Review: Tons of PICTURES, Vision of the Seas: Panama,Cartagena,Curacao,Bonaire, Aruba

[Clarea]

beautiful photos , keep them coming ?

 

what does immersion (?) cruise mean?

They don't call it "immersion" anymore. It's now called "Culturally Enriching". From Royal's website:

 

On Culturally Enriching Cruises, guests embrace the destination onboard. These sailings feature regional entertainment and activities, dining that showcases local flavors and tastes and other details exclusive to the region. These itineraries are popular with guests from the region who represent a majority onboard and are staffed with a higher number of crew members from the region as well. Local customs, practices and languages will predominate on the ship, but English will always be spoken by our staff and crew. Be immersed in another culture while enjoying Royal Caribbean’s signature service, comfort and amenities, for a unique cruise vacation.

Edited April 16, 2014 by clarea

[purplethorn]

Ohh ... thank you ... sounds awesome!

[Sky616]

Curacao is one of our favorites as well. Love the downtown area in Williamsted.

[sailawaybellaluna]

After popping into some of the shops in Willemstad, and exploring, we walked over to the Floating Market. This market had mainly fresh fruits, vegetables and fish. There were also a couple of souvenirs such as hand-painted gecko's (which Oliver had to have), magnets, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

After wandering around for about 1.5 hours, we decided we were ready to head out to the beach!

 

More to come...

[cruzinlady1947]

This is a great review and the pictures are just beautiful. I love the different colored buildings.

 

Your little boy is just adorable. Those big blue eyes are mesmerizing. He will have to fight off the girls as he gets older. ;)

 

Keep up the good work and looking forward to more.

 

Thanks for taking time to do this. It is really appreciated.

 

Gwen :)

[sailawaybellaluna]

We went back to the main street along the Handelskade, and grabbed a taxi to go to Lion's Dive.

 

I had originally considered going to Blue Bay, but after re-reading the review by Max'sMom, we opted for Lion's Dive.

 

I LOVED it! It was perfection. I'm so so happy we decided to spend the day there.

 

The taxi cost us $15 and took less than 15 minutes. We passed several public beaches the taxi driver recommended (where the entry fee was only $3), but we loved the amenities offered at Lion's Dive. I love to snorkel, my husband likes shade, we like food and drinks, and a safe place for our little guy (+ restrooms), so it was perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once arriving, we walked down to the beach and found lounge chairs under some palm trees. Within 15 minutes or so, a young guy came and asked us to pay the $12/person chair rental fee. However, we had forgotten our RCCL towels, and they didn't have any down there. I walked back up to reception, and they gave us towels, no problem.

 

They had beachside service from the bar and restaurant - served right to your lounge chairs in takeaway containers. Wine was approximately $7/glass, and we had some sandwiches which were $7 - $12 each and included french fries. Overall, a great value and excellent food.

 

There was also a very speedy wi-fi signal where we were able to do some mobile uploads so our Facebook friends could curse us! :p

[TheresaK]

What a beautiful family! We are going on Vision of the Seas 3/21/15 and have never sailed RCCL, so really appreciated and enjoyed the pics and review. Thanks!

[dblane]

Loving your review.

[librarylady19]

Hi ValerieJo!

 

I know, I need to start posting some pics of the ship! They're coming!

 

We didn't dine in any of the specialty restaurants. We typically don't, but I think if grandma and grandpa would have been on this cruise with us, we would've chosen to eat at Chops. I loved the atmosphere in there.

 

I did notice a "Chef's Table Package" advertised in the Cruise Compass most days: For a fee of $130/person, you can eat at Izumi, Chops Grille, Giovanni's Table & Chef's Table. This is 20% off the usual price you'd pay at each. However, in the casino I noticed there was a special phone number you could call, and get the same offer for only $105. Considering the Chef's Table alone has an $85/person dining fee, I thought this was a quite a good deal!

