LIVE! Liberty of the Seas April 28, 2023 to Vision of the Seas May 1, 2023: A side-to-side with Dragon of the Seas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

There goes the Liberty of the sea. I understand it’s heading out to New York City.

 

She must have had a 3pm sail away. 

 

 

 

 

[rafinmd]

Unlike the Vision, Liberty is deadheading to New York so she could leave whenever she was ready.

 

Roy

[Nadey]

I'm reading your review I'm waiting to see the vision of the sea because I have not been on the ship and will be on it in September. I have sailed on the Allure  and the smallest one to Cuba so I'm guessing this will be a small ship like that but a little bigger than the one to Cuba

[DragonOfTheSeas]

7 minutes ago, Nadey said:

I'm reading your review I'm waiting to see the vision of the sea because I have not been on the ship and will be on it in September. I have sailed on the Allure  and the smallest one to Cuba so I'm guessing this will be a small ship like that but a little bigger than the one to Cuba

Someone that was sitting next to me in the Viking crown lounge asked where the Royal Promenade was. I told her there wasn’t one. But the centrum was where many things happened on this ship. She did not seem happy.

 

It’s so much smaller than the allure. The other ships always make up for it. I have an a great crew really push their passengers first and of course it’s still a beautiful ship. It just doesn’t have all the bows and whistles. 
 

There are more activities and events and less emphasis on venues. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Well, I’m all lol my music around where is the centrum listen to the duo. They are very good.

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Sail Away party. First line dance of the cruise!

 

 

 

[meadowlander]

4 hours ago, buffet24 said:

Yep!!! I believe she will be departing for New York City today!!! 

Freedom is heading to New Jersey, Cape Liberty in Bayonne. A few lines cruise out of NYC, Royal does not.

[rtb]

On 4/27/2023 at 10:20 PM, DELTABLUE said:

Signing on for the ride with you!  I always love to follow your wonderful "live" threads and enjoy your adventures vicariously.  Thanx for sending the link to the Beadies.  I'm due to be on Vision on 8-3 so am very interested in your take.  How is she different from Enchantment and Lady G?  I know someone who will be cruising along with you on Vision so will have to tell her about your thread.  Would greatly appreciate it if you could find Vision's corresponding table number for the large round table where we usually sit at on Grandeur.  I think you got me number for the table on Enchantment.  G was 342 and E was 206.  What's it gonna be on V?

 

              

 

Hope you have smooth seas and beautiful weather!  Hugs to Alan.😊

 

[rtb]

12 minutes ago, rtb said:

 

Deltablue was glad to see your post, would also love to know the table # .  We will be sailing on her May 25th, thought you might be joining us so I could find out.  I will miss the flowers 😉.  Thank you, hope alls well with you….

Edited May 1, 2023 by rtb
Add that I am enjoying your information of the ship DragonOfTheSea..

[Yorkvillain]

3 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 

 

 

Whatever that lifeguard’s salary is - it needs to be doubled. 

[Mum2Mercury]

On 4/27/2023 at 3:28 PM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

... That was a poor decision ...

Ah, no.  You made all the right decisions by leaving ahead of time -- internet and everything everything else is just gravy.  Your story /not getting to the hotel until very late is the epitome of WHY people should leave at least a day ahead of time. 

On 4/27/2023 at 7:08 PM, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We have visited all the ports on both cruises before.  But we feel the two itineraries complement each other.  The first is a short fun-filled cruise on a ship with lots of bows and whistles ... The second cruise will be our relaxing trip ... 

I think I like this plan:  short and intense followed by slow and relaxing.  

1 hour ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Someone that was sitting next to me in the Viking crown lounge asked where the Royal Promenade was. I told her there wasn’t one. But the centrum was where many things happened on this ship. She did not seem happy ... 

That's her fault for failing to do her homework. 

3 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Cabins not ready until 2:30pm now. 

Well, that's not a surprise, given the reduction in housekeeping staff. 

[buffet24]

1 hour ago, meadowlander said:

Freedom is heading to New Jersey, Cape Liberty in Bayonne. A few lines cruise out of NYC, Royal does not.

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by buffet24

[rafinmd]

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Someone that was sitting next to me in the Viking crown lounge asked where the Royal Promenade was. I told her there wasn’t one. But the centrum was where many things happened on this ship. She did not seem happy.

