Review: Vision of the Seas- Headed South For Spring Break! Was My Wife Right Yet Again?

[RCCL Fan]

My apologies for being a little late with this review.  I've been a little slower to catch up these days.

 

This time we're reviewing the March 10th, sailing of Vision. 10 nights to Labadee, San Juan, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, & St Kitts. 

 

Sailing with my girls... my amazing wife, and two daughters ages 9 and 14.  

 

 

We live in the Dallas, TX area, and I have been sailing Royal since I was my kids ages... and while my wife may have married me for my loyalty points, (kidding, i think)  she and my kids have sailed enough to pretty much earned their own status in C & A. 

 

Spring Break hits each year and it's the week we celebrate two birthdays and an anniversary, and each year we choose to cruise.   

 

It's always a debate on where we're cruising.   I like big ships,  my wife small.   My youngest likes driving to Galveston to port, my oldest prefers flying so we can more variety.   Trying to make everyone happen it always an adventure.    We originally had radiance booked our of Galveston to Bimini, Key West & CocoCay, but then stumbled upon an amazing deal on Vision, even with losing our deposit on Radiance it would be worth it.

 

So here we go a semi live day by day breakdown with lots of pics. 

 

 

Day 0

 

 

The obligatory day before the cruise... bags packed in the family truckster to DFW airport and then the flight out to South Florida.

 

Well it started off on the wrong foot.   We picked up the girls from school, technically taking them out a day early, and headed to the airport and hit trouble.

 

I'll spare you ALL the details, but  the highlights are crazy enough. The conveyor belt that brings the luggage downstairs to the ramp was broken. So we had to walk from gate 30 to gate 1 to a working belt, and brand new employees buckling under all the extra passengers.    

 

 

We got to the gate --- thunderstorms, stuck for a while.   We boarded.  Maintenance issues.   Had to wait for repairs.    More thunderstorms.

 

Then we get out to the runway, number 2 for takeoff and boom, pulled out of line, an air traffic control hold on all flights east due to traffic backups.

 

 

 

 

We were on the ground in Dallas so long waiting to take off that we were able to watch an entire movie.   My youngest takes her headset off and says "are we almost there"   We all laughed, my teen is like "Look out the window genius, we haven't moved yet"

 

Check out the photos and you can see daylight, then night, we still sat at the gate. 

 

 

 

Eventually we took off, dodged some bumps in the air... (let me say I'm proudly team don't recline your seat in the person's lap behind you.... ugh) and landed in Miami. 

 

 

Our ship was sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, yes, but I always fly into Miami because both Dallas and Miami are international hubs for the airlines. So they run some of the big widebody planes... with premium economy cabins and TV's... which really come in handy for delays like this one.

 

Anyway, once on the ground in Miami, we pull into the gate, and wait....  apparently they couldn't get the jetbridge to move to the plane.   We waited, and waited,  maintenance was called, and we sat there for more than an hour. Well, I sat there.   

 

You know those people who jump up the second the plane stops and grabs their bag and just stand there even though the plane door isn't open.  Well, they stood there... for an hour and a half.   

 

 

The captain made them all sit down because they concluded we needed to move the plane forward 25 feet to get the door open.  So, 2 hours on the ground in Dallas, 3 in the air, and an hour and 45 minutes parked at the gate after we landed, trying to open the door.

 

I was like we could have flown to Europe lol 

 

Anyway, we got off the plane,  and bags came off super fast, we grabbed them, got our rental car, and went off to the Hyatt where we got some sleep because tomorrow is CRUISE DAY!!!!

 

[mugtech]

Thanks for the review.  Hope you can give us some info on Hyatt, as we will be flying in next week to board Explorer for a TA, staying at Hyatt for three nights.

[Sea Dog]

Seems like something always happens to you but you have the right attitude in nothing you can do so just bear with it. Excited to hear the rest of your story Wayne.

[clochette]

I feel so bad for how long your flight was but great that you did finally get there, and looking forward to your trip report.

