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

[Oceansaway17]

16 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

My understanding is Royal only docks one ship at a time in Labadee.  So just us, and it was empty.

very nice to hear.  Last year I went 3 times on different Oasis class ships to Coco Cay and there was always another ship.

 

Enjoying this thread as I am on Vision next week on the 21st.   Never been on vision class and looking forward to a smaller ship with and less action.  I hope to enjoy the walk around outside under covered area too. I like atriums better than promenades.  All those big girl ships are about the shops and not so much seats and atmosphere.

[Oceansaway17]

On 4/12/2023 at 7:25 PM, RCCL Fan said:

 

I voted with my feet....  

funny I did that on a ship last year and they chased me down in the buffet and begged me to come back.  I told them my entree was notg good and since I was on the upper level and could look down, I noticed several table got the same entree, but they did not eat them and got sent back.  I nicely told the manager to take a hint and remove it from the menu to change chefs.  

[Another_Critic]

3 hours ago, mo&fran said:

This means we have cruised on every class of RCI ships, except the first generation Q class.

 

3 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

That still counts, I haven't been on first generation Q class either.   I still say I've done them all!

Sailed on the very first sailing of the first generation Q class (Quantum TA - Southampton to Cape Liberty).  

[graciekelli]

On 4/14/2023 at 5:08 AM, grossnmoe said:

My kids were also yelled at by an older couple years ago for laying in sun chairs by the main pool. The couple claimed that the chairs were for adults only.   We still laugh about this now. I totally get it. 🙂

It's just not on cruise ships, it happens all the time, I remember a time my twin boys were sitting in a coffee bar in our grocery store reading a comic book and a "stranger" older lady approached them and scolded them by asking "did you Pay for those magazines?"  I was coming back to the table with my coffee when I caught her.  I told asked her why she thought it was okay for her to approach children and scold them.  If she had a question, it should be directed to me the parent.  She then scolded me, and said I was the worst mother in the world.  You know, some people are crusty and have issues and it's not just on cruise ships.

[perfect match]

Ahhh, Labadee! I miss that place! Looks like you had a beautiful day there. We board Odyssey in the morning and unfortunately we’re going to Coco Cay. Again. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Coco Cay. It’s beautiful for what it is. I just like Labadee a little bit better, and lately every cruise I’ve been on has gone to Coco Cay. I’m thinking that the private island the next ship we book stops at May be a deciding factor in choosing an itinerary.

 

I love that zipline on Labadee!

[shofer]

On 4/12/2023 at 6:59 AM, 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.

We stayed at the Hyatt in Miami in 2022.  Room was nice.  Breakfast-forget it.  Don't know if it was so limited because of Covid but it was just scrambled eggs, bagels and waffles served up in the lobby.  It is very close to the terminal.

 

[Sigyn]

11 hours ago, graciekelli said:

It's just not on cruise ships, it happens all the time, I remember a time my twin boys were sitting in a coffee bar in our grocery store reading a comic book and a "stranger" older lady approached them and scolded them by asking "did you Pay for those magazines?"  I was coming back to the table with my coffee when I caught her.  I told asked her why she thought it was okay for her to approach children and scold them.  If she had a question, it should be directed to me the parent.  She then scolded me, and said I was the worst mother in the world.  You know, some people are crusty and have issues and it's not just on cruise ships.

The rudeness of some people! This is nuts. I have a huge issue with people who don't direct their questions/complaints to me when I'm right there. It's not okay to gripe at my kids whether I'm there or not, unless they're literally breaking something. 

[Sigyn]

Wonderful review. Now I want to visit Labadee. I've never been. Your family is just amazing and your wife sounds like so much fun!

 

[HBCcruiser]

@RCCL Fan Do they have a suite pool lounger area like they do on other ships? We will be on the Vision in July and have been wondering about that. Thanks for a great review! 

[mugtech]

Been looking to see Labadee since 2012 when Hurricane  Sandy forced the Norwegian Gem to skip Haiti and head for New York.   Gonna stop in on the 6/1/23 sailing of Liberty OTS, looks great, hope we don't have to share with any other ships.

