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

[Hailzmick]

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!

 

 

 

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

 

 

I will absolutely send you these compasses. Give me a few days. I'm behind the eight ball here right now. (Is that the right saying?! Lol)

 

& thanks! Awwwwwwww. This support is amazing! Loving the love guys!

[Hailzmick]

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

 

Hiiiii Sue! I've subscribed to your review and will get reading it when mine is completed! I must admit, I really am missing your cute little accent and your funny stories! (I will NEVER get over what you told me in the van. Funniest story ever!!!) oxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Yeah it was sad about the Trevi Fountain... But that just means that I'll have to go back there too!!! Ha ha. (Like I need an excuse!)

[Hailzmick]

We also saw the grave, (I know, I was VERY excited!) of Rafael. (The famous artist, not the turtle... I made sure this was the case!).

Our guide told us that Michelangelo & Rafael didn't like each other. She said that Rafael was the nice one and died on his 37th birthday after having too much sex... And the doctor gave him the wrong medication?! Sounds suss to me, but a great story.

 

 

Back in the minivan and Rafaella showed us the building called The Wedding Cake that sticks out like a sore thumb. I actually really liked it, but it's "too new", so the Romans don't really like it.

 

[Hailzmick]

Rome continued!

 

A couple of pics on the way to the Forum...

 

 

We next visited the Forum. Constantino dropped us all off here and would meet us after the Colosseum.

The Forum looked like something out of a book. Ohhhh- talking of books, Rafaella, who I will now just call Raf, had a great book called, "Now and then", which shows what everything in Rome looks like now, and each page has a plastic page that went over it to see what it looked like back then. It was SOOOO much easier to understand the size and volume of everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

More Forum

 

 

 

I turned to my left. I wish I was allowed to swear on here... (Aussies are HUGE swearers!). I saw THE COLOSSEUM!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I couldn't believe my eyes and I even asked Raf if that's what I thought it was!!! Jaw dropping goodness!

 

 

The time was about 10.30am and we slowly walked our way up the street to the Colosseum. There was little shade, so I got out my very handy umbrella. It was seriously HOT. I may have looked a little bit silly, but I wasn't going to overcook my bacon! Ha ha.

 

ANOTHER TIP:

Sorry, can't remember what number tip I'm up to... Maybe bring an umbrella. If it rains, you're covered, and if it's absolutely boiling, you're covered too!

[Hailzmick]

We walked and talked until we arrive out the front of the Colosseum. There was already a line, but Raf got us up the front. At 11.30am, they let us in. Boy was I glad we were at the front. There would have been over 10,000 waiting to get in. The man at the gate said they would close it again when there's 3,000 people inside- which would be 15 minutes after they open! Hmmm, well that would be us, so in we go!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER TIP:

Use the toilets in the Colosseum when you walk in, as I couldn't find any on the other side!

[Hailzmick]

I could only imagine what it would have been like back in the day! Wow!!! I wish my photos would come up better! Sorry!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raf explained that they would fight for weekends or even weeks sometimes and it wasn't anyone... People had their slaves fight each other... To the death. TO THE DEATH. Argghhhhhhh. I was shocked. I never knew this!

 

 

 

 

 

If you were a slave, you had to win 20 fights, then you would be free!

Well if I had to kill 20 people to be free, I would just run and hide in a corner and cry! And they FED the dead bodies in front of everyone to the lions and tigers who they had STARVED for days and days!!! (So they were extra hungry and fierce!)

[Hailzmick]

I can't stop posting pics

 

 

Everything was so much bigger than I had imagined

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the little people!!!

 

 

[Hailzmick]

After our amazing, but confronting tour, we were taken to lunch. Constantino recommended a restaurant that his friend owned, but we went next door where we enjoyed a meal and a soft drink for only €7 per person! Score! & it was really nice too. (The toilet was TERRIBLE! I bet they wouldn't have even let the slaves use them!)

 

 

I had four cheese gnocchi. Prob not a great idea on such a hot day. Ha ha

 

 

More things to see...

 

 

 

 

Yes, I do!!!

 

 

Trevi fountain being worked on

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hailzmick]

After lunch, we headed to the Trevi fountain. Constantino warned us that it was under construction and we wouldn't be able to really see anything. We still wanted to go and have a look.

Yes, it was completely under construction. There was a little market place in front which was selling "holy beads". Had they been blessed? Not sure. Were they cool? Yes they were. I REALLY wanted some, and I should have gotten them. They even had cool bobbing Pope heads there. Lol. I'm still imagining them now! Very cute!

