Vision of the Seas Lacks the WOW ! ...

Let me start by saying our views are subjective and may differ from others point of view.

A little about my wife and myself before I give a brief review of the ship. We are mid 40's in age and both professionals and small business owners. We have over 20 cruises under our belt with Royal Caribbean, and more including other cruise lines. We cruise on average three times a year and book anything from interior gaurantees to suites - depending on occasion and pricing at time of booking. With this said, we have never had a "bad" cruise, just some where better or worse than others.

My review will be brief and to the point. Feel free to ask any questions and I will be happy to answer if I can.

Embarkation was fast and easy. We were on the ship by 11:00 am.

To avoid the chaos that usually occurs on embarkation day in the Windjammer, we opted for a light lunch in the Park Cafe. My wife is a marathon runner and enjoys good food, but she is a "light eater" - salads, grilled meats, seafood etc. I am 6' 2" and 240 lbs. - I enjoy all food and not afraid to try new things. She had a salad and I had the roast beef sandwich and potato salad. Neither of us enjoyed it. The roast beef was nearly 50% fat and gristle. The potato salad was ok.

We checked into our room a little after 1 pm. It was a junior suite on deck 8. The room was clean with a nice balcony, bath tub, and plenty of closet/storage space. Our state room attendant, Antonio, did an excellent job. Unfortunately, the stateroom was on deck 8 - under the pool deck. We had an overabundance of noise throughout the day of people running and deck chairs sliding - at times it sounded as if someone was going to come through the ceiling it was so loud. The noise dissipated in the evening, only to return in full force in the early am hours around 4 to 5 am. This must have been the pool attendents sliding the lounge chairs and arranging them for the day. We would awaken every morning around 4 am to this noise - which would last for an hour or two every morning.

The Diamond lounge, although very small, was very nice. The concierge and staff in the diamond lounge did an excellent job - this was the highlight of our cruise. The Vision has also started the new 3 drinks for diamond and above available throughout the ship during the hours that the diamond lounge is open. This was a nice perk as it allowed us to grab a glass of wine from the R Bar to take back to the room while getting dressed for the evening, or if the diamond lounge was crowded.

We had dinner in the main dining room the first night. I would describe the food as ok. The best part was the rolls and escargot. Over the years, we have seen a generalized decline in the quality of food in the main dining rooms of the entire RC fleet. This is just our opinion, but I can remember being served large cold water Maine lobster and a decent steak. Now you get a small warm water lobster tail and a previously frozen, gristly, tasteless steak that tastes like something from a truck stop breakfast menu.

The production show was Rhythm and Rhymes - a new show for the ship and we were the first to see it. I would describe it as ok. There was a small segment excerpt from Chicago that was good. We left early and did not see the end.

The cruise director, manager, and staff were again ok. Very friendly, but again, as you may begin to see, there was no WOW !

We had dinner on night two at Giovanni's. The food was very good, but not excellent. The service was very good. The desserts were ok. The canoli was excellent, but the chocolate cake was dry and tasteless - I would almost say aged. What ever happened to the "Flour-less chocolate cake?"

The Windjammer. Breakfast was good and comparible to most other ships. I tend to try to eat healthy in the morning to allow a little splurging later in the day. Lunch was very limited in selection and the quality again was low in my opinion. The meats were generally what was on the menu in the main dining room the night before - a little doctored up. Hot dogs and hamburgers every day - but I don't go on vacation to eat hot dogs and hamburgers. Desserts in the Windjammer were very limited and unappealing. No cookies to be found. Dinner in the WJ was again ok. Limited selection and low quality food choices . Items such as pizza with the leftover hot dogs as a topping. Really ? Hot dogs as a topping.

We decided to give the Park Cafe another shot. Even worse than Day 1.

