Just back from the Vision of the Seas Western Carribean

[BarbJ52]

Good review Professor.

 

Question: does RCI want us to carry the wine on? Almost all other cruises we put it in our checked bags. Thanks for all the good info

 

Yes, the signs that we saw inside the building (long after our checked bags had already been taken) clearly stated that wine should be removed from checked luggage and carried aboard. The bag with our wine was not delivered to our cabin. We had to go to a conference room, identify our bag, and open it up to show that we only had wine and not some other alcoholic beverage. It was a relatively painless inconvenience that could have been avoided had the signs been placed outside rather than inside.

[KruzMor]

Yes, the signs that we saw inside the building (long after our checked bags had already been taken) clearly stated that wine should be removed from checked luggage and carried aboard.

Thanks for the heads up Barb. :-)

[Folk Singer]

Thank you and Happy Holidays.

[Justmekaren918]

The wine needs to be carried in carry-on as well as if you want a 6pk of water or soda, cases of water should be sent with luggage with luggage tags on it. My 17" KC bag worked awesome this Sept. on Vision to achieve the wine and water goal. I just kept refiling the water bottles.

 

Happy Cruise all, and happy holidays!

[tomnmary]

We'll be doing western on Vision 2/28/15! We got a JS corner aft. Pretty excited about that. Thanks for your review. I saw your cruise history with the Jewel, Feb 2008, that's when we sailed together-a long time ago.

 

I've been reading so much about the Vision. We did an 11-day southern in 2013 and loved it. But I have noticed service changes on RCL since then, so I'm a little apprehensive. I'll just keep drinking and everything will be fine!

 

Take care!

Mary & Tom

Wisconsin

[BarbJ52]

We'll be doing western on Vision 2/28/15! We got a JS corner aft. Pretty excited about that. Thanks for your review. I saw your cruise history with the Jewel, Feb 2008, that's when we sailed together-a long time ago.

 

I've been reading so much about the Vision. We did an 11-day southern in 2013 and loved it. But I have noticed service changes on RCL since then, so I'm a little apprehensive. I'll just keep drinking and everything will be fine!

 

Take care!

Mary & Tom

Wisconsin

 

Hi Mary & Tom,

 

That Jewel cruise was one of our favorites! We too have noticed changes in the RC product. For us, service was fine aboard Vision. But, our next few cruises will be with Celebrity.

 

Enjoy your cruise,

Barb & Fred

[cruise2snorkel]

This was a very nice cruise with a couple of incredibly annoying situations.

 

 

 

Embarkation was a real PITA. The ship was late arriving because of fog. The line was way outside the building. So you got into line to get into line. It was a zoo. The porters were outside gathering baggage and after 20 minutes of creeping to get inside the building there were signs saying do not pack wine in your checked baggage. Great timing you wait 1/2 hour to see the sign that could have saved you some grief. Also I have a walking disability and of course there wasn't any place to sit down until after an hour. Once we got into the real line to get your sea pass then things went smoothly. This was the worst embarkation I have experienced. I don't think the personnel were really working for RCI nor was there anyone from the ship supervising. Honestly I don't know if they could have really done anything in that "did they have authority to do so"? We started at 11 and got on board @ 1:30.

 

 

 

We had a Grand Suite. We splurged because this was our 40th anniversary. The state room attendant Ruel was amazing as were all of the ships company. The ship is old showing patina, but in pretty good shape too.

 

 

 

Because I haven't really had a knock your socks off meal in the main dining room we opted for Specialty restaurants for all but 2 of our evening meals.

 

 

 

Isumi was very good, but expensive. It's an ala carte venue and can run over 100 bucks. In my opinion well worth it. We also ate lunch there on the last day and were equally impressed and with a smaller price too. If you're disabled you have to be either carried, or climb the last 15 or so steps up to the restaurant. Also the bathroom is on deck 10, 2 decks down. If you're there @ night and there is a show in the Centrum you CANNOT use the elevators. I am going to make a suggestion to have an oxygen concession on the 11th floor ;)

 

 

 

Giovanni's was also very good. Amazing food and amazing service. Well worth the money. We ate there twice.

 

 

 

Chops was good. We ate there the last night and we felt rushed. We had 7:30 reservations and @ *15 or so the waiters were cleaning up and setting tables. Most likely we won't go to Chops again on the last day unless we have much earlier reservations. The steak was perfection, onion soup was too. Scallops were overcooked, but certainly edible.

 

 

 

We opted for late seating in the MDR and ate 2 meals there. One was good the other wasn't as good as going to Denny's. I expected this. The wait staff was very attentive but seemed to have a lot of tables to take care of.

 

 

 

The Concierge lounge was packed every night. But Vojtech adapted quite nicely and we expanded to the sky lounge so there was seating for everyone. There were a lot of Pinnacle and Diamond Plus on this voyage. And to date I had never met anyone who was Pinnacle. On board I bet there were 15 - 25.