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

Been looking to see Labadee since 2012 when Hurricane  Sandy forced the Norwegian Gem to skip Haiti and head for New York.   Gonna stop in on the 6/1/23 sailing of Liberty OTS, looks great, hope we don't have to share with any other ships.

Labadee is an RCG port.  Are you confusing Coco Cay (RCG) with Great Stirrup Cay (NCL's island next to Coco Cay)?

[Another_Critic]

First time I went to Labadee was Sept. 1987.  Tender port with beach, lunch pavilion, and a very small craft market.  Went back in Dec. 2013 and Dec. 2015 to a much different place.

[Tree_skier]

Our last cruise had both Labadee and Coco Cay.  Labadee was far and away my favorite experience.  We're planning on being back there next year again. It is the highlight of the itinerary for me.  

[ONECRUISER]

Nice Pics! Thanks for sharing!

[ONECRUISER]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:20 PM, mo&fran said:

Not often, but occasionally there is on on the inside of the dock.

Years ago there was few times where 3 Ships stopped at Labadee in one day. Also a one off where there was 4. Obviously this was before Oasis size...

[RCCL Fan]

Day 4

San Juan

 

 

Happy Anniversary to us.    Woke up this morning and we were still at sea, we had an afternoon arrival into San Juan. My wife worked out in the gym and was beaming about how much easier it was to work out on the smaller ships with less people jockeying for the equipment.  

 

We decided to do our first lunch together as a family and did that  in the main dining room before heading off the ship.   I didn't take photos of what I had, and honestly I don't remember what it was, but this I remember, I enjoyed it.  It was a better quality food, and was well seasoned, and the portion was good for a lunch portion.   The ship was rocking quite a bit as we neared san juan and it was very apparent in the main dining room where you could turn your head and see out of both sides of the ship. 

 

We arrived at the dock about 30 minutes early, but had to wait about 45 minutes for the ship to clear customs and to be allowed off.   We were nervous as we had a tour booked, not through the cruise line but we made it.

 

 

We got ashore and needed to take a taxi to a nearby marina for our tour.  The girls waited while I approached about 30 cab drivers before I found one that took credit cards. I will remember enough cash next time. Oh well off to the marina we went for The San Juan Mini Boats.

 

 

 

I stumbled across this tour and had to book it.  You get a little zodiac type boat that can hold two people and you get to explore San Juan by boat, and learn about the history of the place while driving your own boat.  I thought it was the perfect blend of knowledge and something fun.

 

 

We arrived at the marina and learned our tour was private.  No one else had signed up except for us. WOW!  Score.  So our guide gave us the rules of the road for operating the boat.   I took the little one, and my wife took the older kid, and off we went.

 

 

We sailed out of the marina past several motor yachts, and into the harbor.  We have these tiny little boats, but each had a motor on the back that was capable of pushing a much larger vessel.  These things had some power.

 

 

Our guide took off,  like just floored it and took off.  I was like oh, wow ok, this is speedboat type stuff, ok.  So I made sure "little bit" was secure and off we went too.   We stopped at the first section and waited for my wife to catch up.  I was expecting him to then tell us about the area we were in.  But as soon as my wife pulled up, he sped off again.

 

 

Earlier he had asked "did we want to stop and swim"  " what did we want to see"  and I said, we're open, We'll decide as we go based on where we are at the time.    The only thing I know I would like to do is sail up next to our cruise ship.   

 

 

So we did that, pulled out little mini boats right up to the side of Vision, and Celebrity Beyond which had arrived after we left. It was really cook to see the ship from this perspective.   Oh she definitely needs some cleaning and a paint job, it was not the pristine white that you're used to seeing from Royal, and not as pristine and pretty as she looked when we sailed her at the end of 2019.  But nonetheless it was cool being here, taking her in, waving to folks on the pool deck and finding our room.

 

 

We kept on the "tour" and did get a brief history lesson at a stop near Old SanJuan and the fort, but mostly our tour was just speeding through the water at stop speed in our boats.   It wasn't what I expected or hand planned, but it was very fun just the same. 

