Ahoy...and welcome aboard the good ship Voyager is how we were greeted to our accomodation in Kenya. As you have proabably already read or guessed this whole complex is based on a cruise ship which can be great fun from the raising of the flag in the gardens, to the cabins (or rooms) decor, to the lunch horn making all the newbies jump of the sunbed its so loud, to the docking in a different country everyday.
The Voyager is majority all inclusive for the Brits, so all meals and local drinks inc. Drinks were ok, the wine tasted better in the restaurant than at the bars, Allsopps is the beer to go for my husband said which is in a bottle, hes wasnt so keen on the draught Tusker. There was also the cocktails list of the day which had 3 or 4 diffferent ones to try. Unfortunately we wernt that impressed with the food. The quality was very good, but the variation not so great. If you are vegetarian you'll have a fab time, there is a vege section as well as loads of different veg in the main buffet area! Although saying this we always found something to eat, maybe we were just unlucky with the places the ship had docked, as we only stayed 1 week. We ate at the seafood alacarte one night which was great value for money, we paid around 30£ for deep fried king praws, seafood salad, piri piri king prawns and over 800gms of lobster. We also spashed out on a payable bottle of wine which was much better than the AI stuff. The Italian snack bar was excellent, the pizzas are gorgeous and always freshly cooked.
The complex had 3 pools, relaxation pool was very busy although beautiful and two others however generally no probs getting a sunbed. Fresh towels were inc. everyday. Unfortunately as stunning as the beach was, it was filled with beach sellers everyday so no sunbeds or relaxing down there! The complex also had a group of monkeys running around which were so funny and were great fun to watch... just make sure you close your balcony door when you go out!!!
Animation were very good, all different activites throughout the day although did leave you alone if you wernt interested. However if you take part you will get colored beads that you can swap in the gift shop, which is probably one of the cheapest hotels gift shops i have stayed in! Evening entertainment was not too great, even the caribbean do it better, they do try, but we gave up by the 3nd night and chilled out in the bar. They also do different tours every day to local attractions which look good, but we didnt do as only there for a short time. We did brave it outside on our own though, as it is safe to walk around, we got a taxi to the local supermarket (called from reception costs about 4-5£) and got some nice local foods and presents (which were even cheaper than the gift shop!) Watersports did a nice glass bottomed boat trip which was 10$ ( about 5£) for 3 hours, snorkelling, walking around a dead coral reef with lots of shells and over to starfish gardens with hundreds of different colored starfish. We stayed in a superior room, which was fine for a 4* with tv ,hairdryer, tea n coffee making facilties. However i would have said this was a 4* room, so dont know what the standard rooms are like. Maid service was fantastic, in the room twice a day!
Now one of the highlights of our stay was of course the safari. We did the saltlick lodge with our own operator. You can book on the beach, but we thought we'll probably only do this once, may as well pay a bit more. We saw lion, cheetah, giraffe, warthog, loads of elephants, zebra and more and this was on only a 2 day- 1 night so worth doing even if you are only on a week stay. Saltlick lodge was amazing, the most unusual place to stay, very hard to descibe but look it up when your there.
Overall great place to stay for a week, Lovely complex, Fantastic weather in November, with very friendly staff, and Kenya as a country is a really interesting place to visit with plenty to keep you occupied.
Advantages: right on the beach, clean and staff are very friendly Disadvantages: people selling safari trips are very persistant and gets annoying being pestered by them.
Advantages: right on the beach, clean and staff are very friendly Disadvantages: people selling safari trips are very persistant and gets annoying being pestered by them.
Nov 27th, 2007
very helpful by (100%):
