Cruising the Southern Caribbean on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas

 It was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime, top of the Bucket List cruise to the Greek Islands. But then a pandemic happened and it was time to fall back and punt. We had booked a cruise out of Venice to Montenegro, Italy and the Greek Islands. Now it would be a southern Caribbean cruise using our credit on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. We invited some family members to go along but it was not to be so it was just the two of us. We had cruised the southern Caribbean once before, about 28 years ago, and had been wanting to return so this was it.

So Thanksgiving Week of last year, we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico on a red eye and after a day of catch up, we met up with Mr. UR's college roommate (he lives in PR) and enjoyed a weekend in San Juan. He and his girlfriend showed us around the city and then nicely dropped us off for our cruise. We were ready for an adventure!

Our hotel pool at Condado

The view of San Juan from Voyager of the Seas

The boarding process was quick and relatively seamless. We checked in, dropped our luggage and walked up the ramp to the ship. Our cabin was ready and we met our steward immediately. Our credit from the Greek Isle cruise allowed us to upgrade to a balcony cabin - which ended up being a corner balcony and room at the aft of the ship. The next stop was a lawn chair and tropical cocktail looking out at San Juan!

A Goombay Smash overlooking the port in San Juan

Since we booked the cruise kind of late, our only dinner seating choice was the "my time" option - meaning you just make a reservation for the main dining room instead the same seating time every evening. When we tried to book for the first night, the available times were very late. After setting sail, we headed to the cafeteria  - which I found to be a great option - and enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again several nights. (The only problem was the ginormous crowd the first night - it seems every one had the same idea. But it calmed down after that night and was very quiet every other time we visited for dinner)

We did manage to eat in the dining room for lobster!

After that we went to the crows nest bar for views and a drink - and we were about the only ones there every time we visited. The busiest places on the ship were the water slide, climbing wall, putt putt course and the surfing bay. Plus, of course, the swimming pool. (There was a separate adults only pool which never seemed very crowded)Voyager of the Seas was an extremely family friendly - especially for tweens and teens - ship and it was good to see all the families on board enjoying their week together. It even seemed that there were many multi-generational groups on board - which was also heartwarming to see.

One of the reasons we picked this cruise was the itinerary. Mr. UR's favorite type of travel is cruising, and he particularly likes seeing as many islands as possible. Voyager of the Seas fit the bill for this as we would be going to six different islands - some we had been to and some that were new to us - on a seven day cruise. But highlighting those stops is a blog for another day. Hopefully soon.

This cruise was super relaxing and I enjoyed waking up in a different port every morning. The ship seems to be getting a little long in the tooth and could use a bit of a revamp. (This could be because we had just been on a brand new ship on Holland America in September and had gotten just a tad spoiled by that)But in all, I very much enjoyed our time in the Southern Caribbean - and I'd do it again anytime!

How about you? Do you enjoy cruising?

Linking up with: My Corner of the World at Photographing New Zealand!