Trip report: Vision of the Seas 1/2/2016

[CntPAcruiser]

It was my intention to do a summary write-up, but in the end I got a bit wordy, so I'll break up my review over a few posts.

 

Itinerary: There were some great ports, but less than convenient port times, on this sailing:

 

02-Jan-16 07:00 02-Jan-16 16:00 Tampa, Florida

 

02-Jan-16 16:00 03-Jan-16 11:00 At Sea

03-Jan-16 11:00 03-Jan-16 17:00 Key West, Florida

 

03-Jan-16 17:00 06-Jan-16 11:00 At Sea

06-Jan-16 11:00 06-Jan-16 21:00 Oranjestad, Aruba

 

06-Jan-16 21:00 07-Jan-16 07:00 At Sea

07-Jan-16 07:00 07-Jan-16 15:00 Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles

 

07-Jan-16 15:00 09-Jan-16 10:00 At Sea

09-Jan-16 10:00 09-Jan-16 18:00 George Town, Grand Cayman

 

09-Jan-16 18:00 11-Jan-16 07:00 At Sea

11-Jan-16 07:00 11-Jan-16 16:00 Tampa, Florida

 

 

Booking: We booked this cruise on board during the previous cruise (which was on Explorer back in November 2014), cabin number 7628, which we were assured was not across from a crew/galley area by the next cruise booking agent on Explorer. Background was, we were across from a galley area on that Explorer cruise and didn’t want it to happen again. We were often getting a 2 a.m. wakeup call from the room service staff clearing dishes in the hallway. Part of the deal for booking on board was a significant amount of on-board credit, which would most go for Internet and gratuities. We added a bit more on-board credit from our RCI Visa points.

Edited January 16, 2016 by CntPAcruiser

[CntPAcruiser]

Arrival/Boarding/Lunch: We flew into Tampa International early to visit friends, rented a car and returned it at the airport. Taxi service to and from the cruise port was a $25 flat fee and worked out well. We arrived at the port a bit early on embarkation day and they were still unloading passengers from the previous cruise, so we were dropped off across the street from the terminal, where porters took our bags and directed us to the terminal. Once inside, they checked our paperwork and had us go right up for check-in. There were no lines, we were checked in swiftly, and we found a seating area for our boarding group. We were boarding group 3, for Diamond Plus and Diamond (we’re Diamond). We didn’t have long to wait, maybe 30 minutes, before they opened up and started calling groups. Security went quickly, and within minutes we were on board and exploring the ship. This was our first cruise on Vision (and anything smaller than a Voyager-class ship), so we needed to familiarize ourselves with the layout, and we had some time before the Windjammer would open for lunch.

 

After checking out the Diamond lounge and much of the rest of the ship (what was open, at least), we headed toward the Windjammer, stopping off to buy a soda package for my husband. The line was getting pretty deep before they opened just the one side, and then the madhouse began. It was as if they were totally unprepared for the group of people rushing in to feed. Vision has a double-sided, single-line style buffet right as you walk in the door, with a grill for made-to-order items toward the center, a “grab and go” station across from that, and a centrally located station for additional cold items and desserts. The grab and go was grabbed and gone almost immediately, and it took half an hour before they were able to replenish it. The buffet selections were sparse compared to our experience on other ships, and my husband had a hard time finding a main dish that was to his liking. Additional trips through the buffet were hectic because of the crowds still coming in and the single-line nature of the buffet. Still, we were fed, and by the time we finished our conversation with a lovely couple we’d met in line, we were ready to get into our stateroom.

 

Stateroom: As mentioned above, we were in 7628, a D2 balcony cabin, bed closest to the bathroom, full-size sofa (that would make out into a bed). We were very satisfied with this stateroom. For the two of us, there was sufficient storage and space to move around. The bathroom was clean and in good shape, and included bar soap as well as small tubes of shower gel, shampoo, and lotion. The minibar “cooler” actually had good ventilation and kept our water and wine cold! The only thing we discovered that was not to our liking was that we were directly across the hall from a galley area! In spite of being repeatedly assured that was not going to be the case when we booked, we were once again stuck across from that area. As luck would have it, the executive housekeeper was coming down the hall right when we discovered the issue, and when we explained our situation, she assured us that the staff would be instructed to be careful not to cause any noise/disturbance before 8 a.m., and that was exactly what happened, so we were pleased. An 8 a.m. wakeup call is far preferable to 1 or 2 a.m.

