Bar prices are pretty much general hotel prices, with 15% automatic gratuity. Standard coffee and tea is free and available all day, except speciality coffees which you would pay for. Another added cost is a gratuity of £5pppd will automatically be added to your onboard account for dining staff/cabin stewards etc. You can adjust this at guest relations (reception area) if you want to give personally to staff.

Would certainly recommend RCI, having been on Voyager last October.

Hi

Would any of you know if we can board the Voyager of the Seas earlier than the stated time on booking docs?
We have a time of 2pm but wanted to go on to ship at approx 11am...whats the chances?
2 Weeks to go and counting....

Thanks
Liz

11am is a much better choice- far fewer people in line then. The Windjammer restaurant opens for lunch for new pax at 11.30am and we are always on board close to that time.
You can't get into your room until 1pm though.

Thanks emidia, we will get there for 11am and hope for the best. We have completed online check in so hopefully we will be quick getting on the ship.
We are staying at the top of Las Rabalas so not to far to port I believe.

What happens if we have booked early dining and we are on ship tours that bring us back at 6pm?
My time is 6.30pm but we would have to shower and change which would take a lot longer than half an hour!

Any advise on shows dining etc? Do we have to book a slot for the ice shows/westend type shows? we really want to see as many as possible whilst on board.



Cheers for advise.
Liz.

Sometimes when there are a lot of late excursions they will have open dining but this is normally when the ship is not leaving until much later in the evening.
Other than this you could eat in the Windjammer. Also 11.30am might be a better time to board. If you are there and not able to get on board then there will be an area to wait in. Barcelona if I recall correctly does have such an area. Mind you I normally go straight on to the ship so don't notice.

Sue

liz mc wrote:

Thanks emidia, we will get there for 11am and hope for the best. We have completed online check in so hopefully we will be quick getting on the ship.
We are staying at the top of Las Rabalas so not to far to port I believe.

What happens if we have booked early dining and we are on ship tours that bring us back at 6pm?
My time is 6.30pm but we would have to shower and change which would take a lot longer than half an hour!

Any advise on shows dining etc? Do we have to book a slot for the ice shows/westend type shows? we really want to see as many as possible whilst on board.


Cheers for advise.
Liz.

We did this last October on Voyager, and because daughter "had" to shop for a couple of hours in Barcelona we did not get taxi from hotel until around 12.15 arriving at cruise terminal about 12.30. The queue was very, very long stretching into the car parking pavement area. Take Emdia's advice and get there at 11.00am if you can.

If you know you are going to be late back on a couple of trips, might be worth asking the Maitre 'De if you can do late dining these nights (certainly worth a try). Another thing to bear in mind is that you can arrive for 6.30 sitting at 7.00pm latest.

The only show you need to plan ahead is the ice show, the daily newsheet will inform when to go for tickets as there are a limited number of ice shows during the week. Get tickets for the first show so that if you like it you can choose to go back again! We did that. Even if you don't have tickets you will get in, but only a couple of minutes before show commences, and you will need to take whatever seats are left.

The normal "westend" shows you just go to the show theatre, no booking necessary.

One final thing....enjoy much!!

I didn't see any waiting area at the check-in building in Barcelona. Just roped off lines.
Get there early and avoid the long lines. It's not the most organized place.... but hey, you're going on a cruise!
As Hamrag says, just tell the Maitre D' if you need your dining time adjusted around an excursion. What tour comes back that late?
There is no open dining yet as far as I know- there is early or main - and if there is a large Spanish contingent on your cruise the late dining is 9.00pm to suit them. We eat in the WJ most of the time anyway, to be leisurely.
Don't miss the Ice show- they have two and you will see in your 'Cruise Compass' (daily bulletin) when it will be held and when to pick up tickets.
Don't miss Johnny Rockets restaurant- play 'Staying Alive' on one of the table jukeboxes and the staff will do a dance/singing routine for you.
Don't miss the big parade down the Promenade on the first night- get a place close to the Pub/bridge and you'll be right in the middle of it all. It starts at about 10.30pm .
Don't miss The Quest game......
From the top of Las Ramblas down to the port is about 20mins by taxi.

I now recall when they had the open dining and it was in Athens. It created all sorts of problems as Celebrity is staffed with Greek Officers a lot of them had their family and friends on board and the dining room was full to overflowing.
All hell broke out the next day as a lot of people were unable to get into the dining room until very late in the evening. They may have abandoned this as it created havoc.
I have never had to wait to get on board as I am an Elite CC member so that only on my first cruise with Celebrity would I have had to queue. It is the one perk that I like and there are not too many perks these days.

Thanks so much for your good advice.
We are booked to go to Florence & Pisa, but not the tour just the Cruise transport and think that it said full day until 5.45pm I will check though.
We are also doing Capri tour and are D.I.Y Rome again as we only want to go to Sistine Chapel. We have also booked a 4hr Cruise in Villafrance as it was only £25 each and sounded really good it is to Eze.
I am really looking forward to it now, 11 days to go!!

Cheers

Hi Liz, you will have a wonderful time and DIY Rome is so easy to do. Capri is also a breeze from Naples. You literally walk off the ship, and go left to where the Capri ferries are. Takes between 45-60 minutes each way. The main attraction of DIY for Capri is you can come back when ready, rather than wait for the tour. From memory did not save much, so you may want to stick with tour booked.

We boarded Navigator of the Seas on June 30th, arrived at about 12.15 and were on board within 15 minutes. Filling out and printing the set sail passes online before you leave speeds up the process considerably.

I would certainly arrive well before 2pm - It was just beginning to build up at 12.15, and the queues were quite long by 2!!

All the previous advice is spot on, the one thing I would add is that they weren't giving out tickets for the ice show any more, it was just a matter of first come first served at the door.

Enjoy!!!!!

Can't wait 1 week to go!
Thanks for all your help and advice.

Liz.