Vision ~ B2B ~ 5 Nights ~ July 21st & 26th: My Diary

[maxs mom]

Once back on the ship this afternoon.....I had a really good nap!!!

 

Ready for the evening.....

 

 

Had drinks and good conversation with Jim and Karen from Florida tonight. Bill and Nancy came in after a while.

 

 

 

When leaving for dinner, we had to visit with Betsy a little bit.

 

 

We ran into DeDe on the way to dinner. Always good to see her!!

 

 

Nice evening!

 

[maxs mom]

Really enjoying your review. Especially Key West. I was only there one time, but really want to go back again some day. We were lucky enough to spend the whole day and evening there, leaving at 10pm. Saw the fabulous Key West sunset, while docked. I am sure the locals and visitors were disappointed that we blocked the view for them. Felt sorry, but was happy to witness it.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your beautiful pictures and sharing your adventure.

 

 

Gwen :)

 

Thank you, Gwen! It must have been a while since you were in Key West. I don't think they allow ships to port that late any more. I think they must leave by 5 o'clock so that sunset will not be blocked!! I can't wait to return to KW myself!! We hadn't been in a few years, so it was good to get back.

[Lady Hudson]

Loving your review. I will be going to Key West on Grandeur in March. Thought I would visit the Truman White House but now I think I might go to the Hemingway House. Decisions, decisions! Thanks again for the interesting reporting. Katherine

[maxs mom]

We went to dinner at 8:30. Our table was ready and waiting for us! We both had prime rib tonight. We could have split one.....it was huge! I had a salad with mine and then the white chocolate mousse thing for dessert.

 

 

 

 

The 70's party was tonight, but since we went to that last week, we didn't go tonight. We were very tired, so back to the cabin we went! We had the best towel animal of the cruise waiting on us tonight!

 

 

 

The clocks had to go one hour forward tonight!

[maxs mom]

Loving your review. I will be going to Key West on Grandeur in March. Thought I would visit the Truman White House but now I think I might go to the Hemingway House. Decisions, decisions! Thanks again for the interesting reporting. Katherine

 

Thanks, Katherine! You would probably have time to do both, if you wanted. They are in the same general vicinity. Both excellent things to see!

[cruzinlady1947]

Thank you' date=' Gwen! It must have been a while since you were in Key West. I don't think they allow ships to port that late any more. I think they must leave by 5 o'clock so that sunset will not be blocked!! I can't wait to return to KW myself!! We hadn't been in a few years, so it was good to get back. [/size']

The only reason we were allowed to stay is because we were held up getting into port by a Carnival ship. And Capt. Olav of the Explorer arranged it for us. We were very fortunate. It was only about 2 yrs. ago.

 

 

Gwen :)

Edited August 8, 2014 by cruzinlady1947

[maxs mom]

Wednesday ~ July 30, 2014 ~ At Sea

 

Last day of the cruise! Wow....these 5 night cruises fly by! That's why we had to put two of them together.

 

Slept in a little today. Went to breakfast a little later. Met a very nice couple from Boston. We sat there a very long time talking to them. Too bad we didn't meet them earlier in the cruise. They rented a car and drove to Rum Point and really enjoyed it. They would have liked to have gone to the Westin with us. We could have done one or the other with them had we just met earlier!! Oh well. It was a pleasure talking with them this morning.

 

 

After breakfast we went to the CL for coffee (and yes.....a cookie!)

 

 

 

It was Betsy's birthday today and we had a little something for her.

 

 

 

She was nice enough to hang around a little today so that she could check us in with Southwest and print out our boarding passes. That was a relief to have that done.

 

While we were up there....the Make-A-Wish walk started.

 

 

There was a really good crowd doing the walk on this cruise. These were the cutest of the walkers!

 

[teltrainer]

teltrainer......I'm from South Carolina! Would love to port in Charleston! Not sure what I would do. Such a fabulous port city! Wish I could be waving to you from on board in September!!

 

Would be great fun! Great to see our balcony but sad to see someone else sailing off. We will console ourselves with some seafood at Fleets Landing by the dock. If you ever stop in Charleston, that's a great place for food and to be close up to a ship when they dock here.

