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

[sailawaybellaluna]

After relaxing and drinking some Chardonnay on our balcony, we got ready for the second formal night and meandered around the ship.

 

We explored the theater (since we hadn't yet been there during the week):

 

 

Taught our son about gambling:

 

 

And took a few family photos:

 

 

Oliver was still really enjoying the huge iguana we bought on the island. He accompanied us to the formal dining room as well!

 

 

 

We really enjoyed the centrum during our time on the Vision. The music was wonderful, and every evening there would be people that would break out into salsa dancing on every floor overlooking the singers! So fun!

 

Dinner tonight included the lobster for FREE. That's what Oliver wanted, and he loved it! This boy of mine eats everything! (So opposite of my very picky husband)!!

 

 

Tonight after dinner, we finally went and listened in on the Karaoke that we could hear every night from our cabin! We stayed about 30 minutes or so. Nearly every song was in Spanish, which was fine with me since I love Spanish music. Carlos Vives was a fave amongst many passengers, and I love his stuff, so it wasn't boring!

 

But it was way past our little man's bedtime, so we called it a day and headed back to our cabin for the evening...

[99florida]

We booked this cruise during the after-Thanksgiving sale, approximately 5 months prior to sailing.

 

The price was fantastic, and we also got onboard credit.

 

We booked the large family oceanview stateroom. We typically book oceanview staterooms...

 

One week prior to sailing, I signed into my Royal Caribbean account and couldn't believe my eyes! We had been upgraded to an AFT BALCONY stateroom on deck 7! I was so excited I cried!

 

It has been a rough few months for our family, with a lot of random issues (health problems, car accident, etc etc). So, not only were we desperately looking forward to this vacation, this amazing balcony stateroom only made it better!

 

I don't know how we'll go back to regular oceanviews after this treat! :)

 

 

 

This was cabin #7658. It was a connecting cabin, although we had absolutely no noise issues with the connecting door. It didn't rattle and we couldn't easily hear any noise next door. It was perfect!

 

We have this room in 2 1/2 weeks :) Maybe we may get lucky too and be upgraded to a Jr. Suite ~ Either way it will be fine b/c we love the aft balconies.

[sailawaybellaluna]

I'm excited for you 99Florida! You will love it!!

[CntPAcruiser]

Thanks so much for coming back to your review--I've enjoyed it along the way. The picture of you sitting at the edge of the water with your son (post #99) must be the sweetest picture I have ever seen on CC!

Edited June 1, 2014 by CntPAcruiser

[sailawaybellaluna]

Thanks so much for coming back to your review--I've enjoyed it along the way. The picture of you sitting at the edge of the water with your son (post #99) must be the sweetest picture I have ever seen on CC!

 

Aww, thanks! When I saw it, I was reminded of a cruise we did in 2011 and a similar pic my husband snapped in Barbados. Oliver was so little then!

 

 

Next up...our final day (at sea).

[sailawaybellaluna]

The next day was the final day of our cruise, and a sea day.

 

We decided to have breakfast in the formal dining room. While it was a very nice experience, I will say (as I mentioned before), I do think Carnival does a much better job at breakfast/brunch in the formal dining room! Exponentially more choices!

 

Anyhow, I had the eggs benedict - something I ONLY have while cruising, and it was delicious!

 

 

 

After breakfast we wandered around the ship, exploring areas we failed to see earlier in the week!

 

We went up and saw Izumi (the sushi restaurant just at the entrance of the Viking Crown Lounge), and then explored the lounge. It's beautiful and relaxing up there! Such a fun place to sit, have a drink, and look out onto the beautiful ship!

 

 

 

Next up, the pools!

[booklady4]

Thank you so much for your review! I am on Vision in a few weeks and loving all of your pictures! Your family is beautiful and it looks like you had such a great time. I can't wait for my trip!

Edited June 2, 2014 by booklady4

[sailawaybellaluna]

After exploring the ship a bit, we laid out in the sun, reading and listening to the band play by the pool. My little boy really wanted to go in the pool, so I took him for a bit.

 

This was my 16th cruise, and probably my FIRST time in a ship's pool. I don't know why, but the pools and hot tubs kind of give me the heeby jeebies with germs. Tiny pools + 3,000 people = me freaking out a bit.

