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

Nicole721

By Nicole721,
in Royal Caribbean International

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jfong

jfong

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We are booked on the Vision for end of next month so I had enjoyed reading your 'live' thread, and now I am enjoying reading your review. Thank you for the details which are making me looking forward to our cruise even more.

 

Josiane

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lola2013

lola2013

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Nicole,

LOVING YOUR REVIEW. Our group of 11 was to meet in Barcelona pre-cruise in October, 2013. Five of us flew from O'Hare, also on a beautiful day, and we were lucky enough to arrive at Heathrow on time. What we did not anticipate was the amount of time it would take to get from our plane, which was parked on the runway...they put us on shuttles to get us to the terminal. From there, we had to go through security (again, not anticipated) and we quickly found out that delaying passengers is a hobby among the British TSA. While all five of us got the pat down, only two were allowed to continue to the next flight. I was held back by an agent who wanted to know where I purchased my carry-on...my response (let me start by saying I was really cranky by this point): "the Container Store on Golf Road in Schaumburg, IL...do you know it???" Needless to say, he was not amused. My other two friends were held back for no apparent reason. Every person who needed additional security check was begging for consideration, stating that they had a flight to catch. And every response was "I don't care". Once we finally got through, the British Air agent who re-booked us to Barcelona, told us that it's a game they play and British Air spends a tremendous amount of time re-booking people to get to their final destination. We ended up with a six hour delay; fortunately, like you said, there is plenty to see and do in Heathrow.

The gist of the story is...you were smart to allow extra time. We lost an entire day in Barcelona and missed our reunion dinner with the rest of our family & friends in Las Ramblas. And since we all had different plans for the following day, we didn't meet up until we boarded our ship on day #3.

Sorry to ramble...but your delay experience reminded me of our eventful first travel day. Like you, the rest of the trip was fabulous.

Look forward to the rest of your review...your pics are great!

Susan

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Sammy Sailor

Sammy Sailor

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Love your review ! We leave in 3 weeks for Barcelona and 7 night Med Cruise. Getting excited. I too am conquered flying however I'm a bit nervous for my first transatlantic flight. Longest I've ever flown. Just gotta keep thinking of the reward!!

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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Ahh you guys! I'm so happy you guys are enjoying this! Next part should (hopefully) be up on the blog tonight and posted here late tonight or tomorrow! :)

 

I'll be back in a couple hours to answer questions/chat/finish writing about our awesome day in Montserrat and Barcelona!

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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I hope there's a couple posts tonight! :D

 

There's a new post up on my blog! I have to reformat the pictures for CC so it'll be cross-posted here tomorrow!

 

We are booked on the Vision for end of next month so I had enjoyed reading your 'live' thread, and now I am enjoying reading your review. Thank you for the details which are making me looking forward to our cruise even more.

 

Josiane

 

Thanks, Josiane!

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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Wonderful review!!

 

Barb

 

Thanks, Barb!

 

Love your review! We'll be on the Vision in October and will be taking the train to Paris post cruise too. Can't wait to hear how your train travel portion went.

 

It was quite the adventure! I'm excited to share it with you! :)

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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Nicole,

LOVING YOUR REVIEW. Our group of 11 was to meet in Barcelona pre-cruise in October, 2013. Five of us flew from O'Hare, also on a beautiful day, and we were lucky enough to arrive at Heathrow on time. What we did not anticipate was the amount of time it would take to get from our plane, which was parked on the runway...they put us on shuttles to get us to the terminal. From there, we had to go through security (again, not anticipated) and we quickly found out that delaying passengers is a hobby among the British TSA. While all five of us got the pat down, only two were allowed to continue to the next flight. I was held back by an agent who wanted to know where I purchased my carry-on...my response (let me start by saying I was really cranky by this point): "the Container Store on Golf Road in Schaumburg, IL...do you know it???" Needless to say, he was not amused. My other two friends were held back for no apparent reason. Every person who needed additional security check was begging for consideration, stating that they had a flight to catch. And every response was "I don't care". Once we finally got through, the British Air agent who re-booked us to Barcelona, told us that it's a game they play and British Air spends a tremendous amount of time re-booking people to get to their final destination. We ended up with a six hour delay; fortunately, like you said, there is plenty to see and do in Heathrow.

