Voyager of the Seas Review

Never again with Royal Carribean: what a rip-off!

Review for Australia & New Zealand Cruise on Voyager of the Seas
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christyl_oz
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Value for Money
Embarkation
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Sail Date: Feb 2014

This was our second cruise with a Royal Carribean ship, and confirmed our impression of them the first time as a cruise line we do not wish to go with ever again. We are regular cruise travellers, and I have to say that compared to Princess Cruises, value for money, they aren't even in the same league.

Embarkation: Very slow, took nearly 2 hours, which was just too much standing for my 88 year old father. Then, at 9.45 that night, absolutely exhausted from the long day and just wanting to go to bed, my luggage still hadn't been delivered to my cabin. When I rang looking for it, I was told that it was being held by security because of a "suspicious object". Then, three different staff people each misdirected me to where I would find it, so after half an hour of wandering the ship I finally I found where to go on my own. There were HEAPS of people down there trying to reclaim luggage that had been held...even a guy who had bought his own golf clubs with him, who was really peeved. It was just ridiculous, I have travelled with this item in my bag on scores of holidays, and never had a problem. I have no problem whatsoever with security clearances and appreciate the efforts made to make us all safe, but this went beyond ridiculous, really. Not a good start to the holiday, all things considered.

Meals: Very disapointed at the lack of choice for such a large ship, and the quality of the food which was for the most part 3 star quality (except for the pastry chef, who in my opinion is definitely not paid enough: superb). One can't fault the waiters, who really appear overworked but none-the-less are as high a quality as we have ever had non a trip, but that's pretty well where the good news ends. If you don't want to pay extra, the only choices for dining are the buffet and Promenade Cafe. The buffet then was only open to 9 or 9.30 pm, leaving only the Promenade Cafe...which every night had the same poor pathetic choices of food which was about the quality of a sandwich shop left open too long. Princess,for example,has a buffet open sometimes all night, and an international cafe which offers a good if limited variety of interesting, quality food. Room Service, though, was an even bigger disapointment. Nothing on the phone itself or in the cabin literature to tell you how you phone room service, so after trial and error I found that you have to get the operator to put you through, no direct dial (unlike most ships). I rang room service twice - first time, on hold to operator for 5 minutes, then on hold to room service for THIRTY FIVE minutes, before i hung up and rang the operator back to complain. (for which I was on hold another six minutes before they answered). They then got room service to call me back, who informed me that they were busy and I would not get my order for around an hour. Unbelievable! The second time I rang was marginally better, 18 minutes on hold and 50 minutes until the food arrived. Then, the food was less than ordinary, cheese that was stuck to the plate because it had been cut and refrigerated so long, bread that had dried edges. Unbelievably bad service and poor quality when it finally arrived.

Cabin Review

As always, a great cabin steward who did an excellent job. Cabin amenities:the only thing I liked (a lot) was the shower cubicle with the hard rounded sliding door, a bit improvement on the usual shower curtain. However - no bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body lotion? No chocolates at turn down? (which my Dad particularly enjoys). When I asked why not, I was told they had stopped giving them "because there was too much waste". But what would be wrong with offering them for those passengers who want them? The cabin, despite being a balcony cabin, was the smallest we have ever had, so narrow that the corners on the beds were curved otherwise you could not walk between them and the wall.

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