This is our 19th cruise. I had read many disappointing reviews of this cruise so I was a bit apprehensive. This cruise did not disappoint! First, please don't beleive all the negative comments regarding this cruise. Yes, the boat is a bit tired but it is going to get a makeover soon. Yes, it is hard to find sitting places in the Windjammer, bit you can always find a spot. The food is RC quality. Don't be worried about if you wil find food since it is destined for the Asian market. You have ALL the RC faves and more! We did not go see any shows so I cannot comment on this. My negative commment goes to the SIngapore port. If you have a plane early in the morming, good luck! You have to go through immigration and then, customs with never ending lines! For the first time, we decided to book an excursion with the ship and we were VERY disappointed. The tour of Phan nga Bay is not as advertised. Forget the êrfect picture they show to sell the tour. You do NOT stop on the James Bond island and you WILL NOT get a nice picture from the crappy boat you will be on. The service was AMAZING! Our waiters and room guy were the best! The destinations are perfect. We loved our cruise and cannot wait for our next one:) Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was my brother in laws 60th birthday and 9 of us booked to go. I was feeling rather worried after reading quite a few bad reviews after I had booked the trip and we even thought of cancelling. In fact we actually went to cancel and then changed our mind on the day. So glad we didn't cancel. The cruise was great. I had seen quite a few bad reviews, mainly about the food and the staff but also petty ones about the size of the TV in the room, the ship being run down etc etc which I just ignore anyway. Yes the ship is going in for a refit but it still looked really good. I noticed some reviewers whinged about the size of the TV but for goodness sake they need to get a life. If you really do want a big TV in your room then I suggest you pay three times the price and go 5 star on another ship as this won't work for you. I could not believe the speed in which we got on to the ship. I was anticipating a couple of hours but from start to finish it was only about 30 minutes or so. Smooth as!. Getting off was a lot slower but the Queen Mary had also docked and there were over 10,000 of us trying to get off the two ships. So the delay was due to congestion through immigration which is not the ships fault but whoever is responsible to allowing two large ships to disembark at the same time. The food was excellent. Bear in mind this was not an expensive 5-star cruise. We mainly ate in the Windjammer cafe for breakfast and the smorgasbord was really good. We always found a seat no matter what time we went and we never felt crowded or had bad service. Most of the basic dishes were the same every day but many of the main dishes changed every day. we even had Yorkshire puddings on Sunday with the roast. The food included one-off things like Lancashire hotpot, scottish tattie pancakes, grilled prawns, banoffee pie plus all the regulars like curry's, noodle dishes stir fries, roast meats, salads and veggies and cakes galore, hamburgers and fries. All in all the food was excellent. My husband is a chef and he was quite happy as was I with the food provided. Each evening we had pre-dinner drinks at one of many bars and lounges and then went to the Sapphire dining room and had a fab 3 course dinner from an extensive menu that took about 1.5 hours. Then a show afterwards and off to bed. Casino, dancing bars etc went on until the early hours in you wanted to stay up. We didn't buy the drinks package as we are not heavy drinkers. If you are, as were some of the Aussies on board who must have had pickled livers by the time they got off, then the package will be good value for you. We were offered it cheaper on the first day when we got onto the ship, than we could buy it beforehand. It worked out with the discount about AUD $1000 for two people for the 7 nights. We just bought a bottle of wine between the two of us and if there was any left after dinner they keep it for you for the next night. All of the staff that we encountered were friendly and helpful. We are easy going people so perhaps why we didn't have any issues. I imagine if everyone thinks you are a pain in the rear then you will find some problem with this ship. The problem will most likely be that you are on it. The staff were really polite and very helpful. We encountered no rude staff at all. We went to four of the shows after dinner and enjoyed them all. We also went ashore each day and took a cab and did our own thing as we have been to KL, Langkawi, Penang and Phuket before. Personally if I ever went again on this particular cruise I would stay on board for all the destinations apart from Phuket and just enjoy the relaxing holiday on the ship. KL is an hour each way from the port, worthwhile if you want to do some shopping especially shoes as it is shoe shopping heaven providing you have small feet (under size 38 or size 8) You can find good day trips available through trip advisor if you don't want to pay the inflated prices on the ship. Remember everything that you buy on the ship is in US$. All in all I will now do another cruise with Royal Caribbean and would go on this ship Voyager of the Seas again Read Less

