The Great Adventure! VISION OF THE SEAS 12-Night Med Cruise: A Full PICTORIAL Review!

[Nicole721]

Enjoyed seeing your pictures of Florence. Your review is continuing to bring back the great memories of my trip. Florence is a great city and I definitely want to go back some day. One of my favorite memories was overlooking the city at the Piazzale Michelangelo.

 

Glad you had a great tour with the cruise line.

 

Thank you! :)

 

Stunning....I took Latin for 4 years and a lot of the curriculum centered around art and daily living....I am looking to immerse myself for several days before our trip .....your photos just made me gasp....

 

Awww thanks! :)

[Nicole721]

Your pictures are so beautiful and inspiring. We are going on the Vision in approx 3 weeks, and only now, after seeing your pics, am I truly starting to get excited! I am so glad we've booked a private guide for the Vatican.

 

 

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Thank you so much!

 

Re: the Vatican, I can't imagine touring with a group any larger than ours was, and I definitely can't imagine touring it solo (at least, not on a first visit).

 

Have so much fun on your trip! Let me know how it goes! :)

 

Awesome Nicole!! I am loving this review and cant wait until the next installment! My cruise is just way too far off :(

 

It'll be here before you know it, Stacey! Ours felt like forever away and then it kind of snuck up on us and we weren't ready for it!

[widallas]

LOVED your post....loved your PICTURES! Can't wait to read it all tomorrow but it's sixteen pages and I'm tired and need to go to work.... :(

 

Have to ask what type of camera you use....you captured some beautiful images.

[Nicole721]

@papcx -- CC isn't letting me quote your post but yes, I did see Pietà in the basilica! Didn't get a good picture because we couldn't get to the front of the crowd, but even from a bit back, it was just as stunning as I imagined it would be. As a longtime admirer of Michelangelo's works, seeing them up close and experiencing them in person was one of the absolute best parts of this trip :)

 

 

Wow I am surprised how industrial the port was, especially in the pic you have sailing away from it, just not what I had imagined!

 

Glad you had those 2 sea days to recoup, much needed from what I can see

 

 

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It actually surprised me, too -- aside from Cannes and Kusadasi, all of our other ports were in industrial piers that were anywhere from a half hour to three hours away from the major cities we were visiting. Lots of long bus rides!

 

LOVED your post....loved your PICTURES! Can't wait to read it all tomorrow but it's sixteen pages and I'm tired and need to go to work.... :(

 

Have to ask what type of camera you use....you captured some beautiful images.

 

Thank you!! I hope you enjoy it and that it was worth the wait. I have a new post up on the blog about our first sea day, and I'll cross post it here tonight when I'm home from work!

 

All of the pictures in this review were shot with either a Nikon D7000 (first time using it after upgrading from the D60 I'd been shooting with for the past six or seven years) or my iPhone 6+ :)

[Darkwolfe]

Great review Nicole! My GF is really looking forward to going to Europe and I'm certain you are feeding that fire lol.

 

We've been on Vision twice in the last couple of years and have a third scheduled for this coming January. She keeps getting interesting itineraries!

[Nicole721]

Great review Nicole! My GF is really looking forward to going to Europe and I'm certain you are feeding that fire lol.

 

We've been on Vision twice in the last couple of years and have a third scheduled for this coming January. She keeps getting interesting itineraries!

 

Thank you! The Vision certainly visits some beautiful places :)

[Nicole721]

In the previous seven days, we had absolutely fallen irrevocably in love with Spain, France and Italy. Each day we spent exploring a new place was better than the last and every time I wondered to myself if it could get any better, it did. But we were a week into our adventure at this point, and we needed some rest (after all, wasn’t this supposed to be a vacation?!).

 

One of the best parts of this itinerary, in my opinion, was the two sea day break in between Rome and Athens. Two sea days on an older ship where there literally wasn’t anything else to do except relax made for the perfect vacation within our vacation.

