Pic heavy, detailed Vision OTS review/recount of our 12nighter out of Barcelona!

[Hailzmick]

For tender tickets did Mick get all the tender tickets for your whole group that was doing the tour together? Thanks! We leave July 3 for this same cruise!

 

 

Yes, he sure did! It can get busy, so he just ran up & grabbed 8 tickets.

(Nicely, lol)

You'll love every second!!! I'm completely jealous but mega excited for you! :-)

[Hailzmick]

Love your review! We are going on the Vision in August and I feel even more excited by reading your review and looking at the beautiful pics!

One question from my side: how was the internet on the ship? Was it worth buying a package and how expensive were they?

 

Toonye

 

 

I talk about the Internet a bit more on the Athens day. It is about the same speed as dial up about 10 years ago... So you prob can't post a heap of pics at a time, but you can send emails & check FB etc.

they offered a package on day one for about $10 for the first device & $5 for the second, per day. It was a lot cheaper than the Splendour prices three days later.

There's heaps of free wifi around Europe so if it's not work related, I prob wouldn't bother.

[Hailzmick]

I am having such fun with your review! Like I am talking with you daily lol! And happy you reported on how terrible the band was!!! We were always so happy when they stopped playing!!

 

 

Ha ha!!! Awwww! It really makes me miss you guys so much though... & all of the others too!

There's still a lot of review to go! Plus I get to see your ongoing adventures on FB, (which I LOVE!!!) xoxo

[Hailzmick]

Enjoying your review! Really love the details!

 

 

 

We are doing all the same specialty restaurants as you, including chefs table. Looking forward to hearing about that menu!

 

 

 

Also, can you tell us which nights are formal?

 

 

 

Can one person get the tender tickets for whole group on private tour?

 

 

 

Thanks so much for all the time you are taking!

 

 

Thanks so much! I love that people are enjoying it, (& reading it!!! That was a concern for me, ha ha).

What date do you sail?

I've got the best food pics coming your way!

I'll post what every night's dress suggestion was.

& yes, tender tickets for a whole group can be collected by the one person. (I think RCI prefer that anyway).

Anymore questions, just ask! :-)

[sweetangel0829]

Thanks for posting this great review! I'm looking forward to the rest as I'll be on Vision in August with this itinerary! I was wondering if you had any way of posting the cruise compass on something else (maybe Flickr?) because I can't read any of it when I open the image. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong... I'm new to this site! :confused:

[Hailzmick]

Thanks for posting this great review! I'm looking forward to the rest as I'll be on Vision in August with this itinerary! I was wondering if you had any way of posting the cruise compass on something else (maybe Flickr?) because I can't read any of it when I open the image. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong... I'm new to this site! :confused:

 

 

Nooooooo!!! That was my worry that no one would be able to read it. Hmmmm. I've never used flickr. I'll have a look into it. I could email them to you direct if that would be easier?

[Hailzmick]

I'm back!!!!

Miss me?!

 

Ok, where were we, talking about Florence, that's where!!! Let's continue.

 

The streets were SOOOOOO busy. I know, I know, we made it busy too, but it was super crowded, especially considering the main museum was closed.

 

We walked to an amazing church and had a quick look around. It. Was. Huge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also watched some local artists and bought some more nic-nacs.

I may have also bought two knock-off hand bags on the side of the street. (But they were so nice!!!)

Hen something happened that made my day even better than it already was... I ate the best gelato in the whole entire universe! It was tiramisu and I could have bathed in it. It's worth going back to Florence just for the gelato... Just saying!

 

 

AND THEN ON THE WAY BACK TO THE SHIP, I SAW A GRAVEYARD!!!!

 

I really wanted to go to the show, but I took my time getting ready & putting on a new face. Dinner tonight was in the Main Dining Room. It was fun. Very fun.

Bed again was at 11pm. I was absolutely wrecked!!!

 

Tomorrow is Rome... And do I have an action packed day for you!!!!!!

[Hailzmick]

Civitavecchai, (Rome), Italy.

Weather, 78 F/ 26C that must have been taken at 6am as it was WAY hotter than that!

Ship's arrival: 7am, (docked)

All aboard: 6.30pm

Tonight's dress: casual

This was the place I had heard was crap. I had heard about animals everywhere, homeless people, rude people, and it being really dirty. I only had one friend tell me they liked it. Maybe because I didn't stay overnight, maybe because I'm a bit of an optimist... I LOVED ROME SO HARDCORE THAT IT IS IN MY TOP 5 PLACES ON EARTH!!!

 

Cruise Compass...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Hopefully they are a bit clearer).

 

I didn't have a brilliant start to the day though...

So we ordered breakfast to be brought to the room. It was the only day we did. We had ticked for it to be delivered between 6.30-7am. At 7.15am, we had a knock at the door. I'm a slow eater, there was zero way I was going to slam down my breakky in 10 minutes to run down to the Schooner bar and meet everyone at 7.30!