Chops Grill. The filet is our perennial favorite here, my wife always opting for the petite cut. Paying the $35 charge per person, I almost found it insulting to ask for yet another upcharge for a better cut of beef or dry aged steak. RC may be making their shareholders happy here (which I am), but as a loyal customer, I found it in bad taste. Our steaks were prepared well, but lacked flavor. To add more insult, we were informed that Chops Grill no longer has the three steak sauces to accompany their beef - peppercorn being my favorite, and chimichurra and bernaise being my wife's. Our caesar salads were again, not very good. We are used to a nice romaine wedge with a great dressing and the pan fried romano cheese chip with fresh ground pepper. Instead, we got bagged romaine pieces with dressing and no more of the nice piece of cheese that was reduced in a skillet to go along with it. Fail. This dinner was main dining room quality in my opinion.

The bartenders did a good job throughout the ship. We never had to wait long for a drink. Some lacked in personality, but overall a good experience. We did not have a drink package and we always tipped a couple dollars per drink for our "Diamond" drinks. The bartenders seemed to appreciate this.

The overall appearance of the ship was crisp and clean with the exception of one public men's room I went into, only to be surprised to find myself wading through 1/8" of urine throughout the bathroom floor. It happens - I guess.

The weather was great and we enjoyed taking a tour of Key West on the trolly tour and ending up in Sloppy Joe's for a few drinks before we returned to the ship. Grand Cayman was enjoyable. We did a brief tour of 7 mile beach by taxi and decided on the Royal Palms as our excursion destination. It was worth the $2.00 entrance fee. We spent a couple of hours on the beach, then headed to their bar for a few margaritas.

The casino had a very good selection of machines and table games for it's small size. Blackjack and poker tournaments ran almost daily with a No-Limit Hold'em cash game almost nightly.

The house band was "Locomotion" which many of you may have seen on other ships.

Overall entertainment was a bit stale - never really enticing us to want more.

Our overall cruise experience was "ok." I would not go on another cruise on this ship. I would not recommend to anyone to go on this ship. If this were my first cruise with Royal Caribbean, I would probably not cruise with Royal caribbean again. This may sound a bit harsh, but in 20 cruises with Royal Caribbean - this was the worst experience. Again, we did not have a bad experience, it just wasn't good - if that makes sense.

If you have an upcoming cruise on this ship, please don't be alarmed by my opinions. Everyone's experience varies and I'm sure there were people that extremely enjoyed this cruise, as well as other people that shared in our views - by discussions in the Diamond Lounge and throughout the ship, I know this is so. A vacation is what you make of it.

For now, the Vision of the Seas completely misses the WOW !

Our next scheduled cruise is in November on Celebrity's Reflection. I expect a much better experience on her, but we'll see?

Enjoy your day...

- Doc

I would also like to mention that we dined in Izumi and enjoyed the Maguro and spicy Philadelphia roll. Service here was good and food was consistent with other ships. There were only 2 other tables dining with us in the restaurant at a 7 pm seating, which I found a little odd... but we enjoyed it just the same.

Thanks for the review.

thanks for honest review. We'll be on the Vision at the end of Sept and hope we get a 'wow'! I do not, however, expect the food in the MDR to be a wow; in my opinion, food on RCL has gone downhill over the past few years.

Strange about Chops and the sauces - we were on the Legend in June and my husband was offered those 3 sauces.

You should like the Reflection - it's a beautiful ship and I feel that the food & service are better on Celebrity.

Marianne

Appreciate the review - just wondering when you were served a whole cold-water lobster and what cruiseline. We've been cruising for over 20 years on several lines and have never experienced this except for the upcharge one now available.

Thank you for sharing your opinions. I do understand how the feeling of "there's no there there" can be more off-putting than when you can more easily quantify why you weren't impressed (beyond the poor dining experiences).

Fortunately for me I will be sailing on Vision next month without the "burden" of Diamond membership and the memories of previous RC cruises. I certainly won't be comparing the Vision to my 1994 cruise on Sovereign--even if I could remember anything about it! And I know not to rely on reviews of short sailings during peak vacation times when I am on a 10 day cruise the following month. But we were looking forward to the highly-touted roast beef sandwiches in Park Cafe...

I agree that the Vision lacks WOW

For me, all the ships below Voyager class lack the WOW

How was the piano player in the Schooner lounge.

