Vision of the Seas Mediterranean Review Aug 10-22, 2019

[erby2283]

After our long excursion, we got back to the ship and I sat out on the balcony with my kindle. It's literally one of my favorite things to do; read and take in the amazing view of the beautiful ports; watching everyone return to the ship. Taking in the differences of the view from early morning (where the port is sleeping and quiet) to the hustle and bustle of the afternoon/evening.

 

 

 

We were schedule to leave at 6:30. Only we weren't leaving. I had a good view of the bridge from my balcony and it appeared they were waiting for people. My guess was a ship excursion was running late.

 

 

About half an hour later, I see a taxi come pulling up and two (and only two) people came out of the taxi. They walked on to the ship and then off we went.  (I tried to upload the video but I guess it was too long). I found it odd that we waited that whole time for just two people since the ship waits for no one - unless it's a ship sponsored excursion and I am not sure a ship sponsored excursion would only have two people? hmmmm.

 

I had some time to take a few pictures before dinner as we sailed out of Salerno. I was a little sad we were delayed bc we had reservations for dinner and had we not been delayed I could have enjoyed the view for a little while longer (I'll take all I can get). But  "sa la vie."

 

 

Tonight was dinner #2 of our dining package. I may (or may not) have mentioned that I do not eat seafood so we've never eaten at any of the Asian pay restaurants on Royal Caribbean bc they're just not worth my money considering the menu options I have to choose from.  But, I read a review regarding Izumi and saw someone cooking steak on hot rocks in Izumi and that my friends was the game changer!  Our reservation was for 7:30 and there was only one other family in the restaurant. I felt so badly for the server and chefs who worked there. Did people just not know about this restaurant? Did they just not want to pay the extra fee?  I don't remember our servers name but she was excellent! Shocking news alert.... I don't eat soup or salad either.... but our server let me make other concessions in their place and didn't charge us for it so that was a plus!  We left a tip on the bill (to cover the chefs) and left her $20 cash.  After that night, we saw her in several other dining rooms during lunch and she always went out of her way to say hello to us. I definitely would book Izumi again knowing I can get steak and cook it on the hot rocks! It was fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, I grabbed a little more cash and headed down to the casino.  Tomorrow was our first sea day - but as we all know, you got to be up early to beat the chair hogs.

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by erby2283

[TRUEBLUE66]

32 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

I also just remembered you are in Scotland!  We were supposed to go there in May on a girls trip! May I ask where in Scotland you are? My Grandma was born in Edinburgh - her maiden name was Kinniburgh. We are hoping to re-book our trip for next year.

Hope you get here! Kinniburgh is a well known name.

We live in the country,  approx 30 minutes train journey from Edinburgh. 

Have to admit that no matter where we have been, Edinburgh is still in our top 5 cities! Has a special atmosphere, especially around August (except this year) for the largest arts festival in the world. Amazing scenery, especially when we get the weather!! 

[ckmedsec]

On 6/16/2020 at 5:04 PM, Luckynana said:

I am so enjoying all of your pictures, as well as your narratives of your daily adventures!  So far, I've been to all of your ports, and have been to most of your stops on my two Mediterranean cruises.  I am looking forward to following you on your journey!  Do you have any pictures of the Vision of the Seas?  I was looking at a 2022 cruise on the Vision.  My DH and I were supposed to take our first TA out of Southampton this coming November on the Anthem of the Seas, but don't see that happening.... 

Vision of the Seas is a great ship.  Hope these photos help in your decision.

[Havin'fun]

Loved your review.  Europe is on the bucket list.

Thanks for taking the time to do this, your narrative and pictures are amazing.

[xpcdoojk]

Great Review, Erby!

 

I have been wondering about your “upcoming” trip since at least last year.  Thank you for sharing.

 

jc

[Luckynana]

ckmedsec..thank you for sharing your pictures of the Vision of the Seas.  The ship looks beautiful!

[njkruzer]

we're supposed to be on the Vision in January.   Dreaming while looking at ship pictures.   Hoping. 

[erby2283]

On 8/21/2020 at 1:45 PM, TRUEBLUE66 said:

Have to admit that no matter where we have been, Edinburgh is still in our top 5 cities! Has a special atmosphere, especially around August (except this year) for the largest arts festival in the world. Amazing scenery, especially when we get the weather!! 

We're trying to plan it for next year (around May). But had only planned for about 1.5 days in Edinburgh. Think we need more? We had more days planned up and around Inverness area.