 

 

Okay, so I'll be posting about a little place I like to call THE VATICAN tomorrow! I'll be able to finish the whole day, and tell you about our dinner at Chops Grille. Was it nice, was it horrible?! AND I'll tell you about a party & something to shock you about our Captain Lis!

[toonye]

Still following and enjoying any bit of your review! Would you mind sending me the compasses as well while you're at it? (If you have time...) Couldn't read them either,... toonye (at) laposte.net Thank you soo much !

[EMED2010]

I'm loving your review. It brings back memories of our Med cruise which was our first cruise five years ago. I had to laugh about D&J. It must be something about Rome. I organized all the tours, collected CC people, etc. We had the same people on all our tours with the exception of Rome where these two came along. They weren't late but SHE was obnoxious and very rude to our driver who was so nice. Then her husband pulled something at the Vatican which I won't post but was very embarrassing. I did the same and just ignored them for the rest of the day and at lunch time we took off and let them on their own. The nice thing is, we have kept in contact with two of the other couples and have gotten together with them several times since then even though we live all over the country from each other.

[Hailzmick]

Still following and enjoying any bit of your review! Would you mind sending me the compasses as well while you're at it? (If you have time...) Couldn't read them either,... toonye (at) laposte.net Thank you soo much !

Yes, sure can. You're on my list of things to achieve this week, sending thru compasses!)

 

 

 

I'm loving your review. It brings back memories of our Med cruise which was our first cruise five years ago. I had to laugh about D&J. It must be something about Rome. I organized all the tours, collected CC people, etc. We had the same people on all our tours with the exception of Rome where these two came along. They weren't late but SHE was obnoxious and very rude to our driver who was so nice. Then her husband pulled something at the Vatican which I won't post but was very embarrassing. I did the same and just ignored them for the rest of the day and at lunch time we took off and let them on their own. The nice thing is, we have kept in contact with two of the other couples and have gotten together with them several times since then even though we live all over the country from each other.

 

 

Ha ha, sometimes I think it's funny to have people like this... Because at the time I was irritated, but at least we have something to laugh about now.

Although we live in a different country, we still chat, snapchat and skype LaMac & Mike regularly! And hopefully they are coming on a cruise with us in 8 months!

Thanks for joining in on the review :-)

[Hailzmick]

Da da daaaaaa....

Ok, The Vatican!

 

Sooooo, this day had already been mega massive. But we got to the back gate and walked straight in to the Vatican. We were now in another country! Pardon? Yes! The Vatican is its own country!!! (Insert excited squeal!)

 

 

We headed thru the security screening and have a toilet stop. It was absolutely BOILING! I used our tickets to fan myself down. Maybe it's because I was wearing a tshirt and long pants to cover my knees.

Raf took us upstairs and told us about the Vatican and what we would be seeing. She also described a lot of the paintings and their meaning, (she had pics to help us). This was so good because I'm such a visual person, so knowing what to look out for was perfect.

 

 

 

 

Raf told us that we were only going to see a few of the 22 museums... (22, yes, whoa!) but we were happy just being there!

We walked in to the first main building. This girl's face is priceless, but it's what my face looked like too! Ha ha.

 

We walked out to this mini balcony where I pretended to be the new pope!

 

 

Check out the huge bath! Ah-mazing.

[Hailzmick]

So many wonderful and great statues.

 

 

 

 

This roof! Oh em gee.

 

[Hailzmick]

 

The mosaics! Wow. All the tiny tiles.

 

 

 

I think this was St Anthony's foot, (a replica). We saw the real thing later on on our next cruise out of Venice!

 

 

 

 

Marble

 

 

Breath taking tapestry!

[Hailzmick]

The paintings look 3D! But they aren't! Wow there were some super clever people!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then had to line up to go in to the Sistine Chapel. I was going to be sneaky and take photos... But when I got inside, I decided against it. The line wasn't huge and it moved along pretty quickly.

As we were walking in, the security was making sure that everyone had their shoulders covered. They didn't care so much about shorts... A girl in front of me had on such short shorts that her a$$ was hangin out the bottom. (Saaaaaa disrespectful!)

Just before we went in, Raf told us not to look up just yet and to follow her to the very back of the room, then to turn around and look up! I'm so glad we waited. Words cannot describe it. Hang on, I'll ask Mick... He said five things.... Breath taking, fascinating, silent, historic and sore neck. Lol! Gosh he's a cutie. But I did forget how quiet it was! (You weren't allowed to utter a word!) & yeah, our necks we soooo sore from looking up. It's good to get a different perspective I guess!

 

 

 

 

We walked out and into the open courtyard. Wow.

[Hailzmick]

Then we were taken in to a huge church.