 

 

After the "tour" ended we hopped an uber back to the dock, where we hit up walgreens for random things left behind and then went touring through Old San Juan.   I'm a New Orleans native and old san juan reminds me so much of the french quarter, I always love being here.    

 

 

 

I couldn't believe the last time we were here was 10 years ago, on our honeymoon on celebrity reflection.  We showed the kids the fort, and enjoyed the walk, and while we were making our way back down the mountain I yell out,  Hey! It's Danny from H** Travel!

 

 

During the pandemic when we couldn’t cruise we would sit home and watch videos about the cruises we had coming up.

My oldest decided of all the videos on YouTube Danny from H*** Travel had the best videos of the ships.

My wife would tease her that she just had a crush on Danny. Which wasn’t true but became the family teasing of her every time.

 

So when I saw Danny and his family walking around after getting off Celebrity Beyond

We had to take a picture!

Danny’s been sailing Royal Caribbean since he was a kid, like me.

 

Whenever my employer wises up and kicks me to the curb maybe I should be like Danny and make cruise videos.  After that excitement, my wife and I got hit in the feels, we stumble upon the same restaurant we spent the day at during our San Juan stop on our honeymoon.   We had to stop again!

 

 

I  had some amazing empandillas and mamposteao .  It was a great memory recalled, shared with the kids.

 

 

We headed back to the ship around 10pm and my wife was done,  jumped in the bed and was knocked out in no time, the sun, and good food made her a happy camper.

 

 

The girls and I stayed up and went to the top of the ship to watch us sail away.  This was both girls first time leaving a port at night, and they thought it was the coolest thing ever!

 

We finished things up with a few drinks by the bar as we hadn't used any f our free drink coupons that day, and that's just not allowed!  lol

 

 

After that we headed back to the room to jump into bed as we steamed toward St. Maarten!

[RCCL Fan]

21 hours ago, perfect match said:

Ahhh, Labadee! I miss that place! Looks like you had a beautiful day there. We board Odyssey in the morning and unfortunately we’re going to Coco Cay. Again. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Coco Cay. It’s beautiful for what it is. I just like Labadee a little bit better, and lately every cruise I’ve been on has gone to Coco Cay. I’m thinking that the private island the next ship we book stops at May be a deciding factor in choosing an itinerary.

 

I love that zipline on Labadee!

 

I truly love them both.  I don't know that much beats a day at the Coco Beach Club in Coco Cay, its Chops meets a private island! 

 

and Labadee is amazing for those mountains and the serenity.

 

2 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Years ago there was few times where 3 Ships stopped at Labadee in one day. Also a one off where there was 4. Obviously this was before Oasis size...

 

OK, OK, I get it.  I revise my statement 95% of the time there's only one ship docked at Labadee.  lol

 

5 hours ago, mugtech said:

Been looking to see Labadee since 2012 when Hurricane  Sandy forced the Norwegian Gem to skip Haiti and head for New York.   Gonna stop in on the 6/1/23 sailing of Liberty OTS, looks great, hope we don't have to share with any other ships.

 

I think you're mistaken, Labadee is the only cruise ship port in Haiti that I am aware of and Royal Caribbean is the only line that stops there. They have a full lease on the property.

 

 

6 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

@RCCL Fan Do they have a suite pool lounger area like they do on other ships? We will be on the Vision in July and have been wondering about that. Thanks for a great review! 

 

No,  there's not.   I think there are too few suites on board to justify it.

[Jimbo]

6 hours ago, mugtech said:

Been looking to see Labadee since 2012 when Hurricane  Sandy forced the Norwegian Gem to skip Haiti and head for New York.   Gonna stop in on the 6/1/23 sailing of Liberty OTS, looks great, hope we don't have to share with any other ships.

You should be the only ship in Labadee when you are there on the June 5th.

 

https://cruisedig.com/ports/labadee-haiti/arrivals

 

 

[mugtech]

5 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Labadee is an RCG port.  Are you confusing Coco Cay (RCG) with Great Stirrup Cay (NCL's island next to Coco Cay)?

