Baby_Bear

Some shots of the Masquerade Theater.

I loved the pictures on the curtains!

Very comfortable seating. I wish our Broadway theaters had similar seating! I was at a show yesterday, and thought my knees would fall off! They make airline seats look really good!

Think it works, so let's do some more!

These are some pics of the atrium and lobby, which were gorgeous!

OK, so here goes with posting some pics:

(btw, I haven't done this in a couple of years, so if you can't see them, let me know)

First off, this is the Vision parked at Fort Lauderdale:

Thank you all for the input! Swedish weave - I did actually check airfares for both MIA and FLL before booking, as I know FLL can sometimes be cheaper. I couldn't believe it, it was about $100 pp extra to fly into FLL! Very surprising as in the past we found FLL to be cheaper. Its possibly just our dates.

Thanks everyone for the comments! I'll try and post some pics tonight. Yes, the ship is absolutely beautiful and that really made the cruise, despite some disappointments re: food and occasional hit and miss service. Would definitely recommend the Vision!

Can't believe its been a month since the cruise! I was meaning to post a review before, can't believe its taken me so long.

By way of background, we are a mom-daughter cruising duo. I'm mid-30's, Mom is mid-60's and we are the only members of our big family that like to cruise. We've been on one Holland America and three Carnival cruises before, all in the last 3 years. This was our first RCL cruise. We picked it as we were looking for a short getaway around Memorial Day and this cruise went to Cozumel which we had never been to. Plus it was newly refurbished and with the temptation of trying a new line, we were hooked!

In looking at a couple of other reviews I've done, I realized they were more like travel diaries, with a day by day account. This time, I thought I'd just hit on the key points that might be of interest, as people may have different itineraries, etc. Also, I'll have a lot of comparisons to Carnival, as that's what I have the most experience with.

Getting There - we live in NYC and flew down to Fort Lauderdale the morning of the first day. We did carry on and loved it! No stress about waiting for your luggage and seriously, we packed in so many items in our carry ons, we still didn't get to wear everything! Highly recommend going carry on if you can do it. We have an 8-day cruise on Carnival coming up in late summer and are seriously debating if we can do carry on again, maybe send a bag of laundry out midway through the cruise, etc.

Ship - Vision of the Seas is BEAUTIFUL! I honestly think she is maybe the prettiest ship we've ever been on. She was recently refurbished from top to bottom, and they did a great job, she feels like a new ship! Loved the carpets, upholstery, and the lobby, dining room, etc. - just about everywhere! The colors were so soothing, I definitely liked the decor more than Carnival's ships, except maybe the Carnival Breeze. Also, having sailed on much bigger ships, we actually really liked the smaller size - you could walk end to end really quickly and it made getting around really easy. We also loved the Viking Crown Lounge, its so relaxing to sit there during the day. I also really liked the Solarium, its really nicely laid out. We tried the Park Cafe the first day, and while the menu is limited, it made for a nice change.

Cabin - we were in a JS on Deck 8, mid-ship on the port side. Great location, very close to the elevators and central atrium. We loved the cabin, it had all new furniture and bedding and a nice large balcony. RCL's balconies are bigger than Carnival, which i really like. The bathroom was also nice but I feel like Carnival's Ocean Suite bathrooms are a touch more high end, nice countertops and tiling. But overall the cabin was very nice and comfortable and even with two women, we had loads of storage space! The beds were very comfortable and I enjoyed sitting out on the balcony for hours. We have also liked Carnival's Ocean and Grand Suites a lot so maybe its a tie here. Space wise the JS and Ocean Suites are comparable.

