Vision of the Seas Review December 20-27 2014

[lilobelle]

Just off the Vision today. First time sailing on her. While there were a few CONS, for us the PROS outweighed them easily.

 

This ship is a small ship that is decorated in an understated manor that we all found to be just great. We had an large interior stateroom on deck three that was in a perfect location for us. We had cabin 3081 and 3083.

 

I have seen complaints about embarkation and debarkation for this ship. We had absolutely ZERO problems. Self parked across the street from terminal 2. A porter took our luggage and we were walking into terminal at 10. We were issued our sea pass and by 10:50 we literally had piña coladas in our hands on deck 9 by the pool. Windjammer opened shortly after. Debarkation I highly recommend self assist. They were 20 minutes late for our 7:30 time to leave but we were right off and on our way home. The employees in the terminal couldn't have been friendlier. Our cabins were ready by 1:30.

 

We had my time dining. The time we had prebooked from home turned out to be too late for us. I asked the hostess on the first night if we could switch to 6pm every night at the same table with the same servers and she graciously accommodated us. Our servers were awesome and chatted with us whenever we saw them anywhere else. We all enjoyed every meal we had on the ship. We booked Christmas dinner in Giovanni's and that was great as well.

 

Cabin was smallish and everything that previous posters said about beds and attacking shower curtains is true! I love a hard bed, but after the first night of no sleep for the four of us I kindly asked our cabin steward for bed toppers which she immediately put on. That saved the day! For those of you who do not like hard mattresses this would not help too much. The showers are very small, and the shower curtain does wrestle with you in the shower. Annoying but not a deal breaker.

 

Every single crew member we encountered was beyond friendly and helpful. EXCEPT for GUest Services. Three of them we encountered were beyond rude and should not be in that position. I will not get into details, but I will be making an official complaint.

 

With four ports there was not much time spent on the ship. We enjoyed our time in all of the ports, and want to highly recommend YAYA Beach Club in Costa Maya!

 

For us this was one of our best vacations, and I firmly believe you make your own experiences positive or negative to a certain degree. I met many nice people while on board, and enjoyed my time with my family.

 

If you are use to all the bells and whistles on bigger ships, this cruise is not for you. I can definitely see that being the case for many. However, this was a great experience for our family!

[mark2fly1034]

Got off this morning as well. Same as above but our cabin was right below the casino and was a little loud at night. Each night around 4am we heard a weird banging as if someone behind the wall was using a hammer to bang something. Other than that it was a good cruise. Steve and Marvin were not my favorite cruise director team but Captain Liz is now one of my favorite behind Johnny.

[sha88]

Thanks for the review. We are Vision next April with my BIL and his wife and I am happy that this is their first cruise. Our first was on the Grandeur and quite frankly, I think a first time cruise is a better choice on "smaller" ships.

[dln929]

Lilobelle, thanks for your report. I suspect our cruise on the Vision in January will mirror yours because we too are "glass half full" people. More fun that way! I'm glad you had such an enjoyable cruise.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

I was on this cruise. Awesome!

 

 

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[lilobelle]

I know I talked with someone from Satelittle Beach! Maybe it was you!

[kftw]

Thank you for your review. We are looking forward to our turn on the Vision.

[FluffsMom]

Thanks for sharing. We board the Vision in 13 days! Getting excited. We're taking my hubby's parents on their first cruise.

 

 

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[TS2005SOX]

The truth behind Vision of the Sea Christmas cruise.

Where to start ...

Day 1: Broken luggage. Result, Alfredo gave us a new case and cash to replace the damaged set which was purchased the day before setting sail.

Day 1 : Tipping ... OMG ... the outrageous fee for any beverage package in addition to most servers asking for additional tips! The real fact is every beverage package is a scam and rip off. Don't take my word for it ... do the math AND realize unless you purchase the ULTIMATE PACKAGE there is something which is NOT covered. Mixed drinks are weak (coming from a non drinker) and average between $7.50 and $12.00 so you'll need to really slam them in order to get your moneys worth.

Dinner ... Ever eat at a Sizzler? I expected gourmet dining but was the food was marginal at best. Over cooked or under cooked. The buffet makes Ole Country Buffet look good by comparison.

Guest Services ... useless!!! In fact my party of 12 spent on average 3 hours every day with guest services who's common answer is ... "So sorry" but no real resolution.