The man asked Mick to help him bring it in, then apologised for being late. That's ok. Then he said he hated it when everyone ordered room service in the same day. Eh, that's not our fault. Anyway, we quickly took it out to the balcony and got ready to eat. Hang on, no toast, no juice, no coffee. The only thing I had actually ordered that was there to eat was fruit. Now the room service man is telling me to cut down on my portions?! Ha ha.

 

Mick ran down the corridor and got us toast and coffee from the man.

We sat outside, (knowing now there was only five minutes to eat) and I saw other cruise ships in port. That's a bit exciting.

 

 

 

I poured my coffee... It was stone cold. Eh. Ok, no coffee for me. I took a bite out of my toast... Also cold. Oh no. Pleassssee don't let this be one of those days!!

Everything was cold and yuk, the fruit was YUK & I was slightly annoyed!

Okay, we aren't meant to eat breakfast then.

 

We met LaMac & Mike outside our room at 7.25am to walk down to the Schooner bar, (as they were only two cabins away from us!)

On today's private excursion, we had LaMac, Mike, Sue, Jan & let's call them D & J. (Not a nickname, but you'll find out why as the review goes on!)

[Hailzmick]

Once again, the excursion was with RomeCabs & the cost was €600 for the 8 of us. We had also booked a Vatican Tour Guide for €150 total & a Colosseum Tour Guide for €150 as well.

We also had to for €3 per person for the headset we used at the Vatican AND, we had to pre purchase our tickets for the Colosseum & Vatican ONLINE before we went.

Booking the Colosseum tickets was easy. It WAS in Italian, but you can work your way thru it. We got an open ticket, meaning any time or any day. (Romecabs had told us this to begin!)

Booking our Vatican tickets was easy also. But we were told to buy them for the 1.30pm timeslot.

 

Now, me being an A type personality, I know isn't everyone's cup of tea. But I'd rather be over the top with information, than anyone saying I didn't inform them, or they had no idea what was going on. This is why I sent the people in my tours a couple of emails on how to buy tickets, or general info of where to meet, a guide of what to wear, etc. For example, in Rome, I knew to get in to the Sistine Chapel, we had to make sure our knees and shoulders were covered and I out that in the email.

 

Okay, on with it...

(Ps. Please feel free to ask me any questions on this!)

 

That morning, I had read in our Cruise Compass that there was to be a strike in Rome which will effect the Forum as well as the Colosseum until 11.30am. Arghhhhhhh. Maybe Rome is actually as crap as they say and I should stay on the ship? Lol. Luckily, I was ready for an adventure & I reassured LaMac that the drivers would be used to these kinds of things happening all the time... And from other reviews I had read, people say to TRUST THE DRIVERS, so I actually wasn't worried.

7.30am came and six of us were there... Where was D & J? I had emailed them previously, so they knew where to meet. It's ok, never mind.

Hmmm... 7.50am came & as a group, we decided they must have pulled the pin & weren't coming with us. Mick was sooooo annoyed. Actually pretty much everyone was. We agreed that we would have to split the difference & just go as a group of six. We would have a great day regardless.

 

We walked off the ship & got a photograph taken. I was looking out for my name on a sign when I saw D & J. They were with the man who was holding my sign. Grrrr. We were actually late because of them & they were with the man! So. Annoying. So, with that, I said hello to them, (Mick couldn't even talk to them) & before I even asked if they had the email, D said, "We weren't sure where to meet, so we thought we would find the man,"

I asked if she had read the email, (I knew she had, because she REPLIED to that email) & she said she hadn't. Anyway, whatever, benefit of the doubt. I'm not letting something small and silly ruin my day.

Our driver's name was Constantino. He was actually Romanian & very buff for an older man.

The first thing he asked us was what time did we have a to get back to the ship. D had a folder with her and looked through all of her paperwork... And BOOM! There was my PRINTED EMAIL STATING WHAT TIME TO MEET AND WHERE!!!!!

I wasn't the only person who saw it, but that was my turning point. It may sound a bit harsh, but I cannot do lies. At all. So after that, I made zero effort to even talk to D & J and they made zero effort to talk to us too.

[Hailzmick]

Back to Constantino... We didn't have to ask a single question. He was all over it. Best driver ever! He warned us to look out for thieving gypsies, (he did put a swear word in there, ha ha). He also told us to look out for pick pocketers. We just had to make sure that we weren't silly with wallets, keep them in your hand, or your front pocket and always hold on to purses. I guess that's what you would do anywhere in the world.

Constantino told us that we had to change our time to 11.30am, instead of 10.30 for our Colosseum tour. (Which didn't matter as we had an open ticket!)

He told us he had it all worked out and was on the phone a lot of a lady, who we later got to meet. (They were organising everything!)

Heading to Roma!

