Vision of the Seas - 5/28/16 Eastern Mediterraean Review

[Jayhawk]

Somewhat abbreviated review. My Mom passed away while on the trip which was really hard....I tried to leave that out of what was below. It definitely impacted our trip and I wrote less than in previous reviews.

 

Thursday, May 26, 2016: We left on Wednesday for our trip – Chris and I and our two daughters, ages 12 and 13. First up was flight that left at 6:30 a.m. from Kansas City and arrived in Montreal at 3 p.m., after a three hour layover in Philadelphia. We had a 5 hour layover prior to leaving for Venice, so we spent the afternoon taking a taxi to/from the Old Town and exploring it and the old Pier. It was fun to walk around and see the town, but most of the shops and activities closed at 5 p.m. (including Notre Dame Cathedral). We had dinner at a local spot and ate ham and cheese crepes and then boarded our 9:30 flight to Venice.

A short hours later, with just a bit of attempted sleep, we arrived in Venice. Although our bodies felt like it was 5 a.m, the clock showed just after 11 a.m.! So we headed from the airport via taxi (35 Euro) to our hotel in Venice (mainland) – Hotel Tito in Mestre. We were on the second (third) floor. It was three star but could have used a little TLC. The owners were super nice! By 3 p.m. we were headed to the Venice Islands via train (Mestre to San Lucia) for a mere 1.25 Euro each.

In Venice we walked a TON! We tried to get to San Marcos but didn’t make it there by the 5 p.m. close time so had observe it on the outside from San Marcos square. We enjoyed TONS of shopping for little glass items (like earrings). We meandered for hours and hours and finally ate dinner – pizza and pasta! We finished by walking back to the train while eating gelato.

 

Friday, May 27: It was a crazy night last night – we slept TWELVE hours! We went to be close to 1 a.m. and woke up after noon! Our bodies evidently needed it but it we totally lost ½ day in the process. We were going to head to Padua (Padova) in the morning and Venice in the afternoon but since we didn’t leave our hotel until 2 p.m., we went straight to Venice instead. We got a water taxi pass for the day for 20 Euro each. We started off walking through St. Mark’s, including paying an extra 6 Euro to look at the back area – closer to St. Mark’s body and the “gold screen”. Beautiful church! We then had a nice pizza and salad dinner and then took the water taxi to Murano. Unfortunately we didn’t get to Murano until after 6, and by then, most of the shops were closed, so it was a bit of a dud trip. Water taxi back and then continued to just walk around an enjoy Venice until we headed back to Mestre via trail about 10 p.m. The kids would say the highlight was going to this Make your own Magnum (the ice cream bars big in Venice) store. Think of like orange leaf with ice cream bars - you dip them in chocolate and pick out your own toppings. It was super yummy!

 

Saturday, May 28: Today we got ourselves out of bed earlier and were checked out of our hotel before 8:30 (we left our luggage) and headed to Padua. We walked to the Basilica of St. Anthony, which was probably a mile and a half and took about 25 minutes, and went to mass at 10:00 a.m. since we would miss our normal Sunday mass. The church was amazing – it had the tomb of the body of St. Anthony, including several relics from him (Clothes, jawbone and tongue!) Afterward we went to a park close by that turn out to be a giant market – particularly clothing. We were pretty worn out and took a tram back to catch our 1:30 train back to Venice – Mestre. Things were already a little tight for us to do our Venice Train-water taxi-people mover plan to get on the ship, and the fact our Padua train was delayed by 20 minutes didn’t help things. So upon arriving at the Mestre station, we hired a taxi to pick up our luggage from the hotel and bring us directly to the ship. The whole trip took under ½ hour (including waiting to get our luggage) and was only 35 Euro, definitely a good choice.

Upon arriving on the ship, we found very quick check-in lines, probably due to our late 3 p.m. arrival! Luggage was in our room by 5 p.m., immediately after the muster drill. The ship is one of the smallest we’ve been on in recent years….nothing breathtaking or “show stopping”, but didn’t find it out of date either. Wish list – not enough big drawer/shelf space!! We are used to having a lot in the closets but there was none, so lots of wasted space in the closets in my opinion. Food we great, service was wonderful, everyone was helpful and full of smiles. The short variety show was entertaining with unicycles, whips, roller skating, and balancing acts. The kids immediately jumped on the kids club – we’ve crossed a new line where both kids qualify for the “teen” program so there is no check in/check out anymore!

 

Sunday, May 29: We slept in and went to breakfast and readied ourselves for our 5 hour stop in Dubrovnik. We went into the city and took a local bus (about a buck for each of us) into the old town. We then walked the old wall (about $40 for the four of us) – it was beautiful. Lots of great views of the city and once again helped me work through my fear of heights. We walked through the old city, and spent ½ hour at the Dubrovik Cathedral (St. Blaise was closed) praying. Bus back to town, and had dinner and watched a nice Broadway musical medley.