Other problems : needed over the counter hemorrhoid cream but to purchase I would have to see a doctor at $125! I was told by the nurse without a visit to the doctor they could lose their license to practice medicine! Really?! So I waited for our first stop so I could save not money but two professional careers.

The only good show was the drafters and visiting Santa with my nieces and nephews.

Casino slot tournament was not only poorly explained but like bingo the ship (house) takes at least 50% leaving guests wondering where all the money went.

Room 7118 vibrates like nothing I've seen before. Room 7134 has a sewage problem as did the hallway . And should you have a problem requiring maintenance be sure it happens after 5am or before 10pm otherwise you'll get an excuse as to why you'll need to wait. Ironically if you complain enough the maintenance man will appear within minutes.

Steve (Cruise Director ) and Marvin (Activities Manager) spend more time sharing sexual innuendos on the morning show than about the actual events.

I could go on but why? Sad part is that I met so many people in the Guest Services line with similar or far worse stories!

My parent's are takin a Royal Caribbean cruise on Jan 3 , 2015 so you'd think spending $30k would mean something.

Nah ... this was my first and last cruise. Worst experience I've ever had.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

Sorry your experience was not good. I had to call maintenance twice and they were there in less than 10 mins the first time and 15 mins second time.

Not sure why you expected gourmet food, but maybe a higher end cruise line is what you need.

Maybe try the Voyager, Freedom or Oasis class, but you would need to spend more if on a Christmas cruise.

They did have issues in the dinning room in July when I was on, but a new maitreD was brought on the day I got on and it works great now.

Going again in March.

 

 

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[lilobelle]

Sorry you had an awful experience. Everyone has their own and different experiences no matter where you are. As I stated, we too are going to complain about how awful guest services was. I did not buy the drink packages because the math didn't work for me personally, but we bought it for my 21 year old twins, and it was Definitely worth it for them. when ordering they asked for top shelf and for the drinks to be made strong. We didn't go to the shows, and my son came in first place in round six of the slot tournament but his score wasn't high enough to advance to the final round. He was thrilled with just that experience.

[mpoole3]

Could you explain in more detail why you would visit guest services?

 

The only time I've stood in that line was when my luggage was missing or to put cash on my account. 3 hours everyday in line? :confused:

[lilobelle]

We went because we were charged twice for bottles of wine that we did not order. This problem was rectified by the dining room staff immediately after the nasty guy at guest services would not help us. The only other time was to replace my daughters sea pass because it wouldn't open her door anymore. We again experienced "not so nice" behavior regarding her ultimate drink package being put on her new card.

[Justmekaren918]

Just off the Vision today. First time sailing on her. While there were a few CONS, for us the PROS outweighed them easily.

 

This ship is a small ship that is decorated in an understated manor that we all found to be just great. We had an large interior stateroom on deck three that was in a perfect location for us. We had cabin 3081 and 3083.

 

I have seen complaints about embarkation and debarkation for this ship. We had absolutely ZERO problems. Self parked across the street from terminal 2. A porter took our luggage and we were walking into terminal at 10. We were issued our sea pass and by 10:50 we literally had piña coladas in our hands on deck 9 by the pool. Windjammer opened shortly after. Debarkation I highly recommend self assist. They were 20 minutes late for our 7:30 time to leave but we were right off and on our way home. The employees in the terminal couldn't have been friendlier. Our cabins were ready by 1:30.

 

We had my time dining. The time we had prebooked from home turned out to be too late for us. I asked the hostess on the first night if we could switch to 6pm every night at the same table with the same servers and she graciously accommodated us. Our servers were awesome and chatted with us whenever we saw them anywhere else. We all enjoyed every meal we had on the ship. We booked Christmas dinner in Giovanni's and that was great as well.

 

Cabin was smallish and everything that previous posters said about beds and attacking shower curtains is true! I love a hard bed, but after the first night of no sleep for the four of us I kindly asked our cabin steward for bed toppers which she immediately put on. That saved the day! For those of you who do not like hard mattresses this would not help too much. The showers are very small, and the shower curtain does wrestle with you in the shower. Annoying but not a deal breaker.

 

Every single crew member we encountered was beyond friendly and helpful. EXCEPT for GUest Services. Three of them we encountered were beyond rude and should not be in that position. I will not get into details, but I will be making an official complaint.