 

 

2 hours ago, Nadey said:

I'm reading your review I'm waiting to see the vision of the sea because I have not been on the ship and will be on it in September. I have sailed on the Allure  and the smallest one to Cuba so I'm guessing this will be a small ship like that but a little bigger than the one to Cuba

I  assume the "one to Cuba" was the Empress.  Vision is much bigger than Empress but is rated for fewer passengers.  Things I see on the Vision deck plan that I don't remember on Empress are a Diamond Lounge, Concierge Lounge, Park Cafe,  and Giovanni's Table, so a whole lot more to offer than Empress.

 

I much prefer a Centrum to  a Royal Promenade.  With Centurm events happen on the bottom level and there is ample viewing from the railing on each and every deck almost to the pool deck with great sight lines, while with a Royal Promenade if you are not close to where the action is you hardly see anything.  And like Empress, Vision Class Centrum openings are the same size on every deck so you get pretty much the same view no matter how high you go to watch.

 

Roy

[JK805]

6 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I think I like this plan:  short and intense followed by slow and relaxing

That’s how I’m doing my Mexico B2B later this year - a 4 day followed by a 7 day. I did it in reverse last year (because the short one tempted me as it was getting close and I could get my same cabin) but think the short followed by the longer relaxing one is for the win!

 

6 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Well, that's not a surprise, given the reduction in housekeeping staff. 

And time the staterooms were ready seemed to be more with the USCG inspection interrupting turnover operations - I saw what looked like ALL crew on the ship mustered with life jackets as I got to the terminal and boarding didn’t start until about 45 min after planned (though that was faster than the 1 hour delay Royal warned about in pre-cruise communication).

[perfect match]

18 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

We booked an Anthem cruise for next year. (Sister ship to Odyssey) How did you like the ship? It will be our daughter’s first cruise. 

 Keep in mind that we’re normally big ship sailors. Our smallest Royal ships have been Freedom and Independence. We love ❤️ Oasis class! 
 

We found parts of Odyssey to be a little bit cramped. In some places bottlenecks formed much more so than on the much wider Oasis class ships. We missed the AquaTheater, the Royal Promenade, and Central Park. On Odyssey, the biggest bottlenecks occurred in the Royal Esplanade on deck 4. With Odyssey being less wide than Oasis class, that meant the Promenade was narrower too, but with just as many activities, photographers 😱 and people just hanging out that it made it difficult to get from one place to another. Deck 5 had some of the same bottlenecks.

 

Other than a few bottlenecks and photographers to dodge, we really enjoyed the ship! The shows were impressive, the service was excellent, there were plenty of choices of things to do. No matter what you like to do you should have no problem finding activities you enjoy.
 

While we don’t love the new menus we still had no trouble finding food that we enjoyed in the MDR. As a night owl, I loved sea day brunch on Oasis and Freedom class ships and was glad to see it available on Odyssey. 
 

The North Star was awesome, views not to be missed, and I also loved iFly, the skydiving simulator. 
 

For me personally one key to enjoying the bigger ships is my balcony. We have been booking Jr Suites so there is plenty of room to go out there, relax, and watch the ocean go by. Day or night, I very much enjoy my balcony time away from all of the activity onboard the big ships.
 

I’m sure you and your daughter will find plenty to love on Anthem. We certainly did. Now one of these days DH and I are going to have to try some of the smaller ships since I keep hearing so many wonderful things about them. 

 

 

[Biker19]

13 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Vision is much bigger than Empress but is rated for fewer passengers.

Empress double occupancy capacity is about 1,600 - Vision is 2,050.

[rafinmd]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Empress double occupancy capacity is about 1,600 - Vision is 2,050.

Empress was as I recall mostly quad cabins that were quite cramped.

 

Roy

[Biker19]

35 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Empress was as I recall mostly quad cabins that were quite cramped.

Yes, the cabins were small and some were rated for more than two berths but the capacity (both 100% and max) was well below Vision.

[Cru1s1ng2009]

16 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Someone that was sitting next to me in the Viking crown lounge asked where the Royal Promenade was. I told her there wasn’t one. But the centrum was where many things happened on this ship. She did not seem happy.

 

It’s so much smaller than the allure. The other ships always make up for it. I have an a great crew really push their passengers first and of course it’s still a beautiful ship. It just doesn’t have all the bows and whistles. 
 

There are more activities and events and less emphasis on venues. 

I love the smaller ships and will be devastated when there are no more that will fit in Baltimore. My daughter grew up on small ships and both didnt enjoy our biggest ship, indy. there are so many more people that you meet on the smaller ships and i swear you get treated like family on them. 

