PICTURES of Vision in Drydock.. Sept. 2013

[redlobster]

Thank you for sharing the story...first one of this kind of transformation I've come across.

[A Pisces]

Thank you for this thread! We are going in May, for our 25th Anniversary cruise, and have reserved a JS aft corner suit. I was looking for pictures of the balcony, when I found your thread. My DH was concerned that we wouldn't like the ship, after being on the Oasis, but I am excited to go on her, especially after seeing she just had a makeover!

[The Big Booper]

Previously I just glanced at this thread. But we are planning to book the 6/9 sailing to Charleston and Bermuda so I went back to really check it out.

 

We were previously on her in Dec 2001 for a Mexican Riviera sailing.

[d&a Delaware]

Previously I just glanced at this thread. But we are planning to book the 6/9 sailing to Charleston and Bermuda so I went back to really check it out.

 

We were previously on her in Dec 2001 for a Mexican Riviera sailing.

 

No pictures to share :(, but we are just back from the 3 night Miami-Colon repo and can testify that Vision is in great shape, wonderful to sail on -- and that itinerary you are looking at is superb. What could be wrong with that?

 

David

[chellecruise12]

Thank you for this thread! We are going in May, for our 25th Anniversary cruise, and have reserved a JS aft corner suit. I was looking for pictures of the balcony, when I found your thread. My DH was concerned that we wouldn't like the ship, after being on the Oasis, but I am excited to go on her, especially after seeing she just had a makeover!

We are sailing just before you for our 16th Anniversary.. May 12th also in a JS aft. (8588) Our previous cruises have been on Oasis & Allure but think we will really love Vision also. :) Congrats on your Anniversary also!!

[The Big Booper]

RCI has a sale going now for this itin, pay for an interior and get an oceanview. Which we did.

[Freewill]

No pictures to share :(, but we are just back from the 3 night Miami-Colon repo and can testify that Vision is in great shape, wonderful to sail on -- and that itinerary you are looking at is superb. What could be wrong with that?

 

David

 

Glad to hear she made it to Colon in great shape. We board one week from today and are looking forward to all new ports for this sailing.

 

Roger

[MADflyer]

We are sailing just before you for our 16th Anniversary.. May 12th also in a JS aft. (8588) Our previous cruises have been on Oasis & Allure but think we will really love Vision also. :) Congrats on your Anniversary also!!

 

I had 8588 on the 2 day prior to the 3 day repositioning to Colon. The suite was fantastic. Completely new fixtures. There was a ton of storage. It will be interesting if they have fixed any of the minor details, like the drawer in vanity that was not fastened and such. Nothing major though and the air did work perfectly there. That wrap around balcony was perfect. They somewhat ruined my planned sail-away party with guests as we left Nassau early without announcement, but it worked out and I sure had space for guests back there.

 

I also really like the 'secret' staircase about 4 cabins forward on the inside that goes up to the Spa and is great for a short-cut to the Solarium and the new Park Café.

 

We had GS 8016 on the repositioning cruise and we had air conditioning issues. It did not work at all. Oddly it got really warm only at night. They seemed to be working daily in the suites on port side and our sink was out of service the first day. They also had major water issues on deck 7 and 8 and shut it down without notice the night prior to Colon from just before midnight to after 4 am.

 

The air in OS 8502 was better, but the water was out there as well. While I heard other complaints from the suites on starboard side they did not seem to be facilities related, but service issues. OS 8502 was simply an amazing suite. Here, for instance, they took the suite attendant away for the entire second day for training without replacement and we ended up having to call for pressing as we could never find anyone to send it with. We had sent ours much earlier on the port side as the attendant was there.

 

I am booked on the return from Panama in a JS aft and was going to upgrade to a GS, but after my experience with Vision, I think I will now just opt for those JS in future as I was happier there and liked that I could more easily pop up to the Spa and Solarium. I can just purchase the beverage package and book specialty dining for meals for that money and leave happier as my expectations will more easily be met.

 

That said, the current concierge on Vision was fantastic and it was a pleasure sharing all of our many issues with her, even though there was not much she could do except for being the wonderful person that she is....

 

I do not have as positive comments to make about some others, but I do not believe in hanging out individuals for bad service online as I hope RCI takes care of issues internally and have to think that our experience was the exception and not the norm.