 

Our stateroom was very conveniently located otherwise for our purposes, being starboard aft quarter. We were two decks down from the solarium area and spa/fitness center, and one deck up from the Diamond lounge. Dining for us was on deck 4. We were far enough back not to get noise from the elevator area or Centrum. There is a large central stairwell area that seemed to be wasted space, but it was used for arranging the incoming luggage, which we found odd. There must not be enough space in the crew-only areas on each deck to set up the luggage for delivery to staterooms. Our stateroom attendant was visible, prompt, and friendly, and provided the few extra things we asked for (ice daily and wine glasses from time to time). Our luggage was brought in not long after the muster drill. We were pleased with his service throughout the cruise and tipped accordingly at the end of the cruise.

[CntPAcruiser]

Ship: Vision had a refurbishment in late 2013 and still looks very nice, generally. She’s being kept clean and in good repair by cleaning and maintenance crew, who we saw working throughout the ship regularly. We enjoyed the views of the water from interior spaces and the open centrum area, though we never did see an aerial show taking place, in spite of these being on the schedule at times. Once we were used to the layout, Vision was easy to get around. In addition to the Centrum and passages past the shops, the outside areas on deck 5 made for a convenient “superhighway” to get from forward to aft and vice versa.

 

The casino (aka indoor smoking lounge) is located off the Centrum and well away from the main dining room and specialty restaurants. This means that, unlike our recent cruises on the larger ships, we didn’t have the smell of cigarette smoke ruining our dining experiences. However, at times the smell of smoke was so strong in the Centrum that I could not stand it and had to go elsewhere. It would be helpful if they could find a way to vent the smoke out of the ship’s interior instead of allowing it to pollute the public areas outside of the casino. The other criticism I would have about the ship itself is that public restrooms aren’t always located conveniently and sometimes are insufficient for the number of people looking to use them in a particular area. But the restrooms were always kept clean and well stocked.

 

There were reportedly around 2,200 passengers on this sailing, and apart from the first-day lunch rush and when disembarking in ports, we did not encounter crowds and usually found adequate seating, viewing space for shows, etc. Incidentally, although there were only 60 or 80 kids on board, the population did not skew heavily toward the elderly. It was a good mix of younger adults through all age groups.

[CntPAcruiser]

Dining: We had second seating (8 p.m.) traditional dining, and on the first night were seated at an 8-top on our own. We informed the headwaiter that we’d like to have tablemates when it became obvious we were on our own, and he assured us he’d do what he could by the next night. The servers at that table seemed rather inexperienced, and indeed the assistant waiter informed us this was her first time serving as an assistant waiter. On the second night, we were moved to join another similarly situation couple at a nearby table, and the waiter and his assistant there were more experienced and service went more smoothly, for the most part, on the rest of the evenings. A third couple joined the following night, and two more round out our table toward the end of the cruise. As it happened, the executive housekeeper we’d met on the first afternoon had her mother visiting, and when we saw them looking to be seated one evening at dinnertime, we invited them to join us, which they did. Main dining room evening food was generally good to fair, though as we’d experienced on prior cruises, there were temperature issues with some of the food, mostly where hot food was not coming out hot, such as the scallops appetizer and occasionally an entrée. We had a few different menus on this cruise, such as “coconut” and I think “sage,” that we’d not seen before. Service of the food was fairly well timed, but beverage service was spotty, especially water and soda refills. Wine service was poor. I had brought down a bottle of white wine for the first evening and had them hold it for the next night. When a glass was poured on the second night, I discovered it was room temperature—they hadn’t kept it chilled, and when I complained, they claimed it had been “taken out too early” because of a miscommunication. The headwaiter provided a complimentary glass of wine for me that evening, and thereafter it was chilled. Another night, I attempted to use the BOGO offer for two glasses of wine, and though my card was taken and returned, there was no slip to sign. We subsequently discovered that our waiter had not used the BOGO offered, so we had to spend almost half an hour at guest services having the charges corrected (among other things, such as getting the correct amount of on-board credit; as an aside, be sure you have all your documentation, because we would otherwise have been short-changed out of almost half our on-board credit! We ended up visiting Guest Services several times on this cruise to verify charges on our account because there is no other way to do it—they do not provide an electronic statement through the TV monitor in your stateroom).