 

On 8/24/2020 at 9:15 AM, Havin'fun said:

Loved your review.  Europe is on the bucket list.

Thanks for taking the time to do this, your narrative and pictures are amazing.

Thank you. It was my bucket list trip too! Except, I think I became addicted and want to go back!

 

On 8/24/2020 at 9:57 AM, xpcdoojk said:

Great Review, Erby!

 

I have been wondering about your “upcoming” trip since at least last year.  Thank you for sharing.

 

jc

HA HA. Right?! Well, still working on it, jc. I just hope we all can get back to cruising soon.

[Fall2010]

Thanks so much for this great review.  Your pictures are amazing! 

[TRUEBLUE66]

17 hours ago, erby2283 said:

We're trying to plan it for next year (around May). But had only planned for about 1.5 days in Edinburgh. Think we need more? We had more days planned up and around Inverness area.

 

 

 

 

I can't really answer that because I don't know how much total time you have in Scotland, and there is lots to see. I can only suggest that you make a list of your "must see" in each area. Edinburgh is quite compact and the hop on hop off bus covers the majority of sites but a fair amount of walking may be required as it wasn't built for vehicles!

[RKHOOKER]

We had the unlimited dining package on our Vision Med cruise last year in July & the specialty restaurants were never more than half full.  So nice to dine in a very relaxing & peaceful setting after a full day sight seeing.  After that experience, we’d always get the unlimited dining package on future cruises, money certainly well spent!

[erby2283]

8 hours ago, RKHOOKER said:

We had the unlimited dining package on our Vision Med cruise last year in July & the specialty restaurants were never more than half full.  So nice to dine in a very relaxing & peaceful setting after a full day sight seeing.  After that experience, we’d always get the unlimited dining package on future cruises, money certainly well spent!

This was the first time we purchased the dining package. Couldn't pass it up for a 3-night package for $69 a person (I think that's what it was). I was always surprised with how empty the restaurants were.

 

 

22 hours ago, Fall2010 said:

Thanks so much for this great review.  Your pictures are amazing! 

Thank you. Glad you are enjoying it.

[RKHOOKER]

23 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

This was the first time we purchased the dining package. Couldn't pass it up for a 3-night package for $69 a person (I think that's what it was). I was always surprised with how empty the restaurants were.

 

We paid US$240 per person for 12 nights.  Great value!

[erby2283]

Day 8 of the trip, Day 6 of the cruise - Sea Day 8-15-2019

 

Today was our first sea day! Ahhh, it was so nice not to wake up at 5:30 am today! I did manage to wake up early and snag this shot at dawn.  I would have sworn it was taken at sunset except for that fact that I know what time the picture was taken thanks to the time stamp on my iphone.

 

Let me just say that I LOVE sea days - my bf hates them.  We are not ones for reading the dailies to see what time Bingo is or signing up for some classes or trivia (although if I'm on a cruise with a group of friends versus just the two of us, it's quite different and we will do those things!).  I will, however, get up at 7/8 am in order to actually SIT in a chair (not throw my stuff down in it) to guarantee I have a great spot for the day while sun bathing and enjoying my virgin cocktails.  However, the vibe during a Mediterranean cruise seems to be a lot different than on a Caribbean cruise. And maybe it was the ship itself, but I had a hard time finding just the perfect spot. Usually, I am in the adults only area but on the Vision, the adults only section didn't really appeal to me as far as getting direct sunlight - I also enjoy a more quiet area.  I ended up finding a spot at the back of the ship a few decks down from the top (can't remember which one it was).  But it wasn't highly trafficked.  I remember it being very windy - which I thought was odd for the Mediterranean - maybe someone who frequently sails can advise if that's normal? After a couple hours, I decided to just head back down to my room and sit out on my balcony and enjoy my kindle there.

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite a lazy day...a time for recuperating from 4 days in a row of early wake up calls and 10-hour long excursion days. This was supposed to be vacation, right?  I always say I come home from vacation more tired than when I left.

 

Dessert was delicious as usual - followed by night in the casino.  I don't usually spend much and usually prefer the penny slots to make my money stretch longer.  Tonight my bf won $237.90 on a $.50 spin! He cashed out and never went back. 

[xpcdoojk]

Yeah, Med cruises are killers, get up early, take a two hour bus ride, walk around in a frenzy, get back on bus for two hour ride, probably fall asleep on the way back.  Get on the ship take a quick shower dress, unlike Erby, go to the diamond lounge have an small handful of non-virgin cocktails, dinner (unlike Erby) have a glass or maybe two of wine.  Maybe go to the show depending... and then go to bed, repeat at 5:30AM

[cruisequeen4ever]

So glad you’re back; thank you for continuing! As others have said, now you have an excuse to go back to accomplish Positano. It took us 3 Naples port stoops before we made it to Positano. There’s just so much beauty and culture to explore in that region.

