Live - Vision of the Seas, April 12th from Norfolk!

[Rewind]

Hi all and welcome to our live cruise notes sailing from Baltimore...  I mean Norfolk!  We booked this cruise way before the Baltimore bridge incident and we are flexible enough to make the change to the new home port.  We are flying out in a few hours but of course we have been informed that our second flight of two is delayed and we won't get into Norfolk until VERY late tonight.  
 

The current itinerary:
12th Fri - Norfolk
13th Sat - Sea
14th Sun - Charleston
15th Mon - Port Canaveral
16th Tue - Freeport, Bahamas
17th Wed - Sea
18th Thur - Sea
19th Fri - Norfolk
20th Sat - Norfolk  (we are staying an extra day on our own)

We originally were set to stop in Nassau on the 17th and not come back until the 20th, but that stop was cut so the ship could get back a day early and arrive in Norfolk on the 19th.  Why you might ask?  It turns out that Norfolk is hosting the Nato Parade of Nations and that just happens to be right where the ships dock.  There was no way they could get the people around the parade or the parade around the people and since the parade was scheduled first, our cruise had to make way.  But this is also part of the reason we are staying the extra day; we figured as we were there already, we might as well check it out.

We are going to miss Nassau - I know, many people have been there multiple times (including us) but we haven't been there since the new port facilities have opened and were looking forward to checking them out.  I know it isn't much, but it would have been fun.

We originally booked an interior cabin but were able to win a Royal-Up bid for a balcony.  We did have to resubmit the bid three or four times - my hunch is they canceled the bids after the bridge incident. 
I'm guessing the ship will be less full than originally expected, but I will find that out in a few days.  We do have an internet package on board and will be curious to see how internet speeds are on an older ship.

And of course right as I'm about to answer the health questions for check-in, the Royal site won't allow me to log in.

Stay tuned, more to come!

[clochette]

looking forward to following you, we will be going on Vision for the first time in January departing hopefully from Baltimore.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am interested to see how this boarding goes.  We like the Norfolk area around the terminal.  there is lots to see and do.  There is also a lot of traffic.  We sailed from there many years ago.  

[Rewind]

We made it as far as Baltimore so far.  Our second flight got moved back up to it's original time so we will at least get to Norfolk "today".

 

Time to grab dinner.

[Rogueperson]

Good luck boarding in Norfolk.  The one time i sailed out of Norfolk was not the best experience for me.  Okay, it was the worst.  Its the elevators that take you up that bottlenecks severely especially when everyone arrives all at once.  We got lucky because we found the stairs when everyone else was lined up for elevators.  It was open to the public.  We just took our luggage up and got in line.  The staff at the elevator saw us come up and was like “man, wish more people would just do that”

 

At the time, we were late leaving because at 5:30, people were still lined up around the corner because of the bottleneck.

 

 

[Rewind]

The Baltimore airport has some informative signs outside the restrooms.  It updates in fairly real time.

 

[Rewind]

Made it to our hotel at the Marriott Waterside.  Don't know if it is because we got in so late, but we ended up with two double beds instead of a king.  Doesn't matter too much to us - we each get our own bed to spread out in.

 

Time for bed.

[Rewind]

Good morning from Norfolk!

 

Due to the Royal login issues, we never were able to fill out the health questionnaire yesterday; we will just have to do that at check-in.  We have received emails stating that their turn around times are not going smoothly so they "kindly ask that you please arrive one (1) hour later than your selected arrival time".  I had bumped ours up to 11am when the home port changed, but they say they don't want people to arrive before 12:30pm.

 

But for now, time to go find a place for breakfast and wander a bit.

 

[Rewind]

Walked over to the water, saw a couple military ships, walked past the Vision as people were disembarking, and then headed to the Selden Market and found breakfast at the Granby Waffle Shop - it is connected to both the market and the library. We got a Queso, Egg, and Bacon waffle and a Grandma Waffle (chicken, egg, and berries) and both were excellent (although the DW didn't care for the queso on my waffle, I thought it was great).

 

 

Afterwards we walked just a bit more, stopped by the visitor center, and then back to the hotel to check out (in about 45 minutes).

 

 

 

 

[island lady]

Yummms!!   Now that is what I call waffles from heaven!  😋

 

Hope you have a fantabulous cruise!!

[HERDFAN]

Go look up Jose, in the Schooner bar. Very polite, personable bar server. He'll take care of you. Tell him Banks and Tina said Hi.

[Rewind]

We checked out of the hotel just before 11:00am, walked the two blocks over to the cruise terminal.  There were a few people in line, but we wanted to explore a bit so we just dropped off our bags and walked over to the nearby mall to check out the 757 Creative ReUse Center.  It was neat but we didn't need to bring any of it with us.  Then a quick walk back to the port.

