This was our 29th voyage (various Lines throughout the world) and 7th occasion with Royal Caribbean (second time on 'Voyager'); we had booked this 15-day cruise to New Caledonia, Fiji and New Zealand on a balcony-guarantee basis and were allocated Cabin 1828, one of the newly-constructed balcony accommodations located forward on Deck 12. Check-in at Sydney's Circular Quay was very efficient. We were very impressed on arrival at 1828, the cabin even smelt brand-new. We were pleased that the ship's Master was Captain Sverre Ryan, who had been the Master when we previously sailed on Voyager some 14 months earlier. Our dinner-companions at Table 291 in the Level 3 Sapphire Dining Room (second seating) were a wonderfully eclectic group from the United States - three senior ladies in their 60s from Houston and their 80 year-old aunt, and also a very vibrant couple from Georgia. Immediately from the embarkation dinner, the senior waiter demonstrated a tremendous degree of "attitude" towards our entire group, including the senior ladies from Houston. By the fourth evening at Noumea, when this employee aggressively slammed a plate of steamed rice on the table and stalked off to his next duty without a word, the defining moment had been reached for our group. Complaints were made to the Head Waiter who immediately removed the waiter from our table and replaced him with an extremely professional and pro-active waiter - the "new" waiter (Ketut Santosa) was a true gentlemen in every sense. The Table's junior waiter up to this point had been clearly embarrassed by his senjor colleague's repeated displays of bad temper and the improvement in teamwork and the more upbeat mood by the local Dining Room staff was quickly apparent after the Dining Room management took action.

The Dining Room meals on this voyage were exceptional. Starters, Mains and Desserts were all tremendous. Well done to all concerned in the Voyager's kitchens! Our chef for much of the voyage was 'Sixto' and he would often visit our Table to check on us! One of the Houston ladies had a number of food-allergies and the kitchen and waiting staff were nothing short of exemplary in their care and attention to this lady and all others at our table. Special mention also to our Head Waiter (Roshan D'Souza) whose highly professional management of his area of responsibility was outstanding. In spite of the very poor start to the evening meals up until Noumea, this voyage's Dining Room experience is one of our most enjoyable. Something that was also excellent to see? The mens' no singlet (and no cap) rules being very efficiently policed at all meal-times by the Sapphire's door-staff, much to the relief of those diners who don't find it a great struggle to wear a shirt with minimal sleeves into a 5-star restaurant. More, please!

'Voyager' docked at Noumea's Container Terminal on a Sunday - not a great shock for us as we had experienced this before, but a great disappointment to first time local cruisers and especially to the many non-Australian passengers who had been expecting to see some life in the township. We did a large walking-circuit of the town and saw one duty-free shop (deserted), the Johnson Supermarket at the Cruise Terminal and the after-hours pharmacy were all the business that were open. This is not a criticism of Royal Caribbean - local customs are just that. It is unusual in these times though to see a town with in excess of 2000 tourists wandering about wanting to spend money and not being able to do so. Read more