[erby2283]

13 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

Yeah, Med cruises are killers, get up early, take a two hour bus ride, walk around in a frenzy, get back on bus for two hour ride, probably fall asleep on the way back.  Get on the ship take a quick shower dress, unlike Erby, go to the diamond lounge have an small handful of non-virgin cocktails, dinner (unlike Erby) have a glass or maybe two of wine.  Maybe go to the show depending... and then go to bed, repeat at 5:30AM

🤣🤣 True story.  End of cruise....erby likes her bill way more than those who drink. Of course, yours are probably free.

 

8 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

So glad you’re back; thank you for continuing! As others have said, now you have an excuse to go back to accomplish Positano. It took us 3 Naples port stoops before we made it to Positano. There’s just so much beauty and culture to explore in that region.

Yes! Revisiting all the pictures a year later is giving me the itch to go back.  Or maybe it's the fact that I've only gone to work, the grocery store and home for the last 6 months....lol

Edited August 27, 2020 by erby2283

[erby2283]

Day 9 of the trip, Day 7 of the cruise - Venice Day 1  8-16-2019

 

Sailing into Venice

 

I was able to sleep in again this morning but did notice this beautiful sunrise from the balcony.

 

We were scheduled to arrive in Venice at 3 pm but I had long read about the beautiful sail into Venice so I wanted to make sure I scoped out a good place for taking pictures. In fact, I recently read on CC that they are now doing away with porting in Venice....(have yet to confirm if that includes ships staying overnight though as I am still seeing itineraries for 2021 with overnight stops in Venice - maybe someone reading this can advise?).

 

There is a lovely bench at the back of the ship by the rock climbing wall and I decided to go up there around 1 pm once I saw that we started our way into the canal because I could sit down while still enjoying the view. There was no one back there with me - maybe an occasional couple walking by but for the most part, it was pretty empty.

 

I had an excellent view of the tug boat coming in to tie up to the back of the ship.  Again, visiting Italy has been such a lifelong dream that I really tried to enjoy every second of the scenery.

 

 

I snapped more pictures as we sailed into port. I also decided to go live on social media for the first time to share the view with friends and family back home.  My only complaint would be the horrendous music that was blasting from the ship - while sailing into a beautiful port like Venice, please shut the music off, lower it, or play something suitable to the port.

 

A few more pics

 

 

 

 

[Luckynana]

 

Love your pictures of Venice.  We are booked on Celebrity Constellation out of Venice for October, 2021.  Venice is another of my bucket list Cities to visit and explore.  Here's hoping!!!!🤞

[erby2283]

1 hour ago, Luckynana said:

 

Love your pictures of Venice.  We are booked on Celebrity Constellation out of Venice for October, 2021.  Venice is another of my bucket list Cities to visit and explore.  Here's hoping!!!!🤞

You will love it! If you want to take a tour of St Mark’s, remember to buy and book tickets in advance bc you’ll never get in if you just show up. The line was insane (then again, this was in primetime of summer). Many more pictures to come - hopefully tomorrow. 👍

[erby2283]

Day 9 of the trip, Day 7 of the cruise - Venice Day 1  8-16-2019 continued....

 

Once we got clearance to leave the ship, my bf and I, and Marcia and Kevin, decided to just spend the day walking around Venice and exploring on our own. Having never been to Venice, I found myself a little unsure of things....I knew there was a people mover nearby and that I needed to by a vaporetto  pass since we were going to be here for more than 24 hours but I didn't really know where I was going.  When all else fails, follow the crowd.....except, the crowd was not heading towards the people mover. You actually have to walk through the parking lot and head towards your left - and actually walk along the street to get to the people mover. Maybe this was because they were doing construction but you kind of had to go out of your way to find it if you weren't sure where you were going. But once you knew, it was easy to find.  The next task was buying the tickets to the people mover - you'd think things like this would be quite easy with an automated machine but I find myself becoming more flustered as I get older. People behind you become very impatient very quickly. Once you get up to the platform of the people mover, you just wait for the (I call it) tram to come by, and it's literally a 30 second ride to where you get off - right next to a huge parking deck.