[maxs mom]

Lunch was at Park Café. I really love having this alternative to the Windjammer for lunch. Today I got a salad and a really good quesadilla.

 

 

After lunch we went to get our pictures. As usual I forgot to post them in the correct spot, but these are the two we got this cruise.

 

Dinner at Chops:

 

 

And me getting off the ship in Key West.....not much of a background! I wasn't paying attention!

 

 

Next....I went to see Pablo, the Loyalty Ambassador. I intended to get a couple of Next Cruise Certificates even though we have not been happy about the recent change in those. $25 of OBC instead of $100. So sad! Well....Pablo said that we could get the $100 OBC by just booking a couple of bogus cruises way in the future, then use those reservation numbers when we were ready to book the next cruises. Duh! Makes sense.....so that's what I did. I booked two cruises towards the end of 2015, so now when we are ready to book our next cruises, I'll use those reservation numbers and get the $100 OBC instead of the $25. Every little bit helps. That's one way to get around those stupid NCC's!

 

While I was down that way, I realized that I didn't have a picture of a member of the Guest Services Team that has really been nice to us on these cruises and the ones in February. Luis is a great guy and always spoke to us when he saw us. I lasted all the way to the end of both cruises before demagnetizing my seapass card. He helped out with that very quickly!

 

 

Next up: packing, packing, packing!! We did a good job!

 

 

[welshrich]

Hi, great review, we are sailing on the TA in April, we have sailed Vision twice but not since her refit so looking forward to seeing her again.

 

Were there any nice views from the DL?

 

We did a B2B on Jewel in March, just an observation I don't know if you noticed on how lovely the ship seems when it's really quiet just before they let the next lot of passengers on, almost seems strange with people coming onto the ship.

[maxs mom]

After packing, we enjoyed the balcony for a little while:

 

 

We went out for a stroll.....ended up in the casino. Some of the new machines were on, but not working too well.

 

 

I swear, this lady was playing this penny machine and she sat there with it spinning for 10 minutes without even touching it and it was just racking up the money. I don't know what she hit, but that's never happened to me!!

 

 

Next we sat in the centrum and watched people spend a lot of money on the art auction. No thank you!

 

 

Back to the cabin and the relaxation of our balcony.....Nooooooooooo! I don't want to go home!!

 

 

We found out today that our bestest cruising buddies tried to book this cruise, but it was sold out.....so they booked the next cruise instead. They would be getting on when we were getting off! Wahhhhhh! I hated that we missed them by one cruise!

[maxs mom]

Hi, great review, we are sailing on the TA in April, we have sailed Vision twice but not since her refit so looking forward to seeing her again.

 

Were there any nice views from the DL?

 

We did a B2B on Jewel in March, just an observation I don't know if you noticed on how lovely the ship seems when it's really quiet just before they let the next lot of passengers on, almost seems strange with people coming onto the ship.

 

Hey There! Again.....very jealous that you are going on the TA! You will be pleasantly surprised at the revitalization of the ship. It is beautiful!

 

There ARE windows in the DL, so you will have a view out to the ocean, but not the deck like from the CL. I'm sure you'll see lots of nice sunsets, etc.

 

Oh yes......I love that quiet time between cruises.....it's the best!!

[Canadian Tyler]

 

Next....I went to see Pablo' date=' the Loyalty Ambassador. I intended to get a couple of Next Cruise Certificates even though we have not been happy about the recent change in those. $25 of OBC instead of $100. So sad! Well....Pablo said that we could get the $100 OBC by just booking a couple of bogus cruises way in the future, then use those reservation numbers when we were ready to book the next cruises. Duh! Makes sense.....so that's what I did. I booked two cruises towards the end of 2015, so now when we are ready to book our next cruises, I'll use those reservation numbers and get the $100 OBC instead of the $25. Every little bit helps. That's one way to get around those stupid NCC's!

