gear we chose a balcony cabin with an extra bed (8268). The extra bed came out of the ceiling above the top of the king bed, so you did have to watch your head, otherwise the room was as expected. Clean and in working order. We live the FlowRider and the staff on this activity are helpful and friendly. If you are going to give it a try do it early in the cruise as the lines get huge on the last couple of days. We had the Key so had a few advantages such as extra sessions on the FlowRider, Laser Tag and Iceskating rink that we enjoyed. This also made embarkation quick and because I booked 5he first boarding time we stepped in the ship at 11am. I got the Key for seats at the show but it wasn’t that busy at the shows as there is so much to do. Disappointing things were the removal of the sauna and indoor spa as part of the latest changes. The slide was fun though - hint don’t wear a rashy as it slows you down too much. The adult area is ok but you are treated like children - no drinks allowed in the spa even though they are in plastic glasses. We bought the drinks package and looked forward to frozen mango drinks only to find that the ship had run out of mango from the last two cruises. They did have strawberry which was ok but even ran out of this and Pina Colada and other options as the cruise progressed. The drinks package was still worth it to us but just be aware you may not be able to get your favourite drink. Different bars have different cocktails - R bar had a Let’s get Fizzical that you could only get there - so try different bars if you like variety. Our son made a lot of new friends on the cruise and had a wonderful time at the silent disco, pool parties and other activities. He enjoyed the teenage Living Room. There were a few bullies on the cruise and it was disappointing that the ship couldn’t control these kids but my son was old enough to deal with them when they approached him and keeep away. The cruise ship did disembark a couple of young adults that were fighting on the first night so they do deal efficiently with inappropriate adults. The entertainment was good in general and varied. We have seen the hypnotist before and the show was similar to 5 years ago. Also the adult comedian did a general show in which he did make some inappropriate jokes during the general show and repeated half of his adult show for the general show. One of the comedians was not that great. Some good and some not so good. There were heaps of activities ( Trivia, lectures of all types, ballet classes etc) to choose so it really is up to individual taste. In general I would recommend this cruise for the ages from teenager to an adult wanting to try out the activities on offer. A child too small for the slides and FlowRider will miss out on a lot. We chose the 5 night dining package and enjoyed the three specialty restaurants and the main dining room.Service and food in all restaurants was great. Unfortunately we ended up with the 5pm dining,which was a bit of a rush to get to (especially if you are on the a FlowRider), but gave us the rest of the evening to enjoy shows and sit in High Notes for a drink. Think about your dining chose - early, late or My Time at the time you book. We enjoyed all of our ports: Noumea - turtle tour at Signal Island - book online before you go. Excellent. Mare - took the bus to the beach and snorkeled - we did swim past the bouys Lifou - Jinek Bay snorkeling (bought the tickets from the locals for $15 each for the morning session to 12:30pm) is definitely worth it and the water hole in the cave Louganville - a local took us to Chaampagne beach which was beautiful, the Riri blue hole which was fun and cold and Million Dollar Point which is great for snorkelling. This replaced Isle of Pines as their chief had passed away. Villa - we did 2 dives which we organised ourselves - Wreck and bommies. Mystery Island - lovely island but the snorkeling wasn’t great that day as the currents were strong. Read Less

We are loyal RC cruisers with 12 cruises under our belt and are Diamond Plus members. In 2019 we decided to try out Celebrity and were very much looking forward to going back to an enjoyable RC cruise again. We had been on the Voyager twice before. Nothing could have prepared us for what was ahead. Our embarkation was very smooth and very excited to have some lunch before going to our Junior Suite. It was all downhill from there... We could not find anywhere to sit in the Windjammer so went to the Dining room to book My Time Dining for dinner only to find that we were moved to Deck 3 instead of Deck 5 as there are too many my time diners to cater for. Then we find that the Diamond Lounge had moved to a small room on Deck 5 with a porthole looking out on a lifeboat from a previously spacious room with views on Deck 14 which is now reserved for guests who PAY their way into it by buying a Suite. Not to mention that the popular Johnny Rockets has been eliminated to make way for "extra cabins" (ie: more money) which means more people crowded into Windjammer!!! There is now no point in being loyal to RC because they have removed the benefits. RC has now made it possible to buy your way in without being loyal!! The Ship, Cabin, Dining, Entertainment, Service, Ports and Shore Excursions are still the same, they are good, although the activities have plenty of room for improvement now. We are empty nesters and don't find children a problem when we cruise as the children's program appears to be very good. We are not sure what to do about our next cruise. Read Less