 

Lunches we took in the main dining room on sea days, avoiding the Windjammer purposely after the boarding day fiasco. Service was prompt and most of the food was good to fair. A couple of dishes had to be sent back, one for having no flavor and other a badly cooked steak. The replacements were fine. There was, of course, the Tutti Salad Bar, which was downgraded a bit from what we’d had on prior ships/sailings. There was nonetheless plenty to make a good salad from, and there were a few hot items and on one day a cook-to-order pasta station, but these were uninteresting. We did have lunch in the Windjammer toward the end of the cruise on some of the port days, and while it was not as crowded as boarding day, the selections were overall rather poor. It would have been nice to see some decent fresh fruit on the buffet at lunchtime. The open hours for the Windjammer were not great; in the afternoon on sea days it was not open, so the Park Café was the only option for a snack. The Park Café was limited, of course, and often though you could have a decent salad made, they would be out of salad dressing choices. Sandwiches were mostly bread with little filling, though what there was tasted good. Often items were not identified correctly or at all, and the counter staff didn’t know what the items were. The Park Café was a good place to get ice and beverages most times of the day, though, and they had fresh fruit and orange juice in the morning during breakfast hours (and sometimes the remaining fruit cups would be out through lunchtime).

 

Breakfast is often my favorite meal, and this cruise I had the option of the Diamond breakfast in the main dining room. Since on many of the ports days our arrival time was late morning, I was able to take advantage of a leisurely breakfast in good company. There were “regulars” we saw at breakfast and later for drinks during the cocktail hour in the lounge, and we enjoyed talking with our new cruise friends. Service at breakfast was prompt and most times everything went well. Anyone asking for the specialty coffee included with the Diamond breakfast was, however, told that the machine for the main dining room was not working, which I found a bit hard to believe. At least the coffee machine in the Diamond lounge was working, and those of us who wanted our café latte just made a side trip before or after breakfast. Omelets and eggs cooked to order at breakfast were nicely done and served hot, and there were also buffet items, in particular the English bacon and selection of fresh fruit, to round out the meal. In the Windjammer, breakfast was somewhat hectic, though we rarely had trouble finding seating. The beverage areas were usually crowded, since both servers and guests were getting coffee, hot water, etc. There was also a decent selection of fresh fruit and canned peaches, pears, figs, etc., in the Windjammer, but the hot items were not very appealing or appetizing. The scrambled eggs looked like they were powdered eggs, and we didn’t make any attempt to try them, opting instead for the made-to-order egg station. You placed and order and were given a number, which you displayed at your table, and your food was brought to you—a very nice system. Smoked salmon was available in the main dining room at breakfast, and in the Windjammer if you asked one of the chefs directly; cream cheese, capers, onions, and lemons were available on the buffet.

 

The only specialty restaurant we visited was one evening at Giovanni’s Table, which was a striking disappointment. On Vision, GT’s is a fairly large space, and though we were seated at a two-top at a window, the dining area was noisy (mostly it was the chatter from one of the waiters, not ours, causing much of the disturbing noise). We liked the appetizers (carpaccio for my husband and scallops for me), though we were disappointed that there was no fried calamari to be had and the prosciutto and salami were the same you could get in the Windjammer. One kind of bread was served—a dry, crumbly olive bread that I have to say has been the only bread I’ve ever not enjoyed on a Royal ship—so we requested Italian bread, which they do not have, and instead were given hard rolls from the main dining room. Well, we were given rolls about half an hour later after the first ones we requested were delivered to the table next to ours by mistake. The pesto pasta dish was also gone from the menu, so we opted for gnocchi with blue cheese sauce and the pappardelle with radicchio cream sauce. The gnocchi came with the same bad, flavorless sauce I’d sent back at our first MDR lunch, and the pappardelle came in a bowl drowned in what looked and smelled like stewed red cabbage. We sent back both dishes and declined to order any other pasta, hoping for better things from the entrees. The manager came by to check about our complaint, but went to the table next to ours instead of to us, at first. Thankfully the entrees were okay (filet, medium, done as ordered; veal “package” with a nice sauce and rather heavy mashed potatoes).