 

With four ports there was not much time spent on the ship. We enjoyed our time in all of the ports, and want to highly recommend YAYA Beach Club in Costa Maya!

 

For us this was one of our best vacations, and I firmly believe you make your own experiences positive or negative to a certain degree. I met many nice people while on board, and enjoyed my time with my family.

 

If you are use to all the bells and whistles on bigger ships, this cruise is not for you. I can definitely see that being the case for many. However, this was a great experience for our family!

I am curious was Brilliance in or might Vision of had Brilliance staff for embarkation or maybe the staff is finally getting it. Thanks for your review.

The truth behind Vision of the Sea Christmas cruise.

Where to start ...

Day 1: Broken luggage. Result, Alfredo gave us a new case and cash to replace the damaged set which was purchased the day before setting sail.

Day 1 : Tipping ... OMG ... the outrageous fee for any beverage package in addition to most servers asking for additional tips! The real fact is every beverage package is a scam and rip off. Don't take my word for it ... do the math AND realize unless you purchase the ULTIMATE PACKAGE there is something which is NOT covered. Mixed drinks are weak (coming from a non drinker) and average between $7.50 and $12.00 so you'll need to really slam them in order to get your moneys worth.

Dinner ... Ever eat at a Sizzler? I expected gourmet dining but was the food was marginal at best. Over cooked or under cooked. The buffet makes Ole Country Buffet look good by comparison.

Guest Services ... useless!!! In fact my party of 12 spent on average 3 hours every day with guest services who's common answer is ... "So sorry" but no real resolution.

Other problems : needed over the counter hemorrhoid cream but to purchase I would have to see a doctor at $125! I was told by the nurse without a visit to the doctor they could lose their license to practice medicine! Really?! So I waited for our first stop so I could save not money but two professional careers.

The only good show was the drafters and visiting Santa with my nieces and nephews.

Casino slot tournament was not only poorly explained but like bingo the ship (house) takes at least 50% leaving guests wondering where all the money went.

Room 7118 vibrates like nothing I've seen before. Room 7134 has a sewage problem as did the hallway . And should you have a problem requiring maintenance be sure it happens after 5am or before 10pm otherwise you'll get an excuse as to why you'll need to wait. Ironically if you complain enough the maintenance man will appear within minutes.

Steve (Cruise Director ) and Marvin (Activities Manager) spend more time sharing sexual innuendos on the morning show than about the actual events.

I could go on but why? Sad part is that I met so many people in the Guest Services line with similar or far worse stories!

My parent's are takin a Royal Caribbean cruise on Jan 3 , 2015 so you'd think spending $30k would mean something.

Nah ... this was my first and last cruise. Worst experience I've ever had.

Wow I am sorry your cruise sucked really bad. Thanks for your opinion of Vision.

 

Vision was great, and she is a little older and does vibrate some, and it seemed to me on my fall cruise the vibrations got less as time went on. Wow those crn aft deck 8 cabins are the best balconies ever. I would say in the fleet.

 

Now most of the food is cooked in mass quantities unless you go to the specialty resturants. Now the WJ on Vision class is smaller so not as may offerings, but I always found something that was pretty good. Dinner they only had one side open. I thought the meat offerings at carving stations were great and cooked just fine. In fact the Prime Rib was just as good at the WJ as it was the night before in my cabin from the MDR menu.

 

Guest services I had too use them 3 times and the staff seemed just fine and friendly. I waited maybe 5 minutes at the most and that was the first day on boarding since my drink package sticker was not on my card.

 

I have now done a drink package twice and it worked great for me. I guess I wasn't looking for the $40.00+ wine to be included in a package. I did find one of my favorite White Zin on the boat along with my Sam's and Buds. Yeah bummer no Sam's October fest, but didn't expect it to be.

 

My 2nd trip with Steve and I thought he was just fine as a CD and 70's night was a ton of fun. Not sure why during White party they didn't use the board for videos and crowd shots.

 

Vision was nice ship. She was in just fine shape. At some point I will get back on her since those upper crn aft's are amazing and make you feel you are a Queen on your own private yacht traveling the Caribbean on the wrapped portion or whatever destination she is sailing.

 

 

Enjoy all!

[kimkatmom]

I have a question for those previously on Vision. Were there servers walking around with drinks by the pool and in the shows or do you need to constantly go to the bar for drinks? We are sailing vision in April and are debating the drink package.

Any help would be appreciated.