 

Rome Recovery

 

Between falling asleep early and some waves during the night, I got some great rest and I was awake and ready to go by 8:15 in the morning. The sun was already streaming into our room through our window, making a promising start for the sea day to come.

 

 

As seasoned Caribbean cruise pros, we have our sea day routine down pat…for Caribbean cruises. But this was our first Mediterranean cruise sea day and we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. At the very least, on a Caribbean cruise, you can generally count on either lots of sun and heat or (if it’s the tail end of hurricane season) a decent amount of rain. When we were packing, we weren’t sure if we should be packing for warm weather sea days or temperate sea days, if we should be packing towel clips or books and crossword puzzles. So we started our day in the most familiar way we could: breakfast at the Windjammer, where there were no empty tables to be found inside but plenty of tables available outside for an al fresco breakfast.

 

 

It seemed warm enough, so we headed back to the room after breakfast to change and grab our pool gear. We found some loungers by the main pool and settled in for a few hours of sunbathing and swimming.

 

 

As the morning went on, the temps went higher and higher and we learned that cruising the Med in May may as well have been a cruise through the Caribbean – it was sunny, it was hot and everyone else was realizing it, too, because the deck filled in and suddenly, by the early afternoon, chair saving became a real issue and people were getting into verbal sparring matches over empty chairs. I alternated between the pool and my lounger, settling into some travel guides we brought along with us.

[Nicole721]

Tutti Troubles

 

I touched on it a bit earlier, but on a ship like the Vision, there aren’t many bells and whistles. There’s a pool and some hot tubs, a few trivia sessions, shops and a casino, but there aren’t any bells and whistles to entertain with on a sea day. We found this to be a positive on our first sea day, where we were basically forced into taking it easy by lack of anything else to do. Had we been on a newer ship, our day surely would have been filled with exploring the ship, waiting in long lines for ziplining or bumper cars or falling flat on my ass while trying to remember anything I learned in the two years Mom forced me into figure skating lessons in the mid-1990s. No neighborhoods on this ship. No ice rink, no zipline. Swim. Eat. Shop. Gamble. Rinse, lather, repeat. I’ll reiterate – on a port-heavy itinerary, this is a blessing, I promise.

 

So when we hit our max on sunning, we headed inside to drop off our pool gear and since there was nothing else to do, we headed to the Aquarius for a late lunch.

 

We were quickly seated at a private table (per our request) and a server promptly came over to drop off a basket of rolls with olive tapenade and explain our options.

 

 

When you opt for lunch in the dining room on the Vision, you have two options: you can order off the menu, or you can opt for the Tutti Salad Bar, a comprehensive salad bar where you point at anything and everything you want in your salad from dozens of options and a salad chef prepares and chops a salad for you. Along with the salad, they have cold cuts, cheeses and a few hot dishes out that you can serve yourself out of a la carte.

 

 

 

 

I love a good salad bar (I could probably save enough for a third cruise a year if I didn’t stop by the Goddess and Grocer salad bar three times a week) so I opted to start with a Tutti salad instead of a traditional appetizer, but I quickly remembered why I had taken issue with it on the Allure of the Seas: the proteins they offer on the salad bar are seafood heavy. They use the same slicer to chop everyone’s salads. If you have allergies (or in my case, heavy aversions), this can pose a serious cross-contamination risk. For me, watching my salad get chopped with a slicer that still had remnants of shrimp on it from the person who ordered ahead of me before I could ask them to not chop my salad ruined my appetite for it.

[Nicole721]

Our main dishes, however, were plenty tasty and provided a nice change of pace from the options we’re used to on Carnival.

 

Beef Tostada Salad

 

Pasta Special

 

Decadent Chocolate Slice

 

Apple Parcel

 

White Chocolate and Orange Flan

[Nicole721]

Strait to Stromboli

 

After lunch, we headed outside to the promenade to catch some fresh air and enjoy being on the water. I’m not sure where my affinity for being on the water comes from. I always assume it’s because I’m a water sign on the Zodiac. But I find a lot of peace from being on the water and from sitting and watching the water, and I spend an inordinate amount of time on open decks when I cruise. And while we didn’t have a balcony on this cruise, we didn’t really need one – it seemed no one else had discovered the promenade because we almost never saw anyone out there. It was almost like our great secret and our own personal (very large) balcony.

