Events by Voyager of the Seas

The July 24th trip to Bermuda went to Canada instead. Tropical storm Franklin was to blame for the rough seas in Bermuda. Royal Caribbean was to blame for the ridiculous decision to go north instead of spending 5 days at sea in warm waters. The ship left from New Jersey, where the temperatures were in the 80's and 90's. Temperatures in Canada were in the 50's and 60's, and sky conditions were foggy and rainy the entire time. One of the stores onboard the ship actually raised the prices of sweatshirts, knowing that passengers had no choice but to buy them, since everyone was packed to go to Bermuda (or at least somewhere warm). Royal Caribbean notified passengers by handing out a flyer at the pier. There was a near mutiny onboard, and Captain "Sven" had a meeting in the theater to inform all the passengers that the only compensation Royal Caribbean was offering was the $45 port charge difference. He had to bring "bodyguards" along to share the news. A class action lawsuit is in the works. This was not my first cruise, but it will certainly be my last on Royal Caribbean. Their customer service is non-existent.

RECEIVED OCT 31 2005: Royal Caribbean finally sent me four "coupons" for 25% off a future cruise (one per person). Honestly, this is "too little - too late." They should've done this on the first day of the cruise, and everyone would've been satisfied. Instead, they waited three months, and angered literally thousands of passengers.