The gist of the story is...you were smart to allow extra time. We lost an entire day in Barcelona and missed our reunion dinner with the rest of our family & friends in Las Ramblas. And since we all had different plans for the following day, we didn't meet up until we boarded our ship on day #3.

Sorry to ramble...but your delay experience reminded me of our eventful first travel day. Like you, the rest of the trip was fabulous.

Look forward to the rest of your review...your pics are great!

Susan

 

I probably handled it the same way you did, Susan (also, totally have shopped at the Schaumburg Container Store ;)). That's a super frustrating way to start a trip!

 

Nicole - I am enjoying your review. I leave 3 weeks from today for my first European cruise on Vision.

 

How exciting! Have a WONDERFUL trip! :)

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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great review so far..we are going on the Vision in a few more weeks so I am soaking up all the info I can get. Good to know that you have to check rolling carry-ons in London..was not aware of that.

 

Thank you!

 

And to clarify, you don't *have* to check rolling carry-ons in London, but if you're flying British Airways on a full flight, they will not hesitate to measure your bag and force you to gate check. Always good to be prepared with a lock should they make you check the bag!

 

Love your review ! We leave in 3 weeks for Barcelona and 7 night Med Cruise. Getting excited. I too am conquered flying however I'm a bit nervous for my first transatlantic flight. Longest I've ever flown. Just gotta keep thinking of the reward!!

 

I was really nervous, too, but it went by really quickly. We were glad to have a night flight to London because sleeping made the time pass quicker. On the way home from Paris, it was a nine hour flight during the day, so not much sleeping to pass the time, but it was such a good flight that it didn't even matter.

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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I think I already posted once, but I just wanted to say that I'm loving your review! A long European cruise like this is on my mind for 2018, so I'm following along with great interest!

 

I'm glad you're enjoying it!

 

Came looking for next day! Love cruising with you!

 

I love re-living it and taking all of you along with me :D

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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The sunlight was beaming into our room brightly, waking us up for our first full day in Spain. Even though the sun set late, the sunrise was nice and early, which worked out well for us because we had a tour to get ready for.

 

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We’d packed some packaged snacks in our luggage, so we had a quick breakfast of some Kind bars in the room before packing up our bags for the day and heading downstairs to meet our tour.

 

In our pre-cruise research, we’d found a ton of great reviews for Barcelona Day Tours and since we didn’t have much time in Spain, we wanted to get in as much of Barcelona as we could. We went back and forth on which tour to book and ultimately decided on the combo Montserrat and Barcelona City Tour. Stephanie pre-booked and pre-paid for our excursion, and we were quoted a pickup between 8:55 am and 9:15 am in the lobby of our hotel.

 

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A white van came to pick us up around 9:30 am, the delay because we were the last pickup of the tour, and we were quickly welcomed by our tour guide, Gina. The three of us were sharing our tour with 12 others, and the total group size of 15 felt perfect for the day’s itinerary. The van was plenty spacious for the 15 of us and in immaculate condition, which is always a good start to a long tour day in my book.

 

The tour began in Montjuic as Gina explained the history of Barcelona. Her pride of her country was obvious and she was extraordinarily jovial. We knew we were in good hands for the day.

 

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Nicole721

Nicole721

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The city tour portion of our excursion would take place on our way back from Montserrat, but Gina didn’t waste a moment in telling us about anything notable we passed, like the Olympic park and Arenas de Barcelona (a former bullfighting arena built in the late 1800’s that was turned recently into an entertainment complex. The Beatles played here in the 60s!).

 

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It wasn’t long before we were out of the city and on the highway towards Montserrat.

 

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Montserrat is a mountainous area in Catalonia, just over an hour outside of Barcelona. Gina told us that the word Montserrat means “saw mountain” in Catalan, and that is quite literally what the area looks like from a distance. The drive up passes by quickly, but goes up narrow, winding roads and may pose issues for those with fears of heights or motion sickness.

 

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