We had some other stop scheduled in Haiti, but from what I have read I would prefer Labadee.

[RCCL Fan]

Day 5

St. Maarten

 

 

 

Got up this morning ready to tackle one of my favorite islands.  I don't know if it's the years of french classes  that I can put to use here, the amazing blue water, or the crazy cool  airport  but SXM has always been my jam.

 

I never do a tour here but instead try to check out a new beach each time I'm here, and goodness knows I've had some amazing wins.

 

 

This time I chose Grand Case on the north west side of the island.  (number 12 above)  This area is very french, quieter than the touristy areas and has some amazingly clear blue water.   I've seen many photos but have never been, so I decided to give it a whirl.

 

We hopped in a taxi and made the drive, which stopped at Orient Beach, to drop off literally an entire van load of people, and then just us to keep going to Grand Case.   

 

 

I picked a fun quaint little restaurant with beach chairs....  Les Temps Des Cerises  or "Cherry Season"   Well, I knew I had picked a great spot when our cab driver had never heard of it.  That's my kinda place.  He had to call his wife for directions and she immediately knew the place, and that reassured my wife who was looking at me like where the h*ll are you taking us.   hahaha

 

 

Well we arrived and the place was beautiful, bright, clean, fresh new.  Gave the hostess my name and all the energy dropped from her face. "I tried to call you this morning," she said.   "The beach is closed, the swells are just too big"  Oh no!!!    Here we were, secluded away from everything, and there's no beach, just a restaurant.   

 

She offered to call us a cab, and while I had other amazing beaches I would have liked to have gone, like Happy Bay, Mullet Bay, or Cupecoy, we were advised that all of them on that side of the island would likely be experiencing the same high swells and it would be hard to enjoy.

 

So...... I went with the masses,  take us to Orient Bay on the east side of the island.   Everyone goes there, and I've never been a big fan, the water is murky and lately it's filled with sargassum.  It's not what I consider a great St. Maarten beach.   But it wasn't far, we wouldn't lose another 1/4 of our day in a cab, and I know there will be plenty of places to take us. 

 

We ordered drinks at les temps des cerises and looked at this amazing blue beautiful water that we couldn't get in. 

 

 

Back at Orient Beach we went to Coco Beach, known for being more upscale and having good food and drinks.   We were welcomed, reservation-less, and given 4 chairs with a great view of the murky and sargassum filled water.

 

It's just not my thing.   

 

 

But lots of folks were there, and my wife and kids seemed happy, so I lay back, ordered a drink and shut up to try to salvage the day.   Never fun when the weather ruins a well laid out plan. hahaha

 

 

Nonetheless,   the girls enjoyed the heavy waves and were jumping through them like crazy.   My wife was able to get some quiet time to read and drink and I loved being able to read the french menu with about 98% accuracy.

 

 

 

My wife was panicking it was too rough for them, and so I had to keep acting as lifeguard,  but she was happy resting,  the girls were happy playing  and we made the best of a lazy beach day.

 

 

I did warn the girls that orient is a beach where nudity was allowed and it's so funny, my youngest who I expected to be weirded out was like, "whatever".  My oldest would see it and stop frozen in her tracks and be like, "what is going on here?"  hahaha 

 

 

Food was good,  drinks were hit or miss, and clean  & nice bathrooms.

 

At the end of the day, we called a taxi back to the ship, it was a peaceful and easy ride back.

 

 

We had that post beach, sun exhaustion when we arrived back. We all laid around and napped for a bit as Vision slipped out of port and continued our way south.   We skipped a night in the concierge club and made our way to Giovanni's for dinner.

 

 

We were originally booked for Chop's tonight, but I wanted to do that tomorrow for my birthday.   Giovanni's has no reservations left, but when I called and asked about changing, the restaurant manager said, "just go whenever you wish, I will call over there and make sure they're expecting you and take care of you"   WOW.  ok

 

 

So we strolled into Giovanni's with our non-timed reservation, and sure enough we were welcomed with open arms.  The warned us right off the bat that service may be a bit slow since we were coming without a set reservation.  We promised we understood.  We walked in and well.... Giovanni's was empty, like only 5 tables with people.  90% of the restaurant had no one there. 