 

Monday, May 30: It is Memorial Day, which means nothing in the middle of the ocean  . We slept in again but I only slept about 3 hours. Just hung out around the ship, not doing too much. We did try rock climbing, visual trivia, Latin dancing and just sitting out in the sun. Formal night followed by a magic show.

 

Tuesday, May 31: We had a great day in Turkey today. We were with a group of 13 on a tour with Levent Solmaz. The reviews I read on Cruise Critic lived up to their hype – he was amazing! We started off at Mary’s house, it was just amazing as I remember. We lit two candles and tied rosaries on the prayer wall. Then we went to the ancient ruins of Ephesus. I think the kids really enjoyed it, and new this time was the Terrace Houses, which weren’t opened until 2006, definitely worth another $8 to view. The kids sang for our group in the Colosseum where St. Paul preached – the acoustics were great! We then had a local Turkish meal – meatballs, chicken skewers and all sorts of salads made from eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and olive oil. We went to a carpet weaving place and learned how they were made and of course got a small bit of pressure to buy one – which we didn’t  . Finally we went shopping at the bizarre for about ½ hour. Long and great day. Had a quick dinner on board and watched The Fifth Wave in the theater followed by the Love and Marriage game  .

 

Wednesday, June 1: Today we were in Santorini Greece. Wow, what a day! It took us a while to get off the boat and I REALLY regret that. We meant to leave by 8:30 but took our time and wound up getting off at 9:30 and that was a huge mistake! The Tenders to shore were pretty efficient, but the line for the cable care was huge! It was probably just over ½ hour long, 5 Euro for kids over 12 and beautiful views. We got to Tony’s car rentals by about 10:20 and then it took a little longer to get our 2 ATVs (310 cc's), learn to drive them, and be on our way by around 11. We LOVED Tony’s and driving the ATVs. We had grand plans to go to Oia and hit some beaches on the south part of the island. We spent just under 30 minutes getting to Oia, being pretty conservative drivers. It was fun but not for the faint of heart with the narrow winding cliff driving and huge buses passing you all the time  ! But we loved it and the girls did as well. When we arrived in Oia it was stunning but the narrow streets were terribly crowded! We were there just over an hour, mostly shopping and then took a few pictures. We realized at that point it was 1 p.m. and we felt we needed to be back at Tony’s by 2:30 to give us ample time to get on the ship (more on that later, that was JUST enough time), so we couldn’t go to the red beach which was likely an hour away. Instead we headed to Pori beach, about a 15 minute drive from Oia. Tiny little volcanic beach and almost no one was there but the kids enjoyed playing in the water and picking out cool rocks. Headed back to Tony’s at 2:30 and the cable car line at 2:45 looked insane, so we headed to the footpath. We should have just walked down but wound up giving the donkeys a shot (we paid 15 Euro for 4 of us) – what a mistake. It was hot and moved much slower than if we had walked and my 12 year old was so traumatized by the experience (she was scared she was going to fall and didn’t like the fact the man had a whip in his hand) that we finally let her off to walk with us. Walking down probably only would have taken ½ an hour. We got on the tenders and on the ship by 4. Bottom line – island was beautiful but way too crowded and budget at least an hour to get going on the island and almost 2 to get back.

 

Thursday, June 2: It was our last port today – Katakolon. We rented a car from Avis – it was a little pricey at 90 Euro because we wanted an automatic. Chris had also gone to AAA before we left and gotten an international driver permit to cover us in case we got stopped. Most places didn’t care, but Avis did. We also spent about 10 Euro in gas, but it was ours for the day. It was a pretty easy trip over to Olympia, just under ½ hour. We started in the museum and then spent about an hour walking around the ruins (the site of the first Olympic games). Afterward we headed to Agos Andreas Beach, which was probably a mile from the port town. It was a nice sandy beach with no cost and free chairs outside of a fun little café called Kastro. The water was freezing (to me) so I didn’t get in but the girls really enjoyed playing in the water for about an hour. A little more shopping back in Katakolon and we were on a way back to the Vision of the Seas. This was formal night and only one day left at sea before back to reality.

 

Friday, June 3: Last sea day – spent most of it just preparing for heading home. Kids enjoyed hanging out in the teen club – they were there most of last night and today. The last show was a lot of fun, a variety show that featured juggling and balancing acts. Our oldest daughter won “prom queen” last night so she was pretty excited. Neither one wanted to come back to the room or leave the next day.

 

Saturday, June 4: We chose self-assist and kept our bags with us the morning of departure vs putting them outside our room – a first for us. We had to exit the ship with our own luggage between 7 and 7:30. We pre-arranged a taxi to the Venice airport through http://venice.airports-shuttle.com/, and it couldn’t have gone more smoothly. The cost was 50 Euro compared to 45 for a tax. We had a 10:50 flight so were a little nervous about the making the flight. We exited the ship just after 7, and he was waiting right there with a sign with our name. The ship told us there would be a huge line of taxis waiting, but we didn’t see any. (Perhaps we were whisked off so fast that we weren’t looking in the right place). We got the airport so early that the United counter wasn’t even open yet. By 8:30 we were checked in, through security, and waiting another two hours to board our flight. The Venice airport was pretty small and it didn’t seem overly crowded that morning.

