Vision of the Seas~B2B~Spanish Immersion~Feb. 8th & 15th~My Diary

[SherriZ366]

We have already gotten our certificates. They look really official!! Wish the prices of that May 4th cruise would come down.

Great that you got your certificates. Which May 4 cruise are you looking at? We are on FR that week.

[tinkertoy9000]

Hey!! LOL!! That's the beauty of being retired......we don't have anything booked right now' date=' but keeping our eyes open for any and all cruises in April and May. I'll let you know![/size']

 

 

Hello Max'sMom, we live in Raleigh, NC also. Great review you have posted. We are D+ on Royal also but going to the Southern Caribbean on Celebrity in a few weeks and I was looking to find a good beach on Curacao. Thus far it seems the Seaquarium beach is it.:)

[critterchick]

Wow! That's neat! Yes.....waiting on those last minute deals really pays off. Glad we don't have to follow any kind of schedule any more!

 

No....not really a fountain on Vision. But I know what they are talking about. Can't remember what Vision Class ships have those. It's just water that comes down a wall. Maybe Splendour and Legend.....not sure'

 

Vision and Rhapsody had fountains behind the Centrum elevators. They were removed in the refurbishment.:(

[maxs mom]

We will be a table of 7 for first seating. Do you recommend Deck 4 or 5 for dining?. Also like to "people watch" and be by railing or window

 

This will be our first cruise on Vision class

AND

our first Owner's Suite!!

 

If you are doing traditional dining you will be on Deck 4. All of deck 5 is used for My Time Dining. Windows are nice but it's usually dark when we eat, so it doesn't matter. A good place to sit on Deck 4 is near the Captain's table. Have fun in the Owner's Suite!!

[maxs mom]

Great that you got your certificates. Which May 4 cruise are you looking at? We are on FR that week.

 

Got our eye on the Freedom. Hoping they will discount some balconies.

[maxs mom]

Hello Max'sMom, we live in Raleigh, NC also. Great review you have posted. We are D+ on Royal also but going to the Southern Caribbean on Celebrity in a few weeks and I was looking to find a good beach on Curacao. Thus far it seems the Seaquarium beach is it.:)

 

Yes.....it's nice! Especially with all the new upgrades. Get there early and get a good chair!

[maxs mom]

Vision and Rhapsody had fountains behind the Centrum elevators. They were removed in the refurbishment.:(

 

Thanks, Jean. I knew someone would know. I think the fountain thing was on another Vision Class ship, too, because I remember seeing one and this was the first time I've been on Vision and I have never been on Rhapsody.

[Darkwolfe]

Thanks' date=' Jean. I knew someone would know. I think the fountain thing was on another Vision Class ship, too, because I remember seeing one and this was the first time I've been on Vision and I have never been on Rhapsody.[/size']

 

I very carefully took a couple of pictures with my GF in front of that fountain on Vision last year. We knew it was going away. Pity really, it was a nice little part of the Centrum.

[Realtor at Sea]

Jane, Have you and John ever done an Alaskan cruise? Just wondering if you have done an Alaskan review? Thanks, Sandy (AKA Realtor at Sea and a former teacher, also).

[maxs mom]

Jane, Have you and John ever done an Alaskan cruise? Just wondering if you have done an Alaskan review? Thanks, Sandy (AKA Realtor at Sea and a former teacher, also).

 

Hey Sandy,

 

We have done two cruises to Alaska and they are just wonderful. Unfortunately....those cruises were done before I started doing these reviews on CC. If you are going on one.....be sure and check out the Alaska Port of Call board. It's the best on CC. I would advise booking your excursions privately.....they are soooo much better and the folks on the Alaska board know exactly what to do.

[maxs mom]

Friday ~ Feb. 21, 2014 ~ At Sea

 

Heading back to Panama now.

 

 

Slept in this morning, then visited with Betsy in the CL for a while.

 

Breakfast was yummy, as usual.

 

 

After breakfast we went back to the CL for a little while for more visiting, great coffee, quiet time, and some internet time.

 

 

Next....we took care of some things like getting a couple of Next Cruise Certificates. We met the Loyalty Ambassador for the first time. Two weeks on the ship and he made no contact with us at all. Not real impressed.

 

We also got a couple of pictures in the Photo Shop

 

Lunch was in the Park Café. A Kemmelwick Sandwich for John and a Panini for me. They have some good options there, but they need a few more things there and they definitely need some iced tea. The iced tea in the WJ is nasty!!! Us Southerners really need to have some good iced tea!!

 

They had a big barbeque out by the pool today. Too crowded out there for me, but it looked good.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

 

Just had to have one more cone of frozen yogurt!

 

 

Well.....we put it off as long as possible.....but the packing had to begin. Ugh!!!

 

[maxs mom]

Sweet Cheryl left us a flower and a note on our bed today.

 

 

 

 

We had a nice time enjoying the balcony and our cabin this afternoon.

 

 

By 3:00, I was hungry again. I went to the WJ to find a snack. I really wanted a taco, but not one was to be found. Not a whole lot of variety in the WJ. Everything there was good. We sure didn't go hungry!!

 

I wandered around some more and ended up in the CL .....and ....I found a Coconut Ranger Cookie. First one I've had all week! What's wrong with me!!?

