Family of four with children ages 8 and 6. We had previously cruised with Disney in the Caribbean. For our family, Disney is significantly ahead of Royal carribean in service, quality of ship and venues, onboard experience, value, and kids activities. Royal carribean cabin was physically larger and had a larger balcony, but for us the room lacked quality - our cabin on royal carribean was more like a floating motel 6 or ibis, very basic decor. In terms of service, royal carribean staff came across as surly - one of the staff informed my wife the staff were tired from doing so many 3 and 4 night cruises! On royal carribean there was often left over plates and food on tables for hours after the service had ended, and rubbish left around the decks - beer bottles, napkins, glasses etc. royal carribean staff did not have the same focus on service as Disney! The voyager of the seas is an old ship, but it doesn’t need to look uncared for! some things had just been left and not repaired/replaced: some toilets not working for the entire cruise; dirty windows, flaking paint, etc. Again care from the crew appeared lacking. Kids activities were very regimented - our kids would have liked to have some free play options. Instead they were part of a very structured and supervised activity program. Royal carribean had some good night time entertainment - we saw the ice dancing/figure skating, an illusionist, and a broadway musical show. All were high quality. The onboard pool was not very crowded and well supervised by the lifeguards. There was also an adults only pool and sun deck area and staff worked hard to keep children out of this area! I have mixed feelings about the dining. My family and I enjoyed the specialty restaurants: choppes grill and Giovanni’s table - great service in these restaurants, great choices, a good children’s menu, and great value when you add on a dining package. The buffet restaurant (windjammer cafe) was chaos - insufficient seating, insufficient overflow options, restricted timings for sittings. There was a good variety of food though. The main ala cart restaurant (sapphire) was a mixed bag. The food choices were good and a good children’s menu. But the service was poor, and table cloths were dirty. I was also not expecting to have to share a table - my family and another family were seated together on an 8 seater table. The other family were nice people, but we were looking for a family meal and to have a family conversation. I’m not sure what royal carribean is trying to do here - force mingling between families? I would have liked to have the choice as to whether or not to share and when I protested to the staff and requested a four person table this was ignored by dining room staff - very disappointing. In conclusion, If i were to go to a location were both Disney and royal carribean are operating I would always choose Disney. If, as was the case here in se Asia, there is no Disney, I might consider royal carribean again, but would look for alternatives first! Read Less

We decided to cruise with Royal Caribbean again because we had a pleasant one before last Christmas. This trip is our worst nightmare. It’s apparent that the ship took a booking of a low budgeted group of tourist affecting the remaining guest who paid for regular price. The food is worse than cookhouse in the Army camp. That group alone is approximately 1000 pax, rowdy and noisy, no order and very messy. It feels like a 2 star cruise. Toilet flush in cabin feels worn and might break down anytime. The crew onboard looks tired and overwhelmed by that particular group of low budgeted tourist. We were also misinformed by RCCL the exact location of anchorage at port of call Phuket resulting in extra cost to hire private bus to reach Patong beach. We went to reception to escalate this complaint, claim they will get back to us, we ended up recieving no news, simply cannot be bother with us. I will never board voyager from Singapore again. Read Less

I've been on the Mariner so I am expecting the same standards. At the first look, the ship looks 'tired' on the outside with rust already forming on the superstructures. Very obvious painwork chipping off and in need of a major refurbishment. But thumbs up for keeping the interior clean and new. Embarkation: Marina Bay Cruise Center (10 mins walk from the Marina South Pier MRT station) Smooth from the bag drop, security, cabin key collection, immigration takes less than 30 mins. Try arrive around 11am - 12pm at the pier to avoid the large Indian tourist crowd. Dining: I've only been to MDR and Windjammer so sorry I could give reviews on the paid ones. Windjammer: Food served was mainly catered for Indian customers and its usually packed to full house if you don't arrive early be prepared to