 

The host then explained,  They only had two servers, and so they just couldn't take guests because of the lack of people to serve them.  The host said if we would bare with him, he would serve us personally, so as not to overwhelm the other servers.   He did a great job.

 

 

It was disappointing to see the staff working so hard trying to keep things running at normalcy, with clearly not enough people to do it.  A number floating around was 50%  they were operating with 50% less staff than normal. Apparently, two of the servers in Giovanni's had left recently, one for a medical reason and another a death in the family and the cruise line didn't have anyone to replace them so the other staff was trying their best.  I did see officers/managers coming in to check on them and observe,  you kinda wished they had rolled up their sleeves and waited on some tables.

 

 

Giovanni's is never really a favorite for me.... at least not the original version that's on Vision.  The new menu on Wonder and Odyssey is like the best Italian food I've ever had.   This was  just "ok" overall, but my risotto was tasty and I have to say the food here was "quality"  good portions, fresh ingredients, it was the usual Royal Caribbean I know and not this "revised" situation happening in the dining room.   

 

 

After dinner we wandered into the centrum and found  perfection.  It was "dancing with the crew"  A crew member paired up with a passenger and there were competing to see who was the best couple.... dancing with the stars style.

 

 

Well these energetic 20 something crew members and these passengers in their 60's were hilarious. There were doing all sorts of forms of dirty dancing meets break dancing meets swing dancing and it had the entire centrum in stitches.

 

 

This again is what I love about small ships... yes there's little hard product, but there are amazing games and activities all the time that are just fun and silly and give the ship an energy and vibe you just don't get on the ships with all the stuff.  I'll take this over an ice skating show any day.  Another amazing win for the small ships.

 

 

After staying through the final two couples, my wife and youngest called it a night.   The oldest and I decided to go to the late show.... it was a hypnotist.  My wife said, "we saw this exact same guy on Vision last time"  she was done.  I didn't remember and I was like well, I don't have anything else to do, I'm going.   We got there and my daughter insisted we were sitting up front because she wanted me to be hypnotized.   I was like yeah right, no way, no thanks. I'm not participating in that.

 

 

So yeah, It was really cold on the stage, and dark in the theater, and the bright bright lights on you, and man on man. They had this weird spooky music playing and well you kinda felt like you were in a trance.

 

Like the best way I can describe it was, I was aware of everything that happening.  I knew what I was doing.  However I could not tell you WHY I was doing it.   Like he was say dance like a ballerina and I would be like, fat chance buddy, i'm not doing that, but then somehow I was out of my seat twirling around and I really don't know why.   It was like something was compelling me to do these things.

 

 

Now there was one point I kinda came out of it, and then I stopped all his requests,  he tried to get me to go back, but I didn't quite get there.   But after he told me "you name is now "e i e i o" for the rest of the cruise people were coming up to me calling me "e i e i o"

 

 

Some of you know I'm a journalist so I'm used to strangers stopping me in the supermarket and what not, but this was a little much even for me hahaha.  

 

It was a lot of laughs, my daughter got what she wanted, and hey we're on vacation right.

 

 

Next stop  Antigua

Edited April 20, 2023 by RCCL Fan

[frosty52]

Thanks for your review.  I am now going to look into a Vision cruise as an option rather than another BIG ship.

 

[Coralc]

Smaller ship cruising is fun! It is like going away to summer camp. 😄 Your trip report is great!

[Sea Dog]

12 hours ago, RCCL Fan said:

Day 5

St. Maarten

 

 

 

Got up this morning ready to tackle one of my favorite islands.  I don't know if it's the years of french classes  that I can put to use here, the amazing blue water, or the crazy cool  airport  but SXM has always been my jam.

 

I never do a tour here but instead try to check out a new beach each time I'm here, and goodness knows I've had some amazing wins.

 

 

This time I chose Grand Case on the north west side of the island.  (number 12 above)  This area is very french, quieter than the touristy areas and has some amazingly clear blue water.   I've seen many photos but have never been, so I decided to give it a whirl.