 

 

I noticed we were sailing close to something that looked like a mountain or (moreso) a volcano, so I GPS’ed our location on my phone (which was hooked into the ship’s wifi, so it didn’t count against my international data allowance) while Stephanie Googled active volcanoes near Italy. The best we could deduce, we were sailing along Mount Stromboli. I’m not sure if anyone else noticed it, especially since no announcements were made, but it was a really cool sight to take in from the deck.

 

 

 

Later on, we were chilling in the room watching Sex in the City in French. Stephanie and I don’t even speak or understand French, and Mom’s understanding of the language is passable at best, but there wasn’t really anything to do and there weren’t any in-cabin movies offered. I’m a pro at day napping, though, so it mostly served as background noise while I dozed. But at some point, we noticed that we were passing pretty closely to land, so Stephanie and I headed back up to our big promenade balcony when we realized we were probably entering the Strait of Messina.

 

 

[Nicole721]

The Strait of Messina is a narrow passage in between Sicily and Calabria, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Ionian Sea. The width of the strait is between just under two miles to just over three miles, depending on your location in it. If you position yourself correctly on the ship, you can see both the eastern and western sides at the same time as the ship navigates itself through the middle, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, there’s no announcement made when the scenic passage begins. We knew we’d pass through the Strait of Messina at some point, we just didn’t know when. So if you’re traveling from Rome to Greece, it’ll be in the afternoon of the first sea day in between those ports. And if you miss it, don’t worry – you’ll sail through it again on your way back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

[Nicole721]

Pro-tip: the best place to watch passage through the Straits is forward on the upper decks. They fill up quickly once people realize there’s more to look at than water.

 

 

It takes around an hour to navigate through the Strait, but I had to run back to the room to shower so I could be ready in time for the Past Guest Party. Mom and Stephanie stayed outside and I met them again to dry my hair (sea air is the best product for my curly hair!). It was simply too gorgeous of a day to spend any more time inside than we had to.

 

 

We took a look at the dining menu when we were waiting for an elevator as we headed back in. Nothing looked great so we called Chops to see if we could get in, but they were booked, so we ended up calling Izumi to make a reservation since we had an Izumi meal credit in our dining package. They couldn’t take us until late, but with nothing to do and another day at sea ahead of us, a late dinner wasn’t a problem. We ordered some room service to snack on while we got ready for the Past Guest Party.

 

Cheese Plate

 

Pepperoni Pizza

 

Chocolate and Pear Tart

 

Raspberry Cheesecake

[Nicole721]

And when we were done snacking and all ready for the Past Guest Party early? Yep. Back to the promenade.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

Unlike Carnival, which generally holds one or two Past Guest Parties (depending on how many cruisers they’re accommodating), multiple parties were held throughout the day on the Vision, which really helped control crowding issues, even when the parties were held in smaller lounges. Our party was at 7:45 pm and felt almost like an intimate gathering.

 

 

We made our way through a tunnel of officers greeting us and welcoming us back into the Some Enchanted Evening Lounge. A bar server was quick to offer us some wine (they were also serving champagne, juice and mixed drinks). No passed appetizers, but we snacked on room service earlier so no apps were necessary.

 

 

 

Cici, Captain Lis and Mercedes gave speeches. One of the pool boys sang an amazing rendition of Have a Little Faith in Me. My wine glass was never empty. A good time was had for all.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

Cool Night, Hot Rock

 

After the party let out, we headed towards the shops to poke around the sales and watched the beginning of the sunset on the promenade before heading to our late reservation at Izumi.

 

 

We’d never put much thought into dining at Izumi and truth be told, if it weren’t part of our dining package, we’d probably have never bothered dining here. We aren’t big sushi eaters and we’ll all choose a good meal at the steakhouse over a meal at an Asian eatery almost any day. I’m so glad we purchased the dining package, though, for that reason – this meal was a highlight of our trip onboard the Vision.