Let me start by saying that I know the reviews for the Vision have been mixed over the past few months. We booked the July 17 cruise, which was a 4 night to Cozumel, about 2 weeks prior to the cruise. We were able to get a great rate for a suite guarantee and were lucky enough to land a Grand Suite. It may be simply because we were only looking for a relaxing, stress-free trip with no plans, but we had a fantastic time on the ship. For anyone booked on the Vision, or planning to sail on her, I'd just remind you to keep an open mind to what it is - it's a 16 year old ship without all the bells and whistles of the newest ships.

I would not dispute that the quality of food in the MDR has depleted through the years. Our first cruise was on the Monarch of the Seas in 2009, and even we can notice a difference since that cruise. But I think that's probably an industry-wide trend, given the rise in food prices as well as cruise lines' desire to push customers into specialty (i.e. pay) venues. Having said that, it's not the worst food I've ever eaten.

I also found Park Cafe to be adequate. I would say that the Park Cafe on Oasis and Allure were a step above that on Vision, but given that the one on Vision is retrofitted into an existing space, it was not terrible. I loved the roast beef sandwiches on Oasis and Allure, and the ones on Vision were slightly under those from Oasis and Allure. Nonetheless, they were still good enough (IMHO) for me to enjoy them every day of the cruise.

Overall, we had a great time on Vision. I don't want to discount the OP's report, but wanted to share our experience on her so that those who may be booked or planning to book a cruise on her will also have another opinion for consideration. I think it's important to remember the age of the ship and the amenities it offers when considering a trip on any of the older ships. I wouldn't hesitate to book another cruise on Vision, and have actually been looking into her sailings from Tampa when she'll be closer to home for us.

Thank you for your honest views! I won't see a larger ship then Radiance class or Ms BOS which was a great start back in; until next March and it will be Liberty.

I go in with the open mind that the food is average basic tasting food! Same type of food and taste that you you find on the Vegas strip unless you throw about $50.00 for a single meal!

I didn't mind the entertainment cause you could always move on to something else or make your own!

For me I don't mind being on the smaller less bells and whistles ship!

It has been fun to see the trip reports and pix from the CC doing Allure and sister Oasis. I just personally do not want to constantly have a party with 5k of my closest friends every time I want to use my balcony! I don't want to pay a mini fortune to have an outside balacony cabin! It puts me to the smaller ship like Vision or moving to Liberty then Indy, and I hope that I will find myself back on Brilliance and then maybe Jewel. Less then 2 months here I come Vision into a corner aft deck 8!

Another here that wans to say thank you for a straight forward review. We are onboard next week after two sailings on Allure. We were looking for a more relaxed cruise without the bells and whistles. We do know it will not be the same but looking forward to a great time. Expectations do play into it and appreciate any and all opinions. Regardless we are on a ship with family and will enjoy!

I'll try to answer your questions...

Gerif - The cold water lobster was just a cold water tail... meat cut out by the head waiter for everyone at the table. It was definitely Royal Caribbean on several occasions on earlier cruises - Enchantment, Empress of the Seas, maybe Mariner, or Jewel.

The shrimp was also much better quality and size back then. A shrimp cocktail would be served in a glass of cocktail sauce with 4 or 5 - 16/20 count size shrimp which were obviously from the Gulf of Mexico (Best taste and Texture). Now you get farm raised or foreign country shrimp that are 25/30 count at best.

I've owned a retail seafood market for over 25 years, so that's why I feel qualified to even attempt to discuss seafood quality.

November - The piano player was a lady, probably in her late 40's. I can't recall her name, but as we passed through the Schooner Bar daily - back and forth from the Diamond Lounge, we would briefly hear her. She seemed to be very good, but not your Billy Joel - sing along type. A little more refined. Again, we didn't spend much time listening to her, so it's unfair for me to give a realistic review of her.

Again, as I said earlier in my original post - we haven't had a bad cruise, only some better than others. We are pretty laid back people and not too hard to please. We were celebrating our 12 year wedding anniversary on this cruise and just hit with daily things that were just not up to par in my opinion. If we only had to deal with the noisey cabin and had great dining experiences and everything else went smoothly, I may have been able to look past the noise. If our cabin experience was exceptional, I may have been able to look past several bad meals.