Stayed in a Junior Suite. Room is big and relatively clean, though it looks old and outdated. TV is small and bed is comfortable. House keeping is efficient and service level is acceptable. Turn down service is great. However a dirty cleaning towel was left in the basin after making up the room. All other services were terrible. Requested boarding assistance for seniors during booking but at the checking area, no assistance was offered even though she approached 3 staff. No smiles, no greetings from the staff Who looked tired and unhappy. Many staff acted as policemen onboard, telling passengers to queue and queue and to follow whatever rules they set to control the crowd. Lack of dinning tables and activities, shows. Saw two friends queuing to enter the buffet restaurant but they were told to go in two different batches and find each other inside the restaurant later. Certain sections of the main dinning rooms were always closed, scheduled show was cancelled due to technical reason. The only exception was the salesman who kept on introducing their chargeable items. Food is sufficient. Read Less

We were travelling to Singapore and thought it would be a lovely idea to include a short cruise which we did. To get to the point: It took about 2 hours to check in with long disorganised lines we had to work out what had to be done as there was no real information of where we go or what to do. We had to line up ( no queue area so people kept pushing in) to get bag tags then line up to check in our bags. Then we had to line up to check in the ship it was long, tiresome, hot and smelly absolute disgraceful. Once aboard we had to find our rooms once again inadequate signage, no staff to direct you so I spent 20 minutes finding the room and another one hour helping older frail people find their rooms on my floor. FOOD: Terrible, they had a large contingent of Indians on board so 60% of the food in the buffets were vegetarian Indian curries. There was one roast over the three days aboard and in general very little meat in the other dishes like the casserole and stews. They had rubbish like hamburger patties and sausages but it wasn't edible the food on average was shocking. The 'free sitting restaurant" with a menu was even worse. Nothing was fresh it was frozen foods thawed and cooked as a Chef and a caterer I know frozen foods and all of it was garbage. I told the waitress that I wouldn't even feed this to my dogs the Chefs should be ashamed of themselves. The buffet itself was disorganised, busy, people pushed into lines and we struggled to get seating until I cracked it and demanded that the waiter find my party a table which they did. We started to eat in the exclusive restaurants but that is very expensive but worth it. The café was free but once again filled to the brim with people you had no hope at any time to grab a coffee and cake. There seem to be no organisation, no one monitored the queues, no one monitored the number of guest flooding in, no one seem to direct people where to sit it was CHAOS! SHOWS - The shows were great and very entertaining but once again people were frantic and jumping the queues I had many stern discussions with people to be civil. STAFF - Average at best unfortunatley there is a built in tip for them in the price POOLS - Didnt want to get into them as many of the guest who were from one country were pretty unruly, dirty as they kept spitting and blowing thier noses in the pool. Once again no supervision or enforcement. DISEMBARKMENT - Once again large queues it took about 2 hours. On the whole dont travel on this ship or use this company it really wasnt worth it, Read Less

We decided to go on a post Valentines Day cruise for a weekend. we deliberately chose a Jr Suite on deck 10 at the very aft stateroom 1694. boarding was fine, drove our car parked, checked in and were on the ship in 30 mins. all perfect. lunch was served at the Windjammer and was packed out with the food well below the average taste. to make matters worse there was a corprate group with over 1500 pax who boarded and whilst having lunch you had to be careful the moment you got up from your seat one of these guys just jumped in and took your seat. To make matters worse they stood around the buffet and basically put food on their plates stood there ate and refilled as they went along. for some reason they had video cameramen in the room including their own phones that captured everything and anything that was within a foot of them. the cabin was good and very spacious and clean, good room attendant and all was well. Being a Diamond member we had the advantage of using the Diamond Club which in the end turned out to be the saviour. Dinner in the main room was so below average. the serves were cold and the portions have been cut dramtically. upselling was going on at its best and the food came out very quick the waiters were good and used all thier charm to keep them at bay and had to really work thier charm to assist them. a suggestion to RCL when you have 1500 pax in a group serve all their meals in one area. they are not cruisers someone has paid for them to go there period. at midnight were awoken by this loud music. the cabin next door decided to have a party and brought fellow paxs to the Jr suite. they then set up speakers with loud indian music , we had to get security who tried for 15 mins to get in and shut them down. the breakfast at Windjammer was CHAOTIC and a night mare. there was pushing and shoving etc, they even had to stop guests from coming in. to avoid the meals again we had the rest of our ,meals at the speciality resturants which finish costing us a lot more than we had planned on spending. we had Chops, Izumi Johhny rockets Read Less