[RCCL Fan]

4 hours ago, mugtech said:

Thanks for the review.  Hope you can give us some info on Hyatt, as we will be flying in next week to board Explorer for a TA, staying at Hyatt for three nights.

 

Which one?   I'm a World of Hyatt member, so I've done quite a few.

[grossnmoe]

Great review so far.  Looking forward to the rest.  Enjoy your trip. 🙂

[RCCL Fan]

Day 1   

Cruise Day

 

 

 

Woke up to a little surprise this morning.... news that Vision did not dock at it's scheduled pier 19, the weird one tucked in the corner next to the Oasis class,   but had moved to pier 25  the terminal used by celebrity cruise lines.   Well that's cool!

 

 

After a quick stop at the drug store for some Micellar Water, whatever that is, for one kid, and bubble gum for the other, we returned the rental, and hopped in a cab (much easier than Uber at FLL) and headed to the port.

 

Pulled up to the port, and it was empty!    Like two maybe three cars and that's it.

 

 

Was something wrong?    Nope,   Just me.   Vision's a small ship and immediately upon arrival its a different experience.   No crowds.  I snapped a photo of Harmony and Liberty which were both docked.  But Harmony was empty.  No passengers getting on, she was just sitting there.  So really it was just us and Liberty in port. 

 

 

 

 

Celebrity Terminal was beautifully decorated,   a very luxe welcome to a ship. It was also extremely streamlined, you walked in two double doors, went up an escalator where you went through a metal detector and as soon as you walked through someone looked at your electronic documents, smiled, and said, you're free to board.  We were from curb to  ship in less than 10 minutes, and that's including the brief stop we made for a pair of lost sunglasses, which were easily found at security.

 

 

 

Anyway,  shocked at how simple boarding was, we made a beeline to the gangway and hopped on board the ship.   I think all of were super excited for this trip.  There were new islands for all of us, even one new one for me, which is super rare.

 

 

We got on board the ship and there was our familiar old school Vision.   We first sailed her in 2019, it was  the one class of Royal I had never sailed, and we were scared to death we were going to be board, and the kids were going to hate it, because well, she's simple,  old school, a lobby with a bar, a tiny shopping area. dining room/theater and a pool deck and that's kinda it.   But we had an amazing time on Vision in 2019 my family loved the small feel of the ship even my always bored youngest called it her favorite ship.    So walking back on board felt nice,  like a comfy pair of slippers. Guess my wife was right... small ships are the jam. 

 

 

  It was 10 or 11am so rooms weren't ready yet.   There weren't a ton of reservations to move, switch or change like on an Oasis class ship, so, we said, lets do the obligatory first  stop.  Windjammer. And that's when I was like a ha! wifey, maybe you're NOT right.   There was a line for windjammer that went from one side of the windjammer entrance to the other and then down through the pool deck area and back nearly to the aft elevators.  In my 35 years sailing I had never seen anything like this in my life.    Since it's Vision, there weren't really other eating options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only other thing open was park cafe which also had a huge line of people fed up with the windjammer line,  and then Chops.I said, we're going to Chops!  We had no reservation, and I didn't care what it cost there was no way I was waiting in that line.    So we walked in and were greeted by the Maitre D, and warmly welcomed to Chops.  Oh were we doted on by this amazing staff.   They got a table by the window, and even chairs for my daughter's stuffed animals.

 

 

 

 

 

That comfy slipper feeling returned as we sat down, our drinks were out in minutes, and we were able to relax and talk and just enjoy being on vacation.  While we sat there the maitre d came by to apologize profusely.  The kitchen was closed.  What!  He said it wouldn't be long but for right not the kitchen was cleared out.    Concerned that we were about to have 10 days of not being able to find food, I asked what was going on, and then it all made sense.