 

We hopped in a taxi and made the drive, which stopped at Orient Beach, to drop off literally an entire van load of people, and then just us to keep going to Grand Case.   

 

 

I picked a fun quaint little restaurant with beach chairs....  Les Temps Des Cerises  or "Cherry Season"   Well, I knew I had picked a great spot when our cab driver had never heard of it.  That's my kinda place.  He had to call his wife for directions and she immediately knew the place, and that reassured my wife who was looking at me like where the h*ll are you taking us.   hahaha

 

 

Well we arrived and the place was beautiful, bright, clean, fresh new.  Gave the hostess my name and all the energy dropped from her face. "I tried to call you this morning," she said.   "The beach is closed, the swells are just too big"  Oh no!!!    Here we were, secluded away from everything, and there's no beach, just a restaurant.   

 

She offered to call us a cab, and while I had other amazing beaches I would have liked to have gone, like Happy Bay, Mullet Bay, or Cupecoy, we were advised that all of them on that side of the island would likely be experiencing the same high swells and it would be hard to enjoy.

 

So...... I went with the masses,  take us to Orient Bay on the east side of the island.   Everyone goes there, and I've never been a big fan, the water is murky and lately it's filled with sargassum.  It's not what I consider a great St. Maarten beach.   But it wasn't far, we wouldn't lose another 1/4 of our day in a cab, and I know there will be plenty of places to take us. 

 

We ordered drinks at les temps des cerises and looked at this amazing blue beautiful water that we couldn't get in. 

 

 

Back at Orient Beach we went to Coco Beach, known for being more upscale and having good food and drinks.   We were welcomed, reservation-less, and given 4 chairs with a great view of the murky and sargassum filled water.

 

It's just not my thing.   

 

 

But lots of folks were there, and my wife and kids seemed happy, so I lay back, ordered a drink and shut up to try to salvage the day.   Never fun when the weather ruins a well laid out plan. hahaha

 

 

Nonetheless,   the girls enjoyed the heavy waves and were jumping through them like crazy.   My wife was able to get some quiet time to read and drink and I loved being able to read the french menu with about 98% accuracy.

 

 

 

My wife was panicking it was too rough for them, and so I had to keep acting as lifeguard,  but she was happy resting,  the girls were happy playing  and we made the best of a lazy beach day.

 

 

I did warn the girls that orient is a beach where nudity was allowed and it's so funny, my youngest who I expected to be weirded out was like, "whatever".  My oldest would see it and stop frozen in her tracks and be like, "what is going on here?"  hahaha 

 

 

Food was good,  drinks were hit or miss, and clean  & nice bathrooms.

 

At the end of the day, we called a taxi back to the ship, it was a peaceful and easy ride back.

 

 

We had that post beach, sun exhaustion when we arrived back. We all laid around and napped for a bit as Vision slipped out of port and continued our way south.   We skipped a night in the concierge club and made our way to Giovanni's for dinner.

 

 

We were originally booked for Chop's tonight, but I wanted to do that tomorrow for my birthday.   Giovanni's has no reservations left, but when I called and asked about changing, the restaurant manager said, "just go whenever you wish, I will call over there and make sure they're expecting you and take care of you"   WOW.  ok

 

 

So we strolled into Giovanni's with our non-timed reservation, and sure enough we were welcomed with open arms.  The warned us right off the bat that service may be a bit slow since we were coming without a set reservation.  We promised we understood.  We walked in and well.... Giovanni's was empty, like only 5 tables with people.  90% of the restaurant had no one there. 

 

The host then explained,  They only had two servers, and so they just couldn't take guests because of the lack of people to serve them.  The host said if we would bare with him, he would serve us personally, so as not to overwhelm the other servers.   He did a great job.

 

 

It was disappointing to see the staff working so hard trying to keep things running at normalcy, with clearly not enough people to do it.  A number floating around was 50%  they were operating with 50% less staff than normal. Apparently, two of the servers in Giovanni's had left recently, one for a medical reason and another a death in the family and the cruise line didn't have anyone to replace them so the other staff was trying their best.  I did see officers/managers coming in to check on them and observe,  you kinda wished they had rolled up their sleeves and waited on some tables.

