Our cruise experience began in the dockside embarkation station set up by Royal Caribbean in Southampton, England. Royal Caribbean apologized that their computer system was not functioning, so the whole process resembled something more akin to a boatload of immigrants seeking asylum at Ellis Island: long lines and short tempers.

Once on-board, we marveled at the beauty of Voyager, with her well appointed, multi-story promenade running half the length of the ship, with cabins that overlooked the street-like scene. Upon entering our stateroom, we were pleased with the larger, family-sized stateroom (approximately 211 square feet, a little more money - but worth it). After a bit, we noticed that there was no welcome basket of free goodies (such as razors, crèmes, etc) that we had become accustomed to on previous Royal Caribbean cruises and other cruise lines as well. Also, robes were no longer provided for our use. The stateroom was clean and maintained to a very high standard throughout our cruise. A side note: stateroom television programming was abysmal. Signals were choppy, at times interrupted, and on one occasion, during the showing of the classic movie "Safari" with Clark Gable, Grace Kelly, and Ava Gardner, the movie looped back on itself at a point about twenty minutes from the end, and for about 36 hours you could go to that channel and continue to see the same portion of the movie, over and over and over and over again and again. Our traveling companions in a stateroom three cabins away reported even worse TV service. We reported these difficulties to our room steward who reported it to the appropriate personnel, and then we reported this malfunctioning to Customer Relations who were also malfunctioning, but on a different level.

The food in the three-deck high dining room was very well prepared and the wait staff and service was excellent, but unlike previous Royal Caribbean cruises, most passengers had noticed and commented that the selections were rather limited to lower-end cuts of beef, lamb-chops so thin that they looked as if they had survived a death-march, and the inclusion of a nightly Indian menu (appetizer, main course) that most passengers concluded were introduced to cut meal costs. If you wanted a good cut of beef, like filet mignon, you had to pay an additional charge of $14.95, according to what my wife read on the menu. And, horror of all horrors, there was no lobster offerings on any night of the cruise. Now that is really skimping!! Royal Caribbean: if you want me to dress up like a penguin on formal nights, then feed me lobster. The desserts were generally very good, and there was always a sherbet and ice cream, as well as a sugar-free offering. Read more