 

 

Surprise inspection by the health department. Inspectors boarded the ship just as we did and immediately went to Windjammer and shut it down, removed all the staff, while they inspected the kitchen.  That's why there was such a long line.  No one was allowed in the windjammer while inspectors went around to serving tables, the kitchen, etc.   It really screwed windjammer staff as they were cleaning from breakfast from the last sailing and trying to quickly wash, clean, and cook and prepare for the new sailing to come aboard and want lunch and then boom.  get out at 11am.   When they finally got the kitchen back, there was no lunch prepared and it was nearly noon.  Still had dishes to wash etc.  My cruise group on a social media site was blowing up with  cruisers being like, "what kind of mess is this?"    We also sat perplexed watching an empty Harmony back up and change directions and dock again... still no one onboard but staff.   Our server told us that morning was rough, he said their pier assignments changed last minute, there was not border and customs agents to greet the ship,  He was like it was just a very unusual day... including Harmony spinning around passenger less.

 

 

After Windjammer the inspectors came to the small kitchen in Chops, which we could see from our table.  Chef and staff were waiting outside while they went through everything, and then boom they were back in the kitchen cooking.  It really wasn't a long wait and I was impressed at how quickly our meals came out after the chef got control of the kitchen back.   Every time I'm in Chops I get steak but for this impromptu lunch I went with the salmon and it was amazing!

 

 

Everyone enjoyed their meal,  my wife had a salad which again she never does, my oldest was like you guys are crazy, she got a filet, and the youngest ordered a bowl of plain pasta and loved it and declared it her meal of the cruise.   Yes, every cruise she picks one thing, and orders it 75% of the time. One cruise it was all hamburgers, another chicken,  it's vacation we let her be.   This time, pasta with butter and cheese... OK.    We all LOVED our food.  Best salmon I've had in a while, and my daughter wanted a second filet.  We all were like YES!!!!!    After lunch it was announced Rooms were ready and this was going to be an interesting one. Cabin 8000

 

 

We won a Royal Up bid for a No balcony Oceanview suite.  This was a source of significant argument in my house.   My wife kept saying "I don't think it makes sense to spend that much money on a suite and you don't have a balcony, you're just going to be looking out a porthole window, I just think this is a mistake"    In her defense, she had never sailed in a room without a balcony, and she does like to have her morning coffee out there.    

 

But I was trying to win and be practical. There are not a lot of suites on Vision and from the minute we booked they were almost all sold out, just 1 or two left. I knew the chances of us getting a grand or owners suites were pretty slim,  like someone would have to cancel, they were all booked.  However every week from time we booked until we sailed the one lone no balcony suite was open, never booked put on hold nothing. I had never even heard of this cabin, seen it before other than the panoramic ones on the voyager class. I couldn't find many photos online, I assumed others like me didn't know what it was.  I felt my chances were best taken there.  It was a full suite,  with suite benefits, and came with two separate bedrooms so we could have a room and so could our kids,  plus  two bathrooms, which is amazing, plus a sitting area.    I'm like I'm sorry that's a win, even if it caused my wife to lose her beloved balcony.   

 

We got there, and this cabin was all the way forward away from the other cabins, the door was in a tiny vestibule, with one other door that let to the bridge. inside and opened the door to be greeted by a lovely desk/sitting area, gleaming marble floors, and some champagne and water.

 

 

 

There was the separate bedroom for the kids with 4 twins including two bunks which was youngest was so excited to sleep in a bunk but oddly enough no TV in this room, which seemed just bizarre. There was a living area with long hall which the bedrooms and bathrooms were off of.  I had recently been asked by Royal to help out and give them opinions on some new products they were rolling out, and while giving them feedback, I mentioned our excitement for the upcoming anniversary/birthday cruise  and so they had our cabin beautifully decorated for us which was so kind. 

 

 

Check out a link to a video my youngest made of the room to send to her grandmother who was home watching our dogs for us while we were gone. 🙂

 

 

 

After getting settled in our cabin, our oldest in pure teenager mode was exhausted from school and activities, and well she wanted to sleep, and she did.  We wandered the ship a little but in little ship fashion there wasn't much going on and so my wife and youngest pulled a scrabble game off the shelf in the library and wanted to play.   I was like seriously,  we get on a cruise ship and you guys wanna play scrabble.   They did.