 

 

 

The diamond lounge was nice but we didn't go there at night. I had heard it was packed as well.

 

 

 

The Captain was very visible as were the officers. The Customer relations area was usually packed. I do not know why.

 

 

 

The beds were horrid! There is no longer egg crate foam available. Ruel put down 2 comforters and I used 4 pillows on top of that but it was still bad. If I can't find something to bring with me to cure that I won't be sailing RCI again. I am glad I brought Lydocain patches and advil. Oh yes a bottle of 25 advil on board is $11.50 so bring yours from home.

 

 

 

I watched the shows on TV, which is a great feature. They broadcast them the next day. I also converted Blu Ray DVD's to M4p so I could play them on my Kindle fire and route them through the tv. For those nights of waking up with a sore back and trying to get back to sleep.

 

 

 

The shops were the same fare with the same 70% off scam as on every cruise ship on the planet.

 

 

 

First stop Roatan. The port surely has built up since last we landed. We didn't get off the ship. However Roatan has some of the best snorkling and diving on the planet. We did that the last time we were here.

 

 

 

Next Belize City. Seas were rough. Tendering in was 20 - 25 minutes. Lines were long, the machines that track if you're on board or not were broken. Decided to stay on board.

 

 

 

Cozumel was next. We love it there. We did Salsa, Salsa Margarita. Lots of fun. We learned a lot about making Salsa and Guacamole. Drinks were not strong ... just the opposite. Someone who will remain nameless spiked some of the drinks ... much gratitude. Great time. There was an older lady there in her 80's who could really dance, it was fun to see.

 

 

 

Costa Maya. I like it there, but not so fond of the junk shops there. They all sell the same thing and they are aggressive. Some store wanted to sell me 3 cuban cigars for $60. one was a Cohiba and it was a counterfeit. Cohiba has a special way they wrap the cigar and this one wasn't it, beware cigar smokers. We did buy some silver there. It wasn't a spectacular buy but a fair one.

 

 

 

The passengers on board were all races, colors and creeds. And one of the nicest group of passengers I have ever sailed with! All were friendly, and seemed to be having a great time.

 

 

 

The Meet and Mingle was nice with some Champagne, Wine, and Chops vouchers as prizes, as well as everyone got the blue plastic Royal Carribean mini notebook with pen.

 

 

 

The ship rocked a bit, just enough to lull you to sleep so my wife told me.

 

 

 

Debarkation was thought up by the same morons who thought up the embarkation. We were @ terminal 3 departing and they wouldn't allow you to use the escalator if you had any bag or a cane. Apparently it's ok to go up them just not down. In all fairness to RCI it has been my experience that most embarkations and debarkations can be a pain, these were more so. The people working in the terminal were also rude adding to the annoyance. The customs agents were outstanding. There were only 3 of them but the remained cheerful.

 

 

 

Loved the cruise, crew, the people; hated the bed, embarkation and debarkation.

 

 

How were you able to play shows from your kindle to the TV? What kind of cable is needed? We will be sailing on Vision March 7 with DDs who have kids shows already downloaded on kindle fire. Would be really nice if we could let them just watch on the TV.

[ProfessorEFFE]

It depends on your kindle. Mine is a fire HD 9" it has 2 connectors on one side. One is to charge, the other is HDMI out. You connect that to the TV's HDMI connector and select it through the remote in the stateroom. The newer ones (Kindles) have a blueray connection to a smart TV. This won't work with the SAMSUNGS in the stateroom as far as I know.

 

HTH

[cruise2snorkel]

It depends on your kindle. Mine is a fire HD 9" it has 2 connectors on one side. One is to charge, the other is HDMI out. You connect that to the TV's HDMI connector and select it through the remote in the stateroom. The newer ones (Kindles) have a blueray connection to a smart TV. This won't work with the SAMSUNGS in the stateroom as far as I know.

 

 

 

HTH

 

 

I have a regular kindle fire and there isn't an HDMI out. Only the charge port and headphone port. Will keep in mind for the future and if I upgrade my kindle at some point.

[peppermill]

Did a back to back on the Vision Nov 22 & Nov 29, and embarkation was a complete nightmare! Brilliance had docked first that morning, and docked at the pier Vision was supposed to use. Some passengers ended up at the wrong pier, and even some luggage went on the wrong ship. Computers had to be reset, and Sea passes had to be transferred from one pier to the other. We stood in line outside for well over an hour, boarding was really backed up. There was not a separate line for Diamond level when we did finally get to the boarding line, so that was again a long wait. Also, there was no central drop off for luggage and porters were few and far between. We used off site parking, and their vans were not allowed to pick up at pier, so we had to walk to and cross a busy street into a public parking garage to meet the van. We fortunately had a porter to take our two weeks worth of luggage. I doubt that we will ever go out of the Port of Tampa again.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums