Vision of the Seas Review 6/25 - 7/2

[two cruisers 723]

Here's a link to my Vision of the Seas review for the 6/25/04 sailing from Vancouver. I hope you find it imformative and that it helps you better plan for any future trip you may be planning to Alaska. It gives detailed information on travel from Seattle to Vancouver as well as on the ports of call, Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau & Icy Straight. Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=5422

[pieshops]

great review, thank you.

 

We leave northbound on the vision august 6th.

 

What time did you arrive at the pier and what time did you get on the ship?

[two cruisers 723]

We got to the pier around 2:00 and were on the ship within 20 minutes.

[hooked-on-travel]

I'm so excited I can't stand it. And your review is pushing me over the edge. We leave this Friday for the northbound Vision of the Seas...exactly your trip. Ok, not exactly. We're doing different excursion and we're concluding with a land portion, but tell me more about the ship and what it has to offer. Are there windows in the dining room? Is the view from the gym nice? I want to see it all!!!

 

If you're from the same metro as your Pleasant Hill, MO table mates, then we're from the same metro as you, too...but the KS side.

 

Thanks so much for your review. I'm glad to know to get up early for Hubbard. I wouldn't want to miss it!!!

[two cruisers 723]

You're welcome. You're in for an awesome trip. We are in the same metro area. But we're on the MO side. We met a couple on our trip from Olathe and we met another lady in Icy Straight on vacation from Lawrence who wasn't on a ship.

 

The ship is just beautiful. The Centrum goes from Deck 4 to Deck 9 and there are glass elevators overlooking the Centrum area. There's a piano on the lowest level where a a couple of different trio bands play each evening and some afternoons. The lady in the one that plays at night is a really good singer. There's a Champagne Bar just across from the piano bar that is a cozy place. You can order whatever you want to drink. It doesn't have to be Champagne. When you sit in there and order a drink in the evenings before dinner, they bring you a plate of hot appetizers with your drinks. Which I thought was very nice.

 

We didn't use the fitness center. But when we were standing on our tablemates balcony one night after dinner, we could look up to the right and see inside it. It had floor to ceiling windows that hung over the side of the ship much like the Viking Crown Lounge did. So I'm sure the view was great in there.

 

At the back of the ship, there are tinted green windows that are higher in the middle than they are the sides. You can see through them. But pictures probably wouldn't turn out too good through them. But unless you're really short, you can reach over them easy enough for pictures. It's only like this on the one deck and it was never a problem for us.

 

The dining room is very nice. It's two levels. There's an upper level that is open in the center so you can look down from the upper level or up from the lower level. There's a really huge chandelier like light in the middle made of hundreds of long pieces of glass hanging from the ceiling. The waiters sing a couple of nights during the cruise and there's a winding staircase that goes from the bottom floor to the top floor that they all stand on while they sing.

 

The promenade area of shops isn't huge. But it's very nice. And there's a couple of places while you stroll through that are set in and have TV's with shows on them telling about the history of Alaska that you can stop and listen to.

 

The solarium is a nice area. The hot dogs and french fries there are good. Especially the french fries. I got them a couple of times. One of the times, I took them up to the Viking Crown Lounge to munch on while we cruised away from one of the ports. The Viking Crown is a great place to sit and just relax while you're cruising. There are floor to ceiling windows and the views are perfect if you get tired of standing out in the cool breeze and sometimes even rain.

 

The outdoor pool isn't used much. But the 4 outside hot tubs are. We got in there one afternoon and really enjoyed drinking a hot beverage in there.

 

The Some Enchanted Evening Lounge is a very classy place. They have a band in there most nights. I don't remember the full name, but it was "Moses and The....." The were really good. We enjoyed their music several of the nights. One of the best singers on the ship is the cruise director, Parker which surprised me. He used to be a singing and dancing entertainer on the ship and it shows. He was a very good cruise director.

 

We never watched anyone climb the rock wall. But did walk by it several times. And it was open certain times during the day.

 

One of the things I didn't mention in my review is how this cruise had the best soups on it at dinner time than I've ever had on a cruise. There was one that was a crab bisque type of soup and a french onion soup that were both very good. And be sure to try the crab cake appetizer when they serve it if you like them. They were yummy!

 

You're going to love it. You must be so excited. I remember how I felt 3 days before our cruise. I may as well have been gone already as I wasn't worth much of anything at home or work. I was just too excited. Be sure to post when you get back and share your experience. Bon Voyage!

[Sonshiner]

Thanks so much for the detailed review! :) It was filled with very helpful information.

 

We will be going on the 8/20 Northbound sailing of the Vision. We can hardly wait! :D We are especially looking forward to our visit to Icy Straits.

 

Thanks again for your review.

[janetmojo]

Thanks for the great review, I'm headed out on the Celebrity Summit in Sept but it visits many of the same ports so I really appreciate the port reviews. I hadn't thought about doing the heli trip after the Orca Enterprises trip so I'll have to look into that!