[Loyal2RCCL]

I had 8588 on the 2 day prior to the 3 day repositioning to Colon. The suite was fantastic. Completely new fixtures. There was a ton of storage. It will be interesting if they have fixed any of the minor details, like the drawer in vanity that was not fastened and such. Nothing major though and the air did work perfectly there. That wrap around balcony was perfect. They somewhat ruined my planned sail-away party with guests as we left Nassau early without announcement, but it worked out and I sure had space for guests back there.

 

I also really like the 'secret' staircase about 4 cabins forward on the inside that goes up to the Spa and is great for a short-cut to the Solarium and the new Park Café.

 

We had GS 8016 on the repositioning cruise and we had air conditioning issues. It did not work at all. Oddly it got really warm only at night. They seemed to be working daily in the suites on port side and our sink was out of service the first day. They also had major water issues on deck 7 and 8 and shut it down without notice the night prior to Colon from just before midnight to after 4 am.

 

The air in OS 8502 was better, but the water was out there as well. While I heard other complaints from the suites on starboard side they did not seem to be facilities related, but service issues. OS 8502 was simply an amazing suite. Here, for instance, they took the suite attendant away for the entire second day for training without replacement and we ended up having to call for pressing as we could never find anyone to send it with. We had sent ours much earlier on the port side as the attendant was there.

 

I am booked on the return from Panama in a JS aft and was going to upgrade to a GS, but after my experience with Vision, I think I will now just opt for those JS in future as I was happier there and liked that I could more easily pop up to the Spa and Solarium. I can just purchase the beverage package and book specialty dining for meals for that money and leave happier as my expectations will more easily be met.

 

That said, the current concierge on Vision was fantastic and it was a pleasure sharing all of our many issues with her, even though there was not much she could do except for being the wonderful person that she is....

 

I do not have as positive comments to make about some others, but I do not believe in hanging out individuals for bad service online as I hope RCI takes care of issues internally and have to think that our experience was the exception and not the norm.

 

The ships are usually not 100% complete when they leave a major drydock. Typically there are still a few items/issues that need to be resolved over the course of the first few weeks after they re-enter service. The severity of what still needs to be completed seems to be related to how extensive the dry dock is. In the case of these major refurbs, you can typically expect more work to be ongoing during the first few sailings.

 

I agree with you that Vision is a wonderful ship.. she was still in great shape before she went in for her makeover, and I can't wait to sail her again now that she's been refreshed.

[chellecruise12]

I had 8588 on the 2 day prior to the 3 day repositioning to Colon. The suite was fantastic. Completely new fixtures. There was a ton of storage. It will be interesting if they have fixed any of the minor details, like the drawer in vanity that was not fastened and such. Nothing major though and the air did work perfectly there. That wrap around balcony was perfect. They somewhat ruined my planned sail-away party with guests as we left Nassau early without announcement, but it worked out and I sure had space for guests back there.

 

I also really like the 'secret' staircase about 4 cabins forward on the inside that goes up to the Spa and is great for a short-cut to the Solarium and the new Park Café.

 

We had GS 8016 on the repositioning cruise and we had air conditioning issues. It did not work at all. Oddly it got really warm only at night. They seemed to be working daily in the suites on port side and our sink was out of service the first day. They also had major water issues on deck 7 and 8 and shut it down without notice the night prior to Colon from just before midnight to after 4 am.

 

The air in OS 8502 was better, but the water was out there as well. While I heard other complaints from the suites on starboard side they did not seem to be facilities related, but service issues. OS 8502 was simply an amazing suite. Here, for instance, they took the suite attendant away for the entire second day for training without replacement and we ended up having to call for pressing as we could never find anyone to send it with. We had sent ours much earlier on the port side as the attendant was there.

 

I am booked on the return from Panama in a JS aft and was going to upgrade to a GS, but after my experience with Vision, I think I will now just opt for those JS in future as I was happier there and liked that I could more easily pop up to the Spa and Solarium. I can just purchase the beverage package and book specialty dining for meals for that money and leave happier as my expectations will more easily be met.

 

That said, the current concierge on Vision was fantastic and it was a pleasure sharing all of our many issues with her, even though there was not much she could do except for being the wonderful person that she is....