queue. There's only a small section that serves western food like fries and burgers. Others are not to my liking. MDR: Service is always top notch here and the wait staff will never fail to explain the different food they serve everyday. You go in hungry, and they make sure you come out full. They have different menu everyday so no worries about that. The lamb is pretty good I had 2 portions. Entertainment & Activities: I did manage to do the flowrider, rock climbing and did some soaking in the spa. Didn't bother to go to the pool as it's always packed and people not adhering to the dress codes. I found it pretty disgusting so yeah. Watched the ice skating show and 2 main production shows. Worth your time to watch but there was a technical fault halfway and many people left with I found very rude. There were many kids as well making a lot noise so the experience was rather interruptive. Service: Top notch and kudos to the crew for being patient to the impatient and rowdy Indian crowds. Imagine handling 2000+ of them and some cannot understand English. Hope that they can further improve their queue system so that everyone could queue systematically. I can tell some were very frustrated but they kept their cool but I cannot guarantee if this continues every voyage haha. Ports and Shore Excursions: Port Klang is about 1 to 1hr 30 mins away from the city centre. Other than the cruise terminal which has nothing much, theres nothing to do at the port so i didnt disembark from the cruise. Shore ex was pretty exp as well and taxi cost RM300 to the city centre so no go for me. Disembarking: It was smooth and out within 30 mins as well. As usual there was the usual queue cutting but it didnt bother me much as there was faster clearance at the immigration for the locals. Overall it was a pleasant experience but there were way to many India tourist around. Food were mainly catered to them in the Windjammer which was disappointing because I am a fan of buffet food. If you are keen on sailing on the Asia itinerary on the Voyager I suggest sailing between Jan-Mar, Sept-Oct to avoid the school holiday chaos. Read Less

This was not our first cruise, but the first with Royal Caribbean, The day started with being some of the first people to get on the ship, then having to wait nearly 3 hours to get into our cabin, whilst we were waiting we were bombarded with staff trying to sell drinks packages every few minutes which was over the top and annoying, we were not the only ones who hated this happening. This continued thorough most of the trip as well as pushing extra dining options. When we eventually got into our cabin which was one of the newer ones on deck 12 which was excellent, Only to discover there was no water for washing hands or toilet operation.Eventually we got our bags which were wet as they were left in the rain. We went to get some food and the only general eating area open was absolutely jammed full of people who were queuing to get a seat. The ship itself was the biggest cruise liner in 1999 and is well in need of a refurbish. Most of the amenity's were extra $s including the wave on the rear of the ship. You also have a service fee to enter the 50s Dinner "Johnny Rockets". Nearly everything you want to do on this ship is extra. This must be the only Cruise line that charges around $12usd, to watch a Movie in your room. Returning back to the food situation.There was a staff member in the entrance of the main food area to ensure that guests put alcohol wash on there hands before they went in to eat, However we saw occasions when the staff member was distracted and some guests just walked in without hand cleaner then handled food. The food when you could get to it overall was Good. BUT allowing guests to handle tongs and some nationality's were picking up food with there hands and putting it back if not to there liking. The hours that food was available was also very limited, unlike other cruise lines. At times in the eating areas staff were slow to clean up. Re the ports and shore excursions, It took a long time get off the ship and was poorly organized, and this took away a lot of shore time. There was an incident where a container was dropped with flammable liquid from above the smoking deck and the response was VERY SLOW rectifying the situation considering the danger of fire. My efforts to avert a problem in this area were met with little help. Crew were more interested in telling me to not put up barricades for safety which was to keep people away whist waiting to get it cleaned up by crew. Finally all of our concerns and feed back was sent to Royal Caribbean, with NO response. Enjoy another Cruise line!!! Read Less