 

When the dessert cart was brought to our table, our server announced, “Here come the yummy yummies!” and our reaction was, “What, are we five years old?” If they want to offer a special dining experience for an upcharge, they need to do better than provide food you can get from the buffet and service that is not a comedy of errors or childish. At any rate, the tiramisu was good, the Amarena dessert “shot” was okay, and the Giovanni’s signature chocolate cake was as dry as the Sahara. When asked how the desserts were, we told our server that the cake was dry, and he responded that he knew and suggested a side of ice cream, not remembering from the beginning of our dining experience that he had asked about allergies and food issues and had been told that my husband is lactose intolerant. We left feeling less than satisfied and contacted the food and beverage manager later in the cruise about these issues, and in the end they removed the charges for that evening’s meal as well as my wine order.

[CntPAcruiser]

Entertainment: We did not see most of the production shows because they were scheduled for second seating at a time we were enjoying cocktails in the Diamond lounge with cruise friends. We did see the ventriloquist (somewhat dated and tired material, but entertaining toward the end with some audience participation) and a young violinist (“crossover” musician with a great deal of energy, a good show). The comedian early on in the cruise was pretty bad and we walked out of that show. The cruise director and staff were excellent and very entertaining. On a ship this size, we felt we got to know them a bit, and we saw many of the cruise director staff in other capacities, such as handling the lines for getting off the ship in ports. We missed the quest, but did get to see the love & marriage show, which was well done and funny, and participate in the battle of the sexes, which was shortened but quite fun and rowdy. There was a great deal of participation from young and not-so-young, which we liked. Seventies night was quite a lot of fun, though a bit different from the ones we’ve experienced on the promenades of the larger ships. The orchestra and other musicians were very good on this cruise.

 

Crown & Anchor: We received printed invitations to all the events, such as the meet & mingle, welcome back party, top-tier event, and behind-the-scenes and meet the entertainer events. The meet & mingle was well attended and some nice prizes were given out, in addition to the usual bottles and RCI knickknacks, such as some complimentary specialty dining. The slot pull was announced for the following morning at the M&M and our group of 18 or so spent an enjoyable half hour in the casino (apart from the smoke) losing our money.

 

Our Diamond pins were waiting for us the day of the welcome back party, which was split into two groups because of the large number of C&A members on board (reportedly 1,300 of the 2,200 passengers, with 21 Pinnacles!). Captain Marek was extremely personable and entertaining, and sang at the welcome back party as well at a later “rock with the officers” event in the Centrum. As we were leaving our deck 7 cabin to go down to the C&A event, we were nearly mowed down by the captain running down the passageway. On our way in to the venue, we stopped and shook hands with him and mentioned that someone who looked a lot like him was seen just before running down the hallway, and he got a good laugh out of that.

 

The Diamond lounge was only truly crowded on the first evening (it was usually full during cocktails, but seating would free up from time to time), and after that people seemed to get the hang of when would be a good time to go. The Diamond concierge was very nice and helpful, and made the rounds to greet everyone who came in. The bartenders did a superior job with all of my (many and varied) drink requests and were tipped accordingly. I only used a voucher outside of the lounge twice. On the first evening, I got a glass of wine at the R Bar and the bartender was indifferent and didn’t even stay to get his tip, which I had in my hand. The second time I used a voucher was in the overflow area for the Diamond lounge, and there the service was friendly (and tipped). One evening in the lounge I asked for a rum drink, something special, whatever the bartender would like to make, and was treated to a delicious sort of rum punch that included an ingredient he had to run out to the Schooner Bar for.

 

The venue and this amenity were something that made this cruise special for us. We particularly enjoyed meeting and talking with so many different people, and ended up spending additional time with one couple in port and having lunch together.