 

 

Giovanni's is never really a favorite for me.... at least not the original version that's on Vision.  The new menu on Wonder and Odyssey is like the best Italian food I've ever had.   This was  just "ok" overall, but my risotto was tasty and I have to say the food here was "quality"  good portions, fresh ingredients, it was the usual Royal Caribbean I know and not this "revised" situation happening in the dining room.   

 

 

After dinner we wandered into the centrum and found  perfection.  It was "dancing with the crew"  A crew member paired up with a passenger and there were competing to see who was the best couple.... dancing with the stars style.

 

 

Well these energetic 20 something crew members and these passengers in their 60's were hilarious. There were doing all sorts of forms of dirty dancing meets break dancing meets swing dancing and it had the entire centrum in stitches.

 

 

This again is what I love about small ships... yes there's little hard product, but there are amazing games and activities all the time that are just fun and silly and give the ship an energy and vibe you just don't get on the ships with all the stuff.  I'll take this over an ice skating show any day.  Another amazing win for the small ships.

 

 

After staying through the final two couples, my wife and youngest called it a night.   The oldest and I decided to go to the late show.... it was a hypnotist.  My wife said, "we saw this exact same guy on Vision last time"  she was done.  I didn't remember and I was like well, I don't have anything else to do, I'm going.   We got there and my daughter insisted we were sitting up front because she wanted me to be hypnotized.   I was like yeah right, no way, no thanks. I'm not participating in that.

 

 

So yeah, It was really cold on the stage, and dark in the theater, and the bright bright lights on you, and man on man. They had this weird spooky music playing and well you kinda felt like you were in a trance.

 

Like the best way I can describe it was, I was aware of everything that happening.  I knew what I was doing.  However I could not tell you WHY I was doing it.   Like he was say dance like a ballerina and I would be like, fat chance buddy, i'm not doing that, but then somehow I was out of my seat twirling around and I really don't know why.   It was like something was compelling me to do these things.

 

 

Now there was one point I kinda came out of it, and then I stopped all his requests,  he tried to get me to go back, but I didn't quite get there.   But after he told me "you name is now "e i e i o" for the rest of the cruise people were coming up to me calling me "e i e i o"

 

 

Some of you know I'm a journalist so I'm used to strangers stopping me in the supermarket and what not, but this was a little much even for me hahaha.  

 

It was a lot of laughs, my daughter got what she wanted, and hey we're on vacation right.

 

 

Next stop  Antigua

Sorry to hear the French side was a bust due to sell’s. I’ve always wanted to visit that side.

 

Interesting about the staff situation. This could explain a lot of things on the other ships.

 

I always wanted to k ow what it is like to be hypnotized. Good explanation. I still don’t understand how they do it. Thanks for being a Guinea pig.

[wolfganghowell]

Always a pleasure to read your reviews.  We just did Adventure a few weeks ago and I agree with you - the smaller ships are still something special.  We prefer Galveston to avoid the flying hassle and I'm so glad they are rotating Voyager class ships out of the port.  We're eyeing Mariner after we do Harmony this fall.  Thanks for always taking us along!

[RCCL Fan]

2 minutes ago, wolfganghowell said:

Always a pleasure to read your reviews.  We just did Adventure a few weeks ago and I agree with you - the smaller ships are still something special.  We prefer Galveston to avoid the flying hassle and I'm so glad they are rotating Voyager class ships out of the port.  We're eyeing Mariner after we do Harmony this fall.  Thanks for always taking us along!

 

For us it's the ports.   As my youngest says, "How many times do we have to go to cozumel and costa maya?"   We're done with Galveston until they figure out a way to do routes further east.

 

Our flight was a doozie this time, but usually it's 15 minutes to the airport and a 2.5 to 3 hour flight...  We actually beat out friends to Miami who were driving to Galveston to catch a cruise, last year. Haha