I’ve been on Ovation which I found too big, too busy and a bit like a Westfield shopping centre vibe and with over 4000 passengers, the queues for everything were horrendous. The Voyager was so much more fun! It’s newly refurbed or ‘amplified’ to have more fun features & we found it had just the variety and atmosphere that we love! The fittings and style were lovely and our fave bars were High Notes on Deck 14 & Sky Lounge Deck 12 followed by Schooner Bar. Music everyday, an atrium deck full of activities and a party feel, loads of cool places to sit & watch the waves. Shuffle board & Flowrider with an Ice rink & ice show - everything was great! My best advice is if you’re planning to stay in a balcony cabin, go for the extra ‘Spacious Balcony Cabin’ - the cabin itself is bigger as is the balcony. It included a 3 seater sofa bed and there was so much space without too much expense. The food on board is great but we weren’t as impressed with the specialty restaurants except for Giovanni Table which was lovely. Service was great, attention to detail was also good and my fave aspect was the adults only Solarium area which is open to the sky so no chlorine fumes like on Ovation. I’d suggest buying the KEY package. It includes your internet plus other bonuses like prioirity boarding, a nice lunch, priority tendering, farewell brekkie & fuss free disembarking among other things. It was great value for adults without kids! We loved everything about it and are already looking to book another trip on this comfortable & stylish ship! Read Less

We are Diamond members with RCI, they seem to want to forget about the loyal passengers and only seem interested in Suite passengers. The normal Diamond Lounge has been taken away from Diamond members and given to Suite passengers and have been pushed into a pokey 31 seat room near the Star lounge. A lot of the Diamond members had to sit in the Star Lounge. Seems like they will be altering their tier system due to the increase in Diamond members, this monster was created by RCI so we will have to see what they will do. The Diamond Lounge was a social hub where you could catch up each day, but now it may as well be closed. The gym has been moved from the front of the ship to the rear of the ship removing the inside pool and all saunas and steam rooms and reducing the size of the gym. This was a Christmas cruise which was more like the cruise ship that for got Christmas, there was no traditional Christmas dinners which having over 3,500 Australian passengers you would have thought this would be the main menu item. For the first 7 days there was no enforced washing of hands so people would walk straight in without washing their hands and spreading Noro virus to over 400 passengers, after complaining about this, hello they enforced it on the last two days putting two offices at the entry, well done Royal but too little too late. Read Less

Main-court dining was first class - 3 levels of seating with two serving times which coordinate well with showtimes. Pot-luck with who you sit with as not many tables just for a couple. Even so, you may get a table with nice people so great for social mixers. Fresh menu each day and also standard regulars. Meal sittings are for two hours so there is no rush. Food on level 11 promenade is buffet style self-service. Average 'fodder' standard and seating is a major issue at lunchtime, particularly when the main dining rooms are closed on port days. Central mall on level 5 done very cleverly and affords shopping, a pub, a pizza / burger 60's style cafe. 4th floor has schooner bar - comfortable and plenty of seating, does crowd out with ad-hoc quizzes, though only for a short while. Next to this there is a large casino and also star lounge which is comfortable and relaxed, affording activities such as quizzes, bingo and quiet entertainment in the evenings. The main theatre is on levels 3-5 and there is plenty of seating for the many of guests and even late-comers should be able to squeeze in. Entertainment was good without being spectacular. Also an ice-rink on level 3 - Very talented group with their own styles and great variety of the shows themselves. Downside is limited room so you will have to get there early. Outside there is plenty of space for lounging though the loungers are tightly packed to cater for so many people. The quiet area is very good but is full from early morning and people save seating areas. Plenty of fun upstairs for young and old alike - Putting, basketball, surfing, flumes etc. Headache concern is the amopunt of people. Expecially tender-boat service. Despite best endeavours it is a long process back and forth. Luckilly we had great weather but waiting an hour if inclement on an unsheltered island would have been an issue. Other headache is the constant selling mantra and meanness with water etc. Any way to get money out of you they will try. I go on holiday to get away from the hard sell so this was very annoying. All in all though, very good indeed and up there with the best of our cruise experiences. Read Less

