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

[Nicole721]

After lunch, we headed inside to do some shopping along the Centrum Shops, where there was some commotion over a logo sale.

 

 

 

While we prebooked most of our tours, we hadn’t booked a tour for Turkey, so we headed over to the Shore Excursion desk to see if there were any tours left that visited Ephesus. While I was snapping pictures of the lobby, Stephanie was motioning me over – most tours were already sold out. We weren’t picky with the Kusadasi tours so we picked whatever was available (a tour to Ephesus and Sirince) and crossed our fingers that it was a good one.

 

 

Mom went off in search of a laundry machine and Stephanie and I headed out to the promenade to catch some fresh air and take in the…gray…skies.

 

 

As it turns out, there are no laundry facilities onboard the Vision. Not public ones, anyways. If you need laundry done during your cruise (and if you’re on a 12-night cruise, chances are you will), your options are to do it in your sink or to send it out to the laundry service (we opted for the latter). With gray skies and nowhere to do laundry, there was only one thing left to do: nap. I know. I’m thrilling you all with the details of this exhilarating day at sea. But with such a port-intensive itinerary and a voyage on an older ship without upgrades to newer features, there wasn’t much to do and there wasn’t much of a desire to do anything but rest. After these two sea days, we had two days in Greece and a day in Turkey before our next opportunity to rest. And after that? Back in Italy. From Italy back to Spain. From Spain to Paris. And from Paris? We had a flight back to the US on Monday to be back at work on Tuesday. Rest was a luxury on this trip and I took full advantage of any chance to get some.

[Nicole721]

I woke up just in time to get ready for formal night. This was the second of three on this voyage, and there was no time I was more thankful that we had a family room for our little family than I was when we were getting ready for formal night. Three ladies and one vanity doesn’t usually work out too well for us, but with a vanity, a desk, a separate bedroom and a bathroom, we had plenty of space to get our primp on.

 

 

 

There was no wind out on the promenade deck – a rarity on sea days and an even bigger rarity on formal nights, when my hair always seems to end up stuck to my lip gloss – so we lingered for a little longer. When we headed inside to dinner, we were greeted with some bad news: our table was taken! Since we had My Time Dining and we hadn’t been making reservations, the previous night when we dined at Izumi, another party got our table and they had made reservations for tonight. Just as we were resigning ourselves to dinner with another wait staff (who I’m sure would have been great – all of our servers on Royal Carribean always have been – but they wouldn’t have been Lloyd and Pawan), Lloyd caught us at the reception desk and insisted we be seated at a table adjacent to his area so he could take care of us. So our little family of three got a big table for six all to ourselves.

 

[Nicole721]

Marc had caught us that morning at breakfast to tell us he missed us the night before (and that the new people weren’t as fun or friendly as we were!) and stopped by again at dinner to tell us all about Athens and give us some recommendations on his favorite spots while Lloyd made sure we tried all of his favorites on the dinner menu. His specs were spot on, too – dinner was fantastic.

 

Royal Shrimp Cocktail

 

English Cheddar Cheese Sticks

 

Baby Shrimp Salad

 

Garden Salad

 

Chilled Cherry Bisque

[Nicole721]

Roasted Chicken

 

Singapore Noodles

 

Mustard-Crusted Roast Beef

 

Cappuccino Layer Cake

 

Warm Pecan Butterscotch Tart

 

Traditional English Trifle

[Nicole721]

After dinner, we spent an hour out on the promenade to watch the sunset. It was a stunningly gorgeous night capped off by a magnificent sunset, and there was plenty to look around at as we sailed on closer to Greece.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

We stopped back at the room to change before heading out to catch the headliner show. I don’t think we’ve ever had a turkey towel animal before! (Ed. note: My sister tells me this was not a turkey, but was, in fact, a peacock. Since there are no other distinguishing features, I guess we’ll never know)

 

 

The headliner show was a one-woman cabaret. Her repertoire kept the show interesting and she was incredibly talented. We very much enjoyed the show.

 

 

We headed up to Park Café before bed to have a hot cup of tea. They had buffalo wings out for the late night snack, which drew quite a crowd to the Solarium. We’d be docking in Athens early in the morning and though our excursion wasn’t as early as the others we’d been on in Italy, we still went through the motions of getting our outfits picked out and bags ready for the next phase of our Euro-explorations in Greece.