 

We just kind of continued down the sidewalk and ended up at this welcome center / ticket place. It was near the corner close to Constitution Bridge. There was also an ATM on the sidewalk, a grocery store, and a local pizzeria right there.  We all stopped and took out some cash - feeling safe with three of us vigilantly keeping an eye out while the fourth went through the process of taking out their money.  I know conversion of money is also a hot topic regarding travel - I personally just stopped at several ATM's in different cities and took out money in chunks instead of a little at a time - but mostly used credit cards where I could. We purchased a 2 day vaporetto pass at the ticket place / welcome center where the man reminded us that the tickets are timed and don't begin until they are scanned for the first time.  We could see Constitution Bridge from where we were standing and just decided to walk over there and catch a vaporetto.  🙂

 

We honestly had no idea what we were doing. We just hopped on the first vaporetto that showed up. Now keep in mind that at this point, I have no sense of direction since I had never been here before. So I was really confused when it appeared we were heading out the same way our ship had just come into port - instead of the quaint canal. LOL  In fact, we went right past our ship.

 

I still enjoyed the ride taking in the views of Venice.

 

It didn't take me long to realize that they were just heading back to the other end of the canal and once we got back over to the San Marco area, we exited. Marcia was on the lookout for some restaurant she had read about over in this area but in the meantime, we just walked and took a bunch of pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found the restaurant Marcia wanted but we had to wait about another hour before we could eat. So we decided to walk around some more. We stumbled across Accademia Bridge and ventured over the side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We kept walking straight from the Accademia Bridge until we hit water again and right there on the right was a beautiful church - Church of Santa Maria del Rosario.  There was actually a service going on inside.  Right next door to the church was a gelato place - "Gelateria Artigianale." It was hot....I mean, who turns down gelato in Italy? 

 

 

 

[Luckynana]

Your pictures really are stunning!  Thank you for the heads up about buying tickets to the St. Mark's tour in advance of our trip!

[erby2283]

Day 9 of the trip, Day 7 of the cruise - Venice Day 1  8-16-2019 continued....

 

After we killed an hour walking around, we headed back over Accademia for dinner. The name of the restaurant was Trattoria e Pizzeria - Art Blue Cafe and they had a lovely outdoor seating area. For some reason, I only took these two pictures - maybe bc I was so hungry I forgot.

 

 

While we were eating, we noticed there was a gondola stop literally within 100 feet from the restaurant.  Taking a gondola ride was the ONE thing I HAD to do while in Venice. I mean everyone needs to try it at least once, right? Kevin asked the two gondoliers how much it would cost for the four of us to ride. I honestly can't remember but I want to say it was around $125 for half an hour (but don't quote me - I wasn't the one paying). Let me just say we picked the perfect time for our ride, it was right at sunset and it was amazing. Everything I thought I would be.

 

 

 

 

Keith was trying to take a selfie and our gondolier bent down to make sure he got in the shot...lol

 

 

 

 

After our gondola ride, we decided to try and find our way to St. Mark's Square. We got lost, and took many wrong turns but who cares? It's Venice!

 

 

 

We finally turned a corner and then appearing out of the blue was Piazza San Marco! There were a few different areas that had orchestra's set up, kids shooting off these toys that launch from a string that light up and go way into the air and then running around to chase them down when they fall, people enjoying gelato; not to mention the lights shining off the Basilica and surrounding buildings was gorgeous. It was kind of surreal....I just sat down on some steps, taking it all in, realizing how lucky I was to be here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where we left Kevin and Marcia as we wanted to make sure we caught the last "people mover" back to the ship - which I believe was 11pm.  Kevin and Marcia would end up having to walk all the way back from Constitution Bridge - which they said was long but didn't mind because, you know, Venice!

 

I took more pictures from the extremely crowded vaporetto on the way back to our stop at Constitution Bridge. The crowd seemed to thin out a little once we stopped at Rialto Bridge but it was by far the busiest time to travel the vaporetto's, IMO.

 

 

 

 

 

[erby2283]

On 9/2/2020 at 2:54 PM, Luckynana said:

Your pictures really are stunning!  Thank you for the heads up about buying tickets to the St. Mark's tour in advance of our trip!

Thank you. I think you're probably the one one still reading this review at this point. 🤣 

[erby2283]

3 minutes ago, singinalot said:

 

I'm still here and following along 🙂

 

we're desperately missing Italy and Greece right now. We've gone this time of year the past 2 years 😞

💛 

 

I stumbled across, and was reading your review a couple weeks ago. I believe you started in Rome? That was you, right? I still haven't finished it.