Freedom of the Seas vs. Vision of the Seas

[davidtheusername]

I just got off of Freedom of the Seas last week and we loved it. We were considering a trip again around Christmas. The Vision of the Seas out of Tampa has a much lower cost than Freedom does, and the itinerary looks very interesting. Are there any reasons that Vision might be disappointing after being on Freedom?

[cb at sea]

Well, if the ship is your thing..then Vision will seem pretty small, even tho it's still a big-ass ship! Doesn't have the "bells and whistles"...and the cabins are small. I guess it really depends on you and why you cruise! Did I mention cabin size? Look at the deck plans...then book according to what you want.

The overall experience is the same....same menus, same activities...etc...

[iahawkfan21]

As said, the biggest difference up front is going to be size. This does equate to less activities, bars, and things like the Flowrider. That said, they're still a great class of ship. We love the Freedom class, but after our cruise on Indy this weekend were also looking at Vision in November. I love both classes, but Vision will be a much more laid back cruise for us which I'm excited for.

 

And then of course we'll end up on the Freedom next year again I'm sure!

[mollyeilis]

We were on Freedom Jan 2014 and Vision in October 2014. We definitely liked Freedom better; we missed the Promenade (and the pub! or at least I did).

 

Having the Centrum was nice the first few days, especially since we had a deck 7 panoramic view room and could jump out of our room and see what was going on in the Centrum.

 

But then the weather went bad for over a day, and all the smokers came indoors to the casino, and it became impossible for asthmatic and very sensitive me. I couldn't walk by Guest Services (even one or two of the employees there were coughing in response to the clouds coming from the casino). The smoke was going up, and then some sort of critical mass was reached and I couldn't go to the lower floor where events were held there.

 

The weather cleared and the cruise was done just in time, because I was getting scared it was going to reach our stateroom and I would have more problems.

 

That wasn't an issue for me on Freedom, though I couldn't sit in Freedom's Schooner Bar for the same issue, and I LOVED being in Vision's Schooner Bar. :)

 

If you're not sensitive or asthmatic and if there's no lousy rotten weather sending everyone indoors, you should't have an issue on Vision.

 

NOTE! There are no fridges in rooms below Junior Suite level, EXCEPT in the panoramic oceanview rooms on Vision. If you're used to a fridge, it's good to know this.