A small cruise in the middle of our holiday on the Voager of the Seas seemed just right having taken this cruise before. We booked a suite and we were excited to see what we would have included as it's always a jump from balcony to suites. The answer is nada nothing zilch, asking someone on the concierge desk they said you get double points, I said I would sleep better for knowing that and slinked back to the room. The crew were in a dream most of the time when I walked past one waiter on my way out of the Windjammer I thought he was about to say goodbye but it was just a yawn. In the main dining room we had anytime dining which was a good idea but spoilt by the waiters selling tours to see around the kitchens for $ 35.oo per head. We had two waiters selling these tours in one night very interesting but not at $70.oo a couple.. The sushi demonstration was similarly priced along with the restaurant who charged a supplement per item of food for eating there. I stopped drinking the wine because they did not have the wine I chose only having the expensive wine which I did not like, asking the waiter on the third trying to choose a wine I said just point to what you do have, but this was too much for him and we never saw him again, so I had a beer which was easier. Our stop on this trip was Laem Chabang for Bangkok for 2 days however on arrival we were asked to disembark with our passports and go through customs at the cruise terminal. We had to wait until we were called in a ship's public area. This had the knock on effect that those who were were already at breakfast stayed at their tables and those who wanted breakfast queued outside. Getting off the ship was standing in long queue and then waiting, as we were not allowed to re-embark until every person had been seen, this took hours and chaos reigned. They must have given the task of devising this system to two idiots and chose the worst option as people were walking around without money not knowing when they would get back to the ship nothing was laid on the terminal which seem to be in make do transition period and unable to cope. Windjammer food was very good and a high quality total opposite to the serving crew. Room was comfortable same as a balcony just a bit bigger, the room Steward was excellent. Once outside of the cabin it was Butlins afloat but expensive so much so that most nights even the pub was empty. If you can cope with just the basics and the hawkers in bow ties coming around your table at night, then this is fine. The public spaces enable enough people to have a seat except for the Windjammer buffet, the entertainment was also good. Whoever is running the restaurants has never been on a cruise as a passenger also the beverage manager needs to stock what is on the menu as this ship is morphing into the Ryan air of the Seas. Read Less

This holiday consisted of a 3 night stay in Singapore followed by back to back cruises out from and back to Singapore. Although we live only 10 minutes from Birmingham airport we decided to fly direct to Singapore with BA from Heathrow rather than have a split flight - and therefore a much longer journey time - via Dubai with Emirates. But having flown previously with Emirates I must say that they offer a better service than BA. Immigration at Singapore can be painfully slow. Arriving from the UK and getting on and off the ship were all slow processes so I was pleasantly surprised that that there was no queuing whatsoever on leaving from Changi airport! All the prearranged transfers worked like a breeze. Singapore itself is brilliant and I would always recommended that you spend at least 3 nights here prior to or after your cruise. Now for the cruises, the first one of which was a five night cruise to Bangkok. Having done a mini cruise with RCI last year and not being too impressed we approached this cruise a little apprehensively, especially as we were travelling with friends who had not been with them before. However, we were pleasantly surprised as the food, entertainment and service were never less than good and often excellent. Yes the ship looks a bit tired in places but it is due a refit this year. Hopefully this sorts out the shower that does not seem to get hot and the sink tap that does not seem to run cold. Brushing your teeth in warm water was a bit different. But we had a fabulous service team at dinner who we made sure we stayed with even though we were on open dining. The itinerary is bit weird as the only stop is at Laem Chabang where you arrive at 11.00am and leave the next day at 12.00pm. The overnight in port would seem to be there to allow some passengers to stay overnight in Bangkok if they wish. Bangkok itself is a good 2 hour drive away so if you do a day trip to the city be prepared to spend half the time on the coach. The next morning in port is a complete waste of time as there is nothing to do. No trips are advertised for this day (by anyone) as there is not enough time to see anything. So apart from Bangkok, so far so good. Now for the second cruise... What a contrast. On the changeover day we went into Singapore but on returning our friends discovered that a bedside alarm clock had gone missing. To cut a long story short the "service" team (not the cabin steward) had gone in, assumed the cabin had been vacated and so took out the alarm clock that had been "left" behind. Now, I know our friends are tidy but you could still see some clothing poking out from the wardrobe. Any way, the alarm clock was eventually recovered. Our service team at dinner had been split up for the second cruise but we tracked down our waiter and managed to book a table in his section only to find it was the adjacent section, with