Day Five to the End of the Cruise

Another one of the evening entertainments on the ship was the Ice Show.  Can you believe this ship had a dedicated skating rink? ...and they had top skaters from around the world here.! It was hard to get great photos of the action with the iPhone... but this gives you a little idea of the event.

We were pretty faithful getting some daily exercise... and two mornings when we had some rain and it was too wet to walk on the track, Shirley and I went to the Ship Shape Gym and burned off some calories on the machines.

There are several hot tubs and swimming pools on the 12th deck... but we had one day the captain said was the roughest waters he has seen in four months.  The ship was rocking side to side so much they had to drain all the water out of all the pools and hot tubs.... pretty scary stuff!

At first when Shirley was feeling sick and throwing up we thought it was because of the rough water... but when I got it later and the ocean wasn't nearly as rough, we thought our sickness might have been caused by something we ingested.  I am blaming it on the water from a fountain beside the walking/jogging track where we stopped for a drink... and even filled up our empty water bottles to save a few dollars.  Tsk, tsk.  It happened right after we did that.

Both Shirley and I were impressed by talking to the kids at this school at Falmouth, Jamaica.

I took a number of photos of messages written on the building to encourage reading and learning.

It is quite apparent that they encourage their kids to read, eh?  They had these signs painted on the facia between the first and second level.

Since I was feeling pretty punky we came back to the ship for lunch and I slept most of the afternoon between runs to the  bathroom.  It was a lousy afternoon for me...

but I went at the end of the afternoon with Lorne to the putting green on the top of the ship for a few rounds as the sun was setting.  I skipped supper since I was feeling so crumby.

After seeing this manufacturer's plaque posted near the rock climbing wall Lorne told me about a one-hour movie on the ships TV channel about the design and construction of this incredible ship. Our last cruise ship, the Coral Princess, which we took thru the Panama, could take about 2200 passengers.  This Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas takes one third more... about 3100.  And they recently built their biggest ship... the Oasis of the Seas... which takes more than 5500!

What a fascinating construction project.  It has 8 diesel engines... each one over 17,000 horsepower.  The movie shows the first plate of 1" steel that was cut to start the hull.  There was over 300,000 pieces of steel welded together to build this ship.

Many components of the ship were built in different countries and then shipped to Finland for assembly.  All the cabins, for example were prefabricated... and you can see in the movie one of those modules being inserted.  This two minute movie lacks the details of the one hour one... but it will give you a bit of an idea of the scope of this massive project.


Built in 1998-99 it took three years in planning before actual construction.  This clip shows a neat time lapse of the evolution of the ship.

The central promenade is delightful...

At the ends of the promenade are glass cage elevators connected by viewpoints from each floor level.

We certainly enjoyed eating more of our meals this trip in the dinning rooms, rather than the Windjammer smorg buffet. Better food and easier quantity control. Less chance of over eating. This dining room is three stories with connecting stairs... very luxurious!

I enjoyed watching the rock climbers scale this wall...

and try to ring the bell at the top first.

The 19th Hole Bar on the top deck is very elaborate with custom golf ball looking bar stools and other custom seating... very classy.

There were a few windows off the walking track where we could see into the bridge where the captain and his team control the ship.  The green platform visible thru the bridge windows is a helicopter pad... the first ever on a cruise ship.  I do't know how often it gets used... but I can see it being helpful for emergencies or for entertainers on tight schedules.

This photo was taken during our first few hours on board... and the monitors with yellow/orange and white is a map of the Mississippi River, which we had to travel down for 8 hours (142 miles) to get to the Gulf of Mexico!  And I had always thought New Orleans was right by the ocean!  

The Mississippi River averages 165 feet deep between New Orleans and Gulf... and is dotted with lots industries which benefit from using the river for shipping.

Coming back we entered the mouth of the Mississippi around 10 PM Friday evening and were tied up at the dock as the sun came up at 6 AM next morning.  Shirley has excellent sunrise photos of our last morning on the ship... it was spectacular!  ... so watch for it on her blog.

After breakfast we were in group Green 14 which disembarked about 9:00 AM.  The end of a pretty enjoyable week in warm weather.

If you are interested here is a link with comparison specs of the Voyager to the Titanic... take a minute to see the highlights.  Cool stuff!

Did you find this blog post helpful in learning about the ship, it's features and getting up and down the Mississippi?