[lilobelle]

Yes Brillance was departing at the same time that we did. We also didn't have fog that morning and I know that has been an issue for the port. As it would be for any port. I received 4 texts from RC prior to my departure informing us to go to terminal 2 and to make sure we put our luggage on at that port as the Brillance was also leaving that morning.

[lilobelle]

The servers were walking around the pool. Not sure about the shows. Didn't do any. Looked in on a few but we were busy doing other things at show times.

[TS2005SOX]

The boat was fine but they did admit there was a problem with the drains so at different points of the day/evening the smells were unbearable.

Our state rooms were better than I expected but the dinning experience ... really ... I realize they are cooking for 2,000 guest but why should that matter?

If you've ever been to a Vegas resort buffet you'll have to agree there is simply no comparison. Bacon was soaking in a pan of grease every day, burgers were dried out from being left in the pans, there are NO FOUNTAIN MACHINES for soda as claimed on their website and when purchasing a the Coke package at $6.50 I was told the fountain machines rarely work so it would be in my best interest to upgrade to the $19.95 drink package. I really could go on but its useless. Again, after hearing how great this cruise would be we were sorely disappointed. Even after a "Free dinner for 12" in Giovanni's (to makeup for all our issues ) we were shocked to be given a bill for the 5 kiddie cocktails and 3 mixed drinks!

Hardly free when given a bill at the end.

[CruisinNole]

We were also on this cruise and our embarkation was very different than the OP's. It took us an hour of standing in various lines to get checked in. We've cruised from Tampa before so it's not like we don't know what's the best time to arrive. Disembarkation was the fastest we've ever encountered in 25 years of cruising. We were off the ship and in our car in about 20 minutes.

 

We found the dinner meals in the main dining room to be very good. We were also My Time Dining and the hostess, Heidi, was very accomodating and seated us with our favorite waiters, Trixie and Pawan. The buffet is the buffet. Not our favorite place to eat but we'll go there for breakfast if we have a shore excursion. We much prefer the Park Cafe for a small breakfast. Not as much selection but much better tasting than the buffet. I really would not recommend breakfast in the main dining room. If you order eggs, the waiter will tell you that the wait will be a little longer. Believe him. We waited 45 minutes for two omelets and they were terrible.

 

We ate in Chops one night and Giovanni's two nights. Chops was great; Giovanni's was good. Service in both was excellent.

 

Our one disappointment was the entertainment in the theater. The first production show was so bad that we didn't go back for the second one. The guest entertainer, Jordan, was very good as were the shows in the atrium. The theater is one of the prettiest we've ever seen.

 

We were in a D1 cabin on deck 7 which was very quiet. The cabins are tiny. It has been a long time since we've been in a cabin so small. It was very clean and had tons of storage. Hate the shower curtains too. We talked to the Housekeeping Manager one evening who told us that they wanted to put in shower doors but there wasn't a way to add them without putting in new bathrooms.

 

We had read some negative comments about the Vision in the weeks before we cruised but we found that we really enjoyed the ship. The crew was outstanding -- very friendly and professional. We usually cruise on Celebrity but would not hesitate to cruise on the Vision again. We booked our Christmas cruise for next year while on the ship and ended up on a Celebrity ship but if the Vision had had a different itinerary, we would have booked her.

[TS2005SOX]

Upper management is not happy with the confusing drink packages. If you get an opportunity to speak with someone in authority they will admit the drink packages should be avoided.

To the guest who purchased the drink package for their twins ... the only TOP SHELF liquor package came in at $55.00/day or $385.00 each or $770.00 for the 2.

Again, if you can drink that much and make it a bargain ... God Bless!

[Justmekaren918]

I have a question for those previously on Vision. Were there servers walking around with drinks by the pool and in the shows or do you need to constantly go to the bar for drinks? We are sailing vision in April and are debating the drink package.

Any help would be appreciated.

There were servers, and also this fall they had 3 satellite bar tables infront of pool bar to take stress off main bar also I found the Solarium bar never to slammed. Now in low season other then holidays they might not be there.

The boat was fine but they did admit there was a problem with the drains so at different points of the day/evening the smells were unbearable.

Our state rooms were better than I expected but the dinning experience ... really ... I realize they are cooking for 2,000 guest but why should that matter?