 

 

I let them play a bit while I went to take in the views outside.  I'll wax poetic for a second.   I'm a pisces, so I'm a water guy, there's something about being at sea that instantly calms me, relaxes me and makes me feel right with the world.   Standing on deck 5 (since we don't have our own balcony)  and just looking at the water, I started to just reflect.  Some of you may remember I lost my dad recently, while onboard Navigator for new years.  I needed some me time and I was excited to get it. 

 

 

After my deep thoughts on the deck I went to join my girls for their scrabble game... only here did I point out there were playing Spanish scrabble.   They died laughing. I mean my wife is Latina but doesn't speak Spanish so this is just funny.   

 

 

 

 

We went back to the room to get ready for dinner.  Oldest was knocked out cold, and we decided to just let her sleep, while the three of us went down to the dining room.   This was going to be a big deal Royal had just adopted the "infamous new menu"  and everyone was saying how rough it was.  I couldn't believe it to be that bad, but this was time to tell.

 

 

First course I had the crab cake, It was really good. I enjoyed it a lot.  I was quite concerned that it didn't have crab in it and some type of fish.    Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it whatever it was.   I was like OK... this is going to be fine.   Then well, it was bad, really bad.   Check out this plate.

 

 

This was my main course dinner in the dining room, a cafeteria scoop of instant mashed potatoes, and a piece of corn, and an unrecognized "portion" of chicken 

that was slightly larger than two chicken nuggets.    The portion size was shockingly unacceptable. I put one fork in my potatoes and it tasted purely like boxed flakes, and then the chicken was absolutely flavorless.  I ate nothing.  It was bad.   We left the dining room and my wife who had just got off Adventure the week earlier with her mom and sister said, "we ate in windjammer every night because it was better than the dining room, the food in there was just bad". So I went to windjammer, I was hungry, that salmon from lunch had long gone. I walked into windjammer and well, I laughed.  After the salad bar, there was literally the exact same food from the dining room. 

 

 

 There were few alternate choices here, just alternate location to eat.  I didn't like any of the options so just got more of the bland fried chicken and called it a night. 

 

Got back to the room and found three more bottles of champagne from different friends who bought them for us for my birthday and our anniversary.  Although, one had the same card, so I think they may have delivered it twice, oh well!  haha 

 

 

My daughter finally woke up and ordered room service, which she enjoyed and I have to say looked much better than anything I had. We unpacked, got settled, and I believe turned in early that night for bed. I'd be hungry for breakfast that was for sure. 

 

 

 

Next Day at Sea!

Edited April 12, 2023 by RCCL Fan

[jbrinkm]

Following!!

 

You have a lovely family. As far as playing Scrabble on the boat - I always think of cruises as family time, so if family is together and doing things that make them happy - it's a win in my book!

 

I did a live blog on the other RC forum from Allure last week, and also noticed that there was a lot of overlap between WJ and the MDR! I mostly noticed desserts, but I think the streamlining of the menus also included some coordination between the complementary dining venues. Also in my reporting was an event-filled plane experience, including a tornado watch! I'm surprised there was no mass air traffic breakdown over the past week or two with all of the weather events.

 

I'm really curious about the small ship experience. The smallest we've done with kids is Freedom class. 

[GetToLivin]

Following! Loving so far but here's hoping breakfast redeems your dinner experience! Smallest ship I've been on was Sovereign waaay back in the day so it's great reading a review of a smaller ship 🙂 

[Tree_skier]

Awesome!  @RCCL Fan reviews are always great!

[Sea Dog]

2 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

This was my main course dinner in the dining room, a cafeteria scoop of instant mashed potatoes, and a piece of corn, and an unrecognized "portion" of chicken 

That is so pathetic. I would have asked for the dining room manager and point to your plate and ask, are you serious?”

[mugtech]

5 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

Which one?   I'm a World of Hyatt member, so I've done quite a few.

Great to know an expert, We have no imagination, booked the Miami Airport Hyatt.