Edited January 16, 2016 by CntPAcruiser

[CntPAcruiser]

Ports: As mentioned and listed above, some of the port times were not too convenient. Since we didn’t have that much time in Key West, and heavy rain right as they began letting people off the ship slowed down the process, we opted to just walk around and get a little lunch. We walked most of Duval Street and had a nice burger and mango chopped salad at Mangoes Restaurant. After some shopping, we headed back to the ship.

 

On Aruba, we booked an island tour with Sonny Binns, and after waiting almost half an hour for a group that never showed up, we set out with a group of 10 comfortably spread out in an air-conditioned bus and learned a great deal about the island while enjoying views and stops throughout most of the districts. Frederick “Sonny” Binns has a good deal of experience and provides an excellent, informative, and fun tour, complete with a stop at a small grocery store to purchase beer, other beverages, and snacks. We were very satisfied and would recommend him. We had plenty of time in port, but opted to get back on board the ship after lunch at Iguana Joes, where we had good calamari, tasty patties, and a lousy salad.

 

On Curacao, we joined up with a couple we had met in the Diamond lounge to wander around Willemstad for sightseeing, shopping, and snacks. Curacao is one of my favorite port stops, and we had fun sharing our somewhat limited knowledge with our cruise friends. The downtown area is very walkable with both souvenir shopping and some European specialty store shopping available, such as fine linens/tablecloths, imported Dutch cheese, etc. It’s also a very pretty town, a bit like a chunk of Amsterdam was dropped on an island and painted in island colors.

 

On Grand Cayman, we opted to book the “deluxe” Stingray City tour through the ship because it was a new port for us and because of the tendering, which was also new to us. We arrived later morning and those with excursions were given priority for tenders. The process was fairly well run and the tendering was quick. Once on shore, we were given wristbands for our particular tour and shuttled to the marina to board our power boat for the short ride to the bay and sandbar to meet the stingrays. The crew were friendly and informative and did a good job of getting us ready to go into the water and explaining how it would work. Prices on board the tour boat were rather high for beverages, especially when you consider that most other excursions in this price range we’ve been on provided at least complimentary nonalcoholic beverages and many offered an open bar (at least on the return trip after snorkeling activities). We had a beautiful day for it, with puffy clouds in the skies and gorgeous, clear turquoise water. There might have been around 40 people in our group, and it didn’t seem like they all stayed with the tour. Those who did were instructed to form a circle and were given a safety talk before being introduced to the stingrays. We got to touch them, hold them, and feed them, and the handlers answered questions and talked about the stingrays and their predators, among other things. We were in the water for about 40 minutes, and it seemed like everyone had a good chance to participate. All in all, we were quite pleased with the excursion.

 

On our return, we were shuttled back into town and dropped off at the tender dock. We decided to do a little walking around Georgetown for shopping and lunch, which didn’t go particularly well. Prices were high, we felt, for low-quality food and low-quality t-shirts, hats, etc. The people in the shops were not particularly friendly or helpful. I don’t think we’ll be in a hurry to get back to Grand Cayman, but it was good to go once and check out Stingray City.

[CntPAcruiser]

Fitness/Pools: We did some walking on the running/walking track and we spent some time on sea days in the fitness center on bikes or treadmills. We also avoided using the elevators except for our returns from port (usually we came in on deck 1, and it was easiest to take the elevator up to deck 7 to our cabin), so we got additional exercise that way. We didn’t use the spa services, but we made good use of the locker room with its sauna, steam room, and decent showers. There were always adequate towels and the area was kept clean. There were drinking fountains in the locker room and fitness center, but there was only one single-seater restroom in the men’s locker area, and none upstairs in the fitness center itself.

 

The solarium had a nice pool, but no towel station; it was necessary to go out to the main pool deck for towels and swipe your seapass to check the towels in and out. We had no trouble getting into the whirlpools when we wanted, but often the water was not really hot. There was a fair amount of seating in the solarium area, most of which was usually in use, but we’d eventually find a chair or lounger or two, not always together.

 

Internet: Because of the nature of my husband’s work, he has to stay connected, so we purchased the Internet package for the entire cruise (and received a $40 C&A credit). The connection was not always good, would sometimes time out, and speeds could be an issue, but at least he was able to connect directly from our stateroom and didn’t have to go to the computer area as we had to on Explorer on the previous cruise. He did eventually discover how to keep e-mail loading continually rather than having to load in bulk every morning or evening (which would time out), and that made things go more smoothly.