 

 

 

 

Bring on a great day

#everydayisagreatdaywiththisman

 

 

[Hailzmick]

Our first official stop was St Paul's Cathedral. Wow. There were no words to actually describe it. We had 20 minutes to walk around and get pics. I could have stayed all day.

They had mass on, which was really nice too. (It was right down the back in another area).

Upon walking out, I decided a bathroom stop would be good, as we never know what was coming up. The toilets were super clean, (& free!)

 

Huge

 

 

Grand

 

 

 

 

Wow

 

 

 

 

Look at the size of the door!!!

[Hailzmick]

St Paul's Cathedral continued

 

See the detail!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

We got back in to the minivan and were on our way!

We drove last some really fascinating things, and the whole time, Constantino was telling us great facts about everything.

 

Constantino had some choice words for this man. Who rides a motorbike like this?

 

 

 

Next we picked up Rafaella. She was the lady who had been on the phone with Constantino. Instead of meeting her at the Colosseum, she decided to meet us & show us around Rome! Wow. I was beginning to feel lucky that there was a stop work strike on. It turned out that we had Rafaella for the WHOLE day. She was our Vatican tour guide too.

She sat in the back with us and was full of even more facts and stories than Constantino. You could tell that they had done this many times before and were great friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

Next stop was the Pantheon. It was absolutely amazing. Ya know what?! Everything in Rome was. We were so lucky so be there and see everything that we did. I know I keep harping on about it, but not everyone gets the chance to do what we did, (Rome, our cruises, Europe in General) & I'm so thankful for nearly every second!)

Side view

 

 

Nearly front view

 

 

Front view

 

 

 

Selfie view

 

 

 

 

anyway... The Pantheon had so many cool things. For example, the roof was open at the top and they had DRAINAGE HOLES at the bottom. 2000 years ago someone thought of drainage holes! Wow!

 

 

[Kombee]

Loving your style!

We are doing this cruise in August and can't wait.:o

[papcx]

I think the impossible has happened!

 

Someone loves Rome more than I do.

 

I thought I'd never see the day.

 

It is the most amazing place on earth.

[TFP2000]

I absolutely love Rome (actually anything italian) .. and on the cruise this year I am going to give it a miss .. I will have two young children 6&3 and I don't think it would be in anyway suitable for them to walking in the heat for the day .. especially with the queuing etc.

 

It really is a city best explored on foot with plenty of time. My first time there I made the mistake of renting a car ... forget about base jumping . driving in rome is the ultimate extreme sport !!

[papcx]

I absolutely love Rome (actually anything italian) .. and on the cruise this year I am going to give it a miss .. I will have two young children 6&3 and I don't think it would be in anyway suitable for them to walking in the heat for the day .. especially with the queuing etc.

 

 

 

It really is a city best explored on foot with plenty of time. My first time there I made the mistake of renting a car ... forget about base jumping . driving in rome is the ultimate extreme sport !!

 

 

I agree the queuing would be too much for kiddies, but there's plenty to see that you don't have to que for.

[George C]

great review, we are also doing rccl Sept 2016 12 days out of Barcelona

[sweetangel0829]

Nooooooo!!! That was my worry that no one would be able to read it. Hmmmm. I've never used flickr. I'll have a look into it. I could email them to you direct if that would be easier?

 

Sure you can email them to me! It's sweetangel0829 at hotmail dot com

Thank you! :)

[Theredofshaw]

 

Constantino had some choice words for this man. Who rides a motorbike like this?

[ATTACH]353980[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

believe it or not this is extremely common in many asian countries (except this one has a helmet). when I was in thailand you would see a family of 4, (mom dad kid and baby and sometimes their dog) on a moped weaving in and out of traffic.

[tj508]

Loving your review. Doing the same itinerary in October. Would love it if you could send the cruise compasses to me also. Email: tjomartin@aol.com. Thank you!

[copper6606]

Enjoying living through you- can't wait to hear about the rest of your Journey!

[shofer]

Great job, Hailey! I am still working on mine but I am up to our next to last sea day. I end up posting the whole thing at once. Maybe I should do it in installments.

 

Sue

[mj]

This is such a great review. Me and my mom sailed the Vision on 5/3 and it is bring back great memories.

 

Great tip on tendering. Our first stop was Villefranche and tendering was slow on that day. Wish I had gotten there earlier. We arrived at 10am and it was after 1 before our tender ticket was called. Lesson learned and was better prepared for the port of Montenegro. Enjoyed your Monaco pictures. We were there on 5/4 and could see them getting ready for the Grand Prix.

 

I love Rome as well and did the BIRG ticket which was a good value for 13 euros. It was crowded in the Pantheon and also the Vatican was packed as well. Had a good time though. Want to go back to Rome and hopefully see the Trevi Fountain and a lot of the other stuff that you do not simply get to see due to time.

 

Looking forward to hearing the rest of your review.