Hi, I'm an experienced cruiser, but have never sailed with Royal Caribbean. My Mum (75)and I flew from Heathrow to Singapore, stayed overnight, and joined the voyager of the seas for the trip of a life time visiting Australia. We checked in our 2 cases, with full information stapled to handles, confirming we were on the voyager, as the Quantum of the seas was birthed beside. We carried onto cabin, through the bombardment of bar staff trying to sell drinks packages. Settled in, discovered Bombay sapphire had been replaced by vodka ( small detail considering what happened next) Dinner was taken in Windcheater as luggage had not arrived, for us to change for formal dinner, not a problem quite normal for luggage to arrive after sailing 3500 guests on board. Well we had a member of staff call on our cabin, they asked us to go to guest services, the penny dropped, my heart sank really luxury cruise with no luggage! All my worries were confirmed, luggage sent to Quantum and we won't be in port until Thursday (Saturday) when we reached Darwin, we're given 4 xxl tshirts and a small bag of toiletries razor/foam toothbrush /paste and deodorant stick dated 2017 and that was it in complete shock we went to bed, what a way to start our luxury holiday!! After a restless night, we had breakfast with some Diamond plus members on board, they were horrified the way we had been treated, totally unlike Royal Caribbean, advised us to go back to guest services to get more answers, just not acceptable. We spoke to Head of Guest Services explaining our situation Jackie was sympathetic offered to upgrade our cabin(oh we booked window but had interior - another story) Mum pretty stressed by now, she had a small stroke 2 months previously and was looking forward to a relaxing luxury cruise. We were also offered $200 dollars each to buy some clothes. Well Roxy teenage wear was not age or size appropriate or expensive male clothes either we were in the same position, we had been given cleaning vouchers, not a lot of use when you have nothing to wash through. Yes we had hand luggage, but repacked that morning so we didn't have to carry too much, I had taken out my wash bag to accommodate the 2 bottles of wine we were allowed to take on board. The cabin we were moved to had a balcony, which did make life a lot more pleasant, sat in our royal caribbean tshirts as unable and embarrassed to attend Captains dinner or any dining experiences, quite honestly we could not concentrate on booking tours etc such a disappointment all round. Days passed, no information 3500 passengers and we were only cabin with missing luggage. We had to fill out declaration form for our cases to enter Australia, first time we had any news concerning our cases. Day 6 arrived, Darwin at last, did we get a phone call! Don't be silly I went down to find out if they had arrived, Yes at last!! I organised help for the bags, checked over to make sure all OK when we got a phone call asking us to vacate the cabin!! Really poor Mum, I asked Jackie to re consider please. ROYAL CARIBBEAN THINK WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH COMPENSATION so I email Managing Director, slight change of heart an offer of £428 each in vouchers, well still insulting considering we paid nearly £6000 for our luxury repositioning cruise. There were many problems with this cruise, bad service, poor food in dining rooms, cabin flood on our deck from pool, hours to get ashore when tenders were needed cutting excursions short as so many people on board, refurb was only to accommodate more cabins. Guest services was constantly busy with people complaining, at least they had their personal belongings!! Thanks Royal Caribbean for giving us a holiday of a life time to remember for all the wrong reasons. Read Less