 

 

 

Inside the church... Wow. When they do mass in there, it's standing room only with over 60,000 packing the place out!

 

 

There were so many awesome things to see!!!

 

This is a real pope. He is also a saint. They found his body about 50 years ago and he hadn't decomposed. His face had gone black, so they out a white wax mask on his face, but his body hadn't discoloured, (hence why they made him a saint!)

 

 

[Hailzmick]

 

 

 

 

The area where people see the pope do his thing a couple of times a week! Is this St Peter's square? Sorry- I was told so much information that day!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When our amazing tour had finished we had to say goodbye to Raf. We literally couldn't have asked for a more enthusiastic, awesome and knowledgable tour guide!

Constantino drove us back to the port. I thought I'd be having a nap, but after about 15 minutes, Constantino asked if I wanted to see something... On the side of the road were... PROSTITUTES!!! I was like a kid at Christmas! (Graveyards and prostitutes, I sound like a lot of fun, ha ha!)

They were on all the off ramps of the freeway, just waiting for people to pick them up, have some fun, then head home. And they were in sexy undies. They don't dress like that in Australia, that's for sure!

So all of the way home, we played "Spot the pro!" It was hilarious!

When we got back to the port, I collected everyone's money to give to our driver. (We had already paid Raf separately). Everyone thanked me for organising the tour, except for D & J, who had given me the money and walked off already!

 

What an amazing, exhausting, perfect day! Now to get ready for dinner in Chops!

[Hailzmick]

When we got back on to the ship, we heard an announcement from the captain. I nearly had to pause... Why?! Because it's the first time I had heard the captain.

The first few days, Captain Lis was too sick to even get out of bed, so her second in charge took over.

No one had told the ship's customers that directly, (not that I know of!) but we had asked our head waiter. Every review I had read about Vision of the Seas had said how amazing the captain was, & how she was always seen around the ship... But I swear on my marriage, I didn't see her ONCE! Not once! And every single time she made an announcement after that, she coughed and coughed in to the microphone. Lol, it was comical and everyone prepared themselves for it.

 

It was 8.25pm, time for our dinner with Annette & Julie in Chops Grille. If it was anything like Giavanni's, we were in for a treat.

Our waiter sat us down and was instantly funny. We really liked that. He asked us if we had been there before and then explained how it all worked. We decided to order a LOT of food, and share the sides.

 

The starters were OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! 10/10!

 

The table set up

 

 

Scallop starter

 

 

Goats cheese salad

 

 

French onion soup

 

 

The four of us :-)

 

Wendall and another waiter, both of which just got in a pic for the fun of it.

[Hailzmick]

Deeeeeelicious jumbo shrimp. (Meanwhile, in Australia, we don't say the word shrimp, we say prawn!) it had the most amazing cucumber salad on huge side!

 

Mains... Holy hell, they were so brilliant too!!!

 

Mick's veal- superb and amazing!

 

Mmmmm, my steak! Oh yum.

 

Us again. Getting very full.

 

Ha ha, why don't you sit with us?! Okay!

 

Our meals before we touched them!

[Hailzmick]

Dessert menu! I'll have it all thanks!

 

Chocolate Mud Pie. This was mine. I gave it an 11/10! Could not have been better!!!

 

 

Red velvet cake

 

 

Liquid centre chocolate cake

 

 

Huckleberry Cheesecake!

 

 

We stumbled out of dinner feeling very full, but so thrilled that the four of us could dine together & chat about our amazing day... (Remember Julie and Annette didn't come on our tour with us!)

I REALLY wanted to check out the Poolside Toga Party that was happening, so we waddled up to the pool deck. Everyone was in amazing looking bed sheets and dancing and drinking and having so much fun.

 

 

We REALLY wanted to join in, but we were so full, and not to mention it was 11pm and we were soooo super tired, so we made the decision to wave goodbye and go to bed.

What an amazing day!!! The best!!!

 

Tomorrow is a sea day... But will it be boring?! NEVER!!!

[js4rq]

What a great photo review! :D Looking forward to reading more!

[JD26]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review. We are going on the October 19th cruise on the Vision of the Seas. We are also arriving in Barcelona three days prior to the cruise, so I am really looking forward to touring Barcelona. Please keep posting your tips, they are very informative and will help make our cruise run smoothly. :):):)

[brandybrake]

Thank you for your sharing your trip. Looking forward to seeing the rest. My husband & I are doing this cruise, in September. We're doing a back to back from Sept 13 to October 7, to celebrate our 30th Anniversary. I was also wondering if you could email me the cruise compass also.

Carol Ann