We’d booked this cruise fully a year ago and had toured around Australia with family for two weeks prior. As we’d stayed at the Rendezvous Hotel, The Rocks, the night before the cruise, we only had to roll our suitcases down a hill to reach the cruise terminal. Luggage drop-off and check-in were quick and very easy (we had booked a Grand Suite, so check-in was expedited.) Unlike our last cruise in a suite, on NCL, no one escorted us onboard or guided us to the Concierge Club, so we boarded the ship and headed toward the Windjammer Café for a good lunch. All rooms were ready by 1 pm, so we dropped our carry-ons and explored the suite. The bathroom was large and well-equipped, with double sinks and a shower and tub. My only “complaint” was that there was a very high step up into the tub. The bed was extremely comfortable, there was a very generous amount of storage, the balcony was of a good size, and there was a comfortable sofa and chair and a well-equipped bar area. There were curtains to separate the sleeping area from the rest of the suite. Our room steward, Anak, was among the best we’ve ever had; he was efficient, thorough, and had our room ready by the time we were back from breakfast virtually every day. We had My Time Dining, with reservations for each evening that we weren’t at a specialty restaurant. Most evenings we were seated at the same table for two in a row of tables for two, and had a lovely time chatting with the couples on either side of us. Service was very good, as were most dinners. We generally had lunch in the section of the MDR set aside for suite, Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle guests and enjoyed getting to meet a variety of people, most of them Australians, with a few Americans and Brits. We tried room service breakfast a few days, and were underwhelmed, so we usually went to the buffet in the MDR, which was excellent, if very busy. We had a three-night specialty restaurant plan. Chops was outstanding, Giovanni’s Table thoroughly enjoyable, and Izumi a new experience for us; we hadn’t cooked dinner on Hot Rocks before, but we managed, and the food was delicious. We had booked the Leisurely Brisbane excursion through RCCL. The day was pretty rainy, and the tour a disappointment. There was no tour guide assigned, and the bus driver had to do both jobs. He was OK, but at one point dropped us all off on the South side of town to fend for ourselves with no suggestions. Wasted time. We did enjoy the beautiful Queenslander architecture and the (foggy) view from Mt. Coot-tha. In Airlie Beach, we did the Aqua Bus tour; this was about the most enjoyable excursion we’ve ever had. The narrator was informative, hilarious, and it was great fun at a very reasonable cost. Loved it! We also thought Airlie Beach was a gorgeous place; I’d love to see more of the Whitsunday Islands. For Cairns, (Yorkey’s Knob) we’d booked through the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway – the cable car up and the scenic railway (Gold service) back. My husband did the tour on his own, as I wasn’t feeling well the day of the tour. To my complete astonishment, when I notified the Skyrail people that I wasn’t able to come, they refunded my money in full… on the day of the tour! I was amazed and grateful. They had also been very helpful with times, reservations, etc., prior to the cruise; I can’t say enough good things about them. Additionally, their cost, including the Gold service on the train, was considerably less than the ship’s cost for an ordinary booking. My husband raved about the excursion and loved Kuranda. I must say something about the tender service. Though my husband was the first person on the tender to Yorkey’s Knob, he barely made it in time to meet the Skyrail bus. There were all sorts of problems getting people loaded, apparently due to rough seas and some confusion about what tenders could be used. There were plenty of very angry people, some of whom missed excursions. There had evidently also been tender issues at Airlie Beach, though we were fine. We had been very excited about seeing Darwin due to its WWII history and had booked the ship’s Darwin/WWII tour. We were especially delighted that we were to be there on Anzac Day, with its parade and festivities. One would think that the ship’s excursion team would have made the connection and incorporated some of the parade into the tour; alas, that did not happen. The first stop on the tour was a museum with no connection to WWII history apart from an art exhibition with pieces made from WWII debris. One couple was 25 minutes late returning to the bus, meaning that we had wasted a good hour. There were visits to a War Museum and an Aviation Museum, both of them pretty good, but the stops there were rushed. The time wasted on the first stop would have been better used at these stops. All in all, a very disappointing excursion. During