Enjoy your trip. we are hopping on next Thursday. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Welcome to our first sea day.  At dawn I noticed several cruise ships headed in the same direction as we are.  

 

 

 

 

Sunrise and sunset are my favorite times to take a picture. 

 

There were several ships headed in the same direction first thing this morning.  There was a Carnival ship very nearby.  

 

We have sailed most of the day off the coast of Cuba.  At the noon briefing the Captain said we were 13 nautical miles off the coast. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Sea days are usually very quiet, but there was a lot going on today.  We had the top tier event this morning in the theatre.  This event is for cruisers in the Crown and Anchor loyalty program who are platinum and above.

 

 

The Loyalty Ambassador introduced some of the crew. [the captain stopped by for some photos] She introduced the passengers who have reached Pinnacle status and she recognized the passengers with the most points on this voyage. 

 

There were some impressive totals.

3rd Highest has 2414 points

Second Highest had 2645 points

Top Cruiser had 3049 points

 

DH and I reach another level on this cruise We should get a crystal block.  The first block is given to you to recognize 140 points. [and every 70 points thereafter] You get a point for each night at sea in a regular cabin and 2 points for a suite.  Solo cruisers get an additional point unless they are in special cabins priced for solo cruisers. There aren’t any of those cabins on this ship. The blocks are usually delivered to your cabin.  There are too many veteran cruisers on this reposition cruise to give them out at the event.

 

One word of caution if you get a block put it in your carry one back if you fly.  First of all, they are very heavy.  [solid crystal block] Also, they show up on the scanner as a large black blob.  I found they pull your luggage to go through it.  Therefore, I take it out and put it in a tray so the scanner can see what it is.

 

DH does not go to this event anymore.  Before Covid it was usually an evening program with dance music, drinks, and nibbles. The theatre program allows guests to spread out, but it is not nearly as festive.

 

The CD introduced the band and they played a few numbers, but it is not the same.

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

This afternoon we had a pub crawl.  One of the passengers on our Facebook roll call organized it. 

Drinking is not required—it is just a good way to meet and greet other passengers.  We visited the R bar, Casino Bar, Schooner Bar, Viking Crown Lounge and pool bar.  

 

I took a couple of pictures of the Casino bar.  The expression, "belly up to the bar," fits this location.  There are a few high-top table--but no bar stools. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Tonight was dress your best night. [old formal night].  I saw a little bit of everything.  I did not see anyone is shorts.  

 

They announced several times that there would be a Captain's reception.  These used to be on every cruise.  However, they only have these on Transatlantic/Transpacific and reposition cruises now.  We were at dinner, so, I did not get any pictures.  

 

After dinner we watched the "Finish the Lyric" game show for a while in the Centrum.  We did not sty until the bitter end--but, I vote for the lady in the black dress.  

 

 

 

 

Here is an almost sunset picture.  

 

 

It is a beautiful night. 

 

Our cabin steward is good.  He does a good job.  However, he has so many cabins we barely see him.

 

 

PS--the Cruise Compass is online now.  You have to ask for a hard coy.

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by DragonOfTheSeas

[DELTABLUE]

24 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

Tonight was dress your best night. [old formal night].  I saw a little bit of everything.  I did not see anyone is shorts.  

 

They announced several times that there would be a Captain's reception.  These used to be on every cruise.  However, they only have these on Transatlantic/Transpacific and reposition cruises now.  We were at dinner, so, I did not get any pictures.  

 

After dinner we watched the "Finish the Lyric" game show for a while in the Centrum.  We did not sty until the bitter end--but, I vote for the lady in the black dress.  

 

 

 

 

Here is an almost sunset picture.  

 

 

It is a beautiful night. 

 

Our cabin steward is good.  He does a good job.  However, he has so many cabins we barely see him.

 

 

PS--the Cruise Compass is online now.  You have to ask for a hard coy.

 

 

 

Are you getting cabin service once or twice a day?  If once, did you get a choice of when?

[DragonOfTheSeas]

9 hours ago, DELTABLUE said:

Are you getting cabin service once or twice a day?  If once, did you get a choice of when?

We are in a junior suite this cruise, so we get service both morning and evening. It’s pretty much just like before.
 

But on our last cruise on the liberty, we were in a regular balcony. And we only got service once a day. He asked which we preferred and we said morning. That worked out pretty well for us. I think almost everyone else, said Morning, too. I judge that by how many rooms he was doing in the morning.
 

He still came in the evening and put a Cruise Compass on our bed but nothing else.