 

We were walking up to the terminal while the giant screen on the Nauticus museum said it was 11:45am.  There was no line outside, we walked up the stairs (just because), showed our boarding passes, and walked into the building.  There was a short line to get through security, and then a short line to check in. 

 

We chatted with the check in agent for a couple minutes.  She said that the port side agents were bussed in from Baltimore (some the night before, some this morning).

 

After the chat, we walked past the photo ops, up the gangway and onto the ship.  We stepped onboard at 12:03pm.  It ranks up with the smoothest embarkations we have had.

 

 

 

 

[Rewind]

We found our muster station and checked in, went up to the WindJammer for lunch and now we are sitting in the nice and very quiet Solarium as we wait for our room to be ready - I think they said 2pm....

 

Nevermind - they just announced the rooms are ready as I was typing this at 1:15pm.

 

[Rewind]

We made it to our cabin and finally surprised the DW with our Royal Up upgrade.  We were able to score a balcony for just a bit over the minimum bid amount.  

 

The other surprise which I was curious to see if it would happen, did happen.  For this cruise, because we lost a day from our itinerary, each stateroom would get some OBC.  Interior cabins get $75 but balconies get $200.  Well we ended up getting the $200 OBC.  It's great as that should pay most of the gratuities.

 

As for the stateroom, the balcony cabin is a pretty decent size and the bathroom is larger than we expected.

 

 

[Rewind]

Internet - Vision has Starlink and at least while sitting in port, the speeds are pretty good.

 

[perfect match]

Have you been able to log into the app yet? Many of us, me included, could only log in after we changed our password. Some people are saying they need to change their password more than once. I haven’t had to do that - yet!

 

I’m loving the start of your review! Great pictures from Norfolk! 

[Rewind]

Yes, I had to change my password in order to get into the app.  I discovered that yesterday when I was trying to fill out the health questionnaire.

 

My wife's phone still had her logged in... until today.  She had to change her PW today to get back into the app.

Edited April 12 by Rewind

[Rewind]

Tugs are here - let's get this cruise movin!

 

[Rewind]

Pull!

 

[Tatka]

I am enjoying your photos. We were in V in March 23rd cruise and found her to be the cutest  out of Vision, Enchantment , Grandeur.

 

 Lounge entertainment was THE BEST.

 

 Enjoy!!!

[Rewind]

We left the terminal in Norfolk just about 5pm.  We had to go a bit further into the bay to turn around and we had the two tug boats to assist, one forward, one aft.

 

We were passing by the naval base around 6:15pm.  We are now out in the ocean and moving very slowly southward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Germancruiser]

Thank you for taking us along. My last voyage on Vision was back in 1999- a Transcanal cruise. Very fond memories. Interessting to see the changes inside. She looks very well kept.

[perfect match]

Great sailaway scenery! 

[Rewind]

Good Morning.  Today is our first sea day as we head to Charleston.  Quick recap from last night -

 

After watching us sail out, we headed to the Windjammer for dinner (we are fairly casual eaters and like that it is a quick in and out).  The food was pretty good overall and they had fresh donuts for dessert - and donuts that were NOT bread masquerading as a donut.

 

After dinner we walked through the shopping hallway which was not open yet and balk through the Schooner Bar to check out the Crown Lounge.  The lounge is small, just a handful of seats and a small food station and the coffee maker.  We said a quick hello to the concierge and then walked back to the Schooner Bar and sat down to check out the menu.  My wife likes a "Classic" Old Fashioned but Royal for some reason is serving Run Old Fashioneds everywhere.  The Schooner Bar has a Toasted Marshmallow Old Fashioned which she tried and said wasn't bad.

 

It was approaching 8:00pm and from being up late the night before, we decided to call it an early evening and go back to the cabin to wind down and pass out.

 

 

This morning:

We got up and headed to the WJ for breakfast with the standard faire.  Had a maple glazed donut and I am happy to report that last night was not a fluke - this ship has a decent bakery staff.  (Seriously, it you have been on the ships with the bready donuts, you know).  After a quick stop back at the cabin to grab a sweatshirt as it is still chilly, we are now relaxing in some loungers in the Solarium.

 

Currently the pools and top deck are closed due to weather.  The sea is slightly rocky today, no rain, but sitting here we can hear the pool sloshing back and forth.

 

I don't have ship pictures to post this round but the top tier event is in a couple hours - should get some info then.

 

For now, I will leave you with this sign we see in our hallway and that I will be adding to my wishlist for Christmas:

 

[CruisinCadie]

Thank you for posting this report.  We will be on Vision in June to Bermuda.  

BTW, cute, cute, cute sign.

Kathy