the many sea days, we went to a dance lesson or two, which were fun and well-taught, saw a couple of the evening movies by the pool (great fun), but largely read and relaxed. We made good use of our balcony. The Concierge Club was small and sometimes crowded (especially for Happy Hour) but often was deserted or nearly so, making it a cozy spot for a cup of tea, continental breakfast, or pre-dinner drinks. Entertainment was, for us, somewhat "meh." We enjoyed The Aussie Boys and the magicians, and the singers and dancers were good, though the shows weren't as good as others we've seen. We did enjoy the skating shows - very talented skaters. One of the absolute highlights of the cruise was receiving an invitation to the Captain’s Table for dinner with 4 other couples. We were completely astonished. We’d seen most of the other couples in the Concierge Club, and really hit it off with most of them – completely delightful people. One couple was even from my home state, Massachusetts, and we had met them earlier at a suite cocktail party. Captain Pehrsson was a delight, interesting, funny, and put everyone at ease; he also spoke of his love for Cape Cod, one of our favorite places, which reminded him of parts of Sweden. It was a wonderful evening. Disembarkation in Singapore was easy, as we were escorted off the ship with other suite guests. Luggage was waiting, and our cruise was over. We stayed 2 days in Singapore, which we loved, despite the humidity. It was a terrific two weeks, and we would love to get back to Australia. Read Less

Our balcony cabin was definitely in need of refurbishment - very tired. The bed was quite hard and the lounge extremely uncomfortable. We didn't book a shore excursion in Cairns but did take the bus to and from the city for which RC charged $25 each - ridiculous. There was always a good choice of food in the Windjammer but roast meat was always overcooked and tough - we definitely avoided it after a couple of tries. Our cabin attendant was a lovely man, always smiling and cheerful and did a great job of keeping us tidy. Wait time to leave the ship when in port was really long, so long in fact that we gave up and went back to our cabin once because we had already been sitting around for at least 1.5 hours and looked like having to wait another hour at least. No attempt was made to entertain those waiting and the only thing to do was to spend even more money on coffee just to break the boredom. Read Less

We cruised 14 nights from Sydney to Singapore. It was our fourth cruise but first with RCI. We're a family of five with kids aged 14, 11 and 7. Overall we had a really good holiday and would cruise with RCI again. Pros Buffet food was delicious with an almost overwhelming selection at each meal. Much better standard than P&O and Carnival. MDR food and service also very good. On a par with Carnival. Shows were excellent. We attended around 15 different shows and enjoyed all but one which just wasn't our style. The ice skating shows were amazing. Kids club - kids were happy and wanted to go. There were very few kids on the cruise compared to other cruises I've been on. Especially surprising since this was a school holidays cruise. Some of the kids club age-groups were combined. This suited our family well but I think some others were not happy e.g. a handful of 10 year old boys in group which was majority 6-7 year old girls. Activities - we did flowrider (loved it although wish it was open for longer hours), rock climbing (difficult - harder than indoor climbing I've done in the past). Didn't attend many trivia sessions and found them a bit hit and miss. There were plenty of other things on (dance classes etc) but we were happy to just relax or swim in the pool. Gym was great. I bought a class pass for $79 which gave me access to all gym classes including yoga, pilates, spin and bootcamp. I worked out I attended 18 classes over the cruise so excellent value. A lot of fun, met some lovely fellow cruisers and made up for all the eating I did! Best of all, easy to find a shady deck chair at any time of day. This was my main gripe on other cruise lines as I hate sitting in the sun. It was hard to get a seat in the shade in the solarium or main pool deck but plenty of other places hidden away to read a book on deck 4 or deck 12. Cons Tendering process was horrendous. Have never experienced anything like it. In the end we gave up and didn't get off in Cairns as the wait was so long. Whinging fellow cruisers (although I think you get that on any cruise) No self-service laundry. 5 people x 14 nights = a lot of dirty laundry! Read Less

