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The Seven Seas Voyager is Radisson's
newest and best cruise ship. Carrying 700 passengers in 350 outside
balcony suites this ship is a refreshing contemporary, elegant, luxury
ship. While most smaller ships do not have the immediate WOW factor like
on a
 big
mega-ship, the Voyager does. The 8 story atrium is a real attention getter
with glass interior elevators and a very well designed and decorated
boarding area that is a main focal point of the ship.
The first thing you are really going to notice once onboard the ship, will
be your suite, which your are escorted to upon embarkation by a
white-glove attendant. The SMALLEST suite is a very generous 306 sq ft
PLUS an additional 50 sq ft private balcony. These suites have sitting
rooms large enough to comfortably fit a full size sofa, two club chairs
and a cocktail/dining table. The inlaid Italian marble bathrooms have a
full size tub and a separate shower stall. The walk-in closet is large
enough to actually get dressed in comfortably. The European king-size beds
(can be converted into two doubles) are the most comfortable beds at sea.
Other features and amenities include interactive TV with CD/DVD player,
pre-stocked mini bar, safe, two cushioned lounge chairs and table on your
balcony, thick oversized towels, Judith Jackson bathroom amenities and
full-length robes.
The ship also offers seven larger suite categories ranging in size from
370 sq ft to a two bedroom 1,430 sq ft Master Suite. All of these suites
come with butler service.
The Voyagers size allows her to offer the finest of service, but equally
important, a full array of features and options found on ships twice her
size. Public rooms include 5 bars and lounges, 5 dining options, a two
level main show room, internet cafe, a full equipped casino, two
conference rooms, cigar room, library, gym, Judith Jackson spa and salon,
aerobics room, and of course boutiques. Outdoor sporting opportunities
include a jogging track, paddle tennis court and golf driving nets.
The dining options on the Voyager are very appealing. The Veranda
Restaurant offers breakfast and lunch buffets daily and at night becomes
an intimate Mediterranean Bistro with a tapas buffet for starters. The
Veranda also offers ample al fresco sitting both on the stern of the ship
and around the pool. The pool grill offers a lunch buffet for the sun
lovers.
The Compass Rose Restaurant is the main dining room offering breakfast,
lunch and dinner all open seating. This attractive room, while the largest
dining room on the ship, still has that comfortable and personal feeling
due to numerous elevations and etched glass partitions. Continental
cuisine is served nightly. The presentation, extensive menu selections and
food quality that I experience were extremely good and rate with the best
in the business. As with all Radisson ships wines are included with
dinner.
Latitudes is a themed restaurant featuring the cuisine of a different
American region nightly. This intimate restaurant features an open galley
and a Chef that freely mingles with the guests. While offering a more
limited menu, this restaurant is a MUST. Food and service where top notch.
The plate presentations are highly stylized. The evening wine selections
have been perfectly paired with the nightly menus. There is no additional
charge for either Latitudes or Signature restaurants, however if one was
asked, you would gladly pay it.
The premier restaurant on the ship is Signatures. Radisson has an
exclusive arrangement with Le Cordon Bleu of Paris in designing the menus
and supplying the chefs. Again this restaurant features an open kitchen
and a very inter-active Chef. The presentation is picture perfect! The
food is fantastic and of course French. This intimate restaurant is sure
to be the highlight of the cruise. Don't expect to be able to take over
this venue for a one seating at one time event as the Chef won't hear of
it.
Entertainment on the Voyager has been upgraded. The Voyager will offer
three production shows that include four singers and a production cast of
6. The shows were well staged and the performers were up to the task. The
Voyager also offers a featured artist. On my cruise it was an excellent
concert pianist. The Voyager Lounge has a band for nightly dancing and
late night disco. The Horizon Lounge, the largest lounge on the ship, also
features nightly live music in a more relaxed atmosphere. All in all, the
ship offers a wide variety of entertainment not normally found on smaller
luxury vessels.
The Observation Lounge is a great spot for private functions. This lounge
offers a great panoramic view and is a very comfortable room for evening
cocktail parties.
The Judith Jackson Spa and Salon features a full service beauty salon and
seven treatment rooms. Adjoining the spa are sauna and steam rooms as well
as the gym and aerobics room. The spa offers an extensive selection of
treatments.
Last, but not least, are two meeting rooms that can be combined into one
large room if necessary. The rooms are equipped with A/V equipment.
The Voyager will be offering MED and Caribbean cruises for 2003 and 2004.
We would highly recommend this vessel for groups or charters.
Contributed by: Steve Bloss -
March 2003. The views expressed in this report are solely those of
the author and not necessarily those of WWTCA |
