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

[Nicole721]

Earlier in the day, Captain Lis mentioned that we’d be reentering the Straits of Messina around 7:30 pm, but we noticed land before we headed to dinner at 6:00 pm.

 

 

 

We knew it would take a few hours to navigate the straits, so we headed to dinner and watched the straits pass by out the window (perks of a table with a view!). The food was okay – formal night menus are never my favorite – but the service was more spectacular than the food. Marc stopped by to give us all of his reccos for our port day in Naples, Pawan made sure our glasses were never empty, and Lloyd? Lloyd couldn’t decide which dessert he wanted us to try the most, so he brought us one of everything.

 

Royal Shrimp Cocktail

 

Creamed Wild Mushrooms

 

Duck and Port Wine Terrine

[Nicole721]

Simple and Classic Caesar Salad

 

Roasted Poblano Pepper and Corn Soup

 

Slow Roasted Prime Rib

 

Pan-Fried Giant Shrimp

 

Thai Chicken Breast

[Nicole721]

Grand Mariner Souffle

 

Low Fat Angel Food Cake

 

Baked Alaska

 

Ivory Chocolate Mousse

 

Sugar-Free Coconut and Lychee Gateaux

 

Holy Dessert, Batman

Edited October 11, 2015 by Nicole721

[Nicole721]

We tried to head out to the promenade after dinner, but it was pretty windy (and, oddly enough, raining on the Sicily side of the passage but not on the other), so we headed up to deck 10, where it was a little less windy, and we watched the ship navigate through until Sicily became a small blip behind us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

We headed down to the Schooner Bar to play an impossible round of music trivia (spoiler alert: we lost) before heading down to the Masquerade for tonight’s headliner show, Boogie Wonderland. Much like the Broadway show earlier in the cruise, this one was a bit outdated. The music was great – that kind of music is timeless – but the sets were dated and the costumes were worn out. I’m not sure if either were changed out since the ship launched in 1998.

 

 

We missed the sunset during the show, but as we headed out for a stroll, we noticed that we were passing by Stromboli again, and Stromboli at dusk was one of the most beautiful sights we took in on this voyage.

 

 

Later on, Stephanie and I went to Park Café to grab some tea before bed and a code Oscar was called – man overboard. Stephanie and I headed down to the promenade and it was packed with concerned crew and passengers. When they launched a rescue boat and brought out a stretcher, they cleared the promenade. One of the crew members made the observation that of all of the life vests they threw in the water, the warning light only lit up on one of them – perhaps a reminder that they needed to check and replace those. We headed back upstairs to drink our tea and wait for an update on the situation – no one knew what was going on, but everyone was emotional about it. And when we got up to deck ten, the railing was lined with people. That part is expected – curiosity is human nature. But we saw people taking pictures and filming and every time we’ve been on a ship with an emergency, whether it be a medevac or a coast guard rescue, there are always people that take pictures and video. And I never understand it – this isn’t the part of your vacation you want to remember, and the misfortune of others isn’t really something to be documented by strangers.

 

It wasn’t long before we got our update: there wasn’t a passenger or crew overboard, but rather, they spotted a raft floating in the water near the ship and they weren’t sure if anyone was on it or not from the distance we were at, so they sent two crew members in hazmat suits to investigate on a rescue boat. The raft was empty (it turned out to be a coast guard exercise raft) and the coast guard asked that we remove it from the water before moving again. And, of course, once the situation was resolved and we began moving again, an Alpha code was called – a medical emergency. Poor Captain Lis couldn’t catch a break. Not long after the Alpha was called, she came on to say that the coast guard had decided they wanted us to return the equipment and raft to sea.

 

It was a crazy night and the best outcome to what could have been a terrible situation. By 11:00 pm, we were back on our way to Naples and we headed to bed. The clocks would move back an hour overnight, giving us one more hour of sleep. And with an early morning wakeup for our excursion in Naples, we’d take all the extra sleep we could get.

[widallas]

Love checking in to see what new things you've posted....so jealous!!! What an amazing adventure...

[Nicole721]

Love checking in to see what new things you've posted....so jealous!!! What an amazing adventure...

 

Thank you! :D

[TxStacey]

I CANT WAIT for NAPLES!!:)

[LizSS]

Ok I'm caught up, you're teasing us making us wait for Naples!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Nicole721]

I CANT WAIT for NAPLES!!:)

 

Hope you enjoy it!

