radarcruiser Posted January 11, 2015 #1 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) Just got home from our Vision 7 day from Tampa. We visited Roatan, Belize, Cozumel and Costa Maya. This is not the normal port order. This cruise scheduled Cozumel and Costa Maya in reverse, don't know why. I see that a few cruises in the next month or so do that also. Embarkation - We parked across the street in the port garage (105.00 for 7 nights). Was worth it to us to have secure place and access to car on departure. Brilliance was in port also so we used terminal 2. Arrived at around 1115 and were on board within a half hour or so. The problems started AFTER we were on. Rumor was they have received an intense CDC inspection that morning. At noon the line for the Windjammer was out to the pool. We made our way to the Park Cafe and waited about 20 minutes for them to bring food out. I finally got a roast beef sandwich that had EXTREMELY rare beef. Like cold and raw. I did not eat it and decided to wait for dinner. Stateroom - Staterooms were available at 1pm as advertised. We had an accessible Junior Suite (no we do not have mobility issues - it was the only non-obstructed JS available when we booked - after final payment - TA said Royal would move us if someone needed it - flame if you want). Anyway the room was HUGE, like a small hotel room, with a larger balcony. Beds were a bit uncomfy though. In retrospect we should have asked for pads, but we did not. We had a minor problem when we first arrived as maintenance had left several dirty rags on our balcony, but our attendant quickly removed them. He was OK, not spectacular. Room was mostly cleaned on time. Overall Ship - VOS is the smallest RCL ship we have been on, We have done all other classes. Although there are fewer activities and not as many bells and whistles we never felt bored. The ship itself needs some TLC maintenance as the rust is more visible than any other RCL ship we have been on. Also little things like the glass on deck does not appear to be cleaned as often, nor as well as we have seen on other cruises. Food - Overall we gave it a fair to OK. Nothing to write home about. MDR- The best thing I had was the Chicken Marsala. The worst thing was the Caesar Salad. It was warm and swimming in funky tasting dressing. Our waiters (Rolland and Oscar) were friendly and attentive. Giovannis - Did lunch there on a sea day. Food was OK, but not great. I miss Portofinos!!! Chops - We booked chops on night six, which was supposed to be the night after lobster night, according to everyone we asked (Rolland our waiter and the Chops reservation person). Well we were all wrong as the second formal night, night five, (normally lobster in MDR) lobster was not on the menu. Rolland said he was surprised also by the menu change and assured us lobster would be the next night, night six. We told him about our Chops reservation and he said don't worry, he would hook us up. When we arrived at Chops our waiter, Yuri, told us Rolland had already talked to him. We ordered our steaks and they came with two lobster tails each!!! Yuri was very good. He and Rolland made the evening very special. Izumi - We did Izumi twice. The sushi and sashimi were great. The hot rock was messy and cumbersome. I would not do that again. Drinks - We opted for the Ultimate Package as it included Moet and Chandon champagne. We bought it onboard to use our OBC for some of the cost. There is no advantage to purchasing ahead. We sampled all the bars onboard and service was hit or miss at all of them, except the R Bar in the Centrum on deck 4. Arleen was amazing. She is friendly, helpful, and by the end of the cruise she felt like family. Entertainment - We were braced for disappointment, having read earlier reviews. Our cruise director, Steve Davis, was great. He's a pudgy guy from Wisconsin who is full of energy and can dance with the best of them. He's witty and has the gift of timing. The Royal Orchestra was very good. They kept up with some challenging headliner acts and did not miss a beat. The Vision singers and dancers were not up to par with other boats, and as described by others, seemed like a high school troupe. We had lots of great headliners though.....I wish I had kept the compasses to remember all their names. We had two really good comedians and were treated to two great late nite shows. We had the Las Vegas Tenors who gave a really good performance. Also we had a music impressionist named Scott Record who was very entertaining. The Love and Marriage game show was typical of other cruises. The aerialists in the Centrum were hit or miss. Several did not perform due to high seas and rocking. The 70's party and Steve's cruiser participation dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller were highlights. We did not make it to Quest. Disembark was fine. Got off the ship at the time advertised on the flyer (8:50am). Found luggage and breezed through customs. Overall it was a good cruise, although we miss the activities and options on the larger ships. If we came back, it would be because of the crew members I listed. They really did try hard to make it a special cruise for us. Edited January 11, 2015 by radarcruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delirious9876 Posted January 12, 2015 #2 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Thanks for all your comments and useful info. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutch59 Posted January 13, 2015 #3 Share Posted January 13, 2015 We will be doing this cruise in March. This will be one of the smaller ships we've been on. Hopefully will be a good experience. Love Cruising though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wato1963 Posted January 13, 2015 #4 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Thanks for the review Sent from my GT-I8190N using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2catfamily Posted January 16, 2015 #5 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thanks for the review Sent from my GT-I8190N using Forums mobile app Was on the cruise for New Years and also loved the Cruise Director. My husband was able to speak to Steve and found him very personal and really loving his job. We also had a great time at the 70's dance night and participated in Thriller and had a great time with the practices and performing for the other passengers on the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
At Sea 4Ever Posted January 16, 2015 #6 Share Posted January 16, 2015 I'm trying to find the formal nights and order of menus for this particular itinerary. Does anyone know? Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radarcruiser Posted January 16, 2015 Author #7 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Formal nights are night 2 (sea day) and night 5 (either Cozumel or Costa Maya depending on sailing). Very few people in tuxes. Mostly suits or sport coats with a fair number of people totally ignoring formal night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseclues Posted July 9, 2015 #8 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Thank You for your forthright review. :):):):) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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