 

Next Cruise: We booked on board again for our next cruise (January 2017), and the deal was you got to use a C&A balcony discount or get an on-board credit for the future cruise. In our case the balcony discount was greater, so we used that. Additionally, you received whatever you paid as a deposit back as instant on-board credit for the current sailing. We’d have preferred it for the future cruise, but that was not available. Had we known, we wouldn’t have needed to use any of our RCI Visa points to add on-board credit, but we did manage to find ways to spend that extra money on board.

[CntPAcruiser]

Disembarkation: We were initially given later-time luggage tags, but our stateroom attendant quickly provided the correct ones for us when we explained that we had an 11:25 a.m. boarding time for our flight and we also were entitled to the Diamond embarkation time. Somehow we managed to pile everything back into our luggage and place it out in the hall to be collected after dinner on the last evening.

 

Breakfast in the Windjammer was not as hectic as we’ve experienced on other ships, and we cleared out of our room around 8 a.m. and went to wait in the theater, since we’d been told that often the disembarkation process went ahead of schedule. Our time was supposed to have been 8:40 a.m., but we were walking off well before then. We had no trouble finding our luggage and getting through customs, and while getting a taxi wasn’t the most organized experience, we got to the airport in plenty of time to check bags and go through security, with time for a second breakfast and then some.

 

 

Overall Impression: This was our ninth cruise with Royal, and while we’ve seen changes even in the span of time we’ve been cruising, all in all we still find it a great value and a relaxing, enjoyable way for us to get our warm weather fix during wintertime. Cutbacks in the food portions and quality were definitely more evident on this cruise, and it was the quality more than the portion sizes that concerned us, especially in the one specialty restaurant we tried. The overall attitude and feeling from the crew on board Vision was positive, which we very much appreciated. In those instances when there was a problem, such as in the main dining room, we got tired of hearing excuses and blame being laid elsewhere followed by “please don’t let this affect your rating of me in the survey.” We were honest in the survey where it was warranted, and where we received good service on board, we tipped accordingly.

 

Since we’ve already booked the next cruise, we expect to be back, this time on Serenade. After that, I think we’ll try to stay with Voyager-class and Freedom-class ships, unless we find we really like the size that Serenade is, too.

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions that I can if there's something I haven't covered here or if anyone would like additional details.

Edited January 16, 2016 by CntPAcruiser

[Summerknight]

Thank you for your review. Anxiously waiting for our upcoming Vision cruise.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

Was Alper Alpar the F&B?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[heatherb1958]

Thank you for your review.

We spent Christmas and New year on Vision and got off as you got on so know everyone you are talking about:cool:.

We met Esther's mum Ute, know Alper (F&B) and from your description of the server in Giovanni's I am guessing it was Randy, love them all.

We had a fabulous time.

 

 

We loved all our cruises on Vision, she is a happy ship with Captain Marek at the helm, he does wonders for staff moral as does Sanjay the HD.

[CntPAcruiser]

Thank you for your review.

We spent Christmas and New year on Vision and got off as you got on so know everyone you are talking about:cool:.

We met Esther's mum Ute, know Alper (F&B) and from your description of the server in Giovanni's I am guessing it was Randy, love them all.

We had a fabulous time.

 

 

We loved all our cruises on Vision, she is a happy ship with Captain Marek at the helm, he does wonders for staff moral as does Sanjay the HD.

 

This was Captain Marek's last sailing before vacation, but I'm sure the new master is taking good care of the ship. We had a delightful time dining with Esther and Ute, and, like you, found Vision to be a happy ship.

[CntPAcruiser]

Was Alper Alpar the F&B?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

That's correct.

[CntPAcruiser]

Thank you for your review. Anxiously waiting for our upcoming Vision cruise.

 

You're welcome. Hope you enjoy your upcoming cruises. We felt so relaxed on Vision and enjoyed the fairly personal atmosphere. We saw Captain Marek several times, and many of the other officers at different times throughout the ship. Many of the officers stopped into the Diamond lounge during cocktail hour to visit with the people in there.