 

Ok I'm caught up, you're teasing us making us wait for Naples!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Sorry sorry! Hope it was worth the wait! :)

[Nicole721]

After 11 days and five countries, our time onboard the Vision of the Seas was drawing to a close, but before we finished this chapter of our adventure, we still had one more port to go: Naples.

 

Naples was a big one because it was the stop that connected to Pompeii, Capri, Sorrento, Positano and the Amalfi Coast. If we thought seeing Rome in one day was going to be difficult, trying to get in the Amalfi Coast in one was just about impossible – it’s not about taking in the landmarks on the Amalfi Coast, but rather about visiting the towns that make the region so distinctive. We had two musts on our list: Capri and Pompeii. Anything else would be a bonus, but on this first visit, those were our priorities. We booked the Capri, Sorrento & Pompeii excursion through Royal Caribbean, a ten hour tour that seemed to fit that bill:

 

Enjoy breathtaking seaside scenery as you visit two gems, Sorrento and the idyllic isle of Capri, before scouring the archeological ruins of Pompeii. Enjoy a scenic jetfoil ride across turquoise waters to Capri, then stroll La Piazzetta square. Savor a tasty lunch in Sorrento, complete with champagne and tales of local sirens. View recovered artifacts once buried in Pompeii, an ancient Roman city destroyed in 79 AD by a Mount Vesuvius eruption.

 

It was a lot to take on in one day, but we were up bright and early at 5:45 am to take the day on. I’d have complained about the early wakeup, but we gained an hour with the time change, and after spending most of the previous two days doing nothing but napping and sunbathing, I was rested and ready to explore something other than the pool deck.

 

We’d experienced near idyllic weather throughout our voyage, and our final day in Naples was no exception to that. We had a quick breakfast al fresco as the ship pulled into port and the sun started its ascent into the sky.

 

 

The ship docked in Salerno, one of the most active ports on the Tyrrhenian Sea (nearly a half million passengers and ten million tons of cargo pass through a year!). It was immediately clear the topography of this region of Italy was much different than our days in Florence and Rome – much more mountainous and richly green, with brightly colored structures clashing across the coastlines.

 

 

 

 

 

Our meeting time was 7:00 am in the Masquerade, and by this point, most cruisers understood the process and many crowded outside the theater and in the stairwells so they could be the first to board their respective busses. Our tour was tour #1, and we were led to deck one to disembark, where we met our tour guide, Vincenzo. Vincenzo carried an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Bean and had a dorky, fun quality to him. His quick wit and offhand knowledge of the region made for the perfect companion for our tour.

[Nicole721]

Coasting to Capri

 

We boarded a tour bus at the pier for a (literal) five minute drive to another dock, where we boarded a jetfoil to Capri for the first part of our tour. We were the first tour (and first bus of our tour) to get to the jetfoil, so we had our choice of seats. This was key because every single tour going to Capri took this one boat and it got very crowded, and being the first group to board allowed us to snag some primo seats on the upper deck.

 

 

 

The ride to Capri was over an hour, but so incredibly scenic. Those upper deck seats on the jetfoil are prime real estate because the views on the ride from Salerno to Capri of these green hills rising majestically up towards the bluest of skies through low-laying clouds, the seaside towns so perfectly lining the coastlines…it was like riding past a live postcard. And no worries if you don’t find time to catch breakfast before meeting your excursion – they sell croissants and coffee onboard.

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

I was mesmerized with this region of Italy before we even stepped foot off the jetfoil, and it only got better from there. We debarked in Marina Grande and were handed tickets for the funicular that would take us up to Capri and instructions on where to wait for Vincenzo, who would ride up with the last people in our group.

 

 

 

The funicular is steps away from the dock at Marina Grande and serves as the central means of transport up towards the heart of the island. The ride only takes about three minutes, but since it only runs every six minutes (the three minute ride up and then the three minute ride down to return), quite the line forms in both directions. It’s a smooth passage up, mainly because the funicular is a train, not a sky ride.

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

We were in the first group up on the funicular from our tour group, so we had some time to wait in our meeting spot at Piazza Umberto (the main square in Capri), but with views like the ones afforded here, no one minded waiting for the rest of the group. I was beyond transfixed – the views from Capri were among the most stunning we’d seen during this entire trip.

 

 

 

 

 

Once our tour group had all arrived, Vincenzo took us on a walking tour. There are no cars in the main area of Capri – just golf carts driving around the luggage of newly arriving guests. It’s a small town, but it’s glamorous in the truest sense, evocative of Cannes and Beverly Hills in that respect. High end boutiques line the narrow streets, alternating with cafes and five star hotels. There are fresh flowers everywhere, tinging the air and brightening landscape. This was my kind of island.

