Here's my "Non-Review" of our Vision Cruise- 03-05-06 to 03-12-06

[audome78]

I thought I would write this once I got home from our cruise, but today, Saturday, our return leg to Los Angeles has proven to be cloudy, windy, rough water, and on and off rain. So now seems as good a time as any.

 

This is our 50th birthday cruise, as we celebrate our birthdays one week apart in March. Originally scheduled for a Caribbean cruise on the Grandeur out of NO, Hurricane Katrina changed those plans and we selected this cruise as our replacement. We had never been to the Mexican Riviera, and had cruised twice previously on RCI. We were joined by our good friends from Chicago- Pam and PM.

 

I won’t bore you with the usual review- I just want to highlight some of the things we noticed, and compare them to our Caribbean experiences.

 

In no particular order:

 

Embarkation was a snap- Set Sail passes worked great. Boarded in groups. Start to finish took maybe 30 minutes.

 

Bar service seemed sketchy. Had to wait many times just to get a server’s attention. Except for Baldwin in the main dining room- he had our drinks waiting for us when we sat down each night…fantastic

 

A decidedly older crowd- very few kids, and, as 50 somethings, we were at the lower end of the Bell Curve.

 

Ports were OK- Cabo, Mazatlan, and PV. Probably wouldn’t do Mazatlan again, but Cabo and PV were beautiful.

 

Natives- extremely pushy in Cabo and Mazatlan- non existent in PV. Must’ve said “no thank you” at least 200 times in Cabo.

 

Whale watch in PV was great- saw many breeching whales and their offspring, as well as lots of dolphins.

 

We were actually warned on the RCI TV not to go outside the gates of the port in Mazatlan, as it’s a bad neighborhood. Plenty of cabs right in the port, but it is gated and heavily guarded.

 

Staff onboard the Vision is a good as advertised- very friendly.

 

Captain George is a pip- and very well liked by his staff. In Cabo, he set sail close along the coast so everyone could get a great look at Los Arcos, and then sat dead in the water so we could watch the spectacular sunset, blowing the ship’s horn right at sunset. It was a marvelous present for my wife on her birthday.

 

Sea days ( 3 of them!) experienced changeable weather. Cooler going down and coming back and very windy. Not much deck time in the sun, for sure. Very rocky today- hard to walk in the Windjammer. Waves 10-15 feet and a 25 knot headwind. Seasickness bags are out, but I haven’t seen anyone in distress…

 

Food is good as always- good, not great. Two formal nights- Monday and Friday, with Friday being Lobster night.

 

Ship is beautiful and in good shape. They were doing work resurfacing the jogging track in the aft 1/3 of the ship. That seemed odd, as they were doing it on the last two days at sea. But the wind was blowing so hard on deck 10 that no one was using the track anyway.

 

Pool was actually closed today as the water in the pool was too rough.

 

Great show in PV when the Pirate Boat excursion came back, around 9 PM. They shoot fireworks above the Vision, and Capt. George hits the ship’s horn after each burst. A super way to end a great day.

 

John Blair is the CD, along with wife Katrina.

 

Internet access- don ‘t bother. I brought my laptop- I came here directly from a business conference in Las Vegas, so I had it with me anyway. I have an internal wireless card, so I didn’t need to rent one. The first time you logon, you are given pricing options: 60 minutes- $ 25.00 / 90 minutes $ 35.00 / 150 minutes $ 50.00. I purchased the latter. I did not have wireless signal in my room ( 7576). There are 6 “Hot Spots” on the ship, none of which were very hot. I had the best luck in the Solarium, Deck 9, starboard side. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the speed is about 24kbs- about that of dial-up circa 1995. Painfully slow. Barely adequate for sending and receiving text email. Forget uploading photos. Instant Messaging with your family? Good luck! The system does work, but be forewarned that it is not efficient.

 

Cab fare to and from Long Beach Airport is $ 35.00, regardless of the number of people. Well organized after departure- taxi stand check in. We had RED tags, were off the ship at 9:00, cleared customs by 9:20, and were at the airport at 10:00.

 

There were four time changes during the cruise, and, being from the east coast, the time changes really were hard to keep up with- three hours ahead on Sunday upon arrival, one hour back in Mazatlan, one hour back ( actually on Chicago time) in PV, One hour ahead on the first sea day return,, one hour back on the last sea day…now three hours ahead back home!

 

That’s about all for now- I’ll answer any questions I can once I get my land legs back. I’ll also post pictures and a link for you.

[BobBeaSea]

Except for Baldwin, you must have been aghast at the Bar staff :D. I can remember saying hello to "Sippin' Time" (and others :)) for you, and others, on Voyager last March. Of course, if it wasn't you, this post is pretty much meaningless.

 

Sounds like you had quite a weather mix. We've never tried the West coast, some day...BTW, happy birthday :) I turned the big, bad five-oh 15 months ago, oh well......

[wolfcathorse]

 

Captain George is a pip- and very well liked by his staff.

 

I'm not familiar with that term "pip". I can think of Gladys Knight and the Pips but I don't think that applies here. What do you mean by "pip"?

[Weez]

I'm not familiar with that term "pip". I can think of Gladys Knight and the Pips but I don't think that applies here. What do you mean by "pip"?

 

pip=fun guy=piece of work=entertaining something along those lines.

[rockinrobyn]

Thanks for the info. I look forward to more. We are booked next March 11th- 18th 2007 on deck 7 balcony. Any pointers????:D

[audome78]

Except for Baldwin, you must have been aghast at the Bar staff :D. I can remember saying hello to "Sippin' Time" (and others :)) for you, and others, on Voyager last March. Of course, if it wasn't you, this post is pretty much meaningless.

 

Sounds like you had quite a weather mix. We've never tried the West coast, some day...BTW, happy birthday :) I turned the big, bad five-oh 15 months ago, oh well......

 

Bob,

 

That was me- and Baldwin was just as good as the boys on the Voyager. By the way- Sue and I booked the Freedom while onboard last week..."Sippin Time" emailed us to let us know that they will be going over to the Freedom. They leave in 2 weeks to fly to the shipyard to sail her over. Can't wait!

[BobBeaSea]

Bob,

 

That was me- and Baldwin was just as good as the boys on the Voyager. By the way- Sue and I booked the Freedom while onboard last week..."Sippin Time" emailed us to let us know that they will be going over to the Freedom. They leave in 2 weeks to fly to the shipyard to sail her over. Can't wait!

 

New ship...great bartender, life couldn't be better :D

[Janice M]

I must agree about Captain George. He is one of the best. We were on the Feb. 12 cruise. And those sunsets. We have one for our computer wallpaper and it is a beautiful memory.

 

Jan