 

OVERALL:

We cruise for itinerary and cost, with little regard to ship, line, or room. But for those who are interested, here is my assessment of the following:

• Food – Average, basic variety, but nothing special. Less variety than other ships, no lobster. Not much offered 24/7.

• Entertainment – Average, about the same as other ships.

• Amenities – Lower than average, much less than recent ships we’ve been on (at least from the kid’s point of view). They did like the small rock wall.

• Service – I haven’t found many ships with poor service….MSC staff were probably the most indifferent. I loved our cabin steward and waiters and everyone was very helpful on the ship.

[JimAOk1945]

First, let me say I'm so sorry for your loss. Thanks for taking the time to write your review. A Med cruise is on our bucket list. A cruise is a wonderful way to see the world and have quality time with your family.

[Ine]

Thanks you for the review. We hope to sail Vision with the same itinary in October. This time with our daughters and grandsons, as they have a 1 week school holiday.

We doubt if our grandsons will go to the kidsclub since both of them only speak dutch. I assume english is spoken there? Any hint what they an do during a seaday in that case apart from the pool?

Did you have local money for the bus in Dubrovnik?

How was the food in Windjammer in case we want to skip formal night(s)?

First time on RCCL, after various sailing on HAL and Celebrity. Hope we will not be disappointed.

Thanks for any more information

[Jayhawk]

My kids were in the teen club so not totally sure. They did seem to primarily speak English though. It was a pretty small kids club but they seemed to have fun.

 

We didn't need local currency in Dubrovik, we were able to either use Euros or credit card, but we didn't do much beyond a bus ticket, cokes and the tickets to walk the wall.

 

I thought Windjammer was fine....not a ton of variety but more than enough to keep you covered for the week. It did get pretty crowded in the mornings for breakfast.

 

Have fun!

[Ine]

My kids were in the teen club so not totally sure. They did seem to primarily speak English though. It was a pretty small kids club but they seemed to have fun.

 

We didn't need local currency in Dubrovik, we were able to either use Euros or credit card, but we didn't do much beyond a bus ticket, cokes and the tickets to walk the wall.

 

I thought Windjammer was fine....not a ton of variety but more than enough to keep you covered for the week. It did get pretty crowded in the mornings for breakfast.

 

Have fun!

 

Thank you. We will be carrying euro but wondered if the bus would accept that. Looking forward to this cruise.

[bonsai3s]

We will be in Venice and also sailing the Vision this coming November. Your trip to Padua is something we'd love to do.

 

How did you get to Padua from Venice? Could you please give us more details...just like you, we prefer to DIY most of our shore excursions.

Would love to attend mass as well. Thank you. :)

[Jayhawk]

We will be in Venice and also sailing the Vision this coming November. Your trip to Padua is something we'd love to do.

 

How did you get to Padua from Venice? Could you please give us more details...just like you, we prefer to DIY most of our shore excursions.

Would love to attend mass as well. Thank you. :)

 

Sorry, just saw this.

 

We took a train from the Mestre Train station to Padua. It was a short little trip, less than 1/2 hour, and I think only 1-2 stops. Pretty inexpensive too. There are two types of trains and you want the local ones, there are ticket machines all over and they are pretty easy to figure out. Once we got there, we walked to the church. Depending on your age, not sure I recommend that. It was a good ~40 minute walk and we were walking at a decent clip. There is a tourist place at the train station there and they give you a free map and it's a pretty straight shot...probably 2-3 miles. It took us through the main part of town so there was some shopping and sites to see. We took a trolley (like a street car) back to the train station and that was pretty cheap too.

[pk_crusing]

Sorry for your loss.

Thank you for your review, I found your thoughts very insightful.

[Britcnm]

Sorry for your loss. We were on vision on June 4th 2016 and my friends mother also passed away while we were gone. We lit candles in her memory in many of the beautiful churches we visited on the trip

Edited June 24, 2016 by Britcnm

[anandaindonesia]

Thank you.

 

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[Clarea]

Thanks for the review.

[mrsgoggins]

Thanks from me also for your review. I just booked transfers with airports-shuttle for November based on your recommendation and it was about 12 euros cheaper than one I had been considering (for a return journey).

[DEL67]

Thanks for your review.

 

We are on the Vision's Aug 20th sailing. Did the bus into Old Town Dubrovnik take Euros? If not, is there somewhere at the port to change your money?

[barkingmaddawn]

New to this site. So sorry for your loss. We are on the 20th August sailing on Vision. Good to know what night the formal nights are. Can you advise what times the shows normally were. I've tried to find a compass to look at but there don't seem any for the Vision Croatia, Greek cruise from Venice. I am most looking forward to Venice as I've always wanted to visit there.