People eat to sustain life. My wife and I enjoy good food, but eat everyday meals just like everyone else. When we vacation and go to dinner, we look at it as if we are going on a date. We dress up, we have cocktails, and dinner is part of our entertainment for the evening. Good food and good service is just something we have grown to expect from Royal Caribbean.

Maybe the best way to explain our cruise experience is to say that we were more disappointed than displeased. I would be much more happy to be on this cruise than working.:)

- Doc

Thanks for the report!

Thank you for your review.

Keith

We were on Vision in April and loved it. Yes, I agree with the MDR food being just average, but the ship is in very good condition and all the officers and staff went out of their way to be friendly and make sure everything was to our liking. We opted for the Chefs Table dinner, and it was so worth it. I had read rave reviews here on CC so we went for it. We did it the 2nd night of the cruise which was great because after the champagne gathering followed by wine with each course we had a whole new group of friends for the rest of the cruise! I spent lots of time in the sauna and steam rooms which was very relaxing.

We really liked the food in the Park Cafe, sandwiches, custom salads, soups and we are very particular about food which is why we usually cruise Celebrity Aqua Class. Just another opinion.

Sorry op that vision lacked the wow we once did majesty and after that cruise we decided we would never due anything less then a radiance class.

Thanks for your review. I am a bit worried as our next cruise - our first in RCCL - is on Vision. We chose it for the port - Tampa - my DS lives in St, Pete so it's nice to combine cruise with a visit - and price, which was much less than a 7 nt on Celebrity. Reflection is my favorite ship - I think you will find the wow factor you are looking for there!!

Some of our RCI cruises have had more of a "wow" factor than others. In my experience, I've discovered that there are different factors and variables that come into play on a cruise.

Sometimes the "wow" is more of a attitude that an external stimulant and that will determine my overall outcome of any give cruise that we take. It has a positive influence in our overall anticipation and expectations.

Happy cruising . . . it's a great way to see the world!

We were on the Vision in April/May and they used the VCL as an overflow lounge for Diamond members. Did they do the same on your cruise???

We will be on Vision end of August for 4 nighter and then again for 5 nights in Sept. Really looking forward to it. Loved Enchantment, we both LOVE Park café. Will take the salads in there any day of the week and my husband lives for the Roast Beef sandwiches.

food is so not important to me, so all I care about is a clean cabin, friendly staff and good drinks. I can always find something to eat when I want it.

Sorry the cruise was not what you wanted, hoping we have an awesome experience. But for me, I am on a cruise - I don't have to clean or cook. I have gorgeous Caribbean water. I am a happy girl

I was on the Vision July 21st. This was my 17th cruise and 5th with RCI. I agree with Doc. All cruises are good but some are better than others and this one wasn't the best. The mattresses were terrible. Flat and no support. MDR food was ok but our waiter and the assistant were both terrible. We were at table 196...change if you get this table.

The cruise staff was ok.., but no WOW for sure. Good thing this wasn't my first cruise with RCI because it would be my last.

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It's all about the expectations. Your review is detailed and honest but it's all about the expectations, it's subjective, and others may have a different perspective. If some is not open minded and overly "critical", combined with trying to compare this ship to Oasis, then it is sure to be a big disappointment.

Each cruise is what you make of it. Not every cruise will make everyone happy, for sure.

I'm sure if some goes on Vision for their 1st cruise, they will think it's the best thing they ever experienced.

We will sail Vision Aug 28 too, and like each cruise, I have no expectations other than to make it great, always understanding that in everything there are hits and misses.

Really looking forward to entertainer Tony Tillman who I heard was incredible. Did you see him on your cruise?

Maybe it's time to sell your RCL stock if you see it going downhill lol.

Fair review. We have sailed on Vision class, Radiance Class and Voyager class.

I think the Vision class ships are a tad small.

Still, we did enjoy ourselves.

She's 30 years d

I really would only expect the wow on the newer ships

But they all still wow me with the beauty of cruising and how special they make us feel

That us if we let them

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She's 30 years d

I really would only expect the wow on the newer ships

But they all still wow me with the beauty of cruising and how special they make us feel

That us if we let them

 

 

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The Vision was built in 1998- she is 16 years old