It went wrong with the check in counter at the terminal of Marine Bay Cruise Terminal in Singapore. Before that awful experience everything went smooth. It was my wife’s Australian visa, although GRANTED, that caused the uproar. She is Filipina, a flight attended for 33 years with Cathay Pacific, and applied on line for an Australian Visa, which was granted within 3 days. The problem, so it seems, was the processing of the visa, there is no link between immigration and the cruise liner’s administration! Therefor they have to call immigration in Australia to verify whether the visa was really granted and attached to her passport. I send the granted Australian visa months before boarding to Vacationstogo travel agent Lex Harrison and the Royal Caribbean Cruise line, when checking in on line, everything was fine, no questions asked. 2 weeks before sailing I received the boarding pass and luggage tags, late because we are interline (airline crew) and therefor got our stateroom assigned shortly before sailing. It took 45 minutes at the check in counter, with many officers involved to get the “GO” signal. It was a humiliating experience, which flashed in my mind as a racial approach. Not from the officers that only did their job as instructed by their superiors and acted courteous and polite. But the fact that despites ALL our pre-check-in efforts, NOBODY of Royal Caribbean seemed to check the documents, but only AFTER we were about to board the ship and to than make us feel like fraudsters, because their processing procedure was faulty! The correct procedure should be that every passenger should submit their visa, in time on line to the cruise liner involved and not when passengers were boarding the ship and therefor prevent the passenger to be treated like a criminal for no reason at all. Another unfortunate experience is the MUSTER CALL. We had to endure 45 minutes in the heat and humidity on deck 4, Reason? Waiting for late comers! It took 5 minutes for the drill. Late comers should be penalized. Sunday mass for the devoted Catholics is at 9.00 AM, but the breakfast starts at 8.00 AM. However the Queue takes 45 minutes to get you to your table. Was it ALL a mistake? …..NO The ship “Voyager of the Seas’, a 20 year old , newly refurbished cruise ship, great nostalgic interior architecture, well thought of economic designed staterooms, is quite cozy. Except for the Sky chapel, which is completely out of line with the rest of the ship, cold, white chalked with huge, white Aphrodite inspired, sculptures. The food is ok, but not as good as Princess or Norwegian, not many variations, shows ok, but the sound mix bad, singers are screaming and screeching due to overpowering volume and wrong equalizer settings, lyrics completely wasted. The ice skating show very impressive. The top of the bill was the acrobat duo…from Ukraine and Italy. Amazing performance. Talked to Cruise Director Michelle about the sound and I must say it improved a bit in the next show. Two singers: one 25th year old USA male and a …..Italian girl. The male singer performed well, the girl should stick to controlled love songs and ballads and not Freddie Mercury’s “Somebody “. She has a lovely voice, but when howling out it becomes unbearable. The wine tasting: 5 wines: 2 white, 2 red, 1 sparkling……2 were as planned, 3 replaced by inferior ones, due to late arrival in Singapore of the feature ones, missed the boat. Complained to the beverage manager, felt cheated. So sorry, send a nice bottle of New Zealand wine with 2 glasses to the stateroom. The Port dockings on this repositioning cruise were absolutely un-interesting, either far off the coast on Anker, so boat transport required, which took very long to execute, or docking in an industrial area, 45 minutes with shuttle bus from town. The newly refurbished staterooms on Deck 3 were noisy at night, due to cleaning or other activities above the staterooms. Staff: very pleasant, helpful and attentive. Stateroom attendant Kadek Sukma from Indonesia excellent. Headwaiter Kai and waiter Ryan in dining room very pleasant, did a great job. Carlo was the best, always pleasant, singing in the Windjammer as washi, washi crooner and in the evenings our table waiter. All and All, a pleasant relaxing cruise. We enjoyed the total voyage despite our criticism ! Read Less

One of the reasons we chose this cruise is that we had never been to Darwin. Well. we still haven't! The Exit deck was changed from Deck 1 (as was widely advertised) to deck 4, and the ramp provided was incredibly steep. I hired a scooter for the express purpose of seeing Darwin, but it would not have been safe to take it down the incline, nor would I have been able to ride it back up. Several of the older passengers and those with sticks also had great difficulty in negotiating this ramp, and were completely winded by the time they got to the top. It totally spoilt my day, and several other disgruntled passengers felt the same. Also, don't bother getting a soft drinks package. Despite being issued with the bulky microchipped glasses, there are no soft drink dispensers on board the "New" Voyager. Total waste of money! Johnny Rockets is also a "no show". The venue is marked on the deck plan, but isn't open, and the free milkshake we were promised - "buy one get one free" - so much pie in the sky. BTW, the Windjammer seating arrangement appears identical to the old one. There are certainly no "extra seats", and getting a table can still be problematic. Also, the picture shown in the article is of the Deck 14 lounge, which is NEVER this empty. Read Less

We have sailed only once previously with RC on Ovation of the seas, from Sydney to New Zealand and back to Sydney, and had a great time so we decided to try the newly renovated Voyager of the Seas. No complaints whatsoever. What a disappointment this cruise was. The check in at Singapore was extremely unorganised. There are only two sets of elevators which for a ship of this size is inadequate. To make it worse at lease one elevator was out of order and the up-down indicators and chimes outside some of the others were not working. Don't know what RC did when Voyager was in for the renovations but nobody did much maintenance. Cabin, number 9557, was ok. The main dining room food was average at best, and the winjammer buffet the same. I have cruised many times on Carnival Spirit and rate its food much better than Voyager. Princess cruise lines (Majestic and Sun) food leaves Voyager for dead. Entertainment was good, no issue here. Good variety of guest acts as well as the RC performers. Listening to music in areas outside the theatre was terrible. Small crowded schooner bar at the front and a couple small bars along the overcrowded promenade on deck 5. Too much space taken up by shops and stalls flogging overpriced bags, jewelry etc Service from staff was good. Now my main gripe. I use a wheelchair and was told by RC that their tenders were suitable for wheelchairs. Unfortunately in the two tender ports, Yorkeys Knob and Airle beach, they used shore side tenders instead of those from the ship which were NOT wheelchair accessible. Had I been told this I would not have booked the cruise. Never again on this ship. Read Less