 

[/quote']

 

Interesting that they would suggest that. There was speculation when the pitiful 25 dollars was announced that I you did as Pablo described you could have he amount reduced to $25 or lose the obc due to changing sailing. Worth a shot though!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited August 8, 2014 by Canadian Tyler

[maxs mom]

Interesting that they would suggest that. There was speculation when the pitiful 25 dollars was announced that I you did as Pablo described you could have he amount reduced to $25 or lose the obc due to changing sailing. Worth a shot though!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hmmmmm!! We'll see. According to Pablo.....we would still get the $100 OBC if we used the reservation # for another cruise. I will be thoroughly pissed if it is reduced and Pablo WILL hear from me!

[Justmekaren918]

Jane thank you so much for your amazing report, I feel like I was on the ride with you the whole time, and you have gotten me so excited for Sept on Vision. I hope that some of the crew may still be on, but I believe they will have a crew changed. In fact I believe Steve the CD was on Brilliance in late April. He was great. Thanks again for this amazing report.

[Lady Hudson]

Interesting that they would suggest that. There was speculation when the pitiful 25 dollars was announced that I you did as Pablo described you could have he amount reduced to $25 or lose the obc due to changing sailing. Worth a shot though!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I will second that. I believe that I heard that was one of the reasons for the change -- too many people booking trips that they knew they weren't going to take -- just reserving a spot and then changing the bookings when a great price came along. But hope that it works for you:)

[srice]

Thank you so much for this wonderful review. We are on the Vision in 2015 but reading everything possible about her. We are in Charleston so plan to have "sailaway" from street level when she stops here in September. Excellent photos and your attitude about not sweating the small stuff :-)

 

You can have an earlier sailaway on Wedesday, 20 August, when the Vision sails at 5 PM for Bermuda.

[smeck]

Very nice read as usual and some fun pictures.

[maxs mom]

On the way to one last evening in the CL!

 

 

It was a festive evening in there......Betsy was all decked out for her birthday!

 

 

The skies were beautiful tonight. The seas were very calm....as a matter of fact....the whole cruise was very calm.....just like a lake.

 

 

We had a very nice time visiting with Jim and Karen, and Nancy and Bill. It was good meeting them.

 

 

Soon it was time to say good-bye (for real) to Betsy. (Although we would see her again in the morning) Still sad. She is the best!!

 

 

Edited August 9, 2014 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

When we got down to the dining room, there was a little bit of a line, but Alper, the Maitre'D, saw us and ushered us straight to our table! It pays to have friends in high places. We enjoyed this table by the window.

 

 

Tonight I got the seafood mash again and it was quite tasty.

 

 

John asked for a chicken breast to be cut upon top of a Caesar salad and that was no problem. He asks for this a lot.

 

 

I was stuffed, but I still had to order the apple streudel for dessert. It was very good. As a matter of fact.....just about everything I ordered in the MDR for both cruises was good. I had no complaints about the food at all. Like I said.....if I don't have to shop for the groceries and cook the dinner....it is a wonderful thing!

 

I can't say enough about our outstanding wait team....Rolston and Rolland. So professional and personable. It was a pleasure to see them almost every night.

 

[maxs mom]

After dinner we made our way to the centrum to get a prime standing spot to watch the Thriller Dance. It was really good tonight.....better than last cruise. There weren't as many people and I think that made a difference. In any case.....don't miss this. It is a lot of fun!

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Oh.....I found some more pictures of Thriller:

 

 

 

 

 

[denamo]

Such an enjoyable cruise review. I kept wanted to stop and post how much I was enjoying it, but couldn't stop reading! :) Thanks for taking the time to do this!

[2catfamily]

Oh the Thriller Dance brings back memories! We had such a good time with over six family members doing this with Steve on the Brilliance! Steve Davis is such a wonderful, fun and talented Cruise Director! Thank you for the review!

[preschool teacher]

Hi Jean, Your review was so helpful to me.... We know no cruise is perfect and additude helps a lot....we are the XMAS sailing on the Vision.....and we are bringing some good friends, who have never, cruised!!! I don't take negative reviews too seriously.....but after reading so many bad ones I was afraid our friends wouldn't like it and be turned off to cruiseing...so you have put my fears to rest....you are an excellent writer....thanks a bunch!!!!