Vision of the Seas 4nt Western - 7/3-7/7 review

[cruizinnoon]

Have previously sailed on Monarch and Oasis, thought the one was a bit small, and the other the bit big. I liked the number of activities on Oasis, but found it somewhat impersonal. I liked the fact that you saw people more than once on the Monarch. Hadn't been at sea for a while booked due to a good price the July 4th weekend Vision cruise out of Port Everglades.

 

Ship:

The ship looked to be in good shape. Everything seemed to work and was always clean. One wouldn't guess it was one of the older ships just by glancing around. It looked like theyre had been some upgraded lighting effects and such in the centrum, the Viking Crown Lounge, and by the pool.

 

Food:

Windjammer - we only ate at the Windjammer on embarkation afternoon and disembarkation morning. Both times it was adequate. No honey stung chicken, which wasn't a big deal as during embarkation I was still lying to myself saying that I was going to eat sensibly on the cruise. (This lasted 4-6 hours).

MDR - The food in the MDR for the three nights that we ate there was pretty good. The escargots were great and the breads were done nicely. Most appetizers were OK as well, even the crab cake which I had extremely low expectations for. The entrees were all good, while not as great as the ones we had on Oasis. The only portion of MDR dining I really didn't think was all that great was desert. Night 1's creme brulee wasn't bad, I just don't think the bananas sat well with me. Night 2's cheese cake was perfect. Night 3's rum baba was horrible.

Chop's Grille -- This was my first experience with a specialty restaurant. There are a lot of people who dismiss specialty restaurants due to fact that there is perfectly good food in the MDR. This is true, however I think that the Chops on Vision did a great job of providing a special experience. The food was perfectly cooked and my NY Strip was cooked perfectly. The sides were all large portioned and cooked perfectly. This was better than the service and food I have received on some land-based steakhouses.

 

Solarium Cafe/Park Cafe

Definitely under noticed the 1st days, but by Day 4 one of the most popular eateries on the ship. The sandwiches and salads here made for great lunches. A revolving selection of cookies and deserts also helped with the unnneeded calories :) The late night pizza was hit or miss, depending on who was working on the heating up/cooking of the pizza sometimes it was almost good and other times it was bordering inedible. But it's late night pizza at sea, I'm not expecting PapaJohns.

 

 

Drink Package/Bars

We got the select package (beer/wine). If I had it to do again for a shorter cruise like this I'd have gone for the premium as the selection of liquors is a better value then the beers. That being said, I never had to wait 30 minutes as I've read to get a drink. The pool deck had mid deck stations set up with the most popular drinks, and the longest wait I had was on the second sea day I had to wait about 10 minutes, which was just due to volume. At less popular venues such as the schooner and R bars, my longest wait was roughly 2 minutes to get served.

 

Entertainment

Entertainment was good on this, with some exceptions. The Farewell show had technical difficulties and had to be cancelled. The cruise director, Steve, was very apologetic however. On every other ship we had sailed we tend to see a lot of the cruise director, but we didn't see a lot of Steve outside of the "Thriller" dance class he was doing. The Schooner Bar trivia and the Karaoke also were a big hit.

 

This was also my 1st time being on the winning Quest team.

 

Overall

Overall, I liked the staff and the boat. All issues we had were minor and the only thing we'd have wished for was faster service in the MDR. Not sure if the waiter was slow or new, but he was trying, just not quite getting there. I liked the size of the boat and had a really good time.

[newfiegirl4]

Thank you for a great review. Sailing on her in Nov for a western,7 night. My 1st time with RC!

[kftw]

Thank you for taking the time to write your report.

[akcruz]

Thanks for the review!

[pmak]

Is there a formal night on this 4 night cruise, and if so what night does it fall on? Thanks

[cruizinnoon]

The formal night was the first sea day (day 2)

[pmak]

The formal night was the first sea day (day 2)

 

Thank you!

[cruizinnoon]

Note on our cruise that was July 4th so it was formal or patriotic which made for some interesting outfits

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Justmekaren918]

Cruizinnoon do you have pix from formal night? Thanks for the review!

[Trainman-2]

Nice review! Thanks...

[cruizinnoon]

Cruizinnoon do you have pix from formal night? Thanks for the review!

 

Unfortunately I don't. There were some patriotic, if not skimpy outfits, however.

 

-Brian

[DaisyGirl55]

Thank you SO much for posting your review! I am sailing on this ship in 2 weeks, and the reviews have been less than stellar. Now I am a firm believer that a positive attitide goes a long way, and if you look for crap - yo find it. But if you have an attitude of fun and look for the good, well that is what you find instead!

 

Glad you had a good time...I am feeling much relieved!

[bionicman97]

Nice review :)