VISION Review from Feb. 14 - 21, 2015

[Lovex4]

We had a wonderful cruise on Vision of the Seas sailing from Tampa. We flew down a day early and stayed at the Best Western Bay Harbor. The hotel was nice and clean and had a wonderful free shuttle service that would take you to local restaurants and shopping (as well as picked us up from the airport). We did go to the mall but walked to dinner at Whiskey Joe's. The hotel also has a shuttle to the pier but costs $10 a person and only goes at 11:30 and 1:30. We decided to take a taxi at 10:00 am....

 

 

Embarkation was fast and easy. We arrived at the pier around 10:15 and were on the ship by 10:45.

 

The ship is beautiful and we were anxious to see it after sailing twice on her sister ship the Grandeur. We absolutely loved the Grandeur and the Vision is just as beautiful and elegant. Our preference is the mid sized ships and this class suits us well. We had a balcony port side deck 7 halfway between elevators - a perfect location. Our cabin attendant Vincent was excellent. He kept things perfect and was always around to see if we needed anything. The food on this cruise was not as good as I remembered on the Grandeur or our Norwegian cruises but it was adequate and plentiful. The captain (Marick sp) was the best we have ever had. He made daily announcements, was visible everywhere, sang in the centrum (Bon Jovi - who could have guessed), and even judged the belly flop contest.

 

PORTS

Roatan - Little French Kay. This was a wonderful place and we really enjoyed it. My wife and I are both divers although she prefers laying on the beach but we both enjoyed the snorkeling.

 

Belize - cavetubing with Cavetubing.bz. This was my wife's favorite excursion and it was her birthday too. We cannot say enough good things about this company. They picked us promptly at the dock and for the next 45 minutes driving to the caves one of the three guides on our bus/van was constantly talking about Belize and the cave system. It was very informative. Upon arrival we were given helmets with lights and then proceeded to walk to the entrance point. Unlike other tour groups, this company does not have you carry tour tubes - they have them waiting for you at the point where you enter the river. (Also, we had much nicer tubes and equipement that other tours.) We had a leisurely 35 minute walk to the where we got in the water. Along the way we saw other groups rushing by us carying their tubes. They were in a hurry because their company was anxiously to get them through so they could take another group. Not ours, they were with us the whole day. The caves are a lot of fun. I understand that ther are 3 separate systems and that one of them has a place where you can exit mid way. As a ship excursion we only had time for 2 systems but that was more than many other groups we saw. Finally, Cavetubing.bz gives you a very nice all you can eat lunch and the company owner met us at lunch and sincerely thanked us for touring with Cavetubing.bz. What a way to end the day!

 

Cozumel - Chankanaab Park. We've been to Cozumel many times before but this was our first visit to Chankanaab. The park is very nice and well maintained with lots of nice things to see while snorkeling. I didn't plan on diving since I have spent years diving the surrounding reefs by boat and thought a shallow shore dive would be boring. I was wrong. In talking to the divemaster at the shop, he convinced me to go. For $50 we had a 1 hour 25 foot dive. It was just me and the divemaster. It was so much more than I expected and absolutely worth the money. There are caves under the park and we were able to enter them and swim around. It was a wonderful experience. Sea life is very abbundant!

 

Costa Maya - Blue Kay. We have done the Mayan ruins before and they are great but wanted beach time on this trip. We took the $3 shuttle to Senior Frogs and walked next door to Blue Kay. We went straight for the chairs and sat down. There is no charge to spend the day there and all of our drinks and lunch only totaled $43 so I gave the waiter $60. It was well worth it for a beautiful day on the beach. It was very windy at the port but the trees blocked the wind at Blue Kay and the barrier reef blocked the high waves. It was a little piece of paradise!!

 

Debarkation was very easy and picked up a shuttle to the airport for $10 a person.

 

Finally a shout out to Cruise Critic fellow traveler Mitsugirly for her reviews and recommendations that caused us to book the excursions we did. All were perfect choices!

 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

[sara mom]

We were on the same cruise and possibly the same cave tubing experience!

[cruiseclues]

Glad to see you had a wonderful cruise...thanks for the review. :):):):)