 

Chops:

 

 

Loving your review - wonderful photos and your son is indeed very photogenic :)

Thanks for the dining package info. We are taking our first RCCI cruise on Vision in January - deck 7 center aft!!

[maxs mom]

Oh.....so glad that you got out to my favorite beach in Curacao! And glad that you had a good time. You sat in the primo area!! Good for you. Have never tried to get chairs there. We usually go a little more to the right. We set up camp right next to the new bar and grill that they just opened up. Glad you were able to get towels, too!

 

Still enjoying......keep going!

[Yurita]

Love your reviews!!!! but most of all, your son is just gorgeous!!!! he's a doll!!!! I have NEVER seen a cutter little boy. I have followed your previews reviews and have seen your little one get bigger and bigger... but he's just too cute.

 

Thank you for posting this review, we are going to the ABC islands this year and I'm enjoying every min of your posts.

[PhilNDebbieAtSea]

Great review and pictures! Your family is beautiful! So happy for your surprise upgrade!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[sailawaybellaluna]

Thanks everyone for your kind words and reading along thus far!

 

So, after spending the entire afternoon enjoying Lion's Dive, we caught a taxi back to our ship Because he had to go over the bridge to return to the port, the cost was $20. It took less than 15 minutes to get back.

 

We had a nice little sail away on our balcony:

 

 

We showered and got dressed for another great dinner in the Aquarius Dining Room. I had a fish dish, which was quite nice. Oliver of course had escargot.

 

 

 

If you go to Curacao, I can't encourage you enough to go to Lion's Dive. The service was so wonderful. The people were warm and friendly, and it really felt like we were on a movie set or something. It was lovely!

 

Up next...Bonaire! Which also "tied" as our favorite island!

[sailawaybellaluna]

This morning we arrived early in Bonaire, and had room service on our balcony.

 

I had arranged a private tour for the three of us with Sue Felix from Achie Tours. Most of the other tours today would be in Spanish only, and we opted for private. She custom tailored a tour for us with Erica, a tour guide who was born and raised on the island.

 

I felt like this was a great value, and we learned so much! It was equivalent to combining 2 or 3 of the cruiseline excursions, for much less money!

 

We met at 9am under the tour tents right outside the ship.

 

We paid $30 each (Oliver was free) for a 3.5 hour tour.

 

We started driving through the downtown and different neighborhoods before stopping at 10,000 Steps. I couldn't get over how gorgeous this place was - the water was bright turquoise!

 

 

As we continued driving, there several wild goats and donkeys along the road. My son loved seeing these!

 

We continued along to Goto Lake:

 

 

We drove to the Open Air Museum. I loved seeing how they made fences from cacti - so interesting!

 

 

 

Once we arrived at the Open Air Museum, we spent a few minutes looking around at the history of the salt mines. The slaves who worked in these mines had really horrible, tragic lives. They were plantation workers that had to walk 7 - 8 hours each week down to the ocean to work in the salt as well. They didn't have any gloves or shoes, and the salt did horrible damage to their bodies.

 

 

 

A lot more to come! We LOVED our day in Bonaire!

[sailawaybellaluna]

After leaving the Open Air Museum we headed towards this monument overlooking the entire island. They hold an outdoor church service here once a month. It's really picturesque:

 

 

And then, headed to the salt production area. It was so interesting to see! The quality of salt on Bonaire is very good, and the industry now employs approximately 80 people.

 

 

 

We then drove nearby to see the Slave Huts. This is where the slaves stayed while working in the salt mines. It was sobering to see. Several of them would share these tiny homes.

 

 

 

 

Coming up next: Our afternoon at the Divi Flamingo Resort!

[Crystalkrt]

wonderful review, and your son is beautiful, should be modeling with his features. What a handsome little one.

[sailawaybellaluna]

At the end of our tour with Erica from Achie Tours, she dropped us at Divi Flamingo Resort to spend the afternoon.