Service - here it was a bit hit and miss. We met our cabin steward the first day, who immediately told us that he was stressed out as he had so many cabins to look after. That just struck me as odd to say to someone on the first day. We are pretty neat and pick up after ourselves, so we tried to not make any extra work for him - but the only two requests we did have seemed to bother him. The first request was for ice on the first day, I had called Room Service and they told me to ask the steward, who said no, I needed to call Housekeeping so there was a lot of back and forth on that. Finally, Room Service sent up an ice bucket. Second, we needed more of the little bottles of Elemis body wash and lotion they provide, as there were two of us and with the heat, we were showering twice a day. We had to repeatedly request extra bottles, leave out notes every day, etc. Also, the first day, I noticed that the dressing table surface was dirty, which i cleaned off myself. In the Dining Room, the service was more friendly, but again, you could tell the staff were really overwhelmed by the number of tables they had to cover, which sometimes made for delays getting the food and bar service was especially slow. But, I want to emphasize, that except for the room steward, all the staff we met were super friendly and could not have been nicer! Particularly Assistant Maitre'D Sudheer - our dining table assignment was messed up the first night and he really went out of his way to fix it and came by every night to ask how we were doing. Top notch!

Food: I know this is very subjective, but I am going to say it - I liked Carnival's Dining Room food better :) RCL's food was well prepared but we found the menus unimaginative at best, stodgy at worst. Also, we are big seafood fans and found little to no seafood in the regular dinner menu. There was lobster available for an upcharge. But on Carnival's regular menus, they have at least one shrimp/fish dish every night, and often more than one. Also they have Asian dishes, etc. Maybe RCL's menus are more varied on longer cruises? However, the Lido buffet was excellent, we actually liked it better than the dining room and it definitely beats Carnival's Lido.

Entertainment: I think RCL wins here. The two shows we attended - one was 70's themed - were nice and the acrobat show was fun. But in general, entertainment is not a focal point of the cruise. The one thing I would say is, that RCL should have more live music. We aren't crazy about sitting in the Piano Bar, but a couple of nights, it seemed like it was hard to find live music anywhere else. We liked the Latin band but they didn't play enough. Definitely seems to be an area they are cutting back on.

Guest Services: super efficient. I only had one question and there was never a wait. I do remember long waits at Carnival's Guest Services line.

Embarkation/Debarkation - super smooth and efficient. We had calm seas and great weather.

Shopping: They have nice shops on board. Avoid the sale times as its a zoo.

Crowd: very nice overall. Lots of kids which i'm fine with, as I have tons of nieces and nephews, but it may bother some.

Overall verdict - lots to like here, some disappointments. Overall, I loved the ship, she is so pretty, and the cabin and shows were nice. Food was OK, and it definitely seems like the staff are stretched too thin. We would definitely add RCL to the list of cruise lines we'd look at in the future. Our cruise had a good senior rate so we did get a very good deal, think it was cheaper than Carnival.

I have pictures, so if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll try posting some tomorrow.

Questions/thoughts/comments?

Thanks for letting me know about the meter. I understand what you are saying about flying in before, but with the hours I work, it will be impossible, most likely I won't be done with work till about 7 pm the night before. So flying down the previous night isn't happening, which is why we're trying to cut out the risk by doing carry on. I don't even care about the $50 RT bag fee, its the thought of potentially having a screw up the way we did last year. Good to know about the meter.

Is there any particular convenience store I should direct the cabbie to? Something right along the way? Just don't want to be taken on a tour of downtown Miami in an effort to pad the fare :)

Thanks Carnival Brides! Since we didn't get OBC, I guess we qualified for the VFIP offer with the reduced rates. Am curious - was this started recently? I don't recall this happening before.

Hi, just booked a cruise today, sailing out of Miami in August. Its been 2 years since I last cruised out of Miami so had a quick question. I understand the fare is a fixed $24 from MIA to the cruise port so that's all good.

My question is - would cabs agree to make a quick stop at a convenience store en route? It's an 8-day cruise but we are going to see if we can manage with carry-ons (last year cruising out of FLL, we arrived at FLL airport only to find our bag was still at JFK. Took Delta 2 days to locate it and forward it to the first port of call, what a mess!) The only problem with carry ons for an 8-day cruise is the whole liquids restriction, so we were thinking we could stop off at a CVS/Walgreens and buy our favorite shampoo and lotion. Typically, how much extra should we agree to with the cabbie? It wouldn't take more than 5 mins, I'm happy to tell him to leave the meter running if that's what it takes. Or is it a certain amount extra?