[LizSS]

I'm gonna say it's a turkey, since you'll be stopping in turkey. That's my logic at least lol

 

Love that sunset!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TxStacey]

Cant wait for your next installment Nicole! I saw on your blog that you are planning another Med cruise..how exciting! One quick question..how far in advance did you buy your air tickets? I am looking into flights now from DFW and they are $$$. Just wondering when to bite the bullet..

[Nicole721]

I'm gonna say it's a turkey, since you'll be stopping in turkey. That's my logic at least lol

 

Love that sunset!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Lets go with that! :D

 

Cant wait for your next installment Nicole! I saw on your blog that you are planning another Med cruise..how exciting! One quick question..how far in advance did you buy your air tickets? I am looking into flights now from DFW and they are $$$. Just wondering when to bite the bullet..

 

Working on wrapping up the Athens post now!

 

Re: airfare, we bought ours in...February or March, I think. Not sure if you can fly direct DFW to BCN. There are no direct flights from Chicago, and we were doing a multi-city trip (ORD --> BCN with a layover at LHR and returning CDG --> ORD), and I monitored our flight prices for a good two or three months and they didn't budge so we just bit the bullet and booked.

 

This time around, we'll probably book earlier for a couple of reasons (one, we have $500 flight vouchers from our massive delay at the start of our trip and those expire at the end of the year and two, I want to upgrade). But if you're booking a multi-city trip, you likely won't see too much fluctuation with price. If you're going DFW/BCN round trip, you might find the price predictor tool on Kayak helpful :)

[TxStacey]

Thanks Nicole! I have subscribed to the Kayak predictor! There is not a non stop flight from DFW to BCN. I actually looked at Choice Air yesterday and they had an AA flight that was 300 less than on the AA website. The times were awesome too, so we may go with Choice Air for a change. Cant wait for the next installment!

[Nicole721]

Thanks Nicole! I have subscribed to the Kayak predictor! There is not a non stop flight from DFW to BCN. I actually looked at Choice Air yesterday and they had an AA flight that was 300 less than on the AA website. The times were awesome too, so we may go with Choice Air for a change. Cant wait for the next installment!

 

 

I've never used Choice Air before, so if you go that route, let me know what you think!

[RoamingRetirees]

I've never used Choice Air before, so if you go that route, let me know what you think!

 

We have used ChoiceAir several times, including for our Vision TA next month. For international one way flights, it has excellent prices. That's when we use them (if we can't use FF miles).

[Virtopia]

Just got back from my Adventure southern Caribbean cruise yesterday, so playing catch up with this review! But, I also booked a 21 day B2B European cruise for next September, so this will be very helpful!! I can't wait! :D

[ken_nyc]

Thank you Nicole for taking the time out to post your wonderful review! Sorry you had the rough time getting to Barcelona! Looking forward to the rest of the review!

[ken_nyc]

I've never used Choice Air before, so if you go that route, let me know what you think!

 

We used ChoiceAir and save $300 for our American Airlines flight over using the AA website.

[Nicole721]

Thanks for the tips on Choice Air, everyone! Follow-up question: do you still earn miles on trips booked through Choice Air? Just curious.

 

Just got back from my Adventure southern Caribbean cruise yesterday, so playing catch up with this review! But, I also booked a 21 day B2B European cruise for next September, so this will be very helpful!! I can't wait! :D

 

How was your trip?!

 

Thank you Nicole for taking the time out to post your wonderful review! Sorry you had the rough time getting to Barcelona! Looking forward to the rest of the review!

 

Thanks, Ken! Glad you are enjoying it! :)

[RoamingRetirees]

Thanks for the tips on Choice Air, everyone! Follow-up question: do you still earn miles on trips booked through Choice Air? Just curious.

 

 

We always have.

[Nicole721]

We always have.

 

Good to know, thanks! :) I have status on American, so anytime I fly to Europe, it's a minimum of 25% of the miles I need to hit renewal.

[Nicole721]

We were already docked in Athens when I was waking up, and as much rest as I’d gotten over the previous two sea days, I still had trouble rubbing the sleep out of my eyes when the alarm went off.

 

 

Our excursion didn’t meet super early (our call time on our tickets was 8:00 am), but it was early enough to need an extra cup of coffee with breakfast. The Windjammer was packed (again), which forced us outside (…again), but this morning was gray and overcast. No rain in the forecast, just a lot of clouds. So as I nursed my second cup of coffee, I took a moment to look around at Greece.