a wine waiter who didn't seem to know what he was doing. We alter discovered that he had been recently "promoted" from the buffet to the dining room but it looks like he hadn't been given any real training - what happened to sommeliers? The first port of call was Port Klang for Kuala Lumpur. Here we had a bit of an issue with Cruising Excursions whom we had booked our trip with. The advertised port times were 7.00am to 3.00pm but our meet time for a 7 1/2 trip to Batu Caves and Kuala Lumpur was 9.00am! Calls were made but we ended up doing the trip which turned out to be about 5 1/2 hours Luckily it was a Sunday and traffic was light so we managed to do everything albeit a little rushed. It helped that there were only 5 people on the trip and we had a minibus so we were probably able to get in and out of some places a lot easier and quicker than the RCI trips using big coaches. We enjoyed this trip and Kuala Lumpur which was much nicer than Bangkok. Next stop Phuket where again the timings gave us cause for concern. The cruise planner gave an expected clearance time for tender operations to start of 10.30am. We therefore queried why our meeting time for our RCI trip was 8.20am with the prospect of a 2 hour wait in a lounge before the trip started. We didn't get a straight answer but a vague indication that we may arrive earlier than planned. This turned out to be the case and we were off the ship by 9.00am - but why advertise the port time as 10.30 and then have trip meeting times 2 hours earlier than that? This is bound to lead to questions and confusion. But RCI surpassed themselves on the evening by doing away with set dining and the ability to book a time if on open dining. The world, his wife, their kids, extended family and everyone else seemed to turn up at 8.00pm leading to long queues, long waits, and much frustration as some people appeared to be queue jumping. An unpleasant experience all round. When we did eventually get a table we were placed next door to a busy service station which we were having nothing off. They managed to put us somewhere quieter and gradually peace was restored. On the last day - a sea day - when you can have a lie in, the buffet closed at 10.30 so off I trotted to the Café Promenade only to find that was also closed whilst they switched over from breakfast to snacks. 24 hour service not! Other issues? The menus and the entertainment were a complete repeat of the first cruise. Given that the two cruises seem to be packaged together you would have thought that there would have been a much greater variety. In summary, would we cruise with RCI again - probably yes. On the whole the positives outweighed the negatives and most of what was wrong could easily be rectified. Singapore is wonderful. Bangkok - would not bother with again and I would not recommend visiting the city as part of a cruise unless you just want to tick it off your bucket list. Kuala Lumpur and Phuket - we enjoyed both. One last thing - one of the most entertaining parts of the cruise was watching the shop staff dancing along to the dance tunes being played on the Royal Promenade in the evening. Get yourself a table outside the Pig and Whistle, order a drink and sit back and enjoy (or join in). Read Less

I would suggest that anyone who gets turned off by the negative reviews on this site read between the lines of the review, Yes the Voyager externally needs a repaint and is going to dry dock around Sept '19, However once on board all is forgotten and the fun begins. If you board from 12 midday you will be asked to go to the Windjammer buffet initially as your cabin will not be ready till around 2.00pm, obviously it will get congested as 3000 new passengers are boarding so have a meal and drink and move on..We were with a group of six, our daughter and husband (25yo) and a first time cruise couple (age over 55) like ourselves. Everyone enjoyed the entertainment from the excellent Australian illusionist John Taylor, Philippine's four piece Kronos band playing in the royal promenade and various bars, Ice skating "Ice Odyssey show" and the "Queen Tribute" show with two Aussie singers. Throughout the day you had a multitude of activities to choose from- mini golf, rock climbing wall, flowrider, Ice skating rink, three adult swimming pools and hot tubs, deck games, basketball court, trivia games at different bars, fully equipped gym, children's activities and centre, jogging area decks, bingo, table tennis, shops and movie entertainment. The majority of this is provided at no cost however you will pay for Wifi (around $17 a day) Ben&Jerry's Ice cream, freshly squeezed orange juice and premium coffees. Free soft serve ice cream is available to the side of the windjammer and Iced water, tea and coffee dispensers are located in the cafe promenade. Alcohol drink packages are $65 per day, per person however if you're not a big drinker buy your beers @ $6.50-$7.00, Premium spirits inc mixers $8-$9, Cocktails $12 (All in US dollars) The food on board is a) Fantastic in the extra cost restaurants like Giovanni's, Izumi and Chops grille, (a two for one package can be bought on line before you sail for $60A, pp) b) Excellent in the main dining room (Free) for breakfast, lunch and dinner and c) Mediocre in the very busy Windjammer buffet, the cafe in the promenade serves breakfast egg & bacon muffins, pizza, plus sandwiches, rolls and cakes and is the only venue open 24hrs. For all those that cant be bothered wearing casual attire and covered footwear for the main dining you will suffer the fate and chaos of the Windjammer buffet. I must mention