Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Ten Awesome Days on Vision OTS! ~A Pictorial Review~

DarthGrady

By DarthGrady,
in Royal Caribbean International

 Share

Recommended Posts

DarthGrady

DarthGrady

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Day 8: St. Kitts (And possibly the end of the world)

 

Our day in St. Kitts started early, although not as early as the one in Dominica. We got breakfast in the dining room, then left the ship to look for our tour guide. We booked privately through Grey's Tours. The owner, Thenford Grey, was our driver and tour guide.

 

The first leg of the tour took us through downtown Basseterre. He did a great job explaining the long history of the city and island under French and British control. And how it later gained its independence from the Crown. We saw several historical landmarks as we made our way toward the gardens at the Romney Plantation.

 

At the the Romney Plantation we were treated to a tour through the botanical gardens there. He explained the background of the area when it was a sugar plantation, very interesting stuff. We then made our way down the coast to the old fortress at Brimstone Hill. This is really the Crown Jewel of the entire island for a history buff like myself. Unfortunately we only had about an hour to explore this huge compound, so I'll definitely be spending more time there on our next visit. My wife also brought a bag of supplies to donate to the local schools. This is not required or even expected. But we read some reports from other guests of Mr. Grey's that had done so and it seemed like a nice thing to continue.

 

We then headed back across the island to the resort/condominium areas, the contrast with how locals live was shocking. Our last major stop was at a beach, but we decided to only snap a few pictures and then head back to Basseterre. There were some spots around downtown that I wanted to photo. Mr Grey provided an excellent tour, it was evident that he was very proud of his country and enjoyed sharing knowledge about it.

 

After walking around there a bit and snapping some shots, we got a snack from one of the street vendors along with some delicious Caribe beers. Then it was back to the ship for a gym visit. In the evening we had a great Italian themed dinner in the dining room before a few glasses of wine in the Diamond Lounge. I then finished the night in the cigar lounge, just in case the rapture decided to come late in the evening. As of 10:52 p.m. the world was still (more or less) intact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sjr156

sjr156

Posted
Posted

Darth, great review thanks. I'm going on the Vision on January 25. My question is does the Windjammer have outdoor seating? I like eating outside on cruises and of the prior Royal Carribean cruises I've been on some have outside seating and some dont.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DarthGrady

DarthGrady

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Day 9: Back to Sea

 

As the world had decided not to end on the previous day, our second-to-last day on the ship was a calm and relaxing one. We spent most of the morning and early afternoon reading out on the Deck 5 promenade. The Captain announced a medical emergency early in the afternoon. They were in need of O+ blood donors for a transfusion. I knew that I was A+. But my wife wasn't sure of her type, so we went down to the infirmary (so they could check hers) in case they lacked volunteers. We arrived to see the hallway full of people, it was great to see such a turnout. A nice lunch in the dining room was followed by the daily gym visit which in turn led to more lounging.

Our second formal night included the surf and turf dinner. The steak was okay, but the little lobster was overcooked. Later I smoked my last stogie in the library, which was followed by a dip in the Solarium hot tub. For some of reason they had the Solarium pool empty again on a sea day. This makes absolutely no sense at all, sea days are when everything should be open! During our time in the hot tub, another medical emergency was announced in the casino. It was a pretty tough day for some folks on the Vision.

Day 10: One Last Day

The last day of any cruise, especially one as prefect as this one, is always the saddest. We had our breakfast, then attempted to climb the rock wall. We both failed miserably. I couldn't figure out why. We both had, after all, accomplished the feat on Monarch of the Seas four years prior. Had 48 short months made me feeble? It was a savage defeat, and one that I hoped to avenge on my next cruise.

Most of the afternoon was split between the Deck 5 promenade and the Viking Crown Lounge reading more Thompson. We had one last dinner, and bid farewell to our serving team. We then spent some time in the Diamond Lounge and made sure to tip our awesome waiters. We finished the night with a trip to the hot tub, and a final stroll around the upper deck.

Conclusion:

Debarkation went pretty smoothly, although the line for Customs was long and went slower than usual. I attribute this to the fact that there were only four agents checking 2000+ guests.

This was an excellent cruise, probably one of the best I've ever been on. Four relaxing sea days and five nice ports. Awesome. We had a great cabin steward, a top notch serving team and bar waiters that were happy to dole out endless glasses of wine. I was truly sorry to see it end. The biggest problem with doing a ten night cruise is that anything shorter seems seems far too brief. I enjoyed my first experience with a Vision Class ship, it is just the right size. I'll list the pros and cons below, but all-in-all it was an outstanding cruise.

Pros:

Fast Embarkation

Clean public areas and cabins

Friendly crew

Good food

Great itinerary

Cons:

Never-ending Christmas music

Ho-hum entertainment options

Solarium pool often closed on sea days (apparently anytime the seas are rough)

No specialty restaurants

Cabins need freshening (sliding shower doors, flat screen TVs)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DarthGrady

DarthGrady

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Darth, great review thanks. I'm going on the Vision on January 25. My question is does the Windjammer have outdoor seating? I like eating outside on cruises and of the prior Royal Carribean cruises I've been on some have outside seating and some dont.

 

It does. There are tables set up on either side between the pool area and the WJ. There are drink stations there, and an ice cream station on the starboard side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...