 

 

 

We were docked in Piraeus, which was about a half hour drive outside of Athens. Piraeus was definitely more urban than the ports we docked in during our time in Italy, which opened up a world of DIY touring. The port had plenty of duty free shopping, tour operators and taxi’s and even a Hop On Hop Off bus stop within walking distance. And a short walk outside the port was plenty of restaurants and some shopping. We had no plans to wing our port time (at least, not this time), but it was nice to see there were options.

 

 

 

Visiting Greece on this trip was a bonus. We didn’t choose this itinerary for Greece and our primary focus in planning had been the Italy ports, but Athens was the best kind of bonus. Who wouldn’t want to visit the Parthenon, or take in some Greek mythology? And a day in Greece had to include some Greek food, right? We didn’t choose this itinerary for Greece, but I was so excited for the change of pace and to see what this country had to offer.

[Nicole721]

Walk Like…A Grecian (Snail)

 

There were dozens of tours to choose from through the ship. We ultimately settled on the Exclusive Taste of Athens tour, which offered a visit up to the Acropolis and a few hours of free time for us to explore on our own.

 

Set out on a intimate tour of Athens, then cap it off with several hours for independent exploration. Your narrated coach ride takes you past the Corinthian Temple of Olympian Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium - site of the first modern Olympics, Hadrian's Arch, and Parliament Building, formerly the Royal Palace. At the Acropolis, disembark and climb the steps for a guided visit. Conclude with approximately three hours to enjoy the city at your own pace.

 

Our tour met in the Some Enchanted Evening lounge and once our bus and guide had arrived, we were led down to the gangway to disembark and out through the terminal, where we met with our guide, Alice.

 

Alice was hilarious and engaging, a perfect guide for this excursion. As we left Piraeus for our first stop, Alice introduced us to the concept of the Greek pace, reassuring everyone that though it was a bit of a climb up to the top of the Acropolis, we were in Greece, so we’d go at a Greek pace – or at the speed of a Greek snail.

 

The drive to Athens was much different than our drives through Italy. Quicker, but much more urban. Italy was full of rolling green countryside. Greece was full of cityscapes with street art and graffiti plastered everywhere, with crumbling modern facades on tall buildings. Athens is very much a modern city, which made the centuries of history we were driving through on our visit even more fascinating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

The first stop on our tour (and really the highlight of our visit to Athens) was at the Acropolis, an area of ancient ruins that date as far back as nearly 600 BC. The Acropolis sits at the very top of a hill (nearly 500 ft above sea level!). You can’t drive to the top of the hill – you have to climb your way up via a series of inclines and steps – so at this point, we were thankful that the sun was hiding behind some very fluffy, gray clouds. That said, we had people on our tour of all age groups and levels of physical fitness (we even had someone who was walking with an oxygen tank) and everyone made it up just fine because Alice insisted we all walk at that Greek pace. Even the feral cats walk around at the pace of a Greek snail in Athens!

 

 

 

It’s about 150 actual steps up to the Acropolis. Towards the bottom, the steps are newer and less steep, but as you get towards the top and the original ancient steps, they get steeper and more slippery. In all honesty, though, it wasn’t bad or difficult by any means. I thought the walk up to the ticketing area from the bus depot was worse than the walk up the steps.

 

 

Alice made a deal with our group as we ascended to the top – if we gave her our attention as we made our way up, we could take as many pictures as we wanted on the way down. Who could say no to an offer like that? So as we climbed up and took our first steps towards the Acropolis, Alice gave us the history of these buildings. The work of Pericles in coordinating the construction of so many of these monuments. The Old Temple of Athena, a shrine to the Goddess of Wisdom (whom the city of Athens is named after). The Erechtheion, a temple built in honor of King Erechtheus (who, according to Greek legend, was killed by Poseidon, God of the Seas). There was the Theatre of Dionysus and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and, of course, the most well-known structure in the Acropolis, the Parthenon.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

I hung on every word of every story Alice told us. The history and mythology behind each structure so storied and fascinating. This was a complete change of pace from the touring and history we were exploring in Italy. And even though it was crowded (like, really crowded), I was so distracted by where I was and what I was seeing that I didn’t even notice the hoards of tourists and schoolchildren around me.

 

 

[Nicole721]

We had a bit of free time to explore the site once Alice had given us the full tour. The views from the top of the Acropolis are unparalleled to any other vantage point in Athens and even on a not-so-clear day, you could still see out for miles.