the specials in the duty free liquor on the ship at the time 2x1Ltr Johnny Walker red for $40US other great specials were to be had however after shopping in KL & Sing this was the cheapest avail. (Not to be drunk on board) We took the tour to Pattaya buy bus which was the only stop on this cruise however the air quality left a lot to be desired at this time as Bangkok had several health warning in regards to this the previous week. Currently Royal Caribbean are doing bargain prices for cruises for Singapore for as little as $130 p/p per night so you can afford to spend a little extra on specialty restaurants and enjoy the cruise even more. Don't be put of by the negative reviews, do your homework on what you want from the cruise and if in doubt talk to a cruise specialist that can advise you more on the destination and cabin type ect. Pro's.. Excellent Value, Friendly crew, Entertainment, Specialty Restaurants. Con's..Exterior of ship needs Drydock, Worn cabin mattresses, Asian manners. Prev cruises, Ovation OTS, Radiance OTS, Legend OTS, P&O Aurora, Oriana, Diamond & Regal Princess, F. Olsen Black Watch, Superstar Leo & Virgo. Read Less

What a total rip off. First impression as you boarded the ship in Singapore was "What a rust bucket." First looks are very important, and this was not a good look. The first person you meet when on board is a lady trying to sell you a drinks package. Hold that thought. Then you are sent to the dinning room for lunch. White material chairs with black corners from people moving them with greasy fingers. Mould and water marks on the walls and ceilings. Mirrors so dirty you could barely see through them. The food was basic, but was ok. Then your room is available, of which we had a balcony cabin. This was clean but dated. This was a 7 day cruise, so our expectations where high. We went to explore. After talking to a few other guests we quickly purchased a drinks package, as you didn't even get bottled water in the room. 2 saches of coffee and 2 pots of creamer, but no water. Everything drinkable has to be paid for. We found a piano bar so sat down with a drink, but we soon had to move as smoking was allowed in the casino next door. This area of the ship smelt like a dirty ashtray. Dinner the first night was average at best. The first port of call was Kuala lumpa, or to be more precise port Kalang, which is 65 kilometres away. The view from the ship was a few trees and some industrial buildings. Apparently the trip in to town was one and a half hours due to traffic. We didn't bother. Dinner that night was poor. Day two was in Penang. The excursions from the ship where extortionate, so we just got a cab and did our own thing. We had a good day. Dinner that night was rubbish. Day three was in Langkawi. Again we got a cab and did our own thing. Rubbish dinner again. Formal dress code, which we adhered too. But too many people just turned up with shorts and flip flops, and this was just overlooked by the staff. Next came 2 days in Phuket. We did our own thing again as the prices of trips was just stupid. Some of the guests on the ship where rude and aggressive to other guests and the staff did nothing about it. Even a guy shouting and swearing homophobic insults to two guys, and the staff just looked on. The guy was so drunk he could barely stand, but the bar staff just kept serving him. Everything on the cruise came at an inflated price, that just left a bad taste. This was part of our honeymoon, and thanks to Royal Caribean was a terrible experience. From the ship to the the staff the whole experiance was very very poor. First and last cruise. If your planning a cruise make sure you do your homework because this was rubbish, and cost us a small fortune. Read Less

I chose this cruise because I wanted to visit some new places. It was my first on Royal Caribbean, 18th overall. The itinerary was wonderful: Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi, and Phuket for 2 days. The shore excursions were A+. Our room steward was one of the best we have ever had. The ice skating show was spectacular. A big wow! Unfortunately, the negatives on this ship outweighed those positives. First of all, the food in the buffet was always cold. We gave up on eating breakfast there after the first morning. We had the ultimate dining plan. DO NOT GET. It is not worth it on this particular ship with only a couple restaurants included. Why wouldn't they include Johnny Rockets? The food there was superior to the food at the steakhouse. I have never had such rubbery filet mignons in my life! And the menu selection at the steakhouse is very limited. Not even French Onion Soup. Giovanni's food was slightly better and we went there most evenings. I do want to note that the service at both the steakhouse and the Italian restaurant was outstanding, attentive and friendly. The stores in the Promenade are mostly high end. There was no shop that sold T-shirts with countries names. And no sale ever with Royal Caribbean items. Maybe this is how Royal Caribbean is in general? Pastries looked very unappetizing in the cafe. The blueberry donuts I will recommend. They tasted better than they looked. Since breakfast was so cold, we got our breakfast in the morning at the cafe and took to our balcony to eat. Which brings me to this: The Voyager is an older ship so balconies are covered and not see-through. Not sure the extra for balcony on this particular ship/voyage was worth the extra cost. I would travel on Royal again if the itinerary was exciting. It seemed on this cruise it was just a means to get to destinations. Read Less