[teddie]

Loving your review and thank you for sharing your beautiful family with us!  Bring on the breakfast!

 

Teddie

Edited April 12, 2023 by teddie

[Sigyn]

Your youngest daughter and her tour is so adorable! I love it. And that plate of food - yuck! 

[RCCL Fan]

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Following!!

 

You have a lovely family. As far as playing Scrabble on the boat - I always think of cruises as family time, so if family is together and doing things that make them happy - it's a win in my book!

 

I did a live blog on the other RC forum from Allure last week, and also noticed that there was a lot of overlap between WJ and the MDR! I mostly noticed desserts, but I think the streamlining of the menus also included some coordination between the complementary dining venues. Also in my reporting was an event-filled plane experience, including a tornado watch! I'm surprised there was no mass air traffic breakdown over the past week or two with all of the weather events.

 

I'm really curious about the small ship experience. The smallest we've done with kids is Freedom class. 

 

We started small ship sailing a few years ago.   We really enjoy it.    We also like Voyager class which is a solid compromise between small and big.   I have some old reviews of each I can post  if you like

 

[RCCL Fan]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

Great to know an expert, We have no imagination, booked the Miami Airport Hyatt.

 

There's several though....

 

Hyatt Place Airport East,  Hyatt Place Airport West, Hyatt House Airport, and Hyatt Miami Coral Gables are the closest to the airport. 

Hyatt Regency Miami isn't far either.

 

The two Hyatt Places near the airport are both fine.  Done both.   East is more modern in design and closer to the terminal.  West is further away and is the cookie cutter original hyatt place design that you can find in every suburb across America.    I've not done the Hyatt House as it has had rough reviews, but they seem to be better lately.   And Coral Gables is great,  wonderful hotel  great neighborhood and usually a tad cheaper than the downtown miami one. It is further South which sucks if you're sailing out of Port Everglades.   

 

Most annoying is none of them offer airport shuttles, and so we've stayed at my backup hotel loyalty club of Marriott when we fly into Miami because they have solid shuttle service.

[RCCL Fan]

49 minutes ago, njsmom said:

Your youngest daughter and her tour is so adorable! I love it. And that plate of food - yuck! 

 

Ha  she's super shy, and would never agreed to that, but since she thought she was just sending a text video to her grandmother, she was herself. lol   

 

I laughed because I was like well, I don't have to do a youtube review of the room now. hahaha

[RCCL Fan]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

That is so pathetic. I would have asked for the dining room manager and point to your plate and ask, are you serious?”

 

I voted with my feet....  

[BennyandBo]

That plate of food was sad. Like hospital food sad. Actually maybe worse.

[RCCL Fan]

2 hours ago, GetToLivin said:

Following! Loving so far but here's hoping breakfast redeems your dinner experience! Smallest ship I've been on was Sovereign waaay back in the day so it's great reading a review of a smaller ship 🙂 

 

it's about the same size, a day bigger i guess since it was the next class of ships built after Sovereign class.    I will always miss Monarch, she was my ship of that class.

Edited April 12, 2023 by RCCL Fan

[Sea Dog]

13 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

I voted with my feet....  

 

Thats why you are a classy guy.

[Merion_Mom]

@RCCL Fan After reading your description of your flight in Post #1, I really wanted CC to have an "UGH" button.  😮 

[Jimbo]

11 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Seems like something always happens to you but you have the right attitude in nothing you can do so just bear with it. Excited to hear the rest of your story Wayne.

Yes, Like what cruise is he going on next, because we sure don't want to be on it.

[perfect match]

I always enjoy an @RCCL Fan review and this one is no exception! We finally board Odyssey on Sunday. Me & Mrs RCCL Fan will recognize their picture of the cabin we’re heading for. 😀 Can’t wait to stay in it 

[RCCL Fan]

10 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Yes, Like what cruise is he going on next, because we sure don't want to be on it.

 

Jimbo, are you calling me a complainer?  😉  A review or two ago people said I was a cheerleader! lol