 

We had also considered a few others, but chose this resort for the following reasons: There was a restaurant for lunch, full facilities, wifi, and you could snorkel from the shore!

 

We LOVED it here.

 

Upon arriving we sat down, ordered some wine and had a lovely lunch. It was like a scene from a movie - bright blue water, crabs crawling around on the rocks below, stunning!

 

 

 

 

 

I had this GORGEOUS fish sandwich, served with fresh mango salsa. It was fantastic!

 

 

The view was incredible. The food was tasty, and the service was great. We had an hour sitting here, eating and enjoying the view. The total bill for lunch was around $35 - very reasonable, and they accepted credit card.

 

Following lunch, we made our way down to the beach...More to come!

[BecciBoo]

You can snorkel and dive from any location on the beach the entire circumference of Bonaire. We loved it. It's all a sanctuary. Did Oliver see the Flamingo colony? What a cutey!

[sailawaybellaluna]

You can snorkel and dive from any location on the beach the entire circumference of Bonaire. We loved it. It's all a sanctuary. Did Oliver see the Flamingo colony? What a cutey!

 

Thanks Becciboo!

 

We are definitely planning to return to Bonaire some day!

 

We saw a lot of flamingos on this trip in Colombia, but not Bonaire! Unfortunately, when we stopped at the colony, most were hiding! Our guide mentioned them being very shy?

[sailawaybellaluna]

After lunch, we walked down to the small beach area. If you like a sandy beach, this isn't the place for you. But if you like to snorkel and explore sea life while having a drink under a palapa, this place is a dream!

 

The pink and turquoise building behind Oliver is the restaurant we had lunch in as mentioned above. That's my hubs sitting under a palapa:

 

 

This is a little jetty with palapa's and beach loungers. When we arrived at 1:30pm, they were all full, but fortunately, within 5 minutes, we saw people getting up to leave.

 

No one came and asked us to pay for use of the chairs. I'm not sure if that's because they saw us eating in the restaurant or not? There is a full bar here as well, and a nearby vending machine with a variety of drinks, including bottled water for $1.50.

 

 

 

It was so great to snorkel along side all the rock piles here. There was an amazing variety of fish, including one that was bright purple and neon blue and over a foot long! I saw so many more fish here than I did in Curacao, and they were very colorful!

 

It was fun to see our ship in the background...

 

 

After around 3 hours, we decided to make our way back to the ship. It's literally a 5-minute walk through the back gate (near the casino) of the Divi Flamingo Resort.

 

[emeraldcity]

I'm so glad I stumbled on your review tonight. It's a little trip back in time for me. We absolutely loved this itinerary as well. My daughter is devastated that RCI no longer offers it ... she was hoping to go again in a few years. Anyone who has never done a Spanish cruise can't imagine the high energy of the passenger complement.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post. Your enthusiasm shines thru your words and makes the experience so fun!

[DreaAST]

Great review and pics! Your son is beyond adorable!!

[sailawaybellaluna]

I'm so glad I stumbled on your review tonight. It's a little trip back in time for me. We absolutely loved this itinerary as well. My daughter is devastated that RCI no longer offers it ... she was hoping to go again in a few years. Anyone who has never done a Spanish cruise can't imagine the high energy of the passenger complement.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post. Your enthusiasm shines thru your words and makes the experience so fun!

 

Thanks emeraldcity! I remember reading your review of the immersion trip you did with your daughter a couple of years ago! I hope Royal will bring it back..

[boaterette]

I was loving your review but the pictures are all gone now.:(

[sailawaybellaluna]

Oh no! My photos are all gone!

 

Photobucket sent me a warning that I was at my max capacity, but when I sign into my account and check, it tells me I'm only using 8% of my storage! :confused:

 

I also compress all my images to make them quite small before uploading them, so it seems unlikely?

 

Any ideas of how to fix this?

 

Thank you!