Just booked my fourth Carnival cruise today - second one on the Breeze - in August. Woo hoo! It always feels good when you have a cruise coming up!:D

I had a question on pricing. My cruising partner is usually my mom, she's the only other family member who likes cruising as much as me :) So we have always gotten the senior rate for previous cruises, which has usually made for a nice savings over the published rates. We've never gotten any additional discount, but the senior rate savings are good, usually better than Past Guest or Resident rate, etc. So today, I had told my TA that we would use the senior rate as usual. We both noted the fare. Then she called me back a couple of hours later to say that based on my VFIP number, Carnival was offering an additional discount of $150 pp, over and above the senior rate. Of course we were thrilled, but I was also a little surprised. Is this a new thing they have started? I assume its Past Guest related as she mentioned the VFIP number, but I always thought you couldn't combine rates. I know Royal Caribbean offers past guest discounts over and above whatever discounted rate you can get, is Carnival doing the same thing?

On her in 10 days. Can you comment on the quality of food and the overall experience dining in the MDR. Also Park Cafe. How was the Solarium? Did you go to any shows and if so, how were they? Thanks!

Thanks Bob. Do the cancellations usually show up immediately, i.e., the day after final payment? Or a few days after? I was wondering when would be a good time to look for possible additional openings in our category.

Hi, so I'm looking at an RCL cruise in August, no bookings made as yet. Its approaching final payment date (90 day window) in the next few days. In our desired category, we are not crazy about the locations of what's currently showing as available, just one JS in a good area close to the elevators, etc. That got me wondering if more cabins may open up as we go past final payment date, in case people who have deposits down change their plans, etc. Just curious as to what people have seen.

2-3 years back, we had put a deposit down on a Costa cruise in the Med (think it was the year before the Concordia). By final payment date, our plans had changed as we now had other family members who wanted to join and the majority vote was for a land-based trip so we we got our deposit back in full. My TA had commented that she saw a lot of that but didn't really elaborate what a lot meant. I've never had that happen after, so I assume the rule is still the same. Are there usually a lot of cancellations?

To be honest, that's why we booked her. We were looking for a short 3-4 day getaway over Memorial Day, and initially thought we'd go back to Cancun or Playa del Carmen at one of our favorite all-inclusive resorts. Everything was sooo expensive, flights plus hotels were crazy. So we started looking at cruises and got such a great deal on this one! There were other 3-4 nighters (Princess had a couple), but it was so tempting to go on a ship that had just been refurbished. As good as going on a new ship!:D

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I wanted to report back on the dining question. I sent an email day before yesterday to the RCL dining email address previously posted and heard back from Christine at RCL who said she would follow up with the ship. She emailed me again today to say we were assigned a table for 2, and near the window! I'm so pleased - on Carnival ships, they don't have any small tables next to windows, so I had assumed we'd be in the middle of the dining room somewhere.

Getting super excited now for the cruise! Although its only a 4-nighter, it'll be fun to get a taste of the RCL experience and maybe, plan to book a longer cruise if we like it. Thanks to everyone for the tip about the dining email!

Oh I totally agree, you can't go back! I think our first cruise totally spoiled us - besides the Concierge Lounge on HAL, we also got free laundry, and tons of other goodies. But it was such a good price, it was worthwhile, I could not imagine having paid full price. The JS does look a nice size.

Prices fluctuate with demand. But the important thing know is that you can always get the lower price, with a couple of exceptions, anytime prior to final payment. After final payment you can usually upgrade. If the JS is reasonable, then book it and secure your cabin and the cruise. Then watch it and look for a price drop. If it drops, take advantage. Usually the GS and above sell out. But you never know. We had a JS on Oasis in Sep. last year, and was able to upgrade 3 weeks out to a Crown Loft for only $300 total!

Now, here is the caveat. Sometimes the "deal" is "new bookings only." If that is the case you won't be able to get it, even as an upgrade.

So, yes, it's a "crapshoot." Depends on how badly you want to go. If you really want to go on the cruise, take the cabin you want and see how it goes. If you don't care, then wait. If the price drops, you go, if not, you don't. But again, the GS and above usually sell out and don't drop that often, depends on the cruise and dates.