If you've ever been to a Vegas resort buffet you'll have to agree there is simply no comparison. Bacon was soaking in a pan of grease every day, burgers were dried out from being left in the pans, there are NO FOUNTAIN MACHINES for soda as claimed on their website and when purchasing a the Coke package at $6.50 I was told the fountain machines rarely work so it would be in my best interest to upgrade to the $19.95 drink package. I really could go on but its useless. Again, after hearing how great this cruise would be we were sorely disappointed. Even after a "Free dinner for 12" in Giovanni's (to makeup for all our issues ) we were shocked to be given a bill for the 5 kiddie cocktails and 3 mixed drinks!

Hardly free when given a bill at the end.

I have eaten at serval of the typical Vegas buffets on the strip, and thought the food was again mass produced buffet food and was very average, bland, but then again you wouldn't find me at a Wynn or Ballys Sunday brunch for $100.00 a head. I also would say the Disney World buffet's the same way. Although the Disney hotels were putting on a nice Thanksgiving day feast several moons ago.

 

I would say of a Room Service or MDR breakfast that WJ food was hotter, better and fresher. It was cooked and brought to the stations. Not to mention a omlet and eggs at WJ. Forgot to try cafe breakfast. Will try Liberty version in March. Can't wait to try her class of ship make my 4th class; 3 in the last year.[emoji41]

[mollyeilis]

Tipping ... OMG ... the outrageous fee for any beverage package in addition to most servers asking for additional tips!

 

 

My parent's are takin a Royal Caribbean cruise on Jan 3 , 2015 so you'd think spending $30k would mean something.

Nah ... this was my first and last cruise. Worst experience I've ever had.

 

That wasn't our experience at all on Vision in October. No one acted like they wanted a tip beyond what was included in our Replenish packages. I wonder what the employees were doing that made you think they were *asking* for more tips.

 

Who spent $30,000 on a Vision cruise? If you, wow. If your parents, wow. I can think of more higher end lines to spend that money on than Royal!

 

 

...there are NO FOUNTAIN MACHINES for soda as claimed on their website and when purchasing a the Coke package at $6.50 I was told the fountain machines rarely work so it would be in my best interest to upgrade to the $19.95 drink package.

 

What sort of fountain machines were you expecting? I saw no Freestyle machines on Vision. And what would going up to Replenish have done for you in that case?

 

Just ask the bartenders or servers to get your sodas; that would the same with Refresh or Replenish on Vision.

Edited December 28, 2014 by mollyeilis

[lilobelle]

We did not buy the ultimate package for my twins. We bought the premium. They did indeed ask for top shelf, and got it. They also asked for the drinks to be strong which they were. As stated before they are 21 and def got our money's worth. between the bottles of water they drank, and the Long Island Ice Teas the package more then paid for itself. Not true for us though, so we didn't get it.

[TS2005SOX]

Thats great cause we had the same as you but after being denied grey goose and Jack Daniels we were upset. The long island iced teas required the Ultimate package increasing the cost by another $70! Keep in mind 3 kids at $140 each we're talking well over $1300.00 (with the standard 15% gratuity added ) ... Again you can finish the math. If it takes $1500.00 to quench the thirst of 5 people for seven days ... well then I'm simply not in your class.

We can debate till the cows come home but again ... when the people in charge admit it's a horrible program and it needs to be changed there must be something to it.

But hey I'm sincerely happy you and your family benefited from it. To all future travelers you decide what works best for you but at least you have a starting point and realistic numbers to base your decision on.

[tigger-ttfn]

The boat was fine but they did admit there was a problem with the drains so at different points of the day/evening the smells were unbearable.

Our state rooms were better than I expected but the dinning experience ... really ... I realize they are cooking for 2,000 guest but why should that matter?

If you've ever been to a Vegas resort buffet you'll have to agree there is simply no comparison. Bacon was soaking in a pan of grease every day, burgers were dried out from being left in the pans, there are NO FOUNTAIN MACHINES for soda as claimed on their website and when purchasing a the Coke package at $6.50 I was told the fountain machines rarely work so it would be in my best interest to upgrade to the $19.95 drink package. I really could go on but its useless. Again, after hearing how great this cruise would be we were sorely disappointed. Even after a "Free dinner for 12" in Giovanni's (to makeup for all our issues ) we were shocked to be given a bill for the 5 kiddie cocktails and 3 mixed drinks!

Hardly free when given a bill at the end.

Free Dinner For 12 Not Drinks....... REALLY