Voyager Review from 9/10 Hurricane sailing - the good, the bad and the ugly!

Overall, I'd say that it was a good cruise, especially the cruise itself part of it. The ports were more than a little disappointing, especially for 3 kids who'd been looking forward to dolphins and stingrays for over a year since we'd booked. Even before we left, we knew this was unlikely and prepared them accordingly. But to go to nearly all replacement ports with virtually no shore excursions available (or that went due to weather) and effectively sit in pouring rain and lightning/thunder all day each day really wasn't what I was looking for in a Caribbean cruise! I realize it was hurricane season, I realize RCCL has to do what they can, I realize the only ones to blame are Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne!

Just a little info about us. We're a family of 5 with 3 boys ages 12, 11 and 9. They'd been on 2 short (3 day) cruises before with Big Red Boat and Disney, but it's been almost 4 years since their last one. After each previous cruise I'd felt that I wouldn't take the kids on another, but thought the 3 day just wasn't representative enough. But after 9 days this time, I probably won't take them again. It's disappointing because DH & I love cruising so much and my kids just seemed so unimpressed. It's just not worth paying more than twice as much to have 2 cabins to bring them when they'd all rather just stay in their cabin and play gameboy or watch the one cartoon channel, even though it was in Spanish half the time (guess that's educational!). They were sad when the cruise was over, but I think missing the parts that would have been the most fun for them (ie shore excursions) made the overall experience quite a bit lower. DH & I probably wouldn't have cared nearly as much if it was just us, but the amount we spent for all 5 of us is not going to happen again, and since we live in Michigan, sorry, but no dolphins or stingrays around here! Read more