Thanks for the advice, $300 to upgrade, that sounds amazing!

2k can buy a lot of drinks. I would not pay that much. No predicting price drops. Same ship, same itinerary one week apart and they could have totally different prices.

 

I would book the JS and keep watching prices and hope to upgrade but be prepared to stay in the JS.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. Its not just for the drinks (if we drank $2k of drinks in 9 days, we'd probably wind up dead or hospitalized, lol), but more for the extra space. But it does seem a lot to pay for some extra real estate. I guess we'll see how the upcoming cruise goes and see if we are OK space-wise, etc. I remember on my first cruise which was on HAL, they had an awesome flash sale and we got a deluxe suite at a great price. But I guess we got lucky...problem is, when you score great deals sometimes, you start hoping for them every time! :D

It's all supply and demand. We can't guess the future.

I'm not asking anyone to guess the future, just asking what people's experiences have been, what they have seen, etc. On my previous Carnival cruises, a lot of people did have good luck scoring upgrades at reduced rates, but I know it can vary from line to line.

Leaving for my first RCI cruise in about 3 weeks which is a short 4-nighter to Cozumel. We are already thinking that if we like the RCI experience, we might book another cruise for August or Sep. Looking at the 9-day Explorer of the Seas sailings out of Bayonne, which go to some nice ports like Bermuda, Labadee, etc. which we haven't been to.

On our upcoming cruise, we are in a JS. Looking at the same category for the 9-dayer and its pretty reasonable. The cost to go to a GS is $1,000 pp, however. I'm cruising with my mom and was thinking she would like the extra space and also it might be nice to have the GS on a longer cruise for all the perks and free drinks in the Concierge Lounge, etc. but its kinda hard to justify $2K more for me. In your experience, do the prices tend to come down for the slightly longer cruises? Where it could be cheaper to upgrade? Or is it all a crapshoot?

I'm going on my first RCL cruise in May. The first cruise I was on was HAL in 2011, we didn't know very much about cruising but were excited to visit Alaska, and had a great time. Second cruise was on Carnival, we picked it for the itinerary and didn't have very high expectations (we had read stuff about Carnival being a big party line, food so-so, etc) and were very pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. We ended up liking it so much, we went on two more Carnival cruises. I have always liked Carnival for the fun, laid-back atmosphere. Plus their suites are very reasonable.

Now we have a cruise coming up in May in RCL. We picked it again for itinerary and got a good deal on a JS but were also interested to try a new line. The ship is newly refurbished and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing her, I've heard the RCL ships are really beautiful and packed with great features. So we are going with an open mind and ready to have fun. And I'm sure we will! And even, if for some reason, we don't like it as much as we liked HAL and Carnival, hey, at least we tried it! I really think its better not to be wedded to any one cruise line, they all offer different features and sometimes you don't know what appeals to you until you try it. JMO :-)

I just booked flights last week. LGA to FLL roundtrip was $320 pp on Delta non-stop. Leaving Thu May 22, return Mon, May 26. If you are OK flying out of the Queens airports, you might get better fares out of LGA or JFK.

Hmmm! Here's where I'm coming from...on our first cruise ever which was on HAL, we had a bad experience with flex dining. We were put at tables behind pillars unfailingly, and service was very bad, also unfailingly - rushed, inattentive, etc. After 3 days, we spoke to the concierge lounge (we were in a suite) and got switched to late dining. We got an awesome table and seriously great service the four remaining nights! Ever since then, we've opted for late dining on cruises and always had a good experience.

In your collective experiences - how does RCL handle flex dining? Also, if we don't get a table for 2 in fixed dining, can we switch to flex last minute? Or would it make sense to switch now in case it sells out later?

And I guess even if we had the wrong flights, we could have just taken a car service from Miami to FLL. Having said that, I'm glad we don't have to!:D

To the OP, I believe Vision sails out of Fort Lauderdale, not Miami

Oh yes, you are right! I must have been tired typing in Miami, its Fort Lauderdale we are leaving from. I almost had a fit when I saw your email and quickly double checked to make sure we have the right flights, which we do. Phew!:)