So 11 nights on board a ship from Sydney to South Pacific. Firstly we were meant to head to Fiji but due to bad weather ended up not going there so ended up in Port Vila and Mare. Over 1000 kids on board. They seemed managed in the early stages of the cruise but as time went on and kids made friends on board there ended up being groups of them roaming/running around the ship, stopping lifts on all levels, running up and down staircases and in bars until late in the evening. As a slightly older passenger without this age children now they became a little annoying. During the day we found it difficult to find things to do. We did trivia over and over just to find something to do. A lot of on board activities were about on sell opportunities. At dinner, lunch & breakfast the first week major upselling of dining packages occured. We got a drinks package b4 boarding bug again there were team members attempting to get guests to purchase. Internet quite expensive $19.99 USD for individual days, $12.99 USD per day for the slowest package up to $19.99 USD per day for streaming package. Main dining in the Sapphire room was nice but make sure you choose your dining time where possible b4 u board or immediately on day one or youll miss out or have a 5.30pm dining time that we ended up with. Night life varies depending on what you are after from piano bars, pubs, bands and deck parties. All in all we had quiet days, enjoyable nights. The ports were pretty boring. We did the most in Port Vila although a car for 4 hrs cost $200 for a group of 4 in a vehicle with 2 seatbelts not working, limited air con and the petrol gauge didn't work. We drove to blue lagoon ($6 entry per person), cascade water falls ($20 per person entry), "Turtle Bay" ($18 per person). So almost $380 for 4 people for four hours. Blue lagoon was gorgeous, cascade waterfalls pretty, turtle bay pft not great at all and then duty free shopping (alcohol very cheap). At Lifou we snorkelled at Jinek Bay. $15 AUD entry per head limited to approx 100 people, so don't get there more than 1hr after u dock or youll miss out. Noumea we got hop on hop off bus (approx 6 stops). We used bus to get to lemon bay to snorkel and went to aquarium which was pretty nice. We ate in Windjammers when we had to which was ok but the dining room for breakfast, lunch and dinner is a better choice. Day 1-3 we ate all courses, by day four realised we could drop sweets and even entree otherwise you feel perpetually full. Staff are beautiful. They work extremely hard. Bar staff work 10 hr days 7 days a week for 7 solid months. I believe wait staff and room attendants are similar. At the end of 7 months they get 2 months unpaid leave and then do it all over again. They try so hard to make your trip perfect as your feedback has an affect on their ongoing position, status, future contracts etc. I felt quite like a person of privilege when i came to understand their roles better, so was happt to leave nice tips (not a normal Australian custom). Read Less

This was our first cruise with our 3 children (14, 9 & 2.5) Embarkation and disembarkation were swift and problem free. If you love trivia - this is the boat for you. So much trivia was offered however you had to be at each venue at least 1/2hr before session to get a seat, in the end we gave up going. Each show we attended in the The La Scala theatre was nearly empty as it is huge and seating very comfortable. The ice skating show was great to see and we attended at our muster station time slot which was easy and plenty of seats before others were let in to Studio B. It wasn't as cold in there as I had expected, was comfortable with just a t-shirt dress on. There were a lot of children (young and old) on board left to run wild, unsupervised. The ship was always clean. The house keeping, dining staff and galley crew were all very friendly. The bar staff needed to work on their customer service as they always seemed grumpy. We stayed in Cabin 6200 right at the front of the ship overlooking the helipad. The room was spacious for the 5 of us, with a queen bed, double sofa bed and 2 bunks in their own little alcove that could be sectioned off with a curtain. The bathroom was very small but functional. There was lots of space to hang all our clothing and lots of coat hangers available. Bedding was very comfortable and ample amount of pillows offered 2 p/person. Our steward was fantastic - he was always onhand and had our rooms smik every morning when we returned from breakfast and then at night was pulled down and our special towel animal was waiting for the kids. We didn't feel additional movement being at the front as expected, just the usual sway however the noise from the waves hitting the bow of the ship was horrendous. It was like we were hitting something, one night it woke us all up. My husband & I had a deluxe drink package. It was value for money for us, however can see why it wouldn't be for some travellers. All softdrinks