dd/mm/yy	2010	Incident
5.4.10	A reader reports the ship was effected by the same fog that delayed Carnival's ship (see item below). The ship didn't get in to Galveston until the afternoon and left at a little after 11:30pm. They too faced long lines upon disembarkation, although not as long as the Conquest's, resulting in the ship's earlier departure.	Delayed embarkation & debarkation
19.2.10	The Jamaica Gleaner reports the ship skipped its call at Montego Bay yesterday because of weather. According to the Meteorological Service, winds over 27 knots were present in the Montego Bay area sometime after 6:30 yesterday morning.	Skipped port call
dd/mm/yy	2009	Incident
14.12.09	KHOU-TV News reports the ship has been stuck in port (Galveston) since Sunday, and likely until Tuesday, because of dense fog. FROM A READER: Voyager finally left the dock about 9:20 Tuesday morning. RCCL allowed any who wanted off to do so, by 11 last night, and allowed them a cruise credit for a full cruise, and apparently more than half the passengers took that offer. So the ship is less than half full. No word yet on if they allowed all the lower-class staterooms to move up to newly-vacated balconies. I did see a message indicating that RCCL gave a "refund" of what you spent for your cabin, rather than giving a cruise credit you could use on any 7-day cruise. Not sure what they did for airline reservations for those wanting to leave. From another reader: According to the cruise director's post on cruise critic, 2500 people are left on the ship so way less than 50% got off.	Delayed departure / Canceled port call
31.7.09	Reuters reports there are dozens of victims of swine flu among the 5,000 passengers and crew docked in France Friday on its way from the Italian port city of Naples to Marseille. Sixty crew members were diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, and 70 more crew members showed signs of the disease. People infected with swine flu are being treated and will stay on board the ship, which docked at Villefranche in southern France Friday morning and will resume its journey Friday evening. All other crew members will also stay on board, though the passengers -- 3,600 people -- will be allowed to go on land during the day. UPDATE: Press Association reports the crew members and two passengers who were suspected of having swine flu have tested negative for the virus. RCCL said 62 crew members and two passengers on the ship were immediately isolated after coming down with cold and flu-like symptoms. It said: "All crew members and the guests with symptoms tested negative for Influenza A but will remain in isolation until they are symptom free." The information contradicted comments by Alpes-Maritime regional spokeswoman Geraldine Soulier, who said about 60 crew members had been diagnosed with swine flu and confined to their cabins while the ship was in the French port of Villefranche-sur-Mer. She said 70 others were also suspected of having the illness and isolated. Ms Soulier said regional authorities had been informed of the diagnosis by Spain's health authorities. The 60 had been diagnosed with the A-H1N1 virus upon boarding the ship in Barcelona, Spain, on July 26 and immediately placed in isolation. She said she had no information to indicate that the Spanish authorities' diagnosis was incorrect. UPDATE August 1: AFP (France) reports when the ship arrived in Mraseille at 7:00 AM local authorities initially barred passengers from going ashore, but after a team of medics carried out an enquiry on board, the majority of passengers were given permission to disembark. Local official Philip Ramon said authorisation to go ashore had been given because the risk was deemed "extremely marginal." Only one passenger, whose nationality was not given, was confirmed to have had swine flu and had now fully recovered, he said. About 150 people remained on board in isolation, he added. These included 62 members of the crew, who had presented symptoms of A(H1N1) flu, and another 60 people who had been in contact with them, five passengers and around 15 other passengers who had been in contact with them.	Swine flu
9.3.09	The itinerary on this cruise from Galveston was changed after a female passenger sustained a broken leg on one leg and a broken ankle on the other leg as a result of a fall down the stairs that go from the Royal Promenade down to the Casino and had to be airlifted for medical care. The Captain said due to the evacuation the should would be 4 hours late arriving at our first scheduled stop in Cozumel. Therefore the itinerary was changed and the ship went directly to the next scheduled ports of Roatan on Wednesday and Coasta Maya on Thursday. The Cozumel stop would then be on Friday and return to Galveston as normal.	Itinerary change
dd/mm/yy	2008 and earlier	Incident
10.3.08	According to a passenger, there was a small fire onboard that did something to damage the propulsion system of the ship. As a result the ship's schedule was altered, although it did go to all 3 destinations. However shore excursions were all shortened.	Minor fire
26.7.06	RCI issued a statement that a 22 year old woman was missing from the Voyager of the Seas, sailing in the Mediterranean. The woman was last seen at approximately 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, when she joined her parents to sleep in their stateroom. At that time, the ship was sailing from Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy, to Naples, Italy. She was reported missing by her sister at approximately 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. A variety of onboard announcements and searches were immediately carried out,without success.	Missing
24-29.7.05	I normally don't post weather-related itinerary changes, however the following passenger statement seemed worth sharing: The July 24th trip to Bermuda went to Canada instead. Tropical storm Franklin was to blame for the rough seas in Bermuda. Royal Caribbean was to blame for the ridiculous decision to go north instead of spending 5 days at sea in warm waters. The ship left from New Jersey, where the temperatures were in the 80's and 90's. Temperatures in Canada were in the 50's and 60's, and sky conditions were foggy and rainy the entire time. One of the stores onboard the ship actually raised the prices of sweatshirts, knowing that passengers had no choice but to buy them, since everyone was packed to go to Bermuda (or at least somewhere warm). Royal Caribbean notified passengers by handing out a flyer at the pier. There was a near mutiny onboard, and Captain "Sven" had a meeting in the theater to inform all the passengers that the only compensation Royal Caribbean was offering was the $45 port charge difference. He had to bring "bodyguards" along to share the news. A class action lawsuit is in the works. This was not my first cruise, but it will certainly be my last on Royal Caribbean. Their customer service is non-existent. RECEIVED OCT 31 2005: Royal Caribbean finally sent me four "coupons" for 25% off a future cruise (one per person). Honestly, this is "too little - too late." They should've done this on the first day of the cruise, and everyone would've been satisfied. Instead, they waited three months, and angered literally thousands of passengers.	Port change - Passenger dissatisfaction
4.9.04	The Jersey Journal reports that a 67 year old woman committed suicide by jumping overboard after losing money in the casino. See the article by clicking here. On September 16, the paper reported: There were indications she'd lost money in the casino on board and she came back to her cabin, went onto the balcony of the cabin, where she appeared to have put a chair against the railing, removed her clothing and went off into the sea below.	Suicide
9.8.04	Associated Press reports that a female cruise passenger has sued RCI claiming she was sexually assaulted by an employee on the cruise running August 3 - 10, 2003. The assault happened when an employee insisted on escorting the woman back to her cabin took her instead to an employees-only area and attacked her.	Sexual Assault (Crew on Pax
22.2.99	A fire broke out while the ship was under construction, largely affecting storage and crew areas in the aft portion of the ship. The fire was contained in 3.5 hours and there were no injuries.	Fire