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

Vincenzo offered an optional walking tour down to the gardens, but we opted to go off on our own in our limited time on the island, spending our hour of free time in search of Italian cappuccinos. The island was still waking up when we arrived and not all of the shops were open for the day, but we picked up some souvenirs as we roamed the streets.

 

 

 

The first café we stopped in didn’t have a working cappuccino machine, so we hopped across the street to the next one, which not only had a functioning cappuccino machine, but free wi-fi and a gorgeous terrace. We settled in with a plate of chocolate croissants and a round of cappuccinos while we watched the square fill in as the island woke up.

 

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

We met back up with Vincenzo at our meeting spot in Piazza Umberto and he handed us funicular tickets for the ride back down, instructing us on a meeting place and time. We headed straight back down since we didn’t know what the crowds would be like and if we thought the crowds at the Vatican were bad, they had nothing on the crowd of people waiting to go up to Capri once we got to the bottom. Our tour had orchestrated the perfect timing in getting us into and out of Capri before the hoards of tourists filled the streets of the tiny town.

 

 

We had about a half hour of additional free time once we got off the funicular while we waited for the rest of our group. There were plenty of shops and cafes to explore while the rest of our tour made their way down to our meeting place.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

 

 

[Nicole721]

Strolling Through Sorrento

 

When everyone had made it down from the top of Capri, Vincenzo handed us each a ferry ticket and led us towards an intimidatingly long line. We weren’t taking a chartered boat like we did on the way to Capri – we were taking the public ferry to Sorrento.

 

 

The ferry was quite large and despite being a bit further line, we easily found seats on the lower level of the boat and sailed off towards Sorrento.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

The ride didn’t take longer than 20 minutes and before we knew it, we were docking in Sorrento. Much like Capri, the heart of Sorrento is hidden away a bit inside some impressive cliffs, overlooking the Bay of Naples.

 

 

 

 

Taxi’s line up outside of the ferry station, making the trip from Capri into Sorrento pretty easy for locals and tourists exploring the area without the aide of a tour guide. There were two mini busses waiting to take our group from the launch up into the center of Sorrento. As we drove up into the city, it was interesting to see how different Capri and Sorrento had been from Florence and Rome. Despite roots that date back to the Roman era in 600 BC, Sorrento is surprisingly modern – a contemporary metropolitan area. The buildings have bright, well-maintained facades. Shops and cafes line busy streets filled with cars and scooters. There’s a hint of small(er) town charm here, too, especially when you walk towards the outer perimeter, but it’s really a unique area – one that we really enjoyed exploring.

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

We knew our time in Sorrento would be short, and that most of which would be spent enjoying an Italian lunch, but as the bus pulled up to La Fenice (a local restaurant), I kept my fingers crossed for any free time to walk around.

 

 

The restaurant was prepared for our arrival, with a large section of their dining room set for us, complete with chilled bottles of wine waiting on the tables. It’s not an authentic Italian meal without wine, after all!

 

 

 

[Nicole721]

Lunch was served prix fixe and served in courses, starting with a pasta course (spinach and cheese cannelloni that were beyond sublime) followed by a chicken dish and assorted cakes for dessert.

 

 

 

 

One of the servers noticed me taking pictures on my phone and slipped me a small piece of paper with a wink. He knew what was up. I hooked into their wifi and Facebook’ed my Italian lunch (in Italy!!!!) while sipping on my (Italian) coffee. Does it get any better? Does it?

 

 

 

The food at La Fenice was so, so good, and the restaurant was so warm and welcoming. It felt like we were eating a big family meal.

 

[Nicole721]

Sidenote – we were urged to use the restrooms here because our next stop would be Pompeii and the restrooms wouldn’t be as accessible. Stephanie went down to the ladies room and came back to drag me down there, telling me to bring Euro coins with me. In the restroom, they had a coin machine that vended these small pods that had a mini toothbrush, a mini tube of toothpaste and a breath mint. They were teeny tiny, which made them endearingly adorable and made for a nice little momento from our lunch for €1.

 

 

As lunch was winding down, Vincenzo announced we’d have a bit of free time before our drive to Pompeii to explore Sorrento. He’d take us on a walk to our meeting point and then hold an optional tour to watch a demo of inlaid woodwork, but we had just over a half hour to do whatever we wanted.