 

Still chugging back to Panama:

 

 

On the way back to the cabin, I ran into the "cart guy" from the Solarium. We had a big laugh. He was.....what else......pushing a cart!!

 

[Realtor at Sea]

Jane, Thanks for the wonderful review. You always have just the right amount of photos and commentary and I feel like I am traveling with you and John. Next up for us is an Alaskan cruise tour on the Radiance in May (hence my questions) and the Quantum next February. Love having a new ship in Cape Liberty although we have always enjoyed the Explorer! Hope we find ourselves cruising together in the future. Sandy

[maxs mom]

The CL actually had people in it tonight!! We said goodbye to friends that we met over the week. There was Jane and Jim:

 

 

The other John and Jane:

 

 

Betsy:

 

 

And our wonderful bar server:

 

 

We met a delightful family from Holland:

 

 

They were playing a game with the bar server:

 

Edited March 13, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

The bar server lost the game so he had to do push ups with an apple in his mouth.

 

 

 

The service in MDR started out great tonight, but then got really bogged down. We waited and waited. John finally gave up and left. I waited on dessert. During dinner I had to leave to go to the Centrum a couple of times to get some pictures of the aerial show and the Parade of Flags. It was very crowded so all I could do was hold up my camera and hope I got a picture of something.

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

 

 

[TravelerThom]

 

I loved your review and pictures; thanks for posting.

 

Any connection between the picture of the bar server and the rather tilted picture of the pool:confused::p

 

Thom

[Borgcruiser]

Jane

 

That was an excellent review, , I've taken note of all the beaches you visited for future reference.

 

Vision is looking amazing , so looking forward to boarding her in March of 2015 out of Tampa.

 

Best wishes to John and yourself.

 

 

Bryce x

[maxs mom]

I loved your review and pictures; thanks for posting.

 

Any connection between the picture of the bar server and the rather tilted picture of the pool:confused::p

 

Thom

 

LOL!! That's what happens when you do your drinking through a straw!!!

[maxs mom]

Jane

 

That was an excellent review, , I've taken note of all the beaches you visited for future reference.

 

Vision is looking amazing , so looking forward to boarding her in March of 2015 out of Tampa.

 

Best wishes to John and yourself.

 

 

Bryce x

 

Thanks so much, Bryce! Got a little bit more to go! I hope we can cruise on Vision out of Tampa as well. We'll keep an eye on that! Just love that ship. It may be older and smaller, but in my opinion.....it's a real gem! I just won't get a cabin under the Solarium again!! That was the only JS left on that sailing when we booked, so we didn't have a choice. Hope to see you on another cruise soon!!

[maxs mom]

We went straight to the cabin tonight to finish packing and get our suitcases out in the hallway. We checked out the Centrum on the way and saw Frank and his wife dancing.

 

 

 

Oh no.......ours are out here this time!!

 

 

We got to bed early tonight and then set our clocks an hour back.....nice! We would get up very early in the morning so that we would have plenty of time for a good breakfast before leaving the ship.

[maxs mom]

Saturday ~ Feb. 22, 2014 ~ Colon

 

Like I said, we were up very early this morning (5:30) so that we would have plenty of time.

 

 

 

 

We had one last breakfast in the MDR. So nice that the special area for us was open on this day. We said good-bye to Angelito and Vivek. Thy were both leaving the ship in one week.

 

 

We had some errant internet charges on our bill, so we went up to the CL and Betsy took care of that for us very quickly. We said good-bye to her at this time.

 

 

We had very early luggage tags....like about 7:10, but we didn't get off the ship until 8:00 or so. We told Eric to pick us up around 8:30. Let me tell you.....they are real serious about getting everyone off the ship as quickly as possible!

[susancruzs]

Thanks so much for your great pictures/review, a very enjoyable read! :)

 

I'm going to come back to RCI next year for a med/then a TA on the Vision. I was curious about the ship but pleased when I found out it has had a recent refurb!

 

I really prefer a smaller ship, and the itinerary having Venice in the middle for an overnight is awesome. I've been to Italy (land trip) plus med cruise but not Venice. The itinerary is perfect, your descriptions, pictures sealed the deal! Thanks so much!

Edited March 13, 2014 by susancruzs

[maxs mom]

It was a beautiful day for disembarkation!

 

 

 

We got all our stuff together (no small task!), said goodbye to Cheryl, took one last picture of our "bowling alley" cabin, and got an empty express elevator down to deck one to disembark. Wahhhhhh!!

 

 

Our luggage was right there so we grabbed it and headed for the customs and immigration line. We had no clue which one to get in, so we just picked the shortest one. No one spoke English there. We showed them our passports and gave them our customs form......but they wouldn't let us go. Apparently we had to have the yellow copy of the form we filled out coming in.....so put that in a safe place and have it ready to turn in as well. Fortunately, I put it in my billfold, so I easily found it. That could have been a disaster.

 

Once outside.....it was a bit of a mess!!! We just waited in one spot near the door so we wouldn't have to lug our luggage around. I walked all the way down the sidewalk to see if I could spot Eric, our driver. I didn't see him anywhere the first time I did this. I think on the third time I made that walk....I spotted him and he saw me. He drove on down to where we were so we loaded up our stuff and we were on our way. It was about 8:45. But it sure was confusing and not very organized to be able to get out of there. We got lucky!!