 

 

Izumi is priced a la carte, but our dining package gave us an “allowance” of up to $35 per person. Our server explained the layout of the menu and brought over a bowl of edamame seasoned with some coarse sea salt for us to enjoy while we pondered the menu.

 

[Nicole721]

The prices at Izumi are pretty low, and the $35 stipend allowed us to order, try and share many items. They were out of shrimp wontons so those were replaced with chicken ones, an upgrade, as far as I was concerned, but they also couldn’t offer the mochi dessert on the menu because they were having trouble sourcing it in Europe (boo!). Everything we ordered was on point, and our server paced our meal perfectly, but the highlight was the hot rock. A seasoned rock is heated up and brought to your seat so you can grill your meat and vegetables tableside. It brings an interactive element to the meal and not only was it fun, but the finished product was delicious.

 

Miso Soup

 

California Roll

 

Wonton Soup

 

Chicken Gyoza Dumplings

 

Vegetable Tempura

 

Pork Chasu Yakimeshi

[Nicole721]

Hot Rock Dipping Sauces

 

Beef Tenderloin Rock

 

 

Chicken Rock

[Nicole721]

Dorayaki Pancake

 

Izumi Dessert Sampler

 

[Nicole721]

We walked through the nightclub on our way out and noticed it was nearly empty, which was interesting in that as we headed back to the room past the Centrum Lobby, it was packed with people dancing along for the 50s/60s Dance Party.

 

 

We found a new Compass waiting for us and we took it up to Park Café with us when we went to grab some hot tea.

 

 

And after we had our tea? We crashed. It’s exhausting doing nothing.

[LizSS]

Love your promenade deck pictures. Whenever I think of cruising (which lets be honest, is quite often) the promenade deck is the first thing that pops into my mind. We always take pictures before dinner out there

 

 

 

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[3OhioCruisers]

Love this review! !!!!!!!

[Nicole721]

Love your promenade deck pictures. Whenever I think of cruising (which lets be honest, is quite often) the promenade deck is the first thing that pops into my mind. We always take pictures before dinner out there

 

 

 

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No matter what ship we're on, the promenade (or lanai, if we're on Carnival's newer ships) is always our spot. Even when we have balconies. Just something about the open space and the open air and the open sea... :)

 

Love this review! !!!!!!!

 

Thank you!!

[Nicole721]

In preparation for our arrival in Greece, the clocks moved forward an hour in between Sea Day #1 and Sea Day #2, which meant we were losing an hour of sleep. Except all we had ahead of us was another sea day where my plans involved napping, sunbathing and snacking in between naps and sunbathing, so I don’t think it really counted as a lost hour of sleep. Can you lose an hour of sleep when you have no official wakeup time? I love vacation.

 

Waking up at 8:00 really meant waking up at 9:00, and we didn’t even get to breakfast until nearly 10:00, when it was still packed at the Windjammer. We had a quick breakfast so we could try to find some chairs near the pool and quickly found a few in a primo spot. But even though the sun was hidden behind the clouds, most of the chairs were already claimed by people who…weren’t in their chairs and weren’t in the pool.

 

 

Your room steward won’t leave beach towels in your room on the Vision. There’s a towel hut near the pool where you can pick up fresh towels whenever you’d like, as many as you’d like at a time, without leaving your sea pass number on hold. So since towels were free for the taking, people were taking them to save loungers they, more often than not, never actually used. One woman came by and snapped up six chairs in a row with towels, explaining that they couldn’t find loungers the day before and couldn’t leave it to chance again. Pool security removed her towels within 20 minutes. Every sunbather for themselves on this sea day – even when there wasn’t much sun to be had.

 

[Nicole721]

The sun finally came out around 11:30, but disappeared again an hour later when we headed inside for lunch at the Windjammer. Offerings were varied and there were plenty of options from salads to pastas to prepared sandwiches and a rudimentary burger bar, but nothing that stood out as spectacular.