are poured from 2ltr bottles or cans that are not kept cold so drinks were always warm and filled with so much ice that they made the softdrink flat also flat due to the fact a 2lt bottle was opened over and over again loosing all its gassiness. With a deluxe package we could order cans of softdrink but these were kept on the counter of the bar so weren't cold either. Our children had a soda package and could only have softdrink from the bottle served in a glass/cup or be charged $$ for a can. Pointless really in my opinion. The food in Windjammer was great quality, with various themes each night. However did notice pork was served a lot. Staff were always attentive and friendly. We decided to splurge a little and book the 3night speciality dining package that was offered onboard the first night as $79.00 p/p for the 3 sittings. Was well worth it. We chose Giovanni's and Chops Grill x2 for dinner over Easter weekend and was pleasantly surprised with the experience. Food was excellent and staff were exceptional, especially with our 2.5yo. We didn't try Johnny Rockets as had heard it was great, and for $9.95 p/h was not wanting to spend another $50 for the family to have hamburgers and chips when the quality of the food in Windjammer was great - with make-your-own-hamburger most nights anyways. Port 1: Noumea - We did the Aquarium and sightseeing tour - it was ok! They took us to a lookout and guide was informative with local commentary during bus trip. Aquarium was small but lots to see and the turtles were gorgeous to see. We went back into city when we returned from tour and went to terminal markets upstairs, lots of the same thing. Daughter had her hair braided but found out was expensive once we got to other islands. We didn't go up the main street of Noumea as was too hard with little one in toe but is very dirty. Port 2: Lifou - We were to stop at Mystery Island however weather conditions due to a cyclone were not favourable so we stopped instead at Lifou. Lifou was gorgeous, the beaches were beautiful. Tendering process was slightly long and we waited about 1hour to get off ship and then the same to return to ship but we just chatted with fellow cruises in the line to pass the time. We only stayed on the beach to the right of the wharf as with a 2.5yyo in toe it was easy and beach was flat however you do need reef shoes as there is lots of coral rocks by the shore. Port 3: Port Villa - we did the semi-submersible boat and the kids loved it. Was perfect for their ages - even 14yo enjoyed as we stopped and they could snorkel around the boat. We then caught a local taxi back into the city to purchase our duty free. Lots of souvenir shops too with all of them basically the same. Port 4: Mare - WOW! Gorgeous - we paid $15p/p to go around to Yejele beach and was well worth it. Waters were crystal clear and sand white. Was windy but still hot so kept it comfortable. We sat under a tree for shade which was good. Snorkelling was amazing here. Our kids didn't attend kids club as they overheard other kids at breakfast staying how horrible it was. My eldest daughter and I attended the cupcake making class - it was great fun, we learnt so much and was great value for money! Couldn't say the same for the DreamWorks Breakfast - waste of money. Only 2 characters attended and for max. 5-10 minutes each, did a dance and then left. The wait staff were rude and didn't even give you a chance to read the menu available so was rushed to order. It was hard to get used to converting everything to US$ The Captain seemed a nice man, approachable with a sense of humour, with his daily "did you know" fact. I would probably go again if the price was right but not without being in a group. Husband and I have been on another smaller cruiseliner and enjoyed it more than this. Was disappointing for our first cruise with our kids as we had heard how amazing they are but didn't live up to the expectations at all. Read Less

Never been on a cruise before. Voyager of the seas was a great start to cruising easy to find your way around we had a balcony room very spacious heaps of closet space. Cabin attendants great. Plenty of things to do on board for every age group. The ice skating shows were very good. The parades were a big hit for young and old. Shows were good. My time dining worked well for us. Never had to wait. Looking forward to our next cruise. I believe voyager is going in for a refurb next year. looking forward to another cruise onboard another royal carrabean ship. Left us with lots of good memories. The royal promenade was a great place especially the pig and whistle which we frequented often. A great meeting place for people to get to know one another. The food was good and plenty of choices of where to eat. Until next time Read Less