 

But, it was his vacation too, and he really wanted to go.

 

We last about 30 minutes, because the kids were completely out of control. No parents around, rudely splashing each other, jumping (dangerously) in pretty shallow areas. Ugh. Our HOA has a ton of pools a short walking distance from our house, and there's never many people in them, so I promised him we'd use them a lot once we got home. (And we are! He's in swimming lessons 3 times/week and loving it).

 

After the bust at the pool, we decided to walk down to the Park Cafe. We usually never eat outside the formal dining room/room service, but wanted to try the panini's and salads they offered here.

 

They were COMPLETELY overwhelmed on the sea day! Perhaps panini's are too slow to make and they should offer something else? I was the fourth person in line, and it took 35 minutes to get my two panini's and a salad. I felt bad for the staff near the hot machine, because it was a hot day, there was a HUGE line behind me (blocking the drinks machines and walkway up to the Solarium), and just frustrating for everyone.

 

On this day, they also had a poolside BBQ where they made HUGE vats of paella with all kinds of seafood (and pork I believe) in it. While this was fun to watch, each vat took 12 - 15 minutes to cook (understandably), but people waiting in the sun got a little restless. My husband timed a couple at the back of the line, and by the time they got their paella, it had taken a full hour!

 

In retrospect, we should have ordered room service and ate on our balcony, but it was good to try something a bit different...

 

Next up...relaxing in Schooner's.

[sailawaybellaluna]

The rest of our sea day was chilled...The guys played games in the arcade, I gambled a bit in the casino, laid out on the balcony, and had our final dinnner in the formal dining room before heading back to pack. So sad our trip was coming to an end. We had a FANTASTIC time on this ship...

 

We did spend some time in Panama upon our return, and went to see the Panama Canal. So I'll cover that in the next post or two in case anyone is interested...

[sailawaybellaluna]

We have this room in 2 1/2 weeks Maybe we may get lucky too and be upgraded to a Jr. Suite ~ Either way it will be fine b/c we love the aft balconies.

 

How did you like it 99florida?!

[Hailzmick]

Loved loved loved your review!!!

We are going on Vision in May & I'm reading as many reviews as I can.

While I was reading yours- I realised we are staying in YOUR aft balcony room! Crazy hey! I'm stoked!!!

Your son is absolutely devine! He has the most beautiful skin & eyes! Just gorgeous.

 

I started writing an ongoing review on a cruise we went on in April & I hope to do a review for our 12 night Vision cruise then our 7 night Splendour review.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2117820

 

Hailey :-)

[Raschueler]

Thanks for this great review! I was so excited to see that your trip took you to the ABC islands. I am going there in January on the Explorer and am having trouble finding photo reviews with those islands included. Maybe once the Explorer starts going there, people will do photo reviews (:

 

Your son is adorable! You have a beautiful family.

[sailawaybellaluna]

Loved loved loved your review!!!

We are going on Vision in May & I'm reading as many reviews as I can.

While I was reading yours- I realised we are staying in YOUR aft balcony room! Crazy hey! I'm stoked!!!

Your son is absolutely devine! He has the most beautiful skin & eyes! Just gorgeous.

 

I started writing an ongoing review on a cruise we went on in April & I hope to do a review for our 12 night Vision cruise then our 7 night Splendour review.

 

Can't believe you'll be in the same room! It is an AMAZING CABIN! Seriously. I've been exploring a lot of aft balconies and that is by far the nicest I've seen! We have an aft balcony on the Carnival Splendor in a few weeks, so I'll see how that compares!

 

Thanks for your compliments on our little boy, and for reading along! :)

[sailawaybellaluna]

Thanks for this great review! I was so excited to see that your trip took you to the ABC islands. I am going there in January on the Explorer and am having trouble finding photo reviews with those islands included. Maybe once the Explorer starts going there, people will do photo reviews (:

 

Your son is adorable! You have a beautiful family.

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip in January!

 

We absolutely loved the ABC islands (Bonaire and Curacao being our favorites!!!)

 

Thanks for the compliment on my family, and for reading along! :)