 

I do not have as positive comments to make about some others, but I do not believe in hanging out individuals for bad service online as I hope RCI takes care of issues internally and have to think that our experience was the exception and not the norm.

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on your aft JS.!! I'm even more glad we went with that room now. Can't wait!! Is the "secret" staircase marked at all? Is it easy enough for us to find?

[Tropicalgal2]

I had 8588 on the 2 day prior to the 3 day repositioning to Colon. The suite was fantastic. Completely new fixtures. There was a ton of storage. It will be interesting if they have fixed any of the minor details, like the drawer in vanity that was not fastened and such. Nothing major though and the air did work perfectly there. That wrap around balcony was perfect. They somewhat ruined my planned sail-away party with guests as we left Nassau early without announcement, but it worked out and I sure had space for guests back there.

 

I also really like the 'secret' staircase about 4 cabins forward on the inside that goes up to the Spa and is great for a short-cut to the Solarium and the new Park Café.

 

By chance did you take photos that you could share? We will be in 8588 for the 22 March, 2014 sailing! Can't wait! ! ! :D

[pasodancer]

Thank you so very very much for sharing - fascinating!

[A Pisces]

We are sailing just before you for our 16th Anniversary.. May 12th also in a JS aft. (8588) Our previous cruises have been on Oasis & Allure but think we will really love Vision also. :) Congrats on your Anniversary also!!

Thank you, and Congrats to you too!

 

By chance did you take photos that you could share? We will be in 8588 for the 22 March, 2014 sailing! Can't wait! ! ! :D

I would also love to see photos, if anyone has any.:D

 

Madflyer, I also want to thank you for the information, especially the secret stair case!;)

Edited November 23, 2013 by A Pisces

[MADflyer]

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on your aft JS.!! I'm even more glad we went with that room now. Can't wait!! Is the "secret" staircase marked at all? Is it easy enough for us to find?

 

It is very easy to find and is open. They do have fire doors on it that were locked the night before disembarkation, but it was open in the morning.

 

I got lucky as they did not have Park Café scheduled on the 'as you depart' flyer the night before and therefore it was empty and I was able to arrange a very nice breakfast on that wonderful aft corner balcony as we sailed into Miami.

[MADflyer]

The ships are usually not 100% complete when they leave a major drydock. Typically there are still a few items/issues that need to be resolved over the course of the first few weeks after they re-enter service. The severity of what still needs to be completed seems to be related to how extensive the dry dock is. In the case of these major refurbs, you can typically expect more work to be ongoing during the first few sailings.

 

I agree with you that Vision is a wonderful ship.. she was still in great shape before she went in for her makeover, and I can't wait to sail her again now that she's been refreshed.

 

Yes. I have sailed on many vessals directly following dry-dock and know this to be the case. This is nothing like the problems ships used to have just over a decade ago.

 

My favorite un-finished work was the placement of Dyson hand dryers all over the ship, with none of them working anywhere.

 

Another miss is the that they have to shut off the only elevators that go to the Crown and Anchor lounge with Izumi and the Concierge lounge shut off to those than can not maneuver the 3 decks of stairs in that section, whenever they use the areal equipment in the centrum.

 

They need a key access on those elevators as you otherwise have to switch elevator every time at deck 9 and they could make those elevators arrive for those with Concierge lounge access if they had thought of that.

Edited November 24, 2013 by MADflyer

[MADflyer]

I have 100s of photos and will try to post some tomorrow, if I can get it to work. I saw another thread had posted photos of our suite 8502 on another thread, but I will try to follow up with 8588.

[chellecruise12]

I have 100s of photos and will try to post some tomorrow, if I can get it to work. I saw another thread had posted photos of our suite 8502 on another thread, but I will try to follow up with 8588.

That would be great!! Thank you!!

[99florida]

If anyone has the chance to check our the G1 staterooms on deck 4 forward would you let me know if they are bigger due to being towards the front ie: 4002 vs. same category but more mid ship? The deck plans show that they are bigger and we are will to go forward for the extra room. Rumor has it that they are bigger but that you have noise due to the anchor. That would not bother me as it would be more of a wake up call to tell you that you have arrived at your next port of call :D